The Nation Newspaper

Category: Columnists

  • Killing Nigeria Pro-League slowly

    Killing Nigeria Pro-League slowly

    The Nigeria professional league would continue to be a hard sell to the private sector with the way our federation chieftains relegate the budding talents that abound the 774 Local Government Areas (LGAs) in the country. I have spent the past six days reading the interview the wing gazelle of yore,  Mathematical Olusegun Odegbami had with the incumbent Super Eagles Head Coach, Eric Chelle. Chelle informed us that he monitors 80 players weekly from an unknown location resulting in the bogus 500 players list which he has. No wonder the team totters during matches without the fully home grown talisman, Victor Osimhen.

    We have lost budding talents to mismanagement, even after the Federal Government had directed that past soccer federations nurture their future. Our administrators bask in the euphoria of being recognised in the world, leaving the game’s development in the lurch for shylock European scouts to exploit to the disadvantage of our young ones.

    It should worry the current NFF executive committee members that no Nigerian club has won a continental trophy in their three years reign. Are the members waiting for the time when state governors would decline to sponsor their clubs because of their ill-preparedness? The way things are going, a year would come where there would be winners but no sponsors, with our opponents coming to Nigeria to walk over our teams. It may seem unthinkable now, but it would happen if we continue to allow foreign coaches in the Super Eagles relegate products of the domestic leagues.

    Civilised countries develop their sports through the neighbourhood system where facilities are built to engage the youth and push them away from social vices. Nurseries serve as the bases for storing the data of those discovered. Such information helps to nurture and monitor the good ones to stardom. Besides, nurseries lay the foundation where the athletes are taught the rudiments of the game. It is at such factories that playing styles and patterns unique to such countries evolve.

    One would have thought that a breakdown of the 80-member and 500 players would have shown the trajectory of his choices beyond the revelation that Chelle also deploys his assistants in the monitoring. My view is that Chelle’s claim of working his assistants is far-fetched, going by the visuals we see on television where his Nigerian assistants sit on the bench like the team’s substitutes. Having handled the Eagles and CHAN sides through competitions, one would have thought that Chelle’s monitoring ought to have been targeted at plugging the loopholes in the squad, not to begin other trials.

    For instance, Fredericks has shown that his favourite position is in the centre back. He should be allowed to master his acts than being deployed through the entire defensive positions to hold forte for absentee or injured mates. The grand rule in picking squads is to have at least two equally likely players per position. The versatile ones such as Frederick serve as bonuses, just as they give the coach the leverage to invite younger players to camp to train with the big boys.

    If one must be frank with Chelle, he still needs another better and faster central defender than Calvin Bassey who is more of brawn than brain in his game. A clever player such as Nwankwo Kanu in his playing days would have mesmerised and dragged Bassey on the turf with his deft dribbling. I feel strongly that Bassey will function better as a left wing back because he is too tall as a central defender. It would have been better if Bassey leaps well to compensate for his height when contesting aerial balls.

    Let me use this opportunity to caution Chelle and his backers at the NFF to be wary of flooding the Super Eagles with Nigeria-born players, otherwise they would soon infringe on the rules of eligibility which will haunt us now or in the future. It hurts watching most of the Super Eagles players unable to recite our national anthem on match days. The reverse is the case with our opponents who sing theirs lustfully to show that they understand the meaning of what they sang and leap into the air punching and holding themselves warmly. One always cringes when our opponents celebrate their national anthems.

    My angst increased listening to the bland arguments that Chelle should be allowed to pick our best players even if it means the coach going to the moon to bring them into the team. What this simply means is that we should shut down our domestic league so that the boys, especially the good ones can change their nationality to qualify to play for new countries of their choices? Again, what is the essence of playing domestic football across genders if those on the streets, schools, academies and the neighbourhoods cannot showcase their talents because they don’t live in Europe? After all, most of Super Falcons’ players started their game here, although our football federation members are gradually ‘corrupting’ the female teams with Nigeria-born girls. Pity.

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    The domestic league would be clinically brain dead if fans can’t be assured that those layers they watch weekly end up playing for our national teams because the NFF and the NSC chieftains are fixated on quick fixes. Planning for successes is alien to them.

    The NSC and NFF chiefs must be reminded that football is the game for children of the poor. Who are the parents of our footballers? The hewers of wood and the drawers of waters in the hinterlands? Their kids use their innate skills to play for Nigeria and invariably change the narratives of their families for life. Which one of these so called sports administrators has his kids playing football for a living? Yet, they sit in matches moping as foreign coaches parade boys and girls who don’t live here under the guise of strengthening our national teams? Foul. It won’t happen. We can’t snatch the game from the poor idle kids on the streets on the altar of ensuring that Nigeria’s flag is hoisted among the comity of nations at the World Cup.

    It is one of the reasons why Nigeria is a big for nothing nation in soccer where only one stadium (the Nest of Champions in Uyo) was accepted by FIFA to host their matches. The lack of sporting infrastructure is also another reason our domestic league representatives are all but one team, Rivers United of Port Harcourt, out of CAF’s inter-club competitions. They all played their matches out of their original home venues. Rivers United play theirs in Uyo for the records.

    Yes, I was shocked to the marrow reading Odegbami’s total condemnation of our local players and coaches. What has happened to the argument that no country that parades a foreigner as coach has ever won the senior World Cup?

    Great football nations such as England would be at the 20026 World Cup with a German manager Thomas Tuchel whilst the Kings of world football Brazil would have an Italian manager Carlos Ancelotti barking out instructions from the Brazilian bench to the Samba Boyz at the 2026 World Cup to be co-hosted by Mexico, Canada and the United States (US). Ancelotti, for the records was born on June 10, 1959 in Reggiolo, Reggio Emilia, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. He is an actor, known for The World of Don Camillo (1984), L’allenatore nel pallone 2 (2008) and LaLiga (1929). He has been married to Mariann Barrena since July 2014. He was previously married to Luisa Gibellini.

  • A different coalition

    A different coalition

    Ever since his famous lamentation that rang across the country regarding his joining the coalition of opposition politicians against the re-election of President Bola Tinubu for a second term because he is hungry, not much has been heard along that line from former two-term governor of Rivers State and admittedly activist former Minister of Transportation, Mr Rotimi Amaechi.  It may be that the leading chieftain of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) has realised that his not inconsiderable bulging paunch may not be compatible with a tale of personal famishment by a man who had the privilege of holding key political offices at State and national levels for an unbroken period of nearly two and a half decades.

    Leading actors in the ADC are noticeably now less boisterous than they were at the outing of the hijacked party about the presumed ease with which they would eject President Tinubu and the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) from power in 2027. There has been no significant response so far to the party’s recent directive that its leading lights who are yet to leave their former parties and formally register with the ADC do so forthwith, indicating a general lack of confidence in the future of the opposition’s Special Purpose Vehicle to oust the APC from power. The party has not been helped by the outcome of by-elections in which it has participated, which suggests that its grand strategy of capitalising on the hardships attendant on the drastic economic reforms undertaken by the Tinubu administration has not borne fruit, as the APC remains not only electorally dominant but continues to receive defecting opposition politicians into its ranks on an unprecedented scale.

    Even as it struggles to get itself effectively organised as a potent political and electoral force, the ADC has not come up with concrete economic policy proposals different from the reforms currently being implemented under Tinubu’s leadership despite its strident criticism that the latter have imposed avoidable hardships on Nigerians. Were such reforms as the removal of fuel subsidy and the merger of the parallel foreign exchange markets introduced at the inception of the Tinubu administration avoidable? There was a consensus among all presidential candidates going into the 2023 elections that these far-reaching policy changes had become imperative.

    Some contend that they could have been implemented in gradual, phased-out stages to limit the pain. But the argument has also been made that the kind of decisive, frontal action taken by President Tinubu on fuel subsidy and exchange rate harmonisation was critical to guarantee the success of the reforms. Half-hearted and indecisive actions in this regard by previous administrations were responsible for the persistence of the structural distortions that had virtually plunged the economy into a state indistinguishable from coma before the present administration’s surgical intervention.

    Leading lights of the ADC coalition and other critics of the reforms are yet to avail us of the magic by which they would have implemented reforms without pain, which would have been tantamount to extracting a decayed tooth without discomfort to the patient or preparing a delicious omelet without breaking eggs. Just as the coalition of opposition politicians in the ADC are motivated primarily by a desire to terminate President Tinubu’s tenancy at the Presidential Villa at the end of his first term and seek to utilize the hardships engendered by his reforms as a propaganda weapon to achieve this objective, there is a coalition of other forces who have commended the reforms, testified that they are working and beginning to yield results and contend that they must be sustained in the best long term interest of the Nigerian economy. The latter coalition is not partisan, not even political. It is not consciously organized and accommodates interests both domestic and external to the Nigerian economy.

    Furthermore, the components of the latter coalition are in a better position than the ADC anti-Tinubu coalition opposition politicians to pronounce on the health of the economy and the efficacy or otherwise of economic policy. In its 2025 World Economic Outlook (WEO) report released this week at the annual IMF/World Bank Annual Meetings in Washington, DC, United States, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) reflected the verdict of this non-partisan coalition on the impact and consequences of the reform policies of the Tinubu administration thus far. As this newspaper reported the event, “The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has revised upward its Nigeria’s growth forecast to 3.9 per cent in 2025 and 4.1 per cent in 2026, citing improvements in the country’s macroeconomic outlook. The IMF stated that the upgrade of its national growth projection for Nigeria was also based on a favourable domestic situation… “.

    The report continues, “Nigeria’s upgrade was significant as many other economies saw significant downward revisions because of the changing international trade and official aid landscape. At a press briefing on the WEO, IMF Economic Counselor, Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas said the Fund based its outlook for Nigeria on several improving macroeconomic indicators and supportive domestic factors. He said factors responsible for the higher growth revision include higher oil production, improved investor confidence, a supportive fiscal stance in 2026, and limited exposure to higher US tariffs. He added that the fund also considered stability in the exchange rate, rising foreign reserves and rebasing of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as significant factors expected to propel the Nigerian economy forward in 2026.”

    And speaking during the Intergovernmental Group of Twenty-four (G-24) press briefing in Washington, the Central Bank Governor, Mr Olayemi Cardoso, gave an insight into the extent to which the Tinubu administration’s reforms had gone in restructuring the economy, resulting in its greater resilience and lessened vulnerability to global shocks, including unpredictability in international tariffs. He noted that a positive trend in the economy is the increasing transition by large businesses from imports to exports of locally produced goods and commodities.

    In his words, “We now have a more competitive currency with the results that, for once, we have a situation where we have a positive balance of trade surplus, and we expect it to be six per cent in GDP for some time. So basically, what is happening is a complete restructuring of the economy, where we are encouraging people to go into domestic production, and, of course, discouraging imports. And I think we were very fortunate, because a lot of the things that were needed to have been done, we did them much earlier, and as a result of that, we’re able to create resilience and buffers against potential shocks “.

    Aligning with this growing coalescence of positive affirmation of the Tinubu administration’s economic policies, billionaire Chairman of First HoldCo, Mr Femi Otedola, recently revealed that his decision to invest personally over N320 billion in First Bank “all in cash, without borrowing a single Naira” was partly inspired by the economic reforms of the Tinubu administration. His investment journey, according to him, “aligns closely with the bold and visionary leadership of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who deserves credit for championing the tough but necessary reforms in our economy. I also commend the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr Yemi Cardoso, for his courageous and pragmatic policy reforms. His actions are restoring credibility to the financial system and giving investors like me the confidence to commit long-term capital to this country”.

    Also commenting on the tax reform bills of the administration, which will take effect as of January next year, Otedola stated on his X handle that they were a “bold, necessary step toward a more transparent, efficient, and investment-friendly economy,” asserting that “I am inspired to invest more, and many other investors share the same sentiment”. According to a report on the online medium, Nairametrics, Otedola “believes that the reforms will reduce complexity and promote fairness in tax collection; restore confidence in the use of public resources; fund infrastructure and unlock productivity; and fuel inclusive growth”.

    The President and Chief Executive of the Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, is a key actor in the Nigerian economy whose views and perspectives on economic and business policy cannot be taken with levity. Dangote has on several occasions identified with the coalition of thought on the positive import of the ongoing reforms for the economy. For instance, when he received the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr Jumoke Oduwole, at the Dangote Petroleum Refinery & Petrochemicals in Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos, recently, Dangote did not mince words in applauding the administration’s economic policies. “I believe we must sincerely thank His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, for ensuring that there have been improvements in the supply of crude oil,” he said, noting that “His insistence that all crude oil transactions be conducted in Naira has been particularly commendable. For us to effectively meet market demand – which we can do – it is essential that crude is priced and purchased in our local currency.”

    As this newspaper reported the event, “The leading industrialist noted that these initiatives, along with other economic reforms, have brought a measure of stability to the naira-to-dollar exchange rate. He expressed optimism that the Naira would continue to strengthen in the coming weeks as the effects of the reforms become visible. According to him, the improved market predictability has helped investors make sound business decisions and restored confidence in the investment climate. We are also beginning to see some stability in the naira-to-dollar exchange rate, which has had a positive impact. There is now less fluctuation, and this has brought a degree of predictability to the market. For those of us in the business sector, this is a welcome development, as it allows us to plan more effectively. Looking ahead, as conditions continue to improve, we can expect to see a more favourable exchange rate.”

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    Another business and industry giant, President of BUA Group, Alhaji Abdul Samad Rabiu, shares Dangote’s optimism. Interacting with journalists at the Presidential Villa in Abuja in September, Rabiu commended what he described as the bold and decisive economic reforms of the President, pointing out that the policy changes are already yielding positive results for businesses and the currency. He told the reporters that “I expect that the exchange rate is going to strengthen even further. I expect that the rate should come down to maybe N1,300, N1,400 before the end of the year. And this is something that we should all celebrate”.

    According to a newspaper report, “Explaining the impact of recent reforms, the BUA Chairman noted that businesses no longer rely solely on the Central Bank of Nigeria for foreign exchange as many are now able to source FX independently through credit cards and international banking channels  “So, really, for all these, we must give full credit to His Excellency and the government. Their bold reforms and decisive policies are creating the foundation for a stronger economy, a more stable currency and a better future for businesses and Nigerians alike”.

    From the aviation sector, the Chairman of Air Peace, Mr Allen Onyema, echoes the coalition of support for the President’s economic policies and their impact on business viability. Speaking earlier in the year during an interaction between President Tinubu and stakeholders of corporate Nigeria, Onyema applauded what he described as the President’s ‘forward-thinking approach to Nigeria’s economic development’, especially by easing challenges faced by business owners. As reported in the media, Onyema said, “President Bola Tinubu is thinking of the Nigeria of the future. The ease of doing business is coming back gradually. I can attest to that in the aviation sector because of the people he appointed to head that sector”. Onyema also attested to efforts made by the High Commission in the United Kingdom in making Air Peace flights into Gatwick Airport a possibility, including proudly publicising it.”

    Some may contend that all the foregoing only show that the ongoing economic reforms favour and are being lauded by wealthy business owners. But Nigeria runs a capitalist system, and a key measure of the health of capitalist economies is the viability and success of businesses and business owners, on which depend millions of jobs, considerable tax revenue for the government and an economy’s global competitiveness. Others argue that statistics showing improvements in such indices as inflation rate, trade surpluses, exchange rate stability or rising foreign reserves are meaningless if they do not reflect the concrete existential conditions of the majority of people. But there is no other way to measure the performance trend of an economy or the appropriateness or otherwise of economic policies. In any case, if current data had indicated a worsening of these statistical indices, the coalition of anti-Tinubu politicians would have been exuberantly jubilant.

    •This article was first published October 18, 2025

  • Creating states not guarantee for development

    Creating states not guarantee for development

    About six days ago, the Joint Committee of the Senate and House of Representatives on the review of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, approved the creation of an additional state in the South-East geopolitical zone of the Country. If ratified, the approval will increase the number of states in the Southeast from five to six. This is a welcome development because it will address the long-standing agitation over the region’s perceived marginalization. It is also worth noting that the last time new states were created in Nigeria was about 32 years ago.

    Furthermore, the joint committee considered a total of 55 requests for the creation of new states, two boundary adjustments, and the creation of 278 local governments. At the end of deliberations, the committee unanimously resolved that six additional states be created in the country, i.e., one additional state in each of the six geopolitical zones: North West, North East, North Central, South West, South-South, and South East. If all the requests successfully go through legislation, the number of states in the country will increase from 36 to 42, i.e., South West will have seven, South South will have seven, North West will have eight, North East will have seven, and North Central will have seven.

     The creation of an additional state for the South East region will neutralize the notion of marginalization of the South East by the people of South East Nigeria, i.e., the Ndigbo, and their sympathizers, including the international community. Indeed, there has been a long-standing feeling that the South East has been short-changed in national political structuring and other dynamics like political party primaries, national representation, resource allocation and sharing, etc. Therefore, this development is expected to address a long-standing geopolitical structure and zoning imbalance.

     However, while I welcome the creation of an additional state for southeast Nigeria, I am of the opinion that the creation of additional States for the other five geopolitical regions should not be the immediate priority for our national development. Because this does not reflect the seriousness of a country that is at a crossroads of development, far behind its peers, e.g., Brazil, India, Malaysia, a country that is struggling to get out of serious political and socio-economic challenges. 

    The questions we should ask ourselves and answer honestly are: What do we really want as Nigerians? What are our priorities? If the outcries for the creation of new states, by those people who are asking for new states, are due to “marginalization” in their respective states, which I know exists, because we cannot ignore the issues of marginalization, then would the creation of new states address those issues? As we are aware, identity politics and polarizing factors like ethnicity, tribalism, religious bigotry, etc., will continue to drive politics, economy, and social justice/injustice not just in Nigeria, but across the world.

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     So, if the argument is that some people are being marginalized, which is true, how do we address those fundamental issues without “balkanizing the country”?  Because with the way we are going, by my own reckoning, in the coming years, almost all the current senatorial districts in states across Nigeria, numbering about 109, could become states. Basically, almost all the existing states could be split into three or two states, apart from border adjustments. If that happens, we could be setting a precedent that will make a joke of a federation called Nigeria. This is because in the next five years, other people within the microcosm of those senatorial districts will also demand their own states based on “marginalization”.

    Creation of Additional States alone cannot address Marginalization:

    By the way, the issues of marginalization across States are true. For example, in Benue State, in the past 65 years since the independence of Nigeria, the Idomas. Igedes and other tribes, who occupy an entire senatorial district in the State, have never produced a democratically elected Governor of that state. In Borno State, the Borno South senatorial district has never produced a democratically elected Governor of that state in the past 65 years since independence. In Kaduna state, there is an outcry by the southern Kaduna senatorial district that except for a period of about 2 years, when the he incumbent Governor, Arc Namadi Sambo became the Vice President of Nigeria, and late Patrick Yakowa who was his Deputy Governor took over and died in office, the Kaduna South senatorial district has never produced a democratically elected Governor of that state in the past 65 years since independence.  In Kogi state, also, the people of Kogi South senatorial district, who also occupy an entire senatorial district, have never produced a democratically elected Governor of that state since the advent of the state over 30 years ago. The same applies to Nasarawa North Senatorial District in Nasarawa State, which has never produced a democratically elected Governor of Nasarawa State since the advent of the state over 30 years ago. The list goes on and on. 

    Certainly, the above-stated examples of imbalances, and valid senses and outcries of marginalization have serious political, social, and economic implications for the people affected, the states, and the entire Country.  However, I believe that the creation of additional states will not solve these problems, but would rather further complicate our national political and socio-economic dilemmas. This is because, due to identity politics, even when we microzone those states and make them states, there would still be some people who would be marginalized.

     Therefore, my opinion is that, as Nigerians, we should push for creative and forward-thinking legislation to address this issue. Accordingly, I advocate that, as an instance, the zoning of the Presidency between northern and southern Nigeria, which is currently termed “an unwritten agreement, etc.”, should be entrenched in the Constitution. I should also be encrusted in the Constitution that Governorships should also rotate between senatorial districts in all the States across Nigeria. The objective is to achieve a sense of belonging and a sense of balance for all Nigerians. We must recognize that the attainment of unity in diversity, equity, and justice is not a shortcut, but it is a deliberate journey that should be based on what I call a “fair process”. 

    True Federalism and Devolution of Powers are Critical Success Factors:

    The focus should be about true federalism, and devolution of powers, proper resource allocation, management and sharing, etc., leadership recruitment process, elections integrity, rule of law, accountability, etc. The fundamental overhaul of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, over and beyond the annual “peace meal” ritual of “amendments” that will ensure not only that the Constitution is the actual will of the people, but also a Constitution that will ensure that everybody complies with the provisions of the constitution and failure to do so, the person or people will face the consequences no matter how highly placed they are. Because the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has a lot of loopholes and lacunas (gaps) that allow leaders to circumvent provisions of the constitution as they please.

     As a nation, we are struggling to make 36 State Governors and the Minister of FCT accountable and effectively deliver good governance. We are unable to make 36 State Governors remove their hands from running the local government administrations and remove their hands from the cash tills of the 774 local governments across the Country. Yet, we want to continue creating new states without solutions to our existing problems

    Indeed, while it is true that some of the advocates of new states creation have no ulterior motives, most of the people who are proponents and advocates of the creation of these new states have the self-serving objectives of positioning themselves to become Governors of those states who will further subjugate, pillage and destroy the people under the guise of being the emancipators of these people.

    The Cost of Creating Additional States:

    When we evaluate the economics of creating new states, we should note that the total cost of managing an already crawling economy is increasing exponentially. New States will require a new governance structure, framework, and systems, starting from the Executive, Legislative, and Judiciary arms of government. New instruments of government must be created, new state governors, new state legislators, new judges, new state executive councils, and other additional local government administrations, new Commissioners of Police, and other costs of running those governments.  Therefore, all the monies that we are supposed to invest to secure the country from insecurity, ensure food security, build infrastructure and catalyze a productive economy, ensure social security, and human capital development, create jobs, etc., will be redirected to creating states, which will not be viable.

  • Democracy in retreat everywhere

    Democracy in retreat everywhere

    In 1863, the United States of America was fighting for its very existence during the civil war that lasted from 1860 to 1865. In what is known as his Gettysburg address, President Abraham Lincoln said in his closing remarks to honour the living and fallen Union troops that:  “…it is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us that these honoured dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom and that government of the people by the people  for the people shall  not perish from the earth.”

    Almost a century later in 1961 at his inaugural speech as president of the United States on January 20 1961, President J.F. Kennedy said America was ready to pay any price, meet any hardship for the defence of freedom and challenge his country people to not ask what America can do for them but what they can do for America in spreading the gospel of freedom enshrined in democracy. He ended his inaugural address by equating American defence of liberty which he called God’s work which every American should make their own work.

    From the time America was fully involved in global politics from the First World War through the Second World War, it had always been in the defence of freedom and democracy or presented as such.  The pivotal declaration of American presidency is to suggest that the defence of freedom is worth fighting and dying for. Of course, the revolt against the government of the United Kingdom and asserting their separate identity in 1776 was also always presented as a people justly fighting for freedom against royal tyranny. Cynics may dismiss the certainty and truthfulness and commitment of the American government which even though it fought a civil war from 1861 to 1865 partly to free the slaves and waited until 1965 before granting full franchise to blacks which even today President Donald Trump and the Republican Party would cancel if it had the chance.

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    Today, it is doubtful if the United States is fully committed to the defence of freedom, liberty and democracy as previous American presidents were determined to do. President Trump and people in his Republican corner are more favourably disposed to the authoritarian regimes in Arab North Africa and the Middle East and  their fellow travellers in South East Asia and the strong leaders in India, Pakistan, the Philippines, South Korea even though many of these countries parade  themselves as democracies  but they are not. Even in Europe, Trump is more at home with Vladimir Putin and the Hungarian president, Viktor Orban and the American Vice President JD Vance and their friend Elon Musk were heavily promoting right wing party Alternatif fur Deutschland (AFD) in recent German elections when Friedrich Merz was elected chancellor of Germany.  In Great Britain, Trump and Elon Musk his former buddy are clandestinely or openly supporting the anti-Europe and anti-immigrant Nigel Farage and Reform UK which does not hide its espousal of racist tendencies in Britain. This party today has highest support in the UK, if one believes the gallop polls. The Trump government has no African policy except to invite  Cyril Ramaphoza, President of South Africa to the White House and to humiliate him in front of the global media and to falsely accuse him of heading a murderous government killing white farmers in South Africa whereas it is white farmers who are killing blacks. The only other time he invited Africans is when he brought some leader of guerrilla forces in Congo DR and the country’s president to the White House and to ask them to stop fighting and then boasted to the whole world that he has magically brought peace to Africa. The following day, the effete Congo government allegedly alienated a large part of the country to American miners for rare earth mining. All these claims have been rightly denied.

    In Latin America, Trump is massing troops in Venezuela’s coast under the pretext of stopping drug smugglers into the United States. His Air Force has killed close to 20 people allegedly for smuggling drugs without any evidence. He is goading the country’s president, Nicholas Maduro to make a move before ordering the navy armada on its coast to start an invasion of the country.

    Maduro may be a bad president but that does not give America the license to invade a sovereign country. He is also poised to give the same treatment to erstwhile pro-American president of Columbia Juan Guaido the same treatment unless he bends to his will.

    At home under President Donald J. Trump, America appears to have abandoned its democratic constitutional tradition for authoritarian rule of one man supported by an oligarchy of fat cats to which the president is beholden. By executive fiat, President Trump is raising or lowering trade tariffs with all countries of the world according to his whim and caprices without reference to Congress. He is disobeying court judgements and rushing legal challenges of the lower courts to the Supreme Court whose membership he has packed with Republican judges who in most cases defer to him in their judgments. He is also weaponising the judiciary against his so-called enemies such as the previous head of the FBI and the Attorney General of New York State and some members of Congress who impeached him for offenses committed against the USA when he reluctantly ceded power to President Joe Biden but supported armed rebellion against Congress in 2020 after a concluded election. He is also using troops to force compliance to forced eviction of illegal immigrants and deportation of the same from the United States. He is against the constitution sending troops to states with Democratic governors under the pretext that the governors have lost control and threatened to arrest sitting governors and mayors if they resist federal troops and armed immigration enforcement.

    Now Congress has been shut down and federal workers are not being paid and the country is witnessing delays to civil aviation while he is junketing from one country to the other in Asia while his country is shut down. If what is happening in the USA were to be happening elsewhere, there would have been non-constitutional measures encouraged by the USA to force the issue.

    In short, America has ceased being a beacon of democracy to the rest of the world. The same President Trump is testing the waters of a possible third term knowing fully well  that it would illegal and unconstitutional but nevertheless, he is  flying the kite of a third term and he and his supporters are saying why not? It seems anything is possible in Donald Trump’s United States of America.

  • What does Kanu want?

    What does Kanu want?

    Nnamdi Kanu is at it again. For the umpteenth time, he pulled another stunt in court on Monday when his treason trial resumed. He was expected to open his defence so that the case can get on the home stretch. He was given between October 23 and today to do so. He wasted the one week grace without doing the needful. He kept on giving excuses whenever the case came up.

    First, it was the sacking of his lawyers. The second was that he did not have the case files as his lawyers went away with them after their sack. The third was that he believed that the court could not try him as there was no valid charge against him. He then requested that he be freed or be given one week to file a written address. Kanu may adopt whatever delay tactic catches his fancy. He will bear the brunt as he is the one in custody. But should he be allowed to dictate1to the court? The answer is NO!

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    How can he come back now and say there is no ‘valid charge’ against him after the court dismissed his ‘no-case submission’ last month; asked him to open his defence and gave him between October 23 and 30 to do so? The court has bent backward enough to accommodate Kanu, but he keeps abusing the privilege. I pity him! Whether he and his ilk like it or not, his trial must go on and justice will take its course. It is just a matter of time. Let them take to the streets from now till thy kingdom comes, it will change nothing, and  heavens will not fall.

    Since he has decided to become an emergency lawyer, Kanu should know the next step to take after the Federal High Court concludes the case. The law is no respecter of persons, but of those who respect the law. As the court ciunselled him: “this is not economics; this is a criminal prosecution”. A word, they say, is enough for the wise.

  • PDP and the ides of November

    PDP and the ides of November

    THE history of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) predates the membership of many who today are at the helm of its affairs. They were young boys probably still in school then when it started as a group founded by the late former Vice President Alex Ekwueme at the 1994 Constitutional Conference organised by the Abacha junta. The mission of the Group of 34 (G34) eminent Nigerians was cut out for it from the outset – get the military out of power and ensure that Gen Sani Abacha did not transmute into civilian president.

    Abacha had a plan which he wanted to use the conference to achieve. So, he loaded it with his loyalists who will do his bidding under the pretence of preparing the grounds for a return to democratic rule. His crowd was always coming up with issues and motions that favoured the dictator. Ekwueme and other like-minds saw through the shenanigans and swiftly moved to stop the nonsense. The conference report was a blow to Abacha’s dream and so he did not touch it.

    On his death four years later and the resolve of the succeeding administration to return the country to democratic rule without much delay, the Ekwueme group which had been meeting all along, even after the end of the constitutional conference quickly seized the moment to begin the process of becoming a party. The G34 became the nucleus that formed PDP in 1998. By then, its rank had shrunk from G34 to G18, as some had left to be part of other arrangements elsewhere.

    Whether as G34 or G18, the umbilical chord of PDP can still be traced to the struggles of this formidable group of politicians who gave their all for the birth of the party. Former Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido, who is today fighting a battle of his life in order to lead the party was in the thick of things then. He was an associate of many members of G18. As governor, he built some houses in Dutse, the Jigawa State capital, which he named after the G18 leaders.

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    Lamido may have seen it all as a politician, but the young turks who today control PDP may not have the sense of history to accord him the respect he deserves as an elder of the party. He might have built monuments in memory of G18 leaders in his state, this is of no significance to the governors now calling the shots in PDP, which he believes that he toiled for with others in G18 to bring to life. Lamido wants to be PDP national chairman at its forthcoming 15th (ides) of November convention in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, which is the home turf of the emerging national leader of the party, Governor Seyi Makinde.

    Indeed, if leadership were to be about age and experience, the chair would have automatically gone to Lamido. But as he knows, that is not how it is done. Political leadership is not about age, but about clout, resources and your support base which must be huge and well oiled. The governors have settled for former Special Duties Minister Tanimu Turaki as the consensus national chairman. It is said that they have the support of a section of the party’s national working committee (NWC) in endorsing Turaki.

    The governors may have their way at the convention, as things stand. As the payer of the piper, they call the tune. They are the ones now funding the troubled party since its sole funder and former Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike seems to have withdrawn such support because of  ‘irreconcilable differences’.  The convention is going to be quite interesting – if it holds. Some state chairmen of the party have gone to court to challenge it, claiming that due process was not followed in fixing it. Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court, Abuja, will rule on the case tomorrow.

    Also, the National Secretary, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, is alleging that his signature on the letter sent to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) about the convention was forged. The party has since denied his claim. The Lamido challenge may be the ultimate in the series of rows dogging the convention. Why is the party shutting the chairmanship door against Lamido? If the governors are sure of their strength, why are they afraid of allowing him to collect the form and run against their anointed candidate for chairman?

    Legally and constitutionally, Lamido or any Nigerian for that matter cannot be denied the right to contest for any elective post of their choice. PDP should move swiftly to nip this crisis in the bud before Lamido makes good his threat to go to court as and challenge the decision to stop him from running for chairman. If they have the numbers to defeat him, they should allow him to contest and defeat him at the poll and demystify him as an oracle of the party, which in a way is how he perceives himself as a founding father of PDP

    Need I remind PDP that the ides of November is at hand? It is just 16 days away. Whether the convention holds on that day or not is in the hands of the party and its powerful governors. As they make their bed, so will they lie on it.

  • Bomb threats and panicky legislators

    Bomb threats and panicky legislators

    The earth is littered with the bones of potentates who believed they were eternal. History thrives on their ruin or renown. Let this guide every Nigerian in public office. No matter how highly placed they are, providence eventually halts their pompous strides and yanks the rug from beneath their pretentious ideals.

    The recent disclosure of a bomb threat against the National Assembly rankles ominously, no doubt. But we had it coming. Now, this article does not defend bomb threats or violent insurrection. Those acts are crimes against the common life. But to pretend that violence detonates out of nowhere, and that despair, manipulation and mass anger are spontaneous combustion, is to traffic in a convenient fiction.

    The social tinder that allows unscrupulous demagogues and foreign spoilers to light the match is assembled every day by bad governance: by governors who hoard and fail to deliver; by legislators whose opacity invites conspiracy; by public servants who confuse rent-seeking for stewardship. When the people are rendered impoverished and luckless pawns, the wreckage of trust becomes fertile ground for recruiting the disenfranchised.

    The warning bell clanged recently as lawmakers reported terror threats against the National Assembly, including a claim that terrorists threatened to bomb the legislative complex. Chairman of the House Committee on Internal Security, Hon. Garba Ibrahim Muhammad, disclosed during a public hearing on a bill to establish the Legislative Security Directorate, held at the National Assembly complex, Abuja.

    The proposed legislation is titled “A bill for an act to provide for the establishment and the functions of legislative security directorate in the national assembly; to provide for the qualification and condition of service of the sergeant-at-arms and other personnel of the directorate and for related matters, 2024 (HB 1632).”

    But beyond the legislators’ panic and cry for metal detectors, subsists a deeper malaise that renders the legislative chamber porous to fake IDs, petty traders, unvetted access and civic outrage. There was the corrosive fable of the “per-lawmaker N1bn”: a claim that lawmakers futilely battled to prevent it from calcifying into public belief. A former aspirant, David Ayodele Asalu, asserted publicly that every federal lawmaker receives not less than N1 billion annually for constituency projects, with senators supposedly getting more. That claim went viral, but the House of Representatives denounced it as “deliberate disinformation.”

    If untrue, the danger is not merely factual error but the story’s utility. For a youth who has no work, a retiree who waits months for a pension, who sees a road undone and a local clinic unbuilt, the allegation simplifies injustice into a single enemy, and imputes motive where there may be complex fiscal flows and bureaucratic mismanagement. Such simplicity becomes potent and accelerates rage.

    Otherwise, the numbers are damning. In 2024 alone, Nigeria reportedly budgeted about N724 billion on its National Assembly and 36 State Assemblies. This includes N50 billion for salaries and allowances of lawmakers at both federal and state levels, N294.7 billion specifically for the National Assembly and related bodies, and N379.28 billion for the state assemblies.

    This renders futile the former Senate President, Ahmed Lawan’s previous argument, the monthly salary of a senator is N1.5m, while that of a member of the House of Representatives is N1.3m, stressing that the alleged N13.5m monthly salary was actually their quarterly office running allowance.

    Recent findings revealed that the Nigerian Senate President actually receives N2.48 million as basic salary, while other senators receive N2.26 million monthly. Even so, the quarterly office allowance (running cost) for a senator amounts to N52m per annum, while the N8m for a member of the House of Representatives amounts to N32m in a year.

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    Nigeria could save around N250 billion every year by switching to a unicameral legislature or making lawmaking part-time. This money could be redirected towards improving healthcare, education, and infrastructure, thus aligning with the country’s economic realities and developmental goals.

    The federal government and the National Assembly must make concerted efforts to reduce the astronomical cost of governance as the current profligacy is unsustainable and morally indefensible. The maintenance of a Senate and House of Representatives, with their attendant expenses, is no longer a luxury we can afford.

    President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has to his credit, pursued visible palliatives: expanded transfers via FAAC, the establishment and roll-out of NELFUND student loans, targeted scholarships, and investments aimed at stabilising the naira and boosting infrastructure and security. But policy without partnership is like seed scattered on a stone. If governors, lawmakers, and bureaucrats act at cross-purposes, hoarding funds, refusing to clear arrears, or allowing projects to rot, the centre’s good intentions are nullified on the periphery.

    NELFUND has disbursed loans to hundreds of thousands of students, and FAAC lifts have meant larger sums reaching subnational governments than before. But the arithmetic of revenue is not the arithmetic of care. An increase in aggregate allocation means nothing if it is not accompanied by transparency, by conditionality, and by political courage to confront mismanagement at the subnational level. The numbers can be said to climb while the lived condition of citizens remain in decline.

    And so we arrive at a harder truth: the people will only believe in bold national reforms when the political class shows it is worthy of belief. Grand rhetoric must be matched by grand gestures of restraint and identification, not just from presidents and ministers but from governors, legislators, and local power-brokers. This could look like the clearing of pension arrears; timely payment of civil servants’ wages; an enabling business environment: transparent execution of constituency projects with independent audits; and, crucially, visible punishments for corruption at every level.

    It is never enough to funnel palliatives and incentives to mitigate economic distress. Democracy does not naturally spring forth from the soil of free markets. It must be grounded in self-sacrifice. A healthy democracy must frequently challenge the economic interests of the elites for the benefit of the people. Yet government officials and corporate actors address the economic crisis by funnelling funds and resources into the financial sector because they are conditioned to maintain and manage the existing system rather than transform it.

    Perhaps the most heartbreaking subplot of Nigeria’s travails is the erosion of the middle class. Inflation, unemployment, and taxation have squeezed this demographic, leaving many struggling to maintain their status. Historically, the middle class serves as the backbone of any nation, driving consumption, innovation, and economic stability. In Nigeria, this group has become increasingly vulnerable, trapped between rising living conditions and stagnant income.

    Reviving this social stratum will require more humane and intentional policies: affordable housing, access to quality healthcare, and educational reforms that prioritise skills for a modern economy.

    The political class must also understand that the rage brewing within the disenfranchised working class and below forebodes a dangerous backlash. Pervasive hopelessness has driven too many into the arms of dubious demagogues and charlatans, who peddle utopian fantasies to a desperate populace.

    The question before us is not whether we can stop violent men, because we must, but whether we are willing to stop making violent men inevitable. The answer to that requires a more humane and relentless approach to governance: lawmakers who account, governors who pay, and a presidency that insists that its policies be matched by subnational partners who will not sabotage them.

    Until that day, every cratered road, empty clinic, unpaid pension and disenfranchised youth is an invitation to chaos. And invitations, once accepted, are hard to rescind.

  • The semiotics of Pate’s red letter

    The semiotics of Pate’s red letter

    Ordinarily, the phrase “red letter” is used to describe something, such as a day or an event, of special significance. For example, October 1 every year is a red letter day in Nigeria, because the country attained independence on that date in 1960. That was a joyous and memorable event. However, not all red letter days are joyous moments. The day misfortune fell on New York City by way of a terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre on September 11, 2001, was a red letter day too.

    If you wish to understand how The Red Letter issued on October 22, 2025, by the Coordinating Minister, Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Professor Muhammed Ali Pate, has elements of both types of red letter and more, please follow me through the following semiotic analysis of the letter.

    It was Roland Barthes (1915-1980), the French philosopher, literary theorist, and semiotician, who popularised an interesting rubric for analysing sign systems from a variety of perspectives. He found semiotics, the study of signs, a useful way of exposing contradictions and revealing hidden meanings. For example, Barthes showed how a simple advertisement, that of Panzani, a brand of pasta (spaghetti), could be analysed from multiple levels to reveal iconic and symbolic signs as well as surface (denotative) and hidden (connotative) meanings at the same time (see Rhetoric of the Image in his book, Image Music Text, London, Fontana, 1977, pages 32-51). In the following analysis, I juxtapose the various levels of meaning as I go along.

    At the iconic level, Pate’s letter is set against a red background in its digital representation. Although the print of the digital copy is white, the red background captures attention much more than the white print. It literally makes the letter red. However, we begin to get the meat of the letter once we begin to decipher the white print.

    But what does the white print say? Many things, some direct, others indirect. First, the words confirm the disbursement of N32.9 billion to the commercial bank accounts of “primary care facilities in every ward across the country.” Wait! There are 8,809 wards across the country. That means that there are 8,809 primary care facilities across the country. And how much does each ward get from this pot of money? You do the math. But remember to multiply your answer by three, since the minister says this is “the third round this year.”

    Second, the letter is presented as an invitation from the federal government to the various communities to help safeguard the spending of the fund by ensuring that it is monitored. There is a much deeper meaning here. Here is a government promoting participatory democracy, by appealing to the people not to “stand aside,” at a time when some cheeky politicians are screaming the death of democracy.

    Nevertheless, there is a sense in which the people’s lethargy makes room for the perceived death of democracy: They are not participating as they should, and the letter is very explicit about the problem: “Our community members and institutions do not ask how the money is used, or if it reaches the people it was meant for”.

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    Hence the government’s direct appeal in The Red Letter:

    “Stand up and take ownership

    Go to your health facility

    Join the committee

    Review the plan

    Demand openness

    Celebrate progress

    And above all, make sure the fund truly protects the health of your people.”

    Third, there is an indirect appeal to the elite and those who are literate enough to be able to read The Red Letter to disseminate the information: “Let this Red Letter reach every community, every ward, and every home. Let it remind us that the health of Nigeria lives in the hands of Nigerians.” I am doing my own bit here by reproducing The Red Letter and analysing it. You should do your own bit too, by sharing this article with as many people as possible. Make it a point of duty to tell at least ten people to find the primary health care facility in their ward and follow the money by taking part in ward activities and making enquiries about funding.

    It must be emphasised, however, that this Red Letter carries far-reaching implications for accountability and citizen engagement beyond wards. Since the return to democracy in 1999, state governments have not been sufficiently accountable to those they were elected to serve. Local government councils and their wards have been shut out of their funds by their respective state governors. It has been reported numerous times since the inception of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration that states have been receiving increased allocations from the Federal Account Allocation Committee, compared to previous years due to the economic reforms by the administration.

    Indeed, in the last few months, states have been receiving more funds than the federal government. For example, in September 2025, FAAC’s disbursements were as follows: federal government N711.314 billion; state governments N727.170 billion; and local government councils N529.954 billion. On top of their allocations, oil producing states also received a total of N134.956 billion as 13 percent derivation. These past few months would be the first time in over two decades that states would receive a larger share of FAAC allocation than the federal government. Yet, there is little to show for the increased allocations in many states of the federation. This led me to raise the alarm in September (see Your governor has your money, ask him for it, The Nation, September 3, 2025).

    This situation also led the present administration to approach the Supreme Court to seek the loophole in the constitution in granting financial autonomy to local councils. Even then not much development has happened in the councils. It is alleged that some governors had their local council chairmen swear to an oath of secrecy or sign a fund sharing agreement on their council’s funds!

    The Red Letter now shows that the ministry of health has even bypassed the councils by going directly to wards and calling on citizens to seize the opportunity by participating in the oversight of their health care facilities. But this is not the first time the federal government would target wards directly. Early in August, President Tinubu approved a ward-level development strategy designed to drive grassroots economic growth and address poverty across Nigeria’s 8,809 wards. It is the Renewed Hope Ward Development Programme (RHWDP), which is integral to the Renewed Hope Agenda that targets a $1 trillion economy by 2030.

    Just as Minister Pate appealed to citizens to participate in the affairs of primary health care facilities in their wards, so did President Tinubu appeal to state governors to prioritise the welfare of their citizens at the local level: “I want to appeal to you; let us change the story of our people in the rural areas. The economy is working. We are on the path of recovery, but we need to stimulate growth in the rural areas.”

    At the end of the day, The Red Letter and the President’s appeal to governors are coded messages: governors should perform and citizens should hold them to account through participation and oversight.

  • Nigeria’s kidnapping scourge: Who bells the cat?

    Nigeria’s kidnapping scourge: Who bells the cat?

    For the second time in seven years I have had the unpleasant experience of seeing someone close snatched off one of Nigeria’s highways by faceless gunmen. In both instances, the only difference was identity of the victims; the sense of helplessness hasn’t changed with time.

    In 2018, we were advised by a very senior security official to negotiate with the kidnappers to preserve life – with the promise that after release the abductors would be apprehended. In the latest episode, the families involved, who had clearly lost confidence in institutions of state being able to deliver their loved ones, preferred to negotiate with the cold voice at the other end of a phone call.

    Hardly a week passes without some harrowing new tale of people taken into captivity against their will by criminals for a lucrative return. Their methods are unchanged: terrorise hapless families with ominous threats if demands are not met. Ransom claims remain ambitious – always in the tens of millions of naira.

    Many of these stories occasionally find their way into social and mainstream media; myriads go unreported with those at the receiving end of the trauma preferring to lick their wounds away from public glare. 

    In one recent case, a young woman named Aisha Wahab who was seized in Auchi, Edo State, spent weeks in captivity. Her plight drew attention after she was seen on social media appealing to friends and family for N20 million to secure her liberty.

    She was kidnapped at Igbira Camp in Auchi by gunmen who took her into the forest. Her abductors threatened to kill her if the ransom wasn’t paid by Friday, October 24, 2025. She has since been freed after public-spirited persons raised the amount.

    Some other victims were slightly luckier in that they only had to undergo the horrors of captivity, without their families being stripped financially. A few days ago, the Nigeria Army freed 23 persons who had been abducted in parts of Kwara State. Ifelodun, Edu, and Patigi Local Government Areas of the state as well as parts of Kogi, have witnessed an upsurge in kidnapping.

    Once confined to the Niger Delta militancy era and later to the bandit-plagued Northwest, kidnapping for ransom has now spread across all six geopolitical zones. Highways, schools, and even homes are no longer safe. What is troubling is not just the frequency of these abductions, but the growing sense that the state has lost control of parts of its territory – the so-called ungoverned spaces.

    The numbers tell a grim story. By most estimates, thousands have been kidnapped in the past few years, with billions of naira paid in ransom. The victims are not confined to the wealthy – drivers, artisans, farmers, traders, and students have all fallen prey. It is now a crime that feeds on the vulnerabilities of the poor as well as the powerful.

    Despite numerous security summits and policy pronouncements, the government’s response remains reactive and fragmented. Some states have passed laws providing the death penalty for those found guilty of kidnapping. Others have been demolishing houses linked with kidnappers. Clearly, these measures haven’t been much of a deterrent.

    Security agencies often appear overstretched, under-equipped, and poorly coordinated. Arrests are sporadic, convictions few and far between. What Nigerians mostly see is a pattern: outrage after an attack, high-level meetings, promises of reform, and then silence until the next abduction.

    This apparent helplessness is rooted in deeper structural problems. Decades of underinvestment in policing, a weak intelligence network, the politicisation of security appointments, and the absence of local policing have created a vacuum. The problem is compounded by recent economic challenges which have which the criminally-minded have taken advantage of.

    As this criminal activity grows, the country faces a test of state capacity and political will. But Nigeria wouldn’t be the first to be terrorised by this scourge. Many others have confronted similar challenges and in some cases, overcame them.

    Colombia, for instance, was once dubbed the ‘kidnapping capital of the world,’ in the 1990s when guerrilla groups and criminal gangs made abductions a daily occurrence. The government responded with tough law enforcement, intelligence-driven operations, and sweeping reforms to professionalise the police.

    Equally critical was political will – a clear, sustained commitment over many years made the state, not private ransom payments, the centre of response. Over time, the frequency of abductions dropped sharply as the government tightened control and restored public confidence.

    In Mexico which also struggled with the problem, the authorities focused on improving coordination between federal and local police, strengthening anti-kidnapping units, and establishing hotlines and rapid-response systems that made it easier for citizens to report abductions early. Although the country still battles organised crime, its approach has significantly reduced incidents.

    The Philippines offers another useful model. Faced with a spike in abductions in the early 2000s, it created a special Anti-Kidnapping Group within the national police, empowered with intelligence resources and operational autonomy. The unit was backed by consistent political support and public trust, which allowed it to carry out targeted operations and dismantle several high-profile rings. The country significantly reduced kidnap-for-ransom cases over time.

    Nigeria can learn from these experiences. The key ingredients are not mysterious: a professional and intelligence-driven police force; strong inter-agency coordination; credible prosecution and community involvement in intelligence gathering.

    At the heart of our problem is a policing system that no longer fits the scale or complexity of today’s security challenges. The centralised structure makes it ill-suited for the kind of local intelligence and rapid response that effective anti-kidnapping efforts require.

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    If the country is to make progress, there must be a serious conversation about policing reform – one that moves beyond political slogans and fears of misuse by state governments. Properly designed state or regional police forces, subject to clear oversight and accountability, could help fill the vast security gaps that now exist. States already spend large sums supporting federal police operations; it makes sense to give them the tools and authority to do more than play a supporting role. But up till now the debate has been stymied by fear those who ultimately control these forces would abuse them.

    Technology also has a role to play. In countries that have reduced kidnapping, technology-driven surveillance, data analysis, and digital reporting platforms have been central to success.

    President Bola Tinubu’s administration has an opportunity to redefine the state’s security outlook. While economic reforms dominate the headlines, the safety of Nigerians remains the foundation upon which all else rests. A government that cannot guarantee security risks having its economic and political achievements undervalued.

    If the government is serious about ending this cycle, it must drive policing reform to its logical conclusion – empowering states to take ownership of internal security through well-trained, accountable local forces. Intelligence must underpin operations, not politics. Security funding must be transparent, and successes must be measured not by press releases, but by safer roads, freed hostages, and communities that no longer live in fear.

    Only then will Nigerians begin to believe that the state is truly reclaiming its authority from the grip of criminality. Until that happens, the country will continue to live under the shadow of a menace that has turned ordinary citizens into hostages in their own land.

  • Cowardice on four feet

    Cowardice on four feet

    Just as well: it ended a damp squib — Omoyele Sowore’s much touted rally to willy-nilly spring Nnamdi Kanu, the IPOB leader, on trial for grave terrorism charges.

    Just as well, too: Kanu announced the start of his defence, never mind his soap opera stunts — and taunts.  The trial court has ordered, and his defence he must enter.

    Both developments reinforce a critical canon of civil society: that the majesty of due process can never be halted by cynical agitations — or how else do you describe the Sowore rascality of October 20, pushing the democratic right to citizen protest, to stall the sacred principle of due process: the hallowed backbone of any democracy?

    Still, Shakespeare was right: it was all “a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”! A juvenile scheme to stall a court process was never more asinine!

    Indeed, Kanu’s cowardice, on four feet, is never clearer!  No less clear is his arch-delusion — and his proxies’ — that their braggadocio could indeed stop a criminal trial.

    Simon Ekpa, already nestling in jail in Finland, on his judicial day of reckoning, blabbed he was a content creator — a content creation that claimed lives and hewed limbs, of prominent Igbo folks as Dr. Chike Akunyili, the late Dora Akunyili’s husband; and non-Igbo, as Adamawa’s Ahmed Gulak!  Ekpa got his due.

    Kanu too has pushed his glorious right to agitation. Perhaps the Nigerian court would find for him, though the Finland court trashed Ekpa’s fib of content creation? 

    So, those busy hailing his juvenile showmanship in the dock, after he had sacked his lawyers, had better warn him he might just be nailing himself. The severe beauty of the judicial process is real.  It’s no Nollywood movie!

    Still, to float or to sink is a democratic choice.  But those first to scream and bawl and screech and screed “injustice!”; those who zealously boom “victimhood!” must apply their minds to the grim sequel of cynically skewing a court process; and the blatant injustice that grinds on the civil society, which apogee is that legal process.

    That’s what Kanu is up to. It’s in-your-face cowardice on four feet!  But when the sure outcome descends, let no one go berserk with cheap moans.

    After a long rigmarole that dates back to 2015, the present case is nearing a climax. The prosecution has closed its case, after calling witnesses; and tendering documents.

    But Kanu blustered with of a “no-case” submission, which the court threw out. To start his defence, Sowore hopped in with stunts, starry-eyed Kanu zealots  in tow.

    Clearly, Sowore and Kanu think the court is a place to catch a cruise, with thrilled plebs on the sidelines thundering with cheers.

    Take Sowore.  In fashionable lack of introspection, he’s nonpareil.  As if caught by a bug, he worked himself into a lather, drawing “Revolution Now!” graffiti all over the place!  It was his signal of an anarchist’s paradise! 

    But the late President Muhammadu Buhari would have none of that rubbish.  What followed was a period of arrest, detention and trial, until new President Bola Tinubu’s Justice Minister, Lateef Fagbemi, entered a nolle-prosequi.

    But not even that could wean Sowore off hare-brained agitations, hyped by brazen lies, spewed by his Sahara Reporters, now a virtual rag.

    During the so-called “Days of Rage”: the “End Bad Governance” protests, of 1-10 August 2024, Sowore and his “Take it Back” ensemble plunged into the fray!  Less than one year later, 7 April 2025, another “Take it Back” comedy, which drew little traction.

    From Sowore and co, it’s anarchy yesterday, anarchy today, anarchy forever.  With that troubled mindset, he romped into the Kanu matter.  Still, who in his right senses would follow Sowore in anything?  Apparently, though the “Free Kanu Now” protests proved a burlesque, many Kanu zealots still fell for it.  Gullible!

    Like Sowore, Kanu has not shown much sobriety, since his unfortunate saga broke on us.  Those blaming others for his prolonged trial are entitled to their crass pity party.  But even they know such a stance is a fraud.  Nnamdi Kanu is Alpha and Omega of his own fate.  No other one!  The facts are there for all to see.

    On 28 April 2017, he got bail on certain conditions: not to address any gathering, or grant a press interview. But he scorned his bail terms with a frenzy, abusing and traducing everyone, while those that stood surety for him looked askance.

    He claimed the Army invaded his space allegedly to kill him — maybe: and you can only be alive to fight any battle.  That would appear his prime reason for jumping bail.

    But does that also justify, from a safe haven abroad, the rabid launch of unvarnished sedition: raw hate against the non-Igbo: beasts, he claimed, in a zoo called Nigeria? 

    Does that justify the slaughter of fellow Igbo, caught in IPOB-decreed wrong places, during the so-called Monday sit-at-home strikes? Kanu himself — on record — bragged that anyone caught would be killed — a sickly threat the jailed Ekpa took to a grotesque new low from Finland!

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    Does that justify the mass slaughter in Orsu, in Imo, whose folks claim they had lost no less that 5, 000 kith-and-kin, over four years?  Their forest bore brazen criminality, allegedly by IPOB and the Eastern Security Network (ESN): rotten and smelly skulls and bones, and decayed remains of fellow Igbo!

    Does that justify the Kanu 2020 EndSARS pure lunacy: his deranged order to “burn down Lagos!” — and the high casualty figure of security agents on lawful duty?  Why, that Kanu mob even torched The Nation head office in Lagos!

    Does that justify Kanu’s endless uncourtly drama?  He lampooned the trial judge, Justice Binta Nyako, in the open court; and abused Chief Adegboyega Awomolo, SAN — old enough to be his father, and, on all counts, far more accomplished — and all for what?  To press his democratic right to be rude, crude and uncouth?

    He would later apologize for his arrogant excitability, after the judge had stepped down.  But did he think that delinquency would halt the process?

    Then, the latter-day bombast of sacking his entire legal team, growling at his lawyers to “shut up! while I’m talking!”, the infantile “threat” to defend himself though he is no lawyer, and finally — on October 27 — his comic back-off from even that; and his claim (even after a definitive court ruling), that his “no case” submission was valid!  What hubris!

    Again, is he so delusional to think all this vile drama would make the case vanish?

    Let’s be very clear.  Nnamdi Kanu is no Obafemi Awolowo, whose 1962/63 treasonable felony trial, and the suspect way it was conducted by the then powers-that-be, are still a subject of controversy, some 62 and 63 years later.

    Nor is he MKO Abiola, who some misguided political soldiers thought they could cheat, annul his hard earned June 12, 1993 presidential election, and live happily ever after.  It took MKO’s martyrdom — a most costly act of cowardice from Abiola’s oppressors — to violently kick them out of their even costlier delusion. 

    They — too late — found out there’s no rest for the wicked!

    Whatever Nnamdi Kanu does in the dock is all on him. But he is charged with terrorism.  Those charges won’t just vanish, because he and his supporters are are playing games. And no evil can turn to good, because of the comedy of ethnic exceptionalism, as not a few are foolishly blabbing. 

    The law will take its course and heavens will not fall!  That’s due process: justice for Kanu, justice for the state, justice for the rest of us.  No more.  No less.