Author: The Nation

All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain Senator Saliu Mustspha has promised to offer what he described as quality and inclusive representation in the Upper Chamber of the National Assembly.

The senator from Kwara Central District said he will reposition Kwara State through legislative support for human capital and infrastructural development, and empowerment of women and youths to reduce multi-dimensional poverty among other beneficial causes.

He said although he will be a senator in Abuja, he will remain close to the grassroots.

While touring the nooks and crannies of the district, Mustapha has assured that his election would be the end of “Abuja-focused lawmaking”, where the lawmaker is distant from their constituents and only fixated on affairs in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

In tandem with his campaign mantra of “doing things differently”, he plans to create an effective feedback channel where people can voice their concerns and ultimately influence decision-making at the top.

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The approach, in his view, is the first step to progress and development for any community.

In the February 25 election, Mustapha defeated his closest rival and former Sports Minister, Bolaji Abdullahi of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Tomorrow, he will take the oath of office, an inaugural exercise to usher in federal lawmakers in the Green and Red chambers.

Ahead of the swearing-in, Senator, Mustapha has opened constituency offices across the four local government areas that make up the district. It is in fulfillment of his promise to foster inclusion.

Also, to help mobility and grassroot outreaches, constituency vehicles have also been purchased. Mustapha has also appointed Legislative Assistants across the 52 wards who will be on ground to collate data and feedback from the people in remote areas.

Apart from the legislative assistants, Mallam Mustapha and his team have planned a bi-annual town hall meetings for strategies and feedback.

The meeting will feature public dialogues that will involve the lawmaker and members of his constituency. The venue and the dates for the meetings have not been made public yet.

Also for the first time in the state, a senatorial district will have a digital platform through which the people can contribute to decision making at the top.

According to one of Mustaphas personal assistants, Alabi Abdulkarim, a website *www.kwaracentral.org, has been created for the benefits of the constituents.

“The platform will not only provide an avenue for engagement but also feature other add-on benefits like awareness and learning sections,” he said.

Stakeholders have expressed confidence in Mustapha’s ability to take the office a notch higher than his predecessors have done.

A community leader in Ilorin West, Alhaji Abdusalam Olowo, stated that the outgoing Senator, Yahaya Oloriegbe, tried his best in representing the district.

“You cannot take away Oloriegbe’s contribution from the 9th Senate. He proposed a lot of reasonable bills. This new man (Mustapha) has hit the ground running in an unprecedented manner. It shows that he really means business.”

Olowo added that carrying his constituents along will make the job easier for the incoming Senator.

” When you carry people along, you cannot go astray. You will push for policies that will favour the masses. Not because of anything but because iy shows they are a priority to you.”

Commenting on Mustaphas approach to legislation, a Lagos-based civic participation advocate, Bashir Adebayo, said the lawmaker-elect is building a template for not just Kwara but Nigeria as a whole.

“We only practice democracy on paper and the electorate have no say beyond voting. Initiatives like these are world-class. These are the things you see in the United States. It makes the constituents feel more empowered,” he said.

He continued; “I believe what Mallam Mustapha is trying to do is the common practice overseas. When there is a bill, the lawmaker goes back to his constituency to get the views of his people. That’s the standard that should be emulated.”

Adebayo expressed optimism that the incoming Senator will stay true to his plans, some of which are still in the pipe.

“I hope he won’t be distracted by the fun fare in Abuja.”

The convener of Young Nigerians in Power and IT expert, Alli Macaulay, while lauding the initiative, noted that with the digital inclusion, Mustapha would be able to capture the majority of the younger population.

” The fact that there is a physical and virtual system makes the feedback system flexible for young people. Majority of these people are online. It means they won’t be left of governance. That’s what inclusion is about,” he told our reporter.

After 24 years of uninterrupted civilian rule, Nigeria has made progress under the current democratic dispensation. This is coming almost after three decades of military intervention in politics. Deputy Political Editor RAYMOND MORDI examines the journey so far and some of the challenges facing the country

The just concluded 2023 general election was the result of several decades of incremental reforms. The election was interesting in many respects. The immediate past administration led by former President Muhammadu Buhari, with the support and cooperation of the outgoing 9th National Assembly, provided the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) with enough funds and an enabling law to make its job easier. This development excited many Nigerians, particularly the younger generation who had hitherto lost interest in the electoral process.

Not surprisingly, the election appears to be the most keenly contested one since the return to civil rule in 1999. For instance, four political parties, including the All Progressives Congress (APC), the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), the Labour Party (LP) and the New Nigeria Peoples’ Party (NNPP) dominated the contest at the state and federal levels, unlike the 2015 and 2019 elections where the ruling APC and the main opposition PDP were the major players. Besides, the presidential election, where the APC’s Bola Ahmed Tinubu emerged victorious, was a three-horse race that was too close to call initially. Observers had predicted that it might eventually be decided at a second ballot.

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Nevertheless, the tension generated by the election is yet to abate. Despite the gains witnessed following the introduction of technology into the electoral process, there are indications that the conduct of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) fell below expectations. The introduction of technology has been hailed by all stakeholders as a move in the right direction. But they insist that for the country to chart a new course in its development, the ruling class must imbibe the political will to do what is right.

Nigeria’s political history since independence in 1960 has been a chequered one. From the First Republic to the present political dispensation, otherwise known as the Fourth Republic, it has been a fragile and fluctuating one plagued by military coups and a lack of a sense of national unity on the part of the political class who often resort to divisive tendencies along religious, regional and ethnic lines. 

For the first three years of independence, Nigeria was a constitutional monarchy. A British Order-in-Council enacted Nigeria’s first constitution as a sovereign state. Under this constitution, which came into force upon the country’s independence on October 1, 1960, Nigeria retained the late British monarch, Queen Elizabeth II as titular head of state. It became a republic in 1963, with the late Abubakar Tafawa Balewa as prime minister and head of government and Nnamdi Azikiwe replaced the British monarch as the substantive head of state.

The bloody military coup of January 15, 1966, terminated the First Republic. After the series of events that followed the coup, including the equally bloody counter-coup of July 1966, the country was plunged into a civil war that lasted for about three years. This was after the failure of the military authorities to address issues relating to the national question, which was thrown up in the aftermath of the 1966 coups and the events that followed it. Attempts by the Ghanaian authorities to mediate proved abortive. The two sides had a series of meetings between January 4 and January 5, 1967at the Aburi Botanical Gardens, Aburi and signed a peace accord. But, it could not be implemented when they returned to Nigeria, because they had a different interpretation of the agreement.

This led to a bloody civil war that lasted about three years. When the war ended, no serious efforts were made for reconciliation, even though the Gen. Yakubu Gowon-led military government declared that there was no victor and no vanquished after the hostilities. There was also no attempt to return the country to the sort of federal system of government agreed upon by the country’s founding fathers before independence. At the height of the crisis that followed the January coup, the country’s federal structure was abrogated through a military decree. This led to the termination of the model of federalism adopted at independence in 1960, which was agreed upon at the conferences that preceded it both in Nigeria and the United Kingdom. But, the military jettisoned some of the provisions of the independence and the 1963 constitutions, which were meant to address the minority question.

After a series of military coups in the post-civil war era in the 1970s, the 1980s and the early 1990s, which plunged the country deeper into corruption and impunity, the country returned to civilian rule in 1999. But, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar who led the group of military officers that midwifed the process did not consider it necessary to adopt an elaborate process that will get the input of a wide spectrum of the society with regards to fashioning a new constitution for the country. The group, it was said, more or less imposed a constitution which does not grant autonomy to the federating units to handle certain issues like security that many agree will be better addressed at that level.

Over the years, Nigerians have been calling for a new constitution. It was people like the late Alao Aka-Bashorun, who began the call for a new constitution for the country, otherwise known as restructuring, in the mid-1990s. The agitation for a new constitution has not waned, despite several attempts by the National Assembly since the return to civil rule to amend the 1999 Constitution. It continues to resurface whenever Nigerians are dissatisfied with the way their affairs are being run by the political class. The efforts by members of the National Assembly to amend the constitution in recent years, observers believe, have always ended in futility because the lawmakers have not shown enough political will to focus on the issues at stake.

But, there is a consensus that the country has made some progress, following the return to civil rule in 1999. For instance, for the first time in its political history, the country has enjoyed uninterrupted civil rule for 24 years so far. In 2015, there was a transfer of power from one political party to another; this was unprecedented in the country’s political history.

The Director of the Justice Development and Peace Centre (JDPC), Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos, Rev. Fr. Raymond Anoliefo said it is a positive development that the democratic journey in the last 24 years has been seamless, even though progress has been incremental. He added: “We hope that it will get better. But as I keep saying, there is not much to be excited about until we get people with the right mindset and the political will to do what is right, as well as politicians who consider the interest of the ordinary man on the street before personal gains. Until then, I believe our democracy will just be a charade; it will not be the ideal democracy, despite being a civilian rule.”

He said the influence of the military in Nigeria’s democratic journey is a negative one. His words: “I would not give the military a pass mark. Military officers were probably the culprits that truncated what little progress we ought to have made since independence in 1960. This is because of the massive corruption they introduced into the polity. Some of them have even metamorphosed into democrats today wearing civilian toga but the leopard cannot shed its spots. I indeed give the military a knock; they put us in the situation we are in today because they introduced the culture of impunity that we see everywhere today.

“It is a measure of how much the men in uniform have become entrenched in Nigeria’s politics that two former military dictators have governed the country for a total of 16 years in the country’s last 24 years of uninterrupted civilian rule. I don’t think those 16 years are something any well-meaning Nigerian will be proud of in terms of insecurity, infrastructure, economic indices, education and health.”

Fr. Anoliefo said the level of enthusiasm among Nigerians before the recent general election was high because the electoral umpire, INEC, appeared well-prepared for the election and got the backing of everyone. He added: “INEC promised a whole lot; it promised that the election was going to be the best. Owing to the successes recorded in the off-season elections in Ekiti and Osun states, there was a glimmer of hope that the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) technology will be a game changer, particularly the idea of real-time transmission of results from the polling units to the INEC Results Viewing (IREV) portal. This made many Nigerians who hitherto believed that their votes did not count to develop an interest in the election.

“But, Nigerians got the shocker of their lives when D-Day came and INEC performed below expectations. Given the amount of money that was spent to organize the election, many Nigerians were disappointed and so feel that the exercise was a step backwards. INEC had one major objective, which was to organise credible, free and fair elections. From every indication, it has certainly not done well; Nigerians felt cheated because there were too many underhand practices. We will pray for the man that is just coming into power because it is our country. We are hoping that he will somehow succeed because his success will uplift every one of us.”

The founding National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Chief Chekwas Okorie attributed what took place during the recent election to the culture of impunity of the political class, adding that Nigerians are yet to imbibe the culture of the sanctity of the ballot box.

Nevertheless, Okorie gave kudos to the immediate past administration of Muhammadu Buhari for the electoral reform that allowed for the introduction of technology into the process and for giving INEC a free hand to work. He said former President Buhari tried more than any of his predecessors in office in ensuring that INEC enjoyed a measure of independence, as its name suggests. He added: “For the first time in our political history, we had a situation where INEC did not publicly complain about the lack of funds to carry out its functions. We also saw the introduction of bills that were eventually signed into law to facilitate the conduct of free and fair elections. In other words, we now have an improved electoral law. There are indications that the introduction of technology into the electoral process is a move in the right direction.

“The improvement can be gleaned from the fact the 10th National Assembly will be a more balanced one, compared to the ones before it. The aggregate number of votes the opposition parties had in the presidential election is almost twice what the ruling party scored during the election. In other words, this is a signal to the winner of the election that he has a lot more job to do to win over the majority of Nigerians. Before now, we used to have either the APC or the PDP winning an overwhelming number of votes both in the presidential and the National Assembly elections. The incoming President Bola Tinubu must focus on overhauling INEC to improve its performance. He should also focus on improving the adoption of technology in the electoral process. I will suggest the adoption of full electronic voting during the next election cycle in four years.”

Okorie added that there is a need for an overhaul of INEC. He added: “As it is presently constituted, it is a nest of corruption. Eighty per cent of INEC senior officers are corrupt; they are the ones that messed up what would have been a very successful general election. As Nigerians approached the election with enthusiasm, INEC began to take some wrong steps. Otherwise, what is the rationale for transferring a certain Chidi Nwafor, the man who designed the BVAS, an in-house product of INEC, to Enugu to function as an administrative staff?”

In summary, Rev. Fr. Anoliefo said there is still hope because, for the first time, the youths appear to be showing interest in the choice of who governs them.

His words: “There is still hope because the youths played a key role in the just concluded election. They provided the momentum that made the contest different from previous ones; the youths felt that they needed a change and are no longer prepared to sit on the fence. Fortunately, they were able to rock the boat a bit. I am very sure that in future elections, nobody will take them for granted anymore.”

For the country to chart a new course in its development, the clergyman said the ruling class must imbibe the political will to do what is right. His words: “In Latin, we say ‘Nemo dat quod non habet’; meaning, you can’t give what you don’t have. Secondly, Nigerians must insist on doing things right because the process is also very important. This is not just for politicians but for all Nigerians. Sometimes, we tend to be downright irresponsible. As a people we need to imbibe a culture of honesty and integrity; that culture of putting others first.

“There is also the need to build a better system. We also need someone who can unite the country because it is as divided as it can be today. Going forward, without any concerted effort at unifying the country, we are just papering the cracks. We have just had eight years of somehow jettisoning meritocracy; throwing it into the garbage bin on the altar of nepotism.

“Let us hope that the administration that is just coming in will be outcome driven and will be interested in what it wants to be remembered or known for when it leaves the scene. Finally, there is a need for patriotism.”

• By Lisa Olu Akerele

This piece was first published in 2015, just after the general election, but before the historic inauguration of President Muhammadu Buhari. It was inspired by the anonymous posting of an old picture taken in the heat of the annulment of the 12 1993 presidential election, of the late Military Head of State, General Sani Abacha, receiving the late Chief Moshood Abiola at Dodan Barracks, Lagos as he pressed home his mandate demand. Unknown to all, right behind Abiola, in the picture, was the man who would be future President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who had escorted his principal to the historic meeting. In commemoration of June 12, I re-serve you this piece laden with history and with the omens of space and time.

Not too long ago, a picture over twenty years old went viral on the internet. It was shot right in Dodan Barracks, Lagos in 1994, and in it, a usurper military dictator, the late General Sani Abacha, in his military attire –though not uncommonly un-bereted yet quite unusually un-bespectacled– welcomes to the famous seat of power, the late Chief MKO Abiola who is clad resplendently in his usual embroidered agbada, buba and sokoto, with his long famous cap to match.

For one who had just won the freest and fairest election in the political history of Nigeria, the irony is more than cruelly etched in the loudly-silent question: “who between the de facto despot and the demure democrat should be the welcomer to the seat of power and who should be the guest to it?”

Yet, it is clear that whereas one (General Sani Abacha) was an opportunistic upstart crow beautified with the feathers of our democratic martyrs, the other (MKO Abiola) was a selfless visioner prepared to sacrifice his all to reclaim the stolen mandate of his people.

Right behind this fiercely contrasting duo in this frozen past, no less laden with the history of days gone and the prophecy of things yet to come, are two of the most trusted personal aides of the usurper-despot (Abacha) and the unyielding democrat (Abiola): one is the notorious man of infamy, the Chief Security Officer to the late Abacha, Major Hamza Al-Mustapha –the de-facto to the de-facto– walking behind Chief MKO; and the other, a young, unassuming, bespectacled Bola Ahmed Tinubu, majestically walking behind Abacha as if to tactfully close-mark the untrustworthy General too, the way that Al-Mustapha digs the heels of his innocent principal.

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Whoever posted this picture on the internet has saved himself a thousand words because the picture is its own thousand words; it speaks loudly of our not-too distant political past, even as it eloquently foreshadows a future we never had the gift of prophecy to apprehend: namely that the man (Tinubu) trusted by the late MKO Abiola to watch his back when he went to the lion’s den to insist on his mandate is, after all, our democracy’s future avenging angel, the sword of Damocles one day to fall on the fattened vultures of our captive political aspirations.

Who would also have thought that in the little obscure, unassumingly harmless character, Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, tucked behind Abiola in the picture, would be the most notorious “butcher of Aguda House”, the de facto to the de facto Head of State who would torture, maim and kill to keep an aberrant junta (Abacha’s), in place.

This is the picture that speaks a thousand words; the picture that proves both time and history are the greatest conspirators, as they both have a way of playing on the psyche of short sighted man.

We are optically illusioned always to look one way, but the blurred and the dimly lit objects that time and history choose not to magnify often are the veritable mustard seeds of a future full of marvel.

Watch again in the picture as young Tinubu walks behind Abacha with the solemnity of a golden child that has an uncanny foreknowledge of his future role both as the man chosen to right political wrongs yet in the womb of time, and as the anointed angel to give final rest to the troubled political spirit of his fallen liege and godfather.

Tinubu has proven himself a worthy son of his proud political lineage. He had been with MKO long before the days of NPN and he was there when the Aare Ona Kakanfo threw his hat into the political ring at the Jos convention of the SDP. He was one of the brains behind the famous Epe declaration, after which he fled abroad to avoid Abacha’s murderous rage.

Tinubu, with the late Enahoro, Wole Soyinka, General Alani Akinrinade (Rtd.), Dr. Kayode Fayemi and others, sustained NADECO abroad after its virtual demise at home under the asphyxiating disposition of Abacha’s junta. He, with Kokori and others, led the oil-workers strike that crippled Lagos to keep the spirit of June 12 alive.

Tinubu was the first person MKO would ask for from me when he had his first day in court on a charge of treason. Tinubu, ironically, was also the first person to call me from London when he heard Abiola had been assassinated.

I remember even in the heat of the pandemonium of MKO’s sudden death, Tinubu still had the equanimity of mind to instruct that I tell Kola Abiola and MKO’s physician, Ore Falomo, to insist on a UN-backed post-mortem to confirm alleged poisoning of his late political mentor.

Nor did he, thereafter, leave to stray uncatered-for the biological and political orphans of the late MKO –he has nurtured many of them to abundant life.

Now that the prophesy has come to pass and the son has, at last, exacted the political pound of flesh to avenge the spirit of his late father, let the son proceed to do the other needful; namely, restore late Chief MKO Abiola to his rightful place in the political history of Nigeria.

Let June 12 as a date be recognised as a veritable political watershed in the democratic learning process of this country; let the late icon have to his name an enduring monument of history as his memorial and let the corrective regime of Muhammadu Buhari elevate Abiola post-humously to the highest honour in the land, i.e. the Grand Commander of the Federal Republic (GCFR). He deserves it!

The journey depicted in this picture of a thousand words may have ended tragically – justifiably for the usurper-despot and undeservedly for the ill-fated, heroic democrat, nonetheless, they both have their distinctive places in history; whereas Abacha’s name lives in infamy, Abiola’s lives in the memory of lovers of duty, honour and country.

Thus away from the thousand words that this picture manifestly evokes, are yet many more that only those who saw it all and have a sense of history can give flesh to. Even as society seems to move and carry on as if nothing momentous happened years ago, history appears to tap us on the shoulder, urging that we do not forget “it” so that “it” too –when our due season comes– will not forget us.

Let us lift the memory of our forebears who selflessly gave their yesterday so that we would have this promising today.

Let the last few syllables of the one thousand words contained in this picture be given their full vent. Let Abiola take his rightful place in the history of our democratic odyssey. Tinubu alone was in the right spot in that history; only he can write it.

Akerele, a veteran journalist and former Political Assistant to the late MKO Abiola, is the Atunwase of Ijesaland.