The Nation Newspaper

Category: Columnists

  • Of Jonathan and g(l)ory elephant

    Of Jonathan and g(l)ory elephant

    “The words of our elders,” went a long running promo on Radio Nigeria (later Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, FRCN), “are words of freedom.”

    So, are our folklores: a trove of wisdom — but strictly for those willing to learn.

    Link that to former President Goodluck Jonathan’s reported appetite to run again for president, after his defeat in 2015, and you’ll have quite a lot to chew.

    The Jonathan ambition, if true, is no crime.  It’s his inalienable citizen right.  Still, he must first contend that right with Section 137(3) of the 1999 Constitution.  That clause bars anyone previously sworn in twice as president from running again.

    But the lore that speaks to Jonathan’s hopeful presidential encore is a Yoruba folktale: a ploy to see the elephant mount the throne. 

    All the hoodwinked elephant saw was glory and endless glory.  But all his plotters planted was out-and-out sorry-and-gory sight, with the elephant soaked in own blood.

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    The cynical tale burst into an impish chant: “Erin ka rele o, ko wa joba … Erin ye-ye, Erin ye-ye … Iwoyi ola re … Eje a mase bala … Esinsin a mase woyin …”

    The depth of this chant can hardly be grasped my non-Yoruba speakers. 

    But suffice it to say it was dire warning, couched in subversive flattery: “By this time tomorrow, blood will freely flow, and flies will swarm, buzz and drone … all feasting on the elephant’s blood and gore — in a glory tale turned gory!

    Our folklores are a trove of wisdom — but only for those willing to learn!

    Of course, no arm will come to Jonathan.  But what remains of his presidential essence would be totally savaged — no thanks to an incomparable tenure: in abject failure, and near-total emptiness, on almost all fronts.

    Yet, Jonathan happened on the scene as something fresh. Indeed, one of his campaign adverts sold him as “a breath of fresh air” — and yes he was, in a way.

    He was a minority of the minorities. But he broke the numbers mould; and trumped the majority of majorities, to be elected Nigerian president (2011-2015).  That was after, as Vice President, he had completed the tenure of Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, who died in office (2010-2011).

    His troubled presidency left the air not only dank but stale, with a foreboding of total collapse.  That fear powered the late President Muhammadu Buhari into office.

    Indeed, the Jonathan irony: his finest hour — and high redemption — was his defeat in 2015, not his victory in 2011.  That irony ought to remind Jonathan of his stark presidency.

    His victory in 2011 was the sheer ecstasy of the “Nigerian dream” — a sheer plagiarism of the so-called America dream, before Donald Trump, a roiling chunk of damaged humanity, rolled out from America’s troubled shadows.

    A shoeless boy, from the tiniest minority of his minority Ijaw clan from Bayelsa State, just romped into power as third president, of Nigeria’s 4th Republic!  Dreams!

    What was more?  He even built on the late Yar’Adua, who had a Master’s degree. Jonathan was the first Nigerian president to boast a PhD — and it wasn’t honorary! 

    So, from goodwill that romped a minority into elected office over grubby numbers; to scholastic élan that promised rigorous public policy, a logical handmaiden of rational politics, everything promised a new dawn!

    But alas!  Jonathan delivered the diametric opposite, almost on all scores!  Instead of rigour, flabby was the word — policies or politics! If ever there was a time Nigeria came close to a total collapse, it was during the Jonathan years, when high-stake public sector heists became almost iconic!

    In a way, there is much to be said that Jonathan’s woes issued from the systemic rot of the Olusegun Obasanjo years, which the Owu chief nevertheless white-washed as some holiest of holies, just because the self-named Mr. Right was involved. 

    In trying to chisel the ruling PDP in own grim image, the first president of the 4th Republic had, almost beyond measure, profaned everything — corrupted policies, and near-collapsed the new and very, very delicate democratic institutions.

    Recall: the botched power sector privatization, its failed upgrade, the ugly tiff between president and vice president, the Obasanjo presidential library strange “donations” and the defeated third term attempt: a public knowledge, which the man continues to deny.  Aside: the “simple minority” impeachments that nearly tanked the political order!

    Besides, Jonathan himself became an equal-opportunity target for Obasanjo’s cynical derision because, many swear, he refused to be Obasanjo’s poodle.  That was a grand distraction.

    So, there is some merit in holding that Jonathan was a fall guy of the 11-year PDP vice, before he took over.  Still, Jonathan added his own bumbling to the ugly mix.

    But then, came salvation from the oddest of places: electoral defeat!  For not only accepting defeat but also shunning wasteful post-defeat litigation, Jonathan became a democracy hero of a sort.  Indeed, blessed are they, whose sins are covered!

    It’s this suspect halo that Jonathan risks shattering, with his rumoured come-back.

    Still, Jonathan must know: those prompting him to a comeback — not unlike the anti- elephant sweet plotters — are cold-blooded calculators.  Whatever fate befalls their quarry is no business of theirs.

    With a flash of vaulting ambition, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar virtually erased PDP in the South East: PDP only maintained a gubernatorial foothold in Enugu; and badly dented PDP in the South-South: retaining Bayelsa, Delta and, well, Rivers. But Wike’s Rivers wasn’t exactly the flavour Atiku craved!

    Post-2023: Delta is gone; Edo and Akwa-Ibom too.  Wike’s Rivers, on the balance of power, roots for Tinubu 2027. Cross River had crossed over in 2023. So, out of pre-2023 six near-”sure banker” states, only in one — Jonathan’s Bayelsa — can PDP hope there is hope, even then, marginally!

    What the Tinubu order has done is radically change the path to the Presidency, at least in that bloc!  Against this blitzkrieg, the counter-strategy of the Atiku PDP faction, now flexing muscles in ADC, is to parlay hunger as electoral strategy in his native North; and lay much store by the many anti-North lies and bogeys Atiku and allies have planted in the Tinubu court.

    It’s this desperation — this cold calculation — to chip away at the emerging APC southern phalanx that the Jonathan comeback orchestra is striking up new tunes.

    Tinubu has responded by dropping discrete IOUs in sundry demographics: student loans (youth), consumer credit (the broke(n) middle class), conditional cash transfer (for the dirt poor), regional development commissions, etc. 

    Aside endorsements across party lines — as fickle as that may be — the First Lady’s Renewed Hope Initiative (RHI), across sundry sectors, is busy charming citizens, via soft power, nationwide.

    To be sure, a Jonathan entry should alter the electoral calculations.  But the question is: how much?  And at what cost to him?

    Dr. Jonathan had better be well guided. So that his fate doesn’t equate the tragic elephant’s: eyes sparkling for glory but fatally shut with gory tales.

  • Natasha’s dilemma

    Natasha’s dilemma

    Distinguished Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan is back in the news after a six-month hiatus. The delectable beauty who represents Kogi Central in the senate was suspended for six months, in March, by the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions after she refused to submit to the committee’s summons to answer allegations of breaching the privileges of her colleagues. She had refused to go to her assigned seat, before speaking, and later made disparaging statements about the senate leadership on radio and television. Arguing that the six months has elapsed, Natasha wrote to the senate clerk that she would resume plenary.

    The clerk told her that she cannot resume because the dispute over her suspension is sub judice, since she took the senate to court, arguing that it lacked the power to suspend her. The Honourable Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court had held that while the senate has powers to discipline its members, six months was a long time to deny a constituency representation in the senate chambers. The court ordered the distinguished senator to apologize and pay a fine of N5million for ignoring a gag order not to discuss the matter in public while the case was in court.

    Senator Natasha went on appeal against parts of the judgment since the High Court did not hold that her suspension was illegal, which is what she wanted. The defendants also cross-appealed, contending the powers of the senate to self-regulate its members. With the matter pending on appeal, the senate leadership prompted the clerk to reply Senator Natasha that parties would have to wait for the courts to determine the dispute first. The further explanation by the clerk that the decision about her return will be made by the senate leadership may not change the current position of the senate.

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    Of course, what they are telling Natasha is that you cannot be in court and still seek what they consider an administrative remedy. On her part, the suspended senator has vowed to resume plenary regardless of the decision of the senate and its administrative organs. This writer wonders how Natasha would carry out her threats. Would she bring in her supporters to enforce her return and keep vigil to ensure she stays and attends senate plenaries?

    If she takes the matter into her hands or allow her supporters to do so, the chances are that she may again be accused of running afoul of the senate rules and the consequences could be another round of brouhaha. It is interesting that Natasha appears determined to be recalled on her own terms, that is, keeping the cases in court and refusing to apologize and return to the senate to continue her legislative duties.

    That would be viewed by her supporters as giving the senate a bloody nose, and she ought to know that the leadership would not easily yield to that. If her recall is left for the courts to determine, the chances are that it may take a pretty long time to come. Even with the best effort of her lawyers, it will take some months before the Court of Appeal determines the appeal and cross-appeal, and after that, any of the party who loses may proceed to the Supreme Court for the final determination of the controversy.

    Perhaps, Natasha was hoping that the controversy would bring down the senate president, Senator Godswill Akpabio, from his exalted position. If that had happened, as many of Natasha’s supporters had wished, the senator would have been recalled back to the red chamber without much ado. But so far, the senate president has survived, and with the maintenance of strong legislative collaboration with the executive arm of government, in passing critical executive bills, bringing down Akpabio, won’t be an easy task at all.

    As I wrote in March, with respect to this saga, which I titled: Trial of Senator Natasha, the distinguished senator has shown herself a fearless warrior, but unfortunately tactless. The allegations of sexual harassment which she made against the senate president did not carry much hurricane, because it was in the midst of her missteps in the red chamber. Showing herself a rookie, she refused a simple senate rule that a senator can only be recognized to speak from his/her assigned seat.

    Her claim in the red chambers of victimization by the senate president, while she refused the entreaties of her colleagues to move to her newly assigned seat, robbed off on her, as an indecorous person. All the complaints she made that day went to no issue, as she was not properly recognized to speak. Her rantings in front her fellow senators and the cameras, while making her notorious amongst social media netizens, gave her out as cantankerous, to the discerning public.

    Again her refusal to appear before the Senate Committee on Ethics, after she was appropriately invited, robbed her of the claim of a breach of her fundamental rights. She failed to realize that snubbing that committee amounted to desecrating the integrity of the entire senate. If she was properly guided, she should have appeared to make her case, and that would give her the locus to challenge their findings. She thought that her case against senate president, equates to contention with the entire senate.

    This writer does not agree with those who contend that the senate or any legislative assembly should not have the powers to discipline her members. Without such power, the senate or indeed any such legislative assembly would be a rancorous market place. If every senator should have the right to throw tantrums and engage in riotous conduct, without internal mechanism for review and punishment, the legislative assembly would be a riotous assembly. What needs to be done is to make the committee on ethics and the review process respectful and fair.

    As a body, the senate or any other legislative assembly should have settled precedents or codes for members, with accompanying consequences for disobedience by members. When a member breaches a code, he/she should know the likely consequences, if found culpable by a body of colleagues entrusted with the power of review. The senate or such other legislative assembly should as a body have a way of ensuring that the committee entrusted with the responsibility to discipline members always act responsibly.

    To end the present imbroglio with the senate, the Kogi senator, should seek counsel from her older colleagues. Her present counsellors are more of pubic activists, without requisite experience, on how to navigate the shark-infested legislative waters, and they have not brought her requisite remedy. Since their tactics is not working, she should try other measures, unless she does not care whether she returns to the red chambers or not, as soon as possible. At least, if not for herself, she should consider the interest of her constituency.

  • Niger and allegory of two cities

    Niger and allegory of two cities

    Many must have been taken aback penultimate week, when the news filtered that the Niger State government placed a ban on all forms of religious preaching in the state. The secularity of the country and the prospects of the new regulations infringing on the rights of citizens to freedom of religious worship and expression, resonated as issues of concern.

    Thus, the motive of the government was bound to come under suspicion as the Director General of Niger State Religious Affairs, Umar Farooq, confirmed the ban in addition to the requirement that preachers must obtain licences before they can be allowed to preach in the state.

    “It is true the state government has banned preaching. Any preacher who wants to preach must secure a licence between now and two months”, he said. Farooq further explained that what all prospective preachers are required to do is to visit their office and fill out a form. Thereafter, they will face a panel that will screen them before they are allowed to preach.

    But when the state governor, Mohammed Bago appeared on a television interview last week, he said the measure was not a ban on evangelism but a way of checking inciting messages that could threaten peace and security. Hear him, “I didn’t ban evangelism. For anybody going to sermon on Friday, he should bring his scriptures for review, and it is normal”.

    Bago drew parallels with Saudi Arabia where such rules exist and contended that you cannot say because you have been given the opportunity to be “a cleric, you will go out and preach the gospel that is anti-people and anti-government”.

    What seems to emerge from the above is that the state government did not ban religious preaching in the state. Rather, its new regulations on religion require preachers to get the authorisation of the government before they can preach. In other words, the new regulation vests the right to determine and approve qualified preachers on the shoulders of the state government. That immediately raises questions on the propriety of government officials delving into matters that impinge on the ecclesiastical realm. How qualified are they for the self-assigned role?

    The above question is further reinforced by another strand of the directive which mandates all preachers to submit their sermons for the approval of the government. 

    Ostensibly, the measures are designed to prevent indoctrination and public incitement thereby enhancing the maintenance of law and order. The state government could also seek to justify the directive on the serial exploitation of religion by unscrupulous people to cause trouble. Ours is a country that is not strange to weird religious doctrines and beliefs.

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    In the last couple of years, the country has been embroiled in Boko Haram insurgency with about four affiliate insurgency groups propelled by strange religious doctrines, joining the fray. That should say something about the danger in allowing unfettered access to the public, of inciting religious ideas.

    It is not in doubt that religion has been serially exploited and manipulated by unscrupulous and self-serving persons to foment trouble of unimaginable proportions with dire consequences for co-habitation, peace and progress.

    If that is Bago’s concern in insisting that preachers must be licensed before they can preach in the state, one can understand. But the regulation veered off tangent when it sought to arrogate to government functionaries, the powers to licence preachers and determine sermons good for public consumption through vetting.

    This is as dangerous as it is practically impossible given the multiplicity of such sermons (written and unwritten) that regularly emanate from the numerous religious organisations. It remains to be seen how the government intends to access sermons from the nooks and crannies of the state, some of which are hundreds of kilometres away from the state capital. It presents huge logistic challenges.

     Even if the government drastically prunes down the number of preachers (which is clearly outside its mandate), it will still have to contend with the right to regulate sermons meant for the pulpit in a plural society of diverse religious persuasions.

    The state government gave away its motive when it asserted that the measure will act as a check against anti-people and anti-government sermons. By extrapolation, the government’s goal is to ensure that preachers do not author sermons that criticise its actions and policies. That would rather sound strange. If religious leaders cannot offer constructive criticisms to government’s policies and actions taking advantage of the fundamental freedoms guaranteed by the constitution, then the human society is in big trouble.

    Freedom to criticise government policies and offer direction to the people is different from public incitement. And the churches should have the right to determine that. At any rate, the laws are there to check possible abuse. Niger State government is also flawed when it seeks to capitalise on what it called anti-government sermons to seek to gag preachers.

    Such assessments can be subjective as we have seen in the constant arrest of journalists on the orders of some governors. Clerics have a duty to call the attention of and redirect the government and the society when things are drifting. And they have been doing that.

    Besides, politicians are not immune to religious exploitation to serve their selfish predilections. For in verity, much of the religion-induced crises this country has encountered, were in the main, instigated, sponsored and promoted by politicians in their inordinate ambition to win elections by hook and crook. Politicians are notorious for deploying religion and ethnicity to whip up sentiments when their influences significantly diminish. The cascading insecurity in the country has its roots in the inordinate desires by politicians to achieve their political objectives through devious means.

    It remains to be conjectured how the same politicians can be the new face of credible religious sermons. The new regulation depicts the Niger State government as one afraid of criticisms. That is the uncanny contradiction in assigning the powers to vet religious sermons in the hands of politicians in Niger State or any other part of this country. Politicians cannot be trusted with the role of moral compass on religious matters.  

    Events in Niger State again, elevate to the fore, the distinction by medieval philosophers between the corporeal and the ecclesiastical realms. The measures strike at the heart of the division between the purviews of the state and religion.

    St Thomas Aquinas believes that the state (temporary authority) and the Church (spiritual authority) are distinct but complementary. The state focuses on worldly matters while the church presides over the spiritual realm. For him, the state and the church are distinct governments that should work harmoniously with each respecting the other’s domain.

     Aquinas captured the nature of that relationship when he contended that if a state’s action conflicts with moral law or spiritual wellbeing of its citizens, the church has the right to speak out and provide guidance. That is the red line Niger State is bound to cross as it seeks to prevent clerics from sermons it considers anti-government.

    St Augustine captured the thrust of this division in his allegory of two cities-the city of man and the city of God. He described two cities built on contrasting loves-the earthly city built on love of self to the point of despising God and the city of God built on the love of God to the point of despising self.

    These are not literal cities but spiritual societies with members of the earthly city pursuing temporal power and glory while members of the city of God seeking God’s glory and eternal life. The two philosophers captured all that is required to be said of the relationship that should exist between the state and religion.

    They are two separate spheres of authority guided by different motivations. Though their roles can find complementarity in some instances, they largely exist to pursue and serve different goals. Niger State government is definitely going beyond its boundaries by not only seeking to ‘ordain’ preachers but in vetting and approving their sermons before they can go public.

    Such a policy amounts to combining the powers of the state and religion in the hands of politicians. Bago’s parallels with Saudi Arabia where preachers submit their sermon for vetting every Friday says little given the secularity of Nigeria. His government will also have to contend with Sunday sermons from an assortment of religious denominations.

    Let Niger State government contend with the challenges of the CITY of man and leave the CITY of God in the hands of the religions.

  • Drumbeat on Kaduna streets

    Drumbeat on Kaduna streets

    In his play, Enemy of the People, Henrik Ibsen traded in irony. The main character who was presented as the public enemy was actually the beloved of the people’s interest. It is that irony that played out last weekend when President Bola Ahmed Tinubu visited Kaduna State for a wedding and a condolence.

    If you listened to the ululations of some so-called voices of the north from Kwankwaso to El-Rufai to Dalhatu, you would not expect that there would be a wedding. Yet the wedlock began on the streets of Kaduna. Whether it was on the road side or on flyovers, the youth lined up and admired. It was no passive cheer but one happy enough for chants.

    It was a tying of hearts not of a young man and a nubile, but of a septuagenarian leader and his people. The real wedding took back stage to the wedding of metaphor. There was no “I do,” but a hint of “we will do.” It came in chants like Baba Continuity and Tinubu Continuity.

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    Was it not a wedlock of sorts when a public heckler like Sule Lamido melted into a hug, and bluster became banter between him and President Bola Tinubu.

    The happy day was not based on a vacuum, but an acknowledgment of work done. It began with the President’s latchkey to the Kaduna heart, its chief executive who the president calls comrade: Governor Uba Sani. He has chosen peace over human rubble, building roads over Golgotha, food over feud, unity over division, good image over pillage. It is the same north that a man like Kwanwaso said was an enemy, the same north that is catching the rhythm and ember of “Omo logo.”

    If we say it was a wedding, literary classics have sometimes written about weddings leading to funerals, like Shakespeare’s Hamlet and -, and Aeschylus’ Iphigenia. The hint here is that the president’s visit sets the stage for a funeral pyre for those northern politicians who dreaded the wedding of the people and their leader last weekend.

  • Wike and his enemies

    Wike and his enemies

    Nyesom Wike’s story is etched on this era. Those who hate him may say he is the boor. But they cannot say he is boring. His foes hate him as though they crave him. They fight him as though they love him.

    If, God forbid, he drops dead today, those who hate him would want to prop him up, and invoke the Lazarus hour with Jesus. It is like the line from Walt Whitman’s poem ironically titled, Reconciliation.

     He writes: “My enemy is dead – a soul divine as myself is dead.” It is like the fight between Presidents Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. They both died within an hour of each other, with the other’s name on their lips as they expired.

     Jefferson said: “So John Adams lives.” Adams reportedly predated his expiration with the same sentiment about the third president of the United States.

    Online rodents who want Wike dead  are no real enemies. He laughed them to scorn. They are mercantilist, just like rumours that the President was bedridden and waiting to be flown abroad as well as Senate President Godswill Akpabio. They are hungry for Google’s paycheck.

    Wike’s real foes are companions. Critics of John Milton’s Paradise Lost assert that even the rendition of the devil in that epic is more impressive than that of God or Christ.

    Hence Wike’s best fights are even among those who were with him. With them, like the clergy, he has broken bread. Name them: Rotimi Amaechi, Atiku Abubakar, Aminu Tambuwal, Umar Damagum, Bala Mohammed, Sim Fubara.

     In a short story, The Lagoon, Joseph Conrad asserts that “there is no worse enemy and no better friend than a brother.” When politicians work together, they are like brothers, until money or ego poisons the honey.

    Not that Wike has not squared off with persons on the other side of the street. He gave us a hint last week in his interview with Seun Okinbaloye  on Channels Television, with reference to a top soldier and a police officer, one he called a killer and the other an assassin.

    He does not fear libel nor restrain from name calling. He does not forswear his position, neither does he apologise for his tender parts.

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     When he sings, he throws barbs. It is Wike who would croon with visceral gusto about Tinubu’s mandate song in front of chief of staff Gbajabiamila. He is the only politician in memory whose impulse on a rostrum transformed into a hit song embraced as armoury to fight enemies, to win friends, to invoke God and devil simultaneously.

    The vertebral bone of his last interview was his audacity. But it is not that he is not conscious that his foes have a voice. They do. Yet he spared no foe. He poked or choked, and he accused them with facts or the threat of facts. He can be caught in a contradiction, but Wike, to the best of my knowledge, has not been caught in a lie in public. That may be what scares his critics. His facts are offensive for being facts.

    Politicians lie for a living. His first big fight was with his predecessor, Rotimi Amaechi. He has said at least two things about him that Amaechi has not contradicted. He spoke about him and a deal while he- Amaechi – was governor.

     He said that his predecessor garlanded him that “after God, it is Wike.” That is potent. He said it was a public declaration. Men should not be saying such things in public again. The last person to say so on record was Rauf Aregbesola about the president. See how it turned out. See how it has turned out for Amaechi unless he comes out and debunks it.

    He called a certain police officer a killer, and repeated that noun for emphasis to a flustered interviewer. When you put Wike on stage, you get what you asked for.

    He can boast as though he does not. When he said he made Iyorchia Ayu PDP chairman and ousted him, it did not come across as a boast, but as a confession. He did it, and what can anyone do about it, he seemed to say. Remember, he threw epithets at him, including “prodigal father.”

    He did not spare Atiku or Tambuwal, and he said even if he lost the primary, he won the war: the presidential election. He took a swipe at former army chief Aliyu Gusau, and painted him as the shadowy hegemon who brokered the downfall of the PDP in the last election.

    We forget that Wike was on the cusp of winning the PDP presidential primary. I recall I was in a dinner with a few top media men, and one of them asserted that Wike was going to win the primary. I predicted he would be derailed in the last minute. The man was too feared by the high and mighty in the party to hand him the fat of the PDP. It seemed far-fetched at that time. I did not know how it was going to happen, but I knew that Wike had done charity to so many in the party. But they didn’t have the love to repay. If Apostle Paul says charity “never faileth,” Wike’s was an exception for PDP.

    The most important question in that Channels encounter was Wike’s poser, “Has anyone said I have betrayed him one day?” That is what I mean by the silence of his interlocutors. I am really waiting for anyone to say so, and if no one has anything to say, they should keep their peace.

    At one of his first live interviews organized in his office as FCT minister, he said with a frown of agonised self-assurance: “I always win.”

     He said it in the early days of his joust with Fubara. How does it look today? Who seems to have triumphed, at least for now? Maybe he has profited from treachery, that is a victim. Better to be betrayed and win than to betray and lose. That seems to be Wike’s charmed life so far.

    Wike and Fubara’s story recalls the tension between President Theodore Roosevelt and William Taft, his successor. It all ended in a gala night after years of recrimination. Taft walked up to his former mentor and gave him a hug. Claps and cheers drowned the venue.

     It was a moment of proud humility. It is still to be known whether Wike and Fubara fought as enemies who are friends or as friends who are enemies. The coming months will show. But for now, it is Wike’s triumph, and the Channels interview was a sort of seal to that battle. For all his incandescent rhetoric, Wike deserves credit for not taking a victory lap.

    Many who say he betrayed PDP by joining the Asiwaju government did not listen to him during the campaign. He made no bones about where he stood and for whom. He says he belongs to the PDP still, and that he is in the government for one reason only: Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Hence, he lashed out at the soldier. And when Okinbaloye pointed out that they are in the same government, he replied that he was there for Tinubu, and nothing else. His logic may not satisfy you, but that is fine with him so long as he is happy with himself.

    For this essayist, the interview was serious theatre if, for some, he entertained to embarrass, or embarrassed to entertain. Whatever it was, this is not the last of Wike’s immortal outings.

    The beat goes on.

  • Dangote on my mind

    Dangote on my mind

    There are not many Nigerians who have not had Dangote on their mind at one time or the other. At least,not now that the health of the country depends so much on the health of his enterprises, especially that of his truly enormous refinery. I doubt that the Nigerian economy would show any signs of life by now, but for the continued good health of that plant in Lekki.

    Dangote has been a household name in Nigeria for quite some time now as he has been the nation’s leading industrialist for more than three decades. More than that, or perhaps because of it, Dangote has been the richest man, not only in Nigeria but in the whole of Africa. But, even he took a hit at the time when he had to divert a hefty portion of his wealth to the building of his refinery. There was a time when his name was more prominent than it is now on the list of the richest men in the world, But, not only are there new billionaires being minted somewhere on the globe every week, the wealth credited to the richest men in the world these days is simply mind boggling. Given the current situation, it is not surprising that the arrival of the first trillionaire in the world now has an air of inevitability about it. But, this astonishing phenomenon is clearly beyond the scope of this article and will be allowed to rest at this point, at least for now.

    Dangote came to prominence at a time when Nigeria became a dumping ground for cement. Ships from all parts of the world sailed into the ports in Lagos bearing cargoes of cement in what quickly became a scam as each ship had to queue up at the port for considerably long periods of time during which they claimed demurrage payments for their owners even when the cement in their hold was of questions or quality and origin. Some of the ships were old junks which had limped into port on their last steam and made more money standing off the coast of Nigeria than actually plying the blue seas as part of global maritime commerce. That situation arose because of the virtual collapse of the local cement industry which had been active even before the war. There was the famous Nkalagu cement factory, the cement plant at Ewekoro and another one in Gboko but the demand far outstripped production hence the cement scarcity within Nigeria. Dangote, a young business man at the time stepped into the breach which existed then and the plant at Gboko was given a new lease of life under his management

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     Today, Nigeria is a net exporter of cement. More than that, Dangote has built a cement empire in no less than ten African countries and created many thousand jobs all over the continent. He has planted his footsteps far and wide and made a name for himself and for Nigeria.

    What Dangote has done for cement, he has also done for sugar. He was enabled to produce cement because of the availability of limestone, the principal raw material of cement in several parts of Nigeria. What is needed for the production of sugar is sugar cane, which can be planted in many parts of the country. This provided the cornerstone for the government policy of backward integration which persuaded Dangote to explore the possibility of producing sugar and it’s ancillary products from sugar cane grown in Nigeria. Today, Dangote produces refined sugar in the largest sugar refinery in Africa at Apapa. To supply this refinery with needed raw materials, the Dangote Sugar company is involved in the planting and harvesting of sugar cane from huge plantations along the banks of River Benue in both Adamawa and Nassarawa states. The contribution of these activities to the Nigerian economy is not only immense but growing as production activities expand within the growing Nigerian market as thousands of jobs, both direct and indirect are created. In addition, this also has a positive effect on our foreign exchange situation as the hard currency required for the importation of sugar is conserved. With his involvement in the refining of sugar, Dangote has been responsible for the inflow of foreign currency from Ghana where he has set up a sugar production facility in the same way that he built cement factories in other African countries. Here, he has introduced the backward integration policy of the Nigerian government into the neighbouring country of Ghana from where it is set to spread further afield.

    There was a time, a long time ago it has to be said, when I listened very attentively to any speech coming from the Head of State of Nigeria. I considered all of them to be of great political importance and faithfully listened with the hope of hearing something of great importance. I never did learn anything of consequence from those speeches over the years so I began to treat them with studied indifference. However I was more or less entreated to listen to the last inauguration speech by a friend, which is why I was able to hear first hand that petroleum subsidy payments had been brought to an immediate end. My immediate response to this announcement was to scoff at it. After all, the same announcement had been made from all successive governments starting from Babangida nearly thirty years before when local government refineries had broken down irreparably as we discovered many years later.

    Petroleum subsidy removals were always couched in the same way. The promise was made that all monies accruing from the subsidy removals were to be used for the building of roads and other such socially useful infrastructure. Only one government, ironically that of Abacha, made a significant move towards keeping that promise. Subsidies were duly removed, the price of fuel ballooned oppressively but no infrastructural development followed in its wake. Another thing was that subsidies always came back, to be removed all over again time after time. This formed the basis of my belief that sooner or later, there would be a return of the subsidy regime under the current regime. It is becoming apparent however that to all intents and purposes, petrol subsidies have not made a surreptitious return by the backdoor and the objective difference this time around has been the Dangote refinery.

    By the time the removal of  fuel subsidies had become a government policy plank, hopes of the resurrection of our moribund refineries in Port Harcourt and other places were making the rounds. But if the government had any hope in the ability of those refineries to give any backing to the removal of fuel subsidies, those hopes have now been seen to have been  sadly misplaced. Day after day, news of fuel production in those refineries raised our hopes only for them to be dashed again and again. Finally, we are coming to terms with the inability of all the king’s men and all his horses to put back our broken Humpty Dumpty together again. There is now talk of selling those enormous white elephants presumably as scrap. We now have little choice but to pin our economic hope on Dangote’s refinery. In the light of what has happened since then, it is worth speculating  that it was the imminence of fuel production by Dangote that encouraged that announcement of subsidy removal ab initio. If it was not, the removal of subsidies and the coming of the refinery can now be described as a happy accident.

    I shudder to think of what would have happened to our economy in the absence of that refinery. It is now clear that subsidy was being paid on fuel which was not consumed in Nigeria. This is because the volume of petrol now used in Nigeria is hardly more than half of what it was in the bad days before the removal of the fuel subsidy. This has confirmed the suspicion in many quarters that the fuel subsidy thing was a gigantic scam. And the perpetrators of that scam are still fighting a bitter rearguard action to protect their turf. This cannot but be the case as the loot which was pocketed by the fuel subsidy perpetrators was humungous to say the least. All the rent seekers who have been gorging, mosquito-like on the riches of the land can be recognised by their united and unprincipled opposition to the Dangote refinery. That is what stands between them and paradise, to the detriment of the rest of us.

  • To God be the glory: I am 80

    To God be the glory: I am 80

    To God be the glory, great things He hath done,

    so loved He the world that He gave us His Son,

    who yielded His life an atonement for sin,

    and opened the life-gate that all may go in.

    Refrain:

    Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,

    let the earth hear His voice!

    Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,

    let the people rejoice!

    O come to the Father through Jesus the Son,

    and give Him the glory, great things He hath done.

    By His grace, come Wednesday, 24 September, 2025 I shall be 80 years old on terra firma.

    It can only be God’s grace,.anywhere in the world, to live to that age but in the particular case of Nigeria, it calls for celebration.

    I was born on that day in the beautiful town called Are – Ekiti, in what was then in the Ekiti Central Division of the state.

    In his Autobiography, ‘Remember Whose Son Thou Art’, published in 2005, the incomparable Architect,  Chief Isaac Fola Alade, OFR, made it clear that to be born in those parts, about the time I was, and to live into one’s 60’s, is to know that you truly owe God.

    So please, dear reader, join me on this glorious occasion in thanking and heaping praises upon praises on God Almighty.

    I actually  have a lot more to thank God for.  Among these is the fact that through all viccititudes of life, He has kept me and my entire family safe. Also, this epochal date, that is, my 80th, coincides with what I can describe as the crowning glory of my 20 year-long sojourn as a columnist with The Nation on Sunday, and it’s predecessor newspaper, the COMET (2years only).

    I speak here of my book, the 619-page ‘simply a citizen journalist’

    There hardly could have been anything worthier for me, these past 20 years, than  being a columnist with a national newspaper of such great repute at a time of absolutelutely monumental socio- political developments in our country.

    Being a columnist, especially on the Nation on Sunday  has  afforded me the opportunity to learn from, as well as, rob shoulders with the incredibly brilliant writers within The paper’s commentariat which, without a doubt, parades some of the country’s very best.

    The book, mostly a compilation of selected articles in the column, and much more, will be unveiled during the birthday celebrations with the Lead Presenter being none other than my friend, and co- GREAT – IFE Alum, the Baba oba of ifewara, Chief Dele Fajemirokun.

    In addition to discussing, analysing and periscoping issues within the Nigerian polity in the past 20 years (2006 -2025) I took time out in ‘Simply a Citizen Journalist’ to celebrate some eminent Nigerians who I deem to have positively impacted our country through their respective life works, and so deserved to be publicly celebrated.

    Among them are public servants, administrators, scholars as well as politicians, industrialists and Philantropists.

    I personally feel obliged, and honour bound, to etch their illustrious lives’ achievements in history if only to serve as examples to others.

    This piece, if space permits, will give a list of these distinguished Nigerians directly after the article.

    Rather than bore you with my life history on this August occasion, or waste your time making you read an article about Nigeria’s perennial Presidential candidate who, since the bonfire in Nepal has been going about shouting ‘revolution, revolution’, in Nigeria, (forgetting he could be one of those to be consumed for dealing rapaciously with Nigeria) let me titillate  you with an article on somebody ever so deserving.

    As honour must go to one deserving, that individual is no other than the current President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Ashiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, in an article I wrote on  March 12, 2012  on his 60th birthday 13 years ago, when the forever calculating tactician had probably never mentioned his ambition to wear the ultimate Nigerian diadem to anybody besides Oluremi, his jewel of inestimable value, to quote Awo.

    The article is truly representative of the many I wrote on some other  deserving Nigerians.

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    Happy reading.

    Ashiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu: the contemporary non Pareil at 60

    Without a doubt, history is delineated in epochs and, critical to this compartmentalisation is the individual. I must quickly admit that in Philosophy there is the raging controversy as to which of holism or individualism is superior.

    My view, without a scintilla of doubt, supports the latter because it is the individual  that shapes events and what is history if not a constellation of events?

    The Avatar, Chief Obafemi  Awolowo, already has his name cast in gold in Nigerian history but more so in the  history of the Yoruba.  Equally, without a doubt, is  the truism that Tinubu’s place in Yoruba and Nigerian history is irreplaceably written on the positive side. As I wrote recently on the public presentation of the DAWN document, we owe our place in contemporary Nigerian political history to none other than the man I am setting out to celebrate in this piece.

    Standing on opposite sides of contemporary Yoruba history today, are two strong-willed personalities, namely: former Nigerian President, General Olusegun Obasanjo and Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Jagaban Borgu.

    Without a doubt, some there are who swear by General Obasanjo’s name in Yoruba land but they are largely individuals who profited from his illicit acts; products of impunity, like election rigging and outright cronyism. These are acts that have been severally confirmed at the court of Appeal and for which reason the court has poignantly declared that some individuals, though sat in state houses are, legally unknown to law or to the Nigerian constitution) as governors of their states.

    In sharp contradistinction is Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu who steadfastly led  the charge, not only against poll rigging but, in a single-minded manner, against a  ludicrous and thoroughly meaningless mainstreaming which left Yoruba land nearly completely decapitated. 

    While our road infrastructure has totally deteriorated, Education, where Chief Awolowo gave us a head start, not only in Nigeria, but internationally, has collapsed, and reached rock bottom.  Nothing attests more to this fact than the fact that one of the first actions of the current governors in the Southwest geo-political zone was to chart a way forward for resuscitating this vital organ of development by setting up Education Committees whose recommendations were subsequently taken to an Education Summit to make concrete recommendations for government action.

    As a member of Agbajo Yoruba Agbaye, under the sterling leadership of one of Yoruba’s very best, namely,  Lt. General Alani Akinrinade, I served as a member of a rapid response team, headed by another distinguished son of Oduduwa, Prof Jide

    Osuntokun, to react to our shame and disappointment that while, under the leadership of  General Obasanjo, water projects, in billions of naira, were monthly being awarded to Northern Nigeria, with Alhaji Muktar Shagari as Water Resources Minister, nothing was coming to the South-West even though our people were panting for drinkable water as well as for irrigation purposes since agriculture belongs, anachronistically, under federal might.

    While these serial anachronisms continued, Tinubu,, through deft political engineering and incredible networking which continue to rob him of sound sleep as he works literally 25 hours daily, has been able to put together throughout the region, Ondo state inclusive, a team of people-loving governors whose credo is service to the people.

    While politics in the ACN surely differs from that of Ondo’s Labour Party and nothing will gladden us more than to add that state to the ACN family, nobody will dispute the fact that there is a world of difference between what governor Mimiko is doing today and that of his PDP predecessor.

    I state this fact to celebrate Ashiwaju who spared nothing to see that the stolen mandate in that state was restored.

    I personally believe that the governor can still pause, think and give honour to whom honour is due for his victory, i.e. Ashiwaju Bola Tinubu.

    That Lagos state has become a world brand today says a lot for Ashiwaju’s perspicacity; his building blocks and the seamless manner in which his thorough-bred successor, Raji Fashola gelled, and built upon the foundations he laid.

    I laugh heartily when I see ignorance on display: when I hear that he wants to annex not only Oyo, Ogun, Ekiti, Ondo but also Edo to Lagos State and that this underpins his unstinting support for democracy.

    My perpetual question to such people then is to where he wants to annex Ghana, Sierra-Leone or even nearby Benin where he had been equally untiring in helping cement, and expand the frontiers of democracy by collaborating, and sparing no  resources to ensure that credible individuals emerge leaders to help re-define the African politician who is seen, the world over, as nothing but corrupt.

    Ashiwaju remains a role model, whose door is always open just as his heart is, to all those who are heavy laden.

    You have in this one-man battalion, a ready army to fight political infidels who believe they can use the paraphernalia of federal  power and money with which to buy, not only the judiciary but even electoral officials as well as its usually high-handed security personnel to defeat the peoples’ aspirations.

    What has Tinubu not been made to suffer as we recently saw in the Code of Conduct Bureau’s attempt to undermine him.

    Only this past week, Governor Raji Fashola, SAN, wrote of Asiwaju: “Let me say generally about his public image that I do not remember one public contest where he has lost the war.

    I speak of many battle fronts; from Oyo, to Borgu, Ife, Ibadan, Lagos and Anambra to mention but a few. Of course, he bears many battle scars and these attest to his tactical ability to surrender battles in order to win wars”.

    What more can one say?

    To Asiwaju and a few other gallant leaders like General Akinrinade go the credit for the roaring success NADECO was, again sparing neither his time nor resources or can we forget that to the ‘Baffday Boy’ goes e – introduction of forensic science as a veritable tool in humbling poll robbers, no matter how entrenched in power they may be. Without a Bola Ahmed Tinubu, there would never have been an Adrian Forty in the annals of Nigerian electoral history. And how were we to have known how palm kernel became the choice tool of incorrigible riggers?

    And Adrian Forty, God rest his soul, didn’t come cheap!

    In concluding this brief article into the place of Asiwaju in our contemporary political history we must thank God for giving him his precious jewel, his wife, friend and companion of many decades who has seen as much deprivation and humbug as the husband. An Amazon of no mean repute, who today ably represents not only Lagos State but Nigerian women at the Upper Chamber. Senator Remi Tinubu must have, countless times, been the shoulder on which Ashiwaju must have leaned in those agonising days of man’s inhumanity to man. She has been the loyal overseer and controller of the home front and today, Lagos state can be proud to say it has two for the price of one because, like Hillary Clinton, the U.S Secretary of state to his affable Bill, Senator Tinubu must be bouncing a whole lot of ideas off Asiwaju just so that

    Nigeria can be better than what the rapacious mainstreamers have made of it.

    To Asiwaju, here is saying: Happy Birthday, Leader in a million; Long May you live in blossoming health.

  • Constitutional review: The challenge before National Assembly

    Constitutional review: The challenge before National Assembly

    Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution, despite serving as the supreme law for over two decades, faces mounting criticism for its inadequacy in addressing the complex realities of modern Nigeria. As the National Assembly’s Constitutional Review Committees grapple with the monumental task of reform, they must confront fundamental questions about federalism, such as resource control, state police  and democratic governance that have plagued the nation since independence.

    The 1999 Constitution, hurriedly crafted during the military-to-civilian transition, bears the hallmarks of its military origins. Critics argue that it created an overly centralized federal system that contradicts the principles of true federalism. This hyper-centralization has manifested in various ways: an over-bloated federal government that controls critical sectors like education, healthcare, and natural resources that should ideally be managed by states and local governments.

    The constitution’s deficiencies have also contributed to persistent challenges including ethnic tensions, resource conflicts, security crises, and economic underdevelopment. The current structure concentrates power in Abuja while starving states and local governments of the autonomy and resources necessary for progressive and meaningful development. This has created a dependency syndrome where states rely heavily on federal allocations rather than developing their internal revenue generation capacity as well as charting their own development as the component regions did in the 60’s prior to the coups of 1966.

    Eminent Nigerians such as The  Patriots, a group of distinguished Nigerians including elder statesmen like Chief Emeka Anyaoku, have consistently advocated for restructuring Nigeria into a true federal system. Their proposals center on devolving powers from the federal government to states and regions, allowing for greater autonomy in governance, resource management, and development strategies.

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    The Constitutional Review Committees should consider adopting a more decentralized federal structure similar to successful federations like Germany, Canada, or Australia. This would involve transferring significant legislative powers from the exclusive legislative list to the concurrent or residual lists, enabling states to legislate on matters affecting their local circumstances.

    One of the most contentious issues in Nigeria’s political discourse is resource control. The current constitution grants the federal government control over natural resources, creating a rentier state mentality and fueling conflicts in resource-rich regions. The Niger Delta crisis, Boko Haram insurgency, and farmer-herder conflicts all have roots in resource control disputes.

    The Constitutional Review Committees should consider implementing a more equitable resource control framework. This could include ensuring a 40/30/30 formula between the oil and gas-producing Local Government Areas, the states in which they are domiciled and the center current, while also recognizing other natural resources like solid minerals. Additionally, Local Government Areas within states should have greater control over resources found within their territories, subject to appropriate federal oversight and environmental regulations, this way Nigeria would unleash it’s development potentials as not only would states compete amongst themselves , such competition would trickle down to the local governments spurring them to initiate policies for massive growth.

    Local governments in Nigeria exist more in name than in substance, largely due to constitutional provisions that make them appendages of state governments. The Constitution Review Committees should grant full autonomy to local governments, not by  direct funding from the federation account but by the suggestions above, the  constitutional review process should also ensure protection from arbitrary dissolution, and clear delineation of functions.

    This reform would bring governance closer to the people, improve service delivery at the grassroots level, and reduce the burden on state and federal governments. Local governments should also have constitutional powers to generate revenue through taxes, licenses, and fees within their jurisdictions.

    On electoral reforms and elections, the  1999 Constitution’s electoral provisions require significant updates to address contemporary challenges. The Constitutional Review Committees should consider incorporating provisions for electronic voting, diaspora voting, and independent candidacy. The constitution should also strengthen democratic institutions like INEC, giving them full financial and operational autonomy.

    The winner-takes-all electoral system has contributed to political tensions and violence. The committees should explore alternative electoral systems like proportional representation or the alternative vote system that could promote more inclusive governance and reduce electoral conflicts.

    Nigeria’s security challenges demand a fundamental review of the constitutional provisions governing security agencies. The current centralized security system has proven inadequate in addressing diverse security threats across the country’s vast territory.

    The constitution should provide for state and regional security outfits with clearly defined roles and coordination mechanisms with federal security agencies. This would enable more responsive and context-specific security solutions while maintaining national coordination for cross-border and national security threats.

    The judiciary requires constitutional strengthening to ensure its independence and effectiveness. The Constitutional Review Committees should consider provisions for autonomous funding of the judiciary, transparent appointment processes for judicial officers, and enhanced disciplinary mechanisms.

    The constitution should also address the multiplicity of courts and jurisdictions that often create conflicts and delays in the administration of justice. A more streamlined judicial system with clear hierarchies and jurisdictions would improve access to justice for ordinary Nigerians.

    To achieve the above, The Constitutional Review Committees must ensure broad-based consultation with all segments of Nigerian society. This should include traditional rulers, civil society organizations, professional bodies, religious groups, women’s organizations, and youth groups. The Patriots and similar groups of elder statesmen should be given prominent roles in providing guidance based on their extensive experience and institutional memory.

    Regional and zonal public hearings, I understand, have been held, however the process of collation and deliberation  should be transparent, with regular updates to the public on progress and key decisions. Likewise, given the complexity of constitutional reform, the committees should consider a phased implementation approach. Priority should be given to reforms that address the most pressing national challenges, such as security, resource control, and local government autonomy.

    Less controversial reforms could be implemented first to build momentum and public confidence in the process, while more complex issues requiring broader consensus could be addressed in subsequent phases.

    I also recommend  a comprehensive public education campaign should accompany the constitutional review process. Many Nigerians lack adequate understanding of constitutional provisions and their implications. The committees should partner with civil society organizations, media houses, and educational institutions to educate the public about proposed reforms and their benefits.

    The task before the National Assembly’s Constitutional Review Committees is both challenging and historic. They have the opportunity to address fundamental structural problems that have hindered Nigeria’s development and democratic consolidation. Success requires political will, broad consultation, and commitment to putting national interest above partisan considerations.

    The committees must learn from previous unsuccessful attempts at constitutional reform and adopt strategies that ensure popular ownership of the process. By incorporating insights from groups like the Patriots and other stakeholders, they can craft a constitution that truly reflects Nigeria’s diversity while providing a framework for unity, progress, and prosperity.

    The time for incremental changes has passed. Nigeria needs transformative constitutional reforms that will position the country for greatness in the 21st century. The Constitutional Review Committees hold the key to unlocking Nigeria’s potential through a constitution that works for all Nigerians.

  • Nigeria @ 65: Of hope, hurdles and an unbending will

    Nigeria @ 65: Of hope, hurdles and an unbending will

    Nigeria will be 65, as an independent country, on 1 October, 2025. That means the country has come a long way since its 1 October, 1960 Independence Day, and the country has had a chequered history. This nation has had high hopes. One of the key indicators of this hope was in the introduction of Nigeria on the floor of the United Nations Organisation on 7 October, 1960, prior to the speech of the Prime Minister, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa. The United Nations compere said: “We are confident that as a member of the United Nations [Nigeria] will contribute much in making speedy solutions and wise solutions. We are confident that in our deliberations we will benefit from their wisdom, from their ingenuity of thought.”

    The compere said further: “In this Assembly, we are sure that their entrance will give our deliberations more vitality and more speedy progress. Apart from that, Mr. President, we are also certain that Nigeria as an independent country, Nigeria, in facing their problems, Nigeria, solving their problems, will also give inspiration to all of us especially to the newly independent countries. The methods in which she is solving her problems, either politically, economically or technically or socially will certainly will be of great advantage for other nations, especially the newly independent countries or the technically underdeveloped countries.” The introduction received resounding applause.

    In his speech, Prime Minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa said: “Mr. President, Last Saturday, the country which I have the honour to represent, the Federation of Nigeria, became independent and assumed the rights and the responsibilities of a sovereign state. Today, Nigeria has been admitted into the United Nations Organisation and assumed still more responsibilities. On behalf of my countrymen in Nigeria, I thank you all most sincerely for accepting us as a fellow member in this organisation.”

    Moreover, the Prime Minister said: “First, it is the desire of Nigeria as I have said already to remain on friendly terms with all nations and to participate actively in the work of the United Nations Organisation. Secondly, Nigeria, a large and populous country, of over thirty five million, has absolutely no territorial or expansionist intentions. Thirdly, we shall not forget our old friends and we are proud to have been accepted as a member of the British Commonwealth. But nevertheless, we do not intend to align ourselves as a matter of routine with any of the power blocs. … Fourthly, Nigeria hopes to work with other African states for the progress of Africa and to assist in bringing all African territories to a state of responsible independence.”

    Moreover, the famous United States President John F. Kennedy invited Prime Minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa to America on a state visit from 25 July, 1961. Watching the United States Information Service documentary of that visit, it is difficult not to be proud to be a Nigerian. The Prime Minister was received at the airport by US Vice-President Lyndon Johnson and American officials, with elaborate and colourful military honours. This was coupled with Sir Tafawa Balewa’s self-assured and rhetorically skillful speech delivery which justified his endearing naming as the “Golden Voice of Africa”.

    But most striking of all was the spectacle of ordinary American citizens lining up to catch a glimpse of the Nigerian Prime Minister and waving as he arrived. Among other places of note, Sir Tafawa Balewa visited a number of American universities, which could have been motivated by his fascination with education.

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    He also visited the Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, site of one of the 1863 decisive battles of the American civil war, and took photographs at the site. This is ironical, because six years later, on 30 May, 1967, a civil war broke out in Nigeria itself. The Nigerian civil war was a fallout of the unprecedented military coup of January 1966 which was an ill-advised reaction to ethno-religious disagreements. In that coup which was predominantly carried out by Igbo soldiers, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, along with many other non-Igbo leaders, was brutally killed. The virtually exclusively non-Igbo casualties of that coup stoked ethnic suspicions, and an ethnically-coloured retaliatory counter coup took place in July 1966. Ripples from the coups precipitated the 1967 civil war which went on until January 1970.

    Considering the fact that some Nigerians are readily threatening war today if their demands are not fulfilled, it is important to look at some examples of the rhetoric of that war. Addressing Biafrans, the Biafran war leader Lt. Col. Odumegwu Ojukwu said: “Fellow Biafrans, on the occasion of your rally to demonstrate your solidarity with the struggles of your kith and kin back home, I send to you all fraternal greetings. As one who has been entrusted with the onerous responsibilities of guiding our young republic through these difficult times, I must confess that it is always a source of deep pleasure and encouragement to me to receive assurances of the support of the people and their continuing determination to persevere until complete victory is achieved.”

    He went on: “You are all aware that for over four months now, Nigeria has been waging a war of aggression to destroy Biafra and her people. This invasion by Nigerian hordes was mounted because the people of the former Eastern Region of Nigeria were forced on May the 30th, 1967 to declare themselves the Independent State of Biafra in order to assure the security of their lives and property. … The inordinate ambition of the Hausa-Fulani oligarchy to continue to dominate the whole of what was formerly the Federation of Nigeria, the unrealistic desire to acquire the wealth and resources of Biafra while rejecting their people, the mad and homicidal desire to exterminate from the face of the earth fourteen million Biafrans drove Gowon and his clique towards unleashing a costly war to attain the unattainable – the subjugation of this young, but promising republic.”

    He said further: “Even with the vast resources of the former Federation of Nigeria with which they prosecute the war, even with the active collaboration of those international opportunists, Britain and the Soviet Union, an unholy alliance of vested interests, even with their attempt to subvert our government by suborning some of our highly-placed military and civilian personnel, an attempt which was foiled at the nick of time, Gowon has failed to make good his boast to crush Biafra – a campaign which he bragged would take only forty-eight hours to accomplish has now dragged on for almost five months and will drag on for as long as it takes Gowon and his clique, both Nigerian and others, to realise that nothing can shake the will or crush the spirit of a determined people.”

    Around two and a half years after that speech, Ojukwu, the Biafran war Commander, fled Nigeria, and Col. Olusegun Obasanjo, the Commander of the 3rd Marine Division received the instrument of surrender from Col. Effiong the Biafran Army Commander on 15 January, 1970; and the war came to an end. The occasion provided an opportunity for the Head of State at the time, Col. Yakubu Gowon, to respond to Ojukwu’s negative comments on him.

    Gowon was asked by the media “Why do you think Ojukwu left Biafra?” He responded: “The foreign press seemed to know him better than we do. … You seem to give him all sorts of excellent qualities. … Ojukwu the gallant chap who said I will fight to the last man and I will be the last man to fall. What a pity! How are the mighty fallen and in such a cowardly way! If he had done a Hitler, probably [he could have been a man] of courage. He didn’t do a Hitler. Hitler took poison, died and ordered his body to be burned up.”

    Some estimates put the number of Nigerians who died in that war at around three million. So, it was not an experience any patriotic Nigerian should wish for. This is why it is bothersome that a Chieftain of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Buba Galadima, said in an ARISE News interview on 16 September, 2025: “Come November, there are rumours all over the place that this [Tinubu] government is nominating a just retired Court of Appeal judge who is known for notoriety to be the Chairman of INEC. I wish it is not true, because if that man becomes the Chairman of INEC, be rest assured that this government is inviting a civil war in this country.”

      Another dimension of the unpatriotic disposition of some Nigerians is that, ironically, a nation which the UN in 1960 hoped would provide a guide to other nations on how to solve their problems has now become seemingly unable to solve its own problems, and at every turn, some individuals or collectives of Nigerians have the tendency to invite foreign powers to help solve the country’s problems. One of the latest examples of this was former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar’s invitation of the international community to come and help the country out of Atiku’s presumed problems with the widely-commended 30 August, 2025 Rivers State Local Government elections.

    One other obstacle to the fulfillment of the dream of Nigeria’s independence is the perverse promotion of negative narratives about the country by some Nigerians. It is heartening that as the ‘Niger-pessimists’ continue to sink deeper in their self-defeating obsession, new associations of ‘Niger-optimists’ are emerging. One of them is the Transformative Governance Forum (TGF) – a self-motivated and self-sustaining group of patriotic Nigerians of diverse professional callings within and outside the country.

    The TGF specifies its philosophy as follows: “Conscious of the enduring socio-political and economic challenges confronting our people; challenged by the erosion of public trust in governance, and the dwindling spirits of patriotism; believing in the power of communal solidarity and grassroots democracy to transform society; recognising that the challenges of our time demand collective courage and unwavering commitment to progressive values in our polity; some Social Welfarists within the Progressive camps constitute themselves as the Transformative Governance Forum, to work for a social democratic Federal Republic of Nigeria; a nation where no child sleeps hungry, no elderly suffer unaffordable healthcare, and no talent is squandered by want.”

    The interim National Coordinator of the TGF is Aare Mojeed Alabi, a Professor of Law and former Honourable Speaker of the Osun State House of Assembly. Members of the Board of Trustees include Her Majesty Ambassador Dr Omolola Ogunwusi, Dr. Ademola Rabiu, CEng, Lady Nkechi Fidimaiye, Dr Abiola Oshodi, Prof Anthony Okoh, Lt Gen Abdulrahman Dambazau, Hon Kayode Adebiyi, Prof Amuda-Kannike (SAN), Aare Mojeed Alabi, and Hajiya Zainab Mohammed Pawa. The TGF has scheduled a range of activities, including the inauguration of its National Executive, for 22 to 23 September, 2025 in Abuja.

  • In Rivers, Tinubu walked into storm, steadiedship, brought it safely back to harbour

    In Rivers, Tinubu walked into storm, steadiedship, brought it safely back to harbour

    Last week was another of those periods when President Bola Ahmed Tinubu seemed to operate quietly from the background, with fewer public appearances and personal engagements. Yet, it turned out to be a decisive week, one that underscored the weight of leadership not by sheer presence but by the quality of actions taken. The President returned to Abuja on Tuesday evening, cutting short his annual working vacation in Europe, and by the following day, he made one of the most consequential pronouncements of his administration: the end of the six-month state of emergency in Rivers State.

    The decision was not a routine announcement. It marked the conclusion of a difficult but necessary intervention that had occupied the national conversation for months. When President Tinubu proclaimed a state of emergency in Rivers on March 18, 2025, it was met with an outpouring of opinions—legal, political, and civic. Many described it as unconstitutional, a federal overreach, or a needless imposition. Yet, standing firm in his conviction, Tinubu had insisted that the declaration was the only available tool to halt the drift into anarchy in one of Nigeria’s most economically strategic states.

    Now, six months later, with the emergency lifted and democratic governance restored, the wisdom of that action shines through. What once seemed like a radical overreach has proven to be an act of foresight, averting what could have been a prolonged paralysis with grave consequences for both Rivers State and the nation at large.

    At the heart of the Rivers crisis was a complete breakdown of governance. The Governor and the State House of Assembly were locked in open conflict, with only four lawmakers supporting the executive while 27 others lined up behind the Speaker in opposition. The standoff meant that the governor could not present an appropriation bill, leaving the machinery of government starved of funds. Critical economic assets, including vital oil pipelines, were increasingly exposed to vandalism, while legal disputes between both arms of government multiplied without resolution.

    The situation was so dire that even the Supreme Court, in one of several judgments arising from the crisis, acknowledged that there was effectively “no government in Rivers State.” For a state that contributes significantly to Nigeria’s oil wealth and stands as a hub of commercial activity, such paralysis was untenable.

    Efforts at reconciliation, including interventions from elder statesmen and traditional rulers, failed to thaw the hardened positions of both camps. It was against this backdrop that Tinubu invoked Section 305 of the Constitution to proclaim the state of emergency, suspending the governor, his deputy, and the House of Assembly for six months.

    It was a painful decision, as the President himself admitted in his address last week. But it was also an act of responsibility, guided not by political expediency but by the need to preserve order, protect national assets, and safeguard the people of Rivers State from descending into chaos.

    From the moment the proclamation was made, critics pounced. Legal experts questioned the validity of suspending duly elected officials. Rights activists argued that the will of the people had been undermined. Opposition politicians claimed it was an abuse of power. Over 40 cases were filed in courts across Abuja, Port Harcourt, and Yenagoa to challenge the emergency rule.

    Tinubu, however, did not shy away from these voices of dissent. Rather, he welcomed them as part of the democratic process. As he reminded Nigerians in his address, “That is the way it should be in a democratic setting.” The courts, after all, exist to test the limits of executive power and ensure accountability. But he also stressed that the Constitution itself provides for a state of emergency precisely for moments when ordinary governance mechanisms collapse.

    And collapse they did in Rivers. The President’s refusal to succumb to pressure and his insistence on deploying the constitutional safety valve showed not authoritarian impulse but democratic responsibility. It was the harder choice—one that carried political risk but was anchored in the broader interest of peace and order.

    The six months of suspended governance were not a wasted period. On the contrary, they created a necessary pause, giving all parties the time and space to reflect. Without the daily theatrics of a hostile Assembly and an isolated executive, Rivers’ political actors were forced into sober consideration of the larger picture—the welfare of their people.

    President Tinubu’s decision effectively pulled the brakes on a runaway conflict. It prevented the crisis from spilling into violent confrontations on the streets of Port Harcourt. It shielded critical oil infrastructure from opportunistic saboteurs. And most importantly, it gave the people of Rivers the assurance that the federation would not abandon them in their hour of governance collapse.

    By September, intelligence available to the Presidency indicated a remarkable shift in attitudes. Stakeholders across the divide had begun to show “a groundswell of a new spirit of understanding, a robust readiness, and potent enthusiasm” to resume normal governance, as Tinubu noted in his declaration. The embattled governor, Siminalayi Fubara, and Speaker Martins Amaewhule, once bitter rivals, had begun to signal a willingness to find common ground.

    On Wednesday, President Tinubu announced the end of the emergency, effective midnight, and restored the governor, his deputy, and the members of the State House of Assembly to their offices. With that, a painful chapter closed, and Rivers State re-entered the mainstream of democratic governance.

    But the more significant outcome lies in the lesson it offers. By intervening when he did, Tinubu ensured that the people of Rivers would not remain hostages to political brinkmanship. He reminded governors and legislatures nationwide that power is a trust held in the service of citizens, not a weapon for factional battles.

    “People who voted us into power expect to reap the fruits of democracy. However, that expectation will remain unrealizable in an atmosphere of violence, anarchy, and insecurity borne by misguided political activism,” the President observed. His words cut to the core of the crisis—not just in Rivers, but as a warning to the entire federation.

    What if Tinubu had not acted? The picture is chilling. Rivers might have remained without a functional government, with civil servants unpaid and state services grinding to a halt. The fragile peace of Port Harcourt could have broken into factional violence, spreading instability across the Niger Delta. Oil production, already beset with challenges, might have plummeted further. And Nigeria, at a delicate economic moment, could ill afford the turbulence.

    By declaring an emergency, Tinubu prevented this grim scenario. In so doing, he showed not only political courage but also a deep sense of responsibility. Leadership, at its core, is the ability to make difficult choices that others shrink from.

    Today, as Rivers State resumes normal governance, the wisdom of Tinubu’s action is apparent. What his critics derided as overreach has, in hindsight, proven to be a demonstration of goodwill and foresight. By absorbing the criticisms, braving the lawsuits, and standing firm in the storm, the President created the conditions for reconciliation.

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    The people of Rivers now have a renewed opportunity to demand governance that works for their welfare and prosperity. Their leaders have been reminded that office is not a prize for partisan battles but a platform for service. And the nation has been shown, once again, that constitutional tools exist not as ornaments but as safeguards for democracy.

    The Rivers state of emergency will remain one of the defining moments of Tinubu’s presidency. It illustrates the delicate balance between respecting democratic freedoms and ensuring that democracy itself does not collapse under the weight of reckless politics.

    By bringing the emergency to an end after six months—no longer, no shorter—Tinubu demonstrated both firmness and restraint. He neither prolonged extraordinary measures unnecessarily nor shirked from wielding them when required. In doing so, he reinforced the principle that governance exists for the people and that no political stalemate should ever compromise their welfare.

    Leadership is sometimes about walking into storms others flee. In Rivers, Tinubu walked into the storm, steadied the ship, and brought it safely back to harbour. And for that, the people of Rivers—and indeed Nigeria—owe him a measure of gratitude.

    Meanwhile, besides the Rivers emergency rule expiration and his pronouncement of the return of proper democracy, President Tinubu’s week was marked by other events and activities, both solemn reflection and significant engagements, with his visit to the family of the late former President Muhammadu Buhari in Kaduna taking centre stage.

    On Friday, the President assured Buhari’s widow, Aisha, and other family members that his administration would uphold the legacy of honesty, patriotism, and integrity left behind by the late leader. “A loss in flesh is not a loss in the spirit, and the spirit that he left with us is a spirit of hard work, dedication, patriotism and honesty, and we are doing that,” Tinubu said, pledging to carry forward Buhari’s values for the unity and progress of Nigeria. In her response, Mrs Buhari described the visit as a source of comfort and urged Nigerians to emulate her husband’s virtues.

    The President’s presence in Kaduna also extended to a more joyous occasion as he attended the wedding of Nasirudeen Abdulaziz Yari, son of Senator Abdulaziz Yari, to Safiyya Shehu Idris. At the Sultan Bello Mosque, Tinubu formally received the bride’s hand-in-marriage on behalf of the Yari family and advised the young couple to build their union on faith and mutual respect.

    Earlier in the week, the President approved portfolios for five new executive directors of the North Central Development Commission, underscoring his commitment to regional development. He also congratulated Nigerian achievers, including business leader Farouk Gumel, hurdler Tobi Amusan, and transport engineer Biodun Otunola, for their feats on the global stage. Midweek, he hailed former Inspector-General of Police Mohammed Adamu on his birthday, while on Thursday, he condoled with families affected by the tragic fire at Afriland Towers in Lagos, urging greater vigilance to avert future disasters.

    The President capped the week with tributes to HID Awolowo on her 10th remembrance anniversary, congratulations to FAAN boss Olubunmi Kuku on her election as ACI Africa Vice-President, and heartfelt condolences over the passing of renowned physician Prof Oyinade Elebute. He also joined Nigerians in celebrating music icon 2Baba at 50, lauding his artistry and global impact.