AFTER THE BAIL...

When the Yar’Adua administration started in May 2007, the Nigerian and International public were inundated with report of many staggering revelations of how highly placed public officers looted the tax payers money for their own personal use. This achievement indeed created a good image for this administration as most people were quick to conclude that this is a no-nonsense regime and one that wants to uphold the rule of law.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in performing its duties initiated the arrest of these people, charge them to court and also revealed all their atrocities to the public, this in turn earned the commission commendable applause from the public to the extent that critics praise the commission for its performance.

Despite this achievement one issue that has to some extent dented it is the unending state of virtually all the court cases brought against these corrupt leaders by the EFCC to the court. After they are charge to court, their lawyers will apply for a bail which in most cases is granted by the judge with a large sum of money and highly placed individuals standing as sureties. After this, the accused is released on bail and then little or nothing is heard about such cases again.
What usually follows these bails are jubilation by the supporters of the accused. To their friends and colleagues, to be released on bail mean freedom for him or her. The accused keep parading the streets and appearing at public functions as if they have been vindicated and acquitted of all charges level against them, some have even try to contest for elections. The court on its part is not doing much in this regard as they handle these cases at a snail speed which will eventually be forgotten by the public and won’t attract their interest anymore.

During this period when the judiciary is been praised for upholding our young democracy through some of the election cases it has upturn it obvious foot dragging to court cases against corrupt public officers, is absolutely uncalled for and could start breeding public distrust against the judiciary.

One other reason attributed to this phenomenon is the huge amount of money that the accused usually paid to get the bail and the calibre of people require who are always individual of high net worth. Take for example the N100 million require from one of the former governor arrested by EFCC for his bail and the calibre of personalities required before he was released.
This actions look more or less like a business transaction-get arrested, pay some amount of money (which they can always afford) for bail and you are free! This seems to be the scenario that is always played out when the news about their arrest appear on the front page of our newspapers.

The effect of this action is making this cases uninteresting day by day to the public, they seems to be fed up with the way the cases are been handled and are already accusing this government of paying lip service to the upholding of rule of law. In fact to the people all government officials in high places are probable whether the EFCC arrest them or not that is now their belief.
Nigerians would like to know what goes on after the bail; the court should be fast with these cases and judgement delivered on time bail or no bail. We should not forget that judgment delayed is judgment denied.

LONGING FOR DEATH

The status of Lagos State as a mega-City since the advent of democracy has assumed a different dimension as the beautification project which the Babatunde Raji Fashola administration has subjected the state to is yielding result. One of the plans is the creation of pedestrian bridges at some major bus-stops. These state-of-the-art bridges meant to shelter lives however are still a subject of some controversies. Tosin Makinde and Adenike Ashogbon examine some aspects of this situation for the Nations Newspaper

It was broad daylight and a woman in her 40s was crossing the Ikorodu Road at Onipanu Bus-stop. Probably in a hurry, she decided to dash across the road. But she never made it across. She was hit by a Toyota Corolla which first swept her off as high as 15 feet off the ground! By the time she landed on the tar, she was dead. The only need for an ambulance was to transport her to the morgue. This incident happened about two weeks ago, but similar reports have plagued the state ever since its roads began widening.

The story would however have been different if only she had used the overhead pedestrian bridge which was close by, from where other pedestrians who used it saw the action- movie like scene that ended her life. It was even a new bridge constructed by the Lagos State Government whose beauty should even have attracted her. But nay!

The woman died ending her life in similar conditions as one grand mother died in 2002 while she was about to cross the Ijesha Express road, where a port car hit her.

Preventing such scenes was probably what Sanai Agunbiade, a legislator from Ikorodu 1, envisioned when he moved the motion for the construction of new state-of-the-art bridges across the Lagos metropolis. The motion was accordingly accepted by the Lagos State House of Assembly on Sunday, August 17, 2008 when a motion was passed, calling for massive enlightenment campaigns on the use of pedestrian bridges. This led to the call by the Assembly for the redesigning of the bridges to attract pedestrians, and the need for some relevant agencies to sensitise the public on the gains of using them.

The Lagos State government, through the Ministry of Works and Infrastructure, therefore decided to overhaul the entire system and replace the dilapidated bridges with modern ones. 16 units of Steel Pedestrian Bridges and 21 units of Concrete Pedestrian Bridges are located at various spots in the Lagos metropolis along the Federal Highways. Steel bridges are those that demand regular maintenance to forestall corrosion but they were given less attention to the extent that some of them became death traps.

The millennium pedestrian bridges, as the bridges are called, are made up of concrete with a protective cover that can also serve as shed from the sun or rain. It has a security post manned by security personnel to ensure that it is not vandalized by hoodlums.

At night, the bridge is lit up with light powered by a stand-by generator and each of them is in the region of between N20 and N25 million. Indeed, a first timer in the city of Lagos will not fail to behold the beauty of these bridges and commend the beautification effort of Governor Babatunde Fashola’s administration, making Lagos assume the real status of a modern city.

The aesthetic design of these bridges alone is enough to lure one to use them rather than cross the road. However, despite the fact that we have well crafted and sophisticatedly built bridges in Lagos state, a few pedestrians still prefer dashing across the busy expressways.

Three more Concrete Pedestrian Bridges will be constructed this year along the major roads at the following locations: Onilekere Bus-stop along Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway, Alaba Expressway Bus-stop along Oshodi-Apapa Expressway, and Ketu Bus-stop at Ketu.

Already, there are plans to replace the steel bridges at Ojota, Fadeyi, Jibowu, CMS, Mafoluku, Oworonsoki, Ketu and Barracks bus stops. Aside these, the state government has plans to site pedestrian bridges at Ojodu, 7UP, Estate in Alapere, NITEL, Coconut, Oshodi, Leventis, Alaba II, Tin Can Island, Osborne, Abule Egba, Ipaja, Dopemu and C and S, Ayo Ni O bus stops.

It is quite revealing that the construction of these millennium pedestrian bridges is a good idea and a welcome development that will go a long way in reducing deaths of people that result from trying to cross the highways.

Nevertheless, the ongoing construction of additional pedestrian bridges in different parts of the state is in response to requests by concerned residents who felt that some places needed pedestrian bridges while dilapidated ones should be rehabilitated. The pronounced one out of the lots the one at the Barracks Bus-stop, Surulere, which the State Government has completed its rehabilitation in the interest of the public knowing despite the fact that it belongs to the Federal Government. Similar treatment is expected to be effected on the other ones along Ikorodu road.

It would be recalled that some of the bridges, out of disuse, misuse, or over-use, had been in bad conditions. Some of the lawmakers suggested the use of jingles and other persuasive means to enlighten the public on the purpose of the bridges.

Aside the millennium bridges, government is also planning to construct normal pedestrian bridges at strategic parts of the state and about 29 to 30 of these are expected to be constructed in the nearest future, while the steel type will be replaced with concrete bridges that cannot be corroded by rainfall. What we have now in Lagos is a systematic replacement pattern. For instance, the bridges on Ikorodu Road were constructed with steel and over time, they were unable to meet up with the high volume of human traffic, hence the need for the new one

Despite this impressive development, it becomes worrisome to note that some Lagosians keep crossing the express road. Why do people choose to expose themselves to the danger of crossing the major roads in Lagos when there are bridges built just for that?

Before new bridges started springing up across Lagos state, people were clamoring for the need to have new bridges due to the old and risky nature of the existing ones. The government in response to their plea decided to construct new set of state-of-the-art bridges across the state with the hope that pedestrians would stop finding an excuse to cross the dangerous express road.

Obviously knowing the full danger of dashing across the road, a pedestrian when asked why he crossed the road instead of using the new bridge said, “of course, crossing the road is faster than climbing the bridge. I do use the bridge but not every time.” Another pedestrian complained, “I can’t use the bridge because of my leg. I usually to have pains in my leg whenever I use the bridge”. In this guise, it would be noted that the new designs are not friendly for disabled persons who are wheel-chair bound.

But for another young man that was about crossing the Sanya Express road at about 7:00pm, he said, “I can never imagine myself walking past that danger-zoned place at this point in time as the place is often paraded by highway armed robbers who are looking for people of my nature to raid.”

In addition, the young man however advised our correspondent never to think about crossing the express way at night as, according to him, a lot that lots of illicit acts like robbery cases, rape amongst other take place at that spot at night.

However, the people seem to have another reason for not making use of the bridges as some keep crossing the roads thereby giving a wrong notion to the government that those new bridges are not needed. But what are the panaceas to discouraging people from crossing the roads where new bridges are in existence? One thing, the use of law enforcement agencies stationed at these bridges seems not to have deterred the people from crossing the road.

A guard stationed at the Palmgrove bridge said, “there is nobody monitoring or arresting offenders who cross the road, which is very dangerous. A lot of accidents do occur here due to the situation.” We have the KAI brigade officers who are meant to enforce the compulsory use of this pedestrian bridges, but they are most time either nowhere to be found around these strategic places or they just collect bribe and let the offender walk away.

At the Charity pedestrian bridge in Oshodi, Lagos government officials park their bus under the bridge disguised from the public view so as to arrest violators who do not use the bridge. However, by 4:00pm in the evening they are usually no where to be found. At the Onipanu bridge, no body is there to ensure compliance with the “don’t cross the road” order. This makes it easy for people crossing the road freely.

At Gbagada, the case is not different what we have are security men manning the bridge to keep burglers from stealing anything from the bridge absence of government law enforcement agencies at these bridges is widespread across the state.

According to Victor Pandonu, a resident of Oshodi, in an interview with correspondents, “the bridges are classical. It shows that government has the welfare of the masses at heart, but there is need for more orientation of the populace to use the bridges accordingly as some people still believe they can cross the roads without using the bridges. There is need for enlightenment; government has also done well by discouraging hawking on the bridges. It is a plus for the Babatunde Fashola-led administration in the state.”

A long term solution canvassed by those who spoke with our correspondents said that
at is that barricades should be erected at these places where the bridges are that will be long and high enough to prevent anybody from scaling them, just like the one at Oshodi bridge which has conditioned the people to start using the bridge to the extent of forming a queue.

If such a step is taken, it is believed that the use of the bridges will definitely increase. But if we continue to use government enforcement agents, they will soon tire out and the strong headed citizen will start crossing the roads again. As it is now, it is a case of government telling people to “please live” whereas some individuals keep saying “I want to die”. Or how else can the situation be described?

MISSIONARY WORK: THE PAIN OF A CALLING

When he left his comfortable home in Lagos on no better day than January 1st 1992 to heed to the call of God to embark on a mission trip to an unknown region which just like Abraham, God will lead him to, Evangelist Jeremiah Williams was only obeying God but the pain and agony that follows that obedience almost certainly led him to have a rethink as to whether it was truly God that sent him.

On his own part, Pastor Sunday Bakare whose mission field is in the interior part of Ogun state in a village called Ogunrobi, his tale is a gory one. For a man that has been involved in missionary activities for almost ten years, he is meant to be happy but his plight won’t allow that.

To him just like Evangelist Williams his sojourn to this land was a call from God which was even made difficult due to the fact that he was born into a Muslim family coupled with the attendant sufferings and pain of loneliness he has experience since he started his missionary activities.

Mission work has always been described as one important duty of Christians in terms of winning souls for Christ but the Bible made it clear that it is not all Christians that have the gift or put more succinctly the charisma to win souls for Christ, hence, the job of a missionary is purportedly meant for few Christians who must have received a call from God before embarking on such journeys.

Knowing fully well the pains and struggle for survival that missionaries pass through those who are meant to help these people have not really live up to that billing for reason one cannot fathom, literarily living these missionaries to their plight or as some would say “On your own, OYO”. Hence, most Christians do not like tapping into the vision largely due to the pains and struggle for survival in the neglected and dejected villages.

A major question that has been troubling the mind of most of these missionaries in the field is to find that someone or an organisation that can believe in their vision and help them build on it, but instead these people only find solace in their large churches and congregation in the cities rather focusing on places where Christ is hardly know, place where these missionaries are living.

Pastor Sunday Bakare put it this way “they do not know the number of people in the rural areas are more than the people out there, they prefer their conducive environment, tithes and to build kingdoms for themselves all under the umbrella of offices and forget their fellow brethren in the rural setting”.

Pastor Sunday Bakare is a called missionary, born into a Muslim background, from Abeokuta, the capital of Ogun State. He gave his life to Christ in August 1993 and the following month he received a calling as a missionary. He has been involved in the work of mission through drama ministry as a stage director with mission minded people for ministration, evangelism, and intercession.

Presently, Pastor Sunday’s situation is highly pathetic as he feeds his family virtually from hand to mouth. They hardly have the normal three-square meals, they drink highly contaminated water, no electricity and no employment opportunities. He recounted his experience thus “when I first arrived at Ogunrobi village, life was extremely difficult for me. I’ll go into the bush to get fruits which I used as breakfast, lunch is not always available and at night we eat whatever is available” he said. Breakfast is under may be, lunch is “don’t even think about it” and dinner is tagged “God will provide”

What even made his case sympathetic enough is the dire hostility he encountered in his early days at Ogunrobi Village whose people are predominantly idol worshippers. The land he even got to build his house on is very close to where the Ogun and Esu shrine are situated. “As a spirit filled man of God, I always heard sounds of strange birds around the house, sometimes in the evening I see different kinds of birds that normally are not meant to be at such vicinity. In fact the beginning for me was tough but by the Grace and power of God, I overcome those early tribulations”

Life for Pastor Bakare and his family of four is still a tough one. As daily survival for him and his family continues to be a struggle which they don’t know when it will end because no help is forthcoming from any quarters. To sustain himself he took up a teaching profession in Owode and won’t come back home until Friday evening due to the distance from Owode to his house in Ogunrobi.

His wife also a teacher with a NCE degree in Accounting Education is teaching some village children in one of the dilapidated buildings in a nearby village called Adebiopon. She teaches between 6-10 pupils. The little she earns is what she uses to sustain herself and the three children till her husband returns every Friday.

In the case of the more experienced missionary, Evangelist Jeremiah Williams his story would surely strike a cord of emotions when it is heard. In his words “When I heard the voice on January 1st 1992, it was like a joke because I was just preparing to eat the sumptuous new year meal my wife prepared when it came that I must live my house and go to a place God said he would show me.” He started “I have to obey the voice of God, so I told my wife, she at first complained but later supported me, so I left for the unknown trip which at the end of the day turns out to be Maba village” he narrated.

Looking at the state of development of Maba then and what is attainable now, Evangelist Jeremiah has said, “When I arrived here, Maba was a forest, virtually with no buildings. I have to walk for a long distance before I was able to site a building. In fact at some point in my wandering, I had to paused and tell God that if I did not see anybody or a building in sight I will turn back because I was already tired by then, but I heard a voice that said ‘just a little more’, it was like a journey that will not end”.

At first the work at hand seems insurmountable, but with strong faith in God and determination he settles down to work. “The place was in darkness, their life when I arrived here was primitive in many sense, and they worship all sorts of gods. I wonder how I will live with such people, the water they used for drinking, washing, bathing and cooking are from the same source. Feaces from nearby bush will be floating on the surface of the water. We had no choice but to drink it with them, true at first it was painful but gradually we adapt to the system” he reminiscence.

According to Evangelist Williams, his experience at Maba village can be described as a lonely one. He was virtually alone as no organisation came forth to help him cushion the effect of the sufferings, despite his constant pleas for assistance to organisation and Christians bodies it all fell on deaf ears until 2004 when a missionary body construct a nine rig well for him. The well is now the only source of clean water for the whole village. In fact the opening up of this village to any resemblance of developmental work can be attributed to the work of Evangelist Williams. For many years he was all alone in obscurity preaching, working, and living with the people as a missionary.

He claimed to have over the years written letters to various missionary organisations and even the government but receives little or no reply. He built his own house and church all by himself. Despite his long years of experience as a missionary, he had only received little assistance that could have made his work easier.

The question for all Christians bodies regardless of denomination that needs some pondering is why we have decided to neglect these missionaries doing the work of the LORD which many people have shy away from. How many of us can risk our lives as much as they do? They live their relatively comfortable homes in the urban areas to settle down in those remote villages among strangers, defiling all the dangers and toils that come their way yet get little in return. We know of big churches be oversee by pastors all over the country but what have they done for missionary work?

We must conclude in all truthfulness that the state of missionaries of the late 19th century and the present 21st century is not too different. They still live in the village, go to the stream, trek to the farm and every other attribute of rural setting that were visible part of missionary activities of the 19th century.
There is need for a change in our attitude to missionary activities. The missionaries need all the support they can get in order for them to continue to propagate the gospel to the end of the earth. Remember, Jesus will not come until the gospel has been preached to all corners of the earth!

NOT MY FAULT

How time flies, it’s been three years now since I left college. If time really heals hurts, I can’t tell, but sure, I don’t feel as sad as I was thirteen years ago. Coming out of the medical school with one of the best results in my set after almost a decade of a very challenging academic sojourn meant so much to me and it was really a great consolation for me.

Though it would have meant much more to me if my parents had attended my valedictory ceremony but of course they couldn’t have. Growing up without our mother wasn’t so difficult for my sister and I aside the mother-daughter relationship we missed, dad was everything to us. We didn’t know her too well, she died when I was five, I still remember he gentle smiles and that thin voice, but at times she looked as frail. Mum was a sicklier a sickle cell anaemia patient.

Dada met mum during a seminar he attended in one of the neighbouring countries to us where mum hailed form. It was at a time she was already contemplating of coming to Nigeria. Aside being the only child, her mother was against her decision to relocating considering her health problem. My parents never had it smooth getting married; dad’s parents were against it, not for any other reason but the fact that mum was a sicklier. This act of his made him become more or less an outcast in his family

That rejection was unfair. Yes, mum was very sickly, her being a sicklier was not her choice anyway. I knew what genotype meant quiet early. Mum was ‘SS’, Dad ‘AA’, so my sister and I are carriers; we are of ‘AS’ genotype.

I took interest in medicine at a tender age. Today, I am a medical doctor and if I have any regret is that Dad is not here to see her daughter’s dream fulfilled. Dad died fourteen years ago. It was the most devastating period of my life. I just gained admission into the University, while my sister was also preparing to go in for music in one of the polytechnics we have in Nigeria, she had always wanted to be an expert in music. She is gifted with a sonorous voice like mum’s.

Dad died of cancer. It came so unannounced. His death came like a flash of lighting, he was a very hardworking gentleman, an engineer by profession, he was in fact a workaholic, so healthy and I cannot remember him ever falling ill all those years. I thought life was so unfair and I was torn apart.

I wasn’t surprised I repeated my first year and my aunt (dad’s only sibling who we were putting up with then) thought I wouldn’t be able to cope studying medicine if I started that bad. But when the heart is depressed at that point in time it would take an extra- ordinary effort and perhaps a divine intervention to succeed and that was what I went for.

I repeated again in my third year, but I still kept on because my mind was made up to become a doctor. During my years in school, I had a glimpse into what could have been responsible for my father sudden death. And it should be a lesson to everyone reading this story. I wonder how many people check their blood pressure regularly from the age of twenty-five in this part of our world which could prevent a disease like if diagnosed early. Dad was never sickly nor was at anytime on admission in the hospital except for just that one that led to his death. My father lived with cancer for several years!

My sister is happily married with a child now and I will soon tie the nuptial knot with a gentleman of the same genotype with me – AS, which ideally means we might have an SS child, but that can not be a barrier to us, medical science has risen to that challenge.

But really should genotype issues deprive one of spending the rest of one’s life with someone one loves and would be happy with if there wasn’t a way round it? Well may be for the sake of the child who might live his or her days in agony.

I believe whatever the negative life has handed one, there are surely few positive ones, celebrate those few like I did, after all without a positive and negative terminal current wouldn’t flow.