The Nation Newspaper

Category: Saturday

  • Dear God-win Obaseki (2)

    There couldn’t have been a better time than now to discuss the way forward for sport in Edo State. Indeed, last month, the ancient city of Benin was throbbing with excitement in celebration of the man who made sports the DNA for Midwesterners, Bendelites and Edo indigenes, the late Dr. Samuel Osaigbovo Ogbemudia, whose remains were buried after an illustrious era. The late Ogbemudia revolutionalised sports, essentially as a recreational platform used to sensitise people to be healthy.

    Watching how Nigerians celebrated Ogbemudia’s exit on television produced goose pimples on my skin because it showed that he meant many things to many people. He was a statesman worthy of emulation. Therefore, the governor God-win Obaseki-led administration should prioritise sports as a tool to take the youths off crime and a platform to create wealth for the people who identify with the marketing windows sports offer, with an enduring template.

    It was quite a spectacle watching Obaseki tee-off on the golf course in Benin penultimate Sunday. He walked with confidence and took his shots perfectly even though he embraced the game as an adult. As the governor walked down the course, I was convinced that he could provide the puzzle of returning the state to its apogee in sports.

    So, what were the sports that the region used as its hub?  I dare say Athletics (the competitiveness among schools at all levels), lawn tennis (Ogbe Hard Court tournament driven by corporate sponsorships), football, swimming (essentially for the number of medals which helped successive states to win the National Sports Festivals) and boxing served as the medals’ haul platform. With time, others sports, such as cricket, golf (seen by many as elitist), hockey, table tennis (especially with the influx of Moji Kuye, Sunday Eboh et al after one of the National Sports Festivals) and volleyball (anchored on the incredible talent of Tony Oghuma aka Wahala).

    What the late Ogbemudia did with football was crucial as he reawakened the rivalry among the regions with the emergence of clubsides, such as Ika Rangers which later became Midwest line FC, Ethiope Publishers Football Club, which metamorphosed into the great New Nigerian Bank FC and Warri Wolves, rebirthing as NPA Seasiders. There was also the Eselemo Diamonds in Warri, Ubulu-Ukwu City Diamonds and, of course, the revered AsabaTex, which was managed by the Asaba Textile Industry. There were the P&T Rockets of Benin, McDermots of Warri and, of course, the Great Bendel Insurance of Benin, formerly known as Vipers FC. Not forgetting Rubber Board, which became Flash Flamingoes, owned by Senator Patrick Osakwe, NNPC FC of Warri, Niger Valley FC, owned by the late Agbazika Innih and Nigeria Oil Palm Research (NIFOR) of Benin. The ripple effect of these clubs flung around the old Bendel State was that young boys combined going to school with playing soccer. Younger boys emulated those who did this successfully. But these boys could not have qualified to play for these clubs, if there wasn’t a nursery that discovered them (from school competitions) and trained them. But the clubs picked them up without recourse to those who discovered them. Soon, the nursery died. And the boys looked elsewhere. This didn’t help the industry.

    It is this nexus that the governor can fill by insisting on the emergence of a regulatory body that will ensure that the production chain isn’t lopsided. In constituting a regulatory body, we must guide against full government ownership of the clubs. We should restrict the government’s involvement to providing the infrastructure, the enabling environment for the regulators to run soccer as a business not as a mobiliser of people for social and political reasons.

    At a stage in the country’s soccer development, Bendel State had three top division sides, namely Bendel Insurance FC, Flash Flamingoes and New Nigeria. Their eventual eclipse started with the demotion of AsabaTex, then Flash Flamingoes, which went back to Rubber Board FC until its demise. While these teams were demoted, it suited those in government then to celebrate instead of working towards getting the teams new sponsors. With time, Bendel Insurance got relegated. The team still totters because it doesn’t have a blueprint for growth. Things only look up for Bendel Insurance when the governor loves sports.

    Those who managed the clubs didn’t think it was necessary to take them to the Stock Exchange for proper and regulated sponsorship, with the government’s cash coming as a means of support. They didn’t want anyone to know the clubs’ worth since with government cash, it didn’t matter if what was given was accounted for or not. When the teams won trophies, nobody was interested in the details of expenditure. Emphasis was laid on how to reward the players and coaches, having achieved the goals set for such teams.

    Today, the story is different – no thanks to the global recession. Governors are driven by people-oriented tasks meant to garner votes from the electorate in subsequent elections. Most governors see football, albeit sports as a social service. But in other climes, sports, especially football, is big business.

    Sadly, most of our pre-historic facilities cannot be used in the 21st century. What it means is that there is the urgent need to recapitalise the industry to get funds to upgrade these derelict structures that litter Edo State, I dare say. And I don’t think that the governor is ready for any gigantic project soon.

    Football has been left in the lurch since it was driven by the passion of the government which owned 80 per cent of the teams rather governors creating the enabling environment for the teams to thrive when they leave office. Our inability to fill this lacuna explains why people’s attention has been turned to the foreign leagues, with our grassroots players seeking to play in Europe instead of polishing their game here.

    In setting up a template for Edo State sports, Obaseki should use Bendel Insurance FC as the beacon of whatever plans he has. Bendel Insurance FC represented the symbol of Bendelites. Bendel Insurance FC is tottering today because it lacks a regulator to provide the indices for it to compete. I will suggest that Obaseki should revive the parent company of the club (Bendel Insurance Company) and then allocate enough cash to it.

    With such a regulator and a well packaged product, it will be easier to approach the Stock Exchange to do business, knowing the team’s followership in the past. Regulators must be transparent and be ready to account for the cash collected from the new initiative for a sustainable growth in the team. This is one of the ways to persuade people to identify with the team if it has stocks at the Stock Exchange. This explains why the Americans have invested in Manchester United and Liverpool, for instance. Russians now see Chelsea as their team because one of them owns it and, of course, the Thais are investing heavily in Leicester City, not forgetting the Sheiks’ quantum investment in Manchester City, among their many sports businesses.

    Athletics almost caught people’s attention like football because the state had experts who understood that the sport thrives through competitions. These experts trained coaches and sent them to the grassroots. Besides, they encouraged their American mates to be employed by the Sports council. Soon, Ogbemudia Stadium became a beehive for athletics and clubs. Schools’ inter house sports competitions were like the National Sports Festivals, especially the invitational relays for boys and girls. With time, former athletes became coaches, largely because the good ones were encouraged to head for America to continue what they had started here. The transition was seamless because of the structures. Everyone looked forward to the annual Mobil Athletics Classics to watch our athletes sprint for glory.

    Ogbe Hard Court was a watershed for sports. It brought many international lawn tennis stars to the state. But there were other extras that made it unique, courtesy of the brands of companies which exploited the tournament to connect with their consumers on the social platform. Reinventing Ogbe Hard Court with the new musicians will be fine, except that the tranquility desired for maximum concentration by the players could be breached by a few. Perhaps a dance show involving Chris Daniel, Davido and Sir Victor Uwaifo before the matches or after could give the tourney the fillip of growth.

    I was excited seeing Uyi Akpata playing the forward defensive stroke in a cricket game in Benin City. Akpata was an opening batsman and a swing bowler as a young man. I wasn’t surprised because he was following the tradition. However, my excitement stemmed from the fact that he was the chairman of the Edo Cricket Association. It simply means that the body won’t be lacking funds to prosecute its programmes since Akpata is a big player in the corporate world. Akpata symbolises the calibre of chairmen who should run Edo Sports in the 21st Century.

    The spiral effect of Akpata’s chairmanship is that those who would belong to the Edo State Sports Commission (ESSC) will be men of means who don’t see the commission as an avenue to enrich themselves. Since they have jobs, they will seamlessly work with the Commission’s CEO and the secretariat to achieve results.

    With such men of honour (Akpata et al) at the helm of the commission’s affairs, assessing the governor will be a piece of cake since they belong to the same league. And the governor won’t bat an eyelid in approving their requests which will be far-and-wide-apart as the dentition of the centenarian. Besides, it will be easier for the Edo State Government to convince the Stock Exchange to key into its commission’s noble initiatives, knowing that with such men, accountability will be no problem.

    Boxing is one of the sports that gave Bendel its glory, with many non-indigene boxers coming to live in the state. Isaac Ikhuoria won a bronze for Nigeria. I would have loved to expatiate on boxing except that dwelling on it brings tears down my cheeks. I feel sad that ex-champion Davidson Andeh is history. No one knows his whereabouts. He disappeared like ice-cream kept under the scorching sun. It is so painful. Davidson Andeh, where are you?

  • When was Tinubu sleeping?

    When was Tinubu sleeping?

    (What a week it has been of fulsome and certainly eminently deserved applause across partisan divides for National leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and former Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on his 65th birthday. To commemorate the occasion, I reproduce today an abridged version of a piece I published as Chief Press Secretary to the governor, in the This Day newspaper of July 8, 2001, at least to give one perspective on the no easy path traversed by the Jagaban Borgu on the path to today’s still unfolding glory.)

    Again and again, one confronts the view in media commentaries and private conversation that the Lagos State Governor, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has at last woken up to the responsibilities of his office after a long slumber. The impression created sounds rather funny. It is as if Governor Bola Tinubu simply went to sleep after assuming office in 1999 and governance in Lagos State promptly proceeded on vacation. While deep in sleep, Governor Tinubu must have projected himself astrally into space, visited the abode of the gods and obtained a magic wand to enable him perform dazzling acts of abracadabra.

    It will be recalled that barely a month after he assumed office as Governor, Senator Bola Tinubu came under a heavy barrage of savage criticisms from impatient analysts and vengeful political opponents desperately seeking to draw blood. They accused him of lethargy and non-performance and wondered why he could not follow in the action-laden footsteps of Marwa or Jakande. The cartoonists had a field day chastising Tinubu for the innumerable pot holes and veritable craters that characterized Lagos roads, the skyscrapers of refuse heaps that had embarrassingly become the trade mark of the centre of excellence and the high crime rate resulting in the untimely demise of scores of innocent citizens.

    The critics would give no quarters. It did not matter to them that the bad roads, refuse heaps, water scarcity, high crime rate and other problems were inherited from successive regimes by the Tinubu administration. Lagos State vividly illustrates the dilemma and herculean challenges confronted by Nigeria’s public office holders in the post-IBB/Abacha/Abubakar era. The most populous, ethnically heterogeneous, economically strategic and politically viable in the country, Lagos State was left to decay to an unimaginable degree during the wasted years of the military locusts. Any meaningful effort to re-build Lagos State and address the cause rather than the symptoms of problems in the post-military dispensation could therefore not be a rushed affair. It required deep thinking; careful planning and systematic, focused implementation of well thought out policies which might not yield discernible fruit in the short run. This was the challenge Tinubu set for himself while displaying a rare and courageous willingness to sacrifice short term populist acclaim in the larger public interest.

    Today, Tinubu’s decision to choose the higher moral ground of statesmanship rather than petty political partisanship appears at last to be yielding results. Even his severest critics are now singing a more refreshing, up-beat tune. As his various programmes crystallize, mature and bear fruits, the public is becoming increasingly more appreciative of the governor’s vision and sense of mission. What I find personally very interesting is the new surge of support in the state even for policies which only a while ago were derided as being unnecessarily inconvenient and burdensome for the individual. I refer to policies such as the intensive demolition of illegal structures that obstruct drainage channels, construction of road demarcations to enforce traffic discipline and the introduction of measures to enhance safety of vehicles on Lagos roads among several others.

    Even as the opinion writers, analysts and editorialists laud Tinubu’s performance, however, most of them still insist that he slept for too long before waking up. Indeed, they seem to suggest he would have continued sleeping but for the cacophony of their virulent criticism. None of these critics has thought it fit to own up to what was obviously a grave error of judgement on their part. None has graciously admitted that Senator Tinubu was probably right after all in taking his time to lay a solid foundation for the successful and effective delivery of his programmes.

    I find it necessary to challenge and correct this erroneous notion at least for the records. When, I ask once more, was Tinubu sleeping? Was he sleeping when even as governor elect, he had commenced exploratory talks with energy firms in the United States for the revolutionary Independent Power Project (IPP) that has broken the back of monopoly in the country’s energy sector? Have we forgotten the spate of ethnic and communal clashes instigated in Lagos State in the early period of the administration with the aim of derailing our nascent democracy? Was Tinubu sleeping when he held scores of meetings with various ethnic, cultural and communal groups to soothe frayed nerves and restore peace? It is so easy to lose sight of the fact that without an alert and responsive governor at Alausa, the enemies of democracy could have succeeded in their plot destabilize the entire country through sponsored disaffection and violence in a sensitive cultural melting pot like Lagos.

    Was Tinubu sleeping when he introduced the Private Sector Participation (PSP) scheme in refuse management that not only generated 10,000 new jobs but also decisively addressed the refuse problem in the state? Was he sleeping when he introduced   novel schemes like the Highway Managers and Drain Ducks with a combined strength of 7,000 workers to keep the highways clean as well as clear drainage channels in the state? Was he sleeping when in his first year in office, he recruited 3,000 new graduates into the civil service? Was it a sleeping governor who in his first year in office supplied close to 100,000 pairs of desks and chairs to primary and secondary schools, rehabilitated 41 secondary school buildings at a cost of N51 million, constructed wall fences in 17 schools to enhance security and supplied biology, chemistry and physics equipment worth N20 million to 25 secondary schools?

    Was he sleeping when he paid N99 million as NECO examination fees for 90,000 SSS III students and N50 million as bursary award to over 5,000 students in tertiary institutions as well as Lagos State law students? And these were all in his first 12 months in office. By the end of his first 365 days as chief helmsman of Lagos State, Senator Tinubu had rehabilitated over 500 pot-hole infested roads, modernized the refuse dump sites at Solous, Olusosun and Abule Egba,  purchased sophisticated equipment worth over N300 million for the state’s hospitals. His administration had initiated comprehensive judicial sector reforms including enhancing welfare of judicial officers, upgrading and modernizing court facilities as well as establishment of the Office of the Public Offender (OPD) to provide free legal services to indigent persons as well as the Citizen Mediation Centre (CMC) as an alternative and faster dispute resolution mechanism. All these could certainly not have been accomplished without the governor and his team consistently burning the midnight oil.

    It will be recalled that the Tinubu administration inherited a budgetary outlay of less than N15 billion. This was raised to N19 billion in the 1999 budget and then N43 billion in the Y2000 budget. This unprecedented quantum budgetary leap is a function of the herculean challenges the governor has set for his administration. A less ambitious governor could easily have set himself a less demanding agenda.

  • Senate, EFCC and Customs play cat and mouse

    Senate, EFCC and Customs play cat and mouse

    THE battle for supremacy and the ethical high ground between the Senate on the one hand and some appointees of the Muhammadu Buhari presidency on the other hand has been fierce, messy and troubling. But despite its troubling signposts, the battle is not what it seems on the surface. It portends something far more sinister and dangerous to the body politic. The senate, much more than the House of Representatives, is less bashful about fighting wars, any war, choosing the battleground no matter how irreverent, daring the public offensively, and playing brinkmanship with provocative adroitness. Nigerians, egged on by vocal commentators and civil society activists, seem to recognise and even conclude that the senate is less than altruistic in the ongoing combat. For now, the government side of the battle is exemplified and amplified by the ineffaceably cocksure Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) chairman, Ibrahim Magu, the sometimes coarse Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) comptroller-general, Hameed Ali, and the gruff and immense Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir David Lawal.

    On the surface, the war is about a pliant senate headed by Bukola Saraki, a senate alleged to be ethically challenged and imposing itself and its controversial moral code on both the presidency and the nation. Dr Saraki himself faces many investigations and court battles, and is assumed to be deploying the senate’s influence to pressure the presidency into soft-pedalling on the cases or sidestepping the investigations, or even stalemating the entire struggle. The particulars of the trouble Dr Saraki faces are doubtless troubling. There is the Code of Conduct Tribunal case in which he is accused of inaccurate declaration of assets; there is also the importation of a bullet proof jeep for his use that is mired in controversial payment of inaccurate duty leading to the seizure of the vehicle; and there is the newer and more damning case of N19bn allegedly siphoned from states’ share of the Paris Club refund and the N3.5bn reportedly traced to the senate president and some of his aides. There is, it seems, no respite for Dr Saraki, as his antagonists appear determined to thrust the knife deeper into his back. He faces an uphill battle convincing the country of his right ethical standing and bona fides.

    Ranged on the other side of the battle are the senate president’s three formidable enemies hamstrung by their own peculiar bureaucratic or ethical challenges. Mr Magu is condemned by the Department of State Service (DSS) as unfit for the post he is seeking confirmation. In an equally damning report which the Service has been reluctant to recant, Mr Magu stands convicted of cavorting in an ethical miasma of his own finding and making. It is obvious the senate wants him removed from his acting EFCC chairmanship because he is not letting up in traducing and harassing the senate’s leadership. Mr Ali drew the senate’s ire by defying the order to appear before them in customs uniform. This was a totally needless controversy that had little or nothing to do with the law or constitution. But it has become a tortuous struggle for dominance. On his own, Mr Lawal is embroiled in a more straightforward case of alleged abuse of office in which a company connected with him reportedly applied for and won a controversial contract meant to palliate the sufferings of internally displaced persons in Boko Haram’s blighted Northeast.

    The three men, together with the disputatious camps they belong to in the fractious Buhari presidency, are bonded by their sworn determination to make the senate either amenable to their wishes and the executive’s or at least unhorse Dr Saraki, their chief tormentor. Both the customs and the EFCC have thus begun a cat and mouse game with the senate. Dr Saraki’s aides, the EFCC threateningly announced, would be hauled in for interrogation over the N19bn illegally deducted from the states’ N522bn Paris Club loan refund, particularly the N3.5bn allegedly traced to the senate president and his aides. In addition to Mr Ali defying the senate over the uniform brouhaha, the Customs have also intensified their propaganda war against the upper legislative chamber by substantiating their allegations of customs duties evasion by the senate. Mr Lawal has been fairly reticent in recent times, but he had twice bad-temperedly defied the senate, sometimes using inflammatory words and declining their invitations to defend his actions.

    In the midst of the long-running battle between the executive and the senate, a battle that has led to paralysis over the confirmation of 27 Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs), the Federal Executive Council (FEC) has wisely constituted a committee to mediate a truce or, more appropriately, seek ways to placate the obviously angry senate. The mediation group is headed by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo. Government spokesman, Information and Culture minister, Lai Mohammed, acknowledged that democracy was bound to manifest the kind of struggles the country was witnessing between the executive and the legislature. It is part of the learning curve to find a balance between the powers and responsibilities of all the arms of government, he says. But after waiting until positions ossified so dangerously, it is not clear how the mediation group hopes to engender peace, especially after some government functionaries have joined the fray and spoken exasperatingly of the senate’s leadership style and role in the misunderstanding.

    Hopefully, a peace deal can be brokered. Last year, going by the executive’s desire to win every argument against the senate and the judiciary, and given the injurious manner the sentimental discourse was framed, many observers began to fear that the struggle had become a zero-sum game where one of the parties simply had to lose for the other to win. In fact, at a point, the country came dangerously close to being worked up to overthrow what Nigerians concluded was a decadent and retrogressive National Assembly. There was no attempt to separate the National Assembly’s controversial and unpopular principal officers from the legislature as an institution.

    Worse, and more depressingly, there was no attempt to anticipate how the chain reaction would end once the instigated public marched on the National Assembly. Not only was the executive wholly incapable of framing their arguments and position in the inspiring and lofty terms of the finest principles of democracy, the public also carelessly glossed over the unhidden fact that the presidency was no longer in the hands of the man elected to preside over the affairs of the country. The new jingoistic and usurpatory cabal, part ethnically bigoted and part religiously extremist, was more obsessed with the destructive materialism of power than its utilitarian relevance for democracy, good governance, and unity and stability. Years of experience with instability since 1966, when disaffection with one government did not necessarily lead to a better replacement, had apparently not taught the public the virtue of patience and moderation.

    The Federal Executive Council is right to seek an understanding and settlement with the senate. This is not an indication of weakness, desperation or subservience. It is a manifestation of strength and wisdom, the kinds that have eluded a large section of the public. In a matter of years, the current principal officers of the National Assembly will vacate their seats, and possibly the legislature entirely. But that institution will remain. It is in the interest of democracy and the freedoms the constitution has so elegantly vouchsafed and guaranteed that the legislature must be guarded and helped to retain its relevance and influence, despite the obvious failings of many of its leaders. Members of the cabinet and heads of government agencies and civil society activists who have spoken unguardedly and emotively about the legislature, and are campaigning for its abrogation or occupation, are confused.

    The senate’s principal officers, particularly Dr Saraki, has acted sensibly but purely accidentally in defending the legislature’s powers and influence. Why in the same vein he is unable to grasp the fundamental fact that he fouls the dignity of that hallowed chamber by his unconscionable and unethical private and public moral codes, not to say unending court battles, is hard to explain. Can he make amends? It is doubtful. For as the Nigerian society and democracy are currently structured along obsessively materialistic lines, it is difficult for exemplar politicians, the kind Nigerians crave, to win public office. The country must therefore look beyond Dr Saraki and his coterie of tragicomedian supporters. The legislature must be defended in order for it to serve as a bulwark against the increasing predilection of the Buhari presidency for dictatorship. After the legislature has been secured, then Nigerians must take up the onerous task of filling its hallowed seats with qualified and ethical lawmakers. Enough of the sentimental, reactive and uninformed approach.

    The rapprochement begun by FEC must be encouraged, and the near unschooled defiance of Messrs Magu, Ali and Lawal must not be allowed to take root if Nigerian democracy is not to become malformed and endangered. Indeed, all this trouble could have been averted if the presidency had been both cohesive and visionary, not to say informed, enough to anticipate the dangers and consequences of its increasingly dysfunctional leadership style. However, all is not lost. If the public can summon the patience and reflection required to help rebuild Nigerian democracy, the current abhorrent struggle for supremacy between the senate and a few members of the executive arm could yet become a part of the learning curve that is an integral part of the African experiment with democracy.

  • Encouraging news on Abuja Airport runway

    Of course, it is inexcusable that the runway of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, had to be temporarily closed on March 8 for six weeks to allow for comprehensive repairs in the interest of passenger safety. But it was understandably a problem inherited by the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari and inaction on its part could not have been alternative. The good news is that the Minister of State for Aviation, Hadi Sirika, and his Information and Culture counterpart, Alhaji Lai Mohammmed, during an inspection tour of the project have said ongoing work is 57.5% complete and all is set to meet the target date of reopening the airport on the 19th of April. Other gains of the improved new facility will include an upgraded terminal to improve passenger comfort, and the provision of a lounge for the elderly and physically challenged according to the ministers. But then, once the Abuja facility reopens the aviation authorities should also seize the opportunity to address any challenges noticed as regards the Kaduna International Airport that was chosen to serve as alternative for domestic and international air operations in the interim. There is no reason why the functional and operational status of the Kaduna airport cannot also be enhanced in the interest of the state and the nation.

  • Dear God-win Obaseki (1)

    Your Excellency, I have ruminated on writing about sports in Edo State since you became the Governor last year. I held back because I didn’t want my submission to be misread – that I wanted to be the Commissioner for Sports. Readers of this column know that I’m an advocate of the Sports Commission system since it is the only way that the friction between the commissioner and the chairman of the state sports commission, which has crippled sports development in many parts of the country, can be nipped in the bud. Americans understood that providing sporting facilities (especially) in the neighborhoods was the best way to engage the youth and take them out of crime.

    Constructing neighborhoods sporting facilities based on the potential of the youth in an area gets everyone involved in a game as a form of recreation, which invariably improves the well being of the citizenry. Today, America boast of making sports, such as athletics, basketball, baseball, lawn tennis, golf and car racing, money spinners, even though their favourite sports is rugby. The pragmatic solutions towards making sports a business didn’t start with too many sports. Americans chose five pilot sports, and built structures, using the residents. Today, certain areas are renowned for certain sport.

    So much has been said about the late Samuel Osaigbovo Ogbemudia’s sports reforms report as the guide to reinventing sports in Edo State. Your Excellency sir, had Ogbemudia been alive to reinvent Edo sports, he would have done differently some of the things he suggested in the report. What this translates to is that sports development is dynamic. Changes in sports are such that methods used last year don’t apply today because organisers of games think of scientific ways to improve on the sport and save the lives of its practitioners when they retire.

    Dear God-win Obaseki, a holistic approach towards reinventing Edo sports will be too expensive and won’t produce the desired results in your first term. Sports died in Nigeria when the government stopped boarding houses in schools and built up the places into classrooms in a bid to provide free education for all.

    What you need is to get the Local Government Areas’ chairmen and members repair the derelict facilities in the primary and post primary schools. Next, take an inventory of what is left at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, so as to repair the facilities such as the indoor sports halls, the swimming pools and the lawn tennis courts where we watch great stars. It won’t be out of place sir, if you discuss with some sports-friendly organisations to return to funding competitions. Wooing these firms to return to sports will be easy since the initiative is coming from the governor. The ripple effect of this kind of initiative Ajuwa Grammar School, Okeagbe-Akoko, Ondo State’s principal, Chief Guy Gargiullo, is a foreigner (Italian-Briton) who had spent time in the area and produced the swimmers as a reward to the community. Gargiullo is not a coach but a administrator and enthusiast, who looked at his locality, fashioned out a template that engaged the youth to participate in swimming.

    He also encouraged youths in the riverine area of Ugbo Nla to embrace swimming. So, aside from fishing to eke out a living, the riverine people learned how to swim and gain national prominence. Other youths in the area joined the bandwagon when early initiates returned from sports festivals with medals, having been received as heroes and heroines in the state. Gargiullo’s foresight opened a new vista for the youth in Okeagbe and the riverine areas of the country, which sadly has been destroyed – no thanks the ineptitude of our modern day sports administrators.

    Principals such as the late Michael Ojeifo Ojo, went to any length to get good school boy footballers to sustain the football tradition at Hussey College Warri. Of course, the late Ojo took lessons from the late Ogbemudia’s pilot scheme at New Era College in Benin City, the first secondary school that gave athletes the platform to go to school without disturbing their education. One must commend the Adams Oshiomhole administration for renaming the school Osaibovo Ogbemudia College in his lifetime.

    Besides, the ego problem between the commissioners for sports and the education ministry is the chief reason for the poor state of sports. I feel strongly that any effective sports development programme not hinged on the ministry won’t stand the test of time. Sports development takes its roots from the grassroots, where the talents are in abundance.  And most of the people at the grassroots who can be discovered, nurtured and exposed to competitions are the primary school kids, the secondary and tertiary schools.

    These units fall under the Ministry of Education. Unfortunately, the school sports departments of state are neglected, yet we expect sports to grow here. It does not add up. So, your Excellency, any blueprint that doesn’t involve the Ministry of Education will fail.

    As a beneficiary of the school sports system, I knew what to take to school every term, knowing that we had games masters for every term. They were experts in such sports. Many of these games masters and mistresses came from the now moribund College of Physical and Health, Afuze, the platform, the late Ogbemudia used to change the face of sports administration in the country. Simply put, your Excellency, the late Ogbemudia instituted a system that gave roles to every facet of discovering, nurturing and exposing budding stars, which was anchored on getting the rookies to understand the rudiments of a game.

    The Afuze complex should be fixed. The government could initiate a fund-raising ceremony to get the required funds. The reputation and astuteness of the departed unionist will surely draw donors. A structure named after such an icon should never be left in such derelict conditions. Once the Imoudu College of Physical and Health Education is fixed, it could, with time, be elevated to a university.

    Your Excellency, let me share this personal experience with you. In 1977, the bulk of the top cricketers at the Government College Ughelli, gained admission to the university, some to the Federal Government College Ilorin for Higher School Certificates (HSC) and others to Edo College Benin. On paper, as it seemed, in cricket in 1977, Edo College was stronger and looked poised to beat Government College Ughelli for the first time.

    There was excitement in Benin, expectedly so. The former Director of Schools Sports in the then Bendel State, Mr. Osifo, couldn’t wait to be part of history. In Osifo’s reckoning, Edo College stopping GCU met one of his goals of a paradigm shift in sports. Yet, Osifo didn’t manipulate the system.

    Indeed, at time there was a vacancy for chief coach for the state. The contest was between L.I.L Akorta of Edo College and Ifeanyi Ogosi of GCU. Both of them were renowned Phyiscal and Education (PE) experts. Ordinarily, Akorta was the cricket expert but Osifo opted to use the game to decide who would head the cricket coaching department. Ogosi was a football expert who played the game with GUC students in training. So, when GCU beat Edo College with its armada of stars, Ogosi got the job and the rest, like they say, is history. Akorta left to the Missouri in the United States for further studies. He returned to the University of Benin as a lecturer. Akorta sir, I salute your courage.

    There wasn’t any interference from the state’s commissioner for sports or from the commissioner for education. It was a school sports competition. The late Ogbemudia had a system which empowered Osifo, as Director of School Sports, to do what he did. Of course, his method was scientific and it yielded results, thereafter.

    Besides, your Excellency, governance is a continuum. There are several blueprints inside the cabinets at the ministry of sports and indeed with Oshiomhole for the formula to elevate Edo sports from its rustic conditions.

    Talking about documents in the Ministry of Sports’ and Government House’s cabinets, I recall the efforts of many renowned sports personalities such as Mike Itemuagbor, Barrister Osayaba Osarenren, Barrister Fatai Bello Osagie, Aisha Falode, Professor Ojeme, late Dr. JB Okoro, the late Shuaib Amodu and I (please, forgive me if I didn’t include your name), who were empowered to produce a blueprint for sports. We went to all the sports centres, inspected the rustic facilities, discussed with key stakeholders, interfaced with sports council workers and athletes (old and new) and finally went to tutorials at the Iheya Street, Benin City residence of the late Ogbemudia.

    After the lengthy but educative session with the late Ogbemudia, the indices for advising the government were easy, hinged essentially on the grassroots and the resolve of the chief driver of the change initiative (at that time Oshiomhole) to execute our suggestions. The late Ogbemudia warned that we shouldn’t be surprised if all that we had suggested were not implemented. It was as if he read Oshiomhole’s mind. Oshiohmole went for people-oriented programmes.

    Oshiomhole’s admittance that he failed in sports underlines who he is. He speaks the truth and damns the consequences. Take a bow Oshiomhole, for once again making Edo State the model that others emulated.

  • ‘Re -traditionalisation‘, globalisation and politics

    The  topic  of today may  look like that   of a wordsmith or   a lexicographer both  of which  I   cannot  really  disown.  In    truth however  they  are  quite  royal  in origin conception  and  adaptation  for our analysis  today. The  copyright to  Re traditionalisation’  belong   to the illustrious Obi  of  Onitsha, HRM  Nnaemeka Alfred  Ugochukwu Achebe who  delivered a  public lecture   titled ‘  The  Traditional  Institution  in the Modern  Nigerian  Society ‘ at  the equally  illustrious Yoruba  Tennis  club at  Onikan, Lagos  this week . I  went  to the  lecture   as  a member  with  the utmost  suspicion  about the choice of the lecturer,  his ethnicity,  the   venue  as well  as the    relevance  of  the topic  to any  modern  society. My  skepticism  stemmed  from  the  notion in my head that even  though  culture matters,  progressive societies look  forward  to change  and  innovation  for human progress  and development  while  traditional  societies extol the past and customs  which  are  antithetical  to human progress. Well, it turned that the  Lecture opened  my  eyes  like  Saul  of  Tarsus  on  the way  to  Damascus. The only difference is that I am  resolved  not to be an  apostle  of tradition like  Saul  went on   prodigiously  about  the  gospels,  but   to  bring to  the  attention  of   Nigerians the  danger  they  are in by  the  ‘re- traditionalisation   of  our  polity‘.  The  Obi  used  the  word, innocuously  I presume,   to  show   that  the  traditional   institution   has  been  extolled   by  the  military   as an  instrument  of order, peace and stability  in our  nation  as far  back as 1994   by  late  General  Sanni  Abacha.  In  this regard  the military    has  contributed  immensely  to   the  number  of traditional  rulers nationwide. Which   to  me,  is  a  most  revealing  but    alarming  encirclement  of  our traditional  institutions,   politics  and society  by  the military  which   now  seems   to  have   simply  shed  its military fatigues  and braid  hat  to  take  over  our  politics  by  other  means, this  time  through traditional  rulers.  Which   is no exaggeration  as it is an open  secret  that our legislatures  at Federal  and state levels  are peopled mostly  by former  military  governors  who have  served two  terms  as civilian  governors  and gone further  in their political career  by turning up again  as  two  term  senators  in our powerful  senate with the red carpet of immunity  from prosecution,  well  laid  out for  them all  the way.

    The  professorial  Obi  of  Onitsha   at  the  lecture   affirmed  that  the  Traditional  institution  suffered at  the hands of the  military  in Nigeria more  than  with the elites before  independence who, he noted with the help  of hind sight, could  now be said to have been involved in a struggle  for   succession of power after the  exit of the  colonial masters even  though  the traditional  rulers  were portrayed  as unprogressive then.   The  Obi  said  this even  as a former military  governor of  Lagos state was  making his entrance during his speech .He  then went on to  read  a quotation very  appreciative of Nigerian  culture  and  asked  the  audience to  name the author while promising to reward the winner with,  wait  for it,  a hundred naira!. Even though the task was   unclearly unrewarding, the wordings of the quotation were progressive for social  development and I thought  the Nigerian  sage, late  Chief  Obafemi Awolowo could have easily  been  the answer.  But  I was  wrong  the  answer  was  unbelievably  the most  vilified  and  most corrupt  military  leader  in  our history, the late  General  Sanni  Abacha   who  spoke  at the at  the Inauguration  of the National  Constitutional  Conference in Abuja on 27 June  1994. The  Obi then  concluded quite  gladly  and very  satisfied –‘ thus  even  the armed  forces became converted  to appreciating   the place of the traditional  institution in the country  But  they  have gone  beyond appreciation  by offering some of their finest  officers  to occupy  some  of our most revered thrones  in the country  today. He  then  listed a frighteningly  majestic  list of the of the present  occupants of  our most  coveted palaces  and   temples  of culture nation wide, nine  of   them  in  Sokoto, Egbaland, Lagos, Twon Brass, Zuru, Okpe, Jos, Gwandu, and  Awka,    amongst  many  others.

    This  was the kernel  of the majestic intellectual  analysis  of the topic  of the day  by the Obi  of  Onitsha, a  former  Shell  Executive  Director comparable   in  every  sense  to the new US  Secretary  of  State who  was  the  boss  of  oil giant  Exxon  Mobil, and  who  is expected  to bring his wealth of experience  including his  friendship  with the new US no1  global  enemy  Russian President  Vladmir  Putin  into  play  to ease Russo  American  relations  which  nosedived during the Obama era. Indeed  the  Obi  of Onitsha brought  in  the term ‘globalization’  and  the  current  anti – globalisation mood   of the new  US  President  Donald  Trump  when  he  quoted  a 2010 perception  study  by Professor Sylvanus J S Cookey and  four  other academics  ,to  buttress  the fact  that the Nigerian traditional  institution is at the peak  of  popular  acceptance and  approbation compared with other periods since colonial  times. The relevance  and  acceptance were  found to be due to  ‘a  combination of factors such  as the counter reaction to globalization, the  declining confidence in our modern political  institutions,  and  the rising  caliber  and  leadership abilities of the  emerging traditional  rulers‘.  According  to the sagely  Obi, ‘the traditional  institution has  shown  resilience  by  being  adept  at  adapting   itself  to its changing   circumstances  while holding to its core custodianship of the  customs  and traditions. The institution has successfully  re- invented  and renewed  itself  at  every  critical  period  by  ‘running fast enough  to stand  still ‘ That may  sound  like the  strategic  management  vocabulary mockery on  lack  of change inherent  in the phrase – commotion  without  motion –  but   this  makes the ability to adapt and  survive in spite of all odds  the  real  meaning  of change. It  reminds me of the story  of the oak which  stood firm  against  a violent storm  and was  uprooted, whereas  the  feeble  reed  which bent  in the direction  of  the storm,  survived.  Surely  the phrase – running  fast enough to stand  still –  has  benefited the Nigerian  traditional institution  far  more  than the rest of society in the  stormy world  of  Nigerian politics.

    This  too was  well  illustrated  in the quality of education  of the present  crop of traditional  rulers in the nation. The  Obi of  Onitsha quoted  a statement  by  a member  of the Central  Council  of Ibadan Indigenes [CCII ]Chief  Adeniyi  Akintola SAN  that  said – ‘if  you  look at  the current  members  of the  Olubadan in Council, you  will  discover that they can make any  faculty of a university. They are  accomplished bankers, engineers, businessmen and  academics. That  is  the trend  now‘. Which  really  is a major institutional  change  that can only lead to social  progress and development.

    More  importantly  I  find  two  issues  the brilliant  lecturer   discussed  candidly  about the  past  and the present, very  educative  for  our federalism  and  the present  clamor  for the restructuring of our nation. The  first   was  the colonial  administrative  concept  of  indirect rule and  its legacy  on our  system  of governance. The  second  was the suggestion by the Obi  that it should be put in our constitution that traditional  rulers  should  not  be involved  in partisan  politics.

    The  Obi  to me  highlighted the fraud  in the colonial  policy  of indirect rule which  he said was somehow  successful in the North  before being  imported to the south  because of lack of Administrative manpower  on the part of the colonial administration. The Obi attributed  the success in the North to the fact  that there  was a highly  centralized traditional  institution on the grounds  that  fits the administrative  design  of the colonialists. I  add  to that the fact that religion  of the major  part of the North was and  still  is  Islam  and the traditional ruler  was both  the political  and religious  leader  and that made administration  quite easy  and unified. In    fact  the Obi characterized Indirect rule as a form of re- enactment of the well  known saying that  the hand is the hand of  Esau  but the voice is that  of  Jacob. He  noted  that this policy  failed in the West because  the traditional systems  there had  their  own political checks  and balances on their Obas  which the colonialists ignored  and which  the Obas  as native  authority  exploited for selfish  reasons  with the connivance of the Colonial  officers. In the  East which  was largely  republican and  diversified, Warrant  Officers were imposed who were  highhanded  and corrupt, again with the connivance of the colonial  masters . Which  really showed  that large  differences existed  in the culture of ethnic groups  in the nation at  amalgamation in 1914  which  really need to  be ironed  urgently  and  peacefully as  the  results  of the indirect rule  and policy of saying what is good  for the goose  is good  for  the gander is  creating more tension in our polity  than  the anticipated unity  of purpose in the infamous indirect rule policy of Lugard.

    The  Obi’s  recommendation  of keeping traditional  rulers  out of politics will  be controversial  to some  traditional  rulers who think  that they must  have a  say in telling their  people  who  to  vote for. But  the Obi’s  views  tally  with  those  of the  Awujale  of Ijebu Ode, Oba Sikiru  Adetona  who told  former President Goodluck  Jonathan on a  presidential campaign visit  that he is  father of all his people and he cannot tell  them who  to vote for. But  the  Obi insisted  that the traditional rulers  must  be insulated from  politics  by government  support. This should  come in the form of constitutional  provisions to protect  the traditional  rulers from ‘undue meddling and interference by the  political elites  and  moneyed  class  ‘This  is a pragmatic  suggestion  and  given  the caliber of the present set  of traditional  rulers in terms of education and social  achievements, this  is  something they  can see through themselves  for the benefit of both our culture  and  politics.  Lastly,    and  in  spite  of my friend  Bambo  Ademiluyi   calling me  a republican   at  the end  of  the lecture,  ostensibly     because   of his royal  background  and  bias  in favor  of   monarchies ,       I    thank  the  Obi  for an exhilarating    and  awakening lecture on our  emerging   political    culture  and    development    .  I      also  agree very much with him that  ‘ Lord  Lugard  and his band of colonialists  are having a rethink   in their  graves ‘  on the progress  of the traditional institution in modern  Nigerian society today . Once  again long live the Federal  Republic  of  Nigeria .

  • El-Rufai’s scathing memo

    El-Rufai’s scathing memo

    EXCEPT Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State dispels the doubts of Nigerians, few will be certain his scathing memo to President Muhammadu Buhari last September did not cause him to be frozen out of the president’s inner circle or was not a consequence of his being frozen out of that select, imperious and now much-reviled circle. Far worse, it seems, is the perfect dilemma many an analyst will face over the memo, whether to separate the pungent 30-page message from the person and idiosyncrasies of the inscrutable and petit messenger, or to examine the politically seismic message strictly and intellectually in terms of the messenger’s pugnacious worldview or what Germans call weltanschauung. In any case, Nigeria has been in a lather since the memo leaked online some two weeks ago, spewing its indescribably acidic content in everybody’s face.

    Leave his motives out of it for a while. In its pure content, the memo is a brilliant encapsulation of the failings and dilemmas of the Buhari presidency. It describes in unsparing language how that failure was procured and why, and who the dramatis personae are. He mentions names, from the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) whose interpersonal relationships he considers disastrous, to the Chief of Staff (CoS) whose political ignorance, he says, combines lethally with his incompetence. Then, fearlessly, he takes on the president himself whom he warned had unwisely allowed himself to be entrapped by the same factors that stymied his leadership in 1984, adding that he had even become more dangerously insular and parochial this time around. Finally, he dismisses the ruling party as rudderless.

    Governor el-Rufai said many other things in his very lengthy diagnosis, ending with an undoubtedly brilliant framework for remedial, if not revolutionary, action plan. The memo was written and delivered a little over four months before the president travelled for medical attention in London. Before then, the impatient and feisty Mallam el-Rufai who had thought he would be one of the main anchors of the Buhari presidency, especially governing from a contiguous and strategic state, Kaduna, had all but been frozen out of the corridors of power in Abuja. The freeze worsened after the famous and provocative memo, with the governor unable to relate with the president after the latter fell ill. With the leaking of the memo, which answers the puzzle as to the coldness between the irritable erstwhile mentor and nostalgic mentee, it seems certain that no one nor force will be able to defrost the icy relationship between the two northern politicians.

    To the president’s inner circle who are probably livid at what Mallam el-Rufai has done, there is no question they will double down and do everything in their power to frustrate the Kaduna governor and hurt his political career. Whether they will succeed is a different thing altogether, for circumstances and realities, not to say the future, appear to favour the opportunistic stormy petrel. Indeed, the president’s inner circle faces war on another more delicate and dangerous front, the president’s wife. Before the president fell ill, Mrs Buhari had last year, in London, virtually described her husband as not being in control of his own government. A pernicious cabal, which knew nothing about the coalition and the ideas that propelled her husband into office, had taken over the reins of office, she wailed. From all indications, too, she was also frozen out of the president’s circle, and is believed to have even been frozen out much earlier before her outburst.

    If anyone, including Mallam el-Rufai, expects the president’s kitchen cabinet to roll over and play dead, they are mistaken. On behalf of themselves and the president, they will fight anyone and everyone, and they will do so vengefully, remorselessly and fiercely. They will not shirk from combat, and they will not be discomfited by the sight of blood, real or figurative. They hold the levers of power, and having used it combatively in the past months and known how victims squirmed on the receiving end, they will loath its deployment against them. They are, however, caught in a quandary. Their instincts tell them that the president will become increasingly lethargic and may be disinclined to run in 2019, thereby validating Mallam el-Rufai’s intrepid but malevolent projections; but their optimism encourages them to imagine that the president might run, and his traducers put to shame. They will settle the puzzle by pursuing their goals avidly and pressing ahead as if nothing else matters.

    On his own, and contrary to his wife’s dismay and Mallam el-Rufai’s advice, the president will do nothing to touch or damage the integrity of his inner circle. There may be a few cosmetic changes here and there, but the public should expect nothing really significant. If the Kaduna governor knew it, he was sensible enough not to voice the fact that at bottom the so-called cabal was able to hijack the Buhari presidency because the president in fact depends on them to navigate the arcanum that a modern government represents to him. The president has his values and virtues, but he may be depressed to recognise their inconsequentiality in the face of the complexities and convolution of modern politics and economics. Should he be compelled to cohabit with people alien to him, technocrats and intellectuals who have not learnt to massage his ego and flatter his inadequate comprehension of the digital age, his weaknesses will be so exposed that both now and in the future the temptation by this ‘untrustworthy’ menagerie to skewer him in future biographies would be almost irresistible. The president will therefore play safe, gingerly manage the dissonances in his government and inner circle, and attempt to project a calm and glacial face to the public and his critics.

    But while Mallam el-Rufai has been proudly and exceptionally brilliant in his observations and recommendations, there are no matching indications he is altruistic in his motives. Do motives matter? Yes, for they show character and help to underline, reinforce and give purpose to intellect. Given his constant proclivity for falling out with his mentors, his relentless pursuit of private, even selfish, goals, his pervasive conceitedness and his undisguised promotion of ethnic exceptionalism, Mallam el-Rufai does not come across as a nation builder who understands the demanding nuances of societal cohesion as opposed to and distinct from the countervailing abstraction of materialism. Moreover, he is so high-spirited and so self-conscious that he imagines himself located squarely at the centre of everything, the inimitable fulcrum of societal growth and development, the moving force of national advancement. To position him anywhere else is to draw his ire and provoke his fulminations.

    As far as they can manage, President Buhari and his kitchen cabinet will ignore Mallam el-Rufai. The governor will stay out in the cold, sometimes pissing in; but they will not mind his excesses, nor his obtruding manners. They seem to think that to have him close to them, and have his insufferable superior airs thrust under their noses, is even more intolerable. Indeed, the presidency will hope the tide will turn soon, and the economy will recover from recession, and amity will be re-established. This will be tall hope, but they will hope it will be the perfect riposte to a man so offensively restless, so insatiable, so unpredictable.

  • Learning from history

    It is looking like a script from a classic film in which the main actor is the last to be killed.
    But this setting isn’t a film, even as the actor has exhausted all the tricks in the books to escape being exposed as one whose word isn’t his bond.

    Many people have sneered at Victor Moses’ absence from Nigeria’s two international friendlies against the Teranga Lions of Senegal and the Stallions of Burkina Faso inside the Barnet FC’s Hive Stadium in England, which was meant to blend the Super Eagles ahead of the crucial 2019 Africa Cup of Nation qualifier tie against Bafana Bafana of South Africa in June. Indeed, the Eagles have another titanic clash against our perennial rivals, the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon in August inside the magnificent Nest of Champions Stadium in Uyo.

    Those who have winked at Moses’ new theatrics argue that the scenario recurs when Nigeria has a friendly or away matches. They reckon that Moses, being the soul of the Eagles, ought to play in such build-up games to help the coaches fashion out the right strategies to conquer the South Africans and the Cameroonians later in the year.

    Besides, this school of thought can’t believe that Moses is injured, having seen Chelsea’s last game against Stoke which the Blues won 2-0. Moses played for 70 minutes, with no crunchy tackle from Stoke players. Moses is believed to have followed the path of Eden Hazard, another Chelsea star, who opted out of Belgium’s international friendly, raising the poser of the troublesome club versus country debacle, mostly with European clubs, when they are in contention for trophies.

    Why would any player decide to collude with his European club to dodge his country’s matches, knowing that he is dispensable? Can players not learn from what has become of the club’s stars when they are no longer useful? Sadly, these “escapee” players eventually play for the clubs ten days after missing their country’s games. Medical experts reckon that injuries that could keep a player out of a game would need between seven to 14 days to heal. Even at that, such players have to train to attain match fitness before playing again. Will anyone be surprised if Moses and Hazard play for Chelsea next weekend? It won’t be for the first time, I dare say.

    Soccer followers are peeved by Moses’ stunts and have considered the theatrics of reporting to the camp for Eagles’ doctors to evaluate his injury as an afterthought to escape the vituperations against him in the build-up to Nigeria’s victory over Algeria in one of the 2018 World Cup qualifiers in Uyo, last year.  These soccer analysts opine that several players accept to play for their clubs using pain killers; not for their countries.

    The flipside to this argument is the school of thought which feels that the players would always play for their clubs because they pay their wages. But this submission is selfish because clubs engaged them after watching them play for their countries. What have all the European clubs that our past stars played for done for them since they stopped playing beyond inviting them to play testimonial matches? How many European clubs have come to watch the Nigerian league, for instance, and pick a rookie, who will immediately play for them? Isn’t it embedded in the rule that players must play 75 per cent of their countries’ national team assignments to qualify for work permits, especially in England? Isn’t this the reason many ageing African stars don’t get their deals renewed in the twilight of their career?

    It is true that most countries use and dump their stars, but the bigger picture is that most of them attain the star status playing for their countries. Besides, they are quick to preach patriotism to the younger ones in the twilight of their careers. Need I name players who have turned coat on Nigerian assignments in their later days with European clubs?

    My happiness with Moses is that he has chosen the path of honour by submitting himself for recheck by Eagles’ doctors. The coincidence of always sustaining injuries days to Nigeria’s away games or friendlies is worrisome. It smacks of conspiracy with the European clubs, which I feel strongly isn’t the case with Moses. I will be thrilled if Moses remains in the camp to give moral support to his mates. It also won’t be out of place if he watches both matches.

     Nigerian coaches, I dey laugh o!

     My apologises to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who made I dey laugh o, a lingo. I honestly didn’t want to talk about Nigerian coaches again, since they hate to be told the truth. I’ve been attacked for defending the recruitment of a foreign coach for Nigeria, with many alleging that I’m an agent.

    Who is a football coach in Nigeria? From the records, to become a coach now, you must have played the game. You must have retired unexpectedly due to injury. No one cares if you are a trained coach with requisite qualifications to do the job, as long as you can joggle the ball. With this kind of credentials, it shouldn’t shock anyone if our coaches fail when pitched against renowned coaches elsewhere. They certainly cannot give what they don’t have.

    In the past we had better trained coaches, such as Adegboye Onigbinde, Alabi Aissien, James Peter, Monday Sinclair, Ufere Nwankwo, Bitrus Bewarang, the late Willy Bazuaye, the late Udemezue, and the late Shuaibu Amodu et al. These coaches distinguished themselves handling domestic league sides to win laurels. Their feats ensured that they were elevated to handle the country’s soccer teams across all cadres.

    Many of these coaches were products of the Teachers Training Schools, Colleges of Education, Physical and Health Education Colleges, which trained games masters and mistresses of yore. So, they have a background to their jobs, with cognate knowledge of how to identify, groom and expose talents. Movement up the ranks was done through such coaches’ achievements, not what we have now.

    If we must stem this slide, the League Management Company (LMC), in conjunction with the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF, must implement the policy where only certificated coaches are allowed to sit on the bench of any club. LMC and indeed NFF must organise periodic coaching seminars for our coaches to help them improve. This idea of anyone being a club coach must stop. Both bodies must insist on assisting our club representatives to continental competitions because the shame of our current ouster falls on us. How can the abundant talents at the grassroots get lucrative deals with bigger teams in the world, if our clubs can’t qualify for the second round in the continent?

    Besides, LMC and NFF chieftains must monitor all the stages of the domestic league games to ensure that true winners emerge. It speaks a lot about how teams win the domestic league, if in the following season as many as 15 new players are recruited to strengthen such a side.  Commonsense tells me that such a team can’t win games since they need time to blend to play as an indivisible unit. LMC and NFF must discourage our continental ambassadors next year from beefing up their teams with players who have failed with other teams in the past in Africa under the guise of their experience.

    The story of Leicester City of England should guide our club owners in recruiting players. Leicester is still in the UEFA Champions League, in spite of their shambolic Barclays English Premier outings because they kept the bulk of their last season stars. When things went awry for them, they sacked their Italian manager, Claudio Ranieri and promoted his assistant. Leicester are back in the groove, winning all its three games since Ranieri was shown the exit door.

     Unity at last

     Part of the problems of the Super Eagles is unity among the players. It will shock many readers to know that our players don’t communicate with themselves when they are out of national assignments. This writer was miffed when told that two of our players in the same European club were not on speaking terms. The discovery arose when one of them couldn’t provide the telephone numbers of his team mate.

    Ridiculous, you have not heard anything, especially after the late Samuel Okwaraji told journalists that he had to walk towards three members of the Super Eagles “mafia” to ask why they were not passing the ball to him at half-time. The late Okwaraji pointed at his shirt to ask if it was different from what the “mafia men” were wearing. Of course, it wasn’t and the culprits knew so. They changed their minds in the second half and Okwaraji scored a goal for Nigeria. Funny? I don’t think so, because it is common knowledge that members of the country’s most successful Eagles side refused to pass the ball to the late Rashidi Yekini, after his feats. Need I remind you of what transpired in one of the matches?

    So, when the news broke on Tuesday night from the Eagles’ Crown Plaza Hotel camp in England that those in the camp were missing Captain John Mikel Obi, I sighed, knowing that only foreign coaches achieve such feats. I’m a Nigerian, but our local coaches create camps in the team to satisfy their whims and caprices. It is the reason the Eagles totter under their tutelage. You don’t need any seer to tell you all the blocs in the Eagles, which become evident even during training. Our coaches don’t give a hoot.

    I’ve enjoyed watching the clips of the initiation of new Super Eagles players on video from the Crowne Plaza Hotel in London. I laughed watching Ebuehi dance. The way he twisted his waist and rolled his bum showed the impact Nigerian artistes have in the world of entertainment. Initiation ceremonies are meant for bonding. Please don’t remind me about what we passed through at the Government College Ughelli. Just try and drink heavily salted water and make an attempt to whistle. Great GCU, Up Mariners! Keep the ship sailing.

  • Political culture, legality and terrorism

    The    spirit   and  practice of the laws governing  various  political  systems  as well  as the reaction of constitutional  institutions to  each other  in the interplay  of politics,  arrest  our  attention today. Whether  it is in the refusal of the  Nigerian Customs  boss to appear  before the  nation’s law  makers  or the judge stopping US President  Donald  Trump  from  carrying out his executive  orders on the ban on Muslim  majority  nation’s  citizens  entering the US   I   state  categorically  that the two  issues  are birds of the same feather even though they  occur  in different locations  but  are tempered  by the political  culture  of such environment. The  same  can  be said  of the very  British  approach  in terms of law  and order in the handling of this  week’s  lone terrorist crushing  of pedestrians on Westminster  Bridge and the stabbing of  a police  officer  on the premises of the oldest  Parliament of Democracy in the world in London. As well  as the testimony of the FBI  boss  James  Comey  in the US  Congress  that the  Russians  were loud  about  their cyber  hacking to influence  the  US  2016  presidential  elections  because  the Russian  president  hated Hillary Clinton  so much  and wanted her opponent  to  win  that election.

    Let  me  now usurp  as it were the much  respected powers of any  Supreme  Court  to announce judgments and give reasons or  whys  and wherefores  later,    by    stating   my stand  on these   issues   and    minimizing    your  suspense,   by   giving my reasons    later.

    Starting with  the Nigerian  Customs  boss I  postulate   that   it is  unthinkable  to  have a    boss  of a para military  establishment    like    the  Customs unwilling  to appear anywhere,  not even  before the Senate, without  his  uniform.  Next, the  legal  obstacles  that the new US president  faces are more  political than legal  and  cannot  stand in the face of unpredictable and unexpected security threats   such   as the US  lap  top ban  on    some  airways, joined  by the  UK where the latest  macabre terrorist attack  took place this week. That   attack  which  closed  the House  of Commons albeit  for  one day showed  the  clear   difference between the cool and calculating  way  the British  handle terrorism in sharp contrast to the noisy way  the Americans  do  similar  things   on  the excuse  of transparency  and freedom  of expression  at  the expense of security . Lastly   I  think  the  US FBI  boss  Comey   has spoken inadvertently  from  both  sides  of  his  mouth   and  in  the process  shaken  the credibility  of the US intelligence community and  made  it a laughing stock for  the Russian  president  Vladmir   Putin ,who was a spy, a  career KBG agent  in the former  USSR  before he became President  of  Russia. Let  me  now  proceed  with my analysis  of these events regardless  of how welcome or  annoying  my verdicts  on them  appear  to you  for  now.

    Starting  with  the refusal  of the Nigerian  Customs boss  to  appear in  uniform before the Nigerian  Senate, I  see  a clear  case of  abuse  of  office on the part of the Custom  boss  and a clean case of lack  of  respect for  revenue  collection  and border  monitoring  on the part  of government that  appointed  him. Customs  job  has always  been a uniform wearing profession that is paramilitary  because the personnel  bear arms  to desist  and arrest smugglers,  real and potential.  Such  a para military  force should not be led by a man with disdain and contempt  for their uniform  which  should be a source of pride for such men under  arms. To  seek  refuge now in a court  case is not only  funny  and   handy  for   not appearing in uniform   before  constituted   authority    and  indeed  as a matter  of courtesy  for the highest  office  in the Customs    profession,    it is also a clear case  of making not only an  ass of the law  but a   very  mischievous   and dubious monkey  of it. It  is very serious  breach  of public  discipline and mode of public  appointments and government should  find a way    to  regain   public respect and trust which  this event  has shaken  very  badly.  I recall  that  even in  the military regime when  M D Yusuf    was appointed the Inspector  General  of  Police  from  being head of the CID  where  he dressed in  mufti, a police  uniform  was found for him at  Dodan  Barracks  before  he  was sworn in  as the   new IGP   then  . How  come then that the head  of  Customs does  not only not have a uniform  but  is refusing to don one to appear  before an institution of the same state  with the requisite authority  to  make that very  warranted  request ? It  is quite unbelievable.

    We  go now  to  the legal  battles  to prevent the new US president  from carrying out his executive  orders on  the migrants  ban on some majority  Muslim  nations. It  is my  contention that the US president  is best placed to make a decision on  such  matters based on intelligence reports  as   he cannot operate in a vacuum. To use the law to stop him is to prevent him from carrying out his official  responsibility  on American  security. His  opponents should know  that the buck  stops on his table with regard to security  of  all Americans  and such  opponents should know that  their  freedom ends where  his nose  begins   on US  security  and  they should  know  where  politics ends  and  security  of their  nation begins.  The  fact  that both  the US  and  UK  are  collaborating on the lap top ban shows  that security   is a collective  responsibility  amongst  even  nations  not to talk of  citizens within  the  same nation  like the US .The  British  government, the people  and the news  media  showed  the Americans the way  to  deal  with  terrorism in the way the MPs  in Parliament,  and    the   British  government allowed  the Police to deal  with the latest  act of terror on  Westminster in Bridge  and Parliament ground  by  following Police statements  and directives  to  the letter  and  not allowing any speculation on the name and identity  of the culprit  until  the  Police officially  did so. All  the way the  British  government right  up to the PM  and  even the Queen,   a ceremonial  head of state ,  were full  of praises  for the capacity, real  or potential,  of the Metropolitan  Police  to handle  the situation. This   lone wolf  terrorist  action  brought out  the trust  and confidence the Britons   have  in their  security  apparatus   and is a far  cry  from  the way  the US opposition  establishment  is doing its utmost legally  to thwart  even  the capacity  or will  of  their new president to make laws  to protect  Americans as  he promised  before  he was elected  on the basis of such promise  to make  America  safe  again.

    Finally  the  revelation by the  FBI boss  Comey  that  Russian  President Vladmir  Putin hated Hillary  Clinton so  much  he wanted her  opponent  to  win is  so  trifle    and   laughable. That  is casting aspersion on the  victory  and legitimacy  of the newly  elected  US president. That   surely  is not the role of an intelligence outfit  like  the FBI.  For  now the FBI  boss  has  done more havoc to  US politics  and political  stability  than any  past  FBI  boss including  the  first   FBI   boss J Edgar   Hoover  who was  said  to use intelligence  to blackmail politicians  and top  government  officials including  the  Kennedys in  those  days.  To  most  democrats in the US the timing of the announcement on  Hillary ‘s emails’  fresh investigation   by  the  FBI    boss  cost  her the last US  presidential  elections . Now the same FBI boss  who  is to be seen and not heard  has  turned  himself  to an oracle  on  US  elections and  has used state intelligence publicly to  show  he is transparent  when  the protocol  and laws  governing his office are  those    of secrecy  and respect  for state  security. Now  the   FBI  boss  in the US has turned his office into  that of a political and security  clown and entertainer such  that the Russian  president  described the US intelligence  apparatus as amateurish nowadays  in spite of its deep  history of brilliance during the Cold War  when  even  the  Russian KGB  played  second  fiddle to it  on all  fronts. Surely  one  can say  or  lament   on  the state    of US intelligence  and  leadership   today  by  saying – How are  the mighty  fallen!. Once  again  long live  the Federal   Republic  of  Nigeria.

  • Ibb’s revelation

    Ibb’s revelation

    In a public lecture he delivered at the University of Lagos in the mid 1970s, the great Dr Nnamdi Azikwe had advocated some form of diarchy in the country making a case for what he called ‘democracy with military vigilance’. He was of the view that the military had come to stay on the country’s political terrain and the most realistic and pragmatic thing to do was to find ways of accommodating the institution in governance. Of course, the military still had a puritanical professional image at the time and was perceived even by many scholars  as a ‘modernizing’ influence in Africa. The massive corruption and inept governance that characterized the President Shehu Shagari administration in the second republic (1979-1983) reinforced the view that politics was inimical to rapid development and that some form of dictatorship could make for rapid socio-economic progress. This was why the General Muhammadu Buhari military regime was received with enthusiasm in 1983 and many Nigerians believed that the forced exit of the politicians was good riddance. However, the reputation of the military had become frayed with time when it became obvious that not only was the kleptocracy of its top brass worse than the civilians but the country witnessed retrogression rather than any meaningful development in virtually all spheres of life under the military.

    When it beat a humiliating retreat from the country’s politics and governance as an institution in 1999, however, the retired military elite had become an ‘emergent power factor’ in Nigeria to borrow from the title of Professor Bayo Adekanye’s, book which exhaustively discusses the transformation  of the retired military elite into an influential faction of the political class. Giving an insight into the economic basis of the political ascendancy of the retired military top brass in his inaugural lecture, ‘Military Occupation and Social Stratification’, delivered at the University of Ibadan in 1993, Professor Adekanye writes, “…the work is about the role of and influence of the top retired military officers in Nigerian society, where, it is found, increasingly large numbers have come to assume pivotal positions, particularly in government and politics, the public bureaucracy and parastatals, the worlds of trade and commerce, subsidiaries of multi-national corporations as well as in agriculture. Available to the top retired military are resources like wealth, their ex-military and ex-government connections, skill, prestige and experiences; and these they exploit as bases of new influence”. Nigeria”.

    In an uncharacteristically unambiguous and forthright revelation, former military President General Ibrahim Babangida told a delegation of the fractured Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who paid him a visit at his Minna hilltop residence recently what role the military played in the formation of the party. According to the fabled ‘Maradona’, “From the formation stage, I saw PDP as the (Irish Republican Army (IRA), the military wing of the PDP.  I thank God that we came up with the concept that PDP should rule for 60 years. When I say we I mean my boss, T.Y. Danjuma, Obasanjo, General Aliyu Mohammed Gusau and others. Continuing IBB told his guests, “PDP can rule for 60 years if they put their house in order. I am happy the house is being put in order. PDP is the only party that has been accepted from top –down. Its presence is being felt and will continue to be felt throughout the country. You need to work on getting up back again and find a solution to your problems”.

    IBB’s assertion on the possibility of PDP ruling for 60 years reveals that former Chairmen of the party who boasted that the PDP would be in power for six decades were not just being frivolous. It was actually a plan which the ‘military wing’ of the PDP wanted to actualize but for the triumph of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the last general elections. The military mindset of prolonged civilian rule by one party is patently anti-democratic and does not take into account the will of the people. Even though he had been drafted and funded to run for the country’s presidency straight from prison in 1998, by the retreating military, Obasanjo obviously had his own plan of elongated personal rule as revealed by the infamous third term agenda, which he continues to deny most unconvincingly.

    It was indeed the Obasanjo administration’s  strong arm tactics in undertaking a hostile takeover of the PDP, imposing and instigating party leaders at will, disregarding internal party democracy and actively destabilizing opposition parties that laid the basis for the gradual ossification of the party’s organs and the insidious erosion of the party’s values that ultimately led to its electoral defeat at the centre and its near collapse today. At a point, the PDP was even bold enough to de-register all party members and asked those desiring to be members to register afresh. Of course, Dr Goodluck Jonathan simply continued with the personalization of the party rendering it no better than a spineless parastatal subsumed under the presidency.

    The military is a highly respected professional group and in many advanced democracies, it even gives those who have faithfully served patriotically their countries in the military occupation an advantage in politics. But the respect and prestige as well as the position of advantage occupied by many of Nigeria’s retired military elite in politics is a function of rampant corruption and unbridled wealth accumulation through the criminal privatization of state resources. The ongoing trial of top military officers by the Buhari administration for embezzling billions of naira meant for the procurement of military equipment as part of its anti-corruption war is evidence of how deeply this menace has eaten into the fabric of the military. This is why Buhari’s personal rectitude and ascetic discipline is all the more impressive given the critical positions he has occupied both within and outside the military.

    However, admiration for Buhari’s personal qualities should not be allowed to result in a ‘cult of personality’, within the APC with personal rule by the president and his kitchen cabinet substituting for party supremacy. That is what led as I said earlier to the decline and ultimate fall of the PDP. In many ways, the PDP reflected the centralized and hierarchal organizational structure of the military with the President at the head of the chain of command. The APC should strive to run a more decentralized system by devolving more powers and responsibilities to its regional and state organs. Again, it is only a strong party platform that can hold governments at all levels accountable to implementing its manifesto.

    Expressing his continued support for the two-party system, which his government foisted on the country with the two government –created parties, the National Republican Convention (NRC) and the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Babangida said “Gradually my earlier suggestion about the practice of a two-party system is coming to the fore in the country. In 1999, when I was advocating for a two party system, some of my colleagues had their doubts but I told them that it provides a choice which is the first essence of democracy”. There is no doubt that a party, which desires to win national elections such as the presidency must have broad based national support if it is too fulfill the constitutional stipulations for winning. However, that should not preclude those who desire to contest just regional, state or even local government elections from doing so on the platform of parties of their choice.

    Another take away from the PDP’s implosion that the APC will do well to learn from is to avoid the ultimately self-defeating objective of trying to contrive crises within opposition parties. The existence of a strong opposition party will at the end of the day be a blessing in disguise for the ruling party by keeping it on its toes.