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  • Fubara’s humble pie

    Fubara’s humble pie

    • The governor had opportunities for fence-mending but frittered them

    How Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State thought he could have got away with his serial disregard for due process and rule of law beggars belief. True, many of our governors are emperors. They want to control virtually everything: from local governments to state assemblies, etc. And they can go to any length just to achieve those ignoble objectives.

    The crisis in Rivers began when in December 2023, Gov. Fubara stopped working with 27 lawmakers, including Martins Amaewhule, following an alleged defection from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC). The governor is PDP and a protege of the former governor of the state, Nyesom Wike, now Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

    But the scales soon fell off the eyes of the hitherto romantic pair of lovers and, like many instances of other political godfathers and their godsons, both men have since gone their separate ways.

    That is the main cause of the political

    brouhaha in Rivers State.

    Both Wike and Fubara are now in the battle of their lives for the control of the state’s jugular.  With neither set to retrace his steps, the situation is like that of the bird that perches on a tree; neither the bird nor the tree is at rest.

    But Fubara would seem to have got to his wits end, with the Supreme Court judgment delivered on February 28. I guess this was the last straw that broke the Fubara government’s back, as the apex court upheld an earlier judgment barring the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) from releasing the state’s monthly allocation to the state government until it has seen the need to present the state budget in accordance with constitutional stipulations.

    The governor had earlier derecognised

    27 of the state assembly members led by Amaewhule, and had been dealing with only four members, including in the passage of the state budget.

    In fairness to Fubara, he is not the first governor to do this. Some governors had travelled the same route before and many others may be eyeing it if the appropriate lessons are not taught.

    Fubara’s mistake, however, was that he did not appreciate the fact that all circumstances and situations might only be similar, they may not exactly be the same.

    Fubara did not seem to appreciate the fact that Wike is a solid rock behind the Amaewhule-led Rivers State House of Assembly. And he is today politically relevant if only by virtue of his position as FCT Minister.

    So, it is not like that of Edo State under

    former Governor Godwin Obaseki, for instance, where Obaseki successfully muzzled the state house of assembly and got away with it.

    Politics apart, any right-thinking person would have known that Gov Fubara would soon get to a brick wall in the path he chose to tread.

    Our 1999 Constitution may not be a perfect document; no document or constitution is. But, as in all democracies, the constitution recognises the importance of the principle of separation of powers. But many of our governors don’t want to have anything to do with that.

     It is Fubara’s immaturity and naivety that his opponents continued to exploit by taking actions that continually made him sink deeper and deeper into gubernatorial impunity that has ended up putting him in his present cul-de-sac.

    Yet, it is not that the governor did not have options. He could have tried to break the ranks of the legislators. Or, could it be that Wike’s grip on his own was too much for him to tackle? Or, did Fubara think coming down from his high horse to the level of the legislators was demeaning for him as the executive governor of Rivers State?

    Whatever it is, the backbone of the majority legislators, that is Wike, may be politically correct today and so could be winning. The tide may turn tomorrow and God may turn what is a masterstroke of political correctness or sagacity today to the height of foolishness.

    But until then, one lesson from this Rivers episode is that it is not in all cases that governors can pocket the state legislators. Where there is unanimity of purpose and determination, the legislators can really assert their independence, especially when, like the whirligig, they have something underneath the water that is beating the drum for them. 

    The Rivers gladiators had the advantage of presidential intervention. But they did not take full advantage of it.

    Just as they also had other options that could have given them an amicable settlement that would have been a win-win for all. Again, they ignored that path. At this stage, we cannot say there is no victor, no vanquished in the matter unless we want to deceive ourselves. There is a victor; there is a vanquished, and all those involved know. Even those of us watching developments from the sidelines know. Egos have been bruised.

    There is a saying in Yoruba land that we cannot return from court and still be friends. This could be true.

    But then, there is still hope only if the gladiators decide to sheath their swords. The fact is; there is a job to do. Governance has suffered in the state since the beginning of the crisis, forget the governor’s braggadocio about his programmes and projects not being affected by the crisis.

    Read Also: Supreme Court and Fubara V. Wike

    A governor having impeachment axe dangling on his head cannot truly say all is well.

    But this is where Amaewhule and his colleagues must tread softly. Fubara can only be pretending not to be perturbed. Nigerian governors know the privileges they get in office, so Fubara won’t just go down if he is impeached. He would fight back. But since nothing guarantees that he too would win if things degenerate, he has to eat his humble pie. He should stop issuing threats. The fact is; he doesn’t have what it takes to dislodge Amaewhule & Co. So, he must find a way to reach an amicable settlement with them. Just as the majority legislators too must realise that they can only know the beginning of a crisis; they may not know how it would pan out. The deadline they are giving the governor to present the budget before them, for instance, seems unrealistic to me. There should be room to accommodate likely changes in the light of the new political reality. The point I am making is that whatever deadlines they are giving must have human face and should not be the product of the animosity between the two parties.

    I can understand how they feel but they must show they have the maturity that their opponents seem to lack.

     And if there are still elders in Rivers State, this is a time for them to stand to be counted. The head of a baby that is on his mother’s back can never be bent in a place where there are true elders.

    There is need to douse the tension in the state.

  • NAF personnel’s attack on Ikeja Electric

    NAF personnel’s attack on Ikeja Electric

    Nothing under the sun can justify the assault on workers at the headquarters of Ikeja Electric (IE) in Ikeja, Lagos, on Thursday, by some personnel of the Nigerian Air Force (NAF). Absolutely nothing.

    The Sam Ethnan Air Force Base in Ikeja was said to have been disconnected by IE on account of about N4 billion accumulated debt. So, the base has been without light for over 10 days.

    The NAF personnel not only went on the rampage at the company’s premises, destroying vital equipment, beating up some members of the staff and forcing

    some of them to lie down, etc., they also reportedly left with some personal belongings of their victims.

    These are despicable conducts, particularly coming from NAF personnel, an arm of the military that is reputed for its discipline and finesse.

    Of course some Nigerians have said it served IE right. That the experience was the comeuppance for some of the company’s disregard for its customers. I don’t think so. If only for the simple fact that anyone, just anyone, including Ikeja Electric visitors and customers could have been victims because the NAF personnel did not differentiate between the workers and others.

    Incidentally, I was at the Egbeda office of the company when I heard of the incident on Thursday. Meaning if that was where the incident took place, I could also have been a victim.

    I cannot remember when last I visited that place. As a matter of fact, I dread going to such places. But, it was one of the things I also dread most that took me there on Thursday: estimated billing. I had been at peace with IE ever since I got prepaid meter some years back, but the meter was retrieved in October, last year, when it became faulty and in just four months, I am already having issues over estimated billing.

    But my experience at the Egbeda office is an admixture of both the good and the ugly. As a matter of fact, I had to tell two of the workers that attended to me that their faces were not customer-friendly. Yet, I was impressed by the conduct of two other workers in the place. Fair enough. That is what obtains in several establishments.

    Read Also: NAFDAC raises alarm, says over 14.3million Nigerians affected by drug abuse

    If the NAF personnel had complained over estimated billing and taken to the appropriate channels for redress, I might have been sympathetic to their cause. But to owe a debt of about N4 billion (I have not seen anywhere this has been contested by the Air Force), and still expect to have light beats one’s imagination. I guess some of us having issues with estimated billings are the ones defraying some of the debts owed by institutions like NAF, otherwise IE would have closed shop.

    The Federal Government must quickly wade into not just this matter but other military installations in the country and work out a sustainable arrangement on how the institutions would be paying for their essential services.

    But the soldiers need to be educated that power sector is now privately owned, therefore they need to pay for services rendered. As government ‘pikin’, they could afford not to pay for services rendered by their ‘father’s’ agencies before privatisation. Not anymore.

    Meanwhile, who picks the bills of those injured during the attack? Who pays for the damaged equipment? NAF must ensure those involved in the attack are identified and punished.

    The optics of Thursday’s incident at Ikeja Electric headquarters is bad for foreign investment; it is equally bad for democracy.

    We should be done with the era of  ‘Unknown Soldier’ for good.

  • The rise, rise and rise of capitalism (X)

    The rise, rise and rise of capitalism (X)

    ONE of the most important, if not the most important dates in colonial history is 1884 because that is the year when the famous or perhaps, from an African point of view,  infamous Berlin Conference was convened in the capital city of the brand new German kingdom. The rampant German eagle had just taken to the skies of Europe and as far as eagles went, was not to be ignored. For example, the French had just been chastised in a short, brutal war which ended in the occupation of Paris, capital city of the then defunct French empire together with the loss of  the province of Alsace and Lorraine which was absorbed into the German empire. This loss was reversed by the Treaty of Versailles at the conclusion of the First World War. It is that reversal that has made it possible for the legendary Arsenal manager, Arsene Wenger to be recognised as French today as his home province is Alsace and his first language was a form of German dialect. But, as usual, I digress to make a point which a few of my readers may find interesting or even entertaining but nothing more. To all intents and purposes anyway, the new kid on the block, sitting as it was squarely in the middle of the politically evolving continent of Europe was the rising German empire. Empires have a way of making a point and the German empire was not going to be different and so, Bismack decided to make a point by inviting fourteen countries, including the USA to Berlin to discuss how best the dismemberment of Africa could be achieved around a conference table. It is pertinent that no African kingdom or territory was represented around that table in Berlin. That singular observation has put the purpose of that conference in its proper perspective. It was never in the interest of Africa or Africans.

    The Berlin conference was an exercise in naked imperialism as it had become clear that the factories of Europe needed both raw materials for their machines and ready markets for their finished products. Virtually all other parts of the world had been fought over and divided up among the industrialised countries of the world with only Africa left for grabs by whoever wanted a portion of the continent.

    For the British at that point in time, India was their prime colony and a great deal of their energy was given up to protecting India from all comers. They were however not indifferent to opportunities elsewhere in the world. By that time, they had been carrying on their trade in African flesh even longer than they had been dealing with Indians but their extractive activities were with human beings and were more or less restricted to the coastal regions from where they loaded up their ships with human cargo and ferried them across the Atlantic into slavery at great, if not exaggerated profit. In any case, their curiosity about the interior region was dampened by malaria, an affliction which was rapidly fatal to strangers from Europe. By the time of the Berlin conference however, quinine had become available and quite dramatically, the ability of Europeans to survive in Africa had increased to such an extent that Africa no longer held any terror for visiting Europeans and because of this, Africa lay prone before the invaders.

    The Europeans knew very little about the interior of Africa, at least until the geography of the place was laid bare by adventurers like Mungo Park and the Lander brothers who for example traced the course of River Niger from it’s source in the Fouta Jallon hills right down to her discharge points in the massive Niger delta. Unknown to them therefore, powerful kingdoms were rising and falling in succession, people were living out fulfilling lives and cultures were mixing and reforming as they had done for centuries before. But, with the Berlin conference, change, profound and deadly had come to Africa, dragging her into the strange new world of rampant capitalism and destructive colonialism. Above all, the map of Africa was being whimsically redrawn in Berlin, leaving Africa with a legacy of chaos and great potential for conflict. The Berlin conference ended a hundred and fifty years ago and presented Africa with a fait accompli which has become increasingly difficult to live with. For reasons of convenience, African countries have come to the conclusion that those unwieldy borders have become sacrosanct because it is feared that any boundary readjustment however slight will lead to a cascade of readjustments which will bring all our houses crashing down on our heads. This subject is worthy of further interrogation.

    Read Also: The rise, rise and rise of capitalism (IX)

    Unlike Britain, Portugal and France which had places on that table in Berlin, Germany had come late to the Africa party as she did not take part in the slave trade. This is not to say that Germans were completely excluded from the African trade as it was in the days of the slave trade. It has now been discovered that the manilas with which payment was made for slaves purchased in West Africa were traded out of Hamburg and other German ports. The Germans were however not directly involved in the slave trade. Bismack, the spokesman for Germany was anxious to make up for this disadvantaged position. He was therefore interested in finding a way to promote German interests in Africa. Unfortunately for him and Germany it was already too late to make any sizeable claims to any real estate in Africa. A look at the map drawn in the immediate aftermath of the Berlin conference shows that Germany came away with a few disjointed scraps of territory in Togoland, a part of Cameroon, South West Africa as well as Tanganyika, Rwanda and Burundi in East Africa. Reports show that the Germans ruled their colonies with a heavy hand even though they seemed to have made some effort in building some modern infrastructure. They however spent far too much energy and effort in suppressing revolts than in setting up any workable form of government. And they really blotted their copy book in South West Africa where they had intended to develop as a settler colony to accommodate emigrants from Germany in the same way that Australia, New Zealand, Rhodesia and Canada were doing for Britain. By that time however, the British had completed the work of exterminating the indigenous peoples of the lands they had seized. The Germans had theirs to do in the cold light of international examination. The indigenous peoples of South West Africa were never going to disappear with a whimper and they put up a desperate resistance which pitched the might of the modern German army against the Hereros and the Nama who in the end were murdered in cold blood or herded into concentration camps in imitation of the British in South Africa who had done the same to the Boers. It has been said that these camps were resurrected by the Germans during the Second World War and was the rehearsal for the extermination camps in which no less than twelve million people were murdered. There is therefore a direct relationship between German policies at the beginning of the twentieth century and the holocaust less than fifty years later in the heart of Europe.

    Germany organised the Berlin conference but gained precious little from it. The greatest beneficiary from the conference was not a country at all. It was the king of the Belgians, King Leopold II who was given vast tracts of land covering present day DR Congo in the name of some amorphous body called the Congo Free State. His rule over this entity was calamitous to say the least. No less than 10 million people were calculated to have died under his watch during the torrid period of his rule between 1885, immediately after the Berlin conference and 1908 when his predatory behaviour could no longer be ignored nor hidden and the Congo Free State was put under the authority of the government of Belgium and became the Belgian Congo . The only public institution of note in the entire colony in 1908 was the Force publique, the army which had been formed by Leopold to terrorise the people into submitting to the tyrannical demands of King Leopold for wild rubber, ivory and other natural raw materials. By the time the Congo was granted political independence in 1960 there was still a severe shortage of functional institutions in a country which could only boast of two university graduates. Those of us who grew up in those turbulent days of the sixties carry in our heads the dysfunctional situation of the Congo at a time when our soldiers were deployed to keep the peace as part of the United Nations peacekeeping force drafted to the Congo to keep the disparate armed groups ravaging the country apart. The situation in the Congo may not be directly associated with capitalism but without capitalism, the situation would have been completely different.

    • To be continued.
  • IBB: That the youths may know or never forget

    IBB: That the youths may know or never forget

    This week we continue where we left  off with our examination of the Babangida years, the same years he did everything to glamorise in his biography.

    As part of the offering last week, we brought on board Professor Steve Egbo who, a whole 24 ago, was prescient enough to devote a whole chapter of his book to the self-proclaimed evil genius. We bring him back today in a full throttled article which is, however, constricted by space.

    We also bring the views of an active participant in the affairs of those evil days in Nigeria. Wale Adeoye, a multi-award winning journalist who, for his efforts, was also detained at the time, writes in his article

    ‘A Victim’s Review of Babangida’s Journey in Dis-Service” which I described on the Ekitipanupo web portal as a “first rate, analytical chronology of the Babangida years” wherein he wrote:

    “Babangida was also silent on many critical issues of human right violations under his tenure. His regime unleashed one of the worst human right abuses on the students movement while he was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of innocent students apart from creating the nursing bed for violent cultism on Nigerian campuses. I recall 1986 and 1987, the years of clubs, daggers, guns and knives.

    Four students of the Ahmadu Bello University had been killed after his government ordered ‘Kill and Go’ police to invade the campus. The invaders raped and killed some students. It became a national upheaval. At the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, we joined the national resistance.

    I was in the leadership with the late Emma Ezeazu and Chima Ubani. The IBB regime recruited students, trained and armed them. Their duty was to attack, kidnap and maim students’ leaders. At Eni Njoku Hall, where we were having our rally, four students led by a student, now somewhere in the Philippines, stormed the venue and kidnapped a student, Lanre Ehonwa.

    Not satisfied, that night, they stormed the hostel of Chidi Omeje and Kunu Harmony, two radical students. They maimed them. They did the same at other Nigerian University campuses. Many of these students were later recruited to join the State Security Service. At least I saw three of them later in years, who confessed to their atrocities. 

    At ABU, Patrick Wilmot was arrested and deported from Nigeria. What about the kidnap of Omoyele Sowore and his being injected with poison by sponsored armed men? What of Igboku Otu who was stabbed to death by unknown assailants one evening in his private Ikeja home?

    His memory failed him on the disappearance of people like my friend and colleague in The Guardian, Chinedu Offoaro, Prince also of The Guardian, the murder of Tunde Oladepo, Taiwo Lukula and many others across the country as consequences of the successors he bequeathed. Oladepo was killed in the presence of his family. They took away his suits. On the day of his burial, the killers came, putting on the suits they had stolen from their victim. They audaciously stared at Oladepo’s wife who was caught by awe and trembling. He fled the country.  How do we explain the controversial accident that led to the death of ASP Dare who was investigating the death of journalist, Dele Giwa? Can we easily forget the torture of many soldiers like Digifa Werenipre, now leader of Egbesu Assembly, my friend who was kept in underground cell in Kano? What of Col Gabriel Ajayi who was kept in the cemetery for many years, only to be released to the hands of harrowing, cold death? How can one forget Major Nya and others that I met while I was in detention at the Directorate Military Intelligence and reports that people were being shot and taken away for burial in secret places having been picked on the road on suspicion of being anti-government?

    Babangida militarised the mentality of Nigerians through his adoption of violence and brute force, over logic and clear thought.

    Under Babangida, state terrorism was elevated and idolised.

    The people soon began to adopt violence as personal norm. The militaristisation of values, of culture, of politics, of debate, of the family, of the mental state finds expression in the current culture of violence in Nigeria today.  

    The least one can say is that the families of all these victims should band together and sue Babangida so that their estates can, collectively, make a good dent on his N17  freebie, sourced mostly from those who were made to profit, unfairly, from the national patrimony.

    Still On Ibb’s Journey In Dis-service

    In his own contribution this week, Professor Egbo writes:

    Ibrahim Babangida’s memoir, “A Journey in Service”, has continued to generate interest across the nation. Babangida was a man who took Nigeria by storm much more than any before or after him. Forty years after his catastrophic incursion, he has simply refused to allow Nigeria rest. So much has been said in response to, and condemnation of his endless deceit. Perhaps, the launch of his memoir, and the huge cash it raked in for him, is his final act of defiance as he prepares to make his exit from the public stage.

    Read Also: IBB’s journey of revisionism, the Nzeribe saga

    Babangida’s atrocities have been properly chronicled by historians, analysts and commentators over the years, by those who participated in his perfidy; those who merely observed and the millions whose lives were blighted by the contempt and greed of this individual. His biography is an attempt to change the narrative, to re-write history and perhaps, perform one more act of defiance against Nigeria and Nigerians.

    But whatever Babangida may have written, whatever efforts he may have exerted to twist and upend the facts, the truths of his mis-rule and the bungling of Nigeria’s destiny under his watch  remain unhidden and will remain a testimony against him till eternity.

    Of  his numerous atrocities against the fatherland, the greatest was the annulment of June 12 – an election globally acknowledged as  Nigeria’s finest outing ever. June 12, 1993, marked Nigeria’s date with history.

     But sadly, a history that was cruelly aborted.

    The cancellation of that election brought to fore Babangida’s design to keep Nigeria permanently enslaved to his personal whims and caprice. June 12 was the climax of a secret plot by Babangida and his cult of predators to sustain an illegitimate oligarchy that had since lost its bearing.

    As I noted in my book, “Political Soldiering”, the tragedy of June 12 “marked the precariousness of the state of the union called Nigeria, a country of many ethnic nationalities groaning under an ill arrangement where the preponderance of power is arbitrary and hegemonic.”  The success of June 12 election and the deliberate sabotage that followed “marked a date that exhumed the contradictions within the Nigerian contraption which the political class has worked so hard to pretend never existed”.

     June 12 annulment and the upheavals that erupted “marked a culmination of years of frustration and discontent, jealousy and mischief, incompatibility, self destructive anomalies, perfidy and thralldom. It  was another climax of what Ahmadu Bello famously described as ‘the mistake of 1914’.”

    When the heat generated by the gruesome cancellation became unbearable, Babangida sneaked away into the night to plot and scheme for another opportunity. Despite stepping aside, he remained attuned to the vagaries of Nigeria’s political firmament and continued to bid his time. Babangida was a big man – wealthy, ambitious and cunning – and with vast resources at his disposal, he convinced himself that someday, he would be back.

     But his determination to realize his dream of a come-back never materialised,  despite his numerous schemings to bring it about as even the most cunning of men must someday, come to the end of  the road.

    Babangida’s greatest desire was to come back as a civilian president. But despite how much he desired it, schemed for it and plotted for it, he failed.

    Abysmally.

    The chain of events that followed in the wake of June 12 annulment has thrown Nigeria into a bottomless pit, one from which it has been impossible to wriggle out. From trepidatious ING to Abacha’s brutal reign, from the National Assembly Trade Fair to years of misrule, incompetence, ethnic supremacists, religious irredentism, nepotism, banditry, judicial panic, grinding poverty, legendary corruption by both the political class  as well as the private sector, and so many ills, Nigeria has never had it so bad.

    But all put together, General Ibrahim Babangida must be held supremely responsible for whatever tragedy Nigeria has suffered since he stepped in and  stepped aside. This was a man who had the opportunity to do good, but deliberately, and consciously, chose to do so much evil he named himself the evil genius. And he has continued to sit in cross-legged pomposity atop the heap of his evil.

    Otherwise, his memoirs would have been a true confession and an act of penance; a show of remorse and a plea for forgiveness by Nigerians, a people he has so wronged and betrayed.

    Babangida would also have seen this window as an opportunity to seek the forgiveness of the Almighty God who allowed him an opportunity to do good but he  rather chose the opposite.

    That the cream of Nigeria’s political and economic elite gathered in the poshest hotel in Abuja last month on behalf of this badly flawed human being shows our legendary capacity to condone evil. Babangida did not deserve the honor done him by those who heeded  his call.

    He deserves only the courtesy and embrace suitable for a leper.

    The gathering of who is who to honor a man like him shows the moral decadence of our leadership elite. In a country where the laws are of no consequence on the conduct of office holders, success and progress are measured by how much public funds one is able to steal. Here, the institutions created to guard against such grandiose larceny become accessories to the heist.

    Presidential Library? What a joke. What purpose will Babangida’s library serve to generations of deprived, poverty stricken, uneducated, abused and abandoned Nigerians? And make no mistake, Babangida was never a president. He was and will always remain an impostor and a pretender. A usurper.

    Babangida may be having the last laugh; and if that were actually the case,  Nigerians do not have to humor him any longer.

    The gap-toothed general is a chameleon and a vampire. He has no heart.

    No amount of image laundering will convince Nigerians that Babangida is a new creature, that the vulture will turn away from the rotten carcass in disgust or that the he-goat will feel a pang of conscience at the prospect of mounting his own mother..

  • Ukraine: As Starmer and Macron Rekindle Hope

    Ukraine: As Starmer and Macron Rekindle Hope

    In the complex theater of international relations, where the interplay of power many a times often overshadows principles, recent diplomatic engagements about  Ukraine by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron have again rekindled the hopes  of many liberals that their coordinated efforts represent a significant recommitment to the foundational values of the post-war international order at a time when such values face unprecedented challenges owing to President Trump’s  ambivalence on the subject.

    The diplomatic initiatives undertaken by Starmer and Macron in Ukraine reflect more than mere political maneuvering; they embody a conscious reaffirmation of democratic principles in the face of authoritarian aggression. Through their diplomatic channels, both leaders have articulated a vision that places human dignity, justice, freedom and the territorial integrity of the people of Ukraine at the forefront of international discourse.

    Similarly, Macron’s persistent engagement with the Ukrainian situation reflects France’s historical commitment to democratic values. His diplomatic overtures have consistently emphasized the protection of civic freedoms and self-determination as non-negotiable principles rather than bargaining chips in geopolitical negotiations.

    Starmer’s approach, which has sought to give Ukraine some room to negotiate with Russia is highly commendable. His “Coalition of the Willing” which will see 18 countries commit themselves to ending Russia’s aggression via a continuos commitment to maintaining the flow of military aid to Ukraine while increasing economic pressure on Russia through sanctions and other measures; ensuring that any lasting peace agreement must ensure the sovereignty and security of Ukraine, with Ukraine being present at all peace negotiations; pledged assistance  to enhance Ukraine’s defensive military capabilities following any peace deal which may deter potential future invasions, and the establishment of the “Coalition of the Willing” consisting of multiple nations prepared to defend the terms of any peace agreement and guarantee Ukraine’s security afterward.

    At a point  where the US under President Trump is appearing to revise all known facts about the war in Ukraine and allow Putin a free hand while hundreds of thousands die,  while many have fled their homes, what Starmer and Macron have done is similar to what Churchill and his French counterpart in Albert Lebraun and later Charles De Gaulle took to stop Hitler  from extending his idea of Lebensraum (Expansionism) by altering the borders of Europe.

    Read Also: Tinubu and Macron: Leveraging friendship for development

    To kickstart such commitment  Starmer has committed £1.6 billion ($2 billion) in UK export finances to acquire  over 5,000 air defense missiles for Ukraine.it had initially  announced a £2.2 billion loan for military aid to Ukraine backed by frozen Russian assets.

    Asides these, Starmer would okay a

     “boots on the ground, and planes in the air,” a key feature in Zelensky’s demand for “gurantees” concerning a peace deal with Russia.

    Starmer’s and Macron’s efforts have also revived the willingness for Europe to rearm and increase defence spending.  In the face of abdication of the United States to the its commitment to the Free World and its traditional allies. The likes of Starmer and Macron will not only ensure the means of Ukraine to stay and fight but will also prepare Europe for any future suprises from Russia. 

    Starmer and Macron’s  efforts have laid the ground  for Europe’s must “heavy lifting,”  which will see the continent take more charge of its affairs, this however does not mean that the continent would be estranged from the US, it would however also stop Putin from the vantage point of dictating the terms of a peace deal.

    A close look at the situation would also tell that Europe’s  show of unity and stance on Ukraine has somewhat forced Trump’s  hand and saved Ukraine from being isolated and coming to the peace talks with a weak hand.

    As i write this, there is some palpable feeling that the US will attempt to descalate tensions with Zelensky, while certain elements want Zelensky out as a precondition  to the peace talks, Starmer and Macron msy not be having this as keeping Zelensky is key to a strong presence in the forthcoming nego

    tiations.

    The diplomatic efforts of Prime Minister Starmer and President Macron in Ukraine demonstrate that democratic resilience remains possible even in challenging circumstances. Their coordinated approach offers a template for values-based engagement that acknowledges geopolitical realities without surrendering fundamental principles.

    As the West continues to navigate over Ukraine and the consequences for the free world, the willingness of leaders like Starmer and Macron to defend normative frameworks despite America’s attempt at bullying Zelensky to a hurried peace deal, one that will only humiliate Ukraine and encourage aggressor nations. Their example suggests that while the path forward contains significant obstacles, the commitment to democratic values continues to animate important strands of international engagement.

    In a world where force and coercion remain potent instruments, the diplomatic initiatives of these leaders remind us that legitimate authority ultimately derives from adherence to principles rather than raw power. This distinction remains central to preserving an international order that can accommodate diversity while maintaining fundamental protections for human dignity and freedom.

  • The Lagos House of Assembly theatrics

    The Lagos House of Assembly theatrics

    The primary purpose of the Lagos State House of Assembly (LSHA) is to make laws for the smooth running of the government for the benefit of the people. It is not clear how much of that has been done in the last eight weeks. But you can’t but notice the one-per-day theatrics of that legislature. And how did it all start? The Speaker of the House of Assembly, Right Honourable Mudashiru Obasa, had gone on vacation in the United States. While away, reminiscent of how the Nigerian military used to execute coups d’état, disaffected members of the House of Assembly, without consulting major stakeholders in the politics and governance of the state, impeached and replaced him with Honourable Mojisola Meranda.

    When Obasa returned from the United States, believing that he had actually not been impeached, he endeavoured to take back his position as the Speaker of the House on 27 February, 2025. Since Meranda and her supporters had been digging in, they resisted Obasa’s move. And that was where the drama started, with even the Nigeria Police Force being dragged in. It therefore became necessary for the Governor’s Advisory Council (GAC) to intervene. GAC, by the way, is a body of eminent personalities with vast political and cognate experience set up by then-Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu to provide guidance to whoever is the governor and to maintain the stability of the ruling party in Lagos State.

    Exonerating the GAC of any responsibility for the crisis, its Chair, Prince Tajudeen Olusi, was quoted by Leadership newspaper, in a 3 March, 2025 report, titled “Count GAC out of crisis rocking Lagos Assembly – Olusi,” to have stated: “Members of the GAC are not part of the Lagos State House of Assembly to allegedly be behind the removal of Obasa. It can’t be true. We read it also that morning. The lawmakers carried it out without consulting the party and those of us in the GAC. … The lawmakers have no absolute power to remove and install their leaders. Nobody can become a member of the House of Assembly unless sponsored by a political party, and the sponsors are the inspectors.”

    This position of the GAC Chair is consistent with Section 106(d) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended which states that “Subject to the provisions of section 107 of this Constitution, a person shall be qualified for election as a member of a House of Assembly if …  he is a member of a political party and is sponsored by that party.” The position also coheres with Section 29(1) of the 2022 Electoral Act which provides thus: “Every political party shall, not later than 180 days before the date appointed for a general election under this Act, submit to the Commission, in the prescribed Forms, the list of the candidates the party proposes to sponsor at the elections, who must have emerged from valid primaries conducted by the political party.”

    Moreover, the position of the GAC Chair is in agreement with the following provisions of the Constitution of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on the INEC Website at (https://www.inecnigeria.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/APC-Constitution.pdf) Article   7(iv-v) of the APC constitution states two of the objectives of the party as follows: “(iv) To sponsor eligible candidates and canvass for votes for election into all elective offices in all tiers of government. (v) To consciously pursue the implementation of the policies and programmes of the Party, through those of its members that are appointed or elected into government, legislative houses and Boards throughout the Federation.” In addition, Article 21 (A)(ii) of the APC Constitution states: “Offences against the Party shall include the following: … Anti-Party activities or any conduct, which is likely to embarrass or have adverse effect on the party or bring the party into hatred, contempt, ridicule or disrepute.”

    The contemptuous action of the legislators to remove Right Honourable Mudashiru Obasa as the Speaker of the LSHA and replace him with the Deputy Speaker, Honourable Mojisola Meranda, through subterfuge, thus seemed to have had a tinge of treachery about it. The action was probably motivated by a desire to hand the GAC a fait accompli which would be difficult to reverse without earning the members of that distinguished body some bad press. But the legislators probably forgot that the members of GAC were not spring chicken as far as political maneuvering was concerned. The legislators also seemed not to have been aware of the English proverb, “Cunning is the dwarf of wisdom.”

    Meanwhile, the drama continued, and as in every theatre, especially where contradictory emotions are evoked by the respective actors, the audience of the LSHA drama have been varied in their response, with some applauding and some condemning. This audience has been composed of newspaper columnists, opinion writers, electronic media analysts, social media commentators and sundry experts. And those who were gladdened by Obasa’s tribulations had been most resourceful in terms of logical fallacies and propaganda. These fallacies ranged from false analogies (such as comparing the situation in the LSHA to the crisis in Rivers State) to red herrings (such as ignoring the lawful role of political parties to guide their respective legislators on critical issues and then magnifying the point that it was with a majority of votes in the LSHA that Obasa was removed). In fact, some have been agonsing over the GAC resolution of the crisis.

    Those who have been arguing that the GAC intervention undermines the independence of the legislature, and democracy at large, need to be reminded that while the legislature does indeed have independence with respect to the executive and judicial arms of government, they have less independence with respect to the party that nominated and sponsored them for elections. Legislators who discountenance party supremacy are therefore inexcusably delusional, because we do not yet have independent candidates in Nigeria. That is why it is partys’ names and logos that appear on ballot papers, and not candidates’. In effect, the platform on which the legislators stand belongs to the party, and party leaders have the moral duty to stop it from being weakened. Should the platform collapse, the individual legislators have the escape route of defection to other parties. The legislators are thus like what is picturesquely described, in Yoruba, as “Igi dá, eye fò” (‘Birds that fly away as the twig breaks.’)

    Read Also: Lagos House of Assembly aspirant promises better representation

    It is for this reason that political parties have their respective party caucuses in Houses of Assembly to prevent members’ legislative actions from jeopardising overall party interests. Incidentally, the election of Meranda (who is from Lagos Central like Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu) on 13 January, 2025 created rumpus outside the House of Assembly, because it upset the geopolitical balance that the GAC had ensured with regard to the distribution of party and government leadership positions as a means of maintaining the stability of the party. The impeachment of Obasa (who is from Lagos West) therefore led to grumblings about marginalising his constituency. This is the deleterious kind of development that the GAC intervention has nipped in the bud.

     The wisdom of the GAC and key national figures in the party has seen Meranda resign as Speaker, along with some other officers. It has also seen her re-elected as Deputy Speaker, and Obasa re-elected as Speaker. In her resignation speech, Meranda stated: “I took the above decision in order to save this legislative institution from further unnecessary conflict and embarrassment … and in deference to … our esteemed political leaders. … Just like we know, … the party decision is supreme.” Also, in his speech as Speaker, Obasa said to the legislators: “I want to thank you for your support, your dedication, your loyalty and your staunch belief in our party and the utmost respect for our party leaders.” Both speeches acknowledge and express respect for party supremacy; and that is commendable, because, as a Yoruba proverb puts it, “Odò tó bá gbàgbé orísún rè á gbe.” (‘A river that forgets its source will dry up.’)

    There was ample arrogant display of unfamiliarity with or mischievous discountenance of the Nigerian constitution, the electoral law and political party constitutions and conventions by some very vocal or influential commentators on and analysts of the LSHA crisis. Some seemed to see the crisis as more of an opportunity to denigrate the APC or President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Critical issues surrounding the legislative misadventure were therefore disregarded. Some were also commenting as if they had an axe to grind with Obasa and got a wonderful opportunity, in the crisis, to even up with him and rub it in as harshly as they could. And they did kick the fallen Obasa with gusto.

    If you didn’t know what the word ‘schadenfreude’ meant before now, just take a look back at the exuberant joy that some people expressed at the 13 January, 2025 military-coup-like ordeal of Mudashiru Obasa. According to Cambridge Dictionary, schadenfreude means “a feeling of pleasure or satisfaction when something bad happens to someone else.”

    This brings to mind the story of the Swedish chemist, Dr. Alfred Nobel, the sponsor of the world famous Nobel Prizes. He invented dynamite and other explosives, originally for use in mining and related activities. However, people later started to use them as devastating weapons of war, and Alfred Nobel made a fortune from his deadly inventions. Then as reported by Radleys.com in 2015, in an article titled “On world humanitarian day, remember the story of Alfred Nobel,” his brother Ludvig Nobel died in 1888, and a French newspaper mistook the deceased for Alfred, and wrote an obituary on him scathingly titled “Le marchand de la mort est mort.” (‘The merchant of death is dead.’) An 8 August, 2021 article in a publication of the Office of Science and Society at McGill University, in Canada, also reported that Alfred was described in the obituary as a man who “became rich by finding a way to kill more people faster than ever before.”

    As Britannica put it, perhaps to burnish his reputation, “In the will he drafted in 1895, Nobel instructed that most of his fortune be set aside as a fund for the awarding of five annual prizes ‘to those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind.’ These prizes as established by his will are the Nobel Prize for Physics, the Nobel Prize for Chemistry, the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine, the Nobel Prize for Literature, and the Nobel Prize for Peace.”

    Like Alfred Nobel, Mudashiru Obasa has had the opportunity to read his obituary, even if metaphorically-speaking. Like Alfred Nobel’s, the obituary has been to some measure unflattering. He should therefore, like Alfred Nobel, emplace a sustainable humanity-enhancing programme to guarantee for himself a noble reputation among posterity.

  • Tinubu to OBJ: Prioritising national unity over personal history

    Tinubu to OBJ: Prioritising national unity over personal history

    In leadership, maturity is often tested not in moments of triumph, but in the ability to separate personal grievances from the greater good. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has once again demonstrated this rare quality—a refusal to let history’s rough patches cloud his judgment when acknowledging merit.

    Two key moments stood out in his activities this past week, but none more than his birthday tribute to former President Olusegun Obasanjo. At face value, it was a routine congratulatory message—leaders across the world extend such courtesies. However, in the context of the strained relationship between these two men, Tinubu’s gesture spoke volumes about his depth of leadership.

    Obasanjo, now 88, has not been one to hide his adversarial stance toward Tinubu. As president between 1999 and 2007, he engaged in a running battle with Tinubu, who was then Governor of Lagos State. One of the most defining moments of that period was Obasanjo’s decision to withhold local government funds from Lagos, effectively stifling the state’s finances. It was a move many saw as a politically motivated attempt to undermine Tinubu’s administration.

    Fast forward to 2023, when Tinubu sought the presidency, Obasanjo did not just oppose him—he threw his weight behind another candidate, working to derail his ambition. Even after Tinubu emerged victorious, Obasanjo still tried to influence the post-election narrative, advocating for a different outcome.

    Yet, despite all this, Tinubu did not let bitterness dictate his actions. Rather than take the all-too-common path of silence or veiled retaliation, he personally authored an emotionally intelligent tribute, recognizing Obasanjo’s contributions to Nigeria and beyond. “Today, as former President Olusegun Aremu Obasanjo turns 88, I pay a special tribute to an extraordinary leader and statesman who has made enormous contributions to Nigeria’s development,” Tinubu wrote.

    That single act was more than a mere courtesy—it was a statement on the maturity of leadership. Tinubu showed that governance is not about personal battles, but about institutional memory and national cohesion. He acknowledged Obasanjo’s role in Nigeria’s history, from receiving the instrument of surrender that ended the Civil War to handing over power to a civilian government in 1979 and later leading as an elected President in 1999.

    Even more telling was Tinubu’s recognition of Obasanjo’s global influence. “Out of office, only a few will deny that the former president continues to wield considerable influence among the political elite at home and is well-regarded abroad, where he is an ambassador of global peace and a troubleshooter,” he noted.

    This is not just a lesson in leadership maturity but also in nation-building. Politics, by its nature, thrives on rivalries, but great leaders rise above the fray when the moment demands it. Tinubu’s tribute demonstrated that political disagreements do not erase a man’s legacy. It also signalled to Nigerians that our nation’s progress depends on recognizing contributions, even when they come from unlikely quarters.

    It is this same maturity that has informed many of Tinubu’s governance decisions. He has taken tough economic measures, not because they are convenient, but because they are necessary for long-term stability. He has made appointments based on competence rather than political alignment. And now, in this symbolic but powerful gesture, he has extended an olive branch, proving that leadership is not about pettiness, but about vision and magnanimity.

    Obasanjo may have spent years opposing Tinubu, but Tinubu, in his moment of leadership, has refused to define their relationship by hostility. Instead, he has chosen the higher ground—the path that prioritizes national unity over personal history. That is what true statesmanship looks like.

    Tinubu’s Healthcare Lifeline for the Vulnerable: A President Who Truly Cares

    The second occasion or set of actions that stood out in his week arose from our story in the healthcare sector. In a country where access to quality healthcare has long been a privilege rather than a right, President Tinubu is proving that leadership can be both compassionate and strategic. This past week, through a series of groundbreaking initiatives, the President has sent a strong message to Nigerians: healthcare should not be a luxury, and no citizen should suffer due to financial incapacity.

    Right from the onset of his administration, Tinubu demonstrated that healthcare reform was a top priority. His first major step was the appointment of Professor Ali Pate, a globally respected health expert, as Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare. Since then, the government has been implementing a series of reforms designed to make healthcare more accessible, more affordable, and more effective. However, the actions taken this past week stand out as some of the most significant so far.

    Perhaps the most remarkable of these efforts is the 80% subsidy on kidney dialysis treatment across 10 Federal Medical Institutions nationwide. This initiative has drastically reduced the cost of dialysis, bringing it down from an average of ₦50,000 per session to just ₦12,000. For thousands of Nigerians suffering from kidney failure, this is more than a financial relief—it is a lifesaving intervention.

    For years, the high cost of dialysis has meant that many Nigerians battling kidney disease simply could not afford the care they needed to survive. By slashing the cost, President Tinubu has done more than just introduce a subsidy; he has given many Nigerians a second chance at life. Among the institutions benefiting from this initiative are FMC Jabi Abuja, LUTH Lagos, UCH Ibadan, FMC Owerri, and UBTH Benin, ensuring that renal care is now accessible across multiple regions of the country.

    Read Also: Tinubu celebrates longtime associate, Osinbajo at 68

    Beyond the subsidy on dialysis treatment, the administration has also approved ₦10.3 billion for the bulk purchase of pharmaceuticals and diagnostic kits, marking the launch of the National Medical Relief Programme. This initiative serves a dual purpose: reducing the cost of essential medications for patients while also boosting local pharmaceutical production and job creation.

    A breakdown of the funding allocation reveals the administration’s commitment to tackling some of Nigeria’s most pressing health challenges:

    ₦997 million has been earmarked for the procurement of third-line antiretroviral drugs, ensuring that HIV/AIDS patients who have developed resistance to standard treatments still have access to effective medication.

    ₦2 billion will go toward the purchase of locally manufactured diabetes diagnostic kits, helping in the early detection and monitoring of the disease.

    ₦4.5 billion has been dedicated to the procurement of essential antibiotics, antihypertensive, and antidiabetic medications, ensuring that these vital drugs remain affordable and available for all Nigerians.

    ₦2.1 billion has been allocated for the purchase of advanced medical equipment, including a mobile X-ray machine and a 64-slice CT scanner, to be installed at Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital in Bauchi—a facility that serves multiple states in the region.

    The strategic decision to source medications locally is another major win for the Nigerian healthcare sector. By investing in local pharmaceutical companies, the government is not only making essential drugs more affordable and accessible, but also strengthening Nigeria’s healthcare industry by reducing reliance on foreign imports. This is a bold step toward achieving self-sufficiency in the production of life-saving medical supplies.

    While making healthcare affordable is a significant achievement, the sustainability of these reforms depends on having a strong, well-trained healthcare workforce. President Tinubu recognizes this and is taking proactive steps to address the issue.

    On Thursday, at the launch of the National Health Fellows Programme, the President announced automatic employment for 774 fellows—one from each Local Government Area in Nigeria—upon completion of the fellowship. This initiative is designed to strengthen Nigeria’s healthcare system from the grassroots level, ensuring that even rural communities have access to qualified medical professionals.

    The National Health Fellows Programme is a game-changer for both Nigeria’s healthcare sector and its young medical professionals. Many young doctors, nurses, and healthcare workers struggle to secure stable employment despite their qualifications. By guaranteeing jobs for those who complete the fellowship, Tinubu is ensuring that Nigeria’s best and brightest are not lost to brain drain or unemployment.

    This initiative also directly addresses the chronic shortage of healthcare workers in underserved areas, ensuring that every local government in Nigeria has at least one trained medical professional. By investing in both infrastructure and human capital, the Tinubu administration is laying a solid foundation for a stronger, more efficient healthcare system.

    What is clear from these policies is that Tinubu is not just paying lip service to healthcare reform—he is making real, tangible changes. These initiatives directly benefit some of Nigeria’s most vulnerable citizens:

    The kidney patient who can now afford dialysis without fear of financial ruin.

    The HIV patient who will not be abandoned when first-line drugs stop working.

    The diabetic patient who will now have access to affordable diagnostic kits for early detection and proper disease management.

    The young medical professional who now has a guaranteed future in public healthcare.

    President Tinubu’s approach to healthcare reform is not just about short-term fixes; it is about long-term sustainability. By subsidizing critical treatments, investing in medical infrastructure, supporting local pharmaceutical manufacturing, and empowering healthcare professionals, his administration is ensuring that no Nigerian is left behind in the pursuit of quality healthcare.

    In a country where millions have long struggled to access even the most basic medical care, these reforms offer hope. They represent a new era of governance—one that prioritizes people over politics. And in doing so, President Tinubu is proving that true leadership is not just about policies—it is about people.

    The President’s week was marked by significant actions that underscored both his leadership philosophy and policy direction. From his gracious tribute to former President Olusegun Obasanjo—a man who has often stood in opposition to him—to his administration’s bold investments in healthcare, Tinubu once again demonstrated his commitment to governance rooted in civility and impact.

    But these were not the only moments that defined the week. The President also took time to celebrate personal milestones, acknowledging the 95th birthday of Alhaja Lateefat Gbajabiamila, the mother of his Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, on Sunday. His warmth in such moments reflects a leader who values relationships beyond politics.

    On Monday, he hosted Sierra Leone’s President, Julius Maada Bio, reinforcing Nigeria’s diplomatic engagements within the West African subregion. Throughout the week, he presided over two Federal Executive Council (FEC) meetings, making key decisions, and there was the appointment of a new Accountant-General of the Federation.

    As always, the week was a blend of statecraft, diplomacy, and governance, with the President maintaining a steady hand on the affairs of the nation. If one thing remains clear, it is that Tinubu continues to lead with both pragmatism and purpose.

    It is a new week, more should be expected. Remember it is the Holy month of Ramadan, in the past, this was the period we should expect probing words from the President, especially when he hosts his series of Iftars. Wait for the week to unfold.

  • The Ramadan school closures

    The Ramadan school closures

    Last week, the four northern states of Bauchi, Kebbi, Katsina and Kano closed down their schools for the Ramadan period. They cited extenuating reasons that seem on the surface genuine and practical. What the governors did not, however, say was why this unprecedented measure was never contemplated before, and why now. The schools are to reopen after the Ramadan fast. One month will not kill anybody or state, they seem to say. But there are fears it would hurt the education rhythm of both the affected states and the schoolchildren themselves, especially considering that secondary school students are registering and preparing for both NECO and WAEC examinations. With Easter and Sallah holidays around the corner, parents as well as educationists fear that any one-month break such as executed by the four states, in addition to the regular religious holidays, would seriously impact both the syllabus as well as examination performance.

    Unhelpfully, Christian and Muslim faith leaders have waded into and inadvertently religionised the controversy while attempting to tackle what is evidently an educational calendar problem. The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) president, Archbishop Daniel Okoh, was first to comment. “Education is a fundamental right and the bedrock of progress,” he argued. “The closure of schools across these states, ranging from nursery to tertiary levels, for an extended period disrupts academic schedules and threatens the educational advancement of millions of students.” For a country hooked on holidays, including holidays shifted for falling on weekend dates, another one-month break could very well break the education camel’s back. Archbishop Okoh is right to be worried about the impact of the break. But he should have foreseen that a statement coming from him or CAN was liable to be misinterpreted as religious intolerance. They should have let other groups and associations handle the controversy.

    On the other side of the divide, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) was not about to take prisoners. It suggested that any intervention by CAN was meddlesomeness borne out of religious intolerance. According to MURIC’s executive director, Prof. Ishaq Akintola: “Firstly, Ramadan is a completely Muslim issue. It involves no other faith. CAN should stay out of it. Secondly, Muslims are the overwhelming majority in those four states and the state governments in a democratic country like Nigeria should not deny the majority Muslims what they wish. Furthermore, those four states have given the Muslim majority what they desire most based on the principle of ‘the greatest happiness for the greatest number’.”

    Making sense of Prof. Akintola’s argument is hard. What binds majority and minority together is the constitution. While a majority anywhere may be tempted to have its way all the time, a minority can also litigate its rights, but both must find reconciliation under the rubric of the same constitution. Archbishop Okoh’s argument centred on the diminished quality of education availed Nigerian students on account of too many holidays. While he may be a faith leader, it is instructive that he argued from the point of view of educational quality. The eminent professor should have limited himself to arguments that make nonsense of the fears of compromised educational quality the CAN president restricted himself to. It would be hard, but who can tell whether with statistics the professor could not clinch the argument.

    Happily, no one has doubted the authority of the four states to close their schools for a month, even if it ended up being construed as a holiday that should have needed House of Assembly assent. The states can theoretically legislate the closure of schools for half of a year. But in the face of declining educational standards, not to talk of poor school enrolment, it hardly makes sense to embark on frivolous breaks. Most northern states, not especially excluding the four states in question, are faced with crisis in education excellence and literacy rates. They need decades to catch up with the South. But despite organising many conferences and seminars on the crisis, most northern governors have felt no sense of urgency to take bold and revolutionary steps to bridge educational gap with the South or even forge furiously ahead. In contrast to many ambitious and globally competitive theocratic jurisdictions, Nigeria’s core North governors have continued to treat the problem of education with levity. Surely, they must understand that the situation has become unacceptable, especially considering that they cannot hold the South or the rest of the world glued to one spot while they frolic as laggards. At a time when a sense of urgency to make their young ones competitive is desperately needed, it smacks of irresponsibility to be looking for populist reasons to further satisfy religious palates.

    Read Also: As some governors stop schooling during Ramadan

    But if the four states – hopefully, there won’t be more – must enunciate such a superfluous measure, they owe their publics, Muslim majority and Christian minority as well as secular smaller minorities, a convincing explanation for the populist Ramadan break and an even more convincing plan of how they intend to make up for lost time so that the schoolchildren are not disadvantaged. That would be hard of course, for as everyone knows, many northern states have struggled with school enrolment estimated to be less than 50 percent. This may explain why insurgent groups and bandits have found ready recruits from a huge population of idle and uneducated youths.

    The argument against the Ramadan school break should not be about religious equalisation between Christians and Muslims. It is about the educational future of Nigerian children. And if care is not taken, like the sharia wildfire that caught up with more than a dozen northern states in the opening years of the Fourth Republic, this new ‘holiday’ may also catch fire in some other parts of the North. The South appreciates the educational urgency facing them, particularly infrastructural decay and standards; they won’t be tempted to be as rash and retrogressive as the four populist states in question, regardless of Prof. Akintola’s often tendentious and frenzied religious arguments.

  • Fasting and Kano Hisbah police

    Fasting and Kano Hisbah police

    If civil society organisations do not always disproportionately focus on government, governance and politics, they would be appalled by how routinely, under the guise of religion and federalism, some states abridge the rights of citizens. Last Monday, the deputy commander of the Kano State Hisbah (Morality police), Mujahid Aminudeen, announced the arrest of some 25 youths allegedly eating in public when they should be fasting. In his view, “It’s heartbreaking that in such a holy month meant for fasting, adult Muslims would be seen eating and drinking publicly. We won’t condone that, and that’s why we went out to make arrests…It is important to note that we don’t concern ourselves with non-Muslims.”

    Read Also: Seyi Tinubu breaks fast in Kano, flags off feeding programme

    It is unlikely the arrested youths possessed the means to eat privately in order to avoid arrest. But there is nothing in any Nigerian law, secular or sharia, that compels fasting. It is a matter of choice. Hisbah has periodically expanded the frontiers of Nigerian laws, and no one at the federal level has cautioned or stopped them. Even if states make laws that supposedly undergird public morality, those laws must be consistent with the Nigerian constitution. And if civil society groups are too timid to secure relief for the arrested youths, the federal government must not turn a blind eye to the state tyranny.

  • Travelling theatre and travelling thunder

    Travelling theatre and travelling thunder

    • On the dark and dismal underbelly of democracy

    May you live in interesting times, pray the wise and inscrutable Chinese.  We surely live in interesting times in Nigeria. Humour and human absurdity sit impeccably with tragedy. It is as if they were born at the same time, like twins. They may well be twins. The same circumstances that produce torrid laughter also lead inexorably to torrents of tears. How does one explain the rash of uncomfortable but intriguing developments in the polity: the legislative imbroglio in one-party Lagos State which now appears to have run its unruly course, the unfurling executive and legislative fiasco in Rivers State which may consume the state and democracy itself if the road to compromise and conciliation is spurned, the unconstitutional decision by four northern states to impose a holiday on schools in their domain for the observance of the Ramadan period of fasting at a time when the descendants of Ibn Saud himself are relaxing the harsh Wahhabist franchise of extreme and severe dogmatism in their country to accommodate the relentless onslaught of modernity. Something was always going to follow the swift and savage execution of Jamal Khashoggi in their Istanbul embassy. There is also the constitutional impasse in Oshun State, a domain famous for its combustible and regicidal aptitude.

     Lastly, what of the riveting sex scandal involving the accident-prone senate president and a stormy female petrel by the orientally forbidding name, Natasha? That one has now led to a legislative legerdemain. As it was famously asked of Helen of Troy, is this the face that will launch a thousand ships? As the nation blindly and furiously thrashes about in the trauma of economic and political modernity, all these may be contradictory and countervailing forces trying to impose their will and purpose on a chaotic ensemble. The critical intelligentsia and organic intellectuals of the postcolonial state cannot afford to sit back and watch without providing some impute towards a sane and sober resolution of the crisis before it tips into anarchy and chaos. Political comedy is always dogged by historical tragedy. The Alarinjo , otherwise known as the Travelling Theatre, is a famous sub-genre of the impressive dramatic repertoire of the Yoruba people.

      With its merry band of singers, drummers, dramatists and the odd magicians, it goes from town to town entertaining people with improvised dramatic sketches, allusive stitch-up and much dancing and singing. As an urbanized and considerably civilized people of the rain forest, the Yoruba people know how to entertain and enrich themselves about the cultural and political development in their environs. Whether it was by accident or by design, discerning people always noticed a dramatic upsurge in the traffic of the itinerant troupes across Yoruba cities in periods preceding great social upheavals and commotion. This was what happened in the period leading up to what has come to be known as the wetie insurrection in the old Western Region. The great dramatist, Hubert Ogunde, was permanently on the road. Dramatic literature became a great conveyor belt and purveyor of social unease and looming confrontation. Thunder followed theatre. This is always after all constitutional avenues, with their legislative, judicial and executive entwinements have been thoroughly besmirched and compromised, leaving only the road to anarchy.  

    This is why the selfsame Yoruba people, with foxy humour, let it be known that while it is always a grand spectacle to watch a mad person and his funny antics, nobody wants to own up to paternity or parentage. But the Yoruba also insist that we do not allow a mad man to conduct his mother’s funeral the way he deems fit. Otherwise, the crazed fellow may be tempted to barbeque the body and parcel it out to guests as choice meat. Having been storied victims of several constitutional debacles in colonial, postcolonial and military Nigeria with many of their illustrious children consumed by the inferno, the Yoruba political elite, with Lagos as its current arrowhead, ought to tread more carefully. A man whose mother has been killed by a mad person ought to take extra-caution on sighting a local mechanic. The hour of triumph is often followed by moments of tragedy. This is why Ann Morrow Lindberg, wife of Charles Lindberg, the great aviator-hero and the first person to fly across the Atlantic in a solo-engine aircraft, titled her memoir, Hour of Gold, Hour of Lead. Lindberg’s son was kidnapped shortly after his historic triumph, never to be seen alive again.

       The Lagos legislative debacle could have been better handled by all sides. Party supremacy is paramount in all organic democracies. That is why you have designated whips cracking the whip occasionally when a member goes rogue or appears permanently set against party dictates and ideological leaning. If the case worsens and rebellion or complete apostasy looms, there are heavier sanctions in store, including suspension or dismissal depending on the infractions. This is imperative to maintain party order, discipline and cohesion. The tragedy of military rule is that while it leaves the judiciary intact and with the opportunity to grow and develop even if in a severely suborned manner, the legislature is cleanly decapitated with no chance to thrive. It is compelled to start afresh when democracy resumes. With no experience to fall back upon beyond the ceremonial foppery and the routinized violence of gavel-smashing, the legislature soon becomes a den of deadwood and sundry delinquents. How many times did Lagos State legislators either collectively or individually report Obasa’s infractions to their superiors? If they ever did, what was the outcome?

      But having been presented with a fait accompli, having been completely caught off guard by those they are supposed to superintend and monitor closely, the APC nomenklatura ought to have been more guided and circumspect in their reaction. They ought to have cut the legislators some slack. The route they have taken, that is the vengeful humiliation and arm-twisting of the law-makers, is the surest route to further de-institutionalization of an already crippled institution. However uncomfortable and inconvenienced by the rebellion the party hierarchs might have been, they ought to have known that the democratic process is about institution-building and procedural scaffolding and not about individual supremacy and ego-massaging. Several times in his career, Chief Obafemi Awolowo was roundly defeated by opposition within his own party. But the old man took it in the chin. Each time, he emerged with his stellar status as a career democrat undimmed and undiminished among his teeming followers.

        The politics of militarization is a direct consequence of the militarization of politics. Despite all this, the APC and its ranking echelons still have many things going for them which still make APC the party to beat in Lagos State. First is the ethnic homogeneity of the core voters of the state. But it is a homogeneity whose complexion and complexity is changing every minute. Second is the fact that as functioning political parties, neither the derelict PDP nor the near-defunct Labour Party is in any position to mount a viable challenge to the hegemonic hold of the APC in the state. Noisemaking in declining newspapers has never been known to win any election. Finally, the threat of military rule continues to recede into remote antiquity except as a prelude to the final unraveling of the nation.

    If that is the situation in Lagos State, an ethnic heterogeneity subsists in Rivers State which makes the state very susceptible to combustion and commotion. As the fourth largest ethnic nationality in Nigeria, the Ijaw people will not sit idly by and watch the only state they control in the nation slip through them by some legislative rascality.

      Once again, we warn that an extraordinary state of emergency looms in Rivers State. It is going to be extraordinary because it will involve a complete militarization of the state with the possibility of fatally undermining the prospects of the principal product the nation depends upon at this moment. This column is not interested in the outcome of the ego tussle in Rivers State between lapsed godson and former godfather but the extent to which the battle will impact on the democratic prospects of the nation and its continued viability. It is unfortunate that the political common sense that Nyesom Wike demonstrated by making sure an Ijaw person succeeded him and forcing this through has now completely disappeared in a miasma of mutual hatred and contempt.

      Finally since Shakespeare said that all journeys must end in lover’s meeting, we seem to have come to the paradoxical intersection where amorous journeys end in abrupt termination of longing and desire. The mix of politics and sex can be an explosive and irresistible combination, a sure bet for sensational and scandalmongering headlines. From time immemorial, sex among the upper reaches of the society has always tickled and titillated the fantasies of the lower masses. But it has been historically proved that unless it is accompanied by other potent drivers of signal failure, sexual sleaze does not always lead to locomotive derailment of state machinery. England, France, Italy and the US are prime exemplars of the uses and usefulness of executive randiness. Tropical Africa, with its torrid equatorial passions, its combustible gamesmanship and its surfeit of Alpha male predators launching at everything in sight and skirt, cannot be an exception. That is until sexual gaming enters into a potentially fatal contradiction with a predominantly feudal culture.

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    The winsome and alluring Natasha is fast becoming the Queen of Stitch –Up in the post-military dispensation. The comely senator is of Ukrainian and Ebira provenance and if that explosive combination does not emit danger signals, you are on your own. Ebira brio meets Ukrainian defiant pluckiness. It appears that an innocent brush past her, a gamey glance, an uncomplimentary comment or an unfriendly gambit in the distribution of power largesse can get you on her expanding list of sexual predators or potential political paedophiles. The casualty figure is quite impressive. It reminds one of a joke about Maradona in his waning years. Since he could dive even from a mile, the referee and the players were advised to give him a wide berth. A famous contemporary declined his offer of a handshake after a nasty clinch for fear that the impish former pickpocket from the Buenos Aires slums may head for the grass.

    But Natasha, a serving senator of the Federal Republic, appears far more deadly and dangerous than a mere footballer. The senate president would do well to take note.  She reminds one of those powerful female figures of history who took their men to bed only to have them summarily beheaded thereafter. Having been directly implicated in the overthrow and subsequent murder of her husband                                                                                                                                                                                                      the dithering and dilatory Emperor Peter 111, the German-born Empress Catherine seized power and went on to rule feudal Russia with iron resolve and cruel severity for the next thirty two years. Those who were rumoured to be her lovers disappeared mysteriously. Luckily and providentially, Natasha does not have the political wherewithal to reenact that version of Asiatic despotism in Nigeria. But having engineered her suspension for six months in a clumsy and untidy legislative putsch after declaring her lawful petition against the senate president dead on arrival, Godswill Akpabio must from now have to watch his back for the rest of his tenure and probably beyond.

    Despite his winning joviality and infectious bonhomie, the senate president has not been a model of decorum and rectitude, neither has he conducted himself with the dignity and gravitas expected of the number three person in a country that ought to be in a hurry to develop. If the furious and vengeful Senator Natasha were to find common cause with the numerous forces trying to unhorse him, Akpabio could find himself in very uncomfortable circumstances in the coming months. Before our very eyes the Travelling Theatre has once again berthed at the weakest link in the chain of democratic development in Nigeria just as it did in the First Republic. It will amount to foolish and futile optimism to ever imagine that thunder does not strike twice in the same place.