The Nation Newspaper

Author: The Nation

  • Electoral bulala

    Electoral bulala

    I should shed a tear for the goat. Its primal cry trembled as it flailed and failed to wriggle its dark hide from the grips of ebo men in Lagos. The goat did not know the BOS of Lagos, nor if Gbadebo has another name across the pond, nor whether a battle was afoot over who first set foot on Lagos soil. One thing, however, was certain: its blood would mingle with that soil in a finality of its oblivion. The sacrifice went viral.

    This is how the spiritual can mock the political in the Nigerian space. There was a herd of the white-clothed men, singing and chanting around some parts of town. The Oro cult was there for emphasis. It was a comic spectacle although they did not see themselves as a circus. What was happening was an existential struggle. It was not about a political party, or a religious faith. It was a race in a fighting stance.

    It would not have happened if one race did not boast that Lagos belonged to no one. The Igbo and some south-south persons have maintained that Lagos does not belong to the Yoruba. Some say it was a colonial port city, a white man’s beloved. The colonial master invited the others to the place they founded. This is unfortunate, and it is partly because we do not study history in our schools. They should have known that Yorubas have always been here.

    The issue was that the door was thrown open and allowed others to dinner and use of the bathroom. But what the Yorubas saw was the question in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart – if a man defecates on your floor, what would you do? Of course, you would find a stick of terminator to go after the defecator.  That was what happened on Saturday. An electoral truncheon or bulala.

    Lagosians showed a virtue of democracy: it is not just about numbers, although it is. It is about sentiment above all else. Lagosians demonstrated the sentiment of ownership. Sociologists write about the ownership society, but they hardly refer to land and the power of the indigene. They speak about owning individual properties, careers, families and other destinies. But this version of ownership of the land is the root of all ownership, whether in a democracy or tyranny. Governor Ortom, a bumbling governor as regards development, exploited it to win elections because Buhari seemed to undermine Benue’s ownership impulse.

    But advanced democracies always play this game. In the United States, the citizens describe their society as a melting pot. In Canada, they call themselves a mosaic. Lagos wanted the American model not by example but by its own history. Lagos opened its arms and others have come to take it for granted. We saw it hit its dark chapter in the presidential polls when the APC presidential candidate lost to the Labour Party man. Rather than see it as a collective sigh for the republican spirit, an ethnic dimension took hold when brothers from the east started not only to gloat but beat their chests that they would take over the state house.

    They started even mocking the governor for attending churches, cooling his tongue with ice cream, et al, as though he had not been doing so in the past. They boasted about a candidate who wanted to upturn the way of the tribe by installing a rival monarch, undermine the indigene in the name of a cosmopolitan idea. He could not speak the language and he privileged the settler over the indigene.

    Of course, we cannot underplay the role of the church. They turned brother against brother in Yorubaland, but the followers did not understand their pecuniary motivations. One, they had status anxiety when the Corporate Affairs Department asked them to follow the rules of succession. Two, they had Jonathan-era nostalgia when the ex-president gave them an episcopal cover. Three, they saw a pr move to swell the ranks of followers.

    But what happened in Lagos last Saturday was to raise roots of origin over belief. For instance, where I voted in the presidential poll, APC had 37 votes and LP had 20. PDP had one vote. Last weekend, APC had 51 votes and LP had nine, PDP had none. I observed that those who voted Labour who were Yoruba changed camp. My voting area was outside my estate. There were two polling areas in the estate. The first one had 83 votes for APC and Labour had 23. Two weeks ago, LP had over 40 votes while APC had less than 60 votes. In the second place, the APC scored 96 votes but the din of celebration drowned the LP number. In the presidential poll, APC won by only four votes. This time, LP might have attracted less than ten votes.

    The voters started to dance and scream, “a ti dibo, a ti wole.” We have voted and we have won. They started saying “this is Yorubaland. You can’t come and take our land from us. God forbid.” A visceral exhalation. That is the depth of suspicion. There were instances of violence, snatching of ballot boxes and even bloodletting in Lagos. I condemn all. But the conduct was vastly peaceful, and it reflected a primordial tension between two tribes. The Igbo and Yoruba. And for the youth who know nothing of their past, they should learn that at one time, Igbos and Yorubas went to the market to buy machetes for war when the great Zik was accused of misappropriating the funds of NCNC. Rather than address the allegation, he said it was because he was an Igbo man. Dare Babarinsa misled readers when he normalised Rhodes-Vivour’s ambition as Lagos narrative, citing Zik’s bid to be premier of the West. He did not show that Awo rose to counter him partly because Zik saw it as an Igbo man taking over a Yoruba race, and hence he failed. In revenge, Zik did not rise above a petty temperament when he dislodged Eyo Ita from the East to pave way to become the premier of that region.

    Maybe to bring peace between them, Awo called Zik to coalesce their forces against NPC to be prime minister in the first republic so Awo could serve under him as finance minister. Zik preferred to be ceremonial president, sqafing tea and hosting heads of state and dinners instead of developing this country. He became a cipher under Tafawa Balewa. Why did he not trust Awo? After all, he would be the boss and could even fire the Ikenne man. He was more afraid of his own shadows.

    The tension has been here all along. The man who raked it up of late was Jonathan who worked with the eastern elite and guber candidate Jimi Agbaje, who promised to install an Igbo king. This undermined the efforts president-elect Asiwaju Bola Tinubu had made over the years to integrate the Igbos into the state affairs. Jonathan relocated to Lagos and made the CBN his farmstead.

    What democracy calls for is a cooperative spirit. When Obama ran for president, he ran as an American, not a black man. Hence, he won. The blacks voted as one bloc, and it riled the foul blood of the alt-right who threw up Trump as the hero on a white horse. We must be careful not to make this an ethnic city but one of ethics. It is not in the hands of the indigene to ensure peace, but those who come from outside.

    Whatever the celebration must be for the APC in Lagos, it should be seen as a warning, not ecstasy. The party will have to review its party mechanics and those who have fallen victim to what Francois Rene Chateaubriand says of the phases of a cause or institution: utility, privilege and abuse. Some partisans in the party are in that place between privilege and abuse. The party has to check this, but it needs to take a deeper look.

    It is a pity that many would have loved to vote for all the great things the BOS of Lagos, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has accomplished. But it was reduced to an us-versus-them fireworks. However, his place in history is stout and unassailable.

  • What a cause

    What a cause

    I watched a few Yoruba youths last Saturday at the voting arena, and they were discussing the LP candidate. They were about half a dozen, and all but one of them were obidients. A young lady was Batified and she tried to show to the folks that the LP man instrumentalized the church to rally the young. The others denied. She held her own with facts and logic. One of them said he did not see him attend any churches. I engaged them for a few minutes and said, “Do you know that this same man invested the state funds in the family business?” They said there was nothing wrong with that. He has explained his role in public. I gave up on them. In this area, I knew I was sure My generation was better. We lashed out at Bakin Zuwo, then Kano governor, who kept government money in government house and so had license to spend it. This is a new Bakin Zuwo and the youths are applauding. O ma se o! I reflected that the Yoruba youth were not clever. The Igbo youths see the LP man’s project as their own and make the Yoruba youth believe it is for everyone. And the Yoruba youth fall for the cause. That is the curse.

  • Braimah at 60

    Braimah at 60

    Former classmate and one of the gems of this generation, Ehimare Braimah, turns 60 on Tuesday. The mathematics graduate had turned numbers the way he now turns words for pr and for marketing. Journalism he takes in his stride. He was the smallest boy in our class one in Government College Ughelli. He was, as our class master Asoro described him, a small boy who had the biggest grade. Happy birthday.

  • Unstable varsity calendar and under-development

    Unstable varsity calendar and under-development

    By Oluwole Ogundele

    Good quality education is the cornerstone of personal and corporate development in all modern societies. But surprisingly, the Nigerian leadership culture has little space for education as if sustainable development matters. The key stakeholders are still disdainful of education especially at the university level. The leaders fail to draw wisdom from the experiences of Europe, America, and parts of Asia. Nigeria cannot become a respectable member of the global community without a thoroughly educated citizenry, capable of transforming material resources into wealth in the interest of the common good.

    By this token, there is a robust relationship between education and sustainable socio-economic development. This relationship can be understood against the background of a number of elements-policies and activities. Therefore, a huge investment in education is a wise engagement both now and in the future. Nigeria can only trivialise education at its own peril. That is to say, that such an investment is the hallmark of charismatic leadership as opposed to rulership which ontologically detaches itself from the led.

    Good political leaders are the true representatives of the masses. Experience over the years, has shown that the Nigerian people are not too difficult to govern. The genes of the people are not woven with threads of unbridled crimes and criminality as well as backwardness. Each Nigerian has 46 chromosomes in the diploid cell like his European or American counterparts. The main problem is that Nigerians are products of a seriously polluted social environment by poor, mediocre leadership. That is, a leadership that has no respect for the concept of social contract. An unjust, barbaric system that is proud of excessively rewarding a few Nigerians masquerading as leaders, while it impoverishes the moral majority. This scenario leads to the appalling performance among other things, of our rulers with respect to the education sub-sector of the economy.

    However, these challenges are not insurmountable in the face of a determined, disciplined leadership. Luckily, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the president-elect has the capacity to begin to steadily re-engineer Nigeria- a derailed geo-polity in dire need of help/rescue. Thus, for example, an epileptic varsity calendar has become a gargantuan embarrassment for this country. Unstable academic calendar is largely traceable to incessant strike actions by academic staff and to a lesser degree, non-academics. ASUU strike has turned into a biennial ritual, paralysing students and lecturers.

    No public university student is very sure of when he will finish his programme due to incessant strike actions, sometimes reaching nine months. For instance, the 2022 strike action lasted for eight months. Naturally, students become demoralised as a result of this ugly situation that needs very urgent attention. I’m not aware of anywhere in the whole world, where students are so shabbily treated by ‘the powers that be.’  On each occasion, the government (often imbued with unwarranted ego, laced with infantile/political posturing) and ASUU (characterised by a great degree of bellicosity and a lack of elementary tact as well as diplomacy) fail to deeply understand and appreciate the dangers inherent with serious disruptions of the academic calendar for months. Academic instability causes irreparable damage to society. Therefore, both parties must learn to give and take in the interest of Nigeria’s healthy survival. Enough is enough!

    Mediocre graduates cannot add value to the Nigerian society. Painfully, students and their parents assume (rather wrongly) that they do not have a critical role to play in addressing this menace (which is gradually becoming an annual event), rocking the foundations of Nigeria’s sustainable development.

    It is too easily forgotten, that good governance will remain an illusion in the face of docile followership. Nigeria is one of the African countries with the most unstable university calendar. Stable calendar is central to excellent training and research. Some of the African countries with stable academic calendar are South Africa, Kenya, Ghana, Botswana, Egypt, and Namibia. Nigeria needs to join this group as soon as possible. 

    Discouraging unstable academic calendar through the lens of mutuality of respect and unalloyed patriotism is of the essence in Nigeria.  After wasting eight months at home last year, the innocent Nigerian students were once again, given three weeks of electoral holidays in 2023. How can we get the best from such a system?

    Too many irregular holidays make a mockery of tertiary education in Nigeria. The university senate legally in charge of academic calendar among other things has been thoroughly paralysed.  Nigerian public university students no longer have confidence in the educational system that is in a coma. The story is different in Ghana, one of our nearest neighbours.

    Except on rare occasions, both the government and the leadership of the University Teachers’ Association of Ghana (UTAG) would not allow a strike action to last more than three or four days‘ in the interest of the entire society.  Consequently, with the exception of the Bachelor of Law (LL.B), Bachelor of Surgery, and Doctor of Veterinary Medicine programmes, the four-year duration for all first degree studies, does not change. The Ghanaian university calendar is from September to July. This academic heritage of commitment is jealously protected by all the stakeholders. The central government and UTAG leadership are extremely jealous of their good reputation in this connection. Not unexpectedly, there are many foreign students in the Ghanaian universities doing short-term programmes, contrary to what obtains in Nigeria.  Ghana also has a lot of external students for regular programmes especially in the Universities of Ghana (Legon) and Cape Coast, where they pay high tuition fees in US dollars. But conversely, unstable academic calendar, epileptic electric power supply, and extremely high rate of insecurity are robbing Nigerian varsities of the universality of profound intellectual experience.

    It puzzles me a great deal that those in charge of education can feel comfortable in the face of incessant industrial unrest, particularly when it is recklessly prolonged. This attitude should come to an end as from June, when much greater sanity begins to reign supreme in our beleaguered geo-polity. There is no doubt that the in-coming administration under the charismatic direction of Tinubu will generate several policies that are people-centred.  Currently, nothing is working because birds are no longer crying like birds. More and more university students are abandoning their programmes in order to escape to foreign countries, due to hopelessness and maximum material poverty at home. Without mincing words, the new president is the messiah of the thoroughly impoverished Nigerians.  Ministers and other top public officers, who are not performing optimally, should be shown the way out. A new General Officer Commanding (GOC) chosen by the Nigerian masses and by extension, Providence is now in charge. This is a world away from primordial ethnic and religious sentiments. Unprecedented hunger has taught a lot of Nigerians a big lesson. The youth are now getting wiser than hitherto.  Governance is a serious business in saner climes and cultures. No room for sentiment in good leadership. Nigeria can only be an exception at its own peril.

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

  • Democracy test

    Democracy test

    Writing under the title “Critical issues in Saturday’s elections” in February 27, this column had highlighted the highpoints on which the overall credibility and integrity of February 25 presidential and National Assembly elections would be judged.

    The article which was submitted on the eve of the elections and published two days after, had established the challenges that faced the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as it got set to conduct the imminent polls. It was the contention of that write-up that how the electoral umpire is able to navigate those challenges will be a measure of the level of progress of the country within the democratic chart.

    There were also attitudinal and behavioural issues; their impact on nation-building that were billed to face interrogation from the pattern of eventual voting given the plurality of the contestants. And since the issues canvassed then were largely provisional as the elections were yet to hold, it is apposite to re-examine them now to see the level of impact they had in the controversy trailing those elections thereafter.

    As in the previous article, this one will be submitted on the eve of the governorship and House of Assembly elections and published after those elections would have been lost and won.

    It could be considered the second part of the earlier article. Those issues critical to the February 25 elections are still very alive as they equally pose greater challenges for the March 18 polls. The stakes are even much higher with all that is known to have transpired during the presidential and National Assembly elections.

    There are fears of massive voter apathy in the face of uncertainties as to whether the sordid lapses of the last elections will be a repeat performance. But INEC has not given any indication that set rules have been altered. So, it is presumed the elections will be conducted under the same conditions as the presidential and National Assembly polls. Both will inexorably, face similar challenges.

    What are the issues? The first identified challenge the electoral umpire was anticipated to face during the first round of elections was in the area of logistics. It was observed that in the past, delays and late delivery of election materials on voting days impacted adversely on voter turnout and led to recriminations and allegations of partiality against the electoral umpire.

    INEC was advised to ensure timely and contemporaneous delivery of election material across the country as it stands a critical area on which its activities will definitely come under serious inquisition. What was the performance of the electoral body like on the day of the election? INEC was found abysmally wanting.

    The elections were billed to start by 8am and end at 2.30 pm. Sadly, in many parts of the country, voting materials did not get to the polling units even by the 2.30 pm elections were supposed to have been concluded. In places where officials arrived somewhat early, they came with incomplete materials resulting in delays and disenfranchisement of the electorate who after waiting for hours left out of frustration.

    A measure of this large scale disenfranchisement is evident from the results of the presidential elections where the combined scores of all the candidates merely added up to just one quarter of the 93.4 million registered voters. There could be other reasons for the low turnout including trust deficits and deliberate manipulations by rogue officials.

    But unavailability and late arrival of election materials turned out a potent factor despite the high interest generated by that particular election.

    Technology: Much of the optimism that the elections would mark a sharp and substantial departure from our sordid electoral pasts characterized by the writing and alteration of election results, ballot box snatching and changing of results as they are conveyed to the collation centres centred on the new technology INEC promised to deploy. The commission did a test run of the new devise and assured Nigerians of its efficacy in direct transmission of results in real time, from the polling units to its result viewing centres.

    Through the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and direct transmission of election results, the electoral umpire sought to reassure Nigerians that their collective will expressed at the ballot will neither be tampered with nor circumscribed. BVAS was seen as the lynchpin on which the wheels of free, fair and credible elections revolved.

     Because technological innovations were consistent with public yearnings for electoral reforms, the idea in no small way shored up the confidence of the electorate in the elections. BVAS was seen as the game changer.

    It remained the actual conduct of the elections for this optimism to be tested. And what was the outcome? The BVAS functioned during the accreditation of voters. But when it came to the critical function of real-time transmission of results from the polling units to the result viewing centres, the worst happened. That expectation was dashed to the consternation of voters who were fed all manner of excuses for the colossal and inexplicable failure.

    INEC was to cite what it called glitches or hitches to rationalize that colossal embarrassment and unmitigated failure. Unscrupulous politicians and their cronies wasted no time in taking undue advantage of this failure to write results manually and mutilate those not favourable to them. The rejection of the results of the election by the leading political parties is largely on account of the mess that became of the BVAS in direct transmission of election results.

    It is presumed the BVAS will also be in use in the governorship and House of Assembly elections. INEC secured a court order to reconfigure the device for the said elections. What will again come under serious test in Saturday elections is whether the calamity that befell the devise in the February 25 polls will pull a repeat performance. This issue promises very interesting and potentially contentious whichever direction it eventually turns out.

    The next challenge that faced INEC as it prepared for the presidential and National Assembly elections was the surging insecurity across the country. There were local government areas and constituencies where the security agencies were not in firm control. The dominance of non-state actors was so prevalent that even the political parties could not campaign in such districts.

    Questions were raised as to how the electoral umpire would possibly navigate these life threatening challenges; ferry election officials and materials to such areas on the day of elections. The prospect of elections holding in such places was absolutely not there. So what was the situation on the day of election?

    Reports indicated there were no elections in such areas. Nobody was prepared to risk their lives venturing into those places. INEC was to announce a blanket repeat of voting in areas elections were not held on the first day. Of course, nothing happened in most of those violent local governments abandoned by indigenes on account of unceasing killings.  

    But what turned out as a huge surprise especially in the case of Imo State was that results were posted for such areas. And one asks how did it happen? The dire security situation remains the same. The same questions are going to be asked if election results emanate from such areas again.

    The other key issue to be thrown up by that election was the level of progress of the country in nation-building. Because key contestants came from the three dominant ethnic groups in the country, the election was seen as a veritable test of the extent primordial and sectional predilections still influence voting choice. It was going to be a measure of the pre-eminence of national ethos and common sense of national belonging against religious and ethnic lure. What did we find after the polls?

    Though the three key contenders secured votes spread fairly across the country, the influence of ethnicity in the voting pattern was quite evident. They all showed greater electoral strengths within their dominant geo-political divides. That self-evident fact was equally admitted by the speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbjabiamila and a UN group.

    Even after that election, such destabilizing sentiments are freely being traded and canvassed by some supposedly well informed Nigerians; people who will tomorrow quickly pontificate on nationalism, patriotism and all that. But that is the real measure of who we are and where we are on the rungs of national integration.

    Little wonder fissiparous and centrifugal tendencies have continued in constant competition with the central authority for the loyalty of the citizens.

  • Seplat Energy: Who is orchestrating the disputes?

    Seplat Energy: Who is orchestrating the disputes?

    By Dan Aibangbe

    In the last couple of years, Nigeria left the legislative labour room, with the Petroleum Industry Act, PIA a much cherished postdate baby. The general expectation is that Nigeria should be headed for utopia and self-actualization at the highest levels within the industry. It is no wonder that the authorities were excited to accept the takeover of assets and interests of the exiting Mobil Producing Nigeria by Seplat Energy, into the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry.

    Seplat Energy PLC, established in 2009 with about 600-strong human resource base (as at 2022) and market value of GBP628.56 million (about N352 billion) has come a long way such that it achieved prime positioning both at the Nigerian Stock Exchange, NGX and the London Stock Exchange, LSE.

    With the corporate posture presented above, one should not be too surprised that such a big company would desire the profile of an international citizen as its Chief Executive Officer, having already secured a Nigerian as board chairman.

    Seplat started out with a Nigerian CEO Austin Avuru, who retired voluntarily in 2020 and was replaced with a British national. The executive management is very rich in Nigerian nationals, including Basil Omiyi (chairman), Emeka Onwuka, Samuel Ezeuguorie; Uche Lotanna-Anajemba, etc. 

    For those who are familiar with corporate structures, it is easy to discern that every facet of power in this organization is held by Nigerians and one should wonder how a ‘racist’ CEO could freely practice his racism in such an environment. It is more intriguing that a clique of minority stakeholders could make such frightening accusations without any such incidence having been captured in the whistle-blower structure of internal corporate governance system.  We must bear in mind that the oil industry in Nigeria is highly unionized, so why would the courts be the first recourse of such people if the interests are genuine?

    Another worrisome issue is the first accusation in the writ which mentioned the attitude of the CEO, Brown in abusing the Nigerian president in his privacy. How should this be of such concern that would warrant a court action, even if such was true?

    Are we no longer practicing democracy in Nigeria, such that comes with freedom of speech? Is the private conversation of a CEO now a matter of urgent corporate importance?  The immediate past president, Dr Goodluck Jonathan himself held the unofficial title of ‘The Most Abused Nigerian President, yet, he is alive, well and glowing as Nigeria’s Peace Ambassador Plenipotentiary! There’s a great adage attributed to the Poet General of Nigeria, late Mamman Vatsa ‘when a man begins to abuse himself, others will join him’.

    That said, what is the nature of such derogatory remarks or “unprintable” words used against the president of Nigeria that are tantamount to ‘high treason’ as being suggested by these plaintiffs? Is Seplat Energy now a government parastatal, where such mundane issues can be treated as insubordination? The Nigerian president and his presidency are far bigger, stronger and smarter than that!

    On the whole, I am seriously concerned at the extent to which Nigerians would haunt foreigners, just because of new found powers under a deregulated oil industry. How have we addressed the deficiencies and inefficiencies of our national oil corporation and regulator in this same oil industry? Nigeria has suffered serious pains due to the inefficiencies of NNPCL at great cost to our national productivity and cost of doing business, but here we have a few apparently disgruntled stakeholders, trying to hold a private entity to a higher responsibility than our national asset in same industry!

    Upon enquiries as to the origin of this legal action and the possible angst of the plaintiffs, I learnt it is not unconnected to the efforts of the new executive headed by Brown to sanitize the system to shape up to higher performance and position for greater capacity as demanded by the rapid growth in stature and scale of operation. Another angle to the litigation is suggested as the desire to force the removal of the incumbent, with the infantile hope that a softer personality may emerge as replacement to enable a certain cabal continue to undermine the company through conflict of interest act for personal benefits rather than corporate advancement.

    As gleaned from one of the news pages of the company website, seplatenergy.com, Seplat Women’s Awesome Network (known as SWAN) is totally dismayed by the misleading and distasteful public propaganda against the CEO, Roger Brown. They consider allegations contained in the petitions to the Ministry of Interior and the Federal High Court as containing blatant lies and uncharitable insinuations. They are unable to identify any of the individuals alleging these falsehoods as their fellow employees – past or present. They are seriously concerned that persons outside their employee population can purport to speak so purposefully and publicly on their welfare. 

    They also believe that the unfortunate (but perhaps intended) consequence of these efforts is to disparage the sterling record of their corporate champion and steadfast cheerleader while diverting the much-needed time and resources of the Ministry of Interior and courts away from legitimate concerns requiring their attention.

    As a body of women who stand for the utmost truth and equity for all, they are resolved to rise in support of their CEO with a firm stand against the public attacks on his person and his leadership. They also consider their very existence as a testament to Roger’s drive for equality and mutual advancement.

    It was under the new CEO’s leadership that a vision for gender equality finally crystallized at Seplat – after a decade of the company’s corporate existence. Persons external to Seplat can only speculate about (or worse still, maliciously fabricate) the disposition of the CEO on this subject, but in the interest of equity and truth, the have come forward to authoritatively and unequivocally underscore the CEO’s unblemished record of diversity, equality, and inclusion. 

    The SWAN is predominantly comprised of Nigerian employees. As a predominantly Nigerian female body of employees, they urge all stakeholders to heed their collective voice of truth and first-hand experience and to further disregard all malicious allegations circulating against Roger Brown.

    Clearly, the generality of staff at Seplat cannot wait enough to have Roger Brown back at his seat to continue the reformative standards and objectives he has been setting and achieving for the company. Would the courts and the Ministry of Interior come to the same conclusion? Would we arrive at ‘res ipsa loquitur’ in this case? Only time will tell!

    •Aibangbe, a media & public relations consultant wrote from Lagos.

  • Payback politics

    Payback politics

    After the February 25 presidential election, and the victory of president-elect Asiwaju Bola Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), there are political debts to be paid.  

    Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai issued a reminder to that effect when he addressed party supporters in Zaria, saying Tinubu should endorse Abbas Tajudeen, the Iyan Zazzau, for the position of Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives.

    Tajudeen, representing Zaria Federal Constituency, is the Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Land Transport. He has been re-elected, and El-Rufai wants him to be Speaker in the 10th National Assembly.

    The governor said: “We thank God that our member of the House of Representatives from Zaria, the Iyan Zazzau has won the election.” He told the gathering that he planned to “see Asiwaju in respect of the Speaker.”

    “The most important thing I will request from him, if at all I contributed to his success in the election, the only payback is for the Iyan Zazzau to become Speaker,” he added.

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had announced that Tinubu won the election with 8,794,726 votes. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Atiku Abubakar, who had 6, 984,520 votes, and the Labour Party (LP) candidate, Peter Obi, who got 6,101,533 votes, are challenging the election result.  

    Tinubu won 12 states (Benue, Borno, Ekiti, Jigawa, Kogi, Kwara, Niger,  Ogun, Ondo, Oyo, Rivers, Zamfara) and came second in 19 states (Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Cross River, Ebonyi, Edo, Gombe, Imo, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Lagos, Nasarawa, Osun, Plateau, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe).

    From the results, El-Rufai’s support did not win Tinubu Kaduna State. It is unclear how the governor arrived at the conclusion that his contribution to Tinubu’s victory in the presidential election qualified him to request the president-elect’s endorsement of Tajudeen.  It is puzzling that he presents the request with a sense of entitlement.

    If he feels entitled, what should be expected from the governors of the states Tinubu won? Did they do more to support Tinubu’s candidacy? What do they want as payback from the president-elect?  

    At a meeting with the party’s senators-elect and House of Representatives members-elect, APC National Chairman Abdullahi Adamu was reported saying, “The news media and especially the social media are full of speculations of some of you jostling for leadership positions in the National Assembly. This is not unusual. People have the right to struggle for positions of leadership for which they believe they are eminently qualified. 

    “But we, in the National Working Committee of the party, are not comfortable with the tone adopted by those who seek those offices. Those offices are not tribal or sectional rights and must not be so portrayed.”  

    This shows that the party is faced with a problem, and needs to deal with entitled members who believe it is their turn to occupy leadership positions in the National Assembly.

    Adamu added that “whatever sharing formula the party and the president-elect arrives at will be fair, just, equitable and satisfy the majority of our members.” It remains to be seen if the party’s formula will satisfy members who have an entitlement mentality.   

    Reports said a faction of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, the apex Igbo socio-cultural association, called for a “national healing process” after Tinubu emerged as president-elect.  Its Secretary-General, Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro, in a statement, said “he should ensure that Nigerians, especially Ndigbo, are accommodated in the distribution of public amenities and provide an enabling environment for businesses to thrive in the country.” 

    The group also called for “the formation of Government of National Unity (GNU),” saying, “These are the ingredients that will soothe frayed nerves and restore peace across the country.”

    It is strange that the group is seeking special treatment for Igbo people, and a so-called government of national unity. This is another instance of entitlement mentality.

    Tinubu said: “There has been talk of a government of national unity. My aim is higher than that. I seek a government of national competence. In selecting my government, I shall not be weighed down by considerations extraneous to ability and performance. The day for political gamesmanship is long gone.

    “I shall assemble competent men and women and young people from across Nigeria to build a safer, more prosperous, and just Nigeria. There shall be young people. Women shall be prominent. Whether your faith leads you to pray in a church or mosque will not determine your place in government. Character and competence will.”

    This suggests the president-elect recognises that only the people should feel entitled. Nigerians want a better society, and the majority of the voters voted for the presidential candidate they believed could make things better in the country.   

    Poverty, for instance, is a big issue. The national Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) report released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in November 2022 showed that poor governance provides enabling conditions for multidimensional poverty, which is beyond monetary poverty. It underlined the importance of good governance in the country’s pursuit of a better society.  

    The report said 133 million Nigerians were multidimensionally poor. This figure represents 63 percent of the country’s population of more than 200 million. Three out of five Nigerians live in poverty, according to the report.

    Poor governance in the country is attributable to multidimensional authorities, and tackling poverty demands action from the federal, state and local governments. It can be said, ironically, that poverty in the country is governance-driven. So, anti-poverty solutions must be governance-driven.

    The United Nations (UN) defines extreme poverty as “a condition characterised by severe deprivation of basic human needs, including food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education and information. It depends not only on income but also on access to services.”

     This definition captures not only monetary poverty but also multidimensional poverty, and how “deprivations in basic amenities” can be a means of assessing poverty.

    After Tinubu’s election, it’s payback time. It is understandable that there are people in his camp who expect to be paid back for their efforts to get him elected. But beyond this, better times under Tinubu will be the ultimate payback for millions of Nigerians.

  • National unity, prejudices and consequence of anger

    National unity, prejudices and consequence of anger

    SIR: I have been overwhelmed by concern over the heightened tension foisted on the nation partly by the declarations, imprudence, and miscues of two sides of the mob. There are always two sides to bigotry. Particularly concerning is the tension among Nigerians who have lived together in harmony for decades in Lagos State.

    First, it is bad politics for anyone, particularly a non-native to make ”taking over Lagos” a refrain. ”We’ll take over Lagos” – is bad sloganeering. It is revolting, and naturally will provoke resistance. I believe the same resistance will be compelled if non-natives of Anambra, for instance, say they want to change the political order in the state.

    The duelling mobs have been dutiful with divisive propaganda, which now appears to be pitting Nigerians against one another. Tired and enraging motifs like ”No man’s land” have been reintroduced into the public discourse. But Lagos, clearly, has aboriginal owners. It is the territorial heritage of the Yoruba.

    This is distressing rhetoric, really. Lagos is a melting pot of cultures and people. It has been welcoming and accommodating of everyone. It is depressing that this lodestar among states is the subject of vicious barbs and back talks. The real wealth of Lagos is its diversity. It is essential that Nigerians cognise this fact and protect the peace and sanity of the state.

    Second, it is important that Nigerians understand that the factotums of the brawling mobs do not represent any group. These are half-witted individuals who lack knowledge of history, direction, and constipated by anger. Let it be clear that they do not represent any ethnic group.

    Third, it is dangerous and unacceptable to profile any Nigerian citizen for whatever reason. We are all Nigerians with mutually guaranteed rights under the constitution. We must make a departure from the old ways of reasoning and interrogating issues. There is a need for us to discard prejudices and put Nigeria’s unity and Nigerians first in whatever we say and do.

    I was among the very few who spoke against the profiling of the Fulani when speaking out earned you excoriation and cancellation, and if you come from my part of the country, a death sentence. In fact, the detained leader of IPOB did a broadcast calling for my beheading.

    The bottom line is, we must be sensitive to Nigeria’s unity, peace, and harmony. “One Nigeria” is not vacant of meaning. It must mean something to us. We must imbibe it, and it should reflect in our thinking, in what we say and do. Is what we are saying promoting peace, unity, and facilitating the healing of all Nigerians or is it deepening strife and tension?

    We must understand the intricacies of governance and diversity and should not in any way become vectors of the social media contagion or soundboard for the noise, hate and prejudices of that ungoverned space. Nigeria is in our hands. The healing we all seek and the unity we all seek begin with every word we say.

    Fourth, Nigerians must be mindful of the sort of rhetoric they promote. We cannot build a country on mutual hostilities. Hate and prejudice are the thoroughfare to Rwanda. It is troubling that the injudiciousness of the sparring mobs has dissolved into ethnic recriminations.

    What some of those battering one another on the amphitheatres of ethnicity may not know is that the Yoruba and the Igbo are of the same ethnic phylum. Renowned scholars and historians like Adiele Afigbo and Samuel Johnson established this kinship which colonial politics of divide and conquer submerged.

    The two groups have had established trade-links dating to the period before contact with the first Europeans. And they are known to share passion for industry; are convivial, accommodating and peace loving.

    Also, there is no documented history of war between the Igbo and the Yoruba despite occupying the same “southern hemisphere”. In the precolonial times, wars among kingdoms and natives were common, but there is no recorded incident of battle between the clans and kingdoms of the two groups.

    In language, they are both of the Kwa-group Niger-Congo origin.  The similarities between the Yoruba and the Igbo language are remarkable, if not uncanny, which point to an identical fount. We are too connected to be divided.

    I condemn the violence, voter intimidation and harassment across the 31 states in the governorship elections. And I plead with all Nigerians to submit to peace and unity to build our nation and a brighter future for everyone.

    •Fredrick Nwabufo,

     <fredricknwabufo@yahoo.com>

  • Nnamdi Kanu’s cat-and-mouse relationship with fed. Govt.

    Nnamdi Kanu’s cat-and-mouse relationship with fed. Govt.

    SIR: The jubilation that greeted the October 13, 2022, order of the Court of Appeal in Abuja to the federal government to release Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, (MNK) , the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, is still fresh in memory.

    Interestingly, the court also discharged all the charges bordering on terrorism and treason levelled against him and ruled that his forceful extradition from Kenya to Nigeria for the continuation of his pending trial was illegal.

    I could imagine the heavy sigh of relief MNK heaved as the decision of the three-man panel led by Justice Jummai Hanatu was being reeled out to the hearing of the court. “Freedom, at last!”, he might have gasped.

    Of course, a lot of Nigerians shared these sentiments and they looked forward to MNK’s release in compliance with the court’s order. Alas, five months later, he is still in custody. The President Muhammadu Buhari-led government objected to the appellate’s court ruling. The Buhari regime not only blatantly refused to release him but also instituted other charges against him.

    MNK’s cat-and-mouse history with the federal government could account for the reason he remains a prisoner. He was first arrested in October 2015. MNK spent 18 months in prison without trial before being released on bail in April 2017 on health grounds. But he fled the country five months later after the Nigerian Army raided his home in Abia State, and killed several of his supporters. He was, however, re-arrested and brought back to Nigeria in June 2021 through the ‘collaborative efforts of Nigerian intelligence and security services’ to ‘continue facing his trial’, as the Minister of Justice and Attorney-general of the Federation, Abubakar Malami explained.

    Corroborating the ruling of the Abuja division of the Appeal Court, a Federal High Court in Umuahia, Abia state, on October 26, 2022, mandated the Nigerian government to return MNK to Kenya and to pay him N500 million as compensation for violating his fundamental human rights – another victory against the Buhari regime in his fight against his unlawful extradition.

    But the government has continued to hold MNK for ‘national and public interest’, in what can be interpreted as contempt of the court. This is despite the clamour by prominent groups and individuals for the Buhari regime to adhere to the courts’ verdict and the willingness of Enyinnaya Abaribe, a senator representing Abia-South senatorial district, Orji Kalu, former Abia State governor, and Governor Charles Soludo of Anambra state to stand as surety for him if he is granted bail.

    Two months to the end of President Buhari’s tenure, the fate of MNK remains unknown and undecided. The belief that his continued detention would be the end of the road for the struggle for Biafra’s independence turned out to be a delusion.

    Though the campaign for Biafra’s independence died during the build-up to the general election because of the emergence of Peter Obi, a former Anambra State governor, in the presidential race and the optimism that he stands a better chance of winning the election; given the unfavourable outcome of the February 25 presidential election, it remains to be seen whether the many who stood on the side of Igbo presidency in 2023 would pick up their verbal missiles and relaunch the struggle for Biafra’s autonomy.

    •Ezinwanne Onwuka,

    ezinwanne.dominion@gmail.com.

  • Now that states can generate own electricity

    Now that states can generate own electricity

    SIR: President Muhammadu Buhari has signed 16 constitutional amendment bills into law. One of these, by virtue of the presidential assent, will bring about a landmark change in the energy sector. It allows states to generate, transmit, and distribute electricity in areas covered by the national grid. This wasn’t allowed pre-amendment. This is genuine and realistic restructuring through the constitution.

    Former Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, attempted to solve the electricity problem in his domain when he invited Enron Power to see how the state could generate its own electricity and distribute it to residents rather than depending on what it gets from the national grid. That effort was frustrated by former President Olusegun Obasanjo because Tinubu did not have constitutional backing as electricity generation, transmission, and distribution were on the exclusive list.

    Power supply is an essential factor to industrialization and employment generation. Nigeria’s huge population and landmass has shown the futility of leaving power generation, supply and distribution exclusively in the hands of the federal government. Even after the privatisation of the sector, we still have not been able to achieve constant and stable power supply 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Buhari’s action marks the beginning of the solution to the perennial power problem which has plagued us for decades.

    Sub-national governments can now generate their own power and distribute it to their residents as they deem fit. They can even decide to sell the excess electricity generated to neighbouring states or countries that they share borders with. This policy will bring about fair competition among state governments given its enormous potential and benefits.

    States with geographical contiguity and a viable energy market can come together to jointly own and finance energy infrastructure. The south-western states can do this under the Odua Investment Company Limited. The south-south states which have abundance of gas deposits (the second largest reserves in the world after Russia) can also come together to form a company that will generate electricity with gas and even supply the excess gas to neighbouring regions and countries. This way, no state or region will be left behind due to cash crunch and there will be near uniformity of development across geopolitical zones.

    Kudos to the ninth National Assembly under the leadership of Senator Ahmed Lawan and Rt. Honourable Femi Gbajabiamila for ensuring the successful passage of this bill. Also, kudos to the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) for their inputs and support towards making this bill a reality.

    This constitutional amendment signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari will unleash energy independence and will be one of the most significant developments in Nigeria’s quest for rapid industrialisation and economic prosperity.

    •Peter Ovie Akus,

     New Jersey, USA.