The Nation Newspaper

Category: Saturday

  • 2023: Who would the cap fit?

    2023: Who would the cap fit?

    Nigeria is a very exciting country. It is not for nothing that the people are often referred to as the happiest people on earth. However, the socio-religious environment often seems to interfere with the political and of course with politics comes the varied economic outcomes.

    According to a renowned diplomat and development specialist, Dr. Regina Amadi -Njoku  who retired as Assistant Secretary General at the United Nations, “Culture drives Politics and Politics drives economics. In essence the culture of a people cannot be extricated from their political economy.  A deep understanding of this concept might help developing nations like Nigeria to begin to look beyond colonialism and slavery for functional strategies that can speed up development.

    In traditional Nigerian society, leadership is often earned through a track record of integrity and sense of duty to the common good. Leading at family, kindred and community levels were not always up for grabs. Leadership came with sense of service and dedication to the common good.

    With post-independence democracy and military coups in most African countries came the disruption of the journey to leadership by citizens. There has been a culture of people wanting power just for its own sake. The exploitation of tribal and religious sentiments is a product of coercion of bases by both military and political figures.

    It is this sentiment that has been pushed forth to the cliché demand for ‘zoning’ of positions that has gone into frenzy from ward to national levels. Even amongst same tribes and religion, there are divisions as can be seen with the different Islamic sects and Christian denominations.  In fact, in the last Anambra governorship election, Catholic and Anglican adherents were using denominations as an issue. In the North, Suni and Shiite sects often have issues too.

    Bottomline is that Nigeria as a country seems lost in the maze of confusion politically and that remains the greatest hurdle for a truly functional democracy where what matters is capacity and pedigree of candidates for elections at all levels. As the battle for 2023 hots up, the same warped political rhetoric is on, there are agitations for a regional President, states are talking of zoning not necessarily about the qualities of candidates. It does seem like a round robin game of requests with no substance channeled towards development.

    The Roundtable Conversation sat down with retired Professor of Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies, a veteran columnist and author  Ropo Sekoni. We asked him his views about the race to 2023 as Nigeria prepares for general elections. He said in his views, he would have preferred that the long sort after restructuring can take place before the election. Beyond that, he would want to see that those who want to lead in the next dispensation have a good understanding of the nature of Nigeria.

    According to him, ambition to lead   Nigeria especially as a democracy is not enough, if they want to do it as an autocracy, it is a possibility but there are dire consequences. The candidates must have track records. For instance now, a Bola Tinubu for instance has a record of his antecedents in Lagos. Anyone coming out has to be incontrovertibly above board in everything including the intellectual and political understanding of  Nigeria. We don’t want business as usual that has been happening in the last sixty one years which has been oscillating between hope and hopes dashed.

    Prof Sekoni believes that it is about time we get somebody who has a modern sense of issues and commitment to modernize Nigeria.  It is just not about uniting Nigeria without modernizing it. The person will fail. We cannot have a candidate who just wants unity for its own sake. Characteristically, Nigerians enjoy excitement like all peoples. To him, it must happen. Whoever is going to emerge must not be based on old alliances alone or the zoning issue. It must be someone who wants to solve problems for the country to set it up for more developmental strides that would be functional and effective.

    The Prof. referred to the Financial Times statistics about the percentage of educated Nigerians in the diaspora which is somewhere in the neighborhood of 61%. Their performance is amazing. The most educated demographic all over the free world. So with these riches in academic excellence on a global scale, why is Nigeria dragging its feet developmentally? There must be a conference that can address issues of development.

    Now, going into the next 2023 election, we need someone with a vetted past and strong pedigree. I want people whose commitment to modernity is unmistakable. You can’t keep Nigeria together until we modernize it to achieve that unity. Whoever wants to lead must come with a mission, he must have a clear cut process of how to make the welfare of Nigerians better than what we have seen and experienced. That is a primary consideration.

    Ethnic or religious consideration for a leader cannot develop the country. The idea of agitating for regional zoning of leaderships is so dysfunctional  and parochial.  Your record must speak for you but if you do not have personal records, we must have the clarity of your ideas and commitment to those ideas about what you want to do for the people to be better. We must have evidence of what you have achieved personally and professionally.

    There must not be ethnic champions that would come to govern for any region. We want individuals that can govern all Nigerians for Nigerians for the sake of Nigerians.

    Referencing the evaluation of Nigerians in the diaspora by the Financial Times, it is obvious that there is no miracle to why most of them are so successful in their fields. The reality is that those in the diapora is a small percentage of a more than two hundred million people in the country so their performance shows they have some infrastructural and systemic advantages that most in the country do not have so we need a leader who  like Lee Kwan Yew of Singapore ill propel the citizens to better functional productivity to develop the country.

    If Nigerians can do it abroad, many can do it twenty times over in the country and we must have leaders that can motivate such people. We must have leaders who come up with a blueprint of mass motivation. We must move beyond this paralysis and choose those that can make the country better and more functional for every citizen. This according to Prof. Sekoni is the leader Nigeria needs in 2023.

    Senator James John Akpan Udo-Edehe (Ph.D) is the Secretary of the Caretaker Extraordinary Planning Convention Committee of the All Progressive Congress (APC). He believes that the APC is ready to contest elections in the forth coming general elections as a united and solid party. He believes there is nothing wrong with the ruling party unlike what is out there in the media. Politics according to him is about interests and clash of interests but that does not negate the spirit of oneness in the party. According to him, the media is creating content and blowing it out of proportion, nothing unusual is happening to the party. There is absolutely nothing wrong with contests. That is what politics is all about. The Peoples Democratic Party took so many years to do their convention and there is nothing unusual about the APC that has even done the ward and local government congresses and is getting ready for the final congresses.

    The present Caretaker Committee is doing its best to bring everyone to the roundtable for a better and stronger party. There is no disunity. The national Chairman is a man of integrity and trying his best to make sure the state congresses and national convention all go smoothly. Asked how they plan to make sure 2023 does not catch them napping, Senator Udo-Edehe said the APC is ever ready for any political contest and is well structured in a way that it would possibly win more states than it presently has.

    Replying to critics who insinuate that there are issues with the party, he insists that forty million people cannot be silent. There is no law that says they must all either talk or be silent so like all human organizations, there would be interests and conflicts of interests. Even in the religious sector, even same Christian denominations disagree but that does not mean disunity. It is a human thing.

    Politics is about interests and people would be calm the moment everyone’s interest is taken care of. The party is being led by the president an amiable Caretaker chairman, His Excellency the governor of Yobe state Mai Bala Buni who is doing his best for the party. In the Senator’s views, the party is working hard to continue to reposition the country on the part of development. The reconciliation is on-going and the national convention would soon happen and the party will be in a position to give Nigeria the best candidates in 2023.

    The Caretaker Chairman is a very credible and hardworking man who is planning well for the party he insists. The party would give Nigerians the candidates that would truly work for the people in 2023. The APC is a family and always has the welfare of Nigerians at heart. Conflicts are very functional in the political arena. Once the executive would  comes in place and all members would have their interests met. We are ready for 2023 he concluded.

    The Roundtable Conversation would continue to engage our political parties and the people as Nigeria moves towards an election that would determine the faith of more than two hundred million Nigerians. Like Prof. Sekoni said, Nigeria needs a leadership that can effectively harness the inherent values and talents in our human capital some of who are excelling outside the shores of the country. Internally the capacity is there and the resources abound but we need leaders that are as modern as they are progressively functional in a multi-ethinic and multi-religious  society like Nigeria.

    • The dialogue continues…
  • Olubadan: All eyes on Makinde

    Olubadan: All eyes on Makinde

    To fill the vacuum created by the death of  Oba Saliu Adetunji, ten of the 11 members of the Olubadan-in-Council last Wednesday endorsed the nomination of Dr. Lekan Balogun as the successor.

    Former Oyo State Governor, Rasheed Ladoja, Osi Olubadan of Ibadan, was absent at the meeting, suggesting a crack in the council. But not long after, news broke that Ladoja had also endorsed the selection of Balogun. Many were relieved by the development within and outside Ibadanland.

    But that respite would not last long as Ladoja emerged on Friday to deny making any statement to the effect that he’s in support of Balogun’s selection.

    He said: “In my comment, I did not say High Chief Lekan Balogun will be the next Olubadan or not. I said and quote me, ‘Otun Olubadan, traditionally is the next heir to the throne of Olubadan, but in this regard I’m not talking about the nomination of Lekan Balogun. There was no time, I said I backed his nomination or not. Please, only report what I said and don’t quote me out of context.

    “My explanation should not be misconstrued to mean I’m in support of his nomination as the next Olubadan or not.”

    The ex-governor’s latest stance has further compounded the confusion rocking the selection process of the next Olubadan.

    Sentry gathered that the unfolding drama is actually meant for the eyes and ears of Governor Seyi Makinde whose consent or dissent will determine the fate of Balogun in the coming days.

    “Politics is playing out in the selection process. Ladoja is trying hard not to show his hand when in actual fact he and some others believe Balogun should not eat his cake and have it. Remember the crisis over the elevation of Balogun and others to Obaship status by late Governor Abiola Ajimobi. The case is still in court and the Ladoja group want Balogun to withdraw his appeal and apologise before he can be crowned,” a source told Sentry.

    Will Makinde promptly assent to Balogun’s selection and end all arguments? Or will he delay assent and allow the uncertainty and speculations to linger?

    Read Also: Ladoja backs Balogun as Olubadan-designate

    Between Wike and Ijaws

    Last Thursday, the Ijaw Youths Council (IYC) lashed out at Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, over a statement credited to him that the Ijaw were behaving as if they owned the Niger Delta.

    The council demanded he apologise and seek forgiveness of Ijaws for the matter to be laid to rest.

    But Sentry gathered that the governor isn’t about to appease the IYC.

    “The governor is known to speak the way he sees things and he didn’t intend to cast aspersion on any individual or race. He only offered his opinion during a discussion and he is entitled to it,” an ally said on Friday.

    The group is at a loss why Wike spoke the way he did. IYC President, Peter Timothy Igbifa said: “We don’t know where he got his impressions from. But whatever he said does not represent our noble ethnic group. We are disappointed that Wike could stand on a public rostrum and throw tantrums at the Ijaw nation. His remarks were to say the least, unfortunate.

    “The governor should have exercised restraints in his public utterances despite his misgivings against the Ijaw as a mark of respect for former President Goodluck Jonathan, his wife, Patience and other Ijaw leaders, who railroaded him into the governorship seat of Rivers State.”

    Sentry will continue to monitor developments in this budding face-off.

  • Papa Akande, integrity and politics

    Papa Akande, integrity and politics

    When submitting its report to the Lagos State governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu this week, the Chairman of the six-man panel set up by the state government to investigate the causes of last year’s Ikoyi high rise building collapse, Mr Toyin Ayinde, made a profound statement. According to the President of the National Institute of Town Planners, “We need to note, however, building collapse is rooted in the collapse of values, morals and ethics, which we need to work on as a nation. We cannot sow the wind and not expect to reap the whirlwind. Therefore, ethics and due diligence need to be restored”. This wisdom incidentally is at the very core of politician and elder statesman, Chief Bisi Akande’s new book, ‘My Participations’, which has been generating considerable ripples ever since its release to the public late last year. Some are of the impression that Chief Akande was unduly and haughtily self-righteous in the portrayal of his personal integrity and moral uprightness. Others, obviously angered at the author’s unrestrained frankness in expressing his views about them, responded emotionally attempting to discredit both book and author mostly without reading the memoirs. Nothing I have read so far, however, succeeds in credibly and convincingly disproving the author’s claims of his personal incorruptibility in the book.

    Character matters, indeed supremely so, is the theme of the book. Which reminds me of a story I once read that, while the Great Wall of China proved militarily invincible and impenetrable by enemies, the empire’s defenses were successfully breached when some of  those guarding its massive gates succumbed to bribes by her adversaries. Righteousness exalts a nation, the scriptures admonish, and sin is a reproach to a people. In many reviews of the book, several instances have been cited right from the author’s childhood through school as well as his professional and political careers when he demonstrated and justified his reputation for impeccable integrity. There is no need to repeat those episodes in this piece.

    Yet, it seems that some of those who have written on the book launch without reading the book, have the mistaken impression that Chief Akande was either impoverished or a man of meager material substance before his foray into politics. Nothing could be more erroneous. Yes, even today, Papa Akande cannot be described as stupendously wealthy. But he was already an accomplished, successful and reasonably comfortable professional before his advent into politics and public service. For instance, Chief Akande relates that after his first tour of service as a teacher in Omu-Aran Muslim School and later at Oro Muslim School in 1959, “my nine-month salaries were paid in arrears which was almost £105 (One hundred and five pounds). The money was too much for me to handle and I headed home to Ila to seek the advice and assistance of my uncle, Alhaji Sumonu Adesina. I knew nothing about banks and savings. I dared not keep such a large amount of money with me or with anybody…My uncle and I finally agreed that the best thing for me to do was to build a house. I was 20 years old and now as a salary earner, my uncle believed I had come of age”.

    This was how that early in life Chief Akande started the construction of  “a five-bedroom bungalow with a front corridor for family relaxation, and additional three rooms at the back to serve as general kitchen, an uncovered bathroom and a pit toilet”. The building was on a plot of land allotted to him by his maternal grandmother on the ruins of his late maternal great grandfather’s home nearest to her husband’s home. The author writes that the house was roofed during the Christmas period of 1960. Of course, Chief Akande writes with infectious fondness of his “fourteen productive and interesting years with British Petroleum” where due to dint of his industry, competence and integrity he rose to the upper rungs of the company’s management with attractive remuneration and perks. When he left BP to serve in politics in 1979, it was on a leave of absence with the opportunity to return to his career at the company at the expiration of his tenure of political service. This availability to him of an alternative address outside politics no doubt greatly influenced Chief Akande’s readiness to quit public office on principle if necessary. A columnist wrote that the author refrained from mentioning that it was the General Muhammadu Buhari administration that unjustly jailed both he and Chief Bola Ige along with other politicians after the collapse of the Second Republic in December 1983. This is untrue. Chief Akande referred to this copiously in chapter 14 of the book (page 191).

    As the author writes, “I had gained nothing materially from holding public office for four years. As SSG and Deputy Governor, my take home pay was much lower than what I was earning as an executive of BP. In the two offices I held, I had no authority to approve government expenditure. I never took bribe and I never gave bribe to anyone. I felt I would soon be vindicated. I was owing BP, my former employers, for loans on my only landed property. I had only N2,400 of my own in all my bank accounts in the whole world. But as time went on, I found that it was not as simple as I was thinking”.

    There is an amazing honesty and transparency in Chief Akande’s rendering of his ,life saga that is uncommon with most autobiographies. When he decided on principle to resign from Chief Bola Ige’s government before the governor turned down his voluntary exit, the author writes, “I was anxious to escape a job that paid me less than one third of my emoluments at BP, but was putting me in terrible limelight that would make me spend beyond my means…Honestly, I was already living in penury on a salary of a little over one thousand Naira per month. I had just borrowed N15,000 (Fifteen thousand Naira) from Chief Biola Morakinyo to augment my wife’s merchandise as a distributor and trader. I saw a quick reunion with my family in Lagos as something to look forward to…I was overwhelmed with excitement and anxious to leave before any public announcement of my resignation”.

    On his late wife’s immense contributions to his economic and personal fortunes, Chief Akande again writes with astonishing candor, “There was one important change I noticed after our marriage. My monthly salary with the oil company was good, but I was always broke because I roamed about, drinking with friends and spending beyond my means. Therefore, I was in abject poverty. It appeared to me, however, that marriage made me so responsible that friends who used to use my apartment for their romantic escapades stopped and began to treat our home with respect. Soon, I began to have savings and investments. Throughout my stay in BP, she kept my home intact and happy despite my numerous trips across Nigeria and my overseas training programmes”.

    Quite apart from his indisputable integrity and honesty which are demonstrated throughout the book, the author makes it clear that he deliberately patterned his politics after the great sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo. This is no doubt reflected in his uncompromising social welfarism and strong federalist inclinations. However, it is also obvious that Papa Akande also took after Awo’s perceived “brutal frankness” in expressing his views as well as seeming political rigidity when some flexibility would do no harm. Are these attributes best suited to the subtleties and complexities of politics in an ethno-regional and religious variegated polity like Nigeria? I strongly doubt this. It appears to me that Chief Akande took after both the strengths and weaknesses of Awo’s politics.

    Reading through some of Chief Akande’s political encounters in this book reminds me of aspects of Professor Mvendaga Jibo’s reminiscences on Awo in his contribution to the book, ‘Awo: On the Trail of a Titan – (Essays in Celebration of the Obafemi Awolowo Centennial)’. The former Political Editor of the defunct Daily Times and Professor of Political Science recalls, for instance, that in 1977 he had been among members of the Constituent Assembly from the Middle Belt who met with Chief Awolowo at his Park Lane, Apapa, home in Lagos. After exchange of pleasantries and views, Awo had sought their support in his bid to be elected President of Nigeria in 1979. As Professor Jibo wrote, “Our leaders said we would, however, support him only on condition that he would appoint Middle Belt persons as ministers into the key ministries of Finance and Foreign Affairs if he was elected the president with our support. To our utter amazement, Awo flatly refused to make any such commitments. The meeting ended on that note and we returned to our FESTAC accommodation, Off Badagry Road”.

    Again, Jibo recollects that on a second meeting with selected politicians from the Middle Belt, Awo had again sought their support in realizing his presidential ambition. Many of them expressed belief in his competence and the readiness to sell his candidacy to the electorate in their localities. However, they requested for some funding from him for their political activities since many of them had limited financial means. According to Jibo, “Once the issue of funding was raised, Awo’s countenance changed! He seemed irritated. He interpreted this as pressure on him ‘to  play money politics’, which he was not prepared to do!…His blunt indication that he was not predisposed to fund his supporters’ politics cost him dearly”.

    During his campaign for the presidency in the South East in 1979, Awo told his Igbo listeners that if elected he would ban the importation of second hand clothing because it demeaned the dignity of Nigerians and also that he would stop the importation of stock fish as it was of negligible nutritional value. While this may have been true and well meaning, it further detracted from Awo’s support in the South East. Could Papa Akande’s many political battles as recorded in this book have been more subtly diplomatically handled? The debate will surely continue.

  • Owumi, this is your life

    Owumi, this is your life

    Ordinarily, the focus of today’s column should be the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations which opens today in Cameroon with the opener being the clash between the Indomitable Lions and Burkina Faso. A lot to write about the competition no doubt, but one is pained that in Nigeria’s fifth attempt to win the diadem in Cameroon, not one player plies his trade in our domestic league except John Noble of Enyimba. It is a travesty of sort knowing that the last time the country lifted the trophy in South Africa, precisely on February 10, 2013, a home-based player, Sunday Mbah scored the winning goal. Mbah’s feat highlighted the contributions of other home-based players in the trophy-winning Super Eagles in 2013.

    In last week’s edition of The Nation newspaper and her sister newspaper Sportinglife, I warned about the likelihood of a referee being killed in one of our domestic league venues. It looked like a farfetched possibility with many readers claiming I was being an alarmist, even when I stated categorically at the beginning of the column last week that I wasn’t an alarmist nor a harbinger of bad news. I also stressed that I wasn’t a prophet of doom.

    Behold, last week Sunday in Uyo, images emerged on social media showing where an official walked up to the referee and gave him TWO dirty slaps in public glare. It could have been a gun, or a machete, or a rock slammed on the referee’s head – death abi? A backroom staff of Dakkada chose to take the law into his hands by assaulting a match official during the game. Did I hear you say ordinary slap? The referee could have slumped because he wasn’t expecting it and hit his head on a concrete object. The official marched forward like he had a quarrel with the referee and released two quick slaps on the face of the referee.

    This official walked away as if he had completed one of the routines of the army parade with one of the two officials who walked towards the pitch as the referees were filling out for the half-time before the idiot assaulted the referee, looking the other way. It was very shameful. It also showed where the instructions came from. It is common knowledge that chaos at match venues is always caused by the home team’s fans.

    This attack on the referee is the second in four weeks with no mention by the league’s organisers about the punishment meted on the assailants or the hammer falling on heads of the Katsina State FA officials over the fracas which occurred in Katsina in a home game against visiting Enugu Rangers International, which the Flying Antelopes won 2-1. It was one of the opening games in a new season. The organisers should identify and punish the touts who caused the mayhem in Katsina. We should condemn selective justice, which is what it would translate to when considering what happened in Uyo last week.

    It was soul-lifting reading the directive by the new Chief Executive Officer, Davidson Owumi calling for the details of the shameful act in Uyo, pointing out that: “We can assure all, that we have zero tolerance for hooliganism and acts that are capable of bringing the game into disrepute.

    “After consultations with the compliance unit, the League body’s action will serve as a deterrent for those that are bent on dragging our football into the mud,” Owumi said. Well said Owumi. But you should immediately call for the match report for the opening week in Katsina so all such acts of crowd violence are stopped by ensuring that those found to be culpable are made to face the wrath of the law.

    Owumi, you have shown that you are ready to work with the ease in which the rules in the books were applied to this case except that no pronouncement was made on the Akwa Ibom State FA officials for the negligence of duty. Bravo Owumi for putting your foot down on the immediate imposition of sanctions to all those fingered in the show of shame in Uyo.

    For the record this is the ruling:” Dakkada was ordered to pay the sum of N250,000 each to the Assistant Referee and General Manager of Remo Stars for medical expenses and may include any additional verifiable and authenticated medical costs. While ordering Dakkada to play a minimum of three home matches at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, Benin City, the LMC ruled that the club would only be permitted to return to its home stadium upon receipt of a satisfactory report or update on the formal report to the Police and prosecution of the club official involved in the alleged assault. The prosecution must be authenticated by the LMC’s legal team and compliance unit.

    ”The club must pay the stipulated fines within seven working days and have a two points deduction, which shall be suspended for a probationary period of the remainder of the season.

    “Both the club and the charged official have 48-hours from the date of the notice to submit to the summary jurisdiction or elect to face a disciplinary hearing.”

    Yes, there were other good decisions concerning people who failed in the duties on that day. But, nothing against the Akwa State FA officials.  Great to note also that those fingered in the ignominy have a chance to be heard through an appeal. My plea to Owumi is to ensure that punishment given is served out instead of coming after one month to say reduce the period on grounds that they are remorseful.

    Followers of the game want to know the punishment meted out on the state FA since the referees were in their custody. I also don’t want to believe that a club could produce a release as a defence where it was stated that their duty to the referee was before and during the match. Whatever happened to the referees after their matches were entirely their business. Is this true, Owumi? Can’t you easily see where the problems lie if a club could say so?

    Owumi, you need to put your foot down on the urgent need for clubs (both home and away teams) to have video recordings of their matches. Any team that destroys or makes it impossible for any team to record games should be stopped from playing on such a pitch and three points deducted from what they may have amassed. There is also the urgent need to do refreshers courses in all departments of the game such that everyone knows what the requirements are and where each person’s boundaries end or/and start.

    It is unwise to ask clubs to pay for referees’ entitlement yet, we expect such officials to be unbiased? How do they face their financiers back in the hotel after matches? The moral question, if you ask me. League organisers should devise a means by which the logistics of referees before, during, and after matches are handled by companies with experts versed in the hospitality business. This would reduce the contact hours of the referees and his/her hosts before and after games. Not forgetting the match Commissioners who play vital roles, besides judging the referees’ handling of matches.

    Owumi, what is apparent from what transpired in Katsina and Uyo is the need for the organisers to quickly seal a contract with either the former rights holder DSTV or any other company for the television rights. Pity, no stadium in the country where matches are played has CCTV gadgets to track law offenders easily. I cringe watching other African countries showcase their domestic leagues on DSTV, leaving ours in the doldrums.

    Soon these countries would be beating Nigerian teams and our national sides easily. No one can forget in a hurry how the Central Africa Republic beat Nigeria 1-0 inside the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos.

    The laughable attempt at using a supposedly VAR in resolving a dispute in Owerri again reminds the organisers to secure a television rights holder for the competition.  The terrible aspect of this VAR incident was only one of the team’s fans dragged the innocent fellow recording the game to provide his machine as evidence. No machine to allow everyone to see the bone of contention. The cheated side’s players sat on the turf having seen enough of bad officiating.

    Could it, therefore be true that a game was held with torn goalpost nets? That the disputed goal was shot through the hole in the net? Isn’t it the duty of the match officials to inspect such things?

    Recall how Jose Mourinho asked UEFA to crosscheck the height of a goalpost, which he said was inaccurate. Mourinho was right. The goalpost was replaced before the game was held. Everything is done professionally Dear Davidson Owumi, football is business. Owumi, this is your life.

  • As INEC rolls out the 2023 political calender…

    As INEC rolls out the 2023 political calender…

    The festivities are over, work has started but so too has political activities. There are meetings and there are consultations going on at feverish speed. The festive period provided a good platform for bantering and subtle political horse-trading. The cities were left bare, politicians headed home with their intentions and it was beautiful to track the Christmas ‘gifts’ to constituents.

    The airlines had a field month (not day this time). Flights out of cities were fully booked despite the high cost of tickets. It did not help that most Nigerians abroad who had been affected by travel restrictions due to covid-19 issues all trouped home last month. Luckily, the bandits and other social miscreants that had been tormenting the people seemed to have equally taken a break to celebrate –possibly. It was a fairly calm festive season even though not totally devoid of incidents especially in Kaduna state.

    Expectedly, the reality is here with us, the election year is closer and the political parties are keeping the midnight oil burning, well, literally. The series of meeting have started, the permutations are on but sadly, as always, governance might be in abeyance. That is the protocol that has gone from election year to election year. However, the Roundtable Conversation is here to remind politicians that the status quo has changed, the political dynamics in Nigeria has changed like that of the global community too.

    There is more political awareness, the internet and social media has changed the processes considerably. Information flow is now beyond the control of professional politicians and locations of events and actions get global at the touch of buttons. So it will be very interesting to observe as events unfold given that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has rolled out the Calendar and Political itinerary for 2022 in Nigeria as  guidance for political activities as the nation matches towards the 2023 general elections.

    As it is, all eyes would be on all the political parties. However, the two major political parties, the All Progressive Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for now have the structural muscle to compete around the country for state and national positions. The Roundtable Conversation reached out to members of the two biggest political parties to find out what they intend to do differently as INEC says, ‘on your marks’ literally.

    The Youth Organizing Secretary for All Progressives Congress (APC) in Lagos state Idris Aregbe popularly called the serial entrepreneur and popular for his slogan, Our Lagos, Your Lagos  said that in the last four years, he had set out to galvanize the youths for better participation in the political processes in ways that their inclusion would bring value to the country. To him, the political processes in a democracy are structured in stages through political parties. In essence therefore, the youths are being encouraged to follow the processes as nothing short of active participation works any magic.

    As the countdown to the elections begins, he believes the party has done a lot to enlighten the willing young people to join the process. The mentorship by the older politicians he believes can only make the youths more productive rather than their sitting on the fence analyzing and complaining.  The youths must realize that unlike most other sectors of the economy, politics is pivotal and needs the youths to take their place  and bring their productive energy to the table of conversation.

    In his view, while it is exciting and there is freedom to form seemingly youthful parties, democracy thrives on the multiplicity of ideas and that includes that of the young and old. There is always a growth and learning process and that is what the young people willing to participate must understand about political structures. The APC understands that democracy  is about numbers and as such the youth are encouraged through the youth wings to ensure they are active.

    To the APC, leadership is not about age but about the value the individual can bring to nation-building.  The Roundtable reminded him that it is a fact that most youths would rather complain about leadership than aspire or work to lead too. According to him, in the APC, there is very concerted  efforts since 2015 to bring more functional youths and what they can bring to leadership despite the challenges. The Youth wing believes that the youths must be outgoing with their capacity. One of the challenges they have is that idea that the young people  often believe they can do without the older people. The issue should  not  be about a youth monopoly. It is not about replacement  but the ability to sit with the older people and learn and contribute their own tech ideas.

    As 2023 approaches, the APC through the youth wings are prepared to form alliances and the youths must be willing to be actively involved. Even the older politicians still struggle with party formations let alone reen horns. The youths are trying to get new strategies that can function. There must be an active involvement. Idris believes the youth must be involved in developing their communities through their efforts. Granted there are still employment issues but we all know that most youths have skills they can focus on rather than depending on temporary political jobs that are do not serve in the long run.

    Read Also: 2023: Feb 18 presidential poll date sacrosanct, says INEC

    Idris says the APC  believes that modern politics needs the energy of the youth and their tech knowledge that can be combined with the experience and wisdom of the older politicians. Politics is not about age but ideas and the best strategies that can push progress. The young people must be involved more because their own future is at stake. He believes that the APC is working very hard to enlighten and coopt more youths into the party in ways that the country can be proud of its own future leaders. In his view the APC is confident of the capacity of the youths and is empowering them in readiness for 2023.

    Debo Ologun Agba is the National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples DemocraticParty (PDP). A lawyer and former banker, he had been in the House of Representatives for two terms. He believes that the PDP is very ready for the race to 2023. They kicked off with their Annual Convention that threw up a twenty five year old Youth leader which means that the party is ready to have the young people represented  at the table for a more progressive nation that includes everyone.

    To Debo, the party presently has more than five women aspiring to the governorship seat in Ekiti state. The party has been able to reduce the financial burden for the women and that is a good sign. The Roundtable Conversation reminded him that the has only two women elected into their National Executive Committee (NEC)  during the convention to the positions of Woman Leader and her Deputy.  He insisted that the elections were fairly contested genderwise as Hajia Maina contested for the Deputy Chairmanship position for the North even though she lost. Everyone was given a free chance.

    He insists that the party has a structure that is as statutory as it is functional unlike the APC that is still to have its convention and is saddled with leadership crisis.  To him the PDP is a party that wants to progress to a better level democratically.  The PDP is structured to have processes and is akin to a marathon. A party is supposed to be a mentoring ground and incorporating the 25 year old is a good step. He is going to be on the table of conversation, then he will be mentored by the older politicians and he can talk for his voting demographic. That is progress from the past he said.

    To him, the gender gap is being closed by the idea that the financial burden has been reviewed to favour more willing women.  2023 is in view and the PDP is looking at national development and as such empowering the young people whose representative would be on the table to educate the older politicians about the new political dynamics being pushed by the young people. It is a massive paradigm shift.

    Even though there is still a long way to gender parity, the financial relief to the women for instance in Ekiti state is a step in the right direction and stands to be improved upon.  The PDP said has reduced the challenges to the women and the effort is a progressive one.  To Debo, 2023 in the party is about making changes that can bring more productive inclusiveness and they have started off with a 25 year old youth leader and an encouraging number of women aspirants in the next Ekiti state governorship election.

    The Roundtable Conversation just wants these continuous bi-partisan conversations with a view to deepening the democratic processes that is as modern as they are inclusive. The APC and PDP as the two leading political parties must hear this, the times have changed, the people drive democratic processes and all parties must be in a position to optimally manage the human capital they can persuade with their policies and programmes and equally be in a position to prove that they understand the full dynamics of modern global politics. The people must be actively involved too.

    INEC has rolled out the Calendar as a guide. It is the duty of political parties to play strictly by the rules and understand that the old order might just not work again. In an era where the global pandemic has brought economies to its knees, political gladiators must maximize the input of the human capital to get the best output nationally.  Time  for playing to the gallery is in the past. The chips are down and the old political rhetoric that has not paid off functionally must be reviewed holistically. It will be interesting to sit back and watch how the parties would align with popular opinion and make the needed moves for development.

    Happy New Year readers.

    The dialogue continues…

  • Neither governors nor legislators

    Neither governors nor legislators

    IT is a grand irony. I refer to President Muhammadu Buhari’s decision to withhold presidential assent to the new Electoral Amendment Bill sent for his approval by the National Assembly. With his refusal to grant assent, there is the strong possibility, just as happened in 2018 with the 8th Assembly, that the bill will ultimately end up not seeing the light of day after all. Two central provisions of the the new bill are the empowerment of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to transmit election results electronically thus eliminating challenges experienced over the years with manual collation, processing and announcement of electoral outcomes as well as mandating parties to conduct their intra-party candidate selection processes exclusively through direct primaries. Consequently, the two other selection modes previously provided for, indirect primaries or consensus arrangement, had become prohibited by law.

    His rejection of the mandatory direct primaries provision was the key reason cited by the President for returning the bill to the legislature unsigned for, among other reasons, its alleged prohibitive cost, essentially anti-democratic character and unfairness to smaller parties. In rejecting the mandatory direct primaries required by the amended law, the President is widely seen as having sided with state governors who had not hidden their fierce opposition to the proposition. By compelling parties to select their candidates mandatorily through direct primaries, involving the participation of all party members, the legislators obviously sought to curtail the excessive powers and influence of governors who, through their control of humongous state funds, were able to almost single-handedly determine the outcome of intra-party contests conducted through indirect primaries.

    Apart from their control over statutory delegates most of whom are their appointees, the smaller number of participants in indirect primaries makes it easier for money to play a decisive role in the outcome of the process than if every registered party member is allowed to participate as required by direct primaries. The grand irony I referred to earlier is that President Buhari has been at the forefront of seeking to check the perceived excessive powers of the governors by taking initiatives to enhance greater accountability, transparency and more effective exercise of checks and balances at the lower echelons of governance in the federation.

    This the President has done by pushing for greater autonomy by local governments in accessing and controlling their statutory allocations from the Federation Account and also seeking to ensure greater financial independence for the legislative and judicial arms at the state level; initiatives that the governors have continued to resist directly or indirectly. It is thus astonishing that when it came to the issue of institutionalizing direct primaries that could arguably help to deepen intra-party democracy and decisively limit the capacity of governors to maintain a stranglehold on political parties, the President has so comprehensively capitulated to the governors as it were.

    No less ironical is the fact that Buhari himself emerged as presidential candidate of the APC in 2019 through direct primaries and he would have been expected to be an enthusiast of a process widely perceived as more open, transparent and reflective of the general will of party members. Even then, the impression must not be created that either the governors or the legislators are exclusively saints or sinners in this matter. Neither group is. They are all pressing not necessarily to deepen democracy but to enhance personal gains and interests. The legislators are bent no less than the governors on ensuring that the intra-party electoral process works to their advantage.

    We must make no mistake about it. Neither Senators nor House of Representatives members are ordinary members of the party. The controversial humongous allowances and perks of dubious moral and even legal validity they collect give them a distinct advantage over less financially endowed party members who seek to compete for their positions within the party. But then, the governors have an advantage over the legislators in terms of access to funds to influence the outcome of intra-party contests. This is why some of the legislators have proposed that incumbents be given the right of first refusal before their positions are thrown open to interested party members, a patently anti-democratic proposition.

    The truth of the matter is that the direct, indirect and even consensual modes of candidate selection are all prone to manipulation and domination by moneybags. It is just that direct primaries involving the participation of all party members will require substantially more money to influence than indirect primaries in which selected delegates have the responsibility of electing party candidates. Even then, a state governor with access to state resources and who has not alienated key stakeholders of the party is more likely than others to have the financial muscle to exert influence on the outcome of direct primaries. The challenge then is not a choice between direct or indirect primaries but rather how to substantially mitigate the role and influence of money in both intra and inter party electoral processes.

    Surprisingly, the President cited the cost of the process as one of the reasons for his rejection of direct primaries even when INEC had stated that the mode would impose no additional cost on the commission. Surely, if nothing can be done now about substantially reducing the influence of money on the electoral process, then significantly expanding the base of participants in candidate selection through direct primaries will increase the financial strain and burden on money bags including governors and legislators, which is not necessarily a bad thing after all.

    It is unfortunate that even though political parties constitute the most critical structures in our political process as the platforms through which members of the executive and legislatures emerge with the latter playing key roles in the composition and functioning of the judiciary, parties are essentially privatized entities in our current system run in a largely loose and informal manner. Thus, for instance, we have had since 1999, continuing contestation by contending cliques, tendencies, factions and fractions at the centre and the states fighting to the death to gain control of the soul of the dominant parties. Both the PDP and APC today are, to varying degrees, in the throes of such destabilizing and dysfunctional struggles to seize control of their structures with the 2023 elections in mind. This has negative implications both for the stability of the political system as a whole as well as the quality, effectiveness and productivity of governance.

    What is clearer than ever before is that the political elite both within and beyond the two dominant parties have no inclination towards bequeathing to the country credible, transparent and open intra and inter-party elections that reflect the will of the citizenry at the levels of both party and general elections. Had they any such intention, the report of the Justice Mohammed Uwais committee on Electoral Reforms set up by the late President Umaru Yar’Adua which made far reaching proposals to strengthen the country’s electoral system structurally and procedurally would not have been left to gather dust over the years.

    If public office holders of the two parties at all levels believe they can use the position of incumbency and the consequent humongous wealth available to them, to seize control of the parties and determine, arbitrarily, who holds public office at all levels, they will most likely face the prospects of intra-organizational implosion. The PDP experienced this in 2015 and it is now just trying to put its house in order again. The APC will be living in an illusory world if it believes that it cannot  suffer a similar or worse fate if it continues along the the path of muzzling intra-party unity, stifling party autonomy and organizational efficacy and enthroning the arrogance and impunity of a few as overlords over ordinary card carrying party members.

    In the final analysis , what is most critical in this regard is the insistence by INEC that it has the capacity to and will always transmit elections electronically  as it did in the off season elections in Edo and Anambra states irrespective of whether or not the Electoral Bill is passed. Those who hold the parties’ by the jugular and are bent on the sustenance of non-inclusive candidate selection processes through indirect primaries may meet their electoral Waterloo in general elections that are becoming more and more difficult to manipulate and thus increasingly reflective of the will of the electorate. Aggrieved candidates and their supporters perceived to have been cheated in primaries, may wait patiently for general elections where they can punish the party for whatever perceived injustices they suffered during intra-party selection of candidates.

    Whatever may have been the shortcomings of the General Ibrahim Babangida regime’s transition programme, the formal institutionalization of the party processes leading to the creation by government fiat of the defunct National Republican Party (NRC) and Social Democratic Party (SDP), was a key factor in the emergence of a candidate like Chief MKO Abiola as the SDP flag bearer and his eventual victory in the June 12, 1993 presidential election. It is difficult to imagine that Abiola could have emerge as a viable candidate in the party systems of the first or second republics.

    This column supports the proposal for the establishment of a Political Parties Registration and Monitoring Commission, which will be responsible for the registration of parties that meet set criteria; the compilation and maintenance of registers of party members as well as the conduct of all intra-party elections at all levels in addition to substantial government funding of parties that win elections relative to the degree of the magnitude of their victories. That way, the parties will be less vulnerable to being hijacked by powerful people in government be they President, governors, legislators or sundry godfathers and the generality of party members will be more effectively mobilized and empowered to exercise some degree of control over their parties.

  • Before a referee is killed

    Before a referee is killed

    ORGANISERS of the domestic game are jesters. Otherwise, how could they have assigned two sets of match officials for MFM FC’s home game held at the Agege Stadium in Lagos on Wednesday.  The referees were as confused as MFM officials. They decided, however, to allow Referee Charles Nkwokocha who got the appointment letter first to handle the game. Referee Okungbowa had to leave Lagos the next morning to Benin. MFM were magnanimous enough to pay for one room for the second set of referees. Of course Okungbowa would have lost N20,000 for the trip due to someone’s administrative ineptitude. Can these people change? You can’t give what you don’t have. No way. I digress!

    I’m not an alarmist nor am I a harbinger of bad news. I’m also not a prophet of doom but one who likes to raise the alarm where it is necessary before the government starts to constitute a probe panel to unveil the remote and immediate causes of a disaster waiting to happen. Penultimate week, fans ran through tear gas fumes as they scrambled out of the Katsina City Stadium after Enugu Rangers beat Katsina FC 2-1 in an away game. No one knows what transpired in the game. The organisers have made the much publicised mayhem look like another journalists’ attempts to cry more than the bereaved.

    Dear league organisers, no human being’s blood should be shed on the altar of going to watch a game to drive away boredom or to watch one’s favourite teams, for those who live far away from their villages and states of origin. Those who have chosen to cast an indulgent eye on the show of shame in Katsina should be wary of the kind of stories being told those supporters who were not in the stadium. I speak of the likely reprisal attacks on those home teams’ fans who take delight in causing chaos, knowing that the security architecture in matches venues can easily be breached.

    Cynics have, however, argued that the reason the organisers are disinterested in having a television rights holder is to ensure that the flaws of the league are hidden. That way posterity cannot be unkind with them when judgment time beckons. If only these organisers know how much revenue they are missing out on.  European leagues and their clubs generate tremendous amount of money from television rights. The clubs and their Football Associations fill up the business windows offered from the television exposure. This is one of the ways countries where the game is played properly know how much each of such leagues in Europe is worth. Most times one is shocked how the organisers hope to pitch for sponsors when they have nothing to show the beauty of investing in the domestic game.

    In the first week of the league, one match official was designated to preside over a league game in Gombe from Enugu. The official received his letter without getting his indemnities from which he could pay for his transportation from Enugu to Gombe and back. Not done, no money for his hotel accommodation, feeding for the period he will be out of Enugu, and no cash in the event of any unforeseen occurrence. To make matters worse, the official hadn’t been paid his monthly wages. A big dilemma no doubt but he must be in Gombe otherwise he won’t be considered for any assignment again.

    Isn’t this the recipe for corruption for both the match officials and club owners desirous to winning matches at all cost? It is also laying the platform inducing the referees with enough cash to do their biddings. This Enugu man’s predicament is the story of officials since the season began. It underscores the level of wickedness inherent in these organisers, not minding the unsafe roads in the country. Would the organisers do such things to their kids or relations? No way.

    A man who borrowed N200,000 from a money lender in Enugu expects to refund at least 20 per cent when refunding the loan. For an exercise that comes to him satisfying his passion, he goes borrowing to the tune of N240,000 after payment. You ask, who bears the cost? The clubs? Isn’t this the gateway to sharp practices in the league games? An official who is already indebted to a moneylender to the tune of N240,000 now has a price that starts from perhaps N500,000 since those who assigned him to the game didn’t consider it expedient to fund his movement from Enugu to Gombe.

    What it simply means is that the four officials have debts on their necks which must be paid which could be close to one million naira or over depending on their locations of residence, making them vulnerable to inducements from both teams, for the very greedy ones. Put simply, we are running a domestic league in Nigeria where the highest bidder wins.

    If this Enugu man was the greedy type, he would have called the away team’s administrators to explain his predicament. This away team with deep pockets, for instance, would purchase a return ticket for the official from Enugu to Abuja, Abuja to Gombe, and then take a cab to a hotel paid for by the rich away team. Did I hear say how can? Dominic Iorfa, ex-Green Eagles player as Chairman of Lobi Stars caught referees handling his team’s game against another visiting team, Sunshine FC of Akure inside the vehicle of the away team. Iorfa said then that he became curious seeing the Ondo plate number on the road and felt and told his cousin sitting next to him that he smelt something fishy. He couldn’t understand how the club’s car could be on the road without the team’s bus around.

    Iorfa’s fears were confirmed when the security operatives stopped the car which had seven passengers. Iorfa said he quickly stole a glance into the car only to find a Sunshine FC chap with the match officials. He raised the alarm with the security men.  It was a big media issue.

    This incident happened along Forest area on Jos Road since Lobi at that time was playing its matches in Bauchi. Iorfa is alive and could be reached for more details of what transpired on that shameful occasion. Gradually, we are back to the notorious past where rich teams and home teams get the results that they want by hook or crook. The organisers know that Katsina Township Stadium is one of the ‘black-spot’ pitches in the country and should have prepared for the fans.

    Interestingly, the organisers who haven’t been able to tell us what happened in Week 1, suddenly directed that the Katsina FC game against Kano Pillars should be played without the fans. Could this be one of the many penalties to be handed Katsina FC for the show of shame against Enugu Rangers? The organisers mustn’t spare the Katsina FA’s officials, whose job it was in Week 1 to ensure that the game between Katsina and Rangers was held without rancour.  Good to know that the organisers are reading and taking the right steps to reduce violence at match venues. A word for the wise.

    I don’t subscribe to the view that we should introduce soldiers at match venues. They are no battlefronts. Stewards and those associated with keeping the stadium peaceful should be made to do their jobs; negligent ones should be axed. Many jobless Nigerians will be happy to land this kind of job. It isn’t enough for the organisers to reel out sanctions against defaulting clubs. The body should involve the police in punishing offenders since their actions are capable of causing a breach of the public peace, which is an offence under the penal code.

    State governments, through the FAs, are the owners of the stadium. It is, therefore, their responsibility to effectively police the stadium before, during, and after matches. The state FA officials should be in charge of taking the officials to and out of the stadium, with maximum protection by armed security personnel, given the spate of malicious attacks on innocent referees. It isn’t the job of fans to interpret the rules of the game; that is the referees’ duty, having been trained and retrained by  FIFA’s referees’ committee.

    Happy New Year, dear reader.

  • NPFL: Same old stories, pity

    NPFL: Same old stories, pity

    A house built on quicksand needs no prophesy for it to crumble like a pack of cards. This analogy rings so true about the manner in which the domestic league was hurriedly started without recourse to the tents of the body’s statutes. Having not resolved the myriad of problems from previous seasons, it didn’t come as surprise when the game between Katsina United and Enugu Rangers was hijacked by beats who took the laws into their hands. It also didn’t shock anyone about the stalemated game in Akure between the home side, Sunshine Stars and Wikki Tourist.

    The same set of match officials presided over the walkover in favour of the hosts, Sunshine FC in Akure on Sunday. Guess what, the next day, Monday in Akure, the same officials presided over another walkover. This time in favour of the visitors, Wikki, who needed to clear their status with FIFA over transfer infringements. Is anyone, therefore, shocked that CAF picked 63 officials for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations slated to begin on January 9 with only one Nigerian, Samuel Pwadutakam, and he will work as an assistant referee? What a shame! Thank you, CAF and FIFA for splashing mud on our faces. Isn’t the Wikki/Sunshine sham enough evidence to justify both bodies’ decisions? I digress!

    The show of shame in Akure between Sunshine and Wikki is a reflection of how the game has been run year in the last six years – anything is possible just do it. Had the league organisers gotten a functional secretariat where members of staff knew their onions, relevant questions would have been raised and solutions sought over the status of Wikki and its players, after serving out punishment on transfer violations by FIFA. If the secretariat staff had sought clarifications on this matter, no letter would have been sent out scheduling match officials for the game. And both teams would have been adequately informed of the reasons for not playing the game. To leave the away team and the game’s officials to make a mockery of the rules with different laughable pronouncements left much to be desired.

    The organisers made matters worse by postponing the game indefinitely but with a caveat to review what happened before taking a decision in a match played in the first week. This needless compilation of games is the bane of the league which in no distant future some teams would be having outstanding games. If the organisers had constituted their relevant sub-committees, meetings would have been held virtually and a decision taken immediately. This would give the loser of the decision 48 hours to appeal the decision taken if they feel so aggrieved. The way things are in this matter is that political solutions would be applied in which there won’t be losers or victors. Off the cuff, a replay would be ordered. If so, why the delay?

    When you start having games postponed indefinitely from the first week, it shows how unserious the organisers can be. Otherwise, how else can anyone explain the fracas in Katsina after the home side lost 2-1 to Enugu Rangers? Of course, this isn’t the first time Katsina fans have run amok after watching their home team being beaten. In fact, Katsina is a seasonal black spot. Why then didn’t the organisers get the police to maintain adequate security before, during, and after the game? What does it take the organisers to write the Inspector General of Police seeking to have enough security operatives to maintain peace at match venues across the 36 States of the Federation and Abuja weekly during and after matches? Or are the organisers waiting until the venues become centres for carnage before doing the needful?

    We are being told that Enugu Rangers FC’s players were advised to remain inside the stadium to allow security operatives to disperse the crowd. Where were Katsina FC’s players? Inside the stadium too? Wasn’t it an unruly crowd that was dispersed by security operatives to pave way for the visitors’ exit from the stadium? What happened to the security architecture which ushered in Rangers into the stadium before the game began?

    No wonder it took the organisers under 60 hours to come up with the bizarre summation on what to expect from the Akure fiasco.  Yet, the mayhem in Katsina which should be the simplest to announce the banning of fans from the stadium, in the first instance, has attracted sealed lips and needless insinuations about what happened. The referees’ names ought to be made public for failing to send in their reports early, having known the circumstances under which they were rescued out of the stadium. If the league had television rights-holder(s), it would have been easier to catch the hooligans who took the laws into their hands. The rights holder would have gone for the master tape and submitted the tape to the security operatives to fish out the culprits.

    Again, another set of hooligans has been let loose because of the absence of video evidence capturing how they ran amok, leaving in their wake injured fans, players, passersby, and destroyed facilities. What this also shows is the lack of leadership among the organisers. This shouldn’t be allowed to continue unabated. The organisers should report the matter to the necessary security bodies, especially those whose men were on the ground to produce a preliminary report of what happened on that day.

    The Katsina show of shame shouldn’t be swept under the carpet. Katsina State Football Association (KSFA) officials should be invited by the investigating officers to state all they knew about the fracas since it primarily was their duty to ensure that the game was played under the stipulated guidelines. Pending the final report of what happened, Katsina United should be made to play behind closed doors to serve as a deterrent to their erratic supporters. What does it take for clubs to inform their owners (state government) that they need security operatives to man their gates? Just a phone call to the State’s commissioner of police.

    It is disheartening that no stadium in the country has CCTV fitted in the premises. Otherwise, it would have helped to fish out those bastards who held Enugu Rangers players and officials hostage inside the Katsina Stadium. Whereas the CCTV footage in the stadium in London on Wednesday in the games between Tottenham and West Ham helped the police to arrest five suspects, those who caused trouble in Katsina are walking free on the streets.

    The organisers should be ashamed of themselves for organising a league without television coverage for live games. Asides, from the fact that live games bring the league to the people in their living rooms, it also helps viewers to be educated on different talking points during matches and prevents urchins and beasts take the laws into their hands on the altar of

    being club fans or supporters. Participating teams make a lot of money from television rights. The organisers also use the platform to showcase their co-sponsors to ensure that all the facets of the competition are brought to the fore.

    The domestic league exists only in its name. Nothing to cheer for from the matches, except for the excruciating experience of the fans running through tear gas’ smoke to exit the stadium. Let’s not remind ourselves about the rickety ambulances in some centres with which have to be pushed to start. Or is it the painful scenario where uninformed urchins take the laws into their hands by beating referees to a stupor? Would the club officials say they don’t know those beasts who pummel the officials with cudgels and all manner of objects with the host club’s managers standing aloof?

    Referees should be encouraged to sue clubs that send touts to beat them. They should get justice, no matter the cost. The referee’s body should secure lawyers for them and refuse to discontinue such cases, no matter whose ox is gored. This idea of only asking clubs to pay assaulted referees’ hospital bills is not enough to save referees from violence.

    Dear reader, today is Christmas. Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year.

  • Christmas: Yesterday and today

    Christmas: Yesterday and today

    Today is Christmas, a regular day but a day with global import and impact, a globally unifying day and season. Somehow the day defies creed or race and is celebrated across cultures. It comes like a sign off of each year, the time to take stock, to let heads down, to bond with families and friends, a seeming unity in the global space, if you are not consuming, you are producing for those who consume. There is colour and beauty, a somewhat synergy between nature and man.

    Each growing human across the globe grows along the celebration and ambience of unity, bonding and sharing. In a world that politicians and some religious leaders use some divisive rhetoric for non-altruistic reasons, the celebration of Christmas seemingly disarms them even if momentarily. There is even the belief that crime and criminal activities are often at their lowest during the month of December because even the criminals and social misfits join in the celebrations.

    The Roundtable Conversation tried to dig into the significance and change in the celebration in a Nigerian context and decided to have a chat with some veterans who have celebrated a couple of Christmases to find out what Christmas meant before and whether there is a difference with what they experienced and the recent Christmases they have been blessed to live through.

    Prof. Adebayo  Williams is a scholar,  author and a veteran journalist who remembers his past Christmases with absolute nostalgia. Growing up, December to generation signified hope and not just the hope of eating rice which was not a staple food then even when it was even locally produced, Christmas was one of possibly the third time of the year that rice was joyously eaten in households that could afford it.  New Year, Easter and Christmas were the golden days  rice was joyously eaten with equally locally raised animals and birds like chicken.

    To him, was also purposeful governance then and that is missing all over the country today. So there were  always things to look up to with great enthusiasm and expectations. Then December truly marked the end of the academic year and those who did well and going to the next class were always in a joyous mood as they are often rewarded with gifts no matter how small while those who did not do so well took stock and learnt their lessons and took the failure as motivation to do better in future academic sessions.

    We also had a situation of no ethnic division at all and as such Christmas was a time of bonding beyond families in spite of differences in religion and ethnicity. Families shared their food and drinks with anyone in the neighbourhood irrespective of any social  or creed differences.  There were  no ethnic or religious polarizations unlike what obtains now.

    According to the Prof., possibly due to age or something he can’t possibly put his fingers on, it does not really feel like the Christmas they grew up anticipating and joyous to experience. He suggests it could be a result of the erosion of religious faith caused principally by enveloping materialism and the sheer brigandage of certain sections of the church as a body. They seem to have, through their actions caused people to lose hope and belief in the whole idea of Christmas.

    So the change in the idea of celebrations and Christmas is due to a combination of a lot of things most of them having great multiplier effects on the permeating tragedy and the mood of hopelessness.  Again the difference we the older generation seem to see could be tied to demographics. The younger ones seem not to miss what they never experienced.  A lot of the younger ones still look forward to Christmas. It could be that the older generation are more focused on what once were he thinks.

    In those days though, December marked the massive influx of holiday makers across the country. Then there were real unity schools and people were not afraid to send their children across states to study. There was order and there were expectations in the society of that period of bonding. It did seem that the social bonding was stronger then as even the cooking were shared experiences and sharing was seamlessly done. These days, that social bonding seems to have evaporated as fear and mutual suspicion reign supreme.

    Read Also: It’s yet another christmas: Lets ring in the common good

    As one who did the National Youth Service in the Eastern part of the country, coming home to Lagos for Christmas was pure joy as there was no fear of any form of insecurity at the time. It was joy to soak in the Christmassy ambience as the people trouped home from across the country creating a seeming carnival-like atmosphere  even on the roads with different banners announcing different events and social engagements.

    There was joy in observing the communities bubbling with festive spectacles with huge banners hung across the roads heralding the great funfair that comes with the season. Prof. vividly remembers his almost  exhilarating trips from Okigwe to Onitsha in the East and the joyous expressive expectations and hope seen as they journeyed to Lagos . It was awesome experiencing what looked like organic communities  in festivity.

    Even the climate had not suffered so much global warming as the harmattan weather provided the best cooling environment for some beer and palm wine as one journeyed across the land. One did not need to refrigerate beer.  It is sad but Prof believes that the change in the Christmas aura seems to be a global issue despite the unfortunate impact of covid-19. To some extent, there is a drift away from the belief in Christmas as people seem to care less about the reason for the season. To Prof., there may still be hope that the good times will be back but humanity must actively work towards that.

    Veteran actress, journalist, cosmetologist, broadcaster and the matriarch of Nigerian entertainment industry, Taiwo Ajai-Lycett believes that Christmas is now  like any other day of the year and merely signifies the end of the year. It is a joyous period to know that one has gone through the year. However, she believes a lot has changed and the camaraderie that existed during this period seems to have disappeared. The insecurity in the land has robbed people of the freedom to joyously bond and share joy. A marked difference from the past she grew up in. The social ills like kidnapping, bombings and sundry crimes were almost non-existent when she was growing up and as such, the joy, the friendliness, the freedom to bond and have a laugh within communities are all gone.

    When we were growing up, there were things associated with Christmas, the camaraderie, the new clothes and shoes that were only bought for kids at Christmas were enough to create great expectations. The street celebrations that brought forth artistic displays like singing and dancing that lifted spiritsand taught lessons are all gone. Everybody is quiet and keeping their heads down. There is paucity of funds and very few people care for their neighbor these days.

    There are too many ostentatious spenders, consumerists who just enjoy themselves without caring what happens to other people these days. In Lagos for instance, those living in highbrow areas like Banana Island and Ajah seem to mind their own comfort without knowing or caring what is happening to the masses in their neighborhoods.  So Christmas is not what it used to be but on a personal level she tries to share what  with neighbors because that is what she grew up doing and expect others to care a bit about others too. That is what Christmas is about.

    Doing what I do is my idea of carrying on with the tradition which is sharing with your neighbours. I love the old tradition of the Easterners travelling to the East to be with their communities to celebrate Christmas and New Year . It is sad that people due to the economic hardships have little for themselves this year and it does not help that Covid-19 threw spanner in the works in the past eighteen months. Many people are ill, dead or dying and some with the new Omicron virus.

    It is not a happy period in the world generally but we must not lose hope. The governments especially in Africa must help the people. We must be thankful for our lives but governments must be proactive.

    Taiwo Ajai-Lycett believes all hope is not lost. Governments to her must rebuild the hope of the people by being more deliberate in their policy formulations and executions in ways that the people would have better hope and experience more joy some of which gets to its zenith during the Christmas season. She believes that as humans we must do our best to create and nurture hope.

    To her, security of lives and property inspires hope and would return the good old Christmas spirit that inspired family and community bonding that makes it safer to relate and bond as community. The onus is on the government to inspire hope not just through speeches but through concrete functional actions.  The people seem helpless and the government can and must stick their fingers out to fix the security situation. Declaring public holidays for festivities is good but it is better to create a functional system that can make the holidays valuable too.

    The Roundtable Conversation believes that these two veterans have shared valuable wisdom on the great changes about Christmas celebrations before and now. It behooves of the governments at all levels to help the people regain that sense of hope and joy that the season brings. It has nothing to do with creed or race. Peace and progress happen when the people joyously have look up to tomorrow. The increased cases of depression and suicide especially amongst the most productive sector of the economy are traceable to the erosion of hope and expectations of a joyous tomorrow in general. Happy Christmas dear Readers.

    The dialogue continues…

  • Jandor: New party, fresh trouble

    Jandor: New party, fresh trouble

    It is no longer news that members of the Lagos4Lagos Movement left the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) for the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) with visioner, Dr. Olajide Adediran, expressing confidence that he will use the platform of his new party to win the governorship of Lagos State.

    But it appears Jandor, as he is fondly called, may have miscalculated as Sentry gathered some leaders of the Lagos PDP have expressed disappointment that the national leadership is forcing Adediran and the group on the state chapter.

    “They have made it clear that Adediran should not think that the Lagos PDP’s governorship ticket for the 2023 elections would be given to him,” a source said.

    Specifically, Sentry learnt that a chieftain of the party, Dr. Adetokunbo Pearse, has warned the PDP’s national leadership not to create more crises in the party by promising Adediran the governorship ticket.

    He is particularly miffed that Jandor and his group ignored the leaders and elders of the party in Lagos while discussing with people outside the state on their plan to join the party.

    For Jandor who left APC in pursuit of his governorship ambition, the current development within the PDP is worrisome and sources close to him say the young politician and his associates are now worried over his political future.

    “This isn’t what we bargained for. But we are hoping to reach out to them and sort things out,” an aide told Sentry on Thursday.

    Read Also: APC, PDP clash over loans

     

    Bribe-for-ticket allegation: When will Obaseki speak?

     

    FOR the umpteenth time, the outgoing leadership of the PDP has asked Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, to explain to Nigerians, particularly party members, the process that led to his nomination as governorship candidate of the party.

    They also want him to tell the truth about the allegation of bribery made against NWC members.

    The allegation was made in June 2020, by Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, when his Commissioner of Information, Paulinus Nsirim, accused them of being tax collectors.

    On several occasions, some members of the NWC, including the outgoing national chairman, Prince Uche Secondus, have called on Obaseki to reveal the truth of the matter. But mum has been the word from the Edo governor.

    National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan, who spoke for NWC members on the allegation, at a valedictory session during the week reiterated the need for Obaseki to break his silence on the matter, saying: “Let me state without mincing words that the Governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki, owes members of this NWC the responsibility of clearing our names before the public.

    “I will like to place on record that this NWC did not demand any form of gratification from Obaseki before he got the ticket. It is also important to restate that this NWC did not demand any form of ‘tax’ from Obaseki neither did we collect same. He, therefore, owes it a duty to clear our names.”

    But will Obaseki take up the challenge and clear the air? The world is waiting.