2nd Niger Bridge: How Jonathan suckered Ndigbo By Steve Osuj

Fisrt Published on March 21, 2014

Jonathan

A native saying in Igboland interprets to the effect that if you make yourself a house rat, the pussy cat will have you for meat. There is no doubt that the current crop of Igbo leaders has morphed into ignoble rats and President Goodluck Jonathan has been playing cat with them. We all remember how the Ohaneze under the leadership of Chief Ralph Uwechue (recently demised and may his soul find repose) personally signed those obnoxious adverts endorsing Jonathan on behalf of Ndigbo. It was unprecedented in the history of Ohaneze or any other major socio-political group for that matter to

Like Mark, like Saraki by STEVE OSUJI

I am re-running this piece originally published here (Nation Newspaper) Friday, August 28, 2015 because of the embedded rejoinder. This is to avail the writer a right of reply and afford readers the opportunity to read and judge by themselves. I overlook the actionable statements in the rejoinder.

Cash is king, no, cash is god.

May history be damned! Monetise our legacy! Hand us cash bequeathals! This must be the silent chant of members of our National Assembly (NASS) in the last 16 years. If only they knew any better; if only they realized that the unit of measure of life’s worth lies in legacies and not currencies.

This is why history will have no golden chapter for Senator David Mark who was senate president and head of NASS for eight years. The refrain of his supporters has been that he was instrumental to stabilizing the Fourth Republic and Nigeria’s nascent democracy. But ‘stabilize’ to what end? Didn’t he merely hold down the cow for it to be milked to death?

As this column has always canvassed, the position of the Senate President is only second in importance to that of the president of the federal republic. Therefore, under the control of a noble and enlightened mind, the NASS is a veritable instrument for ringing far-reaching socio-political and constitutional changes. But as we have witnessed, none of the