With a simple trick, the humble spud can be made into a battery, so could potato powered homes catch on?Apps that answer crisis callsThe silent rise of BluetoothSmart cards that top-up healthHelping the deaf to ‘see’ sound
Mashed, boiled, baked or fried? You probably have a preference for your potatoes. Haim Rabinowitch, however, likes his spuds “hacked”.
For the past few years, researcher Rabinowitch and colleagues have been pushing the idea of “potato power” to deliver energy to people cut off from electricity grids. Hook up a spud to a couple of cheap metal plates, wires and LED bulbs, they argue, and it could provide lighting to remote towns and villages around the world.
They’ve also discovered a simple but ingenious trick to make potatoes particularly good at producing energy. “A single potato can power enough LED lamps for a room for 40 days,” claims Rabinowitch, who is based at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
The idea may seem absurd, yet it is rooted in sound science. Still, Rabinowitch and his team have discovered that actually launching potato power in the real world is much more complex than it first appears.
While Rabinowitch and team have found a way to make potatoes produce more power than usual, the basic principles are taught in high school science classes, to demonstrate how batteries work.
To make a battery from organic material, all you need is two metals – an anode, which is the negative electrode, such as zinc, and a cathode, the positively charged electrode, such as copper. The acid inside the potato forms a chemical reaction with the zinc and copper, and when the electrons flow from one material to another, energy is released.
This was discovered by Luigi Galvani in 1780 when he connected two metals to the legs of a frog, causing its muscles to twitch. But you can put many materials between these two electrodes to get the same effect. Alexander Volta, around the time of Galvani, used saltwater-soaked paper. Others have made “earth batteries” using two metal plates and a pile of dirt, or a bucket of water.
Super spuds
Potatoes are often the preferred vegetable of choice for teaching high school science students these principles. Yet to the surprise of Rabinowitch, no one had scientifically studied spuds as an energy source. So in 2010, he decided to give it a try, along with PhD student Alex Goldberg, and Boris Rubinsky of the University of California, Berkeley.
“We looked at 20 different types of potatoes,” explains Goldberg, “and we looked at their internal resistance, which allows us to understand how much energy was lost by heat.”
They found that by simply boiling the potatoes for eight minutes, it broke down the organic tissues inside the potatoes, reducing resistance and allowing for freer movement of electrons– thus producing more energy. They also increased the energy output by slicing the potato into four or five pieces, each sandwiched by a copper and zinc plate, to make a series. “We found we could improve the output 10 times, which made it interesting economically, because the cost of energy drops down,” says Goldberg.
“It’s low voltage energy,” says Rabinowitch, “but enough to construct a battery that could charge mobile phones or laptops in places where there is no grid, no power connection.”
Their cost analyses suggested that a single boiled potato battery with zinc and copper electrodes generates portable energy at an estimated $9 per kilowatt hour, which is 50-fold cheaper than a typical 1.5 volt AA alkaline cell or D cell battery, which can cost $49–84 per kilowatt hour. It’s also an estimated six times cheaper than standard kerosene lamps used in the developing world.
Which raises an important question – why isn’t the potato battery already a roaring success?
In 2010, the world produced a staggering 324,181,889 tonnes of potatoes. They are the world’s number one non-grain crop, in 130 countries, and a hefty source of starch for billions around the world. They are cheap, store easily, and last for a long time.
With 1.2 billion people in the world lacking access to electricity, a simple potato could be the answer– or so the researchers thought. “We thought organisations would be interested,” says Rabinowitch. “We thought politicians in India would give them out with their names inscribed on them. They cost less than a dollar.”
Yet three years on since their experiment, why haven’t governments, companies or organisations embraced potato batteries? “The simple answer is they don’t even know about it,” reasons Rabinowitch. But it may be more complicated than that.
First, there’s the issue of using a food for energy. Olivier Dubois, senior natural resources officer at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), says that using food for energy – like sugar cane for biofuels – must avoid depleting food stocks and competing with farmers.
“You first need to look at: are there enough potatoes to eat? Then, are we not competing with farmers making income from selling potatoes?” he explains. “So if eating potatoes is covered, selling potatoes is covered, and there’s some potatoes left, then yes, it can work”
In a country like Kenya, the potato is the second most important food for families after maize. Smallholder farmers produced around 10 million tonnes of potatoes this year, yet around 10-20% were lost in post-harvest waste due to lack of access to markets, poor storage conditions, and other issues, according to Elmar Schulte–Geldermann, potato science leader for sub–Saharan Africa at the International Potato Center in Nairobi, Kenya. The potatoes that don’t make it to the market could easily be turned into batteries.
Pithy answer
Yet in Sri Lanka, for instance, the locally available potatoes are rare and expensive. So a team of scientists at the University of Kelaniya recently decided to try the experiment with something more widely available, and free – plantain piths (stems).
Physicist KD Jayasuriya and his team found that the boiling technique produced a similar efficiency increase for plantains – and the best battery performance was obtained by chopping the plantain pith after boiling.
With the boiled piths, they found they could power a single LED for more than 500 hours, provided it is prevented from drying out. “I think the potato has slightly better current, but the plantain pith is free, it’s something we throw away,” says Jayasuriya.
Despite all this, some are sceptical of the feasibility of potato power. “In reality, the potato battery is essentially like a regular battery you’d buy at the store,” says Derek Lovley at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. “It’s just using a different matrix.” While the potato helps to prevent energy being lost to heat, it is not the source of the energy – that’s actually extracted via the corrosion of the zinc. “It’s sacrificial – the metal is degrading over time,” says Lovley. This means you’d have to replace the zinc – and of course the potato or plantain pith – over time.
Still, zinc is quite cheap in most developing countries. And Jayasuriya argues that it could still be more cost effective than a kerosene lamp. A zinc electrode that lasts about five months would cost about the same as a litre of kerosene, which fuels the average family home in Sri Lanka for two days. You could also use other electrodes, like magnesium or iron.
But potato advocates must surmount another problem before their idea catches on: consumer perception of potatoes. Compared with modern technologies like solar power, potatoes are perhaps less desirable as an energy source.
Gaurav Manchanda, founder of One Degree Solar, which sells micro-solar home systems in Kenya, says people buy their products for more reasons than efficiency and price. “These are all consumers at the end of the day. They need to see the value in it, not only in terms of performance, but status,” he explains. Basically, some people might not want to show off their potato battery to impress a neighbor.
Still, it cannot be denied that the potato battery idea works, and it appears cheap. Advocates
With a simple trick, the humble spud can be made into a battery, so could potato powered homes catch on?Apps that answer crisis callsThe silent rise of BluetoothSmart cards that top-up healthHelping the deaf to ‘see’ sound
Mashed, boiled, baked or fried? You probably have a preference for your potatoes. Haim Rabinowitch, however, likes his spuds “hacked”.
For the past few years, researcher Rabinowitch and colleagues have been pushing the idea of “potato power” to deliver energy to people cut off from electricity grids. Hook up a spud to a couple of cheap metal plates, wires and LED bulbs, they argue, and it could provide lighting to remote towns and villages around the world.
They’ve also discovered a simple but ingenious trick to make potatoes particularly good at producing energy. “A single potato can power enough LED lamps for a room for 40 days,” claims Rabinowitch, who is based at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
The idea may seem absurd, yet it is rooted in sound science. Still, Rabinowitch and his team have discovered that actually launching potato power in the real world is much more complex than it first appears.
While Rabinowitch and team have found a way to make potatoes produce more power than usual, the basic principles are taught in high school science classes, to demonstrate how batteries work.
To make a battery from organic material, all you need is two metals – an anode, which is the negative electrode, such as zinc, and a cathode, the positively charged electrode, such as copper. The acid inside the potato forms a chemical reaction with the zinc and copper, and when the electrons flow from one material to another, energy is released.
This was discovered by Luigi Galvani in 1780 when he connected two metals to the legs of a frog, causing its muscles to twitch. But you can put many materials between these two electrodes to get the same effect. Alexander Volta, around the time of Galvani, used saltwater-soaked paper. Others have made “earth batteries” using two metal plates and a pile of dirt, or a bucket of water.
Super spuds
Potatoes are often the preferred vegetable of choice for teaching high school science students these principles. Yet to the surprise of Rabinowitch, no one had scientifically studied spuds as an energy source. So in 2010, he decided to give it a try, along with PhD student Alex Goldberg, and Boris Rubinsky of the University of California, Berkeley.
“We looked at 20 different types of potatoes,” explains Goldberg, “and we looked at their internal resistance, which allows us to understand how much energy was lost by heat.”
They found that by simply boiling the potatoes for eight minutes, it broke down the organic tissues inside the potatoes, reducing resistance and allowing for freer movement of electrons– thus producing more energy. They also increased the energy output by slicing the potato into four or five pieces, each sandwiched by a copper and zinc plate, to make a series. “We found we could improve the output 10 times, which made it interesting economically, because the cost of energy drops down,” says Goldberg.
“It’s low voltage energy,” says Rabinowitch, “but enough to construct a battery that could charge mobile phones or laptops in places where there is no grid, no power connection.”
Their cost analyses suggested that a single boiled potato battery with zinc and copper electrodes generates portable energy at an estimated $9 per kilowatt hour, which is 50-fold cheaper than a typical 1.5 volt AA alkaline cell or D cell battery, which can cost $49–84 per kilowatt hour. It’s also an estimated six times cheaper than standard kerosene lamps used in the developing world.
Which raises an important question – why isn’t the potato battery already a roaring success?
In 2010, the world produced a staggering 324,181,889 tonnes of potatoes. They are the world’s number one non-grain crop, in 130 countries, and a hefty source of starch for billions around the world. They are cheap, store easily, and last for a long time.
With 1.2 billion people in the world lacking access to electricity, a simple potato could be the answer– or so the researchers thought. “We thought organisations would be interested,” says Rabinowitch. “We thought politicians in India would give them out with their names inscribed on them. They cost less than a dollar.”
Yet three years on since their experiment, why haven’t governments, companies or organisations embraced potato batteries? “The simple answer is they don’t even know about it,” reasons Rabinowitch. But it may be more complicated than that.
First, there’s the issue of using a food for energy. Olivier Dubois, senior natural resources officer at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), says that using food for energy – like sugar cane for biofuels – must avoid depleting food stocks and competing with farmers.
“You first need to look at: are there enough potatoes to eat? Then, are we not competing with farmers making income from selling potatoes?” he explains. “So if eating potatoes is covered, selling potatoes is covered, and there’s some potatoes left, then yes, it can work”
In a country like Kenya, the potato is the second most important food for families after maize. Smallholder farmers produced around 10 million tonnes of potatoes this year, yet around 10-20% were lost in post-harvest waste due to lack of access to markets, poor storage conditions, and other issues, according to Elmar Schulte–Geldermann, potato science leader for sub–Saharan Africa at the International Potato Center in Nairobi, Kenya. The potatoes that don’t make it to the market could easily be turned into batteries.
Pithy answer
Yet in Sri Lanka, for instance, the locally available potatoes are rare and expensive. So a team of scientists at the University of Kelaniya recently decided to try the experiment with something more widely available, and free – plantain piths (stems).
Physicist KD Jayasuriya and his team found that the boiling technique produced a similar efficiency increase for plantains – and the best battery performance was obtained by chopping the plantain pith after boiling.
With the boiled piths, they found they
With a simple trick, the humble spud can be made into a battery, so could potato powered homes catch on?Apps that answer crisis callsThe silent rise of BluetoothSmart cards that top-up healthHelping the deaf to ‘see’ sound
Mashed, boiled, baked or fried? You probably have a preference for your potatoes. Haim Rabinowitch, however, likes his spuds “hacked”.
For the past few years, researcher Rabinowitch and colleagues have been pushing the idea of “potato power” to deliver energy to people cut off from electricity grids. Hook up a spud to a couple of cheap metal plates, wires and LED bulbs, they argue, and it could provide lighting to remote towns and villages around the world.
They’ve also discovered a simple but ingenious trick to make potatoes particularly good at producing energy. “A single potato can power enough LED lamps for a room for 40 days,” claims Rabinowitch, who is based at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
The idea may seem absurd, yet it is rooted in sound science. Still, Rabinowitch and his team have discovered that actually launching potato power in the real world is much more complex than it first appears.
While Rabinowitch and team have found a way to make potatoes produce more power than usual, the basic principles are taught in high school science classes, to demonstrate how batteries work.
To make a battery from organic material, all you need is two metals – an anode, which is the negative electrode, such as zinc, and a cathode, the positively charged electrode, such as copper. The acid inside the potato forms a chemical reaction with the zinc and copper, and when the electrons flow from one material to another, energy is released.
This was discovered by Luigi Galvani in 1780 when he connected two metals to the legs of a frog, causing its muscles to twitch. But you can put many materials between these two electrodes to get the same effect. Alexander Volta, around the time of Galvani, used saltwater-soaked paper. Others have made “earth batteries” using two metal plates and a pile of dirt, or a bucket of water.
Super spuds
Potatoes are often the preferred vegetable of choice for teaching high school science students these principles. Yet to the surprise of Rabinowitch, no one had scientifically studied spuds as an energy source. So in 2010, he decided to give it a try, along with PhD student Alex Goldberg, and Boris Rubinsky of the University of California, Berkeley.
“We looked at 20 different types of potatoes,” explains Goldberg, “and we looked at their internal resistance, which allows us to understand how much energy was lost by heat.”
They found that by simply boiling the potatoes for eight minutes, it broke down the organic tissues inside the potatoes, reducing resistance and allowing for freer movement of electrons– thus producing more energy. They also increased the energy output by slicing the potato into four or five pieces, each sandwiched by a copper and zinc plate, to make a series. “We found we could improve the output 10 times, which made it interesting economically, because the cost of energy drops down,” says Goldberg.
“It’s low voltage energy,” says Rabinowitch, “but enough to construct a battery that could charge mobile phones or laptops in places where there is no grid, no power connection.”
Their cost analyses suggested that a single boiled potato battery with zinc and copper electrodes generates portable energy at an estimated $9 per kilowatt hour, which is 50-fold cheaper than a typical 1.5 volt AA alkaline cell or D cell battery, which can cost $49–84 per kilowatt hour. It’s also an estimated six times cheaper than standard kerosene lamps used in the developing world.
Which raises an important question – why isn’t the potato battery already a roaring success?
In 2010, the world produced a staggering 324,181,889 tonnes of potatoes. They are the world’s number one non-grain crop, in 130 countries, and a hefty source of starch for billions around the world. They are cheap, store easily, and last for a long time.
With 1.2 billion people in the world lacking access to electricity, a simple potato could be the answer– or so the researchers thought. “We thought organisations would be interested,” says Rabinowitch. “We thought politicians in India would give them out with their names inscribed on them. They cost less than a dollar.”
Yet three years on since their experiment, why haven’t governments, companies or organisations embraced potato batteries? “The simple answer is they don’t even know about it,” reasons Rabinowitch. But it may be more complicated than that.
First, there’s the issue of using a food for energy. Olivier Dubois, senior natural resources officer at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), says that using food for energy – like sugar cane for biofuels – must avoid depleting food stocks and competing with farmers.
“You first need to look at: are there enough potatoes to eat? Then, are we not competing with farmers making income from selling potatoes?” he explains. “So if eating potatoes is covered, selling potatoes is covered, and there’s some potatoes left, then yes, it can work”
In a country like Kenya, the potato is the second most important food for families after maize. Smallholder farmers produced around 10 million tonnes of potatoes this year, yet around 10-20% were lost in post-harvest waste due to lack of access to markets, poor storage conditions, and other issues, according to Elmar Schulte–Geldermann, potato science leader for sub–Saharan Africa at the International Potato Center in Nairobi, Kenya. The potatoes that don’t make it to the market could easily be turned into batteries.
Pithy answer
Yet in Sri Lanka, for instance, the locally available potatoes are rare and expensive. So a team of scientists at the University of Kelaniya recently decided to try the experiment with something more widely available, and free – plantain piths (stems).
Physicist KD Jayasuriya and his team found that the boiling technique produced a similar efficiency increase for plantains – and the best battery performance was obtained by chopping the plantain pith after boiling.
With the boiled piths, they found they could power a single LED for more than 500 hours, provided it is prevented from drying out. “I think the potato has slightly better current, but the plantain pith is free, it’s something we throw away,” says Jayasuriya.
Despite all this, some are sceptical of the feasibility of potato power. “In reality, the potato battery is essentially like a regular battery you’d buy at the store,” says Derek Lovley at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. “It’s just using a different matrix.” While the potato helps to prevent energy being lost to heat, it is not the source of the energy – that’s actually extracted via the corrosion of the zinc. “It’s sacrificial – the metal is degrading over time,” says Lovley. This means you’d have to replace the zinc – and of course the potato or plantain pith – over time.
Still, zinc is quite cheap in most developing countries. And Jayasuriya argues that it could still be more cost effective than a kerosene lamp. A zinc electrode that lasts about five months would cost about the same as a litre of kerosene, which fuels the average family home in Sri Lanka for two days. You could also use other electrodes, like magnesium or iron.
But potato advocates must surmount another problem before their idea catches on: consumer perception of potatoes. Compared with modern technologies like solar power, potatoes are perhaps less desirable as an energy source.
Gaurav Manchanda, founder of One Degree Solar, which sells micro-solar home systems in Kenya, says people buy their products for more reasons than efficiency and price. “These are all consumers at the end of the day. They need to see the value in it, not only in terms of performance, but status,” he explains. Basically, some people might not want to show off their potato battery to impress a neighbor.
Still, it cannot be denied that the potato battery idea works, and it appears cheap. Advocates
Sunday, 3 August 2014
Why I’m A Fan Of The APC – Dele Momodu
Fellow Nigerians, kindly accept my sincere apologies for disappearing from this page abruptly last week. It was due to circumstances beyond my control. I had really over-flogged my body through marathon trips that left me totally knackered and brain-drained. I truly appreciate your concern and prayers. Many of you must have angered my perpetual cynics who used to complain weekly and endlessly about my column. Your messages, especially on Twitter, were eloquent endorsements of my modest efforts at writing Pendulum under stringent conditions most times.
Let me disabuse the minds of those who panicked about my column being rested by the Management of Thisday newspapers. No one can imagine the kind of freedom I have enjoyed since I took up this assignment. The Publisher of Thisday has never attempted to gag me in anyway and I’m mightily proud of our cordial relationship. Mr Nduka Obaigbena recognises the fact that a column is the personal opinion of the columnist and does not necessarily represent the editorial view of the newspaper. Those hoping and dreaming and preaching that my column should be scrapped should consider the interests of the majority who have come to accept Pendulum as their weekend tonic.?In my last piece of penultimate week, I had written copiously about my encounter with Dr Rilwan Lukman in Vienna about 15 years ago. I was shocked when news of his death reached me two days after that he has passed on. I doubt if he ever had time or enough consciousness to read what I wrote about him but that Pendulum has become my fitting tribute to the great man. May his soul Rest in Peace.?The title for this week was suggested or mandated by a reader, Favour Afolabi, on social media. He had tweeted after reading my piece, WHY I’M NOT A FAN OF PDP, that he expects me to write about my fascination for APC, perhaps, at a time many have chosen to write the obituary of that potentially great party. Let me state categorically that I’m not a member of APC but only a sympathiser and admirer for several reasons. I’m a proud member of opposition. It is unhealthy for a country with our myriad of intractable problems to operate a one party system.
I love the Yoruba proverb that says “we cannot all sleep and lie down facing the same direction.” As a member of opposition, it is my responsibility to work for the rescue of Nigeria from the ultra-conservative elements that have been in power almost forever in our country. Our types of conservatives have failed to yield positive results. They pretend to practise capitalism but without the commensurate capital. We love the American Presidential system of Government but lack the strength and might of America. We have spent too long a time and wasted so much of our resources on living senselessly and needlessly in denial. The rich are getting richer while the poor are getting poorer. Most of our institutional structures have collapsed and the country is virtually on auto-pilot. Those who can’t see the imminent danger ahead are the politicians and the toads of power. They never fought for the democracy we enjoy today and so can never seem to appreciate what we are bound to lose if this present experiment collapses again.?My sympathy for APC is not without a caveat. I’ve not issued them a blank cheque. I’m aware they have their own issues, plenty for that matter. I know many Nigerians claim they can’t see any difference between APC and PDP. I don’t exactly agree as I shall explain shortly. There are also the ethnic jingoists who don’t know the dictionary meaning of democracy. They are those who argue that the current President must govern the country for two terms WHICH IS OK BY ME. But I do not subscribe to the idea that it has to be done by force. What is the essence of holding the next Presidential election, if no one else would be able or allowed to win? Those who insist they won’t agree if the President is defeated in the election are only inviting anarchy. They are inflaming the polity and attracting public odium to the President by making the gentleman look like a man hell-bent on destroying his country on the altar of selfishness and avarice. For all you care, there are many Nigerians who may ordinarily wish to support the President but are now sufficiently nauseated by all the noise or threats of mayhem if opposition wins the election. I’m one of those who believe it is within the rights of the President to re-contest but there is nothing to suggest in our Constitution an automatic win for him. And the position is not hereditary. As a member of opposition, it is my belief that opposition groups must join forces to dislodge the PDP in a clean contest.?Let me now go to why I admire APC warts and all. One, by next year, PDP would have spent a total of 16 years in power. In those years, Nigeria would have moved effectively from a hopeful state to an almost hopeless nation. There is no citizen of Nigeria, except the few in the corridor of power, who’s not alarmed at the speed of our cataclysmic fall from grace to grass. In every sector, we have witnessed a downturn in the fortune of our dear beloved country. The very powerful leaders at the Federal level have squandered the vast resources of this great nation on frivolities to say the least. They have blatantly refused to declare an emergency rule on grinding poverty, infrastructural decay, mass ignorance, occasioned by the collapse of education, gross insecurity, atrocious corruption and extraordinary indiscipline, and so on.
Two, in any sane and sensible democracy, the PDP would have been sacked long before now. Governments are not sacked because there is a guarantee that the incoming would perform much better but because the mood of the people is such that they are totally tired and they want change or temporary reprieve from their slave masters. It does not matter if the next leader fails again, he would be changed for another.?Such a change favoured the ascension of Barack Obama. The people of Great Britain also kicked out their wiz kid Tony Blair because they were just tired of his many stunts and unholy romance with George Bush. Also, the ability to change a leader through the ballot box is the beauty of democracy. While no one can say with absolute certainty how APC would perform at the centre, I would rather risk trying them before knowing what they can do. At any rate, even if the argument that they won’t do better is valid, Nigeria practices Federal Character, so I ask why can’t we “quotalise” incompetence and corruption! Why must PDP be the sole beneficiary??Three, on a serious note, I’m reasonably convinced that a lot of APC states have given us much to cheer and a semblance of hope than most of the PDP states and certainly better than the government at the centre. I find most of the APC states to be potentially great despite not having the kind of resources available to the Federal and their states. Anyone who cannot see or acknowledge the modest efforts of APC Governors is not being honest about it. While people may say APC leaders have been enmeshed in their own mess, I still believe they have made better use of the resources available to them. I’ve always loved to say that nations are not run by saints but by performers. None of us is a saint and none is likely to be in our lifetimes but it behoves us to leave a legacy behind despite our imperfections as human beings.
Four, it is necessary to send a powerful message to those who think Nigeria can never change by first re-jiggling the principal actors. I believe it would most probably force the incoming government to know it is possible to be sacked like its predecessor if it fails to deliver on its promises. To keep PDP permanently in power is to keep Nigerians in perennial servitude. Every attempt to change democracy to monarchy should therefore be discouraged.?Five, the argument that the APC has become polluted because some PDP members crossed over is a spurious fallacy. How come PDP can welcome APC but APC can’t poach from PDP. At the end of the day, we are all human beings from the same country and what matters is to find more of sensible and forward-looking ones in one party than the irredeemable characters in the other. Let all those who oppose the PDP style come together and uplift our nation. PDP can no longer give what it has not possessed in nearly 16 years.?Six, it must be noted that both PDP and APC combined have fewer members than the floaters who don’t belong to either of them. I’m surprised at the seeming helplessness of the floaters who can’t see the sense and possibility of joining the opposition en masse so as to influence some of their decisions unlike PDP that has already become too big and incorrigibly set in its ways. Rather than regularly bemoan the many afflictions of our nation, I plead with those on the side-lines to engage in the torturous task of restoration. It will be more rewarding to all of us collectively. To voluntarily give up and say it is impossible is tantamount to committing mass suicide.
Seven, my definition of change is to move away from an existing disorder. PDP has been in the saddle since the return to our half-cooked, if not raw, democracy. The party has continued to wield the power of heaven and earth with nothing tangible to show for it. The only change possible is to move away from them and try something different and potentially refreshing. This would require the determination and courage of most Nigerians to accomplish, however.?Let me say categorically that I’m happy APC is facing critical challenges at this type. If its operatives are wise, it would give them enough time to put their house in order. What is needed on their part is not insurmountable. APC must stop playing Brazilian style of soccer in Brazil. Let them show us an original game many admirers like us know they are capable of playing. Let them bury their differences and bitter acrimonies urgently or perish together. Let them tap and recruit from the largest army in Africa, the unemployed masses of Nigeria and give them hope of a brighter future. It is too late for PDP to make such promises or offer such hopes but APC can still be given the benefit of the doubt.
I can’t see PDP doing as well as it did last time in the North West and North East the way those zones have become ravaged by terrorism. Most people from those parts may want to blame the President rightly or wrongly for their terrible woes and seek their pounds of flesh. PDP might sweep the South East and South South naturally and even do reasonably well in the North Central, especially the traditional Middle-Belt. But the battle ground remains the South West where APC needs to stand firm. It should be obvious to APC that PDP would do everything possible to control the South West ahead of the general elections. But what I like about the South West is the sophistication of its electorates who are already seeing through the smokescreen of “Operation Capture the West by all means.” The strategy is not new. It was tried in 1983 when NPN went on a binge and captured Oyo State but found Ondo State too hot to handle. The people of the South West naturally detest any form of intimidation or oppression. If the PDP continues to harass them, it would eventually backfire.?It is up to the APC to remain strong and steadfast in its quest for power. Its leaders would have to reach urgent consensus on who and who to field for what and prune their Presidential aspirants to barest minimum. I expect them to field a Northern candidate against the Southern incumbent President. Fortunately for APC, the President is generally believed to have marginalised the South West that gave him victory over Buhari the last time.
I don’t see more than three powerful contenders right now from the North but Buhari, like him or hate him, is one candidate PDP would hate to face despite the bravado that he can be easily defeated by them. He enjoys a cult-followership that seems to have increased in the last few weeks. In the South, APC would have to decide on a Christian to pick as Vice Presidential candidate between Governors Adams Oshiomhole, Rochas Okorocha and Rotimi Amaechi, if none of them defects to PDP before D-Day; or risk a Muslim-Muslim ticket through a choice of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu or Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola. Some of these leaders would have to bury personal ambitions for the sake of Nigeria. If they refuse and go ahead to kill the dreams of millions of Nigerians, the shrieking cries of suffering citizens will keep them awake till kingdom come…Why I’m A Fan Of The APC – Dele Momodu
Why I’m A Fan Of The APC – Dele Momodu
Fellow Nigerians, kindly accept my sincere apologies for disappearing from this page abruptly last week. It was due to circumstances beyond my control. I had really over-flogged my body through marathon trips that left me totally knackered and brain-drained. I truly appreciate your concern and prayers. Many of you must have angered my perpetual cynics who used to complain weekly and endlessly about my column. Your messages, especially on Twitter, were eloquent endorsements of my modest efforts at writing Pendulum under stringent conditions most times.
Let me disabuse the minds of those who panicked about my column being rested by the Management of Thisday newspapers. No one can imagine the kind of freedom I have enjoyed since I took up this assignment. The Publisher of Thisday has never attempted to gag me in anyway and I’m mightily proud of our cordial relationship. Mr Nduka Obaigbena recognises the fact that a column is the personal opinion of the columnist and does not necessarily represent the editorial view of the newspaper. Those hoping and dreaming and preaching that my column should be scrapped should consider the interests of the majority who have come to accept Pendulum as their weekend tonic.?In my last piece of penultimate week, I had written copiously about my encounter with Dr Rilwan Lukman in Vienna about 15 years ago. I was shocked when news of his death reached me two days after that he has passed on. I doubt if he ever had time or enough consciousness to read what I wrote about him but that Pendulum has become my fitting tribute to the great man. May his soul Rest in Peace.?The title for this week was suggested or mandated by a reader, Favour Afolabi, on social media. He had tweeted after reading my piece, WHY I’M NOT A FAN OF PDP, that he expects me to write about my fascination for APC, perhaps, at a time many have chosen to write the obituary of that potentially great party. Let me state categorically that I’m not a member of APC but only a sympathiser and admirer for several reasons. I’m a proud member of opposition. It is unhealthy for a country with our myriad of intractable problems to operate a one party system.
I love the Yoruba proverb that says “we cannot all sleep and lie down facing the same direction.” As a member of opposition, it is my responsibility to work for the rescue of Nigeria from the ultra-conservative elements that have been in power almost forever in our country. Our types of conservatives have failed to yield positive results. They pretend to practise capitalism but without the commensurate capital. We love the American Presidential system of Government but lack the strength and might of America. We have spent too long a time and wasted so much of our resources on living senselessly and needlessly in denial. The rich are getting richer while the poor are getting poorer. Most of our institutional structures have collapsed and the country is virtually on auto-pilot. Those who can’t see the imminent danger ahead are the politicians and the toads of power. They never fought for the democracy we enjoy today and so can never seem to appreciate what we are bound to lose if this present experiment collapses again.?My sympathy for APC is not without a caveat. I’ve not issued them a blank cheque. I’m aware they have their own issues, plenty for that matter. I know many Nigerians claim they can’t see any difference between APC and PDP. I don’t exactly agree as I shall explain shortly. There are also the ethnic jingoists who don’t know the dictionary meaning of democracy. They are those who argue that the current President must govern the country for two terms WHICH IS OK BY ME. But I do not subscribe to the idea that it has to be done by force. What is the essence of holding the next Presidential election, if no one else would be able or allowed to win? Those who insist they won’t agree if the President is defeated in the election are only inviting anarchy. They are inflaming the polity and attracting public odium to the President by making the gentleman look like a man hell-bent on destroying his country on the altar of selfishness and avarice. For all you care, there are many Nigerians who may ordinarily wish to support the President but are now sufficiently nauseated by all the noise or threats of mayhem if opposition wins the election. I’m one of those who believe it is within the rights of the President to re-contest but there is nothing to suggest in our Constitution an automatic win for him. And the position is not hereditary. As a member of opposition, it is my belief that opposition groups must join forces to dislodge the PDP in a clean contest.?Let me now go to why I admire APC warts and all. One, by next year, PDP would have spent a total of 16 years in power. In those years, Nigeria would have moved effectively from a hopeful state to an almost hopeless nation. There is no citizen of Nigeria, except the few in the corridor of power, who’s not alarmed at the speed of our cataclysmic fall from grace to grass. In every sector, we have witnessed a downturn in the fortune of our dear beloved country. The very powerful leaders at the Federal level have squandered the vast resources of this great nation on frivolities to say the least. They have blatantly refused to declare an emergency rule on grinding poverty, infrastructural decay, mass ignorance, occasioned by the collapse of education, gross insecurity, atrocious corruption and extraordinary indiscipline, and so on.
Two, in any sane and sensible democracy, the PDP would have been sacked long before now. Governments are not sacked because there is a guarantee that the incoming would perform much better but because the mood of the people is such that they are totally tired and they want change or temporary reprieve from their slave masters. It does not matter if the next leader fails again, he would be changed for another.?Such a change favoured the ascension of Barack Obama. The people of Great Britain also kicked out their wiz kid Tony Blair because they were just tired of his many stunts and unholy romance with George Bush. Also, the ability to change a leader through the ballot box is the beauty of democracy. While no one can say with absolute certainty how APC would perform at the centre, I would rather risk trying them before knowing what they can do. At any rate, even if the argument that they won’t do better is valid, Nigeria practices Federal Character, so I ask why can’t we “quotalise” incompetence and corruption! Why must PDP be the sole beneficiary??Three, on a serious note, I’m reasonably convinced that a lot of APC states have given us much to cheer and a semblance of hope than most of the PDP states and certainly better than the government at the centre. I find most of the APC states to be potentially great despite not having the kind of resources available to the Federal and their states. Anyone who cannot see or acknowledge the modest efforts of APC Governors is not being honest about it. While people may say APC leaders have been enmeshed in their own mess, I still believe they have made better use of the resources available to them. I’ve always loved to say that nations are not run by saints but by performers. None of us is a saint and none is likely to be in our lifetimes but it behoves us to leave a legacy behind despite our imperfections as human beings.
Four, it is necessary to send a powerful message to those who think Nigeria can never change by first re-jiggling the principal actors. I believe it would most probably force the incoming government to know it is possible to be sacked like its predecessor if it fails to deliver on its promises. To keep PDP permanently in power is to keep Nigerians in perennial servitude. Every attempt to change democracy to monarchy should therefore be discouraged.?Five, the argument that the APC has become polluted because some PDP members crossed over is a spurious fallacy. How come PDP can welcome APC but APC can’t poach from PDP. At the end of the day, we are all human beings from the same country and what matters is to find more of sensible and forward-looking ones in one party than the irredeemable characters in the other. Let all those who oppose the PDP style come together and uplift our nation. PDP can no longer give what it has not possessed in nearly 16 years.?Six, it must be noted that both PDP and APC combined have fewer members than the floaters who don’t belong to either of them. I’m surprised at the seeming helplessness of the floaters who can’t see the sense and possibility of joining the opposition en masse so as to influence some of their decisions unlike PDP that has already become too big and incorrigibly set in its ways. Rather than regularly bemoan the many afflictions of our nation, I plead with those on the side-lines to engage in the torturous task of restoration. It will be more rewarding to all of us collectively. To voluntarily give up and say it is impossible is tantamount to committing mass suicide.
Seven, my definition of change is to move away from an existing disorder. PDP has been in the saddle since the return to our half-cooked, if not raw, democracy. The party has continued to wield the power of heaven and earth with nothing tangible to show for it. The only change possible is to move away from them and try something different and potentially refreshing. This would require the determination and courage of most Nigerians to accomplish, however.?Let me say categorically that I’m happy APC is facing critical challenges at this type. If its operatives are wise, it would give them enough time to put their house in order. What is needed on their part is not insurmountable. APC must stop playing Brazilian style of soccer in Brazil. Let them show us an original game many admirers like us know they are capable of playing. Let them bury their differences and bitter acrimonies urgently or perish together. Let them tap and recruit from the largest army in Africa, the unemployed masses of Nigeria and give them hope of a brighter future. It is too late for PDP to make such promises or offer such hopes but APC can still be given the benefit of the doubt.
I can’t see PDP doing as well as it did last time in the North West and North East the way those zones have become ravaged by terrorism. Most people from those parts may want to blame the President rightly or wrongly for their terrible woes and seek their pounds of flesh. PDP might sweep the South East and South South naturally and even do reasonably well in the North Central, especially the traditional Middle-Belt. But the battle ground remains the South West where APC needs to stand firm. It should be obvious to APC that PDP would do everything possible to control the South West ahead of the general elections. But what I like about the South West is the sophistication of its electorates who are already seeing through the smokescreen of “Operation Capture the West by all means.” The strategy is not new. It was tried in 1983 when NPN went on a binge and captured Oyo State but found Ondo State too hot to handle. The people of the South West naturally detest any form of intimidation or oppression. If the PDP continues to harass them, it would eventually backfire.?It is up to the APC to remain strong and steadfast in its quest for power. Its leaders would have to reach urgent consensus on who and who to field for what and prune their Presidential aspirants to barest minimum. I expect them to field a Northern candidate against the Southern incumbent President. Fortunately for APC, the President is generally believed to have marginalised the South West that gave him victory over Buhari the last time.
I don’t see more than three powerful contenders right now from the North but Buhari, like him or hate him, is one candidate PDP would hate to face despite the bravado that he can be easily defeated by them. He enjoys a cult-followership that seems to have increased in the last few weeks. In the South, APC would have to decide on a Christian to pick as Vice Presidential candidate between Governors Adams Oshiomhole, Rochas Okorocha and Rotimi Amaechi, if none of them defects to PDP before D-Day; or risk a Muslim-Muslim ticket through a choice of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu or Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola. Some of these leaders would have to bury personal ambitions for the sake of Nigeria. If they refuse and go ahead to kill the dreams of millions of Nigerians, the shrieking cries of suffering citizens will keep them awake till kingdom come…Why I’m A Fan Of The APC – Dele Momodu
Why I’m A Fan Of The APC – Dele Momodu
Fellow Nigerians, kindly accept my sincere apologies for disappearing from this page abruptly last week. It was due to circumstances beyond my control. I had really over-flogged my body through marathon trips that left me totally knackered and brain-drained. I truly appreciate your concern and prayers. Many of you must have angered my perpetual cynics who used to complain weekly and endlessly about my column. Your messages, especially on Twitter, were eloquent endorsements of my modest efforts at writing Pendulum under stringent conditions most times.
Let me disabuse the minds of those who panicked about my column being rested by the Management of Thisday newspapers. No one can imagine the kind of freedom I have enjoyed since I took up this assignment. The Publisher of Thisday has never attempted to gag me in anyway and I’m mightily proud of our cordial relationship. Mr Nduka Obaigbena recognises the fact that a column is the personal opinion of the columnist and does not necessarily represent the editorial view of the newspaper. Those hoping and dreaming and preaching that my column should be scrapped should consider the interests of the majority who have come to accept Pendulum as their weekend tonic.?In my last piece of penultimate week, I had written copiously about my encounter with Dr Rilwan Lukman in Vienna about 15 years ago. I was shocked when news of his death reached me two days after that he has passed on. I doubt if he ever had time or enough consciousness to read what I wrote about him but that Pendulum has become my fitting tribute to the great man. May his soul Rest in Peace.?The title for this week was suggested or mandated by a reader, Favour Afolabi, on social media. He had tweeted after reading my piece, WHY I’M NOT A FAN OF PDP, that he expects me to write about my fascination for APC, perhaps, at a time many have chosen to write the obituary of that potentially great party. Let me state categorically that I’m not a member of APC but only a sympathiser and admirer for several reasons. I’m a proud member of opposition. It is unhealthy for a country with our myriad of intractable problems to operate a one party system.
I love the Yoruba proverb that says “we cannot all sleep and lie down facing the same direction.” As a member of opposition, it is my responsibility to work for the rescue of Nigeria from the ultra-conservative elements that have been in power almost forever in our country. Our types of conservatives have failed to yield positive results. They pretend to practise capitalism but without the commensurate capital. We love the American Presidential system of Government but lack the strength and might of America. We have spent too long a time and wasted so much of our resources on living senselessly and needlessly in denial. The rich are getting richer while the poor are getting poorer. Most of our institutional structures have collapsed and the country is virtually on auto-pilot. Those who can’t see the imminent danger ahead are the politicians and the toads of power. They never fought for the democracy we enjoy today and so can never seem to appreciate what we are bound to lose if this present experiment collapses again.?My sympathy for APC is not without a caveat. I’ve not issued them a blank cheque. I’m aware they have their own issues, plenty for that matter. I know many Nigerians claim they can’t see any difference between APC and PDP. I don’t exactly agree as I shall explain shortly. There are also the ethnic jingoists who don’t know the dictionary meaning of democracy. They are those who argue that the current President must govern the country for two terms WHICH IS OK BY ME. But I do not subscribe to the idea that it has to be done by force. What is the essence of holding the next Presidential election, if no one else would be able or allowed to win? Those who insist they won’t agree if the President is defeated in the election are only inviting anarchy. They are inflaming the polity and attracting public odium to the President by making the gentleman look like a man hell-bent on destroying his country on the altar of selfishness and avarice. For all you care, there are many Nigerians who may ordinarily wish to support the President but are now sufficiently nauseated by all the noise or threats of mayhem if opposition wins the election. I’m one of those who believe it is within the rights of the President to re-contest but there is nothing to suggest in our Constitution an automatic win for him. And the position is not hereditary. As a member of opposition, it is my belief that opposition groups must join forces to dislodge the PDP in a clean contest.?Let me now go to why I admire APC warts and all. One, by next year, PDP would have spent a total of 16 years in power. In those years, Nigeria would have moved effectively from a hopeful state to an almost hopeless nation. There is no citizen of Nigeria, except the few in the corridor of power, who’s not alarmed at the speed of our cataclysmic fall from grace to grass. In every sector, we have witnessed a downturn in the fortune of our dear beloved country. The very powerful leaders at the Federal level have squandered the vast resources of this great nation on frivolities to say the least. They have blatantly refused to declare an emergency rule on grinding poverty, infrastructural decay, mass ignorance, occasioned by the collapse of education, gross insecurity, atrocious corruption and extraordinary indiscipline, and so on.
Two, in any sane and sensible democracy, the PDP would have been sacked long before now. Governments are not sacked because there is a guarantee that the incoming would perform much better but because the mood of the people is such that they are totally tired and they want change or temporary reprieve from their slave masters. It does not matter if the next leader fails again, he would be changed for another.?Such a change favoured the ascension of Barack Obama. The people of Great Britain also kicked out their wiz kid Tony Blair because they were just tired of his many stunts and unholy romance with George Bush. Also, the ability to change a leader through the ballot box is the beauty of democracy. While no one can say with absolute certainty how APC would perform at the centre, I would rather risk trying them before knowing what they can do. At any rate, even if the argument that they won’t do better is valid, Nigeria practices Federal Character, so I ask why can’t we “quotalise” incompetence and corruption! Why must PDP be the sole beneficiary??Three, on a serious note, I’m reasonably convinced that a lot of APC states have given us much to cheer and a semblance of hope than most of the PDP states and certainly better than the government at the centre. I find most of the APC states to be potentially great despite not having the kind of resources available to the Federal and their states. Anyone who cannot see or acknowledge the modest efforts of APC Governors is not being honest about it. While people may say APC leaders have been enmeshed in their own mess, I still believe they have made better use of the resources available to them. I’ve always loved to say that nations are not run by saints but by performers. None of us is a saint and none is likely to be in our lifetimes but it behoves us to leave a legacy behind despite our imperfections as human beings.
Four, it is necessary to send a powerful message to those who think Nigeria can never change by first re-jiggling the principal actors. I believe it would most probably force the incoming government to know it is possible to be sacked like its predecessor if it fails to deliver on its promises. To keep PDP permanently in power is to keep Nigerians in perennial servitude. Every attempt to change democracy to monarchy should therefore be discouraged.?Five, the argument that the APC has become polluted because some PDP members crossed over is a spurious fallacy. How come PDP can welcome APC but APC can’t poach from PDP. At the end of the day, we are all human beings from the same country and what matters is to find more of sensible and forward-looking ones in one party than the irredeemable characters in the other. Let all those who oppose the PDP style come together and uplift our nation. PDP can no longer give what it has not possessed in nearly 16 years.?Six, it must be noted that both PDP and APC combined have fewer members than the floaters who don’t belong to either of them. I’m surprised at the seeming helplessness of the floaters who can’t see the sense and possibility of joining the opposition en masse so as to influence some of their decisions unlike PDP that has already become too big and incorrigibly set in its ways. Rather than regularly bemoan the many afflictions of our nation, I plead with those on the side-lines to engage in the torturous task of restoration. It will be more rewarding to all of us collectively. To voluntarily give up and say it is impossible is tantamount to committing mass suicide.
Seven, my definition of change is to move away from an existing disorder. PDP has been in the saddle since the return to our half-cooked, if not raw, democracy. The party has continued to wield the power of heaven and earth with nothing tangible to show for it. The only change possible is to move away from them and try something different and potentially refreshing. This would require the determination and courage of most Nigerians to accomplish, however.?Let me say categorically that I’m happy APC is facing critical challenges at this type. If its operatives are wise, it would give them enough time to put their house in order. What is needed on their part is not insurmountable. APC must stop playing Brazilian style of soccer in Brazil. Let them show us an original game many admirers like us know they are capable of playing. Let them bury their differences and bitter acrimonies urgently or perish together. Let them tap and recruit from the largest army in Africa, the unemployed masses of Nigeria and give them hope of a brighter future. It is too late for PDP to make such promises or offer such hopes but APC can still be given the benefit of the doubt.
I can’t see PDP doing as well as it did last time in the North West and North East the way those zones have become ravaged by terrorism. Most people from those parts may want to blame the President rightly or wrongly for their terrible woes and seek their pounds of flesh. PDP might sweep the South East and South South naturally and even do reasonably well in the North Central, especially the traditional Middle-Belt. But the battle ground remains the South West where APC needs to stand firm. It should be obvious to APC that PDP would do everything possible to control the South West ahead of the general elections. But what I like about the South West is the sophistication of its electorates who are already seeing through the smokescreen of “Operation Capture the West by all means.” The strategy is not new. It was tried in 1983 when NPN went on a binge and captured Oyo State but found Ondo State too hot to handle. The people of the South West naturally detest any form of intimidation or oppression. If the PDP continues to harass them, it would eventually backfire.?It is up to the APC to remain strong and steadfast in its quest for power. Its leaders would have to reach urgent consensus on who and who to field for what and prune their Presidential aspirants to barest minimum. I expect them to field a Northern candidate against the Southern incumbent President. Fortunately for APC, the President is generally believed to have marginalised the South West that gave him victory over Buhari the last time.
I don’t see more than three powerful contenders right now from the North but Buhari, like him or hate him, is one candidate PDP would hate to face despite the bravado that he can be easily defeated by them. He enjoys a cult-followership that seems to have increased in the last few weeks. In the South, APC would have to decide on a Christian to pick as Vice Presidential candidate between Governors Adams Oshiomhole, Rochas Okorocha and Rotimi Amaechi, if none of them defects to PDP before D-Day; or risk a Muslim-Muslim ticket through a choice of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu or Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola. Some of these leaders would have to bury personal ambitions for the sake of Nigeria. If they refuse and go ahead to kill the dreams of millions of Nigerians, the shrieking cries of suffering citizens will keep them awake till kingdom come…
Let me disabuse the minds of those who panicked about my column being rested by the Management of Thisday newspapers. No one can imagine the kind of freedom I have enjoyed since I took up this assignment. The Publisher of Thisday has never attempted to gag me in anyway and I’m mightily proud of our cordial relationship. Mr Nduka Obaigbena recognises the fact that a column is the personal opinion of the columnist and does not necessarily represent the editorial view of the newspaper. Those hoping and dreaming and preaching that my column should be scrapped should consider the interests of the majority who have come to accept Pendulum as their weekend tonic.?In my last piece of penultimate week, I had written copiously about my encounter with Dr Rilwan Lukman in Vienna about 15 years ago. I was shocked when news of his death reached me two days after that he has passed on. I doubt if he ever had time or enough consciousness to read what I wrote about him but that Pendulum has become my fitting tribute to the great man. May his soul Rest in Peace.?The title for this week was suggested or mandated by a reader, Favour Afolabi, on social media. He had tweeted after reading my piece, WHY I’M NOT A FAN OF PDP, that he expects me to write about my fascination for APC, perhaps, at a time many have chosen to write the obituary of that potentially great party. Let me state categorically that I’m not a member of APC but only a sympathiser and admirer for several reasons. I’m a proud member of opposition. It is unhealthy for a country with our myriad of intractable problems to operate a one party system.
I love the Yoruba proverb that says “we cannot all sleep and lie down facing the same direction.” As a member of opposition, it is my responsibility to work for the rescue of Nigeria from the ultra-conservative elements that have been in power almost forever in our country. Our types of conservatives have failed to yield positive results. They pretend to practise capitalism but without the commensurate capital. We love the American Presidential system of Government but lack the strength and might of America. We have spent too long a time and wasted so much of our resources on living senselessly and needlessly in denial. The rich are getting richer while the poor are getting poorer. Most of our institutional structures have collapsed and the country is virtually on auto-pilot. Those who can’t see the imminent danger ahead are the politicians and the toads of power. They never fought for the democracy we enjoy today and so can never seem to appreciate what we are bound to lose if this present experiment collapses again.?My sympathy for APC is not without a caveat. I’ve not issued them a blank cheque. I’m aware they have their own issues, plenty for that matter. I know many Nigerians claim they can’t see any difference between APC and PDP. I don’t exactly agree as I shall explain shortly. There are also the ethnic jingoists who don’t know the dictionary meaning of democracy. They are those who argue that the current President must govern the country for two terms WHICH IS OK BY ME. But I do not subscribe to the idea that it has to be done by force. What is the essence of holding the next Presidential election, if no one else would be able or allowed to win? Those who insist they won’t agree if the President is defeated in the election are only inviting anarchy. They are inflaming the polity and attracting public odium to the President by making the gentleman look like a man hell-bent on destroying his country on the altar of selfishness and avarice. For all you care, there are many Nigerians who may ordinarily wish to support the President but are now sufficiently nauseated by all the noise or threats of mayhem if opposition wins the election. I’m one of those who believe it is within the rights of the President to re-contest but there is nothing to suggest in our Constitution an automatic win for him. And the position is not hereditary. As a member of opposition, it is my belief that opposition groups must join forces to dislodge the PDP in a clean contest.?Let me now go to why I admire APC warts and all. One, by next year, PDP would have spent a total of 16 years in power. In those years, Nigeria would have moved effectively from a hopeful state to an almost hopeless nation. There is no citizen of Nigeria, except the few in the corridor of power, who’s not alarmed at the speed of our cataclysmic fall from grace to grass. In every sector, we have witnessed a downturn in the fortune of our dear beloved country. The very powerful leaders at the Federal level have squandered the vast resources of this great nation on frivolities to say the least. They have blatantly refused to declare an emergency rule on grinding poverty, infrastructural decay, mass ignorance, occasioned by the collapse of education, gross insecurity, atrocious corruption and extraordinary indiscipline, and so on.
Two, in any sane and sensible democracy, the PDP would have been sacked long before now. Governments are not sacked because there is a guarantee that the incoming would perform much better but because the mood of the people is such that they are totally tired and they want change or temporary reprieve from their slave masters. It does not matter if the next leader fails again, he would be changed for another.?Such a change favoured the ascension of Barack Obama. The people of Great Britain also kicked out their wiz kid Tony Blair because they were just tired of his many stunts and unholy romance with George Bush. Also, the ability to change a leader through the ballot box is the beauty of democracy. While no one can say with absolute certainty how APC would perform at the centre, I would rather risk trying them before knowing what they can do. At any rate, even if the argument that they won’t do better is valid, Nigeria practices Federal Character, so I ask why can’t we “quotalise” incompetence and corruption! Why must PDP be the sole beneficiary??Three, on a serious note, I’m reasonably convinced that a lot of APC states have given us much to cheer and a semblance of hope than most of the PDP states and certainly better than the government at the centre. I find most of the APC states to be potentially great despite not having the kind of resources available to the Federal and their states. Anyone who cannot see or acknowledge the modest efforts of APC Governors is not being honest about it. While people may say APC leaders have been enmeshed in their own mess, I still believe they have made better use of the resources available to them. I’ve always loved to say that nations are not run by saints but by performers. None of us is a saint and none is likely to be in our lifetimes but it behoves us to leave a legacy behind despite our imperfections as human beings.
Four, it is necessary to send a powerful message to those who think Nigeria can never change by first re-jiggling the principal actors. I believe it would most probably force the incoming government to know it is possible to be sacked like its predecessor if it fails to deliver on its promises. To keep PDP permanently in power is to keep Nigerians in perennial servitude. Every attempt to change democracy to monarchy should therefore be discouraged.?Five, the argument that the APC has become polluted because some PDP members crossed over is a spurious fallacy. How come PDP can welcome APC but APC can’t poach from PDP. At the end of the day, we are all human beings from the same country and what matters is to find more of sensible and forward-looking ones in one party than the irredeemable characters in the other. Let all those who oppose the PDP style come together and uplift our nation. PDP can no longer give what it has not possessed in nearly 16 years.?Six, it must be noted that both PDP and APC combined have fewer members than the floaters who don’t belong to either of them. I’m surprised at the seeming helplessness of the floaters who can’t see the sense and possibility of joining the opposition en masse so as to influence some of their decisions unlike PDP that has already become too big and incorrigibly set in its ways. Rather than regularly bemoan the many afflictions of our nation, I plead with those on the side-lines to engage in the torturous task of restoration. It will be more rewarding to all of us collectively. To voluntarily give up and say it is impossible is tantamount to committing mass suicide.
Seven, my definition of change is to move away from an existing disorder. PDP has been in the saddle since the return to our half-cooked, if not raw, democracy. The party has continued to wield the power of heaven and earth with nothing tangible to show for it. The only change possible is to move away from them and try something different and potentially refreshing. This would require the determination and courage of most Nigerians to accomplish, however.?Let me say categorically that I’m happy APC is facing critical challenges at this type. If its operatives are wise, it would give them enough time to put their house in order. What is needed on their part is not insurmountable. APC must stop playing Brazilian style of soccer in Brazil. Let them show us an original game many admirers like us know they are capable of playing. Let them bury their differences and bitter acrimonies urgently or perish together. Let them tap and recruit from the largest army in Africa, the unemployed masses of Nigeria and give them hope of a brighter future. It is too late for PDP to make such promises or offer such hopes but APC can still be given the benefit of the doubt.
I can’t see PDP doing as well as it did last time in the North West and North East the way those zones have become ravaged by terrorism. Most people from those parts may want to blame the President rightly or wrongly for their terrible woes and seek their pounds of flesh. PDP might sweep the South East and South South naturally and even do reasonably well in the North Central, especially the traditional Middle-Belt. But the battle ground remains the South West where APC needs to stand firm. It should be obvious to APC that PDP would do everything possible to control the South West ahead of the general elections. But what I like about the South West is the sophistication of its electorates who are already seeing through the smokescreen of “Operation Capture the West by all means.” The strategy is not new. It was tried in 1983 when NPN went on a binge and captured Oyo State but found Ondo State too hot to handle. The people of the South West naturally detest any form of intimidation or oppression. If the PDP continues to harass them, it would eventually backfire.?It is up to the APC to remain strong and steadfast in its quest for power. Its leaders would have to reach urgent consensus on who and who to field for what and prune their Presidential aspirants to barest minimum. I expect them to field a Northern candidate against the Southern incumbent President. Fortunately for APC, the President is generally believed to have marginalised the South West that gave him victory over Buhari the last time.
I don’t see more than three powerful contenders right now from the North but Buhari, like him or hate him, is one candidate PDP would hate to face despite the bravado that he can be easily defeated by them. He enjoys a cult-followership that seems to have increased in the last few weeks. In the South, APC would have to decide on a Christian to pick as Vice Presidential candidate between Governors Adams Oshiomhole, Rochas Okorocha and Rotimi Amaechi, if none of them defects to PDP before D-Day; or risk a Muslim-Muslim ticket through a choice of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu or Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola. Some of these leaders would have to bury personal ambitions for the sake of Nigeria. If they refuse and go ahead to kill the dreams of millions of Nigerians, the shrieking cries of suffering citizens will keep them awake till kingdom come…Why I’m A Fan Of The APC – Dele Momodu
Why I’m A Fan Of The APC – Dele Momodu
Fellow Nigerians, kindly accept my sincere apologies for disappearing from this page abruptly last week. It was due to circumstances beyond my control. I had really over-flogged my body through marathon trips that left me totally knackered and brain-drained. I truly appreciate your concern and prayers. Many of you must have angered my perpetual cynics who used to complain weekly and endlessly about my column. Your messages, especially on Twitter, were eloquent endorsements of my modest efforts at writing Pendulum under stringent conditions most times.
Let me disabuse the minds of those who panicked about my column being rested by the Management of Thisday newspapers. No one can imagine the kind of freedom I have enjoyed since I took up this assignment. The Publisher of Thisday has never attempted to gag me in anyway and I’m mightily proud of our cordial relationship. Mr Nduka Obaigbena recognises the fact that a column is the personal opinion of the columnist and does not necessarily represent the editorial view of the newspaper. Those hoping and dreaming and preaching that my column should be scrapped should consider the interests of the majority who have come to accept Pendulum as their weekend tonic.?In my last piece of penultimate week, I had written copiously about my encounter with Dr Rilwan Lukman in Vienna about 15 years ago. I was shocked when news of his death reached me two days after that he has passed on. I doubt if he ever had time or enough consciousness to read what I wrote about him but that Pendulum has become my fitting tribute to the great man. May his soul Rest in Peace.?The title for this week was suggested or mandated by a reader, Favour Afolabi, on social media. He had tweeted after reading my piece, WHY I’M NOT A FAN OF PDP, that he expects me to write about my fascination for APC, perhaps, at a time many have chosen to write the obituary of that potentially great party. Let me state categorically that I’m not a member of APC but only a sympathiser and admirer for several reasons. I’m a proud member of opposition. It is unhealthy for a country with our myriad of intractable problems to operate a one party system.
I love the Yoruba proverb that says “we cannot all sleep and lie down facing the same direction.” As a member of opposition, it is my responsibility to work for the rescue of Nigeria from the ultra-conservative elements that have been in power almost forever in our country. Our types of conservatives have failed to yield positive results. They pretend to practise capitalism but without the commensurate capital. We love the American Presidential system of Government but lack the strength and might of America. We have spent too long a time and wasted so much of our resources on living senselessly and needlessly in denial. The rich are getting richer while the poor are getting poorer. Most of our institutional structures have collapsed and the country is virtually on auto-pilot. Those who can’t see the imminent danger ahead are the politicians and the toads of power. They never fought for the democracy we enjoy today and so can never seem to appreciate what we are bound to lose if this present experiment collapses again.?My sympathy for APC is not without a caveat. I’ve not issued them a blank cheque. I’m aware they have their own issues, plenty for that matter. I know many Nigerians claim they can’t see any difference between APC and PDP. I don’t exactly agree as I shall explain shortly. There are also the ethnic jingoists who don’t know the dictionary meaning of democracy. They are those who argue that the current President must govern the country for two terms WHICH IS OK BY ME. But I do not subscribe to the idea that it has to be done by force. What is the essence of holding the next Presidential election, if no one else would be able or allowed to win? Those who insist they won’t agree if the President is defeated in the election are only inviting anarchy. They are inflaming the polity and attracting public odium to the President by making the gentleman look like a man hell-bent on destroying his country on the altar of selfishness and avarice. For all you care, there are many Nigerians who may ordinarily wish to support the President but are now sufficiently nauseated by all the noise or threats of mayhem if opposition wins the election. I’m one of those who believe it is within the rights of the President to re-contest but there is nothing to suggest in our Constitution an automatic win for him. And the position is not hereditary. As a member of opposition, it is my belief that opposition groups must join forces to dislodge the PDP in a clean contest.?Let me now go to why I admire APC warts and all. One, by next year, PDP would have spent a total of 16 years in power. In those years, Nigeria would have moved effectively from a hopeful state to an almost hopeless nation. There is no citizen of Nigeria, except the few in the corridor of power, who’s not alarmed at the speed of our cataclysmic fall from grace to grass. In every sector, we have witnessed a downturn in the fortune of our dear beloved country. The very powerful leaders at the Federal level have squandered the vast resources of this great nation on frivolities to say the least. They have blatantly refused to declare an emergency rule on grinding poverty, infrastructural decay, mass ignorance, occasioned by the collapse of education, gross insecurity, atrocious corruption and extraordinary indiscipline, and so on.
Two, in any sane and sensible democracy, the PDP would have been sacked long before now. Governments are not sacked because there is a guarantee that the incoming would perform much better but because the mood of the people is such that they are totally tired and they want change or temporary reprieve from their slave masters. It does not matter if the next leader fails again, he would be changed for another.?Such a change favoured the ascension of Barack Obama. The people of Great Britain also kicked out their wiz kid Tony Blair because they were just tired of his many stunts and unholy romance with George Bush. Also, the ability to change a leader through the ballot box is the beauty of democracy. While no one can say with absolute certainty how APC would perform at the centre, I would rather risk trying them before knowing what they can do. At any rate, even if the argument that they won’t do better is valid, Nigeria practices Federal Character, so I ask why can’t we “quotalise” incompetence and corruption! Why must PDP be the sole beneficiary??Three, on a serious note, I’m reasonably convinced that a lot of APC states have given us much to cheer and a semblance of hope than most of the PDP states and certainly better than the government at the centre. I find most of the APC states to be potentially great despite not having the kind of resources available to the Federal and their states. Anyone who cannot see or acknowledge the modest efforts of APC Governors is not being honest about it. While people may say APC leaders have been enmeshed in their own mess, I still believe they have made better use of the resources available to them. I’ve always loved to say that nations are not run by saints but by performers. None of us is a saint and none is likely to be in our lifetimes but it behoves us to leave a legacy behind despite our imperfections as human beings.
Four, it is necessary to send a powerful message to those who think Nigeria can never change by first re-jiggling the principal actors. I believe it would most probably force the incoming government to know it is possible to be sacked like its predecessor if it fails to deliver on its promises. To keep PDP permanently in power is to keep Nigerians in perennial servitude. Every attempt to change democracy to monarchy should therefore be discouraged.?Five, the argument that the APC has become polluted because some PDP members crossed over is a spurious fallacy. How come PDP can welcome APC but APC can’t poach from PDP. At the end of the day, we are all human beings from the same country and what matters is to find more of sensible and forward-looking ones in one party than the irredeemable characters in the other. Let all those who oppose the PDP style come together and uplift our nation. PDP can no longer give what it has not possessed in nearly 16 years.?Six, it must be noted that both PDP and APC combined have fewer members than the floaters who don’t belong to either of them. I’m surprised at the seeming helplessness of the floaters who can’t see the sense and possibility of joining the opposition en masse so as to influence some of their decisions unlike PDP that has already become too big and incorrigibly set in its ways. Rather than regularly bemoan the many afflictions of our nation, I plead with those on the side-lines to engage in the torturous task of restoration. It will be more rewarding to all of us collectively. To voluntarily give up and say it is impossible is tantamount to committing mass suicide.
Seven, my definition of change is to move away from an existing disorder. PDP has been in the saddle since the return to our half-cooked, if not raw, democracy. The party has continued to wield the power of heaven and earth with nothing tangible to show for it. The only change possible is to move away from them and try something different and potentially refreshing. This would require the determination and courage of most Nigerians to accomplish, however.?Let me say categorically that I’m happy APC is facing critical challenges at this type. If its operatives are wise, it would give them enough time to put their house in order. What is needed on their part is not insurmountable. APC must stop playing Brazilian style of soccer in Brazil. Let them show us an original game many admirers like us know they are capable of playing. Let them bury their differences and bitter acrimonies urgently or perish together. Let them tap and recruit from the largest army in Africa, the unemployed masses of Nigeria and give them hope of a brighter future. It is too late for PDP to make such promises or offer such hopes but APC can still be given the benefit of the doubt.
I can’t see PDP doing as well as it did last time in the North West and North East the way those zones have become ravaged by terrorism. Most people from those parts may want to blame the President rightly or wrongly for their terrible woes and seek their pounds of flesh. PDP might sweep the South East and South South naturally and even do reasonably well in the North Central, especially the traditional Middle-Belt. But the battle ground remains the South West where APC needs to stand firm. It should be obvious to APC that PDP would do everything possible to control the South West ahead of the general elections. But what I like about the South West is the sophistication of its electorates who are already seeing through the smokescreen of “Operation Capture the West by all means.” The strategy is not new. It was tried in 1983 when NPN went on a binge and captured Oyo State but found Ondo State too hot to handle. The people of the South West naturally detest any form of intimidation or oppression. If the PDP continues to harass them, it would eventually backfire.?It is up to the APC to remain strong and steadfast in its quest for power. Its leaders would have to reach urgent consensus on who and who to field for what and prune their Presidential aspirants to barest minimum. I expect them to field a Northern candidate against the Southern incumbent President. Fortunately for APC, the President is generally believed to have marginalised the South West that gave him victory over Buhari the last time.
I don’t see more than three powerful contenders right now from the North but Buhari, like him or hate him, is one candidate PDP would hate to face despite the bravado that he can be easily defeated by them. He enjoys a cult-followership that seems to have increased in the last few weeks. In the South, APC would have to decide on a Christian to pick as Vice Presidential candidate between Governors Adams Oshiomhole, Rochas Okorocha and Rotimi Amaechi, if none of them defects to PDP before D-Day; or risk a Muslim-Muslim ticket through a choice of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu or Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola. Some of these leaders would have to bury personal ambitions for the sake of Nigeria. If they refuse and go ahead to kill the dreams of millions of Nigerians, the shrieking cries of suffering citizens will keep them awake till kingdom come…Why I’m A Fan Of The APC – Dele Momodu
Why I’m A Fan Of The APC – Dele Momodu
Fellow Nigerians, kindly accept my sincere apologies for disappearing from this page abruptly last week. It was due to circumstances beyond my control. I had really over-flogged my body through marathon trips that left me totally knackered and brain-drained. I truly appreciate your concern and prayers. Many of you must have angered my perpetual cynics who used to complain weekly and endlessly about my column. Your messages, especially on Twitter, were eloquent endorsements of my modest efforts at writing Pendulum under stringent conditions most times.
Let me disabuse the minds of those who panicked about my column being rested by the Management of Thisday newspapers. No one can imagine the kind of freedom I have enjoyed since I took up this assignment. The Publisher of Thisday has never attempted to gag me in anyway and I’m mightily proud of our cordial relationship. Mr Nduka Obaigbena recognises the fact that a column is the personal opinion of the columnist and does not necessarily represent the editorial view of the newspaper. Those hoping and dreaming and preaching that my column should be scrapped should consider the interests of the majority who have come to accept Pendulum as their weekend tonic.?In my last piece of penultimate week, I had written copiously about my encounter with Dr Rilwan Lukman in Vienna about 15 years ago. I was shocked when news of his death reached me two days after that he has passed on. I doubt if he ever had time or enough consciousness to read what I wrote about him but that Pendulum has become my fitting tribute to the great man. May his soul Rest in Peace.?The title for this week was suggested or mandated by a reader, Favour Afolabi, on social media. He had tweeted after reading my piece, WHY I’M NOT A FAN OF PDP, that he expects me to write about my fascination for APC, perhaps, at a time many have chosen to write the obituary of that potentially great party. Let me state categorically that I’m not a member of APC but only a sympathiser and admirer for several reasons. I’m a proud member of opposition. It is unhealthy for a country with our myriad of intractable problems to operate a one party system.
I love the Yoruba proverb that says “we cannot all sleep and lie down facing the same direction.” As a member of opposition, it is my responsibility to work for the rescue of Nigeria from the ultra-conservative elements that have been in power almost forever in our country. Our types of conservatives have failed to yield positive results. They pretend to practise capitalism but without the commensurate capital. We love the American Presidential system of Government but lack the strength and might of America. We have spent too long a time and wasted so much of our resources on living senselessly and needlessly in denial. The rich are getting richer while the poor are getting poorer. Most of our institutional structures have collapsed and the country is virtually on auto-pilot. Those who can’t see the imminent danger ahead are the politicians and the toads of power. They never fought for the democracy we enjoy today and so can never seem to appreciate what we are bound to lose if this present experiment collapses again.?My sympathy for APC is not without a caveat. I’ve not issued them a blank cheque. I’m aware they have their own issues, plenty for that matter. I know many Nigerians claim they can’t see any difference between APC and PDP. I don’t exactly agree as I shall explain shortly. There are also the ethnic jingoists who don’t know the dictionary meaning of democracy. They are those who argue that the current President must govern the country for two terms WHICH IS OK BY ME. But I do not subscribe to the idea that it has to be done by force. What is the essence of holding the next Presidential election, if no one else would be able or allowed to win? Those who insist they won’t agree if the President is defeated in the election are only inviting anarchy. They are inflaming the polity and attracting public odium to the President by making the gentleman look like a man hell-bent on destroying his country on the altar of selfishness and avarice. For all you care, there are many Nigerians who may ordinarily wish to support the President but are now sufficiently nauseated by all the noise or threats of mayhem if opposition wins the election. I’m one of those who believe it is within the rights of the President to re-contest but there is nothing to suggest in our Constitution an automatic win for him. And the position is not hereditary. As a member of opposition, it is my belief that opposition groups must join forces to dislodge the PDP in a clean contest.?Let me now go to why I admire APC warts and all. One, by next year, PDP would have spent a total of 16 years in power. In those years, Nigeria would have moved effectively from a hopeful state to an almost hopeless nation. There is no citizen of Nigeria, except the few in the corridor of power, who’s not alarmed at the speed of our cataclysmic fall from grace to grass. In every sector, we have witnessed a downturn in the fortune of our dear beloved country. The very powerful leaders at the Federal level have squandered the vast resources of this great nation on frivolities to say the least. They have blatantly refused to declare an emergency rule on grinding poverty, infrastructural decay, mass ignorance, occasioned by the collapse of education, gross insecurity, atrocious corruption and extraordinary indiscipline, and so on.
Two, in any sane and sensible democracy, the PDP would have been sacked long before now. Governments are not sacked because there is a guarantee that the incoming would perform much better but because the mood of the people is such that they are totally tired and they want change or temporary reprieve from their slave masters. It does not matter if the next leader fails again, he would be changed for another.?Such a change favoured the ascension of Barack Obama. The people of Great Britain also kicked out their wiz kid Tony Blair because they were just tired of his many stunts and unholy romance with George Bush. Also, the ability to change a leader through the ballot box is the beauty of democracy. While no one can say with absolute certainty how APC would perform at the centre, I would rather risk trying them before knowing what they can do. At any rate, even if the argument that they won’t do better is valid, Nigeria practices Federal Character, so I ask why can’t we “quotalise” incompetence and corruption! Why must PDP be the sole beneficiary??Three, on a serious note, I’m reasonably convinced that a lot of APC states have given us much to cheer and a semblance of hope than most of the PDP states and certainly better than the government at the centre. I find most of the APC states to be potentially great despite not having the kind of resources available to the Federal and their states. Anyone who cannot see or acknowledge the modest efforts of APC Governors is not being honest about it. While people may say APC leaders have been enmeshed in their own mess, I still believe they have made better use of the resources available to them. I’ve always loved to say that nations are not run by saints but by performers. None of us is a saint and none is likely to be in our lifetimes but it behoves us to leave a legacy behind despite our imperfections as human beings.
Four, it is necessary to send a powerful message to those who think Nigeria can never change by first re-jiggling the principal actors. I believe it would most probably force the incoming government to know it is possible to be sacked like its predecessor if it fails to deliver on its promises. To keep PDP permanently in power is to keep Nigerians in perennial servitude. Every attempt to change democracy to monarchy should therefore be discouraged.?Five, the argument that the APC has become polluted because some PDP members crossed over is a spurious fallacy. How come PDP can welcome APC but APC can’t poach from PDP. At the end of the day, we are all human beings from the same country and what matters is to find more of sensible and forward-looking ones in one party than the irredeemable characters in the other. Let all those who oppose the PDP style come together and uplift our nation. PDP can no longer give what it has not possessed in nearly 16 years.?Six, it must be noted that both PDP and APC combined have fewer members than the floaters who don’t belong to either of them. I’m surprised at the seeming helplessness of the floaters who can’t see the sense and possibility of joining the opposition en masse so as to influence some of their decisions unlike PDP that has already become too big and incorrigibly set in its ways. Rather than regularly bemoan the many afflictions of our nation, I plead with those on the side-lines to engage in the torturous task of restoration. It will be more rewarding to all of us collectively. To voluntarily give up and say it is impossible is tantamount to committing mass suicide.
Seven, my definition of change is to move away from an existing disorder. PDP has been in the saddle since the return to our half-cooked, if not raw, democracy. The party has continued to wield the power of heaven and earth with nothing tangible to show for it. The only change possible is to move away from them and try something different and potentially refreshing. This would require the determination and courage of most Nigerians to accomplish, however.?Let me say categorically that I’m happy APC is facing critical challenges at this type. If its operatives are wise, it would give them enough time to put their house in order. What is needed on their part is not insurmountable. APC must stop playing Brazilian style of soccer in Brazil. Let them show us an original game many admirers like us know they are capable of playing. Let them bury their differences and bitter acrimonies urgently or perish together. Let them tap and recruit from the largest army in Africa, the unemployed masses of Nigeria and give them hope of a brighter future. It is too late for PDP to make such promises or offer such hopes but APC can still be given the benefit of the doubt.
I can’t see PDP doing as well as it did last time in the North West and North East the way those zones have become ravaged by terrorism. Most people from those parts may want to blame the President rightly or wrongly for their terrible woes and seek their pounds of flesh. PDP might sweep the South East and South South naturally and even do reasonably well in the North Central, especially the traditional Middle-Belt. But the battle ground remains the South West where APC needs to stand firm. It should be obvious to APC that PDP would do everything possible to control the South West ahead of the general elections. But what I like about the South West is the sophistication of its electorates who are already seeing through the smokescreen of “Operation Capture the West by all means.” The strategy is not new. It was tried in 1983 when NPN went on a binge and captured Oyo State but found Ondo State too hot to handle. The people of the South West naturally detest any form of intimidation or oppression. If the PDP continues to harass them, it would eventually backfire.?It is up to the APC to remain strong and steadfast in its quest for power. Its leaders would have to reach urgent consensus on who and who to field for what and prune their Presidential aspirants to barest minimum. I expect them to field a Northern candidate against the Southern incumbent President. Fortunately for APC, the President is generally believed to have marginalised the South West that gave him victory over Buhari the last time.
I don’t see more than three powerful contenders right now from the North but Buhari, like him or hate him, is one candidate PDP would hate to face despite the bravado that he can be easily defeated by them. He enjoys a cult-followership that seems to have increased in the last few weeks. In the South, APC would have to decide on a Christian to pick as Vice Presidential candidate between Governors Adams Oshiomhole, Rochas Okorocha and Rotimi Amaechi, if none of them defects to PDP before D-Day; or risk a Muslim-Muslim ticket through a choice of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu or Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola. Some of these leaders would have to bury personal ambitions for the sake of Nigeria. If they refuse and go ahead to kill the dreams of millions of Nigerians, the shrieking cries of suffering citizens will keep them awake till kingdom come…
Sunday, 25 May 2014
A New Government Coming Next Year – President Jonathan
President Goodluck Jonathan
In a speech that is bound to catch his allies, foes and watchers of his administration by surprise, President Goodluck Jonathan today assured Nigerians that a different government and leadership would be installed in Nigeria in 2015.
Mr. Jonathan made the surprise statement at a “Democracy Day” church service held Sunday in Abuja.
Before the president’s speech, the head of the Nigeria Pilgrims Commission, Reverend John Kennedy Opara, had set the tone when he told the gathering that this year's Democracy Day would be the last to be celebrated by Mr. Jonathan.
When it was the president’s turn to speak, he referred to Reverend Opara’s statement. He echoed the reverend’s statement, assuring Nigerians that the Democracy Day event was the last for his current administration.
A PDP official who was at the event told SaharaReporters that he was mystified by the statements. He said he had no advance notice about the president’s remarks, and so was in no position to interpret its political meaning.
It remains unclear if the two statements are indications that the Nigerian president had decided not to seek a second term in office in general elections scheduled for next year. Mr. Jonathan continues to face criticism both in Nigeria and abroad for his dismal performance since he assumed office more than five years ago.
source reported that the church service was not well attended. He stated, however, that some government officials, including Senate President David Mark, Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Pius Anyim, and some military chiefs were present. The president’s wife, Patience Jonathan, as well as his mother were also in attendance.
In a minor misstep in protocol, Mr. Jonathan recognized his wife before he did Senator David Mark.
Thursday, 15 May 2014
Hello Americans, you can keep all the intelligence and findings about the abducted girls to yourselves but when those drones find the missing $20b unremitted money, please forward it to my account immediately for onward remittance to the appropriate quarters! Find the missing girls and return them to their families; find BH and their financiers and bundle them to the US they are
your spoils of war!
Sunday, 11 May 2014
Boko Haram Is A CIA Covert Operation – Wikileaks
PLEASE READ THOROUGHLY, THE REST IS FOR YOU TO DECIDE. GOD BLESS NIGERIA
We have already been regaled with reports provided by the Wikileaks which identified the US embassy in Nigeria as a forward operating base for wide and far reaching acts of subversion against Nigeria which include but not limited to eavesdropping on Nigerian government communication, financial espionage on leading Nigerians, support and funding of subversive groups and insurgents, sponsoring of divisive propaganda among the disparate groups of Nigeria and the use of visa blackmail to induce and coerce high ranking Nigerians into acting in favour of US interests.
But beyond what we know from the Wikileaks report, what many Nigerians do not know is that US embassy’s subversive activities in Nigeria fits into the long term US government’s well camouflaged policy of containment against Nigeria the ultimate goal of which is to eliminate Nigeria as a potential strategic rival to the US in the African continent.
According to wikileaks article on ACRI which potrays the ACRI as a counterweight which was set up by the US to instigate mistrust in Nigerian dominated ECOMOG; the sense of nigerian led anti-american opposition was first observed in during the bush administration, when nigeria without support from the west or UN led the first ever african intervention force on peacekeeping mission to Liberia while at the same time engaging serria loene in forced peace combat, with predominantly nigerian troops( over 90%) being spearheaded by then Military ruler Gen. Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida.
In this regard, the report further recalled Nigeria’s role in helping to liberate the southern African countries in the 70’s and 80’s in clear opposition and defiance to the interests of the United States and its western allies which resulted in setback for Western initiatives in Africa at the time.
Both concluded with a recommendation that the US Government in conjunction with its allies should seek to contain the growing influence of Nigeria in the sub-region by forming a parallel organization to ECOMOG. But in order not to unduly alarm and antagonize Nigeria which the report admitted still had considerable influence in the region, the US government was advised to go about this using quiet diplomacy and instigating false propaganda.
Years, later the CIA while tactically taking advantage of growing sectarian violence in Nigeria, recruited jobless Islamic extremist through Muslim and other traditional leaders offering training indirectly to the group by use of foreign based terror groups. A detailed analysis is done below:
However, there many dots left to be joined together to find the truth;
In December 2011 an Algerian based CIA wing gave out 40 million Naira as a planned Long term partnership with boko haram with PLEDGE TO DO MORE.
On June 29, 2009 a United States cable leaked by wikileaks showed that the CIA public predicted the onslaught of deadly terrorist attack by boko haram, i.e even 2 months before boko haram started terrorist actions.
Disregarding advices from experts the us armed Saudi Arabia who in turned armed Libyan rebels that in turn armed Malian rebels and Boko Haram, a chain tactically predicted by the CIA. US=>SA=>LIBYA=>BOKO HARAM.
Spy files a wikileak document indicates that SS8 a surveillance company in the us was producing viruses(Trojans) that hijack individual computer and phones (iPhone,blackberry,android etc), take over the device, record its every use, movement,GPS info and even sights and sounds in the room it is in. This software was however bought by the and used as tools by the CIA in its eavesdropping games on Nigerian politicians, thus detecting corrupt practices. As good as that may sound, but whichever politician refused to hijack policies in favour of the US was made to face financial espionage or “corruption charges”.
It is however remarkably outstanding or rather coincidental how Nigerian SSS agents personal information,including address,bank information,mobile numbers,etc were leaked and published on the web when the sss where jointly working with the CIA to gather intelligence boko haram thus compromising the identity/security of the agents as well as that of their family.
it is also important to note the “miraculous escape of kabiru Sokoto” from a secret top security facility whose location was known to the CIA.
In the aftermath of the unfortunate bombings and sporadic attacks that took place in Damaturu the Yobe State capital and environs on the last Sallah Day, the Embassy of the United States in Nigeria hastily put out a public statement declaring that such like bombings should be expected in three well known hospitality establishments in Abuja the nation’s capital.
To discerning observers not only did that score high marks for bad manners as that was hardly what a nation still grieving and coming to terms with its losses expected from a supposedly friendly nation, but that the US embassy was being economical with information on what it actually knew about the incident, and more significantly, the role the US government itself has been playing in the whole gamut of acts of destabilization against Nigeria.
We have already been regaled with reports provided by the Wikileaks which identified the US embassy in Nigeria as a forward operating base for wide and far reaching acts of subversion against Nigeria which include but not limited to eavesdropping on Nigerian government communication, financial espionage on leading Nigerians, support and funding of subversive groups and insurgents, sponsoring of divisive propaganda among the disparate groups of Nigeria and the use of visa blackmail to induce and coerce high ranking Nigerians into acting in favour of US interests.
But beyond what we know from the Wikileaks report, what many Nigerians do not know is that US embassy’s subversive activities in Nigeria fits into the long term US government’s well camouflaged policy of containment against Nigeria the ultimate goal of which is to eliminate Nigeria as a potential strategic rival to the US in the African continent.
Today as Nigerians are reeling from the negative effects of the insurgency that has befallen our dear country and earnestly seeking answers to what all this portends for the future, the GREENWHITE COALITION a citizen’s watchdog can reveal the true nature of this silent, undeclared war of attrition waged against Nigeria by the Government of United States of America.
BACKGROUND TO US SUBVERSIVE ACTS AGAINST NIGERIA AND TIMELINES
From ACRI to AFRICOM
ACRI stands for Africa Crises Response Initiative and it was set up during the Bush Jnr Administration as a counterweight to the Nigeria led ECOWAS Monitoring Group on the Liberian Civil War or ECOMOG as it is more popularly known. ACRI came to being from the secret reports and recommendations separately by the Africa-America Institute and the Brookings Institute commissioned by the Central Intelligence Agency, the American Government’s Directorate responsible for organizing foreign subversive activities, on the Liberian civil war and the intervention of ECOMOG.
Both reports zeroed in on the pivotal role Nigeria was playing in the ECOMOG initiative and noted pointedly the phenomenal success recorded by ECOMOG in containing the Liberian crisis without any significant role or intervention from any of the major western powers including the United States. The report concluded that should ECOMOG be allowed to go the whole hog, the major beneficiary will be Nigeria and that might form the basis for a pax Nigeriana in the West African sub-region eclipsing the influence of former colonial powers France and Britain. The reports also called on the United States Government to note that Liberia being its creation should not be allowed to fall into Nigerian hands with consequences to US strategic interests in the country and the region.
Specifically both reports noted that should Nigeria be allowed to have a foothold in Liberia, it will further embolden Nigeria to challenge the US and the West in carving its own sphere of interest at their expense. In this regard, the report further recalled Nigeria’s role in helping to liberate the southern African countries in the 70’s and 80’s in clear opposition and defiance to the interests of the United States and its western allies which resulted in setback for Western initiatives in Africa at the time. Both concluded with a recommendation that the US Government in conjunction with its allies should seek to contain the growing influence of Nigeria in the sub-region by forming a parallel organization to ECOMOG. But in order not to unduly alarm and antagonize Nigeria which the report admitted still had considerable influence in the region, the US government was advised to go about this using quiet diplomacy.
During the secret congressional hearing organized to consider the reports by both institutes on Nigeria’s role in the ECOMOG, the inter agency team comprising representatives from the CIA, Pentagon and State Department formed to push the case, endorsed the recommendation that Nigeria be kept out of the alternate arrangements on Liberia that was being proposed. The strategy was to win away some key African countries from participation enthusiastically in the ECOMOG initiative. The sweeteners for this were the promise and delivery of military and humanitarian aid. This was the line the then US Secretary of State Warren Christopher pursued when he visited a number of African countries excluding Nigeria to sell the ACRI idea. Thus ensued, the stalemate in ECOMOG operations with some of the participating countries foot dragging in their commitment to the force and operations. On the diplomatic front, the US along with its allies namely Britain and France using the engineered stalemate as cover, proceeded to sell the idea that the ECOMOG initiative needed to be reviewed and given a new direction. The US and its allies then argued that the intervention of outside powers such as the US and its western allies was the tonic needed to move the ECOMOG operation forward. But in order to prevent any worldwide backlash against this blatant interference in what should be a regional African initiative, the US and its allies sought to present it under the auspices of the United Nations with a select Asian and Latin American countries participating.
By the time the tallies were counted, the US had achieved the one objective of all the diplomatic and strategic maneuvers; the containment of Nigeria led ECOMOG initiative to resolve the Liberian Crises. It was on the platform of this surreptitious American intervention in the Liberian crisis that the US Africa Command or AFRICOM was formed. African Crises Response Initiative and the new African Security (Dis)order {AJPS} Unlike its precursor, the ACRI which sought to disguise US intentions in Africa particularly as it pertains to Nigeria under the cloak of multilateral humanitarian intervention, AFRICOM which came to being on October 1, 2008 is clearly programmed to serve US military-strategic interests especially with regards to the ever expanding global reach and influence of China in direct competition with the United States. In response to the growing influence of a rapidly expanding industrial China in Africa, the goal of AFRICOM is to seize key strategic areas in Africa and bring them under US control in order to block China’s access to vital energy and mineral resources for its expanding economy. But to effectively carry this out, such African countries of strategic importance must first of all be weakened internally and made to feel so vulnerable that they would have to inevitably seek US protection or intervention. A spur to this interventionist programme provides that any targeted African country that does not see the wisdom or resists the need to seek US “protection” will then have to suffer dismemberment with the pliant area carved out of the supposedly hostile area and given US“protection”. We have seen this happen in the great lakes area where US Special Forces have been deployed ostensibly to protect the countries there from so-called insurgents who in the first place were sponsored by the same US.
In Sudan we have seen how a blanket cover of international humanitarian cries orchestrated by the United States on the so-called Darfur crisis served as a prelude to the dismemberment of Sudan to punish the government of El-Bashir for daring to conclude oil deals with the Chinese to the detriment of American companies. We have also seen how Libya and Gaddafi was put to the sword for daring to sidetrack American oil interests.
{See: NewsRescue-The NATO “liberated” Libya Terror “tidal wave” over North Africa}
But the greatest prize for AFRICOM and its goal to plant a PAX AMERICANA in Africa would be when it succeeds in the most strategic African country, NIGERIA. This is where the raging issue of BOKO HARAM and the widely reported prediction by the United States Intelligence Council on the disintegration of Nigeria by 2015 comes into perspective.
BOKO HARAM: A CIA COVERT OPERATION
From the 1st October 2010 bombing that rocked Abuja till date Nigeria seems to be locked in a vice like grip of a growing and intractable insurgency manifested in bombings of public places and sporadic attacks on public institutions resulting in the loss of scores of lives and destruction of properties. Predictably there has been a discernible growth in panic and tension in the country and not a few people are beginning to think that perhaps the country seems headed inevitably for a long drawn insurgency leading to a split. With the exception of the 1st October 2010 bombing incident, a shadowy group which goes by the name Boko Haram has laid claim to most of the subsequent bombings that have occurred in the country.
The seemingly intractable nature of the Boko Haram outrage has prompted a lot of questions from Nigerians. What really is this Boko Haram thing and what are their grievances if any? Why have they chosen to remain faceless in spite of the devastating effects of their activities on the psyche of the nation, and entreaties from Nigerian authorities to come forward for negotiations? Why are they able to perpetrate their attacks with relative ease and why has there not been a single clue at the scene of their acts to lead to them?
For sure, Nigerians are not unused to sectarian violence. But the ones we have witnessed in this country have been predictable and the modus and fault lines have been well known to the authorities who have always done well to keep them within tolerable limits.
The Boko Haram of Mohammed Yussuf which predated this new one can be so categorized and was well known through its operations, leadership and locations.
But how did a ragtag collection of largely half literate unsophisticated persons operating mostly on Okada transform literally overnight to being able to design, manufacture and deploy bombs in buildings and in vehicles costing in excess of a million naira and carry out attacks in several locations around the country???
Related: NewsRescue- Boko Haram – More Complicated Than You Think – Richard Dowden {RAS}
How have their reach grown from just a corner of Nigeria to virtually everywhere in the country? For them to be able to mount such a sophisticated operation, they must necessarily have a well structured command and control system which in spite of their best efforts at concealment cannot remain undetected for long. So how have they seemingly defied the best efforts of combined security agencies in the country in detecting and foiling their activities?
The GREENWHITE Coalition can reveal that the current Boko Haram campaign is a covert operation organized by the American Central Intelligence Agency, CIA and coordinated by the American Embassy in Nigeria.
For some time now, the CIA has been running secret training and indoctrination camps along the porous and vulnerable borderlands of Niger, Chad and Cameroon. At these camps youths from poor, deprived and disoriented backgrounds are recruited and trained to serve as insurgents. The agents who supply these youth lure them with the promise of better life and work of Allah and further indoctrinated to believe they are working to install a just Islamic order from the ungodly one that currently holds sway in Nigeria.
The American CIA programme officers of this project prudently remain in the background, living the day to day running of the camps to supervisors of Middle Eastern origin specially recruited for this purpose. After several months of indoctrination and training on weapons handling, survival tactics, surveillance and evasion techniques, the insurgents are now put on stand by for the next phase of the operation.
Related: NewsRescue- Boko Haram linked to Qatar, Western Powers
The next phase of the operations involves the identification and selection of the targets which had already been mapped out by the American Embassy. If buildings are the targets for attack, the weapons and technical equipment to be used are kept in safe houses.
The countdown to the attack involves ferrying of the insurgents and quarantine at safe houses for the H hour. After the attack, in the ensuing panic, the insurgents make their escape into safe houses to dispose the weapons and disappear and dissolve later into the local population. The technical angle of sending out e-mails and messages of responsibility for the attack to the media in the name of Boko Haram is done through secure telecoms equipment by the American programmers of the operation which can hardly be traced.
If the selected target is to be bombed by an IED, the building is cased for days and the devise inserted when security is lax. The devise is then detonated by an in-built timing mechanism or by a hand held detonator some distance away from where the bomb is placed. If on the hand, the attack is to be carried out by a suicide bomber, the person to carry it out would have been severely drugged with CIA manufactured LSD to disorientation. In his state of mind he would have no clue as to what he is programmed to do having been turned into a veritable human robot.
WORKING TO THE 2015 ANSWER-HOW THE US PLANS TO DISMEMBER NIGERIA BY 2015
It is neither a coincidence nor guesswork that the National Intelligence Council of the United States Government estimated that Nigeria will disintegrate by the year 2015. The whole report actually is a coded statement of intentions on how using destabilization plots the US plans to eventually dismember Nigeria.
The whole goal of the destabilization campaign is to ensure that Nigeria is weakened internally by intractable crises leading up to 2015 when the next general elections are expected to come up. By that year there will be so much mutual suspicion among Nigerians that the elections itself might not hold or if they did at all will set the stage for a full rapture of the Nigerian state. By its calculation and design, the Nigerian state will be so fractious by then; it will be fully ripe for intervention and break up. It is in actualization of this plan that the US strategic planners on Nigeria have devised a three stage plan of implementation.
Stage 1: Pakistanizing Nigeria
With the scourge of Boko Haram as an existential reality, in the coming months the spate of bombings and attacks on public buildings are likely to escalate. High value symbolic targets like churches, mosques and large congregations of people of both faiths will be targeted. There will also be escalation in provocative statements and incitements by groups to violence. For good measure and effect, the bombings and attacks will be staged on days of observance of religious activities. The goal is to exacerbate tension and mutual suspicion among adherents of the two faiths in Nigeria and leading to sectarian violence. This pattern of destabilization operation is taken out of the Pakistani manual of destabilization where a sustained spate of CIA sponsored bombings and sectarian violence stretched the ability and resources of the law and order agencies to cope rendering the country weak and vulnerable to foreign intervention.
Stage 2: Internationalizing the Crisis
Having the set the stage for an intractable sectarian violence pitting Christians against Muslims and between the various disparate groups in the country, there will be calls from the United States, European Union and United Nations for a halt to the violence. A plethora of advocacy groups around the world will struggle for the photo opportunity to mouth concerns about the carnage and humanitarian catastrophe. They will try to make a great show of providing humanitarian aid. For effect, there will be carpet bombing coverage by the International media on the Nigerian crisis with so-called experts discussing all the ramifications who will strive to create the impression that only benevolent foreign intervention could resolve the crisis.
There will be a deluge of international conferences at various capitals around the world all ostensibly aimed to save Nigerians from themselves. Meanwhile away from all the public flurry of activities, the US which initiated the crisis in the first place will be secretly drawing up plans to carve outNigeria for its strategic and economic benefits.
Stage 3: the Great Carve out under UN Mandate
Following worldwide outrage at the scale of carnage resulting from all out war among various sections of Nigeria secretly induced by the United States and its allies, the stage will now shift to the United Nations where debates will take place on how the world body will work to resolve the crisis.
There will be proposals first for an international peace keeping force to intervene and separate the warring groups and or for a UN mandate for various parts of Nigeria to come under mandated occupying powers. Of course behind the scenes the US and its allies would have secretly worked out which areas of Nigeria to occupy guided as it were by naked economic interests.
It is trite really which power or powers eventually occupies Nigeria for whatever reasons. By the time the UN comes to take a decision to hand over Nigeria for occupation under its mandate, no part of Nigeria will emerge or profit truly from the exercise. The rump areas of Nigeria will all come under occupation and puppet governments will then be set up at the behest of the occupying powers. Nigeria’s fall will be like that of humpty-dumpty, into pieces beyond recognition.
The main beneficiary will of course be the United States which started all this in the first place and which will be there to profit at the end. By engineering the break up of Nigeria, the United States would have eliminated a potential continental rival paving the way to the institution of a Pax Americana in Africa and secondly it would have limited its main global strategic rival China from direct access to badly needed energy and other mineral resources on the resource rich African continent.
QUESTIONS WE NEED TO ASK OURSELVES AS NIGERIANS
Against this background Nigerians need to stop and ask critical questions; what real purpose does it serve to deliberately leak a supposedly classified report from a US Intelligence organ normally restricted to only a handful of US policy makers only, to the media and for good measure ensure its wide circulation in the country against whom the action is targeted? Does that not indicate a statement of intent by the country that originated the report to serve as psychological intimidation for the purpose of softening up the targeted country making it ripe for intervention?
In any routine investigation of an act, investigators usually call in the statements of material witnesses before or after the act whether deliberately uttered or inadvertently; does the statement by the United States National Intelligence Council on the break up of Nigeria in 2015 not amount to culpability in this regard especially in view of the escalation in the seemingly intractable acts of subversive violence taking place in Nigeria after that statement was released and also in view of US antecedents in matters such as this around the world?
Why is it that a country which has always been known for its resilience and ability to resolve its problems without outside interference? Is this not indicative of the very Nigerian saying that the witch cried in the night and the child died in the morning?
Why is someone somewhere hell bent on engineering Nigerians to form the unNigerian habit of harbouring and perpetrating desperate, extreme and unforgiving actions against themselves?
Should we all 160million of us stand idly by and allow the United States achieve its selfish and diabolical aim of sowing discord in our country leaving us with widows, orphans and humanitarian problems as it has done in other places? Are we going to allow the labour of our heroes past which bequeathed us a nation second to none and reputed to be the backbone of Africa to die in vain?
From Vietnam to Iraq to Afghanistan and Latin America, America’s track record around the world has been nothing but ugly. In the words of its own statesmen, America has no permanent friends but permanents interests which translate into a healthy and utter disregard to the sensitivities and interests of other countries. That has pretty much formed the basis of US interaction around the world. The same situation will play itself out if we allow them in to our country.
Nigerians let us stop and think before we allow the big bad wolf in, for we will have nobody but ourselves to blame when our chickens start to get missing.
WATCH OUT FOR THE NEXT REPORT FROM GREENWHITE COALITION:
FOCUS ON TERENCE P. McCULLEY, AMBASSADOR OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA IN NIGERIA.
A few Posers;
He is one of America’s top Foreign Service officers and in the parlance of the State Department, an “old Africa hand”. Do you know that Terence P. McCulley, the current United States Ambassador to Nigeria was one of the architects of the Africa Crisis Response Initiative, ACRI which sought to undermine Nigeria’s involvement in ECOMOG?
Do you also know that he was also among the prominent resource persons that worked on establishing AFRICOM?
Do you also know that Ambassador McCulley’s alternate designation is State Department Coordinator of the AFRICOM from which position he is to diplomatically sell and smoothen the way for the entry of AFRICOM into Nigeria?
Do you know too that his main brief as Ambassador to Nigeria is to coordinate activities of the United States Government using the convenient cover of the Embassy of the United States inNigeria?
Do you also know that the full classified report by the United States National Intelligence Council on the possible break up of Nigeria which parts were only selectively released contains details of how the US plans to carry out this desired end?
The full details of the bombing of the UN Building in Abuja; who did it and how it was done.
You might also need to know real mission of the so-called foreign security experts who came to “investigate” the bombing. Did they really come to investigate the incident and provide the details of their actual findings to Nigerian authorities or their real brief was mop up any stray evidence from the bombing site in order to obscure the involvement of those who sponsored the act?
The US Embassy in Nigeria operates a network of so-called safe houses all over Nigeria from where it runs various subversive operations including electronic intelligence, surveillance, planning and carrying out of covert operations in Nigeria.
We will provide details of the locations and addresses of such safe houses in Nigeria in the next GREENWHITE COALITION Report.
About the GREENWHITE COALITION.
The GREENWHITE COALITION as the name implies, is inspired from the colours of the Nigerianflag and has set out to rally Nigerians to the flag in defence of the greater interest of theNigerian nation in the face of plans by the United States to destroy our country and our future. It is a citizen’s volunteer watchdog made up of Nigerians of all ethnic groups and religious persuasions who are alarmed at the dark plans of the United States of America to break up our dear country. We have taken it upon ourselves to spare no effort to expose and thwart the United States Government from carrying out its diabolical plans in Nigeria. For this we are dedicated to ferreting out information and plan counter actions against any untoward moves by the United States Government in Nigeria. In this endeavour we are fortunate to count on the support of well placed functionaries of the United States Government and other highly informed sympathizers who supply us with valuable inside information on the intentions of the United States Government as it affects Nigeria. These persons are themselves alarmed and appalled by the fact that the Government machinery of the United States has been hijacked by rogue elements denying the vast majority of American citizens their fundamental constitutional rights as envisaged by the founding fathers of America. Needless to say that these persons among who are those who served America diligently are aghast at the foreign policy of the American government which purports to act in protection of the American people but in reality protects the corrupt corporate elements that have taken America and Americans hostage.
In the coming days and months the GREENWHITE COALITION will manifest in many ways legally in the Nigerian public domain in its efforts to prevent our country from coming under the American boot. This write up is the first in the series. Many more will come with pinpoint expose of the American Government plans against Nigeria. The United States Government is hereby put on notice; we will not allow our women to be turned to widows and our children orphans as in Iraq, and elsewhere. We will not be turned to refugees at the mercy of so-called humanitarian charities. Nigeria must take its place under the sun.
We have already been regaled with reports provided by the Wikileaks which identified the US embassy in Nigeria as a forward operating base for wide and far reaching acts of subversion against Nigeria which include but not limited to eavesdropping on Nigerian government communication, financial espionage on leading Nigerians, support and funding of subversive groups and insurgents, sponsoring of divisive propaganda among the disparate groups of Nigeria and the use of visa blackmail to induce and coerce high ranking Nigerians into acting in favour of US interests.
But beyond what we know from the Wikileaks report, what many Nigerians do not know is that US embassy’s subversive activities in Nigeria fits into the long term US government’s well camouflaged policy of containment against Nigeria the ultimate goal of which is to eliminate Nigeria as a potential strategic rival to the US in the African continent.
According to wikileaks article on ACRI which potrays the ACRI as a counterweight which was set up by the US to instigate mistrust in Nigerian dominated ECOMOG; the sense of nigerian led anti-american opposition was first observed in during the bush administration, when nigeria without support from the west or UN led the first ever african intervention force on peacekeeping mission to Liberia while at the same time engaging serria loene in forced peace combat, with predominantly nigerian troops( over 90%) being spearheaded by then Military ruler Gen. Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida.
In this regard, the report further recalled Nigeria’s role in helping to liberate the southern African countries in the 70’s and 80’s in clear opposition and defiance to the interests of the United States and its western allies which resulted in setback for Western initiatives in Africa at the time.
Both concluded with a recommendation that the US Government in conjunction with its allies should seek to contain the growing influence of Nigeria in the sub-region by forming a parallel organization to ECOMOG. But in order not to unduly alarm and antagonize Nigeria which the report admitted still had considerable influence in the region, the US government was advised to go about this using quiet diplomacy and instigating false propaganda.
Years, later the CIA while tactically taking advantage of growing sectarian violence in Nigeria, recruited jobless Islamic extremist through Muslim and other traditional leaders offering training indirectly to the group by use of foreign based terror groups. A detailed analysis is done below:
However, there many dots left to be joined together to find the truth;
In December 2011 an Algerian based CIA wing gave out 40 million Naira as a planned Long term partnership with boko haram with PLEDGE TO DO MORE.
On June 29, 2009 a United States cable leaked by wikileaks showed that the CIA public predicted the onslaught of deadly terrorist attack by boko haram, i.e even 2 months before boko haram started terrorist actions.
Disregarding advices from experts the us armed Saudi Arabia who in turned armed Libyan rebels that in turn armed Malian rebels and Boko Haram, a chain tactically predicted by the CIA. US=>SA=>LIBYA=>BOKO HARAM.
Spy files a wikileak document indicates that SS8 a surveillance company in the us was producing viruses(Trojans) that hijack individual computer and phones (iPhone,blackberry,android etc), take over the device, record its every use, movement,GPS info and even sights and sounds in the room it is in. This software was however bought by the and used as tools by the CIA in its eavesdropping games on Nigerian politicians, thus detecting corrupt practices. As good as that may sound, but whichever politician refused to hijack policies in favour of the US was made to face financial espionage or “corruption charges”.
It is however remarkably outstanding or rather coincidental how Nigerian SSS agents personal information,including address,bank information,mobile numbers,etc were leaked and published on the web when the sss where jointly working with the CIA to gather intelligence boko haram thus compromising the identity/security of the agents as well as that of their family.
it is also important to note the “miraculous escape of kabiru Sokoto” from a secret top security facility whose location was known to the CIA.
In the aftermath of the unfortunate bombings and sporadic attacks that took place in Damaturu the Yobe State capital and environs on the last Sallah Day, the Embassy of the United States in Nigeria hastily put out a public statement declaring that such like bombings should be expected in three well known hospitality establishments in Abuja the nation’s capital.
To discerning observers not only did that score high marks for bad manners as that was hardly what a nation still grieving and coming to terms with its losses expected from a supposedly friendly nation, but that the US embassy was being economical with information on what it actually knew about the incident, and more significantly, the role the US government itself has been playing in the whole gamut of acts of destabilization against Nigeria.
We have already been regaled with reports provided by the Wikileaks which identified the US embassy in Nigeria as a forward operating base for wide and far reaching acts of subversion against Nigeria which include but not limited to eavesdropping on Nigerian government communication, financial espionage on leading Nigerians, support and funding of subversive groups and insurgents, sponsoring of divisive propaganda among the disparate groups of Nigeria and the use of visa blackmail to induce and coerce high ranking Nigerians into acting in favour of US interests.
But beyond what we know from the Wikileaks report, what many Nigerians do not know is that US embassy’s subversive activities in Nigeria fits into the long term US government’s well camouflaged policy of containment against Nigeria the ultimate goal of which is to eliminate Nigeria as a potential strategic rival to the US in the African continent.
Today as Nigerians are reeling from the negative effects of the insurgency that has befallen our dear country and earnestly seeking answers to what all this portends for the future, the GREENWHITE COALITION a citizen’s watchdog can reveal the true nature of this silent, undeclared war of attrition waged against Nigeria by the Government of United States of America.
BACKGROUND TO US SUBVERSIVE ACTS AGAINST NIGERIA AND TIMELINES
From ACRI to AFRICOM
ACRI stands for Africa Crises Response Initiative and it was set up during the Bush Jnr Administration as a counterweight to the Nigeria led ECOWAS Monitoring Group on the Liberian Civil War or ECOMOG as it is more popularly known. ACRI came to being from the secret reports and recommendations separately by the Africa-America Institute and the Brookings Institute commissioned by the Central Intelligence Agency, the American Government’s Directorate responsible for organizing foreign subversive activities, on the Liberian civil war and the intervention of ECOMOG.
Both reports zeroed in on the pivotal role Nigeria was playing in the ECOMOG initiative and noted pointedly the phenomenal success recorded by ECOMOG in containing the Liberian crisis without any significant role or intervention from any of the major western powers including the United States. The report concluded that should ECOMOG be allowed to go the whole hog, the major beneficiary will be Nigeria and that might form the basis for a pax Nigeriana in the West African sub-region eclipsing the influence of former colonial powers France and Britain. The reports also called on the United States Government to note that Liberia being its creation should not be allowed to fall into Nigerian hands with consequences to US strategic interests in the country and the region.
Specifically both reports noted that should Nigeria be allowed to have a foothold in Liberia, it will further embolden Nigeria to challenge the US and the West in carving its own sphere of interest at their expense. In this regard, the report further recalled Nigeria’s role in helping to liberate the southern African countries in the 70’s and 80’s in clear opposition and defiance to the interests of the United States and its western allies which resulted in setback for Western initiatives in Africa at the time. Both concluded with a recommendation that the US Government in conjunction with its allies should seek to contain the growing influence of Nigeria in the sub-region by forming a parallel organization to ECOMOG. But in order not to unduly alarm and antagonize Nigeria which the report admitted still had considerable influence in the region, the US government was advised to go about this using quiet diplomacy.
During the secret congressional hearing organized to consider the reports by both institutes on Nigeria’s role in the ECOMOG, the inter agency team comprising representatives from the CIA, Pentagon and State Department formed to push the case, endorsed the recommendation that Nigeria be kept out of the alternate arrangements on Liberia that was being proposed. The strategy was to win away some key African countries from participation enthusiastically in the ECOMOG initiative. The sweeteners for this were the promise and delivery of military and humanitarian aid. This was the line the then US Secretary of State Warren Christopher pursued when he visited a number of African countries excluding Nigeria to sell the ACRI idea. Thus ensued, the stalemate in ECOMOG operations with some of the participating countries foot dragging in their commitment to the force and operations. On the diplomatic front, the US along with its allies namely Britain and France using the engineered stalemate as cover, proceeded to sell the idea that the ECOMOG initiative needed to be reviewed and given a new direction. The US and its allies then argued that the intervention of outside powers such as the US and its western allies was the tonic needed to move the ECOMOG operation forward. But in order to prevent any worldwide backlash against this blatant interference in what should be a regional African initiative, the US and its allies sought to present it under the auspices of the United Nations with a select Asian and Latin American countries participating.
By the time the tallies were counted, the US had achieved the one objective of all the diplomatic and strategic maneuvers; the containment of Nigeria led ECOMOG initiative to resolve the Liberian Crises. It was on the platform of this surreptitious American intervention in the Liberian crisis that the US Africa Command or AFRICOM was formed. African Crises Response Initiative and the new African Security (Dis)order {AJPS} Unlike its precursor, the ACRI which sought to disguise US intentions in Africa particularly as it pertains to Nigeria under the cloak of multilateral humanitarian intervention, AFRICOM which came to being on October 1, 2008 is clearly programmed to serve US military-strategic interests especially with regards to the ever expanding global reach and influence of China in direct competition with the United States. In response to the growing influence of a rapidly expanding industrial China in Africa, the goal of AFRICOM is to seize key strategic areas in Africa and bring them under US control in order to block China’s access to vital energy and mineral resources for its expanding economy. But to effectively carry this out, such African countries of strategic importance must first of all be weakened internally and made to feel so vulnerable that they would have to inevitably seek US protection or intervention. A spur to this interventionist programme provides that any targeted African country that does not see the wisdom or resists the need to seek US “protection” will then have to suffer dismemberment with the pliant area carved out of the supposedly hostile area and given US“protection”. We have seen this happen in the great lakes area where US Special Forces have been deployed ostensibly to protect the countries there from so-called insurgents who in the first place were sponsored by the same US.
In Sudan we have seen how a blanket cover of international humanitarian cries orchestrated by the United States on the so-called Darfur crisis served as a prelude to the dismemberment of Sudan to punish the government of El-Bashir for daring to conclude oil deals with the Chinese to the detriment of American companies. We have also seen how Libya and Gaddafi was put to the sword for daring to sidetrack American oil interests.
{See: NewsRescue-The NATO “liberated” Libya Terror “tidal wave” over North Africa}
But the greatest prize for AFRICOM and its goal to plant a PAX AMERICANA in Africa would be when it succeeds in the most strategic African country, NIGERIA. This is where the raging issue of BOKO HARAM and the widely reported prediction by the United States Intelligence Council on the disintegration of Nigeria by 2015 comes into perspective.
BOKO HARAM: A CIA COVERT OPERATION
From the 1st October 2010 bombing that rocked Abuja till date Nigeria seems to be locked in a vice like grip of a growing and intractable insurgency manifested in bombings of public places and sporadic attacks on public institutions resulting in the loss of scores of lives and destruction of properties. Predictably there has been a discernible growth in panic and tension in the country and not a few people are beginning to think that perhaps the country seems headed inevitably for a long drawn insurgency leading to a split. With the exception of the 1st October 2010 bombing incident, a shadowy group which goes by the name Boko Haram has laid claim to most of the subsequent bombings that have occurred in the country.
The seemingly intractable nature of the Boko Haram outrage has prompted a lot of questions from Nigerians. What really is this Boko Haram thing and what are their grievances if any? Why have they chosen to remain faceless in spite of the devastating effects of their activities on the psyche of the nation, and entreaties from Nigerian authorities to come forward for negotiations? Why are they able to perpetrate their attacks with relative ease and why has there not been a single clue at the scene of their acts to lead to them?
For sure, Nigerians are not unused to sectarian violence. But the ones we have witnessed in this country have been predictable and the modus and fault lines have been well known to the authorities who have always done well to keep them within tolerable limits.
The Boko Haram of Mohammed Yussuf which predated this new one can be so categorized and was well known through its operations, leadership and locations.
But how did a ragtag collection of largely half literate unsophisticated persons operating mostly on Okada transform literally overnight to being able to design, manufacture and deploy bombs in buildings and in vehicles costing in excess of a million naira and carry out attacks in several locations around the country???
Related: NewsRescue- Boko Haram – More Complicated Than You Think – Richard Dowden {RAS}
How have their reach grown from just a corner of Nigeria to virtually everywhere in the country? For them to be able to mount such a sophisticated operation, they must necessarily have a well structured command and control system which in spite of their best efforts at concealment cannot remain undetected for long. So how have they seemingly defied the best efforts of combined security agencies in the country in detecting and foiling their activities?
The GREENWHITE Coalition can reveal that the current Boko Haram campaign is a covert operation organized by the American Central Intelligence Agency, CIA and coordinated by the American Embassy in Nigeria.
For some time now, the CIA has been running secret training and indoctrination camps along the porous and vulnerable borderlands of Niger, Chad and Cameroon. At these camps youths from poor, deprived and disoriented backgrounds are recruited and trained to serve as insurgents. The agents who supply these youth lure them with the promise of better life and work of Allah and further indoctrinated to believe they are working to install a just Islamic order from the ungodly one that currently holds sway in Nigeria.
The American CIA programme officers of this project prudently remain in the background, living the day to day running of the camps to supervisors of Middle Eastern origin specially recruited for this purpose. After several months of indoctrination and training on weapons handling, survival tactics, surveillance and evasion techniques, the insurgents are now put on stand by for the next phase of the operation.
Related: NewsRescue- Boko Haram linked to Qatar, Western Powers
The next phase of the operations involves the identification and selection of the targets which had already been mapped out by the American Embassy. If buildings are the targets for attack, the weapons and technical equipment to be used are kept in safe houses.
The countdown to the attack involves ferrying of the insurgents and quarantine at safe houses for the H hour. After the attack, in the ensuing panic, the insurgents make their escape into safe houses to dispose the weapons and disappear and dissolve later into the local population. The technical angle of sending out e-mails and messages of responsibility for the attack to the media in the name of Boko Haram is done through secure telecoms equipment by the American programmers of the operation which can hardly be traced.
If the selected target is to be bombed by an IED, the building is cased for days and the devise inserted when security is lax. The devise is then detonated by an in-built timing mechanism or by a hand held detonator some distance away from where the bomb is placed. If on the hand, the attack is to be carried out by a suicide bomber, the person to carry it out would have been severely drugged with CIA manufactured LSD to disorientation. In his state of mind he would have no clue as to what he is programmed to do having been turned into a veritable human robot.
WORKING TO THE 2015 ANSWER-HOW THE US PLANS TO DISMEMBER NIGERIA BY 2015
It is neither a coincidence nor guesswork that the National Intelligence Council of the United States Government estimated that Nigeria will disintegrate by the year 2015. The whole report actually is a coded statement of intentions on how using destabilization plots the US plans to eventually dismember Nigeria.
The whole goal of the destabilization campaign is to ensure that Nigeria is weakened internally by intractable crises leading up to 2015 when the next general elections are expected to come up. By that year there will be so much mutual suspicion among Nigerians that the elections itself might not hold or if they did at all will set the stage for a full rapture of the Nigerian state. By its calculation and design, the Nigerian state will be so fractious by then; it will be fully ripe for intervention and break up. It is in actualization of this plan that the US strategic planners on Nigeria have devised a three stage plan of implementation.
Stage 1: Pakistanizing Nigeria
With the scourge of Boko Haram as an existential reality, in the coming months the spate of bombings and attacks on public buildings are likely to escalate. High value symbolic targets like churches, mosques and large congregations of people of both faiths will be targeted. There will also be escalation in provocative statements and incitements by groups to violence. For good measure and effect, the bombings and attacks will be staged on days of observance of religious activities. The goal is to exacerbate tension and mutual suspicion among adherents of the two faiths in Nigeria and leading to sectarian violence. This pattern of destabilization operation is taken out of the Pakistani manual of destabilization where a sustained spate of CIA sponsored bombings and sectarian violence stretched the ability and resources of the law and order agencies to cope rendering the country weak and vulnerable to foreign intervention.
Stage 2: Internationalizing the Crisis
Having the set the stage for an intractable sectarian violence pitting Christians against Muslims and between the various disparate groups in the country, there will be calls from the United States, European Union and United Nations for a halt to the violence. A plethora of advocacy groups around the world will struggle for the photo opportunity to mouth concerns about the carnage and humanitarian catastrophe. They will try to make a great show of providing humanitarian aid. For effect, there will be carpet bombing coverage by the International media on the Nigerian crisis with so-called experts discussing all the ramifications who will strive to create the impression that only benevolent foreign intervention could resolve the crisis.
There will be a deluge of international conferences at various capitals around the world all ostensibly aimed to save Nigerians from themselves. Meanwhile away from all the public flurry of activities, the US which initiated the crisis in the first place will be secretly drawing up plans to carve outNigeria for its strategic and economic benefits.
Stage 3: the Great Carve out under UN Mandate
Following worldwide outrage at the scale of carnage resulting from all out war among various sections of Nigeria secretly induced by the United States and its allies, the stage will now shift to the United Nations where debates will take place on how the world body will work to resolve the crisis.
There will be proposals first for an international peace keeping force to intervene and separate the warring groups and or for a UN mandate for various parts of Nigeria to come under mandated occupying powers. Of course behind the scenes the US and its allies would have secretly worked out which areas of Nigeria to occupy guided as it were by naked economic interests.
It is trite really which power or powers eventually occupies Nigeria for whatever reasons. By the time the UN comes to take a decision to hand over Nigeria for occupation under its mandate, no part of Nigeria will emerge or profit truly from the exercise. The rump areas of Nigeria will all come under occupation and puppet governments will then be set up at the behest of the occupying powers. Nigeria’s fall will be like that of humpty-dumpty, into pieces beyond recognition.
The main beneficiary will of course be the United States which started all this in the first place and which will be there to profit at the end. By engineering the break up of Nigeria, the United States would have eliminated a potential continental rival paving the way to the institution of a Pax Americana in Africa and secondly it would have limited its main global strategic rival China from direct access to badly needed energy and other mineral resources on the resource rich African continent.
QUESTIONS WE NEED TO ASK OURSELVES AS NIGERIANS
Against this background Nigerians need to stop and ask critical questions; what real purpose does it serve to deliberately leak a supposedly classified report from a US Intelligence organ normally restricted to only a handful of US policy makers only, to the media and for good measure ensure its wide circulation in the country against whom the action is targeted? Does that not indicate a statement of intent by the country that originated the report to serve as psychological intimidation for the purpose of softening up the targeted country making it ripe for intervention?
In any routine investigation of an act, investigators usually call in the statements of material witnesses before or after the act whether deliberately uttered or inadvertently; does the statement by the United States National Intelligence Council on the break up of Nigeria in 2015 not amount to culpability in this regard especially in view of the escalation in the seemingly intractable acts of subversive violence taking place in Nigeria after that statement was released and also in view of US antecedents in matters such as this around the world?
Why is it that a country which has always been known for its resilience and ability to resolve its problems without outside interference? Is this not indicative of the very Nigerian saying that the witch cried in the night and the child died in the morning?
Why is someone somewhere hell bent on engineering Nigerians to form the unNigerian habit of harbouring and perpetrating desperate, extreme and unforgiving actions against themselves?
Should we all 160million of us stand idly by and allow the United States achieve its selfish and diabolical aim of sowing discord in our country leaving us with widows, orphans and humanitarian problems as it has done in other places? Are we going to allow the labour of our heroes past which bequeathed us a nation second to none and reputed to be the backbone of Africa to die in vain?
From Vietnam to Iraq to Afghanistan and Latin America, America’s track record around the world has been nothing but ugly. In the words of its own statesmen, America has no permanent friends but permanents interests which translate into a healthy and utter disregard to the sensitivities and interests of other countries. That has pretty much formed the basis of US interaction around the world. The same situation will play itself out if we allow them in to our country.
Nigerians let us stop and think before we allow the big bad wolf in, for we will have nobody but ourselves to blame when our chickens start to get missing.
WATCH OUT FOR THE NEXT REPORT FROM GREENWHITE COALITION:
FOCUS ON TERENCE P. McCULLEY, AMBASSADOR OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA IN NIGERIA.
A few Posers;
He is one of America’s top Foreign Service officers and in the parlance of the State Department, an “old Africa hand”. Do you know that Terence P. McCulley, the current United States Ambassador to Nigeria was one of the architects of the Africa Crisis Response Initiative, ACRI which sought to undermine Nigeria’s involvement in ECOMOG?
Do you also know that he was also among the prominent resource persons that worked on establishing AFRICOM?
Do you also know that Ambassador McCulley’s alternate designation is State Department Coordinator of the AFRICOM from which position he is to diplomatically sell and smoothen the way for the entry of AFRICOM into Nigeria?
Do you know too that his main brief as Ambassador to Nigeria is to coordinate activities of the United States Government using the convenient cover of the Embassy of the United States inNigeria?
Do you also know that the full classified report by the United States National Intelligence Council on the possible break up of Nigeria which parts were only selectively released contains details of how the US plans to carry out this desired end?
The full details of the bombing of the UN Building in Abuja; who did it and how it was done.
You might also need to know real mission of the so-called foreign security experts who came to “investigate” the bombing. Did they really come to investigate the incident and provide the details of their actual findings to Nigerian authorities or their real brief was mop up any stray evidence from the bombing site in order to obscure the involvement of those who sponsored the act?
The US Embassy in Nigeria operates a network of so-called safe houses all over Nigeria from where it runs various subversive operations including electronic intelligence, surveillance, planning and carrying out of covert operations in Nigeria.
We will provide details of the locations and addresses of such safe houses in Nigeria in the next GREENWHITE COALITION Report.
About the GREENWHITE COALITION.
The GREENWHITE COALITION as the name implies, is inspired from the colours of the Nigerianflag and has set out to rally Nigerians to the flag in defence of the greater interest of theNigerian nation in the face of plans by the United States to destroy our country and our future. It is a citizen’s volunteer watchdog made up of Nigerians of all ethnic groups and religious persuasions who are alarmed at the dark plans of the United States of America to break up our dear country. We have taken it upon ourselves to spare no effort to expose and thwart the United States Government from carrying out its diabolical plans in Nigeria. For this we are dedicated to ferreting out information and plan counter actions against any untoward moves by the United States Government in Nigeria. In this endeavour we are fortunate to count on the support of well placed functionaries of the United States Government and other highly informed sympathizers who supply us with valuable inside information on the intentions of the United States Government as it affects Nigeria. These persons are themselves alarmed and appalled by the fact that the Government machinery of the United States has been hijacked by rogue elements denying the vast majority of American citizens their fundamental constitutional rights as envisaged by the founding fathers of America. Needless to say that these persons among who are those who served America diligently are aghast at the foreign policy of the American government which purports to act in protection of the American people but in reality protects the corrupt corporate elements that have taken America and Americans hostage.
In the coming days and months the GREENWHITE COALITION will manifest in many ways legally in the Nigerian public domain in its efforts to prevent our country from coming under the American boot. This write up is the first in the series. Many more will come with pinpoint expose of the American Government plans against Nigeria. The United States Government is hereby put on notice; we will not allow our women to be turned to widows and our children orphans as in Iraq, and elsewhere. We will not be turned to refugees at the mercy of so-called humanitarian charities. Nigeria must take its place under the sun.
Saturday, 10 May 2014
Michelle Obama on Saturday criticized the kidnapping of scores of Nigerian schoolgirls
Michelle Obama on Saturday, May 10, criticized the kidnapping of scores of Nigerian schoolgirls as an "unconscionable act" carried out by a terrorist group she said is determined to keep them from getting an education. Taking over the president’s weekly radio and Internet address on the eve of the American holiday for honoring mothers, the first lady said that, like millions of people around the world, she and President Barack Obama are "outraged and heartbroken" over the April 15 abduction of the girls from their dormitory. Michelle Obama on Saturday criticized the kidnapping of scores of Nigerian schoolgirls as an "unconscionable act" carried out by a terrorist group she said is determined to keep them from getting an education — "or grown men attempting to snuff out the aspirations of young girls."
Taking over the president's weekly radio and Internet address on the eve of the American holiday for honoring mothers, the first lady said that, like millions of people around the world, she and President Barack Obama are "outraged and heartbroken" over the April 15 abduction of the girls from their dormitory.
"In these girls, Barack and I see our own daughters," Mrs. Obama said, referring to Malia, 15, and Sasha, 12. "We see their hopes, their dreams and we can only imagine the anguish their parents are feeling right now."
What happened in Nigeria is not an isolated incident, the first lady said, but is "a story we see every day as girls around the world risk their lives to pursue their ambitions."
Mrs. Obama mentioned the case of Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani teenager who survived being shot in the head as she traveled to school in 2012. Malala has become an outspoken advocate for the rights of all girls to get an education, the same message Mrs. Obama delivered in her first solo address to the nation.
Mrs. Obama noted that more than 65 million girls worldwide do not attend school even though educated women earn more money and have healthier families.
"When more girls attend secondary school, that boosts their country's entire economy," she said. "So education is truly a girl's best chance for a bright future, not just for herself, but for her family and her nation."
That is also true in the U.S., the first lady said. She expressed hope that what happened in Nigeria will inspire boys and girls across the U.S. to be serious about getting an education.
"I hope that any young people in America who take school for granted, any young people who are slacking off or thinking of dropping out, I hope they will learn the story of these girls and recommit themselves to their education," she said.
Mrs. Obama recently launched a domestic initiative called "Reach Higher" to encourage young people to pursue education beyond high school, whether they enroll in a professional training program or attend a community college or a four-year institution.
In Saturday's address, the first lady asked the nation to pray for the Nigerian girls' safe return.
"This unconscionable act was committed by a terrorist group determined to keep these girls from getting an education — grown men attempting to snuff out the aspirations of young girls," she said. "Let us hold their families in our hearts during this very difficult time, and let us show just a fraction of their courage in fighting to give every girl on this planet the education that is her birthright."
The Nigerian government's inability to rescue the girls nearly a month after they were abducted by the Boko Haram organization has sparked worldwide outrage, including protests and a social media campaign. The U.S. and other countries have sent teams of technical experts to assist the Nigerian government's search effort.
Authorities have said more than 300 girls were abducted from their school in the country's remote northeast. Fifty-three escaped and 276 remain captive.
President Obama said this week that the U.S. will do everything to help Nigeria find them.
Mrs. Obama added her voice this week to the calls for the girls' safe return by tweeting a photo of herself in the White House. She appears sad and holds a white sign with the message "(hashtag) Bring Back Our Girls." The tweet was signed "-mo," indicating that she sent it herself.Boko Haram means "Western education is sinful." The group's leader, Abubakar Shekau, has claimed responsibility for the abduction and has threatened to sell the girls
Taking over the president's weekly radio and Internet address on the eve of the American holiday for honoring mothers, the first lady said that, like millions of people around the world, she and President Barack Obama are "outraged and heartbroken" over the April 15 abduction of the girls from their dormitory.
"In these girls, Barack and I see our own daughters," Mrs. Obama said, referring to Malia, 15, and Sasha, 12. "We see their hopes, their dreams and we can only imagine the anguish their parents are feeling right now."
What happened in Nigeria is not an isolated incident, the first lady said, but is "a story we see every day as girls around the world risk their lives to pursue their ambitions."
Mrs. Obama mentioned the case of Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani teenager who survived being shot in the head as she traveled to school in 2012. Malala has become an outspoken advocate for the rights of all girls to get an education, the same message Mrs. Obama delivered in her first solo address to the nation.
Mrs. Obama noted that more than 65 million girls worldwide do not attend school even though educated women earn more money and have healthier families.
"When more girls attend secondary school, that boosts their country's entire economy," she said. "So education is truly a girl's best chance for a bright future, not just for herself, but for her family and her nation."
That is also true in the U.S., the first lady said. She expressed hope that what happened in Nigeria will inspire boys and girls across the U.S. to be serious about getting an education.
"I hope that any young people in America who take school for granted, any young people who are slacking off or thinking of dropping out, I hope they will learn the story of these girls and recommit themselves to their education," she said.
Mrs. Obama recently launched a domestic initiative called "Reach Higher" to encourage young people to pursue education beyond high school, whether they enroll in a professional training program or attend a community college or a four-year institution.
In Saturday's address, the first lady asked the nation to pray for the Nigerian girls' safe return.
"This unconscionable act was committed by a terrorist group determined to keep these girls from getting an education — grown men attempting to snuff out the aspirations of young girls," she said. "Let us hold their families in our hearts during this very difficult time, and let us show just a fraction of their courage in fighting to give every girl on this planet the education that is her birthright."
The Nigerian government's inability to rescue the girls nearly a month after they were abducted by the Boko Haram organization has sparked worldwide outrage, including protests and a social media campaign. The U.S. and other countries have sent teams of technical experts to assist the Nigerian government's search effort.
Authorities have said more than 300 girls were abducted from their school in the country's remote northeast. Fifty-three escaped and 276 remain captive.
President Obama said this week that the U.S. will do everything to help Nigeria find them.
Mrs. Obama added her voice this week to the calls for the girls' safe return by tweeting a photo of herself in the White House. She appears sad and holds a white sign with the message "(hashtag) Bring Back Our Girls." The tweet was signed "-mo," indicating that she sent it herself.Boko Haram means "Western education is sinful." The group's leader, Abubakar Shekau, has claimed responsibility for the abduction and has threatened to sell the girls
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