The Nation Newspaper

Category: Saturday

  • Tears for Nigerian stars

    Ade Ojeikere 

     

    The Senegalese held court in Egypt on Tuesday night when Liverpool FC of England’s gem Sadio Mane was deservedly decorated as the Africa Footballer of the Year inside the Albatros Citadel Sahl Hasheesh, Hurghada, Egypt.

    Mane finished as finalist in the previous three editions of the CAF Player of the Year (in 2017 and 2018 and taking third place in 2016), but never won the coveted piece of silverware. He is only the second Senegalese to win the award after El Hadji Diouf, who was the winner in 2001 and 2002.

    It is important to state here that Mane has been the most consistent African in the last four years, losing trice, yet remained focused in his job of scoring goals for club and country. Those disturbing the media with paralysed analyses about the absence of Nigerian male players in the awards should tell them to be consistent in their performances with Super Eagles and their clubs.

    Besides, our players must grow up and strive to play for the bigger cubs in Europe, which win trophies and play at the big stages such as UEFA Champions League finals, Super Cup finals and World Club Champions finals. These three trophies and their winners’ medals are with Mane, making him the obvious choice for the CAF Africa Player of the Year.

    Mane’s acceptance speech typifies who he is – simple, urbane, respectful and abhors self glorification. The Senegalese lives for his people, fights for them, provides basic amenities for his people, not minding if that’s the responsibility of government. Need I waste space to list all that Mane has done for Senegal, her people and the community, dear reader?

    According to Mane on Tuesday night: “To be honest I would prefer to be playing football than speaking in front of so many important people. My job, I love it. I’m really happy and really proud at the same time. I would like to thank my family, especially my uncle who is here today – and as well my coach. [I’d also like to thank] my national teammates and the staff, Liverpool football club and my teammates.

    “It is a big day for me and I would love to thank all the Senegalese people who have been voting for me. I’m from a very small village called Bambali and I’m sure they are all watching me tonight. Again, I’m really happy and very proud to win this.”

    Pundits won’t be surprised if Mane wins the 2020 edition, given the way he is playing for Liverpool, especially if the Reds win Barclays English Premier League title and retain all their trophies. Did I hear you say tall dreams for Mane and Liverpool? With the way Liverpool is playing this season, not many European clubs can beat them.

    Of course, Liverpool’s attacking onslaughts rest in the hands of Mane, Mohammed Salah and Firmino, so who or what will stop Mane from winning the diadem again? Perhaps his teammate at Anfield Mo’Salah but definitely not a Nigerian player. Sorry, I’m not sentimental because this is serious business and our players need to realise that or remain as second fiddle where it matters the most.

    It must be noted here that the award winner is judged based on players’ contributions to their country and club. For this year, Senegal are Africa’s best playing soccer nation adjudged by FIFA, aside playing in the finals of 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, losing in the finals to Algeria, with Mane spearheading the Senegalese’s team.

    The CAF Player of the Year award was first won by Ghana’s greatest player Abedi Ayew Pele in 1992 with the first Nigeria winner being Rashidi Yekini in 1993, two players who made goal-scoring look so easy.

    Guess what, Nigerians dominated this award until 1999 because it was the country’s golden era of producing immensely talented footballers, losing the spot twice during this period in 1995, to easily the best African footballer, President George Opong Weah, who also voted the best European player and World Footballer of that year and in 1998 to pony-tail Mustapha Hadji.

    Austin Jay Jay Okocha was so good for country and his hitherto Barclays English Premier League side Bolton FC of England that he was twice named BBC’s best African player in 2003 and 2004. In both years, Cameroonian Eto O’ Fils was without a doubt Africa’s best player, winning the award consecutively from 2003 to 2005, although Eto again won it in 2010. The Cameroonian won it four times.

    Did you say Eto’s feat was awesome? What would you say of Ivorien Yaya Toure, who won it four consecutive times from 2011 to 2014? Those who have won the award were exceptional players who led their teams by example throughout matches. Eto and Toure were class acts in the game despite playing in different positions.

    However, Toure did more than just scoring goals for the Elephants of Cote d’ Ivoire. He held the team’s midfield together and provided the buffer defenders needed to ward off opponents’ attacking forays.

    Eto and Toure’s reigns raised the bar for Africans playing in Europe. They switched teams for high fees and justified what they were given. It explains why Africans have dominated the World team of the year, with Mohammed Salah, reigning Africa Footballer of the Year Mane and Mahrez, Aubameyang as outstanding players. The trio scored 22 goals each for their Barclays English Premier League last season, sharing the award of the highest goal scorer of the 2018/2019 season. It was the first time three players would tie on 22 goals in one season.

    No prize for guessing right the trio Aubmenyang (13 goals), Salah (10 goals) and Mane (11 goals) are among the leading scorers in the EPL this season with Vardy (17 goals) topping the chart after 21 matches. Sadly, Harry Kane is out for three months due to a hamstring surgery which would take until April to heal. This leaves the stage open for a fight to the finish race for this year’s top scorer. Would there be a tie like last season? Don’t bet against it. I digress

    In fact, a Nigerian Emmanuel Amuneke won the 1994 edition courtesy of his mercurial showing at the finals of the Africa Cup of Nations, which Nigeria clinched in Tunisia, despite playing only in the final game against a Zambian team that rose from the ashes of an unfortunate plane crash, which claimed the lives of all 30 passengers and crew, including 18 players. Amuneke scored the two goals which sank Chipolopolo with the Zambians opening scoring. Many people sentimentally tipping them to lift the trophy, but Amuneke spoilt their predictions because Nigeria won 2-1.

    Chipolopolo’s captain, Kalusha Bwalya—later national team coach and President of the Football Association of Zambia (FAZ)—was not aboard the flight as he was in the Netherlands playing for PSV at that time and had made separate arrangements to make his way to Senegal to take part in the match.

    Charles Musonda, at the time playing in Belgium for Anderlecht, was previously injured and thus was not on the flight. Bennett Mulwanda Simfukwe, who had been seconded to the FAZ by his employers (ZCCM) for five years and was supposed to be on this flight, wasn’t on the flight because his employers demanded that he should immediately be removed from the list of those officially scheduled to travel to Senegal.

    Nwankwo Kanu won the award twice, first in 1996 for his showboating  displays at the Atlanta ’96 Olympic Games. Victor Ikpeba, a member of the goal winning Olympic side won the award last for Nigeria in 1999. Ikpeba was an ‘enfante terrible’ like the French would say but his talent and commitment to Monaco’s games and Nigeria’s earned him the award.

    Nigerians were ‘molested’ for pictures and autographs by the nationals in Monaco and other French cities they visited by the French fans who held Ikpeba in awe at the France ’98 World Cup. Ikpeba was truly the prince of Monaco.

    The pertinent question would be if any Nigerian would win the award in this new decade? It isn’t looking good. Our players don’t play for big clubs, just as they seem contented with earning big money in Europe, irrespective of putting markers in their careers, which is what winning the Africa Footballer of the Year award represents. I recall a feud between Ikpeba and Osaze Odemwingie. Ikpeba urged Odemwingie to win the Africa Footballer of the Year first, then he would be qualified to do any comparison with him. Upper cut, like they say in boxing. The feud ceased.

    Five players have been listed as likely to win the award – Victor Osimhen, Joe Aribo, Ndidi, Samuel Chukwu and Iheanacho. My response is if Nigeria would qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, given the way our players prosecute our matches. Of these names pencilled for the award, which club in Europe would Osimhen command a regular shirt like he does at Lille FC in France? Chukwueze isn’t an exceptional player. He also doesn’t look like the player for the big stages, aside the fact that his style of play is predictable.

    If Osimhen must win the award next year, he must either remain in Lille or join Paris Saint Germain (PSG) in the French Ligue, since it appears the style there suits his game. Aribo, Ndidi and Iheanacho are far-fetched options for the award, except Nigeria qualifies for the 2022 World Cup with a top tactician not what we have now.

    Will any Nigerian win the Africa Footballer of the Year in this new decade? Please, show me a new player we have not seen.

     

     

  • The Gov Abdulrazaq/Sen Saraki land imbroglio

    ON January 2, 2020, a piece of land in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, dubbed Ile Arugbo, and deployed by the late Olusola Saraki to cater to the monetary, food and health needs of elderly people was demolished by the state government after it revoked whatever rights anyone might have to it. Senator Saraki was senate leader during the Second Republic. Before the revocation, the state government had announced that it could find no legal claims by anyone to the land, either by right of occupancy or certificate of occupancy, and not by any other payments that substantiate allocation. The demolition was done shortly after the revocation was announced. But months earlier, a government committee headed by Suleiman Ajadi, a former senator, to recover illegally allocated state assets had found that Ile Arugbo was one of those properties illegally allocated. It was originally acquired by the state government in the 1970s to serve, among other purposes, as an extension of the state secretariat.

    As a result, Bukola Saraki, son of the late former senate leader, has predictably joined issues with the governor, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, describing the demolition as targeted and vindictive. And just like her brother, who is the immediate past senate president (2015-2019) and also former governor of the state (2003-2011), Gbemisola Saraki, also a former senator and current Minister of State for Transportation, has condemned the demolition as a clumsy attempt to exacerbate family feud between the Sarakis and Abdulrazaqs. Though both siblings do not see eye to eye, they have united in deploring the demolition of Ile Arugbo, describing the action as malicious and unprovoked. In fact, Ms Saraki sees it as capable of distorting the value and utility of the o to ge movement that led to the uprooting of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government in the state. O to ge, roughly interpreted as enough is enough, was the mantra and banner behind which the political effort to uproot the PDP in the state successfully coalesced.

    But o to ge, contrary to Ms Saraki’s arguement, was also the banner unfurled to unseat her father’s dynasty, having held the state in a vice grip, either as political office holders or kingmakers, for decades. She may pretend not to understand the full import of the o to ge movement, or of the dilemma she faced when she backed it against her family’s, and more directly against her obstreperous brother’s, hold on the state. Notwithstanding this, both she and her brother, Dr Saraki the Younger, are within their rights to suspect that Gov Abdulrazaq might be trying to settle old scores and to foster whatever family feuds the Sarakis and the Abdulrazaqs have noticed and exclaimed.

    The demolition of the property, a nearly vacant land where the Saraki dynasties hosted and catered to the needs of aged Kwarans, was anchored on the need by the state to reclaim assets improperly allocated over the years. On the surface, the government followed due process. First was a panel to review those allocations, though it is not known now whether the allottees were invited to support their claims to such properties. Then followed the standard revocation through an enactment by the State House of Assembly. And then, finally, the demolition. But the devil is in the detail, not to talk of the many snags embedded in both the revocation and the demolition. Ile Arugbo was probably the most famous of the cases dealt with by the Senator Ajadi panel, and obviously now the most contentious.

    Dr Saraki was overly emotional in reacting to the demolition. Straightaway he attributed the demolition to vendetta, undiluted malice and jealousy. Gov Abdulrazaq, he maintained, could never parallel his achievements, particularly considering both the number of posts he as a Saraki scion had reached in life and the simply elegant and enthralling fact that his achievements predated those of the new governor. He even insinuated that the governor was unlikely to equal his achievements, seeing how many years it took him to attain those heights, and how many years it would take the new governor. Finally, after expending so many paragraphs in bitter recriminations, Dr Saraki finally indicated that the family was in custody of documents to prove their ownership of the disputed land and the legality of the allocation. He did not say whether he was ever invited to defend the family’s claims.

    Ms Saraki’s reaction was by far more temperate but no less vigorous. She had wondered why as a member of the ruling party in the state, especially one who broke ranks with her brother to give fillip to the o to ge movement against both the PDP and the Saraki dynasty, she was not taken into confidence in dealing with the controversial land matter. Her father, the Late Dr Saraki senior, did not deserve the opprobrium the governor was trying to drag him into. She further argued that if care was not taken, the governor’s careless political actions could derail the purpose of the change that took place last year in the state, especially seeing that many Sarakites, as she put it, also broke ranks with their party to support the APC. It is hard to fault her logic.

    But for now, in the eyes of the public, the governor has done the right thing by demolishing privilege and lawlessness in matters relating to public patrimony. The state insists there is nothing in their records to prove that the late Dr Saraki properly acquired the land — no documents whatsoever. Since the matter is in the courts and both the government and the Sarakis appear confident of their positions and standing before the law, there may be no point in second-guessing the outcome of the case or the genuineness of their claims. But even if the state government felt vindicated by the law and the legality of their case in regards to Ile Arugbo, it was probably not expedient for them to have taken the abrupt course of actions executed on January 2.

    In matters as delicate as the Ile Arubgo demolition, which is susceptible to being sentimentalised, the governor should have been wary of opening himself to needless accusations. The Saraki political family, despite their loss, is still fairly sizable, especially among the elderly Kwarans to whom he catered extravagantly. Then, too, the Saraki siblings may be squabbling now, as it were remorselessly, but such a demolition was always capable of uniting them, if not physically, then at least in terms of objectives. Issues relating to their father never simmered too far from the surface. Had the governor announced the revocation, and sensibly set a date for the demolition, it was almost certain that the Sarakis would have headed for the courts. It may take a year or two, or even more to get a judgement, but once the case is determined and it is proved that the Sarakis had no claim to the land, the demolition would have been justified even in the eyes of the worst sceptic.

    Now the case is set to drag on for a little longer than probably necessary. It is already poisoned by diluted public perceptions, with those in support of the demolition hailing the government’s actions, and those on the other side denouncing the suspected malice undergirding the state’s actions. One way or the other, however, the courts will adjudicate. If the Sarakis win — and it is hard to see them running away with victory — they will encounter herculean obstacles in building a property they had failed to build for decades. But if the government wins, especially considering the original purpose for which the land was acquired, they will still stand accused of acting mala fide. They must now hope that, in consequence, the case would not steadily poison the political atmosphere in the state and concretise into a cause celebre.

    Worse, they must hope that it would not win sympathies for the Sarakis and help the deposed dynasty find the fresh pedestals upon which to hinge their fight to regain their political standing both in the state and nationally. After all, the chastening that comes from political defeat is sometimes so potent as to instigate superhuman feats in a remorseful politician. While wilderness experience and political adversity may prompt Dr Saraki and Ms Saraki into unaccustomed unity, Gov Abdulrazaq should in fact hope that he and his advisers can inspire the right mix of policies and formulae, and more importantly the ideological underpinnings for their o to ge movement, to elongate their political success and help restructure the state away and perhaps permanently from the feudalism they had accused the Sarakis of enthroning. The mismanagement of the Ile Arugbo demolition does not, however, give hope that Gov Abdulrazaq and his advisers quite have the temper and depth needed to concretise the change that took place last year.

  • Deterrence, diplomacy and security

    Dayo Sobowale

     

    THERE is no  doubt  that global  diplomacy  and peace are under threat given the US –Iran assassination  and missile crisis and that world order is no longer a symphony in   terms  of peace. But  we must also admit that no matter how discordant the prospect and symphony of peace there  is for now a known conductor of the  escalation and de-escalation of the threat and danger to  peace  in our time. That  conductor  is the US President  Donald Trump and our aim today is to look at how he has handled the crisis arising from the assassination of Iran’s  military  top  shot   and how he was able to say that Iran is ‘standing down‘ with missile retaliation, after  dealing that Islamic nation a cruel, humiliating blow that left it in a type of  mass mourning rarely  seen in modern times.

    Take  it or leave it,  Donald  Trump  is calling the shots on world  diplomacy  nowadays. You  may  want to  find out  why  and give reasons as we may  do later but  it is  better  to learn  and  accept that fact  in order  to be able to  live with it or be nauseated or squirm  seriously at   it.  The  spiral    effect  of the assassination of the Iranian  general  have been  world wide as security apparatuses all  over the world put on the red alert, more  so   in nations living with Islamic military insurgency.  Just  as  American  embassies in terror prone nations warned their citizens to flee nations like Iraq or watch  their movements especially  at night and avoid  crowded  places as the US embassy  warned  in   Nigeria.

    It  is necessary to first  take a look  at  the significance of the  assassination   of   the  Iranian general  in terms of diplomacy and world  peace. Undoubtedly  it was a master stroke  by the US President  akin in importance to   Obama Administration  killing    of Bin Laden  and the killing of the leader of the Islamic Caliphate  and Islamic state Baghdadi.  Trump  called the killing a strike to stop a war and  not to start one and labeled  it a deterrent strike.  One   could recall  the Cold War  era  when  the US and the former  Soviet Union observed mutual  deterrence  by arming each other to the teeth  equally,   so  that they  never attacked each  other and the world was saved the prospect of nuclear  annihilation.  But  in this strike on the  Iranian general  there is no mutual deterrence in place because Iran and the US are not equal  partners in terms of military might. Trump  himself  boasted that the US has the best  military in the  world  but they  do not have to use it all the time.  Which  is sheer hypocrisy   by the American president.  It is also is a  poor apology for humiliating Iran, a boastful  nation like Saddam Hussein’s  Iraq  which boasted  to give the US and its allies the’ Mother of all Battles ‘only to succumb miserably in the battles of both the First  and Second Gulf Wars.  Even  the Ayatollah Khameini  wept at the burial of the general, a far  cry from the threats of annihilation with missiles against the US  after  the incidents of shooting tankers and seizing ships on  the Straits of Homuz  especially when the Iranians shot  down an American drone.  Now  a lone drone  has killed Iran’s  military  pride  and there is no doubt  on where the balance of military might  is,  no matter whatever international laws have been at play or have been violated.  In  many ways Trump  has served a great  shot in the fight  against  Islamic  insurgency  of the type promoted in East Africa and Boko  Haram  in Nigeria. But  in doing so the  US and its  allies have ‘ murdered  sleep  like Macbeth and would sleep  no  more  ‘in the fight  against  terrorism. Which  really  means that   nations   fighting Islamic  militancy    like   Nigeria should   never   rest on their   oars.  In  fact   they should    recall  the statement  that  ‘eternal  vigilance  is the price  of  liberty ‘   and adopt  that as their  motto  in stopping  or  muscling nations like Iran  that  promote terrorism  globally.

    Some  have  said  that  the American president is trying to divert  attention away  from his domestic political  problems especially  his impeachment  but  no one can say  the assassinated Iranian general  was a saint. Indeed  Soulemani  was the face of Iranian opposition and antagonism  to American claim  of any military  or  cultural  superiority.  I admired him personally  for  standing up  to the US all the time and I did not expect the military apparatus he  headed  to  give way so  cheaply given   the way and   manner he was assassinated. That was a failure of  intelligence, a major  one too  in both Iran and Iraq that  both Suleimani  and his host  in  Iraq  were killed by a drone. I am sure that the leaders of both Hizbollah in  Lebanon and Hamas  in Palestine would  be wondering what happened that  the Americans  literally got away  with murder  in the easy way  they fatally ambushed  the Iranian   general who had  symbolized resistance against American hegemony  in the entire Middle  East. The  Iranians after the wailing and mourning  should  put their intelligence house in order because a failure of intelligence internally,  notably sabotage, connivance  or  even  collaboration,  must have facilitated the use of a drone so accurately  and so correctly in the killing of the two  top  military  shots of Iran and Iraq  on that  sad day in Baghdad.

    Similarly  I  recommend  a similar in house  introspection   and     foresight  in the way Nigeria handles its fight against  Boko  Haram.  We  do not  need  to  wait  for an    institutional  beheading such as the Americans have done to the Iranian military  apparatus  even  though we know that beheading of captives have been a strategy   of  IS  and  Boko Haram. Since it is apparent that  Boko  Haram would be furious  over the  Iranian  general’s death the Nigerian  army  should be on full  and extra alert to preempt  any  attempt to strike at its  bases especially in the far flung North East  which has  always  been difficult to  monitor   and secure  because of its  vast  size and scattered, sparse population. In  this regard Boko Haram  is more  likely  to be more  Catholic than the Pope  in showing  that IS and Boko Haram  are  infuriated  even    more  than  the Iranians in avenging the death of the slain Iranian general. We  should be on our toes to  ensure  that they do  not catch our security apparatus pants  down in their  terrorist  pursuit of vengeance  especially on our soil. Once  again  long live the Federal  Republic of Nigeria.

  • Awo, Tam David West’s perspectives on African juju (2)

    By Segun Ayobolu

    Awo’s perspectives on a wide variety of issues including African juju, traditional African medicine, witchcraft, and the phenomenon of magun i.e. the belief among the Yoruba that a man who has sex with a woman laced with certain types of juju would die during the act are contained in a wide ranging intellectual discussion/ conversation between the late sage and the late renowned academic philosopher, Professor Moses Makinde, which took place at Awolowo’s residence in Apapa, Lagos, on Saturday, 4th April, 1987.

    The session which lasted over three and a half hours covered diverse subjects ranging from the ideas of the great philosophers, the existence or otherwise of God, the nature of good and evil, politics, corruption, development and underdevelopment and much more. It was an intellectual tour de force between two most remarkable men. The text of the interview is published as chapter 7 of the book, ‘Awo as a philosopher’ by Professor Makinde. It is really difficult for me to capture the essence of this interview succinctly by paraphrasing the discourses of the two men. To maximally enjoy and benefit from the book, there is no alternative to actually reading it through particularly the chapter 7 referred to.

    I will thus largely be quoting from Awo’s responses to Professor Makinde on the aforementioned issues relevant to this piece. For example, on the question of whether or not something called African science exists, Awo is categorical in his response. In his words: “African science? African science? There is nothing like that. If you look at the definition, you may want to say that this particular branch of science was first founded in Africa, that is quite a different matter, but science is science and must not be related to any region of the world as American science, British science, Chinese science, or African science. Science is simply science, a universal knowledge”.

    Not satisfied, the professor probed Awo further pointing out that African science can be likened to what is known as metaphysical science.  Awo responded: “Metaphysical science is science, but not at all in the class of empirical science…Metaphysics is science. For instance, Aristotle calls metaphysics science of first principles. Metaphysics is beyond experience, and that is the meaning. The problem is that nobody talks about metaphysical science nowadays, only empirical science. So if African science is metaphysical science, then nobody should talk about African science. That is the point. So we have to follow the modern, universal conception of science”.

    After dilating on a diverse number of subjects, Professor Makinde brings Awo to the question of traditional medicine. Pointing out that people like the Chinese and Indians, for instance, had developed their own forms of traditional medicine; he also related his own experience with his father who was a traditional medicine healer as he grew up as a child. Again, revealing his strongly scientific cast of mind, Awo while agreeing with much of what the professor said, stressed the need for caution saying that “I am interested in medicine and I am interested in traditional medicine, but the latter has not been scientifically verified in terms of cause and effect.

    But I know that plants, herbs, have some potency because they are grown in the tropics (tropical countries like Nigeria). Some of the potency comes from energy. Number two, if the herbs are blended in correct proportion in the course of experiment, they can be more effective than a set of plants from Britain or a set of synthesized medicine. So that is my view…In traditional medicine, you can never tell when you will be given concocted medicine of incompatible ingredients that will constitute a poison. Please know that I am not against the use of herbs and herbal medicine. I have already told you that our herbs are very potent. So plants or herbs are alright but they must be mixed in certain proportion, correct proportion”.

    On the question of magun that can purportedly kill a man that has sexual relations with a woman laced with the charm, the two men had an extensive and very lively exchange. Again, demonstrating his strong belief in scientific principles of testing phenomena and seeking empirical validity as a basis for belief, Awolowo believed that what was attributed to magun could indeed be the result of natural causes such as heart attack or exhaustion. Professor Makinde disagrees. He avers that “My point, therefore, is that for anybody to say that magun is not efficacious, without scientific proof through tests or experiments, is not to behave like a scientist. And to simply say that magun is not efficacious without having tested it is to me a very unscientific statement. It is at best an opinion that should be ignored for want of scientific proof. That is to say that our medical doctors have not been able to guarantee, with proof, that magun does not work so that we should not be afraid of the magun phenomenon anymore”.

    But in Awo’s view, “The truth about magun is this. When a man has heart trouble, he can die while making love with any woman. I have known two cases for certain of those who were reported to have died of magun when, in actual fact, they died of heart attack right on top of women, having sex. A late Mr. X had heart trouble and the doctors advised him (you won’t hear this in public but I happen to know because I was close to him, to go and rest. So he went to Agege, the family had a farm there, and a house.

    He went there to rest according to the doctor’s instruction. And he allowed one of his concubines to see him there. He had intercourse, and that was it he died on his concubine. Now, that will look like magun, but it was heart attack…Of course, that was what he loved, and that was killed him. The doctor asked him to rest, and he died working on his concubine. And the woman decided not to run away because she was known to be his confidant and the matter was just hushed up. But that was it. The man died of heart attack. He did not tumble three times, as people say, he just died”.

    After further exchange of views on the subject, Awo submitted thus, “…but in the case of magun, because we don’t experiment over it, I don’t trust what people say about it. You yourself have said that nobody has provided a proof as to whether magun is efficacious or not. You have made your point on the basis of uncertainty of what will happen to you if you sleep with a woman laid with magun, but my own position is based on the fact that until scientific experiment shows that magun kills, I cannot be reasonably challenged if I say that what people call magun is probably heart attack. So, because people don’t experiment much in traditional medicine, I don’t trust the thing”.

    On the issue of juju, native charms and witches, Awo surprisingly comes to the same conclusion as that of Professor Tam David-West, which we examined last week. But while David-West’s views seem to be predicated on his training as a scientist in the western tradition and a degree of abstract and logical reasoning, Awo came to his own position through practical experimentation and experience. Admitting freely that he dabbled into native juju practice as a young man to protect himself and defend his trading business, Awo said he later came to the conclusion that there was no reality to all claims about the efficacy of native charms and juju.

    In his words, “As a young trader I had the best of people to help me defend myself against the kind of policeman Josiah was. Later, very much later, I discovered that it was all lies (Iro ni gbogbo e). At that time I was living in Ogunpa, Ibadan. There was a refuse dump near my house. I dumped all my medicine one night in that refuse dump – iwo (horn), igbadi, agadagodo, orisisrisi – and nobody dumped refuse there for two weeks as people were afraid of the various kinds of juju they saw there. They were afraid of juju and ran away. Iro ni gbogbo e patapata, ko si nkan nkan nibe. (It is all lies, there is nothing there in the juju to warrant running away from them). There is nothing there, even aje, oso (withces and wizards) that people talk about. It is all sakara. Nothing”.

    For those like the scholars who attended the recent scientific conference on the phenomenon of witchcraft at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Appendix 111 to this book will make interesting and useful reading. It is the reprint of an article written by Chief Obafemi Awolowo and published in The West African Review, Liverpool, on 30th December, 1939, (pp30-32). In it he gives suggestions on how the field of African juju can become a terrain of useful scientific inquiry to discover its developmental potentials if any.

  • 2019, the good, the bad and the ugly

    By Dayo Sobowale

    Actually  this piece should  be on the ‘Man or Person of the Year’ traditionally for me  to name  who has  influenced world  affairs for good or  bad,  just  like  the Time or Newsweek  Magazine brought my generation of journalists  up  to do at  the end   of a year.  This was before CNN   which  revolutionized news coverage and analysis until the advent of US President  Donald  Trump  in 2016 showed that  news coverage could turn to   bias and sheer  manipulation on simple issues just because of political differences, orientation and values.

    The  truth   here is that I find it boring to name the volatile US President as my Man of the Year because that is so  apparent and almost  a tautology given the fact that this week  the US   and its  Foreign Ministry, the Pentagon  admitted killing Quasem Soulemany  the Military  Commander of Iran’s elite Military  Force in Iraq. Which  is the same way that terrorists like Al Quada, ISIS, Boko  Haram  own up to gruesome murder  of innocent people they  acknowledge to be their enemies or the enemies of  Islam  the religion they profess  to defend    but on which  the   true devotees globally  have  never approved  of  them or their bloody strategies  as that of Islam.  Given  this dilemma  about Trump   and the CNN then, it is my wish  to write on the Good, the Bad and Ugly  side of 2019, which  is also the  end of another decade in our march of, or to,  civilization,  depending on  the historical  perspectives or spectacles one  is putting on.

    Of  course Donald  Trump  should  be global  Man  of the Year in the real  sense  of the good, the bad and the ugly  because of the simple fact  that  he was eminently  all  the three in  a bizarre and  most  controversial  manner  throughout  the year. His  actions  and  utterances in his first term alone  that is 2016 -2020, have so  altered global politics, diplomacy  and management,  both   backward before his time, and fast  forward beyond  his first tenure,  that it  really  does not matter if  he is elected in 2020,   given    of the eruptions and disruptions  he has created  both locally  in his nation, and globally as the 45th President of the USA.

    Take  it or leave it,  Donald  Trump in  2019   bestrode,  our  world like  a  colossus as Shakespeare  once said  through  Cassius,  of  Julius  Caesar  before  his assassination in that  master tragedy play called  Julius Caesar by  William  Shakespeare.  Again,  it does  not  matter whether Trump  suffers the fate of Caesar,  because   it is clear  that  his legacy will  endure far beyond 2019, 2020  or 2024 just  as that of  Caesar  endured   and  fanned  the creation of the EU and  regional organisations  and empire  building ,   many thousands of years  after Caesar’s  death by assassination.

    Given  the fact that the US  now endorses  the assassination of foreign leaders publicly    and diplomatically   in a form  of new Trump  Doctrine, it  is  clear that  world  peace has  been  bartered for   immediate and near  future violence and even  wars   from  now  on.  This  is the   stark  meaning   of  the dark threat  of Iran ‘s Ayatollah  Khameini  to  retaliate  against  the US   for  the latest  assassination of its Commander,  given    the violent history of Shia Islam for  exacting revenge against religious enemies such  as the US  has  turned to,  in the sight of the   Islamic  state  of  Iran.

    Having said  all  these it is proper to admit  that   on the global   scene Trump  has been  able  to put pressure  on  co   super powers like  China  and  Russia in a way  no  former US president  has  done before. Now  China knows it can not forge copy  rights  and intellectual  property ‘with  impunity as it  used to  do,  pre Trump  era. The  same caution  goes for China on trade  deals   on which Trump  has used unprecedented   huge  tariffs to  create  chaos  and order alike but all  of  which  have kept China  and its   life long  leader on their toes  on  the side  of international law. Trump  has  also   managed to  keep good personal  relations  with the most  difficult world leaders before his time. These are the leaders of N Korea, Russia and  China.  At  home Trump  is in disgrace because of  Impeachment  but his  supporters see that as persecution and humiliation by his opponents because he has kept his  campaign promises on Immigration and Climate  Change.

    Let  us now climb  down from the Mount  Olympus of Trump’s triumvirate of  the good the bad and the ugly,  to  see other leaders globally who  have showed  the good, the bad and ugly  side   of   2019. Two  events in  Nigeria, and   one in  Lebanon,    provide   good  illustration on this. Coincidentally  these events happened towards  the end  of the year  but the  fact  that they happened against  all  odds is their  main fascination.

    In  Nigeria the President  asked  all  Nigerians  not to allow religion  to divide  them  as Boko  Haram is not in any way  Islamic  and those  who  follow  and  work  in its name have  no respect  for  any religion.  That  to  me is  a very  good  side of the Nigerian  presidency  in 2019.  That  needs to be buttressed  by  diversification of appointments in the security apparatus  hierarchy  which now  reflects ethnicity and religious  bias  which  should  not be  that   lopsided in a democratic federation like Nigeria.

    The  bad side of governance  in Nigeria  with regard to the rule of law was  white washed  at the last  gasp  of the year by the release of Dasuki  and Sowore  before the end of the year. That  makes another triumvirate for the Man of the year in Nigeria, namely  the President  for his   magnanimity and compunction and the Dasuki  and Sowore  for their persistence  in fighting for  their  human rights.  Dasuki  should  be commended  for his equanimity  and composure and especially  his  views that  God  is  in charge  of his travails  otherwise they  would  not  have   happened.

    From  all  indications   however, the former boss   of    global   auto   giants, Nissan and Renault,    Carlos  Ghosn   who  fled Japan  while on bail to surface in Lebanon  at the end of 2019, did  not share Dasuki’s    fatalistic  view  on forced  incarceration. Ghosn   escaped in  a private jet and landed in Lebanon  hale and hearty    but    said  he was not escaping from  justice,  but from, injustice, intimidation and persecution.  I very  much  agree with him as he was treated by the  Japanese as if he was guilty  before being allowed to prove his innocence. Ghosn  was an  auto  industry  marketing and strategic guru  and global  hero  who  ran both France’s  Renault  and Japa’s Nissan  and  Mitsubishi  successfully  in recent times.

    He was literally  ambushed and put on trial without  bail in his nasty  taste  of Japanese  justice   while  on an  innocuous   business  meeting   in Japan. I  am  happy  he has escaped in spite  of electronic monitoring of his house and has gone back  to  his  parents home   Lebanon. Ghosni  was  literally  a citizen  of the world,  born in Brazil  by Lebanese  parents who  raised him in France. According to his wife  whatever financial  crime he could have committed  could have been treated at board  levels in France or Japan  and not in a system  of  Japanese justice  that  is at  odds  with  the justice system he used to make profits for Japanese  firms. I am  not pleading Ghosn’s  innocence.

    Far  from it ,  but given his  Japanese   treatment,  even   I,  from afar,   tremble  at  Japanese justice  meted out to him which  portrayed him as a  sheep  lured  to  slaughter by  the shepherd, in this case    his   trusted  Japanese   business  collaborators   he    never  suspected of any motive of foul  play.  His  case  showed  quite  vividly  the good,  the bad  and the ugly  side of 2019.  Kindly   make your  choice   of saying goodbye  or good riddance,  to   an eventful    year and  end of a   tumultuous   decade. Once again, Long  live the Federal  Republic  of  Nigeria.

  • Sack club chairmen

    By Ade Ojeikere

    This is the period of resolutions. The football family wants a change from the horrible past which predates this NFF board. We have seen enough of the charade around our football. We feel strongly that we need to sack the club chairmen and start a true rejuvenation of the beautiful game here. We are tired of follow follow ( thanks to a line in one of  Fela Anikulapo-Kuti’s albums) club chairmen, who watch in awe while the system cripples the game. The chairmen’s submission that their hands are tied is laughable, given what operates in their clubs.  Paying players, coaches and officials their wages and entitlements appears to be forbidden. These key actors of the game can’t revolt because it would affect their source of revenue, if they get sacked.

    Club chairmen have made the league operators look like their masters rather than partners. There can’t be league organisers without the clubs. Not so here. For instance, players of Ifeanyi Ubah were attacked by armed robbers en route a Match-Day 6 fixture against Jigawa Golden Stars. They were lucky to escape death. Till date, we don’t have clear details on the health situation of those players and officials.

    Today, nobody can tell if the boys benefited from any form of insurance. If the league organisation has insurance firm worthy of its reputation in the business, they would have used this unfortunate incident to explain what they have in store for the teams in the league in terms of welfare package. In other climes, we would’ve seen photos of the insurance firm(s) bosses going to visit the players in the hospital. They would’ve told Nigerians what the players are entitled to.

    The league organisers and the insurance firm would’ve used a press conference to tell everyone what players stood to gain from the various platforms in the insurance packages. Besides, journalists would’ve asked them critical questions, whose answers would’ve emboldened other players to give their best during matches, knowing that their lives and careers have been guaranteed by the insurance policies.

    The driver of this particular bus could have lost his life. Yet, no one has told us what the league organisers did for him – insurance wise, nor has the club said anything about the driver and the injured players. Is anyone surprised that our players are doing poorly in the CAF inter club competitions? Would anyone blame the domestic league players who jump at foreign offers?

    In March 2012, Fabrice Muamba suffered a cardiac arrest during a televised FA Cup match between Bolton and Tottenham Hotspurs and despite the fact that his heart stopped for 78 minutes, he was miraculously revived, thanks to expert medical attention on the pitch before he was whisked away to the hospital. Nobody brought sachet water near the player. Nor did those rushing Muamba to the hospital have to push the ambulance before it could start. These people on an emergency service also didn’t have to wait endlessly for them to fish out the ambulance driver, who may have strayed away to eat, as most drivers do here. The driver didn’t have to pant while driving or run a long distance from where he was drinking like we see in our leagues.

    Another example of effective management of medical emergencies on the field of play, is the case of former Arsenal player Santi Carzola who suffered a career threatening injury which kept him away for 636 days. Carzola cracked a bone in an ankle, suffered a knee ligament injury in November 2015 and played in increasing pain…. His skin had deteriorated and split open and infection attacked but he was patched up by a solid medical team. He returned to football and signed for Villarreal FC of Spain, where he is enjoying the beautiful game again alongside Nigerian star, Samuel Chukwueze.

    Dear reader, please don’t ask what obtains in the Nigerian league on this medical emergency matters. Let me annoy you a bit. You may find an ambulance belonging to the state government, where the governor is sports-loving. Otherwise, you would find one ill-equipped jalopy which would require a push to start. Besides the pitch, you may find an ancient carrier to take the injured player off. Otherwise, two hefty men would run onto the pitch.

    The point to be made here is that we have eminently trained medical personnel. But they may have pulled out of doing business with the league due the reasons known to us. Need I list them? Nobody does business for charity. Other climes have official hospital which would work with the club’s medical crew and those in the stadium for such intricate exercises.

    The domestic league is an apology, beginning with the sharp practices around the grounds before, during and after matches. Nothing to stimulate the interests of the spectators to sit patiently at the stands. The essence of organising league matches isn’t for both teams to benefit from the gates takings, but to allow Nigerians watch the country’s future representatives at CAF inter-club competitions. The matches ensure that the owners of the clubs (mostly state governments) get the facilities ready for the players to battle for honours. But with visionless organisers, anything goes, even if it means playing games with empty terraces.

    Nigeria is the only country where league organisers bask in organising Super Four tournaments after the gruelling 38-week matches have been played. Equally, unacceptable is the idea of not demoting teams that did badly in the season, simply because the organisers want more entrants into the league. How do you promote failures? are you surprised from a failed body? Birds of the same feather fly together. Is this not a clear indictment of the 38-week format, known to everyone? How do you organise league matches for the season, yet the winner would still be subjected to another round of matches to decide the eventual winner – what a country. Nobody wants to stop this misnomer because those who benefit from it blaming the late commencement of the competition for the aberration called Super Four.

    It is simply unimaginable for the English league Board to contemplate a Super Four series after the breath-taking 380 matches played in 38-weeks across the year by 20 teams. What would the EPL board members be telling Liverpool etc that there is still a Super Four to be played in the Barclays English Premier League? Who is it in Germany that would be talking about Super Four after the Bundesliga? How dare anyone suggest Super Four instead of the La Liga Santander? Not even the Italians would opt for it, ahead of the Serie A? Is it that Nigeria’s league board members don’t know about these other leagues and how they are played?

    When such abnormalities occur, it is the clubs that should protest? They won’t because they know the implications of such revolts. Don’t remind anyone about what befell Kwara United FC of yore, simply because a referee was beaten groggy during a match venue? The club chairmen can’t be bothered about the format, since playing less matches in groups to accommodate the Super Four. The chairmen would rather run to their sponsors for more cash to prosecute the Super Four, without rendering proper accounts of how they spent the first tranche.

    Fans, who should pay money to watch the teams, avoid the venues for fear of their lives. It takes a little disagreement for chaos to engulf the premises, with only 50 security operatives carrying canisters of tear-gas. Venues have their stadium gates thrown open, yet no dice. Who wants to watch our local leagues when club touts man the gates and direct the affairs of the place at the club chairmen’s behest.

    The organisers are feigning ignorance about the deplorable conditions in the clubs, preferring to get the players on the pitch, even if they are doing that on empty stomachs. Players, coaches and ancillary groups who make the games possible do so for the love of the game, which isn’t run professionally.

    Only recently, the Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare berated the League Management Company (LMC) for its poor organization of the domestic football league.

    He said: “The bad image at all levels of our football including the organisers of the domestic league cannot attract sponsorship which is the biggest hub of business.

    “No country’s football can grow without a predictable and credible Football calendar that is binding on everyone. The essence of having a football calendar is to ensure that the corporate world can plan with it.

    “No blue-chip firm operates based on hunches. Everything is planned with dates and milestones. No company will wait for the NFF to wake up from its slumber to include them in their plans.”

    Happy New Year, dear reader.

  • Governors step up plot against Oshiomhole

    By Sentry

    Governors elected on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who want Comrade Adams Oshiomhole out as the party’s national chairman, are unrelenting in their avowed mission.

    Their latest move is their resolve to bribe members of the influential organs of the party, particularly the National Executive Council (NEC).

    Sentry gathered that the governors involved in the plot, including one who wants to be running mate to a northern governor, are already dangling huge sums of money before the party’s NEC members.

    Read Also: Oshiomhole: His travails, strategies for survival

    Their main grouse, it was learnt, is that their presidential ambition would be difficult to realise as long as Oshiomhole remains the national chairman of the party, because he will be difficult to bend.

    Discreetly, the governors are echoing Edo State governor, Godwin Obaseki’s sentiments, not because they believe in what the governor is doing but because they want to spite the APC national chairman who is at loggerheads with the governor.

    Obaseki had publicly said that he did not believe in the committee.

    In what is seen as a veiled reference to the presidential ambition of the governors, President Muhammadu Buhari recently warned that people should not drop his name in the pursuit of their ambitions.

    The President’s admonition notwithstanding, the governors are not relenting.

  • Dickson’s reaction to attack on Jonathan sparks fresh controversy

    By Sentry

    It has been more than six weeks since the governorship election in Bayelsa State was won and lost, but its ripple effects are yet to cease. Besides pitting Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State against his Rivers State counterpart, Nyesom Wike, the election has also created bad blood between Dickson and former President Goodluck Jonathan.

    Observers believe that the reaction of Dickson to the recent attack on Jonathan’s Otuoke house and his security details was an indication that the governor is yet to forgive Jonathan in his belief that the former President helped the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state to ease him and his candidate, Senator Douye Diri, out of political relevance.

    Following gunmen’s had attacked a military gunboat deployed to guard Jonathan’s house, killing a soldier and leaving another one seriously injured, President Muhammadu Buhari had called Jonathan on the phone to sympathise with him over the incident and to order full investigation of the incident. Ijaw leaders, including the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) Worldwide, also condemned the attack in strong terms.

    But observers were astonished that Dickson’s reaction to the incident was delayed and there was no mention of Jonathan’s name when the governor’s Chief Press Secretary eventually issued a statement on the issue.

    The statement, titled “Dickson Condemns Attack on Military Gunboat in Bayelsa,” reads:

    “”The Governor of Bayelsa State, the Honourable Henry Seriake Dickson, has condemned in strong terms the attack on a military post in Ogbia Local Government Area of the state.

    “The Governor described the act as reprehensible and condemnable. He said media reports that three soldiers were killed in the attack was quite shocking and troubling.

    “The Governor called on all Bayelsans and indeed Nigerians of good conscience to rise against the killing of innocent security operatives on a mission to maintain peace and security in the state.

    “Governor Dickson called on the police and the other security agencies to ensure that those behind the dastardly act are arrested and brought to justice.

    “He also urged the police and the security agencies to increase security presence in the state, especially during the festive period to prevent the hoodlums from wreaking havoc on the state.

    “The Governor commiserated with family members of the security personnel who reportedly died in the attack.”

    The statement is said to be generating concerns among many Ijaw leaders, who saw Dickson’s action as an indication that he was yet to forgive Jonathan.

  • Saraki’s endless holiday

    By Sentry

    In his days as the governor of Kwara State and Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki was the star at the annual Ilorin Emirates Descendants Progressive Union (IEDPU) conference.

    But since he lost his hold on the state, no thanks to the rampaging O to ge movement on the strength of which Saraki and his entire political camp were rooted out of power, the former Senate President has eaten the humble pie, taking the back seat in social activities, not only in Ilorin but in the entire state.

    Read Also: Bukola Saraki smiles again

    This year’s edition of the IEDPU Conference, which took place on Wednesday last week, was no exception. The people of the state appeared to have moved on with life without Saraki as there was no sign of the former Senate President or a mention of him at the event. His political aura and era appear to have greatly diminished.

    The remnant of Saraki’s supporters in the state has devised a way to play down the ugly trend. Their usual refrain now is that the former Senate President is “on leave.”

    The unanswered question, however, is: “When will Saraki’s leave end?”

  • Oshiomhole and the siege mentality

    By UnderTow

    Until the All Progressives Congress (APC) chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, battles his enemies openly and finally, and a winner emerges, he must expect that they will continue to distract him and snap at his heels. Fortunately for him, he has no illusion about peace in the party, or for that matter peace for himself. He knows his opponents are implacable, and are unlikely to sheathe their swords until they have terminated his leadership. Mr Oshiomhole has in fact begun to sense that whether they will succeed or not will depend on just how dogged he remains and how nimble of feet he is. Does his enemies’ implacability trouble him? No one is sure. He gives the impression he is unfazed by their vigorous opposition; but whether he is really troubled by their unearthly fervour is a matter he has managed to conceal expertly.

    Here is how he paints the shape of the battle foisted on him by his enemies: “You hardly see people throwing stones at a dry palm tree. But if you see a mango tree when it is in season, people throw stones at it when passing. I think that is my lot. You, my comrades (media), should also help in interrogating the process, how a performance of a National Working Committee of a political party should be evaluated. So, in every aspect of life, you will have supporters, you will have opponents. Even God our creator, even those that He created in heaven and earth, haven’t you seen people lamenting that how can God give us this little and give this man so much even as we are encouraged not to be jealous. There are people who (advocated) those views and there are also those who think that yes, APC has not done badly.  You must have also read ironically, people saying that under the chairmanship of my brother, Mr Secondus, the PDP appeared to have been missing every election and that they want him out.”

    Not done beating his chest in defiance, the APC chairman continues: “I think there was somebody who wrote something in Kano that while APC gave financial support to our candidate (we gave financial support from our own resources) the PDP didn’t give a kobo to any of their candidates. But we did it for the first time. We didn’t do it in 2015. I can point to a lot of innovations that we have brought on board.  But as they say, the reward for hard work is even more work. Those who are determined to criticize you, don’t ever deceive yourself that because you have done well, they will stop. I am very confident that our party is stronger today than it was before I became the chairman”.

    Mr Oshiomhole is bemused by the paradox of being besieged by his party despite putting it in a better position electorally in contrast to his Peoples Democratic Party opposite, Uche Secondus, who is being gradually diminished by his party for yielding grounds to his opposite number in the APC. However, it is not clear who the APC chairman is trying to impress. Neither the presidency nor his enemies within the party, particularly the governors who are unlikely to ever see eye to eye with him, will pay any attention to his records as such, whether the records are stellar or not. His traducers are obsessed with what he stands for, his style, even his rising profile, and what and whom they think he represents.

    His opponents in the party want a chairman who is malleable, agreeable and generally submissive. But Mr Oshiomhole calls his soul his own, displays an inimitable stoutheartedness that is in complete contrast to his size, and takes on any fight, no matter how vicious. He is embroiled in a life and death struggle in Edo State, a struggle being waged by the increasingly animated Governor Godwin Obaseki. Another chairman would have foregone the Edo battle thereby constricting the frontlines along which he was expected to set the various battles in array. But not Mr Oshiomhole. He meets every challenge with a ferocity that is unmatched even in real shooting war involving the most sanguinary guerrilla warriors, and he is never one to shirk a battle, including one in which he is deliberately and mischievously provoked to draw him out into the open and weaken both his hold on the party and his appeal to the party’s leadership.

    But perhaps it makes sense, as Mr Oshiomhole has philosophically postured and argued, to let the enemy know that the APC chairman is a formidable enemy willing and even eager to fight to the death, and one who is as difficult to bring down as an aurochs. Perhaps it meets the purpose of the chairman that virtually all his life he has sold himself as a relentless and courageous fighter who is as willing to meet force with force just as he is eager to provoke a battle himself. He demonstrated that resolve months before the last general election during which he instigated pitched battles against some governors and pressed home the advantage he seized at the beginning of the jousting. One after another, the targeted governors fell to Mr Oshiomhole’s superior tactics and firepower. Having being made to look foolish, not to say vanquished, the defeated governors have sworn life-long enmity. Suddenly, the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) and the National Executive Committee (NEC) have not seemed as formidably solid as they appeared before the polls. The party did well at the polls, and even came out better organised, despite the trauma of internal rejiggering, and more formidable. But the opposition has also grown in ferocity, and Mr Oshiomhole is not at peace anymore.

    Overall, Mr Oshiomhole is hated for what his enemies think he stands for, both now and in the near future. They have not spelt out what constitutes that stand, and are even willing to throw a few red herrings along the path in order not to play their jokers too early. However, the APC chairman himself has refused to indulge his enemies by spelling out what he stands for. But in the jumbled hieroglyphics of the party, the chairman and his chief enemies have manoeuvred and fired cannons pretending to decipher where the combatants are coming from and what their contrasting ideologies are. If anybody is likely to shift position, the offended governors and their sympathetic recruits from among the party’s leadership, rank and file and even other state governors seem to think they would not blink first.

    Would Mr Oshiomhole blink first, especially one so adept at fighting wars and looking his enemies bravely and coldly in the face? Perhaps the president, Muhammadu Buhari, would be the main determinant. But perhaps also the party chairman will stand bravely pat to the very end, regardless of how far that end would be. He knows that if he blinks first, he would still be destroyed anyway, considering that though he took the battle to the said governors before the last elections, his actions merely responded to their provocations. Blinking first, when he has more to lose than his enemies, may in the final analysis, be less attractive as an option. But if only political soothsaying were so simple.

    Except Mr Oshiomhole is living in denial, he must know that the outcome of the battle he is immersed in with his enemies in the party is not certain. Despite the vacillations of the president and the rising number of his enemies within the party, he could depend on the X factor to come out of the bruising war victorious. He could also theoretically be exterminated. He sensibly alluded to the battles his opposite number in the PDP is fighting, in the process acknowledging that he is also fighting the battle of his life. It would be strange indeed, even a cruel irony, if Mr Secondus were to prevail and Mr Oshiomhole were to lose. Mr Oshiomhole’s predecessor, John Odigie-Oyegun, lost the battle to remain in office less than a year before the last general election. Apprehensions towards 2023 may as a matter of fact be shaping the war within the APC. However, the country is still more than three years to the next elections, giving enough room for the party to seethe with plots and plans, but making it more difficult to determine who will triumph at the end.

    The APC chairman may sing panegyrics to himself, but he knows that for now his fate is as uncertain as his party’s fate is unpredictable, perhaps even more so. His only assurance is that he is not a quitter. He may yield some grounds and hanker after one compromise or the other; but there is always a method to his madness, and his enemies will underestimate his resilience to their own peril, especially when there is little nobility in their own interminable struggle for dominance in the party.