The Nation Newspaper

Category: Saturday

  • Trump, Castro and the new world order

    It is an amazing coincidence that Donald Trump is coming on board as the President of the US just as Fidel Castro of Cuba packed up and was cremated. That really is the stuff of history and comparative political analysis. Here are two people quite powerful in their own ways and convictions and quite defiant of the odds and the status quo in their numerous achievements in leadership and ideological orientation.

    You may say Trump is untested but he has already made history in the unconventional campaign he conducted to win the presidency of the US in the 2016 presidential elections. If you remember that President Obama was given the Noble Prize for peace as an untested leader at the outset of his presidency which is ending with Trump winning the presidency on a slogan of making America great and safe again, you will realize that kudos can be earned by world leaders for both tested and potential capabilities.

    Anyway the core of any comparison between Trump and Castro will have to be on their comparative achievements on the ideologies of the Cold War between Socialism and Capitalism which each amply represents respectively. This may sound like a tall order but it is a comparison that I find fascinating and which also can be quite elucidating. At Castro’s death, Cuba’s economy was in shambles and he had handed over power to his trusted Brother Raul who put in place some economic and capitalistic reform without abandoning socialism the political creed of Castro which has been largely castrated by globalization.

    Indeed when the former Soviet Union collapsed and dissolved into its constituents states the fate of Cuba’s economy was sealed and Cubans lived on subsistence and some fled their nation risking their lives on the high seas to get to Miami in Florida, US. Very much like the migrants crisis on the Mediterranean with Arabs fleeing wars in Iraq, Syria and Afghans risking their lives to get a better life in Europe.

    Ironically that situation contributed in no small measure to Donald Trump’s success at the US elections. Just as it contributed in no small measure earlier to the loss of Castro’s grip on power in Cuba as globalization stretched the practice of socialism to its limit in terms of the optimum utilization of available resources. Nevertheless Castro left a credible legacy acknowledged by even his opponents and detractors in the US on education and health. Cubans are known to be some of the best doctors on earth and Cubans have good health facilities. Also Cuban doctors have been exported as it were to help the health and education systems of many nations in the developing world.

    This is in spite of the dwindling economic resources of Cuba and the economic embargo of the US on that nation which the Obama Administration tried to redress albeit as a lame duck presidency which was also quite belated. More importantly though Castro was a revolutionary who stayed in power for almost 50 years. When he started out to wipe out the corrupt Baptista regime he together with his colleagues were idealists who wanted to spread socialism in Latin America. Indeed his most famous colleague my idol Che Gueverra a doctor was killed while trying to bring socialism to another Latin American nation but even Che himself was an Argentine and not Cuban.

    So while Castro and his colleagues of yore were trying to establish Socialist International, the advent of globalization created borderless nations and made the world a small village in terms trade and the mobile movement of labor goods and services and the exchange of information, knowledge and ideas globally. This then is the bizarre meeting point between the collapse of Castro’s socialist Cuban economy and Donald Trump’s grouse with globalization and his determination to scuttle all international trade agreements.

    Trump has promised to bring jobs back to US soil as he has started doing by making a deal with the global giant Carrier to make 1000 jobs available in the US rather than taking them to Mexico as the US company was planning to do. Here again lies the historical and insightful nature of the emergence of Donald Trump on the US and global political and economic scene. Clearly Trump was underrated by the US political class in both the ruling Democratic Party and his own Republican Party as a novice in politics who will fail because he did not want to be politically correct. But that rating was a great mistake just as the polls which Trump never acknowledged as correct and in which his success at the polls have proven him right.

    I say again that the American establishment and media erred in treating the US most colorful billionaire controlling about 500 brands as unlettered and uneducated in the politics of the US where he made his huge wealth. Now he is creating a cabinet of his wealthy peers and those who hold very conservative views that reflect Republican American values and those who scoffed at his campaign and presidential credentials are about to laugh at least for the next four years with the other side of their mocking mouths.

    In effect then,one can safely say that while Trump will not allow American jobs to go overseas on the altar of globalization he has learnt something from the way that the same globalization eclipsed some of Castro’s socialist dreams and achievement in Cuba. In addition Trump has promised that it would be America first and he will make America great again. On that score he should be careful not to make history repeat itself too soon and I will illustrate with two presidents before him, Richard Nixon of the Watergate scandal and Trump’s outgoing predecessor Barak Obama.

    Undoubtedly the Watergate scandal marred the Nixon presidency but out of office Nixon whose National Security Adviser and Secretary of State was Henry Kissinger was a very brilliant writer on global affairs and diplomacy. In one of his writings he observed that any US president who focused on domestic affairs at the expense of foreign and international relations would pay a very steep price later in terms of the cost of redress of looking inwards. That opinion is best illustrated in the way the Obama Administration came into being promising and winning the presidential elections on a slogan of bringing US troops back home on a global peace agenda.

    Eight years and two terms later the Obama Administration coaxed or coerced Hillary Clinton to campaign on the Obama legacy especially on foreign policy in the Middle East and the Democratic Party lost power decisively. Hillary was defeated by a crafty billionaire who changed the topic from the traditional issues of the economy and domestic issues to foreign policy, migration and security and assured Americans that America will be great again and Americans will feel safe under his leadership.

    In addition the slogan of peace that brought Obama to power has also fanned the rapid growth of Islamic terrorism and militancy and has cost the French President Francois Hollande his presidency mainly as a result of the terrorist attacks on French soil especially Paris and Nice. That discredited peace slogan too made Donald Trump credible to the US electorate in the last presidential election which saw him emerge as president elect. So the onus is on Donald Trump to know which lessons he will learn.

    The US has a crucial rendez vous with world politics, given its role on globalization and the promotion of human rights and democracy globally. Definitely Donald Trump cannot shut that down merely to put America first or make America great again.

    The fact that he has chosen a general who was sacked for criticizing the Obama foreign policy on terrorism as National Security Adviser and another general called Mad Dog as his Defence Secretary and his Attorney General once tried to stop a conference of gay people means that has his ideas on confronting ISIS and in dealing with gay rights both strong legacies of the Obama government. Trump now has the authority to do whatever conforms with the values of the electorate that gave him his mandate. Nothing however should make him keep the world waiting because he wants, first, to put his American house in order. Once again long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria

  • Moses, run to Barca

    The January transfer window opens in 32 days with big money expected to be splashed on players who have excelled since the new European season began in August. I’m excited that a Nigerian is the beautiful bride of European teams. Many club managers are thinking of offering Victor Moses long term contracts in the summer. Moses has earned three Man-of-the-Match diadems, playing for Chelsea at the right wing-back position, a place designed for the Nigerian by his Italian manager Antonio Conte.

    What it simply means, if Moses doesn’t understand, is that the position is his for as long as Conte remains Chelsea’s manager. I also know that Moses understands that Chelsea’s owner is notorious for sacking managers who don’t meet his expectation. It follows, therefore, that Moses should not be cajoled into extending his contract based on his form. Rather he should follow his mind and head for Barcelona next year.

    Chelsea would recruit massively in the summer, if it returns to the UEFA Champions Leagues. This means that Moses’ shirt isn’t guaranteed, even if Conte remains on board. I also don’t think that Moses will enjoy regular appearances with Chelsea now that Ivanovic is being introduced as his substitute. The right wing-back position isn’t Moses’ rightful position. My hunch tells me that Ivanovic may soon bench Moses, given the fact that it is his position. Besides,  he is bigger and stronger, but not as skilful as the Nigerian.

    I would advise Moses to head straight to Barcelona next year. In Barca, Moses will be able to express himself properly since much of the Spanish side is an embodiment of very skilful players with incredible team understanding. Besides, Barcelona’s manager Enrique will be playing Moses regularly since he is the one recruiting the Nigerian. In Chelsea Conte could be fired mid-season next year, if things go awry.

    Moses should use the remaining part of this season to master playing at the right wingback position. A vacancy exists already in that position at Barcelona, which he could easily grab, no matter who is recruited in January to man it till the end of the season. Besides, Barca is a more stable club for skilful players, such as Moses, not Chelsea without a traditional style. Barca’s tikitaka (passing game) is legendary.

    The English press has been unfair in analysing Moses’ form. Many Chelsea fans are wondering why the Nigerian’s talent couldn’t be recognised by Jose Mourinho. They have argued that Mourinho couldn’t bring out the best in Moses to command a regular shirt largely because the Portuguese likes playing big, strong and tall players with grit than smallish men with sublime skills such as Moses and Mata, even now that the Spaniard plays for Manchester United.

    A few pundits in Moruinho’s defence argued that Moses was in Liverpool, Stoke and indeed West Ham and didn’t play as well as he is doing at Chelsea under Conte. But the truth remains that Moses cannot force himself onto the pitch if the coaches feel otherwise. Conte has shown that Moses is a versatile player. He needs to play for a formidable team that relies on playing as a unit than on one player’s yeoman effort.

    It is for this reason that Moses should consider the Barcelona option, given the array of stars in the Spanish side and their pedigree in Europe. Barca is a constant fixture in big European competitions, winning trophies with aplomb.

    Wednesday’s award as the best player in the Barclays English Premier League matches for November further enhances the need for Moses to accept the Barcelona option, which offers him better challenges.

    Indeed, it has been quite a while since a Nigerian was voted the African Footballer of the Year. I feel strongly that Moses would thrill the world from September 2017, if he signs for Barcelona in the summer. Barca is always in the news. They may be tottering now, largely because Lionel Messi is injured. But the bigger picture is that Moses’ inclusion in the team would reduce the burden on the Argentine. Moses’ inclusion would give Barca the balance on the right flank that they lost when Dani Alves dumped them this season for Juventus.

    I tip Moses to be the African Footballer of the Year 2017, if he makes the move to Spain. This doesn’t mean if he remains at Chelsea he wouldn’t be crowned. The truth is that as a new recruit, Moses would be played since there is a vacuum in that position, which means he would command a regular team shirt.  I don’t think it would be the same for Moses with the Blues.

     

    National Sports

    Festival dead!

     

    In other climes, sport is business, providing jobs for millions of people. Aside the athletes who get employed, supporting staff, such as doctors, nurses, coaches, bus drivers, cleaners, dieticians etc whose roles keep the athletes in competitive mode, smile to the bank either weekly or monthly depending on the payment structure.

    The ripple effect of the aggregate functions of these personnel attracts the media and the blue chip companies which indentify their goods and services with the athletes’ sports programmes for better performances. Indeed, there is hardly any sport that isn’t a money-spinner because of the passion of those who follow the game. Lovers of specific sport keep the calendar of activities of such a game because they either want to watch it live on television or listen to commentaries on radio or head for the competition venue to satisfy their passion.

    Today, some of the richest people in the world are sportsmen and women, who serve as icons for the younger generation to emulate. Not so for Nigeria, largely because those who head the sector are clueless about the system. They create controversies to delude those who put them there that they are working. The reality dawns on them when they are sacked.

    One was therefore not shocked when athletes invaded the moribund National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos on Wednesday, protesting the absence of the hitherto biannual National Sports Festival, which is meant to discover, nurture and expose budding stars in the 774 Local Government Areas in the country.

    Who won’t do so if that is the only way to make ends meet? People identify with certain disciplines to emulate others. So, when sportsmen and women are denied the platform to exhibit their skills, it is only wise that they protest to attract the attention of the appropriate authorities. How would people train daily, yet they cannot compete? Whose duty is it to organise the National Sports Festival? What is the APC’s sports policy? Does it include creating the environment for sports to thrive? Or does the APC government see sports as just participating in international tournaments? If yes, how do the athletes prepare? Is the APC government with this idea of recruiting Nigeria- born overseas-based kids to represent us? Does the government not know that providing the enabling environment for sports will make the citizenry stay healthy? Is recreation not part of sports?

    In the past, the talents in the 774 local governments looked forward to the National Sports Festival because it afforded them the opportunity of visiting Lagos, Nigeria’s former capital which is also its business and financial engine-room. Many athletes looked forward to seeing bridges, high-rise buildings and the hustle and bustle of the Centre of Excellence, which was the official venue for the multi-sports tournament.

    Today, many talents dissipate their energy on social vices in the villages simply because the culture of organising sports competitions is dead in most of the 774 local governments. Those who organise sports tournaments do so when “one son of the soil” wants to celebrate his or her feats or remembers his or her loved ones. Such sporting competitions are not enduring. Anytime the sponsor is broke or is sacked from government, the competition dies.

    As for the state governors, they only remember sports when it is time to pick their commissioners, who most times don’t have the wherewithal to drive the industry to achieve its full potential. Not forgetting the in-fighting between the commissioners for sports and their sports councils or is it commissions in the disbursement of cash.

    The school system which used to be the hub for producing sportsmen and women is dead. Spaces which were hitherto used as playgrounds have been built up as classrooms, such that the few schools that bothered to organise sporting events hire stadia for their competitions. How did the students prepare for the events? Nigeria, we hail thee.

    The states’ ministries of education don’t have functional sports units which should provide the data base for fishing out talents. In fact, most state sports commissioners treat the sports arm of the Ministry of Education with levity. Let us not remind ourselves of the personality clashes between the two bodies’ commissioners. Little wonder the high incident of age cheating because the requisite data isn’t sought from the Ministry of Education. The simple effect is that sport is dead in the states, except in places where the governor likes or plays particular sports. Such a sport becomes the basis of supporting the game- a one-off affair.

    But how can the National Sports Festival hold when there are no Teachers Training Colleges to groom good games masters and mistresses, who would be sent to the schools to develop the talents?

    Until Sports Ministry chieftains accept the fact that it is their responsibility to organise the National Sports Festival, the multi-sports competition will – God forbid – die. Sports ministers have ceded this responsibility to governors, who use it to score cheap political points to the detriment of the competition.  It is rather strange that the sports ministry chiefs didn’t think of getting big firms to buy into the sponsorship of the festival because of its popularity. If they did, we won’t be talking about the absence of such a competition in the last four years.

    In fact, the National Sports Festival lost its significance when it was moved away from its permanent venue, the National Stadium Surulere. The rules changed, depending on what the host wanted. Key sports were cancelled if the host could not build the facilities. Poaching of renowned athletes to the host states became the norm as part of the strategy to win the games at all cost.

    Can the sports minister tell Nigerians when the next National Sports Festival will hold and where? Hello, is Solomon Dalung reading this?

     

  • Who’s an American?

    I almost lost it Tuesday night when television cameras found the Rev. Jesse Jackson in the crowd at Chicago’s Grant Park and I saw the tears streaming down his face. His brio and bluster were gone, replaced by what looked like awestruck humility and unrestrained joy. I remembered how young he was in 1968 when he stood on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., moments before King was assassinated and hours before America’s cities were set on fire.” Those were the opening lines of Eugene Robinson’s column in The Washington Post on November 6, 2008. The article was entitled Morning in America. That Tuesday night, to which Mr Robinson referred, Barack Obama, whose father was Kenyan, was projected to be the 44th president of the United States. It was surreal for Americans especially African-Americans who have faced intense racial-kind hostility since their forefathers left the slave ship. Rev Jackson knew how tough life was for the blackskinned American in the 60s. For he was part of the civil rights movement which Dr King led and in which Dr King was chopped down. That Tuesday night as he witnessed history being made, emotions got the better of Rev Jackson. Tears of joy ran down his face. Seeing Mr Obama mount the stage to give his acceptance speech, Mr Robinson, himself an African-American, also could not hold back the tears of joy. He lost it, as he put it. Exactly eight years later, and on yet another Tuesday night, tears of agony ran down American cheeks. Reason: Donald Trump had just been elected president, to succeed President Obama. It was another surreal night but one of anguish except for racists and the Ku Klux Klan white supremacists, to whom Mr Trump’s victory was the best thing to happen since Mr Obama moved into the White House.

    For a year and a half, Mr Trump, a billionaire businessman, ran a vigorous, if bigoted, hate-filled, exclusive, divisive, arrogant campaign. He talked down on African- Americans. Mexicans just across the border were up to no good. All they brought to the U.S. was drugs and crime, he said relentlessly. What to do? If elected, he would build a wall high and strong enough to keep them out. And guess what? He would have them pay for that wall, OK. Mr Trump was not just reacting to foreigners taking over citizens’ jobs, an issue politicians usually make a meal of across the world. He was simply asserting his pathological hatred for people of other races. He once called a Venezuelan beauty queen Miss Housekeeping because some of her compatriots went to the U.S. to do domestic chores. Also, Mr Trump said he did not think Trump University could win a court case in which it was a defendant because the judge, who was born in America, had Mexican ancestry. Mr Trump attacked Muslims as though every single one of them was a terrorist, urging that they be banned from the U.S. until someone could “figure out what the hell was going on.” An uncouth chauvinist, Mr Trump took on women “like a bitch”, to use his own words.

    A bully, he attacked journalists as though they were standing in his way. He gestured mockingly about a disabled journalist whose questions he did not like. He said Mr Obama was clueless in government, even though the president’s approval rating was at an all-time high. Mr Trump concocted all manner of lies about the American economy just to discredit Hillary Clinton and make her victory Mr Obama’s third term in office, something he laboured to depict as a nightmare. Yet, that November 8 night, Mr Trump won, defeating Mrs Clinton who ran an inclusive, detailed and credible campaign. Why? Because, some have said, he is a nationalist and patriot. Really? Who is a nationalist or patriot? These election seasons, those two words have been working wonders. In France, Marie Le Pen, who wants to be president, fancying herself a nationalist, has been railing against foreigners. Months ago, in Britain, Brexiteers prevailed in a referendum vote to exit the European Union because they wanted to take back their country. Mr Trump led what he called an American movement to take back their country. But the question is, take back their country from whom? From Mr Obama and immigrants and all they represent? Let’s not kid ourselves. Whatever charm or merit took Mr Obama to the White House, America’s white supremacists and their offspring cannot stomach him and his family anymore, his high approval ratings notwithstanding.

    Even as America’s first family, the Obamas endured racist slurs. When an ape popped up on social media with a cigarette in its mouth, a commenter said he thought Michelle Obama was not a smoker. Two women, one a mayor, expressed their relief that a white woman was finally moving into the White House as first lady. Those are Mr Trump’s people, the nationalists and patriots of America. Only time will tell what face of America the world would see under the Trump Presidency. In the immediate term, though, the face visible does not look good. Minutes after Trump’s victory became inevitable, the phone at the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline rang 660 times, reported The Washington Post. “People were scared — for their rights, for their safety, for their children,” the paper said. Across the states, protests broke out lasting days. Trump is not their president, they said.

    There have been other troubles. Immigrants and African-Americans have been attacked by characters believed to have been inspired by Mr Trump’s campaign rhetoric. The president-elect has been trying to be nice since his victory. He once looked into the camera and told his supporters who were attacking people to “staap it”. At Thanksgiving Day, he mouthed off words apparently intended to unify Americans. How can he unify Americans? Stephen Bannon, one of Mr Trump’s first appointments, is a white supremacist. The Ku Klux Klan, a killer racist organisation, and its former grand wizard David Duke have hailed Mr Trump’s victory as well as Mr Bannon’s appointment as his chief strategist.

    Joseph de Maistre, a French writer and philosopher of the 18th and 19th centuries, said every country gets the government they deserve. If Mr Trump’s divisive and racist dispositions could prevail over America’s heterogeneous realities, perhaps America deserves him. Germans endured their Hitler. Ecuadoreans lived with a certain President Abdala Bucaran, who cultivated Hitler’s moustache and reportedly celebrated his stunning electoral victory with a stage dance accompanied by scantily-clad ladies. Nigerians had Abacha, and the Ugandans Idi Amin Dada. Americans must live with Trump. Mr Trump is not a true nationalist or patriot but Mr Obama and Mrs Clinton are.

    You are not a nationalist simply because you trumpet that all immigrants must go. America is a rainbow nation, home to everyone driven by the American dream. Mr Trump’s grandfather hailed from Kallstadt in Southeast Germany. The president-elect’s latest wife Melania, 46, was born in Slovenia and only became a U.S. citizen 10 years ago, two years before Mr Obama won the White House. The Kennedys have their ancestral roots in Catholic Ireland. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was governor of California, was Austrian. Can Mr Trump please define who an American is, and who more American than another?

  • Ondo: From 2012 to 2016

    Ondo: From 2012 to 2016

    The day was the 10th of October. The year was 2012. The arena was the political terrain of Ondo State in South West Nigeria. The plum prize in contention was the governorship of the ‘Sunshine State’; a state still waiting eagerly even now to bask maximally in the resplendent and prosperous splendor of its munificent resource endowment. In keen competition for political glory were the incumbent, Dr Olusegun Mimiko, then of the Labour Party (LP) seeking a second term, Mr Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN) of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and Mr Olusola Oke of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). No battle could have been more fiercely and ferociously fought.

    It was indeed a memorably pregnant and hopeful moment in the political evolution of the South West particularly for those of the progressive fold. Alas, it was a high expectancy that resulted in the frustrating birth of an ideologically stultifying political hermaphrodite. That was the continuation in office of Mimiko; an adept pragmatist in walking the tight rope of power and adapting as opportunity demands to sharply contrasting ideological vogues of the moment – conservative or progressive, reactionary or radical- with uncanny equanimity and composure. But we move ahead of our tale.

    The year 2012 was a long time away from 2003 when a veritable political Tsunami swept through the South West, effectively capturing the region, with the exception of Lagos where the intrepid Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu remained the sole political survivor as governor of Lagos State on the platform of the then Alliance for Democracy (AD). At the time of the 2012 Ondo governorship polls, however, a surge of optimistic progressivism was billowing across the South West. Through protracted tactical and strategic battles – political, electoral and judicial – the progressive forces had clawed back all the south West states including Edo in the geographical South-South from the grip of the forces of reaction and Ondo remained the only Yoruba state not under the canopy of the ACN.

    It was thus understandable that ACN approached the 2012 Ondo polls with a great deal of self-assurance, if not overconfidence. The party leaders believed that the gale of progressive change blowing across the region was unstoppable and strong enough to sweep away any ‘Iroko’ tree. Ondo State, the argument went, could not afford to be politically and ideologically isolated in a South West region that had rediscovered its socio-cultural essence within the context of Awoist progressive philosophy of governance.

    This was particularly thought to be so because, taking a cue from Tinubu’s path-breaking and foundation laying governance in Lagos from 1999 to 2007, the ACN governors of Lagos, Ogun, Ekiti, Oyo and Osun had unleashed an infrastructure renewal and modernization programme of revolutionary proportions on the region. This was in addition to populist, poverty alleviating and job generating initiatives across the states. Surely, Ondo State would want to be part of the ACN ‘development express’ it was assumed.

    But the politically beguiling and crafty ‘Mimiko’ effectively portrayed ACN’s advocacy of regional integration as nothing but an attempt to extend Tinubu’s alleged hegemony throughout the South West. It did not matter that all those who enjoyed Tinubu’s support in ascending to power in the South-West – Babatunde Fashola, Ibikunle Amosun, Abiola Ajimobi, Rauf Aregbesola, Kayode Fayemi etc – were without exception distinguished, competent and successful professionals. These were not certainly the kinds of strong and independent personalities to be sponsored to power by anyone seeking to control or manipulate them for selfish ends. And surely, anyone who wanted to colonize and illegally ‘privatize’ the resources of Ondo State would not enthusiastically support the candidacy of Akeredolu as Tinubu did in 2012.

    In his slim but powerful classic, ‘The Trouble with Nigeria’, Chinua Achebe noted that Awolowo had a tendency to surround himself with subordinates of unsurpassed intellect and ability. This, the great writer insinuated, was unlike the monumentally gifted Zik who, however, seemed more at home with mental and moral Lilliputians. The ever present possibility of betrayal and disappointment is a price any leader must pay who places premium on merit over loyalty in nurturing successors. For the reality of human personality is that intellect and character are not mutually co-existent or reinforcing variables in the moral infrastructure of man.

    It would appear, however, that in 2012 a sizeable number of the Ondo State electorate found Mimiko’s rhetoric persuasive. And outside partisan circles in the South West, Mimiko enjoyed not inconsiderable sympathy because he was perceived as the underdog in the politics of the region. A recurrent tendency in Yoruba politics is for popular affection and compassion to gravitate in the direction of the perceived underdog. But then let’s fast forward to 2016. Today, the Ondo State electorate goes to the polls this time to determine Mimiko’s successor. Mimiko has since ditched the LP and pitched his tent with the PDP. Members of the original PDP in Ondo State felt betrayed by the hardly clandestine support given by Dr Goodluck Jonathan’s presidency to Mimiko in the 2012 election. However, today’s polls take place against the backdrop of the PDP’s loss of the presidency in last year’s elections.

    Furthermore, by his defection to PDP, Mimiko is unable to distance himself and his administration from the utter disaster and desolation that PDP rule represented for Nigeria. Apart from the status of Ondo as the only oil producing state in the South West with considerable derivation revenues from the centre, Mimiko’s affiliation with the PDP controlled Federal Government greatly raised expectations as regards delivery of democracy dividends to the people. Despite his modest achievements in the health and education sectors, for example, not many people will be convinced that Mimiko ought not to have done more for Ondo State particularly in infrastructure provision during his eight years in power.

    The astute and dexterous politician that he is, Mimiko has unexpectedly jettisoned the perceived traditional zoning understanding in the state to pick a successor from his own Ondo Central Senatorial District, namely his Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr Eyitayo Jegede (SAN). He, therefore, hopes to count on Jegede’s personal qualities, Ondo Central’s sizeable voting population and the much touted ‘Akure agenda’ for a governor of Akure origin to mitigate the liabilities of his administration and that of the PDP as well as the strong desire of Ondo South and Ondo North Senatorial zones to produce the next governor. Although the protracted legal and intra party hurdles he had to clear up till the last minute may have slowed down his campaign, it is foolhardy to write off Jegede as an important factor in today’s election.

    Unlike 2012, the ACN no longer exists as the electorate go to the polls in Ondo today. The party was a major part of the constellation of forces that fused to form the All Progressives Congress (APC) and is today the ruling party at the centre. Mr Rotimi Akeredolu’s emergence as the APC candidate in today’s election disguises the deep cracks that have made it impossible for today’s election to be the easy walk over it should have been for the ruling party. President Muhammadu Buhari had unsuccessfully contested the presidency thrice before his victory in the 2015 election despite recording high votes in the north consistently.

    The support of the Tinubu-led hegemonic faction of the APC in the South West for Buhari no doubt played a critical role in the party’s unprecedented presidential victory. President Buhari has himself severally acknowledged this after the elections. Yet, the Tinubu-led tendency in the APC is widely perceived today across the South West as being systematically marginalized and undermined. While Buhari is essentially apolitical and focused on his anti corruption war as well as the quest for the country’s economic recovery, a cabal around him, mostly of far northern extraction but working with willing southern collaborators, are determined to seize total control of the party obviously with 2019 in view.

    This was evident in the ruthless and cynical way the Ondo State APC governorship primaries were manipulated to arrive at an outcome predetermined by the Abuja-based cabal. Even worse, was the lackadaisical and arrogant treatment of protests by aggrieved parties after the primaries with the forced exit of a key aspirant like Olusola Oke, now candidate of the AD and major aspirants like Segun Abraham and Senator Ajayi Borrofice not pacified in any meaningful way till date. Consequently, the Tinubu tendency in the APC is widely seen in the South West today as the unjustly treated underdog within the party thus eliciting considerable sympathy for the Jagaban in the region even in many quarters previously vehemently opposed to his politics.

    Can the PDP win today’s election in Ondo State especially considering its power of incumbency in the state? This seems highly improbable as the party has been badly damaged structurally, morally and psychologically. This is an election in which the APC ordinarily ought to coast home to victory easily but has rendered itself vulnerable to the consequences of unwarranted arrogance and insensitivity. A victory for the APC today will be a pyrrhic one that may only accelerate the party’s pace towards self-destruction on the alluring but perilous wings of impunity. Perhaps the greatest surprise of this election is the way a previously moribund AD has sprung to life after Olusola Oke’s defection with thousands flocking to the party’s rallies across the nooks and crannies of the state. A critically influential factor in this election will ironically be an uncharacteristically muted one – Tinubu’s studied silence.

  • Mikel’s Chelsea future

    Mikel’s Chelsea future

    A new dawn beckons for our football. But there is a condition – the star actors must avoid needless controversies, such as the one in which Super Eagles Captain John Mikel Obi debunked his manager’s claim that he was being punished for featuring in Nigeria’s 2016 Olympic Games’ silver winning squad’s games. Gernot Rohr told the international media that following his discussions with the Chelsea hierarchy inside their Stamford Bridge offices in London that Mikel’s absence from Chelsea’s pre-season exercise cost him a regular spot in the team.

    If Rohr’s claims were not what transpired between the manager and Chelsea’ chiefs, the English team’s media outlets would have been the first to debunk the story. Chelsea’s media portals would have published verbatim all that transpired between them and the Nigerian manager. This situation is typical of what the media platforms of European clubs do whenever a big story breaks about their inner workings or the exploits of their players in big competitions, such as the World Cup games or qualifiers.

    I was therefore shocked to read Mikel’s story throwing into the trash bin what the German said about his situation at Chelsea.  It is true that Mikel has the right under the Nigerian Constitution to speak on matters concerning him. But I need to remind Mikel that Chlesea’s management’s stoic silence on what they told Rohr ought to have shown that there is some element of truth in the German’s disclosure. Had Rohr not gone to England to see our players with pictures to support his presence in these clubs, one would have backed Mikel’s rebuttals.

    Mikel should have taken the claims to Rohr to hear it from the German what transpired than going to the media. Of course, when Rohr met with the Chelsea chieftains, Mikel wasn’t there. I’m sure that Chelsea chiefs made that statement; what would Rohr gain by telling lies?

    Rohr’s expose helped in justifying why Mikel, who hasn’t worn Chelsea’s shirt this season, should be in the new Super Eagles squad. Rohr reckons that if Mikel was being punished for playing for Nigeria in Rio, then he should be given the platform to stay fit, play games that would compel other European clubs to seek his signature in January 2017 and increase his bargaining power. Mikel knows that European clubs cherish having players who are their countries’ squads. So, if Rohr shuts him out of Nigeria’s games, for instance, he would have not earned European chiefs’ confidence, since he doesn’t play for the Blues.

    I’m sure Mikel won’t dare debunk his manager’s media utterances because he knows the implications on his future in the team. He should learn to be on the same page with Rohr to avoid friction. Mikel should accept the fact that he is out of Chelsea. Debunking Rohr’s statement cannot secure him a place in Chelsea. The Blues have won six consecutive matches to shoot to the top of the Barclays English Premier League table, making it impossible for Mikel to play.

    Rohr’s revelation should force Mikel to make the move out of Chelsea in January, if he hopes to revive his career. This sit-tight tendency could ruin his game because Conte wouldn’t include the Nigerian in any Chelsea squad. If Mikel is scared of losing the megabucks he earns at Chelsea, he could put in a transfer request for a loan move to any of the five big teams in England or preferably Europe. After all, Mikel’s contract with Chelsea ends in June 2017. And with the way the Super Eagles are playing, Mikel could get a bigger club, preferably in Germany, given Rohr’s contacts in European.

    A loan move to Leicester, using Ahmed Musa’s contact could be what Mikel needs to play regularly in England, if he feels that movement out of the place could scuttle some of his plans for the future. A Leicester move could allow him play in the UEFA Champions League matches so that Conte could appreciate what he has missed. Mikel could also speak with Rohr to see he can drop a word with European sides where he has friends.

     

    Siasia, respect Onigbinde please

     We need to define the way we want to play our football, using the finer qualities of the average Nigerian footballer. We need a football template that would be introduced to the youth at the grassroots, such that it would be very easy to go to any of our age grade teams and pick a replacement(s) for any position in the Super Eagles.  Nigerian football needs a style unique to us, like we see with Brazilians, Dutch, Germans, French and Spaniards.

    We could opt for the hybrid, but that initiative must come from renowned European coaches with a rich history of nurturing football nurseries. I wish Arsene Wenger were available for us. Perhaps either Harry Redknapp or Pep Guardiola would be the suitable option. I just wish they would come. No disrespect to Rohr and all that he has done to rejuvenate the hitherto wobbly Eagles.

    Our footballers are talented, but they need to be taught the rudiments of the game at a much younger level. It hurts to see Eagles coaches teach our senior players how to control the ball and what side of the foot they should hit the ball with. These are elementary stuff taught at the academy levels, which are missing in our football system. Our local league is an eyesore. The state football federations don’t exist. We only hear of them when it is time to accompany the national teams to international competitions. They hardly have syncronised football programmes.

    The game is played in the states by government-owned teams. Most of the state football federations’ chiefs lack the initiative to design programmes that would effectively engage the grassroots coaches and the players.

    A renowned European coach as our technical man would help train and retrain our coaches. It is true that Adegboye Onigbinde can man the position but he won’t earn the respect of our local coaches, some of who believe that his methods are not in sync with the modern time and that he needs to give way for the younger ones.

    Need I state how Onigbinde’s efforts have been frustrated by coaches that he even groomed as players? Nigeria is the only country where anyone can present himself as a coach and he gets the job.  No standards are set. It is unbelievable that Nigerian coaches are in Cadre C, the equivalent of primary six in coaching, in Africa.

    So, why is Samson Siasia quarrelling with Onigbinde for exposing the fact that our coaches failed a recent examination on coaching? For me, Nigerian coaches should just leave us alone. Nigerian coaches are not ready to learn. I have witnessed several coaching clinics. Nigerian coaches don’t attend them. I tried to ask some of the big ones why they didn’t participate in those courses. I was shocked to hear them say what was it that they hadn’t read in the past? Some of them described such courses as waste of time and another attempt by the organisers to get easy cash.

    I have heard Onigbinde cry over the poor rating of Nigerian coaches. The respected tactician is miffed that Nigerian coaches still rank in CAF’s Grade C (the equivalent of primary school certificate) and has taken pains to upgrade our coaches. Yet, they are not prepared to move with the times. Onigbinde has, however, blamed the NFF for foot dragging on the matter. The truth is that Onigbinde didn’t wait for any NFF for him to be eminently qualified to perform in FIFA’s and CAF’s technical matters.

    Onigbinde sir, this is the way forward. Our coaches must emulate you by upgrading their knowledge. Our coaches must know that learning is a continuum. The only way that they can be relevant is to attend courses. We are tired of their archaic tactics.

     

    Dalung’s many controversies

     

    When will Sports Minister Solomon Dalung learn to stop talking and allow his job speak for him? Can’t the minister politely refer any media person seeking his views on our sports to his assistants in the public relations office?

    From his infamous quote of United States of Nigeria to describe Samson Siasia’s wise move to take the Dream Team to Atlanta as another slave trade expedition to this new one where he stated that Nigeria should not participate at the World Cup because we won’t win the trophy, Dalung has been a major embarrassment to our dear country.

    Dalung gets excited easily. He needs to give himself a media shutout until he can speak like a true policy maker. Or does Dalung not know that the administrative head of the Sports Ministry is the Permanent Secretary, who is schooled on how to speak as a government official, not a red beret Comrade? Dalung should stay off football matters for a while. He doesn’t like the NFF chiefs, who must be thanking their stars that Gernot Rohr has been a huge success with the Eagles. Otherwise, Dalung would have recommended their trial. If the minister faces other sports the way he does with football, Nigeria would have been the centerpiece of sports, especially in the continent.

    Is Dalung saying that there are no votes for our sporting teams to attend international competitions in the Sport Ministry’s fiscal budget? Even if the NFF wants to outsource sponsorships for their programmes, the minister’s interview about the way football is run is enough to dissuade prospective sponsors. His innuendos about NFF seem to suggest that the officials have light fingers. Will any company put its cash on NFF’s programmes after reading the minister’s diatribes?

    Dalung sir, please work. Leave the talking for the trained technocrats in your ministry.

  • From Ross Perot to Donald Trump

    It has been quite intriguing, spell binding and eerily entertaining. Before our very eyes has unfolded over the last year and a half the spectacle of an underdeveloped political culture normally associated with third world societies – adversarial, fractious and intolerant – manifesting within the context of the supposedly advanced institutional structures and processes of the world’s foremost liberal democracy. America’s 2016 presidential campaigns and elections have provided riveting theatre. Ironically, America’s leaders have often patronizingly admonished African countries to subordinate their ‘strong men’ to the constraining strictures of strong institutions. Yet, we are all witnesses to how Donald Trump, an amoral, unscrupulous and opportunistic beneficiary of the American system has easily brushed aside restraining institutional bottlenecks to achieve political ascendancy.

    Against all odds, Trump seized control of the Republican Party base, tamed and paralyzed the resistant GOP establishment, trounced 16 contenders at the primaries and emerged the party’s presidential candidate. In the general election of November 8, he triumphed over the Democratic Party’s Hillary Clinton, who apparently clinched her party’s ticket only because the Democratic Establishment skewed the structure in her favour over a Senator Bernie Sanders who connected better with the party base and a sizable number of independent voters. Hillary and the Democrats have paid dearly for this.

    Today, President-elect Trump is a sophisticated variant of the ‘strong man’ at the apex of a Republican Party that not only controls the executive but also wields majorities in both houses of Congress and is set to fill vacancies in the Supreme Court that will also tilt the third arm of the federal government philosophically and ideologically in its favour – at least for now. It is a decisive electoral sweep and it is of no moment that Hillary had an edge in the popular vote. For, had it been vice versa and the Electoral College votes had favoured the Democrats, she would not have spurned the victory.

    At play in the presidential election, was the perennial contradiction between a political system, liberal democracy, that equalizes electoral power among the citizenry irrespective of social class, and an economic system, neo-liberal capitalism, that fosters continuously increasing inequalities in economic power between a tiny minority and an ever escalating number of impoverished citizens. Capitalism has demonstrated unrivalled capacity to harness and expand society’s productive and wealth creation potentials through unceasing improvements in the means and mode of production. But also intrinsic to the system is the subordination of the needs and interests of the society to the logic of corporate profit.

    Thus, in his luminous classic ‘A People’s History of the United States’, the late leftist historian, Professor Howard Zinn, notes that the two dominant parties were incapable of dealing with the ‘fundamental economic illness’ of the country. In his words, “That illness came from a fact which was almost never talked about: that the United States was a class society in which 1 percent of the population owned 33 percent of the wealth, with an underclass of 30 to 40 million people living in poverty…While the Democrats would give more help to the poor than the Republicans, they were not capable (indeed not really desirous) of seriously tampering with an economic system in which corporate profit comes before human need”.

    The rate of inequality in the capitalist liberal democracies of the west was accelerated with the emergence of the ultra conservative Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher in America and Britain, respectively, in the early eighties. Their neo-liberal revolution set about to aggressively dismantle the extensive welfare state system that, for three decades since the end of the second world war, had guaranteed unemployment benefits, old age pensions, subsidized public housing, health care and education among other social security programmes for the poor and vulnerable. They rolled back the frontiers of the state, removed regulatory controls from the market while cutting taxes both for corporate bodies and the very wealthy in an ultimately illusory bid to boost investment as well as enhance wealth production and job creation through ‘trickle down economics’.

    Exporting their reactionary economic doctrines through the gospel of globalization, the conservative western governments imposed stringent Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) on less developed countries forcing the latter to cut or remove subsidies on critical social services, devalue their currencies, privatize public enterprises across the board, downsize the public sector work force, liberalize their markets, deregulate their economies and create favourable climates for profitable foreign investment and easy repatriation of capital by foreign investors. Seizing the opportunity to enhance their profit levels, manufacturing companies in America and other western countries, shut down operations in their home countries and set up shop abroad where they could have access to cheaper labour and other conditions for higher profitability thus compounding the problem of unemployment in their own countries.

    On the other hand, the destabilizing effects of SAP created large scale economic collapse, social dislocation and political instability in poor countries that increased the pressure for migration of large segments of their populations to the west. The availability of a large influx of immigrants in the west offered employers there further opportunity to hire cheap labour and increase their profit margins at the detriment of understandably disaffected citizens. It is within the context of this kind of vicious cycle that the success of Trump’s opportunistic demagoguery can be situated.

    Is it right, then, to perceive Trump’s emergence as the 45th President of the United States a function of white racist hegemonic conspiracy? I don’t think so even if Trump preyed on the economic vulnerabilities and psychological insecurities of millions of white voters to pave his way to power. After all, white voters were a part of the ‘rainbow coalition’ that ensured Obama’s electoral victories for two terms and Obama still had high approval ratings right up to the elections. Rather, the undoing of the democrats in my view, and perhaps with the benefit of hindsight, was that in Hillary Clinton they had a candidate too closely linked with a discredited establishment thus rendering Trump, for a slightly higher majority, a  more electable ‘outsider’ despite his despicable flaws.

    Largely because of what may be perceived as the overtly doctrinaire character of its Marxist analysis, it is not likely that many Nigerians will be inclined to read the 1999 book by Jack Barnes, titled ‘Capitalism’s World Disorder’. Barnes was national secretary of America’s Socialist Workers Party for over two decades and his analysis of American politics offers interesting insights that one may not get from mainstream media and analysts. As far back as November 9, 1992, Barnes had vividly presaged the imminent rise to political eminence of a rabid demagogue in America. For instance, in analyzing the 1992 presidential elections, he argues that the most significant feature of that contest was not the victory of Bill Clinton over George Bush, but the performance of Ross Perot, who as an independent candidate won 19% of the vote thus proving virtually all opinion polls wrong. No poll had given Perot a chance of winning more than 4 to 5 percent of the vote.

    Barnes predicted that with the irreversible worsening of capitalism’s global social and economic crisis, demagogic politicians like Perot would in future become more popularly acceptable in America because they offered “explanations and proposals radically different from those of politicians whom growing numbers consider incurably corrupt, ineffective and self-serving”. As Barnes put it, “Perot’s radical, demagogic appeal gained a hearing from millions this year, as the election results show. I repeat: the vote for Perot is the important outcome of the 1992 elections, and it is a warning the workers movement ignores at its own peril”.

     In many ways, Perot was a forerunner of Trump. He projected himself as a self made businessman who knew how to cut through Washington’s red tape. He said he was personally financing his campaign with his own funds, not that of lobbyists.  While noting that the rise of demagoguery was not new in American politics, Barnes writes that what was new in the performance of Perot in 1992 was that “a candidate running outside the two bourgeois parties, with the kind of radical demagogy he spouted got close to 20 percent of the vote in the United States of America in the closing of the twentieth century. To drive home how new it is, we should just ask ourselves the question: “What would I have thought if I had turned on the television ten years ago or even five, and heard a major candidate for president saying these things?” Well, 17 years after Jack Barnes wrote these words a demagogue preaching Perot’s type of message actually became a major candidate for president and is today President-elect of the United States!

    Part of the responsibility for the ascendancy of the Trump brand rests on Bill Clinton. For, as Howard Zinn writes, “Despite his lofty rhetoric, Clinton showed, in his eight years in office, that he, like other politicians, was more interested in electoral victory than in social change. To get more votes, he decided he must move the party closer to the centre. This meant doing just enough for blacks, women, and working people to keep their support, while trying to win over white conservative voters with a programme of toughness on crime, stern measures on welfare, and a strong military”.

    For example, Zinn notes that “Under Reagan, the government had reduced the number of housing units getting subsidies from 400,000 to 40,000…in the Clinton administration, the program ended altogether”.  Obama’s no less self-immolating ideological centrism in the last eight years was only marginally better than Bill Clinton’s hence Trump’s triumph. If the Democratic Party does not quickly reinvent itself, a far more pugnacious, rambunctious and divisive character than Trump may very soon have America’s nuclear buttons at his fingertips.

  • A clash revisited

    Dear reader, I was humbled by the kind words I received from everyone since that evening when Nigeria beat Algeria 3-1 inside the Nest of Champions Stadium in Uyo. I’m not a seer. I’m only committed to tackling sensitive issues about our sports, no matter whose ox is gored. I also strive to improve on The Nationsports’ pages based on readers’ demands. Of course, I learn everyday from your comments.

    Much of the credit for the exactness of some of the statements I made here last week rest with Victor Moses’ resolve to shame his critics. His sublime skills and goals rubbed off on the Super Eagles’ sterling outing against the Desert Foxes. Moses’ darting runs, his passes and his courage in driving the team’s success explain why he is the toast of the international media. No surprises that Moses was the tormentor-in-chief of the Desert Foxes, even though he wasn’t used as a right-wing back, the position where he has excelled playing for Chelsea in the new European season.

    What it simply means is that Moses is a versatile player. Indeed, I knew that the Algerians would be punished by Moses, if they executed their plans to cage Kelechi Iheanacho and Alex Iwobi. I’ve not stopped laughing at the Algerian manager, who has admitted that Iheanacho ruined his team with his deft runs inside the box, which accounted for the three goals that Nigeria scored. Mention must be made about the runs made by our players off the ball, which certainly have come from Rohr’s tactical savvy. Now it is exciting to watch the Eagles. The Cameroonians are in for surprises when we confront them inside the Nest of Champions Stadium in Uyo.

    The Indomitable Lions manager admits that the Eagles are hot. But he is deluding himself with the submission that he feels that the players won’t be in this form of their lives. Let’s laugh at this coach, who wishes that our players lose form. He hopes that his players’ form will improve. Dear coach, things don’t work that way. Our players are regulars in their European clubs, where they develop their verve to play for club and country. Don’t ask me how many Cameroonians are regulars.

    Interestingly, Eagles’ manager Gernot Rohr isn’t prepared to play Moses at the right-back position, preferring to comb the country and Europe for a capable person to block one of the team’s weaknesses on the right side of the defence. One must commend Moses for getting back to Rohr from Chelsea, thanking him for giving him a first team shirt.

    It also shows the relationship between the manager and his players. This is a rarity with Nigerian coaches, who tend to look down on the players as their subordinates and not partners. Nigerian coaches have no clue on how to manage the players’ egos. It is the players who go onto the pitch to implement coaches’ tactics. And if they are treated as kids, then such a coach is in soup. I hope that Nigerian coaches in this Eagles technical crew are noting some of the points that have helped Rohr transform the team in a record time. Our coaches are in a coaching school under Rohr. They must open their eyes and ears to gain knowledge from the German tactician.

    This is indeed a new dawn for our football. We are being told that the Eagles have two games against two African countries in March 2017, when the next FIFA free window opens. The Eagles will challenge the Senegalese in the second of two matches in March 2017. It simply means that Rohr and the NFF men know the importance of keeping our boys busy with matches, beyond what they exhibit in their European clubs. It also shows that the Eagles, beginning with the home-based lads and few Europe-based who are not in the main team would be kept busy with games. I only hope that Rohr is serious in his quest for right and leftwing back players for the Eagles, not forgetting that the defenders against Algeria panicked a lot.

    Those who keep throwing up goalkeeper Daniel Akpeyi into the Eagles are not patriots. Akpeyi has wasted the two opportunities he got to prove his mettle. He was a jelly fish at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, leaking in goals, even though he was listed as an over-aged player.

    Last Saturday, Akpeyi’s looks showed that he needed help. He flapped the first ball delivered into the Eagles’ defence by the Algerians, as if he was a volleyball player. One would have thought that with Akpeyi’s height, picking crosses would be a piece of cake. Behold, he shuffled to every ball, clutching the ball with jittery hands and showed the Algerians that he was frightened. I almost fainted when the Algerians scored their goal. It was then it dawned on the visitors that Akpeyi wasn’t good. They hit the ball from the distance. 

    At no point in the game did Akpeyi show that he knew his job as a goalkeeper, otherwise, he would have controlled his defenders rather than stand like one waiting for a judge’s verdict in the court. One is excited that Vincent Enyeama promised to rejoin the team. In spite of that, we need to get another goalkeeper from the domestic league for the Eagles. And I won’t stop blaming the League Management Company (LMC) for not having the weekly Team of the Week chart, where the best players of each week are listed. If we had that chart, picking the best goalkeepers would be easy. It isn’t too late to embrace this idea so that the task of picking players for the national team wouldn’t be cumbersome.

    The Eagles’ wing-backs played better against the Algerians, although Kenneth Omeruo didn’t complete the game for a proper appraisal of his contributions. However, I feel strongly that if we must scout for talents to challenge those playing at the wing-backs, the search should be in the domestic league. We must start to measure how well the domestic league has improved by the number of home-based players in the Eagles XI.

    The crowd seems unwilling to watch domestic league matches because their national team idols play in Europe. I always remind the LMC of the crowd that watched games in which the late Rashidi Yekini played for Gateway FC of Abeokuta. Daniel Amokachi was mobbed at match venues. If Victor Moses, Kelechi Iheanacho and Alex Iwobi were domestic league players, all the venues where they star for any club would be jam-packed, even if Manchester United FC vs Arsenal FC’s match is played at the same time. We have players here who can do better than the Europe-based defenders, if given the opportunity to fight for shirts.

    I have read a few Nigerian coaches struggling to ascribe Rohr’s feats to luck. A few of their cronies have started needless comparisons of past eras with Rohr’s. Nigerians are unanimous in embracing Rohr’s impact with the Eagles. We all need to support Rohr by offering tips that could help him improve on what we are seeing. A coach is as good as his last game. If those coaches did well, they would still be with the Eagles. Most of them were sacked due to the team’s dwindling performance.

    The players being fielded by Rohr are Nigerians, not products of any coach. When has it become the norm for judging players as any coach’s products? What happened to those players that the coaches met in the team? This is the reason Nigerian coaches fail. They are parochial. They created divides that further destroy the unit that we are seeing in Rohr’s Eagles.  Is anyone surprised why we always have mafia groupings in the Eagles when a Nigerian coach is in charge? It should interest those making these awful comparisons to know that Nigeria is bigger than any era. As the giants of Africa, we demand more from our players and coaches. Those who failed to impress us were sacked. Let’s move on.

    The Eagles midfield lived up to its billing. Mention must be made about the apt changes made by Rohr. They galvanised the team’s play, culminating in the late minute rallies that brought the third goal and even a fourth had Ahmed Musa not failed to pull the ball out to a freer Iheanacho to score what could have been Nigeria’s fourth goal.

    It was good to know too that the Algerian manager had cause to lament his failed attempts to cage Iheanacho. It showed that Iheanacho can sacrifice self for the team. He played to the Nigerian manager’s instructions, leaving the Algerians on the lurch. The victory belongs to Nigeria.

    Our group opponents would include Moses on their marked men’s list. And I can bet it, the next revelation would be Oghenekaro Etebo, the stocky lad who shocked the Olympic audience with his instructive style of play. Etebo scored four goals in one of the Dream Team’s matches. Unfortunately, he couldn’t complete the matches for the team due to an injury. He is back to shock the Cameroonians, reminiscent of what John Etim Esin did to the Indomitable Lions in Ibadan, so many years ago. In that game, Nigeria beat Cameroon 2-0, with Esin scoring one of the goals.

    Thank God, Rohr has warned his wards not to celebrate the Algerian win, insisting that there are 12 more points to play for. What that prompting tells me is that Rohr could be eyeing an unbeaten run. Who says we cannot achieve that feat despite our initial fears when the draws were made? Bring on Cameroon for slaughter next year August. Good luck Nigeria. Up Super Eagles!

  • Eagles, this is your life

    Victor Moses owes his mates a world of duty to give his best today in Uyo against the Algerians. I imagine that Moses apologised secretly to his teammates for dodging the away tie against Zambia in Ndola last month. The manner in which Moses avoided the Chipolopolo jolted not just the coaches but the fans, who had watched him shine for his English Premier League side, Chelsea FC of England.

    It is easy for Moses to walk back into the team because we beat the Zambians at home. Had the Eagles been beaten in Ndola, Moses won’t be in Uyo. His presence therefore in today’s battle should be the elixir that the Eagles need to fly over the Desert Foxes at dusk.

    I have picked Moses out for this exercise because he appears to have the qualities needed to drive the Eagles to victory, akin to what he does at Chelsea, where his selfless displays have earned him accolades in the international media. Moses must distribute passes to his teammates who are freer to score, not shoot blindly like he did in the past for the Eagles.

    Nigerians want to celebrate from the blast of the whistle. I feel strongly that Moses is the match stick that can ignite some of the finer qualities of Kelechi Iheanacho and Alex Iwobi. If Moses plays for the team, Iheanacho could score a hat-trick. I won’t be surprised if Iwobi joins the scorers’ list. It won’t be out of place to task Moses to score goals too, only as the icing on the cake of the avalanche of goals expected from the Eagles.

    This isn’t blind optimism. Nor is it unrepentant patriotism. It is the fact because the Algerians are depleted in strength and should be drubbed with goals, if our players play to their potentials.

    Should the Eagles soar over the Desert Foxes with five goals, for instance, it would rule them out of the race for the sole ticket since such heavy defeats would affect the psyche of the Algerians, who are fanatical when supporting their team.

    If Nigeria’s flag must be hoisted in Russia in 2018, formidable sides, such as Algeria, who care visiting us with an injury-ridden side, should be battered with goals. With Algeria out of the picture, it would be quite easy for the Eagles to grab the 13th point in the return leg next year, since their fans won’t be keen on the outcome of the game. Drubbing Algeria with goals would also scare the wits out of the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon, our next opponents at home next year.

    The Eagles must restore the fear factor that most teams had for them in the past by whipping this half-fit Algerian side. We must make the Nest of Champions Stadium our slaughter slab, beginning with the Algerians. Moses, give us this day with your best performance to appease many fans, who feel strongly that you shouldn’t be in this game. But since the manager decides who plays, we wish you the best and pray that you play to your full potentials for us all to celebrate. Going to Russia in 2018 is a task that must be done.

    I have enjoyed reading the concern expressed by soccer-loving Nigerians over the absence of Carl Ikeme in today’s game. What an irony of fate because the same fear was expressed when Nigeria began her failed bid for a qualification ticket to the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations in Tanzania.

    It was Sunday Oliseh’s first game against the Taifa Stars, with legendary goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama out of the squad. Many people panicked. I remember telling those who expressed fear about Ikeme’s ability to hold the fort in Enyeama’s absence that he was the reserve goalkeeper for the Eagles at the Africa Cup of Na tions hosted by Ghana in 2008. Ikeme was the Man-of-the-Match. As they say, the rest is history. Ikeme was also spectacular against the Zambians in Ndola.

    The figure to snatch the sole qualification ticket is either 12 or 13 points. And having a good goalkeeper makes the task easy, once the strikers are efficient in scoring goals. Eagles should aim at beating the Algerians with a margin of four goals, knowing that Cameroonians are home against the Zambians. Goals could decide the eventual winner of the group, if two teams tie on points at the top of the table.

    Sadly, the League Management Company (LMC) has cast an indulgent eye on the critical issue of naming the best players per week in what is globally known at Team of the Week. If the LMC had this rating chart in its 38-week league competition, Coach Rohr would have looked at it. He could also have asked for the match tapes to pick the man to replace Ikeme. We must learn how to replace foreign-based players with our homegrown lads, if we want to encourage them to play here.

    Sources in the team’s camp said that Daniel Akpeyi could be selected ahead of Dele Alampasu. But what I know from foreign coaches is that they like to see players perform during training to make their decisions. And with the way those who saw the game between the possible and the probables are singing Alampasu’s praises, I won’t be surprised if he is picked ahead of Akpeyi.

    It is easy for cynics to talk about Alampasu’s lack of experience. But I differ here because Alampasu has been incredible playing for his Portuguese third division side. Goalkeepers don’t attract quick contracts from European clubs, like strikers, midfielders and defenders. So, if Alampasu can play regularly for his Portuguese side, I don’t see how the Algerians would rattle him. Not with his outstanding performance with the World Cup winning Golden Eaglets.

    I saw the Eagles defence in Ndola and wasn’t convinced that Musa Mohammed would have been worse off than Wilfred Ndidi who played at the right back. Not only was Ndidi unable to stop his opponents, he lacked the vision to locate his team mates with good passes, preferring to hit the ball aimlessly into the skies.

    I understood why Rohr played midfielder Ndidi ahead of Mohammed in the Zambian game. The German wasn’t comfortable with the fact that Mohammed wasn’t playing regularly for his Turkish side. Good decision. But it is expedient that the coach has done a recant. I hope his decision is right this time. No excuses, dear Rohr.

    I was excited when Rohr recalled Mohammed in spite of his playing few matches for his Turkish side. Mohammed is a natural right back who understands the rudiments of playing in that position. He marks his opponents closely and he is comfortable joining the team’s attack, just as he knows that he must fall back to defend when his team loses the ball.

    The Eagles defence in Ndola panicked under pressure. Goalkeeper Ikeme’s brilliance hid the defenders’ mistakes. Our wingers must fall back to help the defenders. Kenneth Omeruo panics, largely because he wants to be stylish, only to lose the ball due to lack of concentration. Rohr has the option of pairing Troost Ekong with Leon Balogun, if he is fit. But is a half fit Balogun better than Omeruo? I don’t think that the coach should parade any unfit player. Unforced changes occasioned by fielding any player with injury worries before the game would be a monumental disaster. Balogun appears not to be 100 per cent fit. Eagles’ defence needs a leader to direct others on what to do in Ikeme’s absence.

    I want to see what Moses and Iwobi will do when we lose the ball. Arsenal’s manager Arsene Wenger has repeatedly charged Iwobi to fall back to mark. Moses’ biggest edge over his competitors at Chelsea is his ability to fall back when Chelsea is under pressure and also join the attacking onslaughts on the counter.

    I share in Mikel’s warning that they confront the Algerians with caution. I also identify with his charge to the players that they must score goals to guarantee the result that we desire. Injuries have disrupted the plans of both managers. But the effect is more with the Algerians. And it helps our cause to drub them with goals. The midfield of Ogenyi Onazi, Mikel, Iwobi and Iheanacho look like one to deliver the goals, if they pass the ball to the freest teammate to tuck the ball inside the net.

    The pertinent question to ask the Eagles manager is where he hopes to play Ogenekaro Etebo today? Etebo is strong, fast and has the knack for scoring goals. He shoots well and I look forward to seeing how Rohr will pair him with Iheanacho. What happens to Ahmed Musa, Brown Ideye, Odion Ighalo and Moses Simon, who held the Eagles’ attacking positions? Rohr, I don’t envy you.

    Like the Zambians said before the October 9 game in Ndola, the Algerian manager, Georges Leekens, has told his boys to mark out Iwobi and Iheanacho, if they hope to leave the Nest of Champions Stadium, Uyo unscathed.

    Leekens said: “We have found out the two important players in Nigeria’s team; they are Iwobi and Iheanacho. In their tight spaces, their teammates are always looking for them. They are also good at running behind unnoticed. The key is to deny them access to the ball, as whichever formation Nigeria plays, they are key, not even their captain. Stopping Iwobi and Iheanacho will neutralise Nigeria’s complex formation.”

    Such mind games won’t shock Rohr, nor would it affect his strategies today, knowing what to expect from the Algerians. Ninety minutes can be short if goal-scoring chances are frittered away. And such missed chances return to hurt such wasteful teams. Indeed, goals scored galvanise the fans to root for such winning teams. They want to see goals scored and quickly too so they can beat their chests to say: “I said so.”

    Will Rohr hand Iheanacho the task of scoring the goals? Or will he evolve a scoring template that will make the scorers be those who can free themselves from their markers? Or will one player seize the day like Nwankwo Kanu and Austin Okocha did in the past?

    Our players owe Nigerians this victory, especially as the country will be missing out of the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations holding in Gabon. Incidentally CAF has raised the winners’ prize to $4 million. Many Nigerians are still ruing Nigeria’s absence from the Africa Cup of Nations. Give us this day, dear Eagles. Up Nigeria!

  • The Lagos Model

    The Lagos Model

    It was of course quite fitting that this week’s meeting of Nigeria’s Federal Executive Council (FEC), which held as usual on Wednesday undertook an x-ray of the performance of the body as President Muhammadu Buhari’s Ministers clocked one year in office. Briefing newsmen at the end of the session, the Minister of Solid Minerals and former governor of Ekiti State, Dr Kayode Fayemi, said: “We will be one year in office in two days so this was an anniversary meeting. And it gave us the opportunity to reflect on the progress we have made as a government. Also on the challenges that we still have to tackle and the commitment we have. The President’s charge is simple. You know he is not a man of many words. His charge to us was ‘get on with it’. Ensure that you earn the trust of Nigerians by doing the best you can to serve the country”.

    From Dr Fayemi’s account, it seems that the President did not stress strongly enough the urgent need for individual ministers to step up the tempo of their performance. Buhari may be satisfied with the pace and impact of his administration so far. Millions of Nigerians, including a good chunk of those who voted for ‘change’ in the 2015 general elections, are not. They want to urgently begin to see at least the manifestation of visible lower hanging fruits of the change so passionately canvassed and so ardently salivated for by the majority of the electorate at the last polls.

    Yes, they can understand that the President took his time in assembling a team that was in his estimation solid, morally upright and competent. They appreciate the enormity of the challenges inherited from the visionless, inexcusably incompetent and mindlessly acquisitive Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) administrations of the preceding 16 years. They do not underestimate the severity of the economic recession the administration confronts after the locust years characterized particularly by the President Goodluck Jonathan years.

    Yet, many of Buhari’s ministers, particularly those in the most critical Ministries, Departments and Agencies, come with a rich pedigree of experience and track record of performance that Nigerians cannot be blamed for expecting much more from them within the shortest possible time frame. The President must not give them the impression that he is easily satisfied. He must show an impatience for high performance and efficient delivery on set objectives that mirror popular expectations. Yes, slow and steady may win the race and all may turn out well in the long run. But in the long haul, we are all dead to paraphrase the famous axiom of the eminent economist, Lord Maynard Keynes.

    The signal failing of the PDP, particularly the President Olusegun Obasanjo administration at the beginning of this dispensation in 1999, was its glaring inability to lay a sound and irreversible foundation for the long term economic recovery and sustainable development of Nigeria. Matters were not helped by a presidency, especially under the imperial OBJ and the impressionable and easily misled GEJ that was completely unmoored from a solid party and philosophical anchor and thus cast adrift in the turbulent weather of untrammeled power. To compound it all, Obasanjo lacked the instinct, temperament and character to selflessly nurture and ensure the emergence of successors with the right mix of physical stamina, mental acuity and moral rectitude to sustain and elevate his programmatic vision to a new pedestal. Hence the Ota farmer for all his self-righteous posturing, and his successors left Nigeria in most sectors much worse than they met her.

    Unfortunately, there is no evidence that the All Progressives Congress (APC) government at the centre is itself able to lay a firm substructure on which a superstructure of unstoppable momentum towards sustainable liberation from underdevelopment can be laid. The APC-controlled centre is even more delinked from its party platform than was the case with the PDP. An anaemic and insipid national APC leadership is unable to forge any meaningful synergy between the executive and legislative arms of its government. The party has no concrete, discernible and coherent organizational ideology or guiding philosophy. It seems slavishly beholden to the same voodoo economic witches and principalities that have held perpetual sway over economic policy for as long as anyone can remember. Various factions and fractions within it are engaged in a visceral and ultimately mutually destructive civil wars with crazy permutations towards 2019 already a huge distraction.

    The sad thing is that it is not as if the APC at the centre does not have any example even from its own supposed ideological mold to emulate as a model of transformational development. As this column has repeatedly said, even as Nigeria has for the most part experienced stagnation or even regression since 1999, Lagos has witnessed paradigmatic development strides that are difficult to ignore. Of course, between 1999 and 2007, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu stood on the shoulders of giant predecessors like Lieutenant – Colonel Mobolaji Johnson (1967 -1975) and Alhaji Lateef Jakande (1979-1983) in fashioning out, along with a core of competent progressive visionaries, the socio-economic and fiscal plan that rescued Lagos from insolvency and placed her on the path of financial, environmental and infrastructural renaissance.

    Mr Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN), who was a member of Tinubu’s team between 2003 and 2007, carried forward with seriousness and proficiency the banner of the state’s development from 2007 till 2015. And today, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode, who joined the Lagos State public service as a grade level 8 officer and rose over three decades to the apex of the service as Permanent Secretary and Accountant General of Lagos State, is unquestionably the best prepared so far in this dispensation for the job.

    It is thus no wonder that even as most states gnash their teeth and gripe endlessly in the throes of recession, something new and positive regularly comes out of Ambode’s Lagos. Unlike 27 states, Lagos State is not owing workers’ salaries or allowances. Indeed, the administration brought succor to pensioners by expending over N12 billion in offsetting pensions arrears to retirees of the mainstream Lagos State Public Service as well as retirees of Local Governments and Parastatals since 2010. The administration has confidently announced its plans to raise the state’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) to N30 billion in 2017 and N50 billion in 2018.

    Indeed, so robust are the finances of Lagos State that the State House of Assembly has approved for the state to raise a N500 billion bond from the capital market over a three year period for infrastructure to be repaid wholly from the state’s IGR. The governor recently commissioned 114 inner roads with two roads each constructed in the 20 Local Government Areas and 37 Local Council Development Areas at a cost of N15 billion. This is apart from major road constructions in diverse areas Okota, Ikotun-Egbe, Iyana-Ejigbo, Mosholasi-Ayobo-Ipaja road; Ajasa Command Road as well as the ongoing construction of flyovers at the Ajah roundabout in the Central Senatorial District and Abule Egba junction in the West Senatorial District.

    Of course, we do not have the space here to detail all that the Ambode administration has achieved in diverse sectors including procurement of mobile ambulances, x-ray machines and generators for hospitals and primary health centres; expenditure of over N2.5 billion on the construction of new classroom blocks and provision of school furniture and other facilities as well as the massive Light up Project of hundreds of streets and roads across the state to enhance security and the revolutionary procurement of assorted sophisticated equipment worth over N4 billion to strengthen the various security outfits in the state to protect lives and property. Another major security initiative of the Ambode administration is the setting up of the Lagos State Neighbourhood Safety Agency to enable the state respond more effectively to security issues at community level. The administration is already working towards employing 5000 neighbourhood watchers who will earn N23, 000 monthly apart from other allowances.

     Equally noteworthy is the setting up of the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund (LSETF), which will directly invest N25 billion in helping to create jobs through small and medium scale enterprises as well as skill acquisition; signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the construction of the 4th Mainland Bridge to link Ajah with Ikorodu; initiation of the N22.4 billion ($70 million) Oshodi regeneration project that aims at the development of the Oshodi Transport Interchange through the construction of all 13 city and interstate parks in the area into three multi-storey bus parks and terminals situated on four floors and the  establishment of the N500 million Lagos State Disability Trust Fund to help people living with disabilities in the state.

    These few examples show that Lagos State is working even at a time of severe national economic recession. Foremost economist, Professor Pat Utomi and the Emir of Kano and former CBN Governor, Alhaji Muhammed Sanusi, were certainly right on target when they recently noted on different occasions that both the Federal Government and other states can learn a lot from Lagos as a model of attracting foreign investment, viable revenue generation and achieving socio-economic diversity. But when Nigeria’s malformed federalism unjustly denies Lagos the revenue that ought to accrue to the state from what is derived for the national coffers from the state’s resources, it is the country more than Lagos that ultimately suffers.

  • Elections, legacies and expectations

    In  a few  days  time Americans will go to the polls  to  elect  their  president in  an  election   from  which a clear  winner,  untainted by scandal is impossible to emerge, thus tainting the legitimacy  of  whoever  the winner is. In  a last  ditch  effort to  ensure  that  Hillary  Clinton  succeeds him,  lame duck  US President  Barak  Obama  told US black  leaders that if Donald  Trump  wins the US presidency  on  November 8, Trump  will  destroy  his legacy as US president  for 8 years.

    In Nigeria  a speech  said  to have  been  delivered  at  Harvard  University by  our Vice President, Professor Yemi  Osinbajo  was in the media   this  week. The speech  was obviously  a rejoinder  to  the one delivered  by  former President  Goodluck  Jonathan  in   Oxford  University, UK last  week  in which  he defended the legacy  of  his  Administration especially  against  the current  war on corruption  and  the trial  of his Director of  State Security –DSA-  for the diversion of  2.1bn  dollars meant  for the prosecution  of  the   war   against   the  murderous  terror  group,  Boko  Haram  in  the North  East  of  the nation. And  in  Lagos   State,  the impossible  happened  when   the spokesman  of  the opposition  PDP in  the  state  gave kudos to the Governor  of the State, Mr Akinwunmi  Ambode for  performing  competently  and far  better  than his predecessor in  office  also  from the APC ,the  ruling  party in the state.

    All  the  issues  I  have  brought  to the table  for analysis  today  are  controversial and highly  debatable but  interestingly and excitingly  so, and I can   not   wait  to proceed. First,  the US presidential  elections took  a different  and wild twist  when  the FBI reopened its  investigations on the issue of  Hillary  Clinton using her private server for state  matters thereby  compromising state security as  far  as classified documents were  concerned. The  reopening  of the investigation on whatever  excuse,  assails  the integrity of Hillary  Clinton’s  quest   for  the  presidency  of  the US. It  does not  matter that the Justice  Department later leaked information  that the FBI  boss ignored its  advice that the timing will influence  the elections.  That  definitely    would amount  to a cover up if the FBI  boss  had acquiesced  and  even  that  have  been suspect legally, roundly  political, and  equally debatable as in the public interest. Anyway what  was on the Justice Department’s mind  when it went  along with the earlier  decision of the same  FBI  not   to  proceed  on criminal prosecution of the former Secretary of  State after describing her use of her private  server  for official  mails as  ‘extremely   careless.‘? Really,  the  American  Justice Department  has exposed itself  to a charge of  inconsistency  in  accusing the FBI  boss of  being political  by reopening  the  case.  Anyway  the US president,  a  lawyer  too  has affirmed  that the FBI boss  is a man of  integrity  and  that  means his decision  to  reopen  the  investigation of  Hillary  on the e mails must  be respected. That  so  far  has been  the saving grace of  US democracy  in the build up to the November  8 presidential  elections.

    Two  issues  become obvious  from  the FBI  u turn  and Donald  Trump’s  earlier  utterances  on the integrity  of the elections. Trump    has said  he  would  not accept the   results  of  the elections unless  he wins. Which  is ridiculous  and self  defeating  and  would   really  make  him  a laughing stock of a president if  he goes  on to win. As  for Hillary, a victory in spite of the reopening of her e mail case becomes a huge  pyrrhic  victory with  a question  mark  on    integrity  and sense  of  judgement  hanging  around her neck  like  the famed and legendary  Sword  of  Damocle.

    In  addition  the American Justice  Department  can  learn a thing or two  from the ruling of the court in the UK on Brexit which  was won by  referendum and which  mandate the  British PM wanted  to implement  by  all  means as the expressed  will  of  the British people outside  the purview of  Parliament.  The  case went to court and the UK court of three  judges has ruled that Parliament must  have a say in the implementation of the Brexit verdict in the last EU referendum .Interestingly the  judges ruled  that what the British people  voted for did not interest it as that is political. It  held  however that it was a matter of law on its implementation and   Parliament is to make laws  and  the Brexit  verdict   cannot  be  an exception.

    However  the  British judicial    system  has   always  remained  consistent on the role of  Parliament in making laws. It  ruled  similarly in an earlier case  when a terrorist  successfully  challenged,  on British  soil,  that he was being tried under the UN Charter  on  terrorism and not a law  made by the British  Parliament. The Gordon Brown  government then  had to convene Parliament  urgently  to make  the law as required by the British  constitution to  prevent a terrorist from walking away   as   a free  man  by making an ass  of the law on a   charge  of  terrorism.

    On  the issue  of the defence of  legacies involving the US President, our  former President and present  Vice President, one  can  say that all  the three are really  involved in defending  their  legacies  for  various  reasons and their locations  for  doing so as well as the audience  are deliberate. Obama spoke  to  his primary political and racial  caucus and warned that Trump  would  destroy his legacy as the first  black  president. He  has assumed that his audience is  proud of his legacy.  Which  could be a great  mistake as  I  have  seen  blacks being interviewed  who said  they  have not  gained anything from his tenure and would like to  give a stranger   a chance,  for at  least one term,  to  see if their  lot  will improve.  Just  in tandem  with Donald Trump’s wicked mockery  that it  cannot  be worse  for them with him as  blacks have never had it so bad as in the  Obama era.

     With  regard  to the  defence of the  legacy   of  the  Jonathan  regime,  it  would  seem  the former president  took  his legacy  salesmanship  to  the ivory  tower so  that posterity  and the global  intelligentsia would   be less harsh with him than his  fellow Nigerians  especially   under his successor’s regime.  He  sounded professorial in Oxford in the  way  he intellectually tried, in vain  of course, to side step  the culpable negligence of his government in promoting and conniving  at corruption and in the manner he portrayed the Buhari regime  as repressive  and  dictatorial. The  former  president  indeed   flew a kite  of achievement  and competence  in   Oxford, which  the Vice President and the government in power  felt  obligated to shoot down at an equally intimidating  ivory tower in  Havard  in the US. The  thrust of the shoot  down was that the Jonathan Administration  was never committed to putting down the Boko  Haram  insurgency  and that was enough to bring down any lofty legacy or false   claims  of  performance  by a government that  Nigerians massively  threw out  of office    with their  votes in the 2015   presidential  elections.

    Let  me round  up  today with   a situation  which  should  be a source of pride  to  the APC government of  Governor Akinwunmi  Ambode,  but which some overzealous  local  government  officials at the Odi Olowo/Ojuwoye Local Council  Development  Area in Ilupeju, are about to  sabotage. These  local   government    officials in mufti,   around     the LSDPC   office  in  Ilupeju,   stop motorists for  violating a u turn after  the   motorists    have indeed observed it,   and   had      gone   down  the road  to  make the u turn. These unruly  officials stop  motorists,  cajole the motorists  into  taking  them  to the local  government  office in Ilupeju  and fine them either 15000 or 30000 naira on  the spot while threatening  to deflate  their tyres if they  don’t  pay  up. This  embarrassing  and  humiliating mock  trial   and  traffic  jungle  justice  is supervised by  one Kunle  Agoro  in the open  car  park  of the local government  office. It   was as if the local  government  officials  have become  military men in  mufti dealing  summarily  with motorists  in  the  Ilupeju    area.  Very    much  like an army of  occupation under  an elected government   which  is quite undemocratic and   certainly  unacceptable  in any  civilized  society  especially  in    a cosmopolitan  state  like  Lagos  state. This  is  a  hostile,  anti – social    and   anti – people      strategy   of   raising    local   government  revenue   that    the  Governor  must  try  to stop  to  maintain his  legacy  of  responsiveness  and performance.  This  is a legacy that  even  his astute  opponents in the fiercely critical  opposition  party,   the PDP,  have  so  recently   admitted openly,   and  without  mincing   words. Once  again  long  live  the Federal  Republic  of  Nigeria.