By Ochereome Nnanna
THE saying that in a democracy, people get the kind of government they want is true, after all. When on January 1, 2012, the federal government effected the removal of the subsidy on petrol, Nigerians waited with uncommon enthusiasm to embark on the nationwide “indefinite” strike called by organised Labour and civil society.

Groups went into the strike for various reasons. Some participated because of the zapping of their pockets. Some were angry over the perceived insensitivity of a free-spending government to the plight of the ordinary people.

Majority of Nigerians were in it because of the corruption in the oil industry which made an equally corruption-riddled regime to transfer the pain of subsidy removal to the people rather than fight the corruption. Some also went into it for political vendetta, or to use it as a springboard to re-launch their failed political ambitions (and hence the asinine call for “regime change”).

After one week on the streets, the negotiations with Labour were headed nowhere, as the latter, acting on the sentiments of their “principals” (the affiliate unions) went to the table with a single option: “revert to N65 or nothing”. Labour had no alternative to offer or plan “B” to fall back on.

That is a recipe for failure in a negotiation. Therefore when the federal government decided to go it alone by directly offering the N97 per litre pump price to the public and sent soldiers to trouble spots, the strike collapsed.

Labour came out with a bloodied nose. Those in “civil society” groups who were plotting a copycat “revolution” or fake “Arab Spring” met their waterloo.

This was because the constituent groups that went into that venture did not have one shared, irreducible agenda, which is what drives revolutions. The “people power” revolution that removed Ferdinand Marcos from power in 1986 and the Arab Spring of 2011 that led to the fall of Abidine Ali, President of Tunisia; Hosni Mubarak, President of Egypt and Muamar Gaddafi of Libya, were all products of a commonly-shared determination by the people to get rid of their rulers.

Because of the ossified historical differences in opinion, interests and fashion for which Nigeria is infamous, no revolution may seem possible here. Major Chukwuma Nzeogwu’s failed revolution of 1966 proved this point. And no part of this country can forcibly secede from Nigeria. The failed Biafran secession of 1967 also proved that.

Of all the reasons for which people embraced the strike, one objective triumphed over the rest: the need for corruption in the oil industry and incompetence of government to be exposed. Even though presidential spokesman, Reuben Abati, scorned the National Assembly’s efforts to mediate the crisis, the federal legislature actually turned out to be one of the heroes of the impasse.

It was the Senate that brought Labour and the federal government to the negotiation table and moderated the dialogue. It was the House of Reps (which created an unusual Sunday sitting) that called for a reduction in the pump price (which the President eventually adhered to) and initiated the probe of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulator Agency (PPPRA).

Through these efforts the public now knows for a fact what it has long suspected and went on strike for: the monumental frauds in agencies of the Ministry of Petroleum, which Mrs Diezani Allison-Madueke is presiding as a two-term minister.

The Hon Farouk Lawan-led House Ad-Hoc Committee probing the fuel subsidy funding uncovered the heavily alarming disclosures that in 2011 alone, Nigeria paid N668 billion to petroleum products fraudsters for imported petrol which were diverted mid-sea to foreign countries.

We were told that out of the 59 million litres of petrol we paid for, fraudsters brought in only 35 million litres per day, thus diverting 24 million litres to foreign countries for filthy profit. The economic crimes committed by civil servants in the NNPC and PPPRA over the years simply do not bear repeating in this restricted space.

It boggles the mind that when funds required to service the petrol subsidy made a dramatic jump from N250 billon to N1.4 trillion last year, nobody from the Presidency to the Ministers of Petroleum and Finance though it fit to raise an eyebrow. Instead, government decided to compel Nigerians to pay the fraudsters from their own pockets! That was exactly what would have happened if the strike did not take place and the probes were not initiated.

My own layman’s reasoning is that with N668 billion taken out of last year’s subsidy bill of N1.4 trillion, added to the new N97 per litre pump price of petrol, the entire subsidy funding must have been wiped out.
I have come to the sad conclusion that the President Goodluck Jonathan regime needs policing by the citizenry.

If it took the strike to open the Pandora’s Box in the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, it will take yet another series of strikes to remove from office and send to jail officials who colluded in the crime against Nigerians or failed in their duties to sniff out the problem.
My fear, though, is that Nigerians are not Filipinos (who blocked Marcos’ military tanks with their bodies to prevent them from storming Camp Crame to kill defecting Defence Minister, Juan Ponce Enrile and Deputy Chief of Staff, Fidel Ramos).

And Nigerians are no Arabs who protested day and night for months, braving bullets, armoured tanks and teargas without wilting. Nigerians are easily tired, easily distracted and easily divided. People power Nigeriana has no focus, no unity of purpose, no staying power. People power Nigeriana can only bark but not bite because its teeth were removed some forty six years ago!

Ringim: Zakari Biu’s godfather?

HAVE you experienced a psychedelic shock? The kind of shock that nudges
you towards depression? That was the shock I got when I heard that Zakari Biu had been appointed as the Commissioner of Police in charge of Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID).

Biu, as Deputy Commissioner of Police, was a member of the General Sani Abacha killer squad. In fact, the media and civil society hold him responsible for the murder of The NEWS Magazine correspondent, Bagauda Kaltho. Biu defended himself by saying that Kaltho died when a bomb he was planting somewhere in Kaduna exploded on him!

When Abacha died, Biu was sent on suspension. But during Mr. Mike Okiro’s time as Inspector General of Police, Biu was recalled. Most of his contemporaries in the Force are Deputy Inspectors-General of Police (DIG’s). Just a few months ago, IG, Hafiz Ringim, posted him to the FCID while the nation was in the throes of terror attacks by Boko Haram!

It was under Biu’s watch that Kabiru Sokoto (the Boko Haram agent suspected to have bombed a church in Madalla, Niger State, killing over 50 people and injuring scores more) escaped from police custody. Four other terror suspects had also earlier on escaped from Biu’s custody.

Add this to the recent bail release of the Suleija church and Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) office bombers by an Abuja Federal High Court Judge, Bilikisu Aliyu, and you will get the President’s message when he told Nigerians that Boko Haram were in his government, the courts, the legislature and security agencies.

Part of reasons why Nigerians think Jonathan is “weak” and “incompetent” is that he is surrounded by enemies and he complains to the public rather than do the necessary things which the Constitution empowers him to do.

Ringim’s time in our Police Force is up. I will be surprised if he is still there when this article is printed. Beyond that, he and Biu must be arrested and investigated for their possible complicity in the murderous campaigns of Al Qaeda agents in Nigeria. And why would Nigerians report terrorists to the Police when they will be released on bail by the courts or set free by their collaborators in the top echelons of the Police?

How much further can people’s patience be tried?

Awarra, Egbema sacked by cultists

SINCE I’ve been on leave, a young man, who calls himself Comrade Okadigbo, has been bombarding my line with distress calls over the sack, by rival cults, of his community, Awarra in Ohaji/Egbema local government area of Imo State.

According to him, these cults, “The Islanders” and “Dewell”, have turned the oil-rich community into a battle-ground, with rampant killings and raping of innocent women. People are said to have fled to neighbouring communities or into the bush for dear life, while law enforcement agents posted there are only interested in money.

I call on the Governor of Imo State, Owelle Anayo Rochas Okorocha, to come to the aid of this community, since the member of the Imo House of Assembly representing the area, Hon Luke Chukwu, seems unperturbed.