The Nation Newspaper

Category: Monday

  • Certificate of controversy

    Senator Rochas Okorocha controversially got a certificate of return from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on June 11, following the order of a Federal High Court in Abuja. But getting the certificate didn’t clarify how the former Imo State governor won the Imo West Senatorial District election held on February 23.

    It’s one thing to be declared the winner of an election; it’s another thing whether such declaration was uninfluenced by duress.  It is interesting that INEC is interested in how election winners were declared winners. When the Returning Officer, Prof Innocent Ibeawuchi, alleged that he was forced to declare Okorocha of the All Progressives Congress (APC) the winner of the poll, the allegation stained the winner as well as the win.

    Ibeawuchi had told reporters that he was held hostage from 7pm on February 24 till 11am the following day.  He was quoted as saying:  “I was compelled to announce the result which was inconclusive. I am a man of integrity and it is not true that the governor slapped me but I was held hostage by agents working for him. I was manhandled and I thank God I came back alive.”

    Of course, the professor’s claim that he had declared Okorocha winner “under duress” calls into question how the former governor won the senatorial election. A certificate of return should not be in the hands of an election candidate whose victory was declared under duress. Democracy is not about duress.

    It is striking that there were others like Okorocha whose election victories were doubtful because the returning officers involved were allegedly forced to declare them winners.   INEC’s National Commissioner and Chairman of Information and Voter Education Committee, Mr Festus Okoye, said the commission had received similar reports concerning the National Assembly poll in Oju/Obi Federal Constituency in Benue State, as well as the House of Assembly elections in Niger and Akwa Ibom states.

    He told reporters in Makurdi on March 22: “The commission has not given a certificate of return to anyone from Obi/Oju, the same thing with Agaye state constituency in Niger State. There is also another state constituency in Akwa Ibom. So as of today, there are four areas where declarations were made under duress and we said we will not give certificates of return to those individuals.” “Some of them are already in court,” Okoye had added.

    Justice Okon Abang’s judgement on June 7 favoured Okorocha who had challenged INEC’s decision to withhold his certificate of return. The judge said:”Once a declaration of the results has been made, that decision is final and can only be reviewed by the election petition tribunal and not by INEC… Once the declaration is made under section 68(c) of the Electoral Act, INEC has become functus officio (has completed its responsibility) and INEC has no lawful authority to withhold the Certificate of Return for any reason whatsoever.”

    According to Justice Abang, “If indeed, it is true that the Returning Officer made the declaration under duress, it is for the defendants who lost in the election to proceed to the election tribunal to challenge the election under section 138 of the Electoral Act… INEC has not, in its counter-affidavit, suggested that the plaintiff did not win the election. INEC did not declare the election as inconclusive. INEC did not declare that the election was won by any other person.”

    Justice Abang’s judgement means that INEC’s refusal to issue certificates of return to the other candidates involved in cases of alleged declaration of election winners under duress is equally unlawful.

    INEC highlighted “the likely consequences of this judgment for our electoral process in particular and our democracy in general.” The commission said in a statement: “Obviously, persons who seek elective offices could perceive in this judgment an irrelevance of due process and acting within the law.”

    “It is not farfetched that some of them could in future disregard laid-down processes, including voting, arm themselves and mobilise thugs and compel Returning Officers to declare them elected, irrespective of the true outcomes of the elections.

    “Moreover, it may become increasingly difficult for the commission to convince its officials that they are safe to carry out their legitimate functions without fear of being harassed, held to ransom or visited with bodily harm.”

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) senatorial candidate in Imo West, Jones Onyereri, described Justice Abang’s judgement as “slaughtering of justice,” and “a nauseating decision.” Onyereri said he would appeal the judgment.

    A statement by the director-general of his campaign organisation, Eze Ugochukwu, accused Abang of bias, saying, “The inevitability of the judgement was obvious.” “The handling of the case from the start, left much to be desired, as issues of obvious bias were not hidden, including suspension and abridgement of rules of court, overt intimidation of defence lawyers, and harassment of same; whereas the plaintiff lawyer was allowed a field day in court. The reality is that the decision came from a court of first instance. Therefore, the decision stands to be tested at the appellate courts while the trial at the tribunal goes on.”

    The controversy continues because Okorocha was declared winner in controversial circumstances.  Prof Ibeawuchi’s claims that he was “compelled to announce the result which was inconclusive,” and “held hostage” and “manhandled” by agents working for Okorocha, are serious allegations.  An election candidate should not benefit from such lawlessness.  The court, in apparently following what the law says, should not endorse such lawlessness.

    The problem of electoral interference by candidates and their backers has many shapes and sizes. If the law failed to anticipate the question of declaration of election winners under duress, then it is time to review the law. A democratic system must not tolerate the lawlessness Prof Ibeawuchi described.

    The don had said he had to announce the result because he feared for his life.  He claimed that the election should have been declared inconclusive because of the electoral fraud in eight Local Government Areas.  According to the declared result, Okorocha polled 97,762 votes to win the election ahead of Onyereri (68,117) and All Progressive Grand Alliance’s Osita Izunaso (30,084). The question is whether the result should stand.

  • Posterior governor

    His antics bring to mind the description of King Leopold of Belgium in the 19th century as the “big-minded man in an insignificant kingdom.” Or what Shakespeare said of men who have grown too big for their status. The English bard described such persons as “man dressed in a little brief authority.”

    Even out of power, Rochas Okorocha seems to be angling for a new position in Imo State. Such a position, for want of a better word, is “post-governor.” Others of his set are content to fade as “past governors.” He cannot be post-governor because the position is anathema not only to common decency but also to law. I would rather call him, in a burst of magnanimity, a “posterior governor,” which ossifies him in the back seat, in the shadows of Imo State politics.

    Rather than depart in peace, he still revels in tumult. He says he left N42.5 billion in the purse, yet he had not handed over to his successor, Emeka Ihedioha. He started acting like a post governor, dictating what the money should be used for. He broke it down his comical way. He said N8.1 billion should go for the payment of salaries and capital projects. Was he referring to salaries he did not pay, or capital projects he did not do or he did not do well like a bridge in Owerri that he installed without rods. A death trap, a commissioned murder weapon against his own people.

    Whereas even less than a month in, Governor Ihedioha has set in motion some road work, in spite of the fact that the handover notes reached him over a week after Okorocha departed power, or power departed him. He said he left N5.2 billion for pension arrears; the megalomaniac did not want to pay the pensioners these past years. He was not only magnanimous to the old men and women, he was also so kind to the incumbent governor that he handed him all that money and wanted him to take the glory. The question, though, is, why is he praising himself like the proverbial lizard who fell from a tree? I thought he wanted Ihedioha to get the glory, so why is he announcing it himself? He said he decided to leave it to his successor, especially the man who bested his in-law who was a parody of democratic candidature.

    He said he loved education so much he left N7.6 billion to renovate schools and his heart so beat for the subaltern Imo people that he bequeathed N21.6 billion for rural roads. How many schools did he renovate in eight years? How many rural roads did he pave, or liberate from the wilds of dust and bushes? This man is playing “post governor” by rhetoric, and governor after the fact – a speechifying Excellency. By making himself a “a post governor,” he is admitting he did not govern while he was on the throne.  A “post governor” who could not hand over to his successor. Even vehicles of government are not available. Governor Ihedioha still acquits himself in his own vehicles. Okorocha is basking in a rumour of his own arrest. It was a burlesque show of pre-emptive strike, to strike the EFCC before EFCC strikes him. Who knows, maybe EFCC is not contemplating him. The EFCC announced that he was not arrested. Was anyone afraid?

    There was some hoopla of a shame of a monument that was being brought down. Maybe some of his ardent lovers still live in the past. They probably think Zuma’s legacy is so beautiful. Or maybe some lovers of Imo want his monument down.

    Whatever the case, I believe the monument of Zuma should come down. It is a disgrace. Maybe Okorocha wanted the monument as an indirect monument to himself, so when people see the monument decades from now, they would ask, who put this here, and the answer would be “one Okorocha, who was governor.” It is a comedian’s conflation of legacy. His “bromance” with Zuma, be it homo-erotic or hero-worship, belies all the heroes of Igboland from Zik to Achebe. He did not refer to some of the rumpus he left behind. The doctors went on strike, and the new governor has put that to rest with the spirit of a peacemaker. Ditto to the state polytechnic that now smells like an olive branch because the new man is not like King Leopold. The same thing cannot be said of the man in Ibadan,    who hit the wrong strides as though manically returning Oyo State to the tempest that Ajimobi quelled.

    Okorocha wants to be a monument, because he is not monumental; if he is monumental, it is that he is a monumental failure. He is a perversion of what the Poet Lord Byron said of Greece after it had lost its glory and empire: “Immortal but no more,” or what the same poet wrote, referring to legacies that should expire: “I am more fit to die than people think.” An Okorocha would be what writer Walter Raleigh called “a monument to dead ideas.”

    Governor Ihedioha has said the man did not hand over. Okorocha never had anything gubernatorial to say to that. Okorocha is still wounded by his loss, his inability to perpetuate family ties in Imo democracy. He was one of the headaches that APC party chairman Adams Oshiomhole had when he wanted to turn democracy into family entitlement.

    He acted against the Igbo grain. He wanted also to be a royalist in a democracy. Maybe because he had lived in the north for much of his life, he became a feudalist who wanted to impose a king. The Igbos resisted it against the white man. Now they have overthrown it with the thumbprint on Election Day. By doing that, the people of Imo State embraced republicanism over royalty and decided they wanted a new man. It did not make sense for him to start playing governor. He is in a dream, and he probably thinks his delusion of grandeur would help him out.

    He should allow the new man to settle and do the work the people set him out to do. He cannot overthrow the people’s mandate. He probably thinks he is one of the best gifts to Imo State politics. He once flirted with Nigerian presidency. He belongs to the poor class of political elite that Shakespeare loathed in his famous play, Hamlet. In that play, the tragic figure defined the politician as “the one that would circumvent God.” He said it while viewing a gravedigger holding up a skull. Shakespeare meant that power is vanity. Okorocha should learn that. He could not hold anything sublime while in office. He could not keep his commissioners. He could not keep his deputy governors.  He could not keep his lips shut.

     

    Give them to Lawan, Gbaja and Omo-Agege

    SOME have objected to Femi Gbajabiamila being speaker on the ground that the vice president Prof. Yemi Osinbajo is the number two citizen. History shows that when the persons are competent, there is no issue. Even if balancing is desirable, competence is inevitable. When Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe was the number one citizen as president in the First Republic, who was the  Senate president? It did not matter that the Onitsha man parleyed with Nwafor Orizu, an Nnewi man, as Senate President. In the Second Republic under Shehu Shagari, Dr. Alex Ekwueme was vice president when Ume Ezeoke was the number four citizen as speaker of the House of Representatives. When Jonathan ruled the roost, Ike Ekweremadu was deputy senate president and Pius Anyim was secretary to the federal Government. In the same way, no one objects that the president is from the north as Lawan wants to be senate president. And no one should object if for the first time, a south-south figure in Ovie Omo-Agege becomes the deputy senate president.

     

  • Pendulum effect in Imo

    Power changed hands in Imo State, resulting in the pendulum effect. Governor Emeka Ihedioha of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) wasn’t expected to continue on the path of former governor Rochas Okorocha of the All Progressives Congress (APC), even though it is said that government is a continuum.

    Indeed, the Ihedioha administration’s move to probe the Okorocha administration demonstrates discontinuity. It is curious that  the eight-member committee set up to investigate Okorocha’s performance in his two terms as governor between 2011 and 2019 is expected to “ascertain and document the locations of and balances on all bank accounts operated by Imo State government, its Ministries, Departments and Agencies as at May 29, 2019.”

    This suggests that the Okorocha administration failed to provide such information before it exited. Ihedioha’s media aide, Steve Osuji, said: “That there was no formal handover was made plain at the inauguration of the Secretary of the Imo State Government recently…Governor Emeka Ihedioha had called up the sitting Permanent Secretary of Government House who was the most senior official left to take the in-coming members of the new administration round the offices. He was asked about the status of formal handing over. The Principal Secretary had told the audience in the hall that no handover had been put to effect…It must be noted that there was no formal meeting between the governor-elect and the sitting governor in Imo State since the election was won and lost.”

    It is unclear why the Okorocha administration had exited in such an untidy manner. By failing to provide such necessary information, the administration showed that it had learnt nothing about proper process. Such unwillingness to play by the rules exposed a government that didn’t understand how not to leave the stage.

    The investigative panel is also expected to ”review all financial transactions and where necessary, a forensic audit with a view to ascertaining sources of funds and the application of same;  review such   disbursements/applications of state resources to ascertain the propriety of charges levied on accounts, interest payment on loans and deposits where applicable, authorisation, etc; and review the operations of the Imo State Board of Internal Revenue (BIR) with a view to recommending appropriate strategies to reposition the agency for better performance and sustained growth and to conduct governance/financial reviews of key agencies of government with a view to documenting all revenues generated or subventions/allocations between 2011 -2019.”

    Perhaps the probe would show that the Okorocha administration had something to hide; perhaps not. Ihedioha’s inaugural speech on May 29 gave an insight into the need for a probe.  ”Pensioners are owed for over 77 months, accruing fifty-seven (57) billion naira in Pension liability alone,” he said.  ”Eight years of bad governance led to a mind-boggling decay of critical public infrastructure; a crippling debt burden without any meaningful infrastructural or institutional developments to show for such a humongous debt.”

    Ihedioha added: “In the light of recent revelations by interest groups, various institutions and agencies of state, many have asked what becomes of those who recklessly plundered our commonwealth. My answer is simple: They will be held accountable. While this administration will be forward looking and not embark on any witch-hunting, those who have held positions of authority must prepare to render account of their stewardship to the people because our resolve to hold their feet to the fire of probity and accountability is iron-clad.”

    When a new governor probes his predecessor’s administration, particularly when they are members of opposing parties, there is a public tendency to attribute such investigation simply to a malicious desire to rubbish the target of the probe. But such perspective is simplistic. There may well be good reasons for such investigation.

    Okorocha had displayed desperation to determine his successor. He had desperately wanted his son-in-law, Uche Nwosu, to succeed him. Nwosu had defected to Action Alliance (AA) from APC after failing to get what he wanted.  In a display of crude godfatherism, Okorocha had shamelessly supported Nwosu who was the governorship candidate of a political party different from his in the March 9 governorship election.

    Okorocha clearly carried godfatherism too far. It wasn’t surprising that his party decided to punish him. His party’s National Working Committee (NWC), on March 1, suspended him “for anti-party activities.” In a statement, the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu, said the NWC “has also taken a decision to recommend the expulsion of the suspended individuals to the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party.” Also suspended was then Ogun State Governor Ibikunle Amosun, who had similarly backed another party’s governorship candidate whom he desperately wanted to succeed him.

    The APC statement stated that “the NWC had earlier written to the suspended governors on their anti-party activities, and several other steps were taken to ensure they desist from taking actions that are inimical to the interests of our party and candidates. Notably, these individuals have not shown any remorse and actually stepped up their actions.”  The party accused the suspended governors of “serial anti-party activities,” and “noted how the suspended members have continued to campaign openly for other parties and candidates that are unknown to our great party. They have in fact constituted themselves as opposition to APC candidates in their respective states.”  Interestingly, both men are now APC senators-elect.  It is a cause for concern that they will sit in the Red Chamber pretending to be men of honour.

    If things had worked out according to Okorocha’s plan and Nwosu had succeeded him, there would have been no question of a probe.  Not surprisingly, Nwosu advised that Ihedioha “should rather consolidate on the achievements of his predecessor.” Nwosu’s words: “If I were the governor today, I would face the business of governance knowing that there is job to do.” But Nwosu is not the governor, and the governor’s job involves determining the extent of alleged bad governance by the previous government. Good governance implies exposing past bad governance, while carrying out the business of governance.

    Since a probe can only uncover things that are covered up, Okorocha has no reason to fret about the probe of his administration if there had been no cover-up.  This development is a lesson to people in power.  A pendulum swing counters the old ways, and brings trouble to those who had governed without a sense of good governance.

  • Reversals galore

    What could have informed the floodgate of policy reversals since the swearing-in of newly elected governors? Could it be an act of vendetta, or a manifestation of all that went wrong with the outgoing administrations in the affected states?

    These are some of the searing questions agitating the minds of not a few discerning Nigerians. The nation has been awash with a surfeit of policy reversals by some outgoing state assemblies and the just sworn-in governors. From Imo to Ogun state, Gombe to Oyo state, the story has remained largely the same.

    Ogun state assembly set the ball rolling when in one singular sitting; it passed a bill (Nullification of Irregularities (amendment) Law, 2019) and three resolutions reversing all appointments, employments and financial agreements made by the former regime of Ibikunle Amosun between Feb. 9, and May 28, 2019.  The bill is an amendment to the one passed at the inception of Amosun’s regime reversing all irregularities by his predecessor. The legislators argued that the last minute appointments, upgrading and employment by the last administration did not follow due process, lacked merit and were lopsided.

    Apparently following the same trend, Imo State House of Assembly passed a motion directing the state governor, Emeka Ihedioha to suspend all board appointments including the promotion of permanent secretaries made by the last regime from March 2019. The assembly also suspended indefinitely, the 27 local government council chairmen and their councilors.

    Events followed the same predictable pattern in Gombe, Adamawa and Oyo states. Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo state reversed the promotion of all the new permanent secretaries in the state’s civil service. All transactions either contractual or in terms of promotions done between March 11, and May 28 would be properly scrutinized because of the “obvious mischief that had been introduced into governance within that period”.

    Governor Inuwa Yahaya also suspended all appointments, contracts and all allocations by the Gombe state government and local government councils made as from March 10, 2019. He said there were lots of irregularities perpetrated by the last administration and he would take steps to redress them and hold culprits and illegal beneficiaries accountable.

    There is a common thread running through all the reasons proffered by the Imo and Ogun assemblies and the governors of Oyo, Adamawa and Gombe states for these reversals. They all spoke of non adherence to due process, irregularities, lopsidedness and outright mischief. If there are elements of truth in these claims, then it will be uncharitable to accuse these state assemblies and the governors of a hidden agenda to get even with their opponents. Then also, the suggestion that the measures were acts of vendetta against the former governors would have collapsed irretrievably.

    This is especially so when it is realized that both the Imo assembly and its Ogun counterpart had worked very harmoniously with the former governors. The speaker of the Ogun state house of assembly is a known loyalist of the former governor and it is inconceivable that his action could stem from vendetta or an attempt to curry favor with the new administration. This point gains further traction given that such reversals are not entirely novel in the annals of Ogun state legislative business.

    The former governor was a beneficiary of similar reversals at the inception of his regime. What should rather be of concern is the inability of leaders to learn from history.  It is an uncanny irony that the bill reversing Amosun’s contentious promotions, appointments and upgrading was only an amendment of the earlier one with which some of the policies of his predecessor were reversed.

    Being a beneficiary of such reversals, he lost the moral right to input sinister motives into the action of the assembly. Even then, the assembly contends that the processes leading to such promotions, appointments and upgrading of traditional rulers were not in conformity with due process, balance and extant regulations. Why outgoing governors would relish in laying landmines for their successors is at the root of governance failures on these shores.

    If the former governors are accused of sowing thorns for their successors, it will be very difficult to fault. If they are accused of favoring cronies, relations and supporters by those appointments, it would also stand. Since government is a continuum, the right thing is to allow the new governors make such promotions and appointments if they deem them necessary? The mad rush to have such appointments take effect before the incoming governors settle exposes the duplicity in the entire exercise.

    The case of Imo state presents very startling revelations. After the defeat of his preferred candidate in the governorship election, the former governor, Rochas Okorocha went into frenzy, initiating actions in several fronts culminating in a bazaar of all manner of appointments, promotions and transactions.

    Not only did he hurriedly constitute the boards of some statutory commissions, agencies and parastatals, he appointed many permanent secretaries and had them sworn-in. Not done, he shocked many when he woke up one morning to announce the establishment of six new universities, four polytechnics and two colleges of education. He did not stop there but moved ferociously to have the state polytechnic relocated so as to pave way for one of his touted universities.

    But for the stiff opposition mounted by the host community, he would have succeeded in disorganizing academic activities in that institution given the absence of supportive infrastructure in the site it was being relocated. Okorocha made a public show of a certificate of approval for one of the universities and made so much noise about the new universities’ readiness to takeoff in the coming academic session. Surprisingly however, it did not take long before he reversed himself on those phony projects.

    It should not come as a surprise that some of the state assemblies have taken the lead to have such infractions reversed. Not only were such appointments motivated by outright mischief, they lacked any modicum of altruism given that they were designed to undo the new administrations. It is refreshing the affected state assemblies have been so sufficiently challenged by the anomalies that they took proactive measures to have them reversed. They stand to be commended for placing the overall interests of their constituents over and above self-serving predilections of the former governors.

    There has been an attempt in some quarters to impute ulterior motives into the actions of the assemblies. This is especially so given their apparent inability to rein in the former governors through their oversight functions. Even then, the assemblies in Ogun and Imo were not known to have asserted their independence from the executive in the last four years or so.

    Allegations of betrayal against the two state assemblies arose in the main from their inability to act as an effective check against executive excesses in consonance with the principles of separation of powers, checks and balances. It is little surprising that in the absence of the assemblies living up to their statutory duties, the governors had an unhindered latitude to a voyage on illegalities. The assemblies are therefore vicariously liable for not challenging those measures as they unfolded. Why await the exit of the governors before doing the needful?

    It is symptomatic of the level of decay and wrong perception of governance process that you find elected leaders transmuting to a verity of an army of occupation as they prepare to leave office. The new governors must seize the initiative by empanelling commissions of inquiry to redress all illegalities in appointments, promotions and financial transactions entered into by their predecessors after the last elections. It is refreshing governor Emeka Ihedioha has taken the lead by setting up a panel to restore sanity and order to statecraft.

  • The army in us

    IT is 20 years but this democracy has more traits of adolescence than manhood. We are still like the title of James Baldwin’s novel, “Going to meet the man.” The man in our democracy still eludes like a tantalising fruit in a mango tree.

    In this country lurk anti-democratic demons – the reign of monarchism, the shadow of the strong man, the corruption of money, the fear of change. But hanging over all these is the spirit of impunity. It hangs like the sword dropping blood in Shakespeare’s Macbeth. It haunts us like Banquo’s ghost.

    But no other way to look at it than the power of the soldier over our lives. It is not for nothing that two of our four presidents in the past 20 years were soldiers. Obj and PMB were not only soldiers but were military heads of state. It is like the double episode of the rapist who becomes so gentle, the victim agrees to wed him.

    But the evidence of the rapist overshadows the marriage. Nuptials do not erase character. Character appropriates marriage. That explains why we still love the king, or will confer us with chieftaincy titles. And we still embrace the strong man. With these two traits, we loose ourselves in the allure of money and resist change. It began with Obj, whose martial background was too strong to let go. He saw himself as the father, or more appropriately, the baba of our democracy. He ruled rather than reigned. He took advantage of the queer power of the centre in a federal union. The states could not and cannot stand on their own. So, the centre serves as the receptacle of indulgences. Every governor comes, bowl in hand, making the states the al majiris of our democracy.

    The other civilians saw the baba as a model. Even Yar-Adua fell to it somewhat, although he was hemmed in by illness. Jonathan followed, and his rhetoric of self-indulgence and defiance were only a rung lower than that of Obasanjo. His regime stole with flourish and ostentation. The British press celebrated our spendthrift elite on London streets. Our purse was like a broken dam. Obasanjo hid the corruption of his time by blackmailing his foes with the EFCC and ICPC. Offence was the best defence. He even wanted to perpetuate himself in power with a third term.

    PMB has defied calls to follow court orders. El Zakzaki and Dasuki continue to languish in detention as though the courts were impotent. Even now, the Navy is holding 40 civilians captive. Barrister Femi Falana (SAN) has been yelling that this cannot be permitted in a democracy. Persons are held in detention both in vessels and underground of their facilities in Abuja.

    Falana has written a letter to the president on the matter, but the impunity festers. Rather than charge the persons to court, the Navy has acted as an arbiter of justice. It has challenged Falana to take them to court.

    The military overhang is imperious and increasingly a presage of darker days. Soldiers in advanced societies have joined democracy and subjected themselves to republican values. It began with Cato the Younger in Rome who relinquished his fidelity to tyranny and devoted his life to republican virtues. He became a counterpoise to Caesar and died of suicide for the cause. He became a role model to America’s first president George Washington.

    Cato was the first major figure in history to turn soldiery against tyranny and sow the seed of the democratic idea. Hence the Poet Jonathan Mitchel wrote: “Great in the council, glorious in the field.”

    We have had in the modern era soldiers who became statesmen. Too much blood in Napoleon’s hands, but he inspired a generation of European young, even spawning a literary classic, Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. We have had others like Churchill, De Gaulle, Roosevelt, Kennedy, Tito, Eisenhower. De Gaulle kicked against democratic pricks of the French and sparked a youth revolt that birthed a new republic.

    Soldiers can make good democrats but they have to take off their martial sloughs first. We see it in kings and generals, even democrats.

    We saw that recently in Kano in the battle between the emir and the governor, which demonstrates the power of history over impulses of change. But more dangerous now is the appropriation of impunity by the civil society. The power elite have no monopoly of violence. They have begun to imitate their masters. If their masters cannot slough off their military fatigues, the street and bush hoodlums have decided to tailor their own uniforms – in their minds. They are not trained. They just became ragtag armies of impunity, laying waste our resources, kidnapping the innocent, holding ransom the governor and the well-heeled.

    If the martial strain in our democracy is not checked from the top, we shall suffer it from below. This is not a democracy of obeisance. A constitution monger of the French Revolution, Abbe Sieyes once said, “power from above, confidence from below.”

    Those in the nether regions of society are not seeing it that way in the country. Those from the top think they are immune to the heart cries of the poor and vulnerable. They are daring the power elite. The power elite now are afraid.

    Democracy cannot be said to have failed altogether. We have had it unbroken for 20 years, and that’s a record. Democracies do not start perfect. They work with myths. The American was rooted in the idea of Manifest Destiny with the founding father. The French rose from the three Rs of the 1789 revolution. The British picked it up from the Magna Carta.  A nation fails when it forgets its founding myths. Athens rose on its myths until it flourished and fell victim of hubris. It forgot its myth of Daedalus and Icarus, and its legislature abolished democracy. It prioritised man over gods. “Man is the measure of all things,” said Protagoras.

    Nigeria does not even have a myth, a rallying emotion. Not Awo, not Zik, not Ahmadu Bello provided it because of interplays of suspicions and jealousies that still plague us today. The army coarsened it, and has haunted us since. To save our democracy, we must first kill the army in us, and throw up leaders that will look beyond those ancient burdens.

    One tusk for Lalong

    I visited Jos a few days ago, and it heartened to see a city back to the semblance of its old bustle. It was not just because of the sanguine weather or the variegated fruit fest from grapes to apples. It was an opportunity to visit its Wild Park. What drew my attention to it was Governor Simon Lalong’s adoption of the elephant and male lion. His wife Regina adopted a lioness. The park heralded one with its row of pine trees, giving the sense of natural ambience of animals.

    I met the elephant, ruddy, young and full of life. I befriended it as my guide Thomas Artu encouraged me to feed it. I gave it a stalk with fresh leaves. It concentrated on me as I handed it the food. It sealed our bond until I moved on and saw a variety of animals from the sprightly Jackal to the opportunistic Hyena. The python coiled ominously. The ferret’s eyes menaced. The lioness in its massive cage and fresh fur ignored me peevishly and swaggered to shelter beside a wall. Recently a lion escaped the zoo. According to Artu, the cage was not properly locked, and it slid out to meet the keeper with a goat in hand. “The lion was born in the cage and did not know anywhere else. It was only fed with goat and went after the goat while the keeper fled,” he said. The lion did not go far, but crouched in a nearby bush until the security forces “quelled” it. I saw a 260-year-old tortoise, many a crocodile asleep and the predatory bird known as Marabou stocks. The park houses 102 buoyant animals in an eight square kilometres expanse.

    As he adopted those animals, Governor Lalong immediately had offers from persons, including two white men, who wanted to adopt. . Each cage will bear the name of the adopter.   He thinks as peace returns to his state, the parks are a way to highlight tourism, wealth and normalcy . I agree.

     

  • Singapore’s court verdict

    Nigeria High Commission in Singapore came into public focus last week. Its leadership has been celebrating the verdict of that country’s Supreme Court that freed a Nigerian who had been facing death sentence for drug related offence.

    The Nigerian Head of Mission in Singapore, High Commissioner Akinremi Bolaji was hilarious that, Adili Chibuike Ejike sentenced to death for importing nearly two kilograms of methamphetamine was granted an acquittal by Singapore’s Supreme Court and released with no outstanding charges. Ejike was arrested in November 2011 and had a death sentences passed on him by that country’s lower and appellate courts.

    But in what Bolaji described as a landmark judgment and miracle form God, the Singaporean Supreme Court while agreeing that the banned substance was found in Ejike’s luggage, ruled that the prosecution failed to establish that he knew that the drug bundles in his suitcase were in his possession. “In other words, Ejike was not guilty of willful blindness or deliberately shutting his eyes to the truth of his possession of the drugs” an elated High Commissioner asserted.

    The ruling centered on the claim by the accused during trials that a childhood friend of his in Nigeria gave him the bag that contained the drugs to be delivered to an unspecified person in Singapore. So the trial by that country’s apex court hinged on whether he had knowledge that the banned substances were in his luggage with the court ruling to the contrary even after agreeing that the drugs were indeed found in his suitcase.

    The singular fact that the Supreme Court agreed that the drugs were found in his luggage were enough to confirm the death sentence by hanging passed on him at the other levels of his trial. But surprisingly, he was discharged and acquitted. The High Commissioner was therefore right to have described the verdict as a miracle from God. It is indeed a big miracle that saved him from the hangman’s noose.

    But the trial raised a serious issue that requires serious awareness campaigns and sensitization of our people travelling abroad. They need sensitization on the dangers of accepting to travel with any bag or container they neither personally packaged nor subjected to thorough scrutiny. It also exposes the perilous level drug peddlers can go using unsuspecting people as conduits to transport their consignments at the risk of the lives of the possessor of such substances.

    Ejike should thank his God for that uncommon ruling. He may have had no knowledge of the banned substances found in his luggage. But the fact that the dangerous drugs were in his luggage made him liable for whatever consequences arising from it. Given the number of Nigerians regularly arrested for drug related offences around the world, there is everything to expect that many would have been victims of the circumstance Ejike found himself.

    Many may have also paid the supreme prize or suffered grave harm for offences they were roped in but for which they know nothing about. The issue is damn serious especially when we recall the recent cases of two Nigerians that were release by the Saudi authorities for drugs planted in their bags by criminals working in concert with some unscrupulous officials at the airport.

    About two months ago, there arose the case of a Nigerian student Zainab Aliyu and one Ibrahim Abubakar who were released by the Saudi authorities for alleged offences that bore some similarity with that of Ejike. In the case of Zainab, she had travelled to Saudi Arabia for the Lesser Hajj with her mother and sister. On arrival and after clearance by the immigration authorities of that country, they collected their luggage and proceeded to their hotel. But she was later arrested because a luggage tagged in her name contained banned substances.

    The young lady was subsequently hauled into incarceration for months awaiting trial for an offence that carries capital punishment in that country.  Following strident protests by her parents, the authorities in Nigeria mounted serious investigations at her point of departure, the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano. This led to the arrest of a sophisticated syndicate that specialized in injecting drug substances into the travelling suitcases of unsuspecting travelers only to have them collected by their accomplices at the arrival point. But in the case of Zainab, the bag did not belong to her but was tagged in her name by the syndicate. Due to the apparent inability of the syndicate to collect the bag at the arrival point, officials of that country became apprehensive and on close scrutiny it was found to contain banned drug substances.

    With the help of the name tag, Zainab was traced to her hotel and arrested. Her father cried out dissociating her daughter for the alleged offence. Those arrested were later to confirm that they were responsible for the drug substances that were found in that bag. Armed with these findings, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on the Diaspora mounted serious diplomatic negotiations with the Saudi authorities leading to the release of the innocent lady. And one Abubakar who was said to be facing similar predicament also got the same reprieve.

    Writing in this column then and while welcoming the release of the innocent lady, I had argued that many innocent Nigerians would have fallen victim of the unscrupulous activities of the syndicate at the nation’s airports. The issue raised then which remains germane is that but for serious campaigns mounted by the Aliyu family, their daughter may have been killed for an offence she knew nothing about. Because there is everything to indicate that the syndicate has been operating before they were exposed by the Zainab case, many innocent people would have fallen victims of their devilish enterprise.

    It is therefore not sufficient to arrest the syndicate. Diligent prosecution and tracing of their accomplices in Saudi Arabia is all that is required to bring a closure to the matter. It remains a thing of grave concern that after the dramatization of the arrest of the Kano syndicate, nothing has again been heard of that case. There is no reason for that case to suffer the usual delay that characterizes our judicial process. Nigerians are eager to know its outcome especially because of the high level of interest it generated.

    We are eager to follow the trials from the beginning to the end as it will open the eyes of the public to some of the criminal activities of some of those who provide official services to passengers at our airports. It is of immense public interest to understand how the syndicate really operates, those into it and for how long they have been in that lethal business. These disclosures which are expected to come public during the trials form part of the information travelers need to guard themselves. Moreover, they will go at length to disabuse skepticisms in some quarters on the propriety of some of the claims made in the instant case.

    Being about the first time Nigerian authorities acted swiftly and successfully to free two of its citizens facing capital punishment in a foreign land, the handling of the case will go at lengths to reassure our citizens that it is not an isolated case. It is also vital to avail the public of full disclosure on how the drug substances planted in the suitcases of unsuspecting travelers are collected at the entry points. This can only be carried out in liaison with the countries of destination.

    Before that incident, a Nigerian lady was executed in Saudi Arabia for drug peddling while more than 25 others are held for similar offences. Who knows how many of them were implicated by the activities of syndicates? It is good a thing that the activities and modus operandi of these merchants of death are increasingly being unmasked. These cases expose the dangers passengers pass through in the hands of officials at the airports and some other unscrupulous persons.

    Ironically, even with the Kano airport incident, we are yet to hear of measures taken by the government to rid our airports of officials who put travelers in harms’ way in a bid to satisfy their self-serving predilections. A serious government would have capitalized on that singular incident to overhaul operations in our airport system. That such has not happened says a lot about the kind of system we operate. It is hoped our government will not find itself making excuses should the type of incident in Kano airport repeat.

  • Who is the real Ambode?

    It is said that power changes people and personalities. Was that the case with the immediate past Governor of Lagos State, Akinwunmi Ambode?  The portrait of Ambode painted by the immediate past Secretary to the Lagos State Government, Tunji Bello, as the administration exited in May, contradicted the picture of him in The Art of Selfless Service – A Biographical Account of the Public Service Career of Mr Akinwunmi D. Ambode. The book, by Marina Osoba, was launched in May 2014, a year before Ambode became governor.

    Bello, in a message titled ‘Time to say goodbye to colleagues on this platform,’ had said: “Our main drawback is our government’s inability to apply enough emotional intelligence in the administration of the state. Emotional intelligence includes interpersonal skills, interpersonal relationship, humility, respect for the well-established mores of governance, disregard for the accomplishments of others. The belief that our way is the best without considering other options in a democratic setting, absence of wider consultations, distance from the governed, lack of effective communication skill or amateurish display of government acts and political immaturity. Deliberate and open alienation of others. We undertook gigantic projects without the soul. We were too self-opinionated and narrow in our approach to governance.”

    Bello’s message was meant for an “internal platform,” but somehow it reached the public domain.  He added: “In leadership, emotional intelligence is 70 per cent of application while individual brilliance is only 30 percent…Besides, and apart from lack of enough camaraderie compared to previous administrations, our cabinet has been less rigorous, less fulfilled, less engaged and less accomplished. And for the first time since the time of Governor Lateef Jakande, this cabinet departs unappreciated and disenchanted.”

    Bello’s assessment of the administration in which he was the third most powerful person, after the governor and the deputy governor, gave a thought-provoking insight into the personality and leadership style of the head of the government. This appraisal also suggested why Ambode failed to get the endorsement of his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), for a second term.  He became the first Lagos State governor to serve one term since 1999.

    Ambode, a trained accountant, was probably the most experienced individual, in terms of familiarity with the state’s civil service operations, who had governed Lagos State since its creation in May 1967. In a 27-year career in the civil service, he was Auditor General for Local Government, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance, and Accountant General of Lagos State from 2006 to 2012. He is credited with revolutionising “the way Lagos State finances were raised, budgeted, managed and planned” through his management of the State Treasury Office.

    In The Art of Selfless Service, the author says “it became necessary to speak with staff of the State Treasury Office (STO), his very last assignment.” Some of those who had worked with Ambode at the STO said complimentary things about him.

    Mrs Yemisi Adams: “I am a Grade level 12 Officer with the State Treasury Office in Operations Department… To me, he is a role model; he is a leader not a boss. A boss wants you to do things the way he says, there is no input coming from anyone, but for a leader, he will table the problem and some solutions, he will ask for opinions and feedback before taking decisions … He leads by example; he is a real leader… He doesn’t like bragging about what he does, he does things very quietly.”

    Miss Oluwakemi Toso-Gbangba:  ”I had the opportunity to work with Mr Ambode for ten years…  He is a great team player; he listens to one about anything. I feel he is a workaholic; he believes in getting the job done. He is prim, proper and believes in perfection… He is a good person; he has a good heart…He taught me to believe in myself; to not see problems, but search for solutions.”

    Mr Hakeem Alimi:  ”I have worked with Mr Ambode for over six years now and his style is not the usual civil service style, it is a good mix of public/private sector style… He is an equal opportunity person, he doesn’t believe in favouring women over men or men over women…It is my opinion that one of the secrets to his success is his charity; his compassion and love for people. God has given him a huge capacity for empathy, to put himself in other peoples’ shoes; he is a great helper and forgives wrongs so easily.”

    Mrs Olumuyiwa Ojelabi: “One thing that amazed me so much was this; there was a morning I was walking behind him on the corridor, he saw an empty bottle of coke lying around, he didn’t call the cleaner and shout like some people might. Instead, he picked it up and took it to the pantry himself and continued to his office. He is a humble person; imagine the most senior officer here not thinking he is too good to do something so simple. He is an example to all.”

    Mr Osinubi Taofeek Olalekan : “I am a Grade level 12 Principal Administrative Officer with twelve years’ experience in the Public Service, of which I have spent two years here at the State Treasury Office, working under Mr Ambode. He is not like others, he is not your typical civil servant, he does not work like a typical civil servant, but like someone in the private sector…Personally, since I started here, I love coming to work, this surprises me; because when you work in a place like this, your best comes to the fore, you feel you have made a difference and you are making an impact.”

    Mr Taiwo Wakeel:  ”I am a Principal Administrative Officer of twelve years with the Public Service. I have worked for just over a year with Mr Ambode… If you work with Mr Ambode you can be assured of two things: one, you will work very hard and two, you will close late… He doesn’t look at religion or sex or age or tribe, all he wants is for everyone to become excellent… Around the STO, we call him ‘Baba Laanu’; he has great goodwill with all staff.”

    Bello spoke about Ambode as governor, while the treasury office staff spoke about Ambode before his years of gubernatorial power. As he left office, 55-year-old Ambode himself observed: “The fact remains that I came in as a technocrat so I call myself a techno-politician, but I think I am wiser now. I am more of a politician than a technocrat.” Was it an admission that power changed him?

  • Regime change

    WITH the exception of the president and some governors who will be entering their second terms in office, a set of new governors will in the next 48 hours; May 29, assume the mantle of leadership in the various states.

    Before the current efforts to institute June 12, as democracy day, May 29, is celebrated to mark the eventual disengagement of the military from the political process after years of incursion in governance. On that date every four years, newly elected presidents and governors are sworn-in to commence a four-year term of office. This is in tandem with democratic norms of keeping elected representatives accountable through periodic renewal of their mandates at elections.

    Through periodic elections, the electorate is given the choice to select candidates who will serve their collective interests better. And having expressed their collective will at the ballot box, they wait eagerly for that day set out for them to assume the mantle of leadership.

    That date therefore denotes so many things to so many people. It is not going to be any different this year as a new set of leaders take their oath of offices at both the federal and states levels. May 29 this year, is even more symbolic because it marks the very last time it will be celebrated as the nation’s democracy day given current efforts to give legal effect to the proclamation by President Buhari making June 12, the nation’s democracy day.

    If everything goes on well, that date will lose significance as soon as it is deleted from the calendar of the nation’s major events. But that reality does not in any way, whittle down the import of the coming swearing-in and handover ceremonies in many states. Rather, the significance of this year’s exercise is given further fillip by the fact that it will be the last time it will serve that purpose. Nigerians are anxiously waiting for that date to usher in a new set of leaders. They yearn for new leaders in the hope that they will begin to savor the numerous promises in-coming political office holders made to them during their electioneering campaigns. That is to be expected.

    For a country a majority of its people wallow in abject poverty while few swim in scandalous affluence, slightest sign of leadership change instantly rekindles hopes that things may turn out for the better. That perhaps, accounts for the enthusiasm and celebrations that mark the coming into being of new governments in this country. Whether these expectations are usually met is another kettle of fish altogether.

    Perhaps, the yawning gap between expectations and their fulfillment is the reason for the palpable excitement each time there is a change of baton. The feeling is that with successive changes in leadership, prospects of the emergence of good and quality people are enhanced. This may be correct. But it has remained an irony of sorts that governments come and go with little impact on the standard of living of the ordinary people.  Our people have at best, remained hewers of wood and fetchers of water.

    The country still ranks very high in the poverty index. Yet, this is a nation Mother Nature has endowed bountifully. The inability of the country to take its rightful position within the comity of nations is easily traced to incompetent and self-serving leadership; rship that is propelled by greed rather than the greatest good of the greatest number of citizens.

    We are a home of leaders whose prime motivation in offering themselves for political offices is propelled by prebendal considerations. It is little wonder not much has changed in the overall living conditions of the common man. Unemployment soars by the day as our schools continue to churn out graduates in geometric progression while available avenues to employ them only grow in arithmetic progression.

    This has resulted in lethal consequences for the society with all manner of social vices having a field day. The nation is contending with armed robbery, kidnapping, terrorism of all hue, and of late what has been termed banditry. Different theories have at different times been propounded to account for the prevalence of these social maladies. They range from the economic to the sociological, religious to ethnic and failure of leadership or a combination of these.

    Failure of leadership is largely responsible for the sorry state in which this country finds itself. For, the primary duty of the government; any government is to address the objective conditions that fertilize and accentuate societal ills. It is the duty of the government to create conditions that will substantially obviate social the vices that are increasing holding this country to the ground through good governance.

    It is the duty of governments (state and federal) to create jobs, promote the right orientations, attitudes and dispositions that conduce for the making of Nigerians from the disparate groups in the country. It is the duty of the government to inculcate a common sense of belonging in all citizens so that they can begin to see themselves as Nigerians and not members of their ethnic groups in constant competition with the central authority for the loyalty of the citizens. Gaps in these areas have been the greatest undoing of this country.

    Ironically, the right ideas on things to do to reposition the country and place it on the right path to steady growth and development are not in short supply. Many of them are well documented in the various reports of the national conferences of Nigerian leaders. Despite the wide gamut of national consensus on these measures, some segments of the Nigerian population appear to have vowed not to allow them see the light of the day.

    With such opposition, our march to progress and accelerated development has remained a similitude of motion without movement. As the various newly elected leaders and the president take their oaths of office, they must resolve anew to place the overall public good over and above personal predilections. It is sad that leaders especially at the national level have not been able to detach themselves from their primordial cleavages.

    These negative dispositions have been a huge disincentive to the germination and growth of a common sense of belonging without which nation building will always remain a pipe dream. Even as our laws made copious provisions for equity, balance and the federal character principles as effective tools for stabilizing the system, complaints of alienation and marginalization have reigned supreme despite pretences and double speak from those in authority.

    Competition for power especially at the federal level has been colored by ethnic and religious sentiments even as leaders fail to show detachment from these destabilizing tendencies. Skewing of our collective patrimony disproportionately to ethnic and religious cleavages has remained our albatross. And we have seen these manifestations play out in appointments, location of projects and dispensation of favors.

    These systemic deficits are responsible for the bitter competition and do or die attitude that characterize our electoral process. We must therefore part ways with this ruinous past if we must make real progress as a nation. It is not enough to parrot platitudes and grandstand on the unity, progress and indivisibility of the country when our dispositions do not offer much help.

    It is not sufficient to lay claims to patriotism when the system favors your interest only to fan the embers division, hate or outright calamity when others seem to have some edge. That is not in the nature of patriotism. It is more of self-serving and parochial interests masquerading and finding expression through other means. We have not fared well with such stereotypes.

    As new leaders take their oats of office, they must resolve to do away with our ruinous pasts. The times require new ways of doing old things; old dispositions must give way to new orientations to fast-track balanced development and substantial improvement in the lives of our people. This country must be built on equity, fairness and equal opportunities for all, if it must make real progress.

  • Lalong’s elephant

    An imaginative animal adoption campaign in Plateau State captured the imagination of Governor Simon Lalong. “They said everybody should adopt an animal,” he remarked in response to a request by the Acting General Manager, Plateau State Tourism Corporation, Mrs Salome Bidda, at a May 21 event to mark her 100 Days in Office.

    Lalong is expected to keep his promise to be responsible for the feeding of an elephant at Jos Wildlife Park. He was quoted as saying:  “My wife is keener about animals and has been keeping animals. She will take care of the feeding of the lion and lioness and I will take care of the feeding of the elephant.”

    Lalong, who has been reelected for a second four-year term that will begin on May 29, also  declared: “All government appointees; the Chief of staff, Head of Service and commissioners must adopt and take care of at least one animal in the park.”  According to a report, “The governor also said that all those seeking political appointment must also include the name of the animal they are feeding in their Curriculum Vitae. According to him, he would confirm from the Acting GM, when he sees the CV, to be sure that they are not lying.” This specified condition for political appointment is novel, and reflects Lalong’s inventiveness.

    By including political appointees in the animal adoption project, the governor indicated his administration’s commitment to the idea. So, the participants won’t be only Lalong and his wife.

    The governor added: “The 24-members of the State House of Assembly should also pick one animal each and take care of it.” He appealed to Plateau people outside the specific categories to adopt and take care of at least one animal. By seeking the involvement of the state’s lawmakers as well as the public, Lalong sent a message about the inclusiveness of the animal adoption promotion.

    This approach may be Lalong’s way of compensating for the state’s budgetary provision for its tourism sector. According to a report, “The saying that Plateau State is a “home of peace and tourism” might suffer a setback in the 2019 annual budget, because, only N337, 900.000.00, which represents 0.50 per cent, has been allocated to the tourism sector from a total budget size of 153 billion Naira.”  It is unclear why the Lalong administration allocated such level of funds to the tourism sector.

    It is striking that Lalong was quoted as saying he regretted the death of a lion about two years ago in the park. “I fasted for no less than five days when the lion died because it generated a lot of revenue for the state,” he said.

    An incident about four years ago drew attention to the dilapidated facilities in the park. According to a report, “The Park, on December 2, 2015, recorded a loss with the killing of Leo, a lion which escaped confinement through a rusty cage.” The lion was “killed by some soldiers, drawing worldwide condemnation by animal rights activists who insisted that the park needed to have used trained personnel to demobilise the animal, using tranquilisers.”

    The Nigeria Association of Zoological Gardens (NAZG) had attributed the lion’s escape to “manifest institutional neglect from cumulative arrears in scheduled maintenance and required upgrades.” The group urged Plateau State Government and other stakeholders to strive toward world standards “to avoid embarrassing circumstances,” and advocated a Tourism Intervention Fund.

    The needed intervention is more than compelling political appointees to adopt animals in the park. A holistic intervention is necessary. It isn’t enough to take care of the animals without taking care of the facilities.  It is reductive to conclude that feeding the animals will solve the maintenance and upgrading issues at the park.

    Jos Wildlife Park, established in the 1970s, is a major tourist attraction. There are 102 animals in the park, Bidda told the governor. It deserves better funding. The Lalong administration’s funding of the tourism sector contradicts the governor’s projection of a tourism-friendly image.

    Lalong’s adoption of an elephant puts elephants in the news. Not many Nigerians know there are elephants in Nigeria. Well, there are.  Last year, there was news that they were causing havoc in Lagos and Ogun communities. Elephants from Omo Forest Reserve in Ogun State were said to be on a rampage in some communities.

    The Chairman of Active Hunters’ and Farmers’ Club at Epe, Alhaji Ajagunoba Aribada, was quoted as saying in a November 19, 2018, report: “We have been facing this situation for the past seven months. The elephants have destroyed all our banana, plantain and cassava farms. We can’t even reach the other parts of the farm because the nursing female elephants are aggressive. This has caused food scarcity in the community.”

    The village head of Oki Gbode Imobi, Baale Adeleke Olaitan, corroborated the disturbing account: “Nobody can go to the farm for fear of being attacked. The elephants have eaten all the cassava crops and plantain on the farms. We want them out.”

    The elephant invasion also affected fishing business in the community. “The elephants enter the river to drink and bathe and ruin all the fish traps,” said one Ismaila Lekan. “My mother who is into fish business can no longer go about her business because of the fear of the elephants.”

    Why did the elephants move out of the reserve, described as “one of the last few elephant habitats in Nigeria”? Farming and quarry activities are to blame. The elephants forced to leave the reserve are said to roam at the Ogun-Lagos border, where Imobi – Itasin – Epe lagoon communities are located.

    The next question is: How were the elephants able to move out of the reserve?  If the elephants had a reason to leave the reserve, that shouldn’t mean they must have a way to leave. The elephants were able to leave the reserve because they could.

    If the reserve were properly managed, farming and quarry activities would not have been issues. Wildlife conservation is a serious issue. A report to mark World Elephant Day last year said: “The Wildlife Conservation Society has outlined and advocated the need to increase aerial surveillance in strongholds, train and deploy more rangers in the protected areas, supply new rangers with equipment, assist the authorities in tracking and shutting down trafficking networks, and grow our community development programmes to support local communities to co-exist with wildlife.” There are plans to create a wildlife sanctuary within Omo Forest Reserve.  The authorities should take action.

    Governor Lalong should bear in mind that August 12 is World Elephant Day. His adopted elephant is expected to get a treat.

  • Suicide

    It cheers the heart that an old general adds a word to our political vocabulary. Not since Adelabu of what Soyinka calls the Penkelemesi years, the grand loquacity of the great Zik, the pompous orations of Mbadiwe and local vintage of Akintola’s phrases have we seen coinages for the ages.

    It is regrettable, though, that when Obasanjo conjures a word it turns out to be Fulanisation.  But Obasanjo lacks the glamour of those men of literary legacy. The Owu chief has drawn flaks and combative praise for characterising the waves of northern banditry, including Boko Haram, as Fulanisation and Islamisation of Nigeria.

    Before we go into the merit of this assertion, we must know that Obasanjo is a bitter man. Few know that the 2019 poll was the Owu chief’s first major loss. For a man of his age, Cicero says it is his “play’s last act.” He had been a serial winner. He had been blessed with opportunism. He had been like the Italian soccer striker, Paolo Rossi, who was absent in the game until he had slivers of chances. When he had them, he scored. Others toiled, he basked like quicksilver. Obasanjo had been a sweatless conqueror. He reaped where others sowed. The scriptures capture the old man’s legend thus: “One man builds, and another occupies.” Obasanjo had been a tenant with a landlord’s certificate.

    He must be in a giddy state today. He is in an unfamiliar time warp. The old man is in a daze. His hilltop palace must be lowly and lonely these days. He thought Buhari would win the last election. But he had no choice but to dig in with Atiku, the old foe whose friendship he had publicly laughed to scorn. The scorn is now their fair-weather reconciliation, their Judas kiss. He had fallen out with his former army subordinate. No more salute from the highbrow of the tall inferior. The Owu chief was cornered into the opposition.

    Not like in 2015 when he made a public extravaganza of tearing a PDP card and later welcomed fawning APC invitees. He gambled and lost this time. He has lost his old battle gears, his vivacity of a pugilist. If he dances now it will be a play of self-mockery, like what Samuel Becket designates as risus purus, a laugh laughing at itself. Roger Rosenblatt calls it an abysmal farce. Obj seems to have found his voice somewhat, and in an unlikely place: a church.

    It tells how low many so-called men of God have sunken. Rather than make the church a sanctuary of holy writs, it has morphed into a pedestal for political jobbers. If Christ comes to earth today in the flesh, he would whip many of them who think glamour overtakes sobriety of spirit. Nowhere in scripture supports a politician preaching on the podium. What qualifies them? A part of society that has been, for most part, no role model for us except to rig elections and purloin our wealth and misgovern us.

    It was because of this that the concept of the two luminaries was developed in the Middle Ages. One is the luminary of the secular world, and the other of the spiritual. It was derived from the scripture when God created two luminaries, one for the night and the other for the day. The medieval age used that concept to distinguish the church and state. They are as apart as what Nobel Prize-winning Poet, Rudyard Kipling wrote in his ballad, “East is east, West is west, And never the twain shall meet.” It is a violation of the holies like idolatry, and Paul said: “Come ye from among them, and be ye separate.”

    The Owu chief’s claim of plots to Fulanise Nigeria is not sincere. I thought he knew more about that because he himself was Fulanised. Was it not them he ran to when his people rejected him in 1999, and they vaulted him to be president? Was it convenient then to be Fulanised? Did he not betray his kinsman, General Olufemi Olutoye, as recorded in Kole Omotoso, Just Before Dawn, when he orchestrated his premature retirement? The man had drawn Obasanjo’s attention to the lopsided projects and attitudes of the military government. Rather Obj called in Shehu Yar’Adua  to the office and asked Olutoye to repeat his complaint before his Fulani friend.

    The same thing I wrote in an earlier essay about TY Danjuma, who is now grouching about the Fulani. His rise in the army was at Fulani behest. Would he deny that today? He and Danjuma are now born again. This is no less than a cry after the fact. Obasanjo’s words could resonate with Buhari’s critics because Buhari also opened the window. His security team is lopsided for the north. Yet, the same security team is impotent, and lacks the imagination, resolve and architecture to tackle the mayhem around the north. Buhari once asserted in anger that he is not partial. He has to show it beyond words. When his SSS chief was removed, he chose a retired man from Kano and pushed away Seiyefa Matthew, an Ijaw man, who was acting. Yet, others in acting positions from the north tend to get the job under him. Not Seiyefa. Obasanjo saw the smoke and screamed fire.

    Yet we know that the problem of the north is not just about fulanising or islamising us, if that has always been an agenda. What we have today is different. Even Boko Haram is not Fulanising. The partisans are Kanuri. They want to Islamise, but the targets are everyone, including the traditional elite in the north. They want to purify Islam, according to their own lights.

    Yet, as this essayist has noted in the past month, the problem is class revolt. It may not have been articulated, but the actions are clear.  Those who seek God want gold first. Ask them in Zamfara. They are the poor who hate the oppressions of the feudal north. The al majiri are now targeting the mai gidas. If it is islamisation, who are the victims in Zamfara in their gold rush? Who are the victims paying fines in order to go to their farms in the Sokoto and Kebbi axis? Is it not a threat to food security? Are they collecting money to Fulanise or Islamise the Fulani? Who are the big guns who cannot now travel the routes from Kaduna to Abuja, and the highways between Kano and Sokoto? Are they not Fulani and Muslims? It is high time we realised that the failures of the feudal north is coming to terms with the subaltern rage of the common man.

    Obj raised a false alarm because he knew he had committed political suicide in his hoary age by siding with a team that lost. Winston Churchill said, “The trouble with committing political suicide is that you live to regret it.” Obj’s one suicide is haunting him, and he is regretting it in public by saying the wrong things. He is not having a last hurrah.

     

    Ajimobi’s hurrah

    During the presentation of my book on Governor Abiola Ajimobi last weekend, the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi 111, showed how monarchs can display class and erudition. While presenting the book, the Alaafin spoke with luminous quotes and historical allusions around the world. He articulated ideas of democracy with a fluent tongue. He also revealed how Ajimobi related with him, speaking of the governor as a man of principle. He said any time he brought matters he wanted resolved, they debated. Yet there was never one act of rancour in their father-son relationship.

    Ajimobi

    So, those who saw the Obaship tiff in Ibadan as Ajimobi’s contempt for the institution missed the point. It was the perfidy of those who had no liver to own up in public what they assented in private. As a man of courage, Ajimobi stuck to his principle. The same obas will become royal armies for governors in due course, and they will realise that he simplified mobilisation of the people in a quicksand city like Ibadan. A story of his forthrightness shone through in Ajimobi’s remarks about how he became managing director of National Oil. The company’s fortunes had dipped and the European directors came over to ask why. The local directors were blaming the market. He kept mum until one of the white men asked him to talk. He blamed the managing director. He said that on pain of being alienated and fired. Some of his colleagues had said same in secret but were dead from the neck up at the meeting. Rather than lose his job, Ajimobi was picked as one of two persons to interview for the top job. General Yakubu Gowon, chair of the board, told me he recommended him because he was the best of the directors. My book, The Architect and Builder of Modern Oyo State, puts his legacy in context.