The Nation Newspaper

Category: Saturday

  • Globalism, sovereignty and Independence

    United  States’President  Donald Trump’s  speech  at  the UN this week and today’s  primaries of the ruling  party of Nigeria, the APC  in Lagos state  occupy  our thoughts  today. Indeed the topic of the day came out of  Trump’s speech  which  I believe is the most important diplomatic  doctrine of our time regardless of your perception  of  the  mannerisms of the contentious US president. With regard to Lagos APC primaries to select the governorship  candidate, the issues  at  stake are important in terms of choice, competition and independent  performance for not only the incumbent  governor who has accepted  the challenge of  his co contestants but  also  for the hold and grip of Jagaban  Bola  Ahmed Tinubu  on  the  direction and  control  of  Lagos  state  politics.

    Basically  Donald  Trump  after blowing the Trumpet of his Administration on the world stage  as he addressed  the UN General Assembly  changed  US foreign policy from one of rampant intervention in other  nations affairs  to a  new one that  rejects globalism  and believes in sovereignty, patriotism and independence. It is a new foreign policy akin to the Monroe Doctrine which  forbids historically  foreign intervention in South America. The new Trump Doctrine of America First in foreign  relations asked  the world leaders to put their house in order first  as sovereign nations in order to be truly  independent. America  he asserted  rejects globalism  and the  global  control  and governance of independent nations by international  institutions.  He  highlighted  nations like Saudi Arabia, a monarchy  as doing quite well  for their  nation in his estimation. The US rejects the International Criminal Court as lacking in international jurisdiction  and legitimacy  and he cautioned that those  nations that receive US aid  will  no longer be allowed to bite the finger that feeds them. He condemned Iran and its leaders  in no uncertain terms as sponsors of terrorism, applauded N Korea  hitherto  a  pariah of the international  community for its denuclearization pursuit  after  a  new détente with the US following  the historic meeting of the two leaders in Singapore  this year.  In all,  the US president turned world politics as we have known it so far  totally upside  down.

    My duty  here  is not about his polemics  and personality,  for which I am  sure  the  world leaders  who  formed his audience  gave a grudging if unintentional applause on his  introductory  self  praise,  which  even  he found encouraging and admitted he  did not  expect. My duty is to dissect his massive and important  speech in terms of content and direction of world  peace and  I  will  do that  in due course.

    Before  doing that however  let  me bring on board today’s  Lagos APC guber  primaries involving three candidates including the Lagos state sitting Governor Ambode.  The  direct primaries is a reflection of true democracy in  terms of  a  widening of political  participation in the choice of the governor of the state. It is an  opportunity for Lagosians  to judge  the performance of the governor  and reward him  with reelection or    first,  with a renewed  candidature, if they judge  he has lived up to the campaign promises  that  brought him  to power.  It is also an opportunity for his fellow aspirants to prove they have the where withal  to be better  or to do things differently  from what the incumbent  can claim  to have achieved since he was  elected  as governor. With  regard  to the party ruling caucus led by the Jagaban, the caucus  should  be applauded for making the competition open and  direct.

    It  has  returned power to the people with  the direct  primaries. It should  now sit back and be an  objective referee  to  make sure the contestants and the competition follow the rules and laws  of the party  governing the primaries. The  leadership  of the party in the state  must act like Shakespeare’s Caesar’s  wife  whose  conduct  must  be above  reproach.  In addition since the primaries are now direct the party must realize  that its  former  power of selection and endorsement  is now diluted  and on a permanent  basis since  once  the people  have tasted power  they are not likely  to  lose sight  of it ever  again.

    Which  again  is good for democracy and makes the choice of the people accountable  to those who  elected him or her rather  than  to any person, structure or institution.  That is the price  of transparency  and accountability  that the leadership  of the APC  has set  afoot, and I pray  they  have a peaceful and people  oriented primaries today  to see the  emergence  of  a proven  independent candidate for governor of the state.

    At  the UN,  Donald Trump  asked  the nations of the world to choose a future of patriotism, peace  and prosperity  and  asked  nations to make their nations great in terms of peace and prosperity  so that their people will  not migrate to other more prosperous  nations. It is here  that I  pick  issues with  the US president  as  an African  and a Nigerian. What he has said at the UN  could  have been said to African  and developing nations in the sixties  when another US President Dwight  Ike  Eisenhower (1953 – 1961) directed that colonial  nations  should  offload  their colonies and give them independence  at all  costs  because the US was  footing the bill on the reconstruction and rebuilding  Europe  after  the  massive destruction  of  World  War 11. With  hindsight  and  with  the help or disaster of globalization  Democratisation,  Marketisation,  and IMF conditionalities, one  can  say that Trump’s  new doctrine  that member states of the UN  should paddle their own canoes  economically so that their nationals and citizens are safe and protected  at home  and do not flee poverty and insecurity on the high  seas and the Mediterranean    to Europe especially  to look  for a better life,  is a step  in the right  direction  and  in the interest  of world  peace  and  development.

    In  addition in saying that the US  will  no  longer tell  other nations and  people of the world how to work, live or  worship Trump  is  showing the international  community  that the US  now knows  that its  freedom  ends where other nations’  noses begin.

    That  is good for mutually  beneficial, dignifiying  and respectful international  relations. Very  much  unlike his predecessors  who invaded Iraq on false premise  and gave the Cairo Speech  that launched the Arab Street  protests that brought  down dictatorships in the Middle East only  to create ISIS, Boko  Haram, global  migration and the destruction of Syria. Surely, Donald Trump’s  new foreign policy  makes sovereignty, independence  and Patriotism more palatable  and dignifying to developing and African nations like Nigeria than the policies of his predecessors. Once  again  long live the Federal  Republic of Nigeria.

     

     

  • Elections, eligibility and power

    Acquisition of power is the ultimate  goal  of  politicians  and global leaders in all aspects of human endeavor.  In  my first course on political    science  at  UNIFE,  I  was  told  that  politics  is

    ubiquitous, a strange word for a fresh  undergraduate then.  Today I  want  to show that it has taken almost    a lifetime  for me to understand  the import of that  simple  definition, both contextually  and conceptually.

    I  will  do this with the examples of the issues  of the day on the day’s topic. I want to take on election issues both  at home and abroad in terms of eligibility of politicians and power seekers  for  power to lord  authority  over their fellow  citizens  and examine their claims and credentials in their quest  for power. We  shall  also  look  at  the way and manner that those  who  control  elections  as well  as those pick  the powerful  seeking authority,  go  about  their  delicate  and very powerful  role. Which  of course    must  be    in  accordance with the political  culture of each environment  and  bearing in mind the crucial fact  that  this must  be done within the ambits of  the rule  of  law in  each  society; and  also  noting quite importantly that  the law flows  from the tradition  and customs of all

    societies and nations  globally .

    Given  our  paradigm  we  look  at  events in  Pakistan, Nigeria, and  the US      and  see what  happened  or is about to happen  in selected situations  in these  places  and how  they tally with our stated objectives in this piece. In simple  terms in Pakistan a former PM  was  shut out of an election,  jailed  for  corruption and released  after  the elections when  he  was no threat  to those in power  in that nation.  In  Nigeria an election    for governorship  is taking place in  Osun    state    in which one of the candidates  took  an examination  for eligibility  to contest alright, but  had f9  in English    the single  paper  he  sat  for out of the eight  papers  he was expected to write.

    In  the US a lady  professor sprang  out from a University to    charge  that a candidate  for the highest  office of Supreme Court  judge of  the US tried  to strip  her  naked 36  years  ago  and cannot be trusted with the authority  of a judge  of the US Supreme  court. In  Lagos Nigeria  the reelection of the incumbent governor of the state appeared  to  be in jeopardy  as his  godfather shifted  his anointment  to a fresh  candidate.

    These  issues  primarily  show how  politics  has been  described  as  not  only  ubiquitous    and at play  anywhere  but  as the art or science of who gets  what, when  and how  in every  political  system.

    Starting  with  Pakistan  the former PM is Nawaz Sharif,  a leader  I admire  so  much  for  his courage  and political  durability. He has  been PM several  times  and does not fear  for his life in the struggle  for power  and authority in his nation Pakistan. He  had boarded  a plane  before  from  London  to  Islamabad,  capital  of Pakistan  knowing  he would be executed by the military  regime of General  Pavez  Musharaff. His  plane  was not  however  allowed to land as it was diverted  to  Jedda  in  Saudi  Arabia  whose  leaders mediated  to  save his life. Recently  he was jailed  for  corruption on the eve of the last general  elections which his party  lost  but he appealed  and was released  from a 10  year  jail  term  after  the elections and pending the determination of the case which  obviously was politically  motivated  by the army  in control of  Pakistani politics which has become fed up  with his unrelenting criticism  of security  matters in Pakistan.

    Nawaz Sharif  is  a man  ready  to die for his  principles  together with his  daughter both of who  left from prison  to bury  his wife who died of cancer in London  and returned to prison voluntarily  before  being freed  on court  orders for wrong imprisonment  on the charges against  them.  Really  I see and  salute  a powerful  man  with the heart  of a lion  in Nawaz Sharif  of Pakistan.

    In  the  Osun State guber  elections today  the PDP  candidate  was to see the Police on charges of false examination  claims  but  the Presidency  has stopped the Police from going further. Which  really is a violation  of  the rule of law because  the Police  was  acting on a court  order which  queried  the qualification of the PDP candidate  for  the election.  According  to  WAEC  this  candidate had f9 in  English  language, a disgrace  to any educated Yoruba man especially in a state  like Osun  from the former  Western Region which  use  to  set  the pace in educational qualifications and achievements for the rest  of  Nigeria. The  presidency  should  have weathered the  storm  of possible  accusation  of  political victimization  and  stood  aloof since the presidency has a candidate from the ruling party in the elections of today  in Osun  State.

    The law  should have been  allowed  to take its course  as  the  court order  was very  clear  and in the public  interest no  matter how close  the election  was. This  is  a candidate    who should  not be in the race. Stopping the Police  at this point  is like closing the stable  doors after the horses  have  bolted. The  PDP  candidate simply  has no eligibility for this election  as  the court  was trying  to  show  through Police  action  under  the Rule  of Law.

    In  the US  the desperate attempt  to stop  the confirmation of President Donald Trump’s candidate as a Supreme  Court judge is happening  because of  a’ clash  of civilization ‘between  the liberal  and conservative  divide of modern US  Society. These  are the anti abortion  vs pro abortion  and the gay rights  community and their opponents. The liberals  want to  stop  Trump  and  his people from  getting a majority on the bench  if this candidate sails through now  and would  rather wait  till  the mid term elections in November  when  they  expect  the liberals  would  have more seats than the  conservatives in the US legislature. But  the accuser  has refused to  testify  and  we wait  to  see  how an event  that happened 36  years  would  derail  the confirmation of this US judge to the Supreme Court.

    However the  spectacle  of a massive  American cultural  war  exploding  right before our eyes  is something  worth  beholding. We  round  up  with  the  political  suspense  in Lagos APC coming primaries  where  the fate of the incumbent  governor  is hanging in the balance in terms  of reelection. The  currency  of  political accountability  and performance  as well  as  loyalty and respect seem  to  have changed  in the succession equation  as we knew  it  at least  as at the last  election in  the  state. How  this will affect the fortunes of the party in the state remains  to  be seen.

    Incumbents  do always  have their  loyalists and beneficiaries  and the present  governor  cannot  be  an  exception.  The  next few days will  determine whether we  shall  see  a transition of power or a re juggling of it in Lagos APC.  Once  again long live  the Federal  Republic  of  Nigeria.

  • Buhari, Saraki and caustic electioneering

    President Muhammadu Buhari, the presumptive All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate for the 2019 election is lucky to have to eventually face only one of the more than half a dozen presidential aspirants of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). More than three years in the presidential saddle and three times as presidential candidate during very bitter and unrelenting campaigns have quite curiously not toughened him enough to make him develop thick skin to criticisms, especially from boisterous and flippant presidential aspirants. His aides’ reply to Senate President Bukola Saraki’s damning speech a few days ago gave no indication at all that the Buhari presidency had developed the temper and sophistication needed to checkmate unfavourable or even hostile views of his government and person.

    Dr Saraki had during his sensitisation trip to Bayelsa State, when he apprised the state government and PDP members and leaders of his presidential ambition, suggested that the country needed a man with the capacity and vision to lead Nigeria. It was a frontal and direct allusion to the opinion in certain key quarters that President Buhari was too archaic and divisive to preside over the affairs of Nigeria. Said the senate president: “Wherever you go, people ask questions: where do you belong? We need to address the issue of unity in this country; it is time for everybody to have a seat on the table, a time for everyone to have a sense of belonging in this country. It is not about me. There is a new order in the world today, wherever we go, we see leaders that have vision, that are ready to develop their countries. A lot of us talked about the Asian Tigers, but they did not come by chance, or trial and error; they became tigers because they have visionary leaders. They are leaders that are ready to defend their countries that have an idea of what they want to do.  As I keep on saying, you cannot give what you don’t have. Where we are now, we have a leadership that has no vision for us. We must bring visionary leadership to the presidential level so we can move this country forward.”

    Cut to the quick, the presidency issued an angry, patrician rebuke suggesting rather curiously that Dr Saraki was rude and offensive in his language. Presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, whose idiosyncratic inability to moderate his own responses is legendary, signed the response. Hear him: “The Presidency wishes to react to the crude speeches hitting the news from Senator Bukola Saraki who recently joined the Peoples Democratic Party with the sole ambition of running for the president of Nigeria. In response to the condemnable and extremely derogatory speeches by the PDP aspirant, we urge all Buhari supporters to display restraint in language and conduct and to always put across their points of view in a decent language. Throughout his political career, Senator Saraki has shown that he is a very dangerous person who can go any length to promote his personal interests. The language of his campaign is such that cannot be used against a domestic help. Is he just knowing that the President lacked vision? This is someone that the Senator had worked with very closely for more than three years. Amazingly, he never said all that he is now saying against him. Rather, his word for and on the President were always respectful and reassuring. That’s the man he called ‘My Father’. About him, ‘there is no cause for alarm…a President who is healthy, witty and himself.’ What then changed, all of a sudden?”

    It is not clear how Dr Saraki’s admittedly vigorous, perhaps even caustic, view of the president has made him dangerous. He thinks the president lacks capacity and vision. That is harsh and wounding. But it remains his opinion, right or wrong. He says the president cannot give what he does not have. Again, that is lacerating; but it is neither offensive nor derogatory. He suggests that under President Buhari, not everyone feels a sense of belonging. Given that Dr Saraki addressed a Bayelsa State audience, a people whose son, Matthew Seiyefa, was brusquely shoved aside in favour of a retired Department of State Service (DSS) operative from Kano State, Dr Saraki’s hint that the president was dividing the country was understandable, even if it was opportunistically political. How Mr Shehu construes this as making the senate president dangerous is hard to explain. Indeed, none of the views publicly attributed to Dr Saraki in the media portrays the incendiarism Mr Shehu struggled to assign to him. The senate president’s views of President Buhari are undoubtedly unflattering and corrosive, but they are not rude or dangerous. Others, including ex-president Olusegun Obaanjo, have said worse things about the president. As a matter of fact, except to his ardent and uncompromising supporters, most commentators think the president’s style and appointments, not to say his views, are archaic, divisive and mostly inappropriate.

    In responding to Dr Saraki’s harsh dismissal of the president, Mr Shehu may be confusing the senate president’s failings with the so-called disrespectful views he has publicly expressed about the president. The senate president is very ambitious, in fact too ambitious for many of his contemporaries to accommodate within their worldview. They see him as Machiavellian, untruthful, larcenous, and even politically amoral. Yet others see him as really not an exponent of democracy or of the libertarian values the constitution tries to promote and defend. Worse, some others think he is precisely the kind of politician quite eager and capable of plumbing the lowest depths of political wickedness in furtherance of his private and narrow interests. He will of course disagree with these conclusions about his person and politics, but he is unlikely to convince many Nigerians that he unfairly vilified.

    But by conflating the senate president’s attributes — mostly the negative ones — with his politics, and in particular his trenchant conclusions about the president or the APC he had just angrily spurned, Mr Shehu misses the point badly. In the process, the presidential spokesman also seems to give the impression that the moralisation of politics embraced by President Buhari and his aides, to wit, the elevation of the virtues of honesty and incorruptibility, necessarily makes the president, his party, and his aides superior to the urgent need for capacity and vision in leadership. While a honest and incorruptible leader is desperately needed, especially given the country’s disruptive penchant for corruption and all sorts of financial malfeasances, it does not make the need for capacity and vision less valuable or subordinate. By all means, let the country be governed by honest and untainted leaders, if they can be found. But by all greater means, let those leaders possess the capacity and vision without which neither honesty nor integrity would avail much.

    It is unlikely, however, that President Buhari or his spokesmen and aides would find the motivation to redress the president’s political and leadership weaknesses, especially of his alleged divisiveness, policy archaism entwined with both lack of vision and considerable unease with modern ideas and methods, and quaint worldview. Unlike the PDP which boasts of at least six powerful aspirants, each of whom possesses the capacity to dexterously hurl barbs at the president, the APC has only one aspirant, the candidate-president himself. Were the PDP aspirants spread over some six or more parties, with the distinct chance that each would direct his barbs at the president, it is hard to see him surviving the fusillade, especially considering that he has found it tough going weathering the pot shot from Dr Saraki. In a month or two, the battle will be finally and brutally joined. If the president cannot find the shrewdness and tolerance to respond brilliantly to the attacks from one or two quarters of the PDP, how would he fare when the opposition finally chooses one formidable rival to assail the APC at its weakest points, many of which points are open and gangrenous?

  • Let’s save Moses’ career

    Victor Moses’ grass to grace story isn’t only interesting but puzzling. He lost his parents in the Kaduna crises, sneaked into London, where he declared himself a refugee and later landed on the football pitch playing for an English club as a rookie. Moses’ silky skills awed those who picked him for the clubs, culminating in his playing for some of England’s youth teams.

    Born in Lagos, Nigeria on December 12, 1990, Moses is the son of a Kaduna pastor. His mother was a housewife who, in her spare time, would assist with her husband’s work. The future star was just 11 years old, when his parents were killed during a religious riot in Kaduna in 2002.  Moses was not at home as he had gone to play football with friends. The family’s home was burnt with his parents in it.

    In fact, all major decisions in Moses’ life were his, with most of them beneficial to his future. He dumped England, which gave him a place to rest his frail nerves and a shoulder to rest his head from the trauma of losing his parents to play for his fatherland. A rare show of patriotism, which hit the headlines. Not many expected Moses to pick Nigeria ahead of England, but like they say, blood is thicker than water. He remains a Nigerian and it is good to say that Moses was the pivot to the country’s emergence as the first nation to qualify for the Russia 2018 World Cup in the African zone.

    Having won the gold medal and the ultimate prize with the Super Eagles at the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa, Moses argued that participating in two consecutive World Cup tournaments in Brazil in 2014 and in Russia in 2018, he had done his best and would want to leave the stage for the younger ones. Good thinking, no doubt, but Moses should have known that at 27, he should be the next icon, like John Mikel Obi to guide the younger ones through the difficult times en route becoming stars.

    No football team parades all rookies at major tournaments, such as the Mundial. Some experienced ones in the team help to boost confidence in the younger ones. The Eagles, especially, needs a big stage player to galvanise the squad during competitions. Such stars form the fulcrum of all previews and reviews at big competitions, such as World Cup, Olympic Games, Africa Cup of Nations etc. Most countries pick their captains from the big stars’ group based on their experience and form.

    Nigeria is lucky that John Mikel Obi has not quit the Eagles and we have not played against a renowned football nation; otherwise, the impact of Moses’ decision to quit would have been apparent. Ahmed Musa held the forte for the big stars against Seychelles in Victoria early in September. But it would have been better, if Moses had made the trip in Mikel’s absence due to injury, even though Mikel doesn’t like playing on artificial pitches, such as the one on which Seychelles played against Nigeria.

    It is good that Moses is reconsidering playing for Nigeria again. He has seen his mistakes, now that Chelsea FC of London’s new manager Maurizio Sarri has confined him to watching the Blues from the stands. It simply means that Moses is closer to being placed on the transfer market, unless he forces himself into the first team before December. What Moses didn’t consider before quitting Nigeria’s international matches is that the nucleus of Chelsea’s players are  internationals in their countries.

    Moses is enjoying the European status because of his dual citizenship. But he needs a country’s platform to be tagged an international. Besides, international matches for the country bring opportunities for new clubs to come, if you are the poster player of the tournament like Austin Okocha was for Nigeria at the France ’98 World Cup. Need I remind Moses of what Nwankwo Kanu became after the Atlanta’96 Olympic Games’ feat? Moses can be another Okocha but he must exhibit the desire and com mitment Okocha put into Nigeria’s matches. Okocha, like Kanu won several matches for Nigeria, playing for big European clubs, which is what Moses hasn’t actually done. 

    A return to the Eagles offers Moses the best chance, beginning with the October 10 and 14 fixtures against Libya, first in Kaduna and in Tunisia, where the North Africans play their matches. Moses will write his name in gold if he leads Eagles to beat Libya on a neutral ground, which is what Tunis is to them.

    Moses’ loan deals with English clubs have been legendary. He won’t want to go through that road again, especially as he isn’t growing younger. But he has a chance to redeem himself from this seeming self-destruct when chieftains of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and the team’s manager, Gernot Rohr attend FIFA’s The Best awards in London on September 24.

    The Nigerian delegation plans to urge Moses to change his mind on the shocking retirement from international matches. Rohr still has Moses in his plans. He wants him to be the pivot of Eagles’ quest for a fourth Africa Cup of Nations diadem. The Chelsea benchwarmer (what an appellation for a talented player) should swallow his pride and return. We all make mistakes. He will not be treated as a prodigal son, since Rohr and NFF initiated the move for a change of heart. Moses is being benched because of the  change of roles by the new helmsman Sarri, unlike when Conte was in charge of the Blues.

    FIFA 19 rating which was leaked by Futwiz stated that he is the team’s worst attacker based on recent researches.

    Said Futwiz : ‘’Of the 33 players rated in the Blues squad, the Nigerian finished in the 21st position with an overall rating of 78. Moses was the lowest ranked offensive player in the Chelsea team, behind Eden Hazard, Willian, Morata, Pedro and Olivier Giroud, and it is not surprising that in reality, these five players have kept him out of the match day squad in the last three Premier League games.

    ‘’Attack-minded duo Charly Musonda and Tammy Abraham who ranked lower than Moses have been farmed out on loan to Vitesse and Aston Villa respectively, while the 17-year-old Callum Hudson-Odoi (68 overall) is technically not a first-teamer.

    ‘’Moses’ attributes are: 78 pace, 70 shooting, 74 passing, 73 defending, 71 physically and 81 dribbling. FIFA 19 is due to be released by Electronic Arts on September 28, 2018,’’ Futwiz wrote on Tuesday. These figures are high with an average score of 74.5. A performance by any rating. Purists are wondering what others scored to tower over Moses. After all the Nigerian earned these points playing as a wing back under Conte, not a striker.

    This is the problem with the western press, with such warped analysis targeted at foreigners in their leagues. They rundown players who rejected their national teams. Moses should shame them by returning to the Eagles, win laurels for Nigeria and secure his future with better clubs on his terms – not loans initiated by Chelsea’s management. Such loans stop him from playing against Chelsea to prove his mettle.

    Indeed, it has been a while a Nigerian was adjudged the African Footballer of the Year. Moses was shortlisted last year, but dropped out when the best three players were listed – Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Riyad Mahrez. Salah got the diadem based on his performances for Egypt and Liverpool last season.

    Mane looks like the odds-on-favourite to win the award this season, with Salah still tottering. Pundits are beginning to insinuate that the Egyptian is a one-season sensation. It appears no Nigerian will make the top three cut, now that our best Eagle, Ahmed Musa, is playing in Saudi Arabia, scoring goals with aplomb – Musa scored a hat-trick on Wednesday but such feats won’t rival goals scored in the English Premier League and the UEFA Champions league.

    Only Moses has what it takes to mount the rostrum for the African Footballer of the Year diadem. The outside bet could be Alex Iwobi, but his cameo appearances for Arsenal and the team’s indictable style of play won’t count in his favour when the chips are down. Hopes of Moses playing for Chelsea went up in flames in Thursday’s Europa Cup game against PAOK in Greece, when coach Sarri left the Nigerian to sit on the bench, watching his mates beat the hosts, even with the absence of key Blues’ players, such as Eden Hazard, Mateo Kovacic and Luiz in Thessaloniki.

    With such a weakened Chelsea side, many assumed that Moses will in the least be introduced in the second half as a substitute against PAOK in Greece. It never happened, fuelling speculations that the Nigerian will soon be shown the door, except he braces to the challenge. With Chelsea winning matches, it will be very difficult for Moses to force his way into the team.

    Come on, Moses, return to Eagles and show the world what Chelsea is missing.

     

    FROM MY MAIL BOX

    Dear Ade,

    I’m happy to note that Barrister Godwin Dudu-Orumen has been appointed as Chairman of Edo State Sports Commission.

    I have no doubt in my mind that he will serve with distinction so that Edo State can regain its lost glory in sports development.

    There’s so much work to be done and I salute Governor Godwin Obaseki for the bold step he has taken by appointing Dudu-Orumen, a lawyer, erudite sports analyst, promoter and administrator to head the Commission.

    I also commend the role you played by writing Governor Obaseki a very timely letter last week on what had become a disturbing pattern of poor outcomes in the sports sector in Edo State.

    That intervention, in my view, was patriotic and it may well have started bearing fruits already. Well done Ade!

    Ehi Braimah, Lagos

  • Leadership, competition  and succession

    Any  political  party  that gains power in any political  system must admit that it has,  like Macbeth’s wife  murdered  sleep  and would    sleep  no more  in terms of  living  with  abiding  if  not extravagant public interest and  curiousity  in its  fortunes  and misfortunes,  as the case may  be.

    Such  is the fate  of Nigeria’s ruling party the APC  whose  candidate  won the presidential election in 2015  and is  seeking reelection in the 2019  elections.

    Today  I want  to  dwell  on the succession problem of the  party  in Lagos State which  the party controls  dominantly  but in which  there  has been  some serious brouhaha  over an automatic ticket  for  the incumbent governor  who  hails  from the party. The  threat  to automatic self succession for Governor Ambode as the APC candidate for the 2019  state  guber elections in Lagos State  occupy  our  thoughts today. We  shall  look  at the issues involved in this politics of succession in Nigeria’s  commercial  capital  where politics in Nigeria  has its roots in colonial  politics leading to Nigeria’s independence  in 1960.

    Especially  now that  the National  Leader of the party in Lagos Jagaban  Ahmed Bola  Tinubu  is  in the midst of speculation about a clash  with the governor  which has given rise to collection of  forms  by two  APC  guber  aspirants known  to be close  to  the  strongman  of  Lagos politics  for  the past  two decades.’

    It  is necessary  here  to  acknowledge  the importance  of  Lagos State as a key  element  of  Nigerian  and indeed  world  politics and that  makes the  state  elections  and campaigns  as important as any of the major  cities  or states  of the world including London and New York or  Delhi or  Kuala  Lumpur. Indeed  we shall  take a look at  some  succession issues on  competitive    platforms with a-bi-partisan’s flavour  in the US,  and  Malaysia  on a comparative politics  level. We  shall  ponder on how  and why Hillary  Clinton was not able to succeed  Barak  Obama  as  envisaged widely  at election time and how  and why a rank  outsider bamboozled  the Republican  party  to  win the party  primaries  hands down in spite of the opposition of traditional  party leaders. In  Malaysia  we shall  look  at the return of Mahathir Mohammad, the 92 year old  PM of  Malaysia  in an  election that saw him switch  sides  to his opposition while in government  years  back, when  he abandoned  his ambitious  protégé  then  and jailed  him  for  sodomy  and compare that with the politics  of succession going on in  Lagos State right now.

    I  want  to admit  again  the fact  that  I  read a statement  by the Jagaban  defending the governance record of both former  Governor Fashola, his successor  and that of  the present incumbent governor of the state. That  statement  was explicit  that the rumors  of a rift amongst  the three  political  leaders  was the handiwork or imagination of mischief makers  looking to destroy the amity  amongst the three. That was overtaken by news or  was it fake news  that even the President has waded in to mediate. Nevertheless  all  these are  in the public domain making comments on the  matter  pertinent  and necessary. Undoubtedly  the APC  and  its forerunner political  platforms  have been  good  for  Lagos State  and its citizens  in terms of provision of infrastructure and  social  development.  The  social facilities and roads, overhead bridges and night  lightings  making Lagos  State  safe to drive at night  are there for all  to see.  A major  snag  was the overzealousness  of    some  LASTMA  personnel and traffic revenue seeking VIOs  who  were  reined in and disappeared.

    Another blight was the ugly  sight of refuse that almost caused a pestilence recently  and seems to  be abating . In  terms of performance then  the APC  can claim  to have delivered  in  Lagos State. It  is natural  for  colleagues of the incumbent governor  in the oligarchy  leading the party  in the state  to want part of the action thinking they  would be better. That is a legitimate  ambition that could be ironed  out without descent  into violent confrontation.

    Similarly  if the governor feels he is on top of the competition  and  governance in  line with  the party  policies  then he has the right  to  a claim  of automatic  ticket  for reelection.

    Also  it  is the duty of the Jagaban  to lend  a listening ear  to all  claims. After  all he did it in the past  and sailed successfully  through  the mine field of succession  that  saw a Christian  governor emerge  to  save Lagos  for the party. As expected  he can put  his foot down as  a tested  pragmatist  and guide  the aspirants  on the best way  forward for the party so  that the APC  does not throw away  the baby  with the bath  tub in this explosive family  succession  politics. As  usual  in the game of politics  and the quest  for power or reelection, a  lot  of guile and  diplomacy  may  be necessary.  Which  may not be obvious to those blinded by malice  and partisanship in the present charged atmosphere and I wish  the leaders  the very  best in the explosive exercise.

    Needless  to say  succession  battles  can  be mischievous,  with intended  and unintended  consequences . In  the case of  Obama  and Hillary as successor  I  saw  some mischief  in the manner Obama’s Vice President  Joe  Biden  was pressured  to quit the  Democratic Party    Nomination race  for Hillary . The Vice  President then insisted that whoever  gets the Party’s  nomination  must  campaign on the Obama legacy  which  with the help  of hindsight was more of a political  burden  than  a lift  at least on foreign policy and the economy.  The  rest  is history. In  the  case of the cold war between  the Republican  Party  hierarchy  and  Donald  Trump  on his way  to  getting the presidential  nomination,  it  was Hillary from the opposite  side who gave Trump  the acceptability  that his party  was withholding.

    When  asked during the debates what she admired  about  Trump, Hillary  mentioned his well  brought up and organized family. That  boosted Trump’s  ego  and prestige  and was the last  straw  he needed  to take over the party for  a successful election and  he grabbed it with both  hands  and,  again, the rest  is history. Which  boils  down to the fact that elections and succession  battles are not over till they  are over.

    Occasionally they  may  look  like a potential  marathon    race and  end  up  unexpectedly  as sprints. Like  OBJ  said  at  the time Awo  lost  to Shehu Shagari  in that famous  election,  the best  man  does  not always win  the race.

    In  the politics of  succession  in any  polity, including Lagos State  APC, the maxim  – every body  for himself  God  for us all, or the devil take the hindmost,  is always  and    invariably  at play. Once again  long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

  • Loans, security and theTrojan Horse

    A statement  from a media aide in the Nigerian  presidency spelt out details of loans request  by the Nigerian president  to  the  Chinese president  for finance to develop  a power plant in Mambilla Plateau  in the North East  and for the resuscitation of the Chad Basin for  economic usage  and exploitation  that could limit the high level  of poverty  and social upheavals  that have characterized that environment  for sometime.  This development  and the tweet  of the US President Donald Trump  that  the Op Ed  article  in the New  York Times this week  purportedly written  by  a Trump Administration official  undermining the White  House  is  a  security  breach, form  the cornerstone of  today’s  discussion. Both  reflect  real and potential  changes  for good or bad in any democracy especially with regard  to future  control  of the  socio  -economic, security  and political    architecture  as  well  as the cultural  values  of  both the US  and indeed Western civilization.

    And in Nigeria’s  case  the development portends  genuine fears  about  a looming Chinese colonization  of not only Nigeria but the entire  continent  of Africa. Let  me assure  you  that  I am  not an alarmist  and I am not exaggerating  either, and, indeed,    to prove  that is my task on this page today.

    Let  me start  with  the Nigerian leader President  Muhammadu Buhari’s request  for  the loan  in the most  respectful  if not cap in hand manner. Which  shows  a desperation  which  confirms his identification  of the importance of this Chinese loan. Let me state that I do  not doubt  his judgement  as well  as his integrity  or its  pedigree  in asking  for  this Chinese loan.

    After all this was a former Nigerian military  ruler  who    before  he was overthrown,  wisely  rejected the IMF loan which  his successors accepted    and that  led  to  the  repayment  cost  of that  loan ruining our economy disastrously  with  the  adoption of  the infamous  IMF  conditionalities  that  has crippled  not only our economy  but  that of  all  nations in the developing world  that took  the loan. For  now according  to Chinese officials Nigeria is the biggest construction market  for China in Africa, its third biggest trading partner  and a vast  market  for Chinese investment in market.

    The  Chinese  are  noted  for being shrewd  business men but  no matter  how you praise  the quality of the Chinese rice they  do not give free  lunch. That  is their attitude  on  business  especially loans. They  know  repayment will  be a burden  now  and more so  in the future and they  are  bidding  their time. They  may  not ask for security  as conventional  bankers do  but  they  will  negotiate repayment  terms  and as with  sovereign nations on debts,  there could be loss of  independence and sovereignty  once repayment arrangements are not as envisaged or agreed  at  point  of disbursement  of the loans. There is the story of an Asian nation’s president who  got the Chinese to build  an  airport in  his hometown as election promise.  When  repayment  got awry  the Chinese  took over the airport  as a strategic transport location for    promotion of  Chinese  security interests in that environment.

    It    was part  of the Chinese  Belt  and  Silk  Road  Project  to link  China with  Europe  and Asia  but that  nation lost  part of its territory and sovereignty as well. If  that  is not another  form  of colonialism  I    wonder  what  it is.  Once  again  Nigeria should be cautious  with  Chinese  loans as the Chinese don’t give free lunch.

    In  addition  the Chinese are  atheists  and have no  respect  for religious freedom  and indeed  have literally incarcerated the minority  Muslim Urghurs in China  and have built  incarceration camps that  are  to disorient  this Muslim  minority  from  their religious  beliefs  and instill  communist  and state loyalty  and patriotism  in them.

    That  is the ideology  of Communist  China which  is a command democracy  that  is also  militaristic  and brooks no disputes  with  the Chinese government  controlled  in a one party state by the Chinese Communist  Party. Which  itself is a powerful minority  in China. The  saying that evil  communications corrupt good manners  is very apt  here  and we should be careful  with  the use  of Chinese loans to build  our strategic  infrastructure  for economic  development. The  cost  of repayment  may be colossal  or prohibitive in future.

    In  the case of the letter ripping  the US Administration of Donald Trump  apart  my  sympathy  is with the beleaguered  US  president. The  writer  of the article claimed  to be  working within the Cabinet or White  House to undermine  Trump  so he does not mislead America. The  writer is  said  to be anonymous  but  the US  president  has tweeted  that it is the duty of the New York Times to fish  him out and name him in  the security interest  of  the US.  That  to  me is a valid  point.  Or  is free  expression  above security  interest  of a state? I  doubt.  But  that  seems to be the norm  in the US.

    Indeed given  the names given the US president in media hostile to him, it is as if he was elected  to be disgraced and described  in the vilest  terms and that  cannot  be right even  in freedom drunk US  where anyway  it is  almost  a crime to  be black.

    It  is apparent  that  American  society in Trump Era is  a combative and hostile  divide between  those who  lost  the last Presidential  election narrowly  and those who  won. The  Democrats  who lost see nothing good in the new president  and the media on their  side  too see nothing good in the new American  president. They have questioned his election and legitimacy and are now on the highway  to see him  impeached. He  too has dug in and is using tweeter  to fight in an  unprecedented, one man  riot squad  manner. But  in  lodging an anonymous letter in his cabinet  in this manner, the New York Times in my view  violated the ethics of responsible journalism which  it can only  redeem by fishing out the Trojan Horse  in the

    Trump  cabinet  and those  who put  it  there. Trump  can  very well  be the worst  or most stupid president the US ever  had.

    That is no justification for publishing an anonymous letter that is aimed at destroying the government  of the US, which  the Trump  presidency is,  as the executive arm of government  in the US presidential system  based on separation  of powers. What  the New York  Times published on the Trump  Administration is a clear  lesson on sedition. Once  again  long live the Federal  Republic  of Nigeria.

     

     

  • I stand with Griezmann

    The week has been filled with interesting stories on trends in football, with the biggest poser coming from Antoine Griezmann, one of the French players who did well for both his club Atletico Madrid and country France, questioning the absence of Frenchmen from FIFA’s The Best awards scheduled to hold in England on September 24.

    Griezmann submitted his resume for last season, which includes winning the Europa League and the Super Cup with Atletico Madrid of Spain and helping France seal their second World Cup triumph in Russia. If FIFA’s point scoring indices are anything to go by, it will be difficult to explain why  Griezmann didn’t make the three-man list in a World Cup year. Such feats don’t happen all the time. Tears for Griezmann.

    No World Cup winner in FIFA’s The Best’s award in a Mundial year leaves much to be desired. It would have been understandable if no player merited it. But in Griezmann is a World Cup champion and a winner of two of UEFA’s best competitions (Europa Cup and Super Cup).

    FIFA’s biggest competition is the World Cup and Griezmann played crucial roles in France’s feat, scoring goals that mattered, aside being the pivot of the team’s attacking onslaughts. Besides, UEFA’s second biggest competition behind the Champions League is the Europa Cup, which Griezmann and his Atletico  Madrid mates won. What has made Griezmann’s protest more significant is that Atletico beat Real Madrid in the Super Cup, a one match game between the winners of the Champions League and the Europa. Simply put, that Super Cup victory earned Griezmann and his mates the best team and best set of players in Europe for last season. It explains why Griezmann should be listed in FIFA’s The Best’s top three, going by players’.

    FIFA’s The Best three nominees are Cristiano Ronaldo, Luka Modric and Mohamed Salah. In terms of achievements for their clubs, Ronaldo towers high, besides sharing the glory of winning the Champions League diadem with Modric, which is the only trophy the Portuguese won last year. Ronaldo was outstanding in goal-scoring but the goals came from the midfield ingenuity of Modric, Kroos et al. In a World Cup year, I won’t give the best footballer of the year to Ronaldo, even if goals make the game beautiful and exciting to watch.

    I won’t pick Salah. He didn’t win a trophy for his club and country. Looking at what FIFA has thrown up through votes from coaches, managers, captains of national teams and other technical men, I will give the diadem to Modric, who won the Champions League trophy like Ronaldo and played at the finals of the Russia 2018 World Cup.

    But this is where Greizmann’s protest is important. He won the World Cup, which Ronaldo, Modric and Salah didn’t; he won the Europa Cup, although both Ronaldo and Modirc won the bigger trophy in UEFA’s calendar. But winning the Super Cup, ahead of Modric would have been the clincher for Griezmann, having done well for both club and country, winning trophies in both categories.

    ‘’It’s weird and a pity,’’ Griezmann told L’Equipe. ‘’This is a trophy that’s awarded by FIFA, right? We won the World Cup and On Tuesday, Atletico gave a brilliant response to Griezmann’s snub. The Spanish side posted a photo of their star striker inside an empty Wanda Metropolitano surrounded by the World Cup trophy, UEFA Europa League title and the UEFA Super Cup. ”No words necessary,” was their short-but-sweet verdict.

    Griezmann did make the shortlist in 2016, only to finish third behind Ronaldo and Messi, due to defeats in both the Champions League and Euro 2016 finals. Griezmann argued that his successful year should merit his inclusion this time round. He told L’Equipe: ”That year, I lost two finals, this year I’ve won three, so normally…”

    Is Griezmann asking for too much? Please, let me have your comments on this topic, dear reader.

     

    Mourinho, the enigma

    I love Jose Mourinho. He is a fighter. He knows when the stakes are high and delivers. When the job is done, he takes on critics, reminding them of his qualities, which are unassailable. But he learned a new lesson now warming himself up with the players lest he capitulates like he did at Chelsea. The setting with the Blues is, however, different- only Ambrahmovic calls the shot at Chelsea. His word is irreversible, unlike at Manchester United, which has a board. Otherwise, what the fans did on the manager’s behalf translates to mutiny. But the big question is, will Mourinho survive the third season syndrome?

    Mourinho is a serial winner. He operates best under pressure. He flows with the supporters who he calls the 12th man in the field. He makes them happy with victories when the team has the right calibre of players and team balance. When management puts obstacles to his quest for new players, he cries out when things go awry; the fans know why.

    Little wonder the fans hoisted a banner calling for the sack of Manchester United’s Vice-Chairman Ed Woodward, thus putting him on the spot. The world awaits the chairman’s reaction to the club’s transfers in January but he knows that he has a bad customer in Mourinho who doesn’t stoop to conquer.

    The story broke on Tuesday that Mourinho accepted a one-year prison sentence as part of a plea bargain deal with prosecutors accusing him of a £2.9million (€3.3m) tax fraud. He also accepted a six-month jail sentence for each of the two financial crimes he was accused of accepting wrongdoing as part of the agreement with prosecutors, respected Spanish newspaper El Mundo said on Tuesday.

    El Mundo reported the 55-year-old, whose future at United has been called into question after a disappointing start to the season, had also agreed to pay a fine totalling £1.78m (€1.98m) representing 60 per cent of the amount defrauded. First-time offenders in Spain do not normally serve jail sentences of two years or less – meaning the one-year jail term Mourinho has reportedly accepted for two counts of tax fraud will almost certainly be suspended at a later date after the investigating court has been officially informed of the situation.

    These are indeed difficult times for Mourinho but his lawyers have shown their mastery of the situation, giving the iconic manager enough time to concentrate on the profession that brought him fame and wealth. The Spaniards need the cash. The only businesses that thrive in Spain are the two teams- Real Madrid and Barcelona. Both teams spend so much to get the big boys into their squads, which translates to megabucks for the country’s tax offices. The backlash will be that big players will stop looking in the direction of Spain, learning from what happened to Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and now Mourinho. Others who have fallen into the trap are Javier Mascherano, Angel di Maria, Samuel Eto’o, Radamel Falcao and Jorge Mendes.

    But why do the stars fall prey to the tax laws? I don’t think so. After all, celebrities, such as David Beckham, played in Spain with all his marketing franchises without qualms. Why did Beckham escape these laws? In 2005, a special law was passed for foreigners coming to work in Spain on an employment contract with a Spanish company. According to this law, a person is taxed at 24% of his/her income. This law was dubbed “Beckham’s Law” after David Beckham became one of the first beneficiaries. This law has been further modified, and had come under major scrutiny in 2009.

    So, what has stopped Mourinho, Ronaldo, Messi, Mascherano, Angel di Maria, Eto’o, Radamel Falcao, to mention a few, from enjoying this Beckham law?

    According to Spanish tax laws, a person is classified as a resident of Spain if he/she has stayed in Spain for the last six months or so. Further, if a person has income above 60,000 EUR, he/she is liable to pay around 45–47% of his/her income.

    The questions are how come such big brands find it difficult to pay their taxes, given the volume of money associated with their celebrated transfers to these clubs? Could it be that the clubs collude with the players’ agents to hide vital information, knowing that the tax offices have mechanisms to discover underhand deals?

    ”However, in an ironic twist, professional footballers were excluded from this scheme in 2015. This led to footballers having offshore accounts in a bid to hoodwink the authorities into believing that their income was not derived on Spanish soil. This is the major reason why you’ll find that all the tax evasion scandals that come up in the newspapers are in the timeline of 2009–2014. This is because, during that period, there was a lot of confusion regarding the prevalent law, which has led to footballers being accused of fraud,” an online report revealed.

  • APC and direct primaries

    Hurriedly cobbled together into a coalition to wrest power from the then ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) at the centre in the run up to the critical 2015 general elections, the All Progressives Congress (APC) appeared to have rapidly exhausted its historic possibilities with its realization of its primary aim of becoming the country’s new ruling party.  The legacy parties that coalesced to constitute the APC apparently never had a common conception either of the progressive ideology that was supposed to weld them together or the philosophy of change that was promised to be the driving force of both its style and substance in government and which elicited such high expectations among Nigerians.

    Thanks to President Muhammadu Buhari’s personal asceticism and aversion to corruption (mind you, I am not saying he is a saint) the degree of venality and sheer pecuniary banditry in public life has been substantially reduced under the APC while there is a more serious commitment of resources to ameliorating the plight of a large number of the poor and vulnerable, infrastructure renewal and expansion as well as addressing the country’s severe security challenges.

    Yet, there is no discernible, deliberately and carefully fashioned as well as systematically and methodically implemented plan by the APC to achieve fundamental value re-orientation or sustainable behavioural change both at the individual and institutional levels. If there is, it has certainly not been effectively communicated to the public. The party also has to take more meaningful steps towards removing the structural and constitutional impediments to the practice of true federalism in the country. This is the minimum condition necessary for actualizing any concrete change that goes beyond the superficial exchange of PDP faces for those of the APC in public office.

    As the legal term of its first national and state executives was coming to an end, the APC approached a historic juncture. It could either choose a new, refreshing, revitalizing and rejuvenating path or opt to mummify itself in the seal of operational inefficiency, organizational incoherence and inefficacy as well as ideological insipidity exemplified by the erstwhile Chief John Odigie-Oyegun-led National Executive of the party. Interestingly, a not insignificant number of members of the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) preferred the latter option.

    The real Buhari suddenly showed up at this critical time. Casting aside his taciturnly and seemingly disdainful disposition to party politics, PMB asserted his leadership of the party and insisted that the constitution both of the party and the country must be adhered to and intra party elections held to party executive offices at all levels. That principled stand nailed the coffin of the tenure elongation lobby. It steered the APC away from the ultimately self-immolating path it seemed bent on charting.

    It certainly would have been disastrous for the APC to have entered the electoral fray next year in a complacent and somnolent state of mind numbing itself to the seething discontent eating deep into its sinews. The intra-party congresses and conventions enabled these grievances and dissensions come to the fore rather than being dangerously hidden and repressed with future negative and more damaging consequences.

    Again, the defeat of the tenure elongation agenda and the attendant holding of the APC congresses and national convention facilitated the speedy exit from the party of disgruntled elements who believed that their interests could not be actualized within the APC. This is surely not illegitimate since politics is most times about the pursuit of private interest dressed in seductive altruistic garbs.

    Yes, there has also been a flurry of defections to the APC mostly from the PDP.  Many of those moving to the ruling party are seeking refuge in the new perceived ‘Noah’s Ark’ from the haunting flood of indictments and relentless prosecutions by the anti-corruption agencies particularly the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).  This indeed poses a grave moral dilemma for the APC. Many wonder how the party can credibly claim to be fighting corruption and yet gladly, even enthusiastically, welcome persons indicted for alleged corruption into its fold. It is clearly unrealistic to expect the APC to reject members seeking to join the party especially those with a strong electoral base.

    It appears that those persons who see membership of the APC as granting them immunity from prosecution and possible punishment for corruption have apparently not learnt the appropriate lessons from the fate of ex-governors Joshua Dariye and Jolly Nyame currently serving jail terms for corruption. The austere and inscrutable General from Daura is unlikely to bat an eyelid or lift a finger if they are found guilty of corrupt practices despite their migration to the ruling party.

    Within a very short while of his emergence as National Chairman of the APC, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole’s invigorating and rejuvenating influence is being felt both within and beyond the APC. The party is gradually being stirred awake from its organizational stupor. Both ministers and national legislators of the party are being made to realize that they hold their positions by virtue of the fact that they belong to a political party or were appointed by someone who won election on the platform of a party.

    The party is gradually becoming, once again the centre of gravity around which both the members of the executive and legislature belonging to it revolve. And Oshiomhole is obviously learning very fast the art of diplomatically asserting the supremacy of the party without necessarily resorting to the confrontational or hectoring tactics of the latent radical trade unionist in him.

    One of the most momentous decisions taken by the Oshiomhole-led National Executive of the APC so far is to utilize the method of direct primaries in picking candidates for elective offices at all levels with the exception of states where the majority of stakeholders opt for consensus or indirect primaries as permitted by the constitution of the party. This is indeed a revolutionary step to enthrone card carrying members of the party as the true sovereigns and owners of the party.

    If Oshiomhole and his NWC were actuated by a desire for concentration of power at the centre or opportunities to utilize his position as a means of accumulation, then the consensus or indirect delegates system would have been the preferred option for the NWC.  Empowering every party member to have a say in the emergence of candidates for elective offices decentralizes power within the party, re-federalizes the party structure and minimizes although not totally eliminating the influence of money in the candidate selection process.

    Of course, there is understandable resistance to this radical change from some quarters within the party who want the retention of the status quo. Oshiomhole has the responsibility of persuading and convincing the vast majority of party members that the direct primary method is in the best interest of the party. It is the best way of ensuring inclusiveness in the intra-party elections and limiting the possibility or efficacy of protest votes in general elections.

    Luckily, PMB has shown the way by not objecting to direct primaries in choosing the party’s presidential candidate. All levels of the party should certainly follow the president’s example. Osun State has already blazed the trail in showing that direct primaries are indeed feasible and practicable. The fear of insecurity can certainly not be an excuse. Otherwise, a persuasive case can also be made not to hold the 2019 general elections, which are even more all encompassing than intra-party elections, for security reasons.

    Those who claim that they do not have a reliable data base of party members have a point for exemption from direct primaries given the shortness of time. But this is an indication of leadership ineptness, which does not do the image of a self-proclaimed modernizing party of change like the APC any good.

    There are many factors that stand the APC governorship candidate in Osun in good stead for the September 22 governorship election. With a B. Sc degree in Insurance and an MBA from the University of Lagos, Alhaji Isiaka Oyetola is certainly knowledgeable in financial and economic management, which is crucial in a post-Aregbesola era. As Chief of Staff in the Aregbesola administration for over seven years, his office was critical in the conceptualization and implementation process of infrastructure projects and social welfare programmes, which makes him well placed to sustain and improve on the legacy of Aregbesola in this regard.

    Given his natural reticence, restraint and mature temperament, Oyetola is reputed to be a consummate negotiator with the capacity to maintain harmonious labour-government relations. Again, Oyetola has over 30 years experience in the private sector having run a solid and successful business before being appointed to public office. Not given to oratory or loquacity, the APC candidate is a restrained and competent technocrat in the mould of a Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN) or Akinwumi Ambode, both highly accomplished successors of the visionary Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu in Lagos.

    All these factors pale into insignificance, however, beside the fact that Oyetola emerged through direct primaries garnering the support of no less than 127, 000 party members who already have a stake in the governorship election and will surely feel motivated to ensure their party’s triumph in the general election by participating enthusiastically in the exercise.

  • Neither Omooba Olumuyiwa Sosanya nor ANAN

    Yours truly was in Abuja on Thursday, August 30, as the reviewer of a new book on the accountancy profession in Nigeria titled ‘Revolution of Accountancy Profession in Nigeria’ and subtitled ‘History of the Association of National Accountants of Nigeria’. Written by the founder and first president of the Association of National Accountants of Nigeria (ANAN) between 1979 and 1996, Omooba Olumuyiwa Sosanya, this truly epochal book offers a titillating account of the evolution of the accountancy profession from ancient to modern times and paints an insightful picture of the growth and development of the accountancy profession in West Africa. Thereafter it zeroes in on the veritable revolution that the conceptualization and ultimate actualization of ANAN as the country’s second professional accountancy association was. This goal was achieved after a protracted struggle that lasted over 14 years with Omooba Sosanya at the forefront at every stage of the herculean battle.

    From the sowing of the seed for the formation of ANAN at a meeting in his Yaba, Lagos residence on November 6, 1978, attended by two other professional colleagues whom he describes as the ‘three men of history’ – the other two being  Olalere Akanbi Kolawole and Iyiola Olufemi Adefisayo – to the first announcement of the birth of the association in two full page advertisements in the Daily Times of 1ST January, 1979, the story of Sosanya’s professional life is intricately intertwined with that of the genesis, exodus and ultimately, revelation of ANAN.

    Prior to the emergence of ANAN, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) enjoyed an absolute monopoly of regulating the accountancy profession in Nigeria courtesy of the ICAN Act of 1965, a law of the Nigerian parliament in the first republic. The monopoly enjoyed by ICAN understandably bred a restrictive and difficult to justify elitism, which saw ICAN producing only 55 accountants in the 13 years between 1965 and December 1978.

    As the author points out in the book, the Nigerian Law School comparatively produced 2,405 lawyers in the 12 years between 1966 and 1978. It was difficult not to come to the conclusion that ICAN was deliberately pursuing a policy of creating an artificial scarcity of accountants it deemed qualified to practice. This perception was reinforced by the fact that with the emergence of ANAN as a competing accountancy association, ICAN produced 300 professional accountants between in the four years between 1978 and 1981.

    The consequence of this unhealthy situation was a severe shortage of professional accountants in Nigeria with public and private organizations having to rely on foreign accountants from countries such as India, Pakistan and Philippines among others with the attendant drain of scarce foreign exchange resources from Nigeria. It was this entrenched, highly influential and enormously wealthy professional accountancy elite represented by ICAN that Omooba Sosanya mobilized his ‘forces’ to confront, and which they eventually overcame through the ANAN Decree 76 of 25th August, 1993, signed into law by military President, General Ibrahim Babangida; a historic legislation that broke the back of ICAN monopoly and ushered in a new, more vibrant and qualitative era in the evolution of accountancy in Nigeria.

    Earlier, the House of Representatives in Nigeria’s second republic had passed into law a Private Members Bill giving legal recognition to ANAN as Nigeria’s second professional accountancy association. The Bill was, however, technically killed in the Senate when it was passed to two committees for deliberation a day before the expiration of the life of the National Assembly. In his book , the author over 400 pages in 21 chapters gives graphic details of how he sustained and was the live fire of the struggle to actualize ANAN against all odds until the attainment of the goal in 1993. His claims are backed by 36 pages of photographs, newspaper clippings, photocopies of documents including bank receipt and other financial transactions.

    In my review of the book, I considered as quite preposterous and a travesty of justice what appeared to be deliberate attempts by Sosanya’s successors at ANAN’S helm, to obliterate his contributions to the founding and nurturing of the association for close to one and a half decades. However, a day before the official launch, ANAN published a full page advert in several national newspapers dissociating the association from the book. Contending that Omooba Sosanya had been expelled from the association for unspecified ‘subversive activities’, ANAN stressed that its founding President was unknown to the association by law and thus had no locus standi to write a history of the association.

    Obviously reacting to the ANAN disclaimer, many of the eminent invited guests, including Voice President Yemi Osinbajo (SAN), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, General Ibrahim Babangida (Retd), General Abdulsalam Abubakar (retd) and the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Lamido Sanusi, stayed away from the event with some of them only politely sending representatives. Yet, to my utter surprise, the thousands of accountants who are opportune to practice today by virtue of their membership of ANAN were also not adequately represented at the book launch. I thought this was rather strange for an association which the author not only founded but led for 14 years.

    Yes, living witnesses to Sosanya’s struggles and claims in the book including Alhaji Sidi Ali, a member of the House of Representatives in the second republic and Mrs. Kehinde Ajoni, an officer of the federal Ministry of Justice at the time the ANAN law was drafted were on hand to testify to Omooba Sosanya’s indelible contributions to the struggles that birthed ANAN. Yet, that was hardly enough. I did not hear any key ANAN member cognizant of the origins of the association speaking up in defence of Sosanya. What could be responsible for this? There are divergent perspectives.

    A school of thought does not deny Sosanya’s struggles to get ANAN established but feels that he did not invest enough in ‘empowering’ other members of the association during his 14 years at the helm the way his successors did thus enabling them to continue to wield tremendous influence within the association. Others sympathetic to Sosanya see such ‘empowerment’ as nothing but another name for corruption and frittering away of resources, which the founding President, they claim, simply did not have at the time.

    Others are of the view that Sosanya wanted to continue to exert influence in running the affairs of ANAN even after he had ceased to be President leading naturally to resentment and resistance by his successors. From the pro-Sosanya perspective, however, the conduct of some of his successors in denouncing and playing down the founding President’s role in ANAN’S historical trajectory smacks of treachery and betrayal.

    Well, no matter what side one is, the truth is that neither Sosanya nor ANAN can be the ultimate winners as things now stand. ANAN’ rich history of heroic organizational struggle cannot be told without reference to the superhuman efforts of Omooba Sosanya. ANAN cannot continue to pretend that its first 14 years of existence is an illusion. Something cannot stand on nothing. But Omooba Sosanya, having spearheaded the founding of ANAN cannot claim to be its eternal personification and embodiment. The young must grow. Sosanya planted a seed that has now blossomed into a mighty Iroko tree, that transcends him – a feat for which he should justly be proud. There is no alternative to an amicable settlement of this entirely ego-driven rift among the contending parties.

     

     

     

  • Democracy and the politics of exclusion and confrontation

    There  is no doubt  that in Nigeria the battle line is drawn  between those who  want  to  replace President Muhammadu Buhari  as Nigeria’s president and his die hard supporters who believe he is the god sent leader t  to  turn Nigeria round, no  matter  the odds. It is not just politics as usual  this time around. It  is a do or die situation because the stakes  are  so high there  may be at least  10 formidable Nigerians  in the opposition PDP  lining  up to  get  their party nomination to unseat  the Nigerian president.  That competition in the opposing  camp to the president  is  potentially  fiercer than the  coming  presidential  election  itself. It  is a clash  of the titans of Nigerian  politics over the years. You  may  call it a fight  in which everyone is for himself  and may the devil  take the hind most.  Such  is the nature and mood of Nigeria’s politics  today that has provoked the topic of the day.

    But  such  politics of exclusion  and confrontation  is not peculiar  to  Nigeria  and it is our  intention today  to  trace its roots and  see why  the  human virtues  of tolerance, accommodation  and mutual  respect are fast abandoning the realm of politics in most nations of the  world  today.

    It  is necessary  to highlight  some events to illustrate  the high level  of tension  and potential  violence  in world  politics today.

    Let  us  for  now, if possible  ignore Syria, Iraq  and Yemen which  are the hot theaters  of war and destruction  nowadays  such that people  are wondering how if  ever  Syria will  be repaired  and reconstructed  and yet  the war  has not  ended. We  shall  look  at the social  issues  that  are at the bottom  of  many  provocative reactions in most  nations today. Religion  has always been the leading issue  in this  regard  and  spawned  9/11 , Al Quada, Boko Haram  and ISIS. But  cultural  issues  are  causing  more  tension nowadays.  Issues  like  gay  right,  migration  and  feminism.

    That  was what happened in Germany  this week  when  the news spread  that  two Arab  immigrants  have killed a German trying to protect  a lady  from them. That  was dangerously  followed  by the observations of some non  rightist  Germans that  they are concerned that  any one  who  opposes  immigration  in  Europe  is branded racist  and  that makes it difficult to  make comments and people are worried of being excluded  and silenced  on a major  issue  in their nation. That  means  that  in the EU  some  silent  majority  is just  waiting to explode  some day  no matter  the excuses  and advice from  German Chancellor Angela Merkel  on the matter.

    Similarly  in  Nigeria  it was  difficult  to talk  about Boko  Haram openly  because  of Muslim  sensitivities  and the general  belief that  Islam  is  a religion of  peace. Yet  Boko Haram  and  ISIS claim an  Islamic mandate  for their  terrorism and  bloodletting. Till  now  the Nigerian  army has not been able  to suppress Boko Haram  because of this  religious  affinity of those even in the army to take on Muslim enemies. It  is a daunting task  that needs great dispassionate  intelligence  and collaboration from all  the security oufits in Nigeria  to  achieve  in the interest  of  the  Nigerian nation.

    Really it is the duty of the Nigerian  government to fight and defeat the enemies  of  the nation no  matter  their origin or affiliation. The  matter  of killings  by so called armed  herdsmen follow  this manner of  handling the Boko  Haram  insurgency. For now most  Nigerians believe that Myetti Allah  is being treated  with kid gloves  because  it is a Northern  organization  and the president is both Muslim and Fulani  like the herdsmen. The  fact  that the President once  publicly lamented that if he did not go to school  he would be a Fulani  herdsman  has  not  helped  matters. It  is my candid  belief  that  the president  must  show  all  Nigerians  that nobody  is above  the law where the security of all Nigerians in all parts of Nigeria are  concerned.

    Similarly  I  hold  the strong view    that  democracy in Nigeria must    be seen  as capable  of lifting  Nigerians out  of poverty and  not  a sure way  to die  in dirt, squalor  sickness  and insecurity. Democracy  should  not be seen  as creating  an emergency and exclusive  class of rich citizens whose  main  business is that they went into politics  and  made  money,  and  a lot of it too.  Democracy  should not  be seen  as  an  elevator  that  makes retired  military  officers automatic  governors after elections  and automatic senators  after governorships.  That  is the trend now copied by civilian governors  who  now live in the  state  houses and legislature  for 16  years  and get  so stupendously  rich  that  they become a state  within a state  in terms  of political  power  and influence.

    They  have  now  become  such  a  serious  threat  in our  democracy  to  any meaningful  political  participation  and competition  by  other Nigerians  equally,  if  not better qualified,  but lacking  their  huge  financial  muscle  fattened by years  of looking after  public  funds  and getting fat  at it.

    Right  now in Nigeria the show down  between  the Senate President and the presidency is overshadowing  even  the primaries  to choose a presidential  candidate  for  the  opposition  party. The senate president  has declared his intention  to be president  but he just defected  to  the  PDP  and that may  polarize  even  the PDP leadership.  Has the opposition  the discipline to prune down aspirants to even two  to face  the primaries  for presidential candidate  election?  Can the senate president  suppress his ambition for the highest  office of the land in his new  and old party? And  will  the senate president  be in office till  the primaries for  PDP  are  held?  These  are  the questions  begging for answers as we approach the 2019  elections  and  you  must  admit  like the Chinese  are  famous  for  saying    that  we live  in very interesting  times  indeed here in Nigeria. Once again, long live the Federal  Republic  of  Nigeria.