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  • Warri: No to apocalypse

    Warri: No to apocalypse

    In my schoolboy days, we called it Wafi or oil-booming city, and the residents called themselves Wafarians. The word Wafarian vacated the lips with imperious bluster. Wafarians knew their city bested the rest. Warri no dey carry last.

    But today, Warri is a city stumbling for rhyme and rhythm after going belly up about two decades ago. We say Wafarian with a kind of humiliated ache, a wounded vanity, a pride that laughs at us.

    The governor vowed from his first day in office to be its Sheriff of rebirth. Just as he has been working in the past two years, the same animal impulse that ruined Warri has returned. They are not back as Wafarians but in their ethnic tents as warlords and agitators. Their rhetorics carry blood and dagger. They are fulminating in their accents. We hear them on the streets and they bicker on television. Online, it is a swarm. They drip hate and tease the battlefield. 

    It is triggered by INEC and its new delineation of constituencies. Such matters often lead to offences and blowback. But threats of war and words of hate are not the way to go. Hence the governor, Sheriff Oborevwori, looked them in the eye and told them he did not want blood on his watch. He does not want Warri back to the days when the Ijaws and Itsekiris chose gore over love, and the streets sloshed with their neighbour’s tears.

    But this is a three-pronged fight. The Itsekiri cry foul. The Urhobo say no. The Ijaws say nay.  Some of those in the centre of these are either politicians or their hirelings. They are the fellows who want to benefit, and they are deploying their troops either to the streets or online. When they are not doing that, they are on television or in the shadows plotting.

    Times like this call for sobriety, not recriminations. It is not a time to revise history, to invoke atavistic grievances, to stress racial differences. As Winston Churchill says, it is better to “meet jaw to jaw than war.” Some have taken poetic licence as if he said, “it is better to jaw jaw than to war war.”

    Some of those on the streets and television were actually little babies or toddlers when Warri raged over 20 years ago. They are feeding on received hatred, and they speak with tendentious authority. Rather than seek those things that bring people together, they are speaking for effect. Some are drawing parallels with the Israel and Palestine, and they are playing victims to whip up passions. It is what is called danse macabre, or dance of death in Western mythology in the medieval times to remind humans of the vanity of human glory.

    They ought to go back to history, and see what happened in those days between the Itsekiris and the Ijaws. It was no play. If you were Ijaw and the Itsekiris targeted you, you were toast with your families. It was the same when the Itsekiris were targets. In either case, unhallowed human bones piled up. So, those who have lined up in furtive meetings and on televisions to whip up passions should stop it. They sometimes are witty at the expense of commonsense.

    Former President of the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) has released a short video to tell the story of Warri. Amaju Pinnick, who is also a former commissioner for sports in the state, reminds the residents what Warri was in its high noon. The documentary titled: Our Warri, reminds all that it was not just the body counts, separated families, or the dilapidated buildings that bloodied that era, but its way of life.

    It was not called oil booming city for nothing. The oil mainstays had their homes there. Shell, Haliburton, Texaco, AGIP, Schlumberger, Chevron. Their workers prided themselves as oil people, especially as the Warri Refinery underwrote the prosperity. With the oil wealth as guarantor, we witnessed a lifestyle distinctively Warri. We had businesses like Kingsway, BATA, John Holt, Chelarams, Leventis, Peugeot and even Bata.

    It was a complete modern city. with its commerce in gear, its social life and infrastructure were primed. An anecdote was about how market sellers distinguished the wives of oil staff members  from others. Their dressings, strut and looks gave them away and the sellers had special prices for them.

    The atmosphere bred names of money and business like Odibo, Okumagba, Edewor, Pessu, Rewane, Fregene, Pinnick, Eselemo, and so on. Each tribe had their own sign and scion.

    I recall Warri, as the Pinnick documentary lists, some of the great sports men of the time. The footballers, especially. Those who were alive then cannot forget goal keeping maestro Alabi Essien, goal-devouring Thompson Usiyen, Martin Owolo the elegant defender, and the swaggering shoulders and deft feet of outside left Josy Dombraye. Of course, captain Dediare and charismatic Wilson Oruma. Other sports had Anthony Urhobo, Florence Omagbemi, et al. Shall we forget cultural figures like Tony Gray, Mike Okri and debonair Chris Okotie, Omatsola, Ogholi and many others.

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    The terrible thing about this hour is the inevitable interconnectedness of the tribes. Hardly any Urhobo without relatives in Ijaw or Itsekiri and that is the case with all the tribes, including those parading themselves as torches of antediluvian violence.

    My father was Itsekiri and my mother Urhobo, and a fight between any of the groups is like a soul fighting itself. It brings to mind the line from Nobel Prize winning poet, Derek Walcott, “You will love again the stranger who was yourself.”

    The Olu of Warri, Ogiame Atuwatse III, has been one of those personages meeting stakeholders for peace. His majesty cannot allow his domain to regress to atavistic carnage. He knows that what is happening is like people fighting over a carcass that has begun to regenerate in limbs and blood flow. That momentum must continue.

    What happened about two decades ago was a carnage. If we have it again, it will be a Warri apocalypse. God forbid. That, however, is the reality that Beirut, the big city of Lebanon, is coming to grips with. It embodied a panoply of some of the world’s big corporations, and sat over a wealth and a culture envied by all in the Middle East. Today, it is a shadow of itself. Most of the companies have moved to the United Arab Emirates. That is what anger can bring to a place. Like Warri, Beirut was a metropolitan hub of diverse peoples. Hate overtook harmony, and the city is on its knees.

    Governor Oborevwori has set up a peace committee. My advice is that we should heed the advice of Paul in the scriptures: “All things are lawful but all things are not expedient.” You can be right, but it does not mean you are righteous.

    The governor is rebuilding from a ruin, and those growling for blood over Warri are akin to a cackle of hyenas over a carcass. Those bearing torches of hate should go back to a state of peace in their hearts. They should react to instigators with the words of Goethe in his famous play, Faust. “The likes of thee have never moved my hate.”

  • SNAPSONG 270

    SNAPSONG 270

    Toto, o se bi owe… Proverbially speaking   (1)

    We have been large, so large for too long

    Time to be small and great again

    A self-set blaze consumes our roof

    But we have no time for little arsons

    What happens when the people

    Gift the throne to a king

    Who makes little dolls

    Out of them and their children’s children

    What happens when a country

     Reels from the choke

    Of a tyranny foretold

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    From tower tops to marketplaces

    What happens when a people

    Walk into an open trap

    Blindfolded by a farce conceived in chaos

    How did this tragedy unfold in a land of vigorous laughter?

    “We have too much Science in our land”.

    Croaked the King of  shallow aspects

    “Yes, time for the Great Unknowing,

    Beautiful and absolutely tremendous!

     How can a people think they are at their tallest

    When they bow in passive silence

    What nation can ever grow its best

     When buried in abject obedience?

  • PDP fails to break the siege

    PDP fails to break the siege

    When he concluded plaintively on October 11 that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was powerless to arrest the defections of leading members of his party, it was obvious that Bauchi State governor and PDP Governors’ Forum chairman, Bala Mohammed, was despondent. “I cannot say that my colleagues are wrong,” he began with a hint of sarcasm, sounding almost like he was dreaming. “They are free to do whatever they choose. But I have been advising them that even those who left are not finding it easier because most of the people at the grassroots level are PDP and are not happy with the defections. Sometimes, it is done because of permutations and calculations. I will not denigrate or speak negatively about my colleagues, I assure you.” His lament came shortly after the cat was let out of the bag about Enugu State governor Peter Mbah’s impending defection. Three days later, Mr Mbah left the PDP and berthed at the All Progressives Congress (APC), giving convincing reasons and ignoring Mr Mohammed’s remonstrations.

    Before the week ran out, another governor, Douye Diri of Bayelsa State, one of the least expected to defect, though it had been widely rumoured, had left the PDP sheepfold. He too gave eloquent reasons for his exit. More defections could still follow, for the leading opposition party has proved incompetent to arrest the exodus. But those who prematurely sing a funeral dirge for the PDP suggest that the ruling APC seems bent on fostering a dictatorship over Nigeria, a one-party state that would dim the light of democracy. They exaggerate. The defection problem is less what the APC plans to do as what the PDP omits to do. Yes, the opposition party faces grave existential challenge, but it still possesses the seed to counter the ruling party and give hope for the future. The party is now down to eight states, from a decent 13 in 2023. It lost one through off-cycle election, and four by defections: Bayelsa, Enugu, Delta and Akwa Ibom. But it prefers to moralise the problem rather than strategise to arrest it. It prefers to preach rather than act timely and sensibly.

    Two things ail the PDP: a lack of visionary and assertive leadership, and a lack of strategy. Since it lost the epoch-defining and mind-shaping presidential election of 2015, the party was never the same. Ex-president Goodluck Jonathan who cost them the election refused to fall on his sword in penance for leading the troops to disaster; instead, he did much worse. Alleging betrayal against his party members and leaders, and displaying a sense of entitlement at a time when his leadership was sorely needed and even demanded, he sulked back to his native state. And when he caught his breath a little, he returned to Abuja and promptly adopted the post of ambassador plenipotentiary, stomping through African states and cities for election monitoring and other peacemaking duties, supposedly mocking Nigerians about the gem they foolishly scorned. But Nigeria has since moved on to other seductions. PDP leaders’ judgement was of course often infantile, but they were determined not to have anything to do with Dr Jonathan whom they controversially blamed for all their miseries and shortcomings. The party panted for great and transformative leaders who could stanch the flow of electoral blood depleting them, but no leader came forward. Their 2015 loss had so bewildered them that they lost the will to live or even play politics intelligently.

    Former Rivers governor Nyesom Wike saw the vacuum after 2015 and immediately filled it. He imbued the party with a new sense of direction, energised them with funds, imposed his will on party chieftains, and brought the party out of the doldrums. Even when some dissatisfied party chiefs lured the nomadic former vice president Atiku Abubakar into using the party’s platform to contest the presidency, Mr Wike still held the reins, refusing to feel scorned by ungrateful party members. The return of Alhaji Abubakar unfortunately produced two counterproductive elements. Firstly, it opened the party to his unhealthy and entitled influence; and secondly, it robbed the party of the commitment and resourcefulness of Mr Wike. With dissension now freely coursing through the party and polluting its soul, it was just a few steps away from disaster. That disaster exploded in their faces in 2023, and shortly after the polls, Alhaji Atiku, the great nomad, once again departed for greener pastures, thrusting the knife deeper into the party’s back. This time, sadly, there was no one left in the party to help pick up the pieces. All its leaders are now gone, and third-rate leaders with no sense of direction, urgency or the funds to back up their talk are inexpertly attempting to chart a new path.

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    The second failing is even much worse than the first. Yes, the PDP lacks vibrant and imaginative leaders; but by lacking a strategy to reclaim and rediscover itself, the party has become rudderless. After losing the 2015 elections, it was apoplectic and began adopting desperate and impractical measures. But after losing the 2023 presidential election, party leaders seemed to have virtually lost all hope thereby endangering the party’s survival. After the 2025 electoral disaster, party leaders should have constituted a high-powered panel to rejig the party and recreate its purpose by refining and honing its founding ideals. Instead, they were obsessed with the next presidential election in 2019, sought for a draftee to be their champion, and found the mercurial and jinxed Alhaji Atiku. The founding ideals of the party should have been repurposed, and party organs and structures should have been reworked in a way that finds and elevates new or younger and more driven leaders. As a matter of fact, they should have glossed over the 2019 election and set a new timetable for themselves, either 2023 or 2027. Unfortunately, they spurned the idea of the long haul, ignored the crying need for restructuring, and rushed with fatal consequences into the next electoral war they were both unsuited and unprepared for.

    It is, however, not too late to make amends once they are persuaded that they need to do substantial refitting of their party. They must start by acknowledging that they are too hobbled by internal dissension to win the 2027 presidential poll. Next, they must find brilliant and animated politicians with the resources and rhetorical flourish who can both approximate and aggregate their future and speak persuasively and fluently to it. They must centre their renewal on those who remain behind, the real altruists who are willing to work and put their shoulders to the wheel, men and women who see the PDP as a project worth dying for. Twelve years of losing presidential elections may have deprived them of the capacity to mentor the party’s future leaders; it is now time to find and mentor the hopes of that future. The APC will not always be strong, and may even sometimes drop the ball; the PDP must, therefore, find ways to take advantage of those overconfident and careless moments.

    Some analysts have predicted the demise of the opposition party; but such predictions are probably exaggerated. Party leaders must not allow those predictions to become self-fulfilling. Pride may not allow them to abandon the 2027 race, which may explain why they have been hunting for jaded politicians like Dr Jonathan to come and help them fight the Goliath confronting them. Let them instead register only a token presence in the race; and let them strategise for the future, a strategy that begins with repurposing and refitting their once powerful party. Indeed, their main challenge is finding a few brilliant and altruistic leaders to lead the charge, men who understand strategy and deplore political self-aggrandisement.

  • Defections and wind of change

    Defections and wind of change

    In 2023, the All Progressives Congress (APC) controlled 20 states and 59 senate seats. It was not a tenuous hold, but it was also not an overwhelming grip. By last week, that control had expanded to 24 states, and in the senate, to a dominant 73 seats from its 2023 level of 59 seats. These growths have been due to steady defections from opposition political parties to the ruling party, with the stream getting less viscous than one or two years ago. The APC’s previously controversial economic reform that earned it repudiation is suddenly not as controversial as they once seemed, as the economy has begun to enjoy a rebound in place of the great spasms and suffocations of the earlier months. Even President Bola Tinubu previously, once caricatured as the devil or agent of despair, has in the estimation of many of his former ardent critics become prescient.

    Despite favourable economic indicators and uplifting governorship and legislative defections, few Nigerians predicted the massive change of affiliations witnessed in the past few months. The political cognoscenti might undoubtedly have foreseen some shifts, perhaps in a few vulnerable states or off-cycle elections states, but they will be telling tall stories to say they saw anything resembling the seismic shifts that have reshaped the political leanings of Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom, and Enugu States. They had no pressing reasons to change alliances and were not under siege by anti-graft agencies on a scale and severity glibly referenced by critics. Nor was it obvious that by keeping their former affiliations they would be brutally suffocated by Abuja, especially considering that for the last two years there had been no punitive policies or exercises directed against opposition states. Indeed, the president had admired and recommended some opposition states and deprecated, privately and to a little extent publicly, a few states under the APC umbrella.

    All the off-cycle governorship elections held in the past two years, not to talk of most of the by-elections noised among opposition coalition leaders as definitive and epochal, have been won by the ruling party. They were not rigged. While they suffered a few administrative hiccups, they were nonetheless mostly free and fair. Opposition leaders were mystified by the seemingly inexorable trend that defied their confident projections; but they seemed, after catching their breath, to have either reconciled themselves to the wind of change blowing over Nigeria or acknowledged the new realities. It may get worse for them. That wind is not only political; it is also economical. The economy is growing at a healthy rate, foreign exchange rates have not fallen as precipitously as opponents had wished and instead stabilised and strentghened, the stock market is generally and invitingly bullish, and the world, which had in the first few months of the administration excoriated the administration’s policies and warned of apocalyptic consequences, have been surprisingly upbeat.

    The APC is still six states shy of the 31 the PDP boasted of in 2007 in the closing months of the Olusegun Obasanjo presidency. The ruling party is unlikely to match that PDP feat, and even if it does, it is unlikely to boast of ruling Nigeria for 60 unbroken years. The PDP dominance at the time was, however, a spinoff of the democratic euphoria sweeping over Nigeria, with indications to exultant Nigerians that the Fourth Republic would last longer than they dared to hope. The APC’s appeal in the past two years has been anchored on the administration’s courageous and perceptive management of the country’s distressed economy. Few analysts expected a turnaround as impressive and persuasive, with many of them initially sceptical about the bona fides of the men entrusted with the management of the economy, not to say the judgement of the president himself. But clearing $10bn forex debt, raising net foreign reserves from $3.99bn in 2023 to over $40bn last month, in addition to sustaining a growth rate of about four percent, all in a little over two years, was nothing less than phenomenal.

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    The governors saw a president willing to take the flak for them by absorbing acerbic public criticism that bordered on insurrection, a president who refused to engage in blame game with his predecessor, and one who freed public funds through courageous economic policies so that states could embark on massive infrastructural renewal while borrowing little from financial institutions. No, they didn’t need to be intimidated or cajoled into defecting. They saw the future, and despite the mocking conclusions of naysayers, decided to climb in bed with the APC administration. More governors and lawmakers could still defect because the indices of change and the power of the headwind appear irresistible.

    The chances of this wind of change metamorphosing into one-party dictatorship is, however, far-fetched. It didn’t happen under Chief Obasanjo when the ruling PDP controlled 31 states. It is unlikely to happen now for the same reasons it didn’t happen then. Nigeria is not dominated by one ethnic group or religion which sometimes provide the favourable ecosystem for dictatorship. In addition, its constitution is in fact becoming more federal than the inchoate unitarism of its unpromising and uncompromising beginnings. What is more, power is gradually devolving to the sub-nationals in a way that does not flagrantly and defiantly threaten the hegemonism of the cartels that have maintained a stranglehold on the country. In any case, as history has shown, a seismic shift to dictatorship is often facilitated by periods of economic emergencies, such as depression, or massive existential challenges, such as civil or external wars. Check out Spain under Franscisco Franco, Italy under Benito Mussolini, Germany under Adolf Hitler, and Portugal under Antonio Salazar, among others. Where military generals and political demagogues sometimes tended to authoritarianism when circumstances permit, economists and financial experts rarely make dictators or one-party virtuosi, of course with the notable exception of Prof. Salazar, a brilliant political economist who balanced his country’s distressed budget and lulled distraught and hungry Portuguese to complacency. 

  • Gen Irabor’s state of emergency call

    Gen Irabor’s state of emergency call

     In his book, ‘Scars: Nigeria’s journey and the Boko Haram conundrum’, former Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Lucky Irabor calls for the declaration of a state of emergency to marshal all elements of national power towards ending the insurgency in the Northeast. Undoubtedly, that declaration would also deal with the insurgency cum banditry in the Northwest and North Central. Months ago, this writer called on the federal government to put Nigeria on a war footing by mobilising about 30,000 to 50,000 troops to deal with banditry and Boko Haram once and for all. In the words of Gen. Irabor, “The understanding of Boko Haram as purveyors of anguish and torment under the cloak of religious puritanism should serve as a lesson for all in our future socio-cultural and socio-political interactions.” The former CDS also argued that the actions of the insurgents were disconnected from religion which they, however, use to mask their predatory and nihilistic goals.

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    At the rate misleading inferences are distorting the terrorism narrative in Nigeria, especially with allegations of intentional genocide ascribed to government connivance, if not collusion, it is no longer realistic to continue to waffle about labels and definitions or which measures are sensible and adequate to combat terrorism in the North. For years the Nigerian government had deployed sterile paradigms to fight terror and experimented with a mixture of kinetic and non-kinetic measures based on their understanding of the multifarious roots and manifestations of the crisis. This is sheer sophistry. While much progress has been made in battling banditry and Boko Haram, it is nevertheless time to mobilise once and for all to defeat the spreading cancer. It is only after victory that it may be time to embark on non-kinetic measures to deal with the root causes of the crisis. To rehabilitate insurgents midway in the war is, for instance, to open the government to allegations of official connivance, another way of saying, as Gen. Irabor argued, that the country lacked the political will to defeat insurgency. It is not certain that insurgents are deliberately dispersing their forces into autonomous cells to saturate all parts of the country with terror and stretch the military thin and run them ragged; but whatever the causes of the dispersal, the government must urgently stop the haemorrhaging before more states are ensnared.  

  • Lt. Gen. Ipoola Alani Akinrinade: The Colosus

    Lt. Gen. Ipoola Alani Akinrinade: The Colosus

    When the history of that era is written, Gen. Alani Akinrinade would be one of its guiding lights.Home and abroad, Gen. Akinrinade fought the military regime for the soul of Nigeria as entrenched in the democratic rights of Nigerians. For that, he paid heavily.

    The general had a thriving large-scale farm before the crisis. To get back at him for his effrontery to confront the military roughnecks, the Abacha regime went for the general’s economic jugular. They ruined his farm. His shipping business too was fair game. If he had tarried at home, they most probably would have sent a killer gang after him. That is the only logical deduction from the arson agents of the state committed on his house.

    But after all the trauma, Gen. Akinrinade stands firm and formidable in his beliefs. Whatever he had lost in that struggle, he gained in the estimation and affection of the grateful Nigerian masses, who were not only tired of military rule but were also irked by the arrogant cancellation of a mandate they freely gave Basorun Abiola.

    Gen. Akinrinade may have been disillusioned at 70, seeing the gulf between his vision of what the Nigerian military should be when he signed up; and what it was when he left. But history will bear him testimony that despite all the rot of his generation, he maintained his personal honour and integrity; and remained the quintessential officer and gentleman.

    No one could wish for more, in a generally traumatised era, when honour had gone to the dogs and debauchery was the new high point of state culture – Olakunle Abimbola in: Akinrinade – An officer and gentleman at 70″.

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    This piece, simpli cita, is not a biography of, definitely, one of the most outstanding generals ever produced by the Nigerian Army.

    Lt. Gen. Akinrinade who turned 86 on October 3, 2025 was, as usual, more than generously celebrated by the high and mighty.

    One of those who congratulated him, appropriately the Executive Governor of his Osun State, Senator Ademola Jackson Nurudeen Adeleke,

     fulsomely celebrated the elder statesman, describing him as “a patriot of the highest order, a military legend, and a shining example of statesmanship whose life is defined by service, sacrifice, and courage.”

    This article, therefore, deals with only one of the General’s post military engagements, namely, his always very courageously, providing communal leadership for both country and the Yoruba race which explains his multi – pronged roles in NADECO, the group that provided a dignified escape route for Yorubas of Southwest Nigeria when the ruthless General Sanni Abacha was intent on annihilating the entire race.

    This then leads me to my review of the  General’s ALAROYE LECTURE  of 3 December, 2006, now definitively

    etched in history on pages 313 – 315 of my book: ‘Simply a Citizen Journalist’ ( Amazon link:https://a.co/d/dXnfY77

    Happy reading.

    Yoruba Nation Politics, Irridentism And Issues Arising

    Until I read an in- depth analysis of General Alani Akinrinade’s lecture delivered on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of Alaroye, Thisday, 28 NOV.2006, by Philip Ogunmade, I had almost concluded that there was a press conspiracy to black it out.

    All I had seen of the event, before then, consisted only of the photographs of politicians and Kabiyesis, and it would have been a great dis-service if the lecture, entitled ‘Yoruba and Their Neighbours After 2007’, had been reduced to nothing more than a photo opportunity.

    First, a word about the guest lecturer.

    Lt. Gen. Alani Akinrinade, one time Nigerian Chief of Army Staff, was a twotime Minister of the Federal Republic. An officer and a gentleman, if ever there was one, Gen. Akinrinade was run out of town during the reign of the goggled one with his house literally bombed out of existence whilst on exile with his “co-conspirators”in NADECO.

    As God would have it, he and his associates saw the end of Abacha and returned home to Nigeria.

    Since coming back, Gen. Akinrinade has resumed where he left off in the service of Nigeria and the Yoruba race in particular. Around him, and at his great inspiration, an organisation is in the works to which every Yoruba man and woman would be only too happy to register his/her unborn child as member.

    Modelled after the Jewish council, the organisation, unlike extant Pan – Yoruba groupings, will be all-inclusive, non-partisan and there would be no joiners, but co-equals,  despite the many months of ground work the General and his associates have invested in the project. It will suffice for now, that I am jumping the gun, to say only that the organization will have as its primary duty, the re-invention, reinvigoration and nurture of Yoruba culture, language and the Arts, as well as the ‘gathering’ together of all Yorubas, whether here at home in Nigeria, in Brazil, Cuba or  the United States and wherever on earth our compatriots practice IFA in its pristine originality; an institution which happily, has now become a UNESCO responsibility.

    Given the above background, Lt. Gen. Akinrinade is eminently qualified to give the ‘Alaroye’ lecture which he concluded to a rapturous applause from the audience which included the high and mighty in society.

    Highly respected across  board, General Akinrinade, with neither airs nor ego, is a deep and very committed Yoruba leader. Indeed, a natural Yoruba leader, almost of the old school, very accommodating and tolerant of others’ views. General Akinrinade spares nothing, not time, nor resources, in the service of motherland.

    May his tribe increase.

    The General, in his lecture under review, went down memory lane; traversed centuries of the history of various Nigerian nationalities, emphasizing how British imperialism undermined local authorities and completely vaporised all.

    He concluded this section with how the South came to be unequally yoked with the North.

    In his view, the principal job of the Yoruba in the post-Obasanjo era will be the need to ‘see to the promotion of a true peoples’ constitution which will reflect the aggregated wishes of our various nationalities’.

    As long as the status quo remains, he continued, the death struggle which our politics has become can only intensify.

    The Yoruba, continued the General, ‘must now find a unity that transcends politics, religion, social status, gender etc’. He believes that  Yorubas must show the way for they it is who have a tradition for reform, decency and abhorrence of cheating and hegemony over others.

    Finally said the general, ‘we must rise to the struggle to entrench a constitution that can bring good governance, return power to the people, remove career politicians whose only contribution is looting; entrench the rule of law and repudiate majoritarian democracy in a heterogeneous society like Nigeria’.

    This is no doubt a laudable road map for the Yoruba and it will only be in our tradition to lead the way.

    However, I believe that the audience at the Alaroye lecture would have been better served if General Akinrinade had been given the luxury of choosing his topic or, alternatively, if he was asked  to appraise the place of the Yoruba in these ‘our’ – read as Obasanjo’s two terms of almost eight years.

     A critical examination of what Yorubas suffered during the Obasanjo administration – 1999-2007′, would have better made their day as it was a ruinous era for the entire race.

    Traditionally, Yorubas have always belonged in opposition to the

    Federal government of the federation. This has largely resulted from a hard-headed, consensus- based preference for our own political leaders who know exactly what we want as a people.

    Beginning with Chief Obafemi Awolowo, through Chief Adekunle Ajasin; from Chief Adesanya to Late Chief Bola Ige, the Yoruba has come to be well served by their ‘opposition’ governments until 2003 when Obasanjo started his so – called mainstreaming against our wishes.

    Things have since gotten so bad that only this past week, the Yoruba Council of Elders, a body that owed its birth, and life-line, for quite a while, to the Obasanjo regime, railed unrepentantly about the misfortune that has befallen education in the South West since 2003.

    I was amazed to hear members of the Parents/Teachers Association of Queen’s College, Lagos, assert painfully, on an AIT Kaakaki programme, that they saw a copy of the Federal government’s letter inviting Chevron to come and buy the School. Even NEPA may have been invited by Obasanjo’s dutiful daughter, as Minister of Education, to buy King’s college.

    This would practically have had the down-side of taking quality secondary education beyond most Nigerians.

    Not too long ago,  Agbajo decided to set up a rapid response committee of three, under the leadership of Professor Jide Osuntokun when it became obvious that rarely was any of the multibillion naira road and water projects announced routinely after Executive Council meetings meant for the South West.

    Not many would now remember when the uncompleted Ibadan -Ilorin road was awarded nor when the Ilorin-Ado-Ekiti road project which has become a perennial, would be completed. The least said about  the Lagos-Ota road, in his own neck of wood, the better. A documentary on the Benin-Ore road, brought tears to many eyes even in this era of multibillion petrol dollars.

    The case is probably worse in the Federal Ministry of Water Resources where the Obasanjo government , with Muktar Shagari as minister, has out-spent every other government in the history of the nation, weekly announcing multi- billion irrigation projects for only the North.

     Meanwhile, Obasanjo expects Ekiti State to be industrialised even when, like Bayelsa, it is yet to be connected to the national grid. This is not to mention the Lagos state experience during this ‘our’ tenure, when ‘our president’ cruelly seized all Local Government funds.

    In conclusion I believe that Yoruba is in a double jeopardy if, during ‘our tenure’ we have been treated as shown above, only God knows what lies –in wait for Yorubas in a new administration headed by a Northerner. Therefore, the need for a Yoruba leaders to rigorously interface with the various party presidential candidates, whenever they emerge, to agree minimum parameters to have our electoral support, should be considered a must.

  • Screening of kindergraduates

    Screening of kindergraduates

    JAMB’s exam for underage but brilliant children ends with fond memories

    Just as the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) was yet to release the results of the candidates who penultimate week sat for the underage screening examination into tertiary institutions in the country nationwide, came the rude shock that the Federal Government had decided to change the current admission process into tertiary institutions in the country by allowing the institutions to decide their choice of students themselves. In effect, JAMB would have lost its essence. To put it more bluntly, the board would naturally cease to exist once that happens because, under the extant arrangement, JAMB is central to the admission process.

    I would return to that shortly because this piece actually set out to comment on the underage screening that took place in Abuja, Lagos and Owerri between October 8 and 9. One hundred and seventy-six candidates in all sat for the examination, out of which 84 were adjudged to have finally scaled the hurdle to proceed to the universities of their choice for the 2025/26 academic session, having met the set criteria. This means they have scaled the four-stage screening set for them, having scored at least 320 in the UTME; at least 80 per cent in the Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE); 80 per cent in the university’s internal screening exercise; and another 80 per cent in the final screening conducted by a JAMB-appointed panel comprising vice-chancellors, civil society representatives, education experts, and other distinguished professionals.

    These included Prof. Adamu Ahmed, Vice-Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, chairperson of the Lagos centre; Prof Taoheed Adedoja, chairperson of the Abuja centre while Prof. Paulinus Okwelle, Executive Secretary of the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE), chaired the Owerri centre.

    Prof. Boniface Nworgu, a renowned psychometrician, who chaired the panel in Lagos on October 9, as Prof. Ahmed had to leave after the first day for other engagements; Dr Rafiu Soyele, Provost Federal College of Education, Abeokuta, Prof. Lawrence Ezeminye, Vice-Chancellor, Igbinedion University, Okada, Edo State, and Mrs. Mary Millicent Nnawuogo, Principal, Federal Government Academy, Suleja, among others.

    READ ALSO; MC Mbakara, wife open up on daughter’s nine-year cerebral palsy struggle

    A candidate becomes eligible for the next stage only after successfully meeting the requirements of the preceding one. This, indeed, was the issue with one Miss Kareem Kaamilah Omolarami, who scored 371 in the UTME and indeed successfully scaled the first two hurdles but was not invited for the final screening because Nile University of Nigeria to which she had applied wrote to JAMB that she was absent at the  university’s internal screening. She therefore automatically became ineligible to continue the process, having missed one stage. 

    It was interesting how the oral interview session went in Lagos, with Professors Ahmed and Nworgu in charge. The conviviality of the atmosphere was such that could have normalised the blood pressure of the most nervous candidates. It took place largely on a father to son/daughter basis and not as some professors up there looking condescendingly at some kids trying to do what they did several decades ago.

    At times, the candidate’s name was an object of joke. While some knew what their names meant (as we usually give people names in this part of the world for different reasons), I remember one of them who said his surname was ‘Arowosaye’ and he was asked the meaning, which he translated as ‘’one who has money to enjoy life’’!

    How about welcoming the candidate to the oral interview with ‘’how are you doing, my son/daughter’’? Sometimes, Prof. Nwogu would, during break, chat up the candidates. ”Are you enjoying your coffee’’? Sometimes he cracked jokes with them, drawing laughter. It was such an enjoyable time that I knew some of the candidates would wish never ended. Virtually everyone that JAMB selected for the exercise was a parent indeed; born teachers, too. They had all it takes for such exercise: the patience, stamina, knowledge and what have you.

    And JAMB more than spoilt the candidates with food, snacks and drinks.

    I observed the process at the Lagos centre which held at the Senate Chamber of the University of Lagos, Akoka, Lagos. Trust Prof Ishaq Oloyede, the registrar and chief executive of JAMB, he would never allow any opportunity pass deserving of a joke without seizing it. The Senate Chamber also happens to be the seat of the highest decision-making authority in the university. In case the candidates did not know, Oloyede made them understand that and how indeed lucky they were to be sitting in such a place when they have not even become ‘JAMBITES’ (students newly admitted into the university). He was right. The candidates were lucky indeed. For those of us who left the university decades ago, the Senate Chamber was a place we looked at with awe from outside. We could only be imagining what the hell was happening in there!

    Then, the candidates’ food. There was no doubt that some of them were amazed at what they were served, as they openly confessed that the pieces of meat and fish they were served were adult size. But that was not all. They equally had tea break during which they had snacks and coffee on the two days, all very rich qualitatively, and something to write home about, quantitatively, all paid for by JAMB!

    But that is Oloyede for you. As a matter of fact, when the parent of one of the candidates asked him whether the board made any arrangement for lunch for the candidates, the question did not go down well with him as he wondered whether it was possible for any reasonable person to assemble such children without making provision for feeding for them. But then, both the parent and Oloyede were right. It is just because the JAMB registrar cares. Some other organisations would organise such things from morning till evening as JAMB did and the children would have to be catered for by their parents. All they would give them is lunch break; and the candidates, forget their impressionable ages, would have to fend for themselves.

    This brings me yet to another aspect of the Oloyede phenomenon: resource management. When I considered the money spent to conduct these examinations in three centres, the calibre of experts that were engaged to ensure that things went well, the facilities used, etc., I keep wondering where the JAMB registrar gets the billions that he returns to the government’s coffers despite all these unforeseen expenses. Considering that this underage screening is novel in the JAMB processes, it means it was probably not budgeted for. Yet, candidates were not asked to pay a dime for its organisation. And I doubt if this would in any way stop the board from returning billions to the government’s coffers at the end of the day, given our experiences in the last few years that Oloyede assumed the front seat in the board.

    May be someday, the man would tell Nigerians the magic. I do not want to dwell on this aspect of JAMB’s operations since the coming of Oloyede because it has become a familiar thing. As a matter of fact, the news from JAMB is; if the board cannot remit the billions as it used to do, not otherwise.

    If JAMB’S past is anything to go by, then Oloyede is going to leave oversized pair of shoes for his successor when his second term ends. Alternatively, he may have to induct him or her into the secret of the machine that is spinning the billions that he has been handing over to the Federal Government annually in the last eight years. Or better still, show him or her  the way to the shrine from where the gods cough up the remittances! What I am saying is that Oloyede’s successor must be ready to continue to ‘su dundun’ as we say in Yoruba land. That is he or she must be ready to excrete something pleasant or sweet! That is one of the lessons and legacies of the Oloyede years in JAMB. Anything short of that is unacceptable.

    Be that as it may, let me seek your indulgence to return to the satanic rumour about the Federal Government scrapping JAMB, or making it impotent by stripping it of its role in the admission processes into tertiary institutions in the country. I did not take the rumour with a pinch of salt right from the time it ‘broke’. Mind you, rumours too break, not only stories! I knew it must have been something from the pit of hell. Apparently, some of the people benefitting from the rot in the JAMB of old must have had a dream of such happening. And, just like the Lagbaja episode, ‘’Omo, anything for me’’, and the response: ‘’Lagbaja, nothing for you’’!

    Mercifully, the Federal Ministry of Education did not waste time to turn the fraudsters’ dream into a nightmare by issuing a rejoinder signed by the director of press and public relations of the ministry, Boriowo Folasade, on behalf of the minister of Education, Dr. Maruf Tunji Alausa. The statement said: “For the avoidance of doubt, JAMB remains the statutory and legally empowered body responsible for conducting entrance examinations and coordinating admissions into all tertiary institutions in Nigeria.” It added: “The established admission processes through JAMB remain fully operational, and any contrary information should be disregarded in its entirety.” Thus ended the antics of the satanic dreamers.

    All said, that the screening of the underage candidates went without serious hitches in the three centres was due mainly to the fact that it was well organised. Yes, there were minor hitches, especially with some of the parents who accompanied their children; these were generally sorted out without incidents. The fact that many parents indeed came with their children, at least to the Lagos centre, was one proof they were really underage; as in below the minimum 16 years required for admission. In my time, no one followed me because I was old enough to know my left from my right before seeking university admission. That was one of the things two years of Higher School Certificate (HSC) did for us back then.

    It was indeed thoughtful of Prof Oloyede who insisted that the examinations should be held on university campuses instead of centres in town. This restricted movement and also made many of the parents to comport themselves. Otherwise, the exercise might not have been as successful as it was. In fairness to the candidates, they were generally calm and law-abiding. But, because babies would always be babies, some of them forgot the original of some of their documents in their answer sheets, particularly the National Identification Number (NIN) slips. Mercifully, they were not too many; therefore retrieving the documents did not pose a serious problem.   

    I congratulate the 84 candidates who successfully scaled the hurdles. In terms of brilliance, many of them cannot be denied the accolades. From reports globally, Nigeria has got talents. Many of our children, including the very ones we are talking about have all it takes when the matter is academic studies. What has been the central concern of many is whether these children have the mental and physical capacities to withstand the rigours of the environments in our tertiary institutions, with cultism and all.  

  • Uncertainties envelope opposition coalition

    Uncertainties envelope opposition coalition

    The defection of Enugu State governor Peter Mbah does not just reflect his personal desire to join the ruling party and win more federal concessions for his state, it is also probably an indication that he and many like him have given up on his former party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and any thought that an opposition coalition can wrest power from the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2027. While angry commentators and some party chieftains accuse defectors of sabotage and selfishness, the defectors see their migrations as realistic appraisals of the shifting dynamics of contemporary Nigerian politics. If they do not adapt quickly, the defectors ruminate, they could fade into irrelevance prematurely. They recognise the worrisome internal dynamics of the main opposition party far more comprehensively than armchair critics who still bandy superficial analysis of the PDP’s prospects or make moralistic evaluation of what defection presupposes.

    In one fell swoop, Mr Mbah got rid of the uncertainties clogging his movement and stymying his politics. To him, the PDP was too weakened by internal rancour that it had become difficult to calculate options. The PDP candidate in the 2023 presidential election had also jettisoned the party and moved on to spearhead a new coalition of aggrieved parties. Labour Party’s Peter Obi, a presidential candidate in the last elections, had also leapt into the void by trying to straddle the Labour Party (LP) and the coalition platform, the African Democratic Congress (ADC). Until he lands, neither his supporters nor he can tell whether he has landed well or not. But he was also at a time a member of the PDP. Other than the interim leaders of the ADC led by former senate president David Mark and former Osun governor Rauf Aregbesola, few other party chieftains are sure who really is an ADC member.

    READ ALSO; MC Mbakara, wife open up on daughter’s nine-year cerebral palsy struggle

    Despite the initial razzmatazz of coming together for a public presentation of the ADC and letting the public know that their souls are knitted with the adopted party, presumptive party chieftains have engaged in protracted formalisation of their membership of the party. Former vice president Atiku Abubakar announced through his spokesmen that the process of registering with the ADC was ongoing. It takes less than 24 hours to register with any party, but Alhaji Atiku is taking months. It takes just a moment to register with the coalition platform, but Mr Obi has engaged in sophistry and unabashedly declared he was still an LP member while his soul drew to the ADC. Their dithering is unlikely to be because of their lack of certainty in winning the presidential ticket nomination. Alhaji Atiku knows no one can upstage him in a party he has invested his personality and money on a significant scale. Conversely, Mr Obi knows he cannot win the ADC ticket under any circumstance.

    So, why are they still pussyfooting? In the next few months, the parties will hold their primaries. And possibly before the end of 2026, going by the speculations about the scope of the legislative amendment being proposed to the Electoral Act, the elections might conceivably be held next year, and not 2027 as previously determined. Given the tightness of the electoral schedule ahead, party leaders and aspirants to various offices ought to demonstrate urgency and perspicacity in their political calculations. Instead, both Alhaji Atiku and Mr Obi have been formulaic and lethargic. Their seemingly detached approach is, however, unlikely to be a result of their excessive caution in watching which way the cat jumps. Their lethargy is in fact a function of two factors intrinsic to their politics. One, both men worry over what other banana peels are strewn across their paths, hobbled it seems by the unpredictability of their self-willed colleagues within a fractious party.

    Two, having never founded any party before but had thrived reaping where they did not sow, the two gentlemen a lack of capacity in running anything but trading concerns and one-man businesses where their word is law. Asking them to engage in perspective thinking and modeling will be asking them to deconstruct a black hole or expound the latest advances in particle physics. Alhaji Atiku is adept at picking holes in other leaders’ policies and scorning their achievements, while Mr Obi is brilliant at sermonising and drawing distinctions between black and white, not other colour spectrums. Both gentlemen have imposed their inadequacies and uncertainties on the coalition force. But they know that after 2027 or 2026, they would no longer be in currency, especially given the superficiality of their ideas and the insubstantiality of their persons. So, it is now or never, with no room for mistakes. But their best political years are behind them, whether they recognise it or not.

    The ADC itself, or whatever is left of it, having morphed so badly that it has become unrecognisable even as a special purpose vehicle for political journeymen, is in a quandary. Party chieftains await the decisions of their notables. Until those putative leaders make up their minds, the party will remain in the doldrums. Fiery chieftains like former Kaduna governor Nasir el-Rufai will loath such inertia; but there is little he can do, having burnt his fingers in other issues and decisions because of shortage of funds and lack of sound judgement. Other chieftains like Rotimi Amaechi will continue to nurse his bilious rage, but there is little else he can do until both Alhaji Atiku and Mr Obi make up their minds. Other less calculating chieftains like Gen. Mark and the obstreperous Mr Aregbesola will squirm beneath the surface until someone puts them out of their misery. The ADC will hope that the former vice president and the former Anambra governor will never return to the PDP, for from such devastation, should it happen, no politician, no matter how gifted and principled, has ever recovered.

  • The genocidal claims against Nigeria

    The genocidal claims against Nigeria

    Old habits die hard. Under Donald Trump, the United States has indicated isolationism as its foreign policy core. But it is now embroiled in the Middle East, and the president is loving every bit of it. It finds Asia a tough nut to crack, so it will forebear in the short run. It cannot best Europe in moralising, or in Whiteness, so he will stay aloof or try to force them to blink first. Overall, the US president, despite mouthing isolationism, wants to become president of the world. This may partly explain the hoopla about designating Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) over claims of genocide based on the recommendation of the United States Commission on international Religious Freedom (USCIRF).

    READ ALSO: Military debunks report of alleged coup to overthrow Tinubu

    Apart from misusing the term, which could cause Nigeria to be designated as a CPC, thereby attracting economic sanctions, the USCIRF has consistently recommended Nigeria to be designated a CPC since 2018. In any case, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Egypt, Pakistan, all of them Mr. Trump’s new friends, in addition to dozens of other countries, have been on the list for years. So, why the hysteria when in fact what is taking place in some parts of Nigeria is terrorism mixed with ethnic cleansing over grazing and mining lands? The Nigerian parliament is working to engage the US Congress over the issue, but this whole furore is one more reason for those who specialise in washing Nigeria’s dirty linens in foreign lands to be circumspect. If sanctions are imposed, and they prove debilitating, it will affect everyone, Christians and Muslims alike, not to say every ethnic group.

  • Like reaping fruits of reforms in installments, like statecraft by stealth

    Like reaping fruits of reforms in installments, like statecraft by stealth

    It was a week without spectacle — no roaring motorcades through Abuja, no grand state receptions, no boisterous summits at Aso Rock. Yet, for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the past week was as eventful as it was defining. From the serene precincts of Rome to the corridors of Nigeria’s energy sector, his steady hand on the levers of governance quietly delivered another chapter in what is shaping up to be one of Nigeria’s most reform-driven Presidencies in modern times.

    At a time when leadership is often judged by the noise it makes rather than the results it produces, President Tinubu’s governance style continues to favour the latter — a methodical, deliberate, and reform-focused rhythm that is now bearing fruits in instalments. The latest evidence came in the form of Shell’s $2 billion Final Investment Decision (FID) for a new offshore gas development in Nigeria’s HI Field — a major boost that pushes total upstream oil and gas investment commitments under his watch to over $8 billion in just 18 months.

    It was also a week that revealed the multiple layers of the Tinubu persona; the reformer, the diplomat, and the doting father.

    President Tinubu began the week in Rome, where he joined other Heads of State and Government for the Aqaba Process meeting — a global counter-terrorism forum co-chaired by the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and the Italian government. The session focused on the evolving security landscape in West Africa, particularly the twin threats of terrorism and transnational crime.

    Though Rome was not abuzz with the familiar ceremonial flourish of high-level summits, the significance of Tinubu’s attendance was unmistakable. It underscored Nigeria’s centrality to regional peace efforts and reaffirmed his standing as a continental stabiliser.

    READ ALSO: Military debunks report of alleged coup to overthrow Tinubu

    At the heart of the discussions was the understanding that no nation can tackle violent extremism in isolation. Nigeria, as the anchor of the Sahel and the most populous country in Africa, remains both a target and a solution. Tinubu’s presence ensured that the voice of West Africa’s frontline state was heard — a reminder that Nigeria’s security concerns are inseparable from the stability of the entire region.

    If diplomacy dominated the President’s early week, economic validation took the stage by midweek. On Tuesday, global oil giant Shell announced a $2 billion FID for its new offshore gas development in OML 144 — the HI Field. The project, which will deliver approximately 350 million standard cubic feet of gas per day from 2028, represents one-third of the feedgas requirements of Nigeria LNG Limited’s Train 7 project.

    For a government that has spent its first two years rolling out painstaking reforms to unlock investment bottlenecks, the Shell FID was more than a corporate milestone, it was vindication.

    “This major FID announcement by Shell, their second in one year, is a clear validation of our wide-ranging reform efforts and a signal to the world that Nigeria is fully open for business and investment,” President Tinubu said in a statement through his Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga.

    The investment came on the back of two earlier FIDs — the Ubeta Non-Associated Gas project and the Bonga North Deepwater Development — both cornerstones of Tinubu’s energy revitalisation drive. Together, the three projects bring total upstream commitments to over $8 billion since he assumed office in 2023.

    These achievements were not accidental. They were the outcome of structural reforms painstakingly crafted through Executive Orders the President signed in March 2024, introducing fiscal incentives, shortening contracting cycles, and reducing costs for oil and gas investors. For years, international oil companies had complained about Nigeria’s bureaucratic inertia. Tinubu’s response was swift: dismantle red tape, streamline approvals, and restore investor confidence.

    Special Adviser on Energy, Olu Arowolo Verheijen, captured the significance succinctly: “With the Ubeta FID and now the HI FID, we have secured the gas supply needed to make NLNG Train 7 not just possible, but transformative”.

    Beyond the numbers, the investments carry strategic importance. They anchor Nigeria’s energy transition, boost foreign exchange earnings, and reinforce the country’s aspiration to become Africa’s gas hub. Shell’s Global Upstream President, Peter Costello, was unambiguous: “This project will grow Shell’s leading gas portfolio while supporting Nigeria’s ambition to become a more significant player in the global LNG market”.

    For Nigeria’s economy, still adjusting to post-reform realities, this was not just a gas story, it was a story of restored confidence. Investors are voting with their wallets again, and the results are trickling in.

    If Tinubu’s economic strides have been visible, his diplomatic manoeuvres often unfold in quiet corridors — effective, understated, yet deeply strategic. On Friday in Rome, that subtle statecraft was again on display when the President met with Massad Boulos, Senior Advisor to U.S. President Donald Trump for Arab and African Affairs.

    The encounter, though brief, carried profound implications. In recent weeks, a small chorus of influential American voices, including television host Bill Maher and Senator Ted Cruz, had amplified the narrative of “Christian persecution” in Nigeria. The aim was clear: to distort Nigeria’s complex security situation into a simplistic religious frame that could influence American foreign policy.

    But Boulos’ comments after his meeting with Tinubu shattered that narrative in seconds. Speaking to journalists, he said: “Those who know the terrain well know that terrorism has no colour, no religion, and no tribe. We even know that Boko Haram and ISIS are killing more Muslims than Christians.”

    It was a blunt and factual repudiation of the misinformation being peddled. In less than three minutes, the Trump advisor not only neutralised the false claims but also reaffirmed Washington’s confidence in Tinubu’s leadership: “The Nigerian government and President Tinubu’s administration have recently taken additional measures and put more resources in those areas, and we’ve seen some improvements. We appreciate those measures and we definitely look forward to more.”

    For Tinubu, who has consistently pursued a balanced approach to international relations, favouring results over rhetoric, the Boulos meeting was another exercise in quiet diplomacy. It showed a President who doesn’t rush to counter every provocation with outrage but patiently waits for the right moment and the right voice to validate his government’s position.

    In doing so, Tinubu demonstrated one of his defining traits: a capacity for calm engagement in the face of noisy provocation. Nigeria’s image, often a casualty of global misinformation, was subtly but powerfully defended, not through counter-punching tweets, but through strategic engagement.

    What binds Tinubu’s economic, diplomatic, and domestic efforts together is a simple philosophy: reform without hysteria. His administration has shown that structural change need not be chaotic. From fiscal reforms and investment incentives to security coordination and sub-national partnerships, his leadership style blends firmness with flexibility.

    Observers note that the President’s hallmark has been an uncanny ability to build consensus even among diverse stakeholders — industry leaders, governors, security chiefs, and development partners. His reforms are deliberate, and his policies are layered with consultation.

    The petroleum-sector transformation, for instance, wasn’t just about signing executive orders. It involved months of inter-agency collaboration between the Ministries of Finance, Justice, Petroleum, Budget and Economic Planning, and the Federal Inland Revenue Service — a rare display of bureaucratic harmony in a system often defined by silos.

    That is Tinubu’s quiet genius: aligning institutions without fanfare, pushing reforms through coordination rather than confrontation.

    Amidst the business of governance and global diplomacy, the week also unveiled Tinubu’s human side, the father, not the President. On Sunday, he penned an emotional tribute to his son, Seyi Tinubu, who clocked 40 the next day.

    “Happy 40th Birthday, my son. You have made us proud, and I know you will continue to make Nigeria proud,” he wrote, in what many Nigerians saw as a deeply personal moment from a leader known more for his political resilience than public sentimentality.

    The letter radiated warmth, humility, and introspection. He praised Seyi’s determination, creativity, and leadership, describing how his son had “turned ideas into institutions and challenges into opportunities.” He also lauded Seyi’s devotion to family and nation, calling his journey a reflection of values “beyond material success.”

    For a President often viewed through the prism of politics and power, the message offered a rare glimpse into his private world — a father proud of his son’s growth, yet grounded enough to remind him that true success lies in service to others.

    “May God bless you with wisdom, good health, and peace. As you celebrate this milestone, remember that your strength lies in what you achieve and how you inspire others”, he concluded.

    It was a moment that resonated far beyond family, a symbolic message about continuity, legacy, and responsibility. It humanised the Presidency and offered a softer counterpoint to the rigours of governance.

    Nearly two and a half years into his tenure, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has moved beyond the honeymoon of reform announcements into the reality of outcomes. The FIDs, the renewed investor confidence, the diplomatic poise, and even the personal reflections are all threads of one narrative — that Nigeria is being quietly repositioned.

    The results may not yet be fully visible to all, but the trajectory is unmistakable. The economy is recalibrating. The energy sector is awakening. Diplomacy is being redefined. And through it all, the President remains consistent in tone and temperament — firm but not fiery, strategic but not sensational.

    As he wrapped up his engagements in Rome, Nigeria’s leader seemed content to let his results do the talking. The Shell FID spoke of faith restored. The Boulos encounter spoke of perceptions corrected. And the birthday note spoke of values sustained.

    Meanwhile, rounding off a week defined by reforms paying off and quiet, effective diplomacy, Tinubu’s Presidency’s cadence of service also echoed in tributes, policy signals, and moments of national pride. On Monday, President Tinubu mourned Evangelist Uma Ukpai, hailing the late revivalist as “one of God’s Generals,” and saluted labour icon Abiodun Aremu for a lifetime defending workers. By Tuesday, the President paired condolences for trailblazing diplomat Joy Ogwu with a hard-edged regional message—urging ECOWAS to classify resource theft as an international crime—while congratulating EFCC Chair Olanipekun Olukoyede for reformist momentum and commiserating with the Church on Bishop-Emeritus Michael Fagun’s passing.

    He also cheered the Super Eagles’ 4–0 rout of Benin Republic, framing football’s lift as shared national optimism. Midweek, he condoled Kenya on the passing of former Prime Minister Raila Odinga and celebrated Senators Basheer Lado and Ahmed Wadada, underscoring executive–legislative synergy and fiscal discipline.

    On Thursday, he feted NILDS DG Prof. Abubakar Sulaiman at 60 for scholarship in the service of democracy and on Friday, he applauded Nigerian lawyer Tolu Obamuroh’s elevation to global partnership at White & Case—another marker of Nigerian excellence.

    In the end, perhaps the story of Tinubu’s leadership is best told not through grand proclamations but through the quiet accumulation of progress; one reform at a time, one handshake at a time, one heartfelt message at a time.