By Doun Kogbara
Last Saturday, Federal and State legislative election re-runs took place in my home state, Rivers. Many people gloomily expressed fears beforehand that the exercise would be violent and chaotic; and these fears turned out to be very well-founded.

I wasn’t there because I have doggedly avoided my native turf since I was kidnapped in Port Harcourt last year (I have yet to fully recover from the considerable trauma); but I monitored events from afar and was contacted by several witnesses who were on ground from start to finish and heard many truly horrifying stories from, PDP supporters, APC supporters and neutral observers.

Dakuku Peterside, the Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime and Safety Agency, NIMASA and former APC gubernatorial candidate, sent me a press release explaining how gun-toting hoodlums had tried to assassinate him.

Kenneth Kobani, the PDP Secretary to the Rivers State Government, told me that he had been unfairly arrested, manhandled and injured by security personnel.

Peterside and Kobani were lucky. Other less fortunate individuals wound up dead. Meanwhile, malpractices and irregularities were so rife that elections in a number of Local Government Areas, including my own (Gokana in Ogoniland) were cancelled…which means that a bunch of re-runs will soon have to be re-re-run!

What a disgrace! Rivers used to be a civilized place that was once celebrated for a tranquil state capital that was fondly and respectfully known as The Garden City. Nowadays, its main claim to fame is that it is a tragic and dangerous mess.

Will we helpless onlookers ever be able to return to the good old days? Given how deep-seated the poison has become, probably not in my lifetime.

An exemplary partnership

I thank God that some PDP and APC government officials are mature and altruistic enough to cheerfully cooperate when development issues are at stake, despite the seething hostility that characterizes the relationship between their two parties.

Mrs Amina Mohammed, the Minister of Environment, and Dr Roseline Konya, the Rivers State Commissioner of Environment, recently joined hands to work towards the long-awaited implementation of a United Nations Environment Programme Report that recommended, in 2011, the clean-up of Ogoniland, which has suffered greatly from pollution caused by decades of oil exploration and production.

These two formidable women of substance give me a much-needed sense of hope.

The economy – Differences of opinion

Last week, I quoted Simon Kolawole, a fellow journalist who expressed concerns about the fact that the economy is in crisis and urged President Buhari to “wake up and smell the coffee” and present the nation with a clear development blueprint that can propel us towards prosperity. I said that I totally agreed with Kolawole.

A Vanguard reader called Cordelia Akunwafor (cakunwafor@hotmail.com) contacted me to object. The Budget had not been passed when she wrote to me; and though I think that she is being too tolerant of a status quo that is lamentable, I am publishing her email, for the sake of balance and to encourage lively debate:

Dear DONU,

On reading your rendition of Simon Kolawole’s piece, I must say that I am not  as impressed as you are. It is the usual Nigerian syndrome of ITKs being quick to criticise without sufficent indepth analysis or a rounded perspective.

Do you realise that the Budget has not been passed? What spending can be done to stimulate the economy without Appropriation?

You echo Simon, while he echoes others, to say that what is needed is a “good economic team”. But you critics fail to comprehend the enormous distortions caused by our  kleptocratic culture where the very officials  in charge connive to steal 75% of appropriated funds without qualms and thereby woefully fail to see that programmes are faithfully executed.

We surely need more than a good economic team. Certainly very few can be trusted from all indications. Have we internalised probity and good behaviour?

Let us patiently follow Mr President to where he is leading us. We are always impatient as our conduct in vehicular traffic demonstrates— always honking and speeding past and crashing and getting nowhere. Slow and steady will take us to the right destination by God’s Grace.

An unfortunate vacuum

Since my late friend, Professor Ade Adefuye, the last Nigerian Ambassador to the United States, died last August, that post has been vacant. And my American chums in Washington simply don’t understand why a country of Nigeria’s stature has allowed itself to remain unrepresented within this crucial context for so long, in a country that is widely regarded as the most important in the world.

One of them made the following remark to me yesterday: “Your embassy here is almost non-existent at the moment and the situation is shocking, pathetic even, considering that Nigeria is the largest and most significant nation in Africa.”

I myself am totally mystified. Why has this vacuum not been filled?

Last Tuesday, the Atlantic Council, a highly influential think-tank, hosted a lunch for African Ambassadors in Washington. Nigeria was, of course, invited to this prestigious event. But the lack of leadership in our Washington embassy is so acute that no Nigerian diplomat showed up. The invitation was not even acknowledged.

Next week, President Buhari will go to Washington to attend the Nuclear Summit.   Even if it doesn’t bother him that there will be no ambassador to receive him, should he not be seriously concerned about the image problem that the vacuum is generating and about the fact that our US-related interests can only be sufficiently protected and enhanced if appoints a top-class right-hand-man or woman  to dynamically run Nigeria’s  Washington embassy?