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  • Deflated, coalition returns to ADC

    Deflated, coalition returns to ADC

    Not too long after they were defeated in the last presidential poll, Nigeria’s self-styled coalition leaders began their rigmarole to retake the presidency they claimed they were entitled to. They had at first hoped to use the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the battering ram to destroy the All Progressives Congress (APC) fortifications and win the exalted office, but the leading opposition party was tired of their shenanigans. Then they half-heartedly leapt upon the Social Democratic Party (SDP) bandwagon, but were disquieted to find out that the party had some honour left in its internal politics and affars. Thereafter the coalition leaders briefly detoured to the African Democratic Congress (ADC), which was used sometime in 2018 by ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo and his aggrieved cohorts to try and rob ex-president Muhammadu Buhari of re-election, only to discover that the courted leaders of the fringe party were not impressed by their resumes.

    Puzzled and angry, they left in a huff and determined to form their own brand new political party to which they could imbue their nature and character. The only problem, however, was that they were unsure just what that character or nature looked like. In any case, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) quickly put them out of their misery by spelling out the long list of conditions they must fulfill to merit registration. Now evidently incensed and desperate, and knowing full well that they did not have the patience or money to fulfill all INEC conditions, they returned shamefaced to the overused ADC still reportedly immersed in legal and factional issues. They had finally berthed, they announced last week to a mystified public in Abuja, and would stay in that party until the next presidential poll. It is good that the nomads have returned home, but those who nurtured the ADC through its tempestuous and litigious years are wary of the new lovers and fair-weather friends.

    After many months of denying the obvious, former vice president Atiku Abubakar, his former running mate in the 2019 presidential poll, Peter Obi, former Kaduna State governor Nasir el-Rufai, former Sokoto State governor Aminu Tambuwal, and a host of other political journeymen are staking their future and reputations on the creaky special purpose vehicle. Most of the coalition leaders are either wearied by age or worn out by years of brutal infighting in their former parties, the PDP and Labour Party (LP). They are not connected by ideology, but by their common resentment for President Tinubu. They have no state governor on their side, but they are hoping they could strike a deal with a few. Some of their former parties are, however, facing their own existential crises, and it is uncertain they are disposed to throwing their lot with the coalition leaders. For, at every turn, the coalition leaders will remind the public that their personal fame outshines the ADC as a party.

    Last week, when the coalition leaders announced their adoption of the ADC for the next poll, they were of course more concerned with the presidential election than state and local polls. Their single-minded goal is to unseat the president, believing that once that is accomplished, they can always lure many unmoored politicians, legislators, and governors into the resistance. During the adoption exercise, coalition leaders as well as their supporters whipped themselves into frenzy, supposing that the elections were all but won already. They ignored the abrupt and unprecedented manner the ADC’s leadership change was effected, nor was it clear that they apprised themselves of the legal miasma in which the adopted party is embroiled with no immediate hope of resolution. Yes, money answers all things, but there are still many in that party who detest ‘hostile takeovers’, who love small is beautiful, who loath the politics, swagger, and condescension of coalition leaders, and who sense that they would be used just as the PDP and LP were used and dumped two years ago.

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    The real face of the adopted ADC is neither the ageing and anti-democratic David Mark, a former army general and later senate president, nor the unprincipled and egotistic Rauf Aregbesola, a former Osun State governor and later Interior minister. Sen. Mark, who has been gifted the chairmanship position on an interim basis, is useful to the extent that the new party leaders think he cannot be pushed around. And Mr Aregbesola is also useful due to his betrayal of President Tinubu. The real leaders in the final analysis will be the ones who can spend the most, and who probably already broke the bank to persuade former and disputed ADC chairman, Ralph Nwosu, to drink hemlock. They will show their faces not too long from now, and they will bare their fangs when they begin to fight for nomination tickets. If they can find their way round the legal thicket choking the ADC, they will face the inexorable battle of superannuated politicians jostling for influence and positions before and after their congresses and convention. All the theoretical postulations by Mr Aregbesola in his acceptance speech as interim national secretary will soon collapse in the face of the heightened spending by heavy political lifters in the coming weeks.

    Analysts who have begun to permute the chances of the party and its potential nominees in the next presidential poll miss the point very badly. Unlike the APC at its founding when it already knew where it was headed and who would lead the charge, the ADC must necessarily go through a period of sifting to produce those whose voices must be heard and obeyed. No factor would mediate or resolve that exercise like money. Once that stage is transcended, the party would be on cruise control, and any analysis on the future and prospects of the party might stand the chance of being fairly well regarded. More importantly, once someone or a group of allies has emerged with unquestionable power, no matter how temporary it is, the dynamics of party nominations can be safely predicted. The party has not pretended to any ideological posturing, nor assumed it already has full control of the circumstances around it. The situation is still in a state of flux. Indeed, if care is not taken, the coalition might become trapped in legal and political quicksand from which extrication would be impossible. But money answers all things.

    As the short piece below demonstrates, there are still too many things better left unsaid. One of them is the tenure matter, indicating that what is uppermost in the minds of the coalition leaders is the goal of taking the presidency at any cost. But one thing that can be safely and sensibly addressed even now is the fate of the two acknowledged parties from which coalition leaders emerged, the PDP and LP. The LP was never really a party. It came into some renown because of the toxic ethnic and religious politics Mr Obi implanted in it. Even though he is still engaged in delicate straddling, unsure whether to fully disengage from the cantankerous LP, Mr Obi will keep the public guessing for as long as possible, intending to have his cake and eat it. It is not just principles that Mr Obi lacks, he also lacks courage and decisiveness. But for now he still has enough people in LP to keep the doors and windows open for a possible retreat from the heat of battle. His former running mate, Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, who is also not too convinced about the coalition, insinuates as much. The bigger dilemma Mr Obi will, however, confront is that even if he crawls back to the LP, he cannot in 2027 make the impression he made in 2023.

    The PDP will survive, despite the antics of Federal Capital Territory (FCT) minister Nyesom Wike. The party has a large number of governors, state assembly seats, and national legislators. It will not fizzle out. Moreover, one of the reasons it had been unable find its way out of its self-imposed maze is because of the pertinacity of the discredited Alhaji Atiku and his co-travellers, men and women the party was already sick and tired of, politicians who had brought the party more bad luck than it could manage or endure. With their exit, the party can begin to reset itself and plan for the future. In short, the ‘founding’ of the ADC will ensure that in 2027, the presidential election will again be a three-horse race. The coalition leaders were too blinded by rage and resentment to anticipate the consequences of their actions.

  • Coalition: Datti Baba-Ahmed surprisingly talks sense

    Coalition: Datti Baba-Ahmed surprisingly talks sense

    The former presidential running mate to Labour Party’s Peter Obi, and founder of Baze University, Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, appears to have experienced a political and psychological metamorphosis. He does not seem any longer to be the rabid revolutionary and ethnicist of the last presidential campaign. Some two years after the election, and perhaps having cured himself of the pains of defeat and the radical polemics he acquired in the process, he seems to have become a realist, even a thinker. During the election, and especially immediately after, there was nothing he did or said that made anyone associate him with anything university. Few years after the din of election and the anguish of defeat had dissipated, he seems more rational than anyone thought possible, prticularly judging from his fanatical antecedents. In a recent interview with Trust TV, he passed a verdict on the political coalition that had just taken over the African Democratic Congress (ADC), pouring cold water on their expectations, and ridiculing their oversimplifications.

    His mind is with the coalition, he says, reflecting the bonding with his presidential candidate, Mr Obi, but he seems dreadfully uneasy about the party’s prospects and methods. A coalition is, in theory, a fine thing, he acknowledges, but if it cannot even disguise its trenchancy nor mitigate its obsession with seizing the presidency, it might be opening itself to a worse drubbing than it should deserve. This is surprising, that the sometimes agitated and caustic Mr Baba-Ahmed can summon the calmness to dissect the coalition and project its weaknesses and defeat should their self-centred leaders prove incapable of carefully curating their tentative platform. Mr Obi equally appears unsure about the coalition, but his sixth sense tells him that striking out alone with the lame feet of LP would condemn him to a shattering defeat a second time. That Mr Baba-Ahmed does not feel discomfited by the presence of his leader in the coalition to ventilate his heartfelt opinion and suspicion on television must be truly noteworthy.

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    Mr Baba-Ahmed anchors his suspicion of the coalition on two grounds. One is that the victory of the APC in 2015 does not permit the unlimited extrapolations which the Atiku Abubakar-led coalition is clinging to. There are many hidden details in the 2015 coalition – more accurately a merger – that made victory possible for the APC. He does not mince words referencing President Bola Tinubu whom the amorphous coalition strives to overthrow: “I don’t yet see anyone in this coalition who can scheme and plan over 16 years. With all due respect to Atiku, he has contested consistently—this will be the seventh time. But tell me: is there anyone else in the coalition who will say, ‘Let it be the other person, and I will support them’? I’m yet to see that. Everyone seems only interested in their candidacy…He (Tinubu) stayed committed for 16 years and took it in 2023. Tinubu gave Atiku the ACN in 2007; gave it to Ribadu in 2011; backed Buhari in 2015; and waited until 2023 to take it himself. I’m saying: to defeat this phenomenon called Tinubu, you must do the unthinkable. If this coalition—which I recognise—thinks it’s business as usual, it won’t work. It has to be less about individual ambition and more about Nigeria. More action, less talk. Because talk is cheap.”

    Second, he suggests that for a coalition to have meaning and appeal it ought to have a unifying figure, the kind Muhammadu Buhari represented for the APC at least a year before the 2015 poll. The coalition, Mr Baba-Ahmed muses, has no such unifier. He is respectful of Alhaji Atiku, and perhaps too of Mr Obi, but he is adamant that the coalition does not have a centralising man of heft and stature around whom the main opposition can coalesce. This is probably why the former running mate says comparing the dynamics of 2027 to the reality of 2015 may amount to oversimplification. Mr Obi is unlikely to be offended by his former running mate’s remonstration. He also has his misgivings, and is probably being propelled along for now because of the uncertainties in his own party and the pianissimo doubts that make him feel queasy.

    Mr Baba-Ahmed’s transformation is, however, neither fundamental nor ideological. He has caught his breath, after the stridency of the 2023 electioneering, thus explaining his seeming moderation, calmness, and logical effusions. This new orientation may, however, not last beyond the next provocation, for the real Datti Baba-Ahmed is not pleasant at all. His party had absolutely no pathway to victory in the 2023 presidential election, especially with their inability to produce, before the election tribunal, results in about 54,000 polling units out of 189,000 polling units, according to an official of the party. The party also politicised ethnicity and religion, and divided the country along other primordial lines. But no sooner the election results were announced than Mr Baba-Ahmed began calling for revolution, threatening fire and brimstone should the winner be sworn in, and calling for the cancellation of the results. He then embarked on a long spell of incitement capable of causing chaos and fracturing the country. His real self emerged before, during and after that election. He might be sophistic today concerning a political coalition that makes him uneasy, especially sensing that he would understandably be dwarfed by the rhetoric and image of the big names and bigwigs in the adopted ADC party, but there is nothing to suggest that the sensible arguments he has begun to make very robustly reflect his enduring and essential self. The country must still be wary of him.

  • ADC’s one-term ‘presidents’

    ADC’s one-term ‘presidents’

    Nearly every presidential aspirant in the newly adopted African Democratic Congress (ADC) is promising to do only one term if elected. This promise, each aspirant hopes, will help secure nomination. Would their fellow travelers believe them? It is unlikely. Would the country as a whole also believe them? It is even more unlikely. Power is an aphrodisiac, and its charm difficult to resist. The public may already see insincerity in the one-term promise, but the aspirants will make it anyway, for to do otherwise is to doom their aspirations even before they get off the ground.

    Former vice president Atiku Abubakar was the first to make that promise in other to snag Labour Party’s Peter Obi. If nominated and goes on to win the presidency, he vowed, he would hand over to the former Anambra governor at the end of his first term. He presumes to have the power to hand over the presidency to his running mate or vice president regardless of what the voters think. More, Alhaji Atiku hopes not only to snag Mr Obi but also to corral the Igbo Southeast because they must believe that it could be their surest path to the presidency.

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    But in a different way too, former Rivers State governor Rotimi Amaechi is making the same promise to spend only one term in office if elected in order to complete the second term they hope the electorate would deny President Bola Tinubu in 2027. The presumptuousness does not end there. Mr Obi himself has declared magisterially that anyone who plans to contest the presidency against President Tinubu must know for a certainty that he would spend only one term. Even if the electorate would be dumb enough to believe Alhaji Atiku because of his age – he is 78 years old already – they would not believe both Mr Amaechi and Mr Obi.

    Expect potential running mates, like former Kaduna governor Nasir el-Rufai, to join the one-term boondoggle. They stand to gain from a southerner spending one term in office should the ADC win the next presidential poll. The campaign, they have signaled, will not be about issues or ideologies or Nigeria’s political dynamics; it will be about one term or two terms. For now, however, that still leaves the advantage with the APC.

  • The rise, rise and rise of capitalism (XXVI)

    The rise, rise and rise of capitalism (XXVI)

    Even before the end of WWII, it had become apparent that all was not well within the group of Allied powers locked in combat with the Axis powers. After all, both the British and French had their respective empires to defend and the Americans had to look after the continuing rise of capitalism all around the world. On the other hand, there was the Soviet Union which was pushing the cause of communism. And like oil and water, it is impossible for capitalism and communism to coexist or to mix within any one vessel without doing violence to their respective nature.

    Even before that consideration, It would have been impossible for the Soviets to forget that back in the mucky depths of WWI, the Allies (Britain, France, the USA, Japan and other sundry nations) had supported the White Russians who were trying to reverse the Bolshevik revolution which had brought the communists to power in Russia in 1917. With WW2 coming to an end, the situation which had bound the Allied powers together was on the verge of being resolved and the probability of an overriding ideological struggle was once more on the cards and could no longer be ignored.

    Although several new countries emerged from the debris of the First World War, the Imperial powers especially France and Britain, not only retained their colonies but increased their holdings quite considerably. By the end of the war in 1945 however, it was clear that a massive, new world order was in the offing.

    The first sign of this was that the attainment of Indian independence could no longer be postponed for any reason. Two short years later, India had gained independence and had been partitioned into two countries, Pakistan and India. The process had been incredibly messy with more than a million people killed in religious clashes and millions of others displaced all across the vast subcontinent. This was an indication that the process of decolonisation was not going to be achieved easily or without bloodshed in a world which had become inured to blood letting on a massive scale. In response to the almost universal agitation for independence, the French and the British were quite determined to hold on to their colonies all around the world and the Dutch were vigorously facing down an armed rebellion in Indonesia and their other colonies in the Dutch East Indies. Over in Africa, the Portuguese had not evolved to a level of common sense which would have allowed them to think of independence for their colonies. The only anti-colonial power outside the Communist block was the United States, at least in theory. In practice however, it was soon apparent that the United States looked on the rest of the world as her collective sphere of influence with only the Communist nations standing in the way of her global hegemony.

    Although the Soviet Union was seen as the main antagonists to American ambitions, China could not be taken out of the equation. To add more pep to the  fantastic stew boiling in the global pot, the Chinese Communist Party had, by October 1949 won a decisive victory against the Western backed Nationalists who had to flee across the sea to Taiwan and in doing so, created two Chinas. Close to eighty years later, that issue is still hanging fire but with the rapidly increasing military might of Mainland China, it is looking as if it will be resolved in no distant future. The situation in the immediate period after the war was that a bipolar world was emerging from the ashes of the old world order.

    Over in Africa new political  movements were being formed with the sole purpose of fighting for independence from their European colonial overlords. The leaders of some of these movements notably Kwame Nkrumah, Julius Nyerere, Jomo Kenyatta, Obafemi Awolowo and others had met in Manchester, England with their fellow Pan-Africanists from the Caribbean region. The one item agenda of the meeting was to explore the ways and means of achieving independence for their respective countries in the shortest time possible. The war had changed the world so profoundly that the fallacies on which colonialism was based had become patently untenable. It had proved that there was no basis for the assumption that there was a master race which could by right, lord it over any other race of people anywhere in the world. This message was also taken on board by African Americans.

    The new world which had emerged after the war did not seem to include African Americans. Nearly a hundred years after the Emancipation proclamation, they were still everywhere in chains in the land of their birth  and the passage of the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments which were supposed to guarantee their freedom and civil rights were more prominent in their breach than in their acknowledgement. The situation of black Americans living in the former states of the Confederacy was in part worse off than it was under slavery. They were emancipated but not liberated from hunger, nakedness or exposure to the vagaries of the weather. The constitution declared in ringing tones that they were less than human and were treated worse than animals. At least at the very worst animals, working or domestic, were provided with food and some form of shelter. The newly freed Americans were not guaranteed either. In respect to the state, they existed in an orphan condition, not knowing what was in store for them from one day to the next. At the same time, ships were streaming steadily into the US bringing the wretched of Europe seeking their fortune in spaces which were  violently and spitefully denied to African Americans in the land of their birth. They were not accepted as citizens of the country which capitalism  was building on land expropriated from the indigenous peoples of the New World.

    The issue of the integration of Africans into the larger American society was shouting out for redress but it was not until the sixties that the Civil rights movement in the USA began to build up a head of steam. It is also quite possible that without the impetus provided by WWII, there would not have been grounds for integration of Blacks into the larger society. More than a million black men and women enlisted in the US armed forces in order to fight for freedom in Europe and also back home in the United States. The fight for freedom in Europe turned out to be resolved easier than civil rights for black people in the USA. Their country was by far the richest country in the world. And much of that prosperity was squeezed out of African Americans who were not allowed to enjoy the taste of the fruit of their labour. The tragic irony of this situation was not lost on African Americans. They were recruited to go and fight for the freedom of some white people who were being oppressed by other white people whilst they were being oppressed by yet another group of white people. All public facilities were segregated and any black persons or group who had managed to rise in spite of the gross injustices against them were ruthlessly cut down to size or simply destroyed. One egregious example of this is provided by what happened in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1921. The blacks of Tulsa had created a prosperous district which was called the Black Wall Street. This made their white neighbours not just jealous but furious. Their response was to provoke a riot during which the Black Wall Street was burnt down, dozens of black people killed and hundreds injured. The survivors of this racially activated mayhem had no choice but to flee for dear life. All because a white woman claimed that a  black man had assaulted her in a lift. Thirty-three years later in Mississippi state a fourteen year old boy, Emmet Till who was visiting from Chicago was accused of whistling at a twenty-one year old white woman. A few days later, the boy was abducted by two men, one of them the husband of the accuser, severely beaten and shot. His battered body was further mutilated, weighted down and thrown into the river. His mutilated and grotesquely swollen body was repatriated to Chicago where his mother insisted on an open casket funeral. Thousands of mourners filed past the casket and photographs appeared in newspapers all over the country. This aroused a great deal of emotions which sparked the civil rights movement to life. Four months later in Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat in the bus to a white man as she was required to do by Jim Crow laws and set off the now famous Montgomery bus boycot which went on for more than a year until the law was changed to remove the grievance which caused the bus boycott. This protest was led by the aptly named Dr. Margin Luther King who perhaps, more than anyone of his generation has been associated with the passage of the Civil Rights Act during the Johnson presidency in 1964

     Although this act has given some guarantee of civil rights to black people in the USA, it certainly did not take them to the promised land of genuine equality and freedom which Margin Luther King and others fought for. It is however interesting to note that as long as Martin Luther King confined himself to civil rights matters, he was allowed to make his characteristic soaring speeches. Unfortunately, he turned his oratory to the exposition of economic subjects and was promptly assassinated. He had begun to point out the connection between racism and the rise and rise of capitalism. This was seen as a capital offence for which he was promptly executed.

  • Peter Obi: The archetypical Nigerian opposition politician

    Peter Obi: The archetypical Nigerian opposition politician

    While we appreciate the enthusiasm with which Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola has delivered his acceptance speech as Interim National Secretary of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), we must urgently and firmly reject the premise and process behind this appointment — an appointment that lacks due process, transparency, and the broad-based legitimacy expected in a democratic political party”.

    “Ironically, the speech talks about internal democracy, ideological discipline, and inclusiveness—yet the very process by which he emerged contradicts every word he  spoke. Democracy cannot begin with imposition. The ADC must not become another replica of the broken parties we seek to replace -Dr. Musa Isa Matara IQAM

    National Publicity Secretary, ADC (Original).

    Here they come again.

    A leopard cannot change its skin.

    “I promise I will not leave APGA.

    Not only that I will not leave, I will die in APGA” — the ever unreliable Peter Obi in 2010.

    I now ask: can a group of mostly political Almajiris, described

    humorously, as internally displaced persons fighting for relevance by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, come from nowhere, and whimsically grab a fully functioning, INEC – certified political party?

    Are there no longer laws in Nigeria, or is it an affirmation of former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s  allegation concerning their leaders’ belief that “trust in money can buy him his way on any, or all issues”?

    Last week on this column I presented, not only what political opposition currently looks like in our country, I equally sketched what a serious and responsible opposition should aspire to be; at least not a demonstration of desperation and lawlessness  as we saw displayed in the manner some oligarchs sought to capture ADC.

    No, not in a country of laws even if they individually equate to a Central Bank.

    Today I venture a little further into what a responsible opposition politician, not the group, should aspire to be – not look like. Whichever of those currently parading as opposition leaders but whose past does not reflect Nigerians’ wishes should simply be given a wide berth.

    Mr Peter Obi, who as Presidential candidate of the Labour party in the 2023 election cycle, placed a distant third, in spite of his unrestrained weaponisation of both ethnicity and religion in his campaign, will be our specimen of what an opposition leader, and ipso facto, a probable future Nigerian President, should not be.

    In the same manner they believe they had captured ADC – no process, no rules – Peter Obi has declared, apriori, that he will contest the 2027 Presidential election, come rain, come shine.

    This is in spite of the loud presence in the same opposition of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the sedentary politician, and perennial  Presidential candidate, who is dumping PDP for no other reason than that he cannot wangle his way to becoming its candidate again as there aren’t enough Hausa/Fulani contestants in the ADC, this time around, to bulldoze as they did Aminu Tambuwal in the PDP in ’23.

    Nor is Obi unaware of the efette presence of Rotimi Amaechi, the ‘Mr am hungry’, and a fellow Southerner who considers himself the President- in- waiting.

    That exactly is how self – conceited these opposition politicians are which makes it doubly obvious that a collision of their altars is as sure as day follows the night.

    It’s only a question of time.

    Festus Keyamo, the Aviation Minister, however, put this in better perspective when he implied that in swearing to contest, Obi was telling Atiku that he understands his( Atiku’s) game plan.

    Wrote Keyamo:”This is just Atiku’s faction of PDP in desperate search for the 2027 Presidential ticket – nothing more, nothing less.

    The person who the old, cunning guards want to take for a ride in all of this is Peter Obi. They want his votes, but don’t want to give him their Presidential ticket because this is Atiku’s show, simpliciter.

    That is why David Mark is the interim Chairman”.  

    Apparently the crafty old man had this all worked out in his mind when he recently went to Osun state, publicly disdained the state governor, of his then own PDP,  but enthusiastically romanced Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola who he must have promised the Secretaryship of whichever party they were hopping into, in the belief that with Aregbesola and the wily David Mark holding the two key positions, his Presidential candidacy was as good as made.

    In making Obi our sample we are also guided by the following words of his: “My past speaks loudly for me”.

    Indeed!

    But how will Obi, by bringing his past into the equation, not know that he has technically self disqualified?

    Or has he forgotten his promise, among many others, never to leave APGA which he not only subsequently ditched to become a political  vagrant, hopping from APGA to PDP, then to Labour and now to God knows what party since ADC stakeholders have promised to fight them to the hilt.

    Many statements by Peter Obi have sparked controversy.

    He has, in fact, been severally accused of lying, insisting that his claims are, most times, unfounded and lack evidence. He often makes claims that are not supported by facts. He also exaggerates or distorts facts to suit his narrative. He obfuscates, making claims without providing evidence to back them up.

    For instance, he is in the habit of claiming that a particular policy or action has had a certain impact without providing data or statistics to support his assertion, even while he loves to dish out fake statistics.

    His claim of making Anambra state number one in Education in Nigeria, for instance, has been amply discredited.

    As is his wont, Peter Obi is already out whining his Obidients as well as those who will file behind him for ethnic and religious reasons.

    He has not only sworn  he wouldd contest the 2027 presidential election, he pledged to serve only one term if elected and promised to restore national stability within two years.

    Here you see Obi’s crass ambition and selfishness in bold relief – an Igbo Presidential candidate promising to serve for only one term even when his people have, like forever, craves for that number one position in the country.

    I expect Igbos to see through this coy man.

    And if we may ask, what exactly does he mean by restoring national stability, which he hopes to do in two years?

    Pray, where is this miracle worker whose miniscule political party, the Labour party, has been roiling in crises for as long as Nigerians can remember?

    In his address to his supporters during a live X Space interaction he also dismissed reports suggesting a joint ticket with former Vice President Atiku Abubakar. He had to say that because he knows that the former Vice President is already a dead weight and failed politician. But believe Obi on  any of these things and you would believe anything.

    Recall his campaign promise to remove fuel subsidy on Day One, as President, and how he began to rant, whine and obfuscate after seeing the inescapable challenges consequent on Prident Tinubu’s removal of subsidy. Meanwhile had Tinubu not done so the way he did, these ethnicity – suffused people would have ensured they deployed Ajaero, and his NLC, to make it a mission impossible, not minding the draw back that would have meant for Nigeria.

    Before concluding this essay, something tells me I should ask their brand new interim Chairman, Senator David Mark, some things about telephones. Are they still for the poor as he once hollered in his glory days as minister? And since Obi wants to be judged by his past, what of Mark?

    How does he see his role in the June 12 saga and the struggle for the survival of democracy in Nigeria?Does he feel now, in retrospect, that his serving as a two- term Senate President in a Democratic Republic of Nigeria was haram?

    Although you hardly know where exactly former President Obasanjo stands on issues these days besides his anti- Tinubu rhetoric, he has done Nigerians the favour of sufficiently warning us about the duo of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and Nasir El Rufai, two other leading opposition titans.

    Above are some of the gerontocrats now feverishly doing their  damnedest, to once again take Nigerians back to the slave camp.

    But God forbid.

  • Shettima’s dilemma: Loyalty, performance, and politics of 2027

    Shettima’s dilemma: Loyalty, performance, and politics of 2027

    Rumors in politics are often described as powerful, yet unreliable, tools, however in the Nigerian political landscape, behind every rumour there usually is an iota of truth in them and it is only a matter of time before such speculations begin to unravel.

    For Vice President Kashim Shettima, his future as Veep to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu seems to be hazy as the media has  been awash with the story that should Tinubu seek a second term in office as president, he may do so without Shettima being on the ballot.  This discourse has fueled unnecessary tension within the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and raises serious questions about political loyalty, moral responsibility, and strategic thinking in Nigerian politics.

    The speculation storm surrounding Shettima’s alleged replacement have gained significant traction across various political circles. According to some narratives,  some northern stakeholders have pressured President Tinubu to consider dropping the Vice President in favor of another northerner, with various names been bandied as potential replacements, these speculations reached a fever pitch when some northern youths and Islamic groups publicly called for Shettima’s replacement, arguing that the current Muslim-Muslim ticket needs recalibration for broader appeal. The pressure become so intense when at the NorthEast APC rally in Gombe, held sometime in June this year saw the zone endorsing President Tinubu’s second term agenda without mentioning the Vice, this omission of sorts gave fuel to the speculation that certain northern elements were eying Shettimma’s job and supporters of Shettimma like Godsday Orubebe would not take it, immediately reacting to the NorthEast’s Zonal Chairman’s and the recent past National Chairman, Abdulahi Ganduje speeches with reciprocable anger,  hurling insults and threats, whilst exchanging fisticuffs and further reprisals and threatening greater physical harm, prompting security officials to whisk both Salihu and Ganduje  from the venue.

    A dispassionate analysis of Vice President Shettima’s performance since assuming office in May 2023 reveals a man who has been nothing short of exemplary in his role. His track record speaks volumes about his dedication to both his office and his principal. From representing Nigeria at the 2025 World Economic Forum in Davos to delivering speeches at the United Nations General Assembly, Shettima has consistently demonstrated competence and loyalty.

    His background as a former banker, successful businessman, and two-term governor of Borno State provides him and the Tinubu administration with the requisite experience to handle the complexities of the vice presidency. During his tenure as governor from 2011 to 2019, he managed one of Nigeria’s most challenging states during the height of the Boko Haram insurgency, demonstrating remarkable resilience and administrative acumen. His subsequent service as a senator from 2019 to 2023 further solidified his understanding of Nigeria’s legislative processes and national politics.

    Since becoming Vice President, Shettima  has maintained a low profile while efficiently executing his duties, avoiding the controversies that have reportedly plagued one of his predecessors, Atiku Abubakar. He has been a team player, supporting presidential initiatives without creating unnecessary drama or seeking to overshadow his principal. This level of loyalty and competence should be valued, not discarded on the altar of political expediency.

    The suggestion that President Tinubu should drop Shettima represents a fundamental breach of political ethics and moral responsibility. Political partnerships, especially at the highest levels of government, are built on trust, mutual respect, and shared vision. When two individuals campaign together and win an election, they establish a bond that transcends mere political convenience.

    Shettima stood by Tinubu before the 2023 primaries during the primaries and in the course of the 2023 election campaign, when the Muslim-Muslim ticket faced intense criticism and opposition. He weathered the storm of religious and ethnic politics, defending the ticket and contributing to its eventual victory. Having benefited from Shettima’s loyalty and support during the campaign, it would be unconscionable for Tinubu to abandon him now simply because of political calculations for 2027.

    Moreover, the Vice President has not committed any offense that would justify his removal. He has not been involved in any scandal, has not undermined the administration, and has not shown any disloyalty to the President. Dropping him would send a dangerous signal to other political associates that loyalty means nothing in Nigerian politics, further eroding trust in political partnerships.

    The claim that Shettimma’s Borno was the only state nicked by the APC in 2023 and that for the APC to solidify itself for the 2027 polls ahead of whatever coalitions will coalesce at that time to challenge it, then the APC must pick a running mate from the NorthEast is indeed a wrong political arithmetic. First of all the zone prior to that election had four states as opposition states to APC’s two states of Borno and Yobe. Second, the zone had an Atiku Abubakar on the opposition ticket, to have expected Shettimma to carry the zone then is to have expected a miracle which doesn’t occur often in Nigerian politics.

    Today the APC has three states in the NorthEast and with the incumbency factor, the APC stands a chance of doing much better than it did in 2023, even with an Atiku Abubakar on any party’s ticket.

    From a purely strategic standpoint, replacing Shettima could severely damage President Tinubu’s chances of re-election in 2027. The move would likely be perceived as a betrayal by many northerners who supported the ticket in 2023, particularly those from the North-East region that Shettima represents. This could lead to a significant loss of support in a region that was crucial to the APC’s victory in the last election.

    Furthermore, such a decision would likely create internal divisions within the APC, as different factions would emerge to support various potential replacements. The ensuing power struggle could weaken the party’s unity and effectiveness, providing opportunities for opposition parties to exploit. The time and energy that would be spent on managing this internal crisis could be better utilized for governance and addressing the nation’s pressing challenges.

    The replacement move could also backfire in other regions of the country. Many Nigerians, regardless of their religious or ethnic affiliations, value consistency and loyalty in leadership. They might view the dropping of a performing Vice President as evidence of poor judgment and untrustworthiness on the part of the President, potentially affecting his support base beyond the North.

    Even the  argument that Shettima should be replaced with a northern Christian to balance the ticket is a dangerous descent into religious tokenism that reduces complex political decisions to simplistic religious calculations. This approach will only prove counterproductive in Nigerian politics, often creating more problems than it solves.

    One of the strongest arguments for retaining Shettima is the unity he brings to the northern region. As a respected political figure with deep roots in the North-East, his continued presence in the administration helps maintain the delicate balance of regional representation in the current government. His replacement could upset this balance and potentially alienate important stakeholders in the region.

    Additionally, Shettima’s retention would demonstrate that President Tinubu values continuity and stability over political maneuvering. This would be particularly important given the various challenges facing the country, including economic reforms, security issues, and infrastructure development. A stable leadership team is crucial for implementing long-term solutions to these challenges.

    The speculation about dropping Vice President Kashim Shettima represents a dangerous distraction from the serious business of governance. One also thinks that the president’s advisers should put an end to these rumors by getting President Tinubu to reaffirm his confidence in his Vice President making it clear that the 2027 ticket will remain unchanged.

    The focus should be on delivering good governance, addressing the nation’s challenges, and preparing for the 2027 elections as a united team. Political loyalty, when demonstrated as exemplarily as Shettima has done, should be rewarded, not punished. The President’s legacy will be better served by honoring his political partnerships and maintaining the stability that has characterized his administration thus far.

    As Nigeria continues its journey toward democratic maturity, the preservation of political loyalty and the rejection of religious tokenism will be crucial markers of progress. President Tinubu I am sure would always  demonstrate statesmanship by standing by his Vice President and focusing on the issues that truly matter to the Nigerian people.

  • Tinubu Caribbean gambit: visionary foray into uncharted alliances

    Tinubu Caribbean gambit: visionary foray into uncharted alliances

    When President Bola Ahmed Tinubu touched down in Castries, the picturesque capital of Saint Lucia, he wasn’t merely visiting a small island nation tucked away in the Caribbean Sea. He was planting the green-white-green flag squarely into the consciousness of a region long estranged from its African roots in official diplomacy. It was a calculated, courageous move—one that signposts a new kind of foreign policy thinking from Nigeria’s Commander-in-Chief: pragmatic, historically aware, and strategically global in outlook.

    For nearly a week, President Tinubu immersed himself in the affairs of Saint Lucia, a country whose population is scarcely more than a mid-sized local government area in Nigeria. On the surface, such a visit might have appeared ceremonial, or at worst, unnecessary. Critics, as they often do, leapt to dismiss the trip as a veiled holiday or, more mischievously, a disguise for medical tourism. But they were reading from an outdated script.

    This visit was neither a jaunt nor an indulgence—it was a purposeful diplomatic bridge-building exercise aimed at unlocking an entire subregion of untapped opportunity: the Caribbean, and specifically, the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS). It was about strategy, vision, and foresight. And in the Tinubu doctrine, foreign engagement is no longer just about the big, familiar power blocs. It is about value—economic, cultural, strategic—regardless of the size or geography of a potential partner.

    Saint Lucia is one of the smallest sovereign nations in the world, but don’t let its size fool you. Its GDP per capita dwarfs Nigeria’s by more than 15 times. It is a member of both the OECS and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM)—the Caribbean’s collective diplomatic and economic powerhouse. What Saint Lucia offers is not just bilateral friendship, but a doorway into a 15-member Caribbean bloc with a combined GDP of $130 billion and a growing appetite for deeper ties with Africa.

    President Tinubu understands the importance of such strategic gateways. Just as Morocco uses Senegal to enter ECOWAS or how Turkey leverages Somalia for East African access, Saint Lucia could become Nigeria’s stepping stone into the Caribbean. And considering our deep, undeniable cultural and historical links—from the transatlantic slave trade to shared colonial legacies—it is a region with which Nigeria should have been engaging long before now, but better late than never. What Tinubu has done is not merely to open a door, but to take a bold step through it.

    In Castries, Tinubu became the first Nigerian President to address a joint session of the Saint Lucian Senate and House of Assembly. But the significance didn’t end there. He also met leaders of OECS member states—Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and others. This was not a visit to one nation. It was a diplomatic engagement with an entire subregion.

    His message was clear and consistent: Nigeria is ready to build new bridges, formalize diplomatic ties, and create pathways for mutual prosperity. And to prove that this was not just rhetoric, he announced the establishment of diplomatic relations with Saint Lucia, proposed a Joint Commission between Nigeria and the OECS, and offered full tuition scholarships to students from the region to study in Nigerian universities beginning next academic year.

    “We are not here to talk; we are here to act,” Tinubu declared during a press conference with Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre. And act he did.

    At the heart of Tinubu’s Caribbean pivot lies a recognition of shared identity. “Our two nations are bound by history, culture, and common aspirations,” he said in one of his many public engagements on the island. That sentiment resonates deeply in a region where African ancestry is not just acknowledged but celebrated. Saint Lucia, for instance, gave Nigeria one of its most distinguished post-independence legal icons—Sir Darnley Alexander, who served as Nigeria’s Chief Justice between 1975 and 1979.

    Tinubu’s visit deliberately tapped into that emotional reservoir, but didn’t stop there. He moved swiftly into practical avenues: trade, investment, healthcare cooperation, technical assistance, and tourism.

    The Caribbean, with its booming service economy and well-established tourism industry, has gaps Nigeria can help fill—particularly in the health and education sectors. Saint Lucia has a growing shortage of healthcare professionals. Nigeria, despite its brain drain, still produces thousands of highly trained nurses and doctors each year. President Tinubu offered to deploy Nigerian professionals through the revived Technical Aide Corps—Africa offering value to the Diaspora.

    He also proposed visa waivers for diplomatic and official passport holders between Nigeria and OECS states. “Let us remove the barriers,” he said. “Let us ease the travel and trade routes between us.”

    President Tinubu’s Caribbean overture is best understood within the context of shifting global dynamics. The global North is retreating into protectionism and political uncertainty. From Brexit to the rise of nationalism in Europe and America, emerging economies can no longer afford to rely solely on traditional Western partners. The world is rebalancing, and President Tinubu, ever the realist, has read the moment accurately.

    His Saint Lucia mission reflects a broader pivot to the Global South, an ideological and practical move to deepen South-South cooperation. “There is growing uncertainty about the motivation underlying international relationships,” Prime Minister Pierre noted. Tinubu’s response was to offer certainty, clarity, and commitment.

    Already, Afrobeat music is building cultural bridges between Nigeria and the Caribbean. Nigerian artists are regular features at regional festivals. There is growing admiration for Nollywood, and universities in the region are interested in academic collaborations. All that was needed was a political handshake to set things in motion. Tinubu gave them one.

    As Africa’s largest economy and most populous country, Nigeria carries a unique set of assets: vast energy reserves, cultural dominance, and an emerging tech sector. Tinubu’s message in Saint Lucia was that Nigeria is no longer waiting for opportunity to knock—it is out knocking on new doors itself.

    He advocated for joint ventures in agriculture, tourism, and even climate resilience, where Caribbean nations have long been active in global advocacy. Another reason to court the region is the Dangote Refinery, which positions Nigeria as a major player in refined petroleum products—something Saint Lucia heavily imports.

    More importantly, Tinubu offered a glimpse into his administration’s foreign policy direction: it will be proactive, unconventional, and willing to engage the less traveled roads in search of long-term advantage.

    This is not just about what Nigeria gets out of Saint Lucia. It’s about what Nigeria learns and gains from building equitable, respectful relationships with smaller but capable nations. For decades, Nigerian diplomacy was dominated by big-stage summits, often with superpowers or regional heavyweights. President Tinubu’s Caribbean venture represents a break from that tradition—a refreshingly bottom-up approach to foreign policy.

    The President’s moves underscore the value of relational equity. These small countries vote in the United Nations. They sit on committees. They influence multilateral policy—especially on climate change, global taxation, and development finance. And with global institutions increasingly looking to diversify leadership and representation, having genuine friendships with OECS and CARICOM is a long-term asset Nigeria should treasure.

    Moreover, from a generational standpoint, the Saint Lucia visit sets the tone for a new kind of Nigerian diplomacy—one that sees the map not just in terms of geography but also in opportunity. One that sees beyond trade figures and population size, and focuses instead on value, alignment, and mutual respect.

    The Saint Lucia trip may not dominate newspaper headlines or light up evening television in the way domestic political drama often does, but history may well remember it as one of the smartest geopolitical moves of Tinubu’s presidency. It is one thing to manage crises at home—a task the President continues to face with unrelenting energy—but it is quite another to chart a future-facing foreign policy that positions Nigeria as a bridge between continents, cultures, and hemispheres.

    Only vision, foresight, and a strategic mind could have seen Saint Lucia not as an afterthought, but as a pivot point. And only a leader of Tinubu’s political boldness would have acted on that vision.

    From the Caribbean to BRICS: Tinubu’s Tireless Global Push for Nigeria’s Prosperity

    From the warm diplomatic embrace of the Caribbean to the strategic high tables of global geopolitics in South America, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu continues to demonstrate an unyielding commitment to Nigeria’s place in the world. On Friday, he departed Castries, the capital of Saint Lucia — wrapping up a landmark state visit that deepened Nigeria’s footprint across the Caribbean — and arrived in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where he will represent Nigeria at the 17th BRICS Summit, opening today, Sunday, July 6.

    The back-to-back engagements signal more than a packed presidential itinerary. They represent a new foreign policy energy — focused, confident, and unapologetically pro-Nigeria. In Saint Lucia and the wider Caribbean, Tinubu extended Nigeria’s cultural and economic influence, reviving forgotten historical ties and opening new corridors of cooperation in trade, education, energy, and tourism. Now, in Brazil, the President pivots to the larger stage of BRICS, where emerging powers are reshaping the global economic order.

    Nigeria’s participation in the summit is historic. No longer just a guest, the country now holds the upgraded status of “Partner Country” — an acknowledgment of Nigeria’s rising influence and economic potential. For President Tinubu, this is not a ceremonial appearance; it is a strategic mission. He is seeking stronger development partnerships, broader trade opportunities, deeper security cooperation, and a voice in defining the frameworks that will govern the next global economic phase.

    What makes this all the more striking is the President’s relentless pace. He has not paused to consider the physical toll — continent-hopping, high-level diplomacy, endless negotiations. Instead, he presses on with characteristic focus, driven by one thing: the promise he made to the Nigerian people — a future of prosperity, security, and stability.

    It is a mark of true leadership. Where some might see exhaustion, Tinubu sees duty. Where others retreat to comfort, he reaches for opportunity. This is a President walking his talk on the global stage, building relationships that will translate into tangible benefits — jobs, investments, infrastructure, and national pride.

    As the BRICS Summit convenes in Brazil, President Tinubu brings with him not just the Nigerian flag, but the hopes of about 250 million citizens seeking a better life. His message is clear: Nigeria is ready to lead, ready to partner, and ready to rise.

    From the Caribbean to South America, the world is listening — because Tinubu is making Nigeria’s voice impossible to ignore.

  • Patrice Lumumba in his own words

    Patrice Lumumba in his own words

    As Paul Jenkins says, “The value of history lies in its power to elucidate the past events, inform  present conditions, and guide future decisions.” So, following last week’s 65th anniversary of the independence of the Congo from Belgium on 30 June, 1960, and as ‘regime change’ rents the air in relation to the Israeli-Iranian war, let’s look at some critical aspects of the history of the Congo and its first Prime Minster, Patrice Lumumba, as revealed in his Independence Day speech, which read:

    “Men and women of the Congo,

    “Victorious independence fighters,

    “I salute you in the name of the Congolese Government.

    “I ask all of you, my friends, who tirelessly fought in our ranks, to mark this June 30, 1960, as an illustrious date that will be ever engraved in your hearts, a date whose meaning you will proudly explain to your children, so that they in turn might relate to their grandchildren and great-grandchildren the glorious history of our struggle for freedom.

    “Although this independence of the Congo is being proclaimed today by agreement with Belgium, an amicable country, with which we are on equal terms, no Congolese will ever forget that independence was won in struggle, a persevering and inspired struggle carried on from day to day, a struggle, in which we were undaunted by privation or suffering and stinted neither strength nor blood.

    “It was filled with tears, fire and blood. We are deeply proud of our struggle, because it was just and noble and indispensable in putting an end to the humiliating bondage forced upon us.

    “That was our lot for the eighty years of colonial rule and our wounds are too fresh and much too painful to be forgotten.

    “We have experienced forced labour in exchange for pay that did not allow us to satisfy our hunger, to clothe ourselves, to have decent lodgings or to bring up our children as dearly loved ones.

    “Morning, noon and night we were subjected to jeers, insults and blows because we were ‘Negroes’. Who will ever forget that the black was addressed as ‘tu’, not because he was a friend, but because the polite ‘vous’ was reserved for the white man?

    “We have seen our lands seized in the name of ostensibly just laws, which gave recognition only to the right of might.

    “We have not forgotten that the law was never the same for the white and the black, that it was lenient to the ones, and cruel and inhuman to the others.

    “We have experienced the atrocious sufferings, being persecuted for political convictions and religious beliefs, and exiled from our native land: our lot was worse than death itself.

    “We have not forgotten that in the cities the mansions were for the whites and the tumbledown huts for the blacks; that a black was not admitted to the cinemas, restaurants and shops set aside for ‘Europeans’; that a black travelled in the holds, under the feet of the whites in their luxury cabins.

    “Who will ever forget the shootings which killed so many of our brothers, or the cells into which were mercilessly thrown those who no longer wished to submit to the regime of injustice, oppression and exploitation used by the colonialists as a tool of their domination?

    “All that, my brothers, brought us untold suffering.

    “But we, who were elected by the votes of your representatives, representatives of the people, to guide our native land, we, who have suffered in body and soul from the colonial oppression, we tell you that henceforth all that is finished with.

    “The Republic of the Congo has been proclaimed and our beloved country’s future is now in the hands of its own people.

    “Brothers, let us commence together a new struggle, a sublime struggle that will lead our country to peace, prosperity and greatness.

    “Together we shall establish social justice and ensure for every man a fair remuneration for his labour.

    “We shall show the world what the black man can do when working in liberty, and we shall make the Congo the pride of Africa.

    “We shall see to it that the lands of our native country truly benefit its children.

    “We shall revise all the old laws and make them into new ones that will be just and noble.

    “We shall stop the persecution of free thought. We shall see to it that all citizens enjoy to the fullest extent the basic freedoms provided for by the Declaration of Human Rights.

    “We shall eradicate all discrimination, whatever its origin, and we shall ensure for everyone a station in life befitting his human dignity and worthy of his labour and his loyalty to the country.

    “We shall institute in the country a peace resting not on guns and bayonets but on concord and goodwill.

    “And in all this, my dear compatriots, we can rely not only on our own enormous forces and immense wealth, but also on the assistance of the numerous foreign states, whose co-operation we shall accept when it is not aimed at imposing upon us an alien policy, but is given in a spirit of friendship.

    “Even Belgium, which has finally learned the lesson of history and need no longer try to oppose our independence, is prepared to give us its aid and friendship; for that end an agreement has just been signed between our two equal and independent countries. I am sure that this co-operation will benefit both countries. For our part, we shall, while remaining vigilant, try to observe the engagements we have freely made.

    “Thus, both in the internal and the external spheres, the new Congo being created by my government will be rich, free and prosperous. But to attain our goal without delay, I ask all of you, legislators and citizens of the Congo, to give us all the help you can.

    “I ask you all to sink your tribal quarrels: they weaken us and may cause us to be despised abroad.

    “I ask you all not to shrink from any sacrifice for the sake of ensuring the success of our grand undertaking.

    “Finally, I ask you unconditionally to respect the life and property of fellow-citizens and foreigners who have settled in our country; if the conduct of these foreigners leaves much to be desired, our Justice will promptly expel them from the territory of the republic; if, on the contrary, their conduct is good, they must be left in peace, for they, too, are working for our country’s prosperity.

    “The Congo’s independence is a decisive step towards the liberation of the whole African continent.

    “Our government, a government of national and popular unity, will serve its country.

    “I call on all Congolese citizens, men, women and children, to set themselves resolutely to the task of creating a national economy and ensuring our economic independence.

    “Eternal glory to the fighters for national liberation!

    “Long live independence and African unity!

    “Long live the independent and sovereign Congo!”

    This speech upset King Baudouin of Belgium who was in attendance and whose earlier address glamourised, especially, the plundering and genocidal reign of his great-uncle, Leopold II, over the Congo. So, Belgian and American collaboration toppled Lumumba’s administration on 14 September, 1960. Lumumba was arrested, publicly humiliated, and on 17 January, 1961, assassinated. His corpse was cut into pieces, much of it dissolved in sulphuric acid, and the rest burnt. Before his death, he wrote the following letter to his wife, Pauline, in December 1960:

    “My beloved companion,

    “I write you these words not knowing whether you will receive them, when you will receive them, and whether I will still be alive when you read them. Throughout my struggle for the independence of my country, I have never doubted for a single instant that the sacred cause to which my comrades and I have dedicated our entire lives would triumph in the end. But what we wanted for our country – its right to an honorable life, to perfect dignity, to independence with no restrictions – was never wanted by Belgian colonialism and its Western allies, who found direct and indirect, intentional and unintentional support among certain high officials of the United Nations, that body in which we placed all our trust when we called on it for help.

    “They have corrupted some of our countrymen; they have bought others; they have done their part to distort the truth and defile our independence. What else can I say? ‘That whether dead or alive, free or in prison by order of the colonialists, it is not my person that is important. What is important is the Congo, our poor people whose independence has been turned into a cage, with people looking at us from outside the bars, sometimes with charitable compassion, sometimes with glee and delight. But my faith will remain unshakable. I know and feel in my very heart of hearts that sooner or later my people will rid themselves of all their enemies, foreign and domestic, that they will rise up as one to say no to the shame and degradation of colonialism and regain their dignity in the pure light of day.

    “We are not alone. Africa, Asia, and the free and liberated peoples in every corner of the globe will ever remain at the side of the millions of Congolese who will not abandon the struggle until the day when there will be no more colonizers and no more of their mercenaries in our country. I want my children, whom I leave behind and perhaps will never see again, to be told that the future of the Congo is beautiful and that their country expects them, as it expects every Congolese, to fulfill the sacred task of rebuilding our independence, our sovereignty; for without justice there is no dignity and without independence there are no free men.

    “Neither brutal assaults, nor cruel mistreatment, nor torture have ever led me to beg for mercy, for I prefer to die with my head held high, unshakable faith, and the greatest confidence in the destiny of my country rather than live in slavery and contempt for sacred principles. History will one day have its say; it will not be the history taught in the United Nations, Washington, Paris, or Brussels, however, but the history taught in the countries that have rid themselves of colonialism and its puppets. Africa will write its own history and both north and south of the Sahara it will be a history full of glory and dignity.

    “Do not weep for me, my companion; I know that my country, now suffering so much, will be able to defend its independence and its freedom. Long live the Congo! Long live Africa!

    “Patrice.”

    These personal accounts of Belgian colonial brutality are invaluable records of Congolese and African history.

  • Amaechi: frantic, immoderate and self-absorbed

    Amaechi: frantic, immoderate and self-absorbed

    Ignore his early working life as a staff member of former Rivers State governor Peter Odili’s Pamo Clinics and Hospitals, or as a special assistant to the same Dr Odili when the latter took to politics in the early 1990s, or as Rivers State secretary of the Democratic Party of Nigeria in 1996 under the discredited Gen. Sani Abacha transition programme. As a young man trying to find his feet, Rotimi Amaechi, a former Rivers State governor and later Transportation minister under the Muhammadu Buhari presidency, can be forgiven for not being choosy or principled. Since he was elected into the Rivers House of Assembly in 1999 and led the legislature as speaker for eight years, he has imbibed a sense of entitlement that has only grown and ossified over the years.

    Nearly all his adult life, Mr Amaechi has been on the public payroll, and has had the good fortune to live in luxury, despite his pretences and lies. To become disconnected from that trough, as he claims government policies have forced him, is to consign him to a fate too tasking for his delicate mind to handle. He has, therefore, developed coping mechanism integral to his personality, but hidden from public view or the private eyes of those who helped him along in life. That mechanism involves deploying cynicism, freneticism, hysteria, immoderation, and his unfounded superior airs. He was in his 30s when he entered public life. About 60 years old now, he feels so traumatised that circumstances impel him to develop a new way of life outside public glare. Until he reenters public office, he will in the interim conspire to incite the public to a revolution by shaming them out of what he described as their docility.

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    Last week, at various forums, including the inauguration of their 2027 presidential programme planned to be executed through the African Democratic Congress (ADC) party, he was all over the media spreading hate speech and ladling out inciting remarks to achieve certain political goals. He tried to justify why the political coalition he supported veered away from founding a new party to instead adopting the generally disused ADC long accustomed to pimping its way through Nigeria’s political minefields, seducing every political straggler. Last week, he pontificated on television why his coalition preferred an old party to a new one. According to him, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was conspiring not to register any new party, with particular animosity to the All Democratic Alliance (ADA) which the coalition had wanted to float. He said nothing about the fact that the coalition had not even applied yet, having only delivered a letter of intent, let alone be denied.

    He was not satisfied denouncing INEC alone, he also lashed out, with no substantiation, that the federal government and INEC planned to rig the 2027 elections. It was not the first time he made that frantic allegation; nor will it be the last time. He had warned that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) could not win a free and fair election, adding that the people must rise up this time to force their way. It is an invitation to chaos, but the security agencies have obviously felt he has not transgressed his constitutional rights. What is incontrovertible is that given his antecedents, especially his lack of moderation and total unconcern for the health of the republic, Mr Amaechi will continue to make incendiary comments about politics, governance, and elections. As governor, he was himself not a model democrat, nor a brilliant policy man, but he sees specks in other people’s eyes than the beams in his own.

    The former Rivers governor has never been able to weigh his words. He speaks grandiosely, excessively and imperiously. In an interview with newsmen after the unveiling of ADC as the 2027 coalition vehicle, he was particularly hyperbolic. “Nigeria is destroyed,” he fulminated. “People can’t eat. People can’t buy food. There’s no money to buy food. Everything is gone. Inflation is at its peak. And the federal government is busy going around trying to hijack the election. INEC is helping them to hijack the election.” Then, on Thursday, at an event in Abuja, he again whined: “The only way you can stop Tinubu from being the president of Nigeria in 2027 is to run an election of Nigerians versus the bandits. If you think you will just sit down and do that, may God be with you. The elites who are stealing Nigerian money are not up to 100,000, but you have 200 million Nigerians who can fight 100,000 men. You sit down in your house and complain and grumble. What makes you think the elites would move their hands completely? Who told you the elites don’t know how you are feeling? They know you are not happy. But you are helpless not because the elites made you helpless; you made yourself helpless.”

    Mr Amaechi rose from obscurity to prominence without the intervening catalyst of leadership training and rhetorical composure. Since he lost the APC presidential primary in 2022, he has grown nasty and acerbic. He does not think anyone matches him in any way, despite his appalling lack of depth and sagacity, not even his former boss, President Muhammadu Buhari whom he once excoriated in unflattering language. It is one thing to be so full of himself, but why also scheme, by excessively foul language, to plunge the country into chaos simply because he thinks he has been denied his due? Yet, rummaging through his years in public service, it is hard to find a few extraordinary achievements to recommend his boasting or validate his grandiosity and pomposity. Years of exaggerating his capacity, not to talk of years of unprincipled and unrestrained politics during which he casually passes judgement on his peers and betters, have conspired to blunt his little appeal and also sentence him to the periphery of Nigerian politics. It is hard to situate him elsewhere.

  • PDP curiously regaining appeal

    PDP curiously regaining appeal

    It was as if the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was waiting for the defection of some of its ageing juggernauts to the African Democratic Congress (ADC) in order to properly exhale. Now, the leading opposition party is not just exhaling, it is beginning to find its voice and to cut fresh path through Nigeria’s forested politics, unhindered by the cacophonous voices of former vice president Atiku Abubakar, Dino Melaye, Aminu Tambuwal, Sule Lamido, John Oyegun, and a host of other pretenders. They have all moved to a different political platform where they hope to accomplish their objectives. Some moved because of ambition, others moved out of loyalty to their former comrades, and others are moving because of financial gain. Having not found accommodation in the bigger and more financially solid parties, they needed to find new pastures in order not to be left high and dry in the politics of 2027.

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    The most curious and remarkable thing about the PDP is in fact not the movement of its ageing autocrats to new pastures, but the new realisation that the leading opposition party does in fact possess an older but far brighter lustre than they imagined it ever had. Leading this epiphanic rebirth is the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) minister Nyesome Wike who, despite his unending fight with the party’s leadership, has noted the party’s newfound unity and purpose, especially in the face of the ADC threat. The power grabbers had left, he exulted; now the party can forge ahead meaningfully. The All Progressives Congress (APC), armed with a chuckle, seconds his summation.