The Nation Newspaper

Category: Emmanuel Oladesu

  • PDP: Eclipse of Africa’s largest party

    PDP: Eclipse of Africa’s largest party

    The raging imbroglio within the erstwhile flamboyant ruling party boils down to the absence of formidable, acceptable and unifying leadership that is capable of averting disintegration, fostering cohesion and restoring order. The current in-house pandemonium was avoidable.

    These ailments assailed the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), once prided as the largest party in Africa, as soon as it lost power at the centre. Until 12 years ago, it was the ruling party that loomed large over Nigeria for 16 years. The party that dreamt of ruling Africa’s most populous country for uninterrupted 60 years has run into turbulence. Its umbrella has been shredded. Its house is in commotion and on the verge of collapse.

    In droves, PDP’s leading lights now sleep at night as loyal party members and wake up in the All Progressives Congress (APC). The latest was the entire Delta PDP structure, led by Governor Sheriff Oborevwori, which was offloaded into the APC. The state’s former governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa, also called it quits with the umbrella and embraced the broom, which has continued to sweep away opposition across the land. In fact, the former running mate to ex-Vice President Atiku Abubakar hinted that the Wazirin Adamawa may also leave the PDP.

    Atiku, who is coordinating some vague coalition talks, said the alliance train has left the station. But PDP governors said they were not aware and, therefore, not bothered by their 2023 presidential candidate’s solo journey. The implication is that the train left without many party faithful on board. And its destination remains unknown. Yet, it is engaging in what appears like multiple stops to look for vulnerable passengers. As the wary can perceive, the time of passengers in any train is temporary.

    In the National Assembly, some PDP lawmakers have defected, premising their decisions on the protracted leadership crisis at the party’s national level. Their grievances were not ventilated. The party leadership that should broker peace is battling with conflicts. The key organs – the National Working Committee (NWC), the National Executive Committee (NEC), and the Board of Trustees (BoT) – are divided.

    Read Also; Needless alarm on one party state

    Also, some PDP governors are speaking in parables. They are bidding for time. Their commitment to the party is waning. They cannot see a rallying point.

    The decimation is worrisome to the few surviving founding fathers who at the twilight of their lives are witnessing a diminishing return in the life of the party. Deserted by the energy, vibrancy and agility of the early era, the influence of these pathfinders are waning. Unfortunately, latter-day inheritors of their legacies are mismanaging their achievements. These handlers are now the undertakers dispatching the party to its doom. They are not in one accord. So, they cannot put their house in order.

    The journey to the future has been problematic. PDP was the party of democrats – esteemed elder statesmen; a mixture of progressive, liberal, conservative and reactionary players who realigned in 1998b but later succumbed to the influence of a tiny club of retired soldiers who drafted their past leader from retirement and set him over the bewildered country in a post-military era.

    The old soldier could not adjust easily to civilian life as he continued to dictate, impose and coerce other chieftains to submission without going through the channels of consultations, debate and consensus building. Experienced politicians at the helm of party affairs were shoved aside, leading to leadership instability. In the last 26 years, PDP has produced 16 national chairmen – Alex Ekwueme, Solomon Lar, Barnabas Gemade, Audu Ogbeh, Ahmadu Ali, Vincent Ogbulafor, Ezekwesilieze Nwodo, Haliru Mohammed Bello (acting), Kawu Baraje (acting), Bamanga Tukur, Adamu Muazu, Ali Modu Sheriff, Ahmed Makarfi, Uche Secondus, Iyorchia Ayu and Umar Damagun (acting).

    Five of them, at one time or the other – Gemade, Ogeh, Baraje, Muazu and Modu Sheriff – defected from the party.

    After imposing the 2007 presidential candidate who rode to power on the back of a severely flawed election, the General stayed on for a while before tearing his party’s membership card. But his legacy of dictatorship, poor coordination and ‘do-or-die’ leadership style has endured.

    In 1999, PDP was a national party sustained by some beliefs, vision and principles. Although it has never been an ideological party, it retained a fair idea of organisation and its founding fathers adopted zoning, rotation and power shift as convention, to foster equity, fairness, justice and a sense of belonging. The violation of the principle in 2015 contributed to its defeat at the presidential election.

    Zoning is beyond the party. It is a national issue. The major parties are expected to adopt it in the selection of party officers and choice of presidential candidates. When it was ignored in 2015, the party paid dearly for it.

    The death of President Umaru Yar’Adua was very painful. Despite the fact that he was imposed on the party by his predecessor, the belief was that zoning to the North favoured his candidature. Southern politicians often respect rotation, and they waited for their turn. It came before the expected time, barely after two years into the administration.

    But his successor, having spent the remaining two years, and was also elected in 2011, subsequently violated zoning by re-contesting in 2015, when power was expected to rotate to the North.

    Southern politicians in APC discovered an opportunity to team up with their northern counterparts to install Gen. Muhammadu Buhari as president. The import of that zoning is still lost on some northern presidential contenders in PDP as the country gazes at 2027. The South has a legitimate claim to four more years.

    Inconsistency, lack of commitment and sacrifice, and the pursuit of selfish interests by some PDP leaders made many members to jump ship. An example was Atiku Abubakar, who left the party for the Action Congress (AC) in 2006/2007, only to return after the poll. Much later, he also abandoned the platform in 2014, only to retrace his steps in 2018. In those times when he defected from the PDP, his preoccupation was pulling down the platform. It is ironic that he returned to the fold to fly its flag at the presidential polls in 2019 and 2023.

    PDP has also succumbed to regional pressures, making it to become a bully and threat to the interest of its southern members. The ethnic gang-up that produced Atiku as 2023 candidate and which made Aminu Tambuwal the ‘hero of the convention,’ created an impression of domination, exclusion, alienation and destruction of zoning, which was a strong factor in party unity and cohesion.

    The feeling that a presidential candidate from the North can lean on the numerical strength of the region to intimidate the South has produced fatal results, which should make the manipulators to realise that ethnic superiority is a figment of hyperactive imagination. There is no zone that can solely install a president. That is why a wiser presidential candidate would construct a bridge of understanding between the North and the South, instead of over-reliance on his region of origin.

    Also, PDP lacks an effective crisis resolution mechanism, which often makes intra-party conflicts to fester. That was the bedrock of the polarisation of the party ahead of 2015 elections.

    That year, scores of PDP chieftains abandoned the party and teamed up with the APC. Some of them later returned to the PDP after joining forces with APC to frustrate its bid for power at the centre.

    Failing to learn from the past, the party repeated the costly mistake in 2023 by shunning compromise and daring the ‘G-5,’ led by Nyesom Wike, a party financier who suffered the indignity of being betrayed at critical hours. He fought back. The consequence was that APC discovered a crack – a rejected stalwart became very useful to those who appreciated his worth.

    APC has its own challenges too. But the difference between APC and PDP is effective leadership – the ability to commands respect, weave the interests represented by the different tendencies, make sacrifices, avoid self-service, and elevate collective interest over personal aspiration.

    The PDP is facing a test of survival. How would the party resolve the zoning hurdle in 2027? Can it put its house in order, resolve the lingering leadership logjam, forgive and forget the past, choose a new chairman who can galvanise the party, restore discipline, assert party supremacy, promote equity, justice, fair play and due process, and face the future with confident hope and realism?

    The answers lurk in the belly of time.

  • Reconciliation in Rivers

    Reconciliation in Rivers

    Six months in the life of an individual, state, or country could be considered a short period. But how the period is utilised may have far-reaching implications for a long time.

    The emergency rule in Rivers State is meant to make the main gladiators assess their actions and work for peace and unity. It also offers a good opportunity for learning, retracing steps, working for the state’s progress, and general reconciliation.

    Learning from the political impasse is necessary. It requires behavioural change through varied experiences, exposure, and lessons.

    If the opportunity is willfully misused, inappropriately exploited or stubbornly discarded, based on the counsel of local Ahitophels in the oil-rich state, Rivers may be back to square one after the emergency period.

    The onus is on Governor Siminalayi Fubara to take the initiative, embrace reality, weigh himself politically, do a critical self-assessment, and opt for genuine reconciliation. It is in his interest and that of his camp and the state.

    This moment calls for sober reflection. Both sides, which constituted a political family and were in a joyous mood on May 29, 2023, have made glaring mistakes and must have realised this by now.

    Read Also: Trump, immigration and capitalism’s global crisis

    While the governor should be less combative, his leader, godfather, and benefactor, Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister Nyeson Wike, should be less inflexible and more condescending. A prolonged war could be dangerous. In the final analysis, nobody can predict where it will end. The nature of war is that, sometimes, it also tends to consume the warriors.

    If both sides are sincere in their claims that they are serving the people, they should be ready to embrace dialogue, give concessions, and restore peace for the sake of the masses.

    Some critics have blamed the Federal Government for the critical intervention that led to the suspension of both the Executive and Legislative arms. Their criticisms are subjective. They are angry that Fubara was suspended. They are not sparing any thought for the plight of the 27 anti-governor lawmakers, whose constituencies were denied democratic representation. They uncritically took sides with the governor and the three lawmakers who, for over a year, made themselves the legally and constitutionally recognised House of Assembly.

    Already, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governors are threatening to institute a case against President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s declaration of a state of emergency, perhaps to determine the rightness or wrongness of the presidential action. The court will determine whether or not they have the locus standi.

    However, to objective analysts, an emergency rule is a blessing in disguise. It was the saving grace for Fubara. No member of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF) wanted the career of their Rivers colleague to end on a disastrous note. Yet, they saw the danger coming, as manifested in the impeachable offences catalogued by the aggrieved 27 lawmakers who remained fiercely loyal to the former governor and the FCT minister.

    The lawmakers were strengthened by the Supreme Court judgment, which decried the recognition of only three members out of 30, the demolition of the Parliament building, the constitution of an illegal state executive council (Exco), and the implementation of an illegitimately approved budget.

    These issues and many others sparked tension in the state. The impeachment of the governor would not have been a walkover. Some unperceptive tough guys would have been angered if the impeachment option had sailed though. Perhaps, they might have taken the law into their hands by vandalising oil pipes, invading the temporary legislative chambers, and creating chaos. At such a stage, President Tinubu would have also come under criticism for inaction.

    Thus, when the President imposed an emergency rule, those who genuinely sympathised with Fubara in the NGF heaved a sigh of relief. They understood that the dangling axe of impeachment had been averted, a large-scale economic sabotage was prevented and the state’s slide into chaos was forestalled.

    The emergency rule has exposed Fubara to the two sides of the world. Before the presidential action, he was an effective governor with strong control over the state, incredible resources, governance apparatus, and instruments of coercion. But now on suspension, he gazes from afar at Administrator Ibok Ibas exercising part of those powers, even though as an unelected chief executive in the same Rivers Government House. During the week, Ibas took his seat at the National Economic Council (NEC) meeting.

    Gone, at least in the interim, are Fubara’s influence, privileges, and guarantee of institutional access to financial resources. Many subjective advisers are not bearing the brunt and burden of his suspension.

    He would only find solace in the fact that the political nightmare is temporary. The question is: what next after the emergency rule? The suspended governor needs to take some concrete steps. He is not expected to be combative in the course of finding solutions to the problems that culminated in his suspension.

    A hypocritical approach to reconciliation is counter-productive. In one breath, Fubara’s supporters are praising President Tinubu and declaring support for his second term. In another, they are denouncing his decision on Rivers, calling him a dictator.

    Fubara’s supporters have the right to continue their protest. It is both entertaining and engaging. Salvos are fired at the president and the FCT minister in far-away Abuja. The governor’s supporters are also not respecting the judiciary whenever they appear on radio and television. Would this lead to a truce in the politically divided state?

    Without dialogue and reconciliation, the state sits on a keg of gunpowder because the two camps will resume their hostilities after the emergency period. This is the type of tragedy that befell the old Western Region in the First Republic. The traditional rulers and party elders took sides after efforts to resolve the Awolowo/Akintola feud collapsed. After the emergency rule, Premier Samuel Ladoke Akintola regained power. But the region had lost its cohesion and peace. Awolowo was jailed. Akintola never had peace of mind. The chain of events led to the wild, wild West. Many people died. Properties were destroyed. The rest, as it is often said, is history.

    The onus is on the elders backing Fubara and those supporting Wike to sheathe their swords, close ranks, and reunite. This is possible because many of them reside in the state and belong to the same party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The suspended governor should not be averse to this approach because it would help his cause.

    Fubara and Wike should meet and break the ice. Every political problem has a solution. Perceived disloyalty brews dissension and dissension sparks antagonism. It is important to embrace loyalty. This is often tested by circumstances. But it is still the most important recipe for political relationships.

    Sometimes, in the course of applying the solution, a huge loss might arise. It could also be a temporary loss of face. But mutual interest could align later. There is no permanent friend or foe in politics. The permanent thing in politics is interest.

    Politicians should always put egos aside and apologise when they make mistakes. A sincere apology should not be perceived as a sign of weakness. A gesture of remorse or an apology tendered should not be rejected by the political leader. Every human being is susceptible to mistakes.

    In politics, punishment is apportioned. The person under punishment should not see it as the end. In this circumstance, he could bounce back to reckoning, following attitudinal changes and remission of political sins.

    Politics is full of ups and downs. It may be rosy today and dull tomorrow. There is no shame in a man falling. What is important is how you rise and use the lessons from the experience.

  • The plight of Yoruba Northerners

    The plight of Yoruba Northerners

    The costly mistake that Afonja, the infamous Aare Ona Kankanfo of Yoruba land and rebellious subject of Alaafin of Oyo, made nearly two centuries ago has continued to produce costly consequences, following his thoughtless defiance against the eminent monarch.

    The great warrior asserted the independence of Ilorin, the legacy of his illustrious forebears – Alugbin and Pasin – after seeking help from a stranger who later plotted his disastrous end and whose descendants have continued to politically dominate the ancient outpost to this day.

    Through Afonja’s miscalculation and missteps, Ilorin became a part of the North and has since remained so. Majority of the indigenes of the town have not regained their voice and relevance, having been subjugated through conquest. Ilorin became an extension of the Sokoto Caliphate with adjoining vast districts having Yoruba-speaking people.

    The Yoruba northerners in Kwara and Kogi states suffer an identity crisis. They are not Hausa/Fulani and share no language and other cultural similarities with their neighbours who have strengthened their links with the far North through religion and politics. The only thing superlatively northern in Ilorin is the kingship, under which the republican nature of earlier aborigines has been suppressed.

    The Yoruba of Ilorin even fare better in the face of the political marginalisation of their kith and kin in Kogi whose aspiration to produce a governor has often met a brick wall. When the monarchical deprivation of the Yoruba in Lokoja is considered, their plight in the northern cage is better imagined.

    In these two states, the Yoruba are relegated into minority status. Since democracy is a game of numbers, the voice of minority ethnic groups is only heard; their legitimate aspiration is hardly upheld. To survive, it is either they continue to play the second fiddle or muster the will and strength to mount an effective resistance to the pattern of domination, marginalisation and exclusion for them to get some concessions.

    What exacerbated the problem was the improper grouping of tribes by the British interlopers during the colonial era for administrative convenience. But for the protest and plea by the Ewi of Ado, the British officer who came to Ekiti through the Kwara/Kogi axis would have grouped Otun and the entire Moba land under the North. The Ewi told the colonial rulers that the Oore of Otun occupied a strategic position among the children of Oduduwa, being the monarch exclusively saddled with the responsibility of announcing the passage of the Ooni of Ife, the acclaimed titular head of the Yoruba. He also said that grouping Otun with the North would have meant the severance of the cord binding it with Pelupelu, the famed Ekiti Confederation.

    An adjustment to the glaring tribal, linguistic and cultural differences imposed on the diverse ethnic groups forcefully lumped together in a local government, province, state or region remains a big challenge.

    To avert the consequential identity crisis, the then Western Region Premier, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, in his book, titled: ‘Path to Nigerian Freedom’ published in 1947, made a compelling argument for the redrawing of the administrative boundaries. He said: “The present three regions were constituted without regard to ethnological factors,” noting that there were “incompatibilities among the various tribes which militate against unification.”

    Read Also: Yoruba Wikimedians partner J. Randle Centre for Yoruba storytelling event

    Awo added: “The Yoruba of Ilorin, Offa, and Kabba are included with the Hausas in the Northern Region. The Ibos, who properly belong to the Eastern Zone, are grouped with the Yoruba in the West. There is no justification whatsoever for this arbitrary grouping. Certainly, these minority groups are at a considerable disadvantage when they are forced to be in the midst of other peoples who differ from them in language, culture and historical background.”

    The solution, the late sage suggested, was to constitute the scattered units into separate provinces “for better understanding and unity among the tribes” in order “to enable each group to make rapid progress”. He stressed that by doing this, the pace of the country would be considerably quickened towards a federal unity.

    As Premier Awolowo in later years began the implementation of free education in the defunct Western Region, the Yoruba of Northern Region could not benefit from the programme. At a lecture in Lagos, a former Kwara State governor, Chief Cornelius Adebayo, lamented the erroneous groupings of the country. He recalled that the Yoruba of Ilorin and Kabba Province, who envied their brethren in the Western Region, only gazed at the opportunities those in the Western Region enjoyed. They were helpless. Those who could benefit were those who migrated to the West.

    Southwest leaders are often seized by nostalgia, particularly the bond between the region and their politically and geographically separated relations in the Northcentral. Thus, concerned about the infrastructural inadequacy in the Kwara/Ekiti boundaries, former Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi constructed a road linking the two states to facilitate easy movement. Many people from Yoruba-speaking Kwara towns retain their emotional attachment to Ekiti where they trade every week.

    The battle against marginalisation shifted to the Willink Minority Commission where the oppressed minority ethnic nationalities pressed for a sense of belonging. But First Republic Prime Minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa declared that the myth of Fulani domination was nonsense, thus trivialising the people’s genuine concerns. He premised his argument on the historic mistake of Afonja, the Yoruba generalissimo. The prime minister said the Yoruba in Ilorin were different from those in the South. He said they had the choice of being a part of the North since the 19th century without any use of force by the Fulani. According to his biographer, Trevor Clark, the prime minister attributed the troubles in Offa, Ode Oke, and Ajasa to chieftaincy disputes, emphasising that all the calls for the transfer of Ilorin had been engineered from outside, as the Germans had arranged in Czech’s Sudetenland. According to him, the Yoruba in Dahomey (today’s Benin Republic) were not calling for a union with Nigeria and the Fulani were not calling for the cession of the French territory (in today’s Niger Republic) opposite Katsina.

    From Offa in Kwara State, Chief Sunday Olawoyin was elected on the platform of the Northern Peoples Congress (NPC) into the Northern Regional House of Assembly. He became the Leader of Opposition, like a sheep in the midst of wolves. There was no cultural congruity or religious similarity. He had canvassed the merger of Yoruba in the North with the West during the 1957 Constitutional Conference. The proposal was shot down. Perceived as the face of Awo’s Action Group (AG) in the North, Olawoyin faced tribulations. He was detained, imprisoned and humiliated. All this would not have occurred if there wasa proper grouping of the ethnic nationalities.

    Yoruba northerners’ fears were not mitigated by the subsequent creation of Kwara and, later, Kogi states, where they have continued to endure glaring marginalisation. Since the creation of the two states, no Yoruba has been governor, except for the three-month period Senator Adebayo became the Kwara State governor. That followed a split in the state chapter of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN). In the Third Republic, Olorunfemi made a serious attempt during the governorship poll in Kogi but without success. The second term bid of Mohammed Lawal in Kwara was truncated.

    The political and legal abracadabra of 2016 in Kogi underscored the stiff resistance to Yoruba’s quest for a sense of inclusion and belonging. The victim of the intra-ethnic suspicion, hostility and plot was James Faleke, a member of the House of Representatives who was prevented from politically returning home. He was rejected by a tiny but powerful Northcentral elite in league with influential and egocentric Fulani hatchet men. They insisted that an Asiwaju of Lagos should be stopped from making an inroad into the North at that time through the governorship victory of “his boy” from the Yoruba town of Ekinrin-Ade.

    As the final result of the governorship election was about to be announced, the symbol of the victory, Governor Audu Abubakar, unfortunately passed on. To debar his running mate from pressing forward, the election was suddenly declared inconclusive.

    Such was also the fate that befell Chief Sunday Bolorunduro Awoniyi, the Aro of Mopa, a retired Federal Permanent Secretary, Third Republic senator and prominent Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain. His intellectual and radical kinsmen believed he was a collaborator with some perceived oppressors because Awoniyi had accepted his fate as a Yoruba northerner, following the geographical accident.

    But when he declared his interest in the national chairmanship of the then ruling party, former President Olusegun Obasanjo was said to have objected, saying: “I am Olusegun, you are Awoniyi. Both of us are Yoruba. A Yoruba man cannot be President and another the party chairman of the same party at the same time.”

    When Awoniyi protested, saying he was a northerner, his party men insisted that he was Yoruba. That sent him to a political retirement.

    In fact, many Yoruba politicians from Kwara suffer a similar identity crisis, which has been a factor in a presidential contest. They are northerners. But because they are also Yoruba, it becomes a key point in ambition and career ceiling. Even, any time Bukola Saraki throws his rat in the ring, they suddenly remember his Yoruba name.

    If those exploiting these scenarios have had their way, Bayo Ojulari, who was recently appointed the Group Managing Director of Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL), would not have been appointed by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, despite his eligibility and competence. The sin of Ojulari is that although he is a northerner, he is Yoruba.

    Perhaps, state creation would be the solution. But how viable is this option? The North should accommodate all northerners as northerners. Yoruba northerners should build bridges of cooperation with their neighbours. They need to understand that power is not served a la carte.

    Also, zoning or micro-zoning of the governorship ticket is crucial to the prevention of domination so that the ethnic groups can have access to power, influence and privileges along the principles of equity, fairness and justice.

  • Olunloyo: Exit of Ibadan’s son of the soil

    Olunloyo: Exit of Ibadan’s son of the soil

    ‘It is time for the son of the soil to rule. Let our son do it. Let Bola Ige return to his town. An Ibadan man should be governor of Oyo.’

    That was how Alhaji Busari Oloyede Adelakun, the Ejioku-born strongman of Ibadan politics in the Second Republic and Chairman of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) in Ibadan/Ibarapa District, canvassed for a power shift to the ancient city in 1983.

    He merely voiced the collective opinion of the city’s political elite, who nursed grudges against their in-law, fork-tongued Cicero of Esa-Oke in the old Oyo State and currently in Osun State.

    Key Ibadan politicians, including the National Chairman of the party and Seriki of Ibadan, Chief Adisa Akinloye; the Attorney-General and Justice Minister, Chief Richard Akinjide; a future kingmaker in the ancient city’s politics, Chief Lamidi Adedibu, and the then Iyalode of Ibadan, Chief Wuraola Esan, nodded affirmatively.

    The setting was the Oyo Town Hall. ‘E je k’omo ti’a naa o se e’ (Let our son too become governor). Consequently, this became a popular slogan among Ibadan folks, the justification being the sheer numerical strength and bloc vote of the ancient city that could not be rivaled by any other zone.

    Many Oyo and Ibarapa leaders aligned with the view because Ibadan had taproots in the districts. The history of Ibadan shows that many of its leaders and holders of Baale, Balogun, Basorun, and Aare Ona Kankanfo titles came from traditional Oyo and Osun towns: Oyo, Iseyin, Iwo, Ogbomoso, among others.

    Read Also; FULL STEPS: How to escape high electricity bills, switch​ to gas-powered generators

    The beneficiary of the novel recruitment strategy, which had a semblance of racial prejudice in the days of hot politics, was Dr. Victor Omololu Olunloyo of the NPN. He succeeded Chief Bola Ige of the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) in the 1983 polls. Both men had served as commissioners in the state before politics put them in different camps.

    Between then and now, seven governors – Olunloyo, Kolapo Ishola, Lam Adesina, Rashidi Ladoja, Adebayo Alao-Akala, Abiola Ajimobi, and Seyi Makinde – have occupied the Oyo State Government House at Agodi in Ibadan. Six are from Ibadan, but only one came from outside of the city. The trend may continue in the future.

    But the son-of-the–soil euphoria did not last. Three months after assuming office, Governor Olunloyo was toppled by the military after the coup that brought General Muhammadu Buhari to power. Olunloyo never bounced back to political relevance. 

    At the twilight of his life, he was full of reminiscences, advising the younger ones to see power as ephemeral, even though alluring and sweet.

    Olunloyo is remembered as a governor, but it should be noted that he had been a household name since his youth. What catapulted him to stardom was his high intellectual status. Olunloyo was in the mould of a genius: intelligent, resourceful, competent, and effective. He made genuine contributions to the educational, socio-economic and political development of his state as a teacher, administrator and public servant before he became governor.

    He was among the most brilliant students in all the schools he attended. At 27, he capped his intellectual pursuit with a doctorate in Mathematics at St. Andrews University in the United Kingdom (UK) in 1961. He returned home to teach, first at the University of Ibadan (UI) and later at the then University of Ife (UnIfe), now Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), where he became the Head of Department at 28.

    In the First Republic, the intellectual society was polarised by antagonistic political leanings. While the likes of Professors Hezekiah Oluwasanmi, Samuel Aluko, C. O. Taiwo, Saburi Biobaku, and Akin Mabogunje gravitated towards the progressive camp, the scholars of conservative ideology supported other political ideals. Nearly all the bright minds of that era took sides in the divisive political struggles.

    As the two camps in the Western Region ran into turbulence and emergency rule was imposed, the dons offered intellectual support to the warring camps.

    The list of emergency commissioners was carefully selected. The interim cabinet comprised dons, politicians, public servants, and traditional rulers who wanted Premier Ladoke Akintola back in office after six months. That was the plan of the Tafawa Balewa Government. Olunloyo made the list.

    It was his first direct involvement in governance. As he reminisced later, the leaders of the Western Region who went their separate ways meant well for the region. However, the bone of contention was their approaches, which did not align with each other. He also discovered that Prime Minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa was financially incorruptible and non-flamboyant. When he visited his office at Ribadu Road in Ikoyi, Olunloyo likened it to the office of a school headmaster – an austere room – reminiscent of when Balewa was in the teaching profession.

    The regional crisis was mismanaged. Its climax was the rigging of the 1965 regional assembly elections. Olunloyo watched from his post at the University of Ife when the “Wild, Wild West” was in flames. In the melee, the coup plotters killed the principal actors and drove their followers away. Afterwards, a counter-coup followed.

    Already a promising lecturer and public intellectual, Olunloyo became a commissioner under Military Governor Adeyinka Adebayo. In the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, the lot fell on him to resolve the Alaafin of Oyo succession crisis, which his predecessor, Chief B. A. Ajayi, could not resolve. There was an opposition to the candidature of Prince Lamidi Adeyemi by Action Group (AG) sympathisers who orchestrated the removal of his father, Oba Adeniran Adeyemi, from office. They preferred Sanda Ladepo.But Olunloyo stood his ground, based on the facts available to him, and offered the correct advice to the governor on Adeyemi’s eligibility and suitability. The prince was thus crowned the king. It was not surprising that the Iku Baba Yeye later installed Olunloyo the Balogun of Oyo.

    Olunloyo also shone brilliantly as Commissioner for Education. He fortified the school inspection system, visiting many public schools unannounced to assess the quality of teaching and teachers, examining school infrastructure and the entire teaching and learning environment.

    Olunloyo had the privilege of building two polytechnics – Ibadan and Kwara – from their foundations as rector. The two institutions have played significant roles in the educational, economic, and technological development of the country.

    It must be noted that throughout his public service career, Olunloyo shunned corruption, avarice and inordinate pursuit of materialism. He was a man of contentment. He was also blunt. When Awolowo, who appreciated his sheer brilliance and intellectual exploits, beckoned on him to join his party, Olunloyo declined. He said Awo was too honest and that major actors, particularly in the North, would not support him because he was highly inflexible.

    The crowning of his involvement in public service was his election as governor. In 1979, Ibadan played a prominent role in Ige’s victory, although Akinjide, an indigene, was his rival at the poll. The election marked a significant shift in political calculation because from 1951 to 1962, the city tilted towards Zik’s National Council of Nigerian Citizens (NCNC), and between 1962 and 1966, gravitated towards Akintola’s Nigeria National Democratic Party (NNDP), which forcefully gained control.

    As major political actors, particularly Adelakun, who served as Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, and later, Health, deserted the UPN, Ibadan turned its back on Awolowo once again. The shift in political allegiance also fitted into the plan by NPN’s National Chairman Akinloye to win Oyo for the party as a stepping stone for bidding for the 1983 presidential ticket. But this never happened.

    Although a nominal party member, Olunloyo was catapulted to the front burner of the struggle for Agodi Government House. He got the governorship ticket, not by the grace of deep pocket, but because the NPN hawks wanted a credible person on the ballot.

    NPN wanted Oyo badly. Akinloye also wanted to prove that he was in control of Ibadan politics, through Adelakun, in the post-Adegoke Adelabu era.  The campaign was hot. It was marked by propaganda and thuggery. It was not easy to convince the masses of Ibadan. Therefore, Adelakun branded Awolowo an enemy of the city. He accused the UPN leader of recommending Ajayi from Ekiti, Bola Ige from Ijesa, Dauda Adegbenro from Egba, and Bisi Onabanjo from Ijebu as commissioners in the military government but neglected Ibadan, even though Emmanuel Alayande was around.

    At the close of the poll, the Federal Electoral Commission (FEDECO) declared Olunloyo winner. Hell was let loose. In some towns, houses and other properties of NPN stalwarts were destroyed. But the poll was affirmed by the Supreme Court, though with a dissenting judgment.

    In the saddle, Olunloyo wanted to run a clean government, despite the flawed election that brought him to power. He appointed competent party chieftains and sympathisers as commissioners. But he rejected Adelakun’s request to make him a commissioner, saying he did not measure up in terms of education. Olunloyo directed Adelakun to seek an appointment with President Shehu Shagari. A crisis was brewing in Oyo NPN.

     Olunloyo announced that the past administration would be probed. He also turned his attention to the Ibadan Municipal Council, firing salvos at the chairman, Oye Olunloyo, and reiterating his plan to probe its finances.

    Reports and cartoons of those days also depicted a vibrant and excited governor who momentarily behaved in unusual ways while conducting state affairs. He was serious-minded but humorous. He was goal-oriented, but he faced distractions from party elements. Since he loathed the embezzlement of public funds, many civil servants would have run into problems over time.

    Olunloyo would have been a good governor, nevertheless, if the military had not sacked the civilian authorities.

    After the coup, he was arrested, like other notable politicians. The former men of power from UPN and NPN were dumped at Iyaganku Police Station in Ibadan preparatory to their movement to Kirikiri and Ikoyi prisons in Lagos. Olunloyo sighted Ige and greeted him. When the Black Maria that was to convey them came and soldiers asked them to enter one by one, he respectfully requested Ige to enter the vehicle before him, saying: “Egbon (my elder brother), you are to enter first because you are my senior in this thing. After all, I spent only three months while you spent four years.”

    Nothing incriminating was found against Olunloyo, unlike Senator Barkin Zuwo, governor of Kano State for three months, who protested his harassment by the military, saying the N4 million for which he was arrested was government money found in Government House.

    There is a need to immortalise Olunloyo, not because he was governor but because in the previous positions he held, he displayed patriotism, probity, integrity, and rectitude.

  • Pretentious killers of democracy

    Pretentious killers of democracy

    Those responsible for killing democracy in Nigeria are turning around to blame latter-day leaders for the monumental effects of the serious infractions they committed while in office.

    Those responsible for the fragility and weakness of institutions are shifting blame. They delude themselves into thinking that the country is enveloped in a collective amnesia.

    The master riggers, clueless actors, serial defectors, and religious bigots are mooting an inexplicable alliance and downplaying the obvious distrust. They hope to hijack power and return the country to the decay they wrought. They desperately need power to feather their nests and not to cater for the welfare of the masses. New people are not joining the gang. They are only recruiting their old, distraught followers in an unguarded noise making.

    Their aim is to garnish their lies with enticing flavours, taint the truth as a means of their prevarication, and instigate a section of the media against their target, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who has refused to fall into their trap.

    The objectives are two-fold. They plan to weaken the government of the day—although they were not better in their days in power, as their antecedents clearly show. They now peep at 2027 in trepidation, knowing that as things get better, the nation will mock them and ignore their antics. This is the reason they are desperate to work for the collapse of the government by all means.

    Also, they play the diversionary game to get by. They apply emotional manipulation in their game of deceit. They do not want the world, especially their gullible supporters, to see what the current administration has done well. They are concerned about a few inevitable foibles and human pitfalls. What the government has done right is not visible to them. As goes the Yoruba saying: the enemy’s horse is always dwarfish. They do not bother about this administration’s accomplishments. They enjoy pointing fingers over the challenges that are half-solved and those being frontally tackled to achieve the desired result, as their implementation is ongoing.

    They raise an unrealistic standard they never met when they misused authority before power slipped from them. They complain not because of their love for the masses but because they miss the privileges associated with public office.

    Read Also: Tinubu is a courageous leader, we are praying for him – Bishop Wale Oke

    They are united not by vision, ideas, and conviction but by their morbid hate for their common foe in the highest office in the land.

    Their past gave some of them away as religious bigots. Now, they are still exploiting the opium of the masses for manipulation. Some of them – Christians – are treading the populist path by going to break fast with the Muslim faithful when they never met the criterion of sacrifice by observing Lent, which their religion demands. They sat on mats with commoners, taking pictures and inundating the social media with their symbol of camouflage reticence.

    Their adversarial media backers accuse pro-Tinubu supporters of warming up for a second-term mobilisation. But they are also promoting the crusade for an alliance by the disorganised and disunited opposition gang.

    At their recent outing in Abuja, they upgraded their propaganda to absurdity. They cried out to themselves, saying democracy was declining, falling, and not living up to expectation – their expectation, that is. They also turned to the judiciary to malign the temple of justice. The sin of the judiciary is that in the last presidential election, the loser was not proclaimed as the winner.

    Instructively, two leading members of the opposition claimed in 2023 that they, and not President Tinubu, won the poll. They were fooling themselves. At least one loser was lying. Beyond that, the court ruled, based on the constitution, the law, electoral guidelines, and the evidence before it, that the two leading losers could not prove their allegations against the winner and the electoral umpire.

    Whenever the court rules in their favour, it is the triumph of democracy. Whenever the ruling is against the hypocrites, it is a travesty of justice and the rule of law.

    In 1999 and 2003, the presidential battle shifted from the ballot box to the court. They won. It was democracy at work. In 2023, when they lost, it was the decline of democracy and natural justice.

    The propaganda is ongoing that all jurists or most of them are corrupt because they allegedly wrote judgments in the bedrooms of some imaginary political barons and moneybags. Yet, those making the allegations lack the courage to reveal the identities of the culprits.

    The National Judicial Council (NJC) is responsible for the discipline of erring judges. But the venerable complainants are timid; they fail to submit petitions that would make the body launch an investigation. They commit a fallacy of easy generalisation.

    It is ironic that those whose political careers were salvaged by the judiciary in the past are turning around to mock the Bench without justification. It is worrisome because while the executive and the legislative arms can be dragged into the mucky waters at any time, it is forbidden for the honourable judges to join issues with politicians outside the court, no matter the provocation and intensity of smear campaigns.

    It is nothing short of regression to maladaptive behaviour in the post-election period by pompous candidates with an inflated ego. These characters indulge in an unending murmuring, almost two years after the poll, due to their reluctance to embrace reality and accept their fate. That lack of adjustment, which makes them to hold on to the past instead of focusing on the future realistically, is likely to affect their preparation for the next election. Psychologically speaking, the attribution of failure at tge poll to their rival who won meant that they lack an internal  locus of control.

    They are regrouping after they were scattered by antagonistic interests in the past. But a deep gulf still exists between them and the masses who they have endlessly exploited in the past through their rape of democracy.

    The proponents of the newest theory of democratic decline derived a weapon of blackmail, following the declaration of emergency rule in Rivers State by the President. They forget what their grand patron did in Ekiti and Plateau, the two states where the jungle never matured. The critics closed their eyes to reality and truth. As accomplices in the civilian dictatorship in Rivers, none of them raised an eyebrow when the House of Assembly was callously demolished by the power-drunk chief executive, who described it as his personal property. They also kept mum when lawmakers were denied access to the parliament, thereby denying 27 constituencies of representation for more than a year. They pretended as if all was well when only a three-member Assembly indulged in constitutional crimes against popular rule by erroneously giving the nod to the governor’s illegal actions. To them, all was well when the governor swore in commissioners who had not been screened by the parliament. They were pleased with running the state without a budget.

    As the Supreme Court judgment stated, there was no legal State Executive Council (Exco) in place, and the governor took the actions – in lawlessness.

    The appropriate Assembly, deriving its strength from the court verdict, immediately issued an impeachment notice. Over 14 breaches were listed. It was evident that the governor’s camp was packaging a resistance. The tough guys have been told by the chief security officer of the state to wait for some inexplicable instructions. Chaos was looming. Pipelines were blown off. But before the escalation of violence, the Commander-in-Chief acted fast.

    If any of the opposition leaders were presiding over the national affairs in Abuja, what would be his next line of action? Would he allow the Rivers of crisis to degenerate into a fire? Would they not later turn round again to blame the President for inaction?

    If democracy, as they claim, is declining or falling, then, the etiology of the rot should be probed. In rewinding the events of the past for a replay, they have been revealed, more or less, as the culprits.

    In 2003, a political earthquake reverberated across the Southwest. The then ruling party at the centre was the beneficiary. Five of the six governors in the region were thrown out of office in a curious electoral coup. But they accepted the turn of events. The affected governors never went to the tribunal for redress. Also, they walked freely on the streets. There was no invitation from any anti-graft body. They served their people to the best of their abilities and within the limited resources available to their states.

    Four years later, the so-called apostles of democracy were on the prowl, stealing the mandate of the people in many states. The mandates were later retrieved in court. The funny aspect of it all was that a do-or-die election was conducted, and the beneficiary, in sincerity, owned up that he rode to power on the back of a flawed and fraudulent exercise. On that account alone, the leaders of the then ruling party could be described as men of doubtful democratic credentials. They are fake democratic curators brandishing a puritanical zeal.

    When the anti-graft agencies became a tool for victimisation under their leadership, when court orders were wilfully disobeyed and violated, when their government became a cesspit of corruption, when federal allocations to states were seized and governors threatened, and when tension enveloped the polity because they wanted to hijack power in some states without actually winning democratic elections, they did not see it as a killing of democracy.

    The supporters of fuel subsidy are still annoyed and fighting back. They are few. They have made money from the loophole for years to the detriment of the larger population.

    In the history of Nigeria, none of them fought for democracy. While the soldiers among them claimed to have fought to keep Nigeria together, the question now is: What really brought about the civil war? Was the war not foisted on Nigeria by the scramble for power among ambitious soldiers? They created the ugly situation. They fought hard among themselves to clean up the mess. They rose to political fame by dismantling democratic structures. When they led the country in khaki, to whom were they accountable? Where did they derive their legitimacy when they ruled by the force of arms?

    What was their position on the June 12, 1993 election annulment? Did any one of them fight for the restoration of civil rule, which they became beneficiaries of in the Fourth Republic?

    Was the massacre at Odi and Zaki Biam democratic?

    What is their view on the resolution of the National Question? Are they not the unitarists serving as clogs in the wheel of federalism?

    President Tinubu should not allow these fake apostles of democracy to distract his attention from the implementation of his ‘Renewed Hope Agenda.’ He should remain focused. The greatest challenges now, like before, are security and the economy. As things get better, Nigerians should support him in his bid to reposition the country to attain greater heights in all spheres.

  • Opposition gang-up against Tinubu

    Opposition gang-up against Tinubu

    The main issue in Nigeria’s politics of today is Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.

    The only question, as it was raised in the days of indomitable Chief Obafemi Awolowo, is whether you are with him or against him.

    Indeed, as the leader of Africa’s most complex, heterogeneous and populous country, many, particularly the eligible voters, are with him. They voted for him. They trust him to deliver. They understand him. They know his administration is working for all. They take him seriously. They have confidence in his ability. Many of them are conversant with the constraints he faces. They believe that he is the solution centre – a leader who cares for the people.

    But the voices of the multitudes are not heard on radio and television stations, and their presence is not well felt in the social media.

    In contrast, a few desperate politicians, particularly the gang of defeated opponents who are in despair over their electoral loss, are against him and eager to sustain the peculiar rivalry in the post-election period when politics should have given way for governance.

    Curiously, these principals and principalities of Nigeria are consistently loud in the adversarial media; they are permanently bitter, combative and manipulative. They are unpretentious about their subjective analysis, diversionary in their antics and focused on hijacking power, not for a patriotic desire to offer service to the masses but because they are driven by ego and self-serving agenda.

    Their disillusioned, petulant and delusional patrons – the ex-this and ex-that – devote a residue of energy in their blissful retirement to war-mongering, firing salvos from their comfort zones on borrowed platforms and delivering virulent criticisms to pull down, unconscious of the fact that the shaky foundation they had laid while in power, the decisive step they failed to take in the past and the treasury they pillaged through their penchant for primitive accumulation, have landed the bewildered country in a big and deep mess which the current administration is now clearing.

    In their rage, hate, envy and greed, they embark on destructive propaganda, taking along with them a few gullible social media miscreants who are enveloped in amnesia. In the past, particularly in 2023, they failed, and now, with bruised egos, they are on the prowl like a wounded lion, seeking whom to devour. But they are caged by conscience, which delivers a judgment of guilt for past misuse of power, and that internal version of self-punishment is troubling. Since their one-day, ephemeral coalition is not founded on strong principles, truth, sound convictions, progressive intent, and national interest, they will inevitably fail again.

    A political party is an umbrella for politicians who are united by similarity of ideas, principles and ethos, which outline its focus and direction. The question is: Which idea is uniting the coalition of actors nursing electoral injuries? While in power, they misruled the country, thereby becoming a liability to the people. Outside the corridor of power, they are heating the polity. Their tactics are old-fashioned, clearly outdated.

    Is it not confounding that opposition figures who cannot effectively manage their parties are seeking alliance with other smaller and dwarf parties? What is the attraction?

    To lead Nigeria in this trying time is the special assignment allotted by God and fate to President Tinubu, who has been anchoring the rescue mission and struggling to recover the country from the jaws of saboteurs, the unpatriotic actors who delude themselves into thinking or believing that Nigeria is their personal property.

    Read Also: What to know about wanted socialite Achimugu

    The so-called fledging opposition is devoid of clarity of thoughts and superior arguments, and the message of their leaders lacks appeal. They are aggrieved and disgruntled as former men of power now left in the cold outside power. Their target is to bounce back to continue the liquidation of Nigeria.

    Tinubu is poles apart, clearly delineated from his conservative rivals by his power of ideas. He is an experienced, intelligent, courageous, focused, dynamic and result-oriented patriot, whose preoccupation for now is clearing the Augean stable, resetting the socio-economic order, pursuing reforms and fulfilling his campaign promises through the implementation of the ‘Renewed Hope Agenda.’

    A thinker, strategist, tactician and master of the game, his political and public service career are somewhat puzzling due to certain factors. His path and rise to stardom, despite the vicissitudes of life, have been unique, inspiring and instructive. The summary is that Tinubu has a rare divine grace to overcome obstacles and survive tribulations, and his uncanny capacity to always thrive in adversity is a core attribute of exceptionality.

    Those ganging up against the President recognise his potential. They know his ability. They know they can only underrate him to their peril. They also know that the Commander-in-Chief is fully in charge and cannot be tossed around by any cabal. They are jealous of his achievements in the last 22 months, particularly the bold reforms that are yielding positive and progressive results and other decisive steps that have checkmated and prevented them from appropriating the economic privileges and cornering public resources to the detriment of the masses. Therefore, they are working assiduously to create an imaginary hollow in the scorecard of the administration.

    Tinubu’s past accomplishments accounted for his towering profile as a political colossus. On the slippery political field, he had firmly established himself as a pro-democracy crusader, a democrat, a federalist, an astute administrator, financial surgeon, humanist, philanthropist, a workaholic, and a bold, brave and articulate political actor with a huge brain.

    An extraordinary statesman, he fully understands the grammar of politics: power is not served a la carte. Politically, he is consistent and dependable. Also, because he needs people, he groomed them for leadership. A very tolerant and accommodating leader, the Jagaban Borgu is quite electrifying.

    Loyalty is important in politics. But Tinubu is conversant with the influence and constraints of human nature. Thus, he said he was prepared for betrayals. That is anticipatory. It makes him a realist. But he never held grudges permanently because he also planned for forgiveness.

    Courage, determination, resilience, devotion to principles and commitment to the high ideals of democracy are the virtues that have defined and shaped the character of the enigma and icon in the 35 years of his sojourn in politics. His rise to presidential power underscores the triumph of a dynamic, resilient, consummate and total politician who has miraculously traversed the thorny path of life and triumphed to fame and glory.

    He had made his mark in the reshaping of Nigeria as an agitator, senator, governor, and opposition leader. That is why the eyes of the world are now on him as the leader of the most important country in Africa to build on his previous feats.

    In this way, the President is living up to expectations. For him, May 29, 2023, was a defining moment and a turning point in the nation’s history. On his inauguration day, he said ‘subsidy is gone.’ By halting the fuel subsidy regime, which had enriched a privileged few at the expense of the generality of Nigerians, he offended some “powerful” power brokers. It was a decisive step which jolted the profiteers. The negative effect has been colossal, but there is an assurance that it will fizzle out and Nigerians will savour the multiple gains of increased revenue in the national treasury as they are being appropriately channeled into people-oriented developmental programmes.

    The challenge of innovation is always resisted by those who profit from the status quo, apparently due to the fear of change. The profiteers started resisting, but the President refused to take the country backward.

    The President set up a cabinet of talent, equity and inclusion, which was also gender-sensitive. Women and youths ended their complaints about marginalisation.

    President Tinubu anchored his policies and programmes on his ‘Renewed Hope Agenda,’ which was carefully thought out and dictated by needs analysis and popular expectations. His government does not belong to the club of the clueless.

    President Tinubu made a promise to transform the economy. He terminated the Multiple Foreign Exchange systems, which “had constituted a noose around the economic jugular of our nation and impeded our economic development and progress”.

    Infrastructural development is accorded priority, being a key factor in guaranteeing a favourable atmosphere for business and investment. The Lagos-Calabar Coastal and Sokoto-Badagry highways are among the outstanding signature projects of his administration. They constitute a major expansion that would enhance the ease of movement of goods and services across four zones.

    There is now an increased oil production to more than 1.61 million barrels per day, and Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) of over $500 million have been attracted into the sector.

    The Compressed Natural Gas Initiative was launched to power the transportation sector and reduce costs. President Tinubu said: “This will save over N2 trillion a month, being used to import PMS and AGO.”

    A major feat of the administration is the setting up of the Student Loan Scheme in aid of indigent students. Under the scheme, the Federal Government has approved over N95.6 billion for Nigerian students. The scheme satisfies the yearning for youth inclusion. Besides, the President has unfolded plans to set up a National Youth Conference to serve as a platform for the younger generation to make cogent contributions to governance.

    Also, more tertiary institutions have been established in a bid to expand access to education and human capital development.

    The Consumer Credit Corporation was established with over N200 billion “to help Nigerians acquire essential products without the need for immediate cash payments, making life easier for millions of households”.

    The Federal Government is also building support for ‘Digital and Creative Enterprises’ to empower the youth, creating millions of IT and technical jobs. This is in addition to the ‘Skill-Up Artisans Programme,’ the Nigerian Youth Academy, and the National Youth Talent Export Programme – all for the nation’s teeming youths.

    Under the Livelihood Support Scheme, over N570 billion was released to the 36 states to expand livelihood support for their citizens, while 600,000 nano-businesses have benefitted from the administration’s nano-grants.

    The Federal Government has reduced the Revenue/ Debt Service Ratio from 97 per cent to 68 per cent in the first year of this administration.

    President Tinubu signed into law the National Minimum Wage of N70,000 last year. It was a milestone, and the move has drastically reduced labour unrest.

    His administration has approved and begun the payment of N77,000 as an allowance to National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members across the country. This has sent a wave of joy among the youths serving their fatherland.

    To resuscitate the moribund manufacturing sector, the government also set in motion the process of giving N1 billion each to big businesses for expansion. The move is expected to lead to job creation on a grand scale.

    Tariffs and import duties on essential commodities, including rice, wheat, maize, sorghum, drugs, and other pharmaceutical and medical supplies, were reduced.

    The Federal Government under President Tinubu has offered numerous incentives to farmers across the country to increase food production and make foodstuffs affordable to the citizens. Also, mechanised farming equipment, such as tractors and planters, worth billions of naira, have been procured from the United States, Belarus, and Brazil.

    The President has waged a relentless war against terror. The military has been equipped to tackle terrorism, banditry, kidnappings, and other forms of violence that threaten our sovereignty and peaceful living.

    In the health sector, facilities are being expanded, and there is a drastic cut in the cost of treatment for terminal and other life-threatening diseases, including kidney transplant, hypertension and diabetes.

    No government has ever solved all the nation’s challenges at once. But it is on record that the Tinubu administration has recorded far better achievements within two years in office than its predecessors. The programmes and policies of this administration can only get better. The President is not unmindful of some other areas that need attention. He is ready to proffer solutions to the challenges. But he needs Nigerians to work with him to record more successes. This way, those rocking the boat will fall into the ocean of ignominy, and this focused captain will sail the ship of state to glorious shores. 

  • Rivers: Beyond emergency rule

    Rivers: Beyond emergency rule

    Six months will pass like a flash of lightning. Unless the right lessons are learnt and the warriors in the Rivers jungle embrace reason and retrace their steps from the path of perdition, the Southsouth state may still be back to square one at the end of the emergency rule.

    The advantage of the critical interregnum is that oil-rich Rivers State is steered away from violence that may cripple socio-economic and political life. An imminent harm to the national economy was also averted.

    While Governor Siminalayi Fubara and some politicians are still grumbling over the emergency regulations, the people have heaved a sigh of relief. There is peace in Port Harcourt and other parts of the state, and residents – the ordinary man in the street- are carrying on with their daily activities without let or hindrance.

    During the emergency period, tension would be further doused because there is no room for the misuse of power and authority by the suspended governor and the lawmakers. The governor and the aggrieved lawmakers are temporarily off the radar of influence, having been boxed to regrets and sober reflection. They now have an opportunity for the remission of sins and amendment of behaviour.

    The access to the state purse is suspended. Without power, politicians are empty, like a carcass without life and strength. Power is transient, and no condition is permanent.

    During this period, Fubara should be tutored by experienced politicians and statesmen to adjust to the requirements of politics and governance. The onus is on him to do away with the arrogance of power and disdain for the structure that threw him up and catapulted him from the back to the front seat. He needs assistance to overcome some adjustment difficulties associated with his change of status – from a top civil servant to a top political leader who is expected to work harmoniously with other leaders in the state.

    Read Also; Rivers crisis and the perils of unwisdom

    The governor also needs to adjust to the blow of fate and see this period as another learning process.

    The emergency administrator is not in Rivers to pamper anybody, although he is expected to maintain neutrality in the dispute. An experienced top military officer, retired Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas would brook no opposition. His charge is to maintain peace, by peaceful means and force, and he is answerable, not to the divided leaders of Rivers but to the distant Federal Government  in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

    The retired naval officer was carefully selected for the job. He is conversant with the coastal region and the antics of troublemakers in the creeks. Therefore, vandals, thugs and other miscreants should beware. Lamentably, he is not in Rivers to initiate or really implement developmental projects dictated by popular yearnings and need analysis. Admiral Ibas was recalled from his blissful retirement to take on the restrictive burden of restoring peace in a state of pandemonium where commonsense, objectivity, and logic had taken flight. His assignment is to ensure that the jungle does not mature again.

    Here lies the huge cost of the emergency rule, which the combatants brought upon their state through their apathy to reconciliation and harmony, the threat of violence, recourse to economic sabotage, and disrespect for the Constitution, the rule of law, and due process.

    Democracy is partially crippled in the interim, and the blame goes to the polarised political class and the elders in the state who took sides and fueled the embers of disunity, instead of whipping the fighters into line through the deployment of moral weapons. It is ironic that elders who advised Fubara to jettison the peace pact initiated by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu later ran back to him in Aso Villa to save Rivers.

    As the House of Assembly is put in abeyance, democratic representation is also on hold – by federal fiat. It is noteworthy that the governor, who had forgotten the principle of separation of powers taught to him by his secondary school government teacher, plunged the state into chaos by derecognising the legislature, which is the first and the most important organ of government in a democracy.

    As the legislative complex was demolished and 27 lawmakers were unable to do the work assigned to them by their constituencies under the constitution, popular rule was emasculated and the constitution, the ground norm, was murdered in broad daylight.

    The casualties are the people. They were governed by ‘a government at half’ presided over by a governor who had become a divisive and destabilising factor. Fubara was aided by illegal commissioners and other members of the State Executive Council whose appointments were not approved by the Parliament.

    Historians will record that Gen-Z Governor Fubara of Rivers displayed a glaring naivety. His lack of tact and wisdom in handling his former political leader, Nyesom Wike, who has proved to be a veteran of political warfare in the state and his polarised Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), landed him in a pile of thorns. His bruised body and ego will take some time to heal if he gets out sober and educated. 

    The governor has more stakes. He has plans to consolidate his hold on the state. He is also gazing at 2027 for a second term. When he started the war of attrition, little did he guess, as a political rookie, that it would tax him to the brim. It was an avoidable confrontation.

    Did his Ahitophelean advisers ever imagine the raging fire in the corridor of power threatening to consume his tenure? If he must fight, why did he not fight in accordance with the law? How can the money illegally spent without appropriation be accounted for? Who takes the blame for the violation of laid-down constitutional procedures?

    Rivers may be at a snail’s speed for six months. Project execution may be unduly slowed down. Domestic and foreign investors can hardly explore the abundant opportunities in a tension-soaked environment. A crisis is not a positive factor in considering an environment conducive to development. Federal Government agencies and donor partners may even suspend collaboration till September.

    If the emergency rule is extended, it will take a big toll on those at war in varying degrees. The situation that would warrant an extension should be avoided by all means. After September, another six months would destabilise plans for strengthening political structures by the embattled governor and make him more vulnerable. Without deep experience and skills, the chance of political liquidation would be high as the state enters the preparation period for 2027 electioneering.

    The solution offered by the emergency rule is temporary unless the two sides settle the protracted conflicts on their own. What will be the status of the Supreme Court judgment in the light of the emergency period, especially the order withholding allocations to the state due to a lack of budget?

    After six months, what next?

    Unless the governor and the lawmakers reach a compromise on certain issues, the likelihood exists that they will resume hostilities and the Federal Government, which had hinted about the prospects of an extension, may find the justification for keeping Admiral Ibas in Port Harcourt for a longer period.

    The emergency rule does not invalidate the pre-existing impeachment move, which had jolted the pro-Fubara forces out of their delusion that the governor was immovable. Already, the verdict of the apex court had prepared the ground for his removal. The lawmakers obviously leaned on the strength of the final judgment in drawing up the 19 sins of Fubara, the gross misconduct that cannot be ignored. It, therefore, implies that the governor needs help from far and near.

    Mending the cracks in the wall of brotherhood is challenging. Political and social relationships have been crippled. Therefore, dialogue is crucial, and on this matter, the governor would be negotiating from the position of weakness as the aggressor and despot that has been momentarily caged by the law,  judicial pronouncement and the emergency rule.

    His ego is deflated. But Fubara should see it as a price to pay for leadership. He should see it as an opportunity to learn, re-learn and rise after his fall.

    The governor  should realise that having courageously endured so many ordeals and obstacles he had thrown on the path of the legislature in the last one and a half years, the lawmakers are likely to remain united in their bid to collectively weather the storm to the end. They have a formidable pillar of support and a backbone that cannot be broken easily. The governor’s predecessor and benefactor, the powerful and influential Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Nyesom Wike,  has conquered opposition forces – so far. He has resisted intimidation and overcome conspiracies.

    However, despite being in a position of relative strength, the lawmakers should apply the brakes from their understandable hardline posture and cooperate with the governor in fully complying with and implementing the court judgment. If the governor wants to faithfully implement the court judgement after the emergency rule, they should not resist him. They should not create hinderance. They should consider the interests of their state and the people they claim to serve. The conflict should not be allowed to fester permanently.

    The governor should take the initiative. He can also be assisted by well-meaning and neutral elders who have the interest of the state at heart.

    There are two possibilities. Reason may prevail and the governor and the lawmakers may amicably resolve the conflicts. There is no permanent friend or foe in politics; only permanent interest.

    Also, the governor and the lawmakers may shun dialogue and peaceful resolution. Then, the initial six months would be extended.

    The first option is better. It is in the interest of the people of Rivers.

  • Afenifere after Ayo Adebanjo

    Afenifere after Ayo Adebanjo

    Afenifere, the pan-Yoruba socio-political group, is at a crossroads. Its popularity is fading in Yoruba land, its supposedly base, stronghold, and main sphere of influence, whose interest it was set up by the founding fathers to articulate and protect, right from the pre-independence days.

    The organisation is also facing a crisis of relevance in the country as it has grossly failed to put its house in order. While Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) and Ohanaeze Ndigbo have managed to weather the storm of division due to their comparatively stronger crisis resolution mechanism, Afenifere has not been that lucky. It has regressed into a bastion of strife and rancour.

    The Yoruba group has been bastardised. It has become a toothless regional bulldog that can only bark and cannot bite. Its factional handlers tend to exploit it as a tool for inordinate ambition, inexplicable political negotiation, and other motives that are not connected with the propagation of the Yoruba interest.

    Afenifere had a beautiful beginning. The name was coined for the defunct Action Group (AG) in the pre-First Republic by Chief Meredith Adisa Akinloye, who later abandoned the group.

    In the time of peace and war, Afenifere did great exploits. The relatively advantageous position of the Southwest in the pre-independence era and the early years of post-independence was due to the wonders of Afenifere government, led by its first leader and Premier of the then Western Region, Chief Obafemi Awolowo. That administration was second to none in Africa. It has remained a reference point for many decades.

    Afenifere also fought against prolonged military rule. It teamed up with the defunct National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) in the agitation for the revalidation of June 12, 1993 presidential election results and the restoration of civil rule.

    Also, prominent Afenifere leaders, working in concert with compatriots in other regions, have never relented in their clamour for the resolution of the National Question to foster what they call ‘true’ federalism, peaceful co-existence, and unity in diversity.

    However, since the birth of the Fourth Republic, things have fallen apart for the group. Between 1998 and 2003, Afenifere has failed to move beyond the mess it created at D’rovans Hotel in Ibadan when it ignored its time-tested criteria of age, hierarchy, ideology, as well as unblemished service and unalloyed loyalty to the group. It has been roving in a circumlocution since that day it gathered its best patriots to select the Alliance for Democracy (AD) presidential candidate.

    Since 2003, the intrigue and acrimony have been sustained. Prominent chieftains have been united in their hate for a chieftain of the organisation, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who won re-election as Lagos governor, despite their opposition, and who also became president amid their virulent blackmail and campaign of calumny against his ambition.

    It is ironic that without wide consultation, brainstorming, discussion, and in-depth analysis, the former Acting Leader, the late Chief Ayo Adebanjo, erroneously declared that the organisation would oppose one of its own and support an outsider for president. He tried to use a regional body to accomplish a personal goal without collective permission and consensus.

    Read Also: Provide evidence or drop allegations against Akpabio, Adeyanju tells Natasha

    But the Leader, Chief Reuben Fasoranti, reiterated that Afenifere was backing Tinubu for president, to assuage the situation.

    Today, Afenifere is factionalised, despite the efforts by Fasoranti to unite the fold and motivate its members with gerontocratic wisdom to correct its multiple and cumulative mistakes.

    The great NADECO leader, Chief Abraham Adesanya, who took the mantle of leadership from Pa Adekunle Ajasin, handed over to Fasoranti as acting leader, an Awoist of long-standing, like Adebanjo. When the Ijebu-Igbo-born Second Republic senator passed on, the group proclaimed Fasoranti as its Leader.

    Adesanya had nominated Fasoranti, an Ondo State Finance Commissioner in the Second Republic, as acting leader, based on the advice of younger chieftains who noted that the appointment of either Sir Olaniwun Ajayi or Adebanjo would make it appear that Afenifere leadership was being monopolised by Lagos-based Ijebu Mafia that had dominated the group’s leadership.

    Under Fasoranti, the crisis worsened. The climax was the recognition accorded Senator Mojisoluwa Akinfenwa as AD national chairman, instead of Chief Bisi Akande, by some anti-Tinubu chieftains. They also misled Fasoranti to accept that the factional convention in Abuja appeared to have met the party’s guidelines. But the other side kicked. Thus, tension developed momentarily between the two groups led by Fasoranti and Ayo Fasanmi, who coordinated the activities on the side as Deputy Leader in succession to the late Chief Bola Ige. Efforts by the Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG), led by Olawale Oshun, to reconcile the two groups at Ibadan failed.

    Afenifere’s chieftains, particularly those of Ijebu-Igbo Mafia, were jolted out of their reverie when, based on the advice of younger elements, Adesanya asked a chieftain from outside Lagos and Ogun to steer the affairs of the group. But Fasoranti, a reticent leader and unassuming gentleman, later threw in the towel based on some internal contradictions, before he was prevailed upon to rescind the decision.

    Fasoranti’s inclusive policy became obvious when he asked Adebanjo to act as the leader but later withdrew the decision when he realised that the organisation was drifting.

    The pervading feeling among the mostly dormant and absentee chieftains of Afenifere is that the vibrant and vocal acting leader had often been credited with highly inflammatory utterances that created tension between him and his colleagues as well as rivals in the Awoist family who were electorally lucky and, therefore, perceived to be more successful in their chequered political careers.

    Pa Adebanjo was always combative, highly inflexible, and never condescending within the larger fold. He never avoided the use of harsh statements. As the father of all, he never assembled the scattered Yoruba progressive leaders in a bid to bring them under the same Afenifere roof. He never forgave those who may have offended him in the group. He never presided over genuine reconciliation in the larger interest of Afenifere and Yoruba land. Thus, many critics have argued that despite his contributions to the growth of the organisation, Adebanjo, at the twilight of his life, also came across as a divisionist.

    Indeed, at no time was Adebanjo the Leader of Afenifere, although some factional members, out of rebellion, decided to hold meetings at his Lagos and Ijebu-Ogbo homes without the permission of the Leader. This was in flagrant violation of the tradition of holding meetings in the house of the Leader, as it was done in Owo in the days of Ajasin and in Ijebu-Igbo in the days of Adesanya.

    The appointment of another acting leader without clearance from Fasoranti amounted to a coup. Whenever a king lives, another king cannot be enthroned. There is no leadership vacuum. Any plan for succession, even at this stage, can only be mooted by the Leader or at the general meeting, after uniting the fold and repositioning the organisation for future challenges.

     Afenifere now has two secretaries, two directors of organisation, and two publicity secretaries – three officers taking orders from Akure and three factional officers taking briefs from another place. This portrays an awful picture of a distressed regional mouthpiece. It is confusing.

    Afenifere’s unauthorised meeting outside Fasoranti’s home is about the grouping of minority members savouring the backing of the media. The views emanating from that corner are not representative of the hopes, feelings, and aspirations of the children of Oduduwa.

    All the progressive Yoruba leaders on both sides have paid their dues and served the region and the country in their respective capacities. The question is: why can’t they sheathe their swords and unite?

    Afenifere chieftains holding court at Adebanjo’s residence include Senator Femi Okunrounmu, Senator Kofoworola Akerele-Bucknor, Chief Supo Sonibare, Hon. Oladipo Olaitan and Chief Sola Ebiseeni. They are eminent Nigerians in diverse fields.

    Those holding court in Akure are Chief Sehinde Arogbofa, Oba Olu Falae, Chief Korede Duyile, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, and Jare Ajayi.

    But there is a gap in membership. Is Afenifere complete without the involvement of other chieftains who once grouped under Deputy Leader Ayo Fasanmi when the organisation split? Are Prince Oluyole Olusi, Chief Bisi Akande, Aremo Olusegun Osoba, Chief Busura Alebiosu, Dr. Amos Akingba, Gen. Alani Akinrinade, Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi, Ayo Opadokun, Wale Oshun, Dr. Dapo Fafowora, Jimi Agbaje and Prince Dayo Adeyeye no more Afenifere members?

    The burial of Adebanjo, nevertheless, can be a meeting point for kick-starting reconciliation. The group’s crisis resolution mechanism should be revived and strengthened. Cracks on the wall of brotherhood should be mended. There is strength in unity. Afenifere also needs reforms.

    A divided Afenifere is not in the interest of Yoruba land.

  • Rivers crisis and its lessons

    Rivers crisis and its lessons

    It boils down to two issues. The first is the peculiar predecessor-successor crisis due to wrong calculation or faulty succession plan. The second is the violation of the constitution and the rule of law in the bid to consolidate one’s hold on power.

    While the first hurdle can be resolved by a political solution mutually agreed upon by the two strong camps, the circumvention of the constitution is a serious matter that can only be determined by the court.

    In the political fight, the combatants are not of the same strength. The strength of one is the weakness of the other, and vice versa. A critical factor is the influence of external forces. This is because the scramble for power and influence in Rivers State may impact positively or negatively on serious future calculations in other states and even at the centre.

    The first hurdle could not easily be scaled by a sheer political pact, even though it originated from the highest office in the land. A big opportunity for concessions, consensus, and ‘win-win’ was bungled without sparing a thought for its consequences.

    Read Also: Young Nigerians in politics (4)

    It meant, therefore, that the alternative route was the judiciary, the final arbiter whose verdict must be painfully complied with now, no matter the initial hesitation or reluctance. In a democracy, the Supreme Court’s verdict is the ultimate. Any disobedience of the apex court’s judgment is tantamount to inviting anarchy. It is risky for the continuity of democratic governance. Also, any eruption of violence due to the hardline posture or resistance to order may not be condoned by the Federal Government.

    The Rivers scenario may shape succession politics in other states and zones in the future. If politics is based on an ideology, it may be easy to resolve. This is because ideological parties, more or less, usually establish a pattern of leadership succession in the party and government by its members who understand the ideas, focus, aspirations and public expectations about the platforms. Such parties also have a system of political elimination of deviants from their ranks in a bid to prevent the consequent pollution of the organisations. None of the existing political parties in Nigeria has this attribute. They are mere vehicles for acquiring power.

    In Rivers, history will record that Siminalayi Fubara brought upon himself and his state an avoidable crisis. In the past year, his government has been generating tension. Certain steps he has taken have underscored the naivety and limitation of political experience on the part of a technocrat catapulted to power.

    The next few months will task the governor’s ingenuity and acumen. The driver’s seat has become hotter since last week. Already, the state is divided. Peace may take a further fight.

    The Supreme Court judgment was not unexpected. It only halted the pattern of executive recklessness and political absurdity.

    The apex court restrained the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF)  from further releasing funds to the Rivers State government until a valid Appropriation Act is passed by a lawfully constituted House of Assembly with Martins Amaewhule as the Speaker.

    The direct interpretation is that Fubara has spent Rivers money without lawful appropriation for 26 months. This is a serious infraction. A wiser governor would have negotiated with the aggrieved lawmakers. The dialogue would have prevented the 48-hour ultimatum the governor got to hurriedly re-present the 2025 budget.

    The five-member panel of the apex court also ordered that Amaewhule and 26 other members of the Rivers State House of Assembly, who were alleged to have defected, should be allowed to resume legislative duties. This means that Amaewhule is the authentic Speaker who has been denied, deprived, and oppressed along with 26 others by the governor. The corollary of the verdict is that Victor Oko-Jumbo is an interloper, an impostor, and a fake presiding officer.

    The Supreme Court also ordered all members of the Rivers State House of Assembly to resume normal legislative businesses without any hindrance. What this portion of the judgment connotes is that the governor cannot pull down the Assembly complex under the guise of renovation. Also, security agents and political thugs cannot be incited to frustrate the lawmakers.

    Normal legislative business encompasses receiving the 2025 budget and the list of commissioners afresh. It also means taking on serious oversight functions, including the probe of spending without parliamentary approval, investigating the activities of the state electoral commission and the screening of nominees for appointments, as prescribed by the law.

    The Supreme Court condemned Fubara’s conduct for acting unlawfully by pulling down the House of Assembly, owing to his fear that there were moves to impeach him.

    In another judgment, the Supreme Court declared the local government elections illegal because they violated the Electoral Act. The council chairmen, councillors, and their aides who may have drawn money illegally have moved out of the local government secretariats.

    There was no dissenting judgment. Also, it is not likely that the governor will go back to the Supreme Court for the review of the judgment, which has vindicated the claim of pro-Wike lawmakers that the polls were held in error.

    What is required now is for the Fubara camp to adjust to a judgment and its implications for their political future.

    As the FCT minister and the governor went their separate ways, the Rivers PDP was split. The successor-predecessor crisis broke out early. During his inauguration, former Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose had advised Fubara to exercise wisdom in his dealings with his benefactor and godfather. The admonition was ignored.

    Wike frowned at the governor’s penchant for allocating positions and privileges to those who worked against his victory while neglecting members of the dominant camp who weathered the electoral storm with him in 2023. Fubara complained about meddlesomeness or undue interference in his government.

    The governor tried to consolidate his hold on the party. But he could not take all the party structures from his former boss who brought him from the position of a Permanent Secretary to that of the Chief Executive. Fubara attracted some elders who had scores to settle with Wike, some of who never backed his governorship ambition in 2023. He also tried to play the ethnic card, portraying the conflict as another confrontation against his Ijaw ethnic group, forgetting that the former governor fought the Ijaw battle for a sense of belonging by insisting on a power shift from “upland” area to the “lowland” area.

    President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had initially intervened in the Rivers logjam by trying to broker peace. The president felt that democracy was being threatened when the crisis led to the demolition of the House of Assembly by the state government. The resignation of some commissioners also meant that there was a division in the Rivers ruling party.

    But the combatants only returned from Abuja to Port Harcourt to resume hostilities. The governor jettisoned the important element the peace pact. On the heels of the face-off, the two sides returned to court for adjudication. Reconciliation broke down totally. The governor said the presidential peace pact was merely advisory.

    Since then, Fubara and his illegal Oko-Jumbo-led four-member House of Assembly sunk deeper into mistakes. Under the pretext that Amaewhule and others had defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC), the governor insisted that they had ceased to be members of the House of Assembly.

    But parliamentary seats cannot be voided by a mere threat to defect. APC has not claimed that the 27 are part of the ruling party. PDP cannot present a letter backing its claim that they had defected. Resignation involved certain processes beyond an unclear verbalisation.

    The illegal House of Assembly screened the commissioner-nominees and passed the 2024 and 2025 budgets. Illegal council polls were conducted and violence engulfed the state.

    The Supreme Court judgment became the watershed. The verdict is final, and it has serious implications for governance in Rivers.

    Raising and spending money for recurrent expenditure and developmental purposes are the chief functions of government. The withholding of allocations to Rivers means shrinkage of revenue base, in the interim. Rivers, an oil-bearing state, is rich. Its internally generated revenue (IGR) is only second to that of Lagos State. However, the federal allocation is still the main source of income. Even now, the IGR cannot be spent without the approval of the Amaewhule-led Assembly. Expectedly, the Assembly has become hostile towards the recalcitrant governor.

    It also implies that no federal allocation can go to Rivers councils since democratically elected local governments are not in place in the state. Grassroots development may be hampered.

    The governor was duly elected. His legitimacy derives from the people’s mandate conferred on him. But the composition of the State Executive Council was not neat. The screening of commissioners and special advisers by an illegal Speaker did not follow due process. So were other appointments that required parliamentary consent.

    Apparently, the governor might be deemed to have committed impeachable offences in the face of the law.

    In this political drama are great lessons for the wise – to avoid creating a crisis, tread the path of peace, and stay humble in the corridors of power.

    In the days ahead, where the political pendulum swings in Rivers will depend largely on how Fubara manages the crisis his leadership style has foisted on the state. It is up to him and his cheerleaders to wield the olive branch pronto – humbly and politely.

    He should take a cue from the psychological advice that the best managers are not those who are prudent in times of scantiness but those who can change course when they see a crisis and avoid a collision with it. The ball is in his court.

  • Oluremi: First Lady of Renewed Hope (1)

    Oluremi: First Lady of Renewed Hope (1)

    She is a First Lady with a difference; an Amazon behind the throne, a great companion of the Commander-in-Chief and a dependable ally in the unity of service to the country and humanity.

    Her antecedents aptly prepared her for the pre-eminent, special and strategic role. She has been a teacher and moulder of character and lives; a successful wife and mother of promising children; an astute politician and experienced public officer; a cleric, humanist and philanthropist. Her worldview is shaped by varied experiences. She knows her onions.

    Her strength lies in her power of ideas, initiative and compassion for the indigent, particularly vulnerable women and youths. She is held in high esteem for her clear sincerity, focus, and resolve to succeed in tasks that add value and promote public welfare.

    In private and public life, she stands out as an asset, a trusted and dynamic leader in her own right. She has a lucid understanding of her household’s responsibility to the nation at a time of greater expectations. In over three decades of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s illustrious career as a senator, a governor and now President, she has remained a devoted confidant and an example of utmost fidelity and commitment in times of pleasure and pressure.

    Oluremi Tinubu, Yeye Asiwaju of Lagos, three-term senator, wife of the President and First Lady of Nigeria, is now a role model for women in Africa. She carries the roles with grace, charm, charisma, maturity, dignity, influence, time management, discipline of mind, mobilisation prowess, service orientedness and socio-economic enlightenment. This may have informed her election as a member of the Steering Committee of the Organisation of African First Ladies for Development (OAFLAD), the highest decision-making body of the organisation.

    She is setting a new example of reorientation with emphasis on anti-HIV/AIDS campaigns, advocacy against early marriages, genital mutilation, child labour, and the essence of educating the girl-child.

    As the First Lady, Oluremi has not misused any presidential privilege. Her focus is women and youth empowerment, reminiscent of her duty and obligation when she was the wife of Lagos State governor in the first eight years of the current dispensation. At that time, her New Era Foundation projected her as a first lady of philanthropy, ploughing back to the society that offered her an enviable opportunity to excel.

    Her contributions to the attainment of federal power can only be rightly captured in future reminiscences in a memoir by her beloved husband.

    Oluremi deployed her networks as a federal parliamentarian. During the critical period, she donated more than inspiration and emotional support, a life of worship, fasting and prayers, galvanising the womenfolk who saw her as their loyal representative and believed her shared promise of ‘renewed hope’.

    As the First Lady, she hit the ground running, maintaining a focus on giving succour to her primary targets, the deprived and the indigent. Oluremi has combined the good qualities of her predecessors – Flora Azikiwe, Victoria Gowon, and Maryam Babangida. But she is poles apart from the covetous lot in other climes; the tribe of arrogant first ladies focused on the primitive accumulation of gold and jewellery, which they, nevertheless, will not take to their graves.

    The First Lady also carries other messages to women in politics and public life; in fact, she has something for men who think they can always dominate their women counterparts. It is the wish of Her Excellency that the gaps created by gender barriers should be bridged through inclusion. But women should also be vigilant, show more interest and avoid pulling down fellow women out of jealousy. Thus, Oluremi often urges women to rally behind one another for political office, emphasising the importance of solidarity, goodwill and mutual support in leadership.

    Her activities as the visioner of the Renewed Hope Initiative (RHI) are unique. Driven by the passion for equitable public welfare for the less privileged, the First Lady has packaged RHI as a vehicle for alleviating poverty, scholarship for students, economic empowerment, financial assistance to the aged and assistance to women in agriculture.

    It is interesting that Mrs. Tinubu, having set a model, has also mobilised and encouraged wives of governors across the 36 states to creatively replicate the activities of the RHI in their domains. They see her as a mother figure and source of inspiration in the gospel of empowerment.

    Although there is no constitutional role for the First Lady, Mrs. Tinubu fills a void in service delivery and beneficiaries of her interventions appreciate her contributions to their wellbeing.

    Within the first 100 days of the current administration, 43 students from different states and geo-political zones received scholarships under the RHI. The motivation was her eternal belief in education and skills acquisition as guarantors of life enhancement, employability, self-reliance, socio-economic uplifting, and political consciousness.

    Under the programme, girls in Bauchi State savour the benefit of ICT education through the ‘Alternative High School for Girls.’ The school assists those who may have faced obstacles, including early marriages and lack of support.

    The ‘One Nigeria Unity Fabric Competition,’ which showcases the creative ingenuity of youths, also inspires the spirit of enterprise. The winner was entitled to N25 million. It was a boost to talent, giftedness, and spirit of industry.

    Read Also: First Lady Oluremi Tinubu donates food items to vulnerable women in Borno

    The flag-off of the RHI agricultural support programme in the six geo-political regions encourages women to till the soil and reap bountiful rewards for their labour. At the initial stage, no fewer than 20 women from each zone got N500,000 each. It is a programme done in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture. Also, the special population was taken into consideration as 100 people with disabilities received N100,000 each.

    The Food Outreach Programme under the RHI’s Social Investment Scope was launched in March last year in Abuja. No fewer than 80 women in each of the 36 states were later targeted for empowerment. In October last year, Senator Tinubu launched the RHI Food Outreach in Ekiti State, with the distribution of food items to people living with disabilities, widows, special schools, and other vulnerable groups. The goal is to boost the productive energies of women, tackle hunger and poverty, and end food deficit in accordance with the Renewed Hope Agenda of the Tinubu administration. RHI also distributed N1.9 billion to 9,500 elderly citizens nationwide.

    Under the scheme, scholarships and free laptops were also given to each of the rescued students of the Federal University at Dutsinme in Katsina State while each of their parents also got N2 million.

    In Borno State, 5,000 women who were victims of the Maiduguri flood disaster received N250 million. The victims of tanker explosions in some parts of the country also received the First Lady’s financial support.

    Of concern to Mrs. Tinubu was the plight of 500 displaced Mangu families. They received N1 million each.

    This week, 500 women from each state in the Northcentral, namely: Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger, Plateau, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), got empowerment items, including deep freezers, grinding machines and cooking gas/ovens. Indeed, 18,500 women across the country will ultimately benefit from the scheme.

    In Niger State, 500 women went home with various items, such as deep-chest freezers, maxi gas cookers with microwave ovens, generator sets, and industrial grinding machines.

    In Maiduguri, over 9,000 bags and cartoons of food items were donated to vulnerable women. The items included 3,000 units of 25kg bags of rice, 2,000 units of 50kg bags of sugar, 2,000 gallons of vegetable oil and 2,000 cartons of pasta.

    It is not the money that is donated that is the main issue. The more important lesson is the noble intention of showing empathy, sympathy and affection to those hitherto neglected, the extension of a duty of care to one’s neighbour.

    The latest outstanding contribution of the First Lady is the distribution of professional kits to trained midwives in the North as part of a broader national effort to equip frontline health workers with essential tools to enhance maternal and child healthcare.

    When it comes to doing good, Senator Oluremi is predictable. Like her husband, she hates poverty. Her philanthropy transcends Nigeria. Worried by the plight of people in war-torn Liberia, she built a school in the devastated capital, Monrovia.

    To observers, the First Lady is building on her Lagos legacy. Her New Era Foundation survived her tenure as wife of the Lagos governor and architect of modern Lagos. From that impressive performance, she entered the soap box, and the hidden virtues of an empathic politician unfolded. Mrs. Tinubu became a researcher, mobiliser, organiser, political host, party leader, and effective political and public speaker. She bares her mind on critical national issues, including electoral reforms, integrity of the ballot box, increased roles for women in democracy, party membership drive, women empowerment and social security for the elderly.

    While she was in the Senate, Mrs. Tinubu was not a bench warmer. She also never became an Abuja politician who forgot her home. It is on record that Mrs. Tinubu canvassed for special federal economic assistance for Lagos as the nation’s economic nerve centre. Up to now, that quest for a special status has remained a tall order.

    However, today, the entire country is her constituency where she has to expand the scope of her battle for a better and improved life for women in urban and rural areas, and where the 36 wives of the governors are expected to draw inspiration from her activities and creatively replicate them in their respective states.