The Nation Newspaper

Category: Saturday

  • PBAT, hunger and the fierce urgency of now (1)

    PBAT, hunger and the fierce urgency of now (1)

    It is unsurprising that perhaps the key and most urgent goal of the President Bola Tinubu administration for 2025 is to reduce the inflation rate from the current 34.6% to 15% and especially to effect a drastic cut in the existentially threatening prices of staple food items and essential drugs. The removal of the fuel subsidy as one of the administration’s main economic reform planks in May last year had led to a spiralling of pump price of fuel with associated consequences for transport costs and the escalation of prices of basic food items such as garri, yams, bread, rice, beans, vegetables, tomatoes, eggs, groundnut oil, bananas among others beyond the reach of millions of Nigerians.

    While the administration and many economic experts believe that the elimination of the fuel subsidy and the merger of the hitherto existing parallel exchange rate markets are necessary surgical economic policies which are in the long run interest of the economy, the short term effects are excruciating and President Tinubu is right in according priority to urgently easing the pains being borne by the vast majority of Nigerians. For, as the great economist, John Keynes, famously observed, in the long run we are all dead.

    Understandably, elements of the opposition, most of whom are yet to come to terms with the outcome of the 2023 Presidential election, the most bitter in our political history, blame Tinubu’s policies for the cost of living hardships. They have even dubbed the President as ‘T-Pain’ depicting one who takes sadistic pleasure in inflicting agony on others. It does not matter to them that all the major candidates promised to remove the subsidy during the campaigns with Mr Peter Obi of the Labour Party emphatically asserting on national television that he would do so “on day one”.

    Those who heap all the blame for our current economic travails on the Tinubu administration are also unconvinced that the economic challenges we confront today, the country’s continued debilitating romance with poverty, backwardness and underdevelopment, are inevitable fallouts of the persistent dysfunctional policies of successive post-independence administrations that have kept the economy disarticulated, dependent, stunted and unproductive. But for short periods such as the mid 1970s to early 1980s when the country experienced the so-called oil boom or the early 1990s during the windfall from oil revenues as a result of the gulf war, for instance, the majority of Nigerians have lived in penury and hardship despite the country’s abundant resource endowment.

    It is however in the nature of politics that if the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) had been in opposition, it would most likely have also put whatever government was in power on the defensive in a similar manner. Rather than listen to ‘stories’ from the administration, most people want to see the impact of concrete policies that ameliorate their materially enervating conditions. Hence, PBAT’s avowal in his New Year message that “In 2025, our government is committed to lower these costs by boosting food production and promoting local manufacturing of essential drugs and other medical supplies”.

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    Indeed, as far back as June last year while speaking as a special guest at the 142nd meeting of the National Economic Council (NEC) in Abuja, in an indication of the fierce urgency his administration attached to the hunger question, the President called on governors to embark on massive food production in response to rapidly rising food prices. Since state governments control the land, he asked the governors to consult on how to achieve food affordability and revert to him within seven days. In his words, “Time is humanity’s most precious asset. You can never have enough of it. It is getting late. We must produce the food our people eat and it will require coordination and intentionality between members of the NEC”.

    It was obviously in recognition of the need to urgently bring down food prices that the administration announced the waiver of import duty as well as zero  per cent Value Added Tax (VAT) on basic food items, a policy which was supposed to last between July and December last year. The food items covered by this policy included maize, husked brown rice, wheat, grain beans and millet. A memo from the federal Ministry of Finance on the policy stipulated that “The importation of these items shall be limited to investors with  milling capacity and a verifiable backward integration programme for some of the items”.

    Surprisingly, despite the high expectations engendered by this policy announcement, it was not implemented within the specified timeline. Consequently, the phenomenon of food inflation worsened. A 50kg bag of rice, for instance, that cost about N30,000 before the fuel subsidy removal, rose to N100,000. The Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, and at least 19 other states reportedly recorded food inflation rates above 40 per cent in 2024 while the country’s food inflation soared to 42.29 per cent by November last year.

    By December last year, the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the Organized Private Sector (OPS) decried the inexplicable non-implementation of this policy, which would have gone a long way to cushion hardships associated with unaffordable food costs. Actualizing this duty waiver policy on essential food items at least in the first quarter of this year will be imperative to achieving the goal of significant reduction in food prices. The increase in allocation to agriculture from N362.94 billion in 2024 to N825.6 billion in the 2025 budget illustrates the seriousness accorded the sector by the administration. If the equally substantial enhancement of the allocation to security in this year’s budget helps to consolidate on current substantial gains in safety of lives and property across the country, this will also positively impact food productivity.

    PBAT no doubt recognizes that no meaningful progress can be made towards achieving higher food production and consequent lower prices without the active involvement and participation of the state governments and local government councils. This must have informed his attendance at the NEC meeting referred to earlier to mobilize the support of the governors. Shortly after that interaction between the President and the governors, the Southwest Governors Forum under the Chairmanship of the Lagos State governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, announced that the six states in the region would work in concert to massively boost food production there.

    Unfortunately,  not much has been heard or seen of this joint action plan since then although some of the states have been making impressive strides in boosting agricultural productivity. A clear forerunner in this regard is the Ekiti State governor, the unassuming, ever modest but silently achieving Mr Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji. Some of the landmarks recorded in Ekiti in agriculture under Oyebanji’s leadership include the establishment of Ekiti State Agro Marshalls to secure farmlands; clearing and ploughing of about 1000 hectares of land for 400 farmers under the tractorization subsidy scheme; disbursement of N177,937,500 for land clearing under the Youth in Agriculture Scheme; engagement of 913 youths on different crops cultivation under the Bring Back Ekiti Youth to Agriculture partnership with YSJ Farm Limited; the laying of pipes for farm irrigation at Erifun, Ado Ekiti and the completed or ongoing construction work on no less than 23 critical rural road projects linking farming communities to urban markets.

    In an interview with one of this newspaper’s columnists, Abiodun Komolafe, governor Oyebanji said, “Interestingly, we’re renovating most of Awolowo’s farm settlements in the state. It’s remarkable that Awolowo had such vision back then, and it’s our duty to build upon his legacy. Building on our existing efforts, we plan to establish six more farm settlements across Ekiti in 2025. This expansion will not only provide decent accomodations for our over 1000 employed youths in the sector but also enable them to live on-site, work efficiently and earn a decent income”.

    But there is ultimately no alternative to the six states in the Southwest coordinating their efforts to leverage on their strengths to massively mobilize and empower youths in the region to take advantage of abundant fertile land and favourable climate to engage in massive food production. And the same goes for the country’s other geopolitical zones. Incidentally, the First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, has deemonstrated, through her Renewed Hope Initiative Agricultural Support Programme, how the energies of diverse segments of the population can be harnessed and channelled towards the goal of achieving higher food productivity. One strand of her agricultural support scheme is the Identification, training and empowerment with N500,000 each of at least 20 farmers in each of the six geopolitical zones to produce, cultivate and preserve different food crops.

    There is also the Renewed Hope Initiative ‘Every Home a Garden’ competition through which women are encouraged to plant a garden at home with the aim of ensuring the availability of food in every home. The initiative’s slogan is “#FoodOnEveryTable” and the winner goes home with N20 million. The Renewed Hope is partnering with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources to identify, train and empower young farmers and 75% of these will be female and 25% male farmers. There is also the Renewed Hope tant Initiative Food Outreach through which food staples such as rice, beans, spaghetti, garri among others are distributed to widows, people with disabilities, special schools and other vulnerable groups across the country.

    The drive to produce food massively and thus banish hunger in Nigeria must be prosecuted as an all out war in which failure or defeat is not an option. The federal government, sub national units, schools, non-governmental organizations, religious bodies, military and para military organizations including the National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) can be mobilized to achieve this objective within specified timelines. The increased Naira revenues accruing to state and Local government councils in the wake of the removal of fuel subsidy should be utilized to strengthen agricultural productivity. True, the Tinubu administration has sustained and improved on the attainments of the preceding President Muhammadu Buhari administration in diversifying the economy and enhancing agricultural performance.

    Despite the persistence of degrees of insecurity in some conflict-afflicted parts of the country, experts report a measure of improvement in crop harvests in 2024. Yet, transportation of perishable food items from areas of production to market destinations remains a logistical nightmare with the resultant large scale food spoilage. The problem with Nigeria is certainly not food scarcity but how to get agricultural produce to designated markets on time and at affordable costs.

    The Nation newspaper columnist, Sanya Oni, makes a pertinent point in this regard when he notes that “the other lacuna that has remained somewhat intractable is a reliable and efficient system of logistics on which  our hordes of farmers can count on… Here’s my candid advice on the matter: our old, disused, rail network might seem obsolete for moving people in this day and age; there  can be no denying its utility in moving cattle and produce particularly in the circumstances that the country has found itself. With good thinking, right investment and proper management, Nigerians might yet discover the gold on those old tracks”. This makes eminent sense to me and I hope the Ministers of Agriculture and Transportation can explore the possibilities of this suggestion.

  • Chelle, e don shelle!

    Chelle, e don shelle!

    I’m not joking. Nigeria sincerely needs foreigners to run our football house since it appears that is the only way the game can improve on the pitch. In fact, in the last two decades, every succeeding NFF board has been worse than its predecessors. If anybody or a group of people can toy with the recruitment of a former Mali manager for the Super Eagles, it is only fair for them to tender their resignation letters when it becomes obvious that Nigeria’s flag won’t be hoisted among the comity of nations at the 2026 World Cup.

    NFF chieftains need to be told that the game of football is part of our national assets. They are simply the vehicle used to celebrate it, not to debase it. Any bad policy introduced by the NFF to serve as the cog in the game’s progress shouldn’t be allowed to give over 170 million Nigerians heartaches. Everything comes to a halt whenever our soccer is in the doldrums. Step out from wherever you are deep into any Super Eagles game; you would be confronted with desolate streets and several sections where Nigerians, especially kids, scramble to watch the game through the windows while some others mount tree tops and high platforms to watch the matches.

    When Nigeria wins, the streets erupt into frenzy with the youth blaring the horns of their vehicles, motorcycles, and all manner of noise crackers in celebration. Need I describe how these groups walk away in pain and agony if things go awry? Hence when the NFF insults our sensibilities with tunnel vision decisions such as the Eric Chelle appointment, not a few people would ask how they arrived at the decision.

    The NFF can’t spend the last 11 months or more teasing us with the thoughts of recruiting a world-class coach only to throw up Chelle as the choice. The immediate question to ask NFF is if Chelle will be able to lead us to compete for the World Cup with the best nations at the Mundial if Nigeria qualifies. Did I hear you say, Chelle, e don shelle? How would passionate football lovers be told not to express their disappointment at the choice of Chelle simply because NFF eggheads picked him? Pray, in the event of Nigeria drawing the bigger boys at the Mundial in 2026, these jesters running the game in Abuja would throw a debate to consume Chelle, allowing the NFF to conduct another search for a world-class coach, not what they have served for us now.

    One had thought that the federation would have allowed Chelle work with qualified Nigerian coaches in the other national teams, not what they have done by shutting out our domestic league coaches from the national teams. Nigeria is the only country where her national teams’ pattern of play isn’t identical. Sit down to watch serious football countries play the game and you will see a semblance of play directly impacted by the different soccer federations’ officials. Not so with Nigeria. Our officials, sadly, only think after they have taken decisions.

    What is this diabolic justification for Eric Chelle’s appointment by reminding us that he took a huge pay cut to accept the Nigeria job, as if he didn’t apply for the job? If he did, who cares if he earned more cash coaching the Algeria club? If the NFF people knew their onions, they would spare us this club versus country payment structure? Only an insane person would see the Super Eagles and not jump at it.

    Truth be told, what did this coach achieve when he handled Mali at the last edition of AFCON? Is it because he is French? Would it shock anyone if this manager comes with another Frenchman who speaks passable English as if we don’t have Nigerians who speak eloquent French? The argument that Chelle is Malian is bunkum since his father is French while his mother is Malian.

    Indeed, likening Eric Chelle’s Nigeria appointment to what Mali offered the late Stephen Okechukwu Keshi to handle the Malians from 2008 to 2010 is treachery. Keshi’s profile reached its zenith after he qualified Togo for the 2006 World Cup which could have earned him the same job in most European countries if he wanted to enlarge his scope. Keshi was an international icon both as a player and coach.

    What Eric Chelle’s employment portends is that the NFF doesn’t regard Nigerian coaches. Otherwise, how could Nigerian coaches have laboured through the CHAN qualifiers to get the qualification ticket only for Eric Chelle and his three assistant to arrive the country tomorrow to sweep them aside? Is that how the Ibrahim Gusua-led NFF wants to develop the domestic games and its coaches? Who does that? What would be the justification for removing the two coaches Fidelis Ilechukwu and Daniel Ogunmodede outside the fact that they are Nigerians? Isn’t it time the government also recruits European technocrats to run the NFF as a business concern, and not as a platform to humiliate Nigerians craving for excellence using our national teams as a point of greatness in the world? What a pity!

    “We have come out with the policy that whoever we employ as the Super Eagles coach will also be the one to manage the affairs of the CHAN Eagles,” Gusau said in an interview.

    Who does Gusau think he is impressing with this impolite statement if home grown coaches can’t aspire to greater heights? What is the essence of developing the game at the grassroots if its products can’t find employment at higher grounds? Where is it written, my dear Gusau, that Nigeria must win the competitions that she participates in? If there was such a mandate, the NFF would have long been replaced with European technocrats.

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    Who has told Gusua and his members that drafting Chelle and his three assistant coaches to CHAN squad would guarantee Nigeria the trophy?  What would be consequences of this dastardly decision if Chelle fails?

    Would the federation not have done a great disservice to Ilechukwu and Ogunmodede? If Gusua is in a hurry to test Chelle’s tactical savvy, the NFF should arrange a number of friendly matches instead of robbing Ilechukwu and Ogunmodede to pay Chelle.

    Indeed, the National Sports Commission (NSC’s) hierarchy should appeal to Gusau to allow the two home-based coaches lead the CHAN squad through its campaign next month. Chelle can wait until after this edition to start superintending over the CHAN team. Let’s give unto Ceasar what is his. Shouldn’t it occur to the NFF to use Chelle’s employment as a basis for training and retraining of our younger coaches across the country?

    Nigeria’s first of six games left in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers is against Rwanda in Kigali on March 17. If the NFF had recruited a top-notch coach, he could easily get one or two closed door games against teams whose managers he knows. This poser raises the question of how influential Chelle is as a coach in France.  If we are not careful, the Super Eagles won’t play any friendly game before the March 17 game in Kigali against Rwanda.

    But that is if the NFF has offset the debts owed the players since 2020, we have been told. Yes, this raises the poser of how Chelle is rated as a coach in France?

  • On Father Obimma’s ultimatum to Soludo

    On Father Obimma’s ultimatum to Soludo

    In a dramatic escalation of public discourse over Anambra State’s security challenges, the state government has entered into a heated public confrontation with prominent Catholic priest Reverend Father Emmanuel Obimma, also known as “Ebube Muonso.”

    The controversy erupted after Fr. Obimma’s New Year homily, in which he issued an ultimatum to Governor Chukwuma Charles Soludo: address the mounting security crisis or resign from office. The Soludo administration instead of  responding with facts rather gave a  disproportionate response which  has sparked a heated debate about the state’s approach to public safety and governmental accountability.

    In his homily, Father Obimma, the spiritual director of Holy Ghost Adoration Ministry Uke, characterized the security situation in Anambra as “horrible” and demanded immediate action from the state government. The priest’s intervention comes amid a troubling surge in violent crimes across the state, particularly during December 2024, with Governor Soludo’s administration appearing unable to contain the situation.

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    The final month of 2024 witnessed several high-profile incidents that rattled the state’s residents. Notable cases included the kidnapping of Honourable Justice Azuka, a lawmaker representing Onitsha North 1 State Constituency, on Christmas Eve. Two days later, the community was shocked by the brutal murder of Father Tobias Okonkwo, a Catholic priest from the Diocese of Nnewi, in the Ihiala area. The crime wave continued with the kidnapping of three senior staff members from Innoson Vehicle Manufacturing Company in Nnewi, whose whereabouts remain unknown.

    “As you can see, people are dying every day and he (Governor Soludo) is not doing anything,” Father Obimma declared, pointing to the governor’s statutory role as the state’s chief security officer, with the primary agenda of security of life and property. The priest particularly criticized the allocation of security votes, questioning their effective utilization in addressing the deteriorating situation.

    The spiritual leader’s criticism extended beyond immediate security concerns, challenging Soludo’s adherence to his campaign promises, notably his pledge to transform Anambra into “Dubai.” In a pointed remark, Father Obimma stated, “This is not time for using his media warriors to blow his trumpets. Whatever is worth doing is worth doing well.”

    Rather than merely criticizing, Father Obimma proposed a collaborative approach, urging the convening of a security summit to pool ideas and resources in combating the rising insecurity in Anambra.

    The response however from Governor Soludo’s camp was swift and terse but lacking in substance. These responses appeared more focused on attacking Father Obimma’s personality than addressing the substance of his message. Even if the criticism had rattled the Soludo administration, a more measured response based on facts would have been appropriate. Labeling Obimma a hypocrite and pretender has not sat well with the public, particularly Catholics, especially given that Soludo had previously sought the priest’s blessings during his campaign, even describing him as a true man of God. The administration’s quick shift from praise to condemnation because of legitimate criticism portrays it as heavy-handed and resistant to accountability. I mean when did Soludo and his coterie of media handlers discover Obimma hypocrisy? When Soludo knelt down in the course of receiving clerical blessings while he sought to be governor, was Obimma’s hypocrisy  either veiled or latent then and only now that Obimma has taken to criticising Soludo did it dawn on him that Obimma was indeed a hypocrite?

    Soludo and his media handlers, understanding the power of the pulpit, appear rattled by Father Obimma’s criticism. Given that Anambra is a deeply religious state where clerics like Obimma are highly respected and could go on to  influence Soludo’s re-election prospects, the administration’s harsh tone is understandable, since it very much needs to discredit a critic like Obimma, though it has likely diminished their standing among Ndi Anambra.

    This is not the first time the pulpit has confronted political authority. Previous instances include Father Mbaka’s criticism of former Governor Chimaroke Nnamani in Enugu, the Catholic Church’s opposition to the late Chinwoke Mbadinuju, and Ikedi Ohakim’s confrontation with the Church, which contributed to his electoral defeat in 2011. The outcome of this current confrontation will be closely watched by Ndi Anambra and Nigerians alike.

    As this public confrontation unfolds, the fundamental issue of security in Anambra State remains unresolved. The back and forth of such an exchange has highlighted growing frustration among citizens and religious leaders with the current security situation while revealing deep divisions over how these challenges should be addressed. The escalating tension between the religious leader and state government reflects broader concerns about Anambra’s security infrastructure and the administration’s approach to criticism. We are in for some interesting  political drama.

  • Remembering Rotimi Akeredolu

    Remembering Rotimi Akeredolu

    HE fought all his life’s battles with courage. Highly principled, focused, and goal-oriented, he was also a believer in the power of ideas. Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Odunayo Akeredolu governed with patriotism and candour. Unfortunately, he could not overcome the protracted illness that slowed him down in his tasks.

    Only God decides who survives an illness. The Alpha gives life; He also takes life as He wills. It’s ironic that while his beloved wife survived cancer, a rare divine mercy, the man did not. His body succumbed to the malignancy of the disease. It was painful. But who can question the Creator?

    A year after his passage, Akeredolu, fondly called Aketi, still fills the consciousness of all those who survived him: the family, the Bar, the party, and the government. He is remembered as an activist who used the instrumentality of law and the judicial system to fight for personal and societal causes.

    The deceased governor of Ondo State is remembered for his contributions, first and foremost, to the legal profession. In politics and good governance, he also left indelible feats. As the President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), he made impressive marks and left worthy legacies. He got to the top as a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and a Life Bencher.

    Akeredolu was poles apart from politicians without a second address, the clan of those who perceive politics as an occupation of economic and social value. To him, politics was a vocation and an avenue for service to society.

    His first stint in government was during the military regime when he served as Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice in Ondo State. It was short-lived. However, as the ballot box battle shifted to the court in this dispensation, Akeredolu was among the legal colossuses who fought to restore stolen mandates across the country through the courts.

    He was not a strange face when he finally threw his hat into the ring in 2011. He was more than a new breed; he was already a household name, a legal luminary who could not be ignored, a man of great stature in the society.

    But his first political baptism showed that the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) candidate was a political novice whose huge legal knowledge and experience proved inadequate as he unsuccessfully locked horns with a more versatile, more experienced, and more fortified Dr. Olusegun Mimiko of the Peoples Democracy Party (PDP).

    Those he met on the ground in the chapter knew that the coast was not clear for ACN as Mimiko began his second-term moves. When Akeredolu showed up at his polling booth in Owo, the majority of those on the queue glowered at him, insisting that all voters must join the line as they came. The PDP hawks had planned to disgrace their rival by mobilising their members with huge amount of money.

    Although Akeredolu lost the poll to Mimiko, he never deserted the battle. He bided his time and promptly returned to the drawing board. Having learnt some lessons, he started mobilising ahead of 2016. He had his eyes on the position of the ACN National Legal Adviser, but it eluded him.

    As he warmed up for the 2016 primary, it was evident that he had lost the support of notable Southwest party leaders who had projected him as the anointed candidate four years earlier. Up came a formidable aspirant, Dr. Segun Abraham. However, as Akeredolu was destined to be governor, there was a curious split in the Abraham camp. A section started hobnobbing with another aspirant, Chief Olusola Oke (SAN). At the close of the shadow poll, Akeredolu narrowly defeated Abraham with 36 votes.

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    It was certain that Mimiko could not hand over power to the PDP candidate, the then-ruling party in Ondo, having become distressed. Gradually, the PDP governor lost steam. During the governorship election, Akeredolu fulfilled his destiny, defeating Eyitayo Jegede (SAN) of the PDP and Oke, who ran on the borrowed platform of the Labour Party (LP).

    In his first term, the governor tried to justify the confidence reposed in him by fulfilling his campaign promises.

    The next primary and actual election were tough. Having consolidated his hold on the party and the state, Akeredolu triumphed. He became a voice in the Southwest as the coordinator of the governors. He and his Ogun State counterpart, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, ran into turbulence over their positions on 2019 nominations. Accused of anti-party activities, they were literarily suspended by the Adam Oshiomhole-led National Working Committee (NWC). The suspension was later lifted though. But the camp had their pound of flesh. Oshiomhole was shoved aside as chairman and APC ran into a leadership crisis.

    Infrastructural development was Akeredolu’s priority. He also tried to defend the education and health sectors. Towards the end of his first term, a rift occurred between him and his deputy, Agboola Ajayi. It led to the parting of ways between the governor and his deputy but prepared the seat for Lucky Aiyedatiwa.

    The greatest achievement of the Akeredolu administration was security. He was the moving spirit behind the setting up of the outfit, Amotekun, across the Southwest states. Before Amotekun, herder/farmer clashes, kidnapping for ransom, ritual killings, and other forms of violence had crept into the geo-political zone. Leaning on the law and the support of the people, the governor justified the establishment of the security organisation, which became the saving grace of the region.

    In those moments of federal/regional tango, Akeredolu displayed bravery and boldness. He called the Federal Attorney-General to a duel. As tension rose and federal/regional relations were being strained, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu called for a truce. Reason later prevailed when it was agreed that rather than being a regional outfit, each of the six Houses of Assembly should pass a law that accorded legality to Amotekun. Ondo State under the leadership of Akeredolu blazed the trail.

    Akeredolu advocated for devolution, decentralisation, and restructuring to foster true federalism. He called for state police, stressing that governors had become camouflage chief security officers of their states as they lacked control over the Commissioner of Police.

    Aketi was not a typical politician. He was not hypocritical. He was also not tricky. Sometimes, he fought to get party positions for his chapter, hinging his claims on zoning, equity, and fairness. That was how Bankole Okuwajana became the National Vice Chairman (Southwest) of the party.

    Akeredolu rejected Isaacs Kekemeke as Ondo APC chairman and asked his deputy, Ade Adetimehin, to take charge. The governor also later backed the former state chairman to serve as the National Vice Chairman (Southwest).

    Akeredolu appreciated merit, excellence, and loyalty. But once trust was betrayed, there was a loss of confidence.

    He was proud of his family. For him and his beloved wife, it was a love made in heaven – without any barrier. The criterion of age compatibility was not a factor. This should be motivational to young people in love. At a time in the Southwest, in the contiguous states of Ondo and Ekiti, there was peace in the households of chief executives where their older wives served as pillars and Amazons behind the throne.

    Health is wealth. The protracted illness distracted Akeredolu from his duty. He had many plans. They ultimately became an unfinished business. The man could not directly supervise the implementation of his succession plan. As he was down with the illness, what the people outside the split political structure of Aketi could accurately recall was the praises he showered on Aiyedatiwa when he described him as a “lucky” deputy, “whose head attracts fortune” as the son of the man who could claim that “now, this world has become our own” in direct translation of the current Governor Lucky Orimisan Aiyedatiwa’s name.

    Nevertheless, Akeredolu ‘s wish for Ondo was fulfilled. He was succeeded by an APC governor who is expected to build on his legacies. He was also succeeded by a politician from Ondo South Senatorial District in the spirit of fairness. Before he passed on, he was an exponent of rotation or zoning to the South District.

    Much is expected of the successor. Akeredolu’s legacies should be protected. Aiyedatiwa has tried to make peace with his former boss’ family. He should try more, not minding the discouragement.

    He should not seek vendetta. He should unite the APC chapter. He should be fair to all.

    The best honour to the memory of the departed leader is for the political class in Ondo to be forthright and sensitive to public yearnings. The surviving associates and disciples should also demonstrate courage, shun corruption, serve with diligence, candour, and honour, and realise that in the final analysis, power is transient and no condition is permanent.

  • Kalu, Emir Sanusi II, Agary, Abaribe, others raise a voice…

    Kalu, Emir Sanusi II, Agary, Abaribe, others raise a voice…

    As the tumultuous year 2024 clock ticks to a close, Nigerians home and abroad like the global community eagerly await the dawn of 2025. As with all New Years, there are expectations, regrets, anticipations, dreams, plans and even the often laughable ’New Year Resolutions’ some of which fade away before the end of the first quarter of the year. But humans are born optimists. Pregnancies occur and there is growth and expectations of development. The child is born and there is hope of the expected milestones of growth both mentally and physically.

    So when a child is born and does not develop according to the known milestones especially the motor and cognitive stages, naturally the parents and extended family begin to ask questions and plans are made to assist the child lead a near normal life. These days, fatalism that fuels superstition has given room to realistic steps to assist children with physical or learning challenges to develop and maximize their potentials no matter how imperfect. The bottomline however is that the adults in the societal room make efforts to help the child with development challenges.

    This narrative is a mere illustrative sample of the developmental challenges and how the human community tries to fill the gap. At regional and national levels, Nigeria appears like the child whose development is challenged and the people that pride themselves as the greatest black people on earth have seemingly been oscillating between near development and a situation of total socio-economic chaos resulting in mass poverty and  gaining the country the notoriety of the country with the largest number of out-of-school children, the poverty capital of the world, the country with one of the highest number of maternal and child mortality and numerous other development challenges that have impacted the standard of living and life expectancy.

    Since 1999 and with the return to civilian democracy in the country, each administration has encountered daunting challenges that seem to worsen with each transition to a new government. The socio-economic problems in the country have in a way stunted the growth of a 64 year old independent Nigeria. But Nigeria has not always been in dire development straits. The descent to anomie started with the post-independent power struggle of which the military took a huge advantage of. Coups and counter coups, a three year war, and political instability almost pushed the country off the edge.

    The return to civilian democracy in 1999 has signaled some development but it is still not uhuru. The country is still tethering and the socio-economic problems seem to be escalating by the day. There has been a tendency for the blame game between the leaders and the led. The Bottomline line is that both sides of the aisle are casualties of systemic dysfunction.

    Nkata Ndi Inyom Igbo Foundation, a socio-cultural group of women of Igbo ancestry or by marriage has since its birthing in 2020 during the COVID-19 lockdown period been concerned about the slow development not just of the region but of the whole country. The group, coming from a background of traditional dual governance of both men and women decided to take the lead  by doing something. The group has a Board of Advisers made up of only men working progressively with an all female Board of Trustees giving vent to the motto of the foundation which is “Partnering for Development”.

    The vision of the group is to steer both regional and national conversations that could accelerate development. The first word Nkata in Igbo language means conversation. The group believes that the powerful tool of conversation, dialogue or effective communication can be employed to unknot the development crisis that has been affecting the country. They have in the last three years been deeply involved in strategic communication using all necessary tools to address issues of development in the country.

    For this year’s conference, the group brought together informed and influential Nigerians to Abuja to discuss the theme, “Driving Transformation Through Value Re-Orientation, Inclusive Leadership and Sustainability”.

    This theme was chosen after very wide consultations. The bane of Nigeria’s developmental problems is due to a multiplicity of issues. However, at the root of the problems is the loss of core values that held communities together. The values that do not by any means produce Saints but at least helped the society to uphold certain core values that helped in maintaining a more progressive and cohesive society. The values of integrity, honesty, diligence, respect and other values seem to be on the decline. Ironically, most people assume that the leaderships over the years are to blame but aren’t the leadership taken from the people?

    Again, inclusive leadership has been an issue in the democratic space. Civil Rights and Gender advocates have been worried that the Nigerian political space is suffused with masculine energy in that more than 90% of political offices are occupied by men in all tiers of government. What this means is that many qualified women do not get the much desired opportunpartake in leadership. Global institutions like the United Nations, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) all have research findings that show that countries with less opportunities for women are always lagging behind developmentally.

    Ironically in Nigeria, statistics have shown that women excel in those areas where merit and capacity are the criteria. The informal sector that contributes a lot to the GDP has mainly women operators. Many women are at the helm of many financial institutions as chairmen and CEOs. In the academia, many women are in very high positions just as many perform well in sports, entertainment and music. It therefore beggars belief that when it comes to political inclusion, very few women are allowed to bring their competence and learning to contribute to national development.

    The near exclusion of women, the youths and those living with disabilities in the democratic process contributes to the lack of development in the country. No bird flies successfully with one wing. This is exactly the reality of the Nigerian situation. The human capital is neither fully developed nor utilized for the good of the country. So the conversation at the conference was robustly about three key points, value-reorientation, inclusive leadership and sustainability.

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    The varied Speakers at the conference from the different sectors of the Nigerian society spoke brilliantly about the need for an introspection by the Nigerian society. National development is never sourced out. The citizens must choose what path they want to development. The political structure must be inclusive and equitable. The present political exclusion cannot birth a developed nation. The political party structure must change. Competence and merit must be the criteria for leadership selection.

    According to Rt. Hon. Benjamin Kalu, Deputy Soeaker Nigerian House of Representativesthe 10th assembly who Chaired the Conference, the house would be willing to revisit the gender equity bills and make other laws that would facilitate inclusivity to enhance development. In his speech, he agreed that national development cannot be achieved without women participation given the fact that women are natural builders.

    Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, spoke of what he called “the uncomfortable truth”. According to him, while we all acknowledge the loss of values especially amongst his Igbo ethnic group, he believes that women have a role to play in raising their children with admirable values that ennoble. He said the people must go back to the values of integrity, diligence and honesty if any changes must happen to propel development. Acquitting wealth by any means is not a cultural attitude. Wealth in Igbo culture always comes from traceable business

    According to the Emir of Kano, HRH Lamido Sanusi II who was Royal Father of the Day, investing in women must be a priority and a national emergency because women hold the key to development. He believes that the idea of brandishing statistics of, maternal and child mortality, malnurished children, out of school children, child brides, female IDPs is defeatist. The governments must try to be proactive right from the cradle because an educated woman holds the key to the prevention of a lot of the socio-economic problems that affect the country. According to the Emir, investment in women development is key to national growth given the great role they play in the lives of their children.

    The Emir recalled the role he played as Central Bank governor in making sure more qualified women were appointed into many financial institutions and today more women are directors not just at the CBN but they are also CEOs of many banks. He went further to advise Nigerians about values that matter. He believes the people must distinguish between what and who they are. In his view, what you are might be a position but who you are is the value you bring to the people through what you are.

    The former First Lady of Ekiti state, Erelu Adebisi Adeleye-Fayemi a renowned civil and gender rights advocate reiterated her call for the protection and empowerment of the girl child or woman by ensuring they are educated, certain harmful cultural practice eradicated because rather than enhance development, those harmful cultural practices negatively affect not just the woman but the society at large. In her view, every woman who is denied a seat at the table, every girl who is denied education, every woman under the burden of domestic violence takes the country down the ladder of underdevelopment.

    Timi Koripami-Agary (PhD), a retired permanent Secretary and activist often called Mama Amnesty for her very effective role in the amnesty programme in the Niger Delta was the Mother of the Day at the conference. As a very renowned mediator on Labour, gender and conflict issues she maintains that development cannot happen like magic. She  insists that the country must be conscious of the value of women and equity to development. It would be delusional to assume that development can come without peace and gender justice rooted on the justice system that guarantees equity for all.

    The conversation as is being advocated by the Nkata group should be embraced by Nigerians from all regions because of the interdependence of all the regions. Bringing the conference to Abuja and the coalition of Nigerians from almost all tribes in the country was a good way to prepare the people for the coming year. There is no alternative to the national conversation that Nkata Ndi Inyom Igbo Foundation has initiated. This is the first part of what happened at the Abuja Conference.

    • The dialogue continues…
  • Thoughts and non thoughts of OBJ

    Thoughts and non thoughts of OBJ

    So pungent, incisive, convincing and irrefutable have been the several reactions to former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s recent address at Yale University in the United States in which he not only excoriated the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration but, characteristically, held his own leadership record up as the ideal to follow, that there is no need to reiterate the well known arguments here. Sermonizing endlessly on the ills plaguing Nigeria and magisterially pronouncing solutions to them has been the routine pastime of the former military head of state and then elected President for two terms despite the fact that he did not avail himself of his latter day wisdom when he had the opportunity to steer the affairs of Nigeria and shape the destiny of the nation.

    The truth of the matter is that the Owu Chief, perhaps more than any other past leader, cannot escape culpability for the state of Nigeria today – her continued underdevelopment and poverty despite an abundance of natural, mineral and relatively qualitative Human Resources. Had he seized the opportunities placed on his laps seemingly on a golden platter to steer Nigeria’s ship of State particularly between 1999 and 2007 to deepen the country’s federal practice, diversify the economy, lay the foundation for the modernization and expansion of key infrastructure, revamp the country’s security architecture, institutionalize electoral integrity through the conduct of credible polls and pay more than lip service to the fight against corruption, the trajectory of the country’s socioeconomic and political development would be far different from what it is today.

    In his book, ‘Not My Will’, a personal memoir of his years in power as military Head of State between 1976 and 1979, Obasanjo, with characteristic lack of charity, derided the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo asserting that what the legendary politician and statesman had sought in futility all his life, which was to be elected President of Nigeria, he (Obasanjo) had attained at a relatively young age. Yet, he did not address his mind to the critical issue of whether or not he had maximally utilize this opportunity to pursue and promote the best interest of Nigeria and her accelerated developmental transformation. His military regime’s political transition programme ushered in a civilian dispensation in 1979 that was one of the most venal, corrupt and inept leading to the collapse of the Second Republic and the return of military rule within four years. Given another opportunity to redeem himself as elected President of Nigeria from 1999 to 2007, Obasanjo demonstrated that he had learnt nothing from his past foray in power.

    In his address at an event to honour the memory of the great novelist and intellectual, Chinua Achebe, at Yale University, Obasanjo’s unsparing criticism descended heavily on the incumbent Tinubu administration in the same way that he had subjected every government to since his exit from power in 2007. It little occurred to him, as many analysts have pointed out, that the naturally reticent Achebe was forced to trenchantly criticize bad and lawless governance under the Obasanjo presidency and even rejected the national honour bestowed on him by the Ota farmer as a gesture of symbolic protest.

    Some have attributed the former President’s relentless criticisms of successive administrations after him to a desire to be the focus of attention as well as the urge to portray his administration as the best in this dispensation if not in the post-independence history of Nigeria. Unfortunately, any such pretensions fly in the face of indisputable facts and cannot be supported by objective, serious minded analysis. It is my view that the former President’s serial critiques of Nigeria’s political economy under successive administrations and habitual indulgence in self-glorification stem from an innate lack of capacity to transcend superficiality in analysis as evidenced by the ephemerality of most of his books in which he makes magisterial pronouncements that have minimal impact on the polity because they are hardly deeply reasoned and well thought out. This is in sharp contradistinction to the immortal thoughts and works of Awolowo that still remain pertinent and relevant to Nigeria’s quest for a viable socioeconomic and political order decades after they were written.

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    For instance, Obasanjo loves to flaunt his self-proclaimed patriotism and incomparable love for Nigeria. Yet, from his conduct when he had the opportunity to preside over the country’s affairs, there was no indication that he had reflected deeply on what patriotism really means beyond mere cliches and empty sentimentality. For instance, when a 20-man delegation of the League of Northern Democrats led by a former Governor of Kano State, Ibrahim Shekarau, visited him in Abeokuta recently, the former President reiterated once again his fabled love for Nigeria. In his words, “You said I am a believer in the greatness of this country. Yes, I am. I am also an incurable optimist in this country. I am totally committed to the goodness of this country. But I believe if we look back and we want to be sincere with ourselves, we can see some of the mistakes of the past which we must not fall into again”.

    But it is no less a person than Chinua Achebe who gives us an insight into the shallowness of Obasanjo’s understanding of patriotism and love for country. On page 15 of his slim but powerful classic, ‘The Trouble with Nigeria’, Achebe writes, “In 1978 or 79 General Obasanjo paid an official visit to the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Of the academic community assembled in the Niger Room of the Continuing Education Centre and which rose respectfully to its feet on his entry, General Obasanjo made a totally unexpected demand. He asked them to recite the national pledge! A few ambiguous mumbles followed, and then stony silence. “You see,” said the General bristling with hostility, “You do not even know the National Pledge”. No doubt he saw in this failure an indictable absence of patriotism among a group he had always held with great suspicion”.

    Achebe then goes on to dilate lucidly on patriotism. His words, “Who is a patriot? He is a person who loves his country. He is not a person who says he loves his country. He is not even a person who shouts or swears or recites or sings his love for his country. He is one who cares deeply about the happiness and well-being of his country and all its people. Patriotism is an emotion of love directed by a critical intelligence. A true patriot will always demand the highest standards of his country and accept nothing but the best for and from his people. He will be outspoken in condemnation of their shortcomings without giving way to superiority, despair or cynicism. That is my idea of a patriot”. It is thus obvious that Obasanjo’s address at Yale and his several scurrilous denunciations of previous administrations both of the PDP and APC fall far short of Achebe’s thoughtful and exacting standards of patriotism.

    In the same address to the League of Northern Democrats, Obasanjo spoke on the vexed issue of Igbo presidency which is yet to be a reality in the country. According to him, “I think all of us in Nigeria have to rethink…It bleeds my heart when people say because the Igbo had carried out a secession and so an Igbo man cannot be the President of Nigeria. I say what nonsense? There is no section of Nigeria that has not planned secession? What is “Araba” in the North? The North planned to break up Nigeria…What is treasonable felony? So, who among us can say I am better than the other? None!”.

    In the first place, it is untrue that there is no part of the country that has not planned a secession. There were certainly tensions in the relationship between various parts of the country leading to threats and heated exchanges at various times which is natural in a complex, plural polity like ours. But it is only the Igbo of the Southeast that had actually carried out the threat of secession, an attempt that was militarily crushed after three years of bloody conflagration. Even then, I am unaware as Obasanjo posits that anybody worth taking seriously has ever suggested that an Igbo man cannot be President of Nigeria because of the abortive secession attempt. Indeed, as I have previously said in this column, within nine years of the end of the civil war, an Igbo man, Dr Alex Ekwueme, had become the Vice President of Nigeria. There is every possibility that within the dynamics of democratic politics an Igbo man would have since become President of Nigeria but for the truncation of democracy by military intervention in 1983.

    In the last presidential election, Mr Peter Obi, directed his campaign mainly at his fellow Igbo as well as Christians of the North and South and his support base was restricted to that limited constituency which cannot deliver a presidential victory in a vast country like Nigeria. A candidate who engaged in church tourism campaigns and openly called on Christians to “take back your country” understandably did not win a single state in the core Muslim North which constitutes at least one half of the electorate. In any case, if Obasanjo is so passionate about Igbo presidency, why did he emerge from nowhere to snatch the PDP presidential ticket from Dr Ekwueme in 1998 with the support of retired northern Generals even when Ekwueme, one of the founding fathers of the PDP, was on course to winning the ticket?

    Reporting Obasanjo’s address to the visiting League of Northern Democrats, The Punch newspaper wrote, “The former President blamed regionalism as practiced before obtaining independence in October 1960 as the foundation of the country’s prolonged lack of cohesion, adding that “the truth is that at independence, Nigeria emerged with three leaders and so it is a situation of three countries in one ever since”. Again, it does not appear that this submission is a reflection of rigorous thought.

    For one, it is simplistic to base an analysis of post-independence Nigerian politics on the three major ethnic groups when ethnic minorities have increasingly asserted their influence within the polity. Again, it is as misleading to blame the regional structure of the first republic for the collapse of democracy in 1966 just as it is to proffer a return to regionalism as the solution to current challenges. Rather than regionalism per se being the problem with the First Republic, it was the attempt by the ruling NPC/NCNC coalition at the centre to forcibly seize control of the Western Region from the Action Group (AG) and impose an unpopular Ladoke Akintola of the NNDP on the region through the brazen massive rigging of the 1965 Western Regional elections that ignited the flames of anarchy in the region which then had national implications bringing down the democratic edifice on everybody.

    Obasanjo lectured his northern visitors to the effect that “Yes, you have identified your group as the League of Northern Democrats, but how I wish you had called your group National League of Democrats, because where you come from should not be a problem. Where I was born should not be the enemy of my ‘Nigerianess’. I will be increasing by being a Nigerian rather than being a member of the Republic of Oodua”. This is hardly realistic. When asked to respond to allegations that he was a tribalist during his campaign for the presidency in 1979, Chief Awolowo submitted that he could not be a good Yoruba man without first and foremost being a good and responsible indigene of Ikenne and that he could not claim to be a good and patriotic Nigerian without first being a good and responsible Yoruba man. This sounds eminently sensible, practical and honest to me. The point, as the Premier of the Northern Region, Sir Ahmadu Bello, was said to have told the great Zik is not to deny our differences but to understand them.

    • This article was first published November 13, 2024

  • The more you look…

    The more you look…

    I pity Austin Eguavoen. He is always the fall guy when things go awry with the senior national team. Yet, he is always available to do the dirty job of stabilising the Super Eagles whenever a lacuna exists in the headship of the team’s technical crew. When the team plays well under Eguavoen’s tutelage, the deafening noise would be Eureka. If the team totters, the vexatious song from Nigerians would be to crucify Cerezo, as the former Super Eagles captain’s alias goes. With this scenario in mind, Eguavoen is always a pitiable sight to watch during matches. A patriot, no doubt Eguavoen is. And of course, a thankless job.

    Unfortunately for Eguavoen, he is in a hospital in Belgium recuperating after a successful hip surgery. Otherwise, he would have sat on the Eagles bench against the Ghanaians, only to be insulted with reports about a pending announcement of a new foreign technical adviser, leaving him in the lurch about his role in the new dispensation when the new man assumes office. It is looking like Nigeria is wooing a former Mali manager for the Super Eagles, meaning we have opted for deep knowledge of the game for one of those journeymen in Africa. Yet, we are beating our chests of winning the remaining six qualifiers, with a former Mali manager who isn’t top notch. It won’t happen.

    What Nigeria needs is a complete break from the rustic past, knowing that our players have experienced a geometric progression in their games playing in Europe, by competing and training under the tutelage of some of the best coaches in the world, unlike our coaches and administrators who are crawling in their arithmetic progression. This is the void that has been hunting Nigeria’s growth in the beautiful game. Finidi George partook in a domestic league in one week, only to be seen the next week playing for Ajax Amsterdam in the Dutch league.

    Our sports administrators are bad students of history; otherwise, we may need to ask them the sense in recruiting a foreign manager behind closed doors. Yet they are assuring Nigerians of grabbing the group’s sole qualification ticket to the 2026 World Cup to be hosted by USA, Canada and Mexico.

    When England signed German tactician Thomas Tuchel to take the Three Lions to the 2026 World Cup, it wasn’t done as guesswork. The English FA introduced Tuchel as their coach. They also told us that he would assume duty on January 1, 2025. Deal struck and Tuchel assumed work because his template of how the Three Lions should henceforth play their matches is stuck in his head.

    Isn’t it unethical for anyone to recruit a short term coach to qualify a country for the Mundial, using players who are being owed bonuses and allowances running into millions of the US dollars? What is the wisdom in cutting the players’ entitlements and expecting them to play their hearts out for the ticket? Our players sacrifice a lot coming to play for the country, given the poor quality of pitches in Nigeria. Many of them return to their European clubs injured and lose their shirts. The bonuses and allowances are what they give to their relations and friends for upkeep.

    Imagine what the players went through during the ill-fated game against Libya and the attendant risks involved in the late decision by the Libyans to divert the aircraft to land in a disused airstrip without landing instruments. The pilot of the aircraft, a Tunisian, used his experience when he worked there, to land the big bird safely. Is it not cruel for the players not to be paid a dime, months after this show of shame in Libya?

    The lure of playing at the senior World Cup is the craving for big players, yet they don’t do it playing for their different countries on empty stomachs. Our football chieftains make the tasks of playing for Nigeria very unattractive by delaying the payment of players’ entitlements. Will anyone be surprised that the accompanying officials get paid before they even board the plane? Another Animal Farm setting.

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    In March, the Super Eagles fly out to confront the group leaders, Rwanda, before they welcome bottom placed Zimbabwe. South Africa, Benin and Lesotho are the other teams in this group with only the overall group winners guaranteed automatic passage to the 2026 World Cup. My head on the guillotine, our federation chiefs will wait until when the players assemble in Rwanda before the non-payment wahala is addressed. Possibly, another round of promises.

    It is pertinent to ask our soccer chiefs what the plans for the team’s campaign are? Do these plans include friendly games? Where would the players be meeting with the purported foreign coach? In a special camp setting? Or would the foreign coach be timidly escorted by our sports administrators around Europe? Or would the soccer federation be wise enough to use the period before March to allow the coach watch our players live during matches. Thereafter, he can meet with such players.

    The story from the Dankaro House in Abuja suggested that the NFF technical committee would meet Thursday to decide who the next foreign manager for the Super Eagles would be. Would this body’s member rubber stamp the report sent to them or would they have the audacity to interrogate the shortlist sent to them by the federation? Or would the body immediately announce the foreign manager at 3am as it happened when German coach Bruno Labbadia turned down the opportunity to become the new head coach of Nigeria’s national team, the Super Eagles after NFF’s circular?

    Can we still trust NFF bigwigs and the technical committee members to do a better job with this exercise? Or is this a subtle way of enthroning Bruno Labbadia as the new coach to cover up their reproach? Labbadia walked out on an agreement to be the new coach of the Super Eagles. A team that has very good players like ours need an equally efficient coach to compliment what they do on the field. Who are the members of the technical committee and what are their antecedents in the act of interviewing coaches for such high profile job as ours?

    If the NFF board knew that they were stuck on having a foreign coach for the Super Eagles, they shouldn’t have bungled the recruitment of Labbadia. What magic are the board members expecting from a new coach whose philosophy and tactics of the game are alien to our boys? What Nigeria has going for her in spite of the federation’s shortcomings, is that we have established players in Europe whose video tapes are available to the coach to watch and adjust his game plans to suit their styles.

    Until our NFF buffs see the World Cup as the platform to exhibit the level of the game in Nigeria, going to the Mundial for the Super Eagles will continue to be a jamboree.  Let us hope that the government has approved N3 billion to the body which hasn’t been inaugurated to ensure that Nigeria’s flag is hoisted among the comity of nations during the 2026 World Cup.

  • In memory of Bola ‘Cicero’ Ige

    In memory of Bola ‘Cicero’ Ige

    Every December regurgitates the memory of his hideous murder at the Bodija Estate in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital. The scars have not healed. The pains linger in the minds of relations, associates, and empathisers. The puzzle remains unsolved. Who killed Chief James Ajibola Ige, the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice in the Fourth Republic government of Olusegun Obasanjo?

    On December 23, 2001, the news ricocheted throughout the country that unknown assailants had killed Ige. Twenty-three years later, the killers remain at large. The inability of the government to unravel his killing – most people believe he was assassinated – aptly underscores the illusion of justice.

    Ige, a lawyer, prolific writer, eloquent social critic, and astute politician, was a committed Awoist. He was a dependable ally of the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo. He was the National Publicity Secretary of the defunct Action Group (AG) in the First Republic.

    In the late sixties, he was a commissioner in the military government of Col. Adeyinka Adebayo in the Western State. In the Second Republic, he was governor of the old Oyo State on the platform of the defunct Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN). In the post-Third Republic period, he became the Deputy Leader of Afenifere. He died as an elder statesman.

    Full of magnetism, charm, charisma, and carriage, Ige was also a controversial politician. He was an orator with a caustic tongue. It was not for nothing Ige was popularly called the Cicero of Esa-Oke, his hometown in Osun State. He was simply electrifying on the podium. On some occasions, he also ran into crises. When the vicissitudes of life assailed him, he bore his ordeals with philosophical calmness.

    In the camp of Awoists, Ige and his colleagues -Lateef Jakande (Baba Kekere) and Bisi Onabanjo (Ayekooto) – were subjects of envy. On some occasions, Ige’s political career was threatened by malevolent colleagues. He survived the bitterness in Awo’s days. But it was a different ball game afterwards.

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    In 1999, he was rejected at the Alliance for Democracy (AD) presidential primary by the Awoists. They said Ige, tagged a Yoruba irredentist, lacked a national outlook, unlike Chief Olu Falae, the former Secretary to the Federal Military Government and Minister of Finance. Supporters of Ige complained that the time-tested criteria of age, ideological learning, hierarchy and service to the fold were ignored by the wise men who converged on D’Rovans Hotel in Ibadan to pick the party’s flag bearer. That singular event marked the gradual of parting of ways between Ige and his old friends in the Awo camp.

    Before his murder, he had been assaulted at the palace of the Ooni of Ife where hoodlums seized his cap and hung it on a nearby tree.

    Ige’s murder provoked rage, curses, and regrets. He was a bridge builder. He had friends across the six geo-political zones. He believed in mentoring young Nigerians from all walks of life. Fork-tongued and skilled in the war of words, Ige’s mouth was sharper than the razor. He was also humorous.

    In Law, his profession, and politics, which he described as a vocation, Ige distinguished himself, to the delight of the indomitable Awo.

    But he was an ardent critic of Awo and the AG before he joined the fold. He had criticized the AG for lack of an articulated foreign policy. Awo opened a file where he kept the thought-provoking articles written by Ige, especially his documented attacks against his party. When Awo’s lawyer-friend, Chief Morohundiya, under whom Ige later took off as a pupil lawyer, took the rebellious young lawyer to the AG leader, Ige told Awo that he stood by the position he had taken. Indeed, Awo admired that candour and courage, for only a few could call a spade a spade. Recognising his potential, he resolved to groom him, encourage him and moderate his views.

    Consequently, Awo made Ige a member of the AG Committee for the Review of Foreign Policy, along with the late Prof. Hezekiah Oluwasanmi, Akin Mabogunje, Tunde Oloko, Olumbe Bashir, and Prof. Samuel Aluko. He was also an active member of the AG Youth Association, led by the late Chief Remi Fani-Kayode, and later, Ayo Fasanmi, the socialist chemist with a long beard. At 32, Ige became the AG National Publicity Secretary at the party’s rancorous Jos Convention.

    Having discovered his virtues – bravery and outspokenness – Ige was assigned to defend the oppressed United Middle Belt Congress (UMBC) chieftains who were in an alliance with the AG when the leaders of the Northern Peoples Congress (NPC) hounded them into detention.

    When the House of Representatives primary in the old Lagos Mainland Constituency between Sikiru Shitta-Bey, the Secretary of the AG Youth Association, and Adewale Thompson, son of the licensed surveyor at Odaliki Street in Ebute-Meta, was deadlocked, Ige was the young AG leader sent to organise a fresh shadow poll. He reported to Awo that although both Shitta-Bey and Thompson were popular, it appeared to him that the pendulum of victory tilted more towards the direction of the son of Shitta-Bey, the “Seriki Musulumi” of Lagos. Awo ratified Ige’s report. Both Ige and Thompson hailed from Ijesa land in Osun State. Fourteen years later, Governor Ige appointed Thompson as Oyo State’s Attorney-General and Justice Commissioner.

    Ige stirred many controversies in the First Republic. He was a critic of the Balewa government. His platforms were public lectures, radio and television programmes.

    On the eve of the Commonwealth of Nations’ Heads of Government meeting in Lagos in the sixties, Prime Minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa had to stop a live television programme in which Ige was a discussant. After dissecting the agenda of the meeting, Ige described the Commonwealth as ‘an organisation where the wealth was not common’. The programme was stopped immediately.

    He had dazed Western Regional Premier Ladoke Akintola, himself a wordsmith, with verbal missiles, after regaining political control at the end of the six-month emergency rule. When Akintola boasted that the ring of power had been fixed on his finger and nobody could remove it, Ige went on air, saying if the ring could not be removed, the finger could be cut off.

    Ige shared in the tribulation of Awo and other AG leaders. He was detained in Kwale, in the old Midwest Region, during the six-month emergency period.

    He was fluent in Hausa, having lived in Kaduna during his childhood. An effective campaigner, he had a heart of steel. Relying on his fluency in Hausa, he took the risk of leading a campaign train in Kano. Like Aminu Kano, he descended on Northern Premier Ahmadu Bello, a prince and Sardauna of Sokoto, who he described as an epitome of aristocratic and feudalist oppression, urging the ‘talakawas’ to free themselves from captivity. He narrowly escaped death when the goons of the Northern People’s Congress (NPC) attacked his campaign train.

    When Awolowo was released from prison and appointed the Federal Commissioner of Finance and Vice Chairman of the Federal Executive Council in the Yakubu Gowon administration, he had recommended Ige for a ministerial position. But still, Ige could not make the list due to the quota system adopted for the appointments.

    However, the military governor of Western State, Adeyinka Adebayo, appointed him the Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources.

    Ige was dropped as a commissioner for rebelliously criticising other agencies of government. Out of government, he returned to his legal practice. In 1975, he became a member of the Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC) set up by the Murtala/Obasanjo Administration to package a new constitution, preparatory to the return of power to civilians in 1979. The late Chief Fredrick Rotimi Alade (FRA) Williams (SAN) chaired the committee; Awo declined to serve in it.

    As a member of the “Committee of Friends”, Ige became a founding member of the UPN, led by Awo. In 1979, he vied for governor of Oyo State, defeating his rival and former Vice Principal, Venerable Emmanuel Alayande, to the discomfort of Awo who had favoured the old teacher and cleric for the slot. When Awo persuaded Ige to step down for the old man, with a promise to make him a minister after winning the presidential election, Ige was said to have retorted: “I cannot leave certainty for uncertainty.” Awo then asked: “Does it mean that my ambition is not certain?” Ige promptly apologised.

    After his victory at the poll, he mounted pressure on Alayande to serve as his Special Adviser on Education.

    The 1979 governorship election was a tough contest between Ige and Chief Richard Akinjide, First Republic Minister of Education and candidate of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN). It was in the post-Adegoke Adelabu era and the UPN, an offshoot of the defunct AG, wanted to assert dominance in Oyo State.

    During a live television debate in Ibadan, the state capital, there was a hot argument between the two lawyers. The old “NCNCer” was said to have, in Ige’s view, politically disparaged Awo’s Free Education Policy. Akinjide had alleged that the programme bred miscreants. Ige’s reply was harsh. He asked: “How many of your relatives who benefitted from the programme are armed robbers, charlatans and social miscreants?” Tempers rose. Some scolded Ige for extreme polemics. Others merely laughed it off.

    Curiously, the relationship between Ige and his deputy, the late Chief Sunday Afolabi, was later strained. Ahead of the 1983 polls, Afolabi indicated interest in the governorship slot.  During the friction, the deputy governor claimed that the governor had stopped his allowances. Their mutual friend and former Military Head of State, Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo, offered to mediate in the crisis. It became Ige’s undoing. His rivals in the UPN came up with charges of disloyalty against him at the Yola Conference of the UPN. In that delicate moment, he narrowly escaped expulsion from Awo’s political family.

    In his book, Household of War, a veteran journalist, Dare Babaribsa, said historians aptly captured the anxious moment as the “night of long knives”. Ige’s saving grace was Awo, who applied wisdom in handling the sensitive matter.

    Afolabi later defected to the NPN to team up with Chiefs Adisa Akinloye, Akinjide, Busari Adelakun, Lamidi Adedibu and Dr. Victor Olunloyo to sack Ige from power. After the Federal Electoral Commission (FEDECO) announced the results, riots broke out. The houses of notable politicians in the state were razed.

    Following the 1983 coup, Ige was detained, tried and sentenced to imprisonment by a military tribunal. There was drama as Ige and Olunloyo met in detention. Both men were to take a ride in a Black Maria. Olunloyo teased Ige, saying: “You must enter first, senior brother. After all, you spent four years in power. I only spent three months.” Ige hissed, ignoring the tantrums from the renowned mathematician. Ige was released by former Military President Ibrahim Babangida, who ousted Major-General Muhammadu Buhari as Head of State in a palace coup in August 1985.

    But in his private life, Ige also courted controversy. At a public lecture, he had referred to the Olubadan of Ibadan and the Soun of Ogbomoso as Baales upgraded to first-class kingship by a former Military Governor David Jemibewon. Ibadan indigenes frowned at the remarks. His Ibadan title, the “Aare Alasa” was withdrawn by the Olubadan-in-Council and conferred on the Ewi exponent, Olarewaju Adepoju.

    Ige refused to participate in the Babangida transition programme in obedience to Awo’s advice to the progressives that they should dine with the devil with a long spoon. In 1986, Awo had shunned the Political Bureau set up by IBB and chaired by Dr. Samuel Cookery. He doubted the sincerity of the military President, warning that the nation had embarked on a fruitless search and “when we imagine that the new political order has arrived, we will be disappointed”. The prophecy came to pass. The victory of MKO Abiola, winner of the 1993 presidential poll, was criminally annulled by the IBB-led regime.

    Ige continued with the “siddon look” political observance philosophy during the Sani Abacha era when he dismissed the five political parties of the time as the five fingers of a leprous hand. When the Abdulsalami Abubakar military regime came up with its transition programme, Ige traversed the two parties, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which had the majority of his colleagues in the “G-34” as members, and the All Nigeria Peoples Party (APP). Although he wrote the constitutions of the two parties, he could not cohabitate with those described as the hawks of the Abacha era. Although the closing date for party registration had elapsed, the Federal Government registered AD to forestall the exclusion of credible Southwest leaders from the transition programme.

    But Ige’s party, the AD, could not fly beyond the regional level. A crisis seized the party from the onset. At D’Rovans Hotel in Ibadan, Awoists rejected Ige in preference for Falae as presidential flag bearer.

    Ige never forgave his colleagues. He fought back. Against Afenifere’s wish, he joined the Obasanjo government. He was mocked by Afolabi, the then Minister of Internal Affairs, who described his former boss as a guest to a meal seizing the hands of his host. Ige replied that he was not focused on the food but on service to his fatherland.

    In the Power and Steel ministry assigned to him, Ige was like a stranger. But it was a different ball game at the Ministry of Justice, where he motivated the celebrated suit on resource control and laid the template for the anti-graft war. He was a staunch believer in federalism.

    What would have been Ige’s position on today’s contentious national issues: restructuring  zoning or rotational presidency, state creation, regionalism, state police, local government autonomy, taxation in federalism, among others?

    The firebrand lawyer would not have stayed tongue-tied, or, as he would say, maintained the aloofness of siddon look. He would have provided the legal perspectives to most of the issues. Truly, the nation, especially the Southwest, has lost a Cicero.

  • Salihu Lukman and PBAT’s media chat

    Salihu Lukman and PBAT’s media chat

    Appraising President Bola Ahmed Tinubu‘s maiden media chat on Arise Television’s ‘The Morning Show’ programme, the immediate past National Vice Chairman (Northwest) of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr Salihu Lukman, said the president was in denial of the fact that his administration’s ‘so-called’ economic reform policies have failed. He was of the view that the president’s responses to questions portrayed him as “a President who is not listening” and likened Tinubu to an emperor operating in a dictatorial manner antithetical to democracy. Ordinarily highly articulate, one would have expected Lukman to critically interrogate the President’s responses to questions on specific policies and why he considered them inadequate even though I must confess that I only read reports of his Arise Television interview and did not watch it live.

    In the media chat, Tinubu spiritedly defended his administration’s economic reform policies including the removal of the fuel subsidy, merger of the hitherto existing parallel foreign exchange markets and the proposed tax reform bills while insisting that he had no intention of downsizing his Cabinet which some critics consider too large in view of the need to cut down on governance costs. But then, the President acknowledged his awareness of the severe hardships brought about by the reforms, expressed his empathy with the people and was optimistic that beyond the current pains, there would be enduring gains including a stronger, less dependent and more prosperous economy.

    All of this in my view does not suggest a President who is not listening or one who is alienated from the existential realities of the vast majority of Nigerians. Rather, it is akin to the surgeon who firmly believes that putting his patient under the knife, though a painful process, is imperative to save the latter’s life. Or the dentist in Wole Soyinka’s novel, ‘Season of Anomy’ who has to inflict the pain of dental extraction on his patient as the lasting panacea to an excruciating toothache.

    Lukman insinuates that if Tinubu were a listening leader, he would jettison his reforms on a wave of populism due to the attendant hardships. But Tinubu insisted during the media chat that only the reforms could save the country from the perilous path it had charted for decades. Successive post independence governments, civilian and military, had identified the need to remove the subsidy but could not summon the courage to do so. Those who did, sought to eliminate the subsidy in trickles and phases with little impact on the economy as fuel importers continued to criminally amass humongous amounts from the gargantuan fraud associated with the subsidy.

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    True, Tinubu as leader of the opposition had opposed the partial subsidy removal announced by the President Goodluck Jonathan administration in 2012. But then, the country at that time was earning huge revenues from crude oil sales with the price of a barrel of oil considerably exceeding a $100 while the country’s crude oil exports were also substantial compared to subsequent years when crude oil theft on an industrial scale led to a sharp drop in the capacity to export. Unfortunately, previous administrations particularly during the PDP’s control of the centre between 1999 and 2015, did not utilize the opportunity of relatively high crude oil prices and the resultant munificent revenues to resuscitate dormant refineries to boost domestic refining or concretely address the country’s chronic infrastructure deficit in roads, railways and electricity, for instance. These inherited deficiencies have contributed to the intensity of hardships being experienced today as the country continues to adjust to life without fuel subsidies.

    The removal by the administration of subsidy in the electricity sector leading to increase in tariff for certain categories of power consumers have also contributed to the prevailing economic hardships. But it is so easy to forget that under the PDP, no less than $16 billion was expended on the power sector with negligible impact on electricity supply. To compound matters was the largely opaque and fraudulent privatization of the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) with individuals and entities without the requisite expertise or financial capacity buying the distribution and generation companies and thus leaving the sector no better than before the privatization. Dr Lukman is no doubt aware of all these factors but is motivated more by partisan considerations in his contribution to the discourse on the presidential media chat.

    Incidentally, the Bauchi State governor, Bala Mohammed, also toes the line of Salihu Lukman in accusing the Tinubu administration of not listening to the voice of the people. Speaking on the administration’s proposed tax reforms when receiving the Christian community in his state at the Bauchi Government House, he said, “These tax reforms are not only anti-North but also a threat to the unity of our country. The government must listen to the people. This is a democracy not a dictatorship or oligarchy. Policies should never be imposed on the people without considering their welfare…No leader should feel too proud or arrogant to admit when a policy is not working. If something is not popular with the people, change it! This is not about religion or tribe; it is about fairness, justice and the unity of Nigeria”. But courageous and visionary leadership is sometimes about a leader charting an unpopular course in the short run confident that it is in the long term interest of the people and that, ultimately, history will vindicate the just.

    In any case, Bala Mohammed and Salihu Lukman assume that there is a uniform and cohesive voice of the people to which a leader must listen and respond. As far as they are concerned, their narrow views, naturally based on their interests and prejudices is the sole authentic voice to which the President must listen and bow to. But this is not necessarily so. On the tax reform bills, for instance, the Archbishop of the Anglican communion of Kadina Province, Timothy Yahaya, has a different view. According to this newspaper on Thursday, the Archbishop told reporters that “The Tax bills will stimulate the economy, but the sharing of money is not the best for this country…Leaders must think outside the box and think of creating wealth instead of thinking of sharing what we extracted from the ground”.

    And the Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele, citing available details from data accompanying the Bills, has argued that the proposed Value Added Tax (VAT) model will guarantee more income for states in the North and a reduction for states like Lagos and Rivers. In his words, “As credible data have shown, for instance, the new model recommends 6.17 per cent to Kano compared to 0.89 per cent due to it. It recommends 1.21 per cent for Zamfara compared to 0.05 per cent. Currently, Lagos gets 80.26 per cent but the new model only recommends 15.28 per cent representing an 81 per cent decrease. Under the new model also, Rivers’ share will decline from 7.74 per cent to 4.6 per cent accounting for a 41 per cent loss. With these figures, the narrative around the new derivative model is utterly incorrect and unfounded”.

    Continuing, Senator Bamidele reveals further that “For the record, the Tax Reform Bills, when finally enacted, utterly exempt all employees earning N1,000,000 annually or N83,000 monthly. The Bills exempt start-ups, shared services and technologically driven services from taxation and recommend zero VAT on essential services and consumptions. Even though it reviews the derivation formula to 60 per cent, this proposal is guided purely by the principles of equity, fairness and justice”. This is obviously why President Tinubu insisted during the media chat that the Tax Reform Bills are essentially pro-poor and seek to modernize the anachronistic tax laws that date back to the colonial era. In any case, why should Salihu Lukman and Bala Mohammed presume that the economic reform policies of an administration that is less than two years in office have failed without providing any empirical justification for their assertion?

    Yes, an already high poverty rate has been worsened by the administration’s drastic fuel subsidy and exchange rate policies. But some economists have also pointed out that there are signs of emergent recovery and future sustained growth. The country’s foreign reserves has hit the $42 billion mark and continues to grow. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has cleared authenticated humongous foreign exchange owed to various sectors including foreign airlines. The country has recorded trade surpluses of no less than $6 trillion each over the last three quarters indicating steadily increasing domestic productivity.

    For whatever it is worth, the Naira accruals to the Federation Account has almost tripled and most states have declared their ability to pay the nearly doubled new minimum wage. Stakeholders report remarkable improvements in agricultural harvest this year although getting agric produce from rural farms to urban centres to curb spiraling  food prices remains a challenge. Even though the exchange rate of Naira to the dollar remains undesirably high, it has at least attained a level of stability that can enable businesses plan and make more reliable projections. Competition in a deregulated downstream petroleum sector is gathering momentum and we are gradually seeing the impact on fuel prices, a process that is likely to intensify as more refineries come on stream.

    Dr Lukman cites what he describes as the dormant state of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) as the major reason why he believes that the Tinubu administration cannot deliver on its promises to Nigerians. According to him, “The party cannot offer the country what it does not have. The APC is currently practically dead. There are no meetings at the level of the organs of the party. No platform to ventilate and aggregate opinions or ideas to enrich the governance system. The party members only come together when there is an election a candidate. Such candidates do not usually emerge from the internal arrangement of the party. Such candidates are not usually the most eligible and what the party does is to mobilize men and resources to rig them in”. To be fair to him, Lukman had always advocated for internal party democracy and the unhindered functioning of party organs even while he was in the APC.

    However, his description of the APC is no less true of what obtains in the other parties particularly the PDP and Labour Party (LP). This is why the opposition parties are crisis-ridden and, unless they are able to put their houses in order, are in no state to challenge effectively for power in current and future elections. But here, Lukman is guilty of a degree of hypocrisy. His benefactor and close associate, the temperamental Nasir ‘el rufai, former governor of Kaduna State, is essentially authoritarian in temper and outlook. He ran the affairs both of Kaduna State and the APC in the state with despotic arrogance riding rough shod over diverse interest groups including labour and religious constituencies. The current governor, Senator Uba Sani, is working hard to heal the wounds inflicted on the state by el rufai. Yet, Lukman never perceived the combustible former governor as an emperor. Lukman reveals that he and other like minded politicians are working hard to birth political parties that can produce the right leadership “amid a groundswell of recognition by leaders of the opposition to come together”. It will be interesting to see what kind of party they come up with especially with egotists like el rufai at its helm.

  • Don’t wake me from this sleep

    Don’t wake me from this sleep

    It is always a spectacle watching a dog bark at the elephant while running rings around the massive animal without striking it. And so, when I read the story that NFF had secured two sponsors to pay the wages of invariably two foreign coaches for the Super Eagles and perhaps the Super Falcons, I chuckled, knowing that the federation is another circus not patronised yet by the world.

    I subconsciously muttered, ” We have been through this path before.” Another platform unleashed on lovers of the game to bombard the internet by name-dropping of renowned coaches. I won’t be surprised to read stories of Pep Guardiola being eager (in their minds) to handle the Super Eagles.

    The fake news breakers would be hinging their hallucination on the bad patch the Spaniard is going through at the Etihad Stadium with Manchester City. Indeed, Guardiola’s expected stoic silence would raise the ante of the discussants until the topic melts away like ice cream forgotten on a slab in the scorching sun.

    Don’t be surprised if in the coming weeks you read of a Presidential secret dialogue with Mikel Arteta during the search for a new foreign coach for Nigeria. Of course, news would also break telling us that FIFA would soon ‘help’ facilitate the employment of a world class coach, such as Fabio Capello, with pictures to authenticate this falsehood. Journeymen coaches would also join the idiocy through faceless jobbers masquerading as their managers. The social media won’t be left out in the fuss, with comments targeted at helping decisions on who should coach the Super Eagles. May God help us.

    In all of this foolery, the federation’s chieftains who should tell Nigerians the truth would be basking in the euphoria of the speculations, with many saying that the media can enjoy their acts. What would be spewing out of the mouths of members of the federation in hush tones would be the need for the new foreign coach to have a deep knowledge of African football, forgetting that 90 per cent of Super Eagles play under the supervision of European coaches who haven’t stepped onto Africa.

    Our players discovered from the dusty roads and rickety foundation of quasi games masters in the 774 Local Government Areas in Nigeria have easily adapted to the new tricks of the game introduced to them. The resultant effect is that end of displacing the Europeans they met in such teams.

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    Frankly speaking, the search for foreign coach shouldn’t be a bazaar but one in which the new man to emerge would be heralded as the best, based on his coaching credentials and achievements over the last five years.

    Soon all-knowing sports commentators will tell us how the World Cup, which started in 1930, has not been won by a foreigner, rather than break this jinx. These confusionists fail to understand that England, the home of Football, currently have a foreigner as the Three Lions’ coach based on his antecedents in several leagues in the world.

    Tuchel is German no doubt. Fabio Capello is Italian and the late Sven Goran Erikson was Swedish. Wait for it, England’s Golden generation was assembled and coached by the late Erikson.

    It shows that the English have swallowed their pride and accepted that they do not have home grown coaches to do an international job. Will you blame the English? Take a look at the English Premier League and see if you will find an Englishman coaching the first five teams. That trend has been on for the last five years, and the English have taken their destiny in their hands and not indulge in sentimental talks that will lead them nowhere. Who cares if no foreigner has even won the World Cup like the English! This is Nigeria’s best chance to get a good coach, only if those who head the panel to recruit the coach open their eyes and block their ears to emotional talks.

    Each time we talk of a foreign coach, naysayers of Nigerian football will bring out their calculators, forgetting that global recession is the reason for the huge difference of the naira to any of the three big currencies in the world. But if we pick the right foreign coach and results start to come in, we will then realise that the Super Eagles is one of the biggest marketing brands in the world.

    One only hopes that this government sincerely pursues the task of getting a good coach for the Super Eagles, because the Eagles are the biggest public relations team that the government can use to change the narrative about the country to the world. The military, during the jackboot era, used sports to launder their image.

    Suddenly those who resisted the pressure to constitute the task force are the ones rooting for it and angling to put themselves and their friends on the board.

    I hope when the coach comes, these people will allow him work or else there will be fiascos from the first game.

    I am not a prophet of doom but let us get it clearly here; Nigerians who watch the Super Eagles play always feel that they are better coaches than the man saddled to coach the team. May we not see another era where we announce a foreign coach; he arrives in the country, accompanies the team to a tournament in the USA and refused to take the job, having seen the Super Eagles play as an observer? What don’t we condone from foreign coaches? A man sits on the bench throughout the duration of two matches and dumps us with bruised faces and hands akimbo.

    Another lesson the panel in search of a coach should guide against are agents or middlemen masquerading as managers. We must headhunt the coach we need based on the strength of our players. There was little to cheer in the Eagles under Jose Peserio because his methodology was defensive. Peserio’s pattern shut the door against the attack-minded players in the squad. This explains the low goals margin the Eagles scored. Nigeria is in a precarious position for the 2026 World Cup because we failed to score goals which win games.

    Let’s face the brass task. It would be easier for the proverbial Carmel to pass through the eye of the needle than for Nigeria to qualify for the 2026 World Cup competition. Reason – South Africa has more ‘home’ games than others in the group with the Zimbabweans opting to play their home fixtures where they can garner points in South Africa. No chance. Not when Bafana Bafana players are smelling blood with Nigeria’s wobbling performance in the first four qualification games. Super Eagles haven’t won a match which includes drawing Lesotho in Nigeria and holding the Zimbabweans to another nerve-wrenching draw. Need I remind ourselves about the Eagles’ shambolic 2-1 loss to the Republic of Benin on a neutral ground in Cote d’ Ivoire? Note: this game will be a piece of cake under the same setting for South Africa when the fixtures are played on this neutral ground. I love Nigeria but truth must be told if we hope to correct our flaws.