AKACHI DEMOLITION: AS OUR NEW LEADERS RESUME FULLY...

Just yesterday,the media went agog with news that the new Imo state governor,Emeka Ihedioha ordered for the demolition of the Akachi tower built by his predecessor,Owelle Rochas Okorocha.The Akachi tower is a monument built on an old dumpsite symbolizing the Hand of God over the state.No one i have seen so far believes Ihedioha's denial of having ordered for the destruction of the 40-feet tourist attraction.So who really did?.An already departed Okorocha or his retired commissioners?.

Ihedioha has not deemed it necessary to personally address Imo people on Akachi or promise to bring the perpetrators of the dastardly act to book and all that says is the very obvious-he ordered it.That a newly sworn governor would be so blinded in his quest to tear down the legacies of his predecessor as to make it his first official assignment upon assumption of office without any regard to how climacteric they are or to the amount of public funds sunk into them calls for urgent concern.As it is,whatever Rochas used to build Akachi,which was commissioned just weeks ago by Vice-President Yomi Osinbajo has gone to waste.

As the newly sworn governors resume operations fully next week,nigerians must never allow their displeasure with the previous administrations or a particular political party cloud their reasoning when anyone over-reaches in their mission to erase the memories of a 'bad time' for the state.

Not all last minute employment of civil servants are a conscious attempt to place a burden on the incoming administration and whoever is going to serenade the public with how money was embezzled must also make sure they have filed petitions with the EFCC.

In the interest of transparency,the revocation of contracts must also be accompanied by very clear and detailed 

reasons why.We must all be wary of being used as pawns in the malicious,vengeful and envious machinations of politicians out to hurt their rivals.APC or PDP, the people have spoken.State governments must spend their time towards bettering the lives of their people rather than pointing out to them how evil the last set of leaders were.

The Buhari administration spent 4 years blaming Jonathan for all its problems and at the end of the day,had nothing to show for it.If the people were satisfied with what was on ground,they wouldn't have voted in a new government to change it.

The case of Rochas Okorocha is a very peculiar one.Asides being heavily disfavoured by his own people,the Buhari administration and technically his party,have not accorded him immunity from EFCC scrutiny.He is a political orphan.And while those who were very critical of his time in office may be rejoicing over his current woes,there is a need to maintain some sense of rationality.His aim of turning Imo state into a tourist attraction with the erection of statues,castles and the sorts instead of devoting the resources to infrastructural or agricultural use did not excite very much.But in as much as his priorities may have been misplaced,the demolition of these structures especially one like the Akachi tower is to the loss of the Imo people who may one day benefit from another administration with a similar blue print no matter the scale.We have all seen what Donald Duke was able to do in Cross-River state.It would only make sense to sell Okorocha's structures but that is not possible.At least not in this age.Ihedioha along with every other new administration should know that when they deploy caterpillars to pull down some of these things their predecessors have built,they are pulling down billions of public funds that cannot be retrieved.

By next week,our newly elected leaders will be settling into their various offices across the nation,let us ensure they act right.

AISHA BUHARI: THE PRESIDENT'S APPOINTMENTS AND THE NEW REALITY FOR THE NORTH

President Obasanjo's remarks about an on-going 'islamization and fulanization' process at a Church of Nigeria event in Delta state and a deed in that direction on the part of the Buhari administration by announcing a new radio station for the fulanis formed the major item of public discourse over the last week.You may also count a few goofy statements on this and that but everyone already knows what to expect when it comes to Lai Mohammed.

Just when it appeared the supreme court verdict on the Zamfara elections was going to transit us over the weekend to a potential wait for the next major news cycle,the first lady of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,Hajiya Aisha Buhari shocked us on Saturday with her revelations at an interactive forum held at the Presidential Villa.The first lady quite sensationally disclosed how northern states were being sidelined in the Social Investment schemes of government particularly mentioning her home state Adamawa and Kano where the President's Senior Special adviser on Social Investment Programmes,Maryam Uwais hails from with an addendum that she 'was sure' Uwais was appointed by Buhari in that capacity because of the huge votes he got from the state in 2015.

Aisha Buhari's out burst tells us 2 things and i will start from the less critical.

The first lady may just be preparing herself for life outside the Presidency.Not a few think her worthy of high commendation for the manner in which has spoken out against her husband's government and just maybe,Aisha Buhari is starting to feel a need to exploit that to sell herself as best as possible.

Her special 'concern' for Adamawa state and her 'village people' in particular regarding 'her share' of the mosquito nets the Buhari administration planned to distribute more than anything  suggests she may be positioning herself to run for political office.If so, under the APC or PDP, time will tell.

More importantly however,the chickens have come home to roost for the core Buhari support base in the north who never see any wrong in anything he does.When a lot of us were criticizing the President early on for his lopsided appointments in favour of the north,our brothers said we had collected money from the PDP.Why would anyone from the north complain about northeners being overly favoured in appointments?.What we saw then,only few did.

If Buhari's successor bends over backwards to favour the Southern states not only for voting massively for him but also because they were sidelined by the previous administration,these very same people will be heard complaining and may even kickstart an agitation for an Arewa state.In the interest of nation building,whenever we called for appointments to be based on competence and not along voting lines,we were shouted down and expected to understand the beneficiaries were 'our brothers'.

Instead of a skilled and accomplished hand in people-oriented schemes,Maryam Uwais,a lawyer was handed the portfolio of Adviser on Social Investment Programmes.Buhari's never-see-wrong supporters are now feeling the brunt of the incompetence of our northern kin.A person of more honour and courage would have spoken out loud for her people when Vice-President,Prof. Yomi Osinbajo was moving from market to market across the country handing N10,000 to prospective voters in the name of the tradermoni scheme.

They never bothered about the north and Uwais,the APC vote appointee wasn't heard complaining.N500bn worth of schemes is what we are talking about.Buhari already had most of the north in the bag and they knew perfectly well that no much campaign was needed for a people who had been configured to see him as a messiah no matter what.If things weren't going well,it was because of Goodluck Jonathan or even Bola Tinubu.Only those in other places whose eyes were open to the truth were to be swayed with N10,000.

I may not be privy to the type of information the first lady receives from the Secretary of the government of the Federation (whom she reminded us was from Adamawa as well) and others around her but i can confidently say that i agree with her.Tradermoni and other social investment programmes are not as operative in the north as they are in other places.At least judging from what our eyes see.For a President that had promised to make government impact felt based on how a people voted and had even gone ahead to bless them with as many appointments as possible,all one needed to do was to think out why that formula didn't apply to social investment programmes and you'll arrive at one conclusion-the 2019 election.

The South West has always been the most open-minded electorate and had the largest population of 'on the fence' voters likely to be swayed by either side.Osinbajo was pictured doling out money and even eating with school kids in the South West than in any other place.No one needs to convince an already convinced people.

The President's supporters that try very hard to justify every of his misdeeds need to learn from the revelations of Aisha Buhari.The very obvious question here is what really has government done with N500bn?.How many unemployed persons have gotten the promised N5000 monthly stipend?.How many meals have children in the public schools we see around us had?.If that sum were entirely devoted to tradermoni,wouldn't every market woman in this country have received a share?.The figures we are given are very different from what our eyes see.

One way or the other in the end,we all as a people will suffer for the sentimental assessment of our leaders,the ineptitude of undeserving appointees and the enthronement of mediocrity.Some way some how,it will haunt us all.

ALBUM REVIEW: BELIEVE THE HYPE,PATORANKING'S WILMER IS A FANTASTIC ALBUM

There were days when artistes actually did more than display an album cover art and tracklist along with a date for release.Patoranking reminded us just how proficient a marketing tool a good album listening party was.He solicited the crème de la crème of the Nigerian music industry and didn't scare them off with performance requests.All they had to do was come and celebrate with him.Hours before the Wilmer album listening party started,photos of the venue and the sumptuous meals and drinks available to guests were all over the internet.

Wizkid very clearly bowed down to Tuface while exchanging pleasantries with him but then a senseless out-burst on disrespect by a fan on social media was picked up by the blogs and blown out of proportion.All these were huge talking points and by the time the album was finally released,it was trending on twitter with some fans coming to tweet how 'Alubarika' and 'Heal The World' were their favourite songs.

Whether planned or by sheer providence,the Wilmer album was buzzing in a way no album had in recent time.

Gladly however,Patoranking doesn't disappoint.Wilmer speaks to the coming of age of an artiste who has evolved over time from a formidable ragga/dancehall artiste to an all round hit maker.Last year's Heal The World was celebrated more for the quality of its video than for the soul-stirring message it conveyed and not a few fans thought Patoranking should have added it to this album but what was shelved in Heal The World was re-enacted on Champion which is quite easily the early fans favourite of Wilmer.The positivity hits just as it should.Black is another attempt at socio-consciousness and though the instrumentation (saxophones in particular) robs it of better effect,the poetry was amazing.

Available is another Patoranking song seemingly more celebrated outside the country than within and it was great to see him use that magic recipe albeit in more up-tempo mode on Go Crazy.A catchy song for the dance floor which perhaps with a little more indigenous touch,not necessarily the kwaito feel of Available, would appeal more to his international audience.

Patoranking's impressive maturation as an artiste is very seldomly celebrated.He has over time grown from a ragga/dancehall artiste no one could safely say was still going to be here after a few more years to one who has added a quite far flung versatility to his game coupled with a very strong desire to conquer other territories.The bouncy Zero Probleme with French/Congolese star,Dadju best emphasizes this.

Of the 6 features on Wilmer, pop star Davido's contribution on the buzzing Confirm is the only one by a Nigerian artiste.

Wilmer speaks a lot to the artiste's yearning to appeal to every market on the continent.Patoranking has exhibited quite an interest in love songs with his collaboration with Tanzanian Super star,Diamond Platnumz on Love You Die as the most notable.He dishes out 3 love songs on Wilmer.The ragga flavoured Feelings and the very pleasant and radio-friendly title track,Wilmer.However,the DJ Coublon produced Nakupenda where he is brilliantly complemented by Nyashinski deserves special mention.The Kenyan singer renders a quite mesmerizing chorus and tops it with a verse of his own.

He delves into familiar territory in some style on Temperature which is arguably his most undiluted ragga track till date.That element is much lesser pronounced on the calm and breezy Turn Up with British singer and rapper Donaeo but the rude boy factor really does shine through.

There are really outstanding songs on good albums that get slept on mostly because the fans have annointed favourites more in tune with the dynamics that have come to shape their tastes.South African songstress Busiswa is second time unlucky with a Nigerian artiste.Ntswempu was in my highly unpopular opinion,the best song of Dbanj's King Don Come album thanks in no small measure to her input and her feature on Open Fire is yet again top notch.It is quite easily one of the best tracks of the Wilmer album.

Patoranking has his eyes set on places far and wide and judging from this album and the songs before it,he will reach his goals in no distant time.Wilmer is a wonderful piece of work.

$1BN LOAN:WHAT IS BUHARI DOING TO REDUCE GOVERNMENT EXPENDITURE?

According to the Director-General of the debt management office,Pauline Oniha,Nigeria's debt profile as at December 31st 2018 was N24.387tn.Up over N3trn from the N21.725tn official figure of 2017.To better illustrate how worrisome the state of our finances are,our debt profile stood at a cumulative sum of N7.8tn when Buhari assumed office in May 2015 and in just a month of Buhari being in charge,that figure had blown by N5.4tn to N12.12tn.Outside all the grammar and arithmetic,i am no different from my old grand mother whose first reaction would be-"Where did all this money go?".

Just 2 days ago,reports emerged that the Buhari administration will borrow $1bn from the Chinese-Exim bank to finance the Gurara 2 Hydro-Power project.That is a very good cause and ordinarily no nigerian would blink an eye if the heavy borrowing has rubbed off positively on our lives but it hasn't.How many projects have been completed by the massive loans this government has taken?.

Two weeks before Jonathan handed over power to Buhari in 2015,power generation stood at 6,000 megawatts.With two weeks before Buhari succeeds himself,generation is at 2,447 megawatts.The story is not only that of a pathetic utilization of funds,it is also of a woeful management of existing resources.

It is time Nigerians are educated on the dire implications of these huge loans Buhari is taking without a corresponding positive impact on our lives.As it is,even if oil goes back to selling for $150 per barrel,a chunk of our resources that would be better utilized building hospitals,roads and schools would have to be sunk into paying back our lenders.That is if it ever reverts to that price which isn't at all likely.Now from having to borrow for any meaningful endeavour, we will gradually be condemned to foregoing development even if we get the right leadership to pay off debts.

It could be argued for the President that he has no power to force members of the legislative arm of government to cut down drastically on their outrageous entitlements but asides that,what has Buhari done to cut down on recurrent expenditure?.It has been obvious for God-knows-how-long now that we can't keep operating the same model in these harsh times and Buhari is doing absolutely nothing to ensure the burden is lightened.Drastic times call for drastic measures.

Nigeria doesn't need these many agencies and commissions when it is borrowing to stay afloat.We could very easily do without a Women affairs ministry which does nothing but scream 'third world'.The interests of women can still be promoted by government without specifically having to operate a ministry for that purpose.As far as i am concerned,budget and national planning should be a department in the Ministry of finance and not a whole ministry.

As it is,we are passing budgets dependent on foreign loans.Our destiny are in the hands of people who see little or nothing wrong in plunging us more and more into debt with excess baggage.

In 2015 when Buhari assumed office,he appeared quite enthusiastic about cutting costs and even went as far as promising to implement the Steve Orasanye report.I wrote an article then titled 'Cutting The Cost Of Governance' urging the President to among other things look into pruning down the law enforcement agencies we can do without while enhancing the police force.

It didn't make sense that the police were complaining of lack of equipment and communities were having just one or two officers at their police posts while government was wasting massive funds on a para-military outfit called the Civil Defence corps to more or less play a subsidiary role.Why not draft as many as possible into the police force and cancel the NSCDC as an establishment?.In developed countries,the police ensures abidance to traffic laws.A lot would be saved if the Federal Road Safety Corps is abolished and police officers are trained to carry out their functions.Buhari's '97%-5%' dividend formula along voting lines breathed some air of legitimacy to the agitations by the biafra movement and the Niger-Delta militants otherwise all he needed to do was increase the wages of the reformed militants to douse any fears,promise a more effective Niger Delta Development Commission and scrap the Niger-Delta Ministry which was more or less created as a pawn in President Yar'adua's deal with the militant groups.That may not be possible in the current circumstances but there are still a couple more bleeding spots this administration could clot.

If 2 mega ministries like power and works and housing could be merged,there is no reason why the Ministry of Labour and the Ministry of trade and investment should still operate as seperate entities.There are an even more perfect fit.

A N12bn severance package would cater for the staff of the institutions i have listed not at all needed in any other capacity at N3M each for 4,000 employees.Which ever institutions government chooses to dispose off,it can lay off that many workers and not worry about pushing them into hardship.

A break from a traditional or accepted way of doing things is never pleasant but what is at stake is the future of an entire country.To further highlight the gravity of our current situation,there is a 110% likelihood President Buhari will increase fuel price in a matter of months after the N30,000 minimum wage is implemented.We are in a very precarious financial situation and we will only make real progress when our leaders start to think better.

President Buhari has to bend over backwards to ensure he reduces government expenditure.He is borrowing away the future of this country.

SAGAY & OTHERS,THIS IS WHAT OUR LAWS SAY ON ZAINAB BULKACHUWA

'Justice Kekere Ekun's husband was an APC chieftain in Lagos when in 2016,she affirmed the PDP and Governor Nyesom Wike's victory in the Rivers gubernatorial election'.

'Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa's husband was in the ANPP when she adjudged Senator David Mark of the PDP to have defeated Usman Abubakar (Young Alhaji) of the ANPP in a tussle for one of the senatorial seats in Benue'.

From a layman we would understand but these are all coming from lawyers.Quite a number of them prominent and well-respected.Since when did it become justifiable in law to remedy an anomaly by citing past cases where it wasn't challenged?.Only adjudicated cases on a particular subject matter can be used to support or disprove an argument.

Anyone seeking to prove that Zainab Bulkachuwa can preside over a matter involving the APC,a party which her husband is a member of and was recently elected senator through,can only refer to decided cases supporting their argument and not ones where the issue was not raised.

I read Professor Itse Sagay's Nigerian Law Of Contract in the University and i have held him in high regard since but time and time again as a member of President Buhari's government,he has gravely disappointed me.

It was with sheer disgust i read Sagay as the Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee on Anti-corruption,saying that no relationship can be found in the Judges Code of Conduct or in law to support the PDP's call for Bulkachawa to step down as head of the presidential election tribunal.We can't safely put anything pass Sagay and the people he works for so maybe he may have a copy of the Judge's Code of Conduct we don't know about but the Code of Conduct for Judicial Officers as we know it to be has been in operation since the 24th day of February 2016 and it clearly provides in Rule 12.1 that:

"A Judicial Officer should disqualify himself in a proceeding in which his impartiality may GENUINELY and REASONABLY be questioned..."

The APC, a political party to which her husband belongs is a party in the proceedings before Zainab Bulkachuwa and i wonder how anyone would argue that her impartiality cannot be 'genuinely and reasonably' questioned.

It is a shame that respected legal luminaries are saying nothing in our laws covers the Bulkachuwa situation.

The sensitivity of this matter demands that utmost caution be exercised because the implications are quite weighty.We are dealing with the possibility of a presidential candidate being denied justice in a system many already deem rigged in favour of his adversary.Justice must be seen to be done.

That an infraction has been perpetually ignored doesn't in any way make it right and that ignorance can't form a defence to any attempt to correct it.If anything, the PDP should be lauded for sparking the fires of change.

Now is the time to put our house in order.It is not right for a judge to sit over a matter in which her spouse has an interest.The introductory note on application of the code of conduct for Judicial officers clearly  states that a violation of any of the rules contained in the code shall constitute judicial misconduct or misbehaviour and SHALL be liable to disciplinary action. 

Zainab Bulkachuwa is in contravention of Rule 12.1 of the Code of Conduct for Judicial Officers and should be made to face disciplinary proceedings.The National Judicial Council must wake up to its responsibilities and act in the best interest of the judiciary and the entire country at large.

Her husband being not only a card-carrying member of the APC but also a senator elected on its platform forms a 'genuine and reasonable' basis to question her impartiality in a matter where the APC is a party.

Shame on all the Senior advocates busy citing instances where it has happened in the past and telling us our laws are silent on this.

EMPIRE 5 REVIEW: A STRONG FINISH TO A SLOPPY START

The Lyons were always going to get back Empire.They will overcome every hurdle in their path and come out bigger and stronger.Everyone knew that.

Lee Daniels and his team are very extreme in their protection of the Lyons and prior to season 5,they had done a remarkable job of keeping us enthralled through the watch to an inevitable outcome.Always.

Eddie Barker dies early on but that doesn't mean the end of their troubles.We were going to have to endure a long wait before the Lyon clan got back what was theirs.But then in as much as the intention to make the protagonists suffer a little was meant to be a reinvigorating touch,some really blue portrayal of the Lyons; particularly Lucious doesn't make that count much.America's number one music family was made to look too ordinary.

In the desperation to depict Lucious and Cookie as having hit rock bottom,we are told an otherwise shrewd music mogul blew through his entire fortune in trying to get back his company and also that a highly revered Lucious Lyon had to beg to get an artiste played on radio.We didn't need that extra push to feel sorry for the Lyons.They always had our unalloyed support.

'Two years later' didn't feel like two years only because it was an ineffectual attempt at justifying the pathetic state of the Lyons.

Kingsley's public disclosure of Lucious being his father rounded up the fall episodes and in the Kingsley character lied a potential the producers could have better utilized.A little more intrigue and drama woven round he being a Lyon would have added some lustre and served as a viable sub-plot to the Lyons fighting him for Empire.

The 2nd lap was much better than the fall episodes.Despite what was for a large part,an unexciting ride through,the Lyons eventually got their company back after a few scenes in episode 10.But that aside,Wood Harris played a much enhanced role as Damon Cross and that as well as the added twist of the FBI trying to get key members of the Empire family to implicate him provided a more robust watch.

The Teri-Andre relationship was quite deservingly the centre-stage romance of Season 5 despite Jamal and Kai making up and getting married.Though looking more and more like a character to be sacrificed in the long run for any of the Lyons, Teri is quite endearing.

One thing we missed a lot was the spicy personal lives of the Empire artistes and that was back in place in the second part.Maya is looking like Hakeem's next love interest and the Tiana love circuit involving Blake,Carlito,Hakeem and maybe Devon albeit discontinuously was a fabulous touch.

Special credit must go to the writers for how Giselle (Nicole Ari-Parker),an ex-wife of Eddie Barker and a key part of Kingsley's Empire team now owning 20% of Lucious and Cookie's company was made to appear so adorable and disarming.

Andre was always going to get a new heart but no caution was taken in Luscious' getting one for him.The darling patriarch in playing the concerned and loving father appeared cold-blooded and desensitized in his haste to ferry the heart of a son he had come to be fond of in Kingsley to the hospital for Andre's use just after he shot himself.

Damon Cross has struck a deal with the Feds for Lucious apparently so he can make a strong push for Cookie and the season ended with her refusing to skip town with Lucious.

After all is said and done,the Lyons will overcome this challenge and in as much as we all can't wait for that,we just hope the story-telling is top notch up to that point.

EL RUFAI,PLEASE TELL LAGOSIANS THE TRUTH

Kaduna state governor,Nasir El Rufai was in Lagos this past Sunday and at an event held in Ikoyi by the Bridge Club to commemorate his visit,El Rufai in response to a question on godfatherism by three time Lagos state commissioner and Tinubu ally turned adversary, Dr Muiz Banire SAN,said Kaduna state used to be a lot like Lagos and that before they were retired by his victory in the 2019 election,there were '3 or 4' people you could not 'become anything' unless they were by your side.

El Rufai may have sought to either exploit the enormous powers a 'similar problem too' narrative has over an audience or to characteristically,depict himself as a political gladiator worthy of emulation but one thing is not in doubt-El Rufai is not being honest.

No disrespect to Lagosians but at no time did anyone,either as a member of the PDP or the APC and either alone or as part of a cabal,sit down to decide who gets what from the bottom to the very top in Kaduna state.

In 2015,President Buhari despite being in seperate camps with the state's elite and never hand-picking candidates for his party,adventitously had the closest thing to an influence over the Kaduna electorate due to their perception of him as a man of integrity.El Rufai prior to getting elected had been labelled a hypocrite in some quarters for aligning with Buhari to reap off that.El Rufai became governor in 2015 only because Kaduna people saw him as a core loyalist of Buhari's.So who were the godfathers in Kaduna that were still active till they were 'retired' by his victory in 2019?.The ones who boasted that they put him there and will remove him?.

El Rufai has a notoriety for grand standing whenever an opportunity presents itself and with a possible Vice-Presidential nomination at stake after Buhari leaves office in 2023 (if he lasts that long),these comments depicting him as a leader of extraordinary proportions don't come as a suprise.

What is shocking however is the magnitude of the hypocrisy involved.El Rufai shouldn't be heard saying anything when there is any discussion on the impropriety of godfatherism.He single-handedly frustrated 2 serving senators out of the APC in the state for not seeing things his way after telling the people to assault them and handed his stooges the party's tickets in their zones.One of those beneficiaries is his former Special Adviser on Political affairs,Mallam Uba Sani.

Senator Shehu Sani,the out-going senator of Kaduna Central constituency was quite vocal in his reference to the APC senatorial primary where he was schemed out as a 'Kangaroo election'.Senator Suleiman Hunkuyi,the other of El Rufai's victims had his house demolished and both Senators openly accused the Kaduna state governor of being behind an attack on their lives by armed thugs at a press conference held in 2017 at the National Union of Journalists,Kaduna state secretariat.Is El Rufai really speaking on the ills of godfatherism?.

How it is possible to track down to wherever they are, 'just 2 million' of persons that didn't turn up to vote and spend N2bn defeating Lagos godfathers is something only he can explain better but what he can't do is portray himself as a political Super Man by fabricating a story on having to overcome '3 or 4' god fathers in his home state.This is a pretty much verifiable piece of information.

The Lagos State Publicity Secretary of the APC,Joe Igbokwe in his response on behalf of the party did not waste time denying that Asiwaju Bola Tinubu was a godfather,what he did was wax poetic about the 'party leader' while stating the very obvious as far as people like El Rufai are concerned-"they want to be like Tinubu but they can't be like Tinubu".

Either way,its not uncommon for people to highlight the evil in a person to pass themselves off as good and to also hate a person for being everything they aspire to become.Even if it means telling a lie or two.

BEFORE WE CALL FOR THE RELEASE OF A SUSPECTED DRUG TRAFFICKER...

Several reactions have trailed the release of Zainab Aliyu,a Kano based Nigerian arrested in Saudi Arabia for smuggling in Tramadol, a banned substance while arriving for the lesser pilgrimage in company of 2 family members.

While a lot of Nigerians are commending the Buhari administration for its swift response after the arrest of a 7 man drug ring at the Aminu Kano International airport also allegedly specialized in sneaking drugs into the bags of unsuspecting travellers for onward transmission to Saudi Arabia,some have criticized government for its favouritism in the handling of cases of Nigerians with legal troubles abroad citing Abike Dabiri's recent name-shaming of 5 ibo armed robbery suspects in Dubai,UAE.They say in line with Buhari's '97%-5%' dividend promise of 2015 depending on how Nigerians voted,it is no suprise ibo criminals are 'named and shamed' while those of the yoruba extraction are not named at all.A hausa of North West extraction,Kano in particular where he got the most votes, would have everything humanly possible done to ensure she returns back home.

One thing i am very concerned about however is the extent to which those campaigning for her release acquainted themselves with the facts made available to us.Its important to do a thorough balancing of what one knows as against what it is they may not.The airport syndicate was rounded up after the NDLEA commander at the airport investigated a petition by the lady's father.7 airport staff are being accused of having planted the drugs in an extra luggage with her name.

Are there any chances that a plan could have been hatched for others to take the fall so it could be used to hoodwink foreign authorities?.Some thorough planning and efficient string-pulling could make that happen,no?.

A lot of other cases suddenly started emanating with a lot of people coming forward to say they have been victims of what they mostly described as a connivance between airport staff,airline operators and persons in other countries.In every case of involuntary peddling of substances,one fundamental question we need to ask and as a matter of fact,one that should justify any agitation for freedom on our part is whether the intended recipients of the bag outside this country have been named and by whom?.If no one apprehended as part of an airport syndicate has named not only who was going to receive the bag overseas but also how they were going to do so,Nigerians need to thread with caution in calling for the freedom of such 'innocentees'.Because we may very well be fighting for criminals.

The media extensively covered the Zainab Aliyu saga with a lot of them going as far as disclosing what the authorities found; some members of the alleged drug ring having each other's phone numbers and calling themselves at several times.And also a photo of 2 parcels sent via Whatsapp messenger from one to the other.No disclosure as to the contents of the parcels or the nature of discussion the alleged members had.Bearing in mind also that confessions could be coerced,most of the publications i read only narrated how the drugs were planted without citing them as confessions.

Fellow Nigerians,we must endeavour to always act in our best interest.

Most Nigerians arrested overseas with drugs from now henceforth will start to say they were planted on them back in Nigeria and even people here will jump on social media to help the world laugh at us.Our authorities must be made to understand the sensitivity of these cases and how best to proceed.If there are drugs or other contraband in a luggage bearing the name of a person,the findings after investigations should reveal who was going to claim the package and how they intended going about such so it would be investigated by the authorities in that country.Only an outcome of such can be deemed compelling evidence of innocence.

Every society tries as much as possible to make laws that hinder the festering of ills that are detrimental to it.When kidnapping became rampant and more victims were being killed than returned,Adams Oshiomole as then governor of Edo state made sure the offence carried the death penalty.Saudi Arabia is the holy land of the muslims and a death penalty for drug offences is meant to deter anyone from desecrating the land.Interceding on behalf of alleged drug offenders without justifiable reason is akin to the Kingdom requesting that its citizen apprehended in a boko haram enclave be set free because he was handed the wrong address over there.

Anyone who is accused of planting drugs in a bag bearing someone else's name must have revealed how the drugs would be received over there in other for that to be investigated before government calls for the release of the 'victim'.Other than that,the best way to proceed is to have the Saudi authorities delay execution of the 'victim' pending the outcome of the case against the alleged culprit.

The airport drug ring is one with several perhaps never-before-published stories surrounding it.They are said to have agents outside the airport who hook them up with intending travellers ready to make some cash and an agreement is struck as to fee and mode of delivery when the trafficker arrives their destination.Saudi Arabia carries a very large incentive due to the death penalty in force there with cocaine couriers reportedly earning as much as $171,000 (N61.5M).It is no secret Nigerian criminals are among the smartest anywhere so we must thread with caution otherwise 'the bag was planted' will become a get-out-of-jail free card for anyone rich enough to have a fall guy sought.