The Nation Newspaper

Author: The Nation

  • Tinubu’s pledge to Nigerians: I will not disappoint you

    Tinubu’s pledge to Nigerians: I will not disappoint you

    • My Certificate of Return is a World Cup trophy, president-elect says in Lagos

    PRESIDENT-ELECT Bola Tinubu yesterday returned to Lagos in a blaze of glory, describing his Certificate of Return as a World Cup he had brought home.

    Bubbling with excitement, he thanked Nigerians for voting for him, assuring that he will not disappoint them.

    Tinubu, who stormed the palace of the Eleko of Lagos, Oba Rilwan Akiolu, thanked the monarch and other community leaders for their support and prayers.

    Speaking in Yoruba, he said: “This certificate that I brought home is our own World Cup.”

    Oba Akiolu, who hugged the President-elect, wished him an eventful tenure.

    Also in Abuja, elder statesman Alhaji Tanko Yakassai urged Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate Atiku Abubakar and his Labour Party (LP) counterpart, Peter Obi, to support Tinubu.

    He said the election has produced a winner and loser, adding that after the exercise, they should cooperate with the president-elect in the task of governance.

    Oba Akiolu described him as a special breed “who is destined for leadership at the very top.”

    He added: “Asiwaju, Lagos will not forget you. You did all your best to serve Lagos and you served excellently. I know you have enemies; all our ancestors had too. So, were all the prophets…

    “Some are even enemies of God that created us. But, I know that our forefathers will fight your battles. God will grant you victory and Nigeria will be great under you.”

    Tinubu arrived to the warm embrace All Progressives Congress (APC) faithful at the presidential wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Ikeja in the afternoon.

    They were led by Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, his Chief of Staff (CoS) Tayo Ayinde, Senator Musiliu Obanikoro and other top APC chieftainss.

    Tinubu’s first port of call was Iga-Iduganran Palace where Oba Akiolu, other monarchs and white cap chiefs were already waiting.

    Addressing the crowd at the palace, Tinubu likened the primary and the general election to a World Cup tournament.

    Thanking Lagosians and Nigerians for his eventual victory, he promised to work assiduously for the country.

    Tinubu specifically thanked Oba Akiolu and others royal fathers for their advice, support and cooperation.

    Other traditional rulers at the palace included: Elegushi of Ikate-Elegushi Kingdom, Oba Saheed Elegushi, and the Oniru of Iruland, Oba Omogbolahan Lawal.

    Also at the palace were former Deputy Governor Femi Pedro, former Commissioner for Environment in Lagos Dr. Muiz Banire and Lagos APC Women Leader Jumoke Okoya-Thomas.

    Yakassai, grand patron of Northern Alliance Committee, told reporters in Abuja that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) conducted a successful poll.

    He said: “The aim of the briefing is to publicly convey our congratulations to President-elect Senator Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu on his victory in the just concluded presidential election, reflect on the conduct and outcome of the election whichconsequently declared Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the winner of the election.

    “As in any contest under democracy, there is always the winner and the loser. But, at the end of it all, the two will team up to move their country forward in the interest of the nation and its people. The country will move on and people will continue to engage in their various activities and all will march on to the next phase in nation building.”

    “Yakassai said the National Alliance Committee was delighted that Tinubu, who became the Candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC), was elected president.

    “He recalled that the group actively participated in the Tinubu/Shettima Presidential Campaign Committee and campaigned at the grassroots, ward, local government, state, and national level.

    “Yakassai thanked God that the candidate supported by the group won the poll.

    He said: “The natural thing for all to do now is to give the president maximum support in the task of tackling many issues bedeviling our country, which need all hands to be on deck in handling these challenges.

    “There are many challenges on ground ranging from the economic, security and social issues. The task ahead of the new president are enormous.”

    Yakassai added: “We appreciate the maturity showed by a number of members of opposition parties by conducting themselves responsibly since the declaration of the result. We also thank the people of Nigeria for reposing their confidence in Tinubu.

    “We congratulate the Independent National Electoral Commission for successful conduct of the presidential election and we urge the commission to take into consideration suggestions made by members of the public in conducting the next elections.

    “The presidential election was very successful and the evidence of that is the acceptance by the people of the country, the evidence is that there was no protest, or disruptions that led to loss of lives or anything.

    “Our expectations is that INEC would also conduct the next elections in the same manner it conducted the presidential election and I congratulate them for a job well done.”

  • Obey Supreme Court judgment on naira now, legal giants tell Buhari

    Obey Supreme Court judgment on naira now, legal giants tell Buhari

    Senior lawyers yesterday urged the Federal Government and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to comply with the Supreme Court judgment of last Friday.

    They warned that not obeying the order would amount to contempt of court and further cast the government and officials as showing disregard for the rule of law.

    The Supreme Court held that the old naira notes would remain valid until December 31 and that the old N200, N500 and N1,000 will co-exist with the new ones.

    Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs) Seyi Sowemimo, Babatunde Fashanu, Chino Obiagwu, Kunle Adegoke, Wahab Shittu and Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa said the judgment must be complied with.

    According to Sowemimo, the Federal Government and CBN were bound to obey the judgment. 

    He said: “I don’t think any of them – the CBN or Federal Government – has a choice in the matter. 

    “They were represented in court and the Supreme Court has given a final decision. 

    “The Supreme Court is the highest court in the land and that being so, that is the final decision.

    “If they want to observe the rule of law, then they have no choice but to comply with the decision.”

    He dismissed the claim by the Attorney-General of the Federation Abubakar Malami (SAN) that he could not advise the CBN on monetary policy.

    Sowemimo believes Malami was duty-bound to advise the government to comply with the judgment. 

    He said: “The Attorney-General himself ought to know that he does not have a choice but to advise the Federal Government to comply with the decision of the Supreme Court. 

    “It’s a clear-cut decision. There shouldn’t be any argument about it.

    “It’s too late to say it is an economic policy and you cannot advise on it; it is the legal aspect of it that went to court concerning whether they were within their rights to impose or implement that sort of policy without the necessary consultations. 

    “The Supreme Court has said no, they acted unlawfully.

    “The AGF does not have much of a choice in the matter anymore; his duty is to advise the government to comply.”

    Fashanu said it was the duty of the AGF to advise the Federal Government to obey the Supreme Court judgment. 

    “When the Supreme Court gives an order, it must be obeyed by the parties it is directed against. 

    “It is a dereliction of duty for the AGF to be talking of monetary policy when the Supreme Court has laid down what is to be done. 

    “This is a tendency towards anarchy and it is unfortunate,” the SAN said.

    Obiagwu expressed similar views, noting that the Supreme Court “is a policy court.”

    “It has given a decision that is a policy that went beyond the law. Nobody has a right to pick and choose which judgment of the Supreme Court to obey or not to obey,” the SAN said.

    He warned that the Attorney-General and CBN officials could face sanctions for failing to comply. 

    Obiagwu said: “Once the apex court has made that decision, the CBN must comply. If it doesn’t, it can be cited for contempt. 

    “The Attorney-General has no right to pick and choose or to advise the government on which judgment of the Supreme Court to obey or not. 

    “It’s the final judgement; they don’t have any right to disobey it. 

    “If they do, there are consequences and we at the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) are ready to make sure that any executive recklessness is brought to justice.

    “Remember that the Supreme Court reprimanded the Federal Government for disobeying its interim orders. Justice Emmanuel Agim clearly stated that this was unacceptable in a democracy.

    “If the Federal Government goes ahead to restrict the old notes contrary to the judgment of the Supreme Court, there will be consequences, including on the AGF, because we have historical records of AGFs being cited for contempt.”

    Adegoke reiterated that the Federal Government was bound to comply with the order.

    He said: “On the new naira note issue, the Supreme Court, the final court in the land, has given its decision.

    “It is obligatory on all institutions, the presidency, the office of the AGF, the CBN, to obey the decision of the Supreme Court. That is not only the final court, it is the highest court from which there is no appeal.

    “The Supreme Court, having given its decision, is now mandatory in line with the constitution for all institutions to implement the decision to the letter.

    “There is no option for anyone of them to say it is even deliberating on it. The next thing is to implement it.

    “The old naira notes, together with the new naira notes, have to co-exist till 31st December 2023 in line with the decision. 

    “That would give sufficient time to the CBN to be able to issue sufficient new naira notes to be in circulation to replace the old notes.

    “There is no option about the decision of the Supreme Court. There is no choice to choose whether to obey or not to obey.”

    Shittu said anyone who disobeys the order should be cited for contempt.

    The SAN said: “The Supreme Court is the ‘uncommanded commander’. Once it sneezes, the country catches a cold. Once it makes a pronouncement, it takes immediate effect.

    “The order of the Supreme Court does not require any other authority, including CBN’s directive, for immediate compliance.

    “Anyone standing in the way of the implementation of Supreme Court order should be immediately arrested, cited for contempt and taken to prison.”

    Adegboruwa described the judgment as “a courageous confirmation of the sanctity of the rule of law and due process”.

    He added: “It is a soothing relief from the hardship that Nigerians have been subjected to, over the past few weeks, on account of this rather thoughtless policy.

    “The court should always be the platform for the resolution of all disputes by all aggrieved persons. 

    “I salute the sagacity and courage of the justices of the Supreme Court for rising up to rescue Nigerians from the pangs of death, frustration and looming economic recession.

    “As there is no room for further appeal against the judgment of the Supreme Court, I urge the President to immediately direct the CBN to comply fully with the judgment of the Supreme Court, as stated under Section 287(1) of the Constitution and allow all the N200, N500 and N1000 old notes to be circulating along with the naira new notes till December 23, 2023.

    “Across all our land, there will joy in many homes, businesses will bounce back and Nigerians will find cause to celebrate their freedom from all forms of dictatorship and arbitrariness.”

    Also, a senior lawyer, Dr Fassy Yusuf, said there was the need for President Buhari to obey the judgment.

    To him, the President’s silence was worrisome, adding: “Were it to be the other way, they would have expeditiously hailed the judgment.”

    He disagreed with Malami’s claim of being unable to advise on monetary policies.

    He said: “The unusual silence of the Presidency and the AGF to the judgment on the ill-conceived and callously executed currency ‘colourisation’ is worrisome and befuddling.

    “The outgoing administration should be prepared for a titanic battle with the third arm of government, especially from the NBA.

    “President Buhari should know that arbitrariness is not part of democracy. His government cannot decide the judgment it would obey.”

    Dr Yusuf urged those close to the corridors of power to advise President Buhari to give immediate effect to the landmark judgment to prevent anarchy from taking over the land.

    “Enough of economic and social strangulation. 

    “Meanwhile, in a sane country, the AGF and CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele would have resigned or should have been booted out.

    “Here we are. They are pretending as if nothing has happened! 

    “The damage caused to the country and the psyche of our people can never be fully quantified. A stitch in time saves nine.”

  • Nigeria’s debt hits N49 trillion

    Nigeria’s debt hits N49 trillion

    Nigeria’s total public debt portfolio now stands at about N48.93 trillion, with the government borrowing about N3.73 trillion over the past five months.

    Data obtained by The Nation’s Economic Intelligence yesterday showed that the government raised about N1.599 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2022.  

    The Debt Management Office (DMO), which oversees the issuance and management of Nigeria’s sovereign debts, had earlier confirmed The Nation’s exclusive report that the government had raised N2.129 trillion in the first two months of 2023.

    A breakdown indicated that Nigeria’s domestic debts have risen to about N30.643 trillion, primarily due to new borrowings of about N1.599 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2022 and N2.129 trillion between January and February 2023.

    Nigeria’s external debt increased to N18.282 trillion, mainly due to the depreciation of the naira against the dollar.

    The national debt portfolio for the third quarter ended September 30, 2022, published by DMO indicated that Nigeria had total debt of N44.064 trillion, including domestic borrowing of about N26.916 trillion and converted external debts of N17.148 trillion. 

    The DMO had applied the then-official exchange rate of N432.37 per dollar to the country’s external debt of $39.662 billion.

    The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) yesterday indicated the official exchange rate at N460.96 per dollar, implying the addition of some N1.13 trillion to the country’s converted foreign debts due to currency depreciation. With this, external debts increased from N17.148 trillion in the third quarter of 2022 to stand now at N18.282 trillion.

    With maturing debt obligations and running a budget deficit, the government has continued to raise funds through the monthly issuance of regular bonds, retail savings bonds and treasury bills.

    A breakdown of the debt issuances showed that about N852.926 billion were raised through the Nigerian Treasury Bills (NTBs), N4.174 billion through the Federal Government of Nigerian Savings Bonds (FGNSBs) and N741.55 billion through regular bond and Sukuk issuances in fourth quarter 2022.

    In January 2023, the government raised N662.617 billion through its regular bond auction, N277.468 billion through the NTBs and N533.03 million through the FGNSBs, a retail monthly debt issuance introduced in 2017.

    It raised N1.189 trillion in February 2023, including N770.56 billion through bond auctions, N417.064 billion through NTBs and N1.271 billion through the FGNSBs. Total borrowings in February 2023 represented a 26.4 per cent increase above N940.62 billion raised in January 2023.

    The total debt issuance in the past two months represented more than a 33 per cent increase on the total debt issuance in the fourth quarter of 2022.

    Faced with sovereign downgrades by global rating agencies, with attendant higher risk profile and cost for international debt issuances, the government appeared to be increasingly dependent on the domestic capital market to raise N8.8 trillion regular debt component of the 2023’s N10.78 trillion deficit.

    Providing clarification on the recent borrowings, the DMO stated that the domestic debt issuance was designed not only to provide funds to finance the budget deficit but also to refinance the Federal Government’s maturing obligations during the fiscal year.

    According to DMO, out of the N2.129 trillion raised so far this year, only N1 trillion has been deployed for deficit financing, 14.2 per cent of total estimated domestic borrowings of N7.043 trillion in the 2023 budget. The agency said the balance of the funds raised was for refinancing maturing obligations.  

    The federal government laid out a budget size of N20.51 trillion on a total revenue of N9.73 trillion in 2023, with plans to borrow N10.78 trillion in 2023.     

    Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, at the public presentation of the breakdown and highlights of the 2023 budget proposal, said the overall budget deficit of N10.78 trillion for 2023 would largely be financed through domestic loans.

    She outlined that the budget deficit would be financed mainly by borrowings including domestic sources, N7.04 trillion; foreign sources, N1.76 trillion; multilateral and bi-lateral loan drawdowns, N1.77 billion and expected N206.18 billion proceeds from the privatisation of national assets.

    Nigeria’s public debt has continued to generate intensive debate on the growing size of indebtedness and the burden of sustainability amidst declining national revenue.   

    Also, while experts agreed that rising demand for sovereign debts provides the government with a comfortable fallback option, many analysts said the government’s domestic mop-up may crowd out other issuers and raise the cost of funds.            

    Ahmed had raised the possibility of a higher budget deficit and financing in 2023, noting that “there is a continuing need to exceed this threshold considering the existential security challenges facing the country”.

    She however said Nigeria has no plan to restructure its debt as the government remains committed to meeting its domestic and external debt obligations.

    According to her, the government will continue to utilize appropriate debt management tools to streamline the cost and risk profile in the debt portfolio, including through concessional loans, spreading out of debt maturities to avoid bunching, and re-profiling of the debt maturities by refinancing short-term debt using long-term debt instruments.

    Nigeria has increasingly relied on borrowings to bridge its dwindling national revenue

    Data provided by the Budget Office of the Federation showed that Nigeria has consistently over the past eight years significantly underperformed its revenue target. For instance, while the country had budgeted a revenue target of N7.2 trillion in 2018, it generated only N3.9 trillion, about 54 per cent of the revenue target. In 2019, it achieved about 59 per cent with a revenue budget of N7 trillion and an actual of N4.12 trillion. 

    Revenue target and actual stood at N5.4 trillion and N3.96 trillion and N6.64 trillion and N4.64 trillion in 2020 and 2021 respectively. 

    In the current budget, while the country had set a revenue target of N5.82 billion, it only achieved 63 per cent or N3.66 trillion by July 2022.

    Nigeria has been using more than three-quarters of its revenues to service debts. 

    Debt-service to total revenue ratio stood at 61.3 per cent in 2020, rose to 90.9 per cent in 2021 and currently stands at 84.5 per cent. Debt-service-to-total revenue was about 32.7 per cent in 2015.

    DMO has expressed concerns that the country now faces the risk of being unable to sustain its rising national public debts unless urgent actions are taken to curtail expenditure and increase the country’s revenues.

    DMO warned that while Nigeria’s loans may still be within an acceptable range of the country’s economic size, the country’s ability to sustainably meet the obligations on such loans is now under threat.

    Director General of the Debt Management Office, Ms Patience Oniha, said beyond keeping within the debt-to-GDP ratio, it is important that the public debt is sustainable and the government is able to service its debt without the risk of distress.

    Reviewing revenue budgets and actuals against actual debt service over the past eight years, Oniha said the debt service-to-revenue ratio is “high”.  

    She said dependence on borrowing and a low revenue base was now threatening debt sustainability.

    “Nigeria’s public debt stock has grown consistently over the past decades and even faster in recent years. Consequently, debt service has continued to grow,” Oniha said.

    She pointed out that Nigeria’s low revenue base compounded by its dependence on crude oil resulted in budget deficits over the past decades, putting pressure on the country’s debt sustainability.

    “The outlook shows that both the local and international markets are becoming tighter and interest rates are rising, thus priority should be less on borrowing and more on revenues from oil and non-oil sources,” Oniha said.

    She said while efforts at increasing non-oil revenue are yielding positive results, urgent actions are required to moderate the level of new borrowings and ensure that the public debt is sustainable.

    She outlined that government should, as a matter of urgency, rationalise expenditure and accelerate the growth in revenues, including implementation of strategic actions to boost tax administration and efficiency.

    She said it was unacceptable that Nigeria has the lowest revenue-to-GDP ratio among a list of countries sampled by the World Bank, noting that an efficient tax administration would ensure greater compliance to remittances devoid of all forms of evasions in the system.

    According to her, most countries around the world have placed more emphasis on taxation as a principal source of funding for the government while the reverse is the case in Nigeria.

    Oniha also advised that “borrowing should be tied to projects and some of the projects should generate commensurate revenues to service loans used to finance them”.

    She called for the sale of government assets to unlock funding, adding that physical assets such as idle or underutilised properties could be redeveloped for commercialisation to generate revenue.

  • Parties realign ahead Saturday’s governorship poll

    Parties realign ahead Saturday’s governorship poll

    By Emmanuel Badejo, Assistant Editor; Adekunle Jimoh, Ilorin; Ernest Nwokolo, Abeokuta; Yinka Adeniran, Ibadan; Onimisi Alao, Yola; Mike Odiegwu, Port Harcourt; Bassey Anthony, Uyo; Okungbowa Aiwerie, Asaba Abdulgafar Alabelewe, Kaduna and Nsa Gill, Calabar

    Political parties are realigning ahead of Saturday’s governorship election.

    Groups and political leaders are endorsing candidates.

    Results of presidential and National Assembly elections have altered plans of candidates, leading to alliance talks.

    That was the case in Oyo, Kwara, Ogun, Rivers, Enugu, Akwa Ibom and Delta.

    In Lagos State, alliance talks between the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Labour Party (LP) were made public.

    In Adamawa, LP’s governorship candidate, Umar Mustapha, dropped his ambition in favour of All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate Senator Aishatu Binani.

    Although it is expected that more of the alliances would be more pronounced before the polls, the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP) cautioned its members, officials and candidates against forming alliances with any political party.

    Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Mr. Hakeem Amode, who disclosed the opposition parties alliance talks, said the goal was to defeat the ruling APC.

    Amode said: “We are talking with the LP, but cannot diffuse our structure; they are to join us. The talk is ongoing, but we have not concluded anything yet.

    “We are also talking to Accord, ADC (African Development Congress), Boot Party and several others. 

    “Our candidate, Olajide Adediran has also made this known. So, what I can say is that we are talking to many parties and as many as are ready to work with us, we are ready to form an alliance.

    “Once we conclude our talks, all we need to do is to come to the media and announce our alliance.”

    A leading LP supporter in the state and Afenifere chieftain, Pa Ayo Adebanjo, had said the party would consider available options to defeat the APC in the state.

    However, an LP chieftain had earlier said the party was “not considering any alliance with the PDP.” 

    In Kwara, the PDP Chairman, Babatunde Mohammed, said other opposition parties in the state were united to work together and “vote out APC.”.

    Mohammed, while unveiling a five-point agenda by the PDP governorship candidate, Alhaji Shuaib Yaman Abdullahi, in Ilorin, said: “We are on the same page with other political parties on the next election, with the exception of APC. We are working together already.

    “The other political parties in Kwara State also believe in unison because they have agreed with us to work as a team as a strategy to oust the present APC in the state in the next polls.”

    But the Social Democratic Party (SDP) chairman in the state, Abdulazeez Afolabi, said his party would go to the poll alone.

    LP’s candidate in Adamawa, Mustapha, at a briefing in Yola, said he would work to ensure Binani’s victory on Saturday.

    Mustapha, who is popularly known as Otumba, said: “I am confident that Binani will provide a people-centred leadership that will prioritise human capital and resource development that will prosper Adamawa State.

    “That is why I am calling on all my supporters to come out on Saturday, March 11, and vote for Distinguished Senator Aishatu Ahmed Binani as Governor of Adamawa State.” 

    He added that he had decided to put all the structures at Binani’s disposal.

    The APC candidate, who appreciated the endorsement, said it would boost her chances of becoming the next governor of the state.

    But in Oyo where the State Working Committee (SWC) of the LP, Tunji Sadiq, said the party would work with Governor Seyi Makinde, the LP candidate, Tawfik Akinwale, described the decision as strange.

    Sadiq told a news conference in Ibadan yesterday that the LP SWC decided to back Makinde after an “unbiased assessment” of Akinwale revealed that he cannot win the election.

    The chairman said: “On our thorough assessment of the various governorship candidates for the March 11, 2023 election in terms of character, competence, capacity, and compassion for people, His Excellency, Engineer Oluseyi Makinde, excels above the others.

    “Therefore, we, at the LP Oyo State, have decided to use the entire structure of our party throughout the 33 local government areas to support his re-election for another four years. 

    “Tawfiq Akinwale is the candidate of the party but the party structure did an unbiased and dispassionate assessment of our governorship candidate and found out that, on a normal day, there is no way he will win that election. 

    “It will be unhealthy for us to know what will become of our aspiration and still go ahead.”

    But Akinwale said he could not imagine that “some people, for a selfish reason, would say they are backing a party that the people of Oyo State have rejected due to its misrule and misgovernance at the expense of LP, which is the rave of the moment and party the people are looking up to.”

    He added: “It is absurd. It is strange to all known political settings and reasoning. In fact, it is a beer parlour politics that can never hold ground. How can it be?

    “I am still in the race as the governorship candidate of the LP in Oyo State and I have and will not step down for anybody.

    “The people who did that are those who are irresponsible, shameless and don’t understand what they are doing because of selfish reasons.

    “To set the records straight, Tawfiq Tayo Akinwale remains the legal and recognised Labour Party governorship candidate and has not stepped down for any party or any individual.”

    Also yesterday, the APC in the state said no group within its fold endorsed Makinde’s re-election bid.

    The APC was reacting to a media report, which claimed that some pro-Tinubu Support Groups like the Southern for Tinubu BAT Democracy, Yoruba Campaign for BAT and Tinubu Campaign Movement had ditched the party’s governorship candidate, Teslim Folarin, for Makinde.

    The spokesperson for the party in the state, Olawale Sadare, said: “We would like to state that there are no pro-Tinubu Groups registered with Oyo APC by the names mentioned above…..Southern for Tinubu BAT Democracy, Yoruba Campaign for BAT and Tinubu Campaign Movement

    “The names mentioned in the fallacious news report are fictitious. The latest fake news came from the same unscrupulous elements who promoted one non-existing Alhaji Bashir Adeola as Oyo APC Chieftain purportedly supporting the governor. 

    “They (groups) are being sponsored to promote fake endorsement of the governor’s second term ambition with a view to mislead the electorate.” 

    In Ogun, scores of supporters of the former governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, the late Buruji Kashamu and Jimi Lawal, agreed to work for the re-election of Governor Dapo Abiodun.

    Also, the Allied Peoples Movement candidate in the last Saturday National Assembly election for Ipokia/Yewa South Constituency, Kolawole Lawal, dumped the party for the APC.

    One of the leaders of the late Kashamu group, Ola Kukoyi, said they no longer had a future in the PDP and hence, their decision to back Abiodun. 

    “When our leader died, we decided we couldn’t be looking. We searched for a candidate that is presentable for the state.

    “We picked Jimi Lawal. We all know what is happening both from the national to the state level of PDP, 

    “We now decided to stand behind a person who means well for our state and therefore, we decided that the Joshua of our time who will lead us to the Promised Land is Prince Dapo Abiodun.” 

    Abiodun, while welcoming his endorsement, noted that he would look out for their success.

    Rivers APC faction in alliance with PDP  

    A faction of the Rivers State chapter of the APC-led by Tony Okocha, at the weekend directed its members to work for the victory of PDP’s Sim Fubara on Saturday.

    Okocha, a former Chief of Staff to former Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, said it was a payback time for Governor, Nyesom Wike, whom he claimed was instrumental in the victory of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu in Rivers last Saturday.

    He said: “We will reciprocate the governor’s gesture by supporting who the governor wants us to support.

    “The governor told Rivers people to vote for someone that will support the state. He mobilised human beings and resources to ensure this victory.”

    But the state Publicity Secretary of APC, Mr. Darlington Nwauju, countered Okocha, saying he was not in the position to speak for the party.

    Obi-Datti groups endorse YPP, APC candidates 

    Many LP leaders in Akwa Ibom at the weekend endorsed the governorship candidate of the Young Progressives Party (YPP), Bassey Akpan.

    Apostle Otoabasi Asuquo and OtoAbasi Ntiah, on behalf of Obi-Datti groups, said in a statement that leaders of over 100 Obidient Support Groups were supporting the YPP candidate.

    “We have finally seen a man that is competent to deliver good governance and dividends of democracy to the people of Akwa Ibom State. 

    “We the directors and leaders of the Obidient Movement in Akwa Ibom have decided to support a leader full of compassion and humility,” he said. 

    Also in Delta State, a group, Obidients Movement, said it would work with the APC candidate, Ovia Omo-Agege, ahead of the poll on Saturday.

    The group which is led by Nnamaka Konyegwachie explained that the decision was taken because the state needed a breath of fresh air.

    Konyegwachie said that the Obidient Movement decided to support Omo-Agege because he has “character and is a man of the people”.

    Ex-governor Chime endorses Mbah  

    Former Governor of Enugu State Sullivan Chime endorsed the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state, Peter Mbah for Saturday’s election.

    Chime, at an interactive session with Mbah, in Enugu, said: “Mbah is the best Enugu State can offer now”.

    The former governor, who is a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), added: “I have had interactions not just with him (Mbah), but also Frank Nweke, Chijioke Edeoga, and to me, looking at the field, Peter Mbah is the best candidate.” 

    “I have no reservations whatsoever in endorsing and supporting him. I believe, knowing Peter Mbah too well, that he will not disappoint Enugu”.

    NNPP warns against alliance

    The NNPP has warned its members, officials and candidates against allying with any political party to win the governorship and legislative elections.

    The party gave the warning in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr Agbo Major, in Abuja yesterday.

    They advised the members to stay focused, campaign vigorously and ensure that their candidates emerged victorious.   

    Major said: “Our great party is not in any alliance with any political party in these elections.

    “Accordingly, party officers, members and candidates at all levels are not authorised to discuss, negotiate or form any alliance with any political party to win the upcoming gubernatorial and legislative polls.

    “Anyone who endorses a candidate of another political party will be sanctioned in line with the NNPP Constitution ranging from suspension from office, suspension from the party and possibly expulsion. “ 

    But the NNPP candidate in Kaduna State, Suleiman Hunkuyi, called for an alliance between opposition parties in the state, to enable them to defeat the ruling APC.

    Hunkuyi argued that realignment within 24 hours among the opposition parties was enough to sack the APC government.

    However, LP said it was not ready for any alliance as its candidate Jonathan Asake is the best and will not step down for any candidate.

  • A man of faith

    A man of faith

    What Asiwaju Bola Tinubu – the president-elect – just pulled off is a miracle but the merchants of miracles in our midst are not shouting hallelujah. They are still querulous. Rather than see a divine halo in the man’s march to his hallowed dream, they were trying to choreograph the divine poise.

    They did not see his seesaw of obstacles and how he scaled one after the other. And, also, how gifts fell on his lap. First, it was in his party, the APC. Once the 2019 polls were over, some elements in Aso Rock as well as opponents in the party ganged up. First step, sack Adams Oshiomhole as chairman. He was seen as Asiwaju Tinubu’s man in the party’s inner sanctum. They did, and then one of the coupists, Akpan Udo-Edehe, announced that they wanted a consensus candidate. In other words, a not-Tinubu as flagbearer for president. It was even decreed that no court suit should ensue. Udo-Edehe limped in his run for APC ticket in Akwa Ibom. He sulked into NNPP.

    That was not enough for self-confidence.  All eyes focused on the primaries. First, they advanced the idea of an open one. Then they balked. Tinubu had a way with the crowds. The sweepstakes may creep out of their hands into the Jagaban’s web. After all, he was the chief proponent of open primaries. So, let’s make it delegate-driven. It buzzed until they saw again trap falls of disaster. The only feline path to tear him apart was to get the president to appoint a successor in the mould of how Abdullahi Adamu emerged as party chairman. It did not happen from Buhari’s end.

    Then, they came with a magic. They wanted a narrow count that disenfranchised lawmakers and many party leaders. Their frustration was that a primary had to happen. Before that, they orchestrated a machine of lies. He did not go to Chicago.  A media outfit called Chicago State University to wrest a denial. Rather the school said he was not just a student but a distinguished one. They brought drug hobgoblin even after a U.S. government’s denial. They said he was not fit enough. He beat all contestants hopping from state to state. He even beat his chest over his peripatetic prowess when he met Niger State delegates. His opponents were waiting for him to faint and fly out in a medical craft. Nature failed their malice.

    On primary day, some party men rallied behind Senate president as the anointed pick. But it floundered. In fact, some Villa elements wanted Buhari to change his mind at the last moment. One of them asked the service chiefs to see Buhari for a last-minute order. One of the chiefs insisted the president already gave them a go-ahead to conduct a fair primary. But a cabal insider insisted all three should see him. They did. They met an irritated boss who asked them to proceed to the stadium to conduct a fair poll.

    He did not only win but handily, flummoxing all those who predicted his Nunc dimittis. He had before then enriched our political language with Emilokan. Some called it outburst. But it busted the cabal. As the campaign wore on, he became a source of immense derision. They mocked his body fluid, his height, his walk, his sitting, his standing, his words, his accent, his language, his faith, his paternity and maternity, his roots. But they were mocking his maker. And God said, God is mocked. If he had lost, a newspaper was waiting to appropriate O lule for him. But they wouldn’t employ it for their dazed candidate.

    Weeks to the polls, they saw an inevitability, and they devised a new obstacle. Fuel and cash. They would blame his party for putting Nigerians through the crucible. Tinubu will pay for them. The elements in the villa were accused but they had no shame. They persisted. Peter Obi and Atiku Abubakar loved the cynical play because they expected the scarcity to knock out the Jagaban. We experienced in Tinubu on this matter what political scientists call loyal opposition, when he spoke under warrior Lisabi’s shadow in Abeokuta about those who wanted him to fail. El Rufai elaborated later.

    But in the divine strain must be seen a few factors. One, the APC northern governors, who were this essayist’s personal pick for persons of the year in 2022, insisted the next president must come from the south. Two, Obi came in as a gift by wiping out Atiku’s southern entitlements in Lagos, Southeast and south-south. Three, Wike and the G-5 factor. The forces were aligning. For the LP man even the APC did not hide the permutation that he was a gift for Tinubu. Yet, PDP and Labour Party in their mutual obstinacy united for Tinubu.  Kwankwaso, the Kano landlord, also left PDP. They broke into three. How could pieces make mincemeat of a whole? The APC left them alone according to the words of Napoleon: “Never interrupt your enemies when they are making a mistake.”

    The Obidient movement was like Asahel in the scripture who, like Fela’s joro jaro joro, ran but looked neither left nor right with no weapon and plunged straight into a sword. It is a movement without eyes or ears but legs of a flailing antelope. Like flies following the sweet scent of death in a corpse, they buzzed into their own electoral oblivion.

    Buoyed by false prophets and ethnic bigotry, it believed it could force a victory on a diverse nation. They forget that southwest and North coalition gave Buhari his victory. They didn’t have that heft. Christians and southeast alone is a narrow coalition. If the Atiku votes up north of Muslims with the southwest were in contention with the Obidients, a shellacking would have drowned Labour. Having shaved Atiku in the southeast and southsouth, Atiku relied only on the north for big numbers. Obi’s cynical move gave us no ideology. If it did, it romped in a narrow radius.

    The United States has a religious and white coalition. But it falls short. They align with business with the concept of low taxes and small government. Nixon enunciated the Christian and cultural nexus into what he called the southern strategy. It is exhibited in the G’s: God, gays and guns.

    The prophets hoodwinked their followers, acting like God’s spokesmen. I asked on TVC Breakfast Show, if that were the case, what happened with Father Hyacinth Alia of Benue State who supported APC and triumphed for Tinubu? Did it mean the holy spirit was at war with itself? God forbid. As Jeremiah wrote, they were speaking from their imaginations. He said, “A wonderful and terrible thing is committed in the land. The prophets prophesy falsely and the priests bear rule by their means. And my people love to have it so.”

    Men like that are a disgrace to the word of God. They are spiritual hustlers who want to fill their halls and build gigantic buildings as though the truth of God relies on marble palaces made with hands. Just as we no longer rely on physical circumcision but the foreskin of the heart, the love of God is in the heart, not in the ululations of false prophets. Their entrance does not bring light, but lights-out. For all who prophesied, Paul said, “though there be prophecies, they shall fail.” And of course, their tongues shall cease.

    The Bible says let the wheat and tares dwell together, not duel together. When the polls results started trickling in, the Obidients were exulting because they were cherry-picking areas where they were doing well. The polls were credible then. They forgot the big picture. They were happy to hear that Lagos fell, that a sort of partial domino fall was dawning: Buhari lost Katsina, Ayade lost in Cross River, Lalong in Plateau, Adamu in Nasarawa, El Rufai in Kaduna, et al. Translation: a credible proceeding. Twenty governors lost their states. But when Obidients lost the full count, they say no sir, it was rigged. Of course, it was no perfect poll. A man like hoary Obasanjo was sulking like an anarchist. The problem with the Obidients is that where they lost, they didn’t lose. Where they won, they didn’t win enough. Maybe they want to win 150 percent of southeastern states.

    As for some of my eastern brethren, they thought it was all right that a Tinubu had zero percent in one state and one percent in two states there. They have to understand that democracy is about building bridges and not erecting bubbles of bluster.

    It is the sort of puffy air they are bringing to Lagos. A territorial braggadocio does not make peace in another person’s patrimony. Many of them work here in peace, but a swagger of proprietary assertion by a good number of them does not make for peace.

    The LP man was an interesting candidate. He was a man who did not rely on his track record or vision. His followers did not watch him except his old wristwatch. When he lied, it was an act of human grace. When Tinubu erred, it was a big, unforgivable gaffe. His statistical illusions made the LP candidate a wizard. All those who hated Tinubu channeled their anger for the LP man. He did not have to be a saint. They canonised him and gave him the holy scent, including our pastors who loved the holy spirit so much that they did not see what was coming.

    Some writers and commentators went abroad to make claims for which they have no evidence. One of them was writer Chimamanda Adichie who wrote a New York Times piece out of rage rather than method. She turned anecdotes into a pattern, history into tendentious material, bigotry into grace. She probably thought she was writing a novel. But facts, even when fictionalized, have their place. She is often quick to toady up to the west for affirmation. She is entitled to her servitude, but she should not replace research with sentiment. As in her New York Times effusions. She needed to know that we had only a fraction of the polling stations with problems. And every polling station had result sheets signed by party agents at various levels. We need to ascertain whether some people are wailing because they did not have the chance to hack the server. Writing as though her Half of A Yellow Sun, she whipped up a spectre of refugees going to America. No bloodshed here, please.

    The polls may not be perfect; hence the law speaks of substantial compliance, a point the Nigerian Bar Association President noted in his assessment. At long last, we shall accept that elections, like this one, tumble social hierarchies by affirming the royalty of the citizen. In the words of the boisterous American statesman Huey Long, “every man a king but no one wears a crown.” The coronation belongs to the Nigerian people.

    When he said, emilokan, Tinubu turned out to be more prophetic than any prophet in the land. It was an act of faith as novelist Dostoyevsky wrote, “In a realist, faith does not spring from miracle but miracle out of faith.” Tinubu was the man of faith.

  • Murdoch, the dream!

    Murdoch, the dream!

    Rupert Murdoch, the executive chairman of Fox Corporation, is perhaps the biggest and most influential media mogul in the world. He is by all accounts a reliable barometer of shifting thresholds in media rules. Until now, it was generally assumed media outlets are accountable for narratives they allow to be vented by their operatives without restraint or, at least, posting a disclaimer. By Murdoch’s rulebook, we now know that media practitioners can be accountable in personal cognizance for narratives they expound without media outlets through which those narratives are pushed being concurrently accountable.

    In a court deposition taken by Dominion Voting Systems over the narrative that the 2020 United States presidential poll was stolen, which was strongly plied by Fox News, Murdoch rejected that the right-wing talk network as an entity endorsed former President Donald Trump’s election lies. But he conceded that Fox News personnel – Sean Hannity, Jeanine Pirro, Maria Bartiromo and former host Lou Dobbs – promoted the falsehood that the presidential election was stolen. The deposition in a legal filing as part of Dominion’s $1.6billion lawsuit against Fox News was made public last week.

    Trump of the Republican Party refused to concede defeat in the 2020 poll and till date argues that it was stolen (i.e. rigged) by incumbent President Joe Biden of the Democrat Party.  “Some of our commentators were endorsing it,” Murdoch said according to the filing when asked about the talk hosts’ on-air narratives about the election. “I would have liked us to be stronger in denouncing it, in hindsight,” he added. Part of the transcript of his deposition read: Question: You are aware now that Fox did more than simply host these guests and give them a platform; correct? Murdoch: I think you’ve shown me some material in support of that. Question: In fact, you are now aware that Fox endorsed at times this false notion of a stolen election? Murdoch: Not Fox, No. Not Fox. But maybe Lou Dobbs, maybe Maria, as commentators… Question: All were in that document; correct? Murdoch: Yes, they were. Question: About Fox endorsing the narrative of a stolen election; correct? Murdoch: No. Some of our commentators were endorsing it.

    In its own legal filings countering Dominion’s lawsuit, Fox News defended the actions of executives and hosts during the 2020 poll, saying its hosts’ on-air assertions about election fraud were taken out of context. It, however, added that it should not be held liable for the hosts’ claims.

    To put it bluntly, both Murdoch and Fox News threw the talk hosts under the bus. But what those hosts did is very similar to what is going on presently with Nigeria’s 2023 poll. Journalists beware!

  • Nigeria: Is it time for “uhuru”?

    Nigeria: Is it time for “uhuru”?

    By Oluwole Ogundele

    The recently concluded elections especially at the presidential level were arguably an unforgettable phenomenon without a rival in Nigeria’s chequered history. Many electorally effective rallies were held by the different political parties who promised to take the comatose geo-polity to a higher level if given a chance. There were all sorts of antics embedded in religion and/or ethnicity. These were a means of getting to the Aso Rock Villa- the central engine complex of the country. Even many churches took caution to the winds. Several pastors dubiously claimed that God had revealed the winners to them. They are reading their Bible upside down for parochial, selfish reasons. I feel it is time for the leadership of these churches to call those reckless, ignoble pastors to order before they set Nigeria ablaze.

    But despite several political shenanigans, the elections held on February 25, to the amazement of doubting Thomases both within and without the shores of Nigeria. The results were announced on February 28. All aggrieved participants can go to court in line with the international best practices.  

    However, the winning of the presidential election by Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was just the beginning of a process of liberating the country from the shackles of spiritual and material backwardness. BAT has now been given the needed building materials and items of equipment by the people, to begin the re-engineering of the dilapidated house called Nigeria. That is, a highly traumatised, serially raped mother Nigeria that surprisingly remains radiant despite the odds against her.

     Now there must be a steady march towards progress on the wings of people-centred policies and unfettered patriotism that define “jagabanism”-a progressive ideology. It is no longer news that this new administration, has a huge number of reactionaries (with their megalomaniac tendencies) to be wrestled to the ground at all costs. They are the enemies of the Nigerian people that must be caged within the arm-bit of the law of our land. Nobody is above the law. Similarly, nobody is more Nigerian than the other people. Everybody has a role to play in crafting a new Nigeria of our dreams.  Therefore, there is no freedom yet, until many of the inherited problems are charismatically addressed.

    It is against this backdrop that “Not Yet Uhuru,” an autobiography of Jaramogi Oginga Odinga published in 1967 (after resigning his appointment as first African Vice-President of Kenya) gains its relevance.  “Uhuru” is a Swahili word for freedom. Odinga resigned his appointment under Jomo Kenyatta (president) because according to him, there was no significant difference between the mode of administration during the colonial period and immediate post-coloniality. In other words, Kenya’s political independence was merely on paper because corruption, cronyism/ethnic chauvinism, and politically motivated killings continued unabated. It was like moving from the colonial frying pan into the post-colonial fire. By this token, there is “not yet uhuru,” until the Nigerian masses are no longer desperately hungry and homeless. From epileptic electric power supply, to unending petrol scarcity, and the on-going naira contraction, mischievously christened “currency swap,” the Nigerian economy has been substantially crippled. Indeed, the in-coming administration, cannot afford to lose contact with the rising new generations in order to remain afloat the ocean of modern globalisation.

    This new government has to embark on an intellectual protest against the old order. Power in the long run belongs to the people. Flexing of muscles by the government with respect to national affairs is at variance with advanced leadership culture.

    Again, much thought has to be given to the issue of security and by extension, welfare. Insecurity and material poverty have torn the very fabric of Nigerian society to shreds. We should not forget that Nigeria had initially been drawing ahead of the rest of Africa, in socio-economic and cultural productions before its (Nigeria) gradual descent into an abyss of backwardness. This retrogression is largely traceable to reckless, poor leadership especially at the centre.  But there will be sanity across the spectrum once the centre is able to demonstrate exemplary leadership. There is need for a re-definition of Nigeria’s socio-economic and political space within the confines of critical transformational and transactional underpinnings.

    Given the above philosophies, education- the cornerstone of a healthy society has to be given a place to stand. Without good quality education, Nigeria will continue to be over-dependent on the Western and Asian worlds.

    The Tinubu-led administration should kindly pay the eight-month salary arrears of ASUU members in the interest of industrial peace and progress. A hungry lecturer is a threat to sophisticated training of students. It is worrying that Nigeria is one of the African countries where academics are very poorly paid. No staff motivation. No more rigorous research-the key to sustainable development.  A federal university professor in this country now takes about $500 monthly despite the rising inflation. This scenario leads to some brain drain even as the government looks the other way.

    The Jagaban, assisted by some of the finest minds and hearts within and without the country, can steadily change this unimpressive narrative. There should be no space for business as usual.  Enough is enough! Nigerians are bleeding too much. Rural development is also critical in this connection. The new administration to be sworn in by May 29, can substantially bridge the gap between urban centres and rural settlements through the provision among other things, of modern amenities and opportunities for the latter. Such a move engenders a healthy, balanced environment. One of the simple but foundational advantages of this policy is the gradual promotion of peace, socio-political stability, and economic development in the system as a whole.

    No more time for empty rhetoric that has always characterised the Nigerian leadership culture. The huge numbers of unemployed and unemployable youths are a threat to local and national peace. Indeed, the Boko Haram group among other deadly organisations would have the challenge of recruitment of new members to grapple with, once most of our youths are gainfully employed.

    With due respect to the in-coming president, he needs to be a grassroots leader in order to deeply understand, know, appreciate, and appropriate the sensitivities and problems of the Nigerian citizens. Similarly, unchecked sycophancy has the capacity to de-link a leadership from the led. History should not be allowed to repeat itself in this regard. But I trust that Nigerians will not be disappointed in the long run, given the antecedents of BAT in Nigerian politics with a special emphasis on Lagos State. Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has a golden opportunity to pragmatically become the Nelson Mandela or Paul Kagame of Nigeria-a symbol of uncommon integrity, unalloyed patriotism, and emotional intelligence. These are excellent leadership traits which have remained elusive in the extreme in this country.

    •Prof. Ogundele is of Dept. of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Ibadan.

  • BAT: Surmounting the odds and healing the wounds

    BAT: Surmounting the odds and healing the wounds

    By Abdulaziz Abdulaziz 

    For a hurdler who laboriously surmounted many hurdles on his way to the finish line, there could be the temptation for chest-beating and gloating. The victory was well earned. He worked for it and it came as a vindication that through acts of providence and hard work destiny could be fulfilled in spite of mountainous challenges. But for Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Nigeria’s president-elect, victory is a moment for humility and magnanimity. 

    Immediately he was announced as the winner of the presidential election in the early hours of Wednesday, March 1, Asiwaju Tinubu changed from that political gladiator who fought his way to victory to a unifying statesman. 

    The journey to victory was an uphill task. He paddled through shark-infested waters to grab the presidential ticket of the All Progressives (APC) at the June 8 convention last year. He upturned his disadvantageous position just days before the primaries into a formidable one. At the end he emerged winner with shocking two/third of the total votes. He repeated the feat at the general election. 

    This presidential election is arguably the most competitive we’ve seen in recent recollection. Ordinarily it ought to be a walk-over for the APC having gone into the election as a pretty intact ruling party at the centre with 21 governors in tow. However, events leading up to the election threatened the comfortable position of the party. The threats were not the making of the opposition. The rank of the opposition was hugely fractured with the closest contender having to deal with a bitter internal revolt.

    The APC went into the poll with two injuries, largely self-inflicted—the unending fuel crisis and the messy currency swap (or confiscation, to borrow the term from the Nigerian Governors Forum). Pains from the two situations generated a lot of anger.

    Like the Qur’anic Abu Lahab, some persons went about laying out thorns on Tinubu and the APC’s path to victory. They clothed their actions with a garb of patriotism and pushed their sugar-coated bitter pills down the throat of Nigerians. Expectedly it stoked anger and sent the opposition, who were likely part of the script into an overdrive. They wrote off Tinubu and his quest. Indeed if not for the smart management of it, the scheme could have cost him the victory. 

    The campaign also had to contend with three strong rivals, each of them experienced in politics, and each one of them riding on strong emotional waves. This polarized voters who invested a lot of emotion largely along ethnic and religious lines in the election. It was a stormy ride. 

    After the end of the rigmarole, Asiwaju Tinubu came out of the ring victorious but bruised. He won the election with reasonable margin; averaging the usual margin for previous presidential elections, in spite of the lower turnout. 

    He was pained that he lost Lagos; he admitted when he received former South African president Thabo Mbeki on Thursday. It was the first time a party he had supported would fail to clinch that state. It’s doubly painful that he was on the ballot. But, as he admitted, it goes to show how credible the election was and call to question the hypocrisy of the wailing losers who celebrate such victories for themselves yet call to question integrity of the entire process.

    The true democrat that he is – once it was over, Tinubu immediately put behind him the sores from the campaign and the election. It is a new dawn for the nation and for him whose lot it is to unite the country as he prepares to take the reins.

    Rather than relish the sweetness of his victory with dance steps and parties, he chose to assume the position of a peacemaker. He extended olive branch to the candidates who lost and used his words as soothing balm for Nigerians who supported candidates other than him and are now ruining the defeat. 

    He had said it in his first speech to the nation as president-elect: it doesn’t matter if you had voted for him or supported any of his opponents. The issue on the table now is building an administration and a nation. 

    “Political competition must now give way to political conciliation and inclusive governance,” he declared in his acceptance speech. 

    Speaking after receiving his certificate of return, Tinubu went on along the same line philosophising about the importance of placing the country above anything else. 

    “To those who didn’t support me, I ask that you not allow the disappointment of this moment to keep you from realizing the historic national progress we can make by joining hands and hearts in common endeavour to pull this nation through. 

     “In a phrase, I am asking you to work with me.  I may be the president through election but I need you. More importantly, Nigeria needs you.” 

    It is in this spirit that he opened his doors wide open to receive visitors irrespective where they stood before the election. Everyone came. Lines were blurred. The goal now is rallying the country around and galvanising its great sons and daughters to come around for the task ahead. 

    He received close lieutenants and foot soldiers. Those who refused responsibility or declined support at the time it was needed were there with smiles. He received fifth columnists who threw spanners to work against him with his same warm embrace and broad smile. The past is behind, the task is ahead. 

    It is a new chapter. Off in the horizon, glint of the Renewed Hope Asiwaju Tinubu promised is already visible. Hence, both the Nigerian bonds and stocks appreciated sharply in response to the election outcome. To borrow his own phrase, indeed “hope is here”. 

    •Abdulaziz is Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to the president-elect

  • The case for Sanwo-Olu’s re-election

    The case for Sanwo-Olu’s re-election

    By Chris Adetayo

    When he came into office, he was tentative. Maybe even diffident. His first few months trended towards the poor end of the spectrum. Pot-holes littered the city and one of his aides announced to the world that “water and tar do not mix”. This was in reference to the rains that had opened craters on the roads and the absence of any concerted efforts at repairs.

    Security also became a problem, as incidents of traffic robbery shot up in a city notorious for traffic jams. All these in addition to the daily hassles of living in a city besieged by internal refugees running away from the security problems of the North and East. In 2019, Lagos was in bad shape and Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu seemed unsure of what to do.

    Then COVID came. It was like, “cometh the hour, cometh the man”. While the federal government fidgeted, Lagos State took charge. Isolation facilities were quickly set up; medical personnel were primed; distribution of face masks and sanitizers were revved up; and guidelines on interactions to limit exposure were quickly and efficiently disseminated to the people. To cap it all, copious briefings by the governor and his aides became a daily affair. 

    In speaking with so much assurance and confidence about what was happening and what efforts were being made to keep the people safe, at a time when precious little was known of the virus that had scared the world into a hole, panic and fear was largely avoided in Lagos. From him, the federal government took a cue, replicating pretty much everything that Lagos had put in place. All these enabled Nigeria to come out of the pandemic with a success story that has been duly recognised across the world. The leadership of Governor Sanwo-Olu during those scary months is one that should be templated by all who have any interest in public service. It was a tour de force in public health emergency management.

    From COVID, Sanwo-Olu has moved on in leaps and bounds. Like the heads of very large cities and conurbations, the governor of Lagos State has to deal with three major issues – transportation, security, and housing. If he can keep a lid on these three, the vibrancy of the residents of a city like Lagos will largely take care of other sectors.

    Despite his slow start, Governor Sanwo-Olu has quickly caught up with the challenges of transportation in Lagos. Massive road repair works have been undertaken and today, in several parts of the city, it is possible to drive around without fearing for the shock absorbers of one’s car. Several major road projects, on the Island and Mainland of the city, are on-going and, in many cases, near completion. The reconfiguration of roundabouts in several parts of the city, with the deployment of traffic lights to ease the flow of vehicles, has also gone a long way in reducing the notorious traffic jams in key spots.

    Still on transportation, it is in the completion of the first part of the Lagos Blue Line Rail Service that Governor Sanwo-Olu earns his spurs. For so long, Lagos has cried out for a rail-based mass transit system. For 40 years, hopes have been raised and dashed, with many starts and stops along the way. Not anymore. Even more important, the Lagos Red Line Rail Service is also nearing completion, thus easing intra-city movement for residents of the city in two important corridors (Lagos Island to Mile 2, and Lagos Island to Sango-Otta).

     On security, after a shaky start, Governor Sanwo-Olu has stepped up to the security challenges of Lagos. More investments have been made to the existing security architecture of the state, including provision of over 400 security vehicles, motor-cycles, and armoured carriers. In addition, over 1,000 electronic gadgets have been supplied to security agencies. A significant addition to the security architecture is the Lagos Neighbourhood Safety Corps (LNSC) through which the state operationalises the Southwest Regional Security Network (otherwise known as Amotekun). Through this, the state maintains a firm security handshake with the rest of the southwest states of the country. All these are further accentuated by the commission of the Emergency Security Regional Centre in Epe.

    How do we measure success of all these efforts? The formerly rampant traffic robbery incidents are now a thing of the past. Indeed, Lagos is largely robbery free. Even more important, Lagos has seen the steady inorganic growth of its population, as many citizens displaced by the insecurities in the north and east of the country have found refuge in the safety and security that the Centre of Excellence offers.

    On housing, Governor Sanwo-Olu has also been busy with multiple housing projects in different parts of the state. So far, over 4,000 housing units of different shapes and sizes have been started and completed by the government. More importantly, these have been spread across the state, from Ikorodu to Epe to Badagry to Surulere. Are these enough to plug the housing deficits in the state? Not by any means. But they represent a start in the long and steady journey to bring affordable housing to the teaming populace.

    Have things gone very well since 2020? No. The #EndSARS protests and its aftermath still leave a sad taste in the mouth. Lagos, as is often the case in Nigeria, became the focal point of a national struggle by the youths against a repressive police force in dire need of reform. Once again, Sanwo-Olu found himself at the front of a national crisis. While federal government officials cowered away, he stepped up to meet youth leaders on the burning issue. He sought to play the peace-maker all through. Sadly, when the federal government finally used the military to end the stand-off, all the blame ended up, rather unfairly, on the desk of the governor. He continues to carry and bear the vicarious liability for the show of force by federal agencies that, constitutionally, are beyond his powers to control or order.

    Lagos State has witnessed an interesting, tumultuous and progressive four years (less a few months) under the leadership of Sanwo-Olu. He has not been perfect. But when viewed dispassionately, few could have successfully weathered the storms that he has had to contend with. An even fewer number could have made a success of his tenure, and end up producing lemonade out of the many lemons thrown at them. It is for these, and many more reasons, that Lagosians should go out and re-elect Babajide Sanwo-Olu come March 11. He deserves it, and Lagos deserves his even-keel, forward-looking leadership.

    •Adetayo is a public affairs commentator and writes from Lagos.

  • Dino’s theatrics

    Dino’s theatrics

    Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain, Senator Dino Melaye, has never been someone constrained by civility in public comportment. He expresses himself impulsively, and at times with grotesque exertions bordering on the comical. One image of him that endures in memory was from way back in 2007, at the early stages of his National Assembly (NASS) career. There on the rostrum in the House of Representatives was torn-vested Honourable Melaye who, as a member of the green chamber, dug in at the side of then House Speaker Patricia Etteh and waved his shirt that he had pulled off as he fiercely defended Etteh against internal rebellion by a so-called Integrity Group. Not that he succeeded with that pitch, because the first and till date only ‘Madam Speaker’ in Nigeria’s history was displaced by the insurrection after barely five months in the saddle. Later when he  moved to the Senate chamber and crisscrossed between PDP and the All Progressives Congress (APC), and even in the last few years he has been out of NASS, he has remained an active partisan and rambunctious personality with high visibility – largely for his vociferous theatrics.

    Melaye lived up to billing early last week as PDP agent at the national collation centre operated by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) pertaining to the 25th February presidential election. The centre became operational from Sunday, 26th February, for collation of the poll results and was presided over by INEC Chairman Professor Mahmood Yakubu, who by constitutional provision was the chief returning officer of the election. Following the announcement of results from Ekiti State, which was the first state to be collated, Melaye raised objections that figures announced by the commission did not match what his party had. INEC had declared APC candidate and now President-elect Bola Tinubu winner in Ekiti with 201,494 votes, defeating Abubakar Atiku of PDP who scored 89,554 votes, Peter Obi of Labour Party (LP) with 11,397 votes and Rabiu Kwankwaso of New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) who polled 264 votes. Melaye alleged that his party’s calculation showed a discrepancy of 887 votes in the total announced.

    The INEC chair, however, stood by the results brought in by Professor Akeem Olawale Lasisi, who was the state collation officer of the presidential election (SCOPE), saying: “This is what is on the spreadsheet that we screened yesterday, and this is also what is on the actual result manual recorded by the SCOPE and signed by the PDP agent and agents of other political parties back in Ekiti State.” Melaye got fellow travellers on his protest train in the agents of LP and Action Alliance (AA), who backed his observation as he held up the collation process. But Professor Yakubu did not want the process delayed as he restated the official total number of accredited voters, adding: “I’ve taken note of your observations, let’s make progress. What we have here is exactly what I’ve said. Any other figure that is at variance with this one cannot supersede the official result presented.”

    As the process progressed, Melaye headed up an expanded protest, demanding that results of the presidential election uploaded from the polling units be projected on a screen before collation could continue. INEC had just before then acknowledged delays in uploading results to its portal with the Bi-modal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) device it deployed for the poll, explaining that the difficulty was a technical hitch that was being redressed. “The commission is aware of challenges with the INEC Results Viewing Portal (IReV). Unlike in off-season elections where the portal was used, it has been relatively slow and unsteady… The problem is totally due to technical hitches related to scaling up the IReV from a platform for managing off-season state elections to one for managing nationwide general elections,” INEC National Commissioner in charge of Information and Voter Education, Festus Okoye, said in a statement. He added inter alia: “It is not unusual for glitches to occur and be corrected in such situations. Consequently, the commission wishes to assure Nigerians that the challenges are not due to any intrusion or sabotage of our systems, and that the IReV remains well-secured. Our technical team is working assiduously to solve all the outstanding problems, and users of the IReV would have noticed improvements since last night.”

    It must be that Melaye saw a chink in INEC’s armour, because he seized on the portal issue to demand suspension of collation until uploaded results are projected on a screen. “The only way for us to see that BVAS has been bypassed is to see uploaded results. We insist the INEC chairman display uploaded results by state as the results are being presented,” he ranted. The PDP agent won over some other party agents who rallied behind his demand as they plied allegations of over-voting in Ekiti and Kwara states in results presented by the SCOPEs. Professor Yakubu argued that suspicions of over-voting should have been flagged at either the polling units during ballot counting, the registration areas during council area collation, or at the state collation centres – levels where the parties had their agents. He called recesses in-between the tense collation and gave agents of different political parties room to make their respective case, which he responded to. But he resisted the demand to hang up collation, amid repeated interruptions by Melaye who at some point threatened to “violently” stop the proceedings. His conduct indeed elicited a mild rebuke from Yakubu who called him out as being deliberately disruptive. It was during a recess called to defuse tension that Melaye got some party agents on board to walk out on the process if the INEC chair would not submit to their demand.

    But it was all too clear to any discerning observer. Melaye’s antics is the oldest tack in the playbook for enacting an inconclusive election. We have the evidence of the June 12, 1983 presidential poll that the Ibrahim Babangida military regime annulled to show that. The demand to suspend collation is only an opening gambit in the plot to edge the poll into inconclusion. Once that is conceded by the electoral body, the objectors would ply additional and expanded challenges against the election such that it would be impossible for the electoral body to restart collation and ultimately return a winner. INEC is wise to this game plan. That is the reason it rebuffs pressure to shelve collation and go after sorting out complaints, which are inevitable anyway and are for most times marginal to the thrust of results being collated.

    Only that partisans never give up on opening the gambit. In 2011, it was the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) that demanded suspension of results collation until INEC supplies it with biometric details of registered voters, which the electoral law mandates the commission to hold in confidence just so to ensure secrecy of electoral choice by the voters. In 2015 it was by way of the famous rant by former Niger Delta Affairs Minister Godsday Orubebe who, as PDP agent, hijacked collation proceedings and demanded that former INEC Chairman Professor Attahiru Jega leave the collation floor for allegedly failing to address his party’s complaints over results from Kano, Katsina, Kaduna and Gombe states. At the last count, we have Melaye and the gang. Partisans possibly would have circumvented INEC’s stonewalling by getting court injunction stopping collation, as was the case in 1983. But the electoral body is now insulated by legal framework from being hamstrung from carrying out its constitutional duties. Besides, their lordships must have learnt a few lessons from the 1983 fiasco about issuing such injunctions.

    By the way, the objection of PDP and other parties to the 2023 presidential poll was largely hinged on INEC’s failure to swiftly upload results onto its IReV portal. Was that from a sinister motive? I would say, not so. The commission’s explanation about technical glitch associated with scaling up the portal for general election purposes stands to reason and was borne out by the fact than more than 80 percent of the polling unit results had been uploaded five days after the election. The defectiveness of technology in the face of increased traffic of usage is notorious. That is the syndrome we presently duel with in digital banking  following Central Bank of Nigeria’s intensification of cashlessness in the economy through its ill-conceived naira redesign policy. Technology is cold and indifferent, it makes no exception.

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