News
A Dog Named Buhari and A Hippo Named Patience by Reno Omokri
Really? Is this how low Nigeria has sunk?
About two weeks ago, Chinakwe’s hero, President Muhammadu Buhari, ordered the police to reopen the cold case murder mysteries involving Bola Ige, a former Attorney General of the Federation and Chief Aminasoari Dikibo, a one time ex-Deputy National Chairman, South-South, of the Peoples Democratic Party.
Little or nothing has been heard from the police since that order was given only for Nigeria to wake up to the almost telenovela tale of a dog named Buhari. When they are meant to deliver results, the police is busy delivering activity. Comical activity.
Perhaps what I find most interesting is that a man can be arrested for naming his dog after his hero yet in this very same country no one thought it wrong when the First Lady, Aisha Buhari, called a man, and not just any man, but a governor at that, a ‘mad dog’!
Now I get it! In today’s Nigeria, you can name a man after a dog without consequence but you cannot name a dog after a man without consequences!
Do you see how low Nigeria has fallen? Perhaps our police would like to visit the netherworld to arrest the late English novelist, George Orwell, for naming the pig in his allegorical novel, Animal Farm, after the French Emperor, Napoleon Bonaparte.
Didn’t Chinua Achebe write that “when an adult is in the house, the she-goat is not left to suffer the pains of parturition on its tether.”
But why should I be surprised? Hasn’t Nigeria degenerated to become an ‘Animal Farm’? Just like in Orwell’s novella, we are living in a country where animals have displaced humans.
Why won’t our morals become warped to the extent that we care more for animal rights than for human rights when elders like Professor Wole Soyinka did not see anything wrong in calling the wife of a seating President a ‘Hippopotamus’?
Why won’t our morals go to the dogs when our government is more interested in protecting the rights of cows via grazing reserves rather than protecting the lives of its own citizens by way of prosecuting killer herdsmen, who, as our president assures us, are from ‘Libya’? These marauders, who have killed thousands of innocent Nigerians in the last 18 months have for some reason become so bold even as our security agents have become so timid before them.
And the case of Joe Fortemose Chinakwe exposes a troubling pattern. We seem to have a government that cares more for the right of certain categories of foreigners than for the right of its own citizens.
Why do I say so?
Well consider that the complainant who lodged a complaint with the police against Mr. Chinakwe is allegedly a foreigner from Niger Republic (by the testimony of Mr. Chinakwe). On the strength of a complaint by a foreigner that he feels offended by the name a Nigerian chose to give his dog, the Nigerian police swung into action and became so efficient overnight that it sent its men to fetch the erring Chinakwe and locked him up for his audacity.
Then also consider that the herdsmen (notice I said herdsmen, not Fulani herdsmen) that have killed thousands of Nigerians are said, by no less a personality than our President, to be foreigners from faraway ‘Libya’ and perhaps other nations in between.
Now we have established the pattern. But why is the pattern troubling?
It is troubling because it is beginning to seem that when the interests of Nigerian citizens clash with the interests of certain classes of foreigners, the interest of the foreigner prevails over the interest of the Nigerian.
And there are more instances to prove my hypothesis.
I was recently in Nigeria to preach at a church in Abuja and I noticed that foreigners clear through immigration faster than Nigerian citizens at our airports. At foreign airports the reverse is the case. Citizens clear faster than foreigners.
I am betting that I am not the only one who has experienced this anomaly.
What is it with Nigerians? It is this same attitude that makes us worship anybody with a foreign accent. We do not like ourselves and we like foreigners and yet we expect foreigners to like us.
Foreigners are not fools, you know. They will find it difficult to like us if we do not like ourselves. After all we know ourselves better than they know is, and if we do not like ourselves then that sends a red flag to the foreigner.
And to the Nigerian police, let me say that the popular flutist Tee Mac Omatshola Iseli has a dog named Obasanjo (seriously, he does). Should he also prepare for arrest?
What more can I say? Nigeria never ceases to amaze!
Omokri is the founder of the Mind of Christ Christian Center in California, author of Shunpiking: No Shortcuts to God and Why Jesus Wept and the host of Transformation with Reno Omokri
The South-South Governors’ Forum has called for the reversal of the state of emergency in Rivers State that was declared by President Bola Tinubu.
The statement issued on Thursday was signed by the Chairman of the South-South Governors’ Forum, Governor Douye Diri of Bayelsa State in Yenagoa, the state capital.
It reads , “To reduce tensions and establish a foundation for enduring peace, we propose the Rescission of the State of Emergency.”
The forum also called for dialogue as a path forward and encouraged all parties to remain calm, uphold peace and the constitution of the country.
The forum noted the six-month state of emergency and suspension of two democratic institutions as recognised the president’s constitutional duty to maintain law and order in the country as well as their mandate to secure peace and stability in their states.
to restore the state to immediate constitutional democracy. These orders include the immediate passing of an Appropriation Bill by the Rivers State House of Assembly which up till now has not been facilitated.
Some militants had threatened fire and brimstone against their perceived enemy of the governor who has up till now NOT disowned them.
Apart from that both the House and the governor have not been able to work together. Both of them do not realise that they are in office to work together for the peace and good governance of the state.
The latest security reports made available to me show that between yesterday and today there have been disturbing incidents of vandalization of pipelines by some militant without the governor taking any action to curtail them. I have, of course given stern order to the security agencies to ensure safety of lives of the good people of Rivers State and the oil pipelines.
With all these and many more, no good and responsible President will standby and allow the grave situation to continue without taking remedial steps prescribed by the Constitution to address the situation in the state, which no doubt requires extraordinary measures to restore good governance, peace, order and security.
In the circumstance, having soberly reflected on and evaluated the political situation in Rivers State and the Governor and Deputy Governor of Rivers State having failed to make a request to me as President to issue this proclamation as required by section 305(5) of the 1999 Constitution as amended, it has become inevitably compelling for me to invoke the provision of section 305 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended, to declare a state of emergency in Rivers State with effect from today, 18th March, 2025 and I so do.
By this declaration, the Governor of Rivers State, Mr Siminalayi Fubara, his deputy, Mrs Ngozi Odu and all elected members of the House of Assembly of Rivers State are hereby suspended for an initial period of six months.
In the meantime, I hereby nominate Vice Admiral Ibokette Ibas (Rtd) as Administrator to take charge of the affairs of the state in the interest of the good people of Rivers State. For the avoidance of doubt, this declaration does not affect the judicial arm of Rivers State, which shall continue to function in accordance with their constitutional mandate.
The Administrator will not make any new laws. He will, however, be free to formulate regulations as may be found necessary to do his job, but such regulations will need to be considered and approved by the Federal Executive Council and promulgated by the President for the state.
This declaration has been published in the Federal Gazette, a copy of which has been forwarded to the National Assembly in accordance with the Constitution. It is my fervent hope that this inevitable intervention will help to restore peace and order in Rivers State by awakening all the contenders to the constitutional imperatives binding on all political players in Rivers State in particular and Nigeria as a whole.
Long live a united, peaceful, secure and democratic Rivers State in particular and the Federal Republic of Nigeria as a whole.
The Rivers State House of Assembly has initiated impeachment proceedings against Governor Siminalayi Fubara and his deputy, Ngozi Odu, citing alleged gross misconduct.
According to a notice obtained by Port Harcourt Especially on Monday, March 17, 2025, the lawmakers asserted that the move aligns with the Nigerian Constitution.
“In compliance with Section 188 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) and other extant laws, we, the undersigned members of the Rivers State House of Assembly, hereby forward to you a Notice of Gross Misconduct by the Deputy Governor of Rivers State in the performance of the functions of her office,” the notice stated.
The development comes amid rising political tensions following recent remarks by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike. Wike had previously declared that Governor Fubara could be impeached if found guilty of an impeachable offense, emphasizing that impeachment is a constitutional process rather than a criminal act.
During a visit to Abalama on Saturday, Wike further escalated the situation by boasting that Fubara had already suffered two major political defeats, hinting at more to come. His comments have fueled speculations of a deepening rift between the former governor and his successor.
The impeachment proceedings are expected to heighten political uncertainty in Rivers State in the coming days.
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