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Reflecting on recent positive events, my mind returned again and again to a play by a young Ameri...Read the full article.

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Yes, good things are happening in Nigeria. True, both the momentum and quantum of change are hardly where most Nigerians would want them to be. Given the nation’s decades of disappointment and waste, Nigerians understandably desire—and deserve—dramatic leaps, not jaunts. But it’s time to take an inventory of national gains. And while we must work to sustain as well as extend the gains, it makes sense to thank God for small mercies.


Reflecting on recent positive events, my mind returned again and again to a play by a young American playwright and thespian. Dan Hoyle, who spent an enlightening year in the Niger Delta as a Fulbright scholar, has written a captivating play titled tings dey happen. The one-man play, a brilliant mélange of voices and perspectives that captures both the resilience and distress of the Niger Delta, has been a hit since its debut. It is currently enjoying a terrific off-Broadway production.


Like Karl Maier’s This House has Fallen, a compendious and insightful book on contemporary Nigerian politics, Hoyle’s play is infused with the energy, sheer drama and undying spirit that are Nigerian hallmarks. It is at once a portrait of a nation’s desultory journey and a testament to hope and tenacity.


For Hoyle, the Nigerian landscape is without any dull moments. In the midst of all the chaos and upheavals, Nigerians find a way to survive, a way to extend their lease on hope even when life seems unremittingly bleak. For Nigerians, tings dey always happen. Bad things mostly, but also the occasional morale boosting, spirit-lifting good thing.


Nigerians have been strafed and buffeted by too many disasters. Often by man-made disasters called leaders. They’ve been stomped, deceived and sold out by knaves posing as men and women of integrity. They have suffered through many seasons of disillusionment, many locust years. Through it all, they struggled sometimes quietly, sometimes mightily, but they always clung to hope. Their investment is bearing (some) fruit.


After weeks of defying the nation, Speaker Patricia Etteh was last week forced to surrender. It should not have come this far. To begin with, any Nigerian entrusted with the office of speaker ought to have recognized it was obscene to devote more than six hundred million naira to spruce up two residences and buy cars. Considering the depth of social misery in Nigeria, Etteh ought to have recoiled in horror the moment she peeked at the renovation’s price tag. She should not have squandered such an Olympian amount on her comfort. Not in a country that is, for most practical purposes, roadless, hospitalless, waterless, electricityless.


Etteh has blamed journalists for her fall. It’s a familiar cop-out. Did journalists push her to expend a vulgar sum on self-aggrandizing luxuries in a country whose citizenry is trapped in squalor? Did some reporter advise her to ignore proper procedure for the award of contracts?


Etteh erred gravely. Then she compounded the error of financial recklessness with political arrogance. She disdained widespread calls to step down. Emboldened by her sponsors, she fastened on tedious and unconvincing semantic hair-splitting. She insisted that the panel that probed the renovation contract had not conflated her name and the word “indicted” in its report. Her obstinacy grounded the business of the house, and on two occasions triggered free-for-all fisticuffs that might have served as excellent advertisement for the World Wrestling Entertainment. Not even after one of her stoutest cheerleaders slumped and died was she moved to reconsider her untenable position.


In the end, it took the real threat of impeachment to bring her back down to earth. And to a resignation that should have happened several weeks ago.


Etteh’s intransigence, while ill advised, has produced a collateral dividend. When the members sat down to the business of electing Etteh’s successor, they resoundingly rejected the candidate who bore the ruling party’s imprimatur. Instead, they settled for Oladimeji Bankole, a highly educated member, the kind of man in whose company Etteh’s chief sponsor, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, takes little delight. In demurring from the party line, the members served notice, one hopes, of a house awakening to a new sense of its independence. Good things dey happen.


Speaker Bankole would do well to avoid the pitfalls that an insouciant Etteh fell into. Nigerians deserve a speaker who owes his elevation not to chumminess to Obasanjo but to the possession of sound legislative acumen. They deserve a speaker who is seized by a vision of how to deploy law-making to solve real problems. Though presiding over an undistinguished chamber, most of whose members have questionable mandate, Mr. Bankole must set clear legislative agenda.


If the new speaker must approve any contracts, he had better ensure that the letter and spirit of due process are met. In fact, the speaker ought to champion the full establishment and empowerment of the Bureau for Public Procurement. This bureau, when fully functional, should assume the role of overseeing all aspects of government contracts. Acting as a clearing house, the bureau would ensure that all public sector contracts are properly advertised, that the bidding process is transparent, that contracts are not unduly inflated but stay within justifiable limits, and that bids are evaluated with professionally sound criteria.


In a sense, the absence of such an effective oversight bureau made it possible for Etteh to bungle her way into a scandalous contract. The fiasco of her renovation contract was far from an isolated case. A study commissioned by Obasanjo in 2001 concluded that Nigeria has lost several hundred billions of naira owing to lax or non-existent public procurement practices. It is time to stop the bleeding of scarce resources, and adopt adept contractual monitoring. By making this one of his legislative priorities, Mr. Bankole would spare himself the kind of embarrassment that swept Etteh from her perch. And he would help Nigeria to save a ton of money. And the nation needs every naira it can save.


In terms of positive developments in the country, there is no question that the judiciary deserves special commendation. It is hard to explain the resurgence of judicial courage, but more and more Nigerians are now reposing faith in judges to right wrongs and set a redemptive tone to the nation’s business. Led by the superb example of the justices of the Supreme Court, a growing number of Nigerian judges seem to have risen to the challenge of checking egregious illegalities in the body politic. In the run-up to April’s marred elections, the courts stepped in on occasion after occasion to rein in Obasanjo’s bid to frustrate rival candidates he wished to exclude.


Going by judicial reversals of some of the more bizarre outcomes of the April polls, some members of the judiciary remain alert to their duty. In ruling on electoral challenges with relative dispatch, and also in torpedoing some controversial verdicts, the judiciary has given Nigerians cause to hope. It is true that many judges continue to deliver baffling judgments, and that some still seem wedded to timidity, inspiring suspicion of their susceptibility to bribes. Even so, Nigerians daily encounter judgments that make them proud in the caliber of the men and women on the bench. The streak of electoral reversals is a departure from the trend that followed the 2003 elections. Then, the judges seemed united in a frenzy to validate a mindlessly rigged election.


Thanks to the fierce courage of many judges, Nigerians can now dare to hope that many usurper governors, senators, representatives and state assembly members are going to be sent parking. It is to the credit of the judiciary that some Nigerians even contemplate the prospect of a verdict invalidating the presidential election.


Good things dey happen. When Nigerians stood up as one and fought to abort Obasanjo’s illegitimate third term dreams, it was a beautiful moment. When then Senate President Ken Nnamani rejected the former president’s orders to sack T.V. cameras from the chambers of the upper house, the better to facilitate surreptitious approval of tenure elongation, Nigerians enjoyed a buoyant moment. When former immunity-fortified public officials who stole the public trust blind are compelled to face prosecution, to live as execrated exiles, or to walk about in anxiety and have sleepless nights, then it’s a good dawn in Nigeria. Tings dey happen for Nigeria. And we can add: a few good things dey happen.





Ndibe's proposition for the establishment of the Bureau of Public Procurement is an unusual deviation from past writings without substance. I always believe if one must be criticizing, he must also be able to profer some reasonable solutions.

However, I find it very uncharitable and rude for you to say Obj hates the assembly of educated people. That's an insult. How can a man who has nothing less than 6 phd holders as children hates the assembly of learned people? Even if he actually supported Etteh for the speakership position, is anything wrong with that? Having served 3 consecutive terms in the House as a member and even as cabinet member of the former speakers, would you say such a person is not qualified to be a speaker? Did the constitution prescribe a degree for the position of a speaker? Did Masari who was speaker for 4 years have a degree? Did Atiku who was Vice President for 8 years have a degree? And above all, has Patricia Olubunmi Etteh been found guilty of stealing public funds? Did the house report indict her for taking kick-backs from the contractors? Was she accused of executing the contracts by herself? All what we have heard so far is that only procedural errors were committed and not embezzlement of funds. And let's even assume that Etteh is guity, why must Obj be held responsible for that? She is 53 year old and has been in the lower house for more than 8 years. Is such a person not capable of taking responsibility for her actions? Do you think the same Bankole you are praising his emergence today as speaker would have been a member of the House without Obj's support? Let us stop chasing shadows.

And for the information of NVS members, Farouk Lawan, the leader of the self-styled Integrity Group had this to say about Olubunmi Etteh during her nomination for the
speakership position.

We’ll shame Speaker’s opponents –Pro-Etteh lawmaker
By Linus Obogo (linusobogo@yahoo.com)
Saturday, October 13, 2007

Honourable Etteh
Photo: Sun News Publishing
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“…I believe then, as I believe now, that to achieve governance for the legislature to contribute its role, we must have credible, experienced and respected leadership. Honourable Etteh has the exposure, the temperament, the maturity, the competence and above all, the legislative experience to steer the ship of our legislative responsibilities in a way that all of us and all Nigerians would be proud of…”

The above quote is an excerpt from Honourable Farouk Lawan, then a proposer, nominating Mrs Patricia Olubunmi Etteh as the Speaker of the lower legislative chamber on June 5th, 2007.
Since that chummy endorsement of the Speaker, about 130 days ago, a lot of water has passed under the bridge, prompting posers as to what exactly actuated the impeccable verdict on Etteh, then by Farouk, the House Chairman on Education? Did Madam Speaker fail to keep to her own part of the bargain with Farouk and his group? What has changed in those qualities of Etteh glowingly espoused by Farouk then?

As the nation awaits what promises, perhaps to be another boxing session in the House, 72 hours from today, when it reconvenes to consider the David Idoko-chaired panel on the alleged N628 million renovation contract of the Speaker’s residence, a member of the House from the North-west zone and a pro-Etteh supporter has dismissed insinuations that the panel indicted her.

Speaking with Saturday Sun in Abuja, the lawmaker argued that while the Speaker is being given a guilty verdict in the court of public opinion, it is yet to be specifically affirmed that she has been indicted.
While insisting that Madam Speaker committed no wrongdoing to occasion an impeachment, the pro-Etteh lawmaker, is however, of the conviction that if the Speaker was found to have abused her office, her party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), with its internal mechanism in dealing with its erring officers, would have wasted no time in applying the stick, as was done to some former senate leadership that compromised their offices.

Countering the panel’s claim that due process was not completely followed in the award of the contracts, the lawmaker expressed optimism that the Speaker will be spared the hangman’s noose as it was not the responsibility of the House leadership to vet and process contracts, adding that these duties lie squarely with the bureaucracy and not the legislative head.
Tracing Etteh’s travails to her strong-willed and principled stance, the lawmaker said her traducers were bent on hanging her dry for refusing the-business-as-usual culture that defined past leadership, a trend that frequently exposed them to inexorable blackmail.

Faulting the panel’s suggestion that the controversial contracts were not captured in the National Assembly budget, the Speaker’s loyalist insisted it was part of the game plan of the anti-Etteh lawmakers, mostly old members headed by Honourable Farouk Lawan, who was then the Appropriation chairman under Aminu Masari to tar her integrity, adding that “those who included the N500 million in the budget for the renovation of the National Assembly complex phase I and 2 knew that these did not require renovation.”

Accusing Farouk and his band, of feeding the public with tissues of lies, the lawmaker said: “Farouk was the Appropriation chairman under Masari’s leadership of the House, why has he not explained to the Nigerian public why he smuggled the N500 million into the budget, even when he knew quite well that what it was meant for was necessary? The National Assembly phase I and II did not require renovation.” He said it was N500 million and not N600 million that was earmarked for the renovation, which N53.7 million of the N236 million assigned for Etteh’s residence was used.

According to him, “so you can appreciate why he sneaked the sum into the budget. Farouk Lawan did that in the hope that when he succeeded as the new Appropriation committee chairman, under Etteh, he would have a different agenda for the money.”
Saturday Sun reliably gathered that those who have constituted a cog in the progress of Etteh’s job are 30 committee chairmen, mainly old members, who patently are dissatisfied that they did not get what they considered as their birthright.

For instance, Farouk Lawan was believed to have strongly canvassed for Appropriation chairmanship, an office he held pre-Etteh leadership, just as Hon. John Halims Agoda desperately wanted petroleum and Hon. Mercy Alomona-Isei, Gas. Previously, Mercy reportedly enjoyed this office through the instrumentality of Madam Speaker in Masari’s dispensation.

Anti-Etteh sentiment
Historically, but unknown to many, according to Etteh loyalist, some of the lawmakers now strongly opposed to the Speaker had already become accustomed to blackmail and had held the past leadership of the House to ransome, a ploy that worked for them before now. For instance, Hon Ghali Naa’Aba was said to have been forced to go into executive session and allegedly owned up to misdemeanours imputed against him by these expiring blackmailers. Reprieve, however, came his way when reportedly pandered to their whims.

Saturday Sun also gathered that a similar vaccine was administered on Hon. Masari as Speaker with his certificate scam. He was alleged to have cried uncontrollably like a baby on the floor of the House. This was also during the executive session. He, however, saved himself the blush by playing ball.
According to the pro-Etteh lawmaker, it is this kind of filthy politics associated allegedly with Farouk Lawan and his sidekicks in the House that the Speaker has distanced herself from that has amounted to have committed political Harakiri.

Describing Farouk’s brand of politics as self-serving, the lawmaker from the North-west zone regretted that rather than the petite legislator using his privileged chairmanship of the Education to address the educational backwardness of his region, he would rather destabilize the House for not being given the Appropriation committee.

Farouk and ITF house
Among some of Farouk’s alleged sins being whispered in hush tones at the National Assembly, is his role as Appropriation chairman in the ITF house, a five-storey building donated to the lawmakers as part of capacity building, by Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, former FCT minister.
Established as the National Assembly Legislative Budget and Research office, since it was donated, it is yet to be put to use, despite that over N500 million was allegedly sunk into furnishing the building.
As Appropriation committee chairman then, the furnishing contract was neither bided for nor advertised. A National Assembly source insisted that no furnishing was done. When the issue was raised sometime in the new dispensation, Saturday Sun gathered that it was played down to allow peace reign in the House.

Wondering why Farouk has carried on this far, despite his alleged gross abuse of office, another pro-lawmaker allowed: “If Farouk was being altruistic and could even come up with convincing facts in his campaign against Etteh, no body would begrudge him. But he has proved himself as a man with an unstable character. Otherwise, why will he not remember that he was the same man who stood on the floor of the House and marketed the same woman as Speaker prior to her emergence?”
In what seems a poor reading of the Speaker by the anti-Etteh elements, a lawmaker who is neither pro nor anti-Etteh said: “Anti-Etteh colleagues of mine are being economical with the truth of her alleged wrongdoings. I’m sure they did not know her so well. They probably thought she would be like her predecessors to accommodate their shenanigans. But they found her a hard nut to crack.”

What to expect at the resumed sitting
On the likely outcome when the House considers the panel report three days from today, the Etteh loyalist expressed confidence that there is no cause for alarm, as the Speaker remains unruffled by her opponents’ game plan. According to him, nothing demonstrates her conviction of innocence of the charges more than her refusal to be cajoled to step down to safe her neck.

While it is premature to tell how the debate will go, 72 hours from now, a wait-and-see posturing by the Speaker’s camp seems to capture the mood of the House ahead of Tuesday resumption. However, there is a tinge of optimism in Etteh’s camp following the garrisoning of the rebellious PDP members during the week with a threat of a recall of members by the party. Also, both the party and the Speaker’s devotees have taken ample advantage of the recess incentive to reach out to enemy frontier.

Voicing his optimism, he said: “Just wait and see how the debate will go when the House resumes on Tuesday. The issue has gone beyond sentiment. It is a matter of law and constitutionality. The Speaker has not committed any wrongdoing to warrant her impeachment. We will not allow ourselves be lured into the kind of embarrassment that characterized the senate in the past. We cannot afford to succumb to this blackmail and unfairly force the Speaker out. If we do, it will be a price too costly for our democracy. Those who want Madam Speaker out will be shamed”

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It is good to read of hope on these pages as today's quote states: "He who has health, has hope; and he who has hope, has everything."
We hope the light we see at the end of the tunnel is not an oncoming train:)

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Good tings dey really happen

New Speaker thanks God for free plane
Written by Kehinde Akinyemi, Abeokuta
Tuesday, 06 November 2007

The House of Representatives’ new Speaker Dimeji Sabur Bankole dropped to his knees at the weekend and offered a special prayer of thanks to God that he no longer has to travel around in commercial planes.

The Speaker himself made the startling revelation yesterday when he paid a quick visit to Abeokuta, Ogun State. It was his first visit home since his election as Speaker last week. He also seized the opportunity to say bye-bye to bachelorhood by introducing his newly-wedded wife, Olaitan.

Speaker Bankole, who was speaking when he paid a courtesy call on Ogun State governor Otunba Gbenga Daniel at the Government House, Oke Igbehin, Abeokuta, said on Sunday evening, as he prepared for his visit to Ogun State, he told his
ADC to go and procure flight tickets for the trip to Lagos.

According to the 36 year-old Speaker, "I said he should arrange for flight tickets, but he looked at me with a smile and said it is not possible. I queried why, he responded that it has been taken care-of, that a presidential jet would be used for that. I thought it was a joke, as he kept on smiling. I told him to get the Chief of Staff. He came and asked me when I would need it and for how many hours, which I told him. I still thought it was a joke, but when it dawned on me that it was real, I told them to wait a minute. I dashed into my bedroom and knelt down to say, God, I thank you, God, I thank you."

Bankole, who said Governor Daniel first discovered him and gave him the opportunity to be elected to the House of Representatives five years ago, promised not to disappoint the governor. He said: "OGD sent me to Abuja, but I was not thinking of presidential jet and all that. Help me; assist me to thank this person, who has taken me so personal in the last five years. He stood by me when everyone doubted me. It is the trust that got me so far, and I want to also promise that I will not disappoint this person. I say it again in the presence of everybody that I will not disappoint this person."

http://dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4244&Itemid=&Itemid=45

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=docokwy;2091817125>Good tings dey really happen

New Speaker thanks God for free plane
Written by Kehinde Akinyemi, Abeokuta
Tuesday, 06 November 2007

The House of Representatives’ new Speaker Dimeji Sabur Bankole dropped to his knees at the weekend and offered a special prayer of thanks to God that he no longer has to travel around in commercial planes.

The Speaker himself made the startling revelation yesterday when he paid a quick visit to Abeokuta, Ogun State. It was his first visit home since his election as Speaker last week. He also seized the opportunity to say bye-bye to bachelorhood by introducing his newly-wedded wife, Olaitan.

Speaker Bankole, who was speaking when he paid a courtesy call on Ogun State governor Otunba Gbenga Daniel at the Government House, Oke Igbehin, Abeokuta, said on Sunday evening, as he prepared for his visit to Ogun State, he told his
ADC to go and procure flight tickets for the trip to Lagos.

According to the 36 year-old Speaker, "I said he should arrange for flight tickets, but he looked at me with a smile and said it is not possible. I queried why, he responded that it has been taken care-of, that a presidential jet would be used for that. I thought it was a joke, as he kept on smiling. I told him to get the Chief of Staff. He came and asked me when I would need it and for how many hours, which I told him. I still thought it was a joke, but when it dawned on me that it was real, I told them to wait a minute. I dashed into my bedroom and knelt down to say, God, I thank you, God, I thank you."

Bankole, who said Governor Daniel first discovered him and gave him the opportunity to be elected to the House of Representatives five years ago, promised not to disappoint the governor. He said: "OGD sent me to Abuja, but I was not thinking of presidential jet and all that. Help me; assist me to thank this person, who has taken me so personal in the last five years. He stood by me when everyone doubted me. It is the trust that got me so far, and I want to also promise that I will not disappoint this person. I say it again in the presence of everybody that I will not disappoint this person."

http://dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4244&Itemid=&Itemid=45

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I believe you are being sarcastic here...What is the gudi here ? or I am lost on the import of the bolded parts ?

I just have to believe we are sha moving even if it aint an inch apparent :(

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well oga daxphin
d bolded parts to me, show that our new speaker owes his election and emergence in the house of reps to OGB and God.
the nigerian citizens in his constituency clearly did not figure in the calculation.
that is just typical nigeria oh!!!
and yet, Good things dey happen!!!!...
yep, its a nation FULL of hope.
and i also believe our hope is not in vain.
we go on hoping, among other things, that our new speaker will not forget the abuja-lagos route and its pitfalls, the lagos-ibadan expressway, the lagos-benin road, the benin-onitsha road, the enugu-portharcourt road, the lagos-kano rail link and so on..... when he rides in luxury, in our presidential jet.
GOOD THINGS DEY HAPPEN.

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Whatever happens next its fantastic to feel the radiance of Okey's smile.

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=olusola;2091817079>Ndibe's proposition for the establishment of the Bureau of Public Procurement is an unusual deviation from past writings without substance. I always believe if one must be criticizing, he must also be able to profer some reasonable solutions.

However, I find it very uncharitable and rude for you to say Obj hates the assembly of educated people. That's an insult. How can a man who has nothing less than 6 phd holders as children hates the assembly of learned people? Even if he actually supported Etteh for the speakership position, is anything wrong with that? Having served 3 consecutive terms in the House as a member and even as cabinet member of the former speakers, would you say such a person is not qualified to be a speaker? Did the constitution prescribe a degree for the position of a speaker? Did Masari who was speaker for 4 years have a degree? Did Atiku who was Vice President for 8 years have a degree? And above all, has Patricia Olubunmi Etteh been found guilty of stealing public funds? Did the house report indict her for taking kick-backs from the contractors? Was she accused of executing the contracts by herself? All what we have heard so far is that only procedural errors were committed and not embezzlement of funds. And let's even assume that Etteh is guity, why must Obj be held responsible for that? She is 53 year old and has been in the lower house for more than 8 years. Is such a person not capable of taking responsibility for her actions? Do you think the same Bankole you are praising his emergence today as speaker would have been a member of the House without Obj's support? Let us stop chasing shadows.

And for the information of NVS members, Farouk Lawan, the leader of the self-styled Integrity Group had this to say about Olubunmi Etteh during her nomination for the
speakership position.

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Olusola or whatever you call yourself:

Who dash your monkey banana to be dissecting Professor Okey Ndibe's article and be m oronically blathering that his "past writings (were) without substance"??? On what metric did his past writings lack substance??? Who decided that??? You???:rolleyes:

Since all these days that you have mindlessly got yourself pre-occupied with parsing Okey's treatises, in which he has NEVER at any time responded to you, why don't you go and find yourself another job??? Must you die licking the boots of the i diots that are bas tardizing Nigeria???

I don't even know why I am wasting my precious time trying to engage this retarded cretin sef.

Presidency

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=dapxin;2091817126>I believe you are being sarcastic here...What is the gudi here ? or I am lost on the import of the bolded parts ?

I just have to believe we are sha moving even if it aint an inch apparent :(

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That man dockowy is mentally deranged. Pay him no attention. You know even some sicko do have access to computer.

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Do you think the same Bankole you are praising his emergence today as speaker would have been a member of the House without Obj's support? Let us stop chasing shadows.

Olusola

This statement of yours shows the kind of mindset you have. So without Obj's support, not that of Nigerians in Bankole's constituency, Bankole would not have emerged a member of the house. Is this how democracy is praticed where you come from? unless a baba says so nobody will be (s)elected, ah, we saw this in living colour during the last elections, and by God's grace all the people your baba supported will be booted out by the Nigerian people because goods tings dey happen.