Category: Opinion

When CrossRiverWatch started publishing under Governor Imoke’s second tenure, it was a very trying period for us. It was novel to use the social media to hold government accountable in a very conservative State like Cross River where almost everyone, including those who call themselves comrades, did not have a contrary voice to whatever government dishes out. We were still publishing under all kinds of pseudo names to protect our sources.

We were very hard on Governor Imoke’s government and that sent some shock waves around the State. We didn’t spare him a bit. The climax was when the Governor took ill and was taken abroad for treatment and that became a major editorial common place for our operators at the time, until it dawned on me that, what we were supposed to dwell more on, was the activities of Government and not on the fine details of the personal health challenges of the Governor, because anyone can become ill.

Hon. Alex Egbuna, who is now in the House of Representatives representing Abi/Yakurr Federal Constituency, was Chief of Staff to Governor Imoke and Christian Ita, was the Chief Press Secretary. Mr. Emmanuel Unah, who was the Vanguard Newspaper Correspondent in the State at the time and now the Chief Press Secretary to the Yala LGA Chairman, was the Editor of CrossRiverWatch. Emmanuel signed a fourteen page retainership agreement with the Imoke government to pay our organization 500k monthly to promote the activities of the government on our budding platform.

The government paid the 500k for three months, and I think the soft pedal they anticipated from our organization was not forthcoming. Suddenly I got a call from the office of the Chief of Staff to the Governor that they were going to terminate the retainership because our platform was not relenting on holding the government to account. I reminded the caller that there was no paragraph in the 14 page retainership agreement that required our platform to stop holding the government to account. What was signed was to publicize government activities and nothing more. I told them to go to hell and that led to the abrupt end of that contract and we continued our work in good faith.

When Governor Ayade took over in 2015, he came with theoretically bold and gigantic ideas that sounded fabulous on paper and we decided to give him breathing space to see how he was going to run the State. During his first term, we were one of his greatest allies. Some people referred to me as his de-facto Chief Press Secretary. There is no evidence of me criticizing him in his first term. It was deliberate. I personally reined in on our editorial team to reduce the pressure on his government and let us see where he was headed with his highfalutin ideas. The first term drew to an end without anything eventful.

But something happened. The critics turned their nozzles on us. I was accused of collecting bribes from Governor Ayade to keep mute. It was said that we were not pressing Ayade’s neck the way we did to Imoke, because Governor Ayade was my kinsman from Obudu LGA where I hail from. All other forms of allegations were thrown into the arena. But till date, even after challenging everyone in that administration and outside the government, not a single person could provide any evidence of bribery or any money that was given to us by the Ayade administration and I can bet that no one can prove it till date, because nothing was actually given to us. They were all baseless allegations and beer parlor talks. Again, we were doing our work measuredly in the interest of our State.

At the start of Ayade’s second term, I called the Governor on the phone and expressed my displeasure with his first term and informed him that I wasn’t going to lose my voice because of him. He wasn’t happy. We increased the heat on his government in the second term. The tension kept growing and climaxed with my arrest and incarceration and the rest is history. Yes, the Governor felt I was his brother and expected me to close my eyes to certain things and I did not bulge. It is not in my nature to keep a blind eye to corruption. Not then, not even now!

Now Governor Otu is in the saddle. His first term is drawing to a close. Just like under Ayade’s first term, I am being accused of collecting bribes from Otu and refusing to talk. Both the high and mighty and the ordinary people are wallowing in their hallucinations and waiting for my opinion on almost every topical issue in the State. So many things have been said in beer parlors and government offices about how so much money has been given to me not to talk. And when I manage to stumble on some of them, I laugh out loud.

I laugh because, even after spending over a decade opening up the media space in our State and teaching our people how to use the new media to hold leaders accountable, the lazy and laid back attitude of our people is refusing to dissipate. They feel so entitled to my opinion that they must wait for me to comment or escalate every issue in the State as if they are paying me a salary to do so. Imagine that I dropped dead before now, won’t there be anyone else or any voice to continue from where I stopped? Are there no younger persons in the State who have learnt from me in the past fifteen years? In my sabbatical, can’t no one else step into the void and take the shine? These are the questions that continue to torment the carapace of my mind as I watch from the sidelines.

For your information and without any form of perturbation, I CANNOT BE BRIBED. Not by Governor Otu or by anyone. If you have any evidence where I have been bribed to stop talking, bring it out NOW. Bribes are not in my DNA. Secondly, I cannot also be pushed around by people, both loved ones and those who don’t love me, by fans, supporters or non supporters, to speak when I do not want to. I speak only when I want to speak. I am not a ball that can be pushed around. If a people who are oppressed cannot raise a voice against their oppressors but continue to queue behind them and wait for others to always talk for them, society will remain in bondage.

Unlike some of my critics, social media did not make me an activist. I became an activist as a young teenager out of secondary school, during the Abacha regime under the tutelage of Dr. Beko Ransome Kuti. There was no social media. There was no internet in Nigeria. Newspapers were still published in stencils. That is what informed my long standing relationship with progressives like Femi Falana Omoyele Sowore, late Gani Fawehinmi, Wole Soyinka, DrJoe Okei Odumakin , Richard Akinnola II, Seun Anikulapo Kuti, Lanre Arogundade, Sylvester Odion Akhaine, Edafe Oghenebrume and many others in the South West. Our activism is leaning on ideology not on click bets and clout hunting and bribes.

But in all these, there is a glimmer of hope. I have seen a few younger persons who are standing up to be counted. Those who are growing daily in courage and audacity and that tickles my imagination. Their voices are gaining momentum in the State against all attempts to intimidate them. I am in touch with some of them and you know yourselves. My word to you is, remain rugged. No one will do you anything. Grow in strength and knowledge. Fight with a pure heart. If they come after you, we will come for you. I will still talk when I am moved to talk, not when cowards who can’t even fight for themselves, want me to talk. If this statement hurts you, start talking. Your mouth no the pain you.

Finally for the government people who think our people cannot criticize your boss, YOU LIE! More and more voices will rise. They will be critical and vociferous. They will peruse every move of the government and hold an opinion no matter how that detest you and the worst mistake you will make is to come after them. Prepare answers not hostilities. You are paid with our money to explain to us and not to abuse us when we ask questions. Know this and know peace!

Yours sincerely,
Citizen Agba Jalingo.

Disclaimer: The opinion expressed in this article is strictly that of the author, Agba Jalingo and does not represent Theluminenews, its agent or the organisation the author works for/with.

I have lived for forty years in an apartment in Vienna’s Fourth District. My wife and I had a close relationship with all our neighbors in the building. We exchanged visits and greetings whenever we met in the elevator or the building entrance, and we talked about the children, politics, social conditions, and the news of the hour. Just as neighbors do.

After I became President of Austria, I noticed a change in my neighbors’ relationship with me.

The relationship became lukewarm. If one of them tossed a greeting, they did so without looking at you. And if I tossed the greeting, I could almost hear their reply as a whisper.

The situation continued like this for two months, and from all the residents—my neighbors without exception—I was gripped by bewilderment. I asked my wife: Is there something that calls for this neglect? Have we done something to anger our neighbors? She couldn’t find an answer to my question, so I decided to take the initiative. I knocked on my neighbor’s door, and he gave me no reply.

I knocked on the second one’s door—same answer. And I was perplexed: What’s wrong with people? Why have their attitudes toward me changed?

I returned to my apartment in bewilderment.

On the third day, someone knocked on my door: the building superintendent, inviting me to a meeting for all the residents, for an important matter. I saw the invitation as a chance to open the subject with everyone: Why are they treating me with such coldness?

And then my widowed neighbor said: I’ll tell you frankly.

Before you became president, we lived in peace—no cars, no guards, no sounds of security vehicles, no inspections, no street closures. Our lives were easy. And now we live with you in misery. That’s what makes us not want to deal with you, because you’ve caused us hassles. And today, we’ve decided to file a lawsuit against you for eviction from the building unless you restore our lives to how they were before.

The former president says in his television interview: I left feeling full of regret and apologized to them for my lack of attention to my neighbors, and I promised them that I would be worthy of their trust in being a neighbor to them.

Immediately, I called the head of my security detail and told him to clear the street of guards, and that only my car and one guard should accompany me, without lights or sirens, and to pull the guard stationed at the building entrance. I pledged to him that I would take personal responsibility for my safety if anything unfortunate happened.

The president continues and says: After two days of this, the smiles returned to my neighbors.

And with them, the affection returned.

Disclaimer: The opinion expressed in this article is strictly that of the author, Agba Jalingo and does not represent Theluminenews, its agent or the organisation the author works for/with.

Think about this, I do not think that anyone is in doubt about the fact that everything uniformed in Nigeria, stands for extortion. In other words, all uniformed organizations in Nigeria that were created with the goal of serving Nigerians, are primarily extortionist and every day, any of their personnel go out to work, the primary goal on their minds is how much they will take back home that day and not the service they will render.

As far as their duty relates to interfacing with the public, from the armed forces to the unarmed forces, both Federal, State and Local, their first goal is how to extort from that section of the public they are supposed to serve. You must part with something, either willingly or by coercion, once your paths cross.

Let me give some examples, the Police will tell you bail is free, but that is the biggest lie in Nigeria. Prison warders will tell you that a visit to the prison is free, that is another gigantic perfidy. Military men moved out of their barracks into joint task forces and other operational duties to serve the public, whether on land or on water or at the air gate ways, will intimidate and extort from the public, vehicle inspection officers, road safety officials, forest guards, public transport management agencies personnel in uniforms, customs, immigration, are all in the booming business of extorting from the poor public.

For the non uniformed public services, beginning from the lowest cadre, if you visit a government office, the gateman will ask you for money to drive in. If you cannot pay, he or she will tell you the car park is filled and you need to look for somewhere else to park, while the person that can pay a bribe will be directed inside the park and squeezed into a space, even if the car park is filled.

The receptionist or front desk people will expect money from you before they will take your visitors form that you filled to the boss’s secretary on time. The Secretary will expect a tip before he/she will take it to the boss. In fact, some bosses will even ask how much you brought before they can take a look at whatever brought you.

There is no table in any government office today, where any document passes through that will not require some form of gratification to proceed to the next table. Practically none. It has been normalized. Even in the public complaints commission, you have to pay to lay your complaints.

Go to the LGA office to process anything, whether it is certificate of indigeneship or birth or death or marriage certificate, if you do not bribe the clerks, you can’t get anything done. Constitutional pardon and clemency for prisoners in jail by Governors and the President is now sold in slots.

Go to the legislative assemblies to solve any problem with the representatives you voted to represent you, you will need money to bribe their aides to even book an appointment. A senator once told us how even the elected lawmakers pay bribes to get their own bills scheduled for deliberations in plenary. Aides collect sums running into millions of Naira, to fix appointments with their bosses.

Go to the court registries to file a case, you will need to bribe clerks to take you seriously. Judgments in court cases are now reserved for the highest bidders. Appointments to the bench are now reserved for those who have money to pay. Go to court to process any document, be it affidavit or application for Certified True Copy CTC of any document or any other thing, you must pay some bribe to officials in court to get it done.

After getting approval from the boss, for your document to pass through the Chief of Staff to Budget to Due Process to Audit to the Accountant General, you must pay bribes across all those tables. Go to public hospitals for treatment, you need to pay the nurses and other administrative staff to get an appointment to see the doctor. Even in public mortuaries, the morticians will ask you for bribes to embalm the corpse of a loved one.

Employment in all public services at all levels in the country today have been monetized and normalized. You must pay money to get a slot. Public scholarships, State interventions and empowerment schemes have all been slotted for payments before you can benefit. Forms will be sold by the managers to extort from the public whether you benefit or not.

There is practically no single public service that you can get in Nigeria today without paying bribes in one form or the other; in cash or in kind. Every public service ID card today is automatically an instrument of extortion and not a commitment to service. Employees who are paid salaries to serve the public have all turned themselves to toll gates and toll tables and no one sees it as an anomaly anymore. We seem to have all acquiesced to the bribery culture and the attempt to question it is now seen as the abnormal behavior.

Matter-of-factly, if even half of the people who work in the public sector can go to work daily and do the work for which they are paid sincerely and return home without collecting bribes from the people they are supposed to serve, for six months only, there will be a significant and marked shift in the fortunes of this country.

This culture is not restricted to the public service alone. It is prevalent in every facet of our lives and society already. It has eaten so deep that the hope of reversing it is very slim and lean. It has become so normalized that, if you don’t do it, you are described as not being ‘sharp’ or smart. The definition of being smart in the country today is how adept you are at collecting bribes and cutting corners. They call it “work chop.” Na where you dey work, you go from chop.

Yet these folks are all Christians and Muslims who pontificate about morality and holiness. They pay their tithes and zakaat from these bribes and extortions. They give testimonies about their blessings which are proceeds of bribes and extortion. And more heartbreaking is the fact that, we all get into the celebratory mood when these proceeds are splashed on our faces.

So tell me how this country will make the much desired progress, when we all have our claws in the cookie jar…..

Yours sincerely,
Citizen Agba Jalingo.

Disclaimer: The opinion expressed in this article is strictly that of the author, Agba Jalingo, and does not represent Theluminenews, its agent or the organisation the author works for/with.