The Nation Newspaper

Category: Saturday

  • Paying attention to players’ health

    Paying attention to players’ health

    WHENEVER a player falls on the field in a soccer game in Europe, the response rate of the medics is breath-taking with no room for guesswork. All the apparatuses needed for the fallen star are with the nearest medical person including oxygen. When the situation looks critical, the player is given enough space by bystanders while those whose duty it is to restore the player’s life take charge.

    Evacuation of the player from the pitch is always dignifying with the ambulances driven close to the point where the player can be taken. It must be stated all the ambulances are fitted with state-of-art facilities which would improve the conditions of the players before getting to the hospital or theatres if that is where he needs to be taken to. The first aid the players get on the pitch sets the stage for how successful the exercise would be. If such a player requires oxygen, it is fitted right there on the pitch.

    No player or should I say teammate accompanies such colleague out of the pitch. The injured is wheeled into the ambulance and driven away. Not so in Nigeria. The crowd around the fallen player is enough to suffocate him. the methods of reviving him are laughable. When those around the injured player are not fanning with dingy jerseys, they are pouring sachet of pure water on him while some others are pressing the player’s chest for someone gasping for breath.

    Evacuating the patient inside the ambulance from the stadium isn’t a guesswork thing. As soon as the situation occurred inside the stadium, the medical crew which provided first aid for the patient opened a line of communication between them and the designated hospital. Doctors and nurses in the hospital have been debriefed about all that transpired during the first aid sessions. This synergy between the two medic crews helps those in the hospital to commence work to save the patient (player). This helps to reduce the mortality rates from such incidents at the stadia.

    What it clearly shows is that the league organisers and the designated hospitals have a business understanding to attend to all medical cases arising from incidents at the stadia. This agreement isn’t hinged on verbal talks. All the parties in the agreement sit to jaw-jaw, with everyone coming to the negotiation tables with their terms and objections. The differences arising from the discussions are addressed before a binding document is signed. This working document makes defaulters liable in terms of breaches. No half measures. Those selected came from transparent bidding processes among renowned hospitals in the country.

    With such an arrangement, the patient doesn’t get to the hospital and is confronted with the cheap talk of money to commence treatment. No idiotic suggestions of lack of oxygen, no light, etc. The patient is wheeled into the theatre if that is what he or she needs immediately. Surgery is done, and photographs of the patient on his or her beds are awash on the internet with get well messages from around the world for such a patient. No ceremonies and no tales of the unexpected having met all the conditions enshrined in the club licensing book. How many clubs in Nigeria can meet all the conditions of club licensing? We can with the right people running our league. But we won’t because we think it is the Nigerian way to subvert all that is good in the country – nothing good works in Nigeria.

    Sometime last year, a player (name withheld because the matter is in court) died on the pitch with pictures of the timid manner in which they tried to revive him. We saw one man pressing the player who was gasping for breath on his chest. We saw others fanning him with their stinking shirts soaked with sweat from the game. At the same time, another helper tried to force a spoon through his mouth. How can we forget those who wasted sachets of pure water on the dying player? All these efforts were futile since those who sought to save the player’s life were not taught the rudiments of such an act – which is essentially first aid.

    The player may have died because the ambulance at the stadium, which was meant to carry him to the hospital had a malfunctioning battery. The ambulance had to be pushed around for it to start. No dice. The player was eventually taken to the hospital in the ambulance of the state governor’s convoy. Help came late, pity.

    Did the league organisers learn anything from the death of the player being discussed above?  No. After all, they showcased all the pictures from venues with club proprietors, match referees, and commissioner(s) standing beside ambulances to show them that they were compliant only after a player died.

    Facets of the league’s organogram work in other climes because of the existing business frameworks which define who gets what and who doesn’t for proper accountability. There are no jobs for the boys. Recruitment into key positions of the leagues is strategic and duly run by professionals with rich business resume acquired over time. Rather than address the issue of telling us which hospitals in the six geo-political zones in the country they are partners with, the media is awash with the so-called television coverage on our telephone sets. Can a fan watch the match on his or her handsets travelling through the Lagos to Benin City highways? No way. Established radio stations and television stations can’t bet on that. Of what use is it then? Should we not know the official hospitals for the league? Or have the organisers left this critical task to club owners who owe their players, coaches, and officials their wages running into years?

    What those celebrating the so-called television coverage don’t understand is that fans prefer to watch the matches live at the stadia or in viewing centres where they try to recreate the stadium setting than to sit alone like the selfish Chief Executives who always see things from the myopic prisms, not from the world view. Indeed, the talk that the European matches dwarf ours is cheap. If we had thinking league organisers, they ought to have scheduled the NPFL games on days when there aren’t European matches and see if the fans won’t throng the stadia in droves.

    One would have suggested shifting the games to the night periods but the lack of electricity in the country would be a major obstacle. Don’t ask me dear reader if the match venues have generating sets to run the stadia during matches? In a country where we pay lip service to maintenance, it wouldn’t come as surprise if the stadium is thrown into pitch darkness by a malfunctioning generating set deep into matches. How can this writer forget the 1979 FA Cup finals between Bendel Insurance of Benin and Shooting Stars Sports Club (3SC) inside the National Stadium, Sure-Lere, Lagos where the stadium’s lights were switched off after the Ibadan side beat Bendel 2-1. What followed in the stampede is better imagined.

    A domestic league without a regimented calendar can’t produce new stars, since they only know when the season begins without knowing when it would end.  We have in Nigeria, a league season without end, hence such contraptions as abridged leagues or regional league competition, as a few purists are advocating for. How does anyone expect the league to produce new talents for the Super Eagles when the competition only starts when the organisers are pressurised to do so?

    The future doesn’t look bright for the beautiful game if the same characters are allowed to run the operations of the league. A league without an official television rights holder is a circus, which should not be taken seriously. Such leagues obviously cannot produce national team players since they wouldn’t want their careers truncated through the organisers’ ineptitude. A league without title sponsors has no business with the corporate world – it has unwittingly become a commercial failure. A league without an official insurance company for the clubs, coaches, and players can best be likened to celebrating mediocrity.

  • Is Nigeria practicing democracy on the breach?

    Is Nigeria practicing democracy on the breach?

    The greatest single virtue of A legislature is not what it can do but what it can prevent –  J. William Fulbright

    Nigeria is the most populous country in sub Saharan Africa. In the past decades especially during the oil boom periods post-independence, the then Head of state, Gen Yakubu Gowon (Rtd.) is recorded to have boasted that money was not the country’s problem but how to spend it. Whether that statement was made out of youthful exuberance or lack of visionary economic planning is yet to be ascertained from him.

    Due to the petro-dollars, Nigeria became the big brother in Africa and even beyond to other developing nations. Most African countries especially the South African countries were huge beneficiaries as the country helped a great deal in their fight for independence and the abolition of apartheid. The country was doing relatively well despite the post-independence civil war. Then came the series of coups and counter coups that sacked the civilian government of late Alhaji Shehu Shagari in 1983.

    Things began to fall apart in Nigeria with all the coups and counter coups and with the nature of military governments with no checks and balances, the Head of state had enormous powers. The economic fortunes of the country began to impact on the people and even with the return of civilian democracy in 1999, it is still difficult for the country to maximize its potentials and reduce the powers of the presidency.

    The result is that today, Nigeria is the poverty capital of the world with more than eighteen million out-of-school children, high unemployment and underemployment rates, high maternal and child mortality rates, poor infrastructural development, one of the five most terrorized countries of the world and other sad indices of poverty and underdevelopment.

    The election that is set for 2023 has literarily set the country on the edge as politics of the presidency takes center stage. The political parties moved from debates on the issues of zoning between North and South to that of ethnicity and now to religion as it concerns the  Vice Presidential candidates. Beyond these were also intra-party crisis especially within the two biggest political parties, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    The Roundtable Conversation feels that the successive civilian governments seem to have failed in returning the country to the path of development because Nigeria’s democracy seems to have weak legislative bodies at both state and federal levels. The executive arm of government at both levels seems very imperial often veiled as executive-legislative harmony or party loyalty even when the political parties have no identifiable political ideological leanings.

    The Roundtable believes that the exaggerated emphasis on the presidency removes attention from the legislature that is equally a strong pillar of any democracy. Since 1999, there has been too much power ceded to the presidency and the governors in ways that it has affected the democracy we practice.

    Democracy thrives on the viability of checks and balances and the Nigerian people must realize that although the presidency is very important, more attention must be paid to the other two arms, the judiciary and the legislature and because only the executive and legislature stand for elections, a lot of attention is needed if Nigeria must make progress. It is delusional to assume that the executive alone can bring the development the country needs.

    The Roundtable Conversation had a chat with Chido Nwakamma, a journalist and Communications Strategist. Asked why Nigerians seem too focused on the Presidency  to the detriment of other arms of government like the legislature which in turn has affected the value of the democracy being practiced, Nwakamma believes that there is no smoke without fire and that Nigeria seems to practice an imperial kind of presidency. With that comes enormous powers that affect every aspect of leadership including political party leadership. Somehow the state governors too seem to replicate the same system at the state levels. He believes there must be a legislative awakening to make our democracy functional by making laws to reduce the powers of the presidency.

    He equally believes that the fact that the media is fixated on Abuja the political capital and Lagos the Commercial capital, attention does not cascade down to the states and local governments and there are not many state and local media to zoom the searchlight on the activities of the local politicians who go to the local legislative houses and even the federal legislature.  These omissions to him tend to remove attention from those levels of leadership  and leave the people rightly focusing on the seat with the most powers.

    Besides the skewed media attention on the political and commercial capitals, Nwakamma believes that the middle class in Nigeria has been playing the ostrich and have been docile or shown too much political apathy that the political class are not held to account.  He believes that at the local levels, the people tend to be more involved in political activities unlike the city middle class that seem very insular to political engagements.

    He believes it is the duty of the Nigerian middle class, pauperized as they are to set the barricades and hold leaders accountable because most of them are their peers or classmates. A better and more committed engagement by the middle class in Nigeria would help restructure the governance system. The legislative arm must be made to work and fulfill its duties to the people and by so doing get a better country where the dividends of democracy is about the people and not individuals.

    The Nigerian middle class must take a cue from those of other nations with viable democracies. Being politically aware and engaging the process must not be left to the ‘professional’ politicians. Their engagement would revitalize the legislative arms at all levels and reinvigorate the democracy we practice. It is delusional for the Nigerian middle class to feel that just having the basics of life and sending their children abroad to study solves the leadership problems in the country. They must roll up their sleeves and get to work. There must be continued advocacy and education he said.

    The purpose of government is the welfare of the people and if the present structure is not catering to that, then it is time to make changes and that has to be on the shoulders of the legislative arm of government. It is time to focus on those going to that level of leadership from the ward, state to the National Assembly. Interest must be on the quality and pedigree of those going there in ways that at least they understand the roles of the legislature in a democracy.

    The Roundtable Conversation equally had a conversation with Ugbeva Eromosele , an Enginneer and  public affairs analyst who has worked in both private and public sectors of the Nigerian economy and a keen observer of the Nigerian political space. He believes that Nigeria is a developing democracy and the huge emphasis on the presidency is not totally misplaced.  To him, it is important that the head of any institution or government comes to the job with a sense of mission and as such must be armed with clear leadership qualities. In the Nigerian circumstance, he believes that a good President  has the capacity to lead the country into building  a strong system which will in turn impact on all structures of government.

    The head matters a lot. When a President for instance has the discipline, the moral strength and experience needed for his position, he would begin to redirect the focus of government agencies and ministries and he will instinctively be able to make changes in the psyche of everyone including the legislature  in a way that without being authoritarian, change begins to happen.

    A competent  president and his vice through their team selection might begin to bring changes if they make merit and competence their watchword. Their actions would cascade down the other arms of government.  An independent judiciary and the competent law enforcement agencies are also very important because they would keep everyone in check. The authority of the federal government would be more impactful  if we depart from the present system where states are just allowed to operate mini fiefdoms where governors behave like they own their state resources.

    The Roundtable Conversation is of the view that Nigerian democracy cannot birth development if the system does not change. Democracy as a system of government has its tenets and can only produce good results when the tenets are adhered to. The country cannot do the same thing all the time and expect a different result.

    We have all seen the recent political events in the United Kingdom. Prime Minister Boris Johnson was virtually forced to resign as the head of the Conservative Party following the mass resignation of the some Tory MPs. The power in any democracy belongs to the people and no single individual or group of individuals can be so powerful that they disrupt the system.

    The Nigerian people must equally realize that they have to engage the political system and must be involved in the political process by being active participants. While the presidency is an important position in any country, the legislature at all levels is equally very important and must get equal attention. Citizens must be willing to challenge the candidates. Important as the Presidency is, it is one individual. There must be legislative adjustments to cede some exective powers to the Vice president  and deputy governorsfor balance and optimum performance of the party in power.

    The dialogue continues…

  • Lagos PDP and Akindele’s 20 million followers

    Lagos PDP and Akindele’s 20 million followers

    Nollywood actress and Lagos State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) deputy governorship candidate, Funke Akindele, is currently trending on various platforms following her boast that she has 20 million followers on social media.

    The actress is being dragged by many social media users who are asking her to tell them how her virtual followership will transcend to votes that will help PDP win the governorship election.

    Akindele, during an interview on Channels Television, boastfully spoke about her huge number of followers on social media and added for emphasis that the PDP governorship candidate, Jide Adediran, also known as Jandor, has a good number of supporters. She went on to predict victory for the party owing to their combined fan base on and offline.

    The Ikorodu-born Nollywood star turned politician said her over followers on social media would support her party to emerge as the winner. She said her social media presence was one big thing she was bringing to the table. When asked if politics is played on social media, Funke remembered to add that she also has some supporters offline too. Her statement has been attracting jibes from Nigerians.

    Many of them have pity for PDP and Jandor for relying on Funke’s 20 million social media voters to win governorship elections. “Elections are not won on Twitter. This one must be a learner,” one Facebook user wrote.

    Many commentators also accused Akindele of always sitting on the fence when serious issues are being discussed on social media. “Coming from someone who has never taken a social stand on any issues…… the invoice is here,” a social media user by the name 11_enigma wrote.

    “She stands for nothing. Now she wants social media followers to stand up for her. Na so? No be so,” another commentator, Sola Oduntan, said while intimatesecretsqueen wrote: “I follow you on Instagram doesn’t mean I will come and vote for your party.”

    Official_omoiyamoji wrote: “Aunty Funke, don’t forget all your fans on social media are not from Lagos and not staying Lagos but regardless I wish u all the very best.”

    And Bosun Jejeloye, another Facebook user, said: “many of your social media fans are not going to vote for you. PDP better plan how to win election and not rely on this one.”

     

  • Day of decision in Osun

    Day of decision in Osun

    Election is a war of sorts in Nigeria. It creates a nightmare for government, the electoral agency, political parties, candidates, their supporters, voters and even other Nigerians who usually sit on the fence during polls.

    Why should elections be so difficult or problematic in Nigeria? The answer lies in the fact that stakeholders often refuse to abide by the rules of the game.

    Will today’s governorship poll in Osun State be a departure, or an exception? Will the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) improve on its last outing in Ekiti?

    Voters are heroes on polling day. It is said that 76 per cent of registered voters have collected their Permanent Voter’s Cards (PVCs). This implies that a high voters’ turnout is expected. But, whether the election will be free, fair and credible will depend on the stakeholders-electorate, candidates, electoral workers – permanent or ad hoc – and security agencies.

    Osun State has the highest number of towns in Nigeria. It is a large state with 30 local government areas. Although a Yoruba speaking-state, there is no homogeneity. Its vastness and diversity, notwithstanding, the Ijesa, Ife, Oyo and core Osun co-exist peacefully. Its big towns include Osogbo, Ede, Ife, Ilesa, Ila, Iree, Ijebu-Jesa, Ikire, Ikirun, Ejigbo, Ilobu, Iwo, Okuku, Igbajo, and Esa-Oke.

    Fundamentally, Osun is a progressive enclave. In the First and Second republics, majority of the indigenes were followers of Chief Obafemi Awolowo. The state was carved out of the old Oyo State on August 27, 1999 by the military government under General Ibrahim Babangida. Following a tour of the old Oyo State, the military leader declared that some states were too large, a hint of his intent to split the state.

    In the Third Republic, the short-lived civilian administration in the state was headed by the late Alhaji Isiaka Adeleke of Serubawon (Bully Them) fame.

    But, the state had a full dose of progressive governance when Chief Bisi Akande, chieftain of the defunct Alliance for Democracy (AD), was in the saddle. The beat stopped in 2003, following the political earthquake that swept across the Southwest. Only Asiwaju Bola Tinubu survived among the six AD governors in the hitherto poll-confident region.

    Akande was displaced by Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). After four years, Chief Rauf Aregbesola, the symbol of Oranmiyan Group, won the governorship poll on the platform of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). But, the loser was declared winner by the electoral commission. The battle shifted from the ballot box to the court. The mandate was restored in 2010.

    Although Aregbesola was re-elected in 2014, his party nearly lost the poll in 2018. His successor won by a slim margin. It was a narrow escape for the ruling party.

    Today’s exercise is still about the two major parties: the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the PDP. Other mushroom parties cannot spring any surprise. The 13 smaller parties lack formidable structures to cause any upset.

    In Osun, the other parties are merely warming the INEC register. Their candidates, more or less, are aggrieved chieftains who defected from the dominant parties, following their failure to secure tickets. Although they display a lot of bravado, they are still very weak. After the election, they are likely to jettison their borrowed platforms and retrace their steps to their original parties.

    Today’s poll is crucial to the APC and PDP for some reasons. APC intends to demonstrate that the Southwest, its stronghold, and base of its presidential candidate, Asiwaju Tinubu, is impenetrable by the opposition. It is part of its 2023 calculations. In fact, the Southwest chapter is still nursing the pains of the defeat it suffered in Oyo State.

    But the PDP is interested in aborting that agenda to rekindle hope. The opposition’s defeat in Ekiti, where its candidate, Otunba Bisi Kolawole, was abandoned to his fate by the party leadership, was devastating. The poll result underscored a sort miscalculation and weakness due to protracted division and disunity.

    Yet, the election is a repeat match between Governor Gboyega Oyetola and his arch rival, dancing Senator Ademola Adeleke. Both men were once locked in a battle for the Government House in 2018.

    There was tension. And controversy followed, as the election was declared inconclusive.

    Oyetola eventually triumphed at the supplementary poll, to the chagrin of Adeleke, who was disowned at the last minute – a critical moment – by big chieftains of his from Ife-Ijesa axis who loathed his candidature, led by the grassroots politician, Senator Iyiola Omisore.

    But, APC would have even won on first ballot, if it had put its house in order. Reconciliation had failed in the party in the aftermath of the governorship primary. The crisis was compounded by the defection of some chieftains, including a former Secretary to the State Government (SSG), ‘Sheu’ Moshood Adeoti, who ran on the platform of the African Democratic Party (ADP) and got over 3,000 votes, in vain. The involvement of Adeoti in the election resulted in the split of the APC.

    It is evident that APC still has internal issues to contend with. Interior Minister Rauf Aregbesola, who is Oyetola’s predecessor, is not backing the governor’s re-election bid. Until two days ago, his boys were still in court challenging the governor’s eligibility for the election. This is worrisome to many national chieftains of the party who are now rallying round Asiwaju Tinubu as they forge ahead for the 2023 polls. If Oyetola wins today without Aregbesola’s input, it may have implication for the minister’s future political career.

    The bane of the Southwest progressive bloc is the weakness of its conflict resolution mechanism, clash of egos and lack of forgiving spirit by the two sides. Past mistakes are often repeated through their “fight to the finish” attitude.

    The headache of the PDP is that its primary could not throw up a candidate that could command mass acceptance. Adeleke’s street wisdom is an advantage. But, its impact is limited. The elite, particularly those who can now be described as his more educated and highly refined foes, do not see him as a material for fulfilling their aspirations and yearnings for a better Osun.

    Adeleke is from a prominent family in Ede. His father was an Awoist senator in the Second Republic and his elder brother, the late populist Senator Isiaka Adeleke, was a former governor.

    When the younger Adeleke boasted about dollar and pound sterling war, it was not an empty boast and threat. Another of his brother, Deji, is one of the richest in the country.

    Few days ago, David Adeleke (aka Davido), a globally popular music star, was in Osun to campaign for the PDP candidate. Though the move might have been used to entertain some youths, it may not give Ademola Adeleke the necessary mileage, especially among the voting adults in today’s poll.

    In looking at manifestos, there is no line of difference. The governor is in a vantage posi tion of a tested administrator who can also be trusted. Oyetola has directed attention to his achievements as a silent worker without making much noise. The feats are verifiable: infrastructure battles, redress of past injustice, transparency and accountability, increased worker’s welfare, payment of gratuities and pensions, and an atmosphere of peace pervading the state.

    Osun voters have a unique opportunity to choose between Oyetola and Adeleke. The two parade different credentials.

    A successful businessman, with undisputed corporate experience, Oyetola, a native of Iragbiji, served as Chief of Staff for almost eight years under Aregbesola. In the last three and a half years, he has tried to live up to expectation, despite obvious constraints.

    Osun is a poor state. The governor has judiciously managed its meagre resources without allowing loopholes and vulgarity. The reality is that Oyetola has mirrored his distant predecessor, Chief Akande, in prudent management of resources. His motive is not acquisition of wealth but erection of lasting legacies.

    The governor, according to observers, has served with utmost fidelity, patriotism and candour. In the Southwest, governors who have performed creditably are never acknowledged until years after their exit.

    Other candidates are merely criticising the government of the day instead of unveiling their plans of action that will make them look like credible alternatives. None of them has accused Oyetola of planlessness, profligacy, embezzlement or any act of corruption.

    Adeleke filled the senatorial position that became vacant, between 2017 and 2019, following his brother’s demise. Not much was known about him before he joined the fray and record of his performance in the National Assembly is also scanty. His campaigns have been very lively because he is like an entertainer.

    It is gratifying that the gladiators have resolved to follow the path of decorum, going by the peace accord brokered by the National Peace Committee. To keep the peace, the police are not leaving anything to chances. A Deputy Inspector General, four Assistant Inspectors General, many commissioners of police, deputies and assistants have stormed Osun.

    Trouble makers, thugs and other agents of violence run the risk of their lives if they attempt to disrupt the exercise in any local government.

    Instructively, electoral offenders are being tried to serve as deterrents.

    INEC should also play its part throughout the stages of the exercise. The commission’s workers should resume early and accreditation should be seamless. The machines should not malfunction. There should be no room for malpractices.

    Stakeholders should also rise against  vote-buying. The electorate should cast their ballot according to their conscience.

    Voters should not mortgage the future of their children by accepting money to vote today and suffer for their action tomorrow.

  • History, competence and government

    History, competence and government

    Meritocracy  drives my thoughts and ruminations today and even then ,  I concede that the concept is not fool proof and is contextual in various political systems and societies . The  news from Nigeria that the presidency has asked Nigerian  youths to learn  history  and get educated to earn a  living  outside  government ,  because government has no more jobs  for them ,  to me ,  is an attempt at meritocracy . Similarly  the Muslim Muslim ticket of the ruling APC presidential candidate  is  a  step  , and a bold one at that  ,  in the direction  of meritocracy  and   the  promotion   of  competence  in  leadership   in Nigera .Outside Nigeria and specifically  in the UK  where the leadership  succession battle to replace lame duck PM Boris Johnson is raging , the foreign un English  names  being peddled as front runners bravely show a salute  to merit and competence in the context of British  colonial past and the resultant  change in British political  leadership in a multicultural  Britain . The  evolutionary  and   historical changes leading to these  developments ,   form the kernel  of our discussions today .

    The  issue of  youths looking for  jobs  in government in Nigeria has a North South dichotomy and is rooted in the educational  imbalance in Nigeria  , in which  the South has an edge and in the  political   power structure   in which Northern  youths , educated or not , see  government work   and jobs as a monopoly  of  Northerners  especially  in the federal   government   establishments . This  is a product  of history  , demography  and  colonialism  and  we shall dilate on this later . In  contrast  the Muslim Muslim  ticket is a pragmatic , competence assessment that  moves against  history on the basis  of  merit  that shouts loudly  that  the nation should  not be held  hostage to religion   forever  .Especially  as Nigeria , after all said and done ,  is constitutionally ,  a secular state . It  is necessary  in this piece today  to compare the emergence of colonial products as leaders in the UK  especially  in the race to replace Boris Johnson    as    leader  of the  Tories  and eventual   UK  PM   , with   the  emerging political  meritocracy  inherent in the Muslim/ Muslim  ticket of the ruling party , the APC  in   the 2023   presidential   elections in  Nigeria.

    In   terms  of history  and  regional  development  in  Nigeria ,   the  South  has  always  been ahead  of the North  educationally . This  was an accepted fact  by  the  regional  leaders  of the nation even as they  fought  the British  colonialists  for  our   Independence   which   came  in 1960  .The  Northern  regional  leaders namely the Sardauna of  Sokoto  , Sir Ahmadu Bello and the   first PM of Nigeria Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa were school teachers and did their best to make Northern  youths get educated to bridge the huge educational  gap  between  the North and South . That was the origin of the belief that government work  at federal  level was meant for Northern  youths . That  educational  strategy  was not pursued by   the   military  and   elected    successors  of these pioneer Northern regional leaders and led to the neglect  of modern education in the North which  eventually   produced  the cruel  emergence  of Boko Haram  terrorism ,   which  said ‘ No to Western education ‘  . That  is the reality  that the North and the presidency  has woken up to and is now telling Northern  youths ,    which  it mistakes for Nigerian youths   generally ,  that government has  no more   jobs  for them   , a fact  which   non Northern  Nigerian  youths  have always  known  ,  because  they  have never been the beneficiaries   of government jobs at  federal  level  anytime  , till now .

    In the  old   Western Region the late  Chief Obafemi Awolowo  pursued  an educational policy of free education which  put  the region at the forefront of educational  development in Nigeria.  In  the East  ,  Zik and later Michael Okpara did the same and the North was left lagging even as it clung  to political power,,  based on demography and census  ,  not backed by climatology , geography  and the endless North South  Migration based on economic  and water needs for human survival  . This  too culminated in the huge  insecurity  bedeviling     the nation today  with the Fulani herdsmen  clashes with  farmers in the South  generally . In  the East the educational  drive  later  lost  momentum especially  after the civil war  when the Eastern youths embraced  business and jettisoned educational  achievements . While Eastern youths still excelled at educational achievements  somewhat ,  a new genre emerged of successful  , scarcely  educated   rich  youths   whose  pride  resided  in marrying educated graduates  as wives   since government jobs  was never an  option any way and at any time   for them .

    On  the Muslim Muslim ticket  which I address  henceforth  with its acronym MMt   it  is not necessary  to  vilify  , attack  or   defend   religion  to  justify  the presidential  choice of the Jagaban and APC .It  is a reality and a challenge that  both the nation and the party must  accept  and promote to win the 2023 presidential  elections . There  are  however  some obvious facts of geography and history  to highlight  based on the  background of the presidential  candidate  and his running mate especially as they come from the SW and NE .

    In   the SW especially  with the Yorubas religion is not a big deal  as most  families have both Muslims and Christians  as  members   and relatives  and they  jointly  attend and promote their religions and  their  activities  together at Xmas , Ramadan and Ileya . Religion  may be an opium  of the masses elsewhere but certainly not  in the SW of Nigeria . Napoleon  was quoted  saying that religion was invented by the rich to prevent being killed by the poor  but that is not the case in the SW or  even Nigeria till the advent of Boko Haram  in the NE where the Jagaban’s  running  mate  comes  from  and   I have  some interesting observations on the area .

    The  Kanuris dominate the NE of Nigeria and  they  are the only area in the North not conquered  by  the Sokoto Caliphate   jihad  . I did  my national  service in the NE and served at Gwoza  and  Mubi and  can attest that the people there are friendly and accommodating . There are ECWA Christians  in the area and they promote their  religion without harassment  till Boko  Haram  terrorism  came in .The APC presidential  candidate is a two  term  governor of Borno  State and is well placed to know the menace and perhaps the solution to the terror of Boko  Haram . He  certainly  must   have some ideas on   how  to realistically   and  politically  arrest  the menace of Boko  Haram at federal  level  and that would be a huge advantage for    a Tinubu presidency . This  is a matter of competence ,  merit  and  knowledge that should not be marred unnecessarily   with   extravagant  religious   considerations and  bias   given its huge  security  implications  for Nigeria now and in  the immediate  future .  To  me the MMt  is a political  innovation and change necessary  to move our political  system  forward   objectively and  should be applauded and promoted  patriotically  as a step in the right  direction  for our fledgling democracy .

    In  the  contest to choose Conservative  leader in the UK names like that of former chancellor Rishi Sunak and Chancellor Nadim Zahawi have surfaced and  no eyebrows  were raised because these leaders  are regarded first and foremost as Britons and  appreciated  as  products of migration , colonialism and a multicultural Britain . Perhaps Boris Johnson  was banking on such names being  unacceptable  in the British  establishment and that   may have prompted his careless and arrogant leadership that led to his fall  as PM  even  though  he will  be in power till a new leaders is elected .  The  leadership  race in the Conservative Party  in Britain shows full steam  meritocracy at work and I find that worthy  of emulation by any  political  system that aims at objectivity and  leadership  by  the best  hands available . In  a way  I think  that  is the direction of the MMt  ticket of the Jagaban in Nigeria for the 2023 presidential  elections  and  to me really ,   it is  a winning  ticket  worthy of support by  all Nigerians who value progress and good ,vintage leadership  , especially  in these  testy  times and  days .

     

     

  • Kuje prison attacks: It’s about time we break the pattern (2)

    Kuje prison attacks: It’s about time we break the pattern (2)

    The first pattern to break is to first ensure that heads are forced to roll following the Kuje attacks. If President has being anything it is that he has being too lenient with those who are saddled with the responsibility of ensuring such security, it’s being one attack after another and all Nigerians continue to get is the redundant declaration that the security agencies will get them, thus I am sure will not have been the case had President Buhari shown some of these officials the exit door and proven that there were no tin gods  nor sacred cows in the nation’s security architecture. While I agree again that securing a nation like Nigeria is not easy, it is however not acceptable that we will continue to go through such sordid rounds despite the humongous funds sunk into security.

    Another pattern to break would be to retool the security architecture to ensure enhanced collaboration amongst them.  With 17 security agencies at its disposal, there is the problem of non-collaboration amongst each agency with each guarding its turf jealously similar to what obtained between the Brown Shirts, the Wehrmacht and the SS. Such rivalry has led to each agency in Nigeria undermining each other rather than collaborating for the good of the nation. It is alleged that a majority of the these security agencies have allowed issues such as matters of responsibility, distrust lack of cooperation and unhealthy rivalry to dominate their relationship with each other. The Bible says that a kingdom against itself cannot stand and if this is the order of the day for our security agencies then it is no wonder these non state actors are having a field day, and have continued to have dire consequences on national security.

    The quality of our intelligence gathering systems is another key to breaking the pattern. No nation has emerged successfully in terms of dealing with its security challenges without a fixation on intelligence. There is in fact a correlation between Intelligence and the propensity to deter attacks, as the availability of such intelligence as well as its utilization will help prevent the attacks. Of a truth, the nation’s intelligence apparatus is over stretched and fragmented which in turn leads to Inter-Agency rivalry and non collaboration. Asides the disadvantages earlier mentioned it is also alleged that there is too much red tape in processing such information, and this on many occasions leads to a late mobilization for a response or non at all, thus making sitting ducks of such targets.

    There is also the need to add more men and women into these security agencies. The staff strength of the Nigerian Armed Forces and Police is presently inadequate. The  Armed Forces asides its low numbers( 223,000) is heavily overstretched given numerous instances in which they have been deployed to carry out tasks naturally within the purview of the Nigerian Police. While the Nigerian Police is also underpopulated  with 371, 000 officers to our population of 200,000,000  people. There is no sense in having an army of not less than 400,000 members with one fifth of the number acting as a reserve army. Egypt with a population of 104 million people possess an armed forces population  of 310,000 with a reserve army of 375,000 troops. Yes there are other factors that influence such numbers but these factors are similar to what the Nigerian nation is presently facing. Likewise there is need to upgrade the Nigerian Police and give it  some of the responsibilities that we have always entrusted to the army, this will give the police the much needed experience to combat domestic incidences of crime, banditry and terrorism while calling on special units of the armed forces to assist it. I will be doing this piece a disservice if I do not mention the twin issues of welfare and training. We would be joking if we fail to address such issues and yet expect the best from these men and women.

    There is also the need to “follow the money” and reach deep into the financing of such groups. This yet again is a clear cut task of the intelligence agencies,  who by trailing the movement of such funds can help undermine and deter a number of these attacks .

    There is also the need to restructure such architecture by ensuring the creation of regional, state and local government police units that will seek to tackle crime. This will simply mean removing the Nigerian Police from the Exclusive List to the concurrent list .

    Asides from adequately increasing the number of police officers per citizen, the combination of these various police units will not only localize policing by ensuring that locals who reside in an area and have a know how about such an area would  help participate in the policing of such an area. Asides such the removal of policing from the Exclusive List would reduce the immense responsibilities saddled on the centre and allow the regions, states and communities to determine how best to secure their areas.

     

  • Controversy over choice of running mates

    Controversy over choice of running mates

    Crisis of choice has hit the two major parties and two other struggling platforms. It may be temporary or a passing phase. But, it may also permeate the campaigns and the most critical stage of the electioneering, if utmost care is not taken.

    The crisis is not strange. It is typical of political parties and the political class. Remarkably, it may also be peculiar to Nigeria, a divided heterogeneous polity trying frantically to forge ahead in an atmosphere of debasing unitary tremor.

    But the dimension and gravity are beyond what were anticipated. The way and manner the challenge is finally tackled by the parties would enrich the experience of future contenders and students of political history.

    The first preliminary lesson is that it is now old fashioned to think that a flag bearer has the prerogative over the choice of his running mate. An exclusive right in that regard is clearly outdated. The choice can either become an asset or a liability, depending on how he was selected.

    The reason is not far-fetched. The candidate is projected as a candidate of a zone, a bloc, or a tendency. The person who is to pair with him is also perceived as a representative of a region or zone. The input of top stakeholders from the regions becomes crucial in making a concrete and acceptable decision on filling the slot.

    The second lesson is that the process that throws up the running mate should be inclusive, mutually agreed upon and accepted by majority party stakeholders, or put succinctly, the aggregate interest groups within the party.

    The implication is that if the standard bearer decides to choose without extensive consultation, team work and collective approval, those who may be sidelined, ignored or not adequately consulted may feel neglected and raise an objection. This implies that in a party, the choice of a running mate cannot be the personal affair of the standard bearer.

    The third is that the choice should also appeal to stakeholders outside the parties and regional interests, including, sometimes, the mouthpieces of ethnic groups. The first facial validity may also come from a quarter like the media.

    Religion has been cited by some observers as a factor; yet, it can be exploited and manipulated. The problem with religious bigotry is that it may permit only the promotion of one side of the coin. The religious associations seldom think alike in their political interventions. They defend real, imagined or perceived interest of their sect or religion, sometimes in sheer insensitivity to the interest of other religions.

    Thus, while the Muslim-dominated North is assiduously working for the actualisation of a Muslim/Muslim ticket in the ruling party, some Christians in the South are uncritically raising eyebrows.

    How have the standard bearers complied with these seeming non-negotiable criteria? How are they resolving the odds?

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, moved swiftly to name his running mate, Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, probably to score a point in a hurry. But, how meaningful is speed without accuracy, judging by the contrasting intra-party reactions to his decision? Indisputably, the choice of Okowa has compounded the challenge of post-primary reconciliation in the main opposition party.

    Atiku was trying to avoid a situation whereby an influential bloc in the PDP would persuade him to pick his rival at the primary, Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike. While 14 of 17 members in the search team were said to have recommended Wike, the candidate opted for Okowa, who allegedly got three votes. At issue is whether Atiku realistically engaged the pro-Wike forces before turning down the report of the committee and opted for his Delta State counterpart.

    It is the third time the Waziri Adamawa would be accused of lack of extensive consultation.

    As candidate of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), he had opted for Senator Ben Obi. The Southwest wing of the party was scandalised. Many chieftains cried foul, lamenting that an experienced politician made an avoidable mistake.

    Yet, the mistake was repeated in 2019. Southeast governors complained in hush tones that they were never informed before Peter Obi, former governor of Anambra State, was picked by him as running mate on the platform of the PDP.

    The Atiku/Wike post-primary tango has underscored the fact of a habitual blunder. A wrong judgment is not an ingredient of political intelligence.

    Read Also; Who is afraid of Muslim-Muslim ticket?

    But, who can blame the Waziri? He may also be  acting from the vantage point of experience. Atiku was conscious of the risk posed by a strong person, a rival and fighter. He may have been instructed by the lessons of the resultant cat and mouse relationship that has become part of contemporary history: Adekunle Ajasin/Akin Omoboriowo, Ambrose Ali/Demas Akpore, Bola Ige/Sunday Afolabi, Bola Tinubu/Kofoworola Akerele-Bucknor, Rotimi Akeredolu/Agboola Ajayi, Olusegun Mimiko/Ali Olanusi, Ayo Fayose/Abiodun Aluko, Orji Kalu/Enyinnaya Abaribe, Seyi Makinde/Rauf Olaniyan, Ibikunle Amosun/Segun Adesegun, among others.

    The candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, appears to be more clever. So far, he is strategically slow, but steady in announcing a decision. He has put in place an expendable vice, thereby conveying an inconclusive process. Observers, stakeholders and other anxious Nigerians are steered into a debate of national significance on who should be his running mate, where he should come from and the nature of the process that should bring him up. What can be discerned from the scenario is that those who will eventually vote for the ticket seem to have an opportunity to contribute to the debate. The consequence is the development of emotional attachment to the joint ticket in the embryo.

    There is no need to rush. Until the inputs of those who matter are collated, it may not be wise to unveil a running mate whose selection would appear to be essentially divisive and potentially destabilising.

    The New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP) candidate, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, has found the choice a herculean task. The main strength of the party is Kano, now buoyed by Alhaji Ibrahim Shekarau’s defection to the fold. Veteran political foes are closing ranks. If Kwankwaso, a former governor and one-time minister, had not defected from the APC, it is likely he would have been a serious contender for running mate in the ruling party.

    It has become increasingly difficult for him to shop for a suitable running mate, following the breakdown of the NNPP/Labour Party (LP) alliance talk. From the beginning, it was a proposed alliance that was destined to fail. What idea was driving it? Where was the meeting point? Are the NNPP and LP blueprints the same?

    The former Kano governor dangled the carrot at Peter Obi, who also wanted the engineer to be his own running mate. There was a clash of ambitions and egos, suspicion and mistrust.

    Kwankwaso appeared to be realistic. He was only disposed to making the LP a junior partner in the NNPP/LP deal. Obi, in a fit of excitement at the growing population of “Obedient” faithful in the social media, could not digest the gist. It was a moment of emotional wrenching for the presidential hopeful.

    Kwankwaso will name a running mate even tually. But, it is doubtful if his choice, at the end of the day, will garner any substantial vote from the South.

    Obi is facing the same difficulty. He claims to be surrounded by obedient youths today. What is the assurance that they will not be disobedient on Election Day? How formidable is the LP as a political structure?

    The LP has been at crossroads since Kwankwaso told Obi that he could only be his running mate. His motive is the driver’s seat. He has got it on the platform of LP. But it is not enough. He is gazing at the North for a partner. How formidable will his running mate from the North be, in view of the influence of APC and PDP in the region, and now NNPP in Kano and few areas?

    The search for a running mate is an element of presidential system. Nigeria’s experience is exciting and at the same time worrisome. The distribution of presidential candidate and running mate tends to follow the pattern of a quota system, federal character, catchment area and “turn by turn”.

    Ordinarily, the first criterion should be competence. It is not a serious problem because competent and capable people who can be vice president abound across the major parties.

    Other issues in the choice of a running mate aptly reflect the nature and character of the unitarised federating country. They include ethnic consideration, geo-political balance, North-South dichotomy, majority-minority squabble, gender balance, and religion. In some instances, age (old/young) is also a factor. These factors, in many instances, are also applicable at the state, and even local government levels.

    However, the candidates also have one sole criterion. It is loyalty. This is often tested in the time of grave crisis and emergency. A former President and some governors who thought they had picked loyal deputies later regretted their choices.

    The Fourth Republic is replete with cases of personality clashes between president and vice president, many governors and their deputies who were eventually shoved aside through impeachment. It also happened among chairmen and vice chairmen of local governments.

    In contrast, the parliamentary system is insulated from these anxieties, more or less. The prime minister is elected from the Parliament as an elected legislator, only if his party wins the majority seats. In the First Republic, there was no official deputy prime minister, although some historians suggested that the powerful Minister of Defence, Alhaji Muhammadu Ribadu, a northerner, played the role.

    In the Second Republic, the vice presidency was not considered to be a big position. It was like a spare tyre. Alhaji Shehu Shagari of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) had wanted to pick a woman from Anambra State. She politely declined, saying she could not cope with the murky waters. She was also said to have alluded to the age-long culture that subjugated womenfolk. Therefore, Shagari settled for an inexperienced and unpopular party chieftain, Chief Alex Ekwueme, a successful architect, matured and intelligent person. He was loyal to his boss.

    But, the main opposition Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) presidential candidate, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, picked Chief Philip Umeadi from the Southeast. Many believed that it was a choice made in error. It was made in utter insensitivity to geo-political balance. But that consideration was not a big issue at that time as it has become today. Consequently, Awo was not only rejected by many northerners, but also by the Southeast.

    Four years later, when he chose Alhaji Muhammadu Kura (Makaman Misau), a First Republic Federal parliamentarian, as running mate, it was still futile. Kura never added any substantial value to the ticket, although he was a credible politician.

    The Nigerian Peoples Party (NPP) candidate, Dr. Nnamidi Azikiwe, picked Prof. Ishaya Audu, a former Vice Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria. The North did not vote for him beyond Plateau State. Yet, Plateau, Imo and Anambra votes were not enough to make Zik the president.

    It, therefore, means that while geo-political, ethnic and religious balancing are important, they do not work in isolation. Only a suitable combination of all factors can make the ticket to get to the Promised Land.

    The most formidable ticket, so far, was that of Abiola/Kingibe. At the 1993 Jos convention, the business mogul, Chief Mosbood Abiola, had defeated Ambassador Babagana Kingibe. But Social Democratic Party (SDP) governors and state chairmen insisted that Abioda should pick Kingibe, instead of Atiku, who was put forward by Major-General Shehu Yar’Adua. Abiola sensed danger. He embraced the choice of the governors and party leaders. The combination swept the poll across the land. The rest is history.

    In 1999, PDP candidate, General Olusegun Obasanjo, chose Atiku, governor-elect of Adamawa State, instead of Alhaji Abubakar Rimi or Prof. Ango Abdullahi. He wanted a loyalist, and a political capital from the residue of Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM), Yar’Adua political machinery. The romance did not last.

    Eight years later, when Obasanjo sponsored Umaru Yar’Adua as candidate, he also chose as his running mate a least expected person, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, then governor of Bayelsa State. Jonathan eventually became President after Yar’Adua’s demise, with a member of the PDP Governors’ Forum, gentleman Namadi Sambo of Kaduna State, as running mate. They won the first term, but lost second term.

    Up came Muhammadu Buhari of the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), and his running mate, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, a nominal politician chosen by Asiwaju Bola Tinubu of defunct ACN, under the banner of APC.

    For the ruling party, 2023 is a year of greater stakes and expectations. Its presidential ticket has to fulfill diverse aspirations.

    Already, Tinubu’s candidacy has satisfied the yearning for zoning and power shift. There’s a lot more after rotation. The centres of interest and influence include President Buhari and the old CPC bloc, the Northern Caucus of the party, Northern APC Governors’ Forum, sentiment of the Northwest comprising seven states, complexity of ethnic balancing and religious sensitivity, competence and general wish of Nigerians.

    To avoid any pitfall and wrong decision, the watchword is extensive consultation. The aggregation of the decisions garnered in the course of wide consultation would point at the best direction to take in the choice of a running mate.

  • When will the organisers go?

    When will the organisers go?

    AT last, the end to the most notorious league in the world is nigh. Would it be appropriate for the organisers of a seemingly dead league to celebrate a season fraught with all kinds of abnormalities including the spilling of blood from injuries suffered b visiting teams, not forgetting matches referees who are beaten by thugs loyal to the home team’s management? It is the reason nobody gets caught after each carnage. Only one of the beasts threatening the domestic league, a high-profile official of one of the teams was caught on video. He has been banned for two years with the organisers reluctant to drag him to the police for prosecution in court.

    Attempts are being made to make the troubled look beautiful despite the inglorious season where matches were abandoned with glee only to be played the next day – a few times for between six to 12 minutes all under the guise that the organisers have barred boardroom points.  What this decision means is that if three players or more can have their heads broken by urchins who most times are the home team’s supporters, and the game abandoned with between three to 15 minutes, such a bloody game must be completed the next morning. At other times such incident-ridden games are rescheduled on the orders of the disciplinary committee, the federation or the league organisers as the cases may demand.

    How do you celebrate the end of a season without television beaming this weekend’s matches live across the country? Or would the organisers run to Supersports to beam the game live? If the answer to this question is yes, then we need to ask the organisers what informed their decision not to renew the contract to beam matches live with Supersport lapsed? Have they suddenly realised their folly?

    In this better-forgotten league season which ends on Sunday, a game was played with 38 minutes of extra time arising from an injury to the goalkeeper. Rather than the organisers shut their traps they offered laughable reasons in spite of the fact the video of the game showed the assistant referee indicating that the extra time had gone on for 38 minutes. How can any goalkeeper hold the game for 38 minutes when he could easily have been taken out of the pitch for treatment? What were other delays in the game that could have necessitated such long periods?

    What do you about a league where the centre referees come up with two results? In order to save his life including those of them away, the referee calls the result before the home team as 1-0 despite signalling for the away side’s equaliser which caused mayhem. The referee gets home and writes that he gave that 1-0 result to save his life and that of his colleagues. Now that he was home, he wrote to say that the goal which he signalled as good was indeed the equaliser. It meant that the game ended 1-1, not 1-0. Don’t ask me please what the organisers’ verdict was.

    Whose duty is it to invite the security operatives to match venues? Or are waiting for us to remove corpses from match venues like we have seen at Sambisa forest before we take the desired decisions to disband the organising body and stop the league until all the flaws are corrected? God forbid, if souls are lost, would these late decisions bring them back to life? No way. Why are we so cursed to always act late to issues which concern lives and properties?

    What do you say of a league where it took the death of a player for the organisers to differentiate between a hearse (those cars used to carry caskets to the burial grounds) which clubs cheaply brought to the stadium as an ambulance instead of the real ambulance fitted with the right medical equipment? Isn’t strange that the organisers in the last decades haven’t been able to get debtor clubs to pay their players, coaches and officials before the commencement of a new season? Don’t the organisers know that without the players, coaches and officials there won’t be a league competition? Would it shock you, dear reader, to hear that there is a rule in the competition’s Holy Grail which mandates the organisers not to register any club still indebted to its players, coaches and officials until such debts are paid in full?

    Even the simplest of tasks in getting the elite clubs to run youth teams which could also play league games either a day before the main teams’ or earlier on the same pitch their seniors use. This is how it is done in Europe. It explains the ease with which these European clubs replace their ageing stars or those burdened by injuries. These youth teams help the countries by having them pick players for their age-grade teams just as it provides the country’s Football Associations (FAs) data to plan the new discoveries’ future.

    With the deluge of very poor pitches across the country, one wonders what those who religiously inspect stadia before a new season begins always see that they can’t report as unacceptable to the organisers? It is rocket science to recognise a bad pitch and proscribe it until the owners do the right things before they can play games there? Isn’t it a shame that our domestic league clubs are still battling with club licensing issues? What a pity!

    A league without live television coverage amount to winking in the dark. It is the reason our clubs can’t be a variable enterprise. Need I list out what many clubs in football-crazy nations get from television rights at the end of every season?

    Nothing seems to be new because these same characters run the competition yearly. Those who run the domestic game have a penchant for signing MOUs. They enjoy listening to themselves. Those with dissenting views don’t know what it takes to run the game. But this writer won’t give up until the right personnel is put in place. Rather than secure an official television station for the competition to help curb violence and carnage, the organisers watched in awe as the previous league television station stopped the contract.

    A proactive league board would have accepted what the previous television sponsor offered and secured an arrangement where others could either show the games live or record them to be shown later. Sadly, some of these battered referees don’t record their ordeal in their match reports, except such scenes happen in parts of the country where the media presence can overwhelm the influence of desperate club managers, owners, and, sometimes, sports commissioners.

    I don’t like to disparage the domestic league because sports, albeit football, is one of the few platforms where Nigeria can be ranked with world-beaters.  For a league which commenced as a professional body in 1990 to still be in diapers, says a lot about how the game has been systematically killed with most of the participants – the players and coaches left in abject poverty. Unfortunately, the supply chain, which is the domestic league has been lying prostrate, no thanks to the maladministration by a few all-knowing people who won’t quit, even with the broken piece roofs piercing through their heads.

    Not having the league on television amounts to winking in the dark. Our players who want to play in Europe need tapes of games where they excelled to showcase their talents. Agents can easily present these clips to clubs seeking the services of young players. Watching the league on television would encourage Nigerians to go to match venues to see their favourite teams and get autographs of their favourite players. This would also increase gate earnings which automatically improves earnings to make the clubs more solvent.

  • Above all, democracy

    Above all, democracy

    THE only way for democracy to thrive, flourish and be constantly deepened in any society is for a critical mass of the population to have inculcated in them attitudes, values, beliefs and orientations that are indispensable to sustaining Abraham Lincoln’s fabled ‘government of the people, by the people and for the people’. At the heart of this representative form of government is a credible, transparent and efficient electoral machinery and process, which conducts elections genuinely reflective of the will of the electorate and thus enjoys the trust and confidence of the generality of the people. Despite the grave socio-economic and security challenges confronting Nigeria today, it cannot be denied that the country has recorded considerable progress in the evolution of her political structures and processes since 1999.

    One feature of positive political development in this regard is the vastly enhanced institutional autonomy of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as well as the significantly improved integrity of the conduct of elections. The last governorship elections in Edo, Ondo, Anambra and Ekiti states indicate the increasing general acceptability of electoral outcomes and INEC has promised that the governorship polls in Osun on July 16 will be a marked improvement in her performance in Ekiti last month, which has been widely lauded.

    There is no doubt that the INEC of 2022 is no more the INEC of 23 years ago at the infancy of this dispensation, an electoral umpire that arbitrarily intruded and imposed itself on the electoral process and awarding fictive votes to favored candidates and parties particularly in various elections in 2003 and 2007. That INEC was no more than a parastatal under the suzerainty of the presidency. Another indication of significant strides taken forward, in the country’s political development since 1999, is the bold intervention of the judiciary in adjudicating on and remedying cases of perceived electoral injustice even though some such judgments and reversal of election results have inevitably been controversial.

    Again, the continuing upgrading and improvements in the application of technology to INEC’s management of elections has helped to ensure that election results are no longer a reflection of the whims and caprices of electoral officials, biometric voter registration and fingerprint technology has rendered ballot box snatching useless while the uploading of election results online electronically from each polling unit immediately after voting has enhanced the transparency and integrity of election results.

    The steadily increasing integrity and credibility of all aspects of the electoral process, combining with the growing political sophistication and consciousness of the electorate, will with time enhance the probability of competent and capable leaders emerging through the polls. If that happens, such capable leadership will help achieve greater security and enhanced economic prosperity that will reduce considerably the poverty that is at the root of the current menace of vote buying and selling that plagues our elections.

    But there are still disturbing attitudes, orientations and dispositions among a significant number of members of the political class that could pose a grave danger to the country’s political development and democratic sustainability. Before the presidential primaries of both the All Progressives Congress (APC) and People’s Democratic Party (PDP), for instance, there were tendencies in both parties that wanted either a restricted competitive race or no contest at all but rather the imposition of consensus candidates. In the PDP, the key issue was zoning. Key party leaders from the South as well as some governors wanted the field of contestation for the presidential candidacy restricted to the South in conformity with the party’s zoning policy of rotating the presidency between the North and the South.

    Yes, the rotation principle is informed by the imperative of ensuring justice, fairness and equity through balance in the spread and representativeness of critical offices in a complex federation like ours. But then, can the zoning principle be elevated above the constitutionally guaranteed right of all Nigerians of the requisite age and who meet other stipulated criteria to contest elections at all level no matter where they come from? I don’t think so. Above all, we must adhere to democratic tenets at all times.

    This is why the most critical thing is that the PDP threw its presidential ticket open to all zones of the country thus enabling the choice of its flag bearer through the dynamics of the intra-party democratic process. Despite Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State putting up a strong and impressive showing against the eventual presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, his bid failed, interestingly partly because a not insignificant number of southern delegates did not vote for the fiery governor even as he himself noted after the exercise. Some have pointed out that Sokoto State governor, Mr. Aminu Tambuwal’s decision to step down for Atiku played a critical role in the latter’s victory. But then, that is politics. The zoning principle succumbed to the dynamics of the democratic process within the PDP and all sides must abide by the outcome in good faith as democrats. It is another matter entirely if Atiku following his emergence as the party’s flag bearer has so far handled the process of reconciliation and healing within the party especially the choice of his running mate with the requisite wisdom and dexterity.

    As for the APC, the dynamics of the democratic process within the party worked out in favour of a southern candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who emerged as its presidential flag bearer, despite a tendency within the party not disguising its preference for the emergence of a northern candidate to run on the party’s platform in next year’s presidential election. It would appear that a good number of the aspirants who paid N100 million for the party’s expression of interest and nomination forms and joined the race did so in the belief that, for one reason or the other, they would be picked as President Muhammadu Buhari’s anointed choice and imposed on the party as consensus candidate thus rendering competitive primaries unnecessary. That the President chose to allow the democratic process to play out fully is to his great credit. No less salutary was the stance of the party’s northern governors who insisted that the ticket be ceded to the south in the interest of fairness and equity and played a key role in the outcome of the primaries.

    Even then, it is important that the APC also did not restrict the field of contestation for its presidential ticket to the South thus enabling willing aspirants from all parts of the country to participate in the exercise with the winner emerging in a transparent and credible process. Above all, democracy must always be the watchword. Thus, while the intra-party democratic process resulted in the emergence of a northerner in the PDP, the same process led to a southern presidential candidate in the APC. In picking their candidates, the parties were understandably concerned with maximizing their electoral strengths at the polls.

    Speaking within the context of democratic profession and practice, it is difficult to situate the clamorous calls in some quarters for the zoning of the presidency to the South-East because the zone has not produced a President since 1999. But a Nigerian President of Igbo extraction can only emerge through the dynamics of the democratic process. Such a candidate must join and work hard within parties to build alliances, friendships and political relationships across the country.  He or she can surely not campaign successfully solely on the basis of being Igbo. It will not fly. Rather, an Igbo candidate must campaign first and foremost on his or her merit, competence and qualification for the job while also falling back on a wide network of personal and political relationships nationwide for support.

    The leading Igbo Presidential Candidate in the 2023 presidential race is Mr. Peter Obi, who defected to the Labour Party from the PDP. To his credit, Mr. Peter Obi, has been campaigning on what he considers as his capability for the job of leading Nigeria even though some of his claimed achievements in the past, especially as two-term governor of Anambra State, have been severally challenged. There is the perception that his statistics are frequently inaccurate and claims of his accomplishments exaggerated. Even then, the important thing is that he is not asking for votes necessarily because he is Igbo. Unfortunately, though, the way many of his fervent supporters are carrying on may cast Obi as a sectional rather than a national candidate and this may hurt him in a nationwide election. Does the LP have the structures to enable Obi make an effective impact in a nationwide election and with the election less than eight months away? It is doubtful. Had the attempted merger between the Labour Party and Rabiu Kwankwaso’s New Nigeria Democratic Party (NNDP) worked out, it would have been a potentially formidable party because Kwankwaso is no pushover in Kano and some other parts of the North West.

    This column foresees a vibrant and exciting campaign particularly between Atiku and Tinubu, the frontline candidates, in the months ahead. They have both been active on Nigeria’s political and economic terrain over the last three decades. It is difficult seeing litigations against the two, obviously designed to distract and thwart their ambitions, flying since these are issues already pronounced on judicially in the past.  It should be a campaign focused on issues, ideas and programmes, not abuse, personal attacks, mudslinging and insults.

  • Ogun: Is Akinlade now an ‘orphan’?

    Ogun: Is Akinlade now an ‘orphan’?

    These are not the best of times for Hon. Adekunle Akinlade, embattled former governorship candidate of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) who dumped the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ogun State, for the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) last week.

    The move was amidst reports he is billed to be nominated running mate of Ladi Adebutu, the party’s governorship candidate.

    The defection of Akinlade, well known loyalist of former governor Ibikunle Amosun, raised eyebrows as people wondered if he had the former governor’s approval to dump APC.

    Read Also: Abiodun: forging unity in Ogun APC

    Those who wondered didn’t have to wait long. A couple of days after, Amosun, current Senator representing Ogun Central, denounced the defectors as he warned Akinlade and other loyalists who have dumped APC not to use his name or political structure for negotiation on another platform.

    He denied sanctioning the defections while explaining that he was committed to his friendship to President Muhammadu Buhari and the presidential aspiration of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. While people were still wondering where Amosun’s intervention leaves Akinlade politically, the leadership of the state APC issued a statement saying he won’t be missed.

    To further compound the confusion in which Akinlade and his co-travellers may have found themselves, feelers from PDP indicate that the Ipokia-born politician may not get the deputy governorship ticket of his new party.

    Sentry can confirm that some groups within the opposition party are kicking against any plot to hand the newcomer, the prized running mate slot.