Over the years,  the remarks of Konrad Adenuar, (January 6, 1876 – April 1967),  a former Chancellor of Western Germany, that   ”in view of the fact that God limited the intelligence of man, it seems unfair that He (God) did not also limit his stupidity”,  has continued to agitate the minds of critics including public affairs analysts. This comment, which put succinctly, highlights God’s unfairness for  supposedly setting definite limit on man’s wisdom (intelligence) but  failed  to set the same limit on man’s stupidity, has  attracted wide spread condemnations from different sects; christians and non christians alike. Similarly, some critics, largely writers, hold the sentiment that society should not concentrate on juvenile delinquency alone but should also be concerned about what some identified as “adult delinquencies” since societal ills,grievious misdemeanors are traceable to adults, some of whom are leaders of thoughts occuping high offices.
Nigeria is replete with gutter Languages in public spaces deserving of concern and attention. One classic example is the recent outburst of Senator Adams Oshomhole, a former Governor of Edo State. It would be recalled that Senator Adams Oshomhole referred to the wife of the Governor of Edo State, Mrs Betsy  Obaseki, as a barren woman.Truly, it could be said that Mrs Betsy Obaseki  stoc the crisis when she referred to the governorship aspirant of All Progressive Congress (APC) Monday Okpebholo, as  a man without a wife. Political campaigns should be undertaken or conducted to discuss  issues and not insults to  enable the electorate choose a credible leader who can provide solutions to societal challenges. No doubt, it is regrettable that a former labour leader, governor and now a serving Senator, Adams Aliya Oshomhole, considered as  highly experienced to exhibit civility, maturity and superior acumen in a challenging situation such as this, particularly when viewed against the backdrop that the comrade- senator was not  speaking at a political rally ground.
Recently, the West, particularly Europe, is returning artefacts stolen from ancient Benin Kingdom more than a century and thirty years ago which politicians can discuss with respect to diversifying the economy as well as provide solutions to numerous difficulties facing Edo State and Nigeria at large.Worse still, can any parent boast of having or rearing children by his or her self as  to scorn an expectant family?. In the same way, the German statesman Konrad Adenuar cited above once  noted: “History is the sum total of things that could have been avoided”. For instance, the former governor of Kaduna State, Nasiru El-Rufai, once told foreign powers planning to interfere into the 2019 general election to  jettison the plan otherwise they would  leave in body bags.’Body Bag!’.
The expression “leave in body bags”,  is not befitting of a serving governor in all ramifications. As if that was not enough, the current Senate President and former Governor of Akwa Ibom State Senator Godswill Akpabio, referred to the contribution of a fellow law maker Natasha Akpoti Uduaghau as a “Night Club Comment”.This was another sad commentary and bad public communication made by a public office holder of equal ranking with a fellow colleague, because all senators are equal and therefore, the remarks by Senator Akpabio was regrettable even though he had apologized for his unfortunate outburst. Denigration of any sort should not be an option in pilloring the women folk in public places.
In fact, elder statesman, Pa. Edwin Clark, recently  called on the Inspector of Police and President Tinubu to arrest the minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Chief Nyesom Wike, for saying he (Wike ) will put fire in the states of PDP governors and officials who want to interfer with his political structures in Rivers State.To put fire is ambiquous and has frightening implications. The Bible is apt and ever correct when in proverbs 15:1 noted that “Soft answer turns away wrath but grievous words stir up anger”. The remarks cited above traceable to public officials and leaders  in public spaces  show pride, selfishness, arrogance and are capable of igniting crisis, if not nibbed  in the bud. In addition to the provision of infrastructure, elected leaders must learn the acts of engaging in public communication, speaking life and not hate speach to build society for the better.Jesus Christ speaks in John 6:63 thus: “The words I speak they are Life and Spirit”.
It is instructive to observe that before David killed Goliath in it is recorded in 1st Samuel Chapter 17:24 – 45, that Goliath was very insultive, boastful, denigrating the army of Israel at the battle field before a non-soldier in the person of David over powered him- Goliath. Pride, they say, goes before the fall of man. This is why leaders in positions of trust should retrace their steps and be mindful of the words they speak and transmit in communicating with the electorate,fellow polititicians or their party members to engender peace in the polity and promote peaceful co-existence in Rivers State and Nigeria at large. The time to act is now.

Baridorn Sika
Sika, is a public affairs analyst.

The attrocities of criminal bandits across northern Nigeria have lasted for too long to be pampered any longer”.
Some northern elders have cautioned the federal government against moves that suggest that President Ahmed Tinubu is considering reconciliation with notorious bandits, especially, Bello Turji and his gangs, who are reportedly alleged to have inflicted so much atrocities on many communities in the North-West and North-Central regions of Nigeria. Earlier, a video of the notorious bandit kingpin, Bello Turji, had appeared on social media, calling for reconcilliation, when the previous day, same Turji was seen accusing some communities of killing particular tribe and their livestocks, and threatening retaliations for the killings, and that this season, “You will not harvest your farms. If you dare to, you will die. No farming this time around.”
Speaking in a statement under the aegis of the Arewa Elders Progressive Group, the North-west chairman of the group, Alhaji Mustafa Dutsinma, warned that falling for the antics of those who pretend to be ready for reconciliation when it suits them to do so, would “undermine government’s efforts at combating banditry.” Such moves only end up in boosting the morale of lawless elements who see themselves as parallel authorities. The Zamfara State Government in 2019, under the leadership of former Governor Bello Matawalle, the current Minister of State for Defence, negotiated and signed a peace agreement with bandits, but the pact failed as bandits reverted to their games. Similar attempts have also failed in other regions.
The instability in the north has metamorphosed into organised, heinous criminality, from years of tribal conflicts over land resources between pastoral Fulanis on one hand, and several other tribes across the vast swathes of the North-West, North-East and North-Central, and have trailed the paths of herders as they led their merchandise of herds further south of Nigeria. The complexity and terror in the conflicts intensify and change almost continuously, in campaigns that have drawn-in cross-border militia, and masked the boundries between religious ideologies, politics of domination and sheer tribalism, with recriminations from both sides leading to arms running, banditry, livestock rustling, arsons, abductions, kidnappings and ransome racketeering, and the near collapse of Nigeria’s agricultural sector.
While tackling these conflicts has become intractable and a huge burden on the federal, state and local governments, one of the currently most notorious and dreaded figures behind the mayhems in the North-West and North-Central terrains, is Bello Turji reportedly known to have deftly engaged communities and the military in shrewd gamesmanship. In a span of one year alone in Zamfara, the epicenter of recent onslaughts in the north, between July, 2023 and June, 2024, about 1,639 victims have been abducted in 132 cases. Many traditional heads across the North have also fallen victims of terror, alongside so many unaccountable others. To count just a few, this year in March, Garba Badamosi, the village head of Rirvwai in Lame district of Toro LGA in Bauchi was killed.
In June, the chief of Gidan Usman village, Auwal Wali, was also killed at his residence in Karim Lamido LGA of Taraba, while in July, the traditional ruler of Chanchanji in Takum LGA of Taraba State, KumbiyaTanimu, and his son were killed while returning from a funeral. The most heart-breaking of all yet, was that of the Emir of Gobir in Gawata town of Sokoto State, Isah Bawa, who was tied-up and paraded in a viral video in August while pleading with government to pay the ransom for his release, but was later killed after three weeks in captivity, without releasing his corpse for burial. It was on this backdrop of heavy heart that soldiers from the Nigerian Army 1 Brigade in Gusau, stationed at Zurmi LGA of Zamfara State, acting on intelligence that a large number and different camps of bandits, comprising those of Bello Turji, Sani Black, Na Dutsen Kura, Dan Dogo, Nasanda, and Dankarami, were attending a meeting in a forest in the Kwashabawa area of the LGA, decided to lunch an offensive on Thursday, August 29, 2024.
Unfortunately, either by bad weather due heavy rains, a compromise, poor inter-military agencies co-ordination, or sheer bad fortune, the operation failed, with the army being forced to abandon two pricely Mines Resistant Armoured Personnel (MRAP) vehicles, stuck in a water-logged terrain. Those MRAPs, worth between $0.5m and $1.0m each, were the equipment captured, celebrated and burnt on Saturday August 31, 2024, by Bello Turji and his comrades in arms. That same day, bandits rounded-up travellers in mass abductions in the state. An eye witness posted on social media that, “A few hours ago, bandits blocked the Damri to Bakura road in Zamfara State, abducting all passengers from two fully loaded vehicles. It’s alarming that terrorists can put a blockade on a road in broad daylight without any fear.
The northwest region of Nigeria has become a web of terror,” all which may have prompted the Presidency, penultimate Sunday, being September 1, 2024, to issue matching orders to Nigeria’s Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle, to immediately relocate to Sokoto State with the military chiefs, to flush out rampaging bandits ravaging the country’s North. With the renewed military momentum now against bandits across the north, the suden reconciliatory tone of the likes of Turji is provocative and should not be entertained. The attrocities of criminal bandits across northern Nigeria have lasted for too long to be pampered any longer, with so many sheded innocent blood crying out for justice, mineral resources plundered and communities enslaved or displaced, while our national agriculture is laid desolate, to wit hunger and desperation have become the other of the day.
It therefore serves Nigeria’s national interests better that criminals are taken head-on, subdued, rounded-up and brought to justice, to restore confidence in our nationhood. Besides, the capture and burning of prime military equipment for whatever excuse, is a national humiliation of which the military needs to assuage.The failure of inter-military agency co-ordination that led to the military humiliation at Zurmi LGA, rather than a successful offensive that would have reduced insecurity on the Zamfara axis, should be investigated with a view at achieving better synergy between the Army and the Air Force especially, coupled with other agencies.The federal government may also consider applying the wisdom of ancient cities in the cordoning-off of cities with walls against foreign intrusions. Gaint walls along Nigeria’s borders, with eyelets of tightly controlled passages, would help ward-off cross-border militias who are alleged to invade Nigerian communities in fraternal responses to tribal conflicts.
In the mean time, the matching orders of Mr President to the military establishments to the effect that criminal elements operating across the north, and in deed everywhere else in the country, be wiped out, should be sacrosact and conclusively a done deal, without any rooms for negotiations. Any slack in the fight against criminality would only grant dangerous time to the bandits to recuperate, reorganise and reinvent their evil antics.

Joseph Nwankwor

The traditional institution is as old as human society. It predates the advent of modern and organized society. Before the emergence of political system of administration, the traditional institution has existed long ago. In fact, it was so revered and regarded as sacred because of the mythological conviction that it was the “stool of the ancestors”. In most African societies before invasion of the Christian Faith, and consequent christening of the traditional stools in many communities in recent time, ascent to the traditional institution was a function of a traditional method of selection. It was believed that the gods make the selection. To this end, whoever emerges from the divination processes eventually is crowned as the king of the people after performing the associated rituals.Whoever lacked the legitimacy to sit on the throne but wanted to take it forcefully, traditionalists believed died mysteriously or untimely.
Traditional rulers wielded much influence and power because of the authority inherent in the stool, the age of the person sitting on the stool notwithstanding. The word of the king was a law, embodied power. Kings so selected were forthright, accountable, transparent, men of integrity, who did not speak from both sides of the mouth, and could not be induced with pecuniary benefits to pervert justice, they feared the god of their ancestors and were consecrated holistically for the purpose dictated by the pre and post coronation rituals. Some of those crowned kings were very young in those days, but they ruled the people well with the fear of the gods. There was no contention over who was qualified to sit or who was not qualified, it was outrightly the prerogative of the gods. It so believed and upheld with sacroscance. Kings were natural rulers, so they remained untouchable and could not be removed by political governments.
If a king committed an offense he was arrested and prosecuted according to the provision of the law. But they have immunity from sack or being dethroned because they are not political appointees. However, the people on whose behest he became king reserved the power to remove him if found guilty of violating oath of stool.The traditional institution is actually the system of governance nearest to the people and kings were the chief security officers of their communities. So indispensable are the roles of kings and traditional rulers to the peaceful co-existence of their people, ensuring that government policies and programmes were seamlessly spread to the people that many people are clamouring for the inclusion of definitive roles in the constitution for the traditional institution.Traditional rulers are fathers to every member of their domain.
So they are not expected to discriminate, show favouritism. By their fatherly position, traditional rulers though can’t be apolitical, are also expected to be immune from partisan politics. This is because as one who presides over a great house where people of different political divide or interest belong, an open interest for a political party means ostracisation of other members of the family which could lead to disrespect, conflict of interest, wrangling and anarchy. Traditional rulers are supposed to be selfless, preferring the interest of their people above their personal interests following the consciousness that they are stewards whose emergence remains the prerogative of the people. The position is essentially for service and not for personal aggrandizement and ego massaging. So they should hold the resources of the people in trust.
However, in recent past the traditional institution has suffered denigration because of unnecessary emotional attachment to political parties and political leaders. Some traditional rulers and kings have shown complete disregard to the principle of neutrality because of filthy lucre and pecuniary gains, at the expense of the stool and people they lead. Sadly some traditional rulers have been influenced to pervert justice: giving justice to the offender who is rich against the poor. Traditional leaders should be reminded that the “throne is preserved by righteousness”, not by political chauvinism, favouritism, or materialism. Traditional rulers should earn their deserved respect from political leaders by refusing the pressure to be subservient, beggarly, sycophantic and docile.
They should be partners with every administration in power and should not be tied to the apron string of past leaders whose activities are aversive to the incumbent administration and thereby constituting a clog in the development of the State and the community they are to woo infrastructure development to. It is unpardonable error for a traditional ruler to have his conscience mortgaged for benefits he gets inordinately from any government.It is necessary to encourage kings and traditional rulers to not play the roles of stooges and clowns for the privileged few, political leaders. Political leaders are products of the people, even as every government derives its legitimacy from the people. Today, Sir Siminalayi Fubara is in the saddle of the administration in Rivers State. Kings, traditional rulers, chiefs and entire people of Rivers State should give unalloyed and unflinching support and loyalty to the Executive Governor.
The resources with which successive administrations served belong to the people so no past leader should be deified. It is unacceptable to attempt to make a god out of anyone. Leadership is transient so is life.

Igbiki Benibo