Showing posts with label Bill Clinton. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bill Clinton. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 16, 2021

Humphrey Nwosu and the true story of June 12, 1993

 By Ikechukwu Ngene

“I think I did something for the worst possible reason – just because I could. I think that’s the most, just about the most morally indefensible reason that anybody could have for doing anything.” 

 Bill Clinton to Dan Rather on 60 Minutes; June 20, 2004.

Bill Clinton had not found religion as he spoke. He had not found morality either. What happened was that he became wiser by way of being caught cheating. For that indiscretion, Monica Lewinsky hitches a ride with him into the dusk of eternity.

*Prof Nwosu 

We can never regard Prof. Humphrey Nwosu enough. To understand his moral stature and what he achieved under the dubious conditions of the transition programme to civil rule during the regime of Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, let me state this with as little intent of hyperbole as possible   “If the US 2020 presidential election was conducted using Nigeria’s centralized electoral system, President Biden would never have been elected.”

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Kogi 2019: Will Yahaya Bello Carry The Day?

By Tony Ademiluyi
Before Nigerian independence, the youths played a vital role in wrestling political power from our erstwhile colonial masters. Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe established the Zik Group of Newspapers with the West African Pilot as it’s foremost in the group in 1937 at the age of thirty-three after a three year stint in editing the African Morning Post in Accra, Ghana. It revolutionized the newspapering industry and was the most nationalistic while still maintaining a modest modicum of financial success in its three decades of existence.
*Gov Bello and aides took to the streets to celebrate
 Buhari's return from UK medical  trip
Chief Anthony Enahoro edited the Southern Nigerian Defender one of the newspapers in the Zik Group in 1944 at the age of twenty-one straight from the famous Kings College Lagos without any university education. He went on to move the motion for Nigeria’s independence in 1953 at the age of thirty. Chief Bola Ige became the organizing secretary of the defunct Action Group at the age of twenty-three. Ambassador Matthew Tawo Mbu became the minister for Labour at the age of twenty-three in 1954 before he went to the United Kingdom to study law. Mazi Mbonu Ojike spearheaded the cultural nationalism with his famous ‘boycott the boycottables’ in his early thirties after his educational sojourn in the United States and became the Deputy Mayor of Lagos long before he turned forty. The list is endless of youths who achieved a lot in pre-independence Nigeria.

Monday, November 12, 2018

When Courts Replace The People

By Hope Eghagha
The theory and principle of democracy effectively removed the power of elevating officials into the ruling class from the hands of potentates and transferred same to the people. In practice there had always been interference from strong economic and political forces in the democratic process.

These seek to undermine or influence and manipulate the electoral process to favour a point of view, an ideology, a selfish interest or some candidates. This has happened in all democracies; it is indeed a human trait. What has differed is the degree and for what ends. As a result, democracy or the principle of it has not always had its way. The checks and balances are in the hands of men; not angels or saints! It is this crack; the crack of human element and weaknesses that often times transfers the final pronouncement from the hands of the people to a select few.  

Thursday, August 2, 2018

Nigeria: The Chickens Have Come Home To Roost

 By Chuks Iloegbunam
I knew that Muhammadu Buhari didn’t represent any sort of change with the tiniest chance of improving the lot of Nigerians. I knew also that people of my education and perspective knew that to have a man with scant redeeming qualities at the helm of Nigerian affairs would represent a tragic setback for the entity. It didn’t surprise me, though, that during 2015 a legion of informed Nigerians ate up incredible media space promoting as sterling what they knew or ought to have known was meretricious. It was all Buhari blah, blah; Buhari blah, blah, blah; Buhari blah, blah, blah, blah.
*Buhari 
Well, the chickens since came home to roost. There had been an American flank to the nauseating valorization of mediocrity. We all always knew that once a Nigerian got educated in the United States or claimed to have gotten educated in the United States, he or she automatically became all-knowing – against the backdrop of all the nonentities they left behind in Nigeria for the trans-Atlantic flight that invariably transformed every sojourner into a genius. On and on, week in and week out, these infallible characters kept churning out tomes of anti-Jonathan diatribe and fabulous episodes on their messiah.

Wednesday, July 18, 2018

The Nelson Mandela In Us All

By Claus Stäcker
Barack Obama praised Nelson Mandela as the "moral compass" of his political career long ago. Obama spoke about that at length while addressing fans at Johannesburg's cricket stadium during his current trip to Africa. For a five-figure sum enthusiasts could buy a seat at his dinner table to hear more. It remains to be seen just where Mandela's needle will point Obama.
Mandela was no saint.
*Mandela
Still, next to him every well-known personality shrank to size. Mandela exhibited equal respect for musicians and presidents, queens and prison guards. By the time he was released from prison, after 27 years behind bars, he had become a global brand, an idol the world over, a projection overladen with expectations. Suddenly, he stood there upon the world stage and he seized the opportunity. Unlike others, he had a vision and a moral compass, as Obama so rightly recognized.

Monday, November 27, 2017

Tribute To Alex Ekwueme: A Man Without Bitterness

By Dan Agbese
The bells tolled for Dr Alex Ekwueme on November 19. And the former vice-president answered the call that no mortal has the power to reject. In his going, we have lost the most level-headed politician our country has ever produced. If you describe Nigerian politicians as gentlemen, you waste the word. If you describe Ekwueme as a gentleman, you nail the word. It is the word that best describes him as a politician and as a statesman.
President Buhari with Dr. Ekwueme at
the State House 
I first met the then vice-president sometime in 1983. I was editor of the New Nigerian at the time. I sought an appointment to see him because I was increasingly worried about the allegations of corruption against the Shehu Shagari administration that had become disturbingly rife. He graciously received me in his well-appointed office. I did not go through a phalanx of protocol and security men to see him. He was alone in his office when he welcomed me with a moderated smile. He had not yet cultivated the grey mane of his later years. I saw a handsome man who, I thought, did not quite cut the picture of the expansive Nigerian politician. What he exuded was the air of political power but the cool, calm air infused with intellectualism. He was so disarming that I felt momentarily disarmed. He asked after my family. I found that both unusual and interesting. He said my newspaper was doing a good job with its editorial stand on national issues. I felt my head expanding with pride.

Tuesday, September 6, 2016

Nigeria:The Grim Statistics

By Ray Ekpu  
The figures are grim. Inflation 17.1 per cent; Gross Domestic Product 2.06 per cent; unemployment/underemployment 26.06 million; crude oil price, less than $50 per barrel; oil production declined from 2.11 million barrels per day by the end of the second quarter of 2016 to 1.69 mbpd. These are figures produced by the National Bureau of Statistics which indicate that Nigeria’s economy is in a recession.
*Buhari
The Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, put the situation quite grimly but frankly: “It’s the worst possible time for us. Are we confused? Absolutely not. How are we going to get ourselves out of this recession? One, we must make sure that we diversify our economy. There are too many of us to keep on relying on oil.”
She is not saying anything that nobody has said before. All of Nigeria’s leaders since the Shehu Shagari era have parroted this diversification line but how much of it has been done? Pretty little. One of the problems of Nigeria’s leadership is “a short attention span.” When there is some calamity in the oil industry and we cannot engage in full production we talk about diversification. When the price of crude goes south we talk about diversification. When the militants go crazy and blow up oil infrastructure we remember diversification. As soon as the problem recedes, the talk of diversification goes away too. I am almost certain that if by some stroke of luck the price of oil goes up and the guns fall silent in the Niger Delta tomorrow, diversification as a policy will disappear from the government’s radar.
But first let’s interrogate the statistics. The facts behind the figures that tell us that our economy has slipped into a recession are even more grim. They are more grim because while statistics are just cold blooded figures, the facts deal with live human beings and their condition as they negotiate life’s treacherous bends.
Kerosene, the poor man’s cooking liquid, now sells for N300 a litre if you can find it. Many men and women are crawling back to their old, reliable friend: firewood. A depletion of the forest is an environmental hazard that can contribute significantly to climate change. Diesel, the rich man’s manufacturing liquid, the most effective power source in the absence of power from the official source now costs N220 per litre. The result? Low production, closures and layoffs.
Now airlines are staying more on the ground than in the air because they cannot get aircraft fuel which some smart fellows are now selling as kerosene. This is compounding the woes of the flying machines. The airlines are now raising their fares astronomically to make ends meet. At the last count there were two casualties, Aero Contractors and First Nation. Both airlines have been grounded by the force of impecuniosity because all along they have been flying at a low altitude financially.
The prices of goods including foodstuff have gone up since the price of petrol was upped. Most people are making adjustments in their eating habits either by patronising “food is ready” or “mama put” eating outlets or resorting to a 0 – 1 – 0 arrangement, that is one meal a day. This lifestyle change is not restricted to eating habits. In the area of housing, a lot of young people are moving from flats to face-me-I-face-you shanties or engaging in flat sharing. Those who have cars are involved in car pooling or are taking a ride in BRT buses in Lagos which they had hitherto scorned. But there are adjustments that are difficult to make. One area is health. Those who cannot afford hospital bills are either patronising petty medicine sellers who may be selling fake drugs or they are beating their way to the babalawo or the Pentecostal churches. Neither the babalawo nor a spiritual church is a hospital. The bottom line is that the health of many of our country men and women is gradually being put in peril.

Tuesday, May 31, 2016

Who Voted For Muhammadu Buhari?

By Ikechukwu Amaechi
Voting on March 28, 2015 for the then presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Muhammadu Buhari, was almost a badge of honour.

At polling booths, voters proudly flaunted their thump-printed ballot papers to prove that they were worthy ambassadors of the “change movement”.
Today, perhaps, the real measure of how much things have changed is that many people no longer readily own up to being part of the historic movement that led to the sacking of a sitting Nigerian president.
*Buhari 
Nobody admits voting for change any more. In fact, to accuse anyone of voting for Buhari has become an offence that people don’t take kindly. How could I have voted for Buhari, God forbid, is the most popular refrain in town today. And you wonder who did.
Well, I did. I am one of those who voted for the Daura-born General last year. I have said so here, severally.
I thought that former President Goodluck Jonathan had no capacity to continue to rule this country. He was not in control of his government and another four years with him in the saddle was, for me, unimaginable. And I still believe so.
I also thought Buhari would make a better president not necessarily because he possessed the intellectual capacity to govern. No.
But I reasoned that unlike Jonathan, he had the requisite character and integrity to be in charge of his government and if he was, what he only needed to do was to gather people with the capacity to drive a 21st century economy in dire need of a shot in the arm.
Sadly, knowing what I know now and having observed happenings in the polity in the last one year, I no longer believe so.
If the election was to be conducted today with Jonathan and Buhari as the frontline presidential candidates as was the situation last year, I would rather not go near any polling booth because, for me, the difference between the two is the same between six and half a dozen.
Jonathan as president was clueless as charged. Buhari is not proving to be any different.
Today, May 29, 2016, is exactly one year since he was sworn in as president and commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Expectations were quite high when he took his oath of office, vowing to give Nigerians a new lease of life. But, 365 days down the road, Nigerians are aghast.

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Dasukigate Has Brought Out The Best And The Worst Of Us

By Okey Ndibe

Nigerians are in the midst of a familiar feeding frenzy. On the menu, this time, former National Security Adviser (NSA), Sambo Dasuki. Prosecutors allege that Mr. Dasuki, a retired colonel of the Nigerian Army, took more than $2 billion, which was budgeted for the purchase of military weapons, and divvied it up among highly connected politicians.
*Ndibe 


















It seems that every day the media unmask the names of more beneficiaries. And each revelation fuels the frenzy. Resourceful pundits have fashioned a verb out of Mr. Dasuki’s name. The phrase, to be Dasukied (also Dasukification), has come to represent a sudden windfall or diversion of funds to an illicit purpose.
Nigerians are riveted, as attentive to the unfolding drama as Americans were when, in 1998, then President Bill Clinton was accused of carrying on an affair in the White House with a young intern, Monica Lewinsky.
The scandal Nigerians have christened Dasukigate has brought out the best and the worst of us. The usual pedestrian kind of disputation has taken root in social and print media. Some commentators have mistaken an indictment for a conviction. There’s a disturbing part of our psyche that yearns for the institution of mob justice. We forget those of us who advocate this mode, that it is a monster that, in the end, spares no one. Others—typically Mr. Dasuki’s supporters—have raised partisan hell, questioning the prosecution of Mr. Dasuki when government prosecutors have turned a blind eye to the alleged graft by members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

Friday, December 6, 2013

Nelson Mandela Dies At 95




















*Mandela: Time To Say Goodbye

One of the world’s most respected statesmen and former South African President, Nelson Mandela, is dead. He died on Wednesday, December 5, 2013, at about 20.50 pm, surrounded by his family. He was aged 95.

In a broadcast shortly after his death, South African President, Jacob Zuma, announced to South Africans: Our nation has lost its greatest son; our people have lost a father”

Below Is The Full Text Of Mr. Zuma’s Statement:
“Fellow South Africans. Our beloved Nelson Mandela, the founding president of our democratic nation has departed.
“He passed on peacefully. Our people have lost a father. Although we knew that this day would come, nothing can diminish our sense of a profound and enduring loss.
“His tireless struggle for freedom, earned him the respect of the world. His humility, his compassion and his humanity earned him their love
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the Mandela family. To them we owe a debt of gratitude.
“They have sacrificed much and endured much so that our people could be free.
“Our thoughts are with the SA people who today mourn the loss of the one person who more than any other came to embody their sense of a common nationhood.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

The Return Of Newt Gingrich

By Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye
Last Wednesday (May 11, 2011), Newt Gingrich, the 58th Speaker of the United States Congress (1995-1999), but who is better known for championing a historic opposition against President Bill Clinton in the 1990s, and, perhaps, also, for leading a team of conservatives to win back the control of the House for his Republican Party in 1994, formally joined the already crowded 2012 Republican presidential primary run. He announced his candidacy via a video message released Wednesday evening.


*Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye 
“I believe we can return America to hope and opportunity, to full employment, to real security, to an American energy programme, to a balanced budget… We owe it to our children, our grandchildren, our country and frankly to ourselves.  So let’s get together, look reality in the face, tell the truth, make the tough choices and get the job done”, Gingrich said in the video.


Almost twelve years after he resigned as Speaker and his membership of Congress that Friday afternoon early in November 1999 following the dismal performance of his party in midterm elections which was largely blamed on him, Mr. Gingrich has kept himself away from electoral contests. He has, however, maintained an appreciable visibility by writing books, making speeches, producing films, launching vicious (but often uncoordinated) attacks on Democrats through his numerous television appearances and influencing policy formulations for the conservatives.

In the spring of 2008, for instance, he deployed the combined resources of the internet, cheerleaders and a petition to Congress backed with over a million signatures to push forward his advocacy for increased domestic oil production. His slogan: “Drill here. Drill now. Pay less!” helped popularize his campaign for increased domestic drilling, although, this has now come to haunt his presidential run given a 2008 pro-environment ad he did with Nancy Pelosi for Al Gore’s NGO, Alliance for Climate Protection, calling for clean energy solutions and appearing to urge the lawmakers (by shooting the ad outside the Capitol) to deploy serious efforts to contain global warming, a theme that received further mention in the 2007 book he co-authored, A Contract With the Earth 

Friday, December 24, 2010

US Election 2009: For Senator John McCain, Nigeria's PDP Beckons!

(First published October 22, 2009
By Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye
No matter who is announced winner of the American presidential election after November 4, 2009, what would never remain in doubt is that this is one election that would be far-reaching in redefining the political and social scene of the United States. As the campaigns rage and voters package their decisions, virtually nothing would be spared the raging fire of large-scale transformations sweeping through the US, as cherished and pampered myths are exploded, resilient pretensions and hypocrisies unmasked, and obstinate, enduring obsessions and habits badly scalded and shredded.
 *Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye 
For instance, a distinguished statesman like former president Bill Clinton whose non-racial credentials had been so well-acknowledged that renowned African-American novelist, Toni Morrison, had to describe him as the “First Black President” is still in his Harlem office hurting because of the serious bruises on his well-cultivated image as a result of the racial remarks he had let out during the primary contest between his wife, Hillary, and Senator Barack Obama. 

A recent report suggests he is still nursing his wounds and hoping that Obama would publicly defend, clear and help him brush off the racist dent now prominent on his image,   as a compensation for the rousing endorsement he gave Obama at the Denver Democratic Convention. 
On his part, Senator John McCain has so badly dishonoured himself by the kind of crude and ugly campaign he has conducted so far that  people are wondering whether this was the same man who began to lay enormous emphasis on character and decent politics after recovering from the “Keatings Five” scandal which nearly sank his political career.
*Senator John McCain, US Republican
Presidential Candidate (2009)
 I am glad that I am only an observer, and not a registered voter in this election, else, I would have found myself in a very big dilemma.  Obama may be young, intelligent and charismatic, but I am not a big fan of his. In fact, if I am a registered voter, I will not cast my vote for him. But if he eventually manages to get my vote, it would be a vote against McCain (who is unredeemable in virtually every respect), and not for Obama. Obama’s views on abortion are ones I cannot in all good conscience overlook. The almost callous, emotionless manner he declares in the paper he authored as president of the Harvard Law Review in 1990 that government has more important things to do than “ensuring that any particular fetus is born” makes me very sick indeed.

Not too long ago, Obama was also quoted as saying that he would not allow any of his daughters “to be punished with a child” just because “she had made a mistake.” And so, to protect his daughter from the responsibilities that ought to go with her action, another innocent, tender, helpless child (though yet unborn) should be cruelly, heartlessly and gruesomely sacrificed?

But the Republicans have not helped my dilemma by choosing McCain as their  flag-bearer. The way McCain has conducted himself so far in this election shows he is not ashamed to embody all that could be wrong about politics and politicians.  His crude methods, fired by raw desperation, carried beyond the fringes of decency, have been most revolting to many people, even in his own party. His campaign brazenly lies and distorts facts with ease, and all his claims about character and decent politics are now proving to be overly fraudulent.  
*Sarah Palin, Alaska Governor and
US 
Republican  Vice Presidential Candidate (2009)  
McCain enjoys being addressed as a “maverick” and “Straight-talk” politician, and his running mate, Sarah Palin made heavy weather of this maverick tag when she answered almost every question posed to her during her debate with Senator Joe Biden, her Democratic Party opponent, by restating that McCain was a maverick. In fact, at one point, she called him a “consummate maverick.”

One person thoroughly sickened and offended by this unending false characterisation of John McCain is Ms. Terrellita Maverick, the 82 year old San Antonio lady, who, according to New York Times columnist, John Schwartz, “proudly carries the name of a family that has been known for its progressive politics since the 1600s, when an early ancestor in Boston got into trouble with the law over his agitation for the rights of indentured servants.”

Ms. Maverick, member emeritus of the board of the San Antonio chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas could not just understand how McCain would claim that he is a maverick among the Republicans.  
“It’s just incredible — the nerve! — to suggest that he’s not part of that Republican herd. Every time we hear it, all my children and I and all my family shrink a little and say, ‘Oh, my God, he said it again,’ ” she said.
*Senator John Mccain And Mrs. Cindy McCain
To better understand the phenomenon that is John McCain, let’s recall the story of Carol, his first wife.  McCain, then a 28 year old navy pilot had in 1965 married Carol, who reports say was “a successful model.” After their daughter, Sidney, was born, he left for Vietnam at the end of 1966.

But his plane was shot down over Hanoi in October 1967 on his 23rd mission over North Vietnam. He remained a Prisoner of War (PoW) in the dreaded Hoa Loa Prison for five years.  During the Christmas holiday of 1969, Carol was involved in a terrible accident that put her through multiple surgeries as a result of the severe injuries she had sustained. She eventually learnt to walk again, but had to limp because one of the legs had become shorter. She equally gained some weight in the process, thus losing the willowy figure that once gave her a stunning look.

In March 1973, when McCain was released, and received in the US as a war hero, he scored a fast one on the American public by telling reporters how much he still loved Carol despite the effects of the accident on her.
*Carol Mccain: The Wife John McCain  Dumped
Having lost his chance of becoming an admiral (his father and grandfather were admirals), McCain turned his eyes on politics and equally rekindled his wild taste for strange women. In fact, he has admitted he was unfaithful to Carol as he had girlfriends at this time. But when he met Cindy Hensley in Hawaii, he devoted the next six months in extramarital affairs with her for, perhaps, one principal reason: Cindy, a former rodeo model, was daughter of Jim Hensley, the highly connected and extremely wealthy Arizona beer distributor. 

Thus, while Carol waited at home for the husband she trusted and loved so passionately, McCain and Cindy played Monica Lewinsky and Bill Clinton all over the country. He eventually dumped Carol to the shock and dismay of many people, and married Cindy, the beautiful blond and heiress of the brewing giant, and moved to Arizona, where his new father-in-law offered him a job, and gave him the necessary connections that put him on the fast lane to political ascendancy. 
*Former US President, Bill Clinton and His Wife, Senator Hillary Clinton  
Commenting on the character of John McCain, Ted Sampley, who fought with US Special Forces in Vietnam, told UK’s The Mail On Sunday: “I have been following John McCain’s career for nearly 20 years. I know him personally. There is something wrong with this guy and let me tell you what it is – deceit. When he came home and saw that Carol was not the beauty he left behind, he started running around on her almost right away. Everybody around him knew it. Eventually he met Cindy and she was young and beautiful and very wealthy. At that point McCain just dumped Carol for something he thought was better. This is a guy who makes such a big deal about his character. He has no character. He is a fake. If there was any character in that first marriage, it all belonged to Carol.”

Some old acquaintances of McCain’s interviewed by The Mail On Sunday portrayed him “as a self-centred womaniser who effectively abandoned his crippled wife to ‘play the field,’ just the same way it is now feared that he,  as   US President, could also abandon the pursuit of national causes if they do not advance his personal and selfish interests! The other day, he refused to answer a question at a town hall meeting if he had ever cheated on Cindy. Instead of answering the question which was asked him repeatedly, he began to talk about his son serving in Iraq.
*Barack and Michelle Obama
As an old political warhorse who always finds ways of securing the understanding and accommodation of the American people and wriggling out of career-sinking troubles, and whose Vietnam heroic stories have sometimes been questioned here and there, the only thing still rekindling some hope on the McCain candidacy is, perhaps, the white skin covering his body.
With his rather poor choice of Alaska Governor, Ms. Sarah Palin (who is now proving to be a huge liability and raising serious questions on his capacity for quality judgment) as running mate, and even some of the other impulsive decisions he had made of late like suspending his campaigns to join the bailout talks (where he eventually contributed little or nothing), suddenly conceding defeat and pulling out his campaign from Michigan when he saw he was not making any headway — a decision that baffled even Republicans who feared it could make it easy for Obama to secure the 270 electoral votes he requires to win, and his uncritical adoption of “Joe The Plumber” as a symbol for lampooning Obama’s tax policy, mentioning him about two dozen times during the last presidential debate only to realize later that the man he had raised to celebrity status was not even a registered plumber and also owed arrears of taxes.
His attempt to turn Obama into a scary figure is backfiring, lowering his esteem before many people instead, and attracting more sympathies and  support for Obama. Indeed, because of the consistent false claim by Ms. Palin that Obama is  “palling around together with terrorists,” people now shout “terrorist!!” once Obama is mentioned during McCain campaigns, and McCain is having serious trouble stopping that.

 How would McCain repair his damaged honour even if he wins this election? How would he explain that just to win an election in a do-or-die fashion, his campaign had to stoop so low to falsely label his opponent a terrorist just because Obama had served on a number of education boards in Chicago with Bill Ayers, a Professor of Education at the University of Illinois, who many years ago, when Obama was only 8, had set bombs targeted mainly at properties to protest American military campaign in Vietnam.  

Well, it is clear that McCain would surely lose this election, but he needs not to worry. A more fulfilling job would be waiting for him in Nigeria in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) where his unedifying talents and crude strategies would be better appreciated.
----------------------------