The Nation Newspaper

Category: Saturday

  • Burning out before Olympics

    Blessing Okagbare brings joy to sports-loving Nigerians whenever she hits the tape in astonishing fashion. As she strides off the starter’s bloc, many a Nigerian literarily run the race with her in their homes and at the stands.

    I really don’t care where she places after every race these days, having beaten the big-stage winners from the United States and Jamaica. What excites this writer is that the Nigerian keeps telling the world that we are world beaters and should be taken seriously.

    But with about a year to the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janerio, it has become expedient that officials of the National Sports Commission (NSC) visit Okagbare to congratulate her but most importantly plead with her to cut down the number of events, if she doesn’t want to burn out before the biggest multi-sports event in the world.

    Okagbare is comfortable. It would therefore be wrong to say that she participates in those events because of the cash. I feel strongly that she enjoys running against the others to measure her progress in the event.

    However, it is important to remind Okagbare that it would be an irony if she stops racing in the future without the tag of being an Olympic Games gold medalist in the women 100 metres. Being the best woman sprinter in the world is one title she must earn. Okagbare has beaten virtually all those who have won it before.This explains why she should cut down her races subsequently and participate in races meant to serve as build-ups to the Olympics. She could use some of the races to correct some of her flaws, such as how fast she gets off the starter’s bloc, what she does if she is left on the bloc and perhaps how to stride past her rivals towards the tape.

    I’m not a coach and I reckon that Okagbare is guided by her manager’s plans. But, I feel she is running too many races. If Okagbare must exit from this stage, it has to be as an Olympic gold medalist. And it would be awesome seeing her cut the tape in Nigerian colours.It will open a new vista for athletics, given the huge endorsements that Okagbare would attract as the world’s fastest woman.

    As an Olympic gold medalist, Okagbare will pick the races she would love to run. Things will be done at her behest. Race organisers will listen to her. Her wish will be their command. And it will be the most appropriate way to bow out of the tracks.

    Okagbare is Nigeria’s Olympic Games medalist. Not just any medal for that matter- gold. NSC men must sit down with Okagbare to plot the strategies that will ensure she becomes the gold medalist next year in Rio.

    Most countries that have Olympic gold medalists plan over four years. Happily, Okagbare has been around. She only needs to correct her mistakes, which I dare say includes participating in too many events leading to big competitions, like the Olymipics.

      Enyeama’s yellow card

    Vincent Enyeama has been exemplary for the Super Eagles since his meteoric outing against England at the 2002 Korea/Japan World Cup. The game ended on a barren note. But many people still talk of how Enyeama saved David Beckham’s free-kick from being a goal. Fantastic. He hasn’t looked back since that debut, acquiring 101 caps with the senior national team.

    Enyeama’s mien doesn’t suggest he could be troublesome. He is seen clutching the Holy Bible or reading books during the free periods in the camp.

    So, when the story broke that Enyeama led four players to protest against the small aircraft the Eagles were to fly by to Europe, many thought that it was another attempt to give a dog a bad name in order to hang it.

    Coach Samson Siasia dared Enyeama and his cohorts to sustain their threat by instructing those prepared for the trip in the small aircraft to head for the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja.

    Sensing that his protest had failed, Enyeama and his gang hurriedly left for the airport in a taxi cab. Enyeama travelled with the aircraft but Coach Samson Siasia dared Enyeama and his cohorts to sustain their threat by instructing those prepared for the trip in the small aircraft to head for the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja.

    Sensing that his protest had failed, Enyeama and his gang hurriedly left for the airport in a taxi cab. Enyeama travelled with the aircraft but Siasia dropped him from the game. Enyeama was dropped from subsequent Eagles matches. He returned after Siasia lost the Eagles job. For Siasia, Enyeama was a bad influence in the camp. He had to be dropped for discipline to reign in the camp. Siasia is looking like the wise one now, given Enyeama’s tantrums since he returned.

    As the Eagles captain Enyeama interfaces with the NFF and NSC. He tells them the players’ demands. But his uncompromising stance in matters even after the players have agreed to shift grounds on national issues, have left much to desire.

    Enyeama’s role in the two protests prior to the 2013 Confederations Cup competition in Brazil and the unfortunate incident before the game against France in the second round of the 2014 World Cup are not pleasing. But in these two instances, I have asked about the role of the coaches.

    Enyeama couldn’t have been acting alone. What did the coaches do to stop him? Did they put their feet down like Siasia? Indeed, Enyeama could have exploited the prevalent indiscipline in the Eagles’ camp to become the tough guy that he is.

    Interestingly, Enyeama doesn’t behave this way in his French side. At home, he led the campaign to postpone the hosting of the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco due to the outbreak of Ebola, even when Nigeria had not qualified for the competition. Enyeama wasn’t the only big player expected at the Africa Cup of Nations. It was good that he had reservations. But such decisions are not meant for players. The government should know what is good for her sports ambassadors.

    Sadly, no one called Enyeama to order. He may have thought he was speaking for everyone. Little wonder he saw nothing wrong in declaring Kaduna a security risk, less than 48 hours to the game against Chad, which Nigeria won 2-0.

    Enyeama should have known that nothing unites Nigerians better than soccer, especially when the Super Eagles are involved. The biggest brand in Nigeria is the Super Eagles.

    As a renowned international footballer, Enyeama ought to know that security is of utmost importance than the game itself. Government must give the visitors a guarantee that they will be safe in Kaduna before, during and after the game.

    What Enyeama literarily did with that pronouncement that Kaduna wasn’t safe was to give the Chadians the biggest weapon not to play the game. Other troublesome African countries would have bought the newspapers and presented them at the pre-match meeting last week Friday.

    They would have insisted on having the “impossible” just to buttress their fears about Kaduna – no thanks to Enyeama’s uncouth utterances.

    I won’t join the legion of people calling for Enyeama’s head. I would rather urge the NFF to use this opportunity to get all the players, coaches and backroom staff to sign the Code of Conduct which should spell out the dos and don’ts while in the camp.

    I don’t think Enyeama can talk to the press about Lille the way he does about the Eagles. Enyeama should know that as Nigeria’s captain, his utterances are weighty. He is at liberty to talk about his family and career. But he must consult with the NFF before talking about sensitive issues in the Eagles.

    Flying Eagles and Falcons

    Nigeria’s Flying Eagles and Super Falcons players are some of the best, in the game in their categories. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have been Africa’s best going to the two World Cup tournaments for male and female.

    If both teams had better coaches, Nigeria would have at the least reached the finals of both competitions. It is instructive to note that the Flying Eagles beat Mali and Senegal at the continental stage. Both countries didn’t change their squads that much. They retained the bulk of the players that Flying Eagles beat and strengthened their weak areas. But in our case, our coaches were busy massaging their egos, forgetting that without the players, there won’t be the coaches.

    NFF must as a matter of urgency reinvigorate the school football competitions – Principals Cup; Governors Cup and all inter-zonal soccer fiesta to throw up new talents. They must improve on the body’s scouting system for players to be invited to the camp. They must train the grassroots coaches to teach the kids the basics of the game.

    NFF should insist on having only trained coaches to sit on the bench during football games. This idea of any ex-footballer becoming a coach without requisite training isn’t acceptable. The NFF must know that these coaches cannot give what they don’t have. And nobody is waiting for the Nigerian coach to update his knowledge of the game.

    In the interim, I support the move to get foreign coaches for short term to re-engineer our teams but such managers must have the culture of developing soccer academies to discover new players and train our coaches. If we must compete with the best, we must do what they have perfected. Otherwise, we would return empty-handed like we have done in New Zealand and Canada.

    Is anybody listening?

  • Names, legacies and politicians

    After  the way  and manner  the legislative elections have gone  for the APC , analysts  have  written the party  off in terms of party  discipline  and some have even  concluded  that the only good thing going for the new  ruling party  in Nigeria is the good name and anti corruption reputation  of its victorious presidential candidate President Muhammadu  Buhari. Others  especially  the PDP  which  can very rightly be accused  of sour grapes in losing the incumbency and power  so massively, have gone on to  attempt  an obituary  on the loss  of control by  the man everyone knew was the architect of the APC’s  glorious victory in the 2015  elections Asiwaju  Bola Ahmed  Tinubu. I  disagree on both  scores but I nevertheless want  to take a  good look at  the worth  and value  of  names  and legacies in politics  globally  and in Nigeria in particular.

    Let  me state  that this topic came about from the news on the internet that both  Hillary  Clinton  and Jeb Bush  who are presidential aspirants in the US in the 2016 elections for the Democratic Party  and the  Republican  Party respectively, did  not use their surnames  on  the logos they launched  for their  presidential  campaigns. They used  just  their  first names  Jeb   and  Hillary.  So  in politics, or  at  least  in the US  this  time around it is not  just   a matter of what  is in a name.  As Shakespeare once said in one of his plays  – a rose called by any other name smells just as sweet.  But  that is not so in politics and that is the nitty gritty  of our discussion today.  This  is  because   Names  carry  political  weight and  luggages especially at election times  and in times  of crisis and anxiety  such  as   the  rumpus  our legislative elections  brought to the doorsteps  of the APC  on  June 9  2015.

    Definitely  the Buhari  name and its legacy  of  discipline and anti  corruption  legacy was a key selling point for the APC in its quest  for power.   Indeed  that reputation jelled in an environment pervaded by corruption , confusion and poor  security and the electorate embraced it  out of total  boredom and disenchantment  with the person and policies  of his opponent, the defeated incumbent president then. But  it  is no secret   that  somebody did the research  and came out with the Buhari brand as the joker to win the 2015  elections hands down for the APC  and I think that   person is Asiwaju  Bola  Tinubu. The  fact  that the PDP  is  making itself  merry  with his embarrassment over the legislative elections  is a measure of the havoc  that  strategy  wrought  on that great  party which was greatly humiliated by the choice of the Buhari name  and candidacy  by the APC   to  contest  and win the 2015   presidential  elections.  The  foresight of that choice  was  even attested in   a  round about way by the PDP  boss in  Lagos  state Chief  Bode  George   who literally  pronounced Asiwaju dead  politically  on the strength  of the results  of  the legislative  elections  alone.  Which  to me is sheer  wishful  thinking as  great  strategists don’t just vanish into thin air just  like that  but are like  the proverbial  cats with nine lives who  live and resurrect to fight  another day. So  really  it is the PDP  which  has profited  and reaped  a rich but dubious profit  where  it did not sow or invest  that  should  watch  its back  on the slippery path it has taken to steal legislative  leadership  from the APC.

    Again  on the US   is not  difficult  to see  why Hillary  Clinton  and  George  Bush did not use their  surnames  on their presidential  logo. This  is because  a logo is supposed  to sell  a name or brand and must  be seen in terms  of  positive  virtues that  can  achieve the objective  for which  it was created which in this case is to  win  the US  presidency. Time  will tell if the decision not  to use    their  surname  is a wise or regrettable step. This  is because  both names, Clinton and Bush, are still household names in world and US  politics and  they  still  bring nostalgia  of  good memories on the presidencies in which they  were involved. In  Clinton’s case his Vice President Al  Gore,  who  contested  against  the  43rd  president  George Bush  lost because  he kept the Clinton  name at bay  in his election bid  because  of the Mona  Lewinsky scandal.  I hope  Hillary  is not making the same mistake.

    With  regard  to Jeb Bush it is obvious  that the invasion of Iraq on the false excuse of the existence of weapons of mass destruction  is  making  him  to hide  his surname.  He  should  however be reminded that his name Jeb  is mostly  associated with or remembered  for the Florida  recount that clinched the election  for his brother against  Al  Gore.  That  to me is a more weighty load  to carry  than  the Bush  name  which in today’s  context of global  insecurity blamed on the Obama  presidency’s   dithering  on air strikes and crossed  red lines  has  a good  selling point on  global  security  which is a major issue in the 2016 presidential elections in the US.Really  I  think  it  is up  to  Jeb Bush  know  the opportunity  cost  of  his surname before  it is too  late  for  his presidential  bid in the US.

    Of  course  there  is no  way  one can discuss  a topic like this and not remember the Saraki name which is the political  brand that runs the politics  of Kwara  state and now is in charge of Nigeria’s senate as Senator Bukola  Saraki is the new Senate President from the June 9  legislative elections. His  father Dr Abubakar  Sola  Saraki too was a President of the Senate in his era. The father was a bridge  builder between  the north  and south in his time. His  politics was  also pro-North in his time.  But when after June 12  was aborted and  the presidency was zoned to the South west the  good doctor who  had all along claimed he was a Fulani then claimed eligibility to contest as a South Westerner  from somewhere in the Yoruba heartland.  Of  course  no one  took him seriously then. But  he had a first  hand taste  of the political  dexterity  of his son the new Senate  President whose  candidate defeated his father’s  choice for the governorship  of  Kwara state,  a major  political  tsunami in Kwara state in those days. Very  similar  in magnitude  and poignancy  to the legislative coup  that had APC  leadership   and   senators  stranded at a meeting with the  president while  the kingpin of Kwara politics, and very much  a member  of the party  was being elected  Senate  President  by the opposition PDP.  Which  is a classical  case  of the  end  justifying the means  but   is being regarded  most  delicately and  realistically    as a fait  accompli by  the APC for its own sanity,  stability and well  being. In  the  midst  of all  these  political  razzmatazz however one  can still  recall the timeless and golden observation of Shakespeare  again  in one of his plays  that ‘ ambition should  be made  of sterner  stuff. ‘Again, long live the Federal  Republic of  Nigeria.

  • Buhari, policy and politics

    Buhari, policy and politics

    I am increasingly finding him to be one of the outstandingly perceptive, strategic and bold players on Nigeria’s contemporary political scene. It is not just the unique red cap of his teeming ‘Kwakinsaya’ fans in Kano that is unique; he can often offer fresh and brutally frank perspectives on political developments. I refer, of course, to former governor Rabiu Kwankwaso of Kano State who is now a Senator of the Federal Republic. Yes, Kwankwaso’s dexterity in political manoeuvring should not be surprising. The trained water engineer is no novice in the game. He was elected as the member representing Madobi Federal Constituency of Kano State in 1992 and later emerged Deputy Speaker of the House on the platform of the defunct Social Democratic Party in the lower legislative chamber.

    Kwankwaso was elected Governor of Kano State in 1999 on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) but lost his bid for re-election in 2003. Between then and his successful return to office as Kano State governor in 2011, Kwankwaso had served as Defence Minister in the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo as well as peace envoy to the Sudan. Kwankwaso played a major role in thwarting former President Goodluck Jonathan’s attempt to intimidate and hijack the Nigeria Governor’s Forum (NGF) as well as the ruinous rebellion against the attempt to undemocratically impose Jonathan as presidential candidate of the PDP for the 2015 election.

    It is thus unsurprising that in a  characteristically brutally frank interview, one of the most analytical I have read so far on the emergence of Senator Bukola Saraki as President of the Senate through an alliance with the opposition against his own party, Kwankwaso came out literally spitting fire.

    As far as Kwankwaso, one of the G-5 governors that defected along with Senator Bukola Saraki from the PDP to the then fledgling All Progressives Congress (APC) is concerned, the latter’s alliance with the PDP to control the leadership of the Senate is a serious threat to the effectiveness and efficacy of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration. In his words “You see, first of all, the President will face a lot of irritations in the sense that these people must be very angry with themselves, they must be very angry with Nigerians and, therefore, will do everything possible to put all kinds of hurdles on his way. I can always read their mind. I was one of them. I was part of them. I was part of the party but we had to leave the party because of this attitude”.

    Even after his emergence as Senate President in a deal with the PDP that saw the election of the latter’s Ike Ekweremadu as Deputy Senate President, Bukola Saraki claimed cynically that he can never go back to the PDP. From his words and stance, it seems that Kwankwaso is a man of firmer principle and less likely to go back on his words. Of course, I cannot claim the ability to read the minds of both men and so cannot swear that they are not already playing out even in the infancy of the Buhari presidency the politics of 2019 succession. But the reality is that, to all intents and purposes, Saraki is back in the PDP while Kwankwaso remains firmly in the APC.

    The ruthlessness with which Saraki pursued his Senate presidential ambition at the expense of his party shows an alarming gargantuan political appetite. Yes, this is no crime. But if a man can pursue his personal interest with such ferocity even at the expense of the cohesion of a platform he helped to build, is it illogical to assume that he will most likely harbour an even greater hunger for higher political office?

    If utilising the immense influence and resources of his powerful office as number three citizen to slow down the Buhari administration, weaken the APC and thus strengthen his own chances for election in 2019 on the platform of a rejuvenated PDP, will he resist the temptation? Can he not utilise the power of his office to mobilise the opposition PDP and other opportunistic APC members to achieve this purpose? Perhaps this is the danger Kwankwaso is referring to when he talks about the emergent ‘Tambulawisation’, of the National Assembly, which itself remains a moral burden for the former opposition party?

    Yet, I am not convinced by Kwankwaso’s lame defence of President Buhari’s role, even if inadvertent, in the setback suffered by the APC in the National Assembly leadership elections. According to Kwankwaso “I think that the position of Buhari was that the party should handle it. I don’t think that he wants to put his fingers there. I am not sure that his fingers are in it but what I know is that I am not sure if he is happy that members of our party could not be loyal to it…I am not sure if Buhari is a happy man even though he did not put his fingers but he was expecting that members of the party would be loyal to the party”.

    President Buhari has contested for the country’s apex position three previous times before his current triumph. He ought to be too experienced in politics and the intrigues of power by now to have taken such a disinterested stance on such a critical issue as his majority party’s control of the National Assembly leadership. Yes, he was absolutely right in declaring from the outset that he would be the president of everybody but nobody. That was rightly meant to send a clear message that he would not be beholden to special interests to the detriment of the common good.

    Yet, there is also a limit to which this admirable rhetoric can be pushed. President Buhari did not emerge in his present prestigious position from the moon. He contested on the platform of a party that campaigned and laboured for his victory. He promised to implement the manifesto of the party and is, first and foremost, beholden to his party. To do so effectively, he ought not to have washed his hands off the fidelity, commitment and loyalty of the party’s choice of key leaders of the National Assembly.

    Kwankwaso gave some cogent reasons why the APC failed so abysmally in its first test of producing the leaders of the National Assembly as the majority party in the legislature. This included the desire of the G-5/G-7 group to see one of them occupy any of the strategic positions, the perceived marginalisation of the n-PDP within the party and the ‘conspiracy’ against the National Leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu by those who resented the perceived dominance of his tendency within the party.

    This contention of interests is not necessarily a negative development or situation. The President should simply have utilised the moral authority and unsurpassed influence of his office to ensure the emergence of an APC National Assembly leadership team that would be a ‘team of rivals’ and act as effective checks and balances among contending forces.

    In a way, it seems that President Muhammadu Buhari has not overcome his diffidence or seeming indifference to politics that characterized his first coming as military Head of State in 1983. At that time Buhari and his deputy, Brigadier General Tunde Idiagbon simply concentrated on the war against corrupt politicians, the War Against Indiscipline campaign and the attempt to address the economic crisis. They were completely indifferent to the political implications of their decisions. Their more politicised junior colleagues capitalised on the resultant disconnect with society to remove the regime from power and usher in an unprecedented era of corruption from which the country is yet to emerge.

    From all indications, President Buhari and his Vice – President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, are methodically and systematically working with competent experts   towards finding solutions to the country’s protracted problems. We should soon begin to see admirable results in terms of brilliant policy teams as well as effective policy implementation. But in the President’s preoccupation with policy, he cannot afford the kind of apathy to politics that characterised his attitude to the National Assembly elections. Brilliant policies must be complemented by luminous politics or the result could be abysmal failure.

  • Winning at all cost

    I’m sad. Why are we spending a fortune to prosecute today’s Africa Cup of Nations qualifier between Nigeria and Chad in Kaduna? It hurts that some kind of justification is being made about the choice of 15 foreign-based players for the game on the altar of not wanting to take Chad for granted.

    Why should anyone justify why we must spend close to $8,000 on each of the 15 invited players? If Nigeria cannot beat Chad using home-based players, we need to reinvent the game in all its ramifications. Even if the foreign legion wants to play the game because it falls in their holidays, they should do so as gratis, otherwise they could be at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium to watch our second team maul Chad.

    We cannot assemble 27 home-based players in camp, train them for weeks and pick only eight. It doesn’t make sense. Some cynics are saying that the invitation of foreign-based players ensures that payment would be done in foreign currencies, not naira. What a shame! Where is the spirit of patriotism? Forget the talk of giving to charity what they earn from today’s game or the fulfilled promise of N500,000. Cheap publicity.

    Today’s game against Chad would have been celebrated if the guest of honour is Vincent Enyeama. The spectacle would have been awesome; his senior colleagues filing out to shake hands with their younger mates. Not a top government official in flowing agbada taking the kick-off, his shoes flying in different directions.

    This setting would have instantly told the Chadians that we are on the same pedestal. Having gone for five senior World Cup competitions, it amounts to an insult to our sensibilities for anyone to justify the presence of 15 Europe-based players in today’s game.

    The argument that the Chadians have foreign-based players is laughable because not many would remember any renowned Chadian in Europe. Chad is not yet a soccer power. Nigeria should show strength by confronting them anywhere in the world with our second team.

    Must we always win matches with grave consequences to the finances of the ruling body? When do we hope to make profits from games if we insist on parading our best, even if it means playing retirees? Our game can’t grow this way. Growth is measured by the presence of new names. Besides, the rookies at the grassroots won’t be challenged to give their best when they know that only a selected few can play for the Super Eagles.

    Games such as the one against Chad ought to be used to test those on the fringes of   making the main team and new lads from the domestic game. Nigeria didn’t cease to be a sovereign nation when we missed the last edition of the Africa Cup of Nations. And it wasn’t for the first time. We are static because our coaches cannot take risks. They like to err on the side of caution. And such acts kill the game. When will the new players get their breakthrough when we keep recycling those who brought us pain in the past? Is it by playing in their domestic clubs that they would garner experience? The mistakes the coaches are making is that when the big boys start to shun away games to countries with baling and undulating pitches, the domestic players won’t have the confidence to replace them since they have been made training materials.

    Recall the battle of Omdurman during the 2002 World Cup qualifiers, where Coach Shuiabu Amodu had to fall back on home-based lads sprinkled with a few Europe-based stars to beat the host 4-0. Most of our big boys dodged the game, thinking that our World Cup chances were in ruins. In fact, most of them avoided the game because of the pitch’s bad surface, leaving the home lads to do the dirty job. That win gave the Eagles the impetus to rescue Nigeria’s World Cup dream, ably supported by the generosity of former Rivers State Governor Dr. Peter Odili.

    Before that win over Sudan in Omdurman, the Eagles had lost 1-0 to lowly rated Sierra-Leone, largely because of Coach Johannes Bonfrere’s fixation on particular players who he felt were responsible for his return to the job. In that match, Nigeria, with a population of over 80 million people then, couldn’t raise a team of 22 players to confront the Sierra-Leoneans at home. Nigeria had 14 players dressed, two of them goalkeepers, including the one who watched the ball slip in-between his legs for the only goal. Yet that goalkeeper prides himself as an ex-international.

    We headed for the 2002 era where players started with a protest, then the ultimate battle ultimate battle with NSC officials at the Africa Cup of Nations, the disbandment of the unruly group and the invitation extended to Coach Adegboye Onigbinde to rescue the team from its free fall.

    Onigbinde steadied the Eagles by introducing new players, such as Vincent Enyeama, and took Osaze Odemwingie to the 2002 Japan/Korea World Cup as a mascot. Need I waste space to highlight the contributions of Enyeama and Osaze to the Eagles?

    We appeared not to know the reason our game nosedived after the pyrrhic Atlanta ’96 Olympic Games’ gold winning feat. That victory turned out to be a curse, given the way we couldn’t build on it. It became impossible for new players to break into the squad. Attempts by Philipe Troussier to inject new players into the game, using the 3-5-2 formation, caused his sack, even when the Eagles qualified for the France ’98 World Cup with one match to spare. The Atlanta Olympic stars got the former loquacious Sports Minister Jim Nwobodo to sack Troussier.

    In came journeyman Bora Milutinovic. The Serb was interested in his juicy contract, not our World Cup fortune. What he did was to re-assemble our fading stars, including those who were out of their clubs, injured. It didn’t matter because they were names that brought us glory in the past. It got so bad that we invited a holidaying Peter Rufai, injury-hit Daniel Amokachi, Nwankwo Kanu, Ben Iroha et al.

    Nigeria was at the France ’98 World Cup with the best of our unfit players. We didn’t know until Denmark tore us apart in the second round game. Before the game against the Danes, our national psyche had been tailored towards watching another Brazil versus Nigeria match, not minding the high level of indiscipline in the Eagles camp in France.

    When it comes to football, we live in the land of illusions. Denmark had great players, but we felt any collection of our past stars would whip them, even when we were beaten groggy by Holland in one of the build-up games to the France’98 World Cup. We made excuses for the so called big boys. We were blinded by the rustiness shown by our players. There is always a Nigerian way of doing things.

    Super Eagles died in 1998. We borrowed a kidney to keep it alive by bringing back Bonfere in the year 2000. Yet we didn’t stop the rot in the team. Little wonder we couldn’t lift the trophy at the 2000 Africa Cup of Nations- in Lagos. Bonfrere became the undertaker that exposed our weaknesses, with the 1-0 loss to Sierra-Leone.

    For the Eagles, 2002 was very eventful. The late Mark Aku disbanded the innocuous squad. He called the bluff of the big boys and recruited Onigbinde to instill discipline. Why Onigbinde’s services were dispensed with remains a misery till date. It didn’t come as surprise that we missed the 2006 World Cup, which marked the era of the most troublesome set of Eagles players.

    Have we learned any lessons? We don’t seem to have. The cup winning team in South Africa 2013 Africa Cup of Nations remains the index for picking our Eagles. I hope this doesn’t haunt us again. Certain people must play for the Eagles, even with crutches. The Eagles camp is still the rehabilitation centre. It is a platform used to expose benchwarmers for greener pastures. What a country.

    Flying Eagles’ cries

    Nigerian coaches don’t shock me. They are bereft of ideas, yet they refuse to develop. They think playing soccer is based on luck, not tactics. The simple task of picking good players is often riddled with sentiments and vendetta. Otherwise, how would the coaches justify the exclusion of Kelechi Iheanacho from the Flying Eagles during key matches? Iheanacho was the soul of this squad at the U-17 level. He singlehandedly ran the team’s attacking onslaught, culminating in his Manchester City contract.

    In other climes, Iheanacho would have anchored the Flying Eagles’ attack. Not so for us as coaches who ought to be happy that they discovered Iheanancho. They wanted to manage his future. There is nothing wrong with that if he doesn’t have someone to play that role. Once Iheanacho’s dad offered to be his son’s agent like in other countries, Iheanacho became the target for slaughter. Many have not asked why we have refused to invite Iheanacho for Flying Eagles’ matches. Since he signed for Manchester City, he became a bad boy.

    I told everyone that the Flying Eagles won’t soar as long as the coaches are nursing grudges with Iheanacho. If they have given him the role that he truly deserves, Iheanacho would have won the Germany game for Nigeria. We needed an extraordinary talent to keep us in the competition but our coaches chose to keep Iheanacho on the bench to the detriment of the country. I wish the NFF chiefs could sack the coaches. No stories.

    I was shocked that our coaches adopted the same tactics they used for the group games in the knockout game. Once the Germans went ahead, our coaches ought to have introduced Simon Moses and Iheanacho to the game.

    Until Nigerian coaches learn how to manage our big players’ egos and idiosyncrasies, they wouldn’t lead Nigeria to win any big soccer competitions, except age-grade series. Please don’t ask me why, dear reader.

  • Change, morality and leadership

    An  ordinary election to bring in a new leadership in Nigeria’s legislature after the 2015 elections has turned into an unbelievable fiasco on change management  or mismanagement and has created a nightmarish  watershed in Nigeria’s  politics as  we  know  it today. Our  June  9  2015   leadership  election  in our   hallowed  legislature has  become  a grim  reminder  of the AG Crisis  of 1962  culminating in the breaking  of legislators  heads as well  as the Speakers mace at the Western Region  House  of Assembly  then   in  Ibadan, now  in Oyo  State. At  stake then  was the struggle  for power  between AG leader Chief Obafemi  Awolowo  and his deputy  Chief S L A  Akintola, the  Premier  of the then western region who refused  to cede control  of the party  to  his leader  because the leader has gone  to the center in  Lagos  to become the Federal  Opposition leader. Incidentally the two leaders were mentioned in our new president’s Inaugural  address  as  a  source  of inspiration for  a new generation  of  Nigerians by  the president. However the  leadership elections in our senate on June 9  2015 surely  brought  back  dark  memories  of the 1962 AG Crisis  which  was  a lesson in betrayal, treachery, disloyalty and a break down of party  discipline  and solidarity. That  incident boomeranged into several  other crises leading to the civil war  and the subsequent  military  interventions  before  our return  to democracy  on May  29  1999.

    Ominously the elections of  the leaders  of the House of  Representatives  and the Senate last week was another lesson in treachery and perfidy and a slap  on the face for party  leadership and  discipline. The  only difference was that there was  no break down of law  and order in Abuja  as was the case in Ibadan and  more pointedly the  beneficiaries  of the betrayal  of their  colleagues  proceeded  to  administer with  dignified  calmness the oaths  of allegiance  on the new legislators in both  houses as required by law and decorum in the best tradition of the dictum – Done deed, Done  deal.  Nevertheless  no  one is deceived  that  the new leaders  have gotten away with  murder as  the APC  has announced that it will use due  process  to mete  out punishment to those  of its  members  who  are beneficiaries of the betrayal  of their  party  and its leadership in the nation’s  legislative  chambers in Abuja.

    The  legislative leadership elections have thrown up many issues  to be discussed  for  a  long time  in this nation. Some  of such issues will be tackled  today and some later. Surely  Nigerians are’ flabberwhelmed’  and ‘overgasted’ as Peter Pan or  Peter  Enahoro wrote in his hilarious book ‘How  to be a Nigerian’  Undoubtedly   fundamental  issues  come to the fore as to the mode, nature, character  and make up  of those we call leaders  in our present  political  dispensation. We  shall  identify  some  of these  issues for discussion today  and link  that up  with the new assignment the G7  has  given our new president who  has swiftly  congratulated  the new leadership  of the legislature  even though his party  leadership  and new legislators  were  said  to be waiting for him for  a meeting before they were knocked  out of voting and counted out of reckoning in voting in a new leadership  at our legislative  houses.  President  Muhammadu Buhari  has  been busy  of late holding meetings with leaders of the Lake  Chad  Basin Commission   nations to prepare a  bill  for the G7  on the needs of those nations in  their  fight against the terror of  Boko  Haram which  has  claimed  affinity with  ISIS  and  has qualified  for total elimination as an enemy of the G7, the  EU  and indeed that  of the civilized  world.

    But  again  let  us look at the  issues  that the controversial  legislative  elections generated. The  first is the disenfranchisement  of those legislators waiting to see the president. They lost their voting rights on two grounds.  They were  both absent and at best guilty of punctuality as they arrived later.  A  sort of closing the stable doors when the horses  of power have bolted or were  properly  harnessed  in their absence. The  opposition PDP  literally  elected the Senate  president as less than 10 APC  members were present  and the PDP  had over 40  in attendance as at voting time. Which  opens a new chapter in inter and intra party  relations in  Nigeria  especially  in our legislature  and   marks the beginning of a chain  of events   the end of which  no  one knows  as Chief  Anthony  Enahoro  once said  when he proposed Nigeria’s independence in the early  fifties.  There  is  also  the issue  of quorum which  was  used decidedly  and negatively as the 51 APC  senators never gave notice of a boycott and were not involved in any accident and their absence  should have generated concern given their number  and not good cheer and good  riddance as the Clerk  and the   Senators present seemed to have swiftly  and  readily  assumed.  A  clear  case  of mischief  and  fraudulent intent was established  by the speed and execution  of the leadership elections. As if speed  was more the essence  rather than the seriousness  of getting legislators present and available in their correct  numbers to fulfill  their legislative duties and obligations  for  which they  have been  duly elected.

    More  importantly the elections in the legislature bring out the issue  that change  cannot  be managed successfully  and that indeed change management  is an  oxymoron.  Like’ living death’, change  and  management  as  the experts have said  don’t go together. That  is what the  APC leadership  is discovering after  securing  the 2015  general  election on a platter  of change  only  to be short  changed and ambushed in the legislature by its own members. That  also  showed  the  paradox  of change  in that  it can  not  be managed but accepted  and  followed  as it can maul and  destroy  those who stand  in its decided  path to  stop  or forestall  it. The  legislative  election of June 9  has shown  that the die is cast between the APC leadership  and that of the legislature. Only  time will tell  which  the  futile   attempt  at change management  will  propel  or destroy.  Definitely  however  a new  political  culture evolved  from the last leadership elections  in our legislature and  we are taken aback  by its morality  and wait   for what it portends as it for now looks  like an ill wind that bodes  no good.

    With  regard  to the president’s  new assignment  for the G7  we wish  him  and the G7  every  success  in the new  collaboration.  We however  want to sound a note  of  warning and that is that there is no  free  lunch  nowadays especially  in the war on terrorism  and  in the return of the Cold  War between the US and  EU  on  one side  and    Russia  under  its  President  Vladmir  Putin  on  the other. Surely  the nations bordering the Sahel  need  help  to  fight Boko  Haram but  they  are more powerful in doing this  when  they  cooperate  amongst  themselves  as our president has blazed a trail in doing than in relying on foreign aid  and largesse  which  must have  a price.

    This  is because  for  now it is the US  priority  foreign  policy  to promote  same sex  marriage globally  and Ireland  a Catholic  nation  recently passed  a referendum approving same sex marriage. Indeed  in  Uganda the US cut aid  on the grounds  that the Ugandan parliament banned  same sex marriage just like Nigeria has also  done. These  are clear cultural and religious  issues that the US and  EU  nations  have said  are civil rights  which  do not make sense to  those  of us  in  this  part  of  the world. So  in  packaging the needs  of the Lake Chad Basin  nations  to the G7 our  president and  his  colleagues  from other nations  must  ask  for  the price  the  magnanimity  of the G 7 entails.  This  is to  ensure  that in fighting  and  defeating  Boko  Haram we do not cut our nose to spite our nose  and inadvertently give  more  ammunition for recruitment  and expansion  to  Boko  Haram  which has shown already  that   it has no respect for human rights or any  religious or  moral  values except  to spread its insane  form  of religion in bogus  caliphates.  Boko  Haram  must  be contained  but at no extravagant  and  prohibitive cost  to our collective sanity,   culture and religion in the entire Sahel or  indeed  the whole ECOWAS  area.

  • Re-thinking Nigerian political parties

    Re-thinking Nigerian political parties

    Arnold Toynbee. Regular readers of this column must have come across the name once or twice. He was the British historian who did monumental work on the rise and fall of civilisations. Human progress he contended is always a product of response to challenges. For some inexplicable reason, I am told that his intellectual influence as a historian has waned. Yet, I find his fundamental thesis ever so relevant to the analysis of Nigerian politics. Let us take the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election for instance. For many, it remains a crisis of monumental dimensions. It claimed the life of the undisputed winner of the election, Chief MKO Abiola. It plunged the country into prolonged crisis verging on the abyss of disintegration. Yet, it also broke the back of military dictatorship and set the stage for the current democratic dispensation despite all its imperfections. The modest progress we have recorded was a response to the challenge of military impunity.

    It is a similar attitude I take to the outcome of the just concluded National Assembly leadership elections. For many, it was an unmitigated calamity for the All Progressives Congress (APC). Beyond this, it marked, for some,the beginning of a signal reversal of the slogan of change on which the APC anchored its opposition to the PDP and its victory in the last election. I choose a different view. Rather than recriminating unproductively over the outcome of the National Assembly leadership results, we should more positively seek to learn what lessons possible from the development and make necessary amends.

    For example, how viable is our political party system? What role should party discipline play in our political process? Was the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) morally right in backing the emergence of AminuTambuwal as Speaker of the House of Representatives against the decision and zoning formula of his party? How can we strengthen party structures and formally institutional party discipline in Nigeria?

    As a result of the annulment of the June 12, 1993, presidential election, many analysts are wont to Dismiss General Ibrahim Babangida’s admittedly convoluted political transition programme wholesale. Yet, is there anything we can learn and retain from the institutionalisation and unprecedented strengthening of the two government-created political parties – the National Republican Convention (NRC) and Social Democratic Party (SDP)? Of course, a related key issue thrown up by the outcome of the National Assembly leadership election is the relationship and delicate balance between the autonomy of the legislative arm of government and party discipline. In that sense, the defunct ACN contributed significantly to the deepening of democracy in Nigeria by supporting the emergence in 2011 of a Speaker independent of the influence and intimidation of the executive arm of government. If a Tambuwal had been of the same moral and political temperament of a David Mark, it is not impossible that the country’s current fragile democracy would have degenerated to full scale civilian dictatorship.

    But then, must legislative autonomy negate and override executive authority and assertiveness? Does the emergent scenario not portray President MuhammaduBuhari as weak and indecisive? Yes, this column has consistently argued that presidential authority must be subordinate to party supremacy. The undermining of the autonomy of the PDP under General Obasanjo’s military style presidency was the beginning of the erosion of the party’s credibility and effectiveness that culminated in the party’s calamitous outing in the last election.

    It is my view that President Buhari ought not to have been indifferent to the calibre and moral integrity of the leadership of the National Assembly. His strongest credential in the last election campaigns was his anti-corruption antecedents. How then can he effectively champion this most crucial of his personal and party change agenda if any of the leadership of a key arm of government like the National Assembly is morally tainted? Yes, some would argue that there are other allegedly tainted persons close to the President. That is beside the point. The critical thing is that he has not supported or appointed any such person for any key office or appointment.

    Another positive outcome of the National Assembly leadership election is that it will enable the APC as a party to have a more restrained and tempered view both of its ideological character as a party and the implication of its victory in the last election. The party strategists must now begin to think seriously if there is no fundamental difference between their perception and understanding of ‘change’ and that of the vast majority of Nigerians. Did the Nigerian electorate vote for a mere change in party personnel or presidential personality or a complete transformation in the political, economic and moral direction of the country?

    The APC will hopefully realize that it is, ideologically, a work in progress. It is not enough for the party to have dislodged the PDP from power. Even more critical is the need to forge itself into a philosophically distinct entity from the PDP. It is unfortunate that most of those who now constitute the think tank of the party share the same economic philosophy and direction that have led the country to disaster over the last three decades. They have nothing to offer but vacuous World Bank/IMF bullet points that only serve to deepen the country’s underdevelopment.  This means that there are serious internal ideological battles ahead of the party. But the opposite side of the coin is that the PDP’s outfoxing of the APC in the battle for the National Assembly leadership means that the latter cannot afford the luxury of complacency. This is good for democracy and development. Even then, there is a baffling puzzle. If there is no fundamental difference between the APC and PDP to the extent that the latter, despite being the minority in the National Assembly, could determine the leadership of that critical institution, are we not effectively in a one party state? It is very disturbing.

    Another germane issue thrown up by the National Assembly leadership election results is how viable political parties are as presently conceived as national entities. A national and essentially unitary political party appears to me to be a contradiction in a culturally federal polity like Nigeria. Nigerian political parties are over centralized.  Yes, an alliance of at least three or four regions is necessary to win a national election in Nigeria. That is good for national stability and cohesion. Yet, it is high time that parties are decentralized to reflect the country’s federal realities and only form temporary alliances for the purpose of winning elections.

  • Kanu scolds Mikel?

    Not many Super Eagles’ players would make the kingdom of God if the divine gate’s password is patriotism. Tales of our players’ untoward attitude to national team invitations are legendary. From late arrival to the camp and holding the country to ransome over unpaid entitlement to choosing matches that they want to play, the stories are bad.

    Nothing shocks me about the Eagles. But they may yet disappoint me – if, for instance, they refuse to collect their entitlements. And that seems unthinkable, largely because many of them are benchwarmers. Even routine things, such as helping their former Nigerian teams with cash or kits, look like tasting the forbidden fruit. Yet, their contemporaries have made it a habit to give back to the system which produced them.

    So, when Nwankwo Kanu advised John Mikel Obi to show more commitment to the national team’s assignments, I chuckled because it sounded strange. First, Kanu isn’t one to chastise his ex-mates in the media. Even in the report credited to him, he wasn’t talking directly to Mikel. But the timing was such that made newshounds celebrate it, since it was coming after the story of Mikel not picking the Eagles chief coach’s telephone calls.

    Again, I’m not sure Kanu has the moral right to scold Mikel, except he is a poor student of history. Kanu showed more commitment to national team assignments than Mikel, yet not many have forgotten how he ditched the country’s Sydney 2000 Olympic Games squad to play for Arsenal.

    Kanu couldn’t muster the courage to tell the Dream Team II coaches that he had agreed a deal with Gunners’ Arsene Wenger not to go to Sydney. He kept reassuring Nigerians that he would be there. So strong was Kanu’s promise then that he was included in the squad, yet he didn’t show up at the Olympic Games city. It is a one-off stuff but that in itself disqualifies Papilo from talking about any player who picks his European club ahead of Nigeria’s matches.

    “One thing they (players) always forget is that the Super Eagles, and by that I mean the national team, is bigger than a club side. And I think it is high time we let whoever comes in to understand the importance of wearing that National shirt,” he told SL10.ng.

    “They have to understand that whenever they do that, they are carrying the hopes and expectations of 170 million Nigerians on their shoulders, which is a very big task. We don’t ever want to come second because it is not a good mentality and that is the way we can get them to get results for us.

    “Whoever is coming in there, has to understand that wearing that National jersey is bigger than wearing your club colours. Whoever you are and wherever you are coming from, even if you play for the biggest clubs in the world because the National Team is bigger than that and there is pressure there,” he said in an apparent reference to the Mikel situation.

    Good talk Kanu. Let’s hope that those concerned will imbibe the message and turn a new leaf. Indeed, most of our big players enter top European clubs with little pedigree. Those with big feats, such as Kanu, refuse to include the clause of playing for Nigeria instead of the European clubs, if there is a clash of fixtures.

    The cheap talk most times is that these European clubs pay them bigger wages which they strive to protect. What those in this school fail to appreciate is that most of these stars emerged in the foreign scene playing for Nigeria. They are the privileged few, which doesn’t make them the best. Nigeria didn’t pick them after playing for European teams. Interestingly, other nationals, especially Africans who are big, do have such clauses inserted in the contracts which these European clubs respect.

    The other cynical school of thought that Nigeria uses and dumps such foreign-based players in their twilight stands logic on its head because most of those dropped are not playing in Europe any longer. In fact, European clubs don’t joke with players who are internationals in their countries. They have a limited quota for foreigners, hence they insist on having the best players at all times. Football is big business. It is the platform to showcase excellence, not to celebrate mediocrity. You are either good or past it. Whenever a player loses his form, he gets the chop no matter how good he was in the past.

    The problem with our players is that they don’t inform the NFF about their contracts before signing them. If they do, like others, such clauses which would address the problem of club vs country clashes would be resolved amicably. We have seen where countries and club coaches have an understanding on featuring key players in their national teams and for club assignments. It is just a telephone call away, once the deal is struck.

    But would the NFF punish Mikel for shunning the coach’s calls? It is clear that Mikel wanted to play Chelsea’s post-season matches. It would be unjustifiable if he returns to the Eagles without an apology to the coaches. Mikel dares not ignore Jose Mourinho’s call. If Mikel sees Mourinho’s missed call or hears the coach’s voice on the answering machine, he will reply immediately; that is if he doesn’t go to the manager’s house to explain why he missed the call – if Mourinho will permit such a defence.

     Flying Eagles’ banana peel

    I wonder what Nigerian coaches tell our players at half-time. Do they surrender the pep talk sessions in the dressing room to top Nigerian officials, who know nothing about the game? Or do they just urge the players on without telling them their mistakes?

    Sitting through Nigeria’s shambolic 4-2 loss to Brazil on Monday morning, one thing was clear – the team whose coach x-rayed the first half won the game in the second half. It was apparent from the moment the Brazilians scored their first goal in the fourth minute that the Flying Eagles defence would be its albatross. In fact, the defence’s left side was turned into an apian way by the Brazilians, culminating in two second half goals. Put simply, the Nigerian side wasn’t organised. It showed that our coaches didn’t study tapes of their opponents. If they did at all, they offered the wrong therapy.  Equally disappointing was the awful appraisal of the Brazilians with the way we prosecuted the second half. We lost to Brazil because our coaches went to sleep.

    A more responsible technical crew would have replaced the team’s left full back or at best get the winger on the left side to always fall back to assist the defender, anytime we lost the ball.  Goalkeeper Enaholo had an off day. His absent-mindedness gave the Brazilians very cheap goals. He ought to have been the first substitute, especially when he couldn’t hold on to the ball effectively. Forget the nonsense that wet balls forced him to concede those goals.

    Our boys played as if there was nothing at stake. They played as if they knew the result of the match. They were sluggish on-and-off the ball. They had the temerity to make short passes among themselves deep inside our penalty box. At some point in the game, I kept asking where Kelechi Iheanacho was until he was substituted.

    What happened to Iheanacho? Where was Taiwo Awoniyi? What was the coaches’ strategy to effectively utilise their skills? Are NFF technical study group members in New Zealand?

    The Flying Eagles struggled through the first 45 minutes. They did better in the second half, although much of it had to do with the players’ fighting spirit. At the World Cup level, talents alone don’t win matches. Strategies do. The coaches must be prepared to adopt strategies which should change as the game rolls through its course. Football is a game of wits and it is the team with best thinking coach that wins. Luck only comes in when the game is on its seams. And it doesn’t come often.

     Who better than Sir Alex Ferguson?

    He needs no introduction. He is easily the most successful manager in England even though a Scot. He made Manchester United FC of England a global brand.

    This column stumbled on this revealing detail in the “Times” of London; it is, perhaps, meant to teach young managers how to build a successful team. Of course, no other manager than Sir Alex Ferguson has such tactical savvy to share with the younger ones. Enjoy Ferguson’s lesson.

    Eight Rules for running a football team by Alex Ferguson

    When Ferguson became Manager of United in 1986 the team hadn’t won the league in 20 years. By the time he retired in 2013, they had won 13 titles.

    Rules:

    1. Start with the foundation. Bring in young players and build a youth system that will sustain the club for years rather than signing veterans for short-term success.

    2. Dare to rebuild your team. Don’t be afraid of being fired, make decisions based on what the team will look like in four years.

    3. Set high standards and hold everyone to them.

    4. Never, ever cede control. Get rid of an employee if he’s creating discord, even if he is the best player in the world. Don’t worry about whether employees like you.

    5. Match the message to the moment. When to criticise players and encourage players depends on the context of the situation.

    6. Prepare to win. If you are down 2-1, you might as well put on an extra offensive player and lose 3-1 rather than play conservatively and lose 2-1 anyway.

    7. Rely on the power of observation. Delegate managing practices to assistant coaches so you can simply watch and observe each player.

    8. Never stop adapting. I believe that you control change by accepting it.

     

     

  • Buhari, globalisation and regionalism

    The  fact  that the first official  visit of Nigeria’s  new president was to neighboring Niger Republic and  Chad generated  the   topic  of today. We  will  look at this  topic in the context of the anti – corruption reputation that President  Muhammadu  Buhari brings  to his high  office and  the pointed contents  of  his Inaugural  speech that referred to our cherished ancestors as Nigerians as well as to  the  laudable  achievements of Nigeria’s  first  set  of  political  leaders  at  Independence  in 1960. These  issues hook into the ongoing corruption scandal at FIFA leading to the election and resignation  of FIFA ‘s  President  Sepp  Blatter  and  the denial  by   S Africa that  it paid a  $ 10m  bribe  to  FIFA  to  host  the 2010  World  Cup  in that nation.

    It  is important  and  necessary  to read  meanings and  draw  inferences  and  insinuations on the actions and  inactions  of new leaders as they  assume office and  claim  power especially  after  winning elections and  President   Muhammadu  Buhari who  won Nigeria’s  much  anticipated 2015  presidential  elections   cannot  be an  exception. Events  that happened  globally  and locally at his emergence  as  Nigeria’s  new  president   cast  a shadow on what to expect as his reaction to them, in  line with his perceived orientation and track  record  as well as the  expectations of  the electorate  that put  him  in power.

    It  is our contention here that the visits to  Niger and Chad showed  clearly the importance  that the new president attaches to the issue  of security and  Boko Haram  as this is the area  of  Nigeria bordering the two nations and  this  is where Boko  Haram has  been operating with  impunity  for  some time. The  fact that the Nigerian president has directed the  military to move its operational  headquarters to Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state and the nagging target of Boko Haram’s incessant bomb blasts  again showed the  concern  of the new president as well as the direction of Nigeria’s  foreign policy on regional  security in the global  fight against terrorism generally and Boko  Haram in particular.

    Given  the new president’s  antecedents  and military background this must  have been a carefully  calculated,  orchestrated move  and military strategy involving  near  humiliating  albeit pragmatic  considerations. The  saying that if the mountain does not move to Muhammed, then Muhammed  must move to the mountain could very well  have been  applied for this visit and  it could not have  been an easy decision to pay  the two visits so  quickly. This  is because the Nigerian  visitor  and   president  was a general in the Nigerian army  that  of recent  made the armies  of the two neighboring  nations shake and quaver at the mere mention of its name, not to talk  of its approach in the entire Sahel  bordering the Sahara desert  or even the entire  ECOWAS  region. That  reputation of the invincibility of the Nigerian  army during his time must  have weighed heavily  on the mind of the Nigerian president as  he contemplated going to Chad  and  Niger for help on Boko  Haram but  he swallowed his pride,  ate the humble pie and allowed  regionalism  to overshadow  nationalism in  the pursuit  of both national  and regional  security.  That  surely  is a step in the right  direction.

    While  one  may  describe  the visit as a pragmatic  and realistic  approach one  should  also look at the way the same president used nationalism to garner  support  for his crusade against  the many  ills he must  confront  successfully and as soon  as possible if he is not to lose his honeymoon with Nigerians in the shortest possible time. While  acknowledging that he knew where  the shoe pinched Nigerians  in his Inaugural  speech especially  on lack  of electricity, fuel  scarcity, youth  unemployment, and insecurity, the president reminded  Nigerians that they were  offsprings of great rulers who ruled empires that the Europeans carved out into the present African  nations. He  recalled  our great leaders at Independence and literally  challenged that if those leaders  could lead that well  in their time there is no reason why Nigerians should lose  confidence that all will be well  during his tenure. To  me that is using our history and pedigree positively to galvanise Nigerians into a type of positive nationalism that Nigeria as a nation expects every  Nigerian  to  do  his duty.  That   again to me is the rationale for his quoting Shakespeare’s  Julius Caesar  that there  is a tide  in the affairs of men. To that I add another Shakespearean injunction  this time  from  Henry  the  Fifth  on the eve  of the Battle  at  Agincourt where the English  troops faced overwhelming odds as they were outnumbered  by the French  but yet were able  to achieve  a famous and historical  victory. Henry  the Fifth rallied  his troops by saying that  ‘when  the blast  of war blows  in our ears then  imitate  the action  of the tiger’. He  urged his troops  on by saying –‘Now  attest that those whom  ye called  fathers did  beget you’.  ‘Be copy  now  to men of lesser blood  and teach them  how  to war.‘  What  I am saying in  essence  is that Buhari’s Inaugural speech  was a call to arms for all Nigerians to play their part in helping him  to  confront the cancers of unemployment, power failure and fuel scarcity by playing their part as bona fide and well bred Nigerians with an illustrious past  and  history –just  like  Henry the fifth did and rallied  his troops to victory even when vastly  outnumbered  by the French  army at the Battle of  Agincourt  ages  ago.

    However  in  the regionalism or  regional diplomacy   that the new Nigerian  president has embarked on,  he must  be prepared for  meeting  a new  French interest different from the one that the English defeated at  Agincourt. In  fact the scenario is different  nowadays  in the way  the British and the French are reacting  to the Boko  Haram terror  in our midst or terrorism in  Africa  generally. While  France has been active militarily  in Africa  driving out   the Tuaregs  and saving the sovereignty  of  Mali  and  having military bases in Chad and Niger,  the  British  have  been luke warm in helping Nigeria on  Boko  Haram. In  fact  the rise of negative nationalism and xenophobia  in Europe  has rubbed  off on Britain and that explains why David  Cameron had to stay at home to campaign and that has paid off  in the victory of the Tories in the May general  elections in Britain. The  brutal truth  however  is that  France  has stood  by its former  colonies in providing military support against Islamist  terrorism  generally in  Africa while Britain  has  diplomatically  looked  the other way because  it feared a political  backlash  at  home where it is crippled  by the policy of multiculturalism which  does  not allow its leaders to  play a leading role as before in world  politics today. Which, considering Britain’s  diplomatic  and  military  pedigree,  is a  great shame  indeed.

    Lastly the eventual  resignation of FIFA’s President  Sepp  Blatter after his earlier  controversial election as  Fifa’s  president exemplify  the  inherent nature and  qualities  of today’s  topic. President  Buhari has a no nonsense, zero tolerance  reputation  for corruption  and  Nigeria is a member nation  of FIFA, which  is a global  organization enjoying the goodwill of soccer which is the most popular sport seen all over the world,  thanks  to the emergence  of   globalization and  the breakdown  of trade and national barriers  through communication  and  information technology. But  Fifa  under Blatter presents a unique  case of using multiple and organized nationalism in one  body to  thwart  the efforts of those involved in the global  effort to eradicate  the cancer  of  corruption  in society. At  FIFA  according  to the US  investigators officials take bribes  to enable FIFA stage  its  competitions in some nations. If  that is the case that should stop. The  fact  that FIFA  under Blatter has  done a lot for sports  development in African  and Asian  member  nations does  not make corruption  right at  Fifa. Indeed  it turns FIFA  into  a type of modern day  robber baron or Robin  Hood. Thievery or  robbing the rich to pay the poor has never been a sustainable  moral  platform  in any age  or time. It  is  certainly in order to suspect  the British  or the Americans of sour grapes in losing their World  Cup  hosting bids to Russia  and  Quatar and hoping  to use charges  of  corruption against FIFA  under Blatter to have them  back. That  too is a  form of corruption that should  be examined and condemned if found to be so. That however  does not make it right for Asian and African  nations to turn  a blind  eye  to  charges of corruption in Fifa  under  Blatter  because  of his official  magnanimity and largesse  to  the  soccer  federations  in Asia  and  Africa.

    Certainly  two  wrongs do not make a  right and the globalized  effort to contain and create zero tolerance  to corruption should be sustained and not  circumscribed because  of FIFA’s  current president’s generosity which  has feet  of clay in terms of transparency and probity. Anyway  in  Nigeria’s  case there is no need to warn  anybody as the new  president  has said that he belongs  to every  body and  belongs  nobody and his  reputation on zero tolerance on corruption has preceded him into office and  Nigeria  is a member  of FIFA.  A  word  is  surely  enough for the wise.

  • Ambode: Demystifying governance in Lagos

    Ambode: Demystifying governance in Lagos

    Watching him intently from a respectable distance at the venue of his parley with media executives this week, I could not but feel that a change had come over the new Governor of Lagos State, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode. There is something tangible, yet ineffable about power. Power can have a transcendental quality. It can also endow its new votary with a transformational aura.

    Sometimes it is a new found air of hubris. Power is mistaken as substituting for superior knowledge. The charisma it exudes intoxicates. The inevitable orchestra of the ever present army of sycophants distorts mental perception and affects the quality of judgement. But to the deep, philosophical and introspective mind, the attainment of power can also be profoundly humbling.

    It was this deepened sense of humility and modesty borne out of a new sense of heightened responsibility that I saw or sensed in the face, demeanour, carriage and candour of Ambode. Particularly striking was the amity and chemistry among the governor, his deputy, Dr (Mrs) Idiat Oluranti Adebule and the Secretary to the Government, Mr Tunji Bello, himself a veteran journalist, within such a short time. This is not to leave out the linguistic felicity and relational fluidity of the new Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Mr Habib Haruna, both with his boss and the government team as well as his media constituency where he has built solid support and fraternity over the years.

    From my observatory, it appears that Mr Ambode does not intend to be just a boss. He desires to be a team leader. He described himself as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Lagos as an on-going business concern. Of course, as we all know, the best CEOs are not slave drivers but team leaders.  Although he did not say so, he came across as someone who, through his varied and rich experience over the years has cultivated the habits and attitudes of a servant leader. He does not want to strike the pose of a giant among intellectual and psychological Lilliputians – the leader who revels in and basks in all the glory of successes while others take the blame for failure and lapses.  He suffers from no inferiority complex to necessitate the adoption of such a supercilious posture.

    It struck me that right from his inaugural speech on being sworn in as governor, Mr Ambode has shown a deep sense of gratitude both to those who campaigned for or voted for or even against him. As he spoke to us that evening, he even found the graciousness to thank his main opponent, the highly regarded Mr Jimi Agbaje of the PDP for joining him in achieving a paradigm shift in the tone and tenor of campaigns in the state. Yes, there were a number of inevitable heated moments generated largely by overzealous supporters. Yet, the 2015 governorship campaigns in Lagos State focussed more on issues and were largely devoid of insults and mudslinging.

    As the questions rained down hard and fast as expected in a gathering of journalists, Mr Ambode demonstrated that he is in tip top shape mentally and psychologically.  The questions ranged from the proposed fourth mainland bridge, problems with the Lekki-Epe Expressway, the Apapa traffic gridlock, massive youth employment, decrepit inner city roads, the state’s humongous debt profile and much more. Ambode did not strike the pose of a magician with solutions to all problems. He promised an inclusive government in which all stakeholders would jointly contribute to finding solutions to the intractable problems of Lagos as Africa’s emergent model mega city.  Is this stance an abdication of leadership? Most certainly, no; it is rather the all-knowing ‘strongman’ perception and practice of leadership in Africa that has been the major cause of the continent’s stagnation in virtually all spheres.

    Mr Ambode anchors the key goals of his administration on two principal pillars: Making life simpler for the people and making life happier for the people. This is without doubt informed by the timeless utilitarian values of the necessity of government pursuing the greatest happiness of the greatest number of the people. Towards these goals, the new governor has already effected some institutional changes. These include establishing a new Ministry of Wealth Creation and Employment Generation while eliminating the extant Ministry of Rural Development and devolving its responsibilities to other relevant agencies of government. Similarly, he has upgraded the Office of Civic Engagement in the office of the governor to more fully tap the potentials of civil society in governance while also up-scaling the Office of Global Investment, which will now be a key responsibility of the Office of the Deputy Governor. The objective, clearly, is to enhance the quality and impact of governance while reducing the associated administrative costs.

    It is equally instructive that within the very short period since being sworn-in, Governor Ambode has met with key publics including civil servants, members of the Lagos State Traffic Management Agency (LASTMA) as well as the staff of the Kick Against Indiscipline (KAI). The administration’s aim is thus not just structural administrative adjustments to elevate the quality of governance but also attitudinal re-orientation of public officers for more positive engagement with the populace. It was indeed in this spirit that the engagement with the media was organised. Stressing the constitutional oversight role of the media, Mr Ambode described the press as the ‘control valve’, which has a responsibility of speaking truth to power and pointing out where government is going wrong.

    Mr Ambode has been in the business of serving the public for at least 27 years of an eventful professional life. He comes better prepared than anybody in recent memory to steer the affairs of Lagos to new heights. Yet, in his inaugural address, Ambode paid fulsome tribute to his predecessors such as Brigadier Mobolaji Johnson, whose historic mission was to lay the foundation of the new state, Alhaji Lateef Jakande, the first civilian governor of Lagos State, who opened new vistas in the development of the state, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who drew up and planted the seeds of the resurrection of Lagos from the ruins of years of military depredation as well as Mr Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN), the ‘skilled mechanic’ who tied the nuts and bolts necessary towards actualizing Tinubu’s grand vision for Lagos State. Governor Ambode obviously realizes that he stands on the shoulders of giants in his bold bid to expand the frontiers of human possibilities in Nigeria’s Centre of Excellence and commercial nerve centre.

    During his campaigns, Mr Ambode consistently pledged to return governance in Lagos to the people. As someone who began his public service career at the local government level and rose to the peak of the Local Government Service, he certainly knew what he was talking about. As Mwalimu Julius Nyerere once said, it is only a given people that can develop themselves. Development cannot be imposed on people by an all knowing monarch from the top. Development is nothing if it is not self- development.

    Here then lies the challenge for Mr Ambode as the next governor of Lagos State. It is to return governance to the people and make them the be-all and end-all of development. It is to make the people take control and be the prime drivers of the development process through effective, functional, productive, efficient and accountable Local Government Councils. This calls for nothing short of a revolutionary devolution of governance from ‘super star’ imperial governors to the grassroots governments at the local level in accordance with the spirit of developmental federalism. This surely is Ambode’s historic mission. His utterances and body language that evening demonstrated that he understands this.

  • Is GEJ solely to blame?

    Is GEJ solely to blame?

    Yesterday must been one of the lowest, loneliest and most haunting days for former President Goodluck Jonathan.  He had the not too pleasant duty of handing over power to his democratically elected successor, President Muhammadu Buhari. Only God almighty must have known went through his mind as Dr Jonathan made his final exit from the Aso Rock presidential villa, the luxurious abode that had been his residence for the past six years. Could he wish he had done more things differently? Did he think he should have chosen his inner circle of friends with greater care and circumspection? For a man who rode to power on the crest of a pan –Nigerian sympathy, the lonely trip back to his native Otuoke must have been not a lit bit painful.

    This column will not join those who have vehemently excoriated and criticised Dr Jonathan for the excesses of impunity, disrespect for the law and sheer mediocrity as well as monumental corruption that characterised his administration and was largely responsible for the resounding trouncing of the PDP at the last general elections. I think it would be uncharitable to hit a man when he is already down.

    Yes, under the presidential system of government, the buck stops at the presidency’s table. His office and its phenomenal powers constitute the centre of gravity around which government revolves. Where the President is weak, vacillating, lacking attention to detail and deficient in stellar intellect, the government will tend to drift and the society will inevitably descend to the Hobbesian state of nature where life is nasty, brutish, solitary and short. The point here is that Dr Jonathan’s lacklustre approach to governance, his tendency for dilatoriness resulted in a paralysis of will in his administration that gave an assortment of criminals – Boko Haram jihadists, armed robbers, kidnappers, ritual killers etc. a field day to operate with impunity as if the Nigerian state had suddenly disappeared.

    However, it will be unfair and unrealistic to blame solely Goodluck Jonathan for the myriad of ills that led to his ignominious defeat in the March 28 election. Yes, the framers of the Nigerian constitution deliberately designed the Nigerian presidency to be all powerful and totally symbolic and representative of the country’s authority. One of the reasons for this was to ensure the emergence of a President who enjoys a national mandate and is thus is a cohesive, uniting force in the nation.  This was meant to correct perceived lapses in the First Republic, where the Prime Minster only had the mandate of his immediate constituency although he emerged as Prime Minister on the basis of is being the leader of the party with a majority of seats in parliament.

    Now, the big question is this: The framers of the constitution gave the Nigerian presidency immense powers but they also hemmed in that powerful institution with a number of checks and balances obviously aware of Lord Acton’s famous dictum that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Among the formal and non –formal checks on the uses and abuses of presidential power were a vibrant, vigilant civil society, a vigorous media speaking truth to power, a powerful National Assembly and a judiciary with unblemished moral integrity. In the absence of any of these countervailing forces, anybody who occupies the Nigerian presidency, no matter how well intentioned, will end up being power drunk and an utter stooge in the hands of expert manipulators of the system.

    In the run up to the last general elections, Dr Jonathan was likened in several newspaper adverts and commercials to such world-historic leaders as Barack Obama, Nelson Mandela Chairman Mao or George Washington. It would have been understandable if these media outfits had collected the adverts, benefited from the abundant revenue but remained firmly committed in their advertorials and opinion pages to the truth. Unfortunately, in the print and electronic media prior to the elections, truth became indistinguishable from falsehood. Now, if the media fails to rise above clannish, ethno-regional as well as pecuniary considerations, how can anyone in good conscience place all responsibility for the country current malaise solely at the footsteps of Dr Jonathan?

    The same argument  can be made as regards the National Assembly, which most times in playing its oversight role only engaged in elaborate grandstanding in order to feather its own nest without caring a hoot about the public good.  Perhaps the only saving grace we have had in this disposition is the judiciary which, in spite of its own fair share of bad eggs, has tried to interpret the laws fairly and dispassionately as well as adjudicate issues between parties without fear or favour.

    My fear is that if the powers of of the Nigerian presidency are not severely curtailed it has the tendency to turn every occupant of that office into a monster. Let us take Goodluck Jonathan. When he told us most humbly before the 2011 election, that he had no shoes as a child, millions believed him. They saw him as belonging to a background they could associate with – poverty stricken and modest. They were all too willing to cast their votes for one of their kind believing that if Jonathan could achieve the feat, their own children could also in future.

    Jonathan must also have spoken from the heart when he once declared that he would not like to rule as Nebuchadnezzar or a Pharaoh.  He would not like to be identified with any of the tyrants of the past. Again, his seeming humility and modesty connected with millions of his countrymen and women. In the final analysis, many would contend that GEJ ended up in many ways worse than Nebuchadnezzar or Pharaoh. They refer to his infamous intervention in the Nigerian Governors’ Forum internal affairs that ended up in breaking the body into factions.

    Another point was his refusal to reinstate the former Justice of the Court of Appeal, Justice Ayo Salami, even on the recommendation of the Nigerian Judicial Council (NJC), which found him guilty of no offences. Until Jonathan’s final day in office, he continued to retain Mr Abba Moro in office despite the tardiness of his Ministry in conducting aptitude tests for applicants for jobs in the National Immigration Service (NIS) at which thousands of applicants cramped into stadia across the country were either killed or wounded. Up till now, no account has been given of the over N1000 each collected from aspirants in what has turned out to be an expensive fraud.

    Perhaps the greatest culprits in the utter failure that the GEJ administration became, was the civil society. A civil society that played such a crucial role in helping to achieve the democracy we enjoy today simply went into coma with the attainment of civilian rule in 1999. But for he concerted efforts that forced a cabal around late President Yar’Adua  to pave way for the emergence of Dr Jonathan as President, in accordance with the constitution as well as the nationwide mass mobilisation against the 2012 fuel price hike, civil society remain practically paralysed.

    Thus, one scandal was succeeded by an even more audacious one but life continued as usual.  Twenty billion dollars was allegedly missing from the nation’s coffers.  Life continued as if did not matter. A Minister was alleged to have spent N10 billion on chartered private jets for official and unofficial engagements.  Another Minister was given a gracious farewell from the Federal Executive Council when it could no longer contain pressures for her removal for authorising the purchase of bullet proof jeeps for her use without due appropriation.

    The inordinate powers of the Nigerian presidency can transform the most well -meaning leaders into absolute monsters. It is an institution that by its sheer power, authority and influence can bring out the worst in the best of men. The change President Buhari must begin with is that of the presidency itself. Its resources, power and responsibilities must be deliberately decentralized so that the institution of presidency must become a hand maiden rather than the obstacle to development it currently is.

    I join millions of Nigerians in wishing former President Goodluck Jonathan a safe and fulfilling trip back to Otuoke. He came, he saw, but was conquered by the all too powerful Nigerian presidency.