►Vol.
6 No. 55 July 15 - 21, 2008
News:
INFOTAINMENT
SPORTS
Carry Private Medical Practitioners Along, AGPMPN Pleads With
Govt. -
By Festus Ugwuorah
Following the preferential treatment the government medical
practitioners enjoy ever their private counterparts, the
Association of General & Private Medical Practitioners of Nigeria
(AGPMPN) has pleaded with the Federal and state governments in
particular to embrace the recently introduced
Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) in the Health Sector and
facilitate its implementation by providing a conducive environment
for the private medical practice to thrive.The president of AGPMPN,
Dr. Ade Tade made the plea while briefing the press on
July 12, 2008
at the NUJ Press Centre, Port Harcourt.
Dr. Tade explained that it was as a result of the growing
relevance of the private medical sector in health care delivery in
Nigeria
that led to the recently introduced PPP (long advocated by AGPMPN)
in the Health Sector.
Dr. Tade maintained that the main focus of AGPMPN had been
on enhancing competence and capacity of her members and to
participate effectively in the PPP programme which is a government
programme. The president of AGPMPN further stated that the
National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) which commenced three
years ago is a laudable example of the PPP.
He went on to say that the scheme which started with the
federal public servants was expected to expand in phases to
include other sectors and wondered why the reverse of this is the
case, as the NHIS-accredited Health Maintenance Organizations
(HMOs) introduced a parallel Health Insurance Scheme known as
“Private Schemes” in the organized private sector. He pointed out
that because these schemes are not operated under the same
guidelines, the HMO is placing a cubicle between the government
and private medical practitioners. He opined that if this cubicle
is not quickly removed, it will smear the image of NHIS and
inflict more injuries capable of causing strained relationship
among the stakeholders. Dr Tade, while calling on the NHIS to
douse the tension by treating both government and private medical
practitioners alike, he also advised the citizenry to be aware of
the NHIS and embrace it so as to have access to affordable
healthcare. It would be recalled that the government, not long ago
introduced the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) to cater
for the healthcare need of any contributor (to the scheme) who
might fall sick when he/she might have no money.
back to top^^
SEPA Accuses
Clark Of Causing Confusion In Niger Delta Region
…Lauds Yar’Adua for Dropping Gambari
- By Mebrim Uchechukwu
Abuja
The South East Peoples Assembly [SEPA]has described Chief
Edwin Kiagbodo Clark as the major problem of the Niger Delta
Region. SEPA on the other hand lauded the decision of President
Umaru Musa Yar’adua to drop Ibrahim Gambari as Chairman of the
forthcoming Niger Delta Region Summit. SEPA noted that such a
decision as taken by the president has demonstrated his undainted
desire to find an enduring solution to the problem of the region.
In a press statement signed by SEPA’s Chairman, Chief Nnanna
Nosike and made available to journalists in
Abuja, the
group also observed that the withdrawal of Gambari as the
helmsman of the summit was long overdue given the strong
opposition to his appointment by people of the Niger Delta region
for whom the summit was initiated.
According to the statement ”Clark
has constituted himself as the main problem of the area by causing
confusion and instigating problems all over the place. His recent
accusation that former Governor of Delta State is out to kill him
is nothing but cheap blackmail and the ranting of a failed
politician.
“Having lost in his bid to be handed over the Peoples
Democratic Party [PDP] machinery in
Delta State he
is now crying wolf and raising baseless and unfounded allegations.
Nosike noted that “
Clark runs a
Niger Delta political confusion kitchen which prepares menu for
trouble every day for the area. SEPA therefore called on Chief
James Ibori to ignore the negative actions and idle talks of Chief
Clark and concentrate on the best way to improve Niger Delta
Nosike called on Vice President Goodluck Jonathan to wake
up and shrug off the tag which
Clark wants to paste on him as an Ijaw Vice President, adding
“Jonathan is the number two citizen of the nation and will remain
that until
Clark creates
his dream Ijaw Republic. We also wish to ask Clark to slow down on
his persistent attacks on the Delta State Governor, Emmanuel
Uduaaghan and allow him to face his job of developing the state.
Specifically on the dropping of Gambari Nosike said “we
salute President Yar’adua for listening to the voice of the people
as regards the chairmanship of the summit. It shows his genuine
desire to do everything lawful and moral to address the plight of
the region and transform it”, the statement read. “Gambari’s
resignation is long overdue as you cannot shave a man’s head
without his consent; he ought to have done that before now. He
failed to retract the damaging statement and has failed as an
international arbitrator.” SEPA also implored elder
statesmen in the region to work towards bringing succour to their
people rather than engage in activities that could heighten the
tension and increase regional bickering. It gave kudos to Governor
Uduaghan for the “marvellous” work in
Delta
State
and urged Clark to desist from constantly “harassing” him.
back to top^^
Feature
Dying In Public -
By Lakunle Jaiyesimi
Felix X is dead” was the bold newspaper headline that was
never made. It never saw the light of day, but remained on the
whispering lips of all and sundry. On that fateful morning, the
neighbourhood of a very old patriarch was roused from slumber to
hear the news going round of the death of the youngest and most
promising man in their neighbourhood. There and beyond, stories of
the death of worthless men, accompanied with stretched portraits
of their fat-stuffed faces, graced the front pages of the National
Dailies. Contrived smiles concealed the atrocious underbelly of
corporate and disguised crimes lived through their years on earth.
They died and a simulation of public service on public news sheets
is their consolation. “Felix X is dead” but no one cared to
mention it. The stars shone at night; and the Sun rose at dawn.
Things remained as normal as drinking a calabash of Palm-wine, and
saturating it with the smoke from the butt of a lit cigarette. It
was remarked by one close ally of Felix X that “he died unsung and
unmentioned” and I added “having rendered an unrewarded
exceptional service to humanity”.What went wrong? The news and the
details leading to his death brought a spark; but certain
antecedence bestowed a knowing relief. It was all about the plague
that has grown wings the moment it was given birth to; and shortly
after, learnt to walk on water unguarded HIV related. Neighbours
have had the virus and many others had kicked the bucket
courtesy, the syndrome; all, in spite of the anti-viral drug
management services rendered by recognized bodies. However, quite
a number of top celebrities like ex-basketball players, musicians
and actors had been claimed to have tested positive to the virus;
but under high-cost therapeutic management, are able to lead
normal lives. Some of them have spent seventeen years or more
living with the virus (or so, they say) and yet, they lead such
lives even healthier than many of us, who do not harbour the virus
in our blood. This is really a cause for concern, but requires an
elaborate but episodic treatment to unravel its enigmatic content
in an interactive manner with the affected audience. However for
the moment, the death of Felix X is of paramount interest, and its
precincts include such situations that could similarly lead to the
death of many of us ingenious and otherwise, who are overtly and
covertly involved in seeking out the solutions to the
miscellaneous challenges of man.
Before that night that he finally shut his sight from the
beautiful complexity of the world, Felix X was a proactive member
of his close-knit neighbourhood, where he had learnt much about
plants and their ethnomedical uses or maybe we should content
ourselves with the word “therapeutic uses”. This was not in any
direct way related to the profession that he chose to study at
school Engineering; but yet he pursued it rigorously with his
might few years after leaving the University. He derived joy
in helping the sick recover, using common and easy to obtain
plants. And to the amazement of patrons, these plants used in
their natural form, but sometimes in combination with one-another,
worked miraculously. There were testimonies of plants that had
worked as blood tonic, energizers, anti-malarial, antibiotics,
anti-diabetic (at least, this had been verified by me in the
laboratory), analgesics, anti-amenorrhea and so on. The claims of
users confirmed that these inexpensively obtained plants perform
therapeutically better than even the high-cost white-powdered
drugs made into bottles and shiny foil. These were the areas
Felix X delved into; researching into old and new plants that
could be used to improve the health of mankind, and at the same
time, drastically reduce the cost of treatment. In my opinion, I
would have thought that such an Engineer who abandoned his
profession to embrace an art that would earn him little deserves
to be honoured personally and nationally. Going forward,
Felix X added to his favourite group of patients, patrons who are
infected with the virus everyone terms 'deadly'. He had a
combination of plants that he used in treating such. However, the
authentication of such a claim, I would expect, remains a question
that would never be answered; but I see it more as an attempt to
rouse the man who pretends to be asleep. I have quite a number of
expectations, and one such is the fact that owing to the huge
number of deaths recorded due to AIDS in
Africa
especially; anyone who claims to have an anti-HIV or anti-AIDS
drug even though with a hypothetical efficacy profile should be
largely supported financially and morally. This is in order to see
to it that the peaking scourge is brought to a halt and reversed.
However, the reverse is the case! Not sounding too ambitious, it
has been widely observed that, whoever comes up with a claim of
having found a cure to the so-called dreaded disease is
practically kept silent, in ways that could be comfortably
described as mysterious. It has happened severally in the past.
And it also became a fate, more or less grabbed by Felix X.
Albeit whoever cares might scoff at it, but the one who has fire
heating his bosom would not scoff the one who has a basin of water
on his head. The same goes for the sick who will never scoff at
the one who will heal him. So Felix (with many other Africans) was
to a number of HIV positive persons. With the will, if I had the
power, hearing of his 'undocumented' exploits I will absorb Felix
X, and set up a structure to scientifically validate his claims
and get same published in recognized Journals for the awareness of
exploration of all, who might need the information. I will promote
the inquiring spirit, proclivity for discovery and the
predilection for humanitarian services possessed by Felix X into
broader areas, where he could improve these skills for the benefit
of himself and humanity, which it appeared in the resilience of
his silence, to have served till death. Unfortunately, he died
unsung and unmentioned having rendered an unrewarded exceptional
service to humanity. He became a part of the forgotten aspects of
our everyday lives; and yet, only then we scoff louder at him when
the spark happens to flash through us of his memory. But it
remained and it remains with those of us that had benefited from
Felix X's magic of plants. His standing memory is a constant
reminder of what we have lost. HOPE. The hope of being cured the
deadly disease is drowned in the gargantuan waters that always
gape. We've lost the one that promised us our lives again. We see
them around those who had been cured. They were privately tested
positive, privately cured, privately retested, privately confirmed
to be negative and privately lead their 'imposed' humble lives as
poor members of the world. Unfortunately, Felix X the
private healer also died privately; and no one knows what killed
him, not that anyone cared to know anyway. But between you and I
and them, we all know the only plausibly obvious arrangement that
killed him, having closely watched the antecedence. Late Prof.
Awosika provides my respite.
But I hereby
make public the news of the private death of a private man, who
discovered the cure to AIDS; in the hope that when I discover an
added cure to the disease, I would make it scientifically public,
so when I die I die in the public.
back to top^^
Obama's Brandenburg Concerto
 Berlin
has not always been a friendly place for American politicians.
Shortly after the Soviet Union began construction of the Berlin
Wall, John F. Kennedy sent Vice President Lyndon Johnson to West
Berlin. "They'll be a lot of shooting and I'll be in the middle of
it," Johnson told an aide. "Why me?" Seven years later, West
German leftists plotted to hurl pudding-filled balloons at Hubert
Humphrey during his trip to the city; the police managed to
disrupt the plan, but Humphrey was booed and heckled everywhere he
went. And while history remembers Ronald Reagan's challenge to
Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Wall, it's usually forgotten
that Reagan's visit to West Berlin occasioned the worst rioting
the city had seen since the 1960s, prompting officials to shut
down the city's subway system for the only time in its history.
Barack Obama will surely receive a warmer reception in
Berlin
next week. But the mini-controversy that has surrounded his
planned visit highlights the mix of admiration and suspicion with
which Berliners view Presidential pilgrimages to their city. The
current source of dispute is Obama's purported desire to give a
speech in front of the Brandenburg Gate, the backdrop for Reagan's
1987 address. Through a spokesman, German Chancellor Angela Merkel
has said she regards the possibility of Obama's speaking there
"with a certain bewilderment ... No German politician would come
up with the idea to do such a thing at the National Mall in D.C."
To some, it's Merkel's bewilderment that's bewildering.
Speculation abounds that the White House pressured the Germans to
deny Obama his made-for-cable-TV moment. So far not a shred of
evidence has surfaced, but the whole affair led at least one
German commentator to call on Obama to "put all this fuss to an
end," have a quick tea with Merkel, pose for some pictures and get
out of town. Why the touchiness?
Berlin has long
been used by Presidential image-makers as a political prop. During
the Cold War, the city was the proving ground of the East-West
conflict, the principal theater in the struggle between freedom
and authoritarianism. Truman made the first Presidential visit to
postwar Berlin, driving through the ruins of the city in the wake
of the Allied bombardment. The Allies' refusal to abandon the city
to the Soviets, demonstrated most dramatically during the Berlin
airlift of 1948, endeared a generation of Berliners to the U.S.
When Kennedy arrived in Berlin in 1962, the city was gripped by
something approaching mass hysteria; Kennedy later confided that
had he called on the throng - an estimated 750,000 witnessed his "Ich
bin ein Berliner" speech at Schoenberg City Hall to tear down the
Wall, they would have done it.
Kennedy's speech was highly choreographed: in the book
Kennedy in
Berlin,
Andreas W. Daum writes that the White House wanted Kennedy "to
see, to be seen and to publicize this visibility as much as
possible throughout the world for the benefit of those not
participating." Reagan's visit in 1987 was a similar exercise in
stagecraft, orchestrated by the Michael Deaver-trained White House
Advance office. Early that year,
U.S.
officials in Berlin approached the WEST German authorities with
the idea of Reagan's speaking in front of the Reichstag or the
Brandenburg Gate, in view of the Wall. The Berlin officials
adamantly opposed the idea, fearing disturbances on the eastern
side of the Wall. Once they got a glimpse of the
Brandenburg
backdrop, though, Reagan's men knew they had their site. "I've
always felt that the content was driven by the location," says Jim
Hooley, the head of Reagan's advance office. "The speechwriters
came away inspired by the fact that Reagan would be giving the
speech with the Wall at his back. Could you imagine Reagan saying,
'Tear Down that Wall that's over there three miles away, Mr.
Gorbachev?'"
As it turns out, though, Kennedy and Reagan are remembered
today less for the staging that went into their visits than for
the power of the words they delivered. The two phrases that
resonate "Ich bin ein Berliner" and "Tear Down this Wall"
embodied the personalities of both Presidents and their intuitive
flair for the moment; in both cases, Kennedy and Reagan personally
saw to it that those phrases stayed in their speeches, despite the
misgivings of some of their aides. Even more importantly, though,
both speeches underscored the
U.S.'s
unshakable commitment to a free and unified Europe, a resolve that
helped bring an end to the Cold War. Obama has yet to show that
kind of clarity in articulating how to promote American ideals and
interests in a much different world, but now would be a good time
to do so. In the end it won't matter whether he speaks in front of
the Brandenburg Gate. What matters is what he says.
back to top^^
Commentary
The Madness Of Our Leaders
- By Akintokunbo A. Adejumo
A while ago, I wrote an article titled “Of Lunacy and
Leaders” (17 January 2008) in which I tried to analyse the mental state of
our thieving leaders and relate it to the development, or rather,
the underdevelopment of our country,
Nigeria. At the
time, I received some flak from some readers for calling our
political and military leaders, past and present, psychopaths and
madmen. I kept quiet.
I now seem to have been vindicated when recently, the new
EFCC boss, Mrs Farida Waziri told a visiting delegation of the
Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) led by Olisa Agbakoba, NBA President
that here in Nigeria too many persons in public office are
mentally ill, and that to sanitise the Nigerian public space,
aspiring public office holders should be subjected to psychiatric
tests. According to her, The Guardian reports, "Most of the
negative character traits exhibited by public officers in the
country, especially massive looting of the treasury, are symptoms
of mental illness”. There we go. Mrs Waziri, a former Police woman
with more than 20 years as a career police officer in charge of
fraud investigations even tried to identify these negative traits:
the theft of public funds, primitive accumulation, and greed. "You
know if you are stealing what you need, it is a different thing
but if you are grabbing left, right and centre throughout, then
your character should be called to question. This, she said, is
necessary in order to help many Nigerians who cannot even raise a
voice against some of these practices. They cannot feed three
square meals while those who occupy public offices through
elections, return to their villages, demolish their shanties and
replace them with paradise with no regard for their neighbours who
cannot feed. This is merciless". Mrs Waziri is not the first
person to call for psychiatric tests as a condition for
eligibility for public office. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo
had made a similar suggestion in the past. This was before he
assumed office as
Nigeria's
civilian President in 1999.
And this is what the respected Dr Reuben Abati had to say
in the Guardian of
11th July 2008:
What haven't we seen in this country? We have seen leaders who
loot the treasury and stash away public funds in foreign accounts,
sometimes running into trillions of Naira. Leaders who hide public
money meant for development in overhead water tanks, underground
chests and in all kinds of unimaginable places. One former public
official allegedly owned over 50 houses in Abuja alone! Would he
sleep on two beds at the same time? But wanton display of
ill-gotten wealth is not the only sign of mental ill-health in the
corridors of power. How about the maltreatment of ordinary people?
Anyone who suddenly finds himself in a position of authority
thinks that this is a license to misbehave. They chase other
Nigerians off the roads. They violate laid down rules and
regulations and claim superiority to the law. These mad men and
women terrorise lesser beings, they turn their offices into
weapons of assault against the same people whose interests they
seem to be representing. But madness is not restricted to the
corridors of power.
Nigeria
is one large sanatorium. If you doubt this, try take a ride round
our cities and watch how motorists behave. Even the average
cyclist thinks that the only way to assert himself is to break
someone's legs or smash the side mirror of other people's
vehicles. Tempers are short around here; Nigerians are so uncivil,
so mean, sometimes it is better to stay in your own little world
and avoid any form of confrontation”.
It is indeed very frightening to know that we are ruled and
led by madmen and women, but this is something a lot of Nigerians
have always suspected. You don't have to go about naked in the
marketplace or on the street to be a lunatic, or to have mental
illness.
I would not like to go on about this but will just publish
some excerpts from my previous article on this subject for those
who did not read the article: Not too many eons ago, the
Government of Lagos State under Mr Bola Tinubu started a mini
revolution in the city of Lagos whereby motorists caught driving
on the wrong side of the road or otherwise driving carelessly are
not only fined a hefty sum of money, but are also escorted to
psychiatric hospitals to have themselves assessed, and at their
own costs. It was, I was told, a very successful initiative, but
sadly, like many other good and welcome initiatives in
Nigeria,
it died an unnatural death. That was because there was never any
real commitment to it.
The fact that a lot of our citizens wantonly and
deliberately disobey the laws of the land and believe me, Nigeria
has a lot of laws, which if enforced as they should be in a normal
society, will give us a better and more organised country is a
reflection of the lunacy and breakdown of law and order in that
country. By this I mean in its totality, not just motorists, armed
robbers and militants, but also corrupt officials in government,
industry, business and other sectors. It is for this reason that I
have likened the behaviour of motorists to those of our leaders.
The problem of corruption in
Nigeria has
assumed enormous and embarrassing proportions in recent years,
although it has been with us for decades.
Gary Novak, (undated) an “Independent Scientist”, quoted
Ivan Pavlov (Nobel Laureate in Physiology in 1904) as defining
modern psychology by showing how stimulus-response reactions are
created in the mind. Without going into the experiment of Pavlov,
he showed that certain stimuli cause patterns of behaviour to be
expressed as developed reactions, and when these are repeated
often, causes reactions to become more developed over time. The
reactions of corruption always have the same characteristics, with
the starting point being the assumption that prevailing over
someone else would be advantageous. In
Nigeria, our
leaders and/or those in charge of power and authority create that
advantage by stealing more money from the treasury, buying more
properties, and to take it to another level, buying private planes
and more valuable properties and vehicles in overseas countries,
even when they do not need to. This allows them to dictate terms
to their advantage (as seen when they are going for re-election or
even during plea-bargaining) to the detriment of other players
colleagues or the ordinary citizen. They see themselves as playing
a game of survival, and the only way they can survive is to
maintain a corrupt advantage over everybody else.
In Sam Vaknin's “The Psychology of Corruption” in Malignant
Self Love (1999 -2007), he wrote “Most politicians bend the laws
of the land and steal money or solicit bribes because they need
the funds to support networks of patronage. Others do it in order
to reward their nearest and dearest or to maintain a lavish
lifestyle when their political lives are over. But these mundane
reasons fail to explain why some officeholders go on a rampage and
binge on endless quantities of lucre. All rationales crumble in
the face of a Mobutu Sese Seko or a Saddam Hussein or a Ferdinand
Marcos who absconded with billions of US dollars from the coffers
of
Zaire, Iraq, and the Philippines, respectively.
These inconceivable dollops of hard cash and valuables
often remain stashed and untouched, mouldering in bank accounts
and safes in Western banks. They serve no purpose, either
political or economic. But they do fulfil a psychological need.
These hoards are not the megalomaniacal equivalents of savings
accounts. Rather they are of the nature of compulsive collections.
Erstwhile president of
Sierra Leone,
Momoh, amassed hundreds of video players and other consumer goods
in vast rooms in his mansion. As electricity supply was
intermittent at best, his was a curious choice. He used to sit
among these relics of his cupidity, fondling and counting them
insatiably. While Momoh relished things with shiny buttons, people
like Sese Seko, Hussein, and Marcos drooled over money. The
ever-heightening mountains of greenbacks in their vaults soothed
them, filled them with confidence, regulated their sense of
self-worth, and served as a love substitute. The balances in their
bulging bank accounts were of no practical import or intent. They
merely catered to their psychopathology. These politicos were not
only crooks but also kleptomaniacs. They could no more stop
thieving than Hitler could stop m
ordering. Venality was an integral part of their
psychological makeup”. So we see the relationship between looting
of government treasury and kleptomania. The same analysis above is
very apt with our Nigerian politicians and leaders. Some of them
are so mad that that they keep their loot in their houses; some of
them even bury cash in graves; while some of them just go on
buying every property and business in sight, despite the fact that
they can only sleep in one room at a time, example, an ex-Governor
who has 159 or so properties in a single city. Kleptomania is a
compulsive desire to steal. Psychologists and psychiatrists will
tell you kleptomania is a psychological disorder or aberration. It
is about acting out a dream or fantasy. Corrupt Nigerian leaders
also see it a compensatory act; they think politics is a drab,
uninspiring, unintelligent and often, humiliating business, which
is risky and arbitrary. It is also stressful and full of conflict.
They also think they are doing us all a favour and therefore they
should be compensated adequately. In other words, they do not
agree that their salary is compensation enough and the fact that
they are living virtually free of charge on our money. Vaknin also
goes further to posit that “politicians with mild forms of mental
health disorders react by de-compensation. They rob the state and
coerce businessmen to grease their palms because it makes them
feel better, it helps them to repress their mounting fears and
frustrations, and to restore their psychodynamic equilibrium.
These politicians and bureaucrats "let off steam" by looting”.
Looking at our systems in Nigeria today, it encourages
corruption by the following reasons: there is scarcity of goods
and services; there is monumental red tape and delay
(bureaucracy); there is lack of transparency from the governments;
our judicial system cannot guarantee justice, fairness and
equality; tribalism and nepotism among the corrupt to protect each
other (as with the expression “thick as thieves” and no expression
as “thick as honest people”). With the above causes of
corruption are also four key players: the corrupt politician, the
corrupt bureaucrat or civil servant, the corrupt businessman and
the criminal, who combine together in different formulations,
permutations and combinations to perpetrate their corrupt acts on
the people and the nation. Incidentally, they are all of the same
ilk, carved out of the same tree. For example, if the corrupt
politician were to be a businessman or civil servant, he will
still be corrupt in those roles, and vice versa for all four
groups. It does not matter what position or role they play either
in governance or business, or just any role in the society, they
will always be corrupt. The environment does not have any effect
on them. It is difficult to say when the civil servants are taking
bribes because it is like trying to guess when the fish in the
water is drinking water. The civil servants are very much part of
the system and it is difficult to detect their corruption, but we
all know they aid the politicians to steal us blind, hence their
culpability. Most kleptomaniac leaders, bureaucrats and
politicians are also psychopaths, therefore they rarely feel
remorse or fear the consequences of their misdeeds, and this only
makes them more culpable and dangerous. Again, examples abound
currently with indicted or arrested ex-Governors, and their
friends in Government, still pulling strings in their
incarceration or hideouts to remove evidence, getting
anti-corruption chiefs removed or even resorting to murdering
witnesses. The psychology which breeds corruption is that today
corruption is a low risk, high profit activity. There is no shame
in being corrupt, as exemplified by those arrested ex-Governors
who are still strutting about on the streets, fighting all
corners, and in fact, still being hailed by their own people as
some malformed heroes. So if you can make easy money and also
there is no loss of prestige in the society, why not indulge in
corruption? In fact the only restriction of corruption can be from
two sources. One is the internal check of conscience and the moral
values an individual gets form his family, background, religion
and his own society. In our current situation in
Nigeria,
moral values of all kinds seem to have rapidly and irrevocably
declined. The second of course is external control, which the
government can exercise to make corruption a very dangerous
exercise. As a Nigerian, I am concerned with the second part,
because, invariably, it is in Government that we find 90% of
corrupt officials in Nigeria, so how can the Government make
corruption a dangerous exercise to would-be corrupt leaders or
politicians?
My reason for writing this article is my belief that before
one can understand the reason behind this our national malaise, it
is pertinent and important that we understand the psychology
behind corruption and the people who perpetrate it on 120 to 140
million people before we can devise effective strategies of
confronting the perpetrators. We need to study and understand
their psyche. It is also because of my inability, much as I try,
to comprehend the reason why corruption is so pervasive in the
Nigerian society that I grew up in. All many Nigerians had wanted
in life, and what our family, background, religion and society had
taught us then was to have a good education, take up a job in any
sector of the society and do our best to ease the suffering of
society in any way we individually or collectively can, and that
is simply by working hard and serving our people. However I fail
to understand why others corrupt, avaricious, selfish, arrogant,
insensitive and murderous people feel the wealth of a whole
nation belongs to them by right or by virtue of the position they
find themselves in elected or selected. I cannot understand how a
Governor or even a Minister can walk or drive on the streets of
Nigeria
and be totally impervious and immune to the suffering and poverty
going on around them. These people even feign ignorance of these
and insulate themselves from the public, as if they have never
been ordinary citizens before. I cannot for the world of me,
reconcile being corrupt with being happy because you have more
money than me. Mind you, I am not naïve. I have needs too, as a
normal human being, but I don't think I can be happy by depriving
others of their needs or entitlements too.
It is therefore safe to conclude, from the psychological
analysis of corruption, that our corrupt politicians and leaders
must be mad. They must be psychopaths. This is the only plausible
explanation for their behaviour. It is therefore not asking too
much if perhaps they should be subjected to very rigorous and
extensive psychiatric tests before they are allowed to run for
office or take office, as cumbersome and impracticable as this may
seem. It is not even enough asking them to declare their assets
before they take office or before they even run of office they
always manipulate this exercise in futility. A lot of them are a
danger to the Nigerian society, like armed robbers, policemen
(yes) and mad people on the street. Unfortunately, a mad person
never realises his/her problem, they think everybody else but
themselves is the mad person. But I am sure that if we put
our heads together and follow the dictates of Truth, the Law, the
ability to recognise good and evil, Nigerians will be able to come
up with effective solutions to check corruption and utilise
government and the people to check corruption. We must come
together, we must survive and enjoy together, we should build on
our strengths of ideas and resourcefulness; our ideas must be
bright and shining and practical and sincere, and we should remove
the poison of misunderstanding between us and there should be no
hatred.
Truth be said, we are all fighting a very common enemy in
corruption. Our very survival and that of our future generations,
now or unborn, depends on it. Some people believe
Nigeria is
irredeemable and incorrigible and is a failed state. The problem
is those who hold such thoughts and opinions will die, along with
the rest of us, never knowing otherwise, and Nigeria will still be
there.
Quoting Dr Abati again in his conclusion, “Given the
increasing rate of mental disorder in this country, and the
implications for socio-political and economic well-being,
government must raise the level of concern about mental health
policy. In
Britain, the
United States and elsewhere, there are Mental Health Legislations,
with the most recent Mental Health Acts in the UK and the US
passed as recently as 2007. A mental Health Bill has been before
the Nigerian National Assembly since 1999. It is time to take a
look at it”.
Now that Mrs Waziri has recognised and realised the mental
state of the people she's dealing with, and take into
consideration what she is up against, because she is not dealing
with normal people, we can only hope that she is up to the task. I
also hope she is not working unwittingly or knowingly for those
she rightly labelled “madmen and women”. She has recognised and
defined the problem, let us all find the solution. I say, let the
truth be said always, only then can we progress as a nation and as
a people. A while ago, I wrote an article titled “Of Lunacy and
Leaders” (17
January 2008) in which I tried to analyse the mental state of our
thieving leaders and relate it to the development, or rather, the
underdevelopment of our country, Nigeria. At the time, I received
some flak from some readers for calling our political and military
leaders, past and present, psychopaths and madmen. I kept quiet.
I now seem to have been vindicated when recently, the new
EFCC boss, Mrs Farida Waziri told a visiting delegation of the
Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) led by Olisa Agbakoba, NBA President
that here in Nigeria too many persons in public office are
mentally ill, and that to sanitise the Nigerian public space,
aspiring public office holders should be subjected to psychiatric
tests. According to her, The Guardian reports, "Most of the
negative character traits exhibited by public officers in the
country, especially massive looting of the treasury, are symptoms
of mental illness”. There we go. Mrs Waziri, a former Police woman
with more than 20 years as a career police officer in charge of
fraud investigations even tried to identify these negative traits:
the theft of public funds, primitive accumulation, and greed. "You
know if you are stealing what you need, it is a different thing
but if you are grabbing left, right and centre throughout, then
your character should be called to question. This, she said, is
necessary in order to help many Nigerians who cannot even raise a
voice against some of these practices. They cannot feed three
square meals while those who occupy public offices through
elections, return to their villages, demolish their shanties and
replace them with paradise with no regard for their neighbours who
cannot feed. This is merciless". Mrs Waziri is not the first
person to call for psychiatric tests as a condition for
eligibility for public office. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo
had made a similar suggestion in the past. This was before he
assumed office as
Nigeria's
civilian President in 1999.
And this is what the respected Dr Reuben Abati had to say
in the Guardian of
11th July 2008:
What haven't we seen in this country? We have seen leaders who
loot the treasury and stash away public funds in foreign accounts,
sometimes running into trillions of Naira. Leaders who hide public
money meant for development in overhead water tanks, underground
chests and in all kinds of unimaginable places. One former public
official allegedly owned over 50 houses in Abuja alone! Would he
sleep on two beds at the same time? But wanton display of
ill-gotten wealth is not the only sign of mental ill-health in the
corridors of power. How about the maltreatment of ordinary people?
Anyone who suddenly finds himself in a position of authority
thinks that this is a license to misbehave. They chase other
Nigerians off the roads. They violate laid down rules and
regulations and claim superiority to the law. These mad men and
women terrorise lesser beings, they turn their offices into
weapons of assault against the same people whose interests they
seem to be representing. But madness is not restricted to the
corridors of power.
Nigeria
is one large sanatorium. If you doubt this, try take a ride round
our cities and watch how motorists behave. Even the average
cyclist thinks that the only way to assert himself is to break
someone's legs or smash the side mirror of other people's
vehicles. Tempers are short around here; Nigerians are so uncivil,
so mean, sometimes it is better to stay in your own little world
and avoid any form of confrontation”.
It is indeed very frightening to know that we are ruled and
led by madmen and women, but this is something a lot of Nigerians
have always suspected. You don't have to go about naked in the
marketplace or on the street to be a lunatic, or to have mental
illness. I would not like to go on about this but will just
publish some excerpts from my previous article on this subject for
those who did not read the article: Not too many eons ago, the
Government of Lagos State under Mr Bola Tinubu started a mini
revolution in the city of Lagos whereby motorists caught driving
on the wrong side of the road or otherwise driving carelessly are
not only fined a hefty sum of money, but are also escorted to
psychiatric hospitals to have themselves assessed, and at their
own costs. It was, I was told, a very successful initiative, but
sadly, like many other good and welcome initiatives in
Nigeria,
it died an unnatural death. That was because there was never any
real commitment to it.
The fact that a lot of our citizens wantonly and
deliberately disobey the laws of the land and believe me, Nigeria
has a lot of laws, which if enforced as they should be in a normal
society, will give us a better and more organised country is a
reflection of the lunacy and breakdown of law and order in that
country. By this I mean in its totality, not just motorists, armed
robbers and militants, but also corrupt officials in government,
industry, business and other sectors. It is for this reason that I
have likened the behaviour of motorists to those of our leaders.
The problem of corruption in
Nigeria has
assumed enormous and embarrassing proportions in recent years,
although it has been with us for decades.
Gary Novak, (undated) an “Independent Scientist”, quoted
Ivan Pavlov (Nobel Laureate in Physiology in 1904) as defining
modern psychology by showing how stimulus-response reactions are
created in the mind. Without going into the experiment of Pavlov,
he showed that certain stimuli cause patterns of behaviour to be
expressed as developed reactions, and when these are repeated
often, causes reactions to become more developed over time. The
reactions of corruption always have the same characteristics, with
the starting point being the assumption that prevailing over
someone else would be advantageous. In
Nigeria, our
leaders and/or those in charge of power and authority create that
advantage by stealing more money from the treasury, buying more
properties, and to take it to another level, buying private planes
and more valuable properties and vehicles in overseas countries,
even when they do not need to. This allows them to dictate terms
to their advantage (as seen when they are going for re-election or
even during plea-bargaining) to the detriment of other players
colleagues or the ordinary citizen. They see themselves as playing
a game of survival, and the only way they can survive is to
maintain a corrupt advantage over everybody else.
In Sam Vaknin's “The Psychology of Corruption” in Malignant
Self Love (1999 -2007), he wrote “Most politicians bend the laws
of the land and steal money or solicit bribes because they need
the funds to support networks of patronage. Others do it in order
to reward their nearest and dearest or to maintain a lavish
lifestyle when their political lives are over. But these mundane
reasons fail to explain why some officeholders go on a rampage and
binge on endless quantities of lucre. All rationales crumble in
the face of a Mobutu Sese Seko or a Saddam Hussein or a Ferdinand
Marcos who absconded with billions of US dollars from the coffers
of
Zaire, Iraq, and the Philippines, respectively.
These inconceivable dollops of hard cash and valuables
often remain stashed and untouched, mouldering in bank accounts
and safes in Western banks. They serve no purpose, either
political or economic. But they do fulfil a psychological need.
These hoards are not the megalomaniacal equivalents of savings
accounts. Rather they are of the nature of compulsive collections.
Erstwhile president of
Sierra Leone,
Momoh, amassed hundreds of video players and other consumer goods
in vast rooms in his mansion. As electricity supply was
intermittent at best, his was a curious choice. He used to sit
among these relics of his cupidity, fondling and counting them
insatiably. While Momoh relished things with shiny buttons, people
like Sese Seko, Hussein, and Marcos drooled over money. The
ever-heightening mountains of greenbacks in their vaults soothed
them, filled them with confidence, regulated their sense of
self-worth, and served as a love substitute. The balances in their
bulging bank accounts were of no practical import or intent. They
merely catered to their psychopathology. These politicos were not
only crooks but also kleptomaniacs. They could no more stop
thieving than Hitler could stop m
ordering. Venality was an integral part of their
psychological makeup”. So we see the relationship between looting
of government treasury and kleptomania. The same analysis above is
very apt with our Nigerian politicians and leaders. Some of them
are so mad that that they keep their loot in their houses; some of
them even bury cash in graves; while some of them just go on
buying every property and business in sight, despite the fact that
they can only sleep in one room at a time, example, an ex-Governor
who has 159 or so properties in a single city.
Kleptomania is a compulsive desire to steal. Psychologists
and psychiatrists will tell you kleptomania is a psychological
disorder or aberration. It is about acting out a dream or fantasy.
Corrupt Nigerian leaders also see it a compensatory act; they
think politics is a drab, uninspiring, unintelligent and often,
humiliating business, which is risky and arbitrary. It is also
stressful and full of conflict. They also think they are doing us
all a favour and therefore they should be compensated adequately.
In other words, they do not agree that their salary is
compensation enough and the fact that they are living virtually
free of charge on our money. Vaknin also goes further to posit
that “politicians with mild forms of mental health disorders react
by de-compensation. They rob the state and coerce businessmen to
grease their palms because it makes them feel better, it helps
them to repress their mounting fears and frustrations, and to
restore their psychodynamic equilibrium. These politicians and
bureaucrats "let off steam" by looting”. Looking at our systems in
Nigeria today, it encourages corruption by the following reasons:
there is scarcity of goods and services; there is monumental red
tape and delay (bureaucracy); there is lack of transparency from
the governments; our judicial system cannot guarantee justice,
fairness and equality; tribalism and nepotism among the corrupt to
protect each other (as with the expression “thick as thieves” and
no expression as “thick as honest people”). With the above
causes of corruption are also four key players: the corrupt
politician, the corrupt bureaucrat or civil servant, the corrupt
businessman and the criminal, who combine together in different
formulations, permutations and combinations to perpetrate their
corrupt acts on the people and the nation. Incidentally, they are
all of the same ilk, carved out of the same tree. For example, if
the corrupt politician were to be a businessman or civil servant,
he will still be corrupt in those roles, and vice versa for all
four groups. It does not matter what position or role they play
either in governance or business, or just any role in the society,
they will always be corrupt. The environment does not have any
effect on them. It is difficult to say when the civil servants are
taking bribes because it is like trying to guess when the fish in
the water is drinking water. The civil servants are very much part
of the system and it is difficult to detect their corruption, but
we all know they aid the politicians to steal us blind, hence
their culpability. Most kleptomaniac leaders, bureaucrats and
politicians are also psychopaths, therefore they rarely feel
remorse or fear the consequences of their misdeeds, and this only
makes them more culpable and dangerous. Again, examples abound
currently with indicted or arrested ex-Governors, and their
friends in Government, still pulling strings in their
incarceration or hideouts to remove evidence, getting
anti-corruption chiefs removed or even resorting to murdering
witnesses. The psychology which breeds corruption is that today
corruption is a low risk, high profit activity. There is no shame
in being corrupt, as exemplified by those arrested ex-Governors
who are still strutting about on the streets, fighting all
corners, and in fact, still being hailed by their own people as
some malformed heroes. So if you can make easy money and also
there is no loss of prestige in the society, why not indulge in
corruption? In fact the only restriction of corruption can be from
two sources. One is the internal check of conscience and the moral
values an individual gets form his family, background, religion
and his own society. In our current situation in
Nigeria,
moral values of all kinds seem to have rapidly and irrevocably
declined. The second of course is external control, which the
government can exercise to make corruption a very dangerous
exercise. As a Nigerian, I am concerned with the second part,
because, invariably, it is in Government that we find 90% of
corrupt officials in Nigeria, so how can the Government make
corruption a dangerous exercise to would-be corrupt leaders or
politicians?
My reason for writing this article is my belief that before
one can understand the reason behind this our national malaise, it
is pertinent and important that we understand the psychology
behind corruption and the people who perpetrate it on 120 to 140
million people before we can devise effective strategies of
confronting the perpetrators. We need to study and understand
their psyche. It is also because of my inability, much as I try,
to comprehend the reason why corruption is so pervasive in the
Nigerian society that I grew up in. All many Nigerians had wanted
in life, and what our family, background, religion and society had
taught us then was to have a good education, take up a job in any
sector of the society and do our best to ease the suffering of
society in any way we individually or collectively can, and that
is simply by working hard and serving our people. However I fail
to understand why others corrupt, avaricious, selfish, arrogant,
insensitive and murderous people feel the wealth of a whole
nation belongs to them by right or by virtue of the position they
find themselves in elected or selected. I cannot understand how a
Governor or even a Minister can walk or drive on the streets of
Nigeria
and be totally impervious and immune to the suffering and poverty
going on around them. These people even feign ignorance of these
and insulate themselves from the public, as if they have never
been ordinary citizens before. I cannot for the world of me,
reconcile being corrupt with being happy because you have more
money than me. Mind you, I am not naïve. I have needs too, as a
normal human being, but I don't think I can be happy by depriving
others of their needs or entitlements too.
It is therefore safe to conclude, from the psychological
analysis of corruption, that our corrupt politicians and leaders
must be mad. They must be psychopaths. This is the only plausible
explanation for their behaviour. It is therefore not asking too
much if perhaps they should be subjected to very rigorous and
extensive psychiatric tests before they are allowed to run for
office or take office, as cumbersome and impracticable as this may
seem. It is not even enough asking them to declare their assets
before they take office or before they even run of office they
always manipulate this exercise in futility. A lot of them are a
danger to the Nigerian society, like armed robbers, policemen
(yes) and mad people on the street. Unfortunately, a mad person
never realises his/her problem, they think everybody else but
themselves is the mad person. But I am sure that if we put our
heads together and follow the dictates of Truth, the Law, the
ability to recognise good and evil, Nigerians will be able to come
up with effective solutions to check corruption and utilise
government and the people to check corruption. We must come
together, we must survive and enjoy together, we should build on
our strengths of ideas and resourcefulness; our ideas must be
bright and shining and practical and sincere, and we should remove
the poison of misunderstanding between us and there should be no
hatred. Truth be said, we are all fighting a very common
enemy in corruption. Our very survival and that of our future
generations, now or unborn, depends on it. Some people believe
Nigeria
is irredeemable and incorrigible and is a failed state. The
problem is those who hold such thoughts and opinions will die,
along with the rest of us, never knowing otherwise, and Nigeria
will still be there.
Quoting Dr Abati again in his conclusion, “Given the
increasing rate of mental disorder in this country, and the
implications for socio-political and economic well-being,
government must raise the level of concern about mental health
policy. In
Britain, the
United States and elsewhere, there are Mental Health Legislations,
with the most recent Mental Health Acts in the UK and the US
passed as recently as 2007. A mental Health Bill has been before
the Nigerian National Assembly since 1999. It is time to take a
look at it”.
Now that Mrs Waziri has recognised and realised the mental
state of the people she's dealing with, and take into
consideration what she is up against, because she is not dealing
with normal people, we can only hope that she is up to the task. I
also hope she is not working unwittingly or knowingly for those
she rightly labelled “madmen and women”. She has recognised and
defined the problem, let us all find the solution.
I say, let
the truth be said always, only then can we progress as a nation
and as a people.
back to top^^
The
Executive/Legislative Tango in Abeokuta
Few weeks back reports back home in Nigeria had it that the
Delta State Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan's convoy ran into armed
robbers on their way to the Warri Stadium where a ceremonial
send-off football match was billed to take place in honour of
retired international soccer star Austin 'Jay Jay' Okocha. A
number of people were killed (including the driver to Uduaghan's
ADC who himself was hit in the leg) and others wounded in the gun
duel that ensued between the gunmen and Uduaghan's security aides.
And earlier this week another grim report had it that Governor
Godswill Akpabio of
Akwa Ibom State
was involved in an assassination attempt on his life. Akpabio,
from many sources, is a good principled state chief executive so
one wonders who must have been after his young life? Whereas, the
Niger Delta region (especially Rivers and Bayelsa States) often
erupts in resource control agitation and embedded violence and
other sundry crimes, Uyo and Calabar have so far maintained their
calm attracting investors and consolidating their infrastructural
development.
Before then we were treated some time ago to the
executive/legislative drama in
Yola Adamawa
State involving Murtala Nyako, the PDP Governor and the House of
Assembly members led by the Speaker James Barka. According to
reports Governor Nyako, claimed the assemblymen, committed
impeachable offenses ranging from inflation of contracts to
awarding of fictitious ones; from reckless spending of state
financial resources in his care to outright nepotism of the worst
kind. Indeed the charge sheet was brimming with highly impeachable
offenses which under normal circumstances should have seen the
back of Nyako as Governor.
But before we could digest the import of Nyako's numerous
'crimes' against democracy in his state the PDP waded in with both
Chairman Ogbulafor and President Yar'Adua intervening in the
face-off. A peace deal was reached which saved Nyako the
embarrassment of becoming political history. Against the 'rule of
law' (or is it 'ruse of law'?) principle of the Yar'Adua
administration Nyako survived what constituted, had normal
procedure been followed strictly, a clear case of abuse of office
and flagrant disregard of the constitutional principle of
separation of powers between the executive and legislative arms of
government. And just recently the brewing executive/legislative
tango in
Abeokuta
Ogun
State
took another turn for the worse as the Speaker of the House of
Assembly Tunji Egbetokun informed the nation last Saturday that
the Chief of Staff to Governor Gbenga Daniel Dr Yomi Majekodunmi
had tried to kill him in his house! Though the Governor's Chief of
Staff has since denied it providing his own eloquent account and
side of the story the Speaker insists he was a victim of an
assassination attempt.
The impeachment of the former speaker, Hon. Titi Oseni (Mrs),
and the subsequent emergence of the present speaker has somewhat
balanced up the power equation in Ogun State providing for a
non-stooge Speaker and an Assembly all out to assert its relevance
and importance. Twenty-four of the 26-member House dominated by
the ruling PDP are said to be up in arms against the unassuming
governor. The Daniel camp out of fear are accusing the legislators
of plotting to send Daniel away from the government house by way
of impeachment. 7The governor has squandered N30 billion in the
last two years according to the lawmakers. And the Speaker
declared that for many years now only two or three people have
been running the state in a mafian manner unaccountable to no one.
He made it clear that they would never be intimidated arguing that
they are only out to do their jobs constitutionally well cut out
for them.
Impeaching Governor Daniel, what led to the brouhaha,
cannot happen just like that. Daniel is not an Alams or a Dariye.
Gbenga Daniel is one of the Yoruba governors whose stewardship is
believed widely to be above board before now. During the burial
ceremony of the governor's mother who died earlier this year Gen.
Ibrahim Babangida personally left his 'modern opulent prison' in
Minna
Hilltop
Mansion
and visited Abeokuta to commiserate with Daniel. IBB in his
characteristic Maradonic inclination eulogised Daniel and
declared, with the certainty of a deity, that Daniel would play a
greater role in the Nigerian politics in future.
In a twist to the tale of the failed assassination attempt
on the Speaker the Chief of Staff (CoS) Dr Majekodunmi had raised
four important issues while defending both himself and his boss
which must be analysed here. First, he accused the lawmakers of
demanding 20 million naira each from the governor which he
dutifully refused to accede to. So for failing to dance to the
'bribe' tune of the legislators Gov. Daniel is being punished?
Should we believe that easily? Or believe that the guns the
CoS and his PDP
thugs invaded the speaker's residence with are licensed arms
belonging to him?
Secondly the
CoS claimed that the Ogun state lawmakers are playing the
script written by some unnamed "Abuja
politicians" who are giving them huge amount of monies in dollars
to destabilise the Daniel administration. The Abuja connection
according to the embattled CoS leaves one to ask if the larger
picture has Olusegun Obasanjo in it. As a former President
Obasanjo who hails from
Ogun State was seen as the Daniel benefactor. So has it now dawned on
opponents to kick out Daniel, a PDP imposition, using the
legislators? From all indications Gbenga Daniel is being
demystified now that 'Baba' has come home to Ota. Thirdly the
CoS
claimed that his boss was poisoned few months ago and that led to
his hospitalisation in America and India; in America for orthodox
medication and India for the unorthodox version! The CoS told us
all that they kept the food poisoning issue secret to avoid any
heating up of the polity. Why was the big issue of poisoning a
chief executive of a state kept secret? Beyond the 'over-heating
the polity' theory of the CoS there is more in the tale than meets
the eye! Who poisoned Daniel and why and how?
And lastly Dr Yomi Majekodunmi smarting from his arrest and
eventual release disclosed perhaps unsurprisingly that the
legislators are wholly fetish! The fetish connection is laughable
to say the least. How many Nigerian politicians are godly or good
Christians or muslims? Is Gbenga Daniel a born-again Christian?
How did Dr Yomi forget that his
Ogun State is
home to Ijebu Ode, a town reputed for its legendary occultism and
'juju'? Even if the legislators are fetish as claimed by the
CoS who cares? Or he wished they were free from amulets and
charms for them to be easy targets for elimination? The
legislators in this legislative/executive tango in
Abeokuta come
across as heroes. The Nigerian constitution provides for
separation of powers among the three tiers of government. It can
therefore not be seen as a 'crime' or the extra ordinary when
members of a state house of assembly seek for accountability and
good governance in conformity with their constitutional briefs.
Doing the right thing by all parties involved would do our
democracy in general and the Ogun state democracy in particular a
lot of good.
Unfortunately none of the parties engaging themselves in
this power drama apparently have the utmost interest of the Ogun
people at heart but they are all fighting for money and power. The
Daniel camp is guiltier in this; afraid of skeletons in their
cupboard having been in executive charge for many years the
governor's entourage wants to maintain a dictatorial control.
Another 'Daniel' in Hon. Tunji Egbetokun (a radical from every
indication) has come to put the house in order. I wish him good
luck! I salute his courage!! It is thus safe in my reckoning to
conclude that like many former Nigerian state governors and the
present set Gov. Gbenga Daniel is guilty of some corruption. This
Daniel of a governor is very much different from the Daniel we all
know to be righteous and saint in the Holy Book.
back to top^^
Lawyers Fault Gani On Farida Waziri’s Appointment
By Mebrim Uchechukwu
Abuja
The suit instituted by a human rights lawyer, Chief Gani
Fawehinmi [SAN], challenging the legality of the appointment of
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC] chairman, Mrs
Farida Waziri is raising more concerns as two other lawyers with
a different view approached a federal high court in Abuja asking
to be joined as intervention applicants. Following this, the
court has fixed
August 4, 2008
to look into the application.
The lawyers seeking to be joined in the suit are Barr.
Osuagwu Ugochukwu and Barr. Ogboli Charles. They picked
holes in Gani’s position that former EFCC boss Nuhu Ribadu did not
vacate his seat as at the time Farida Waziri, was appointed as the
new chairman of the anti-graft body. They pointed out that in line
with section 4 of the EFCC Act there was no provision that stated
that before EFCC Chairman could be removed, it must require a
notice by President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria since
according to them, the ‘said chairmanship position of EFCC has
been vacant ever since April, 2007’ In the applicants 18 paragraph
affidavit in support of the motion, they stated that ‘Mallam Nuhu
Ribadu’s purported appointment for a second tenure in April 2007
was never confirmed’ by the senate and National Assembly being the
3rd defendants/respondents in the suit. The lawyers also
noted that since the appointment of Farida Waziri as the new
helmsman of EFCC, the fight against corruption has been
intensified and that if the court agrees with Gani and makes an
order restraining her from carrying out her official duties, the
anti-corruption crusade would be affected. The applicants are
seeking for an ‘order joining the applicants: Barr. Osuagwu
Ugochukwu and Barr.Ogboli Charles as the 6th and 7th
defendants/respondents in suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/360/2008. The motion
on notice was brought pursuant to order 12 Rules 3 and 5, of
Federal high court [civil procedure] Rules 2000 and under the
inherent jurisdiction of this Honourable Court.
Earlier, a frontline lawyer and Human Rights
Activist, Chief Gani Fawehinmi (SAN) had asked a Federal High
Court sitting in
Abuja
to declare the appointment and confirmation of Mrs Farida Waziri
as the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)
illegal, null and void and to no effect whatsoever.
In an originating summons filed at the Court, Gani stated
that the office of the Chairman of the anti-graft agency was not
vacant and that President Umaru Musa Yar’adua has not validly
removed Mallam Nuhu Ribadu from office as required by section 3(2)
of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission Act No. 1 of 2004.
Consequently Gani said that since the office of the EFCC chairman
is not vacant, the court should set aside last Thursday’s
confirmation of Waziri as the EFCC chairman by the Senate of the
National Assembly and prayed the court to also restrain her from
performing the functions and duties which the office of chairman
of the EFCC entails. The renowned lawyer who joined Mrs Farida
Waziri, the Senate, EFCC and the Attorney-General of the
Federation (AGF) in the suit observed that Ribadu was
re-appointed in the year 2007 and that since the tenure of office
of the commission’s chairman is for a period of four years, his
tenure will expire in 2011 under the appropriate EFCC Act. In a 21
paragraph affidavit in support of the originating summons deposed
to by one Adindu Ugwuzor, a lawyer in the office of Gani Fawehinmi
Chambers, Waziri’s appointment is illegal as it violates the EFCC
Act. Following this he observed that President Yar’adua has the
power to hire and fire the chairman of the commission and that he
failed to perform his duty with regards to removal of the
incumbent chairman before the appointment of Mrs Waziri. Also in a
letter written to the Senate President on June 1, 2008 on the
issue of Farida’s confirmation Gani said the retired AIG lacks
both the moral and constitutional authority to head the EFCC,
explaining that the Inspector General of Police (IGP) has no right
to order Ribadu to go on course at the National Institute for
Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) and that the order cannot be
understood as his removal from office as EFCC chairman. “Ribadu
was no longer under the command and control of the IGP who is a
member of the commission with Ribadu as the chairman in accordance
with section 2 of the EFCC Act”. Hence he observed that Farida’s
position will be in conflict with the Code of Conduct for public
officers as enshrined in Part 1, paragraph 1 of the 5th schedule
of the constitution of the country. To truly follow the rule of
law as the present government preaches, Gani said the Senate must
ensure that the law made by it (EFCC Act) is strictly complied
with and that there is no vacancy in the office of the chairman of
the commission since Ribadu has not been removed in accordance
with the Act establishing the commission.
back to top^^
SPDC
Commissions Thirty Projects In Etche
By Okechukwu Geoffrey
Shell Petroleum Development Company Limited (SPDC) in
collaboration with the Etche Two Cluster Development Foundations (ETCDF)
last week
Friday July 11, 2008
commissioned thirty Projects executed in the Cluster from the 2007
GMOU Project fund.
In his address at the Umuechem town hall, venue of the
commissioning ceremony the chairman of Etche Two Cluster
Development Foundations Mr. Kelvin Agbam thanked the SPDC and the
Etche Community for giving the foundation all the needed support
that made the commissioning of the projects possible in the area.
He pointed out that the Cluster was grossly-under-funded compared
to others in Rivers State and decried a situation whereby the
State Government upon having its representatives in the board has
refused to assist them financially and appealed to Government for
financial support to enable them achieve their targeted goals. He
also called on the NDDC and the Etche Local Government Council to
come to their aid too, eventhough they have not registered their
representatives and enjoined them to take advantage of this
Cluster to execute their projects within the Etche Two Cluster
Development Foundations. Mr. Agbam used the medium to appeal to
SPDC to increase their annual Cluster allocation GMOU-Fund
considering their size, production, and commitment in managing the
GMOU processes. On projects execution and achievements, the
chairman said communities in this Cluster through her Community
Trust took advantage of the allocation fund from the GMOU exercise
to embark on various much needed projects stressing that with such
meager amount (#78, 751, 210.44) they were able to execute thirty
projects within twelve months and wondered what the outcome would
be should they be empowered more financially. He therefore opined
that, definitely the communities will wear a better look within
the first five years of GMOU execution plan, he asserted. He also
disclosed that non completion of legacy projects (projects
abandoned before the inception of GMOU) by SPDC was a concern to
the Cluster and called on SPDC to quickly swing into action to
complete those projects and maintained that the GMOU Fund be
released promptly to the Cluster and the contractors to avoid
undue suffering of projects and delays in miles completed.
Meanwhile, all those who spoke during the ceremony including Eze
Loveday Amadi of Ulakwo Umuselem and Eze John Onyema of Abara
community thanked the SPDC for putting smiles on the peoples face
and enjoined Shell not to relent in ensuring that a lot more was
done to develop Etche land and assured SPDC of their support.
About fourteen Umuechem sons and daughters received
complete computer sets free of charge with the sum of fifty
thousand naira each as some of them were still on scholarship.
Amongst the thirty projects commissioned by SPDC/ETCDF were an
ultra-modern market at Abara community, town hall at Egwi, water
project and gari grinding machines at Okpuala Okoroagu. Others are
taps, six classroom block, 300KVA transformer and road at Odagwa 1
while a standard town hall was commissioned at Odagwa 11
respectively. However, the Etche Two Cluster Development
Foundations (ETCDF) was inaugurated on the 6th day of June 2007 at
Novotel Hotel Port Harcourt. This inauguration came after series
of training and capacity building as sponsored by SPDC. Etche Two
Clusters Developmemnt Foundations is made up twelve community
Trusts, SPDC clusters Management coordinator and Management
Officer (as SPDC Representative), the State Government
Representative, the Local Government Area Representative, the NDDC
and Non-Governmental Organizations.
And membership is widely open to willing donors.
back to top^^
Group Drums Support For
Amaechi
By Joe Kalu
A non-governmental organization in the state, The Rivers
Alliance Movement RAM, had declared that they are ready and
willing for a door – to door campaign at the grass-root for the
full realization of the Amaechi led administration policies.
Speaking with newsmen, in
Port Harcourt
during the week, the groups coordinator Hon Austin Jim noted that
Governor Chibuike Amaechi has got all it takes to carry the state
forward, adding that his administration will go a long way in
refocusing the state.
He described the emergence of Amaech as the “dawn of a new
era” hinting that the steps taken by the state governor to bring
lasting solution to the problem of militancy and political
jingoism amongst indigenes of the state and setting up of the
Truth and Reconciliation Commission are welcome developments. The
RAM coordinator also pointed out that the cult related crises that
was prevalent in the state in the recent past have been brought
under control. He further stated that the creation of jobs
for Rivers youths which is one of the cardinal objectives of the
current administration will soon yield fruits as modalities are in
place to actualize it. The group advised the governor to remain
steadfast and focused in the interest of the public. They also
used the opportunity to call on Rivers people, especially the
youths to support the administration and shun all forms of
criminal tendencies, stressing that it was only in a peaceful
environment that development thrives. RAM equally advised the
political office holders to ensure that they use their offices to
extend the dividends of democracy to people around them, to avoid
the people having negative impression of the government of Amaechi.
They congratulated the Governor on his well deserved victory at
the court of appeal and also commended him for appearing before
the TRC inspite of his political status.
The group
further advised those who lost at the last guber race and other
aggrieved persons to sheath their sword and join hands with the
Governor to build a new Rivers State.
back to top^^
Posterity Will Never Forgive Sekibo ~Aggrieved Okrika People
By Okechukwu Geoffrey
Some of the aggrieved Okrika indigenes whose properties
worth millions of naira were destroyed during the Okrika crisis
(alleged to have been sponsored by the former minister of
transport) Dr. Abiye Sekibo over the weekend in
Port Harcourt
told our Chief correspondent (Okechukwu Geoffrey) that posterity
would never forgive Sekibo.
The people who told our correspondent they would not want
their names mentioned for now (with reasons) said they have been
on exile for some years following the massive destruction of their
houses and property by Ateke Tom and his group. They thanked God
for using the Supreme Court to bring somebody like Rotimi Amaechi
as Governor of Rivers State whom the people regard as the Messiah
they are seeing today. According to them, even when the ousted
Governor Sir Celestine Omehia was holding brief for Amaechi as
Governor of the State Sekibo did not allow Omehia remember Okrika
people who were on exile for one day because he wanted the people
to perish wherever they were. But unknown to him, his wishes were
not the wish of God for the hitherto exiled Okrikans who are now
residing peacefully in their homes courtesy of the Amaechi-led
government. The people who wore painful looks during the chat with
our correspondent also placed a serious but funny curse on anybody
praying that Amaechi should not remain as Governor as according to
them, such a person whether man or woman (indigene/non-indigene)
would ever remain confused like Sekibo and Ateke Tom throughout
his or her life here on earth. They promised to remain supportive
to the present administration and prayed God to continue to give
Amaechi and his Cabinet members the enablement with which to pilot
the affairs of the state. They appealed to all those who have
presented themselves as enemies of the Amaechi-led government to
make a turn-arround as God had chosen Amaechi as the rightful
person to steer the ship of the new Rivers State whether those
enemies like it or not.
They maintained that Sekibo should come back home and beg
God for forgiveness and apologize to all the Okrika people he and
Ateke Tom had rendered homeless during the eight years of Odili’s
administration. Since he (Sekibo) cannot be able to pay for all
the damage and trauma he has caused the people of Okrika he should
rather come back home and apologize than staying in
Abuja and be
making noise that Amaechi cannot be Governor, they fumed.
What is he doing in
Abuja, is Abuja
his home?, they asked. While some said he should come back home,
others said he should remain in Abuja so that he could see the
pains they passed through while on exile.
However,
apart from destroying about two thousand souls during the Okrika
crisis, this publication also gathered that during that period
many Okrikans were sent on forced exile by Sekibo and Ateke Tom.
back to top^^
NDDC Board Under Attack …As SSAYJ Calls For It’s Dissolution
By Joe Kalu
A group under the aegis of
South-South
Alliance for Yar’Adau and Jonathan, SSAYJ has called for the
dissolution of the board of directors of the Niger Delta
Development Commission, NDDC as well as the re-organization of the
commission’s management.
Speaking with newsmen in
Port Harcourt
over the weekend, the National Coordinator of the group, Hon
Victor Effiom said the dissolution has been long over due as
according to him the management has lost focus.
He also advised the Federal Government not to release any
fund to the commission until a new board is re-constituted.
Hon Effiom accused the commission of squandering the fund meant
for the development of the diverse region. Hear him, “ the Amb.
Sam Edem-led board has nothing to offer while the Timi Alaibe
management team has outlived it usefulness. The working master
plan for the commission is the only achievement they have recorded
so far,” he noted. When reminded of the vote of confidence passed
on the commission by the Senate Committee on NDDC who came calling
recently, Hon Effiom dismissed it as a cooked up story.
“The Senators were couched, guided and hosted very well in the
capital city of
Port Harcourt
without a peep into the devastated communities to verify those
bogus claims of the commission”.
He made it known that the Senators came for the Board and
management of NDDC and not for the people.
In place of the commission’s four months skill Acquisition
Programmes for the Niger Delta Youths, SSAYF suggested the
setting up of
Government
Technical Colleges and Universities of Technology that would give
scholarship to the restive youths while paying them allowances for
the 5 year duration of the study.
“There is no way one can qualify to be a mechanic for
instance in four months as is the case now in the present NNDC
Skill Acquisition Programmes” he noted. The SSAYJ Coordinator also
suggested the relocation of the commission’s headquarters to a
vast land that will house standard clinics and liaison offices of
the federating states. The group also suggested the setting up of
state liaison offices of the federating states in all the Niger
Delta States, to coordinate the activities of their people for a
faster solutions to problems. The group through its
coordinator also supported the continued withholding of the funds
meant for the NDDC until a new management team and BOT has been
put in place, accusing the present officers of squandering the
commissions resources meant for development. SSAYJ however frowned
at the incessant seminars and summits organized to find solution
to the Niger Delta problems describing it as motion without
movement, and hoped the
Abuja summit
will be the last of such jamboree.
back
to top^^
Feature
Exclusive: Obama On Foreign Policy Contd. On Page 11
Sen. Barack Obama discussed his vision for the world in a
wide-ranging foreign policy discussion with CNN's Fareed Zakaria.
The Democratic presidential hopeful answered some tough questions
about how he would deal with the world's crises, what he would do
if Osama bin Laden is caught and his plan for
Iraq.
Here are some highlights from the interview, which aired
Sunday on "Fareed Zakaria -- GPS." ZAKARIA: Tell me, what is
your first memory of a foreign policy event that shaped you,
shaped your life? OBAMA: A first memory. Well, you know, it
wasn't so much an event. I mean, my first memory was my mother
coming to me and saying, "I've remarried this man from
Indonesia, and
we're moving to Jakarta on the other side of the world."
And that's, I think, my first memory of understanding how
big the world was. And then, flying there and landing. This was
only maybe a year, or even less than a year, after an enormous
coup, the military coup in which we learned later that over
half-a-million people had probably died. But it was for me, as a
young boy, a magical place. And I think that probably is when it
first enters into my consciousness that this is a big world. There
are a lot of countries, a lot of cultures. It's a complicated
place. ZAKARIA: But you were an American in
Indonesia. How
did that make you feel?
OBAMA: Well, you know, it made me realize what an enormous
privilege it is to be an American. I mean, it certainly was at
that time, even more so, because the gap in the wealth of the West
at the time compared to the East was much wider. But it wasn't
simply the fact that my mother was being paid in dollars by the
U.S. Embassy, and so, that gave us some additional comfort. It was
also becoming aware that, for example, the generals in Indonesia
or members of Suharto's family were living in lavish mansions, and
the sense that government wasn't always working for the people,
but was working for insiders -- not that that didn't happen in the
United States, but at least the sense that there was a civil
society and rules of law that had to be abided by. My stepfather
was essentially dragged out of the university he'd been studying
in in
Hawaii, and was conscripted and sent to New Guinea. And when he
was first conscripted, he didn't know whether he was going to be
jailed, killed -- that sense of arbitrariness of government power.
Those were the things that you felt you were protected from
as an American, and made me, as I got older, appreciate
America that
much more.
ZAKARIA: Why did you major in international affairs? OBAMA:
Well, obviously, having lived overseas and having lived in Hawaii,
having a mother who was a specialist in international development,
who worked -- was one of the early practitioners of microfinancing,
and would go to villages in South Asia and Africa and Southeast
Asia, helping women buy a loom or a sewing machine or a milk cow,
to be able to enter into the economy -- it was natural for me, I
think, to be interested in international affairs. The Vietnam War
had drawn to a close when I was fairly young. And so, that wasn't
formative for me in the way it was, I think, for an earlier
generation. The Cold War, though, still loomed large. And I
thought that both my interest in what was then called the Third
World and development there, as well as my interest in issues like
nuclear proliferation and policy, that I thought that I might end
up going into some sort of international work at some point in my
life. ZAKARIA: Do you believe, when looking at the world today,
that Islamic extremism is the transcendent challenge of the 21st
century?
OBAMA:
I think the problems of terrorism and groups that are resisting
modernity, whether because of their ethnic identities or religious
identities, and the fact that they can be driven into extremist
ideologies, is one of the severe threats that we face.
I don't think it's the only threat that we face.ZAKARIA:
But how do you view the problem within Islam? As somebody who saw
it in
Indonesia ... the largest Muslim country in the world?
OBAMA: Well, it was interesting. When I lived in
Indonesia --
this would be '67, '68, late '60s, early '70s -- Indonesia was
never the same culture as the Arab Middle East. The brand of Islam
was always different.
But around the world, there was no -- there was not the
sense that Islam was inherently opposed to the West, or inherently
opposed to modern life, or inherently opposed to universal
traditions like rule of law. And now in
Indonesia, you
see some of those extremist elements. And what's interesting is,
you can see some correlation between the economic crash during the
Asian financial crisis, where about a third of Indonesia's GDP was
wiped out, and the acceleration of these Islamic extremist forces.
It isn't to say that there is a direct correlation, but
what is absolutely true is that there has been a shift in Islam
that I believe is connected to the failures of governments and the
failures of the West to work with many of these countries, in
order to make sure that opportunities are there, that there's
bottom-up economic growth. You know, the way we have to approach,
I think, this problem of Islamic extremism ... is we have to hunt
down those who would resort to violence to move their agenda,
their ideology forward. We should be going after al Qaeda and
those networks fiercely and effectively.
But what we also want to do is to shrink the pool of
potential recruits. And that involves engaging the Islamic world
rather than vilifying it, and making sure that we understand that
not only are those in Islam who would resort to violence a tiny
fraction of the Islamic world, but that also, the Islamic world
itself is diverse. And that lumping together Shia extremists with
Sunni extremists, assuming that Persian culture is the same as
Arab culture, that those kinds of errors in lumping Islam together
result in us not only being less effective in hunting down and
isolating terrorists, but also in alienating what need to be our
long-term allies on a whole host of issues. ZAKARIA: If
U.S. forces in
Afghanistan captured Osama bin Laden, what would you do with him,
and you were president?
OBAMA: Well, I think that, if he was -- if he was captured
alive, then we would make a decision to bring the full weight of
not only
U.S. justice,
but world justice down on him. And I think that -- and I've said
this before -- that I am not a cheerleader for the death penalty.
I think it has to be reserved for only the most heinous crimes.
But I certainly think plotting and engineering the death of 3,000
Americans justifies such an approach.
Now, I think this is a big hypothetical, though. Let's
catch him first. And the fact that we have failed to seriously go
after al Qaeda over the last five years, because of the
distraction of
Iraq, I think
we are now seeing the consequences of that in Afghanistan.
That's not the only problem we have in
Afghanistan. We
have not dealt with the narco-trafficking that's taking place
there. We have not provided farmers there an option beyond poppy.
I think the Karzai government has not gotten out of the bunker and
helped organize Afghanistan and government, the judiciary, police
forces, in ways that would give people confidence.
So, there are a lot of problems there. But a big chunk of
the issue is that we allowed the Taliban and al Qaeda to
regenerate itself when we had them on the ropes. That was a big
mistake, and it's one I'm going to correct when I'm president.
ZAKARIA: You talked about the other threats we face. In dealing
with these threats, how should we approach other nations? John
McCain has talked about a new G-8, the group of the richest
countries in the world, which would exclude
Russia, expel
Russia, and not include China. So, it would be an attempt to draw
a line in the sand and cast out, as it were, the non-democracies.
Do you think that's a good idea?
OBAMA: It would be a mistake. Look. If we're going to do
something about nuclear proliferation -- just to take one issue
that I think is as important as any on the list -- we've got to
have
Russia involved. The amount of loose nuclear material that's
floating around in the former Soviet Union, the amount of
technical know-how that is in countries that used to be behind the
Iron Curtain -- without Russia's cooperation, our efforts on that
front will be greatly weakened. China is going to be one of the
dominant economies -- already is -- and will continue to grow at
an extraordinary pace. The notion that we don't want to be engaged
in a serious way with China, or that we would want to exclude them
from the process of creating international rules of the road that
are able to maintain order in the financial markets, that are able
to address critical issues like terrorism, that are able to focus
our attention on disparities of wealth between countries -- that
does not make sense.
Now, I think that we have to have a clear sense of what our
values are and what our ideals are. I don't think that we should
shy away from being straight with the Russians about human rights
violations. We should not shy away from talking to the Chinese
about those same subjects. I think that we have to be tough
negotiators with them when it comes to critical issues. For
example, if
China is not
working cooperatively with us on trade issues, I think that
there's nothing wrong with us being tough bargainers.
But we have to engage and get them involved and brought
into dealing with some of these transnational problems. And that
kind of tough, thoughtful, realistic diplomacy used to be a
bipartisan hallmark of
U.S. foreign
policy.
And one of the things that I want to do, if I have the
honor of being president, is to try to bring back the kind of
foreign policy that characterized the Truman administration with
Marshall and Acheson and Kennan.
But also
characterized to a large degree -- the first President Bush --
with people like Scowcroft and Powell and Baker, who I think had a
fairly clear-eyed view of how the world works, and recognized that
it is always in our interests to engage, to listen, to build
alliances -- to understand what our interests are, and to be
fierce in protecting those interests, but to make sure that we
understand it's very difficult for us to, as powerful as we are,
to deal all these issues by ourselves.
back to top^^
Exclusive: Obama
We need to show leadership through consensus and through
pulling people together wherever we can. There are going to be
times where we have to act unilaterally to protect our interests.
And I always reserve the right to do that, should I be commander
in chief. ZAKARIA: What about if you don't get that consensus,
let's say, in a place like
Darfur? You've called for a no-fly zone. But it's a U.N. no-fly
zone.OBAMA: Right. ZAKARIA: Now, but the U.N. isn't going to have
a no-fly zone, probably, because the Chinese and the Russians will
probably not go along with it. So, in that event, do you want to
have a
U.S. or a NATO no-fly zone? In other words, do you want to do
something, even if you can't get consensus?
OBAMA: Well, look. There are going to be times where it's
the right thing to do, and the consensus is not going to be
perfect.I think our intervention in the Balkans ultimately was the
right thing to do, although we never got the sort of formal
consensus and coalition that we were able to achieve, for example,
in the Gulf War. And so, the situations are going to vary. My
point is this, that we should always strive to create genuine
coalitions -- not coalitions that are based on us twisting arms,
withholding goodies, ignoring legitimate concerns of other
countries, but coalitions that are based on a set of mutual
self-interests. In a situation like
Darfur, I think
that the world has a self-interest in ensuring that genocide is
not taking place on our watch. Not only because of the moral and
ethical implications, but also because chaos in Sudan ends up
spilling over into Chad. It ends up spilling over into other parts
of Africa, can end up being repositories of terrorist activity. Those are all things that we've got to pay attention to.
And if we have enough nations that are willing -- particularly
African nations, and not just Western nations -- that are willing
to intercede in an effective, coherent way, then I think that we
need to act, even if we haven't achieved 100 percent consensus.
But the principle of us wanting to build effective alliances with
other countries and to lead in that way through persuasion and
organization, I think that's something that has historically been
when we are at our best. ZAKARIA: One area where you're outside
the international consensus -- and certainly, perhaps, some others
-- is the statement you made in a recent speech supporting
Jerusalem as
the undivided capital of Israel. Now, why not support the
Clinton plan,
which envisions a divided Jerusalem, the Arab half being the
capital of a Palestinian state, the Jewish half being the capital
of the Jewish state?
OBAMA: You know, the truth is that this was an example
where we had some poor phrasing in the speech. And we immediately
tried to correct the interpretation that was given. The point we
were simply making was, is that we don't want barbed wire running
through Jerusalem, similar to the way it was prior to the '67 war,
that it is possible for us to create a Jerusalem that is cohesive
and coherent.
I was not trying to predetermine what are essentially final
status issues. I think the
Clinton
formulation provides a starting point for discussions between the
parties.
And it is an example of us making sure that we are careful
in terms of our syntax. But the intention was never to move away
from that basic, core idea that they -- that those parties are
going to have to negotiate these issues on their own, with the
strong engagement of the
United States. And if you look at the overall tenor of that speech and
what I've said historically about this issue, you know,
Israel has an
interest not just in bunkering down. They've got to recognize that
their long-term viability as a Jewish state is going to depend on
their ability to create peace with their neighbors. The Palestinian leadership has to acknowledge that the
battles that they've been fighting, and the direction that they've
been going in and the rhetoric they've been employing, has not
delivered for their people. And it is very hard, given the history
of that region and the sense of grievance on both sides, to step
back and say, let's be practical and figure out what works. But I
think that's what the people of
Israel and the
people in the West Bank and Gaza are desperate for, is just some
practical, commonsense approaches that would result in them
feeling safe, secure and able to live their lives and educate
their children. ZAKARIA: You've also said that the chief beneficiary of
the Iraq
war has been Iran, which now poses a significant strategic threat
to, or challenge to, the United States in the region.
If we were to leave
Iraq entirely,
would that not cede the field to them and allow Iran to
consolidate its gains in the region and in the country?
OBAMA: I don't think so. Look, first of all, I have never
talked about leaving the field entirely. What I've said is that we
would get our combat troops out of
Iraq, that we
would not have permanent bases in
Iraq.
I've talked about maintaining a residual force there to
ensure that al Qaeda does not re-form in
Iraq, that
we're making sure that we are providing logistical support and
potential training to Iraqi forces -- so long as we're not
training sectarian armies that are then fighting each other -- to
protect our diplomats, to protect humanitarian efforts in the
region.
So, nobody's talking about abandoning the field.
ZAKARIA: That might be a large force. OBAMA: Well, it --
you know, I'm going to make sure that we determine, based on
conditions on the ground, how we effectively carry out those
limited, temporary missions. But what is going to prevent Iran
from having significant influence inside of Iraq -- or at least,
so much influence that Iraq is not functioning -- is to make sure
that the government has stood up, that it has capacity, that the
Shia, the Sunni, the Kurds have come to the sort of political
accommodation that allows them to divide oil revenues that are now
coming in quite handsomely, that ensures that, in fact, we're
serious about ending corruption in some of the ministries, that
provincial federalist approaches to governance are being observed.
The stronger the Iraqi government is on its own -- not with us,
but on its own -- the less likely that
Iran is going
to exert its influence. And again, this is -- you know this better than I do,
Fareed -- the assumption that, because many in
Iraq are Shia,
that they automatically are going to align themselves with Iran,
ignores the fact that you've got Arab and Persian cultures that
are very different. And there's -- if Iraqi Shias feel that their
government is actually functioning, then I think their identity as
Iraqis reasserts itself.
If, on the other hand, the perception is that the
government in
Iraq
is just an extension of the U.S. government, then sympathies for
the kind of mischief that Iran has been engaged in may increase.
Now, the last point I would make on this is, this is going
to be a messy affair. There's no elegant and easy solutions to
what I believe has been an enormous strategic blunder by this
administration. We're going to have to work our way through it.
There are going to be -- there's going to be progress in some
areas. There is going to be slippage in others. What we do have to
make certain of is that, by creating a phased withdrawal in
Iraq, that we
are mounting the sort of diplomacy and reaching out to our allies
in ways that actually strengthen our ability to isolate Iran, if
it continues to pursue what are unacceptable foreign policy
decisions by their leadership.
ZAKARIA: But you could imagine a situation where, if the
Iraqi government wanted it, 30,000 American troops are still in
Iraq 10
years from now. OBAMA: You know, I have been very careful not to put
numbers on what a residual force would look like. What I am
absolutely convinced of is that, to maintain permanent bases, to
have ongoing combat forces, to have an open-ended commitment of
the sort that John McCain and George Bush have advocated, is a
mistake. It is a strategic mistake.
It weakens our ability to go after al Qaeda in
Afghanistan. It
continues to fan anti-American sentiment. I think it allows Iran
to more effectively engage in mischief in the region. And it
prevents us from isolating them and making clear to the world that
they are the authors of their own isolation by their behavior.
Those costs cannot be borne. And that's before we even
start talking about the hundreds of billions of dollars and
American lives that are lost or profoundly disrupted as a
consequence of this engagement. ZAKARIA: You are going to
Europe and the
Middle East. You know that in places like France you have 85
percent approval ratings.
Isn't that going to make some Americans very suspicious? If
all of
Europe likes you, if France likes you, there must be something
wrong.
OBAMA: Well, I tell you what. You know, it's interesting.
As I travel around the country, here in the
United States,
I think people understand that there has been a price to the
diminished regard with which the world holds the United States
over the last several years.
It's something that bothers people. It's something that's
brought up. You know, when I'm doing a town hall meeting in some
rural community, invariably, somebody will raise their hand and
they'll say, "When are we going to restore the respect that the
world had for
America?"
And, you know, the American people's instincts are
good. It's not just a matter of wanting to be liked. It's the fact
that, as a consequence of that diminished standing, we have less
leverage on a whole host of critical issues that have to be dealt
with.
So, I think the American people are ready for a president
who is not alienating the world. And if that president is liked a
little bit, well, that's just a bonus. Now, I don't know how long
that will last. We'll see if my approval ratings hold up after I'm
president. ZAKARIA: You're bound to disappoint people. I mean,
with approval ratings that high, it's bound to be a letdown. Don't
you think? OBAMA: You know, my job is to make sure that, here in
the
United States, the American people feel confident that I'm going
to be advocating for their interests, that I'm going to keep them
safe.
The way to do that though, I believe, is to make sure that we're
paying attention to the rest of the world, their hopes, their
aspirations, as well, and that we're leading with our values and
ideals, and not just with our military.
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The Pope's Next Apology
Tour?
A papal precedent has the power to reverberate to all
corners of the planet. So as Benedict XVI sets out for
Australia, on
what will be the longest and farthest voyage of his papacy thus
far, many are wondering what effect the Pope's bold response to
priest sex abuse during his recent American trip will have on his
visit Down Under and on other travels that will follow.
Catholics from
Staten Island
to Sydney will remember that coverage of Benedict's April visit to
the United States was dominated by his unprecedented attempts to
heal the wounds from the clergy sex abuse crisis, including a
series of heartfelt remarks and a private meeting in Washington
with five victims from the Boston Archdiocese, which was hardest
hit by pedophile priests. But though the scandal in the U.S. may
have been the most widespread, and certainly most public, there
are, in fact, cases of sex abuse all around the Catholic world as
there are, as the Vatican always points out, in all walks of life.
In Australia, victims' rights groups are calling on the Pope to
respond as he did in the U.S. This comes as news that the Catholic
Church in Australia has been forced to review allegations of
sexual assault by a priest committed more than 20 years ago. The
Melbourne-based support group Broken Rites says it has been
contacted by 3,500 people in the past two decades complaining of
Church-related abuse.
The trip raises a broader question of whether the Pope set
a precedent for himself with his forthright response in the
U.S., making it
a virtual requirement to address the issue in every country that
has suffered from abusive priests. In the same way the pontiff
traditionally meets with local leaders of other religions,
priests, and political representatives, will the faithful expect a
private encounter with victims on each new trip? Or was his
response in the United States expected to cover the matter for the
Pope?
There are reports that Benedict will travel next year to
Ireland, another country where the local Church has been besieged
by allegations of priest sex abuse in recent years, where nothing
short of the kind of response offered in the U.S. is likely to
satisfy local faithful. The itinerary for the trip in Australia,
which includes a four-day rest period after the Pope's plane
touches down Sunday following the long flight, does not indicate
whether the issue will be confronted. The Archbishop of Sydney,
Cardinal George Pell, has indicated that the Pope will apologize
in some way for past abuse. Though he got high marks for his frank
and sensitive response in the
U.S.,
some Vatican officials fear that sex abuse issue could overshadow
the original objectives of his travels. The main purpose that the
81-year-old Pope is flying so far to reach a country with some
five million Catholics is to preside over World Youth Day in
Sydney. Benedict's first trip as Pope three years ago was to
attend the same event in Cologne, Germany.
The Pope is expected to address the plight of
Australia's
Aborigines, which John Paul II eloquently brought up during his
visit in 1986. The German pontiff will spend the first four days
of his visit resting at a retreat outside of Sydney run by the
conservative Catholic group Opus Dei.
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Infotainment
 Madonna,
Britney Joining Forces Again
Madonna has recruited Britney Spears for a virtual
appearance on her upcoming tour. "There is footage being shot of
Britney some time this week in conjunction with Madonna's upcoming
(Sticky & Sweet) tour," Madonna's publicist, Liz Rosenberg, said
in an e-mail Tuesday to The Associated Press. "That is all the
information I have available. The rest is 'a secret.' "
Rosenberg
denied reports that Spears, 26, is shooting a music video. Madonna guest starred in a music video for Spears' single
"Me Against the Music" in 2003. The singers stirred up
controversy that year with an open-mouth kiss at the MTV Video
Music Awards. Madonna, 49, will kick off her tour August 23 in
Cardiff,
Wales, and wind through European destinations including
London
and Paris before jumping to the U.S. in October.
 Blackface
Set To Release Latest Album
ONE of the members of the hip hop group that used to be
known as the Plantashion Boiz, Blacface is set to release his
album Trendtainment has gathered. The hip hop artiste who seems to
be the only member of the group comprised of Tuface Idibia and
Faze, who is yet to prove his onions following their separation to
pursue solo careers announced that his latest work entitled Me
Musiq and I will put him back in the ranks of Tuface and Faze who
have since stepped up on their game. The album, a 16-tracker
comprises of songs like Do Well, TGIF, Wine Am 4 Me, Probe Dem,
Party Dey Hot, Singin Blues and was produced by Terry Gee, George
Nathaniel, Harry Hope and so on. Trendtainment gathered that the
album which already has some tracks blaring in the airwaves will
be released to the public later in the week.
Miss Venezuela Crowned Miss Universe; Miss USA Trips -- Again
 Miss
Venezuela was crowned Miss Universe 2008 on Monday in a contest
marked by the spectacle of Miss USA falling down during the
evening gown competition for the second year in a row. An elated
Dayana Mendoza received the crown from her predecessor, Riyo Mori
of
Japan, and then prepared to meet a gaggle of reporters. Miss
Venezuela, 22, was once kidnapped in her homeland and says the
experience taught her to remain poised under pressure.
Tension got under the skin of Crystle Stewart of
Texas, the
second Miss USA in a row to fall down during the Miss Universe
pageant. She tripped on the train of her bejeweled evening gown as
she made her entrance.
During the 2007 Miss Universe contest in
Mexico City,
Miss USA Rachel Smith also tumbled during the evening gown
competition and became an unintended star on You Tube, where the
video was shown over and over again.
Like Smith, Stewart quickly stood up after her fall and
continued on as if nothing had happened. Stewart, 26, is a
motivational speaker and former track and filed star who is
working on a book called "Waiting to Win." The
Houston native
plans to open a character-development school for young children
and has worked with autism victims in the
Texas
schools.
The final five contestants included four from
Latin America:
Miss Mexico, Miss Dominican Republic, Miss Colombia and Miss
Venezuela. Rounding out the final five was Miss
Russia.
Miss
Colombia
finished second behind Mendoza.
Miss
Thailand won
the prize for best national costume and Miss El
Salvador
was chosen by her peers as Miss Congeniality.
During her interview with the judges,
Mendoza was
asked who she thought has it easier in life, women or men.
"God made us to share and have differences," she replied,
then highlighted what she regards as the different thought
processes of men and women. "Men think that the faster way to go
to a point is to go straight," she said. "Women know that the
faster way to go to a point is to go to the curves." The NBC show
was hosted by talk show star Jerry Springer and Spice Girl Melanie
Brown and broadcast live to hundreds of millions of viewers in 170
countries. Eighty contestants gathered in the seaside city of
Nha
Trang, Vietnam, vying to succeed reigning Miss Universe Riyo Mori
of Japan.
Sporting yellow, green and orange bikinis, the 15
semifinalists strutted across the stage during the swimsuit
competition to the sounds of Lady Gaga, who belted out the
pulsating "Just Dance" in a platinum blond wig. Miss
Vietnam, Lam
Thuy Nguyen, was greeted with a roar from the Vietnamese audience.
The final 10 then competed in the evening gown event.They
performed in front of a panel of judges that included
international fashion experts and Donald Trump Jr., whose father,
the real estate magnate and TV star, co-owns the pageant with NBC.
This year's contestants spanned a wide range of experiences
and aspirations. Miss
Albania was a
professional basketball player. Miss
Argentina
says she has paranormal experiences. Miss Antigua &
Barbuda is fascinated by snakes. Miss
Angola was in a
plane crash while trying to escape a conflict during her country's
civil war.
The show has been a publicity bonanza for
Vietnam, where
beauty contests are very popular. The contest featured segments on
many of the nation's most popular tourist destinations, such as
Hue, Hoi An, Sapa and Ha Long Bay.
The program set has been dominated by iconic Vietnamese
images, such as bamboo trees, conical hats and lotus flowers.
The
tuxedoed Springer made a grand entrance on a motorbike -- the
vehicle of choice in Vietnam where the streets are teeming with
millions of the speeding two-wheelers.
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Religion
The Spiritual Gifts Through The Looking Glass
It has popularly but erroneously been ,believed that there
are only nine spiritual gifts (to match the nine spiritual fruit).
Let us examine these numerous gifts in more detail to help you’
recognize your own. Remember what I had said earlier that no child
of God is bereft of gifts of the Holy Spirit. Every child of God
has at least two gifts: evangelism and giving (Matthew
28:18-20;7:21-23: Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord, ‘
shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My
Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord,
have we not prophesied in your name, cast out demons in Your name,
and done many wonders in’ Your name?’ And then 1 will declare to
them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice
lawlessness!’ . By their fruit you shall know them. Acts
26:35; 2 Timothy 4:5). We may not all have the same measure of
faith for the same 0 gifts but for every command of God, here is a
corresponding grace gift.
THE GIFT OF KNOWLEDGE
This is the ability to have remarkable insight into the
word of God. It is given essentially to those who easily study the
word of God total dependence upto the Holy Spirit. Such people do
not mind whether the world praises or judges them; they are simply
preoccupied with searching for the truth. Someone who does not
have this gift has a different response: when the word of God
judges him, he changes the interpretation to suit his own desires.
The apostle Paul was familiar with such people and had to declare
that he and his co-labourers were not handling God’s word
deceitfully or with craftiness (2 Corinthians 4:2). Proverbs 2:
1-5 is a guide for developing this gift that contributes to the
growth and well-being of the body of Christ.
THE GIFT OF WISDOM
This gift is usually, but not always, connected to the gift
of knowledge. It is the ability to use the revealed knowledge of
God’s word (His divine revelation) to help and bless the people of
God. Somebody with the gift of wisdom may also have ~he gift of
knowledge but this is not a fixed rule. Mere knowledge prompts you
to “speak the truth as it is” whereas wisdom prompts you to “speak
the truth in love” (Proverbs 4:5-9, 1 Corinthians 2:1-10, 1
‘Corinthians 8:1; James
3:13-18). Godly
wisdom is humble, meek and concerned with the good of others,
therefore believers who operate in this gift are usually at an
advantage in the counseling’ ministry
As with other gifts; wisdom can be buried like a talent or
enhanced. In fact, very believer has a measure of this gift .and
the starting point for cultivating It is to walk in the fear of
the Lord (Proverbs 1:7; Proverb~ 9:10) which will also enable you
to live in submission to our Lord Jesus Christ “…who became for us
wisdom from God.” (1 Corinthians 1"30).
THE GIFT OF FAITH
This is the ability to discern the mind of God and, with a
singular purpose, take appropriate action in spite of all odds. If
you have the gift of faith, your undaunted confidence in God
3.l).d His abilities will cause you to take His ‘word literally
and apply it to life’s circumstances without doubt or the fear of
failure. Sometimes those with this gift are also visioners or
dreamers and as they believe the impossible, they can possess the
unseen. “Note carefully that it is not waking up one morning with
wild ideas, creating fantasies and building castles in the air
that will never materialize. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by
the word of God. “These people can literally move mountains and
not surprisingly, might express impatience with those of Jesser
faith. The gift of faith is tied to. intercession and exploits of
an extraordinary degree. Every believer has been given a certain
measure of faith but those with this gift have an incredibly high
level of trust, , unshakeable. and implicit belief, that their
God-given vision shall come to pass for no other reason than
because God said. so. This faith gift expresses itself in the risk
you’ ire willing to take because God has spoken.
THE GIFT OF HEALINGS
The gift of healings is the ability to serve as 11 channel
or conduit for God’s power so that through prayer, the laying on
of hands; mere utterance or with some other form of contact,
‘those who are sick and infirm can be restore to health. The
person with this gift: has no power to heal; he is God’s
intermediary and the healing occurs at the discretion of the Holy
Spirit. It is important to look more closely at 110w,this gift
operates. You might lay, hands on people pray and they recover but
this does not mean you possess the gift of healings. In James 5:
14 17, God enjoins His church to pray forte. sick. Know also that
just because you are flowing in this gift does not guarantee the
healing of every person. In Luke
4:27 Jesus
said, “and many lepers were in
Israel
at the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed
except Naaman the Syrian. “
The apostle Paul, who had this gift, left
Miletus sick (2
Timothy 4:20) yet extraordinary miracles were done through him
(Acts 19:1112). The power of God to heal may not be present all
the time (Luke. S: 17) and you do well to understand that
sometimes, men of God are put under great pressure to perform.
Some actually succumb and err by thinking that they control the
healing power.. When this happens, even when the power of God to
heal is not present, .they seek for ways to increase the.
methodology of manipulation and this should not be. The
infirm Timothy was given medical advice (1 Timothy 5:22-23). The
apostle Paul could have called him and said, HI lay hands on you.
Come out of him, you spirit of infirmity, “ but he knew that only
God can heal. God can use multiple means to effect healing and
this may include healing gradually rather than instantaneously, as
well as working through medical personnel and medication. Also,
the word used for gift of healings is always in the plural,
indicating that God has numerous methods of healing. Some ailment
may require words of comfort and genuine tears shed at the
graveside might heal a broken heart. “I am sorry” or “Please
forgive me” can heal a root of despondency. Let us never limit
God.
THE GIFT OF MIRACLES
This is the ability God gives to His children to do things
that cannot be accounted for by natural laws. This gift often
works with the gifts of faith and healings; results are expected
as the gift is exercised. As with the gift of healings, the
believer with the gift of miracles realises he is merely a channel
for the awesome, indescribable power of God to flow through. In
Acts 14: 8-11, a remarkable healing is recorded. Note that this
particular incident was not actually called “healing.” Rather, it
was clearly a miracle.As God’s power moves through His chosen
vessels, it is important that they maintain a proper alignment
with Him by holy, righteous living because the anointing will not
rest upon an unclean vessel. Miracles are real and still, occur
today. Sometimes, the ordinariness of the miracles makes us to
miss their import, for even sleeping and waking daily is a major
miracle of life.
THE GIFT OF PROPHECY
This is the special ability to receive and transmit a
message from God for the edification of the body of Christ. As the
divine mind is interpreted, the prophetic flow may manifest as
foretelling and forth telling (speaking God’s will about the
future or about an immediate, present situation); forth telling
constitutes the larger proportion of these divine messages (Acts
11:27-28; 21:10-11; 2 Peter 1 :20-21). It is possible to flow in
this gift without having been called to the office of a prophet;
it is even possible for God to give an anointed prophetic
proclamation to a person ,who does not have this gift (John
11 :49-51). The
prophetic flow at times follows the office or duty that God
assigns to a person; this is what happened to Caiaphas. Anointed
singing, preaching, teaching and praying are part of this
prophetic flow.
THE GIFT OF DISCERNMENT OF SPIRIT
This is the ability to see through people, evaluate what
they say and do, and know with certainty whether they are prompted
by the flesh, Satan or the Holy Spirit. To discern is to be able
to sift the spirit and identify it clearly for what it is. The
word “discernment” suggests evaluation or judgement. The church
cannot function effectively without this gift (Mark
8:32-33; Acts 13:9-10; Acts
16:16-18; 1
Corinthians 2:14), nor can individuals or families. Many have
fallen victim to people and circumstances because they lacked
discernment, so it is desirable that every believer be able to
exercise this gift (1 John 4: 1). In spiritual warfare, it is
indispensable. Of course, the greatest hindrance to’ the effective
use of and growth in this gift is carnality, which opens you up to
all manner of deception. To be truly discerning, therefore, you
need to walk closely and continually with the Holy Spirit in the
word of God.
Discernment of spirits is closely tied to the gifts of
faith, prophecy and exhortation. To grow in discernment, you must
remain knowledgeable in the word of God.
Discernment
is one of the most profound gifts of the Lord to His church. Acts
5: 1-8 is an excellent example of this.
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Sport
 Shittu
Rejects Rangers Contract
Rangers have ended their interest in
Watford's
Nigeria international defender Danny Shittu.
The 27-year-old was in talks with the Ibrox club after
Watford
accepted a bid thought to be around £1.5m.
But personal terms could not be agreed and Rangers will now
look elsewhere for defensive reinforcements. Manager Walter Smith
told the club website: "We have not managed to reach an agreement
on that one so it looks as though we are finished there now."
Celtic have also been linked with a move for Shittu and several
English Premier League clubs have made enquiries about the
centre-half. Shittu, who has 12 caps, joined
Watford from
Queens Park Rangers in 2006 and has previously had spells with
Charlton and Blackpool.
Earlier this month Rangers extended the contracts of
defenders Christian Dailly and David Weir while Andy Webster has
made his move to Ibrox permanent having initially been on loan
from
Wigan.
Boss Jones Blasts
Fowler Critics
 Cardiff
City boss Dave Jones has rounded on critics of Robbie Fowler over
his shock move to Blackburn.
Jones said: "There are fans having a go who didn't want
Robbie here. Now they're having a go at the fact he's going, so
how do you win? "You often hear of players under contract
who want to move. Robbie was a free agent and not under contract.
"It's not a sign of the times. It's not just happened now. It's
always been going on. "Jones also feels Fowler's critics are out
of touch with reality if they believe all the Bluebirds players
would not want to join him in the Premier League. "Sometimes
people have to understand that every player at this club wants to
play at that level," said Jones. "It's happened. Why do we keep
going on about it? We sell, we buy, we do everything and
everyone's got an opinion. "I'm disappointed that I've lost a
striker. I didn't expect it. I thought he would sign. "But he's
got an opportunity to strut his stuff in the Premier League and
how do you stop someone from doing that? I'm not angry. In
football everybody wants to play in the Premier League and he's
got an opportunity to go back to it so you just move on with
things. "It can happen and what you've got to do is, if you start
going on about it and going over it, you forget what you've got
and what you're working with. "I've never done that so I'd rather
just work with what we've got and get on with it. "We're
disappointed to lose him, but we wish him all the best and hope he
does well there.”
Lee - We Can Be Champs
Again
Assistant boss believes
Liverpool are
'not that far away'
Sammy Lee believes
Liverpool can
get back to their glory days in the league.
The Reds assistant manager - who was part of the famous
Liverpool sides that lifted the league in the early 80s - returned
to Anfield earlier in the summer as boss Rafa Benitez's right-hand
man. He knows how much the club wants a first-ever Premier League
crown, and believes they are not far off achieving this aim.While
the Reds will have to overhaul Manchester United,
Chelsea and
Arsenal for top spot, Lee believes they can better these sides.He told the club's official website: "They are three very
good teams. Only results will prove whether I'm right or wrong,
but I feel that we need to be looking to be not just as good as,
but better than those three. "We just need that little stroke of
luck, that little attention to detail, and you never know. "We are
not that far away and I feel we have proven on many occasions over
the past four or five years that we can be better than them. Not
as good as - but better."
Liverpool came
within 11 points of eventual champions Manchester United last
term, their nearest finish since 2002. Getting closerLee added: "That shows we are getting closer.
I have never been one for making promises. There are enough people
out there who give promises and I would never do that. "But what I
would say is that I feel we are going in the right way. I feel
with just a little bit of tweaking here and there we will not be
far off. "Only time will tell, but what I will say is that
everyone is striving and working hard to try and make sure that we
can close that gap and overhaul it." Lee is delighted to be back
at
Liverpool - who he left in 2004 to take up an
England
role - after a stint as Bolton manager did not work out last term.He added: "It's not easy to get back into the game, so to
get the chance to come back here was the greatest honour I could
ever receive. "To be perfectly honest, it wasn't very easy for me
to leave here in the first place - I just thought it was the right
thing to do at that particular moment in time. "I was very proud
and very honoured to be given the
Bolton
manager's job and it was great to work with Sam Allardyce, it
really was.
Disappointment "That sense of pride and honour was only
outweighed by the sense of disappointment that it didn't go well.
"I wanted to do well, but everybody was superb. The fans at
Bolton were
fantastic both to me, my family and the players at that time. I
think they saw what we were trying to do, even if the results
didn't mirror that. "He added he was disappointed that some people only saw him
as ever being a number two."I don't think that's true. I thought
I'd served an apprenticeship as a coach, reserve team coach, first
team coach, assistant manager - it's not a natural progression but
I thought it was part of my apprenticeship," said Lee, who has not
ruled out a return to management. "I have to be careful when I say
I'd like to be a manager again because people might think I want
to do it here when the top man's already here and doing a terrific
job, or people might think I'm angling to go somewhere else when
I'm not. "At this precise moment in time, all I'm looking for is
to try and do the best I can for Liverpool Football Club, to be a
good help to Rafa and the players and to try and get us back to
where I certainly believe we belong."
Rovers Admit Friedel
Interest
Blackburn Rovers chairman John Williams has confirmed other
clubs are interested in signing Brad Friedel. The veteran
goalkeeper has been linked with moves to Aston Villa and
Manchester
City
during the transfer window. Villa boss Martin O'Neill is looking for an established
No.1 for the new season and is rumoured to be willing to pay
£2.5million. Former
Blackburn manager Mark Hughes has also been tipped to launch a bid
to take the American to the City of
Manchester
Stadium. Ince's wish Friedel has two years left on his
Ewood Park
contract and Williams admits new boss Paul Ince wants to keep the
37-year-old.
Williams told the Lancashire Telegraph: "There is some
interest, but Paul Ince's wish is to start the season with Brad
Friedel." The keeper played with Ince at
Liverpool and
recently backed the former Milton Keynes Dons manager's
appointment at Rovers.
Friedel has spent almost eight years at
Ewood Park, but
reports have claimed that bids for the keeper are imminent.
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