The Nation Newspaper

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  • Can FERMA redeem FESTAC roads?

    Can FERMA redeem FESTAC roads?

    The residence for the participants at the 2nd World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture, 1977, turned into a major residential hub otherwise known as FESTAC Town, Lagos, after the music, songs and drama had died down. That cultural fiesta, at the National Theatre, Lagos, now known as Wole Soyinka Centre for Culture and Creative Arts, showcased Nigeria’s pre-eminence as a wealthy black nation. It brought unprecedented pomp and pageantry to lovers of art in Nigeria, Africa, the Caribbean and Americas, as black nations showcased a potpourri of its diverse and rich culture to the world. 

    Nigeria which was swimming in the ocean of unprecedented oil wealth, the black gold, built that beautiful city, arguably reputed to be the finest city in Africa then to house the participants at the cultural event. The purpose built self-sufficient town, with an estimated 5,000 housing units, had underground drainage, electricity, plumbing, telecommunication and waste disposal system, making that one of its major attraction. Its well-designed paved streets named as roads and closes, which was systematically numbered, added to its uniqueness.

    In its early years, the town could be compared to any city in the world. The electricity supply was complemented by automatic giant silent power generators at designated places, which ensured uninterrupted power supply. Telecommunications, inherited from the cultural fiesta was top notch, as with a few coins, one can reach any part of the world. The underground concreate flash water and waste disposal system was a marvel for any first time visitor. Few minutes after any heavy rain fall, the dry roads will crystalize in its scenic beauties.          

    Then, it was unthinkable for anyone to develop any unauthorized building, or shops in the many open spaces, which was a delight for children and young adults. Those open spaces allowed one to walk from one end of the city to the other, in between the houses. Across the first, second, third, fourth and fifth avenues, there were pre-planned open play-fields, shopping malls, with different cadres of buildings, ordered in a such a manner that the flats, the houses, the semi-detached houses, and the duplexes were chorographically intertwined.

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    The houses were designated as T1, T2, T3, T4, T5, T6, T7, T8, T9 and T10, referring to one-room flat, two-room flat, two-room house, three-room flats, three-room semi-detached, and two models of four-room fully detached.  All the houses were put up for lottery, for Nigerian civil servants, to ballot, after the music and drama had died down. While the top civil servants won and lived in the bigger houses, the junior ones had opportunities to win and live in the smaller ones. The combination and nearness of the different categories provided an undulating beauty of human, mortar and bricks.

    The town had a buffer zone, between the Badagry expressway and the nearest road, the 2nd avenue, which served as water collection buffer, as well as security for the residence. Then, it was unthinkable for anyone to aspire to buy and build on that buffer. Indeed, the residents who were mainly civil servants had a very strong residents’ association which could take on any administrator, who tried to play game with the orderliness and scenic beauty of the iconic town.

    The first manager of the town, Fortune Ebie, had a no-nonsense reputation, which was as tall as the Izaga. The genial fellow would not countenance any action that could debilitate the beautiful baby entrusted to his care. The public transport system and other infrastructure inherited from the festival of arts and culture, was up and running for many years, and living in FESTAC was beautiful. Those who had houses of their own could not wish for a better town to own a house and live in.

    But not anymore. The glory of FESTAC had since departed. Indeed, many who could afford it have sold their residences and moved to other parts of Lagos to buy new residential accommodation. The level of deterioration is so much that it is now a heavy burden to live in the town. None of the infrastructure has been spared in the devastation that has become the lot of the town. Take the underground water drainage, most of it had collapsed, and now when the rain falls, most of the closes and roads are flooded.

    Sadly, some greedy officials of the Federal Housing Authority which manages the town, sold off the buffer zone and open spaces housing the chambers to access the underground drainage, and those acts have helped the underground drainages to collapse. For lack of maintenance, the underground electricity wiring systems have mostly collapsed. With the electricity company offering variety of bands, overhead wires are now running riot as residents try to outdo each other seeking direct supply lines.

    But the greatest challenge facing the town is the state of the roads, especially in the last few years. Many of the roads have craters and it was a major campaign issue during the last local government election in July. The roads have since given birth to many conspiracy theories. One of such claim was that the roads were abandoned by the local government, because the residents did not vote for the ruling party in the previous local, state and federal government elections.

    But during the campaigns for the last local government election, Prince Lanre Sanusi, explained the limitations of the local council to muster the huge resources needed to rebuild the major roads in the town. He promised that if elected, he will use his goodwill with the state and federal officials of his party, the All Progressive Congress (APC), to attract the relevant federal authorities to repair and rebuild the major roads. Many had dismissed the promise with a wave of hand.

    But last week, this writer was excited to see the rehabilitation of some failed portions of the 4th avenue road. To ensure that there is no doubt about which institution had brought such succour to the long suffering people of FESTAC, the roads had inscription of FERMA project boldly written on them. This writer hopes that FERMA would do more of such rehabilitations to save the residents the misery that bad roads have turned their lives into within the town.

    The gratitude of the residents of FESTAC town would be immeasurable, if FERMA should repair the dilapidated portions of the 1st and 2nd avenues, which are in intolerable states. There have also been promises by the Federal Housing Authority to repair the 2nd avenue road, linking the interchange to the Badagry expressway. That promise should be kept, without any further delay, especially with the unprecedented huge increases in the rates and charges by the Federal Housing Authority.

    With the APC in power at the local council, the state and federal level, there is no better way to promote the party, as caring and responsive, than by taking steps to substantially restore the lost glory of the world famous, FESTAC town.

  • Travails of Stella Oduah

    Travails of Stella Oduah

    Greed is thy other name PDP. The arraignment of former Minister of Aviation, Senator Stella Oduah by the federal government over an alleged  N5bn fraud committed in 2014 is a sad reminder of PDP years of the locust when vicious  battle over ‘sharing’ of our resources often subtly termed  ‘family quarrel’ threatened the very survival of the nation. 

    Of course, greed over control of resources of a nation is not limited to the ruling class in Nigeria. It is the reason for climate change denial by owners of society in the US despite overwhelming scientific evidence just as it is the source of social dislocations and chaos in Europe.

    Indeed, greed is what sets aside the less than 4% that control the resources of the world from the 96% of humanity who, because of their daily struggle for survival, have questioned claim of some social crusaders who insist ‘we are not the savage, irredeemably greedy, violent and rapacious species we can be led into thinking ourselves to be”. (Stephen Fry on Rutger Bregman’s Humankind: A Hopeful History.

    For many troubled by prospect of our country’s possible  descent into a one party  state because of the current mass movement to the ruling All Progressive Party (APC), the question is what such return portends for the country without expression of remorse even as their renewed greed-driven battle took them straight from their Ibadan controversial convention centre to their Abuja Wadata headquarters, where the two factions and their thugs had to be driven out by police with Kabiru Taimu Turaki-led faction emerging from Obasanjo’s library  rendezvous in Abeokuta last  Saturday.

    But before PDP’s unpredictable fathers and troubled children often described as ‘new-breed politicians’ that breed nothing but corruption, let us first examine the travails of Princess Stella Oduah and the alleged N5b fraud, which will be not a fraction of what she must have spent on her well-advertised philanthropic activities.

    Oduah was before her ministerial appointment, we were told, was a pacesetter who had spent about 25 years in the oil and gas industry, before  resigning in1992 from the services of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to found her ‘Sea Petroleum and Gas Company’ she had nurtured to a multi-billion naira company.

    She was a multi-award winner, starting with the Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON), from President Obasanjo, Distinguished Catholic Professional, Dame International among others. She was an avowed philanthropist who through her JOE life Foundation “launched the Farmers Loan Scheme for peasant and subsistent farmers in Ogbaru LGA of Anambra,  constructed a 19-bed medical centre in Orhionwon LGA in Edo State, weekly feeding of the poor, potable water project at Ogbaru Local Government Area, annual scholarship scheme for 36 indigenes of Ogbaru from primary to university level;  annual award for the Best Female Petroleum Engineering graduating student and  building of an ultra-modern secondary school at Akili, Ogbaru local Govt. Area, Anambra State.

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      Oduah believes that “wealth acquisition is a God-given grace and not necessarily an act of human ingenuity, and that wealth acquisition makes sense only if it is spread to affect the lives of the less privileged around you”.

    When you imagine the princess did all the above before joining Abuja seat of power where politicians struggle  for their constituents’ share of the national cake is to understand why her people immediately rewarded her with a senatorial ticket the moment the scandal first broke out  during Jonathan presidency.

    Now let us examine the baleful legacies of PDP and its pathfinders:

    First, PDP was never a political party, John Campbell, a former US envoy to Nigeria had during a proceeding at the hearing on the topic: Nigeria in Turmoil in the British House of Commons in March 2010 defined PDP as “an elite cartel at the centre of power in Nigeria …essentially a club of elite for sharing of oil rents and political spoils”.

    It’s prevailing ideology was therefore “sharing”, which Doyin Okupe, Obasanjo’s spokesman,  while speaking on the marginalization of Yoruba under the Jonathan administration,  explained as “If things that are not enough, when people sit down to share and take decision, if there is no one to speak for you, there is a problem”.

    In this regard, Ahmadu Ali as chairman of PDP and Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), was responsible for increasing fuel importers from about four to over 140 independent petroleum marketers some of who were later tried and indicted for the theft of about N2trillion. And distancing himself from the mess, the late Audu Ogbeh, a former chairman of PDP, had said ‘when I was chairman of PDP, my son never got involved in oil but two PDP national chairmen after me, their sons pocketed over N400billion without supplying a tea cup, of oil”.

    As for President Obasanjo who once publicly tore his PDP card claiming he was no more playing partisan politics, it is on record he set up ADC as a vehicle for any disgruntled group with the party already taken over by a faction of PDP, the second faction going to his house to seek last Saturday while a third faction headed by Nyesom Wike was counting on the court to end the shenanigans of those who put their faith in the hands of those without electoral value.

     Everyone in PDP is tarred with the same brush. As for Obasanjo, PDP leading members swore he spent close to N10b on his failed third term bid, a charge he denied. What he could not deny however was that he corralled serving governors and government contractors to donate about N7.5billion towards his presidential library while the national library he stated has been abandoned for close to 18 years.

    Senator Bukola Saraki, the whistle-blower in the fuel subsidy scam for fuel neither imported nor delivered to Nigeria, was accused by PDP of indirectly benefitting from the scam. Farouk Lawal, whose committee uncovered the scam, was jailed for extorting bribe from Femi Otedola.

    When Bode George who was later pardoned on technical ground after serving a jail term for helping PDP party members as chairman of Nigerian Ports Authority was appointed PDP BOT chairman, Dino Melaye who had just fallen out of favour with PDP said Bode George’s choice was because “everybody in PDP was an ex-convict”.

    Unfortunately, when Oduah found herself among these hawks, she did not learn how to walk the tight rope before launching a crusade against foreign airlines including British Airways, Virgin Atlantic KLM and Lufthansa over excessive ticket charges on international routes. She was to discover later that it was a question of supply and demand as our elected and political appointees insisted on business and first class seats from the airlines.

    Of course with her N500b loan part of which she said would be used to buy new aircrafts for airlines, she was also stepping on the toes of some PDP stalwarts who also doubled as airline operators.  Many of them were only interested in interest- free bailout loans which were often diverted to run other businesses in other West African countries.

    The Economic and Financial Commission (EFCC) first indicted Stella Odua and the Nigerian subsidiary of Chinese construction giant, CCECC, of fraudulent cash transaction of N5billion in 2014. She was sacked by Jonathan on February 12, 2014 as a result of scandal that accompanied over N255m armoured cars which she authorized NCAA to procure for her use.

    On Dec 17, 2022 EFCC filed a total of 25 counts against Oduah and CCECC.

    Princess Oduah has since denied all allegations of corruption levelled against her claiming she had “made a mark in oil and gas and agricultural businesses before joining politics”.

    Not much has been heard about the case which started some 11 years ago.  Now that EFCC has brought the case up again, it must ensure it is brought to a closure if people are not to believe it is a case of witch-hunting against high-achieving professional and a pacesetter by politicians on whose toes she had stepped. Justice delayed as they say, is justice denied.

  • When U.S. fact-finding team visited

    When U.S. fact-finding team visited

    It would appear US president, Donald Trump’s threat of unilateral military action against Nigeria for alleged Christian persecution and genocide is gradually giving way to diplomatic engagement. That much could be discerned from meetings between officials of the Nigerian government and the US, hallmarked by last week’s visit of a fact-finding team to Nigeria.

    The evidence is also perceptible in statements emanating from both sides of the discussions. The National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu had taken to his X handle to announce that he hosted a delegation of US congressmen as part of ongoing consultations between both countries. The meeting, according to him, followed earlier talks in Washington DC.

    Ribadu disclosed that discussions centred around counter terrorism cooperation, regional stability and ways to “strengthen the strategic security partnership between Nigeria and the United States”. But the meeting with the Nigerian government team was not the end of the assignment of the US fact-finding team.

    Straight from Abuja, the delegation made for Benue State where discussions were held separately with the governor, Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia followed by another with religious and traditional leaders to get their own side of the story. It is not clear whether the visit was arranged by the Nigerian government. But it appears the US team had their itinerary even before they left their country.

     US Congressman, Riley Moore posted in his X handle after one of the meetings: “It was an honour and deeply moving to meet with His Excellency, Bishop Wilfred Anagbe, Bishop Isaac Dogu and His Royal Highness, James Ioruza, the traditional ruler of the Tiv people to discuss the ongoing genocidal campaign by the Fulani in Benue State”.

    Moore said the US will not ignore the suffering reported by local leaders. “The US has heard your cries and we are working diligently towards solution”, he said. The delegation also visited the camps of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) where they heard first-hand, gory details of the killings from victims. Moore shared some of these chilling and heart-rending killing details which he said, will remain with him all his life.

    But he admitted that US concerns were positively received even as he hinted on the establishment of a joint task force between Nigeria and the US to “tackle these critical issues”.

    So, guns-a-blazing may no longer happen in the form threatened. If it will come, that will be through mutual understanding and agreement. That appears the reading from statements by the US delegation and their Nigerian counterparts. But all will depend on how Trump receives the report of the delegation. Going by Moore’s statements during and after the visit, the report is not going to favour Nigeria.

    Beyond this, there are, arising from the visit, issues that should not be allowed to peter out. And they relate to claims and statements that suffused the social space in reaction to Trump’s threat. Of particular concern was the insinuation that self-determination campaigns by the IPOB were responsible for Trump’s action. Those who canvassed this odious view, feign ignorance of the obvious infractions that influenced US action. It served their narrow interests to shift the blame to IPOB knowing the mortal harm it will inflict on the region where their activities are most felt.

    But when the US delegation came, they neither visited the southeast nor IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu. They did not visit Governor Charles Soludo of Anambra State to show evidence of Christians killing Christians which many writers have been referencing upon. He could not have shown them the Christians that populate the Ebubeagu security outfit or its variant called Agunaechemba that has been fingered in alleged extrajudicial killings.

    In one of those incidents, construction workers including a man from Isuofia, Soludo’s community were murdered on allegations of being IPOB hitmen. Neither could he have shown the US team evidence of the sins of his kinsmen severally killed in the north during religion-induced riots.

    Yet, he found comfort to say that Christians are killing Christians in the southeast in the circumstance he did. What could be the motive other than rope in the Igbo, majority of whom he admitted are Christians, in the US allegations of Christian persecution and genocide in Nigeria. But who said Christians or adherent of other religions do not commit crimes for it to be an issue?

    The US authorities had their lead and knew precisely where to get instant corroborative evidence-the Middle Belt. So, they wasted no time to arrive Benue State where they conferred with Bishops Anagbe and Dogu among other Christian leaders. They met with the Tor Tiv, Professor James Ayatse.

    Anagbe had twice prior to the US visit, made presentations to the US Congress on the killings in Benue. So, there was no limit to the weight of evidence the delegation could garner from Benue State. That fact is evident from Moore’s posts detailing chilling accounts of the killings through his interaction with victims in the IDP camps.

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    The views of Tor Tiv are also not hidden. He had openly told President Tinubu at a stakeholders’ meeting last June that the killings and displacements in Benue State were a” calculated, well planned, full-scale genocidal invasion and land grabbing campaign” by herder terrorists and bandits and not mere herder-farmer clashes or communal disputes.

    He had then also insisted the violence is a war and a systematic effort at ethnic cleansing while its characterisation as herder-farmer conflict obfuscates its true nature and deeply offends the victims’ realities. He is likely to show evidence of this claim to the US fact-finding team.

    The findings of the US team are likely to puncture claims by Governor Alia in the wake of the controversy that: “in my state Benue, we don’t have any religious, any ethnic, any racial, any national or state genocide”. He had also claimed there is no jihad going on in any part of the country.

    Alia must have been cornered by the dialectics of St. Aquinas’ allegory of two cities – the City of God and the City of Man when he said, “I’m speaking to you as a reverend father in the church. I’m speaking to you as a governor of a state”.

    It is difficult to operate from the two contrasting realms without running into serious contradictions. Ironically, his claims mock the distinction by medieval philosophers between the ecclesiastical and corporeal realms; between the purview of state and religion. It was not for nothing that his Bishops opted to meet separately with the US delegation.

    It is not clear why the US team did not visit Plateau State, another key Middle Belt state faced with the same pattern of killings as Benue. Jonathan Ishaku, a top journalist and author from Plateau State shared frustrations in his Facebook for inability to hand over three of his books to Moore.

     He named them as: The Road to Mogadishu, Janjaweed in the Middle Belt, The Butcher of Kaduna and the Rise of state-backed violence. Their titles speak for the contents and add to extant evidence available to the fact-finding team. Do we still have to worry about how Trump reached his conclusions?

  • The odd couple

    The odd couple

    Never in Nigeria’s political history have we witnessed a father-son duo like Olusegun Obasanjo and Ayo Fayose. It makes a fun tale for a festive season, except that this is not, at bottom, a funny story.

    If we needed a father-son story for the ages, politics and the southwest could never have chosen a better cast. You can call them a dysfunctional family. You can call them the odd couple. But they belong to each other as against each other.

    A quarrel – and a good one – is an important grist for the gist. And if Obasanjo were to pick a son, history gave him a better one than his bloodline could.  In this relationship, there is mutual respect because there is mutual contempt. One sentiment cannot divorce the other. Love and scorn never inhabited a better embrace.

    This is because they have similar traits. They both crave public theatre. Both covet the subversive streak. They disdain decorum or restraint. Both crack the public rib. Both display an earthy temperament, or what some can call bush men. Remember Fayose’s fake neck-brace and Obj’s tearing of party card?

    The one does not respect age, the other does not act his age. Some calls both elders, one being 65 and other allegedly 89. It is mutual fascination. The one could stop by the road side for a bite of roasted corn or plantain. The father could crash a ‘mama put’ for lumps of iyan and swigs of oguro.

    The story is told of how Obj, in the heat of the June 12 debacle, was hosting a meeting at his Ota farm. He wanted to down some pounded yam and egusi, and he wanted to eat it the best way to enjoy it: on the ground. No finesse of dining table, tray, chair, table cloth et al. Some arrivals concerned him and he wanted to be sure there was not yet in his compound any person of the Yoruba aristocracy. Once that was clear, his buttocks hit the ground and he dug in, as his wife would describe him, as a bush man.

    If Fayose was not tempting the bear, why did he want Obj in his birthday lair? It was not as if they had been chummy. At best, they were both affably distant. Public courtesies are no friendship. In fact, they reinforce animosity.

    Did he not get the hint when the man said he would not come free, and why did he send him dollars? Was it to broadcast to the world that he bought Obj’s presence? Maybe that was how Obj saw it, and he exacted a revenge or preempted Fayose’s public swipe at him for accepting his money.

    Was it a bribe? Maybe, but not in the legal sense. It is money of deference. But Obj does not see deference. He sees rebellion. As a soldier, he understands what it means to mutiny. He knows plotlines. Was it not the same Obj who summoned Kabiyesis to their feet?

    Obj also loves ambush. Fayose did not see that coming. So, when the man mounted the stage, it was as if there was a director behind the scene. Husband and wife stood, dressed in entwined glamour to mark the grandeur of a 65th birthday. Was it the day father and son would hug, and the bitterness of the decade would fade away? The father would serenade son, and they both would laugh away the tempest of the past. After that, a languor of reconciliation. Boring. No one lives boring stories.

    Not so fast. Poet Lord Byron wrote, “revenge is sweet, especially to women.” Byron might have known that some men do revenge for career, like Obj. There was a quality of respect for Obj that day from the visage of Fayose and his wife as the elder spewed out profanities on a man’s special day. Omoluabi is the core of being Yoruba. If you don’t have it, your kinship is delegitimised. Obj said he didn’t have it.

    Husband and wife, according to Obj, had taken a rebuke in a private phone call. They therefore did not expect a public show. They underestimated the old fox. The man can do anything anytime, and that is why he is obj. if the drama took place in secret and remained there, it meant he was not the Ota man.

    Stanley Macebuh, in an interview for the Guardian Newspaper, with Onukaba Adinoyi-Ojo, had described Obj as “crafty, very crafty.” Fayose knew that enough of a man who called himself father and threw him out of government house.

    Was it not the same Obj, who showed up General Olutoye? Was it not the same man who did little to win the civil war but took credit for everything, made himself Nigeria’s indispensable warrior, and made sure every other person was a poor soldier. He alone was the good soldier. Was he not the one who would not give Gen. Alani Akinrinade his plaudits, although he was the same fellow who helped negotiate and concluded the war? The same Akinrinade circled the home of S.B Bakare where Obj hid in the firestorm of the Dimka coup. When he became head of state he would not say thank you. He is guilty of what psychologists call the fear of gratitude.

    So, it seems Fayose wanted drama on his birthday, and no one could provide a better thespian script than the Ota man, an archenemy as elder, a boor and a bully. Maybe it was what he bargained for and maybe the former Ekiti governor relished a new fight.

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    After all, he lashed back in a letter to Obj, thanking him for showing that he belonged to a zoo. The other person who used such foul language in public is Nnamdi Kanu. It must have hurt, and so Obj outsped him in making the letter public.

    We had a father and son sort of feud before and this was in the east between the great Zik and Chuba Okadigbo.That was a serious one. There was no humour in that encounter. The young Chuba described Zik’s words as “the ranting of an ant.” Zik never forgave him. Rather he poured out a curse. For those who believe, Zik’s curse was effectual on Okadigbo, who rose later to the eminence of a Senate president before he was orchestrated out of office. By who? Obj. The Ota man is the tortoise in every Nigerian tale.

    But Obj has not uttered a curse. Many may not take him seriously because they believe he is too much of an old rascal for the gods to hear him.

    In his play Tempest, Shakespeare said: “good wombs have born bad sons.” Many fathers have fallen short of their sons. Okadigbo might have thought so of Zik, although there was no intimation of prior father-son tie in them. This essayist confronted Okadigbo a few years after Zik’s curse on him and wondered if it was true he was going to make peace to avert the curse. True to the former senate president, he turned irate and he might have resorted to something fistic if not for the posh milieu of the restaurant in Victoria Island.

    The tragic thing about their feud is that neither Fayose nor Obj fought because of some high principle or ideology. It was just street brawl. I might have recommended a great classic, Fathers and Sons, by Russian writer Ivan Turgenev who engaged fathers and sons across generations who were at odds over whether Russia should be liberal or nihilist. That is why the Obj-Fayose duel is not just about an odd couple, it is an odd story.

  • Lest we forget

    Lest we forget

    In the light of debates over the quelling of the Benin Republic coup attempt, it occurred to me that Nigerians who are 40 years and below did not really experience military rule.

    So, while we can accuse those in the 50’s and above of denial or mischief, it is clear that a majority of Nigerians do not know what it meant to be under the jackboot men.

    Military rule ended in 1999, which means those who were born 26 years ago and now in their late 20’s were babies when the soldiers bullied us. If we add 14 years, it means those who were in their early teens then saw it. At that age, they looked but did not see.

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    Unless you were 18, when General Abdulsalami handed over power, you did not realise what country was crawling under the soldiers, IBB and Abacha. If you are 40 or in your early 40’s, you did not see the banning of newspapers, you did not see jailing of dissenters, the slaughter of innocents.  You did not see the annulment of June 12 and how we fell into disarray, soldiers making laws and becoming laws themselves.

    You did not witness Abacha’s “ five fingers of a leprous hand” as Bola Ige described the five political parties who fell head over heels to make Abacha their presidential candidate. He crafted a mock republic of sycophants and lickspittles dedicated to the cult of one man. Good people were in hiding or on the run and bad one were peacocks on the streets.

    If he did not die, we might have had a life president.

    Men like Soyinka, General Akinrinade, Enahoro and now President Tinubu were wanted men by the junta around the world. Men like Adedibu, Wada Nas and Ebenezer Babatope, who was Awo’s super ally, became footloose sycophants of power. Fear and trembling took over the hearts of usually brave men.

     In fact, as Segun Adeniyi relates in his book, the last 100 Days of Abacha, on the very day Abacha died, Babatope was to be the lead speaker in a seminar on whether Abacha should succeed himself. Guess another man on the panel. Bashir Dalhatu, the chairman of Arewa  Consultative Forum (ACF). Retired army chief Buratai was one of Abacha’s honchos.

    Go figure. As they say in Warri, who no go, no know.

  • TY Danjuma at 88: Legacy of service and unanswered questions

    TY Danjuma at 88: Legacy of service and unanswered questions

    As General Theophilus Yakubu Danjuma marks his 88th birthday, Nigeria pauses to acknowledge a figure whose life has been inextricably woven into the fabric of the nation’s military and political history. He is, by any measure, a tested soldier and statesman in every right, having served this country on the battlefield, as Chief of Army Staff and later as Minister of Defence under the Obasanjo administration. His trajectory from the barracks to the corridors of power represents a significant chapter in Nigeria’s post-independence story.

    Danjuma’s military career was distinguished by his rise through the ranks during some of Nigeria’s most turbulent periods. As Chief of Army Staff, he commanded respect and wielded considerable influence over the nation’s security architecture. His later appointment as Minister of Defence under President Olusegun Obasanjo’s civilian administration demonstrated a continuity of confidence in his strategic acumen and leadership capabilities. These positions placed him at the epicenter of a number of critical decisions that have helped shape Nigeria’s military doctrine and defense policy.

    It must be acknowledged that General Danjuma has not done badly as a civilian either. He belongs to that class of military officers who benefited immensely from the benevolence the Nigerian nation availed them—opportunities in business, oil blocks, and unhindered  access to the commanding heights of the economy. His post-military success in the private sector, particularly in the oil and gas industry, has made him one of Nigeria’s wealthiest citizens. The transition from military general to business mogul is a path well-trodden by his generation of officers, and Danjuma navigated it with remarkable success.

    Yet, as we celebrate longevity and acknowledge service, posterity will always ask questions. History as a master of the times demands accountability, and time’s passage does not erase the weight of certain events that continue to cast long shadows over personalities and their distinguished careers.

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    One cannot discuss General Danjuma’s military career without confronting his roles in a number of events beginning from the tragic happenings of July 1966. As a young officer and coup plotter, he was deeply involved in the counter-coup that led to the deaths of his Supreme Commander, General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi, and the Western Region’s Military Governor, Colonel Adekunle Fajuyi as well as brother officers and civilians who were slaughtered for the January 15th coup. The circumstances of their deaths in Ibadan remain one of the darkest moments in Nigerian military history despite Danjuma ‘s “akuko na egwu” story of losing control over the troops he commanded.

     While the complexities of that period—ethnic tensions, political instability, and institutional fragmentation—provide context, they do not erase the fundamental questions about loyalty, command structure, and the sanctity of military hierarchy. What conversations can occur in the quiet moments when one reflects on the death of a commander under one’s watch? The coup (July,1966) may have been justified, Ironsi’s delay in punishing the January boys as well as his push towards a unitary system of government did raise fears, but the senseless killings pushed the country into a series of pogroms and a civil war which still stokes tensions even to this very day. What is more alarming is that the government which Danjuma did help entrench became more unitary than Ironsi would ever imagine, conferring an unfair advantage on a section of the country over others.

    The allegations surrounding the February 1977 invasion of Fela Anikulapo-Kuti’s Kalakuta Republic also demand examination. The brutal assault on the commune, which resulted in the burning of the property and the fatal injuries that led to the death of Fela’s mother, Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, represented state violence against a citizen whose primary offense was speaking truth to power through music. While various military figures have been implicated in this atrocity, Danjuma’s position in the military hierarchy at the time has led to persistent questions about his knowledge of or involvement in the operation.  The Nigerian state’s failure to properly investigate and prosecute those responsible remains a stain on our collective conscience.

    More recently, during his tenure as Minister of Defence, the military operations in Odi, Bayelsa State, in 1999, and Zaki Biam, Benue State, in 2001, raised profound questions about proportionality and the rules of engagement. The Odi operation, in particular, resulted in widespread destruction and civilian casualties that human rights organizations documented extensively. The Zaki Biam invasion similarly left communities devastated. While both operations were officially responses to security challenges—the killing of security personnel—the scale of the military response and the civilian toll have been subjects of intense criticism. As the Minister overseeing these operations, General Danjuma bears a measure of responsibility for the decisions made and their devastating consequences.

    These are not mere historical footnotes. They represent moments when the instruments of state power were deployed in ways that many Nigerians believe crossed the line from necessary force to excessive violence, from maintaining order to inflicting collective punishment.

    As General Danjuma enters his 88th year, one must wonder: Is he happy with the state of Nigeria today? Does he look at the country—with its persistent insecurity, its fractured unity, its struggling institutions—and feel satisfaction with the foundations he helped entrench? The Nigeria of today bears the imprint of decisions made by his generation of military and political leaders. The normalization of military intervention in politics, the weakening of democratic institutions, the entrenchment of corruption, the erosion of meritocracy—these are legacies that those who wielded power must reckon with.

    In his later years, General Danjuma has at times spoken candidly about Nigeria’s challenges, even controversially urging Nigerians to defend themselves against security threats. These interventions suggest a man perhaps grappling with the distance between the Nigeria that might have been and the Nigeria that is and his roles in helping create such. Yet, candor in twilight does not erase responsibility for decisions made at noon.

    As we mark this milestone birthday, we honor General Danjuma’s service to the nation while acknowledging that true statesmanship requires accounting. The questions posed by history are not indictments alone but invitations to reflection, to truth-telling, and perhaps to reconciliation. For a man who has lived through so much of Nigeria’s story, who has shaped it in profound ways, the ultimate measure of his legacy will be determined not by the positions he held or the wealth he accumulated, but by how honestly he engages with the full weight of his actions and their consequences for millions of Nigerians.

    Happy 88th birthday, General. May the years ahead bring wisdom, peace, and the courage to speak fully to history.

  • Revered (Sir) Remi Omotoso speaks on Ekiti Agro-Allied International Airport

    Revered (Sir) Remi Omotoso speaks on Ekiti Agro-Allied International Airport

    “To God be the glory, great things He hath done, so loved He the world that He gave us His Son, who yielded His life an atonement for sin, and opened the life-gate that all may go in” – Fanny Crosby(1875)

    It was a joyful moment for Ekitikete as the Ekiti Agro- Allied International Cargo Airport commenced commercial flights in grand style (ABUJA – ADO – EKITI) with all the four former governors of the State- Otunba Niyi Adebayo, Dr Ayodele Fayose, Engr Segun Oni and Dr Kayode Fayemi – on board. 

    It was indeed a moment of pride for all Ekiti sons and daughters as the United Nigeria Airline touched down at the airport and took off with passengers heading to another destination.  It was a beautiful experience,  historic and quite exciting . 

    With the airport in place Ekiti has taken a major leap in the quest for economic development.

    Thanks to God and  BAO’s transformative leadership” – a euphoric Funmi Bold on the Ekiti New Dawn WhatsApp platform.

    The Eagle has landed.

    And finally the much storied Ekiti Agro- Allied International Airport, Ado – Ekiti, received its maiden commercial flight to a euphoric welcome on Tuesday, 10 December, 2025.

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    Nobody can legitimately begrudge any Ekiti man or woman today if he/she heartily bursts into the above song of gratitude in appreciation to God or  if we Ekitis choose to sing the most sonorous  of our songs to the various leaders who made this a reality.

    This is a project that has many shades and colours, and passed through various stages of acrimony before finally birthing in ultimate glory. God be praised.

    Commenced during the administration of Governor Kayode Fayemi as a dual purpose infrastructure, it has a 3.2 km runway facility and obtained the NCAA approval in October, 2025.

    One of the many phases the project passed through, though behind the scenes, was the mostly combative, absolutely politically motivated discussions that predominated our Ekitipanupo@yahoogroups.com web portal, comprising over 2000 Ekitis home, and Diasporan. Our

    debates were so acrimonious they remind me, uncannily, of promotion exercises at the Pre – Clinical departments of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Ibadan in the 70’s, when two distinguished Nigerian professors of international repute – who will remain nameless here – headed the departments of Anatomy and Physiology, respectively, and

    no matter the brilliance of candidates from the other department you knew, apriori, what type of recommendation to expect from the opposing Head of Department.

    In our discussions, therefore,  your views merely reflected where you belonged in the state’s politics.

    However, one contributor differed, completely, from the ensemble as, even in all the ongoing cacophony, he took the professional path which is why his contributions are very vital, and relevant today, for both the Ekiti state government and, in particular, for those who will be responsible for the day to day management of the facility.

    That exactly is why Sir Remi Omotoso will be speaking to us today about the Airport. Yes speak, via his intervention to my article captioned: Still on The Ekiti Airport Project. His contribution was dated 7 November, 2019.

    Sir Remi Omotoso MFR, (1945 – 2020) was a true servant leader who poured out himself in service to God and humanity through institutions such as the Methodist Church of Nigeria, Unilever Plc, Odu’a Group of Companies, Standard Chartered Bank, Greenwich Trust Group, DN Meyer Plc, University of Ibadan, the Institute of Directors, Nigerian Institute of Marketing, Chartered Institute of Personnel Management, the Ekiti State  and his home community of Ayedun-Ekiti.

    He served without expecting anything in return, his  satisfaction coming from seeing people and processes improve, and knowing that the Almighty God would be glorified.

    He joined the Saints Triumphant on 5 June, 2020. Eternal rest grant him O Lord.

    Happy reading.

    My dear compatriots,

    In o kun o.

    I have followed with keen interest the various views expressed by many of our people. Some are for and some are against the establishment of an airport in Ekiti, everyone advancing reasons for position taken.

    In a democracy, this is what it should be: you talk and I talk and Democracy no go vex. However, a responsible Government under a worthy leader would take a decision on any matter, hopefully, in the best interest of the people.

    Let me state upfront that I was a member of the Committee set up by Dr Kayode Fayemi during his first coming to consider the pros and cons of having an airport in Ekiti. There was hardly any view expressed today that didn’t come up during our Committee meetings. Tope Porta’s views on this forum on the airport almost covered the views of those on the Committee who were opposed to the establishment of the airport. The views of Femi Orebe and Femi Ebenezer more than covered the views of the proponents of the establishment of the Airport. From outside of the Committee were also strong views. Late Prof. Mike Filani, a highly respected Transport Geographer didn’t  see the need for the Airport, at least for now. He didn’t see its viability from the passenger size and also didn’t seem to see the prospect of agribusiness so soon to keep the Airport alive and running. His views in my personal discussion with him was that the airport would only serve elitist interest and would be grossly underutilized. So, the Committee had a wide array of views to base its decision on.

    I must disabuse the minds of some of us who felt that Chief Afe Babalola who was Chairman of our Committee wanted the Airport ” tipa ti kuku”( by all means) for the relative comfort of the parents of the young students of the Afe Babalola University Ado-Ekiti ( ABUAD). Yes, this could be part of his interest in the airport but beyond that, Chief Afe Babalola has the largest private commercial agribusiness in the Southwest of Nigeria today. His mango farms which runs into hundreds of hectares will benefit from the Ado-Ekiti airport by way of export.

    As a member of the Committee,  I was the most vociferous canvasser for the airport to be established to be run largely as a specialised agric. produce cargo airport. I submitted that apart from Ekiti State, the west of Kogi, the south-east of Osun, and a good part of Akoko north-west will serve as good catchment areas for the airport, almost entirely for agro Cargo export.

    There has been the pessimistic question asked by those not in support of the airport: what and where are the cargoes? Here are the agro products:

          1)  YAMS.

    Today, Ghana is reported to be among the largest exporters of yams, largely  to the US. In 2016, Ghana exported $N27.5m and was reported to be the 6th largest exporter and holds 10..3% of world yam export. Ghana total annual production is put at about 6.6m/tonnes compared with Nigeria production of 32.3m/ tonnes but with no notice in the world market for export. 

    Yagbas in Kogi west and the Igbiras are great yam producers along with us in Ekiti North, Akoko Northwest and Northeast. A good proportion of  the 32.3m/tonnes must be between Benue and Ekiti and those locations mentioned in Kogi.

    Now, please, reacall that Gov. Sgun Oni established a Yam Conditioning Plant at  ILASA EKITI which was not completed  and commissioned before he left office. If the current Fayemi-led government gets this plant completed and put it to use through sale or lease to a private company, Ekiti would be ready to take over Ghana’s position in the world in the export of YAMS. The yams are airfreighted.

          2)FRESH PINEAPPLE FRUITS

    The market for fresh pineapple fruit export from West Africa is dominated by Ghana and Cote D’ivoire. I visited  Ghana some years back to find out more about the success of the country just to see how Ekiti can enter this lucrative business. All around Greater Accra, young families own, courtesy Govt empowerment program, each hundreds of hectares of pineapple farms cultivated under strict pytosanitary certification for specific offtakers. The offtakers also in collaboration with Govt ensure extension services are provided which assures consumers confidence in direct consumption without any further quality control. As at the time of my visit about 2011, at least a Boeing 737 cargo plane load of pineapple was exported daily from Kotoka airport.

    The demand for organic fruits is exploding in the  world and Ekiti stands to benefit from this development. Ekiti share same geographical and ecological conditions with the Pineapple producing region in Ghana. Add pineapple export to that of Yam and you will begin to see the viability of Ijan-Ado Ekiti Airport. There are more promising fruits from Ekiti  you can add to these because of their commercial potential.

           3) BANANA/PLANTAIN.

    The Ikere-Ilawe- Igbara Odo Axis has best clime and ecology for Banana and also plantain similar to what prevails in Ghana where export to Europe is thriving. If Govt helps to establish strains and off-taķers the business potential is huge. Obviously,  bananas are plantains are usually airfreighted.

         4) MANGOES and AVOCADOS.

    Oga Aare Afe Babalola has a large mango farm as part of ABUAD. I understand the mangoes ere of Israeli strain. When they are in full blossom, the Ijan-Ado road airport will be a huge advantage.

          5) CHILLI PEPPER.

    This is also in huge demand in the world market. This is a crop women deal in a lot. Some cooperative movement of a sort can engage in growing and processing for export.

    All these crops and more are more than enough to justify the establishment of a medium size cargo airport in Ado-Ekiti designed to be scalable with adequate cargo-handling systems and facilities.

    Ekiti is an agrarian, landlocked State. This should not disadvantage us if we embrace agribusiness seriously on an industrial scale. It should not be long before we start to add value.I saw an astonishingly beautiful factory in the outskirts of Accra where fruit COCKTAILS were being prepared and shipped out of Kotoka airport to various locations in Europe from where they are distributed to various food chains in those locations.

     Some have argued that AKURE AIRPORT can still serve the purpose of handling the business. I have my reservations on this. Akurr isn’t designed for Cargo handling.  Secondly, it has its drawback on cost of getting these products to Akure. In the cost configuration for them, freight is a key factor and can negatively affect competitiveness. The nearer point of production is to point of airfreight the better. It’s no brainer that yams will leave Ilasa Yam conditioning Plant and get delivered to Ado airport than to Akure airport located on Akure-Owo road. If I were involved in the business, I would prefer Ado. Apart from the cheaper transportation costs, Ado airport will  have holding facilities for my export haven been designed to handle agro cargoes.

    MY APPEAL TO EKITI  STATE GOVERNMENT.

    Please,  as the airport is being constructed, let adequate preparation be commenced to prepare the farmers that will produce the agro cargoes. The gestation periods of these crops must have worked into them land preparation, the selection and preparation of the farmers, their training and psychosocial conditioning. It should be possible for rhis new crop of farmers  to operate like any other businessmen and women without being isolated in farm settlements. Contiguous farms will promote experiential learning and information sharing among the farmers.  Selection of Extension Service providers should start at the right time, that is at.the time of seeking offtakers and strains of crops to focus on. Govenment should be responsible for procuring phyto sanitary certification from the offtakers.

    Let me dare to recommend that the selected farmers.should be exposed to practices in Ghana, Cote D’ivoire or Kenya and a few of them to the offtakers as well as the food chain stores and direct consumers. The success of Unilever in its various markets is the attention paid to training of the employees, knowledge of the market and consumer behavior and preferences. Nothing happens unless people make them happen.

    So, as work goes on in the construction of the Airport, work goes on regarding growing of the crops and their packaging. When the airport is ready, there should be cargo to push through it.

    I am passionate about the Ado-Ekiti Airport, just as I am of the emerging opportunities in the exponential growth in agribusiness in Ekiti. I look forward to the day I will shop for organic fruits and yams in Eirope and America and find the label;.PRODUCE OF EKITI, NIGERIA or PROUDLY EKITI NIGERIA. 

    Nothing would befit the memory of our late compatriot more than for  governor Oyebanji to carefully distil Sir Omotoso’s seminal article, and allow the suggestions therein, guide him, first and foremost, in the formulation of the policy guidelines which will propel its operations as well as in his choice of the individuals who would be in charge of the Airport’s management.

  • Language activism (III)

    Language activism (III)

    The greatest threat to language diversity in the world is the English language as it spreads across the globe in the manner of a plague. Close to a quarter of the world already speaks the language and many more are learning it. Even then, there are probably more Chinese speakers than English speakers but Chinese speakers are restricted to one country and their language does not carry the threat of global domination which is associated with the English language.

    The situation with the English language has created a debate within communities, especially in Africa in which the language was established through colonialisation. The acquisition of the language in those countries was at the expense of local languages which were reduced to the status of vernaculars labouring under a massive inferiority complex. English was after all, the language of conquerors who had demonstrated what at the turn of the twentieth century were regarded as signs of superiority to the colonised peoples. If the British had been able to seize all the power within their colonies, it stood to reason that their language was superior to the local languages. This conclusion appeared to be reasonable at the time and as the Yoruba have taken to saying, the world has become the property of the oyinbo people to do with it whatever was their wish. As it happened, the British did not need to belabour this point as the colonised people themselves saw this as a matter of course and regarded the acquisition of English as a desirable exercise. After all, they had been pushed into a position of weakness if not abject subservience. It is interesting to note that unlike the French, the British, at the beginning of their colonisation exercise, did not attempt to force their language on the colonised. This was radically different with the French. You will find that more than fifty years after the end of colonisation, French is still spoken in former French colonies as the language is spoken in France. This is because language transfer was part of the assimilation process which the French imposed on their colonial subjects. The nonchalant attitude of the British has given rise to a situation in which there are Nigerian Englishes, that is, English spoken with various local flavours. It appears that we have been able to domesticate the English language and clothed it in locally fabricated robes. The history of the English language lends itself to this treatment. The propagation of French in the French colonies was both methodical and rigidly controlled so that there was very little danger of the development of African varieties of French. The difference between the two colonial powers was historical.

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    The original inhabitants of Britain spoke various Gaelic and Celtic languages, at least until Anglo-Saxon tribes arrived from parts of present-day Germany. They brought with them their Germanic language, a version of the language which, because of its simplicity, was regarded as low Dutch. It was controlled with only rudiments of a grammatical structure and looking back now, it is clear that this grew in time to be the major strength of the language as it aided its spread within the British isles. This being the case, it pushed the earlier indigenous languages into the fringes of what is now Wales, parts of Scotland and across the Irish sea into Ireland.

    The new Brits or English had hardly settled down in their new island home when they started receiving unwelcome visits from their Scandinavian cousins from across the North sea. Better known in history as Vikings, they were sea faring brigands who swept in from time to time to pillage seaside towns from which they were also not averse to kidnapping the odd young maiden after killing the men of course. So great was their menace that the locals also thought it wise to pay some indemnity to their tormentors so as to be left in peace or, at least some semblance of peace. Known as danegeld, this payment bought peace for certain parts of England until the Danish king decided to incorporate the ransom paying parts into his kingdom. This shows the wisdom of not negotiating with terrorists! In the meantime, many words of Scandinavian origin were incorporated into the expanding English lexicon.

    At the time that the Danish king was casting his awful shadow on parts of England, other Vikings were menacing Ireland and parts of France. Thoroughly intimidated and beaten down, the Vikings who were called Normans in France were given a large portion of land adjacent to the English Channel. They therefore became the owners of Normandy and settled down as rulers of the place and began to cast covetous eyes across the English Channel. After all, the place was part of the Danish empire at one time, they saw conquering and incorporating it into Normandy could only be considered logical. It fell to William the conqueror, also known as William the bastard to fulfil this enterprise. On October 12th 1066, William crossed the English Channel accompanied by an army under the command of 21 noblemen and by evening of that day had destroyed the English army under King Harold and became the ruler of all England. He distributed the kingdom to his generals whose descendants still own the lands gifted to their forebears in 1066.

    The Normans settled in Normandy and rather than continue to speak their own Scandinavian language, they switched over to French, the language of their reluctant hosts. The Normans brought the French language with them and for more than three centuries made it the language of the English court. It was not until those three hundred years had passed that English was promoted to be used in official documents. By the sixteenth century however, English had become the only official language of the realm.

    As with all the other conquerors who had darkened the shores of Britain before them, the Normans came over with their own version of their adopted French language. And, as with all the languages that came before, the English refused to adopt the language of the conquerors. What they did was to incorporate the French language into English. They did it so well that up to 40% of English as it is spoken today is either French or French derived. This has enriched English to such an extent that if those French words did not exist within it, it would not be English. For example, a live cow is cow in English, meat from the dead animal is called beef in modern English and it is French derived. In the case of deer, the borrowed word is venison. There are thousands of other examples which give a roundness to the English language, a roundness which you are not likely to find in other languages from other parts of the world. There are also almost as many Latin words in English as are French. So, what you have is a Germanic language that is almost as Romance in character as it is Germanic. There is no language that is half as promiscuous as the English language. It went to North America and came away with a multitude of words including tomato, chilli, tobacco, lacrosse, tomahawk and very many more. From the other side of the world in India, the English picked up a slew of words such as verandah, bungalow, thug, loot, calico and many more.

    When I suggested that we should be able to teach science subjects in Yoruba to a friend he just could not wrap it around his head. How would you say Chemistry or Biology in Yoruba? What he did not know is that Chemistry is an Arabic word, so is Algebra. We talk of algorithms these days but how many of us know that it is of Arabic extraction. Many of the words we encounter in science are also derived from Greek and Latin. Consult a modern English dictionary and you will find that japa, okada and other Nigerian origin words have been admitted into the English language. Strip English of all those stolen and borrowed words and just what do you have left?

  • Kanu: Igbo groups question UK

    Kanu: Igbo groups question UK

    Pursuant to the Nnamdi Kanu affair, an amalgamation of Igbo diaspora groups has condemned the indifference of the United Kingdom (UK) to the trial and jailing of the controversial IPOB leader. Mr Kanu, they reminded the UK government, holds a British passport in addition to being a Nigerian. As the groups put it: “A British passport holder was abducted from Kenya without legal extradition, subjected to a sham trial under a repealed law, and sentenced to life imprisonment; yet London remains silent…This silence is deeply troubling and undermines the credibility of the UK as a global human rights champion… But when a British citizen faces unlawful detention and a life sentence, the government’s indifference is deafening. Silence here reads as complicity.”

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    All this is just emotional bilge water. Mr Kanu does not hold a British passport only to merit the intervention of the UK. In this case, and given the nature of the charges, he is also Nigerian. Which one, in the estimation of the British, should supersede the other? Terrorism, everyone now understands, is a grave subject that neither the British nor any other serious country would fool around with. The groups idolise Mr Kanu. Good for them. But they should have restrained him during his wild days of inciting his supporters to mayhem. Blaming the British or accusing them of passivity in the groups’ misreading of the situation and ignorance of the law will not change anything or give freedom to the jailed ‘freedom fighter’.

  • Igbo Leaders’ numbing fulminations

    Igbo Leaders’ numbing fulminations

    Two presumably respected professors signed the communiqué of the last meeting of the Igbo Leaders of Thought (ILT) held in Enugu last week. One is well known: Prof. Elochukwu Amucheazi, president of the group and pioneer Director-General of the National Orientation Agency (NOA). The second professor is not quite as popular in the media, now or in the past: Jerry Chukwuokolo, secretary and a former head of the Department of Philosophy and Religion, Ebonyi State University. He is reported to have done a lot of work on socio-political and developmental philosophy, particularly within Igbo culture. Prof. Amucheazi is a political scientist who once taught at the University of Nigeria, Nnsuka, but is now retired. They may have signed the communiqué, but there is nothing to show that they authored it, or whether they didn’t have any reservations about sections of the draft.

    But the views expressed in the communiqué amounted to sweeping generalisations. Three items stand out in media reports of the communiqué. One, citing what they describe as escalation in killings across Nigeria, especially of Christians, and needing to prevent Nigeria from full-scale collapse, they posit: “The U.S. must not hesitate to intervene physically, including invading Nigeria to disperse the numerous bandits now harassing the nation. We cannot watch history repeat itself. We owe it to future generations to halt this slide into genocide and war.” Two, they condemn what they believe is “genocidal profiling and economic strangulation” of Igbo businesses, linking it to anti-Igbo policies, perhaps in Lagos, and Fulani expansionism. They then conclude that if injustices against the Igbo prevail, the ideology of Biafra will remain attractive. Three, they reject the life sentence imposed on IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu as “unjust, illegal, and politically motivated,” insisting that the conviction is “sad, indefensible and speculative,” and capable of turning him into a “Mandela-like symbol of resistance.” They ask for his release, rehabilitation and compensation.

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    The eminent professors obviously spared nothing. To them Nigeria is heading for collapse, the bedraggled United States is the knight in shining armour, Kanu is right and justified, and the Igbo are once again, perhaps as always, the victims of budding, if not full-blown, genocide. No communiqué can be more tendentious, and no analysis can be so offensively opaque. It is unlikely the professors wrote the communiqué, or read it with the attentiveness it deserves. And if they wrote or read what they finally disseminated to the public, they perhaps submitted unwillingly to the herd mentality of excoriating outsiders than engaging in the self-contemplation and careful examination which the occasion and Nigeria demand.

    Start from their call for US invasion of Nigeria as a means of correcting the country’s many paradoxes and conflicts. Is the US president Donald Trump, in their view, a paragon of democratic leadership? And is the US itself an exemplar of good behaviour at the international level, especially with its gunboat diplomacy against Venezuela, the auctioning of Ukraine to Russia, and the insults and threats to friends and allies alike? Just how sagely does Mr Trump appear to be to the two Nigerian professors in light of his ongoing castration of the United Nations and the almost total demolition of the rules-based order? Mr Trump is abusive, uncouth, disorganised, contemptuous of Blacks and developing economies, and lacking in depth. Is this the same man Professors Amucheazi and Chukwuokolo are inviting to restore sanity and order to Nigeria?

    It is not certain who the other attendees were at the ILT meeting last week, whether they were jaded and ageing academicians or mid-level rabble-rousers from the streets co-opted into making up the numbers at the meeting and giving teeth to the communiqué. Whoever they were, it is shocking and disappointing that they joined many unthinking others to advocate the release of the self-absorbed Mr Kanu whose organisation, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), unleashed mayhem against mostly the people of the Southeast. And comparing him with Nelson Mandela? Well, what kind of hyperbole is that? Not only is the trial still ongoing, and the outcomes at the appellate courts predictable, it is astonishing that the professors could describe his conviction as illegal, unjustifiable and politically motivated. Did the ILT follow his trial, and if they did perhaps absentmindedly, did they read the judgement? Even if the ILT does not care about the lives destroyed in the Southeast and the families shattered, nor the gargantuan economic losses and the humiliating IPOB-midwifed Monday sit-at-home order that locked down the region and paralysed business and social activities every week in the name of securing freedom for Mr Kanu and freeing Biafra, surely they should care about what the law says and how the trial judge interpreted it.

    Finally, the professors and their communiqué speak to what they describe as genocidal profiling and Fulani expansionism to justify the retention of the ill-fated idea of Biafra in Southeast minds. These two superficial tools of incitement are quite popular in the region and among the Igbo worldwide. Instead of the Igbo intelligentsia carefully deconstructing these tools and helping the region to heal and move on even in the face of non-closure of the Biafra War, they have decided to join the rabble by boosting its presumptions. But is it the Igbo alone that are facing Fulani expansionism? And in the face of refusal to return the country to ‘true’ federalism, a departure first articulated and advocated by some Igbo politicians in the First Republic, has every major ethnic group in Nigeria not felt the pangs of ‘genocidal profiling’?

    While Mr Kanu may be the hero of many south-easterners, the other regions see in him a tragic cult hero. The Southeat may view Mr Trump and the US as knights in shining armour, the rest of Nigeria and the world see him as a flawed and superficial leader masking his inadequacies under aggressive pro-Americanism. They cannot and will not save anyone. The professors should seek solace elsewhere rather than chase a chimera.