THE PRESIDENTIAL PILGRIMAGE

President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan seems always dogged by controversy. No thanks to Sahara Reporters and Nigeria's many other online "media houses", Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Youtube, BlackBerry Messenger, LinkedIn and other social media. The previous tenants of Aso Rock Villa must be grateful that they only had to contend with the likes of Daily Times, Tribune, TELL, The News, Newswatch, Tempo, Daily Trust, Punch, Guardian, Vanguard and Thisday in their time!

The latest issue now causing a storm in Cyber9ja is the Presidential Pilgrimage to Israel. It has become the butt of all kinds of unsavoury jokes. Dr. Reuben Abati, Dr. Doyin Okupe and Reno Omokri have their work cut out....till the next controversy!

Pilgrimage to Israel is a personal choice for a Christian not a Biblical ordinance. I have never been to Israel. My friends who have been there say it is a glorious experience. They say their visit to the places mentioned in the Bible was uplifting for them spiritually as it brought home to them in a powerful way the reality of the Holy Scriptures and the certainty that their faith in Jesus Christ as Lord, Saviour, King and God is not misplaced. I look forward to visiting Israel some day by God's Grace. I will be going as a TOURIST not as a "pilgrim". I am already on pilgrimage: I seek a City, a Heavenly City, which is to come; one whose Builder and Maker is God!

President Goodluck Jonathan's trip to Israel is essentially a State Visit. He is there with several Ministers, Governors and other public officers because it is an official trip. His visit to the "Holy Sites" (the pilgrimage) is a consequence of the State Visit not the true essence of the trip. Even President Barrack Obama, like many other world leaders who have been to Jerusalem, prayed at the Wailing Wall on his last trip to Israel just a few months ago. But nobody said President Obama went to Israel on "pilgrimage".

I am pleased that Nigeria's ambivalence in its relationship with Israel is finally over. Our past Presidents and Heads of State (including even those who professed Christianity) treated Israel almost as a pariah state so as not to offend the Arab countries even though most of them they had Israelis as their body-guards!

Whether you believe the Bible, God's Word, or not, the reality is that God has promised to bless the nations which bless Israel because of His Covenant with His Friend, Abraham. And there is no greater testimony of the truth of God's Word than the fact that Israel still exists as a nation on earth today despite the conspiracies of its enemies over the last two millenia to annihilate it. Hit Israel; GOD hits you! Bless Israel; God blesses you!!

There is much Nigeria will gain from being close friends with Israel. Israel should be seen as a strategic economic and technological partner for Nigeria.

God bless Israel!
Shalom Jerusalem!!

God bless Nigeria!
Nigeria di fure!!

LET US GIVE THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE A CHANCE

I welcome Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu back to Nigeria. I thank God that his knee surgery was successful and that he returned safely in good health. Praise God!

I am, however, disappointed (though not surprised) that Asiwaju Tinubu, in his very first press conference upon his arrival in a private jet (his private jet?) at the Execujet Terminal in Lagos, dismissed the up-coming National Conference, which has caused cheer and renewed optimism in many Nigerians about Nigeria's posterity as a nation, as a mere "diversionary step taken by a sinking ship". Though he said he would "abide by the decision of the All Progressives Congress" regarding the National Conference, it is clear his comment was designed to pre-empt his party and present it with a fait accompli as regards its position on the matter. It is unlikely the APC would take a stance different from its leader.

It is most unfortunate that some politicians are already playing politics with the planned National Conference. In the article I published a few days ago titled "THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE: OUR CHANCE TO REBUILD NIGERIA'S DESTROYED FOUNDATIONS", I wrote the following:

"Whatever may be President Goodluck Jonathan's motivation, Nigeria has embarked on an irreversible process. The events in our nation in the last two years are of such gravity and sensitivity that no politician or group should presume that the National Conference can be used as a mere temporary distraction or to achieve a pre-determined parochial agenda.

Most people who have resisted the idea of having a Sovereign National Conference (SNC) over the years have done so on the assumption that it will inevitably result in the dismemberment of Nigeria. That is not necessarily going to happen. But our continuity as one country must be discussed. If there are tribes or sections which are determined not to be part of Nigeria and they refuse to be persuaded to remain, they should be allowed to leave peacefully. There is no need for fear that the SNC is a ploy to divide the country.

......What most Nigerians want are Visionary Leadership, Good Governance, Peace, Prosperity and an Equal Opportunity to achieve their dreams. But our system is built on falsehood. Our foundation is destroyed. Inequity, injustice and lies are at the root of our nationhood. We cannot continue to pretend that we can achieve greatness without revisiting the very basis of our nationhood. No section of the country should feel exploited and manipulated. The SNC is now our only chance to pull back from the brink and work at truly building a nation where peace, truth, justice and prosperity can reign."

It is premature for anyone to dismiss the National Conference when the Advisory Committee, which is to be inaugurated tomorrow by President Goodluck Jonathan, has not even commenced its work of formulating the framework or operational modalities for the Conference. President Jonathan's sincerity or otherwise would be evident depending on what he does with the Advisory Committee's Report on the National Conference.

Frankly, I don't see how a Committee which has someone like Senator Femi Okorounmu of the Afenifere Group as its Chairman and other distinguished members like Prof. George
Obiozo; Prof. Ben Nwabueze (SAN), Senator Khairat Gwadabe, Col. Tony Nyiam (Rtd.) and Dr. Abubakar Sadiq would not come up with a workable framework for the National Conference which meets the yearnings and aspirations of most Nigerians who have longed for a genuine National Dialogue. If President Jonathan really meant to distract Nigerians by convening a National Conference then he shot himself in the foot by empanelling the calibre of Nigerians he appointed into the Committee and whose antecedents show that they are not people who can be pushed around.

Let us give the National Conference a chance.

God bless Nigeria! 

Nigeria di fure!
 

THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE: OUR CHANCE TO REBUILD NIGERIA'S DESTROYED FOUNDATIONS

I applaud President Goodluck Jonathan for setting up an Advisory Committee comprising reputable Nigerians to come up with modalities for organising a National Dialogue or Conference. The men and women who make up the Committee are very knowledgeable people and have enviable antecedents. Some of them have long been advoca...tes of a Sovereign National Conference and have already done commendable research in that area. I am confident that they will not let Nigerians down.

The National Conference must have no "no-go areas" like in past attempts at having a national dialogue which ended up being merely wasteful talk-shops that led us nowhere. The outcomes of the National Conference this time around must not be subject to review by the Government or even the National Assembly. The Legislature's only role should be to give legal and constitutional effect to the decisions taken by representatives of all our ethnic nationalities and other legitimate stake-holders at the National Conference. The key challenge, therefore, facing the Senator Femi Okorounmu-led Advisory Committee is how best to get Conference Delegates who truly and equitably represent all facets of Nigeria's socio-economic and political mosaic.

Whatever may be President Goodluck Jonathan's motivation, Nigeria has embarked on an irreversible process. The events in our nation in the last two years are of such gravity and sensitivity that no politician or group should presume that the National Conference can be used as a mere temporary distraction or to achieve a pre-determined parochial agenda.

Most people who have resisted the idea of having a Sovereign National Conference (SNC) over the years have done so on the assumption that it will inevitably result in the dismemberment of Nigeria. That is not necessarily going to happen. But our continuity as one country must be discussed. If there are tribes or sections which are determined not to be part of Nigeria and they refuse to be persuaded to remain, they should be allowed to leave peacefully. There is no need for fear that the SNC is a ploy to divide the country.

But how will the country even be divided? There is no clear fault-line on which a clean division can be made. There are indigenous Christians and Muslims in each state. Many Nigerians are irreversibly bound together by marriage, friendship and business partnerships. While the very vocal tribal "activists" on social media platforms and some politicians would like us to believe that most Nigerians want the country divided into ethnic nations, the evidence does not support their claim. If you travel around Nigeria and interact with the mass of our people, it is obvious that they are all victims of poverty induced by the greed and corruption of our "leaders" at all levels of government and that they really do not care so much whether the President is Ijaw, Hausa, Fulani, Yoruba, Igbo, Esan, Jukun, Igbirra or Ibibio; or whether the person is a Christian or Muslim.

What most Nigerians want are Visionary Leadership, Good Governance, Peace, Prosperity and an Equal Opportunity to achieve their dreams. But our system is built on falsehood. Our foundation is destroyed. Inequity, injustice and lies are at the root of our nationhood. We cannot continue to pretend that we can achieve greatness without revisiting the very basis of our nationhood. No section of the country should feel exploited and manipulated. The SNC is now our only chance to pull back from the brink and work at truly building a nation where peace, truth, justice and prosperity can reign.

Nigerians have yet another chance to re-build the foundations of our country and (re)negotiate our nationhood on the basis of truth, justice, equity and righteousness. We must not fail. Our posterity depends on it.

God bless Nigeria!

Nigeria di fure!!