16 April, 2012

When Dame P. Jonathan came to town

Last week, the Nigerian media was awash with the discomfort experienced by Lagosians when Dam Jonathan, the first Lady came to town.
One problem with Nigerians, especially those with computers or smartphones that can connect to the internet is that we don't always get our facts right before commenting on issues.

Not taking anything away from the inconvenience that the visit caused a lot of people but blaming Jonathan's wife is like taking it too far.

Is Dame responsible for coordinating her own security or determining her own security protocols?
Can she even ask her security details for the security plans that have been put in place for her visit to Lagos? The answer is NO!

Let us blame the Nigerian Police Force in Lagos. The IG of Police recently directed that all road blocks in Nigeria be dismantled except if the President and his wife are exempt from that directive.
let us forget about the state government traffic agencies for now who claim they were not informed beforehand of the visit.
Also, let us not forget to blame the SSS and other federal agencies who are directly or indirectly responsible for the security of the First Lady.
Forget about Dame, she just happens to be the first lady.
It could be Bimbo Fashola tomorrow who will be the First Lady. What happens if we dont point fingers in the wrong direction now? We blame her and wait for the next in line to also grind another day to a halt...

God bless Nigeria!!!

Kofi in Syria

Photograph: AP
Kofi Annan is in Syria as a special envoy of the UN and the Arab league. What is worrisome is the attitude of the loose coalition of the friends of Syria and other high ranking officials of the U.S. and Western Europe.

It seems like they are just waiting for Kofi Annan to fail and have a "legitimate" (sic) reason to finish Bashar Al-Assad once and for all.

I really hope Kofi succeeds in brokering a peace deal in Syria and bring an end to the massacre of the Syrian people from government and opposition forces alike.

However, as a commentator on CNN pointed out 2 days ago, "Kofi Annan is the wrongest man for the wrongest job at the wrongest time."

Kofi is no doubt a fine diplomat with impressive credentials and a very good outing as the UN Secretary General. He is on record to have declared the US-led invasion of Iraq as illegal. However, as the head of the UN, he was not able to prevent a coalition of some countries not to invade Iraq.

Kofi also failed to resolve to a logical conclusion the Cyprus problem that has been going on for decades. Even though, he is credited with the last major plan that the South Cypriots rejected and was overwhelmingly voted for by Northern Cypriots, the Cyprus problem still persists and all there is to show for all his effort is the "Kofi Annan plan".

As I mentioned earlier, Kofi is a very fine diplomat and I really hope he can bring his influence to bear on the Syrian government and opposition forces to cease fire and rebuild their country.

Who do I think would do a better job in Syria? The ex-Nigerian President Obasanjo.