t this point in time, Nigerians do not need a psychic to reveal to them the motivation behind the move by their senators to frustrate the war against corruption. It is very glaring that the senators want to protect their colleagues who already stand accused of misusing Nigeria's money. They also want to pave the way for their colleagues who are eagerly waiting for their turns to grab their own share of the national cake.

In this writer's last commentary, titled, "Nigeria's senate killing the fight against corruption in Nigeria", one enjoined members of the lower house to part ways with the senators and vote to keep the Corrupt Practices and other related Offenses Act of 2000 the way it is. The only change suggested by this writer was the replacement of the chairman of the commission with a more de-politicized person. Apparently, my plea and those of other well-meaning Nigerians fell on deaf ears because just this past week, the lower house followed in the destructive path of the senators and voted to repeal the anti-graft Act of 2000. The new bill they are proposing in lieu of the current one, grants immunity to the current senate president, Anyim Pius Anyim and the Speaker of the House, Ghali Na'Abba and all others accused of violating the provisions of the present anti-corruption act [Vanguard, March 14, 2003] Recall that the senate president is under investigation but with the new proposal, he would go scot-free.

The most unsettling part of this latest development is that Nigerians are already throwing up their hands and saying that they do not have control over what the senators and members of the house do. This writer contends without equivocation, that the Nigerian electorate DOES have control over what their elected representatives do. The problem is that they have refused to exercise that control. With the 2003 elections drawing very nigh, the Nigerian electorate has another opportunity to exercise its power to coronate or depose. They should boot out those senators and house members who supported this odious move to take Nigeria backwards. In civil societies, you use the power of the ballot to continually remind politicians that they serve at the pleasure of the electorate. Professor Wole Soyinka has called on the electorate to vote these senators out. Some saw his call as an academic statement but this writer sees it as the only pragmatic way to send a powerful message to the politicians.

The electorate must resolve to reject the bribe money these "dirty" politicians are now brandishing before them as they seek to get their votes. The reason why the politicians are so brazen in their bad ways while paying little attention to the wishes of the people, is that they have completely figured out the average Nigerian voter. They know that they can abuse the average voter like the Nigerian president, General Olusegun Obasanjo frequently does without consequences; they know that they can starve the average voter of essential amenities like many Governors in the 36 states are doing and still get reelected; they know that they can even hire thugs to permanently silence political opponents as is now rampant all over Nigeria and still walk the streets free. The politicians know that they could do all these bad things but still get elected to public offices when they dole out money to the voters. It is time that the average Nigerian voter started voting his conscience. "Ghana must go" bags should be rejected.

Nigerians must now collectively make a bold statement to politicians, a statement that would echo and reverberate beyond the confines and territorial integrity of the country. That statement requires uncommon courage as well as denial of certain needs, but it is well worth it. Come April, they should say to those politicians, who hate to see corruption expunged from Nigeria's lexicon, that enough is enough by massively voting them out of office.

Speaking about voting, why is the north so jittery about the introduction of national ID card in the nation? What is so wrong with having ID cards for citizens of a country? Why is General Muhammadu Buhari resisting it? Is there something that they are trying to hide? After the 1962/63 census in Nigeria, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe protested on the grounds that the northern count was inflated. He took his case to the court and lost but since then, suspicions have never died down that the results of subsequent population counts in the north have been less than accurate.

Although this writer cannot confirm this, but some have alleged that there may have been cross border infiltration into Nigeria in the past, via the north, to participate in elections. Whether the cross-border infiltration story is true or not, the ID card scheme would provide an opportunity to probably lay all these troubling questions to rest because, it is assumed that before someone is given the ID card, he must have proved beyond reasonable doubt that he is a Nigerian. If the card is therefore used for identification purposes during the voting process, the suspicion about cross-border infiltration would become a thing of the past.

	General Obasanjo's reaction to the killings was, ''if this happens again, they will see my red eye and my red eye is not good''. One would have thought that starting from the murder of Chief Bola Ige, his red eyes would have been blazing like a laser beam....

During a recent discussion I had with some Nigerian contemporaries here, one of them lightheartedly opined that the reason why the north is resisting the ID card program is because, during previous census population counts, goats and cows were counted as humans in the north. He added that the northerners have figured that ID cards could not be issued to goats and cows and so they are resisting the program. Even though my friend was trying to be funny about the whole thing, but he used this lighthearted comment to underscore the senselessness in the northern resistance against the ID card program.

One note of caution here about the ID card program: Nigeria is known to dabble into projects without adequate preparation. The result could be seen in every nook and cranny of the nation. Road construction, water and rural electrification projects are commenced without adequate planning and so abandoned half way. I read with disgust, about the long lines of people waiting to get registered for the ID card program in Nigeria. This should not be happening because such frustrating experiences would make people loath the program. Such logjams must be cleared immediately if the program must succeed.

Nigeria's president, General Obasanjo, who tries to be all things to all people just to win election, has worsened matters by what he said about the ID card scheme before. In an attempt to placate the north last year, he announced that ID cards were not for the elections! That is an unwise statement. What is wrong with using it to ensure that those voting in the elections are legally qualified to do so both by age and citizenship? What is wrong with using it to ensure that people do not vote twice as have been alleged before? What is wrong with using it to validate that people voting are not deceased? What is wrong with using it to ensure that the voters are not something else in human clothing?

Talking about General Olusegun Obasanjo and his foot-in-mouth ailment, it seems that every time he dares to adlib during a gathering, he puts his foot in his mouth. He did it again during a recent campaign stump in Uyo. The natives demanded answers from him with respect to their poor share of the oil revenue. Hear him, " if you say the major resource you produce is oil, then you are lazy" [NEWS, march 11, 2003] Of course they could not take the affront and so walked out on him. One would think that after all the lambasting that the president got from two years ago, because of how he arrogantly talks down to Nigerians, he would have gotten the message that he is heading up a civilian government NOT a military regime. This simply goes to show that he has not really been made to understand the political consequences of such unruly acts and behavior. I noted when he was handed down the PDP nomination on a platter that he should at least have been made to sweat before getting the nomination so that he would be forced to change his ways. Now he feels invincible and still carries on in his old ways, knowing that the same people he called lazy would still go to the polls and hand him victory. He had no incentive to change his ways then and has no incentive whatsoever to change it now. The abuse continues.

Talking about abuse, I think that it is unfair, if not totally wrong, for people to be referring to the former leader of the republic of Biafra, Chief Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu as a "warlord". That term should be reserved for people like the Somali warlord or Slobodan Milosevic. If I may, let me call the attention of people who freely use the term to the definition of warlord: the term is defined as "a military commander, exercising civil power by FORCE, usually in a limited area". The declaration of Biafra was thrust upon the young Ojukwu, by the eastern house of assembly, to prevent further and unprovoked killings of the Igbos. Biafra was not a unilateral decision by Chief Ojukwu. Also, Biafrans did not start the war, they merely reacted in self-defense, so nothing here suggests that Ojukwu was acting out of a selfish desire for power, in fact, he was already the governor of the eastern region. As I write, no one has told me what would have happened to the rest of the Igbos, in 1966, had they not gone back to the east to seek sanctuary under the then Colonel Ojukwu. The assault on the Igbos may have continued until no Igbo man was left standing. As the Igbos say, only a tree would stand in one place after hearing of an impending plan to cut it down. Ojukwu did not just hear of an impending plan to "cut down" the Igbos, but he witnessed a plan already being executed, as Igbos were being cut down in pieces in the north and just as any sensible leader would do, he sought to protect his people by asking them to return to their own land. When Gowon commenced his so-called "police action", the easterners took up arms in self-defense. I will therefore advise those that inadvertently refer to the symbol of the Igbos as a "warlord" to stop because they are simply trampling on the sensitivities of a whole tribe. It is high time they understood that for Nigeria to completely heal the wounds of 33 years ago, insensitive remarks about that conflict must be put aside, otherwise, they would simply be giving people reason to wonder if Nigeria is really an entity.

Lets talk about the maverick politician, the one who likes to have life both ways, the one who takes a stand depending on what he stands to gain politically, the one called General Ike Nwachukwu. His attempt to brand Biafra's resistance as an unplanned adventure and blame Chief Ojukwu is yet another attempt to play to the gallery for northern votes. He was quoted as tracing the genesis of Igbo marginalization to the APGA presidential candidate, Chief Emeka Ojukwu's "prosecution of an unplanned war…."His statement is as repulsive as it is vile and insensitive. I therefore join the overwhelming number of peace-loving and well-meaning Nigerians, who are asking that the man apologize.

To General Omar Sanda Nwachukwu, I pose this all-important question: how do you plan a war that is thrust upon you? Should Ojukwu have asked General Gowon when he declared the commencement of his "police action" to wait until he [Ojukwu] was ready? What was this man trying to say? It is good for the wind to blow so that we could see the dirty "behind" of a chicken. The political wind is blowing now and we are seeing the true color of General Nwachukwu. I am sure that he knows that Nigerians are too smart to be deceived by this outrageous gerrymandering.

And talking about political wind, why is Nigeria witnessing this current spate of political violence and senseless killings? Why is Nigeria's brand of politics "DEMONCRAZY" instead of DEMOCRACY? The troubling thing, as my fellow NigeriaWorld commentator, Remi Oyeyemi eloquently pointed out, is that Obasanjo is yet to show his red eye and put all machinery in motion to stem this ugly tide. The papers are daily dominated by reports of political violence or killings. Here are some: Armed men attacked Chief Gani Fawehimi's campaign team in Ado Ekiti [Vanguard, March 14, 2003] In the course of the attack, the driver of the leading vehicle in Chief Gani's convoy, was slashed with a machete. I hope that Nigerians realize that Chief Fawehinmi is the conscience of that nation and no harm must come upon him. Also, a convoy of ANPP was attacked by hoodlums who came in vehicles with PDP posters pasted all over them [Daily Trust, March 13, 2003]. Seven feared dead as AD and PDP supporters clashed in the Oshodi area of Lagos [Vanguard, March 14, 2003] Of course the news of assassinations have not abated.

General Obasanjo's reaction to the killings was, "if this happens again, they will see my red eye and my red eye is not good". One would have thought that starting from the murder of Chief Bola Ige, his red eyes would have been blazing like a laser beam and felling the perpetrators one after the other. It comes down again to his foot-in-mouth ailment because it is clear that he is as shocked as other Nigerians by these senseless political killings.

It seems that the political power play in the southeastern states have become uncertain. Before now, it was almost a forgone conclusion that all the PDP southeast governors would be returned to power. Well, methinks that the APGA candidates are beginning to put up some challenge. This writer feels that even if the only thing that APGA party succeeds in doing is to unseat the dishonest PDP governors, who betrayed and disgraced Chief Alex Ekwueme, the effort would have worth its salt. Until next time…..

HERE I STAND!