The Nation Newspaper

Category: Columnists

PDP: Eclipse of Africa’s largest party

The raging imbroglio within the erstwhile flamboyant ruling party boils down to the absence of formidable, acceptable and unifying leadership that is capable of averting disintegration, fostering cohesion and restoring order. The current in-house pandemonium was avoidable.

These ailments assailed the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), once prided as the largest party in Africa, as soon as it lost power at the centre. Until 12 years ago, it was the ruling party that loomed large over Nigeria for 16 years. The party that dreamt of ruling Africa’s most populous country for uninterrupted 60 years has run into turbulence. Its umbrella has been shredded. Its house is in commotion and on the verge of collapse.

In droves, PDP’s leading lights now sleep at night as loyal party members and wake up in the All Progressives Congress (APC). The latest was the entire Delta PDP structure, led by Governor Sheriff Oborevwori, which was offloaded into the APC. The state’s former governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, also called it quits with the umbrella and embraced the broom, which has continued to sweep away opposition across the land. In fact, the former running mate to ex-Vice President Atiku Abubakar hinted that the Wazirin Adamawa may also leave the PDP.

Atiku, who is coordinating some vague coalition talks, said the alliance train has left the station. But PDP governors said they were not aware and, therefore, not bothered by their 2023 presidential candidate’s solo journey. The implication is that the train left without many party faithful on board. And its destination remains unknown. Yet, it is engaging in what appears like multiple stops to look for vulnerable passengers. As the wary can perceive, the time of passengers in any train is temporary.

In the National Assembly, some PDP lawmakers have defected, premising their decisions on the protracted leadership crisis at the party’s national level. Their grievances were not ventilated. The party leadership that should broker peace is battling with conflicts. The key organs – the National Working Committee (NWC), the National Executive Committee (NEC), and the Board of Trustees (BoT) – are divided.

Read Also; Needless alarm on one party state

Also, some PDP governors are speaking in parables. They are bidding for time. Their commitment to the party is waning. They cannot see a rallying point.

The decimation is worrisome to the few surviving founding fathers who at the twilight of their lives are witnessing a diminishing return in the life of the party. Deserted by the energy, vibrancy and agility of the early era, the influence of these pathfinders are waning. Unfortunately, latter-day inheritors of their legacies are mismanaging their achievements. These handlers are now the undertakers dispatching the party to its doom. They are not in one accord. So, they cannot put their house in order.

The journey to the future has been problematic. PDP was the party of democrats – esteemed elder statesmen; a mixture of progressive, liberal, conservative and reactionary players who realigned in 1998b but later succumbed to the influence of a tiny club of retired soldiers who drafted their past leader from retirement and set him over the bewildered country in a post-military era.

The old soldier could not adjust easily to civilian life as he continued to dictate, impose and coerce other chieftains to submission without going through the channels of consultations, debate and consensus building. Experienced politicians at the helm of party affairs were shoved aside, leading to leadership instability. In the last 26 years, PDP has produced 16 national chairmen – Alex Ekwueme, Solomon Lar, Barnabas Gemade, Audu Ogbeh, Ahmadu Ali, Vincent Ogbulafor, Ezekwesilieze Nwodo, Haliru Mohammed Bello (acting), Kawu Baraje (acting), Bamanga Tukur, Adamu Muazu, Ali Modu Sheriff, Ahmed Makarfi, Uche Secondus, Iyorchia Ayu and Umar Damagun (acting).

Five of them, at one time or the other – Gemade, Ogeh, Baraje, Muazu and Modu Sheriff – defected from the party.

After imposing the 2007 presidential candidate who rode to power on the back of a severely flawed election, the General stayed on for a while before tearing his party’s membership card. But his legacy of dictatorship, poor coordination and ‘do-or-die’ leadership style has endured.

In 1999, PDP was a national party sustained by some beliefs, vision and principles. Although it has never been an ideological party, it retained a fair idea of organisation and its founding fathers adopted zoning, rotation and power shift as convention, to foster equity, fairness, justice and a sense of belonging. The violation of the principle in 2015 contributed to its defeat at the presidential election.

Zoning is beyond the party. It is a national issue. The major parties are expected to adopt it in the selection of party officers and choice of presidential candidates. When it was ignored in 2015, the party paid dearly for it.

The death of President Umaru Yar’Adua was very painful. Despite the fact that he was imposed on the party by his predecessor, the belief was that zoning to the North favoured his candidature. Southern politicians often respect rotation, and they waited for their turn. It came before the expected time, barely after two years into the administration.

But his successor, having spent the remaining two years, and was also elected in 2011, subsequently violated zoning by re-contesting in 2015, when power was expected to rotate to the North.

Southern politicians in APC discovered an opportunity to team up with their northern counterparts to install Gen. Muhammadu Buhari as president. The import of that zoning is still lost on some northern presidential contenders in PDP as the country gazes at 2027. The South has a legitimate claim to four more years.

Inconsistency, lack of commitment and sacrifice, and the pursuit of selfish interests by some PDP leaders made many members to jump ship. An example was Atiku Abubakar, who left the party for the Action Congress (AC) in 2006/2007, only to return after the poll. Much later, he also abandoned the platform in 2014, only to retrace his steps in 2018. In those times when he defected from the PDP, his preoccupation was pulling down the platform. It is ironic that he returned to the fold to fly its flag at the presidential polls in 2019 and 2023.

PDP has also succumbed to regional pressures, making it to become a bully and threat to the interest of its southern members. The ethnic gang-up that produced Atiku as 2023 candidate and which made Aminu Tambuwal the ‘hero of the convention,’ created an impression of domination, exclusion, alienation and destruction of zoning, which was a strong factor in party unity and cohesion.

The feeling that a presidential candidate from the North can lean on the numerical strength of the region to intimidate the South has produced fatal results, which should make the manipulators to realise that ethnic superiority is a figment of hyperactive imagination. There is no zone that can solely install a president. That is why a wiser presidential candidate would construct a bridge of understanding between the North and the South, instead of over-reliance on his region of origin.

Also, PDP lacks an effective crisis resolution mechanism, which often makes intra-party conflicts to fester. That was the bedrock of the polarisation of the party ahead of 2015 elections.

That year, scores of PDP chieftains abandoned the party and teamed up with the APC. Some of them later returned to the PDP after joining forces with APC to frustrate its bid for power at the centre.

Failing to learn from the past, the party repeated the costly mistake in 2023 by shunning compromise and daring the ‘G-5,’ led by Nyesom Wike, a party financier who suffered the indignity of being betrayed at critical hours. He fought back. The consequence was that APC discovered a crack – a rejected stalwart became very useful to those who appreciated his worth.

APC has its own challenges too. But the difference between APC and PDP is effective leadership – the ability to commands respect, weave the interests represented by the different tendencies, make sacrifices, avoid self-service, and elevate collective interest over personal aspiration.

The PDP is facing a test of survival. How would the party resolve the zoning hurdle in 2027? Can it put its house in order, resolve the lingering leadership logjam, forgive and forget the past, choose a new chairman who can galvanise the party, restore discipline, assert party supremacy, promote equity, justice, fair play and due process, and face the future with confident hope and realism?

The answers lurk in the belly of time.

May 3, 2025
Any calming the Rivers of conflict?

The Nigerian political space can be as intriguing as it can be deeply confusing. The political actors can be hired by the greatest global film industries like Hollywood, Nollywood or even Bollywood and their performances would be top notch. The political actors in Nigeria are ever active in or out of season. There are no dull moments. Political analysts have somehow agreed that the Nigerian political theatre seems eternally active. The political environment can be riveting, opaque and confusing all at the same time.

While Nigeria adopted the American presidential model of democracy, many democratic structures that have taken roots in America are often very noticeably absent in the Nigerian model. There seems to be some ‘Ostrich-playing’ by the Nigerian political class as they seem to make no serious attempts to adopt those democratic structures that make the American model such an enduring even if imperfect legacy.

First of all, Nigeria has no strong political party structure that shows any ideological leaning. The political party funding empowers a few who then wield powers that stretch their influence and relevance. When this happens, the creation of the proverbial godfathers naturally enters the mix in ways that stands them on the mountains of influence. Candidates often emerge through undemocratic party primaries and that is where the electoral flaws begin. From the ward levels to the highest political party in the land, it becomes the survival of the fittest.

That Nigeria has one of the most litigious post-election cases stems from the flawed structures of the political parties as candidates are often not products of the will of the majority from intra-party primaries. The internal conflicts in the political parties show that there is something wrong with the political party structures. Many politicians oscillate from one political party to the other almost towards the beginning of a new campaign season with no sanctions. The Nigerian voting public is often not considered when these politicians make their moves based on political expediences.

This background is the foundation for the roles of political godfatherism in ways that have created huge problems in Nigerian democracy. Most party members seem to have little or no say in who emerges as candidates. This is exactly why a notorious politician in Anambra state once boasted that he, ‘installed every elected candidate from the Sweeper to the Speaker’. This rhetoric is often true of some other ‘very powerful’ members of the many political parties.

This backdrop seems to be the albatross of democracy in Nigeria at least since 1999. The governor Siminalayi Fubara odyssey in Rivers state seems a slice of a larger political dysfunction that pervades the whole country even if undocumented. His relationship with his former boss, former governor Nyesom Wike, now minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) under whom he served the state as Accountant General is not far from the regular issues in Nigerian political space.

Many people believe that the declaration of the six-month state of emergency in Rivers state by President Tinubu was a needed intervention to restore order while others believe that it is as unconstitutional as it should not have a space in a democratic process. The Roundtable Conversation sought the views of two elder statesmen whose views on such national issues are always profoundly relevant.

Read Also: Pastor Tunde Bakare and the state of the nation

Dr.Kalu Idika Kalu is a foremost economist, former World Bank Economic Strategist, a two-time Minister of Finance, Minister of National Planning and Minister of Transport. To him, a state of emergency in a democracy should not be an option. He believes that the suspended governor Fubara ought to have been earlier held accountable for allegedly destroying part of the house of assembly building that belongs to the people. His precipitate action to allegedly prevent an impeachment move by the house members has no place in a democracy. He overreached himself with such a very reckless act. The law enforcement agencies ought to have waded in at that time to question the governor’s actions or inactions that led to the destruction of public property. This would have been the way to let even other governors realize that acting with impunity would not be tolerated.

A state of emergency rule that brings in a former military man should not be a solution to an obvious political problem. Political solutions are always more functional in democracies. As an economist, Dr. Kalu feels that democracies when made very functional stand a better chance of serving the people and guaranteeing economic growth. The alleged crisis between the suspended governor and the FCT minister could not have enhanced economic activities in the state neither did is encourage investment as investors prefer calm operating environments both politically and socially.

However, the renowned economist believes that the only redeeming feature under the circumstance would be for the sole administrator, Rtd. Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas to make sure that as a citizen who has served the country in a very high capacity, he works in the six months to retain democratic structures and not dig in more military structures through committees or other undemocratic institutions. He must work as an arbiter whose temporary job is to foster peace and calm the polity. He should consult more with the stake holders without being partisan. He should discuss with the traditional rulers and the other relevant demographics whose roles are reconciliatory.

His six-month stay would make a calming difference depending on his efforts at walking the democratic routes even as a retired military man. There is no room for command and control. His contribution to democracy should be evident in his ability to just take actions that would amount to an improved welfare of the people through wide consultations. The aim of governments in a democracy is to enhance the welfare of the people. He must not through his actions give the impression of any form of partisanship or taking sides. His eyes must be to extend his legacy of service to the nation through this role. The suspended governor and the house of assembly members on the other hand must recalibrate and understand that two months is almost gone and they must use this period for introspection to serve the people better.

Mr. Lade Bunola, popularly called Ladbone in media circles is a veteran journalist whose footprints are boldly marked in Nigerian print media practice. He was the former Managing Director of The Guardian Newspapers and now sits on the board of many others. He is a multi-award winner from several media and non-media organizations. His, ‘Lifetime Award for Journalistic Excellence’ from the Wole Soyinka Center for Investigative Journalism speaks to his value. As a veteran journalist, he believes strongly in the role of the media as the watchdog of every democracy. He believes that media must not let the baton fall from standing firm in defense of democracy.

As regards the state of emergency in Rivers state, Ladbone believes that more democratic options ought to have been applied to resolve the political issues in the state. The President ought to have applied dialogue to resolve the political issues between the suspended governor Fubara, his political mentor, Nyesom Wike and some of the house of assembly members. He believes it is unconstitutional for a president to remove a governor because they both enjoy the mandate of the people that elected them. The fact that some other president made the same mistake does not make it right.

The constitution lays out clearly the process through which a governor can be removed and that is through well-laid out impeachment processes that includes the active involvement of the state Chief judge that is mandated to set up a committee to investigate the alleged infractions by a governor after which a required number of votes must be collected before an impeachment goes through.

He believes the president could have employed dialogue by possibly engaging some of the respected voices of the region like the former governor or Akwa Ibom state, Chief Victor Attah, King Alfred Diete-Spiff and other notable traditional rulers. Even though the public might not be privy to the security reports that necessitated the state of emergency, dialogue with the different warring parties would have been a better option if our democracy must be nurtured to grow. In democracy, politicians must understand that winning is not permanent, sometimes you lose, sometimes you win. All processes are listed in the constitution and must be followed in ways that there is the maintenance of law and order.

An intervention would have calmed a Wike while governor Fubara would be made to understand that his mentor deserves respect too and severing relationship with him is not the most ideal thing to do. Prior to the court process, the assembly members that defected to another party ought to lose their seats and then another election held which would have them re-contest and the voters given the chance to either give them their mandate under another party or to reject them at the polls.

Ideally, if the President had explored other options other than the emergency rule by a sole administrator, the issues might have been better resolved and the governor re-instated faster than the six-month tenure while the peace-building continues between the tripartite teams; governor Fubara, his alleged godfather Nyesom Wike and some of the House of Assembly members. Peace would be achievable but it needs more efforts and the acceptance of the fact that no one person or political party must win all the time. Democracy is like a swinging door that rotates victories and loses.

The Roundtable Conversation believes that Nigerian political actors must be willing to play by the rules so that our democracy would thrive and begin to have dividends that can be progressively functional. We must restructure the political system to align with the functional tenets of democracy by handing power solely to the people through intra-party democracy that cascades into almost flawless electoral processes. When this happens, there would be less post-election rancor and ultimately zero need for such an intervention as the Rivers situation.

• The dialogue continues…

May 3, 2025
Upfront wages: Who does that?

We have bungled the process of securing the sole qualification ticket for the 2026 World Cup due to the administrative tardiness prevalent in the Dankaro House in Abuja. What is imperative now is how we use the lessons learned from our shambolic outings so far to guide us in winning all our home matches ahead of the 2030 edition. Super Eagles have played four home games in this series without any victory, despite parading a former Africa Footballer of the Year, Victor Osimhen and the incumbent holder of the African diadem, Ademola Lookman. If the Eagles had won three of their four home games, the country wouldn’t be requiring us to do any permutations in nicking the sole qualification in Group C.

New Zealand, Japan, Iran, Argentina, the United States (US), Mexico, and Canada have already qualified for the 2026 World Cup, with the last three nations (US, Mexico and Canada) qualifying as the co-hosts of the competition. Not for the first time is FIFA toying with the co-hosting competition for the most prestigious soccer tournament in the world – the senior World Cup. If it had her plans correctly executed, the Eagles would qualify for the 2026 Mundial, having two or three matches left as we did at the 1998 World Cup qualifiers with the White Witch Doctor, Phillipe Troussier as the Head Coach.

The first lesson learned from our pre-World Cup games is that the NFF chieftains refused to get the Super Eagles a top-rated foreign coach befitting of our players’ stature. We have thus far used five coaches not forgetting the dictum of too many cooks spoiling the broth. How could the NFF have committed this flaw knowing that for qualifying for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar all the participating countries received over $12 million as qualification bonus? Don’t we know that with the next edition being co-hosted by three nations that the logistics during the competition would be much? Common sense tells us that the qualification bonus would almost be hitting the roof. What a huge loss in the event that the country fails to qualify for the Mundial.

The pedigree of the new Eagles foreign coach to be recruited would determine the quality of international matches the Super Eagles would play in the next five years. Nigeria has been slated to play three international friendly games in Moscow against Russia on June 6 and the United Cup tournament in London later in June and the NFF and Coach Eric Chelle are up in arms over the kind of players to pick for the matches. When will these people ever be serious, dear reader? You tell me.

Sadly, these matches won’t attract any points for Nigeria in FIFA’s monthly rankings, making it imperative to ask to what intent and purpose are these arranged friendlies? Which European club would release their players for such meaningless games? No player would risk his career to play such games only to be injured. What are the security and other guarantees in place for the game against Russia in Moscow on June 8? A non-FIFA ranking game for that matter. How safe is Moscow? Isn’t this another case of failure of leadership?

How much are the organisers offering if the results of the matches won’t improve our FIFA ranking? Those federation members angling for domestic league players to be included in the squad to prosecute these games certainly have a hidden agenda. Have they considered the difficulties associated with securing entry visas for first time travellers out of the country? Did I hear the whisper of Notre Verbal? Perish that thought with the federation’s way of doing things? Shouldn’t Chelle be allowed to pick those he wants other than having his hands tied to his back?

Wait a minute. Where in the world have we heard of coaches being paid their wages upfront for close to ten months? What is so special about such a sinister method now that we know that the European season is heading towards a close with many countries set to take stock towards a successful 2025/2026 season?

This is the second time one would be writing about the need for the NSC boss to stand aside and allow the NFF chieftains to run their show. This way, the NSC can play its supervisory roles when the need arises.

Imagine the NSC boss telling us that Super Eagles Head Coach, Chelle would be paid upfront until October. The questions the NSC boss ought to have asked those who introduced that style of payment would be what Chelle would be doing after May 31, if he isn’t already in Nigeria? The other questions would be to ask which country does that and why we chose to pay a man for doing nothing simply because he is a football coach? Who cursed Nigeria like this? Did Nigeria beg Chelle to coach Nigeria? Wasn’t he one who applied for the job and went through the screening exercises before he was selected? What is this upfront payment meant to achieve? Pity! We don’t learn from history.

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“It’s not the commission paying directly, the support group is providing relief so the NFF can focus on other critical needs,” Shehu Dikko said in an interview on Eagle 7 FM Sports Radio.

“We are processing his payment upfront. The idea is to settle him completely, so he can concentrate on getting the team to the World Cup.

“We’re not part of the contract. But we’re committed to ensuring the coach has all the support he needs. After all, this is about Nigeria. If we can help, we will. And we are doing just that.

“The bonuses were paid immediately. While the players were still at dinner, before they had even showered, the money was already on the table. That level of organisation shows respect and commitment,” he said.

What a pity! My dear chairman, when would we stop this rubbish of showing the world that we are a wealthy country? Did Mali pay Chelle upfront when he was their coach? Certainly not. Is this upfront clause contained in his contract? If yes, who signed such a document on Nigeria’s behalf/ If no, why pay a coach who lives outside the country watching our boys during their club games to guide him in picking the country’s best for international assignments?

For the 2030 edition to be a stroll in the park, the leadership at the Dankaro House must go pending the outcome of the federation’s election which would be the most controversial, except the incumbent board implements the changes as espoused by the 10-year development plan committee headed by one-time NFF Chairman, Alhaji Ibrahim Galadima. The leadership has failed in all ramifications as it appears the last NFF board was better than this, unfortunately.

A leadership which would have cost Nigeria her passage into the 2018 World Cup by their administrative tardiness in fielding an ineligible Shehu Abdulahi in a deadpan last game against Algeria in Constantine, ought to have been sacked. Not so in Nigeria. He has since then been granted two extensions to his contract. Yet, we expect changes. No chance.

May 3, 2025
Pastor Tunde Bakare and the state of the nation

Understandably, the nationally televised address by former presidential aspirant and head of the Global Community Citadel Church based in Lagos at Easter, has generated widespread and diverse reactions as his public interventions always do. Aiming severe blows at the President Bola Tinubu administration, the fiery critic contended that an urgent change of course in the government’s policies on security and the economy was imperative to avert a popular uprising in the country. In the light of renewed killings in states like Plateau, Benue, Zamfara, Adamawa and Borno, to cite a few, Bakare, rightly, warned that the country is being driven toward the brink. But inexplicably, he attributed the resurgent violence and insecurity to “the motor park brand of politics nurtured by the old brigade politicians and, in recent times, by President Bola Tinubu“.

Pray, what exactly is this ‘motor park brand of politics’? The good cleric does not give a definition or description. He asserts but makes no attempt to demonstrate logically or empirically. If we knew what this motor park politics actually is, for instance, we would know how to relate it to newly rising cases of herders attacks on farming communities in the North Central, Boko Haram violence in Borno or Banditry in parts of the North-West. It is a largely unhelpful and unproductive criticism. Is the pastor saying that the Tinubu administration has folded its arms and done nothing whatsoever to tame insecurity that has persisted for nearly two decades and worsened steadily as the country’s economic fortunes continually declined? But the administration has scaled up budgetary funding of defense and security including procurement of new military equipment and enhanced use of science and technology to safeguard lives and property.

And the result has been evident in the course of the first nearly two years of the administration with the rapid decline of extremist religious violence, banditry and the unleashing of bloody violence on farming communities by rampaging herdsmen who unconscionably feed planted and harvested crops to their cattle. So what is responsible for the recent deterioration in the security situation? Is it that the security forces have lost steam and let down their guard? Can this new escalation of destabilizing insecurity be at the instigation of desperate and disgruntled opposition politicians out to discredit the current government as the race towards the 2027’general elections intensifies? These are questions the administration must find answers to if it is to get to the root of the matter and provide effective and sustainable solutions.

In one of his recommendations to address current national problems, Pastor Bakare advocated “restructuring security into local, state, and zonal forces” as well as “empowering a nonpartisan Directorate of National Intelligence’. Here, he strikes the nail on the head. It is overwhelmingly agreed that there must be urgent restructuring and decentralization of the security architecture to make it more effective, efficient and efficacious for a federal society. The nation faces an existential crisis and the prevailing security structure is obsolete and all too obviously not fit for purpose.

Pastor Bakare forcefully condemns the declaration by President Tinubu of a State of Emergency in Rivers State. He sees it as unwarranted, unconstitutional and undemocratic. Unfortunately, he is not privy to the security reports which must have been key to the President’s decision on the matter. But even then, that at least two pipelines were blown up as earlier threatened by pro-governor Siminaliyi Fubara youth elements if impeachment proceedings were commenced against him, is in the public domain. And in an interview on national television last week, a key actor in the Rivers State crisis, the FCT Minister, Mr Nyesom Wike, said that his preference, but for the state of emergency, was the outright removal from office of Fubara through impeachment.

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That would surely have led to stiff resistance from Fubara ‘s supporters particularly given the ethnicization of the crisis with the real possibility of plunging a state so critical to the national economy down the path of anarchy. It is doubtful if Tinubu’s decisive and swift resort to emergency measures to check the downward spiral can still be credibly questioned against this background. It is also curious that, as a lawyer, Bakare appears to be quite at peace with the demolition of the premises of the State House of Assembly by the executive to thwart a suspected bid to impeach Fubara and the subsequent running of the state by the governor with four out of 32 members of the House. This followed the farcical invalidation of the seats of the 27 pro-Speaker Amaewhule members by the minority In four members for allegedly decamping to the APC. Being human, the radical pastor’s position on some issues is also so obviously influenced, perhaps subconsciously, by partisan inclinations.

However, the imperative of statesmanship and the benefit of his vast political experience demands that President Tinubu utilize the authority and influence of his office to facilitate an enduring and speedy resolution of the Rivers crisis so that democratic normalcy can be speedily restored and there will be no need to extend the emergency. This will entail getting Wike in particular to toe the path of restraint, rectitude and wisdom given the triumph of his side in the absolutely avoidable power struggle.

Its approval of the President ‘s emergency declaration in Rivers is one of the reasons for Bakare ‘s savage put down of the National Assembly as spineless, unprincipled and no better than a pliant and pliable rubber stamp of the executive arm of government. A combative, adversarial and confrontational legislature continually up in arms against the executive would apparently be more to the pastor’s liking and more in tune with his own radical and activist temperament and disposition. But the legislature has the institutional and democratic right to opt for the strategy of constructive engagement with the executive without recourse to rancorous but unproductive populism. After all, we can still recall how Bakare ‘s seemingly preferred adversarial style, adopted by the Dr Bukola Saraki-led 9th National Assembly, created paralysis in governance for the President Muhammadu Buhari administration with negative implications for national development.

Interestingly, the same National Assembly, so scurrilous denounced by Bakare, in approving the declaration of the State of Emergency in Rivers, modified the Presidential proclamation by removing the supervisory authority over the Sole Administrator, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas, from the purview of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) to an ad hoc Committee of the House of Representatives. The 20-member Committee set up to supervise Ibas, headed by the Leader of the House, Professor Julius Ihonvbere, has had an interactive session with the Sole Administrator in Abuja and he has promised to furnish the legislators with a detailed report of his activities so far at the next scheduled meeting. This is not an irredeemably pro-executive legislature after all, despite its admitted shortcomings like all human organizations not excluding Pastor Bakare ‘s Global Community Citadel Church.

The pastor rightly highlights the current harsh existential conditions in the country with poverty levels rising higher as a result of the implementation of ongoing economic reforms such as removal of the fuel subsidy and merger of the previous parallel foreign exchange markets to eliminate opportunities for corruption -laden arbitrage. He is intellectually honest enough to state that much of the economic problems were inherited as well as being systemic while also acknowledging some of the gains of the reforms. However, in parts of his address, he seems to insinuate that there are viable alternatives to these reforms but does not concretely specify what these are.

The relatively detailed policy alternatives he outlines appear to me to be sophisticated and fashionably attractive repackaging of some of the measures already being implemented in pursuit of the reform agenda. However, he makes the pertinent point that corruption is still prevalent and that humongous amounts of corruptly acquired resources still lie in private hands. Bakare ‘s suggestions as regards retrieving such stolen resources and utilizing them for national developmental purposes, which in my view is an urgent imperative, appear not only lacking in concreteness but are idealistic and romantic. But for his quite inexplicable and frankly unfruitful diversionary forays into partisan politics, Bakare ‘s often clinical, passionate and patriotic interventions in public course would have been significantly more impactful. Thus, it was so easy for instance, for the relentless Reno Omokri to attribute his fiery denunciation of the Tinubu administration as arising from bitterness engendered by Bakare ‘s loss to the President in the APC presidential primaries.

May 3, 2025
Needless alarm on one party state

As at June 30, 2007, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was in control of 31 of the 36 states in the country. The defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) produced the governors in Yobe, Kano, Bauchi and Borno states while the defunct Action Congress (AC) had Lagos State. Between them, the opposition was in power only in five states. In one of the worst ever elections in Nigeria’s history in 2003, the then ruling PDP rampaged to power in the Southwest with hurricane PDP sweeping five defunct Alliance for Democracy (AD) off their gubernatorial perch. Despite the 2003 general elections turning the country virtually into a one-party dominant state, with the PDP further consolidating its political dominance in the no less brazenly rigged 2007 elections, there were no alarmist outcries of the ruling party turning Nigeria into a one-party state. PDP stalwarts at the time gleefully asked those who felt aggrieved by its undisguised electoral Banditry to “go to court”.

As the only man standing as a governor on the platform of the AD in 2003, the Lagos State governor, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, did not whine and throw tantrums. PDP chieftains particularly in Lagos State boasted that the country’s Socio-economic nerve centre and commercial capital would be ‘captured’ in the next electoral cycle and that Tinubu would have no choice but to cross to the ruling party. But Tinubu stayed the course. He remained firm and steady in opposition. Working with the former AD governors, Aremo Olusegun Osoba, Otunba Niyi Adebayo, Chief Bisi Akande, the late Alhaji Lam Adeshina and the late Chief Adebayo Adefarati, the Jagaban Borgu led the way in wresting the Southwest back to the progressive fold.

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In the North, former President Muhammadu Buhari stood strong in opposition first in the ANPP and later in the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC). Buhari and Tinubu ultimately led a merger of political forces that included part of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and aggrieved faction of the ruling PDP to form the APC that dislodged the PDP from power in 2015. With the recent root and branch relocation of the entire PDP structure to the APC in Delta State,the alarm bells that President Tinubu is turning Nigeria to a single party dictatorship have reached a crescendo. It is needless and time wasting. Tinubu and his party are not expected to turn away those flocking to them. There is nothing new about opposition politicians rushing to join the ruling party. It is a key feature of our political culture which was manifest even during the PDP’s 16 years in power.

The PDP still has scores of loyal, committed and credible members who have not abandoned the party. They include Bode George, Sule Lamido, Lyol Imoke, Tom Ikimi and so many others. They should rally to confront and transcend the party’s current paralysis in the interest of Nigeria’s democracy. The existence of a viable and vibrant opposition – not just temporary ramshackle contraptions to win elections – cannot be compromised.

May 3, 2025
Details of Hajj (HAJJ)

Preamble

This is the season of Hajj. It comes up in the month of Dhul Hijjah every year. Hajj means aspiration towards a higher pedestal in spirituality. It is, divinely, a pillar of Islam made obligatory by Allah for Muslims who can afford it once in a lifetime. Hajj is an ordained pilgrimage and not a mere tourism. Thus, the visa issued to Muslims who perform Hajj annually is that of pilgrimage and not of tourism. Whilst pilgrimage is a spiritual exercise, tourism is a pleasurable journey.

Similitude of Hajj

The similitude of Hajj in the life of a Muslim is like that of pregnancy in the womb of an expectant mother. The experience may vary from woman to woman as the foetus in the womb undergoes various stages before reaching the stage of delivery. By the time the child is finally delivered, the mother feels a relief of her life while the child assumes a tabula rasa (clean slate) that makes him absolutely innocent.

Spiritually, a pilgrim is like a newly born baby if he strictly performs Hajj as prescribed by Allah. But if he returns into the world of vanity after Hajj, he automatically becomes like a person in snow-white attire who finds himself in a palm oil market. Unless he spiritually guides his loins, he may immediately become a tainted person both in body and in soul.

Rigours of Hajj

Muslim pilgrims who are going on Hajj must be prepared to go through series of rigour both spiritually and physically. The rigour of getting the money with which to perform Hajj; the rigour of getting the travelling documents including visa; the rigour of taking care of the home front before embarking on the Holy journey; the rigour of boarding the plane with a sense of high risk; the rigour of going through the security checks at the embarkation point at the home of residence as well as the disembarkation point in Saudi Arabia; the rigour of performing the Tawaf and Sa’y; the rigour of moving from Makkah to Mina on the 8th day of Dhul-Hijjah, then to Arafah on the 9th day of Dhul-Hijjah, and back to Mina via Muzdalifah on the 10th of Dhul-Hijjah; the rigour of locating the tents at Arafah; the rigour of throwing the pebbles at the Jamrat in Mina on the three or four days known as Ayamu-t-Tashrik; The rigour of performing Tawaful Ifadah at the Sanctuary in Makkah after the first day of throwing pebbles; the rigour of shaving the head (by men) and slaughtering the rams by all; the rigour of performing the farewell circumambulation otherwise known as Tawaful Wida‘i all in the midst of millions of people can be too much to forget so soon after Hajj.

Whoever is not bothered by the money spent on Hajj should at least be bothered by the various stages of the rigour involved including that of visiting Madinah. To lose all these to the forces of Satan after Hajj is like losing one’s travelling passport after obtaining visa. The prayer of every genuine pilgrim is to retain the validity of Hajj forever.

Conditions for Hajj Performance

Performance of pilgrimage must be based on certain fundamental conditions. These include genuine intention and high spiritual standard. An intending pilgrim must have attained puberty. He must have been an ardent practitioner of the first four pillars of Islam: (Salat, Zakah, and Sawm) all of which are fervently based on faith (Iman). Hajj without these pre-requisites is like a tree without roots. Money is a major pre-requisite for Hajj but it is not absolute.

Hajj, the last pillar of Islam shows very vividly, the similitude of what mankind will experience on the Day of Judgment. Looking at the unique way in which pilgrims dress for Hajj and how they assemble at Arafat leaving their luggage behind in Makkah, one will realize how ephemeral this world is.

Purpose of Hajj

The various stages of preparation through which pilgrims pass before arriving at Arafat are symbolic of our peregrinations in life as human beings. Like the Day of Judgment, Arafat is the climax of Hajj performance. Anybody who misses Arafat misses Hajj. But Arafat is not by physical appearance alone. It takes a combination of factors to participate effectively in that great assembly which serves as the climax of Hajj.

For Hajj to serve its spiritual purpose in the life of a pilgrim, certain steps must be taken before leaving home. They are as follows:

•Fine-tuning the first four pillars of

Islam very sincerely

•Packaging the intention to perform Hajj

•Ascertaining the security of the way

•Providing adequately for the family and dependants

at home

•Paying all outstanding debts

including promises

•Ascertaining the condition of health

•Perfecting immigration procedures

•Undergoing all necessary medical

services including inoculation

•Assuming a mood of humility like that

of a servant approaching his Master.

•Readiness to endure hardship and to

tolerate fellow pilgrims’ attitudes.

While admonishing Muslims on spiritual journey including Hajj

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Prophet Muhammad once said: “Actions shall be judged according to intentions. Whoever embarks on a spiritual journey for the sake of Allah will be adjudged on that basis. And whoever bases his/her intention for pilgrimage on marriage or material gains should not expect any reward beyond that for which the intention is based”.

The steps to follow in the performance of Hajj are as follows:

The Miqat

Miqat is the specified place for the wearing of Ihram dress. There are five of such places in all. But the one earmarked for pilgrims from Nigeria cannot be reached by pilgrims travelling by air. It is over-flown while crossing the Red Sea. What most Nigerians do therefore is to wear their Ihram dress in Jeddah which has now been adjudged right through a Fatwah. Thus, Nigerian pilgrims can now wear their Ihram dress on arrival at the pilgrims’ airport in Jeddah. However, pilgrims whose first destination in Saudi Arabia is Madinah have no problem with Miqat. Such pilgrims should just wear their Ihram dresses at the Miqat in Madinat.

Tawaful-Qudum

Tawaf means circumambulation of the Ka’bah. The very first Tawaf to be performed by any pilgrim on entering Makkah is called Tawaful Qudum (meaning welcoming circumambulation). It is performed before a pilgrim settles down in any residence. Tawaful Qudum is an obligatory Sunnah from which only residents of Makkah among pilgrims are exempted.

Residence in Makkah or Madinah

Most Nigerian pilgrims often seek their accommodations in Makkah or Madinah close to the Haram. This is to enable them to walk to from the Haram conveniently at the time of any Salat. To minimise pilgrims’ regular occurrence of missing their ways, they are provided with hand bands bearing the addresses of their residences. Pilgrims are therefore advised to wear such bands at all times to enable them show it to either the official Saudi Hajj guides or Saudi policemen when the road is missed. It is also important for pilgrims to always be with their identity cards provided by Nigerian Pilgrims’ Commission or private agents. This is to enable them to be identified in case of sickness, accident or even death.

Movement to Mina

Pilgrims’ statutory movement to Mina is on the 8th of Dhul Hijjah. Such pilgrims must spend the night of the 8th of Dhul-Hijjah in Mina where they must observe Salatus-Subhi of the 9th day of Dhul Hijjah which is Arafah Day before proceeding to the Plain of Arafah. Pilgrims must be ready to undergo some rigour in the process of moving to Mina from Makkah. The rigour which normally affects all pilgrims is engendered by limited time available for millions of pilgrims who must move to that spiritual camp before the sunset on the day preceding Arafah day.

Such movement must commence from Makkah and after Tawaful Qudum. There is movement to Mina from Madinah since there is no Tawaf in Madinah.

The Day of Arafah

All pilgrims proceed to the Plain of Arafat are advised to stay under their tents and concentrate on the spiritual activities that take them to the place. They must reach Arafat not later than mid day when Salatu-d-Dhuhr and ‘Asr should be observed combined. Anybody who is not at Arafat by mid day is considered not to have taken part in the assembly and therefore missed Hajj.

Immediately after observing the combined Salatu-d-Dhuhr and ‘Asr the Imam who led the two Salat is expected to give a sermon. Listening to such sermon is as compulsory as giving it by the Imam. The great assembly of Arafat terminates shortly before sunset (Magrib) while the pilgrims return to Mina via Muzdalifah.

Muzdalifah

At Muzdalifah, pilgrims are expected to halt their journey to observe Magrib and ‘Ishai combined. They are also expected to pass the night there and observe the Salat-s-Subh of the following day before proceeding to Mina. Muzdalifah is adjacent to Mina and a walking distance to the Jamrat (the stonning place).

Jamrat

Stoning of the devils (Rajmu Jamrat) begins a day after Arafat and continues for the next three or four days that the pilgrims are supposed to spend at Mina. This exercise is obligatory and without it Hajj is considered incomplete except when and where a pilgrim is hindered by certain inevitable conditions. There are three points at which stones are to be thrown. Seven pebbles are to be thrown at each point on every one of the three or four days to be spent in Mina.

While going for the pebble-throwing exercise, pilgrims are advised to take their pebbles along with them. On the first day of stone throwing, only seven stones are thrown at only one spot. On the subsequent three or four days, pilgrims are required to throw twenty-one pebbles each day with seven stones thrown at each of the three spots provided. These amout to 21 stones each day.

Picking such pebbles at the point of throwing them is forbidden. All pebbles must have been picked before leaving the tent for the ‘Jamrat’ or on the way to the ‘Jamrat’. For pilgrims who deside to spend three days in Mina, the total number of pebbles to be thrown is 49 (7 for the first day, 21 for the second day and 21 for the third day). For pilgrims who choose to spend four days, the total number of pebbles to be thrown is 70.

Majzarah (Abattoir)

Slaughtering of all sacrificial animals is done at the abattoir in Mina. Pilgrims do not need to bother themselves by going to the abattoir for the purpose of carrying out this compulsory obligation. They can simply buy the guaranteed ticket sold by designated Saudi agents. The ticket is the evidence that one has performed that duty. The slaughtering is done on behalves of the pilgrims by some authorised artisans who are paid by the Saudi Hajj authorities from the money paid for those animals. The animals to be slaughtered at Jamrat range from rams to camels. A pilgrim should slaughter one ram or more while seven pilgrims may combine to slaughter one camel or five of them may jointly slaughter on cow.

Tawaful Ifadah

For pilgrims who can afford to go to Makkah after throwing the first seven pebbles, it is good to perform Tawaf-ul-Ifadah. For those who cannot, the exercise can be deferred till the end of Tashrik.

Pilgrims who have performed Tawaf-ul-Ifadah are free to shave their heads and change from their Ihram dress into civil or traditional dresses.

The only reason for any pilgrim to go to Makkah from Mina during the camping period is to perform Tawaf-ul-Ifadah. No pilgrim should break camping rule by going to Makkah without performing Tawaf-ul- Ifadah. And after performing Tawaful Ifadah, no pilgrim should remain in Makkah or elsewhere without returning to Mina before sunset.

With the completion of the camping days in Mina which is climaxed with Tawaful-Ifadah and the arrival of all the pilgrims in Makkah, Hajj has been completed except for Tawaf Wida‘i otherwise called farewell Tawaf. That Tawaf is also obligatory.

It is then left for pilgrims to decide whether or not to go to Madinah. Visiting the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah is not obligatory. But it will be spiritually odd for any pilgrim to choose not to visit the Prophet’s Mosque before or after performing Hajj in Makkah and its environs.

Conclusion

Throughout the Hajj exercise, what should be uppermost in the mind of a pilgrim is the spiritual benefit. Hajj is made compulsory only once in a life’s time for those who have the wherewithal to undergo it and can satisfy the conditions attached to its performance.

On arriving home finally, pilgrims are not expected to start organising parties in celebration of a successful Hajj performance as ignorantly done by some Nigerians. Maintaining Hajj is a necessity for those who know the value of doing that. Whoever is privileged to perform Hajj once should forever be grateful to Allah as no one is sure of getting another chance.

May 2, 2025
Rising insecurity and imperative of state police

The resurgence of insecurity across the state of Nigeria, From Kebbi to Zamfara, to Katsina, to Niger and the recent unfortunate developments in Borno are very worrisome. Furthermore, insecurity has resurged in Plateau, and it is escalating in Benue. We are also witnessing pockets of insecurity in some parts of southern Nigeria. The unfolding scenarios have yet again brought the need for State Police to the front burner. For some of us who are proponents of state policing, I am again adding my voice to the need for this very important structural provision to be expedited and activated, as initiated by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. This very crucial requirement to bring about internal security in Nigeria should be fast-tracked as a matter of national priority. Undeniably, the number of boots on the ground of our armed forces across the strata and the services cannot, I repeat, cannot actually take up this insecurity effectively and efficiently, talkless of sustainability. As we all know, sustainability is key. The timeline that is required deal with legislation, activation of the policy and enhancement of national and state strategies, the hiring processes, indoctrination, tooling and kitting, salary and compensation package, welfare and assimilation of forces into the battlefield to make impacts are the reasons why State Police should be treated as a matter of a national emergency. States must immediately start strategic planning by recognizing that when and if the legislations are passed, they will be able to take necessary actions in their respective states and then hit the ground running to do all that is necessary to have internal security in their respective states as soon as possible. Meanwhile, I sense and note the concerns of Governors as they face the daunting task of providing security and safety for the people in their States, which is their core constitutional mandate.

As it is today, the governors of the states of the Federal Republic of Nigeria are only chief security officers of their states on paper. There is little or nothing they can do without federal intervention. The governors are at the mercy of the availability of resources to be deployed to the States by the President of Nigeria. Indeed, where a President has other priorities, then there is another issue to be dealt with. The political considerations, which are also of concern to most well-meaning Nigerians, that governors will abuse State Police, have taken a back seat considering the importance and the criticality of enabling all the state governors to have the powers to protect their states against threats and dangers, including natural disasters. Therefore, I am reiterating the support of this laudable move for constitutional review to activate state policing. We can ensure that the issues of funding and the issues of the framework that would de-risk this very important requirement, insulate it from abuse, and also ensure that it is done in ways and manners that will actually serve the purposes for which it will be promulgated.

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The issue of funding for Security, whereby some states are struggling to pay salaries, is a matter of fact. However, the recent disclosure by the Special Adviser to the President on Policy Communication, Mr. Daniel Bwala, that some state governor ares not effectively utilizing their huge security votes to tackle insecurity, has also thrown on the front burner a very a credible and worrisome scenario whereby, if governors are being stingy with the security votes by pinching money to security forces to deliver such crucial mandates at such a crucial time then we will have even bigger issues even with the State Policing in place, because indeed adequate funding is a critical success factor for effective and efficient defense and security. That is why we are advocating as a matter of priority to offload state policing on the laps of governors as a strategic way of pulling out the security vote monies out of the pockets of governors who are not ready to deploy the huge amounts of money allocated to security votes for the purpose that the money should serve, by hiding under the guise that it is Mr. President or the Federal Government that should provide security across Nigeria. Because with the State Police in place, the governors must utilize allocated funds to fund state policing. State policing cannot just be a mantra. When promulgated, it will not be the responsibility of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to make provision in the budget to support state policing. Accordingly, that will also put governors on their toes. And by that, Mr. President and Nigerians will also have the full right to challenge governors to do the needful.

Indeed, if State Police is activated, the numbers of boots on the ground in the states that will providing those interventions will complement the boots on the ground at the federal level and allow the Nigerian Armed Forces, to refocus on their core mandates of providing territorial integrity, defending Nigerians and providing internal security Nigeria (in the case of the Nigerian Police Force). Of course, this change will be done in phases, such that the Nigerian armed forces will not immediately pull out of the states. The change-over will be part of the political of the overarching strategy of state policing that the governors I mean the armed forces will continue providing those support and intervention for a period of time after which they are weaned off the states and then there will be a layer as at whenever the federal interventions will be needed. But as the case is today, we are already in the second quarter of 2025, and the insecurity is escalating, negating all the laudable achievements of the administration, as it has done in previous administrations.

If we don’t take the issue of State Police seriously and fast-track the process of legislation and have an executive process that will surely ensure expedient activation of this very crucial requirement to fight insecurity, Nigeria will be doomed. While we are at it, may I use this opportunity to again call on the federal government to significantly increase the number of armed forces boots on the ground. I know there has been an increase in the recruitment process of the Nigerian armed forces and the Nigerian police, but we need more troops in terms of the numbers and frequency of recruitment, training, kitting, indoctrination, salary and compensation package, welfare, and support after service. This is one of the most important imperatives required to beat the curve of the insurgents and to fight this highly fluid, volatile, guerrilla warfare with the insurgents and the terrorists.

The Nigerian Armed Forces are performing exceptionally well given the resources available to them and the circumstances they find themselves in. However, it is an asymmetrical war that is almost becoming symmetrical. Because the terrorists are gaining ground. They are reviewing their strategy. They are getting more resources and logistical support for their onslaught in comparison to the Nigerian armed forces. This should be a food for thought for any well-meaning Nigerian. Indeed, the issue of homeland and national security is the core responsibility of governments at the federal and state levels. But it is also the responsibility of all Nigerians to support national security, because, together we stand on this and divided we will fall. This matter is beyond political affiliations, religious divisions, or ethnic sentiments. Therefore, I urge all of us to look at it from a unified lens and break the barriers of politics, ethnicity, and parochial sentiments to deal with this cankerworm. Definitely, terrorism does not recognize ethnicity, religion, tribal, or political sentiments. We are all victims of the situation. We are all faced with this multidimensional challenge, and I urge all stakeholders to move with the speed of light to dispense with this issue.

When State Policing is promulgated, Nigerians will hold the governors to account to deliver their mandate. But I dare say again, the legislation should provide buffers and provisos to ensure that state governors who want to become emperors do not misuse the opportunity, and plunge their States and Nigeria at large.

May God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

May 2, 2025
The joyless parable of Mr. Whiner

Mr Whiner is Nigeria’s worst nightmare. A kindred spirit with the dubious patriot; while the latter devastates the country with bad politics, Whiner fulfills the role of a mortician. He is the proverbial pallbearer who spirits out a coffin at the first scent of roses.

In Whiner, we encounter a parable of the Nigerian soul. No thanks to him, we know that Nigeria may not die merely by bullets and bombs, but by the gall of cynics in loafers and saboteurs in agbada, soft-shoed mercenaries who smile and kill.

Consider, if you will, the curious case of Mr. Whiner. A journalist whose existence is fashioned in contradiction. He abhors his benefactor, a news publisher, with an almost theological fervour; perhaps because he was groomed to loathe those of different creeds. Whiner’s bile is tribal, his hatred inherited. Yet, he practically lives inside the newsroom of the newspaper owned by this same publisher. He is not a staff member. No pay slips bear his name. Still, he comes and goes like a ghost whose presence nobody questions, his access granted through the charity of a former editor.

Whiner has a wife and children. Yet he deserts them nightly, to sleep in an office corner, beside the wires and routers, because the electricity and internet access are free. He brings soup and makes eba with water boiled in a kettle owned by the newsroom of the publisher he loves to hate. He bathes in the bathroom meant for employees, washes and irons his clothes with the hum of electricity provided by the generator of the publisher he prays would drop dead. Every week, he publishes advertorials disguised as stories: free pages untouched by tax or truth. These are gifts, really, from the house he curses with his breath.

It is not his religion or politics that indict him. The democratic soul must have the right to critique power. But it is the gleeful subversion of basic decency, the cannibalising of the very hand that feeds him, that reveals the rot in his soul. Whiner loathes his benefactor, the publisher, who currently occupies a public office, yet has been feeding off his kindness for over one decade. He dreads the establishment’s ownership while reaping its benefits. He mocks his source of livelihood, venting his ill will with the vigour of a sponsored agitator.

Some would blame the organisation for being too accommodating. I would say that Whiner has simply perfected the subtle art of subterfuge. Something the Yoruba would describe thus: “Je ka pe were won loko iyawo, kin won je ki nri temi se.”

Whenever he is corrected or nudged toward decency, he puffs up like a peacock in heat, hiding his shamelessness behind the veil of religious conviction. What kind of saint sucks milk from his mother’s breast while wishing her dead?

This same soullessness feeds the failed presidential candidate who, in a frenzy of rejection, flew to Harvard to demarket Nigeria, baring its sores before an audience eager to sneer. Like Whiner, he thrives on destruction. He’s the sort who, denied the throne, would rather watch the palace burn than help build a new one. He would bury Nigeria because he lost an election.

It is this same venom that drives his cult of devotees, who gleefully applauded as he painted a dismal portrait of the country before foreign eyes. If they cannot wear the crown, the entire kingdom must burn. Many Nigerians, especially those who imagine themselves too educated to be deceived, drink deeply from this poisonous cup. They defend him on social media, share his slander like scripture, and justify his perfidy with elegant grammar. “If I can’t have the apple, I’ll burn down the orchard.” This is Whiner’s gospel. And tragically, it has become Nigeria’s creed.

In Whiner’s spirit, we see the foul ghost of many Nigerians: the cynic who lights a match to the village because his neighbour’s barn is larger; the kidnapper in his lair, the assassin in his ambuscade and the corrupt policeman and public officer on his perch. This spirit belongs primarily to the predator while it hunts its prey. Like Whiner, too many Nigerians exploit the country without conscience. The corrupt civil servant who inflates contracts and diverts funds meant for roads, schools, hospitals; he is Whiner in a tie. The judge who sells verdicts and perverts justice is Whiner, robed in law. The dubious activist who incites the masses with half-truths, never seeking progress but only more fuel for the fire, is Whiner with a megaphone. The journalist who twists headlines to please tribal and Western imperial patrons trades truth for bias and integrity for wordplay; he, too, is Whiner with a pen.

It is Whiner’s syndrome that animates the Igbo zealot who screams that Lagos is no man’s land, a playground won by intellect and labour, even as he shivers at the thought of relocating to Enugu to replicate such glory. He boasts that Lagos cannot do without him, forgetting that a tree does not mock its roots while basking in the sunlight.

Whiner’s spirit afflicts the Yoruba prodigal, who sells ancestral lands to bigoted interlopers, spends the proceeds on owambe parties and then returns to cry foul: “They are taking over our lands in large numbers! They will soon take our throne!”

Then there is the Fulani herder, manipulated by a soulless political class and mythologies of dominance, who lays waste to crops cultivated with sweat and hope by middle-belt and southern farmers. He believes the earth was made for him and his herd alone. He, too, is a Whiner in entitlement and destructive tendencies.

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These are hardly scattered fragments but different masks worn by the same face. It is the face of the exploiter, who only gives where profit is guaranteed and stays only where he can plunder. This, sadly, is the popular Nigerian disposition. And it is terminal.

No nation can flourish when most of its citizens are transactional patriots. Nigerians wake up daily scheming how to game the country. They share fake news with glee, amplify bad tidings with the fervour of funeral criers, and downplay progress unless it favours their tribe or political messiah. They do not serve the country, they leech it.

And when the country begins to rot from the gangrene of a thousand unchecked sins, they cry: “Nigeria has failed us!” As though they, too, didn’t swing the axe. The Igbos say: “A man who brings home ant-infested firewood should not complain when lizards invade his house.”

There are consequences. If we allow the Whiners of our time to multiply, unchallenged, we shall one day stir to find that we no longer have a country. The economy groans because everyone is gaming the system. Our public institutions are perverted by compromise. The media, like its global counterparts, shamelessly teem with partisans who swap objectivity for tribal vengeance. The youth, seduced by social media posturing, have turned activism into theatre. Even the clerics, once shepherds of moral wisdom, are now spiritual gunrunners, trading prophecy for campaign contracts.

Whiner is not just a man in the newsroom or a lout on the street. He is an archetype. He is a Nigerian who believes in taking but never giving back. Until we stop treating our country like a commodity to be drained, we will keep birthing Whiners. And Whiners do not build nations. They bury them.

May 1, 2025
Wolf cry over one-party state

For 16 years, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was on the saddle of leadership in the country. This was between 1999 and 2015. At the height of its power, it became full of itself and overconfident. It believed that there was nothing it could not do; that all it needed to do was to say it out and the deed was done. It was a big mistake. It boasted that it would rule for 60 years. I am not sure that the party still remembers that now because of where fate has thrust it in the power loop.

It has painfully come to realise that power does not flow from the thoughts and machinations of man alone; that when your chi, apologies to the Igbo, cracks your palm kernel, you should eat it in silence, say a prayer or two and not taunt others. PDP woes began in 2008 long before its fall from power in 2015. Little did it know that it was setting the stage for its eclipse when its former chairman, Vincent Ogbulafor, boasted that it would rule Nigeria for 60 years.

“PDP is a party for all and it is set to rule Nigeria for the next 60 years. I don’t care if Nigeria becomes a one-party state. We can do it and PDP can contain all”. As far back as 2008 when Nigeria’s democracy was just nine years, PDP was already thinking of making it a one-party state. Today, seeing its evil plan collapse before its eyes, it is accusing President Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) which wrested power from it in 2015 of having such plans.

Just as politicians both elected and appointed dumped their parties for PDP in its days of glory, so are they leaving PDP in droves today for APC. It is in the nature of politicians to go foraging in places where their bread will be buttered. Politicians do not like to be in the losing party and PDP, for now is not a winning party. It is in a serious crisis which may affect its chances in the 2027 polls for which some of its leading lights chaperoned by its presidential candidate in 2023, Atiku Abubakar, have been trying to form a coalition.

Their coalition is an extension of their fight with Tinubu and if APC suffers collateral damage in the process, all well and good. The coalition arrowheads, Atiku and Nasir El-Rufai, are not the best of friends but when it comes to Tinubu, they are ready to close ranks and do anything to get him out of office. In their haste to achieve their goal and apparently blinded by political animosity, they, particularly Atiku, left their flanks open.

The cracks in Atiku’s PDP are widening by the day. He ran as the party’s presidential candidate with then Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa as his running mate. Two years down the line, both men have gone their separate ways. Okowa’s defection along with his successor, Sheriff Oborevwori, and the entire PDP structure in Delta hit Atiku like a bolt out of the blue. He never saw it coming and he has yet to recover from the political Tsunami which hit PDP in that state.

It was one defection like no other. If a state would flip, it was not expected to be Delta, a state hitherto considered as the party’s exclusive preserve. Until the April 23 defection, PDP was Delta and Delta was PDP. No other party than PDP had ruled the state since 1999. ‘How did it happen right under our nose’? This is the question sources say they have been asking themselves in the last few days. But, they may not have seen nothing yet, according to these sources. Asked what they meant, they replied: “more defections are in the offing”.

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Many members are said to be unhappy and asking questions of Atiku whose running mate led others to APC eight days ago. They want the former vice president to explain how Okowa defected without his knowledge. As usual, rather than frontally address the internal crisis which caused the defection, Atiku and his ilk are blaming Tinubu for PDP’s misfortune. They claim that the defection is part of the President’s grand plan to turn Nigeria into a one-party state. Really?

Can PDP of all parties accuse anyone of working towards a one-party state, the same arrangement that it planned to foist on the country when it boasted that it would rule for 60 years and nothing will happen if Nigeria became a one-party state under its watch? Check: “PDP is set to rule for 60 years. I don’t care if Nigeria becomes a one-party state”. What other proof of a proponent of a one-party state do you need more than that?

Politics is all about interests and how such interests are protected. As Okowa said when he, Oborevwori and others were ushered into APC on Monday, it was in the defectors’ interests to move into the ruling party in order to ‘connect to Abuja’. Come to think of it, what is bad in it if Tinubu worked underground or through people to make this big catch for APC? When PDP was ‘capturing all the capturables’, as K.O Mbadiwe would say, in its days in power did it not see it all as fair and foul in war?

Their claim that the nation is descending into a one-party state is what it is – crying wolf where there is none. With over 18 registered political parties in the country, only the serious and the best can attract quality members who will drive their dreams, aspirations and programmes for the people. It is obvious that APC is now the domineering party just as PDP was some years ago. That PDP has lost out in the power game does not make Tinubu and APC, that are now in the driver’s seat, monsters and harbingers of a one-party state.

Even with all the 28 out of the 36 governors in the country that PDP had in 2008, Nigeria did not become a one-party state. How then can APC with a lesser number of governors now, 22, be accused of plotting a one-party state? The Delta defections have done as much damage to Atiku’s coalition plans just as the party’s governors’ rejection of same. His talk of a one-party state does not hold water.

May 1, 2025
Nipco: Laying the facts bare
There is a certain Latin word which lawyers like to use when they have a good case. When the facts are not in doubt and the defendant has nothing to dispute the plaintiff’s case, the lawyer will boldly tell the court: “My Lord, res ipsa loquitur, that is the thing speaks for itself”. What the lawyer is saying in effect is that from the processes before the court, the facts of the case are clear and unambiguous and that there is no need for further arguments. I do not have much to say today on my case with Nipco filling station at Arepo, in Ogun State, over the ‘N20000 dispense error’ that I wrote about last week.

I do not have anything against the outlet. All I want is for it to go through its books and sort out this matter. I cannot pay N40000 for N20000 worth of petrol and pretend, like the station, that everything is alright. Is my claim true or false? Here are some of my facts as obtained from my bank:

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Dear Mr. Lawal,

Thank you for contacting Guaranty Trust Bank. We apologize for the inconveniences caused. Please be informed that your dispense error claim of N20,000 on the 15/01/25 was declined by the acquiring bank. Please note, transaction declined means that the Merchant got value for that transaction, hence their bank declined or refused to reverse or refund us. Kindly contact merchant for refund if you did not get value for the transaction. Find attached the receipt of the transaction. Thank you for choosing Guaranty Trust Bank.
- Chinwendu Etolihu
May 1, 2025