By Reuben Abati
PRESIDENT Umaru Yar'Adua's government deserves commendation for responding eventually (three days after the fact) to the public outcry over the suspension of Channels TV's broadcast licence and the detention of NAN and Channels TV journalists over the publication of a story alleging that the President may resign. The licence has been restored; the detained journalists have been released. We are relieved. It would have been worse than tragic if government had ignored the public. All the parties involved would hopefully learn appropriate lessons from this experience. I have already dealt at some length with this elsewhere, but it may be necessary to further contextualise the sensitive nature of the subject of resignation as broached, the politics that has since developed around it in the context of the President's ill-health.
Continue reading "The Presidency And A So-Called Arewa Agenda" »
26 August 2008: For Immediate Release
Preamble
As part of the commemoration of the 2008 Isaac Boro Day activities in the United Kingdom organised by the Ijaw People’s Association of Great Britain and Ireland opinion leaders and people of the Niger Delta deliberated on the state of the Niger Delta and its implication for the security, development and economy of Nigeria and Africa. Representations were from Nigeria , the United States of America and Europe , and included youths, elders, traditional rulers, students and professionals.
State of the Niger Delta
Conference observes that the Niger Delta is a part and parcel, and in fact a microcosm of the Nigerian state. Whatever happens to the Niger Delta affects the rest of Nigeria economically and politically. Hence Conference is alarmed at the happenings in the Niger Delta region, its lingering crises and their impact on the rest of Nigeria and Nigerians. Conference notes that the following has exacerbated the Niger Delta crises:
Continue reading "The Communiqué of the 2008 Isaac Boro Day Commemoration in London on the 15 &16 August 2008 organised by the Ijaw People’s Association of Great Britain and Ireland" »