faulker002

By  Simon Abah Until we groom good people for elective office, people who are selfless, driven by a sense of mission, folks who understand the importance of urgency for change, belief in community, do not wear their opinion on their sleeve, avoid flagging religious views in favour of egalitarianism and to stop putting their snout in the trough of the gravy train and free-booting. *Gov El-Rufai  Even if a Martian comes from Mars on a white horse with Marian ideas to transform Nigeria , we would never go above being the self-proclaimed Giant of Africa. (Simon Abah, The Guardian , 30 May 2017, Between presidential and parliamentary system of government) .  When he became governor, I wondered if he had the right humanistic temperament to lead a fickle state like Kaduna , unpredictable because of the numerous numbers of religious crises that it had had in the past. I had to ask because from reports it was alleged that he wore his outlooks on his sleeves. Kaduna I reasoned did...

By Moses Ochonu The problem with El-Rufai is not that he is a bad Governor. The problem, rather, is that he tries so hard to be seen as a good governor, so hard that he ends up undermining his own good works, causing unnecessary controversy, and exposing his bigotry and lack of executive governing temperament. He is a much better technocrat than he is a wielder of executive authority. *President Buhari and Gov El-Rufai  He threatened to demolish an entire community, Gonin Gora, in the middle of an ethno-religious crisis. It is a terrible idea to threaten or to actually demolish an entire community whatever crimes some members of that community may have committed. For one, it amounts to collective punishment, a primitive punitive action incompatible with modern, enlightened notions of justice, correction, and recompense. Second, it is a rather lazy, knee-jerk, thoughtless, and ultimately counterproductive response. If members of a particular community threaten the peace of a larger ...