Ah... I see that you're back from... where's that place again? No... don't tell me.. Kazakhstan? Kurdistan? All right, all right, no need to get mad - I know you told me it was Kunustan the last time, but with all that's been going on in Nigeria this last year, it's so easy to forget these things. Are you on a flying visit, or are you returning for good? Oh, you want to hear from me what's been going on before you decide. All right, let me get started right away.

But before I carry on, I should fill you in on two late-breaking events of 2006. You remember that I told you that the Anambra State governor, Peter Obi, was impeached by his State House of Assembly in 2006? Well, on 28 December, the Anambra State High Court reversed that impeachment. You say that this is pointless because he only has a few months left to spend as governor? Well, it looked like this would be the case, after the gubernatorial elections in April which were declared by INEC to have been won by Nnamdi Uba - but on 15 June, the Supreme Court reversed this decision and restored Obi to the governorship. So it looks like Obi will be there till 2010 - and it also means that if there are more of these kinds of cases, Nigeria will eventually end up with very staggered elections, which is not necessarily a bad thing.

The other news story that broke was... well, you remember I told you that a census was carried out in late March? Well, the results of that census were released on 29 December, and they showed that there were 140 million Nigerians. Apparently, there are 3 million more men than women, Kano is the populous state with 9.4 million people while Bayelsa is the least populous with 1.7 million people. You disagree with those results? Join the queue - I'm sure you're the 139,999,997th Nigerian to do so - President Olusegun Obasanjo, the National Population Commission chairman and myself are probably the only three people not to express a contrary opinion. No, I'm not an Obasanjo lackey - I just prefer to sit on the fence on this one.

So now on to 2007 proper. Well, you know that the big stories of 2006 were the third term agenda and the presidential primaries in which Umaru Yar'Adua was selected for the People's Democratic Party (PDP). Well, there were stories going round about the man's poor health, so in early January he challenged his opponents to a game of squash in order to squash (excuse the pun) these rumours and prove he was fit enough to run the country. But the credibility of his protestations took a big dent when on 7 March, he was suddenly flown out of the country. Rumours began to fly around that he had collapsed and that he wanted to opt out of the presidential race, so the PDP had to issue a public declaration that he had just gone abroad for a medical check up. Yar'Adua himself later issued a statement from Germany where had been flown that he was still very much interested in running for President.

Of course it wasn't only Yar'Adua who was interested in running for president. If you also remember my tale of the events of 2006, you'll remember me talking about how the current Vice-President, Atiku Abubakar, had expressed an interest in going for the job, and how Obasanjo and the PDP had determined to make things very difficult for him as he tried to do so. Well, his woes continued as on 7 February, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) released a list of politicians which it said were corrupt and surprise, surprise, our dear VP's name was on the list. The EFCC made it clear that the list was purely advisory - however, a certain organisation decided that it was advice worth heeding, and on 15 March, the Vice President found that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had left off his name from a list of candidates to contest the 2007 presidential elections - even though a Federal High Court in Abuja had ruled exactly a week ago that INEC had no powers to disqualify candidates.. As I'm sure you can imagine, Abubakar was incensed and said he was going to fight the matter all the way to the Supreme Court!

In the meantime, preparations for the polls were proceeding in fits and starts. The voter registration exercise had to be extended by two days beyond the January 31 deadline. People wondered whether the polls would have to be delayed when it was announced that the Alliance for Democracy (AD) candidate - Adebayo Adefarati - had died on 29 March, but the Maurice Iwu-led INEC said that they would still hold. But the judicial process was still working its way in the matter of Abubakar versus INEC, and on 3 April, there were two apparently contradictory court rulings - one from the Appeal Court overturning the earlier ruling in by a Federal High Court which said that INEC had no power to disqualify candidates; and another from a Federal High Court ordering INEC to put Abubakar's name back on the ballot. So it was very clearly that things had come down to the wire, and the Supreme Court would be the final arbiter.

But it looked like even this might not happen, as on 13 April, President Obasanjo declared the two days before the presidential elections as public holidays, ostensibly to allow people time to travel to where they registered to vote. Abubakar's camp reacted angrily by saying that this was just an attempt to prevent the Supreme Court from being able to give a ruling that would allow him to run.

But while all this was happening, the gubernatorial elections were held on 14 April. And despite all the hopes that they would be reasonably free and fair, they turned out to be a travesty of democracy - a de-mockery-cy, you might say. All the usual features that we have sadly come to associate with Nigerian-style steal-ections were present - poor organisation, violence, intimidation and naked vote-stealing. However, rather than admit that they were so clueless that they had organised an election whose results they didn't know, the creative statisticians at INEC probably extrapolated the results of a random poll of seventeen die-hard PDP loyalists to come up with the result that the PDP had won twenty-seven states nationwide.

Anyway, while that sorry spectacle was playing itself out, there was yet another twist in the judicial process as on 16 April, the Supreme Court overturned the Appeal Court ruling and ruled that INEC did not have the power to disqualify candidates, thus clearing the way for Abubakar to contest. And surprisingly, INEC said that Abubakar's name would be on the ballot, which makes you wonder whether the whole matter had been predetermined all along and was simply calculated to create doubt and confusion in people's minds.

So on to the presidential elections on 21 April... and to nobody's great surprise, they turned out to be just as flawed as the preceding gubernatorial elections. Of course Yar'Adua emerged the winner, with INEC declaring that he won 70% of the vote. Of course everyone else protested to little effect. Yes, I hear you... perhaps we shouldn't even bother with these kinds of elections, since we waste all that money in the preparations - and for what? Maybe we should just have something like Big Brother Africa where the prospective candidates go into a house and they can be voted out by the public, with the winner being the last person in. At least, it will be more entertaining and less disappointing.

Yar'Adua must have sensed how bitter everyone else was feeling, because he made a speech which was dripping with placating overtones, saying that he would like to reconcile with opposition, and that for anyone who was unhappy, there was always the option to seek redress in the courts. He also spoke about how he would reform the electoral process - something he has since followed through by setting up a committee on 22 August which is charged with reviewing the electoral process, and if necessary changing the constitution. A fine gesture - but whether their recommendations will be implemented is another matter altogether.

Anyway, on 29 May, President Yar'Adua was sworn in - but two days before he left, Obasanjo showed Nigerians how much he would miss them by leaving them a parting gift of a 15% increase in the fuel price as well as a doubling of VAT. So immediately, Yar'Adua was left with a sticky situation in his first days in office, as the labour unions threatened to go on strike if the increases were not reversed, and if the sale of the Port Harcourt refinery to a consortium of big businessmen (also authorised by Obasanjo) was not reversed.

I'm sure you can guess what happened next - the government made a compromise offer which included only increasing the fuel price by only 7.5% and reversing the VAT increase; the unions led by Abdulwahab Omar rejected the offer; and on 20 June, a national public strike holiday was declared. However, to the great dismay of petrol hawkers everywhere, the unions ended their strike a mere three days later. The terms of the government compromise offer were accepted, as well as an increase workers' pay. Regarding the refinery, well in mid-July, the consortium decided not to go ahead with the sale after all. So I would say Unions 2 - they got the VAT reversal and the no-sale of the refinery; Government 0.5 - they got a partial increase in fuel prices. No, don't ask me how you score half a goal - you're bending my metaphor out of shape.

But you're probably wondering - with all this talk of refinery sales, does it mean that things had quietened down enough in the Niger-Delta for businesses to think of investing in the refining business? Ah, I see you remember that I spoke about the constant kidnappings in the Delta that were a regular feature of 2006. Well in 2007, it was more of the same, really. Apart from the usual expatriate kidnappings, there were one or two more sensational cases. In mid-July the child of a British national and the child of a local chief were kidnapped in two separate cases. Fortunately, both children were released.

But the violence in the Delta wasn't just confined to the creeks and swamps. On 29 January, there was violence in Port Harcourt itself, as some militants stormed a police station and released a militia leader, Sobomabo George, who was awaiting trial for murder. Then later on in the year in mid-July, there were a couple of shootings of expatriates in the city - one a Lebanese who was killed, and the other a British professor who was wounded.

It got even worse on 11 August when all out-fighting broke out between two gangs in the city. Why they were fighting? Perhaps it was all about establishing control over fuel-stealing and kidnapping operations in areas of the Delta. Or perhaps it was a proxy war being fought on behalf of politicians. The problem is that when a gang member has a rocket launcher hoisted on his shoulder and he looks ready to use it, it's a bit difficult asking these kinds of probing questions. Things got a bit more heated when the army intervened a week later, but their intervention eventually calmed things down, and with a curfew currently in place that's the way things have stayed... for now.

So why all this violence? That's a good question, because it looked like Yar'Adua's government had gained some goodwill from the militants who had been antagonised by Obasanjo's hardline stance. Certainly, Yar'Adua in his inauguration speech had said that he would make the Delta crisis a top priority. The main militant group, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta responded favourably to this a few days later by pledging a one-month ceasefire to allow the government to formulate a plan, but it said that it would only end its campaign if it the government showed it was serious about dialogue and freed two men from the area who were currently being held by the government - Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, the former Bayelsa State governor, and Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, a leading militant in the Delta area.

Well on 14 June, Dokubo-Asari was released on bail, supposedly because of his poor health in captivity. However, it seems this wasn't enough for MEND, as they announced that they would not extend their ceasefire beyond the set date. Even when Alamieyeseigha - who two days earlier had been jailed for two years - was released as a result of a plea bargain on 28 July, this made no difference to their position. So I guess we can expect to see more kidnappings and fuel stealing in the next year, unless Yar'Adua has some bright new sparkly initiative to dazzle MEND and the other militant groups. And speaking of people who have been recently been released after long spells in detention, the leader of the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), Chief Ralph Uwazuruike  was also released on bail on 26 October for three months, supposedly to allow him to attend his mother's burial.

It looked like President Yar'Adua's 'slowly, slowly' approach was not just applied to resolving problems in the Niger-Delta. For example, it took him nearly two months to name his cabinet - he named it on 26 July, to be specific. Why did it take him so long? Well, remember earlier where I spoke about the man wanting to heal the rifts that had been created in the wake of April's 'election'? Well, one of the ideas that was proposed was to create some kind of unity government which would have members of opposition parties in it. I suppose that this meant more time needed for more haggling - but in the end, the cabinet did comprise two ministers from the opposition All Nigeria People's Party (ANPP). You understand that I use the word 'opposition' in the loosest possible sense.

One of the other issues that Yar'Adua did mention in his inauguration speech - and one matter that is close to the hearts of many Nigerians - was the fight against corruption. To kick things off, on 29 June, he declared his assets - he was purportedly worth 856 million naira. After a bit of hesitation, his vice - Goodluck Jonathan - followed by declaring his assets to be worth 295 million naira. And that was it. No amount of media pressure could compel the legislators, ministers or governors to tell Nigerians how much they had. To be honest, I don't see what the fuss is - just concoct one unfeasibly large amount - like 3 trillion naira - so that even if you only have ten kobo when entering office, that gives you room to steal up to 3 trillion naira and still look like a man of integrity when you leave. Oh... you say that no self-respecting Nigerian politician will want to limit his stealing to 3 trillion naira in this way? Hmm... you may have a point.

But the fight against corruption dominated the headlines in other ways. First of all, there was a power tussle between Nuhu Ribadu, the head of the EFCC (who had been promoted and confirmed in office for another four years) and the Attorney-General of the Federation, Michael Aondoakaa. The tussle came to light round about early August when the AGF made a bid to restrict the powers of the EFCC to carry out independent prosecutions, saying that any investigation needed to be approved by his office first. However, the government was forced to make a U-turn on this decision on 7 August, where the right of the EFCC to carry out such prosecutions was upheld, although the AGF's office would still have a supervisory role.

Then there was another clash in mid-September over the issue of who should be in charge of the prosecution of the the ex-governor of Abia State, Orji Uzor Kalu. Specifically, the office of the AGF believed that the EFCC was wrong to ignore a court order asking it to hold fire on prosecuting the ex-governor. Supporters of the AGF claimed he was following the rule of law and trying to get things done the right way. His detractors claimed that he had an agenda, and he was just using technicalities to frustrate the EFCC from getting on with the job of flinging these crooks into jail where they belonged.

Anyway, Kalu wasn't the only ex-governor who was being chased down by the EFCC. In fact, the EFCC had announced on 8 June that it had asked as many as fifteen governors to turn themselves in or face arrest. Eventually, we got to know some of the governors who were wanted; there was Joshua Dariye of Plateau who had been impeached under dubious circumstances last year by the Plateau House of Assembly, but he was reinstated for a brief period this year. No matter - after his term of office expired, the EFCC was hot on his heels again. Then there was Saminu Turaki, formerly of Jigawa State; Ayo Fayose (remember him from last year?) of Ekiti State; Jolly Nyame of Taraba State; and Chimaroke Nnamani of Enugu State. Others include Boni Haruna (Adamawa), Attahiru Bafarawa (Sokoto), Chris Ngige (Anambra), and Abubakar Audu (Kogi).

But undoubtedly, the most celebrated of the lot of the cases was the investigation into allegations of corruption of the ex-governor of Delta State, James Ibori. The EFCC had tried to get the Delta State government to be forthcoming with details of fund transfers during the Ibori years, the state government refused, eventually going as far as going to the Federal High Court in Benin on 10 October to get the EFCC of their backs. The court gave the order - but several days later, under pressure from (of all people) the AGF, the court decided that it wasn't its place to make such an order and reversed its decision. This cleared the way for the EFCC to go full steam ahead with the investigation, and on 11 December, Ibori was arrested and arraigned at Kaduna High Court to face a 103-count charge of corruption and abuse of office.

While these ex-governors were having a hard time of it, the sitting governors weren't having it easy either as their election 'victories' were being challenged at the electoral tribunals and courts. I've already spoken about how Nnamdi Uba's 'victory' was overturned; other governors to suffer the indignity of having the tribunals and courts rule against them were Celestine Omehia (of Rivers) on 20 July; Ibrahim Idris (of Kogi) on 10 October and Murtala 'Four Wives' Nyako (of Adamawa) on 16 November. 'Four Wives'? Oh, there was a minor story about how the man wanted to share out First Ladyship duties amongst his four wives, and how he got mad when the press reported it. Talk about a man complaining about lizards visting his house after bringing ant infested firewood to it!

But back to corruption again. Another major story that broke while you were away was the crisis around the first female Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mrs. Patricia Etteh. What had happened was while she was away in the States in mid August taking part in a birthday bash... erm, I mean having a medical checkup, it transpired that she had awarded a to renovate the her official accommodation as well as that of her deputy. Fair enough, you might say - except that the contract sum was a hefty N628 million naira. It did not help her case that contrary to her allegations, due process was not followed in the award of the contract - for example, there wasn't enough documentation to back up the figure that was arrived at.

Anyhow, it all turned political, with members of the House taking sides - some saying that she should step aside while being probed, some saying this was not necessary and Etteh herself insisting that she wouldn't go. The tide turned when one member of the House, Aminu Safana, collapsed and died during one of the rowdier sessions on the issue. After that, it was just a matter of time... and on 30 October, she stood aside. No, I don't understand how the story of the contract became public, either - I'm sure that Mrs. Etteh wouldn't have wanted publicise it. Or perhaps she thought that the magic words 'due process' would blow off any suspicion so that there was no need to hide anything.

So you see how money can cause the fall of people from very great heights? Powerful stuff, indeed. And money was very much a feature of 2007 - it was all change as on 28 February, we got brand new smaller and more durable notes, courtesy of that nice governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Charles Soludo. Specifically, the 5, 10, 20 and 50 naira notes got a makeover; and there were new 50 kobo and 1 and 2 naira coins as well.

But Soludo wanted to do much more with our naira - he wanted there not to be so many zeros when we quoted amounts in naira. So on 14 August, he announced that he wanted to redenominate the naira so that a hundred old naira would be equivalent to one new naira. He also wanted the naira to become fully convertible by 2009 so that you could buy it and sell it freely without needing the Central Bank to be involved.

But as they say, Soludo proposes and Yar'Adua disposes. Or actually, I should say Yar'Adua disposes using the agency of Aondoakaa - yes, it's him again! Apparently, according to the AGF, the president had not given his written permission, and so as of 24 August, the plans was were frozen. I'm puzzled at the idea that Yar'Adua's subordinates have to obtain written permission for all their plans - it means that there would be a serious bottleneck as he struggled to sign all their requests. Perhaps Soludo's best option would be to dump a huge sheaf of papers to be signed and slip in his proposal so that the president would sign it without noticing.

Anyway, that's pretty much it... oh, wait - my narrative would not be complete if I didn't tell you those eminent Nigerians who had passed away this year:

Adebayo Adefarati, former governor, Ondo State, aged 76, on 29 March 

Stephen Osita Osadebe, highlife musician, aged 71, on 11 May

Safiya Vatsa, widow of former minister Major-General Mamman Vatsa, aged 56, on 21 May

James Oyebola, boxer, aged 46, on 27 July

Evan Enwerem, former Imo State governor and Senate Leader, aged 71, on 2 August 

Adisa Akinloye, politician, aged 91, on 18 September

Yemi Tella, Golden Eaglets coach, aged 56, on 20 October

Cyprian Ekwensi, novelist, aged 86, on 4 November

Sunday Awoniyi, Chairman, Arewa Consultative Forum, aged 75, on 28 November

Robot  Villager

# 1 var sbtitle5705=encodeURIComponent(Yet Another...Read the full article. Posted by Robot| 24.12.2007 18:45

akuluouno  Villager

# 2 The Hon Shoko, But for the abscence of chapters and verses, this treatise would have read like a page out of the "Book of the Chronicles" of the 2007 events in Nigeria. But to me it seems a wee bit early because the year is not yet over and it is not over until it is over. For instance Benazir Bhutto has eventullay kicked the bucket she has been angling for and ditto for so many Nigerians who have donned the agbada of the cat with nine lives and who might also kick the proverbial bucket before 2008.:twisted::twisted::twisted: The judicial pronouncement on who has the power to disqualify still needs to be reviewed and tightened further to eschew cases where a Sudanese might emerge the favoured candidate in Nigeria seeing that our charity usually begins abroad.:D:D:D:D However your Chronicles are sufficient as at this moment and any other developments can always be read up in the biblical non-existent Book of Jasher by Villagers who are interested.:eek::eek: Oncemore thank u Shoko. Posted by akuluouno| 27.12.2007 11:12

Shoko Loko Bangoshe  Villager

# 3 (The Only) Madam Akuluouno (now that Emj has renounced the use of the title), So it's not just me that has been wondering about the Book of Jashar? I remember when I came across the book while reading Joshua. I searched the Bible from top to bottom, but I couldn't find it, and for a while I was convinced that someone had given me a fake Bible. Anyway, you're right - the year isn't over, but anything I don't list now can be listed in my round-up of 2008. But let us not rely on non-existent books - if you (or anyone else) has spotted anything I left out, or wants to correct something I wrote, you can either post it here for posterity, or call in to the phone-in on Saturday. Posted by Shoko Loko Bangoshe| 27.12.2007 11:31

Ebe2  Villager

# 4 Yes, the year is not yet over; there may be more important developments in the next few days. In fact reports are trickling in that Nuhu Ribadu was removed today...... Somebody please confirm this. Posted by Ebe2| 27.12.2007 11:33

ronkemac  Villager

# 5 Sir, What an action-packed year of twists and turns 2007 has been. It seems to me that a year in Nigeria is like 2 or 3 years anywhere else. Perhaps that's why we only get 46 years lifespan on average... Posted by ronkemac| 28.12.2007 10:19