The Nation Newspaper

Category: Saturday

  • Xenophobia, business and diplomacy

    AS  I write Nigerians are furious with  South Africans over the killing of Nigerians in that nation shown very  vividly on social  media. In retaliation some irate Nigerians have attacked MTN offices and in panic the South African Ambassador in Nigeria has closed his nation’s embassy until ‘the situation improves ‘. Similarly, the Nigerian government  has sent a special  envoy to the S African  government in protest  at  the killing of Nigerians while also stopping the Nigerian Vice President from  attending the World Economic Forum  conference  going on in S  Africa. Definitely Xenophobia has thrown spanner in the works for  diplomacy  between Nigeria and S Africa  and  the only silver cloud in the horizon is that   both  nations are  not contiguous neighbors  and  are   geographically so far from each  other, otherwise  there  would have been  more  than    the  beating of war drums on both  sides.

    In  business  and politics   this week  there  was an uproar in Nigeria over an award of 9.6bn  dollars   to a Irish   firm  over  a breach  of contract  with the Nigerian gas sector that  had  Nigerians worried  that the nation’s assets   could  be seized abroad  and locally. This came at a time that  the issue  of Brexit  in the British Parliament  was dominating  world attention as the British PM lost  two  key   votes   in Parliament to leave the EU on   Oct 31, deal  or no deal,  as well as the call  for  a general election. In  both  situations xenophobia  and patriotism  played a major  noisy part. Both  beclouded  arguments for and against  the manner and legality of the Irish   court’s  judgement  against the Nigerian government    well  as  the constitutionality of the British PM’s prorogation of Parliament whose  supremacy  seemed  vindicated by the  emphatic   defeat of the two  motions brought to  Parliament by the new British  PM.

    In  the xenophobic  patriotism  displayed  by both Nigerians and S Africans,  social  media played a major escalation and provocative  role that  made diplomacy almost impossible and almost  ineffective. This  showed  clearly  the   pervasive, borderless and  impactful    capacity of Information  Technology   and the Internet for  good  or evil, this time  for  evil, satanic and murderous purposes as both  Nigerians and South Africans had murder and mayhem on their minds, after watching the gruesome and vivid murders of their citizens   on social media. This showed  clearly    too that the world has truly  become a global  village and while knowledge and ideas flowed  effortlessly across the world on our phones and TV they  can also make  us reach for ammunitions and dangerous weapons when we see fellow  citizens being hacked to death  right before our eyes in the gadgets of modern civilization which we carry in our palms to  watch  xenophobic   horrors.

    The  way  out is for the two  governments to   caution their  citizenry on the harmful and provocative nature of social  media and to ask them  to use their  judgement  and common sense to discern fake news. It  should  be a direct  appeal in terms of adverts on TV  radio and in the social  media too, to ask  people to be suspicious of what they  watch and imbibe on Youtube as well as their platforms on social  media. This  may  be the appropriate  time to regulate locally in both nations what their  citizens  watch and act on gullibly and with impunity with the wrong assumption that any video they see reflects reality, when with the present spate of innovative and mischievous technology at play  and on offer uncontrollably that is not  always the case.  Of  course, diplomatically, the two nations must mend fences as two  wrongs  do not make a right. In   diplomacy   however what  is important is not  permanent  friendship that we have  with each other but permanent interests. Especially  economic  and cultural ties between  the two nations which  must  be protected and sustained  at  all  costs and  in spite of the  adversarial, satanic and  blood curdling social  media postings in both nations.

    In  the  case of  the $9.6bn it  is  not  an exaggeration to say that Nigerians are really  worried. I was dragged into an educative discussion on the issue during the week  by some well  respected elderly Nigerians. My  view is that the issue  is a scam  from the beginning to the end.  Just  look at the judgement award which was initially $6 .59bn  initially   with the proviso  that Nigeria  would pay $1.2bn  daily as interest that the company would  have realized had  the project been implemented. But  there is nothing on the ground and that award  certainly is one sided. It  is as if the judge was the lawyer  for the  company.

    My  take is that the initial ward  was unreasonable and certainly  one  sided. Even  our lawyer who  initially  agreed  that  the company should  be paid $250m  for breach of contract  should  be asked to explain why and what  for. Although Nigeria has paid  huge sums for breach  of contracts in the past especially during the Buhari Military  Administartion when it terminated the 700mnaira Metroline   project  and Nigeria was forced to pay a fine of  $78m  for breach of contract. That  was a reasonable  award and defendable  in law. The $6.59bn  award  to  P&ID for a breach of a contract  that  had nothing to show on the ground in terms of performance and  which went  on to calculate daily   interests on a failed contract  without  a performance bond certainly lacks equity   fairness  and credibility and should  be contested  vigorously by  Nigeria.

    It  is pertinent  to mention here that this  is a very  suspicious award and  is a trend  to expect in the fight against corruption.  This   is  corruption fighting   back  as I have  warned    before. Predictably     more of such failed contracts would surface from past  regimes because there are lawyers  businessmen and  contractors who  are like vultures   and  scavengers who  feed on the carcasses of such  failed contracts. Government on its own    should not shoot  itself in the leg  by turning on its officials involved in such transactions  but  focus on the whys and wherefores why  contracts signed in  the past failed  or  were  terminated  and why  government cancelled them and moved on with such public or state projects crucial  for its economic development  projects. For  now it is a field  day  for lawyers  on the interpretation of the judgement  but it is not a purely legal  affair because it has serious political and economic implications and  involves sovereign morality  too. This  is   because  the morals  of a nation  cannot  be seen  in the same  light as that of individuals  and persons .Government  should  therefore  seek  redress in courts to put an end to the crass injustice and impunity  of this contemptuously huge  and bizarre award, that  attempts  to ridicule  the   Nigerian nation and its  sovereignty.

    We  go back  to  Brexit  and  the political  humiliation of the new UK PM Boris  Johnson in the British  Parliament  this   week. In stark  terms the British  Parliament has  shown  its hand and strength when it  mattered and cut its hugely ambitious PM to  size  when it voted across party lines that the UK will  leave the EU with  a deal and extend its negotiations beyond Oct 31. Which  is a repudiation of the PM’s ambition to leave the EU by Oct 31, deal  or no deal.  26  members of the governing Conservative Party voted against  their government and were expelled while the PM’s brother, a cabinet  Minister  resigned.  The  Opposition leader Jeremy  Corbyn seem to be having his way.  Which is to get a law banning no deal  withdrawal, get a royal  assent, and then  hold  an  election. Boris  Johnson  by  now  should know that  the hood  does  not make  the  monk  and  that playing Winston  Churchill, a war time PM, in peace time  Brexit, is  a tall  order  and    a hard  act to  follow. As  William  Shakespeare said in the timeless play Julius Caesar, ‘ ambition  should  be made of sterner  stuff ‘ .  Once  again long live the Federal  Republic of Nigeria.

     

  • Sports is serious business

    IS sports truly “play play” as one governor once described it? Who will challenge us to see sports as a  platform to bolster the country’s revenue? Doesn’t the government know that sports is the best vehicle for massive employment?

    Spain’s economy, a growing one like Nigeria’s, relies greatly on the volume of cash generated from the sports sector. FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Sevilla, Villarreal, Valencia are not all about football. They have basketball clubs, volleyball clubs, athletics clubs etc, which are professionally run. But football serves as the fountain where others seek succour, considering its followership as the king of sports.

    Little wonder the hefty taxes on defaulting players and coaches, such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Jose Mourinho et al, which enhance revenue for the Spanish economy. Of course, without taxes, countries will suffer as they need to further develop. Consider Ronaldo’s $20m fine (avoided two-year jail term), Messi’s $2.2m fine (avoided two-year jail term), Xabi Alonso’s $2.8m fine, Mascherano’s £611,000 fine and Jose Mourinho’s €2.2m  and a one-year suspended prison sentence, Radamel Falcao’s €9m fine and Neymar Jr’s  £1.9 million to Brazil tax authorities.

    La Liga’s contribution in Spain’s national economy is no less than any other top-run industry in the country. The two elite division football leagues in Spain generate 185,000 jobs, €4.1 billion ($4.66 bn) in taxes and a turnover equal to 1.37% of the national GDP. This is one sport – football. Others are also run as businesses. Sample: Vuelta a España, a race around Spain and one of cycling’s biggest events.

    Europe’s ‘big five’ leagues spent a record £5billion on players this summer despite Premier League clubs, usually the continent’s most active shoppers, slightly reining in their spending, Deloitte has revealed.

    According to analysis from the professional services company’s Sports Business Group, Spanish clubs spent £1.24billion, breaking the 1bn-euros mark for the first time and more than doubling their expenditure from just two years ago. But there were also summer spending records set in Italy (£1.06billion), Germany (£670million) and France (£605million).

    Premier League clubs still led the way, though, with £1.41billion, although the net spent was only £575million, the lowest since 2015. That net-spend figure also fell by £50million since the league shut its transfer window on August 8, more than three weeks earlier than many of its European peers. Guess what, the English teams, having learned from their folly, are moving to revert to the old order in the transfer market by November, having seen what they lost as revenue to the early closure of the transfer market on August 8.

    I’ve chosen Spain, being a developing economy like ours, to illustrate how the citizenry’s passion for soccer can be exploited to fund other sports without ‘killing’ football, which provides a big chunk of the cash. Nigerians love soccer as much as the Spaniards, but their administrators are driven by the landmarks for growth they put in place than what comes into their pockets, the bane of Nigerian administrators.

    In Spain, the government’s role is purely advisory, ensuring that nobody is above the law, as we have seen with high profile players and coaches being made to face the law. The Sports minister should persuade the National Assembly’s leadership to prioritise the enactment of the National Sports Commission (NSC) Bill and the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Bill, if we hope to have the Spanish template, which isn’t necessarily the best, but a starting point. No corporate body will fund sports, if the government continues to dictate what happens there. But with the NSC Bill and the NFF Bill, the two parastatals can sue and be sued in the law court in the event of breaches in business transactions.

    The biggest and cheapest Public Relations (PR), tool which the country can use to change people’s perception of Nigeria, is sports. I always recall what happened in Atlanta in 1996, after Chioma Ajunwa won the women’s long jump event. An elated Ajunwa did the victory lap of honour ‘naked’ (not having the Nigerian flag around her neck as it is traditionally done on such an occasion). She saw a little American girl in the crowd holding Nigeria’s flag.

    Ajunwa ran towards the little girl, took the flag and completed the lap of honour – fulfilled. Nobody thought Ajunwa would win the triple jump, with football crazy officials opting to travel that day to watch the Dream Team I in training ahead of its next game. At that time, Nigeria was a pariah nation due to the jackboot era of the late Sani Abacha. Yet, American newspapers splashed Ajunwa on their cover the next day. Ajunwa dominated the airspace, granting interviews. Dream Team I, Nigeria’s soccer team at the Atlanta ’96 Olympic Games, shook Georgia the night it lifted the gold medal, beating Argentina 2-3 in the finals. I recall how security operatives reeled out the names of Nwankwo Kanu, Austin Jay Jay Okocha et al after the games when they realised we were Nigerians.

    Nigeria couldn’t build on the window of opportunities available to our winners, especially the football side because we had a minister who ruled that the team shouldn’t be beaten. What a reason. This minister ensured that all requests from the countries that we beat for a rematch were rejected on spurious grounds. Had Nigeria accepted those games, our football would have gained immensely. Such needless intervention by the minister deters sponsors from identifying their goods and services with the industry. Twenty- three years on, nothing has changed. I sincerely hope that the new minister’s tenure will be different.

    It is unethical to gauge the country’s soccer growth from the prism of our foreign legion, especially where a higher percentage of this foreign-based players are Nigeria-born lads – no disrespect to their contributions to our growth in the last three decades. The domestic league is lying prostrate, with those charged to run the place bereft of ideas. Minister Sunday Dare will need to meet with the real owners of the clubs – governors – to appeal to them to constitute their management bodies, which should be peopled by technocrats who are adept in football administration, not cronies who see the clubs as another avenue for the boys to “chop-and-clean-mouth”.

    At the meeting with the governors, the minister should appeal to them to see the clubs as business concerns capable of increasing their states’ GDP and creating jobs, if the administrators know their onions. A club, which is properly run, can be effectively used to mobilise the people and keep youths off social vices. Governors can use these clubs as their Public Relations (PR) tools to influence people’s perception of their administrations, just as they can be used as the rallying point for government to educate the people on their actions – and inaction.

    The European transfer season ended on September 2. Clubs from the five big leagues splashed five billion pounds on recruitment of players to strengthen their teams. This is just a pointer to how much some of these clubs are worth. No club or even the body running the leagues can tell us how much clubs are worth. This is why our clubs can’t be taken to the Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE). The league’s organisers, I dare say, are full of sycophants who won’t tell the leadership the truth – that the game is dead.

    It is sickening to read that the domestic league cannot throw up good players, simply because we have a league body that is indifferent to what happens to the senior side. Football crazy countries celebrate the emergence of new kids on the bloc, not the recycling of aged or forgotten stars on the altar of giving the coaches free hand to do their jobs.

    It is tragic that our local league competition has not begun, making the clubs vunerable to mass exodus of players whenever the transfer windows of serious-minded leagues open in January. This explains why our teams fumble during continental assignments, since they wouldn’t have played enough matches to become formidable sides that can fight for honours. We need to invigorate the operations of the league body, beginning with fresh elections into the league board. Parameters for voting into offices should be adhered to. The chairman of the league board should be a club boss, not what we have now.

    The minister will need to meet with firms who have embraced sports to know what problems they have with the federations. At that meeting, the firms should be told what they stand to benefit from sports sponsorship. After that, a dinner with the President, essentially for sports friendly firms, preferably early January.

    All sports federations should inform the minister how much they get as grants from their continental and international bodies. And this should include the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC). The era when administrators did what pleased them is gone. Grants should be effectively utilised by those who bring us glory – athletes and coaches.

  • Zoning and 2023

    WHY should there be so much preoccupation with Nigeria’s 2023 presidential elections when the newly elected administration of President Muhammadu Buhari’s All Progressives Congress (APC) is just over three months in office and the freshly inaugurated ministers are just settling down? It is not an inappropriate concern. Electioneering cannot be a continuous unbroken affair if meaningful governance is to take place in between electoral cycles. But this is a predicament even in mature democracies.

    President Barak Obama had barely settled down in office in 2009 when some top white Republican Party hierarchs reportedly met to strategize on obstructing his administration at every turn and ensuring its defeat at the next polls. Incumbent President Donald Trump made clear from the onset in 2017 that his tenure would be an eight-year and two-term affair and his fierce Democratic Party adversaries have been fighting him inch by inch all the way. It has thus been non-stop, cut and thrust, politicking in the USA ever since although that country has the institutional and economic resilience to withstand any negative developmental impacts.

    Ironically, it is a member of President Buhari’s inner caucus, Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State who has helped to bring to the forefront of national consciousness the fact that 2023 is so far yet so near. His widely publicized views on the current informal zoning arrangement for choosing the occupant of Nigeria’s presidency has re-ignited intense debate on which part of the country the next president of Nigeria should come from after Buhari. Had such a controversy at this time been instigated by someone not perceived as being very close to the president, he would have been accused of deliberately trying to distract the administration.

    In his contribution to a recently published book on politics and power in Nigeria, el-Rufai had argued that the zoning or rotating of the presidency between the two major zones of the country as has been the practice at least among the dominant political parties since 1999 should be discarded. Describing zoning as a barrier to political equality, el-Rufai stressed that the emphasis should shift from the region of origin of the president to considerations of qualification, competence and character.

    True, el-Rufai had expressed his views generally with regard to the zoning of political offices particularly those of the president and state governors. But informal zoning arrangements exist down the line encompassing even local government and legislative elections. Yet, el-Rufai’s critics contend that it is the presidency he has in mind since he reportedly habours a little-disguised presidential ambition himself.

    Others accused the Kaduna State governor of flying a kite aimed at ultimately ensuring the continuity of another northerner as President after Buhari. But then, to question the motives of the proponent of an argument is not necessarily to credibly debunk the validity of his reasoning or the plausibility of his logic. Let us forget whatever misgivings we have about el-Rufai the messenger. Let us consider the merits or demerits of the message.

    The central question is: Considering the prostrate state of Nigeria in virtually every sector of the country today, her inexorable continuous decline and slide to anarchy and near disintegration, the deepening misery and impoverishment of the vast majority of her people and the disproportionate gap between her potentials and attainments, can Nigeria afford to sustain her current leadership recruitment culture particularly at the apex of the political system – the presidency? I do not think so and I think that is el-Rufai’s point.

    As from 2023, the qualities of competence, character, qualification; emotional intelligence, sense of compassion, personal national network, cosmopolitan outlook, stable temperament, and capacity for hard work must trump the consideration of place of origin in choosing the helmsman of Nigeria’s ship of state.

    One of the most interesting reactions to el-Rufai was from the radical human rights and pro-democracy activist, Senator Shehu Sani. He argued that the APC ‘s dumping of its zoning policy with the possibility of a northerner emerging as President on the platform of the party after Buhari would amount to an act of ingratitude to the Southwest in particular, which played a critical supportive role in Buhari’s electoral victories both in 2015 and 2019.

    Sani contended that “…what we need to put into perspective is the fact that it will be a serious threat to unity and peace of our country if one part of the country will continue to dominate the political space of the country due to its demographic majority and land size. I’m a socialist and I believe that the one who should preside over the affairs of the country should be competent, but is it competence that brought the ruling party to power in 2015?”

    But if it was not competence that brought the APC to power in 2015 and its victory was more of a function of the manifest incompetence and incomparable venality of the PDP, should that stop us from striving ceaselessly to bring competence to the forefront in our choice of leaders for the country from henceforth? I am not sure that the Southwest is looking for gratitude for the support it lent to Buhari’s emergence as President in 2015 and his re-election in 2019. Neither is the region, at least as represented by its political class within the APC, fearful of competing for the presidency with any other region on the basis of merit to the best of my knowledge.

    In the run up to the 2019 elections, I was surprised that a number of political office holders of Southwest extraction at the federal level urged the electorate in the Southwest to vote for Buhari to enhance the possibility of the presidency returning to the region in 2023.  The great Chief Obafemi Awolowo would have found such an assertion coming from Yoruba politicians most embarrassing and unacceptable. The great sage never sought Nigeria’s presidency on the basis of the fact that he was a Yoruba man.

    Rather, he studied the country’s problems rigorously and proffered well thought out solutions to them, which he then vigorously canvassed to the country on the platform of his political parties in the first and second republics. He would have considered it an insult for the presidency to be conceded to him simply on the basis of where he came from.

    In the same vein, Chief MKO Abiola never canvassed for the presidency in 1993 selling his ethnic credentials as a Yoruba man. Rather, he sold his ‘Farewell to Poverty’ manifesto to the public and leveraged on his business success, stupendous wealth, record of pan-Nigerian philanthropy and strategic relations with key power groups, especially the military, to coast home to a nationwide victory that was later annulled.

    Indeed, when a cunning IBB named Chief Earnest Shonekan, an Egba man like Abiola, as Head of the Interim National Government (ING) to permanently nail the coffin of MKO’s June 12 victory, the Yoruba roundly rejected the arrangement. They were desirous not just of a Yoruba President for the sake of it. They were more concerned with the principles of democracy as exemplified by the June 12 election as well as justice as embodied in the struggle against its unjust annulment.

    The truth is that it is impossible to contest for the office of Nigeria’s presidency on a purely ethno-regional platform and realistically expect to win. Indeed, Shehu Sani, in self-contradiction, notes this point when he avers that “We have not forgotten that President Buhari had contested three times without becoming President and on the fourth time, with the support of people from the South, he emerged the President…” The dynamics of Nigeria’s politics is too complex for any ethnic group to brazenly impose a President on the rest of the country no matter its population. This is why Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, an ethnic minority, defeated Buhari in the 2011 election.

    Given the number of political parties that contest elections and which are free to choose candidates from any part of the country, the question of zoning is largely theoretical and of any effect only within political parties. But given the country’s current political configuration, the APC and PDP are the only parties that can realistically contest meaningfully for the presidency come 2023 unless something dramatic happens. It is the responsibility of the two parties with the requisite organization, structure and resources to win nationwide elections, to accord merit greater priority in choosing their presidential candidates.

    If this is not done, the country’s current hydra-headed crises will deepen and the mass uprising that currently seems unfeasible will most likely become an unplanned and spontaneous future reality, with diverse ethno-regional, religious and other sectional implications, that will grievously endanger the country’s stability, cohesion, and very existence.  It is an avoidable fate.

  • Gov Wike’s style and candour stoke controversy

    Religion and a poor economy, acting as misshapen anvil and hammer, have become the unlikely forces between which Nigeria is being beaten into submission. No event fittingly illustrates this point more than the brouhaha over the supposed demolition of a mosque in the Trans-Amadi Area of Rivers State by the Nyesom Wike government on August 20, 2019. Former Kano State governor, Ibrahim Shekarau, was among the first to take umbrage on behalf of Muslims everywhere by condemning the alleged demolition. A little later, Abdulahi Ganduje, governor of Kano State, one of the 12 northern states practicing Sharia Law, also followed suit by denouncing Mr Wike for the audacious demolition. Despite reassurances and refutations, the controversy over the alleged demolition is yet to die down. The Rivers governor is being painted as intolerant and anti-Islam.

    The context for this controversy was probably set by the often spontaneous Mr Wike himself when he declared during a religious crusade organised by the Lord’s Chosen Charismatic Church on June 23, 2019 that Rivers State saw itself as a Christian state. Said Mr Wike during the crusade, prologuing his statement on the last governorship elections: “We saw forces, but the greater force, God Almighty, came. With this crusade, Rivers State will be abundantly blessed. I repeat once again without apologies, Rivers State is a Christian State. That is why nobody can touch us. When it mattered most, the Christian community prayed and God heard your prayers. I will continue to support the activities of all churches. This Government will always partner with the churches , whatever the programme they are engaged in. I urge the church to continue to pray. Each time you pray, put us in your prayers…On March 9 2019 light prevailed over darkness. God showed himself and he is in charge. But for God, I wouldn’t have been here addressing the Christian faithful. The enemies came to Rivers State to take over the state and stop the will of the people. But God said no and the will of the people prevailed.“

    It is not clear how popular Mr Wike’s view on the Christian identity of Rivers is. But writing shortly after the governor’s statement had begun to generate controversy and abuse from a number of quarters, including from a few Muslim communities, Annkio Briggs, a human rights activist based in Port Harcourt, declared that Rivers could not be blackmailed into repudiating its Christian identity at a time when some northern states had become unapologetic about their open embrace of Islam. The activist declared: “Why are Christians expected to be politically correct when it concerns their choice of religion? Gov Wike is a Christian, yet it has not stopped him from having Muslim friends amongst politicians, and it has not stopped him from according the highest regard and respect to Emirs and Muslim religious leaders. Gov. Wike is a Christian and Rivers state is a Christian state, yet these facts have not stopped him from inviting his Muslim friends to Rivers state on state functions or for other reasons. Rivers state is one highly influential state amongst the 36 states in Nigeria and we will not apologise to anyone, religion, political party or socio-cultural groups for our choice of religion, our love, respect and commitment to our religion. We will not tolerate anyone to blackmail, threaten and terrorise Rivers state indigenous peoples, government or governor for our choice of faith or upholding our laws in our state.”

    If Annkio Briggs’ statement was prompted by the controversy over the alleged Mosque demolition, she did not indicate it in her article from which the above quotation was taken. Indeed, she seems more concerned about Rivers State’s Christian identity than anything else, and angered by what she hinted was a clumsy attempt by some politicians and states to advance the impression that one religion was superior to another and deserving of open support regardless of whatever anyone thinks or felt. If thinking politicians led the country sensibly, they would regard the controversy over the alleged demolition as an indication of a portentous future, a future that should demand the most logical and acceptable definition of secularity. But as is usual, few leaders are paying the kind of solemn and responsible attention to the brewing crisis as urgently demanded by the occasion.

    Stung by allegations of intolerance over the alleged August 20 Mosque demolition, to which a number of northern critics and serving and former governors had reacted peevishly and threatened fire and litigation, Mr Wike denounced the blackmail and refuted the allegations. What was demolished, as proved by photographs, he said during a tour of the site with journalists, was a foundation laid by some errant builders on government land. A building foundation, the governor deadpanned, could not amount to a Mosque, even if it was meant to be one. It also turned out that the land in question had been unsuccessfully litigated by some landowners who lost the case to the state government. It was, therefore, not a question of Mosque demolition, government supporters said, seeing that only a foundation was erected on the plot, but only the demolition of an unapproved building that showed no indication it belonged to any religious organisation.

    The problem, however, is not just whether a misunderstanding arose from the said demolition, or the characteristic sourness with which the controversy was conducted, or even the self-righteousness displayed by both Mallam Shekarau and Dr Ganduje whose implementation of their state laws had deeply injured the concept of federalism and secularism, but the obvious indication of a troubled Nigerian unity and uncertain future, a future so deeply troubled that it has become tentative. Twelve northern states had by their imposition of Sharia Law questioned the reliability of the constitutional principle of secularism; it was thus only a question of time, as more incidents challenged the unity of the country and underscored the absence of a national identity, before some southern states conversely began to declare and categorise themselves in terms that were clearly dissonant with the constitution. As Annkio Briggs asserted, and as Mr Wike indicated during the Charismatic Church crusade of June 23, it was important for Rivers to openly declare its affiliations just as some states in the North had done.

    The country lost the opportunity to affirm its secularity in the opening years of the Fourth Republic when Zamfara under the sybaritic former governor Ahmed Sani veered constitutionally off course in the obtuse name of federalism. Now the Zamfara declaration has become the new normal, a situation that is destined with time to course through some other states and foul the trust and amity that had gingerly existed among Nigerians for decades. That amity will be sorely tested in the coming years; and the reason will be because Nigeria’s political leaders lack the courage and common sense to do what is right, to recognise the virtue and usefulness of secularism, and to put religion in its place.

    It must agitate Nigerians that Kano State, which for instance denounces alcoholic drinks as unacceptable, and has taken extra steps to forcefully banish such beverages from the state, can in the same breath and in a perverted interpretation of the laws of the land, share in the VAT proceeds that come from alcoholic drinks. If federalism sanctions the demolition of secularism or enthrones its narrow definition, it ought sensibly to sanction the full retention of VAT proceeds by states that generate it, in this instance by states that sanction the production and sales of alcoholic beverages. Instead, many states have taken the appalling and lazy culture of centrally sharing revenue in Abuja on a monthly basis as a licence for making bad laws and promoting and excusing poor governance. Should Nigeria wake up sometime in the future from its deep sleep, as indeed it will do sooner than later, and compel states to be fully accountable to their people and to generate their own revenue, those states will become less impulsive and irrational in promoting anti-developmental causes, making useless laws, advocating and embracing costly political structures, and enunciating dismal and counterproductive policies.

    Despite all this, Mr Wike was characteristically impulsive and unwise to openly declare Rivers State a Christian state. The Sharia states, which he contradistinctively tried to emulate, made no such open declarations. They simply made laws that showed their sectarian predilections, and ruled with uncanny disdain for the principle of secularism. Mr Wike was at liberty, together with the state legislature, to tilt government programmes and policies anywhere they wish without necessarily making open declarations. Had they done these and given and withheld approvals in line with the philosophical and religious principles by which they wish to govern their state, it is unlikely he would have drawn the flak that now seems greatly discomfiting to him.

  • Saraki, supporters sing new song in Kwara

    Life, they say, is what one makes of it. A condition that drives one man into frustration and even attempted suicide would be made so light by another man that it would become a source of hysteric laughter.

    Consider the case of former Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki and his supporters in Kwara State and you would realise the sense in the Yoruba saying that there is good in evil and evil in good.

    Still smarting from the crushing defeat of Saraki’s Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) by the rampaging machinery of the All Progressives Congress in virtually all the positions contested in the recently concluded elections in the state, the immediate past Senate President and his supporters have found a formula for getting over the humiliating defeat.

    The refrain on the lips of members of Saraki’s political camp in Kwara State these days is that they have proceeded on a four-year leave after the strenuous task of governing the state for 16 unbroken years, and would be making a return to the Government House in 2023.

    While the supporters of APC in the state are sneering at Saraki and his supporters over the refrain which they see only as an ingenuous way of mitigating their pains, PDP supporters in the state are praying that the purported leave would not turn into retirement, given the pace at which Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq’s government is moving.

  • Bayelsa: Dickson drubs Jonathan in battle for PDP’s governorship ticket

    Former President Goodluck Jonathan and a former Managing Director, Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Timi Alaibe, were two of the biggest losers in the just-concluded primaries of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Bayelsa State.

    The former President was the first to cast his vote at the primaries, but at the end of the election, Alaibe, widely believed to be Jonathan’s candidate, failed to clinch the party’s ticket.

    Alaibe was defeated by Douye Diri, the Senator representing Bayelsa Central Senatorial District at the National Assembly, who was widely believed to have been backed by Governor Seriake Dickson.

    Political observers believe that Diri’s victory in the shadow election has further strengthened Governor Dickson’s grip on the party’s machinery in the state.

    In fact, Jonathan has been quiet since the emergence of Diri and has yet to congratulate the PDP candidate for the November 16 governorship election in the state.

    Alaibe, who was upbeat during the primary, showed a lot of strength but felt betrayed by delegates who had assured him of their votes in the poll that was characterised by vote buying.

    The former NDDC boss, who came second, has since issued a statement lamenting his defeat and unfulfilled dreams. He, however, vowed to continue pressing forward in his quest to govern the state.

  • Revolutionary pressures in Nigeria (3)

    With the reckless and relentless squandering of the country’s bounteous oil revenues at various times between the mid-1970s and the tail end of the Dr. Goodluck Jonathan administration, various elected governments in Nigeria have conveniently hidden behind the non-justiciability of Section 2 of the 1979 and 1999 constitutions to refuse to make any meaningful effort to actualize the extensive welfare provisions that make up the ‘Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy’ that constitute the chapter.

    They claim that that the country simply does not have the resources to pursue such ambitious welfare schemes stipulated but not made mandatory by the constitution. This is as a result of the ever increasing marginalization of oil in the international political economy and the failure over the years of an irresponsible and complacent political class to utilize successive periods of intense but short-lived bursts of oil boom to diversify the economy and create alternative viable and sustainable revenue sources.

    Yet, the reality of shrinking oil revenues has not in any way diminished the capacity of the various factions of the Nigerian ruling class to engage in the most venal forms of primitive accumulation through both the direct, massive looting of the national treasury and the extraction of humongous amounts of resources as ‘legitimate’ salaries, allowances and emoluments of elected and appointed public officers. It is thus not surprising that Nigeria is routinely described today as the poverty capital of the world and a wide gulf exists between a few Nigerians who feature among the club of the richest individuals in the world and the vast majority of the citizenry who merely exist but do not live in any meaningful sense of the word.

    In the words, once again, of Mr. Femi Falana (SAN) in his book, ‘Nigerian Law on Socioeconomic Rights’, “Despite the abundant resources of the nation, the federal government has admitted that over 100 million Nigerians live below the poverty line. The commitment of the Buhari administration to fight the menace of corruption is not in doubt. But it should be pointed out that that corruption is not the root cause of poverty, but a fall out of the country’s peripheral capitalist economy, which is anchored on privatization, maximum profiteering, capital flight, tax avoidance and capital waivers”.

    Rather, Falana contends that “The State has engaged in the systematic promotion of poverty through the implementation of the neo-liberal economic policies instead of striving by means of appropriate regulations for the minimization of exploitation and the concentration of wealth in a few hands, the securing of adequate means of livelihood and employment opportunities, suitable shelter, reasonable minimum living wage, old age care and pensions, unemployment and sick benefits etc”.

    But how on earth, can the resources be found to implement this kind of extensive welfare programme the question will be asked in many quarters particularly with ever shrinking oil revenues? It would appear as Mr. Falana himself acknowledges that the welfare provisions of chapter 2 of the constitution are predicated on the continued availability of abundant oil resources to make these social services available to the majority of deprived Nigerians rather than the transformation of the Nigerian ‘rentier’ state from almost exclusive dependency on oil rents to one with a solid foundation based on actual production and not merely distribution of oil revenue.

    But without making Section 2 of the constitution legally binding and fully justiciable, Nigeria’s ruling class will not be motivated and forced to put on its thinking cap and ensure the imperative that, in the words of Professor Okwudiba Nnoli, “The demands of production must define the character of Nigerian politics. This means that the state must formulate and implement concrete incentives to increase creatively the productivity of the vast majority of the people…The State must ensure that economic enterprises, public or private, maintain a viable Research and Development activity with a view to creating new products related to the needs and traditional consumption habits of the people, using local resources…Without increased and increasing production, distribution soon reaches a dead end”.

    Chief Obafemi Awolowo and his Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) faced this same skepticism as regards resource availability when they enunciated their four cardinal programmes of free education at all levels, free medical care for all, integrated rural development and full and gainful employment for all in the Second Republic (1979 – 1983). These promises evoked cynicism and scorn from Awo’s opponents who dismissed them as mere election gimmicks that could not be realistically implemented. Awo demonstrated repeatedly, however, that he and his political think tank had done the hard work of estimating the cost, crunching the figures and working out the implementation details of these programmes.

    On the occasion of the launching of his book, ‘The Strategy and Tactics of the Peoples Republic of Nigeria’ on Friday, 31st July, 1970, for instance, Awolowo gave an insight into the kind of comprehensive research and meticulous planning he and his inner circle had done towards the actualization of free education on the country’s return to democratic governance, which he assumed at that time would be in 1974 as earlier promised by General Yakubu Gowon.

    Let us have a glimpse of the incomparable industry I am referring to here by quoting Awolowo at some length on that occasion: “As I have stated in the preface to the book, Tables 1-7 are only abstracts from 158 Tables with altogether 1,587 columns. Tables 1 and 2 set out the estimated school population at all levels for the Northern and Southern States, from 1970 to 1980, taking into account a compound growth rate of 2 and a half percent per annum in our population. Tables 3-7 set out the projected recurrent and capital costs of this great scheme for the next 20 years. Appendix 1 is a summary of the methodology and procedure adopted in computing the 158 Tables from which Tables 1-7 have been abstracted. Table 8, on the other hand, contains Nigeria’s projected GDP from 1970/71 to 1990/91 at current factor cost, and the estimated Government Revenue for this period. Appendix two is an outline of the rationale for this Table”.

    Giving details of carefully calculated capital and recurrent expenditure from 1970/71 to 1990/91, Awolowo stressed that free and compulsory primary education “must not wait till later than 1974…if we truly appreciate the unifying and harmony-promoting influence of such a scheme”. He continued: “Granting then that God bestows on us the wisdom, vision and grace to embark on free and compulsory primary education in 1974, it is clear from Tables 1 and 2 that we would end this decade in 1979 with a primary school population of 7 and a half million pupils in the Northern States compared and contrasted with 6 million primary school pupils in the Southern States. By 1980, the Northern States would have 1.17 million general secondary pupils as compared with 1.2 million in the Southern States. Also, by 1980, 270,000 students of Northern States origin would be pursuing post-secondary education as contrasted with 262,000 from the Southern States. By 1985, the process, which would have begun much earlier, of each constituent state having at least one University, would be completed”.

    Where would Nigeria be today if this kind of meticulous, serious-minded thinking and planning had been applied to Nigeria’s developmental aspirations in diverse sectors since 1970 when Awolowo penned these words? These are exactly the qualities needed by the leadership for the successful actualization of Section 2 of the 1999 constitution in order to respond effectively to the revolutionary pressures occasioned by the crisis of poverty, inequality and underdevelopment in post-colonial Nigeria. Of course, Awolowo was aware that achieving the ambitious developmental goals his party set for Nigeria would require the highest levels of discipline and sacrifice from all and sundry. Thus, in a speech on 6th October, 1978, he lamented the high level of indiscipline and self-indulgence at all strata of our society, asking “What else on earth, for instance, could have made our public servants at the Federal level alone feel at ease with the expenditure in 1977/78 of over N97 million on Local Transport and Travelling, over N28 million on Vehicles, Maintenance and Running Costs and over N7 million on Overseas Travel?”. The levels of waste and fiscal recklessness in our public life have grown even more atrocious and reprehensible over time.

    Interestingly, Awolowo does not disagree with Sowore on the imperative of revolutionary changes as a necessary condition for national transformation in Nigeria. But the sage’s notion of revolution is not the spontaneous, reflexive and superficial #RevolutionNow spearheaded by Sowore. Rather, Awo avers that “In order that she may attain her natural birthright and destiny, Nigeria must be remade and re-created. Every aspect of her existence must be revolutionized: her agriculture, her industry, her trade and other tertiary services, the attitude of her sons and daughters to life as well as their education and upbringing – all must be revolutionized”. Which party can achieve this feat within the context of a democratic, federal and united Nigeria? That is the big question. But the answer certainly does not lie in populist showmanship masquerading as revolutionary fervor.

  • The trouble with sports

    When we cringe that Nigeria is a sporting nation, serious-minded countries laugh. Whereas others start their plans from the scratch, we rely on finished products from our jaded competitions with falsified ages. What we bank on from these competitions can’t stand the test of time. They are fickle and fall away like nectar on hibiscus.

    Our sports will crawl for as long as we cast an indulgent eye on instituting a solid foundation for the industry.  Sports cannot grow without integrated programmes anchored on Schools Sports, which is domiciled with the 36 states’ ministries of Sports and that of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in Abuja. The catchment area for sports are the schools in the 774 local government areas. Sports is also the vehicle for mass mobilisation of the citizenry. Besides, its role in taking the youth off the streets is invaluable.

    A country in which schools lack playgrounds is certainly not ready. Only a few schools have playgrounds with facilities and trainers. Everywhere is built up – in a desperate quest to ensure that everyone goes to school. Nothing wrong with that, but sports should be considered when development takes place. Sports is a money spinner, the best platform for massive employment, considering the immense followership each game enjoys.

    States aren’t perturbed that Schools Sports competitions, including those named after governors, are moribund. It is ironic that governors, their deputies and executive council members are seen around golf courses and polo grounds, whereas all competitions which in the past served as nurseries to discover kids are dead. Golf and Polo are elitists, very costly to run, their equipment beyond the reach of the common man.

    In the past, schools sports competitions were handled by the Education ministries. States’ Sports Councils and their affiliate sports federations prepared athletes for national competitions. Sports died in the states when sports commissioners and their education counterparts started working at cross purposes. The problem was who to applaud when state contingents excelled in competitions. With time, the units which handled sports at the ministry of education were integrated into other spheres of the ministry. They got choked.

    The first spiral effect of this dastardly decision was the dearth of Colleges of Education for Sports, Teachers Training Colleges etc, where coaches were trained and retrained. Coaches attended such colleges to acquire knowledge and new tricks in their games. Without coaches and trainers supervised by Ministry of Sports chieftains, sports gradually nose-dived into extinction.

    We cannot talk about corporate sponsorship of sports when we don’t have products to market to the business community. Most states’ sports councils’ headquarters are derelict. The workers only remember that they earn a living from sports when major competitions are holding – if the governor is interested in such ‘play play’, as one governor once described sports. The governor argued that the cash spent on sports could be channeled into infrastructure, such as roads and salaries. Incredible.

    I reminded the governor that the citizens of the state needed the government to provide recreational facilities for them. I educated him further that sports is pre-requisite for reducing the damaging effects of some health hazards just as it is the best vehicle for the mobilisation of the people, not forgetting that it takes the youth off the streets and crime. His Excellency asked me to do a paper on what I said. I moved on, knowing that nothing will change. I was right. The governor’s eight years brought no succour for the troubled sector.

    Sportsmen and women are among the highest paid professionals. Serena Williams, Cristiano Ronaldo, Tiger Woods, Lewis Hamilton, Usain Bolt et al are some of the big earners. They achieved this feat because they were exposed to sports as kids. In fact, Serena’s dad groomed his daughters for stardom. No one is shocked by the phenomenal achievements of the Williams’ sisters -Venus and Serena.

    For any commodity to have value, it must have a price. You ask, how much is any sport worth in Nigeria? Keep guessing. A company will place its goods or services on sports if there is massive followership, since the firm needs to reach as many consumers as possible. Firms key into sports to enhance their corporate image and clientele, which they won’t want to tarnish on the altar of sports sponsorship. This is why they seldom support Nigeria sports because most sports federations have not cultivated the culture of accountability.

    Food and beverages firms as well as other sponsors see in the fans who throng the venues a window to market their goods and services.

    In the past, Nigerians watched live broadcast of important sports competitions, such as the All Africa Games (now African Games), Olympics, World Cup, Commonwealth Games, Africa Cup of Nations etc). Parents and kids sat through games. Parents encouraged their loved ones to participate in such sports that they follow because of what they saw on television. In fact, the fascinating story of how Serena and Venus emerged from the tutelage of their father encouraged some parents to mentor theirs, having seen the Williams’ experience.

    The flipside is that the corporate world also watches games in their offices. This makes it easy to persuade them to support sports, having seen the massive followership, who could be converted to customers or consumers of their goods. The job is done if policy makers in the blue-chip companies love sports or have siblings who are desirous of earning a living from sports.

    Sadly, the 2019 African Games holding in Morocco isn’t on television. There isn’t any recap of the days’ programmes on television at night, like it was done in the past, for Nigerians to know their sports heroes and heroines.

    If sports must enjoy the fillip of growth from the corporate world, it must be repackaged like entertainment. In the 1970s and 1980s, foreign stars thrilled Nigerian fans. That has changed, with the massive work of our musicians and actors. One feels good as foreigners call Nigerians wearing our traditional dresses Igwe, Igwe – fallout of what they see from interesting drama stories on television. It is also exciting sitting inside cabs in Europe, listening to Nigerian artists’ songs on radio and foreigners dancing to it the way we do here.

    It isn’t surprising to see entertainment enjoy tremendous corporate sponsorship since governors, business moguls, banking giants and oil industry chieftains attend entertainment shows.Of course, nobody convinces them on the need to do business with the entertainers, having physically seen the crowds at concerts here and in Europe.

    I’m excited Sports Minister Sunday Akin Dare inspected the derelict facilities. Dare’s comments show that he knows what to do. What Dare should do, aside these visits, is to convince President Muhammadu Buhari to make sports’ funding a four-yearly cycle, since most competitions are biannual and after every four years. The yearly fiscal budgets run here won’t do sports any good just as the Treasury Singular Account (TSA).

    It is shameful to read stories of associations’ helmsmen lending the government money for our athletes to attend competitions in which winners will represent us at bigger tournaments, such as the Olympics. Dare should endeavour to persuade the leadership of the National Assembly to institutionalise the NFF Bill and the National Sports Commission (NSC) Bill, which many believe will revolutionalise sports.

    No corporate body will give cash to any sports federation, knowing that it is driven by the government. Companies are reluctant to do business with sports because of policy summersaults, but with the promulgation of the NSC Bill and the NFF Bill, companies will be willing to do good business, since both bodies can sue and be sued in the event of breaches.

  • Power, history and reality

    Power corrupts and absolute  power corrupts  absolutely  is a well known cliché. I put that alongside a saying  that you do not know a man’s  nature until you  give him power. You  may  have guessed  where I  am  heading if you followed  the world  news  as well  the local  one. The major global  news this week  was the suspension of  Parliament in Britain  by the new  British  PM Boris  Johnson and the full  support given him via twitter by US President Donald  Trump.

    In  Nigeria a well-known Northern leader Prof  Ango  Abdullahi   asserted controversially  that the Fulanis  were  better  off under colonial  rule than Independent  Nigeria. I want  to connect Boris Johnson’s suspension  of  Parliament  with the Fulani   lamentation  and fate under  the Colonialists  because Britain was Nigeria’s colonizer and  gave  us Independence under the system  of  Parliamentary  Democracy  which  we  have since abandoned   for the presidential  system  of  government. The  reality  today  however  is  that Britain ‘s PM last  week behaved more  like an executive president in suspending  Parliament  and  exposed  the Achilles  heel of the British  constitution which  is largely  unwritten.

    In   the  lamentation of the fate of the Fulani  herdsmen  today in Nigeria the Professor conveniently  forgot that the Fulani  were the ruling class over the whole of  Northern Nigeria  because the Islamic Jihad of the Sokoto caliphate which is Fulani, was  the   source   from which  power flowed  over Nigeria at Independence  through the Sardauna of Sokoto,  Sir  Ahmadu  Bello,  the first  Northern Nigerian Premier whose  party the NPC was  the ruling  party in Nigeria at  Independence. To  say  that  the Fulanis  were  better off   during colonialism is a tautology.  They  were in power in the North and the  rest  of  Nigeria. They  are  still  very much in power today as the incumbent President of  Nigeria is a full  blooded Fulani  who reportedly said that if he were not educated he would   have been  a cattle  Fulani .

    So  for the distinguished  former VC and  Professor to  say that the Fulanis  were  better off under the  Colonialists is to blow  a trumpet  of  triumph  or kakaki  which  the Fulani  caste  enjoyed under the    policy   of  Indirect Rule  under the British  colonialists  when  Fulani Emirs  ruled over their  Hausa subjects  then  and up till  now.  So  for Ango  Abdullahi to say that the Fulanis  were better off under the British  Colonialsts  is  a fake attempt to pull the wool over our  eyes.  The  reality is that the Fulanis  have always  taken the plums  of power in the rulership  of  Nigeria and right  now  they  are still very  much in the saddle  of  Nigeria’s power politics and democracy.

    In  tackling Boris Johnson’s gamble in suspending Parliament  let  me caution him as I did on Italy’s Matteo  Salvini when  I noted last  week   that in bringing down the government coalition of his party and the Five Stars he  could  lose as a bird in hand is worth  two in the bush.  Now  he has lost because his former coalition partners  have agreed to form a government with a party of the left  which  Salvini never  thought  possible.  In addition they have retained the PM whose  cabinet  Salvini brought down  in a bid  to force  an election. Which shows  that in politics there  are no permanent enemies  but permanent  interests.

    Boris  Johnson’s  disdain for  Parliament  however could  damage  Parliamentary  democracy  for good in Britain. This  is because in the British constitution which  is  unwritten Parliament is  supreme. But the British  constitution is mostly  unwritten  and under  the protocol in which  the Queen  suspended Parliament at the behest  of the PM the Queen’s  action is unqueationable  . Yet  some people  have gone to court to challenge the PM  suspension of Parliament. What  laws or law  precedents will  they use except to mention time  honored traditions and customs. But  how will  that sound in this age and time digital politics and social  media  and hacking of election campaigns  and results?  Obviously  the law  is about  to be given  a kick  in the ass over this Brexit deal  or  no  deal.  One thingis sure though and that is that both Boris  Johnson and Labour Opposition leader Jeremy  Corbyn  have no love lost  between  them on Brexit  and it is difficult  to  say  who  will  prevail   and  the world  will  be watching to see if this is the death  knell  of Parliamentary  democracy  in the Mother of  Parliament or not.

    The  situation in Britain provides ample opportunity  to compare Parliamentary Democracy with the American  presidential  system  with its checks  and balances  and the separation of powers inherent in it. It  is obvious  now  with benefit of hindsight  that both systems  of  government  can  be derailed  under serious system stress  and the machinations  of  politicians.  I    will  use a comparative  analysis to show this disturbing  fact  in the Brexit  saga still  unfolding , the US under  Donald  Trump  and the  Nigerian  senate between 2015  and  2019.

    Udoubtedly  the  British  Parliament  has  been seriously  wounded in terms of image and respectability by the Brexit  Debates. Three   deals on Brexit were rejected by Parliament  and the last by the Speaker who cited   the  wordings as the same and therefore not worthy of  consideration.  This led to the resignation of Theresa May  as PM  and the emergence of Boris  Johnson.  Now Johnson is suspicious  of  Parliament  hence the suspension or prorogation . A mistrust of Parliament by a sitting PM cannot augur  well  for Parliamentary  democracy. As  an observer  noted  if in a Parliamentary  democracy Parliament becomes undemocratic in preventing Brexit from happening then  democracy must  be imposed on Parliament. Which in a way was what the British  PM is trying to do but he is not having it easy at  all   and the world is watching with bated breath.

    In the US under  Trump  separation of powers seem  broken and  apart.  Whereas the checks  and balances  put  in place were to make  the system  intertwined and interwoven.  But  now under Trump  the senate goes its way   dominated   by the Republicans  while the House  of Reps  under the Democrats does  things its way and  there is little room  for accommodation or  tolerance which is the essence of the  checks  and balances in a presidential  system.  So  the American  political  system  is under the personality  stress  of its  incumbent  president and that  stress  has  been  translated into a global  stress affecting all  issues from climate to diplomacy and trade.

    Ironically  the Nigerian  political  system  weathered  its  separation of  powers stress better than both the US and Britain  where  the sovereignty  and integrity of Parliament have been  impugned.  The  Senate President in 2015 became that President by subterfuge and deceit  of the ruling APC.  He  was able to hold on to that position till  the end of his tenure and to the chagrin of his then  party before defecting to the opposition PDP,  This  definitely debarred  the APC  from fulfilling  its mandate as it was crippled in the senate where an enemy  from within its ranks  had imposed himself  as president. Luckily the APC  won the 2019  election  and has put its house in order as lightning  cannot  be allowed to strike   twice at the same spot.

    So  to a great  extent Nigeria’s  metamorphosis from a Parliamentary democracy  to an executive presidency  encompasses  the good  the bad and  ugly  of the two  systems. We have seen  the worst case scenario in which the Speakers mace  had  been  used to break  law  makers heads or get lost in Parliament.  Such incidents led to military intervention and later   the Presidential  system of government.  From  all  indications it would seem that  both our former colonial  master  and the garrulous Americans are  on the verge of  their    round   of  fisticuffs  in evolving their own  democracies   and  we can  only  watch  from  afar.  After all what is good for the goose    should be sauce   for the gander.

    Once again long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

  • Ex-governor in self-imposed restriction

    A FORMER governor in one of the Northcentral states is passing through one of his worst moments since he left office on May 29. He is living in perpetual fear of arrest over some of his alleged shady deals in office for which he is being investigated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

    Already, some of his political associates, including a former classmate of his, have reportedly been quizzed by the anti-graft agency over their involvement in the illegal acquisition of government-owned properties in the state as well as Abuja.

    Since he left office on May 29, he has kept stoically to himself, studiously avoiding public functions for fear that he could be embarrassed at such functions by EFCC officials or other security agencies. In the state that he governed for eight years he is a recluse. In Abuja which he visits clandestinely, he is in self-imposed confinement.

    Although he is said to have secured admission for a doctoral degree in a Canadian university, the former governor is said to have put the programme on hold because he fears that he could be arrested at the airport.

    Although he is yet to be invited by the EFCC for questioning, he is said to be aware of the numerous petitions against him over the manner he handled the finances of the state while he held sway as governor, and the fact that some of his associates involved in the deals are being quizzed has heightened his fear.