The Nation Newspaper

Category: Columnists

  • Ibadan is taking a new shape

    Ibadan is taking a new shape

    I live in Ibadan and the Redemption City and sometimes for weeks I stay away from Ibadan because of unavailability of electricity in my area, sometimes for weeks, and to God be the glory for the spiritual and physical light available to us in the Redemption City, by the grace of God and the leadership of Pastor Adejare Adeboye. Yet my area is supposed to be in a low density area not far from Bodija, the first planned town in Nigeria after independence. The hellish heat these days makes life almost unbearable for people particularly elderly people. This is despite having a generator which does not really solve the problem because of the astronomical cost of fuel whether petrol or diesel. I have not yet tried solar option which is what some of my colleagues have adopted. Perhaps I will try solar devices when I am able to afford the cost.

    I know my readers will probably say look at this old man talking about solar options when people are not able to afford the cost of food necessary for survival. I plead guilty and I agree I bear, alongside people of my generation, vicarious responsibility for the way the country has been run down all these years but in our old age, we deserve some comfort for some of our positive contributions in the past.

    I can mention a thousand things and many risks taken by some of us to advance the national interest. Some of our young people may say that writing about the new looks of Ibadan is not worth celebrating because they should be regarded as ordinary events because they take place in all countries including African countries. Road construction and channelization should be regarded as routine. But when they are not routine in our clime, it is worth celebrating.

    Read Also: Akpabio assures of Senate full participation in Clark’s burial

    This preamble is necessary for me to be able to put in context the recent efforts of the Oyo State government because I have had reasons to be critical of the government before and it is just fair to applaud the government when it is doing well.

    A visit to Ibadan today will confirm the fact that Governor Seyi Makinde is in name and indeed, the executive governor of Oyo State. I sometimes laugh when a sitting governor is introduced as the executive governor of his state which I always dismiss as error of tautology but in the case in hand, the governor is really the executive governor just as any performing governor deserves the heavy duty description as “executive governor”.  Entering Ibadan from Lagos through the Alhaji’s Arisekola Road and driving towards Molete, one is confronted with digging of gutters at the intersection of Felele and Molete where for years there had been some kind of spring that floods the road perennially in wet and dry seasons. This is the section connecting the road to late Lamidi Adesina’s house at Felele which he refused or could not fix while he was governor of Oyo State. It seems the government is determined to fix it once and for all.

    From this point to Saint Anne’s School, heavy drainage equipment is at work digging deep gutters on both sides of the road. I pray this will be extended to all parts of the state capital and to all major towns like Ogbomosho and Oyo. Any government that can do this kind of work deserves to be commended. While on this road project, may I appeal to the Oyo State government to extend its revolutionary approach to road construction to the road linking Molete with Ibadan Grammar School and Saint Luke’s College going on to Saint David Cathedral in Kudeti. This road, for historical reasons, deserves to be fixed as a symbol of CMS contribution to the education and development of Ibadan. Government should look into the possibility of combined redevelopments of Saint Luke College and Ibadan Grammar school as a comprehensive technical college for training young people for the future industrial development of Oyo State.

    The importance of street lights in Ibadan should be highlighted. There is need for Ibadan to have a night economy. It’s wasteful for a huge city like Ibadan to go to bed at seven O’ clock because that’s when the sunlight goes out. Government can double the economy of the city by lighting up the city if the government can provide electricity outside the present electricity generation mechanism.

    There is also need for strict enforcement of traffic lights in the city. Government should also consider the tolling of some of the roads so that money will always be available for their maintenance. This is also the time to begin to plan the planting of trees and turning all our roads into avenues. This was the case with all major roads in Ibadan and in such places like Kano, and Maiduguri until some military governors decided to cut down the huge neem trees under the guise of beautification with streets lights! How could any sane person have done this in the Sahel towns of Kano and Maiduguri! Yes it was done while we all looked on in silent awe! We have to bring back the neem trees. Incidentally the leaves of the neem trees were potent cure for malaria when boiled and squeezed into juice.

    The government of Engineer Seyi Makinde should embark on proper and simple street numbering of Ibadan away from its present antediluvian confusing numbering.

    Let’s make Ibadan great again. I remember when we were young during the golden days of the old Western Region, Ibadan did not accept inferior status to Lagos the federal capital and those of us still in school basked in the glory of Ibadan. Ibadan has remained the capital city of Yoruba land with millions making the city their homes even if they had homes in their villages in Ekiti, Osun, Ondo, Ogun, Lagos and even Kwara and Kogi states because of their ethnic consanguinity with Oyo State people. There were of course people from all over Nigeria because of the presence of an institution like the University of Ibadan and the historical connection of the people from the present Edo, Delta and Bayelsa with the city of Ibadan from where they were administered. Those were the days and thinking of those days makes old people like us wonder if the creation of states was really worth the effort and the excitement that went into the splitting of Nigerian humanity into the present puny states only useful to the looters who have benefited from the division which, looking backward, amount to destruction of what could have been important blocks of national unity.

  • United in life and death

    United in life and death

    When beggars die, there are no comets seen; the heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes – Shakespeare

    The nation is still reeling under the news of the death of two great men. Men who shaped the thoughts and opinions of others. Men who took the bull by the horns and faced down those who dared them. However, like all mortals, they were not perfect; they made mistakes now and then.

    Chief Ayo Adebanjo (1928-2025) and Chief Edwin Clark (1927-2025) were two of a kind. Adebanjo died on February 14, and Clark passed away on February 17. Call them birds of the same feather and you will not be wrong. Though from different ethnic groups – Adebanjo was  Ijebu; and Clark, Ijaw – they held similar positions on many issues. One cannot say if this was by design or default. Their age and accomplishments made them the natural leaders of their people.

    Little wonder that their homes were a Mecca of sorts where political associates and friends from all walks of life gathered to learn at their feet. Mind you, they were forceful characters who went out of their way to get whatever they wanted. They were not quite, at all. They were fiery in speech. Many dared them at their own peril. They were not only power brokers, they were also king makers.

    It is a funny world. They seemed to engage in what they accused national leaders of doing. Adebanjo and Clark never suffered fools gladly. They were on top of their game and always had their way. They parted ways with you if you did not see things their way. What is that saying again? Though raw, it can be roughly said of them that they would never stand by and allow anybody to wield a sword around them. Moral: they know what the sword wielder can do with it.

    So, whenever they spoke of somebody being dictatorial or not listening to others, you knew where they were coming from. It is not in our tradition to speak ill of the dead. It is perceived as offensive to say of the dead that they were bad even if the world knew that is the truth. A person’s sins are forgiven once they are dead. Does that make the dead a saint? No, but society frowns at turning them into game after their passing.

    Even though Shakespeare noted that “the evil that men do lives after them”, this evil is hardly mentioned upon their demise in order not to offend the sensibilities of the bereaved families, friends and associates. Conversely, we relish in speaking about the good that they did. We remember how they paid school fees for this; got a job for that and helped those they never knew to start a business. We talk about all these good deeds, which Shakespeare said “are oft interred with their bones”.

    The dead do not talk. Whatever is said about them, they will never hear or respond to. It is those they left behind that will take the hit. For sure these people will not like it, especially if they did not share the views of the dead. But they have to put up a front, by defending the dead’s legacies, be they a father, mother, son or daughter. This is the lot of survivors which we can all relate with.

    Read Also: Akpabio assures of Senate full participation in Clark’s burial

    No man is entirely good or evil. No matter how careful we may be while walking, our heads will sway. The critic is good at one thing and that is to draw attention to the shortcomings of the national leader. In most cases the critic, as in the case of Adebanjo and Clark, may be a leader in his own right too doing the same things that he is accusing the national leader of, but he never sees it that way because he is not in the spotlight.

    Criticism is the oil of modern day development. It acts as a spur to sensitive leaders who desire to bequeath a lasting legacy. It becomes another thing, however, when it turns to mudslinging. Adebanjo and Clark were critics of no mean repute. Their biting criticisms went a long way in helping our leaders to sit up. But they went too far at times. They always wanted it their way and no other way. They forgot that like the national leader, no critic is 100 per cent right.

    As critics and leaders, Adebanjo and Clark have played their part and left the stage. We recall their sojourn on earth so as to make our lives too sublime. We do not do it to run them down, but to draw attention to the fact that as living beings, we are subject to human foibles and frailties. They were not perfect. If they were, they would not have walked this earth. It is because they were not saints that they had challenges within their respective groups.

    We join the Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere, and the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) in mourning these great Nigerians. Their roles in these groups will never be forgotten. Clark appropriated PANDEF. He was the group’s all in all. Something that he would never accept from any national leader. On the other hand, Afenifere was challenged in recent years because of the self-inflicted leadership tussle between Adebanjo and Pa Reuben Fasoranti.

    The cause of the friction was something that should not have reared its ugly head in the first place, as Afenifere has a natural process for picking its leader. According to its hierarchical structure, the oldest person takes charge whenever the Leader’s position becomes vacant.

    Fasoranti’s feeble health made him to cede his natural position to Adebanjo, but the latter declined to step down for the former who sought to return after feeling a bit better. The group became factionalised. Until his death six days ago, Adebanjo called the shots from his Ijebu Ogbo (Ogun State) homestead, while Fasoranti held court in Akure, the Ondo State capital.

    Telling it as it is, to borrow the title of Adebanjo’s autobiography which he wrote to mark his 90th birthday six years ago, there is no better time than now for Afenifere to bind its wounds and resolve the crisis which has dragged on for too long. Adebanjo’s death should mark the beginning of a rapprochement within the group. Adieu, Pa Adebanjo! Adieu, Pa Clark!! May you find rest in the Lord’s bosom.

  • There is no perfect nation to be born

    There is no perfect nation to be born

    There is no perfect nation to be born yet Nigeria is deemed an ultimate hell to every newborn. Thus the rat race by most Nigerians to Japa. In 2013, an Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) report ranked the country 80th out of 80 countries assessed in its Where-to-be-born-index. Twelve years on, Nigerians throng American and European consulates in a frantic bid to Japa.

    No thanks to the Economist’s sister publication, most Nigerian kids may mature thinking they had been born where the neurotic tick-tock of midnight silences the whispers of dawn.

    From birth through adulthood, each poor child glides down maturity like a greased pole to hell. The scriptural hell, we are told, shall be consequent at a future date: the judgement day. But here in Nigeria, we make our matches from mayhem and distil sulphur from sadness, ultimately to make our hell.

    Predictably, the EIU report inspired doomsday forecasts about the country; foremost columnists and newspapers penned damning editorials affirming the report – as they do every International Child’s Day or Children’s Day in Nigeria. Amid the bleeding heart patois, child advocacy groups serially squeeze local and international donors of grants that hardly get to the touted recipients.

    Through the preachment and plots, a crucial voice dies without recourse; the voice of the Nigerian child. If there has been any change since the EIU’s damning report, it is barely discernible.

    To speak for the newborn and generations unborn, we must learn to speak ‘humane.’ We must reinvent Nigeria as a nation fit for every human segment, children, in particular. Nigeria must improve her education and health sectors.

    President Bola Tinubu’s 2025 budget allocations to education and health signal an attempt to confront two of the most pressing challenges facing Nigerian children: access to quality learning and adequate healthcare. On paper, the numbers appear impressive—N3.52 trillion for education, with a significant portion directed at infrastructure and student support, and N2.48 trillion for health, including funds for strengthening primary healthcare systems. Yet, beyond the figures lies a deeper question: will these allocations translate into real, tangible improvements in the lives of Nigerian children?

    In education, the expansion of higher institutions and the N34 billion earmarked for student loans suggest a policy shift toward accessibility, but the reality remains that the majority of Nigerian children struggle to receive even the most basic primary education. Many classrooms remain overcrowded, understaffed, and lacking essential teaching materials. While infrastructure investments may create new structures, without a corresponding investment in teacher training, curriculum improvement, and systemic reforms, Nigerian children may find themselves sitting in new classrooms that offer little by way of quality education.

    On the healthcare front, the allocation of N282.65 billion to the Basic Health Care Fund offers a glimmer of hope, particularly in addressing primary healthcare needs. However, with Nigeria’s health sector plagued by a shortage of medical professionals, dilapidated facilities, and an overburdened system, the question remains whether these funds will effectively trickle down to rural clinics and urban slums where children face malnutrition, preventable diseases, and high infant mortality rates. The additional $200 million set aside to fill gaps left by the suspension of U.S. health aid is a necessary intervention, but it highlights the country’s continued dependence on external funding rather than a sustainable, internally-driven approach to child welfare.

    Read Also: Akpabio assures of Senate full participation in Clark’s burial

    In 2023, President Bola Tinubu pledged that, on his watch, every Nigerian child, regardless of his or her background, would have access to quality education. Speaking while receiving representatives of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) at the State House, in Abuja, he said, “If we all believe that education is the greatest weapon against poverty, then we have to invest in it. If you eliminate poverty in one family, you can carry the rest of the weight. Poverty should not prevent anyone.”

    In 2024, only 7.9% of the N27.5 trillion budget was dedicated to education, and in 2025, the figure dropped slightly to 7.3% of the N47.9 trillion budget. While the 2025 allocation of N3.52 trillion represents a nominal increase in funding, its proportion of the total budget remains disappointingly low. Given Nigeria’s struggling education sector—marked by dilapidated infrastructure, poor teacher remuneration, and inadequate learning resources—this level of funding is unlikely to drive the change needed. However, Mr President’s promise to allocate 25 per cent of the national budget to education, in time, is encouraging.

    A 2022 UNICEF report states that Nigeria accounts for approximately 20.2 million out-of-school children, the second highest number of unschooled children globally after India. On Tinubu’s watch, the education system must be re-envisioned to address the disparities that make education incompatible with job market realities.

    More importantly, a remedial education summit must be convened by the Federal Government where issues of impracticality and redundancy can be addressed; there, the curriculum must be reviewed and recalibrated as a Nigerian-centred syllabus driven to reflect global learning and cater to the immediate and envisioned realities of the country’s labour market and socioeconomic milieu.

    The Tinubu administration must also cater to the health needs of children, revamp healthcare services and institutionalise incentives for health workers, to arrest brain-drain within the health sector. In 2023, the Special Adviser to the President on Health, Salma Anas, stated at a health summit in, Abuja, that President Tinubu has pledged to increase the annual health allocation to 10 per cent of the country’s total budget. Subsequently, the President of the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), Dr. Dele Abdullahi, urged Tinubu to allocate at least 15 per cent of the 2024 annual budget to the health sector. Abdullahi’s plea is worth consideration given the state of the sector; just 24,000 licensed physicians currently cater to the over 200 million population in the country. This negates the WHO minimum threshold that a country needs a mix of 23 doctors, nurses, and midwives per 10,000 population.

    Foreign Trade Statistics by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) also reveals that the country is heavily dependent on foreign drug manufacturers thus subjecting the citizenry to the machinations of the mercantile and much dreaded big pharma. Between the third and fourth quarter of 2021 alone, Nigeria imported anti-malarial drugs worth over N110 billion. This requires urgent reinvigoration of Nigeria’s local drug manufacturing capacity.

    Tinubu’s administration must also work with State governments to prioritise child protection by ensuring a comprehensive and enforceable legal framework and policies that safeguard children from all forms of exploitation.

    To guarantee the success of these measures, Mr. President must evolve and sustain an effective monitoring and evaluative mechanism to effectively neuter the human and structural elements of sabotage. President Tinubu must never shy from wielding the big stick and instituting punitive measures against persons, groups or institutions that may work against the realisation of the highlighted policy goals.

    President Tinubu must appreciate his position for the wonderful opportunities it offers; beyond his hard-fought victory, the status quo provides a priceless opportunity to reconnect with broad segments of the electorate in realistic terms and convert them to ambassadors of the Nigerian enterprise.  

    Nigerians expect him to lay the foundation for the fortune he promised. They expect him to midwife national prosperity built “on a fast-growing industrial base capable of producing the most basic needs of the people and an export track to other countries of the world,” as he promised. They expect him to deploy humane governance to resolve insecurity and socioeconomic crises.

    They expect him to rebuild Nigeria as the best nation to be born.

  • Nigeria’s presidency: Winning without the ‘North’

    Nigeria’s presidency: Winning without the ‘North’

    Former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El- Rufai, has been in the headlines lately no thanks to his rampaging posts on X. In one of the latest, he warned President Bola Tinubu risked receiving the same treatment meted to former President Goodluck Jonathan by the North when he sought a second term.

    He declared that less than two years into Tinubu’s tenure, his relationship with the zone had deteriorated badly – something he mournfully intoned was the recipe for electoral disaster. He reminded the uninformed that his region has always been the kingmaker in Nigerian politics.

    The ex-governor would have us believe he spoke altruistically out of love for his All Progressives Congress (APC) and not as one emitting bile after losing out in the sharing of political spoils. We choose to believe that this is the case.

    The storm ignited by his words had barely died down when former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal, who no one can accuse of being charitable towards the current administration jumped on bandwagon. He echoed El-Rufai’s threat that unless Tinubu appeased the North he was in danger of receiving an electoral shellacking in 2027.

    Lawal argues that the president’s policies were impoverishing the region. This would suggest that the North was something of an Eldorado as of May 2023 which has now been despoiled by Tinubu’s reforms. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The region has had a longstanding problem with multifaceted poverty; a challenge which the regional elite have failed to do anything about in six decades.

    Long before El-Rufai and Lawal began weeping in their kunu, a group called the League of Northern Democrats led by former Kano State Governor, Ibrahim Shekarau, had emerged early in the life of the current administration with a clear agenda of hostility towards the administration.

    Of all the regions in the country, the North is one that Tinubu has pandered to whether regarding appointments or in the quantum of resources devoted to fighting insecurity. Yet, the shrillest cries of discomfort continue to resound from the quarters of sections of the elite. So, it’s hard to say whether it’s truly a case of a people hard done by protesting justifiably, or one of those used to exercising power suffering withdrawal symptoms. I suspect the truth is somewhere in between.

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    From the little that’s been said already the threat of withdrawal of Northern support will hang over Tinubu like the Sword of Damocles as we head towards 2027. The sense that whatever that region decides determines what plays out nationally would also be tested.

    Unfortunately, the notion of Northern unity in political action is more myth than reality. Perhaps there was a time in the First Republic when this was so. But we’ve seen through the past few decades that no region in Nigeria ever goes 100% in one direction electorally – with very few exceptions.

    Yes, the North has played kingmaker in very unique circumstances, but those are not everyday scenarios – especially given existing ethnic and religious cleavages across the region. That is why in reality there’s a far North politically and a Middle Belt who don’t always see eye to eye on issues.

    We don’t need to travel far to see that the region hardly ever acts with one voice. At the 2023 polls, certain interests misled the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) into believing that it was only a Northerner who could win, and that there was nothing wrong with Atiku Abubakar succeeding his kinsman who would be rounding off eight years in power. They miscalculated and lost badly despite running a campaign that openly appealed to ethnic sentiments.

    The Northerners in PDP were clearly not on the same page as those in APC who came to back power shift to the South in the national interest. In any event, the majority of the region’s votes went to Atiku but that didn’t make him president.

    Rather than painting a false picture of regional exceptionalism, the likes of El-Rufai need to realise that Fourth Republic election outcomes have confirmed that you can win the presidency without necessarily winning in the far North. Celebrating the 2015 poll results as though it was based solely on what APC and Buhari pulled off up North is also disingenuous.

    Buhari received massive Northern votes as he had always done but what made the difference when he was elected was that he won in the Southwest. Without that it would be a repeat of his usual frustration of being shown up as regional champion. The drafters of our constitution ensured that no such persons would ever sit in the office of president.

    I recently saw a graphic of Nigeria’s 2011 presidential election results showing a country slashed almost equally in two halves. All the states above what is generally referred to as the Middle Belt or North Central zone were won by Buhari’s Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), while the then ruling PDP took the entire South – with the exception of Osun State which was won by the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).

    Further back, the result of the 1999 polls was a clear nod to the nationwide strength of the PDP under whose umbrella the cream of the national political elite had congregated. The upshot was a performance that was robust across the zones.

    Four years later, there was a clear impact on the results after four years of Olusegun Obasanjo’s presidency. PDP would shed significant votes in the far North with the entrance of Buhari as candidate of the All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP) which had its strength largely across the North but was quite feeble down South.

    The results of the 2007 poll largely mirrored those of 1999 because PDP and its key rivals presented Northern candidates. The ruling party had Umaru Yar’Adua, ANPP Buhari and Atiku Abubakar who had been exiled from the ruling party fronting ACN’s challenge. In this race the role of the North as kingmaker was a non-issue.

    A similar scenario would have played out four years later had Yar’Adua not died unexpectedly.

    His demise thrust the country’s fragile power sharing arrangements back into the front burner. The ruling party was torn between denying a sitting President, Goodluck Jonathan, the party’s ticket and managing the unprecedented situation caused by Yar’Adua’s death. Wouldn’t it be fair to let another Northerner step in to complete what should ordinarily be the zone’s clear run at finishing two terms?

    The agonising would play out within PDP as the major Northern presidential aspirants Aliyu Gusau, Ibrahim Babangida, Atiku Abubakar and Bukola Saraki, formed a common front to challenge Jonathan. They even had shadow elections that threw up the former VP. In the end this regional challenge on behalf of the supposedly invincible kingmaking zone collapsed spectacularly at the party’s Eagle Square Abuja convention, with Atiku making a bitter speech full of name-calling that acknowledged his imminent failure.

    At the general election where Buhari reprised another of his strong performances across the far North, producing an electoral map that virtually split the country into two halves. In spite of being spurned by the far North, PDP managed to hold on to its key strongholds in the Middle Belt and by so doing retained power. Despite leading in the majority of the states in his region Buhari still fell short – making nonsense of the myth that the North is the be-all factor in Nigeria’s politics.

    The theory that El-Rufai has tried to sell might have been valid in earlier republics. What was once a monolith has greatly fragmented with the Middle Belt increasingly carving out a unique identity with its electoral behaviour in recent cycles. A close look at the results of the 2023 polls is quite revealing.

    Before the election, not many gave Labour Party’s (LP), Peter Obi, much of a chance up North. But he ran a cunning campaign with focus on religious sentiments in the minority areas of the region. It resonated in the face of fierce resentment generated by the Muslim-Muslim ticket of the APC.  The upshot was the unheralded party making inroads in South Kaduna and winning in Nasarawa.

    Tinubu didn’t win the North, but where he fell short he came a respectable second to meet the 25% constitutional requirements. All he needed was run up the votes elsewhere and emerge with the highest votes.

    So, rather than engaging in political blackmail in the name of their region, politicians need to scrutinise election results to see how the likes of Obasanjo and Jonathan managed to win, without winning the ‘North.’  It’s a pathway to power that remains valid even in today’s very polarised Nigeria.

  • NOA; Bode Emanuel & Berkhout

    NOA; Bode Emanuel & Berkhout

    National Orientation Agency, NAO, strikes positively again with an accurate cartoon illustrating the deadly dangers of scooping fuel from fallen petrol tankers which could explode at any time burning and killing all those around them. Nigeria has lost to explosions, burns and injury and death, many thousands directly from tanker accidents and fuel scooping. The NOA cartoon was shown on TV and hopefully it was free to air as part of the media’s responsibility to educate the masses on this and many other masses’ life skills like ‘WEARING LIFE JACKETS’.

    NOA published its programmes in states in the newspaper-hopefully for free? NOA can also put the messages in cartoon STORY TELLING form on NOA posters and recruit corporate sponsors for funding. ’A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS AND SAVES A THOUSAND LIVES!’ Posters in every market and classroom.   

    We have lost too many Nigerians to violence over the last 20 years. Violence and health problems have truncated so many lives that Nigeria’s life expectancy has hovered in the late 50’s for decades. To gauge what Nigeria loses by such deaths, it is worth measuring such tragic losses against those who managed to survive all struggles and pass on at a ripe old age.

    I have personal knowledge of two ninth decade citizens who have recently passed from this life. First Chief Olabode Emanuel, 1935-2025, spelt with one ‘m’ not ‘mm’ has been described as an Admiral of industry, a Titan, an Iroko, a Trojan, ‘A White Charger’, a quiet but masterful businessman, an accountant par excellence, an astute guru, exemplary philanthropist, a benefactor to multiple charitable and Catholic Church Organisations and institutions et cetera.

    Read Also: Edwin Clark: Nigeria lost a voice – Dakuku Peterside

    A distinguished and proud descendant of returned Brazilian freed slaves who settled in Lagos in the mid-1800s, he held a high leadership post in the Catholic Friendly Society 3619.   Of note is that he was a very proud and practical Gregorian playing a keen leadership role in the survival and recovery of St Gregory’s College, Ikoyi Lagos, and in helping to elevate it to its current state. He played leading roles in social Clubs like Ikoyi Club, Island Club, Motor Boat Club, and Yoruba Tennis Club. The above is just a rough sketch of the life and times of Uncle Bode who led a very full life. He has certainly gone to a well-deserved rest. May he RIPP. Amen

    The second role model is Chief Joop Berkhout, 1930-2025 who was an outstanding personality who had more faith in Nigeria than most Nigerians. Of Dutch origins, he has for many years, since 1966 when he came to Nigeria as founding managing director of Evans Brothers Publishers, been  described as a Dutch-Nigerian and freelance Permanent Dutch roving Ambassador to Ibadan specifically and Nigeria in general.  He was a publishing doyen and publishing house builder starting Spectrum Books and later Safari Books where he elevated publishing to new heights in Ibadan at the University of Ibadan and around the country.

    He was an astute long-term functionary of the Ibadan Dining Club, established by Chief Simeon Adebo and a host of great historical names; he serving as long term secretary. He was an astute businessman and also a keen educationist as demonstrated in his achievement of an elevation in the quality and direction of publishing through his wide range of publications including novels, textbooks, journals, periodicals and later specialising in biographical and autobiographical works of many leading Nigerians and others.

    Berkhout was a promoter of youth activities through his association with NGOs including a 30-year relationship with Educare Trust as a distinguished member, regularly attending functions and channelling books to needy youth, a great entertainer opening his home to many local and international guests sharing incisive ideas and actions while relaxing and a firm believer in Nigerians and Project Nigeria even during the frequent bleak times. He cherished being honoured for his publishing achievements with his chieftaincy title from The Source, The Ooni of Ife, and wore the title with great pride. He had many close friends in Ibadan and across Nigeria notably Emeritus Prof Ayo Banjo who preceded him to glory. Another great Iroko has fallen in Ibadan and Nigeria. But he sowed a great many ‘learning and book’ Iroko seeds, which, thankfully, have germinated as a generation change on Nigerian soil in the publishing and education sectors and are set to become Irokos in their own right – an Iroko planter’s delight. It has been a pleasure and an honour to have interacted frequently with Chief Joop Berkhout during the last 50 years, first by hearsay and later as an aburo and sometimes as a doctor. May his books be read by the current generation in his honour. May he RIPP and may his family be comforted. Amen. Appreciation also to his doctor/PA/carers.

    The lives of Chief Olabode Emanuel and Chief Joop Berkhout are very good illustrations of success where others were not so successful. There are others like them and many others who, as mentioned earlier were not allowed to achieve revered old age. We must do everything possible to take the death factor out of early life so more Nigerians can live long fruitful lives. The ‘no scooping fuel’ , use of life jackets across the waterways, speed limits on roads, potable water, better education, accessible quality schooling for the 10+million Out Of School Children -OOSC, better toilet : population ratios are rights of being born.  

  • Less government, more governance

    Less government, more governance

     This headline – “Less government, more governance” — is not original to this column. 

    It’s the legal matrix under which Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw, the Indian minister of Railways, Information & Broadcasting, Electronics and IT, portrayed India’s booming progress, over the last 10 years.

    He spoke at the 2025 World Economic Forum (WEF), in Davos, Switzerland, via a 4:39-minute video clip, courtesy a regular reader, Igwe Pius Ojonile Omachonu.

    Shri Vaishnaw reeled out India’s strides, in public investments, under Prime Minister Narenda Modi Ji.  He started a third term on 9 June 2024, after two successful five-year terms, dating back to 2014.

    The stats simply put, in physical, social and digital infrastructure, were bewildering!

    Public investment rose from about €36 billion in 2014 to about €127 billion in 2024. He didn’t say though, the proportion of debt capital in that investment overlay.

    Rail: In 10 years, India laid 31, 000 km of new rail tracks — “practically the size of the entire German railway network.”  It also electrified 44, 000 km in railway networks — again, as the minister crowed — “more than Germany plus Switzerland plus Belgium put together.”

    What does this tell you?  Germany is western Europe’s largest economy.  But if Indian rail modernization could dwarf the entire German, Swiss and Belgian networks — and it’s yet morning on its investment day — then the global future belongs to big countries that can maximize the advantages of their bigness.

    So ethnic champions and separatist zealots, bent on cannibalizing Nigeria, miss the point.  They simply take the easy — and emotive — way out.  They seem out of their depth with how to lend spark to a vast, thumping, multi-culture country.

    Besides, they are shackled to the past.  India — and China — point to the future, even as America, under Donald Trump, gambles away Uncle Sam’s future, with all-muscle-no-brain bumbling isolationism.

    But back to the strides of India. 

    Social infrastructure: India has opened 446 universities in 10 years — tantamount to, the minister quipped, opening one university weekly, in the last 10 years!  Magical?

    That’s tertiary education. 

    But the health segment of social infrastructure?  Between 2014 and 2024, healthcare hugely expanded.  Now, it covers 350 million citizens. Besides, it just declared free healthcare for Indian seniors, 70 and above, despite its thumping population.

    Inclusive growth, a euphemism for pro-poor policies: India, in 10 years, has built 40 million houses for poor Indians, aside connecting 100 million families, in this critical demographic, with free cooking gas pipe networks.

    Also for the poor: the Indian government opened 540 million bank accounts for the poorest of the poor.  And again, the minister’s winsome comparison: “more than the population of the entire Europe”!

    Imagine dragging such proportion of the huge informal market here, into the formal sector?  Imagine its salutary effect on the Nigerian government’s expanded tax net?

    Result of these pro-poor policies: India has sprung 250 million people from poverty in 10 years!

    But the driver of all these strides is digital infrastructure: the minister dubbed it the Prime Minister’s mandate to democratize IT, to make its use accessible to everyone.

    That mandate birthed the Digital India Programme (DIP) which, rather than cause a dip in transactions, crested in India’s Unified Payment Interface (UPI).  By the minister’s stats, the UPI caters for some 400 million users, with 17 billion transactions a month, and a yearly transaction value of €2.8 trillion.  The settlement time?  “Consistently, less than two seconds”!

    For context: contrast that with sundry glitches here, which often traps handsome sums in bank vaults, even after legitimate transfers to destination accounts, private or corporate!

    What’s more?  An enhanced payment system came with a renewed explosion in manufacturing and innovation.  Made-in-India and Start-Up India — both manufacturing hubs — rose from 400 in 2014 to 150, 000 in 2024. 

    So did value of mobile manufacturing — mostly of semiconductors and hand phones — from €2 billion to €50 billion in 10 years.  Manufacturing is driver for mass jobs.

    As for Unicorns — personal or family wealth ploughed back into productive use, without recourse to debt capital — grew to hit 100.

    But the arch-driver of this remarkable development is the legal modernization framework dubbed: “Less government, more governance”, which on the surface sounds more like an oxymoron.

    But in real terms, it means simplifying India’s ancient laws to meet its modern needs.  That means junking no less than 1, 500 archaic laws, with some 40, 000 colonial-era compliances, to fire India’s modern and contemporary economy.

    The video clip went viral and a version of it came with a comment, typically Nigerian: “You’re here in Nigeria sharing palliatives and showcasing construction of 2 km road and 1 Km flyover.  Useless and rogue leaders.”

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    Typical — self-loathing, finger-pointing, empty, conceited, condescending, arrogant –the classical portraiture of the irresponsible citizen, without holding fort for those in government.  As Babatunde Fashola, former governor of Lagos famously quips, anger is no strategy.

    But lo! A segment of the media hugs hare-brained anger as sacred article of faith.  Which is why the media seldom tracks developments in the polity, thus oozing eternal hopelessness.  That’s wilful mirage, even if the government can always do better.

    Take this Nigeria-India comparison.  The Modi Ji India government drives modernized rail, education and health as social infrastructure, inclusive growth, expansive IT, manufacturing/innovation, and modernization of laws as vital triggers of growth.

    The Nigerian government, since 2015, has powered along a similar trajectory, sans re-industrialization, after the crazy imports of the SAP years. That is because comatose DisCos, and decade-investment lags in transmission lines, can’t ensure regular electricity.

    The Buhari Presidency posted good results in rail modernization.  For social inclusion (pro-poor policies), with the World Bank, it compiled Nigeria’s first-ever social register to help the poorest of the poor.  It also pushed the return of local crude oil refineries.

    The Tinubu government has continued on the same path, though choosing neo-liberal tactics to drive its reforms has robbed it of gargantuan social capital, which makes not a few ideologues to question its “progressive” ancestry.

    Still, the same government boasts the biggest student loan policy in Nigerian history, an ambitious consumer credit system that could well lay the ground for booming re-industrialization, if it can solve the acute power problem. 

    Then, ala India: a sweeping bid to modernize Nigerian laws — to boost business –aside an ambitious IT expansion policy and programmes.

    Let the media start tracking the essential.  We may yet gauge where exactly we are, shun fashionable doom and re-find our path to sustainable progress.

    Then, maybe we’ll find that even the Indian “miracle” can be surpassed here.

  • State creation as metaphor

    State creation as metaphor

    The report of the House of Representatives Committee on Constitution Review which proposed the creation of 31 new states is a metaphor of the unthinking political elite that populate the National Assembly. While the report showed the wishful thinking of the committee members, there is no report of any rigorous evaluation of the viability of the proposed states accompanying the report. So, it will not be unreasonable for one to say that the committee merely gathered like children, discussing an upcoming festival, each one mentioning the kind of attire they wish to wear for the ceremony.

    To say that the proposal for the creation of 31 new states is childish is to be mild-mannered. But sadly, that proposal shows how most of the political elite who preside over the affairs of Nigeria, actually think. That explains why, despite the huge resources the country has earned over the decades, the country is still very poor. Many Nigerians would cringe when they remember that it is these legislators that are constitutionally empowered to determine the yearly budget of the country.

    The work of the committee on creation of new states explains how the legislators abuse their powers as envisaged in Section 80(2),(3)&(4) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended). By the provisions of sub-section (2), “no money shall be withdrawn from the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the federation except to meet the expenditure that is charged upon the fund by this constitution or where the issue of these monies has been authorized by an Appropriation Act, Supplementary Appropriation Act or an Act passed in pursuant to section 81 of this Constitution.”

    Section 80(3) prohibits any withdrawal from “any public fund of the Federation other than the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation unless the issue of those moneys has been authorized by an Act of the National Assembly.” On its part section 80(4) provides “No moneys shall be withdrawn from the Consolidated Revenue Fund or any other public fund of the Federation, except in the manner prescribed by the National Assembly.” It is these enormous powers that the National Assembly abuse especially when we have a weak president. 

    Because we have legislators who see the powers they have as opportunity for personal aggrandizement, most of them are interested in inserting monies into the budget. It is such juvenile exercise of powers, instead of acting as statesmen that is the bane of budgets without impacts. Lacking statesmanlike qualities, the legislators compete to outdo each other in budget padding. We have had reports of some committee chairmen inserting facilities, for example, solar panels for their private farms in the national budget. 

    Sometimes, you see a signboard for a road bearing the name of an institution in a state, different from where the project is being executed. Mostly, the so-called constituency projects for which the nation is blackmailed every year end up as lucre for corrupt enrichment. What the legislators do, they invariably teach those who are supposed to execute the projects. The contractors receive the money and vire it into different private projects, with little or no consequences.        

    Also, a legislative arm which does not see their responsibility as a sacred responsibility lacks the motivation to exercise the enormous powers conferred on them by section 88 of the Constitution. Section 88(1) provides: “Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, each House of the National Assembly shall have power by resolution published in its journal or in the Official Gazette of the Government of the Federation to direct or cause to be directed investigation into – (a) any matter or thing with respect to which it has power to make laws;”

    And (b) “the conduct of affairs of any person, authority, ministry or government department charged, or intended to be charged, with the duty of or responsibility for – (i) executing or administering laws enacted by National Assembly, and (ii) disbursing or administering moneys appropriated or to be appropriated by the National Assembly.” By these provisions, the National Assembly is conferred with enormous power of oversight, to ensure that funds appropriated by them, are used for the purpose they are meant for.

    Unfortunately, instead of diligently monitoring the use of funds they have appropriated, some of them use the oversight function merely to enrich themselves. Instead of investigating to oversee what uses the resources allocated have been put to, they oversee to see what can come to their personal purse. Of course, those who paid to procure a budgetary allocation would not be afraid of the same people coming to confirm what the budget was used for. The result is that same line item is budgeted perennially for, every year, without the item or project ever executed.

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    This column has argued many times, that unless we have a National Assembly populated by statesmen, who understand the enormity of powers they have to check the executive branch, the nation would only progress at the pace dictated by the executive branch alone. Of note, apart from the president and the vice president who are elected, the heads of departments and ministers are appointed. And being appointees who have no need to come back to the people for a renewal of their mandate, through elections, they operate to please the powers that appointed them.     

    So, where the president is lethargic, as we saw during the time of former President Muhammadu Buhari, a ministerial appointment became for most, an eight-year tenure regardless of capacity and performance. But if the legislators are active and alive to their responsibilities, they are constitutionally empowered to put the ministries and departments on their toes. But as depicted by the committee on new states creation, legislators and those they are supposed to supervise are in the same bed having an unholy alliance, of extortions and debauchery.

    Indeed, the members of the committee who recommended the creation of 31 new states, in the midst of the waste that state executives have become should be ashamed of themselves. As they ought to know, many of the states in the federation borrow to finance their bloated executive and legislative assemblies. The recurrent expenditures of the many of the current 36 states are higher than their capital expenditure. But for what writers call Nigeria’s feeding bottle federalism, most states in the country cannot pay staff salaries talk less of executing any meaningful project in their states.

    If the committee members were serious, they should have understudied whether the atomization of the country into smaller states have any greater benefits to justify their recommendation. They should have analysed the quality of life when Nigeria had regions, and presently when they have many states carved out from those regions, to show the benefits of multiple bureaucracies. Perhaps, the committee members should be investigated to know what motivated their unrealizable recommendations.

  • Lessons from life and politics of Adebanjo

    Lessons from life and politics of Adebanjo

    Chief Ayo Adebanjo, progressive politician, elder statesman, patriot, and unarguably, a foremost nationalist regarded by many as voice of reason but no doubt a controversial politician died at 96 last Saturday. Adebanjo, who started as a Zikist in the years Dr Azikiwe ‘elezikify’ Nigerian press before embracing Awoism in 1951 ended as an enthusiast of Peter Obi, an equally gifted master of political intrigue and propaganda, lived a fulfilled life.

    He was one of the last surviving nationalists. Although he might have not won all his battle for a more inclusive, fair, just and equitable Nigeria society, I am sure he will rest well realising he has been succeeded by his some of his equally talented sons including our current president who understands that the Afenifere philosophy is not about Yoruba irredentism but about how Nigeria can fulfil her destiny, by returning to the ‘path to Nigeria Progress’ never taken.

    Awoism with its Afenifere-slogan (wanting the best for others as one wants for self) is an ideology propounded by Awolowo and his colleagues including Pa Adebanjo Chief Anthony Enahoro, Chief Bola Ige Chief Abraham Adesanya Sir Olaniwun Ajayi, Bishop Gbonigi, Reuben Fasoranti, Chief Alfred Rewane, etc. It celebrates public goods which find expression in free education, health, rural development welfarism and prosperity for all. Awoism, also celebrates values of federalism, regional autonomy and self-determination.

    The transformation of Western Region in the First Republic to one of the most educated part of Africa within 10 years was the reason for thinking that foisting it on the rest of the country would transform the nation especially the marginalised and exploited minorities in the north and the east. Sadly, they fought and defended it for over 50 years with only scars of war from Nigerian state to show for their pains.

    With the conspiracy of dominant hegemonic power and dominant Igbo ethnic group during the 1958 independence constitutional debate, the coalition of the two after independence, and the destruction of Action Group and its leaders by the coalition partners shortly after independence, the minorities that saw hope for freedom in Awoism, decided it was in their best interest to find accommodation with their overlords.

    The east and the north were opposed to federalism. The former wanted a unitary system where citizens of their landlocked country would be free to thrive in other people’s land, and the latter, the feudal leaders of the north didn’t want their sense of entitlement to power in Nigeria questioned.

    The collapse of the First Republic and the civil war meant diminishing relevance of Awoism. The outcome of the 1979, 83, 93, and 99 elections saw the minorities massively voting for dominant ethnic groups in their respective geo-political zones. The military backers of the unitarists and confederalists only brought more confrontation between them and Awoist ideologues misrepresented as arrogant Yoruba trying to impose their culture on the rest of the country.

    This misrepresentation was widely promoted by Igbo and their northern hegemonic ruling class counterparts to delegitimize MKO Abiola’s unprecedented  landslide 1993 electoral victory leading to the annulment of the most credible election in the nation’s history, the justification for imposition of the contraption called Interim National  government, and the unilateral imposition of Obasanjo as Yoruba candidate who, without support of his Yoruba base, literarily climbed the palm tree from the top by winning the election.

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     Of course, Obasanjo known for his vindictiveness ensured the Yoruba leading lights of Awoism were humiliated after the 2003 election when all the five governors of AD progressive states were overrun by PDP with exception of Lagos’ Tinubu.

    Although Pa Ayo Adebanjo is on record for thanking Tinubu for liberating Yoruba from Obasanjo, he didn’t still believe Tinubu had done enough to earn the highly coveted position of Yoruba political leader. He therefore didn’t believe even with Tinubu’s achievement, there was a need for a change of strategy. Pa Ayo Adebanjo could not stand being told he was wrong when his children proved they could on their own win vote in Yoruba land after abandoning the carcass of his AD. For him, it only got worse when his children settled for Afenifere Renewal Group.

    Pa Adebanjo forgot he was dealing with a highly discriminatory voters who Awo, the sage said would not vote for you because you are Yoruba if you have no agenda that will impact positively on his life.  In 2015, he crossed the red line no Yoruba leader had ever done by decreeing Yoruba must not vote for Buhari but Atiku. His directive was of course ignored.

     Although he correctly predicted that Buhari would betray Tinubu, but he underestimated Tinubu’s capacity for political intrigue that often put his political opponents in disarray, ahead of his political foes.  Baba moved from blunder to blunder advising Yoruba who could make an informed choice between Obi candidacy with his uninspiring legacy in Anambra, his prostituting with PDP from where he crossed over to Labour Party to harvest undeserved 94-to 95% of Igbo votes and Tinubu and his legacies in Lagos, his silent persecution under Buhari government he helped to install and his betrayal by southwest governors he mentored and brought to national attention. Tinubu who managed to win four of the Yoruba sates was not expected to do more than that among his highly discriminatory Yoruba voters.

    For the 2023 election, the Hausa Fulani hegemonic ruling class and their ever-willing Igbo brides were ready to forget their differences to fight Awoism, the perceived common threat.

    The Igbo threat in the event that the presidential ticket of PDP, a party they faithfully served for 21 years was not ceded to the southeast, found expression in Igbo voting massively for Peter Obi, one of their own while call for justice and fairness counted for very little among the hegemonic power in the north who believe that democracy is about group interest and therefore had no problem rallying round Atiku Abubakar.

    Pa Ayo Adebanjo along with Obasanjo joined forces with Igbo leaders and the Obidients in an effort to delegitimize Tinubu’s hard-earned victory by unpatriotically attacking the integrity of INEC and the Supreme Court, two institutions critical to survival of democracy in any society. They in addition openly called for military take-over.  Atiku and his supporters headed for America in search of evidence to show Tinubu did not have a degree.

    Unfortunately, Pa Adebanjo forgot his Yoruba people never had leaders they could not handle. If such leaders became too powerful and could not be controlled, they would adopt the help of the talking drum while such leaders danced until they discover they dance alone albeit naked.

    Yoruba’s recent history is replete with examples. There was not too long ago Ogun Oba koso, the powerful and tyrannical Alaafin of Oyo who committed suicide when he discovered he was dancing naked. We had SLA Akintola, a foremost Yoruba irredentists, a terror to the colonial masters and their preferred northern hegemonic power. Yoruba culture detests biting the finger that once fed you. Following his legal removal from office, he was accused of seeking the help of northern hegemonic feudal lords to upstage Awolowo, his principal. He literarily committed suicide when he took up arms against trained soldiers during January 1966 military coup.

    There was also Uncle Bola Ige, loved by the young and the old for being an unrepentant Yoruba irredentist whose major weapon against Yoruba detractors was his caustic tongue. His decision to spite his fellow Yoruba cult of elders to take up national appointment under Obasanjo against the warning of their late leader, Obafemi Awolowo attracted the anger of his fellow elders. He was believed to have been murdered by the state following his attempt to retrace his way back to fold.

    Our consolation is that Pa Adebanjo, who like his leader believed that you can only be a good Nigerian if you were first a good representative of your people, will today be comparing note with his leader in the great beyond, a task he anxiously looked up to while with us here.

    I have no doubt Awo would be pleased to let him know that he is pleased that Awoism has been repackaged by someone not on the succession line, in a new language now more pleasing to the ears of those who only yesterday complained Awoism jarred their ear lobes.

    Awoism, beyond service and search for an egalitarian society, is true federalism, regional autonomy, fairness and distributive justice, virtues without which any nation can progress,

    And lastly, Yoruba leadership often comes from behind and seldom from the aristocratic class. Awo the sage himself never had money to attend primary or secondary school at a time his age mates were securing six A1s from Government College, Ibadan Kings College Lagos and proceeding to London to study law. Tinubu is haunted by his poor background and derided by those who could not find his name in Government College Ibadan.

  • The reunion

    The reunion

    Atiku Abubakar calls it a courtesy call. The history between him and his host, the Owu chief, his former boss and former President Olusegun Obasanjo, has had everything but courtesy. They smile at each other but wiles contour their faces. They gladhand because they are not glad. They hug but might wish to choke each other. As a former soldier, OBJ may wish that the most, but Atiku is taller and heftier. Obj may prefer to reach for his legs and plot a pinfall. But his octogenarian energies may end the encounter in a dark, hospital comedy. So, the wiles and smiles should do.

    This invokes the phrase from Senegalese writer Ousmane Sembene in his short story, Her three days, about the malignant affability of wives in a polygamous home. They cloak an undertow of a warrior ethos with effusive joy. Sembene describes such affections as “the perfidy of words and the hypocrisy of rivals.”

    So it might have been at Ota when Atiku returned, his second coming.  Recall he did the same in October, 2018, ahead of the 2019 polls. He did not wish Buhari well. He gave him a witch eye. He who had called the Katsina titan the father of the nation after he became the president, typically played judas and abandoned the party. He had lost in the primary. He saw no way forward and went to his vomit. Vomit is a delicacy for the Adamawa chieftain. It is a familiar palate. So, he wanted to lock horns in 2019.

    He was in Ota, with Obasanjo. There was an episcopal touch to that visit, as he had pulpit men, two bishops from different divides of Christendom. Oyedepo and Kukah wanted Buhari out. We know how that turned out. This time, Atiku did not want any holy of holies this time. No amens or hallelujahs. He poohpoohed the pulpit. He came with men of his own class and cassock. Tambuwal, Imoke, Ningi.

     Maybe he thought Kukah and Oyedepo sullied his journey with the holy spirit. Or maybe he felt the holy spirit was angry with the men of God for accompanying the wrong candidate for an amen.

    So, this time he wants no holy distractions. However, both men were haunted by their sins in the same week they were hugging and backslapping. The news came from 2005 from the work of Atiku when he was vice president, and stripped government agencies. One of them was Aladja Steel. The present director general of the Bureau of Public Enterprises, Ayo Gbeleyi, announced that the Aladja Steel worth $700 million at that time was sold off for a mere $30 million.  Has any reporter investigated who bought it? What an advertisement for their time as stewards of our resources.

    We also know that actions like that led OBJ to plot the prosecution of Atiku as vice president. He planned to rip him of his immunity, so he could give him the pinfall over corruption charges. The pinfall he cannot give today, he wanted to give in 2007 but failed. If they can fight with muscles today, they can look for another kind of collaboration: the muscle of elections.

    Was that not why, as this essayist narrated last week, OBJ set up a panel with his favorite sons and daughter then to ban him for six years? Were the favorites not Bayo Ojo, Nasir El-Rufai and our own Oby Ezekwesili, two of whom are noisy today about the rule of law and decency? Did the media not call the panel a kangaroo? Did then Governor Tinubu not save Atiku with the legal fireworks of Wole Olanipekun (SAN)? How did Atiku show gratitude? With turncoat. Even today, the ICPC is asking OBJ’s favorite son, as he then was, to account for N1.3 billion allocated and disbursed for Kaduna Light rail, but no rail is whirring on the streets and arteries of the city.

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    Was this not the background to their public spat then when OBJ uttered a comedic jest, “I dey laugh o”. In his lack of vituperative imagination, did Atiku not reply with “I dey laugh too o?”

    So, you can understand why their laughter cannot be a laughter but a mockery of it, or what playwright Samuel Beckett designated as Risus Purus, a laugh laughing at itself. A mirthless, soulless laughter.

    Even while they were meeting, two party men of the PDP had just gone to blows at Asaba. Maybe Obj wished one of those blows landed on Atiku’s jaws. Or maybe Atiku wished the same of his host. But they are elders, although some may call them oldies instead.

    Obj is not an official member of PDP, but he is still with them in spirit. He is not like Atiku who jumps from ship to ship. OBJ is more ethereal. He jumps in spirit. Thou canst see me jump and live. Atiku is better in this regard. He would not be a hypocrite. OBJ loves the pharisees in the Bible, except that the pharisees never jumped to the side of the Lord. So Obj is PDP in spirit. Things boomerang for the Ota titan. Remember detention centre called Inter Centre? OBJ set it up for his enemies when he was head of state. Abacha, no humorist, sent him there as victim. In his engrossing new book, The Adventures of a Guerrilla Journalist, Femi Ojudu – sees it as a comeuppance. Ojudu was also Abacha’s guest there before he was moved to notorious Awolowo Road, Ikoyi.

    Obj endorsed Obi and not Atiku. You could not accuse  him of treachery. He did not bear the party card. We also saw him make a public theatre by tearing up the party card, the card he brandished when he was president, the card as emblem of party supremacy. The party he wrecked, the party that gave him the air of a democrat.

    So, why did Atiku visit Obj when he knew what came out of it was to back his enemy?  He probably thinks ObJ would not back Obi this time, even though the thin-voiced maestro is still crooning alone and has foresworn any alliance. His Obidients would skewer him.

    But then, we know the same party is in crisis today. The loss of the 2023 polls is a tragedy in the PDP house, and they are like a family trying to come to terms with a death in the family. People grieve differently, so do families and so do political parties. In the novel, The Discomfort of Evening, Marieke Lucas Rijneveld shows how a Dutch family contends with the drowning of their loss that even involves constipation, incest, madcow disease and fantasies about a Nazi concentration camp in a basement. Grieving is like madness.

    Today, they don’t have an idea in PDP who is the chairman or secretary, and how and when to hold a convention or speaks for the party, or how to approach a court verdict. They know one thing, though: how to visit a dinosaur general who also does not understand why no one has invited him to dinner at the Aso Rock in a generation.

  • The parting of Adebanjo

    The parting of Adebanjo

    When a public figure breathes his last, we forbid ourselves to speak ill of the dead. It may console the friends and family but may not be fair to history or society. It defrocks the society of its integrity. Ayo Adebanjo’s passing has enacted worshipful praise across all platforms. This was the man only recently who was in the political doghouse of his opponents.

    Newspapers should not fall for this entrapment. We can call him an early Awoist. He also went to jail over treasonable felony. He deserves his plaudits for his personal sacrifices. But it was also true as Richard Sklar wrote in his Nigerian Political parties, on the formation of the Action Group that the AG was an amorphous amalgam of the faithful, loyalists and strangers, ideological turncoats, warts and all. We must applaud Adebanjo as a chieftain of NADECO. All fought for the enthronement of democracy and the rule of law, and no one can take that from him, no matter how little. But like many humans, some people go past their prime, and veer off course.

    What shall we say about his role during the military when Bola Ige was detained and he went to Ikenne, and he saw Baba Adebanjo on a table with him. Ige, ever boisterous, declined Awo’s offer to sit at table with him. He said it was Adebanjo and his friend Olaniwun Ajayi who gave him away to the soldiers. This is in the autobiography of Bisi Akande, My Participations, who was Ige’s deputy as governor of Oyo State. The story was confirmed by Dr. Yemi Ogunbiyi, in his autobiography, The Road Never Forgets. Here is how Ogunbiyi renders it without naming him, but did not deny when I interviewed him for TVC. “Uncle Bola looked across the table, and as he sighted some of the seated guests… he stiffened himself up in anger and refused the offer of a seat from Chief Awolowo…he bellowed and screamed relentlessly! “My Leader, I would not sit down with you for dinner with these (pointing across the table) traitors! No. I would not do that. These are traitors, My Leader. They should not be here with you.” Ogunbiyi and his wife, Sade, were at the table, too.

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    Adebanjo never ran for an office, and Akande and others have said it was because he lacked grassroots credibility. Akande described him as “organizing secretary”, a term for political hustlers during the Action Group and UPN days. He became a bitter man, and it was not for love for Peter Obi that he endorsed him. He did it out of spite. He became a fringe heckler of his own ethnic body, Afenifere, and a sullen, distracting agitator unbecoming of a nonagenarian.

    But people are free to eulogise him. After all, Shakespeare says, in a moment of rare mushiness, that “he who dies pays all debts.” Maybe hence the poet, Heinrich Heine wrote that “death does not separate us. Death unites us.” But let not the sentiment separate us from the facts of a life lived. Socrates knows about debts of the dying. “I owe a cock to Asclepius,” pleaded the philosopher. “Do not forget to pay it.”