An Open Letter To Governor Siminalayi Fubara On The Need To Establish An Economic Development Advisory Council

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His Excellency, the Executive Governor of Rivers State, Government House, Port Harcourt.May we start by congratulating Your Excellency again for ably and dynamically commencing your duties and responsibilities as the Executive Governor of Rivers State.Given that our only interest is for you to succeed in governance, we humbly advised Your Excellency to be magnanimous in victory by engaging well-meaning and willing qualified citizens of our beloved Rivers State to assist you to move the State forward, in the overall interest of the good people and residents of the State, and thereby leave your footprints on the sands of time.Consequently, as leaders of the Governor Siminialayi Fubara Ibanise Brick House Project (BHP), and especially as life cycle active and resourceful members of the erstwhile Rivers State Economic Advisory Council (RSEAC), we respectfully suggest to Your Excellency to establish an Economic Development Advisory Council of our State, to assist in advising your administration.The proposed Rivers State Economic Development Advisory Council (RSEAC), which could be made up of relevant distinguished scholars and eminent experts and practitioners of Rivers State extraction, could assist your administration in many ways. For instance, the proposed Advisory Council would be a think tank of your administration and thereby add immense value to the economic wellbeing of the indigenes and residents of the State. It could also leverage on the threshold of the United Nations Agenda 21, Nigeria’s National Agenda 21, and the United Nations 2030 Agenda, to boost the wellbeing of the good people and residents of Rivers State, so as to promote the contributions of the State towards the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, in the overall interest of the State.Your Excellency Sir, our humble suggestion on this note is more pertinent and compelling because the contributions of the aforesaid RSEAC are still being commended as landmark impressions of good governance in Rivers State, by many Nigerians, especially opinion leaders of Rivers State, particularly your predecessor, His Excellency, Chief (Barrister) Ezenwo Nyesom Wike, CON.We thank Your Excellency in advance for putting the overall wellbeing of our beloved Rivers State at the forefront of your administration.May God Almighty continue to guide and direct Your Excellency, to achieve the Rivers State of our dream, for the wellbeing of the entire good people and residents of the State.

Signed:HRH Alabo Professor Emeritus Dagogo M. J. Fubara(Dappaye Amakiri XVII, Opobo Kingdom, Ancient Ibani nation [Ibanise], Leading Member Ibanise Brick House Project [BHP], and Member former RSEAC).

Aseme-Alabo (HRH) Edward Tamunosiminikarama Bristol-Alagbariya (Okoloamakoromabo XX, Associate Professor of Sustainable Development Law & Multidisciplinary Practices, Coordinator Ibanise BHP, and member former RSEAC).

High Hopes Of Unprecedented Change With Hon Chinda As Green Chamber’s Minority Leader

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Nurtured by the political wizardry and mentorship of Chief Nyesom Wike, the former Governor of Rivers State and stitched with a template of political victory in producing a successor, three Senators, 11 House of Representatives members from his party and further embellished with a masterstroke cross-political pollination, which saw the emergence of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Senate President Godswill Akpabio and ultimately plucking the low hanging political fruit which was up for grabs in the 10th Assembly and bequeathing same to his political mentee to become the Minority Leader in the green chamber, representing Obio/Akpor Federal Constituency, Hon. Kingsley Ogundu Chinda is the man to beat.He is a square peg in a square hole. He has abundant energy and he is gutsy. He is not a green horn, neither would it be said that he is treading a path that is terra incognitia – an uncharted course. His exponential popularity and support base in the six geopolitical zones is so intimidating as it is reflective of a man who has shown class and dedication to legislative duties.The fiasco that trailed his emergence as the Minority Leader of the 10th Assembly cascaded into a crescendo with the supreme battle from a fractionalised division among party faithful shuttling between his boss, Chief Nyesom Wike and Atiku Abubakar, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Presidential candidate, which saw Wike succeeding in displacing Atiku’s preferred choice of Hon. Oluwole Oke, representing Obokun / Oriada Federal Constituency of Osun State. Tied also to the political apron is the office of the Deputy Minority Leader which emerged with razor-sharp intellect, Hon. George Ibezimako of Labour Party, representing Anaocha / Njikoka / Dunakofia Federal Constituency.Nyesom Wike’s political asymmetrical hotchpotch in navigating across political divides is not only phenomenal but legendary. He controls the political narratives such that his traducers become numb while trying to weigh him on the scale of political probabilities. “Don’t fly where eagles dare”, has always been his body language and nuances, reflecting a gargantuan political enigma of the 21st century.Operating from opposition sideline, the PDP needs a robust leadership representation with a focal lens and critical mindset geared towards equity, fairness and justice, propagated and championed by persons imbued with wealth of experience, high performance scorecard and who is vociferous in giving flowers to legislative actions, where merited, while surgically and clinically observing shortcomings of biased legislations by making proactive interventions to stall future challenges by targeting areas that need straightening, especially in this period where interpretation conundrum has besieged our law courts.Hon. Kingsley Chinda undoubtedly offers a beacon of hope and as a grounded leader, he has always had the masses at heart flowing from executed projects, human capacity building, financial empowerment, youth empowerment via industrial training, provision of startup kits for micro businesses and has always been consistent since the 8th Assembly to date. Little wonder why replacing a winning team is always met with stiff resistance.There is also no doubt that the social contract with Hon. Chinda and his victory would automatically translate to signing an irrevocable contract with service delivery. It is often said that it is phenomenal to find someone who understands the dynamics of leadership and readily offers himself to the people who have elected him. In the 8th Republic, he performed creditably well as the Chairman Of Public Account Committee of the House of Representatives. In exercise of the legislative powers as conferred on it by virtue of Sections 88 and 89 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), which gives responsibility to the legislative arm of government to investigate, expose corruption in the executive arm of government.Unfortunately, presiding officers of both chambers are too weak to effectively expose corruption stemming from the fact that they all belong to the same arm of government. But Hon. O.K. Chinda, while he chaired the Public Account Committee of the 8th assembly, changed the narrative that it is not going to be business as usual. He injected freshness into the system and carried out serious revolution in the manner that a critical committee carries out its investigations and checks on the executive arm of government. He introduced new ways on how audit queries should be carried out.In the Renewed Hope Assembly, the green chamber’s bell has tolled for a leadership that is courageous, selfless, far-sighted and dedicated. It also offers the golden moment which Hon O.K. Chinda will seize to initiate and/or facilitate people- oriented legislations that will alleviate the sufferings of the people. Appropriating the words of Williams Shakespeare: “There is a tide in the affairs of men which taken at the floods leads on to fortune; omitted, all the voyage of their lives is lost in shallows and in miseries upon such a full sea are we now afloat and we’d now afloat and we’d better take the sails while they serve or loose our ventures…”Way back, he has always maintained that “an individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individual concern to the broader concern of all humanity and that life’s persistent and urgent question has always been what are you doing to advance humanity?” There might be twists and turns, ups and downs and the problem of navigating through the treacherous waters of politics, but we are filled with high hopes and expectations that there will be huge rays of light in the end of the tunnel of his leadership.

By: Nkem Oputa

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There was a Punch Newspapers’ breaking news earlier on 17 April 2023, reporting that “APC Binani declared winner of Adamawa Governorship Election” According to the Punch, “The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Sunday [17 April 2023] morning declared Senator Aishatu Dahiru Binani the winner of the Adamawa Governorship Election. The Resident Electoral Commissioner for the state, Barrister Hudu Yunusa just made the declaration following the supplementary election held Saturday”However, shortly thereafter came another breaking news, to the effect that “INEC Voids Declaration Of Binani As Winner, Summons REC To Abuja”. Daily Trust Newspapers reported therein that “The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was reported to have voided the declaration of Senator Aisha Dahiru, aka Binani, as winner of the Adamawa State Governorship Election”. A statement by Festus Okoye, INEC’S National Commissioner, Information and Voter Education reads, according to Daily Trust:“The attention of the Commission has been drawn to a purported declaration of winner in the Adamawa Governorship Election by the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) even when the process has clearly not been concluded. The attention of the Commission has been drawn to a purported declaration of winner in the Adamawa Governorship election by the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) even when the process has clearly not been concluded. Consequently, the collation of results of the supplementary election is hereby suspended. The REC, Returning Officer and all involved are hereby invited to the Commission’s Headquarters in Abuja immediately”As is typical of Nigeria, a controversy immediately ensued among lawyers and members of the public as to the propriety of the actions of the Adamawa REC and the later remedial action by the INEC, with traducers of INEC arguing that by virtue of Section 149 of the Electoral Act, 2022, the action of the REC was valid until set aside by a court of law. Section 149 provides:“Notwithstanding any other provisions of this Act, any defect or error arising from any actions taken by an official of the Commission in relation to any notice, form or document made or given or other things done by the official in pursuance of the provisions of the Constitution or of this Act, or any rules made there under remain valid, unless otherwise challenged and declared invalid by a competent court of law or tribunal”.With due respect, it is hereby submitted that section 149 of the Electoral Act has no application or relevance to the legal anathema perpetrated in broad daylight by the Adamawa REC. Reasons:First, only a Returning Officer could make a declaration and return. The Adamawa State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Yunusa Hudu Ari, is not the Returning Officer in the Adamawa Governorship Election and thus has no power to make a declaration and return in the election. The duly appointed Returning Officer for that election is Professor Mohammed Mele, Professor of English and Linguistics from the University of Maiduguri. Section 66 of the Electoral Act, 2022, which assigns the job of making a declaration and return exclusively to the Returning Officer for the affected election.Where a statute prescribes that an act MUST be done in a particular way, that act can only be validly done in the prescribed manner. In SANUSI V. AYOOLA & ORS (1992) LPELR-3009(SC),* the Supreme Court said (Per KARIBI-WHYTE, J.S.C pp. 19-20, paras. F-C) that: It is well settled principle of our jurisprudence and an important requirement of our administration of justice that where the exercise of a power is statutory, such power can only be exercised within the limits prescribed by the statute See Bowaje v. Adediwura (1976) 6 S.C.143.” See alsoOdu’a Investment Co. Ltd. v. Talabi (1997) 10 NWLR (Pt. 523) 1; (1997) SCNJ 600 at 649 per Ogundare, JSC (of blessed memory)See also section 64(7) of the Act, which says that where after a result as announced by a Collation Officer at any level is disputed, the Collation Officer has the right to cancel the earlier collation already made and re-collate and announce a new result following the mandatory RESULT DISPUTE RESOLUTION PROCEDURE set out in section 64 (6) of the Act. In the Adamawa case, the duly appointed state Collation Officer (ie, the Returning Officer), Professor Mohammed Mele, had not even announced any results at all. So , how does section 149 become relevant? No way!Even after the Returning Officer, duly appointed, has already officially made a declaration in line with sections 64(7) or (8) or section 66 of the Act, the Act still donates power to the INEC to REVIEW THE DECLARATION AND RETURN. Unlike the Electoral Act 2010, the Electoral Act 2022 affords the INEC a discretionary power to review the election/results where the results are disputed after the declaration and return of a winner has been made by the Returning Officer. The proviso to section 65(1)(c) of the Electoral Act gives INEC the power to review the results after a winner has been declared. However, such a review (which may take the form of re-collation, cross-checking, verification of the results, or even outright cancellation or suspension and rescheduling or fresh elections) must be conducted within seven (7) days of the declaration and return. Section 65(1) of the Electoral Act 2022 provides that “(1) The decision of the returning officer shall be final on any question arising from or relating to (a) unmarked ballot paper; (b) rejected ballot paper ; and (c) declaration of scores of candidates and the return of a candidate: Provided that the Commission shall have the power within seven days to review the declaration and return where the Commission determines that the said declaration and return was not made voluntarily or was made contrary to the provisions of the law, regulations and guidelines, and manual for the election”. Where the result/election is disputed but INEC fails to conduct a review within the seven days, INEC would thereafter lose power to do anything about the declaration and return. All complaints thereafter are to be channelled to the Election Petition Tribunal. The Grounds For INEC-Review of Declaration and Return Already Made by A Returning Officer include (See the proviso to section 65(1)(c)):(a) That the declaration and return was not made voluntarily;(b) That the declaration and return was made contrary to the Electoral Act 2022;(c) That the declaration and return was made contrary to the Regulations and Guidelines forConduct of Elections 2022; or(d) That the declaration and return was made contrary to the Manual for the elections.Thus, assuming without conceding that the Adamawa REC can usurp the powers of the duly appointed Returning Officer to make a declaration and return, the argument will still fall like a pack of cards in the face of the POWER given to the INEC by the proviso to section 65(1)(c) of the Electoral Act, to review a declared result. Note that if such a review is not conducted within the seven days of the return, INEC would lose power to do anything about the declaration and return.If section 149 should be relevant anywhere or to any aspect of the Adamawa scenario, it is to the REVIEW action taken by the INEC pursuant to section 65 (1)(c) of the Act. Thus if anyone thinks there is any defect or error arising from the REVIEW action taken or REVIEW Notice given by INEC’S National Commissioner, Information & Voter Education (Festus Okoye) on behalf of and directly under the directive of INEC or its Chairman in pursuance of the provisions of the of this Act of the Regulations and Guidelines or Manual, remain valid, unless otherwise challenged and declared invalid by a competent court of law or tribunal. There is no law at all backing up or authorizing what the ADAMAWA REC; on the other hand, sections 64(6),(7) & (8), 66 and 65(1)(c) of the Electoral Act expressly authorizes INEC to review any result declared against law._ Therefore, it is respectfully submitted that, pursuant to section 149, INEC’s officially Release/Directive/Notice (as issued by the National Commissioner, Information & Voter Education) voiding the earlier usurpative and illegal declaration/return made by the Adamawa REC, stands unless and until “otherwise challenged and declared invalid by a competent court of law or tribunal”. This, it’s respectfully submitted, appears to be the only reasonable and way to make section 149 relevant to the scenario.

CONCLUSION:What the Adamawa REC did gives him out as an incorrigible recidivist who unfortunately happened to have found his way, perhaps surreptitiously into INEC appointment. But God has helped us to expose his nefarious activities against the rule of law, due process, the electoral Act, the Nigerian nation and all Nigerians. In some countries, he would have been lying dead by now, waiting for interment and already receiving the usual rest-in-peace wishes. But in civilized nations, he ought to have been arrested, arraigned in court, and already undergoing trial while awaiting his conviction and jail sentence.There are many such criminals inside INEC and other public institutions in Nigeria. They got there by anything but not on merit and competence. Please, I humbly advise, fish them out, from top to bottom, and have them out of the system forthwith, that we may breathe some fresh air which is necessary for progress. Are we not fed up with the level of brigandage and insanity going on with leadership in a country that ought ordinarily to have joined the leaders of the world? Cruel leaders are replaced only to have new leaders’ turn cruel, leading to a debasement, desecration and corruption of our best institutions by the very worst among us.Some have argued that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely, or that, as Pa Awolowo put it, power enslaves and absolute power enslaves absolutely. Dear Pa Awolowo, I don’t think that this applies in the Nigerian scenario; the apposite, and applicable declaration is found in William Gaddis’ Power doesn’t corrupt people, people corrupt power. So, by way of a solution, I have found through research that there are, indeed, many options to solving Nigeria’s problems. But I think that the one that would work faster in knocking the prevailing insanity out of the heads of some of our country’s leaders, was put forward by Leo Tolstoy, “Since [it’s now obvious that] corrupt people unite among themselves to constitute a force, then honest people must do the same.”If we allow such an impunity to stand under the now rampant, criminal-mind-inspired go-to-court mantra, and pretending to rely on whole-inapplicable section 149 of the Act, then, in the next coming round of elections, a Polling Unit Officer could from the Polling Unit, or an INEC driver could from the comfort of his car, make a declaration and return for an entire State, and considering that each and both are “INEC officials”, we would accept it based on section 149 and then tell those who don’t like to go to court, and Senator Smart Adeyemi would come out to make the following declaration:“THOSE UPSET ABOUT 2023 ELECTION OUTCOME SHOULD WAIT FOR 2027 – SENATOR SMART ADEYEMI” Hear Smart Adeyemi on 06 April 2023:“I speak my mind at any point in time. And let me tell you the truth, I hold the view that this election was free to a large extent and better than the previous election. Those who feel bitter can just wait for the next election” [Channels TV].But, then, the American concept of what goes round comes around, was there soon enough, somehow, for Senator Smart Adeyemi. See:‘RESULTS WERE READY BEFORE ELECTION’ SMART ADEYEMI FAULTS KOGI APC GUBER PRIMARY. Hear the same Smart Adeyemi, of Kogi West, on 16 April 2023 (faulting the conduct of the APC governorship primaries in Kogi State on 14 April 2023):“We witnessed a new phenomenon of electoral malpractices and embedded corruption in the electoral process of our country. I have heard of riggings of elections but I have not heard of the new phenomenon which we must do all we can to stop in this country. Results were prepared, even before the commencement of voting. This is the worst malpractice; the worst form of rigging and unprecedented in the history of Nigeria. The primary election in Kogi was just allocation of votes” [thecable.ng].Now, can I hear someone saying, “Dear Distinguished Senator Smart Adeyemi, sir, why complain? Just wait until 2027” This is what happens when we condone brazen impunity and brigandage; they sooner than later pay us some visit. And he who has brought home ant-infested firewood should know that visits by lizards are just a matter of time; inescapable.Accordingly, we had better come together to find a way to lawfully ditch these bitchly conducts of the bitches in public offices. Else, they would soon grow to consume all who promote and condone them. As e dey sweet us, e dey pain them is a two-way sword, waiting like a time bomb, with the assistance of Karma’s retributive justice, to strike.Another way to end moral corruption and impunity is to work to create strong watchdog institutions and partnering or monitoring agencies. Hence, Rigoberta Menchú, a Nobel Prize laureate said: “Without strong watchdog institutions, impunity becomes the very foundation upon which systems of corruption are built. And if impunity is not demolished, all efforts to bring an end to corruption are in vain.”On my part, I shall continue through Law discussions, to write and write, until we write this country out of its multifarious but self-imposed maladies. Like I said earlier, quoting Abraham Lincoln, in a commentary published under the heading, “Overcoming Security and other challenges: why Nigeria needs much more than “spiritual awareness” [01 October 2019; [courtroommail.com], “[Nigeria] will not be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedom, it will be because we destroyed ourselves”.“BREAKING: INEC SUSPENDS ADAMAWA REC FOR DECLARING APC’S BINANI WINNER” 4.30pm on 17 April 2023[dailypost.ng]. INEC in a letter dated April 17, 2023 and signed by its Secretary, Rose Oriaran-Anthony has therefore directed its Administrative Secretary in the state to take charge of its affairs. Part of the letter reads; “I hereby convey the Commission’s decision that you (Barr. Hudu Yunusa Ari), Resident Electoral Commissioner, Adamawa State should stay away from the Commission’s office in Adamawa State immediately until further notice. The Administrative Secretary has been directed to take full charge of INEC, Adamawa State with immediate effect”.Meanwhile, there is this rumour that the REC Mr Yunusa Hudu Ari, when summoned by INEC, had claimed that he had to make the declaration because the Returning Officer had “disappeared”. Issues Arising:Mr Hudu, please which law says that where the Returning Officer “disappears” or is made to “disappear”, the State REC could step into his shoes?By the way, had collation been concluded when you announced the declaration and return?Well, there is no need for further elaboration; (permit my resort to pidgin English) if you think say you get sense pass everyone, the law get sense bigger pass yours because the proviso to section 65(1)(c) of the Electoral Act 2022 had anticipated such bitchly actions as yours. So, the declaration and return UNLAWFULLY made by a bitchly Adamawa REC has now been LAWFULLY REVIEWED by the INEC. Case closes.COMMENDATIONS:First, I commend INEC for its timely intervention in the Adamawa scenario. A Law Teacher wrote, Ochem, PhD, “Since the electoral body discovered the mistake timeously and acted with dispatch, it was a decision in the right direction to avoid anarchy. Remember that when an act is void it is in law a nullity. It is not only bad but incurably bad. Per lord Denning”Second, I thank God for the makers of the Electoral Act 2022, for their wisdom and foresight in having seen tomorrow that would eventually throw up Mr Yunusa Hudu Ari.Third, I commend the innovativeness of the Electoral Act 2022. If not for the provisions of sections 64(6),(7)&(8) and 66 of the Electoral Act and the proviso to 65 (1)(c), which quickly came to citizen’s rescue, Adamawa State would have gone up in flames, by now.Fourth, I thank the lawmakers in the National Assembly for the Electoral Act 2022; it’s a great piece of 21st-century-thinking and progress-minded legal document. Anyone who would take his time would calm down and read the Electoral Act 2022 with an open mind would agree that if that legislation could be honestly and religiously implemented by all stakeholders, the USA and the UK would be coming to Nigeria for Evening Lessons on on how to conduct credible, transparent elections and generally on election matters. Aristotle wrote “It is more proper that law should govern than any one of the citizens: upon the same principle, if it is advantageous to place the supreme power in some particular persons, they should be appointed to be only guardians, and the servants of the laws”. [Aristotle, Politics 3.16]I respectfully disagree with the insinuation in some quarters, that “The Electoral Act 2022 is a scam, a fraud”. I submit that it’s our warped implementation of the Act’s clear provisions that is fraught with fraudulent intentions. So, let’s stop blaming the law for our own deficiencies and mischief If we falter and fall, it’s entirely our own fault, not the fault of our laws. Even an imperfect law, if perfectly implemented, can yield perfect results.My humble opinion though, respectfully submitted,

By: Sylvester UdemezueSylvester Udemezue (Udems).08109024556.

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USA has also advanced drone technology with the capacity to go to war and shoot from self-driven drones and kill decisively without risking any human life in the field. Recently this technology was used to exterminate an Iranian General considered a huge security threat to the United States.These discoveries underline the importance of education in National Development.According to UNICEF, one in every five of the World’s out of school children is in Nigeria. Even though primary education is officially free and compulsory, about 10.5 million of Nigeria’s children aged 5 – 14 years are out of school.In 1970 when the war ended and I gained admission into University of Ibadan to study economics, studying in a Nigerian University was such a pleasure. To begin with, my roommate then, Okey Ezeokeke and I lived in a two in one room apartment. The university laundered 8 clothes per week for us (trousers and shirts). In addition, two sets of bed sheets were laundered for us weekly. Our shower ran twenty four hours, our toilets flushed always. In each hall of residence we had a bar and buttery where you could have cold drinks and confectionaries at affordable prices directly from breweries and the university catering department. You were also allowed to entertain your guests at these air-conditioned lounges.Each faculty had a library apart from the central university library. Every journal published in the world was available in our libraries within two weeks of publication. We had a university press which made publication of books by our lecturers easier and the books affordable. The university had a busy bookshop which sold text books, journals, magazines and novels. Accessibility to knowledge was guaranteed even without digital technology. Lecturers were encouraged to publish.Because of their scholarly publications, they were demanded globally. Every year so many lecturers were engaged inprominent universities all over the world. Every year several lecturers served out their sabbatical and returned with new knowledge, new exposure, modern cars and a global and cosmopolitan saga. Many students developed ambitions to become lecturers. The first class graduates were retained as assistant lecturers to take us in tutorial classes. The tutorial classes explained the lectures, deepened our knowledge of the subject matter and took us through past question papers in order to widen our comprehension and prepare us for examinations. Suddenly all these have disappeared. Instead, handouts have taken over because they are sold for extra cash by lecturers even when they contain very little or represent copying or plagiarism!!When you don’t buy them, class reps note you and report you to the lecturer and in some cases it is counted against you in the exams. Vice Chancellor after Vice Chancellor fight this menace but they persist because the bench mark has fallen, the incomes have fallen, the foreign lure no longer exists because our degrees have become worthless. Businessmen and Politicians as well as pretty female students get degrees without attending lectures!! If the source of knowledge is contaminated, like a contaminated water reservoir, can you get clean water? Once upon a time, a seating Governor was admitted as a student in one of our universities, he pretended to attend lectures inspite of his busy schedules, which made it impossible for him to attend all his lectures, but he was awarded a degree. Is such a degree respectable? Does this kind of practice recommend such a University as credible?This brings me to the question of what form Nigeria will assume under a restructured arrangement and how its restructuring can be brought about. Two basic models have been canvassed for restructuring in Nigeria. A conservative model aimed at maintaining the status quo has been proposed to mean simply a shedding of some of the exclusive powers of the Federal Government, like issuing of mining licenses, permission for constructing of Federal roads and shedding of regulatory powers over investments in critical sectors of the economy like power and mineral resources. This model merely scratches the surface of the problem. It avoids the fundamental issue of devolution of powers.The second model calls for a fundamental devolution of powers to the States as federating units and a lean Federal Government with exclusive powers for external defence, customs, immigration, foreign relations and a Federal legislature and judiciary to make and interpret laws in these exclusive areas.This second model proposes states as the federating units with two different approaches. The first approach simply wants the States as the Federating units and a Federal Government with limited powers. It wants the states to control a percentage of revenue accruing from their areas and contribute an agreed percentage of such revenue to the federal government.The second approach proposes the states as the federating units with a Region at each of the six geopolitical units whose constitution will be agreed to and adopted by the states in the geopolitical region. The regions will have the powers to merge existing states or create new ones. There will be regional and state legislatures and judiciary dealing with making and interpreting laws made in the respective political entities. This approach proposes a revenue sharing formulae of 15% to the Federal Government, 35% to the regional government and 50% to the State Governments.To achieve a national consensus on this subject requires a national discussion. Regrettably, the ruling party, APC which promised restructuring in its manifesto after two years and four months in office appointed a committee to define what sort of restructuring it wants for Nigeria. The matter ended there. The Committee report after being adopted by its National Executive Committee was never implemented by the Government. To make matters worse, none of the other political parties have come up with any clear-cut route for achieving a consensus on this matter.The National Assembly itself is a reflection of the deep ethnic divisions in the country and the Northern majority conferred on it by the military makes it highly unacceptable to Southern Nigeria. Recent resolutions made by it on devolution of powers have not helped the situation.In the recent past, following massive disenchantment by our youths, self-determination groups have sprung up in Nigeria. The self-determination groups include IPOB, Boko Haram, MASSOB, YELICOM, Arewa Youths, Niger Delta Republic and Republic of the Middle Belt.Of all these groups IPOB and Boko Haram have been designated as terrorist organizations by the Federal Government. This development in relation to IPOB is unfortunate. Boko Haram is an armed organisation which has attacked and occupied Nigerian territory hoisted its flag and appointed local authority governmentsIt has abducted and abused Nigerian women kidnapped and imprisoned many and killed over two hundred thousand people. It is still involved in guerilla warfare against Nigeria yet the Federal Government is negotiating with them. No member of Boko Haram captured by the military is under trial, as far as I know. Members of this Federal Government are on record for condemning the previous Government for brutal murder of Boko Haram members and condemning the retired Chief of Army Staff for zealous prosecution of the anti-terror campaign. Members of the sect who confess to a change of mind have been received along with their abducted female partners in the Presidency and rehabilitated even by recruitment into the army. Today, the country is threatened by a new rise of Islamic insurgents.The declaration of IPOB as a terrorist organisation is in my view hurried, unfair, and not in conformity with the intendment of the law. Whereas I am not completely in agreement with some of the methods of IPOB like it’s inappropriate and divisive broadcast, the uncontested evidence given by the Attorney General of the Federation in an interlocutory action claiming that IPOB attempted and/or actually snatched guns from law enforcement agents are, if proven, merely criminal offences. They do not constitute enough evidence to meet international law definitions of a terrorist organization. Happily, the United States Embassy in Nigeria, sometimes ago, shared this conclusion and asserted that the United States Government does not recognize IPOB as a terrorist organization. This same unarmed IPOB that is being stigmatized by the Nigerian government had its members murdered in Asaba, Nkpor, Aba and Port Harcourt simply for having public demonstrations without the Federal Government ordering a judicial inquiry. Instead, after I called for one and Amnesty International provided evidence that 150 of them were killed, the Chief of Army Staff then, set up an inquiry composed of serving and retired army officers thus abandoning the rules of natural justice which prescribes that you cannot be a judge in your own court. The Nigerian Press should investigate these assertions and bring a peaceful resolution to this impasse.The Igbos in Nigeria see the treatment of IPOB as unfair, discriminatory and overhanded. They see the move as an attempt to encourage a profiling of Igbos in the international security arena.We know of other self-determination groups in Nigeria that are armed and have destroyed government and private sector installations and wells and have taken several Nigerians hostage that government prefers to negotiate with rather than label them as terrorist organizations.Fulani Herdsmen otherwise called the Fulani militants have ravaged farms in Middle belt, South West, and South Eastern Nigerian killing several farmers in the process. In January 2016 they killed 500 farmers and their families in Agatu in Benue State. In Enugu State, they murdered more than 100 farmers in Ukpabi Nimbo in April 2016. Photographs depicting them with automatic rifles trend in the entire world media, yet not one of them is facing criminal charges, nor is Operation Python Dance being conducted in the areas where they ravage and kill, and the Federal Government describes them as criminals and treat them with levity notwithstanding their classification by the Global Terrorist Index as the fourth deadliest terrorist group in the world (see British Independence Newspaper, 18th November 2015). The London Guardian Newspaper of 12th July 2016 indicated that Fulani Herdsmen killed one thousand people in 2014. Today the numbers reached five hundred thousand. A medium security prison was invaded in Abuja and detained terrorists allowed to escape without any resistance from our security forces.Apart from domestic security, our economy is bleeding due to several other reasons.On 23rd October 2022, Nduka Orjinmo writing for BBC News, Abuja reported that “In Delta State, thieves built their own 4km (2.5miles) of long pipeline through the heavily guarded creeks to the Atlantic Ocean. These barges and vessels blatantly loaded the stolen oil from a 24 feet oil pipe visible from miles on the open waters. “Crude oil is Nigeria’s main export but production and revenue, has been dwindling for years because of thieves. Authorities say, “oil production fell from 2.5 million barrels per day in 2011 to just over 1 million in July 2022, according to the regulator (making it impossible for us to meet our OPEC production quota).Authorities also say that more than $3.3bn dollars (£2.9bn) has been lost to crude oil theft since last year and at a time when other oil producers are having a petro dollars splurge, Nigeriacan’t even meet its OPEC production quota. And it is not that the country can afford to lose money to thieves as it is gripped by widespread poverty and heavily indebted.Nigerian’s oil industry has a documented history of corruption, from an unending fuel subsidy scheme where no one actually knows how much is imported, to the shadowy allotment of oil exploration blocks. Chief Ekpemupolo known as Tompolo is the security contractor with the responsibility of unearthing this large scale crude oil theft. Commenting on the thieves, he said in Channels TV that”many of the security people are involved because there is no way you can load a vessel without settling (bribing) the security people in that region”.(3)Carl Milton Bernstein, an American investigative Journalist and author while a young reporter for Washington Post teamed up with Bob woodward and both of them uncovered the crimes which led to the congressional investigation of Watergate scandal that ultimately led to the resignation of Richard Nixonas President of the United States of America. This is the power of Journalists or dare I say of editors. Why have the Nigerian editors been unable to unravel the massive robbery of our oil reserves or the subsidy looters?Nigeria’s present problems are worse than Watergate scandal. We have a total collapse of confidence in our government. When a Federal Accountant Generalis facing charges of acting in cohort of other Federal Civil Servants, consultants and representatives of the Federal Government for stealing Government funds and the case is going through such a sluggish delay but Nnamdi Kanu’s acquittal can in a few days bereversed by the Federal Court of Appeal, it simply means that ridding our country of corruption is not a priority.Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and Chief Anthony Enaharo as journalists stood their grounds in fighting colonial rule. A fight to defend our hallowed values and the soul of our nation is the greatest act of patriotism. Your pen is of inestimable value when you use it patriotically to salvage our value slide and the rudderless movement of our state vessel. The Nigerian editor has enormous power in exercising his freedom of expression as enshrined in our constitution.You must set the agenda for this coming election. That agenda must require our candidates to speak up on their policies regarding:-(i) Fighting corruption(ii) Restructuring(iii) Transiting our country from a consumption economy to a production economy.(iv) Stopping the brain drain occasioned by the exodus of our best brains to more promising climes(v) The overthrow of merit, prudent management and accountability in the public services(vi) Our overblown and over financed legislatures(vii) A scrutiny of our Judiciary which exposes corruption and several other negative tendencies that compromise justice(viii) The incapacity of our armed forces, previously respected in international peace-keeping operations in the Congo, Liberia and lately Gambia but now appearing to be completely overcome by Boko Haram to the extent that our School Of Infantry can be easily invaded by terrorists not to talk of our farmlands in Katsina, Kaduna and several other states(ix) You must interrogate the failure of the Nigerian Police Force leading to the ENDSARS riots.(x) We must interrogate the Arab Spring and its aftermath in order to avert its occurrence here.(xi) We must examine stories of nations like Israel and USA(xii) We must thoroughly investigate the readiness of INEC to conduct a free and fair election. Will the servers breakdown again?Nwodo, a former minister of information, and president general of Ohanaeze Ndigbo worldwide presented this paper during 2022 All Nigerian Editors Conference in Owerri, Imo State November 9-13.Any leading Presidential candidate who doesn’t have well thought out policies on these issues is not fit to lead Nigeria.We hear today of speculation regarding the health condition of our Presidential Aspirants. We have a President who has spent so many days out of his eight year tenure in foreign hospitals not to talk about the cost of treatment. This makes it a national imperative to investigate the health of Aspirants to that office.Tobi Aworinde of the Punch Newspaper told us on August 1st, 2021 that our current President has spent a total of 201 days on foreign medical trips since his assumption of office seven years and seven months ago.(4) This figure will be updated when he returns from his present trip. In any other clime, the National Assembly would have amended the electoral laws to provide for independent medical examination for all Presidential Aspirants. It is not yet late for such an amendment to be made.As editors, you are the authors of reforms on national values, ethics and conduct of aspirants and holders of public office. Your power is coterminous with the nature of your work. In a way you wield and sustain the conscience of the nation. You help, on the basis of your informed editorials to cultivate our values and standards for public office holders. I believe that if you conducted a careful inventory of properties of some past and present public office holders including civil servants and members of the judiciary, you would expose so much as to provoke an inquiry into how some of those assets were acquired.To who much is given, much is expected. As editors in the public and private media you have a pivotal influence in the affairs of this country, you have the wherewithal to progressively reform our values. You can stop the disdain with which our children hold us, for destroying their collective patrimony and heritage by acts of omission or commission. You can help to rebuild their confidence in our country. Already they are in a rage which can consume us if we don’t act fast.Remember Harold Macmillan’s words to the British in the wake of Nationalists movements in Africa. He said, on a visit to South Africa on February 3rd, 1960, in a speech to the South Africa Parliament, “We have seen the awakening of national consciousness in peoples who have for centuries lived in dependence upon some other powers… The wind of change is blowing through this continent and whether we like it or not, this growth of national consciousness is a political fact. We must accept it as a fact and our national policies must take account of it” (5)I like to end this speech by quoting William Shakespeare, in Julius Caesar, where he said “There is a tide in the affairs of men, which taken at the flood leads to fortune. Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat. And we must take the current when it serves, or lose our ventures.”Nigerian editors, arise and defend our countryArise and interrogate our politicians and businessmen.Arise and define our politicsHesitate and be defined by historyI thank you for your kind attention.

JOHN NNIA NWODOOWERRI, IMO STATE NOVEMBER 2022

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