The Nation Newspaper

Category: Saturday

  • Leaders, opinions and dissent

    Dayo Sobowale

     

    NOTHING illustrates the  right of dissent  more forcefully  than the Impeachment trial of US President Donald Trump  going on in the US  even  as he himself was at  the World Economic Forum  in  Davos, Switzerland,  blasting climate activists as ‘prophets of doom ‘  when the theme of the Davos meeting itself was Climate Change . Democracy  thrives on differing opinions, the management of which forms the kernel of political  stability in many  democracies in the world,  both old and new .  It  is in this light that I see the middle line opinion of APC Leader Jagaban Bola Ahmed Tinubu  on the Amotekun  issue  which  is the most  discussed issue in Nigeria today.  A  political  science  dictum  commends free speech  as the kernel of human rights and democracy  but nevertheless  warns for restraint by saying that  even   on free  speech, ‘your freedom ends  where  my  nose begins ‘.  That  is the guiding light of  our  discussion  of  today.

    We shall look  today   at the proceedings at the US Senate on Impeachment   as  well  as the import  of Trumps’ climate  change  opinion.  We  shall    also  examine Tinubu’s opinion on Amotekun   in the context  of our regionalism  and state creating apparatus.

    On  the US Trump Impeachment saga the Impeachment Managers  were presenting the case for Trump  to be found guilty for abuse of power and obstruction of justice at press time. That was boring and  just a rehash of what  transpired at the House of Reps culminating in the Impeachment verdict. The difference this time was that the US Chief Justice was moderating as required by the constitution and the venue was the US Senate  where Trump’s party holds  the ace in terms of majority. In  the US House   of   Reps dominated by the Democrats, the Impeachment proceedings  showed clearly that majority opinion can stiffen and  castrate dissent  mercilessly. The  Democrats  know this hence their near  violent language as Impeachment Managers  in  anticipating collusion of the senate majority  with the White House, when this was to be expected,  as a dose of their own medicine in the process of finding the 45TH US  president  guilty  of Impeachment in the Lower  House. The  US Impeachment  in both US forum  of legislative power has shown that dissent  can  be an orphan in the face of majority  power and that  while  success has many  fathers, failure is an  orphan.  This is the cruel  political  fact that the Democrats are  about to  find  out  after they have  finished their  jobs  as Impeachment Managers in the  US  senate.

    On  the Jagaban’s  comment on Amotekun, the APC leader simply  and clearly  called for restraint on both sides which are the SW governors and the Attorney  General  of  the Federation –AGF. The   Governors  called his reaction objective, even  as they are aware  that he had in a way  chided and offered sanctuary  somewhat  to  the errant AGF.  Given   the  fact   that  the AGF   is  also  an  agent  of  the APC  government  in power,  and   with  the APC leader in harness, that   was   to  be expected.  That  was also   a good political  and diplomatic  statement  and the governors have reacted in kind.  Still  as they   say  in  socialist  circles in  those days of the Cold War – ‘ a  luta continua,’  which means  ‘the struggle  continues’ on the  realization of the goals and  objectives of Amotekun, a clear security and  survival strategy  in the SW environment  of the Nigerian nation and  federation.

    Indeed,  the  Jagaban’s reaction  could   be likened to that of the Awujale   of  Ijebu  Ode during the Abacha regime when he visited  the  military dictator  in  Aso  Rock and watched a video implicating the No. 2 man in the military  regime in an aborted  coup.  The  tactful but  brave Awujale simply    and reportedly  said –‘  We  have seen  the video,  but he is our son’.  That  could  be the nature of the meeting point between the APC leader and the Amotekun issue.

    Anyway,   in mentioning regionalism  and advocating individual  state approach to the Amotekun issue the  APC leader opened  another pandoras box on security and political  history of not only  of  the SW  in   particular   but Nigeria at  large.  With  that  comes  nostalgia  for Nigeria’s glorious years of Regions after independence  in 1960   when true and committed leaders led the nation till  the military  coup of January 1966. From  four regions we evolved into   first,  12  states under the military with its line command,  unitary  system  till  we  created 36  states  with   dubious census figures that defy demography and the   powerful,  incessant   but   unstoppable North – South migration  that  has made Lagos a congested Megacity and the South west a bottleneck of Nigerians  fleeing starvation  from the more hostile environments of our sprawling hinterland.

    Yet  Nigerians living in our more arid, hostile environments   driven   out by the  creeping, deadly  Sahel  desert   are said  by the census figures to be more than the people in the areas they are  fleeing to down south.  Such  figures have been used to gerrymander and create states and allocate  national  revenue  and run the   policy  of federal  character on national  assignments and appointments. This    lopsided, inadequacy  and injustice  led to the clamor for restructuring by concerned Nigerians who  did not have the  guts to  call  for a Confederation.  Migration  creates the problem of identity and a threat of displacement and inadequate  resources.  It is driving the US to close its borders. It  created Brexit in Britain which colonially created our initial  regions and left  with the deadly  advice that those who seek power or were given  it should make it a game of numbers in the allocation and creation of polling booths for political  power, competition and participation.  That  has created  a security  situation in terms of  political  leadership today  and is at the heart of the many regional  groups that have emerged to  promote regional  interests and security  today.  That  indeed is the root  of the Amotekun   issue   that  has generated such  concern and which Myetti  Allah, a  Northern,   occupational, migratory but provocative body  is using for political blackmail especially with the 2023 elections.  Myetti  Allah   should  be told  that  its right   to  free  speech   ends where the nose of the SW begins. It  should mind its language   on Amotekun   and respect   the   obvious   fact,  which  nomads  may  not    know , value  or respect,  that a man’s house  is his castle. Surely,   the struggle continues on Amotekun  in spite  of the odds or avoidable obstructions.

    Again we go back  to  Donald  Trump  and his views on  both  climate  change and more recently on  abortion given  the news that  he would be attending an anti abortion march  some where in the US in the coming days. The reality with Trump  on these  two  issues revolve around  the policies of the Obama Administration  that  Trump  succeeded. Trump  is against  any legacy of the Obama Administration  and  that includes  both topics. Calling for optimism on climate change  may  not necessarily  be an economic support  for fossil fuel  in Trump’s  case but another opportunity to put the lights out on another Obama legacy.

    Which  in this case shows that dissent by a powerful  leader  may  change  world  views on some global  agenda as Trump  has shown so  powerfully  on Climate Change  at Davos  as well as Globalisation  and   World  Trade  in his now many,  famous  but  impactful  battles  on   tariffs with both enemies and allies  alike, especially  China.  Whether one likes  Trump  or not, his opinion matters on world issues both personally and  officially,  and that could  be a contributory  factor on how even  his impeachment trial  evolved. Especially with his  use of tweeter  to give opinions  and run  policies both domestically  and   internationally.  In  Trump’s  case dissent  may  be so  powerful that it can drown  majority power  and that  too  is  simple  pragmatic politics  that  one can only  marvel  or sneer  at, depending on how you  see the American president. Once  again, long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

     

  • #Bring back Anthony Joshua

    Ade Ojeikere

     

    The biggest Public Relations (PR) tool any nation can use to sharpen the world’s perception of what obtains there beyond the biases of fifth columnists is sports – it is free of prejudice. It is an emotive thing. Responses on sporting arenas are spontaneous and they stick for life. Sports is a massive movement of enthusiasts who stick to their convictions, even in troubled times. Sadly, the Nigerian leadership has been unable to visualise the connection of governance with sports. The latest of such missed opportunity was Saturday’s reception with world boxing champion Anthony Joshua in London.

    When Joshua beat Andy Ruiz, the sports minister Sunday Dare, in the euphoria of the comeback victory by the Nigeria-born, wanted the world champion to visit President Muhammadu Buhari in Aso Rock, to help sustain his dream of being a true Nigerian, not the British-born toga when things are rosy or the derogatory Nigeria-born when caught in acts of misconduct. Sunday Dare wanted to use the hot-iron theory by ensuring that Nigeria hosted the champion before his British counterparts. It didn’t happen, but the process of getting Joshua to be in Nigeria with his belts began, raising the adrenalin of renowned Nigerian marketers and big firms desirous to link the goods and services of their clients with a global brand called Anthony Joshua.

    Joshua apologised for stalling on the arrangement with Sunday Dare, which emboldened the resolve of those marketers to sustain their plans, especially when he promised to be back in the country middle of January or was it February. The date was tentative because Joshua cancelled the Sunday Dare arrangement to meet with his hitherto planned meetings (before the fight plans) with his sponsors and business partners. Wise supporters who  put their cash and services where the mouths were wanted to savour the sweetness of a brand they had invested in, but suffered a momentary blip with the first loss to Ruiz last year.

    A thank you visit by the world champion to President Buhari in Nigeria, not London, in an Olympic year, would have helped raised the image of our sports globally. In fact, the windows for bilateral relations for such a visit are huge. This writer was, therefore, shocked when pictures emerged last Saturday, with Joshua prostrating (good home training) before President Buhari inside a small room compared to his global reputation. I looked around the hall or is it room and saw government functionaries. No reputable television stations to capture the visit of a world champion to the President of Africa’s most populous country. What we relied on back home were pictures dropped in the social media by the president’s official photographer and an amateur video recording done by some of those present in the room. My heart sank.

    Again, I flipped through the pictures I didn’t see the sports minister. I knew immediately where we got it wrong. Those who factored the commendable meet the President stunts with Joshua ought to have included the sports minister in the trip. For all that the exercise was worth, we couldn’t get any form of commitment from the world champion towards the development of the fistic trade here. Naming the boxing hall inside the Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola Stadium in Abuja after Joshua would have given the game the breath of fresh air it requires now. We also lost the best chance to officially invite Joshua to come to Nigeria where he would be celebrated by Nigerians, including taking a trip round each of the 36 states and Abuja, flaunting his belts.

    We have a window to redeem ourselves, which includes getting Joshua to make his next title defence happen in Nigeria. The pre-fight hypes and marketing blitz associated with such important boxing encounters would keep Nigeria in the focal view before, during and after the epoch event. This kind of fight could ignite interest in the fistic trade that has diminished since the late Dick Tiger era.

    An international title defence involving Joshua would open a new vista for sports marketers and event managers to understudy the innovations such an event comes with. Of course, the foreign firms that have such relationships with Brand Joshua would be willing to open new outlets here for as long as Joshua keeps winning titles.

    Joshua’s visit to the president was a welcome development but it delayed the process of Buhari bestowing on the boxer with a befitting national award, typical of what the British government gave him last year. There can’t be a better way to ‘reclaim’ Joshua than with such a high honour that would make the headlines in the media. Of course, in accepting the award, the boxer would make commitments that would raise the bar for boxing in terms of equipment, facilities and sponsorship. Need I state the fact that our firms would eagerly want to do business with their foreign counterparts?

    Visualise Joshua holding the National Sports Festival’s torch and trotting towards the Games’ bowl to light up the torch and the attendant crowd around him on his way up, then you would appreciate why the sports minister and the Edo State government, headed by Governor Godwin Obaseki, should be supported to get the world champion in Benin City to actualise this novel dream.

    The talk that Joshua didn’t participate in the National Sports Festival is bunkum if we must raise the profile of the Games. I had the unique privilege to carry the London 2012 Olympic Games torch around Birmingham, London, with several world beaters such as the late Muhammed Ali et al. I wasn’t an Olympian before I did that. So what stops Joshua from lighting the Edo 2020 National Sports Festival’s torch inside the Samuel Osaigbovo Ogbemudia stadium in Benin City in March, with pomp and ceremony?

    Sports and its ancillary parts would grow in geometric projections if our administrators think outside the box. And this includes copying the way things are done in other climes.

     

    And this…

    Femi Fani-Kayode is at it again. The former Minister of Aviation took to his twitter page to lambast Anthony Joshua for prostrating before President Buhari.  Femi’s tweet read: “I find this behaviour utterly repulsive and disgusting. Prostrating for his slave-master, a blood-thirsty dictator and tyrant who is viciously prosecuting and humiliating his people. What a crying shame. This speaks volume. He has lost me.”

    I think Femi has gone beyond redemption with this derogatory remarks about President Buhari and Joshua. This is sports, and it does not mix with politics. Anthony Joshua has only proven to be a true African with proper home training. He recognises the blessings inherent in giving honour to whom it is due. I think Femi should be humble enough to learn from the young man and also learn to control his vituperations. You can’t claim to be civilised and enlightened and use terrible adjectives on a fellow human. Oh I forgot, Femi, perhaps suffers from mouth diarrhoea since his mouth was not mopped with hot cloth (won ko fi aso mo enu Femi ni kekere) at birth.

     

    Clap for Ndidi

    Please don’t wake me up from this dream. I’ve been pinching myself daily to find out if what I have read in the newspapers are not fairytales. Each time I visit the internet, I read Leicester City’s players’, coaches’, fans’ and officials’ comments acknowledging a Nigerian’s awesome contributions to the team’s fortunes this European season. The proud Nigerian is Wilfred Ndidi, a young kid from one of the backstreets in Nigeria, showing the world that several things are good in this polity.

    “He’s so valuable to us,” Brendan Rodgers revealed. “That type of player, especially at this time of the season, is vital for you. He’s improved. If you look at how he plays, it’s not just his aggression and his defensive side – he’s always available for the ball.

    “He’s constantly on it and gets us playing forward and defending forward. There are not too many better than him who do that job. He’s a phenomenal player. So to have him back, and early, is a huge boost. It’s great, great news for us.”

    It sounds like fiction to read and hear commentaries which recognise Ndidi as the pivot of Leicester, not Jamie Vardy, foxes’ top scorer with 17 goals in the current Barclays English Premier League. Happily, Ndidi returned to the pitch and played for 60 minutes, with Leicester winning handsomely by 4-1 against strugglers West Ham, thus confirming what a gem Ndidi is to the Foxes.

    Following the clash, Rodgers praised Ndidi’s remarkable return, while he was also satisfied with his performance. “It’s remarkable, really,” the Leicester City boss said after the game, according to quotes from Goal.

    “We were thinking he could only play 25-30 minutes. Obviously, he was fine to come on and play a full hour. He is genetically blessed, and he recovered very, very well. And he was excellent, Rodgers added.

    Welcome from your injury spell. Thank you for making Nigerians proud in Europe.

  • How Power Minister lost out in power play with subordinates

    By Sentry

    These are not the best of times for the Minister of Power, Sale Mamman. Twice within two weeks did he suspend a subordinate and twice was his decision reversed by the Presidency.

    First was the minister’s suspension of the Managing Director of the Rural Electrification Agency (REA), Damilola Ogunbiyi, which the Presidency reversed via a tweet in which it explained that President Muhammadu Buhari had accepted Ogunbiyi’s resignation to enable her take up an appointment with the United Nations Organisation (UN).

    The reversal of Ogunbiyi’s suspension was followed by President Buhari’s reversal of Mamman’s dismissal of the boss of the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Company Limited (NBET), Marilyn Amobi.

    Findings made by Sentry, however, revealed that the Minister lost out in the power game at the Presidential Villa because he drew the ire of the fabled cabal in the Buhari administration with a statement he issued alleging that the sacked bosses of REA and NBET were members of the cabal.

    Members of the said cabal were said to have been peeved that Mamman, who himself is a beneficiary of the cabal, could turn round to taunt them, hence their decision to show him the red flag.

    At press time, the minister was battling for survival because the ‘cabal’ was said to be out for a fight-to-the-finish.

    Already, he has lost the control of NBET to the Minister of Finance, Hajiya Zainab Ahmed. But will he also lose his office? Only time will tell.

  • Cheap talk and league venues’ beasts

    By Ade Ojeikere

    I deliberately refused to comment on what transpired at the awards ceremony in Egypt last week where Nigeria international and captain of the country’s female senior side, Asisat Oshoala, was voted Africa’s best player in the women’s category. Oshoala’s eventual choice as the Africa Women Footballer of the Year, for a record fourth time, was devoid of votes from her countrymen and women designated to vote for the shortlisted players, teams and countries across all categories.

    For this writer, Oshoala’s choice without Nigeria’s input underscored qualities that have seen the former Arsenal star change clubs in recent times in Europe. Not many foreigners can match Oshoala’s seeming nomadic movement occasioned by her performance. Oshoala joined Liverpool, got recruited to play for Arsenal and was transferred to Dalian Quanjian F.C, only for Barcelona to offer her better terms, which she couldn’t resist. Need I remind readers that only last week, she scored four goals in a  game which Barca’s female side won by 6-0?

    Since the voting pattern was made public, the brickbats against the voters was expected and their reasons for not making her first choice in their scorecards are understandable. What I don’t like is the crossfire between Oshoala and one of the voters. If I was in Oshoala’s shoes, I will strive to win the diadem for the fifth time and for as many more times as God will allow me remain in the game.

    Oshoala shouldn’t be engaged in such cheap talk as joining issues with the Nigerians who didn’t vote for her, since they did so professionally, like they have told us. My only question to the voters is how were they chosen to vote for the country? Was it on merit, based on their credentials as former footballers, or what? If they are sincere with themselves, they should have known that they were handpicked at the behest of an individual’s perception of what they represent, not that there was a selection exercise open to Nigerians.

    I was not shocked at the diabolical decisions, given the way they were chosen to represent us at the voting exercise. I hope those who professionally didn’t vote for Oshoala as the best female player in Africa for 2019 won’t in the future ask us to vote for them, their friends, relations or their interests? We are waiting.

    What happened to Oshoala isn’t new in CAF’s affairs. Till date, no Nigerian who has held any office at CAF, or even FIFA, got government’s or NFF’s backing; they got the positions through their own personal connections. Could this then be the reason why they have always represented their own selfish interests and not the good of the game in Nigeria? So the cheap talk of voting according to their consciences is bunkum. Are they saying they have not been following Oshoala’s career? Did they not know that at some point last year Oshoala was nursing an injury which affected her game for the country?  Oshoala’s move from Arsenal to Barcelona was based on what, if I may ask these professional voters?

    How about this joke on one of the voters  who placed Oshoala in fifth position thinking it had the highest points. One wonders why this voter didn’t look at the points allotted to positions 1, 2, 3, and 4. If she did, she would’ve seen the descending order in which the points were allotted. Possibly, this voter needs eye glasses to see properly.

    Nigeria’s representatives to CAF inter-club matches wobbled at home, with Enyimba’s 4-1 victory against Paradou AC of Algeria in Aba last weekend being the talking points, though the threats from the People’s Elephants’ supporters were seemingly cheap. The fans wanted the club’s chairman Felix Anyansi-Agwu to quit, insisting that they needed a new dawn in the team’s management.

    Such is life Anyansi-Agwu. Where were these fans when the journey started some 20 years ago? Can’t they evaluate your achievements with Enyimba culminating in the 28 trophies the side won under your watch? Are matches not about winning, losing and drawing games? Even Liverpool FC of England that is unbeaten till date, lost a game against Napoli in the group stages of the UEFA Champions League. Liverpool’s fans didn’t pull the roof of Anfield Stadium down because the team has not won the Barclays English Premier league’s diadem in the last 29 years. Growing clubs to stardom requires patience and good planning. These indices come with time, dear Enyimba fans.

    Perhaps, Heartland FC of Owerri’s 2-0 away victory over Enyimba in Aba midweek would teach the home fans a lesson of appreciating whatever you get from a game. They shouted to the roof top about Anyansi-Agwu’s continuous stay at Enyimba despite watching the squad beat Paradou AC of Algeria in Aba.

    Poor Anyansi-Agwu. Not to take any prisoner, he fired back to the fans in a post-match interview thus: “Everything that happens, they focus on Anyansi-Agwu and blame me, thinking it is all about me, probably because I have stayed up to 20 years, people are tired of me, maybe they now want me out, I am considering to go. I would not want to leave Enyimba and expect it to go down, so there is no way I can wish that; that is why we are taking time. It is not wrong to criticise us because no man is an island, we are open to learning every day,’’ Good talk Anyansi-Agwu.

    When you criticise a system here, those who should effect the changes resort to cheap talk of the writer doing the bidding of his paymaster. But like a sore thumb, the problems keep hitting our all-knowing officials on the face. The sports administrators’ saving grace so far is that nobody has been killed at league venues by those beasts who take the laws into their hands to cause mayhem and maim people. The saddening part of these urchins’ bestial acts is that nobody gets punished, no one gets caught and the teams get a slap on the wrists.

    But must our league administrators wait until Nigerians lose their lives at league venues to do what is right? Repeatedly, I have highlighted the flaw of having only 50 security operatives carrying batons to quell riots at a venue of over 5,000 irate fans. they would be overwhelmed, except to fire live bullets to scare the fans. These beasts know how to run

    through teargas with handkerchief soaked in kerosene. These buffoons with handkerchief tied around the nostrils, take delight in picking the teargas’ canisters and haul them back at the security operatives. Such is the devilish scenes you find at venues where the fans have gone gaga.

    On Wednesday night, I spent a long time trying to confirm if truly fans were killed in the home game between Katsina United and Kano Pillars. I saw scary pictures of blood-soaked men on WhatsApp being treated by doctors in hospitals. The quest for more information to avoid being an alarmist brought forth pictures of irate fans wielding all manner of weapons, raising the poser of where they got the dangerous objects from.

    The swiftness in which the mayhem boiled overshadowed which of the two supporters was responsible for the show of shame. It explains further why the league organisers are dragging their feet over the issue of live coverage of matches on television in Nigeria, like we find in other climes. is it not also true that matches involving both teams have been volatile? So, what is new with what happened in Katsina on Wednesday? Inept league organisers, no doubt.

    A proactive organisation would have increased the level of surveillance of the stadium, considering the closeness of the two teams, which accounted for the huge crowd at the venue. I still cannot understand why the league organisers cannot establish a relationship with the Nigeria Police Commissioners in states where game are played for maximum security before, during and after matches.

    A league where fans run through tear gas fired by security operatives to prevent mayhem isn’t one to attract positive comments from the globe. A league where 50 wiry security operatives with batons are trying to stop 3000 rampaging fans from beating up a referee, shows who the organisers are – jesters.

    Nothing seems to be new because these same characters run the competition yearly. Those who run the domestic game have the penchant for signing MOUs. They enjoy listening to themselves. Those with dissenting views don’t know what it takes to run the game. But this writer won’t give up until the right personnel are put in place.

    The first thing that stadia where games are played need urgently is CCTVs which can’t be destroyed to cover up malpractices. Besides, any stadium that is slated to host games must build special exit gates that will make it absolutely impossible to access the referees before, during and after matches. Any harm inflicted on match referees will translate to 10 points deduction from the offender’s total. Such a defaulting club should not be allowed to play in that venue for one year.

    With a live coverage of the domestic league, it will be easier to identify where a problem began. Those running the league met an existing television right sponsor and a title owner of the league. What happened to these two bodies which funded the operations of the organising body?

    Liverpool has a game against Manchester United at Anfield, I’m sure that the level of surveillance would be stronger than what it used to be for less popular clubs. The security chiefs would have considered the rivalry between both teams and drawn a plan that would start from where the two teams reside.

  • Fifty years of unheeded civil war lessons

    By UnderTow

    It is difficult to gauge just how sincerely Nigerians have conducted their annual talk festival on the lessons learnt from the civil war that began in 1967 and ended in 1970. But 50 years of such reflections, and despite an avalanche of organised symposia and intervening ethnic and religious skirmishes presaging danger, nothing concrete has been done to come to terms with the past, let alone understand the present or prepare for the future. The emphasis has always, it seems, been on economic development, almost as if the problems that led to the war could be framed wholly as an economic issue, or that once development occurs and is guaranteed, disagreements and misunderstandings would pale into insignificance.

    In the circumstance, neither development, at least on a level that satisfies the ambiguous criteria of peace, nor concrete and sensible steps have been taken to resolve the issues that divide the country and predispose it to instability. In early January 1967, after about six tumultuous months of fierce disagreement between the country’s ruling military elite, a conference was agreed for Aburi, Ghana, to tackle the misunderstanding between ethnic groups and find a way to restore peace that was lost after the coup and countercoup of 1966. The two coups were in turn followed by a severe ethnic-fuelled disturbance that led to pogrom directed against the Igbo, particularly in the northern part of the country.

    Though three key elements, among many peripheral others, were agreed in the course of the two-day Aburi conference, neither side to the dispute appeared satisfied with the outcome of the negotiations and the capacity of the agreement to resolve the logjam and broken trust that lingered after the coups.

    But despite the misgivings, the Yakubu Gowon regime still promulgated Decree 8 of 1967 to enact a far-reaching accommodation and resolution of the grievances enunciated by Emeka Ojukwu, the then Military Governor of the Eastern Region and eventual leader of the Biafra secessionist bid. It was reasoned at the time that as short-sighted as Decree 8 was, it actually largely satisfied the Igbo demands for the restoration of peace. But Col Ojukwu and his men thought otherwise.

    However, regardless of the failure of both the Aburi Accord and Decree 8 to restore peace and realign the country for stability and development, it was expected that after exhausting themselves in a needless war between 1967 and 1970, the country’s leaders would find ways of coming to terms with the causes and lessons of the civil war, and more crucially find a closure.

    Sadly, not only was that conciliatory spirit lacking in the 1960s in the heat of the upheavals that shook the republic, it was also lacking in the 1970s after the war, and is now even more lacking five decades later. The country, today, has seemed to be restored to the acrimonious default setting of the 1960s, and the disagreements between ethnic groups and religions, not to say the lack of real enthusiasm to talk peace and find solutions, have become exacerbated.

    Since 1970 and about five military regimes later, and an interim government and four elected presidents soon after, the culture of imposition and aversion to real democratic fundamentals have been embarrassingly evident. Worse, there is an abiding failure to understand the nature and content of the issues that predispose the country to paroxysms of rage and disagreements.

    Both failings are capped by a lack of leadership imagination and vision regarding what should be done to arrest the continuous drift to the precipice, and how urgent the problems confronting the country are. Consequently, and as a barometer of the intensity of the problems facing the nation, worried members of the leadership elite have warned darkly of war and the impossibility of surviving a second civil war. No one seems to pay heed.

    Indeed, in the past few years, the problems have worsened. Not only do the Igbo still consider themselves alienated, whether they brought it upon themselves or not, the bitterness they still nurse is seething and acidic. In addition, the power struggle that engendered animosity and deadly display of violence between ethnic groups in the 1960s is still a poignant reminder to the intractability of today’s politics.

    Its resilience as a factor in destabilising the national ethos calls for intensive engagements between the groups and between classes. It meant that the country was yet to find a solution to its complex challenges, and the solution, as it is becoming more evident by the day, is partly or even essentially structural. In any case, it calls for discussions, for understanding, for patience — anything but living in denial and assuming incomprehensibly that the country could conceivably be cajoled into peace. If 50 years could not engender peace, why would the elite imagine that they need more time, or that they have not already run out of time?

    There have been debates in recent years over which political system between the Westminster model and presidential system would best serve the interest of a multiethnic and multireligious society like Nigeria. There have also been passionate discussions about whether the country could be restructured without jeopardising unity and peace. Such debates will continue until Nigerian leaders summon the courage to convoke a realistic forum to frontally tackle the issues that divide and weaken the country. The independence constitution was not perfect, but it is even harder to surmise, in light of recent experience, that constitutions since then have met the yearnings and aspirations of Nigerians.

    The country’s leaders must summon the courage and wisdom to honestly examine the system they think they are running, whether it is a federal system or a unitary system. They must then proceed to determine whether it is not possible to find a constitutional and structural balance, or even an entirely new system, to void the feeling of alienation by any part of the country.

    Maintaining the status quo is absolutely not an option. The Northeast has erupted in insurgency and widespread banditry; the Southeast is in ferment; and by deliberate provocation, the government at the centre is nudging the Southwest into revolt. It is much better to acknowledge that things are not working than to be forced to find answers to the destabilisation erupting in different parts of the country. Once the government loses the initiative, it will be difficult to regain it.

    But it seems that the government is proceeding from the flawed premise that the bloodletting and sufferings that accompanied the civil war do not constitute enough deterrence to another conflagration. It does not, unhappily. As recent events have shown in all parts of the country, the dire and unstable situation is not being ameliorated; it is getting worse. There is no way the government can restore peace in both the rural and urban spaces of Nigeria; the problem is too deep and the fracture too unstable to answer to the leadership elite’s despairing palliatives.

    Few among the youths are deterred by the bloodletting of the past, a fact the government may just be starting to appreciate, despite its hubris. What the government may, however, not quite appreciate is that the kind of unanimity that preceded the last war and enabled the government of the day to prosecute it does not exist anymore. Nor, if a war were to break out, could any section of the country hope in this day and age to win it, given the strategic and tactical options available to potential rebels. These national shortcomings impose a great obligation upon the leaders to find and nurture the basis of Nigerian unity, rather than unwisely assume that it cannot or must not be questioned or challenged.

    Disturbingly, the contradictions in the country, like the dispute over the legality of Operation Amotekun, a Southwest instrument to tackle banditry and criminality in the region, are beginning to rear their heads. If the federal government glosses over the problems and continues to portray itself as a defender and promoter of sectional interest, a fresh misunderstanding as to the interpretation of the constitution may not be far-fetched.

    Inch by inch, and step by step, the government could start to lose credibility as well as the neutrality it sorely needs to mediate disagreements within the polity. And, who knows, apocalypse might just be around the corner, indeed much nearer than imagined. The time to talk and do something about the differences in the country is now. It is strange that 50 unstable and boisterous years after the war is not nearly a long time enough to encourage Nigerian leaders to lose all their inhibitions and take firm remedial measures to restructure and realign the country for great achievements. Is it just fear or foolishness? Or both?

  • Survival, security and politics

    By Dayo Sobowale

    In Nigeria today the in thing or buzz word to  discuss is the Amotekun  issue which  is explosive because the learned Attorney  General  had dismissed the security outfit set up by the South West  Governors as illegal   and Nigerians, especially enlightened  ones too  are  literally asking for the scalp  of our No  1  law  officer  for saying the abominable  or  unthinkable.

    I  have  no intention of mediating in this issue or  disagreement indeed  I  could  complicate it because I  do  not think it is an  issue  worthy  of the  furore it has generated. This  is because Amotekun is about  security  and no one in  the South West  needs  the permission of  a  lawyer  to arrange    the security of his life and property  not to talk of  Governors  who  were voted in and sworn in   to protect the lives and properties of those who  gave them  power.

    The  Attorney  General  is not an elected leader but an appointee of an elected party just as the Governors he is mocking have appointed lawyers like  him as their  respective Attorneys  General.

    On  this  Amotekun issue  I want to refer the AGF to  the National  Geographic Survival  Series  to  show  him  that  survival  is as much a case  of security  as it is that  of  life and death. The  leopard  or panther  chasing  his prey at  high speed is exerting energy optimally  so  that  he can catch that prey  and replenish  its lost  energy by  feeding  on the prey. If  he misses the prey  and his food he could die of hunger from  exhaustion. Bandits, kidnappers,  armed herdsmen  have stolen, looted and raped the South West  for long  such  that it  has become  weakened and enfeebled  such that it  does  not  die from  starvation and  exhaustion from looted and wasted energy. The  Amotekun outfit is an answer by the  South West  governors  to raise a fallen,    prostrate leopard  which  had  been  hacked  and    enfeebled   by hunger and anger  and is about to die in the process of living in an unproductive  and hostile  environment  which  had always given  food,  succor and shelter in abundance   to the Amotekun environment.

    I  want  to  illustrate  the fact that  Amotekun is both a survival  and security  matter  with  two  international  but  topical  issues in three   nations facing  the twin  issues just  this last  week. The  nations  are Iran,  the US  and  Iran. These  nations  are  facing their own  politics and governance  and are  evolving solutions just  as the South West governors  did   for  the survival  and  security of their  environment.

    In  Iran which  blundered its retaliation against  the killing  of General  Quassim  Soulemaini by the Americans by shooting down a passenger plane carrying  mostly  Iranians and people  from four other nations, the highest  authority in Iran  Ayyatolah  Khameini  absolved  the Military Islamic  Revolutionary  guards which  made the error of blame saying the Americans were happy  at the error  as they  were happy  at the assassination of the Iranian  general.  Does  that  make  sense  that  a military  out fit can be so  incompetent  as to be killing its people and yet go unpunished and scot free? But  then  the Ayatollah and the Islamic  state  depends  on the  Revolutionary  Guards   for their  security  and survival   against the rumblings and grumblings of the larger Iranian society.  Surely  the Ayatollah  does not need the Attorney  General  to tell  him the legality of his actions since what is at stake is a game of survival  and security.

    More  interestingly in the  US the battle  has  been  a   planned one between the  law and  politics in the survival  game that US   President  Donald  Trump  has played  so  much  and   so   far  leading to his Impeachment  Trial  which  starts  next week  in the Senate. Donald  Trump  to  me  is the true  Amotekun of American  politics in the way  he has weathered the storm of opposition to his person and policies and the disgrace of Impeachment  by the US House  of Representatives.  Yet  he is hopeful  of surviving impeachment in the Senate where his party is in  the majority.  One  thing   I  want the Nigerian AGF to  study  is the dexterous  way Trumps’  lawyers  handle his politics and legal  tussles.  According to informed sources  the  lawyers  have agreed that  Trump  should  go  on with his numerous tweets and naughtiness  while they  sort  out the legal  angle  later.  Unfortunately  in the legal  condemnation of the Amotekun out fit  the AGF has  not allowed the   legitimate politics of Amotekun to  unfold before pronouncing it dead on arrival legally.  Such  hasty denunciation is  destabilizing and provocative  to  politicians whose  sole  aim here is to fulfill their  legitimate    commitment to protecting the survival and security  of their people.

    We  round  off with Russia  where the cabinet  of President Vladmir Putin  resigned  to allow  him  to  conclude  constitutional  changes.  His  PM, Medvedev  has been  replaced. The  constitutional  changes are  supposed to give more  powers to Parliament and dilute the power of the president.  But  according to observers Putin  is  already  protecting his relevance  and power after another two  terms which  ends in2024  because the Russian president can run only  for two  terms.  The  Arithmetic of Putin’s  security  and  political  survival  is glaring and simple – President 2001 to 2008, PM 2008 – 2012    while Medvedev was President.  Now President 2016 -2024  and a weaker presidency in his absence to protect his survival  and  relevance in Russian power politics.

    It  is pertinent  to  point  out here that Governors in the South West of Nigeria  have always blazed  a trail  in pragmatic  and  developmental  politics.  One  of them Chief  Bisi  Onabanjo  of  Ogun  State  on a return  from a    medical  trip  abroad was asked  why  he did  not avail  himself  of the free health facility  of  his party. He   replied    pointedly    and simply  that  life  has  no  duplicate. The AGF  should  be told that  the issue of  Amotekun is not a legal option but a matter of  life and death in a situation where security of life and property  have  been  managed poorly in the current  situation to the   detriment of  the security of  life  and property  in the South Wes.  Since  as Ayekoto  presciently  noted  that life has no  duplicate     and  the people of the SW cannot  preside or  look aside at their own liquidation or extinction, Amotekun is the legitimate  answer without  any  legal  hindrances  and obstacles.

  • Presidency displeased with Kwara governor over Ile Arugbo demolition

    By Sentry

    Kwara State Governor, Abdulrahman Abdulrazak, may have stirred the hornet’s nest if reactions within and outside Kwara State to the state government’s demolition of Ile Arugbo, the totem of the late strongman of Kwara Politics, Dr. Olusola Saraki, are anything to go by.

    The demolition of the building that served as a home for the aged has been greeted with outrage from members and sympathisers of the Saraki political dynasty and other neutral individuals and groups who saw the move as a political vendetta against the dynasty.

    This is in spite of the state government’s explanation that the acquisition of the land on which the said building was erected did not follow the proper channel.

    In a furious reaction to the exercise, the Minister of State for Transportation, Senator Gbemisola Ruqayyah Saraki, berated Governor Abdulrazzaq for demolishing her father’s property, accusing the governor who assumed office on May 29 last year of rushing into settling perceived old generational family political scores.

    “Revenge cannot be a policy thrust of governance,” she said in a statement that was choked full with venom.

    Feelers from Abuja also indicate that the demolition exercise might have created a strain in the relationship between the Presidency and Governor Abdulrazak.

    It was gathered that the power brokers in Abuja were angry that the governor went beyond the bounds in his avowed mission to checkmate Saraki’s hold on Kwara State.

    When the news of the demolition exercise got to the Presidency, an influential source in the Aso Rock Presidential Villa was sighted saying: “Who does this boy listen to? This is really embarrassing.”

    Thereafter, the Presidency waste no time in calling the governor to order, asking him to be more “temperate” in his actions.

  • Critically ill Olunloyo in need of bailout

    By Sentry

    These are not the best of times for former Oyo State governor, Dr. Victor Olunloyo. The Second Republic governor is down with stroke at his Ibadan home, and his biggest challenge, Sentry learnt, borders on getting the money to buy his drugs.

    The financial condition of the ex-governor is said to be so precarious that a few thousands matter to him a lot. His health was believed to have deteriorated on account of the “neglect” he has suffered from successive governments in the state.

    Sentry’s findings revealed that the administration of ex-Governor Abiola Ajimobi had shown some concern until he had a political disagreement with Olunloyo’s wife, Ronke.

    Worried by the octogenarian’s ill-health, a Nigerian professor based in the UK got in touch with a key official in the administration of Governor Seyi Makinde for a bailout, but the official, who was a member of the House of Representatives, did not draw the attention of the governor to his plight.

    The former Rep was said to be angry that Olunloyo was not there for him politically when he needed him.

  • How SARS men brutalised two travellers on Benin bye pass

    By Sentry

    Tuesday, January 7, 2019 is a date that will live in the memories of two travellers on their way to Lagos from the eastern part of the country. The journey had been smooth until they got to the bye pass in Benin City. There they were allegedly manhandled and tortured by men of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS).

    As relived by one of the victims, she and her husband were travelling to Lagos when they ran into some SARS men who stopped their vehicle and told them to alight from the car. They obeyed, but the SARS operatives ordered them to open the booth of the car, which they also did. They searched their booth, bags and the car.

    Still not satisfied, the policemen seized their phones, tried to open them and then did the unimaginable: raining curses and threatening hell.

  • Oyedepo blows hot over millions stolen by church officials

    By Sentry

    Millions of naira allegedly stolen by some highly placed officials of the Living Faith Church Worldwide, a.k.a. Winners Chapel, drew the presiding Bishop of the church, Dr. David Oyedepo, into a rage at the empowerment summit organised for ordained workers of the church last Saturday.

    The annual event, which is usually attended by pastors, zonal ministers and their assistants, deacons, ushers and other ordained workers of the church, where they are acquainted with the church’s programme for the year, was presided over by Oyedepo, while his deputy, Bishop David Abioye, was also in attendance. Both men ministered powerfully. Oyedepo ministered on service, while Abioye spoke on consistency in service.

    Towards the end of the programme, however, Oyedepo took some time to talk about the goings on in the church. He revealed how some very high up officials, mainly accountants, had looted the church’s treasury.

    The Bishop could not hide his disappointment that professionals trusted by the church to prevent fraud turned themselves into a network of fraudsters.

    Expressing his disappointment in the errant church officials, who have since been relieved of their positions in the church, he said: “Can you imagine accountants perpetrating fraud in the house of God?

    “We had no choice but to dismiss them. You can imagine top church officials engaging in doubling figures and other dubious practices.

    “Even after we dismissed them, we discovered more fraud.

    “Those who should discover the fraud were the ones involved in it. One of them refused to confess until the last minute.”

    He admonished the church members against employing the dismissed officials. He said he had to tell everyone present because he knew the dismissed officials “will come to you for employment.”

    “Don’t employ them and don’t sympathise with them. Whoever sympathises with the wicked is wicked himself.”

    Dead silence fell on the gathering as the Bishop reiterated: “Don’t sympathise with any perpetrator of fraud, otherwise you are a partaker of the evil act.”