The Nation Newspaper

Category: Saturday

  • Qatar 2022: only the best for Eagles

    Qatar 2022: only the best for Eagles

    CAN there be a perfect Super Eagles list for any competition which could meet the expectations of soccer-crazy Nigerians? None that I know of.  Every Nigerian is a potential Super Eagles coach having devoted time to watch the European league matches and they know those who are playing and those who aren’t. Indeed these ardent watchers of the game know the parameters for picking players to play for the countries relying on the templates others use to select theirs’.  Even with the known indices used by others, there are still hues and cries from their nationals if the list falls short of a few names they expected.

    That is the essence of coaching. Every coach has his match plans and decides who does what and who doesn’t irrespective of how well he or she plays for her or his clubs. Does this lead us to the controversial debate of who a club and national team player is?  Interestingly, players’ comportment while in camp and how they relate with others matter to many coaches in deciding who should be selected or be dropped. And most coaches don’t have any apologies for very good players dropped if they would cause disharmony in camp or become rebels in the dressing room.  Put simply, some players are bad influences in the camp.  Of course, there can be only one captain on the ship. Any other person goes out.

    Global best practices among coaches are such that they lay down markers for picking players known to everyone before the season begins. Most coaches fix their gaze on players who ply their trade in the elite leagues of most of the European leagues knowing that only the best players in the world compete weekly there. Such leagues are beamed live for people to watch making it very easy to monitor the players needed by any manager. Players of countries where their national teams’ coaches have set markers for them know the leagues that they must play in to be selected. If they choose to play in the novelty leagues for the cash, then they know that they won’t be picked even if they score goals in the moon, like one Nigerian coach used to say when asked why certain players were dropped, especially the strikers among them.

    Most countries whose coaches or are they called managers appreciate that their domestic leagues are among the best. Such thriving leagues encourage managers to look inward unlike in Nigeria where the Supreme Court has declared the LMC illegality not known to the laws of the land. Countries consider the growth of their domestic game by the number of home groomed lads who eventually play for the senior team. Nigeria’s case is different largely because of our economy which makes it very easy for a lad who scores six goals in a four-month spell with five of them penalty kicks awarded to his side at home to be taken unannounced to Europe in search of greener pastures. This fellow is very unprepared for this trip. But he must embark on the journey knowing what $70,000 is worth at the black market when he returns home.

    Such lucky stars whose wages aren’t regular are taken away by shylock agents who don’t tell them the details of the contract they have been led into until such a lad is seeking a movement out of this slavish deal. It is only then he is shown the English version of a deal he struck which was written in a language he doesn’t understand. The player’s future is grounded while the agent walks away looking for another player to throw under the bus. The federation must check these illegal routes through which players are taken to Europe, the Americas, and the Diaspora. It is so bad now that academies are involved in the business of players’ movement out of the country. Where else is this kind of illegality done?

    Have we done a justified ceremony for those who said they were retiring, such as Ighalo and Victor Moses, etc all the glitz and glamour would’ve been a moral burden for them to come back, except if we are saying to them that they are indispensable? Odion Ighalo told the world that he quit his former club because they stopped him from playing for Nigeria, which meant that he was even ready to play for Nigeria. Ighalo could be spared because he quit the national team due to death threats to his family. He did that so that the lunatics could back off from his family. This isn’t the case with Victor Moses, who bluntly refused to join the Super Eagles for the 2019 AFCON insisting that he had quit the team. This writer can only hope that Victor Moses isn’t telling us clearly that he can only play for Nigeria at the World Cup – SELFISH! Who wants Moses in the Super Eagles? You tell me.

    Who suggested, Ogenyi Onazi for the Super Eagles? Accusing fingers are being pointed to the Technical Committee Chairman. I don’t believe it. The reason is that even Onazi is justifying why he should be back. Since when did a dancer become the judge of his dancing steps. Shouldn’t he wait for his audience to judge you? Truth be told Onazi, you don’t know how to dance again. If you doubt it, anytime a club from Europe calls you, we will give you the Captain’s band.

    For crying out loud, where did the selectors see Oghenekaro Etebo play football in the last year to justify his invitation to the Super Eagles? Etebo without a doubt is a very good player but he has not played football in the last year in any stadium where he could be judged. So, how is he a fitter player now than any home-based player in the last 10 weeks? Shouldn’t we pick players on current form rather than what they have done for the country in the past? If we are insisting on retirees why don’t we just invite Austin ‘Jay Jay’ Okocha now? DSTV shows the South African league weekly, please wake me up if you have seen Daniel Akpeyi showcasing his talents. Instead of Akpeyi please, invite the usual Enyimba goalkeeper Noble. How do we want to encourage the local players who are over 50,000, if players who don’t play for their clubs in Europe, walk into the camp and win caps? Have they turned the Eagles camp into a dollar machine or a rehabilitation camp of sorts?

    Again, if we are talking about former Nigerian stars with experience, why don’t we recall goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama instead of Akpeyi. Please don’t tell me that Austin Eguavoen invited those players. We know the undercurrent surrounding the selection of Super Eagles players for big competitions.  And it predates this federation. It is systemic problem, which if left unresolved would affect the country’s outings in future World Cup competitions at the senior level. The Super Eagles should be the platform for the best Nigerians to exhibit their latent talents for the good of the game and to bring joy and laughter to everyone.

    Happily, the era of perpetually rebuilding the team has stopped with Gernot Rohr’s exit. Eguavoen has continued from where the German stopped although he threw out those mercantile choices of the past. Thus breathing fresh air with the way the team played her first three matches at the Cameroon 2021 Africa Cup of Nations to qualify for the Round of 16 stages.

  • #Breakthebias and the politics of it all

    #Breakthebias and the politics of it all

    The international Women’s Day (IWD) has evolved and has taken a significant part of global socio-political space since it was founded  in  1910 by  German socialist Clara Zetkin who proposed codifying International Woman’s Day at an International Socialist Congress in Copenhagen, with delegates from 17 countries. It was first celebrated in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland on March 19, 1911.

    In 1945 the Charter of the United Nations became the first international agreement to affirm the principle of equality between women and men.  However, it was only on March 8 during International Women’s Year in 1975 that the UN celebrated its first official International Women’s Day..

    Patriarchy seems to be at the heart of the exclusion game for women. According to Encarta English Dictionary,  it is social system in which men are regarded as the authority within the family and society, and in which power and possessions are passed on from father to son. Degrees of patriarchy differ from society to society. The deeper the patriarchy, the more exclusion and abuses women are forced to bear in such systems.

    In Nigeria, this year’s International Women’s Day celebrations were a cocktail of events, protests and webinars. Top on the list of the protests was the one various women groups targeted at the national assembly that recently failed to pass some bills designed to provide a semblance of gender equity for Nigerian women socially and politically. Here are a few of the bills which about  95.9% of men in Nigeria’s 9th National Assembly voted against on March 1st; decline citizenship to the foreign husband of a Nigerian woman, deny Nigerians in the diaspora right to vote, deny women the ability to become an  indigene  of their husband’s state after five years of being together, deny women 35% affirmative action in party administration and leadership, deny 35% appointive positions to women , reject specific seats for women in the National and state assemblies. These are just some but not all the bills women want to see passed as law through a valid constitutional review.

    So in a national assembly populated by more than 90% of men, the women are up in arms literarily for the injustice in the decisions. Democracy works with numbers and as such, the odds have always been against the women. But the Nigerian women are not patting the seeming recalcitrant men in the national assembly on the back. There have been protests and various styles of advocacy for the NASS to rescind that very unprogressive decision.

    The Roundtable Conversation realizes the roles Nigerian women have played in our political history given that democracy is about numbers. That we are  today on the streets for gender equity bills to be passed is because there are more men in the National Assembly and even the state assemblies and with political power, men cannot easily let go.

    We believe that power is not surrendered and so the men will never surrender power to women. Again due to development challenges, most of the men in the political space do not realize the import of maximum inclusivity in the leadership structure that guarantees that all citizens are allowed to vie for power on a level playing field.

    The electoral system even at the political party level is controlled by men who often use financial muscle and violence in some cases to dissuade most women and some qualified men from active participation in politics.The result is evident,  the country is struggling with development because one half of the population is excluded.

    However, while the women advocate for inclusiveness at the political level, The Roundtable believes that women themselves must get out and work towards seizing power because power is never served on a platter, it is fought for and Nigerian and African women must be ready to work together to access power while taking cognizance of the fact that teamwork wins all the time.

    The #breakthebias theme of this year’s International Women Day  (IWD) aptly fits into the Nigerian story. The rejection of the bills that would foster some semblance of gender equity by the National Assembly  on the first day of the women’s month says a lot about how much most men in the country understand the world politics and value of women in  a twenty first century world ruled by ideas and technology. Leadership across the world is wearing a new face with more women presidents, prime ministers, parliamentarians and heads of governments whose leadership shone like diamond with their countries’ management of the covid-19 pandemicand other economic developments.

    The Roundtable however believes that while the men would always want to monopolize power, women must have some introspection about how much they are eager and willing to change the narratives. If women are succeeding in other spheres like corporate world, academia, businesses, sports etc., how come the political space where they are a sizeable number of the voting bloc keeps eluding them? Is there an excessive shout of wolf by the women? Are they ready to strategically engage with the men?

    The management of Fidelity Bank PLC with a female Managing Director, Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe and popular blogger, Linda Ikeji brought successful and influential  women like Taiwo Ajai-Lycett, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Senator Ita-Giwa, Oby Ezekwesili,  Bola Shagaya,  Folorunsho Alakija, Erelu Dosunmu, Onari Duke, Iya Oge of Lagos, Opral Benson,  Country Director, Empretec Nigeria Foundation, Onari Duke, Executive Vice Chairman, H. PiersoAn, Eileen Shaiyen,  oil magnate and lawyer, Mrs. Uju Ifejika and many other poweeful women. The aim of the event was to bring all the influential and successful women in their different fields to exchange ideas while the younger women listened and took notes of the journeys, experiences and suggestions of the older generation of women who have succeeded against all odds in varied fields.

    Veteran actress and matriarch of journalism and the entertainment industry in Nigeria obviously gave the most impactful and moving speech of the day. While acknowledging the huddles women face in all fields, she believes that women and girls must wake up and smell the coffee. They must realize that no one gives you power, “women must work to get power” she said. In her view, women must re-strategize and stop objectifying themselves as sex objects if they must break the glass ceilings.

    She pointed out to the women that the array of successful women at the event succeeded despite all odds. A Chimamanda did not take permission from any man to succeed as a globally acclaimed author,  an  Ita-giwa did not have to beg and protest to get to the political height she has attained.  A Folorunsho Alakija did not have to carry placards to beg the men to allow her become as economically successful as she is. Most women who are successful in their fields worked very hard for it.

    But to Madam Ajai-Lycett, for women to get full political participation, there are deliberate steps all women must take. Women must forget being egoistical and walking about in cities, get closer to the grassroots, get to your communities, integrate and make yourselves known and loved. All politics are local. Most women are town and city dwellers who are unknown in their villages unlike men.  Women must realize that they must desist from flaunting femininity in ways that make the men treat them as second class citizens only good to provide pleasure. We must deploy our brains to work.

    Women have to realize the value of teamwork. Individual successes can never equate team success. Women must desist from the vanity of physical/material competition and too much self-adoration that breed a sense of individual value. Women must learn from the men. They respect hierarchy and experience. Older women must be better mentors and the younger women must be ready to learn and be mentored.  Most young women forget that experience, knowledge, education, respect, discipline, kindness matter.

    Acknowledge that men have brawns and women have brains.

    Realize that knowledge is power.  Political progress cannot come to women till they realize the value of respect  for hierarchy which to us  Nigerians is very critical and key to development. In Yoruba culture for instance, there is the ‘Iya Nle’ cultural mantra where the senior wife is regarded as the matriarch that grooms other wives and is respected for her experiences

    To access political power, women must understand that the older ones with experience, integrity and kindness must mentor the younger ones who must in turn be ready to learn and accept to be mentored.  In Ajai-Lycett’s view, women must have introspection and step back from laying all the blames on the men. Women should re-strategize using the mental power God endowed them with not in a sexual but in very determined progressive ways.

    For Linda Ikeji, it’s been a long walk and work from her teenage years. The event was organized to bring together  older women and the younger ones for stories to be told and heard. She feels a sense of joy seeing the older more successful, more experienced  women brought together with younger women who had to listen and learn and dare to make a difference for gender equity. The eight speakers came from different sectors of the society.

    Linda feels her propelling force to stand up for women  comes from personal experiences as a teenager at the university. To Linda, young ladies must be ready to break the bias themselves. There must be a determination to earn your own income based on sheer hard work. She shares her intuition at a young age to succeed on her own. She advises  younger women not to feel that any man can validate them in terms of socio-political or economic power. Women must understand that success in any field is dependent on personal efforts. The event to her was a success because the conversation has started with our older role models and it is not about to stop any time soon. Persistence and consistency seem to be keys to success of the successful women that spoke at the event and it was a joy watching young women taking notes. To Linda, the conversation has started and has been so enriching. The bias must be broken.

    The dialogue continues…

  • War, weapons and climate

    War, weapons and climate

    Nigeria is a  good example  to illustrate the well  known statement  that oil  is  a curse . It  may  sound contradictory  given  that oil is  wealth and a  good  one ,  for any nation . But look around you and you   see  that oil  has been more of a curse  than a blessing to our great  nation . There  is fuel  shortage  right now and the price of diesel  and gasoline has risen sharply  but Nigerians are used to it and would buy petrol at any price as long as it is available so that they  can go about their lives and eke out  a living . Nigeria has been labelled a mono product economy not because it has no other mineral  resources but    oil  is the dominant  revenue  generator and our president  is our Minister of  Oil .That  is how far we shall  go on Nigeria for now on this matter .

    In  the world at large ,  oil  has become a weapon of war in the invasion of Ukraine by  Russia   and Europe which   gets  30 percent of its  oil  as well  as 40  per cent   of  its gas  from Russia ,  is  feeling the heat ,    not necessarily  because there is  a furnace  but  because   Europe  and the US  have stopped  buying Russian oil . Funny  enough the US  and Saudi Arabia   are  the  first and second   biggest suppliers of oil  in the world and Russia  is the third . The  dilemma for both  the US and Europe  is that they  are trying to  phase out oil  because it pollutes  the environment and are  looking  fervently   for an alternative to power their heavily oil  dependent economies and industries,  but  oil is still  king in powering their    economies  and  societies . But   war  has no respect  for climate  or green  energy  and has shown  its  ugly face in winter in Europe in  a  war  which  no one expected and which  has thrown Europe into  chaos , with  thousands of refugees fleeing  Ukraine   to Poland  and   other   friendly  neighboring   nations  ,  which    have welcomed  them  with  open hands  while  banning  the buying of  Russian   oil  which  Europe  needs  , so badly  ,  in the prosecution  of this war  in which  Russia  has invaded Ukraine  so  cheekily  and with such impunity  and  violence.

    It  is important to know  that  many of the governments in the EU, 27- member  nations  got elected in recent times on a campaign  for  climate  change and they  won power on an ideology of climate  change . This  war is now  making them  to cut their  noses  to  spite their faces .  In  the present  French  presidential  campaign  and  election    due   soon   ,   presidential  candidate and  present President Emanuel    Macron  has promised to make France  the first EU  nation  to  be  fossil  fuel   free  with  the total  use of green energy  to save the environment  . Germany ‘s  new successor  government  to Angela Merkel’s  long leadership  of Germany  is made up of a strong  coalition of climate adorers and activists . Even  the US  which  is looking for oil after banning  the purchase of Russian oil  has a Biden Administration  that  campaigned and won the 2020 presidential election on a pledge  to phase  out fossil  fuel  which  is oil .. Now  the EU   and  the US  are counting ,  if not ruing  , the cost  of their long   term view of saving the universe  in the face of the bloody ,  oil  relevant and needy  war  , that oil rich Russia has unleashed on Europe with the most unexpected invasion of Ukraine .

    Let  me now analyse the many  dilemmas facing  the actors and participants in this war that  I have  decided to label Putin’ s War . I will use   Russia   the aggressor ,  the  US , the EU , Germany      , Poland  and Nigeria as examples  of how oil as a weapon of war , attrition and decay has become the most potent opponent  of  the goal  of those who want it phased out for green and climate  focused energy  but still  cannot survive this Putin War  without oil .The intention  here is not  to glamorize  oil  and its importance .It  is to show like ,  the Yoruba proverb says  , that   ‘ until  you  have seized   the hilt  of your sword ,  you  do not inquire  who  killed your father . ‘

    We  start with Russia , the invader of Ukraine in Putin’s War . In retrospect ,  and  now with the power of hindsight,  one  can identify  Putin’s  grouse although  it was lost in plain sight . NATO  or the US never  addressed Putin’s  security  concern  over Ukraine just to say Ukraine  would not join the EU and the security implications of that . Putin , in a belligerent  now ominous speech wondered about ‘ those who  think they  own  the world   ‘ and warned that historically and culturally Ukraine  is an inseparable part  of Russia , like Belarus as the trio are Slavs  .  It   is clear  to Putin  ,  who  those  ‘who own the world  ‘ are,  namely the US and EU,  the epitome  and arrow head  of western civilization which  won  the Cold war after the second World War and dismantled the USSR under Gorbachev in 1991 . Putin’s War in 2022  is a redress of  that   historical  fact and  the West  saw it coming  but were hoping against  hope  that  Putin  would not  have  the guts to go to full scale war . They  read Putin wrong  with all the intelligence at their disposal . Now  they must  count  their losses in bloody , tragic terms .

    Let  me now take  the EU  and US   together  before I take Germany  and Poland  on the same boat . When  the Biden Administration came to  power I started this column  and noted that the Biden government would try to muscle  Nigeria on  Climate  Change ,   the phasing out of fossil  fuel  and that we should resist , as oil is Nigeria’s  main  livelihood .  That  was during the pandemic and  I still  have such  fears  .  But  then this Putin’s War  has changed economic  and political  equation on fossil  fuel  and climate change . The EU  and US  need oil not because they  do not have oil but  have paralysed  themselves on using oil to fight this war because they got to power on the promise  to their electorate  that  they would phase out oil in 20  to  30 years . Now  they have a war with Russia    and  have blocked use of Russian oil but  cannot now produce  their own oil where available because they are  commited  to Climate Change and the elimination of fossil  fuel  . Nothing illustrates eating your cake and still  having it better .

    In  the case of Germany and Poland , the hangover  of the WW2 is  giving way  to stark  pragmatism . The naivety of the Angela Merkel long  chancellorship   is  giving way  to new economic  and military  realities . Merkel  was warned  that oil pipeline from Russia to Germany  could be used as an economic weapon against Germany  but she retorted  that Putin has promised not to do so. Now  where is Angela Merkel ? After the atrocities of the Nazis under Hitler Germany  became  a  war  loathing nation  but  since the start of Putin’s War it  has cancelled  the Pipeline Project  with Russia and has increased  its Defence  Budget  very  grossly  to be able to defend its territorial  integrity in the face of Putin’s War . Poland  which  suffered immensely under Nazi Occupation  has offered its fleet  of some war planes to the US to protect  Ukraine while asking for superior US was planes   to protect itself . Poland  is pragmatic  enough to  know  that after Ukraine  the Russians  would be gunning  for Poland as Hitler  did in the second world war . Poland  is proactive in preparing for  Putin’s war than the US  which  was surprised by Poland’s  offer which it  reportedly found   quite  interesting  .

    Now  let us round up  with Nigeria where oil  has become a weapon  of war of a different category . It  has created immense wealth for certain categories  of Nigerians , especially  the political  class who in government ,   control  the oil proceeds, blessings and profits ,  both legal  and illegal .It  has spawned  huge and insurmountable  inequalities  between the poor  and the rich in Nigeria . Indeed oil has become  a weapon of suppression and corruption based  on the    architecture    of an expensive American  presidential   system  of government  minus its  inherent  checks  and balances between the executive , the judiciary and the legislature . This  has created  a highly insecure  environment  especially  in the North where an invasion  of insurgents  has created millions of displaced  people   not lucky  to be focused on CNN like  the victims of Putin’s War  in Ukraine . Definitely  ,  oil  has  invaded Nigeria  for a long time  certainly  not like Putin’s  war in Ukraine , but  even as a more potent destroyer of the quality of life of most  Nigerians. Except those who  cornered the oil and  are reveling in their ill gotten wealth at the expense  of the  poor  Nigerian masses ,  living largely in penury .

  • Drama in ruling party

    Drama in ruling party

    Some pertinent questions have become imperative in the current circumstance of the beleaguered ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    What manner of administration brought the party to its present babel? Who is a better chairman that has served the party better between Comrade Adams Oshiomhole and Yobe State Governor Mai Mala Buni?

    Oshiomhole, a former Edo governor, was perceived as impatient, high-handed, dictatorial, disrespectful, unbending, unyielding, haughty and repulsive. The erstwhile labour leader was sometimes tagged a bully.

    Buni started his leadership journey at the APC national secretariat as a gentleman with a different disposition. He displayed the leadership mien of an accommodating politician with a wide departure from the comrade’s aluta traits, but ended the journey in consternation. He had the governors hailing him as a cool-headed colleague, former easygoing national secretary, gentle like a dove, ready to pander to the whims of the cabal, and competent to reposition the party for future electoral challenges.

    The Yobe governor looks harmless, self-effacing, reticent, and reserved. He is charming, personable and warm. When he assumed the reins, some said a stabiliser had come to restore order in the prevailing pandemonium within the party.

    But, what is the picture today? Buni is fighting for survival.

    Oshiomhole was direct, predictable, undiplomatic, unapologetic; he never faked his combative approach to issues. The same forces that drove him away from the party secretariat are now accusing the Caretaker Chairman of pretentiousness. His accusers say he is cunning and tactful. They say he is a lover of personalisation of power, a schemer, and a promoter of a curious agenda that would make him the ultimate beneficiary. To his critics, Caretaker Chairman Buni is now symbol of covetousness.

    Buni’s colleagues, particularly vocal governors from the North, who also have vice presidential ambition in 2023 and other aspirations beyond next year, grew with envy because the success of  his agenda would mean their regression to the back seat in future political calculus.

    Oshiomhole’s loyalty to the ruling party as a whole was not doubted. The issue was that his loyalty to his former colleagues, the governors who rooted for him, was in doubt. While the former labour leader was insisting on party supremacy and discipline as he understood it, he was labelled a war monger, a divisive and destabilising factor.

    The crux of the matter was that he was linked with a particular founding father, who the powerful and influential bloc wanted to liquidate, if they have had an earlier opportunity, ahead of the party’s presidential primary.

    Lacking the critical presidential backing to drive his positive agenda for party supremacy and discipline, Oshiomhole was undermined by the overall party leader, who asked for the votes of all party members for himself at the presidential poll while encouraging party members to vote for candidates of rival parties at governorship and parliamentary elections.

    In the height of frustration, the comrade chairman was said to have retorted: “I am not the President; I will not tolerate nonsense.”

    The cup of Oshiomhole was full, following the barriers erected by the former leader of his home chapter, Governor Godwin Obaseki. He was unceremoniously booted out. He bowed out, leaving a lot of money in the party’s treasury.

    While Oshiomhole was a product of consensus as he was democratically selected at the con vention, Buni was hurriedly appointed by APC NEC as chairman of National Caretaker Committee that is now been accused of failing the party.

    The Buni camp points to some efforts. He enlarged the coast of the party, with APC now boasting of over 40 million numerical strength. Three governors defected to the party, partly due to his efforts and largely due to the perilous times they faced in their former party. He promoted inclusiveness, as it were, organising youth and women conferences to foster a sense of belonging. He set up a reconciliation committee. Buni offset some financial liabilities. He reorganised the party secretariat. He introduced party/legislative consultative meetings.

    But, why did he not bow out when the ovation was loud?

    The Caretaker Committee was projected as a corrective interim leadership. Although it was meant to be in the saddle for only six months, it became a sit-tight structure, moving at a snail-speed and always scheming for tenure extension. Buni was never in a hurry to return to Yobe State where he is governor. He became an absentee governor at home and a casual visitor to Damaturu, the state capital.

    The terms of reference were clear: conduct membership registration, settle protracted crises at state chapters, conduct congresses, and organise convention.

    Read Also: APC dares INEC, vows to hold March 26 convention

    Membership registration is neither here or there. It does not require any ceremony or drama. It is a continuous exercise. Even, on the eve of the primary, defectors coming into the fold cannot be turned back. Even, many intending members prefer to register quietly, especially if they are not eager to resign their plum job in banks, public financial institutions and civil service.

    Without justification, an unelected national caretaker committee dissolved duly elected state executive committees before the expiration of their term. Following complaints, the dissolved structures were converted into caretaker committees. The state congresses became more compelling to draw the curtains on the semblance of dictatorship.

    Congresses are the purview of state chapters in the real sense. It is a local matter undertaken by regional, state, local government and ward chapters requiring minimal coordination by the national secretariat. A floodgate of litigations trailed the congresses, with crisis-ridden state chapters mirroring the crisis-ridden national leadership.

    But, what about dispute resolution? What is the score card of the caretaker committee on reconciliation? APC is more divided than it was two years ago, the greatest source of division being a plot to emasculate, malign and exclude ahead of presidential shadow poll. It is ironic that while APC claims to be forging reconciliation, some party leaders continue in acts capable of making the platform to fall apart.

    APC was also endangered as Buni’s Committee could not hold a convention in two years. His leadership became a subject of litigation.

    The anticipated convention, particularly the choice of chairman, ought to be seamless since all party members, or top stalwarts, have been prevailed upon to surrender their power to select a candidate to the President, as a matter of honour. Although the person being targeted by the Commander-in-Chief is not what some so-called powerful governors expect, they cannot raise an eyebrow because they feel he may help them to checkmate some presidential aspirants. It appears they cannot persuade the President to change his mind. It is evident that the President is not listening to his loyal governors on this singular matter.

    Yet, answers to “when, how and why APC floundered” can be found in the concerted move by the governors to dominate the party. In the process, the founding fathers and original allies of Buhari at the 2015 poll were somehow displaced and sidelined.

    The struggling opposition party of 2014 was better managed and had brighter prospects under the collegiate leadership of its founding fathers. Then, some of the governors had not grown wings. But, since they became big party financiers, the beat changed, with those playing the pipers now dictating the tunes.

    The new dimension to the protracted party crisis is that there is a crack in the APC Governors’ Forum. So deep is the division that a governor inappropriately referred to some of his colleagues still backing Buni as “yahoo governors”. Previously, the governors were on the same page and always got the endorsement of the President while consolidating their hold on the platform.

    Buni was the governors’ candidate as Oshiomhole’s replacement. He enjoyed their total support till the beginning of this week when it was discovered that he had devised a clever way to use them as they had probably used him in the past.

    It has been difficult for the embattled interim chairman to resolve the crisis at state chapters because some governors contributed immensely to the conflicts. But Buni had to carry the cross.

    Part of the drama playing out in the party now is that the latest APC reconciliator, who has not recorded much success in his peace moves across the states, is being positioned to take over as consensus national chairman at the proposed convention. The governors have commitments to the President. Would they be committed to the next chairman?

    What circumstance warranted the emergence of Niger State Governor Abubakar Sani Bello as acting caretaker chairman? Was leadership handed over to him through a letter by Buni, who is on medical leave in Dubai? Or did Sani Bello simply displace Buni?

    Sharp-tongued Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai said Buni had stepped aside, more or less. Then, there were reports that the chairman and his equally embattled Secretary, Senator John James Akpanudoedehe, would be given soft landing to stem a looming disgrace.

    The Kaduna governor said they were frustrating the plans for convention. He even alluded to an ex parte order, which he described as a nuclear weapon, that would be deployed to scuttle the congress.

    El-Rufai conveyed the impression that President Muhammadu Buhari had directed that any obstacle against a successful conversion, including Buni, should give way.

    Some APC National Assembly members, who are locked in battle of supremacy with governors over the control of state chapters, kicked against the move to shove the chairman aside. Senator Smart Adeyemi, who spoke on Channels Television, accused anti-Buni forces of playing politics. Another senator, Dr. Ajibola Basiru, said the National Assembly had not taken a position for or against Buni.

    However, the crisis escalated as a letter of transfer of power to Sani Bello, purportedly written by Buni, surfaced. While going abroad, it was not public knowledge that the caretaker chairman transmuted any letter or asked Sani Bello to deputise for him. Sani Bello said he never received any letter. Evidently, he may not also be able to work with Akpanudoedehe.

    What is the explanation that can be offered for the threatening and frightful court order that may put the party in jeopardy ahead of the convention?

    El-Rufai was adamant that Buni knew about the landmine, but refused to alert the party because it suited his plot to abort the proposed convention.

    The scenarios point to one thing: the ruling party has become a laughing stock. It cannot pretend to be a model anymore. It has forgotten how it took off. The turn of events for the big party is worrisome.

    Is the party still maintaining fidelity to its vision and goals, beyond acquiring power? Is it so important that a progressive platform should slide into prolonged and perpetual crisis? Why is peace so elusive in APC?

    The ruling party is wobbling. The platform is staggering. It may be ebbing away. APC is taking a risk, deluding itself into thinking that it can eat its cake and have it. Historically, no party is indispensable. Therefore, the party should put its house in order

    It is going into the convention in crisis and deformity. It is not too late to avert a looming disaster.

    A rescue operation is urgently needed to save APC from dire implosion.

  • Abiodun and those investment drives

    Abiodun and those investment drives

    The recent investment drives of the Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, to Egypt and Ethiopia, to draw foreign investments to the state have started to yield results.

    Critics of his administration recently condemned some of his moves as regards wooing foreign investors, asking him to point to the results of his many efforts.

    Sentry gathered that representatives of Arise Integrated Industrial Platform, one of the multilateral business firms he met while on his investment drive tour, visited the state to explore areas of collaboration.

    Speaking in Abeokuta, at a follow up meeting with representatives of the state government,  the company’s General Manager, Urban and Infrastructure Design and Senior Manager, Urban Planning and Project Finance, Messrs. Anand Koppu and Animesh Ahaskar, respectively disclosed that their establishment has a long history of successful investment in Togo, Benin Republic, Gabon and Ivory Coast, but has decided to invest in Nigeria for the first time and considered Ogun as the best location following their initial meeting with the governor.

    Following the decision of the pan-African conglomerate to explore areas such as pharmaceutical, agro-processing, packaging materials, automobile, renewable energy, bitumen and petro-chemicals, among others for its partnership with the state, supporters of the governor have been calling out his critics to be prepared to not only see, but also eat out of the dividends of Abiodun’s investment drives.

    Sentry also gathered that two other foreign investors are billed to visit the state in a matter of weeks to discuss collaborations and investments with the government.

    Commissioner for Finance and Chief Economic Adviser to the Governor, Dapo Okubadejo, said the Abiodun administration is poised to maximize the state’s potentials and natural resources, and would continue to seek and partner genuine investors to achieve this.

     

    2023: What is Dino Melaye coming for?

    Last December, the former lawmaker representing Kogi West Senatorial District, Dino Melaye, declared his intention to contest the 2023 election.

    Melaye took to his Facebook account to share his campaign posters, adding that he has plans to come back in the forthcoming polls. But the posters did not state the exact position the senator wishes to contest for. Recall that Dino had also indicated interest in governing the state after losing his seat at the National Assembly.

    The former lawmaker shared another poster on Thursday, December 2, and stated that he is coming back. Yet, he was silent on whether he will be seeking a return to the senate or contesting in the gubernatorial election.

    Three months after, many of the Senator’s friends and foes alike are still yearning to know what ‘Dino is coming back for,” as the controversial politician is yet to specifically state the political office he will be seeking during the forthcoming general elections.

  • Between Makinde and the EFCC

    Between Makinde and the EFCC

    Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) are at loggerheads and the face-off appears to be escalating on a daily basis.

    The bone of contention between them is the monthly security vote allocated to the governor.

    After months of keeping sealed lips on the reason for the lingering ‘cat and mouse’ game between the commission and the Oyo State government, Makinde’s administration during the week said the EFCC lacked the power to investigate, audit or probe the disbursement and expenditure of its security votes contained in the state’s Consolidated Revenue Fund.

    Observers of the politics of the state say the statement by Makinde’s Chief Press Secretary, Taiwo Adisa, is coming on the heel of incessant arrest of officials of the state by operatives of the commission in recent times.

    The commission had earlier claimed that it is investigating an allegedly missing N9bn local government fund. It is for this reason some officials of the state government, including the Accountant-General of the State, Gafar Bello, was arrested.

    Sentry gathered that the commission has compiled allegations against the arrested officials and a case has been instituted against them in court. “The commission is saying it has evidence linking the arrested officials to the missing money,” a source said.

    But the governor has now told the world that the issue is about security votes, saying the subject is already before the Federal High Court sitting in Ibadan.

    He also said contrary to reports, there was no truth in the claim that Bello, was arrested by the EFCC in relation to the allegedly missing local government funds. 

  • Exemplary Pastor Adeboye

    Exemplary Pastor Adeboye

    NOT surprisingly, the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye, has continued to receive torrents of congratulatory and laudatory messages from across the globe as he clocked his eighth decade of existence this side of eternity on Tuesday, March 2. The famous cleric’s story is an amazing tale of uncommon transformation from grass to glory on the wings of grace. Daddy GO, as he is famously and fondly addressed across diverse age, denominational, religious, ethno-regional and racial groups, has told the story of his life thousands of times in his innumerable sermons, addresses and publications. He attributes nothing in his life trajectory to his innate intelligence or any extraordinary gift of his but rather ceaselessly gives glory to God for all he has achieved so far in his epochal journey.

    Reckoned as perhaps the largest Pentecostal church in the world with millions of members in over 196 countries, the status of being the leader of this extraordinary assemblage of churches that continues to grow in leaps and bounds, is no insignificant position. Indeed, pastor Adeboye towers in influence and prestige above many secular world leaders who preside over organizations with vast economic resources or over polities with immense military might. A possibly apocryphal story has it that when Winston Churchill in January 1944 suggested to Joseph Stalin, the leader of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), the possibility of the Pope being involved in some of the decisions to restore peace to a war-torn world, the latter replied: “The Pope, the Pope. How many divisions has he?”. This was obviously in utter contempt for and derision of spiritual authority which lacks the backing of arms and men to be put to use in battle.

    Of course, the Catholic Pontiff commanded no troops compared with the legions at the disposal of the Russian leader. Yet, today, Stalin is long gone and the communist empire he presided over significantly decimated. But the Catholic Church and the papacy live on. To exercise spiritual leadership and authority in non-formal organizational structures like the church or other religious groupings demands far greater sense of responsibility, charisma and levels of acceptance voluntarily given than is the case in secular organizations which can draw on formal organograms, economic resources or state-backed punitive sanctions. Coming from an insignificant, poor family in an obscure village, Ifewara, located in Osun State, Nigeria, Pastor Adeboye has placed his rustic birthplace on the global map by ranking among one of the most outstanding and iconic leadership figures in our contemporary world.

    I can vividly recall that during my secondary school days in the mid-1970s, the burgeoning Scripture Union movement at the time was widely believed to be the ultimate refuge of academic, career or marital failures who sought spiritual solace to compensate for secular lack of success. By the time I was admitted into the University of Ibadan in the early -1980s, however, the story had begun to change astoundingly. At that time, the exceedingly active and vibrant Ibadan Varsity Christian Union (IVCU), had as members some of the best and brightest students academically not to talk of some of the most beautiful ladies on campus. Pastor Adeboye’s Christian Odyssey can certainly not be attributed to any failure in the secular realm. He never addresses himself or seeks to be addressed by his earned academic doctoral degree. He is simply Pastor Adeboye even though his field of academic specialization, Applied Mathematics, shows clearly that his intellect soars far above the average.

    Many whose scholastic attainments are far less impressive than that of Daddy GO scoff haughtily at the very idea of God. ‘There is no God here but man’, the great outstanding educationist, social critic and unrepentant atheist, Dr Tai Solarin, once thundered in one of his newspaper articles. The atheist confidently asserts that there is no God and that the concept of a creator is an absurd human construct. On his part, the agnostic claims that he cannot know if God exists or not because he has not been given sufficient evidence to decide on the matter. I side with the psalmist who declares that “The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork”. My perhaps overly simple mind finds it difficult to comprehend how there can be a creation of which I am a part without a creator.

    Pastor Adeboye’s belief in the existence of the creator is categorical, inflexible and uncompromising. Only the most absurd would attribute his faith to any form of mental or other deficiency. He was even an amateur boxer in his youth! Even if he had not abandoned his secular professional career to serve in the Lord’s vineyard, Daddy GO would still have attained considerable success as a prized professor of Mathematics in any distinguished university in any part of the world.

    I have often listened with amusement to many of the supposedly sophisticated secular minds who attribute the difficult-to-ignore financial prosperity of the modern Pentecostal church to the business, entrepreneurial skills and manipulative strategies of the church leaders. My challenge to those who make such claims is to ask them to urgently proceed to the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) to register a church business and see how easily and speedily their millions will begin to roll in without the specific call of God on their lives. There are perhaps more churches that start and die than those that succeed and become spiritual and material success stories. The truth is that there is something called the covenant anointing for prosperity. Beyond this, those who simply notice and commend the current prosperity of some Pentecostal churches including the RCCG are possibly unaware of years of hard spiritual Labour and material deprivation endured by some of these leaders before experiencing spiritual and financial breakthroughs.

    Of course, it is not impossible for some unscrupulous spiritual leaders to resort to occult and other unseemly dark and evil practices to attain wealth. Here again, I differ from those who aver rather arrogantly that it is scientifically, logically and empirically impossible for people to become wealthy through rituals involving, for instance, the harvesting and utilization of vital human parts. They delude themselves. Occultist and diabolical forces of darkness are as real as the material world of sight, sound, smell, taste and touch. St Paul famously asserted that “we fight not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers; against spiritual wickedness in high places”. If the entire enterprise of making money through ritual killings is fake and illusory, why has the practice become so prevalent across the country? By the fruits of both genuine or fake spiritual leaders, agents of light or darkness as the case may be, we shall know and classify them.

    Yes, many Pentecostal church leaders in particular have definitely not demonstrated Godly wisdom in the utilization of the gift of prosperity it has pleased God to bless them with. There was a Bishop who, for instance, once boasted in a soft sell magazine interview that he used to go around Lagos in Molue buses but now owns a private jet. At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, another Abuja-based cleric prayed that the pandemic should continue because he had acquired two private jets during the lockdown. That clearly is not the spirit of Christ. But even here, Pastor Adeboye has been exemplary. He is never loud. He is never vain. He is never boastful. He is not arrogantly showy or exhibitionist. He is always an epitome of humility and unassuming self-effacement. Under him, the Corporate Social Responsibility interventions of the RCCG to help the underprivileged in diverse sectors is massive and impactful.

    President Bill Clinton once remarked that he felt exceedingly humbled once when he was in the presence of Mother Theresa, a Godly woman of unusual modesty. The humble Nazarene walked the backwaters of Galilee ministering to the poor, weak, vulnerable and shunned even as the powerful Caesars reigned in the magnificent and opulent palaces of the Roman Empire. The Caesars today lie in dust but Messiah lives on in the hearts and minds of multitudes.

    Just like the Lord Jesus hardly ever concerned himself with the politics of the Roman Empire, not even with the cause of the political emancipation of the Jews, Pastor Adeboye confines himself to his single-minded mission of preaching the good news of salvation through faith in the Lord Jesus. He keeps a wide berth from partisan political commentary and involvement. It is obvious that many leading political and economic Titans feel humbled in the presence of this modest man of God.

    But then, is Daddy GO a model of human perfection? No, there is no such thing as a flawless mortal. For instance, the RCCG’s opposition along with other Pentecostal churches, to the code of corporate governance drawn up by the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) under the tenure of its former Executive Secretary, Mr Jim Obazee, and passed into law by the National Assembly, is responsible for that very important law being held in abeyance till date.

    Not only has the corporate governance code designed to guide the conduct of non-governmental organizations been rendered comatose, Obazee was fired from his job most unfairly in my view for seeking to enforce the law. While Obazee, also a Pentecostal pastor, could have been relieved of his job if found guilty of any infraction, the code which was designed to bring some sense of responsibility and accountability into the running of churches, mosques, NGOs and other non-formal organizations within the realm of civil society, should have been allowed to come into effect in the larger national interest. It is precisely because a not insignificant number of religious leaders, particularly of the Christian Pentecostal stock, do not possess Daddy GO’s high level of self-discipline, humility, restraint and prudence that the code of corporate governance drawn up by the FRC ought to come into force.

    Again, Daddy GO and the leadership of the RCCG will ultimately have to decide if the church’s revolutionary goal of planting a branch of the church within five minutes driving distance in developed countries or five minutes walking distance in developing countries, an objective responsible for her phenomenal expansion, does not fundamentally contradict its ongoing unprecedented expansion of facilities for mass gatherings at its headquarters along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. Wishing the great man of God many more years of service to his creator and humanity.

  • Carabao Cup: What was that… 11-10?

    Carabao Cup: What was that… 11-10?

    THE Europeans know how to make the game of soccer or as some others choose to call it football look beautiful. They recreate life with some of the things they bring to make it attractive and easy for marketing by trained marketers. It is always amazing when the Europeans celebrate the final match of their cup competitions. Trust them to make the event a carnival of sorts with all the trappings (drama, excitement, entertainment, and the thrills and frills) which leaves the soccer lover (s) eager to watch another final game.

    Hitherto, many a football fan would have tagged a barren draw game boring with one team parking the bus in front of its goalpost. It was a common belief too difficult to wash off the minds of ardent followers of the game. But Sunday’s Carabao Cup, which stretched on its seams for 120 minutes on a barren string ended in the pulsating 11-10 victory for Liverpool against the current World Club Cup champions Chelsea at Wembley Stadium, goes down in history as one game to debunk such an untested theorem.

    Last Sunday’s game was a clash of two teams with contrasting styles of play, making genuine pundits call the game one tie too close by way of predicting its outcome. Fans of the Blues could put their heads on the guillotine to tip Chelsea to lift the Carabao Cup, citing the club’s string of cup victories, since Thomas Tuchel’s reign as the club’s manager. Such fans could easily have forgotten that Wembley hasn’t been a good hunting ground for Chelsea, especially against Arsenal. Conversely, these Blues fans could have submitted too that Jurgen Klopp had lost two cup finals at Wembley, thus throwing the game open to one for the best team on the night to win the trophy, even if such a winner emerges from the penalty kicks – it turned out to be so.

    For Liverpool fans, Wembley hadn’t brought good fortunes for the team in recent years. The Reds have rediscovered their scoring range – one in which any team could be beaten groggy by Liverpool when in their element. Manchester United fans won’t forget in a hurry the 5-0 away thumping by Liverpool over the Red Devils at the Theatre of Nightmares (or sorry Dreams). The Red Devils were torn to shreds with goalkeeper De Gea making the 5-0 drubbing not reflect the number of saves he made on the night

    Indeed, anyone who predicted that Reds would beat the Blues by what the Special One Jose Mourinho often called hockey scores would amount to taking loyalty to a ridiculous height. And nobody was going to bet on that. A close game was on the cards, although thought such closeness would translate to over 89,000 spectators watching a cup final where everyone on the field after 120 minutes was compelled to score a goal on the pitch, no matter his antecedents from taking penalty kicks.

    Traditionally, when it gets to penalty kicks after the regulation time, scorers of goals after 90 minutes lose theirs in the shoot-out exercise. With no goals scored after 120 minutes, such jinxes were thrown into the Atlantic Ocean, leaving the neutrals with an open mind to wait for the eventual winner to emerge.

    Chelsea in recent times carved out a strategy where the goalkeeper if he wasn’t Kepa be replaced towards the end of the 120 minutes. It was the Blues’ way of prospecting the penalty shootout exercises preceding Sunday’s final game. It worked for them. After all, nobody changes a winning strategy. And it didn’t matter how well the goalkeeper being replaced by Kepa fared in the 120 minutes tie. Those who faulted Tuchel’s decision are either fair-weather fans of the team or those who are poor with the club’s recent history under Tuchel.

    In fact, one of my childhood younger friends Edirin Erhiaganoma tweeted as Kepa stepped onto the pitch that Chelsea had lost the game with that tactical change. Edirin called it a blunder. How prophetic, dear Edirin, though he was challenged with records. Edirin stood his ground and waited for the eventual outcome to prove him right or wrong. As for The Nation newspapers’ education gem, Kofo Belo Osagie, in a post-match discussion inside the newsroom, Monday evening said it didn’t matter who won the penalty shootouts. Kofo’s interest was in supporting all dark-skinned players (Chelsea and Liverpool have them in their numbers) to score their kicks. Part of the drama on the night. Kofo isn’t a racist. She is not known to be a football follower. So, if she expressed such sentiment, it is her right that ought to be respected since both sides had more than enough dark-skinned (to use Kofo’s real words) players. Yes, Kofo chose her words. Dark-skinned can’t be racist. I digress!

    As a Liverpool fan, I wanted my team to win to avoid the taunts from friends. Yet, as the Editor of Sportinglife, I’m always happy whenever Chelsea win matches not to talk about trophies. Under such a dilemma, I chose to watch as a pundit, knowing that I could write on it this week. Under this setting, it occurred to me to look at the trio of Mohammed Salah’s, Sadio Mane’s, and Mendy’s performances to hazard a guess on who the 2021/2022 Africa Footballer of the Year would be. Mendy reminds this writer about the great Cameroonian goalkeeper Thomas Nkono who stood in between the goalposts like a colossus.  Nkono had reliable  gloves which he used to save goals for his country during matches. Mendy’s 2020 transfer to Chelsea has been a Hollywood success story. Little known outside France and Senegal before the move, the goalkeeper became a compulsory first choice star at Stamford Bridge. He is unarguably one of the best goalkeepers in the world producing incredible reflex saves manning the goalpost for the Blues. He added an international trophy to his cabinet, winning the African Cup of Nations with Senegal.

    To date, Mendy has been decorated as the Best FIFA Goalkeeper, Champions League best goalkeeper of the season, Champions League squad of the season, Ghana Football Awards’ Best African international, and AFCON’s best goalkeeper. Are these awards enough to guarantee Mendy the most votes as the 2021/202 Africa Footballer of the Year? It doesn’t look like a possibility, if the essence of making the game exciting is to score goals with aplomb.

    The voting trend in most big awards in soccer globally tends to favour the strikers as if they don’t rely on passes from their mates including goalkeepers. Yes, Mohammed Salah’s opened scoring against Norwich in the Premier League clash which ended 6-0 at Anfield through a goal kick taken masterful from the Reds’ goalkeeper Alisson which Salah controlled expertly before dribbling the Norwich defenders in their numbers, including leaving the opposition’s goalkeeper sprawling on the turf. If scoring goals is the opium needed to be decorated as the next Africa Footballer of the year, then Sadio Mane who has scored 16 goals in 39 games and Salah with 29 goals in 39 games are the top contenders, leaving Mahrez of Manchester City and new Barcelona recruit Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang as also-ran candidates. Pity no Nigerian can displace any of these lads.

    Mane looks like the odds-on favourite to retain the award having led Senegal to lift the Cameroon 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, beating Egypt which paraded Salah on penalty shootouts, the Egyptian’s awesome goal-scoring prowess notwithstanding. The trio, Mendy, Mane and Salah have done well in their European clubs. Liverpool where Mane and Salah play are still in the champions League, English FA Cup and the Premier League. Hence the parametres to gauge who among them would be the 2022 Africa Footballer of the Year lie in the wait.

  • Elections, democracy and diplomacy

    Elections, democracy and diplomacy

    I want  to  see the  sanctions  handwringing that  the   US  and  NATO   are  doing on the defence of Ukraine  against  the  on going Russian invasion of that nation ,  as a   simulation   of the proverb  ‘ of the cat that would eat fish  from the pond ,  without getting its paws wet  ‘ . Sanctions don’t  stop wars they destroy economies  and ruin  the lives  of poor  citizens   while   the  leadership   targets or oligarchs   can always  make sure  they avert  a coming   train  easily   . Iran is a case in point and Russia is used  to sanctions  any way . Essentially what EU and NATO  are telling Ukraine   is that ‘ you are not one of us and you have no voting rights and we can’t risk  a war with Russia because our rules  say  we can only help or fight ,  all  together as one ,  for those who are our members and  not non members that we have empathy  or sympathy for ‘  .  I  want  to analyse    NATO’s dilly dallying on Ukraine’s lack of access to Nato membership in the light of voting rights and access  in democracies  and how different political  systems  see elections in terms of political participation and the sustenance or killing of democracy ,  depending   on which side of the political system  that one is located .

    Democracy  is  all about  access to political  participation which is voting at the ballot box . Eligibility for that has taken a trouncing over the ages and property and race used to be part of the criteria for eligibility . But  the world has made great  progress and what we have now is one man one vote  . That  of course does not apply in China where the Chinese Communist Party runs the  nation on behalf of the rest and Russia where   Invasion Czar Vladmir Putin  calls the shots and the Russian Parliament  rubber stamps such that only  Putin can know why  he finally decided that Russia must invade and crush Ukraine regardless of the norms of democracy in other parts of the world .

    In  the US this last week primaries  elections took place in both the Republican  and Democratic Parties     in   Texas  ,   with  new election rules by the state legislature  after the  2020  presidential elections which former President Donald  Trump claimed were rigged but which  the Democrats  called ‘ the Big Lie ‘. Nevertheless    many states in the US   especially in Republican states    tightened voting rights mostly  asking for identity cards for absentee  or  mail  in  voters which  the Democrats called denying such people access to voting . Which  means Democrats want voters to vote without any form of accreditation which is unthinkable in Nigeria where voters cards are recognized ,identification even for bank transactions  . Yet  the voting went smoothly in Texas as scheduled . Which  gives a lie to the Democrats claim of the Big lie on the 2020 Elections .Democrats  had insisted that  the new rules were aimed at black  voters  but  other  leading Black leaders have condemned  that as insults to blacks  who knew of such rights and issues since the time of the civil rights movement of Marti Luther King .

    In Nigeria where rigging is common place,  voters access is recognized through  voter  cards which  are presented at voting  booths .Incidentally  two officials in charge of our last three elections made the news for various  reasons .  One  was a condemnation of the leadership thrown up by the elections conducted by the official and the other was on expansion of voters access and political participation at the 2023 general and presidential elections .  According to reports Attahiru Jega   who presided over the 2011  and 2015  elections lamented  that Nigeria  is suffering under the  reckless  misrule of Nigerian elites  and the nation is on the verge of collapse with the 2023 election as the last saving grace . Addressing a trade union confab Jega reportedly wailed that  ‘ the manner by which these myopic’ ‘ elected  so called  leaders and their collaborators have devastated the Nigerian economy, heightened insecurity , and virtually destroyed the basis for national  cohesion and integration in Nigeria, as a potentially great nation, is crying  for a  rescue mission  before it is too late ‘ While  Jega’s concern is real  and not misplaced ,  it  is  like a case of the pot calling the kettle bad  . The leaders he is condemning   are products of the elections he conducted . Couldn’t he have seen the signs of looming decay as a professor of political science given the quality of candidates and the role of money in his elections which were said to be vastly  rigged but for which he received  accolades then ?. This is like getting wise after the event .

    According    to   reports , Jega’s  successor Professor Mahmood Yakubu   has extolled  the pilot tests carried out   with the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System in recent by elections as a preparation for the 2023 elections . He said  voting booths are being increased for the first time in 25 years from 56,872  to 176, 846 . This is a welcome development . It now remains for INEC to  follow its own rules and ensure that accreditation is  uniform with  voters  cards all  over the nation ,   such  that we do not have   registered   voters  using voters cards in one part  of the nation while other parts just allow  mass voting   of    unregistered    voters  , without voters  cards  ,   in other  parts  . That  could  be  the last hope for the existence of Nigeria over the 2023 elections that  his predecessor  was pointing out to workers who are  helpless in helping the situation any way .

    Now  let  me  end this analogy of NATO’s  non military help for Ukraine on the exclusion tone of Ukraine’s  non membership of NATO .  This  war  of invasion was predicated on  Putin’s  insistence that Ukraine  must  not have access  to NATO membership  because  that would bring a security threat to Russia’s doorstep and would involve Russia  having to fight NATO in the  case of a war with Ukraine . That  has   turned out to be a lie now   because  Russia is fighting or invading Ukraine  which  has  been denied   not  only access  to NATO membership by the EU but  has also  been denied American  troops in its defence by the American  president . Obviously   Ukraine  is being urged on ,  on CNN and  with sanctions ,    to stand  in the path of a fast   moving train  which a determined Putin Russia is and the result is predictable . We  can then  very sadly look forward to  tragic sights and moving spectacles of blood and murder of   innocent Ukranians  on CNN while  the issue of Ukraine’s access  to NATO membership  is left in limbo  . The  truth is that this American  president  has no stomach  for any fight and that is the policy of his party . The hasty   US departure   from Afghanistan  gave Putin the courage  to stage the invasion of Ukraine . Similarly  the inability of the US to punish Syria for using  chemical weapons as promised by the  Obama Administration   gave Putin an inroad  to the Middle East as well as the invasion of Crimea in 2014 .

    Obviously  the Ukrainians  have  made a serious miscalculation in relying on American  promises on their  protection . They  are not alone . Even NATO  , which  the US leads ,  is learning to plan for its security  outside American help in the immediate future,  if not now . I think  , quite   tragically  , the Ukrainian  leadership simply  missed  the bus with American promises on  their  security  ,  as the flood of thousands of Ukrainians  fleeing  the war  on    overcrowded  trains  so  sadly and vividly illustrate .  Nothing    shows  the   betrayal  of both democracy and diplomacy  better  ,  as well  as   the arrogance  and the glorification of access and membership ,  at the expense of life and humanity .

  • The fallacy of Third Force

    The fallacy of Third Force

    Why is it that some elite are fond of threatening to raise what has now paled into a third force against the two major parties, only few months to parties’ primaries?

    Why did they desert the drawing board by refusing to work ahead, only to seek collaboration with some rights activists and failed politicians who could not make a headway in either the All Progressives Congress (APC) or the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)?

    This is the tragedy of the peculiar Nigerian third force: ideologically fatigued, politically lazy, strategically directionless. They are remote from the grassroots, bereft of winning ideas and strategies. Yet, they posture as messiahs during periodic elections.

    What is the third force up to, besides being a band of political jesters? Or, are they warming up for post-2023 polls?

    The members of the third force are aggrieved and deprived actors battling with fading popularity, influence and relevance. Some of them have tasted power, but now seem to be left in the lurch. Most of them now crave state power and resources, which have eluded them or slipped from their palms as one-time actors, collaborators, allies and beneficiaries of the system they now fruitlessly seek to vilify, dethrone, discredit or blackmail.

    Since the public may not be able to differentiate between them and APC and PDP chieftains, they try to enlarge their coast to accommodate right activists of yesteryears and other credible voices in the society who have genuine complaints against poor governance.

    Fundamentally, the jurisdiction of the third force is theoretical opposition to the current political leadership. The tool is criticism, particularly of the prevailing social order, the pastime that earned those pro-democracy crusaders of yore a pride of place during the battle against the inglorious military rule.

    The third force is a mixed grill of scholars, unionists, radicals, progressives, reform advocates, arm-chair critics, aggrieved ultra-conservatives, and other haughty politicians.

    Their leaders are blessed with the gift of the garb. Deploying adequate verbal facility, their agenda is momentarily captivating to the gullible.

    But, there ends their bravado. The third force campaigners are weakened by their own poor projections, lack of an enduring organisational ability, absence of steady and result-driven mobilisation capability, palpable deficiency in self-assessment, and their superciliousness about conspicuous realities.

    Even the masses they claim to be fighting for can hardly comprehend the substance of their message, their melodramatic display of lexicology and shibboleths. Their proposal for collaboration is not mass-oriented.

    Not only is their style boring, the activists in the rainbow coalition tend to swim in identity crisis, following the restoration of civil rule, which altered the approach to protests in a democratic setting. But, acting within the constitutional bound, they are at liberty to chase shadows.

    From the moribund Coalition for Nigerian Movement (CNM), through the lame duck Interventionist Movement, to the National Movement and Consultative Front, there is a valid effort at window dressing; a dissipation of time and energy.

    The third force – past and present – only exists on the pages of newspapers. After elections, it disappears, only to re-appear in another four years. It lacks a formidable structure with taproot across the nooks and crannies of the country. The goal, according to observers, may be restricted to attention seeking.

    Observers have berated the arrowheads of the group for a shortfall in historical perception.

    Historically, despite the multiplicity of parties, the country has always shown a tendency towards two-party system. This had manifested in previous political alliances.

    At independence, the three major parties -Northern Peoples Congress (NPC), National Council of Nigerian Citizens (NCNC) and Action Group (AG) – struggled for the control of the Federal Parliament under the cabinet system.

    The NPC had 134 of 312 seats in the House of Representatives. It was not up to the required two-thirds majority. Therefore, the NPC proposed an alliance to the NCNC. To the surprise of AG, led by the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the NCNC, led by the late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, forged an alliance with Alhaji Tafawa Balewa’s NPC, instead of the AG, which was closer to its ideological leaning. Thus, NPC/NCNC formed the coalition government headed by Prime Minister Balewa. The AG leader, Awolowo, became the Leader of Opposition.

    The implication of that scenario was that although the 1959 election took place under a multi-party arrangement, a semblance of two-party system emerged in 1960, when the first national government was formed.

    When the alliance broke down in 1964, two new alliances polarised the country. The NPC and Nigeria National Democratic Party (NNDP) of the late Chief Ladoke Akintola formed the Nigerian National Alliance (NNA). The AG, NCNC, United Middle Belt Congress (UMBC) of Joseph Tarka, and other parties, came together in an alliance under the United Progressives Grand Alliance (UPGA) for the purpose of 1964 federal elections.

    In 1979, under the presidential system, the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) and Nigerian People’s Party (NPP) formed an accord. It later broke down.

    However, ahead of 1983 elections, a picture of a two-party system emerged. The opposition parties – the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), the Nigerian Peoples Party (NPP), Great Nigeria People’s Party (GNPP) and the People’s Redemption Party (PRP) – formed the Progressives Parties Alliance (PPA) to wrest power from the NPN. It never worked.

    At the UPN’s post-election congress, Awolowo predicted that the best of the conservatives and progressives would flock together.

    In the aborted Third Republic, a two-party system was foisted on the country by the military. The Political Bureau, led by Dr. Samuel Cookey, while canvassing the option, drew attention to the previous pattern of alliances by members of the political class. The party reflected the spectrum of political ideas: a little to the left and a little to the right.

    After creating the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and National Republican Convention (NRC), the military also imposed manifestos on them, resulting in a two-party system with ambiguity because the two parties did not evolve from the people.

    Yet, during the ill-fated Third Republic, there was no defection of politicians from either of the parties. There was demarcation and streamlining, making it easier for the electorate to make a clear choice between the progressive and conservative platforms. The NRC had 16 governors while the SDP had 14. Unfortunately, the military leader, President Ibrahim Babangida, annulled the free and fair June 12, 1993 presidential election. The two parties were proscribed by another military Head of State, General Sani Abacha.

    Consistent with the historic perspective, in 1998, the military government actually proposed a two-party system. The two parties that met the requirements for registration were the PDP and the All People’s Party (APP). However, due to irreconcilable differences, the late Chief Bola Ige pulled his group out of the APP to form the Alliance for Democracy (AD). The Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, who hurriedly unfolded a transition programme, objected to the birth of a third party after the deadline. But, he was said to have been advised by his deputy, Chief of General Staff, Admiral Mike Akhigbe, who had served as governor of Ondo and Lagos states, to avoid a situation whereby the Southwest, which was aggrieved by Chief Moshood Abiola’s death, would boycott the transition programme, thereby discrediting the process.

    Instructively, the country returned to a sort of two-party system during the presidential election. The leaders of AD realised the mistake of separation from APP. Realising that they could not beat the PDP at the poll, AD and APP fielded Chief Olu Falae of AD as a presidential candidate on the platform of the APP, with an APP chieftain, Alhaji Umaru Shinkafi, as running mate. They lost. But, it is significant to note that at the poll, only PDP and APP were in reckoning.

    The controversial Government of National Unity (GNU) formed after the election by the PDP and APP reflected that pattern of two-party system. AD became the opposition party.

    Although Lagos lawyer, the late Gani Fawehinmi (SAN), won the battle for multi-party system, all the parties outside PDP and APC are paper-weight platforms lacking popular appeal. For example, Accord Party, Labour Party, Zenith Labour Party, and APGA could not muster the strength to position themselves as the third force.

    While collaborations among like-minded progressive opposition parties floundered in 1964, 1979, 1983, 1999, 2007 and 2011, the turning point was 2015 when the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), and a section of PDP and All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) subscribed to a plausible accord, fusion, merger, and alliance. It was an affirmation of the trend of two party system.

    Some of those posing as members of the third force today had previously traversed the big and smaller parties.

    The birth of a third force may be a matter of fundamental right. But, how far can the third force go? Can it meet the criterion of spread? Can it defeat APC and PDP at the polls? Can it spring a surprise?