Author: The Nation

• By Paul Ejime

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), one of Africa’s foremost Regional Economic Communities (RECs) clocked 48 years on May 28.

The late Prof Adebayo Adedeji of Nigeria, who played a pivotal role in the formation of ECOWAS, which earned him the title of “Mr ECOWAS,” had in an interview with this writer, recalled that the Treaty of Lagos was one of the few legal unification instruments initialled by an unprecedented number of heads of state at a sitting.

As Commissioner (Minister) for Economic Planning and Reconstruction (1971-75), Adedeji had received the marching orders from Nigeria’s then Military Head of State, Yakubu Gowon, to midwife the birthing of ECOWAS. This was shortly after Nigeria’s civil war of 1968-70.

Adedeji, a seasoned strategist, and development pioneer picked up the gauntlet and went to work shuttling across capitals in the sub-region. He received tremendous support from his Togolese counterpart, Edem Kodjo, who later became Secretary-General of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), and who also got a similar remit as Adedeji from Togolese former President Gen. Gnassingbé Eyadéma.

Such was the zeal, commitment and resolve of the ECOWAS founding fathers that they did not allow cosmetic colonial barriers of language, colonial history, or orientation to put them asunder in actualising their dream of a pan-African regional integration.

However, some five decades on, the regional bloc is still struggling with almost the same or similar challenges that nearly asphyxiated it shortly after take-off.

By 1979 a civil war had broken out in Liberia, followed by neighbouring Sierra Leone in 1990, and other countries in tow, forcing ECOWAS, originally set up to foster economic development, to inject peace and security in the regional integration agenda.

No doubt, the organisation has recorded some gains or achievements, but the story in the past decade is one of retrogression, especially in democratic governance in the region.

For instance, there have been at least eight failed or successful coups in the past three years with three of the 15 ECOWAS member states – Mali, Guinea, and Burkina Faso – now under military dictatorships.

There is even a worrying concern that going by the undemocratic disposition of some leaders and political elite in the politically restive region associated with a dubious reputation as a “coup zone,” more member states could follow the infamous examples of the three deviant nations.

The root causes of political conflicts and instability include bad governance, corruption, economic mismanagement, cronyism, election rigging, violation of human rights of citizens, clamping down on opposition and narrowing the democratic space, and mindless alteration of electoral laws and national constitutions for tenure elongation, among others.

At the just-concluded Banjul International Conference of the Community Court of Justice, one of the ECOWAS institutions, participants recommended some tough measures, including the criminalisation of unconstitutional change of government in the region. However, the major problem is not lack of protocols or legal instruments, but the political will of the leaders to implement the texts or comply with regional treaty obligations.

For instance, the ECOWAS 2001 Supplementary Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance is unambiguous on “Zero Tolerance” for obtaining or retaining power through unconstitutional means, but implementation of this protocol seems preoccupied with military takeover of governments alone.

While military coups are condemnable and can never be justified since the role of the armed forces is for the defence and protection of national sovereignty, politicians, political adventurers, or mercenaries who subvert constitutional rule in whatever form, must also be subjected to the same condemnation and treatment as coup plotters.

And that is where the Malabo Protocol comes in. Unfortunately, since its adoption in 2014, no country has ratified let alone domesticate or implement the protocol, which has expanded the jurisdiction of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) to deal with crimes under international law and transnational crimes.

It is generally agreed that arraigning culprits before this court and meting out appropriate punishments will serve as a deterrent against crimes such as unconstitutional change of government in Africa.

But even when the protocol is ratified, its implementation will still depend on the political will and sincerity of governments and political leaders, as a tool against undemocratic practices.

Also, election has since become a major source of political conflicts in the region. There is concern over countries where elections are due to be held in the region, such Senegal, Sierra Leone, The Gambia, Togo, Benin Republic, and Liberia.

The other regional threat is insecurity, terrorism, religious extremism and the multiplicity of armed groups and separatist insurgencies. Some home-grown terrorist groups are believed to be collaborating with foreign counterparts to launch sporadic deadly attacks causing havoc from the Sahel to the ECOWAS region.

High unemployment rates, especially among the youths and economic hardships are also forcing thousands of ECOWAS citizens to flee the region, including through perilous routes to Europe for so-called greener pastures. At the same time, the emigration of skilled labour or so-called brain-drain, is taking a dangerous toll on the progress and economic development of the region.

In his anniversary message to staff, Dr Omar Alieu Touray, President of the ECOWAS Commission said: “The 4×4 Strategic Objectives of the ECOWAS Management were designed to respond to the challenges in our community and exploit opportunities for growth and development. “

The strategies are enhanced peace and security; good governance and political stability; deepening regional integration and inclusive and sustainable development.

 “For 48 years…, our sense of community has remained solid in the face of challenges, and our commitment for inclusive and sustainable development has remained strong,” Dr Touray added.

In summary, the management of the ECOWAS Commission must work with regional leaders to refocus the organisation on the path to the realisation of the overarching dreams of the community’s founding fathers, and for the regional bloc to regain its glory as Africa’s leading REC.

The fact that citizens of the 15 ECOWAS member states still see themselves today as belonging to one community with the same aspiration and a combined population of more than 400 million is positive, but can that justify the huge human and financial investments in the regional integration project?

ECOWAS has been the only region in Africa where citizens can visit and stay in a country other than their own for at least 90 days without a visa under its flagship Protocol on Free Movement of Persons, Rights to Residence and Establishment.

But even that protocol is yearning for urgent fine-tuning in its implementation, given that some member states now charge community citizens compulsory “airport levy,” in violation of community protocols.

Moving forward, ECOWAS has to work with member states to improve governance at all levels, ensure political stability, harmonization of national policies, laws, and regulations for the consolidation of regional integration and economic prosperity.

Member states must also respect treaty obligations, with the same set of rules applied to all violators of regional instruments and protocols be they civilians, soldiers, or mercenaries.

•Ejime is a global affairs analyst and consultant on strategic communications, media development and governance issues, including peace & security and elections.

• By ‘Yinka Adeosun

With the successful inauguration of the new administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the coast is clear to name and shame the prophets and nay-sayers who prophesied and foresaw darkness and gloom. Some had even predicted that Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party would be arrested before the inauguration and that Tinubu would not be sworn in. Peter Obi is walking free, and May 29 has come and gone. A new president has been inaugurated, and we are all living witnesses.

The kind of showmanship, brinkmanship, parochialism, and acts of gangsterism that greeted the 2023 general elections was quite unusual and disturbing. Since the return to civilian rule in 1999, electioneering seasons are often marked with some virulent activities that have become synonymous with electioneering. But 2023 was kind of peculiar. It was good to see increased awareness of the youths but then the rascality of some ethnic bigots brought some dangerous dimensions to the election.

The 2023 general elections stood out from all others since 1999. Whereas there were two major contenders in all other elections, this year’s election had three. The results of the elections, as announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) are a clear departure from previous ones. Unlike the previous elections where the winner had a landslide, this year’s election results showed a clear departure from the norm. This result had the three major contenders showing strengths and impact nationwide.

Religious clerics seem to now have a permanent place during the elections. This is not unexpected. After all, religion plays a powerful role in politics, and the relationship between the two is dynamic. Although Nigeria is a secular state on paper, the governance of all 36 states cannot be separated from the religious views of its people. Governors and their deputies are given religious considerations before they are accepted by the people.

Prior to his inauguration in 1999, a pastor had ‘prophesied’ that Chief Olusegun Obasanjo would die before D-Day. Many had feared that he would die and not become the president. Baba was not only sworn in; he went on to complete two terms totalling eight years. Chief Obasanjo is still very much alive today, making a falsehood of that ‘prophecy’.

It is sad that clerics have proliferated prophecies and predictions during elections just as they have continued to raise laziness and false hope among their worshippers. Men and women who should protect the sanctity of the pulpit have commercialized the same with the perfidy of the god of mammon. Today, an institution that prides itself as the city set on a hill has desecrated that status and descended so low to become a cesspit of commercialization. With the scandals that trail the “men of God”, one cannot but wonder if these men were really of God, or of their belly. It is not surprising that they have become the butt of comedians. “Some of them were not called by God, but they are the ones that called God”, comedians now aver.

As the custodian of theology and divinity in any religious setting, pastors are arguably more important than the pew. The pew looks up to them for what the Lord says. In the polity, pastors are citizens and are entitled to support anyone that they may choose to. But when a clergy gets emotional to the system and uses the pulpit to openly support or go against any political party or candidate, his fatherly role is called to question, as you can be sure that his congregation would have a mix of party faithful. I doubt if there is a church whose members all voted 100% for the same party/candidate. With this, religious houses should desist from electoral shenanigans, and be mindful of the political diversity of their congregation. Anything else outside of this cannot be of God.

Followers of different faiths are first and foremost citizens, who are obligated as legitimate electorates. At the moment, the Nigerian constitution neither forbids the pastor, imam, or herbalist from approaching the politician nor the politician from seeking their support to seek his political aspiration. On moral grounds, however, appeals for endorsements must respect the dividing line between faith and flagrant partisanship and avoid the potential schism that may arise from such partisanship.

The commercialization of prophecy has become merchandise. Sadly, this has done more harm than good to our well-being as a people. And it is fast becoming a permanent feature during election seasons. The bulk of these “prophecies” are mere calculated predictions and projections, and claims that God told them. Many have become the butt of entertainment and jokes when they turn out fake and untrue.

For sincere children of God, receiving “prophecies” from God is not an issue; it’s the fulfilment, modification, or outright cancellation. This can be compared to an iceberg. The dangerous part is not what you see; it’s usually the part beneath the water’s surface. For a prophecy, the risky part is the response of the receiver of the prophecy and the ultimate decision of the Almighty, which oftentimes, is without the consultation of the prophet that earlier delivered the message.

The Bible records persons who received messages from prophets, and sought the face of the Almighty, and it was reversed. That may have been the same for some of these prophecies that have “fallen to the ground”. Today, many clergies have become sudden social media sensations with their prophecies about the elections, thereby, fuelling sentiments and acrimonies towards or against some candidates. Their delivery of God’s message is showmanship. And for some, it is just the ranting of their personal sentiment against certain characters of the political class.

Mixing politics with religion is as volatile as it is dangerous. I found it preposterous and shameful how clerics without restraint openly expressed alliance and disdain for and against candidates during the last elections. For wisdom’s sake, and for the preservation of their office and the pulpit, ‘men of God’ should maintain neutrality, at least in public. More so, they should minimize unnecessary comments on what no man fully understands. It is no longer news that the virtues of simplicity and honesty is lost on many clergies. While we decry the absence of such virtues among the political class, it is sad to know that our religious leaders are fast falling short of simple morals that define a healthy society.

We live in a society where public officers, including pastors, believe that their actions are beyond public scrutiny. In fact, some of them live with that false impression that they are “special”, hence, above the law. It is shocking how many of them could engage in such blatant insensitivity to the uniqueness of Nigerian society. If politicians choose to err, must pastors also choose the same path?

Perhaps, it’s high time that religious denominations established their own political party. Rather than serving as a branch or unit of the major political parties or popular candidates. Without any significant impact on our humanity and morality, the level of ethnic division and religious incursion is annoying. It is worrisome that the moral fabric of our society has since been shredded to pieces. The boundary between right and wrong, decency and indecency has been cast to the dogs, and the number of models worthy of emulation is fast decreasing in our county. How sad!

•Adeosun writes from Abuja.

Ex-President Buhari’s Regime Post-mortem assessment will sadly begin with a chapter of the very ‘successful’ dramatic performance by the Minister of Aviation- a comedy of errors called ‘Where is Nigeria Air?’ This play appeared briefly on the Nigerian stage last week despite a Court Order banning the play even after N85b had been allocated in the budgets. It was viewed by mainstream and social media following with an international wide-mouthed audience, if not appreciative applause, at the audacity of the director- the already gone 2023 Minister of Aviation.  It was billed and received as a long-announced but only recently produced Ministry of Aviation play of great significance for Nigeria. Positive or negative? The jury is out. Wild hurrahs by many. Scepticism by many others.

This was too good a play to be true. Then the truth has turned out to be a great disappointment. The play looked sad from the beginning especially for those who witnessed Nigeria’s air fleet in the glorious 60s and 70s when we used to proudly fly Nigeria Airways and stroll through British and American Customs and Immigration which respected us as we flashed our badge of honour- the green passport. But alas; no more. Even the green passport is no longer a pride but a  magnet for extra immigration and customs’ attention.

On interrogation, ‘Nigeria Air’ appears, by the diary of the plane’s flight history, to be 4192 i.e., raised to the power of 2, fraudulent, grand deceptive, criminally inflated and perhaps treasonable. Were the two planes rented from Ethiopian Airways, flown to Dubai or somewhere, dressed for the play by being resprayed in Nigeria Air colours and flown with ‘Pomp, Pageantry and much Publicity’ into the water salute arc welcoming Nigeria’s supposedly new fleet for Nigeria Air for a 4192 PR stunt. The question is how much was spent on the props for this tragicomedy ‘Where is Nigeria Air?’.

Did our taxpayer’ money actually pay for the rent, flights, landing costs, demurrage, respraying and eventually the flight out of Nigeria and the re-respraying of these planes back to Ethiopian Airline colours? Is renting even legal for a sovereign country? Remember this is a big stage play and we are critics, audience and potential users of the end product – Nigeria Air planes.

Perhaps we are not seeing the true or whole picture. It may just be a huge communication gap between politics and the population. Some say they know that Nigeria signed an agreement with Ethiopian Airways as reported by the ICIR International Centre for Investigative Reporting which quoted ‘In the stakeholding arrangements on the new national carrier, Ethiopian Airline has a majority controlling stake of 49%, Nigerian investors (comprising MRS, SAHCO and the Nigerian Sovereign Fund) 46%, and the FG 5%.’ Yet some of these denied knowledge. So, who owns the shares?

So maybe the ex-Minister of Aviation was fully within his rights to demand that Ethiopian Airways demonstrate commitment by producing hard evidence that the arrangement under the 2017-2023 outgone government was working. So, is this the way Ethiopian Airlines, in a country at war with itself,  will manage Nigeria with loaned, repainted, re-repainted spare planes etc. with nothing belonging to us as the planes naturally retain the international registration number as published in the press. One more joint venture to eventually perhaps go the way of all Joint Ventures especially in oil and gas. We live in hope BUT not much expectation.

We pray and welcome and watch the new 2023-2027 government of President Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, praying earnestly that the president, the vice president, government, ministers, NASS members, governors, state assemblies, high ministry and agency leadership will deliver exactly what they promise and swear to, i.e. to be ‘FAITHFUL, LOYAL AND HONEST’ to Nigeria and Nigerians. If the leadership can demonstrably avoid corruption at federal, state and LGA level, then most of the citizen and employee and contractor followership will be forced to follow suit. Corruption, Incompetence, Negligence and Selfishness, CINS, have constantly destroyed the best intentions, the best projects, the best investments that Nigeria has tried. We manage to turn almost all from golden opportunity into dust.

Nigeria 2023-27 can no longer travel in a broken wheeled vehicle let by an incompetent leadership. We have every right to demand a better leadership, a better politics, better security, electricity, health, education, contract completion.

President Tinubu had experience of and should be asking and getting answers to the question: ‘What went right and wrong with the Babangida, Shonekan, Abacha, Abubakar,  Obasanjo, Yar’Adua, Jonathan, Buhari governments?’ One failure is that the Buhari’s regime would have shone if he had taken the opportunity to unleash his vice president on Nigeria for just 50% of the time, instead of caging him for 99% of his regime. Is VP Shettima such a secret weapon of development 2023-2027? Time will tell.      

The president needs to appoint people and politicians who are FAITHFUL, LOYAL AND HONEST. Nigeria must move forward with more women and a younger leadership talent pool. The EFCC/ICPC must START NOW TO MONITOR and not wait for N1billion or N109 billion to be stolen before waking up. Nigeria can no longer afford the luxury of such multiple mega-thefts. WE LIVE IN HOPE BUT NOT MUCH EXPECTATION FROM THIS GOVERNMENT. Pray the 2023-2027 President Tinubu Government proves us wrong.

•This article was written before the inauguration of the president.

• By Banji Ojewale

Let’s be guided by the former president’s own measuring rod to assess him and other public officers.  We don’t need to go into any arcane research or some tongue-twisting grammatical constructions to determine whether our outgone leaders served themselves or served us. All we should do is to consider the body optics: has the office holder lost weight or gained extra flesh?

A little bit of extrapolation: is the ex-public officer poorer or richer? If he is still in office, do his airs suggest he is on the route to earning a mention in the club reserved for the likes of Aliko Dangote? What’s his sartorial disposition? Is his now a knack for Savile Row, London, the confluence of tailors and billionaires?

Back to Muhammadu Buhari. In 2019, he offered the ‘ideal’ approach to identify the servant-leader. He took a non-forensic look at Mohammed Adamu, then Nigeria’s Inspector-General of Police. Our president concluded that the gaunt security chief had been working hard in the light of his diminishing weight. Buhari spoke when he was taken up on the frightening reports of insecurity here and there. We weren’t  to worry, he assured us;  the man he charged to deal with those giving us sleepless nights was himself suffering insomnia, leading, naturally, to loss of weight.

The police boss, in the estimation of the old military chief, had also emaciated because he wasn’t a glutton. It’s a contradiction to say of a gourmand that he was simultaneously slenderizing. So the IGP had been so busy battling the antisocial elements in our midst he’d had no time to be a gobbler. There was nothing he had amassed from the golden trough of the taxpayers; therefore there was nothing to consume to make Adamu grow out and burst his uniform. After all, you’d prey on what you had. You’d eat sparsely as you acquired sparingly. That should necessarily give you a lean figure, unfatty bank account, and above all, ascetic nights so that like Obafemi Awolowo, the illustrious premier of old pace-setting Western Nigeria, ‘’when most people in public office and in the position of leadership and rulership are spending whole days and nights carousing in clubs or in the company of men of shady character and women of easy virtue, (you) like a few others, (are) always at (your) post working hard at the country’s problems and trying to find solutions for them’’.

I believe these are neat and reasonable deductions we arrive at from the ex-president’s pronouncements on the police boss as we judge him and others in their asset status at their exit.

The Code of Conduct Bureau, CCB, had asked Buhari, his vice, Yemi Osinbajo and a train of others to drop their asset scorecard with the bureau before assumption of office and before receding from the scene.

When Buhari was moving in as president in 2015, he told CCB through Garba Shehu, one of his media aides, that he had N30m in the only bank account he had. There were five homes and two mud houses in Daura, his hometown in Katsina State, along with two undeveloped plots of land in Kano and Port Harcourt. Still more: farms, an orchard, a ranch, all harbouring 270 heads of cattle, 25 sheep, five horses, a variety of birds and a number of economic trees. More: cars, two bought from his savings, with others supplied by government as ex-head of state and some donated by well-wishers after Boko Haram savaged his jeep in 2014. The record with CCB also says the Daura soldier-turned politician had shares in Berger Paints, Union Bank and Skye Bank.

Osinbajo, according to Garba Shehu, came in with N94m and US$900,000. He had property in Victoria Garden City, Ikoyi, both in Lagos, and a flat at Redemption Camp, along Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. There was also a mortgaged property in Bedford, England. Our vice-president, apart from his law firm, had shareholding in six private companies including MTN Nigeria.

Now, by the law applied by Buhari to rate Adamu, we should expect diminished, not enlarged, assets by our public office holders after their tenure. Have they added to what they had? Have they worked so hard and selflessly that they had willy-nilly shed weight? Have they become anorexics, with their apparel, hitherto full-bodied on them, now hanging to give them the prized Mohammed Adamu-like shape?

In March, 2019, Osinbajo told Nigerians that he had evaluated Buhari ahead of meeting CCB’s requirements at the close of his boss’s first term. His findings: ‘’When I looked at his assets declaration form, I was checking it in 2015, I said to him, ‘Mr President, I am so much richer than you, it is an embarrassment…’I can tell you that he is perhaps, even poorer than he was in 2015 when I saw his declaration of assets.’’

That should be the goal of every true leader. You don’t go into office to embark on a hunting or expedition for unbridled riches. You don’t go in and return boasting you’ve put on weight. You don’t become a public officer and all your mission is to abandon your Ajegunle tailor and Aba shoemakers for Italian designer and customized products. You don’t go into office flying abroad for medicare and sending your children to private and foreign schools and hospitals, leaving the people you serve at the hands of the deadly system you refuse to tend to.

The leader posterity recognizes is the one who pauperizes himself while serving his people. He dies for them, if duty to the people demands it. But we’ve had leaders who want it the other way: the society must be castrated at the altar of their gargantuan greed; the people must go under for them to milk us dry.

The leaders history hails are those who, as they lose themselves in serving the people, exit exhausted externally, but inwardly, are enraptured and enriched. He must be like Uruguay’s much loved former leftist President, Jose Mujica, who not only turned down his pension as a senator, but also refused to live in the presidential mansion, preferring to stay ‘at his wife’s farmhouse, off a dirt road outside the capital, Montevide,’ where he gives off most of his pay to his people, not taking from them.

So, after eight years, where do Buhari and the others who just gave way belong: in the class of those whose weight dropped while serving the fatherland or in that other group where the spirit of the sybaritic was at work?

• Ojewale is a writer in Ota, Ogun State.

(Above is a revised version of an earlier piece written in 2019)