Al-makura! 'Nasarawa 4' must not die in vain

For over three weeks, the Nasarawa State University community had suffered non-availability of Basic amenities (water and electricity supply) without the authorities of the University either explaining the reasons for the lack of these essential amenities to the students and the entire community or making efforts to fix the problem or make alternative arrangement for the supply of the amenities before the students embarked on a peaceful protest to drive home a demand .A demand for what is right, a demand of good live yet a demand that take away four promising lives, it remind us of the 1986 ABU massacre. Deploying armed military officers and police personnel to employ the use of excessive force to quell civil protest by students who were not armed was very wrong and unreasonable -though the University management denied inviting them to quell the protest ,no official explanation or excuse can erase the guilt of the army as their act was  brutal murder of innocent protesters demanding decent welfare conditions. While I place the responsibility to ensure safety of its students either protesting or not on the University management, Governor Tanko Al Makura still remains the Chief Security Officer of the state, he should explain to Nigerians, who invited soldiers to quell a legitimate protest, who killed the students as the police and Nigerian Army are finding it difficult to take responsibility. He should pay adequate compensations to the families of victims and recommend ways to forestall future occurrence. It should be stressed that students protesting lack of basic amenities do not deserve to be killed. Those students should not be allowed to die in vain. Those responsible must be brought to justice. http://www.weekend.peoplesdailyng.com/index.php/opinion/issues/669-al-makura-nasarawa-4-must-not-die-in-vain

Maku: A scam is a scam

Ayodele Samuel Labaran Maku is a foremost comrade, vibrant student union leader, articulate politician, former activist per excellence turned reactionary, Nigeria's Minister for Information and leader of the now most criticised 'Good Governance Tour' who, it would seem cannot differentiate between a scam and a scam. The tour of projects across the country, either failed, uncompleted or poorly executed by contractors is a blatant waste of public funds and will be best described as another of one of the hundreds of scams of the present government which Maku represents. Even the blind know that good projects don't need to be toured before people know they are in the interest of the public, but let's pretend that the policy is masses oriented and face the scam buried in it - based on the alarm sounded by the Edo state government last week. - Already, the Federal Government had set aside funds for the tour; yet a multi-million naira proposal as revealed by Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole was to be bank rolled by the state government to support the course. The question is - What happened to the funds provided for the Good Governance Tour in the first instance? Maku must tell Nigerians and the world with all honesty at the end of the tour, how much it cost the nation and state governments in undertaking the tour of all federal government project sites across the nation and the benefits to the country's economy. What has this tour cost the respective state governments and where is this development model copied from? Nigerians are not too blind to see good projects where they are. We have heard of performing state governors without multi-million naira tours. Why should Maku force us to remember that the PDP-led Federal Government has performed below any sane government in the world or want us to pay from the Federal Government purse for lies and propagandas we have been fed with since the 14-year reign of PDP? Did Maku's team visit South-east roads, the Otukpo-Gboko road in Benue state, or the Ikom-Calabar Road in Cross River state? What of the abandoned Benin-Ore Road? Nigerians lack basic amenities; all indices across trhe country point at the absence of essential services and the abnegation of governance. Yet, Maku and his train went on a good governance jamboree - gamboling across this massively deprived country while making deceitful speeches on television. Methinks the minister has been using the opportunity to build a political career; campaigning ahead of 2015 in an obliviously wrong way. Can Maku since the beginning of his tour show Nigerians one major highway his principal has completed in the last four years in office? Or any project of significance to the populace this government has embarked on since 2009. What is the importance of this jamboree on 50 million unemployed Nigerians youths? How has the tour shown good governance to the people? The falsehood in Maku's tour shows in his praise singing of all the governors, which runs according to the dictates of the payer calling the tune for the piper. My verdict: This tour is an orchestrated scam - the most ingenious in recent times and given a national scope and political approval of Maku and his masters. Nigerians are watching! http://www.weekend.peoplesdailyng.com/index.php/opinion/issues/670-maku-a-scam-is-a-scam