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Category: Saturday

  • Mr. President, I disagree!!! (2)

    Mr. President, I disagree!!! (2)

    Yes, there exists within and outside the country schools of thought which insist that the constitution does not matter,  these schools of thought argue that even if Angels and the Panjandrums came together to give the nation the most seamless of constitutions, as long as such constitutions were peopled by human beings, especially the best of Nigerians, such a constitution would only serve as a mere piece of paper.

    These Schools argue that from the historic point of view,  merely changing or adopting a new constitution has not led to meaningful change in governance structures or political behavior in Nigeria. The existing 1999 Constitution has provisions designed to uphold democratic governance, protect human rights, and ensure accountability. However, the challenges Nigeria faces today—such as corruption, security issues, and ethnic tension—are less about the document itself and more about the failure of political leadership and institutional integrity.

    There is also the argument that we have the option of Constitutional amendments which could also serve as seeking to solve a number of issues  in Nigeria’s political environment, thus the amendments  can serve whatever lofty desires the Patriots have about a new constitution. Thus, instead of starting over, it is imperative to engage in substantive amendments that target the flaws and deficiencies of the current system while promoting transparency, accountability, and citizen engagement.

     However, in contradiction scholars such as the likes of Mark Tushnet, a William Nelson Cromwell Memorial Scholar argues that constitutional law is really politics by another name and that the Constitution’s text and judicial doctrine expounding on it matters  only to the degree that it provides a structure for our politics, so on one hand, leadership matters, politics and politicians will always have their  way but only to the extent  that the constitution allows. Even the talk of amending the constitution is much amnesiac in the sense that such legislative processes haven seen several unsuccessful attempts at amending the constitution has yet to offer Nigerians a befitting constitution, again such processes arent effective such legislative processes have always been tainted with politics, or how can we forget how an Olusegun Obasanjo sought for a Third Term in office under the pretext of s constitutional review.

    Read Also:Time is of the essence, Mr. President

    Thus, the 1999 Constitution, which was fashioned by the military which was rather in a haste to handover to a civilian  government and which was fraught with a lot of inconsistencies cannot give structure to the progressive politics Nigerians are desirous of.  Understanding all these, the Patriots’s desire for a new constitution gives form to the thinking of scholars like Tushnet, the late Professor Ben Nwabueze and other notable constitutional scholars, without a new and people based constitution, we will continue to move in circles politically!

    The legislative process has seen several unsuccessful attempts at amending the constitution to accommodate pressing needs.

    Like i stated earlier, even if a new constitutional  process may be long and laborious and may even bring periods of extended uncertainly, creating a potential for conflict and division during the drafting phase,  exacerbating existing tensions, threatening  national unity and stability and even  threaten the corporate structure of Nigeria, it will still be better than this present and assured journey unto doomsday which only the fashioning of a new constitution can avert. Even, the talk of such uncertainty may not arise owing to the ability of the Nigerian to compromise.

    The visceral arguements that our nation’s governance challenges are dynamic and often interlinked with social, economic, and cultural factors and that a new constitution cannot simply erase these existing problems nor provide a framework that guarantees better governance is much lacking in merit. How else can we develop such robust frameworks which will be inclusive of the various  voices,  thoughts and ethnic groups within the  Nigerian society if not in the process of drawing up a new constitution, particularly the  marginalized groups who often feel excluded from the political discourse.

    Another significant aspect of the call by the Patriots is that it offers the government of President Tinubu the chance of engaging citizens in the constitutional discourse. If a new constitution is to reflect the will of the people, it must incorporate their views, needs, and aspirations. The arguments that past attempts at such civic engagement at the  constitution-making processes have often been tokenistic remains flawed. What is tokenistic is rather the attempt at such quickfix measures mentioned above, these could serve as complementary to the demand for a new constitution  but can never resolve these issues.

    President  Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s  stance on the demand for a new constitution is thus in need of a rethink. By focusing efforts on the economic front, President Tinubu has exposed the political future of the country to forces that are readily comfortable with skewed system, truth be told, these are his enemies as history would also be unkind to him should he miss such  golden opportunity at such an epoch making moment.

  • Tunde adeniran and the politics of ws (2)

    Tunde adeniran and the politics of ws (2)

    Although a political science scholar with specialization in international relations and strategic studies, Professor Tunde Adeniran’s deep immersion in the literary works of Wole Soyinka as illustrated vividly and lushly in this book, ‘The Politics of Wole Soyinka’ and in the arts as a whole across space and time is astonishing and impressive. In some ways this book reminds me of the intellectual memoir of Professor Tunji Olaopa, a political scientist, public administration scholar and practitioner and one of Nigeria’s leading experts in public sector reforms, who is yet deeply versed in philosophy and the humanities.

    Indeed, I remember a discussion Professor Olaopa and I had many years ago during our postgraduate studies at the University of Ibadan when he said he would love to pursue his doctoral research based on the works of Soyinka. It was my view at the time that it would be a near cross-disciplinary impossibility given the structure of academia in the country. But Olaopa was thinking well ahead of the times . We now live in a world in which the strict disciplinary boundaries between spheres of scholastic specialization has virtually disappeared and we now have pervasive interpenetration of subject areas and research enterprises.

    I must confess that in my studies and readings as a student of political science, Professor Wole Soyinka’s works particularly his political/personal memoirs – ‘The Man Died’, ‘Ibadan, the Penkelemesi Years’, ‘Ake: Years of childhood’ and ‘You must set forth at Dawn’ – have had as much influence on my mental consciousness as my teachers in political science at the University of Ibadan have. Soyinka’s works in content and style cut across and have bearings on diverse areas of knowledge including literature, the arts and humanities, philosophy, politics, sociology and religion. Professor Adeniran’s work while concentrating primarily on the politics of the Nobel laureate is also an exciting and arresting introduction to the multifaceted complexities of the mystifying persona of one of the most dynamic and versatile intellectuals of our time.

    There are two aspects of the politics of WS that come to the fore in Adeniran’s book. First, there is the phenomenon of politics as a universal aspect of human endeavor as depicted in the creative works of the writer in the diverse genres of drama, poetry or fictional prose. Whether he is writing of the conflict between tradition and encroaching modernity in transitional societies or the comical duplicities of fake and hypocritical religious figures in the Trials of brother Jero or indeed depicting and denouncing the villainous atrocities, inhuman brutalities and venal proclivities of dictatorships in contemporary Africa, politics looms large in the imaginative universe of WS. Second, is WS’s obvious fascination with and relentless personal forays into politics at diverse times in his ongoing epochal odyssey through life. What are the contrasts and/or contradictions between Soyinka’s portrayal of the sordidness of politics in his literary oeuvre and his own political ideals, personal examples and actual praxis?

    In chapters 5, 6 and 7, of this book, Adeniran explores the writer’s politics through the plays, poetry and novels of Wole Soyinka. Exploring and analyzing a good number of the about 15 published plays of Wole Soyinka at the time he was writing, Adeniran teases out the author’s attitudes and inclinations towards politics in these dramatic offerings of the playwright. Of the plays, Adeniran writes, “One is struck by the regularity of some features, especially the fascination with myth, the constant commentary on religion and the poetic tone and structure of his dramaturgy. Of the fifteen plays available to the public either through publication or performance, it is the vibrancy of most of them, the inevitable attempt to explore the inner recesses of man and the satirical portrayal of human values as they come under his appraisal and (or) condemnation that readily project themselves. Beneath these and the gusto and humour in the plays, however, are the political elements of rebellion and change, or the need for them in societies that are largely traditional, retrogressive and intimidating”.

    Of signal import to me in this chapter was Adeniran’s analysis of Soyinka’s play, ‘A Dance of the Forests’, which was one of the official commemorative performances to herald Nigeria’s independence in 1960. For some inexplicable reason, I had not had the opportunity to read the play as it is not included in the collections of Soyinka’s plays that I have and neither is it available even in some of the best bookshops. However, Adeniran’s exhaustive narrative and discourse on the play is helpful and further whets the appetite for a desire to read or watch the actual play.

    As Adeniran writes, “Unlike in ‘The Swamp Dwellers’ and ‘The Lion and the Jewel’, the political content of ‘A Dance of the Forests’ is neither subtle nor illusory. The political history and development of the time, the late fifties and the decades to follow, are mirrored to the society through “the gathering of the tribes festival”. Soyinka was still in London at the time many African states were granted independence. He witnessed the rush to return home, the native land, by the so-called nationalists who were anxious to head homewards and grab the positions that would be vacated by the colonialists. His misgiving about such a rush without deliberate plans or well articulated programmes regarding what to do with the powers that would devolve to them or to be assumed must have motivated him in writing ‘A Dance of the Forests’.

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    It is indeed astonishing that the myth-suffused, complicated and anti-status quo play was chosen as one of the landmark events for the country’s independence. No less striking is the playwright’s foresight, his keen political sensitivity and insights into the challenges, structural , cultural and behavioral, ahead of the then newly independent states of Africa. Similarly, Adeniran meticulously analyzes such Soyinka poetry collections as ‘A Shuttle in the Crypt’, ‘Idanre and other Poems’ and ‘Mandela’s Earth and other Poems’ to draw out the political stimulations for and import of the poems.

    He categorizes Soyinka’s poems into four parts, those based on the poet’s personal experience, those predicated on the experiences of other individuals, poems informed by events in Nigeria and ‘universal poems echoing the human condition’. He surmises that “Soyinka’s mind captures the universe with relative ease as he uses poetry to promote genuine popular causes and project a truly democratic spirit. While his poems are generally not of the same mood, the political ones among them are tied by a tissue of relevance, and the messages are in the tradition of poetry aimed at the good of the polis and based on some universalistic political vision that also recognizes self and communal identities. The poetry comes out as a product of conscious thought, in the Platonic tradition, and as some stimulant to confront, mediate, expose, assail or overcome some historical experience“.

    •To be concluded

  • Petroleum and Nigeria’s underdevelopment conundrum

    Petroleum and Nigeria’s underdevelopment conundrum

    Once again, we are back to where we have all too often found ourselves in our developmental trajectory nearly six and half decades after the attainment of flag independence. I refer to the return of fuel scarcity, the resultant long queue of vehicles at fuel stations in towns and cities across the country with dire consequences for economic productivity, the inexplicable hide-and-seek game by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) on the root cause of the problem before its belated admittance of its humongous indebtedness to oil marketers and, again, another round of increase in the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) signaling further negative implications for inflationary spirals. I have lost count of the number of times that the pump price of fuel has been raised since my youth as successive administrations purport to remove a seemingly never-ending subsidy attendant on the continuous exportation of crude oil with which the country is abundantly blessed and the importation of refined petroleum at humongous cost.

    In the run up to the last presidential election, the major presidential candidates all pledged to remove the subsidy which one of them, Peter Obi, claimed he would do on day one if elected, describing the scheme as an elaborate scam. Yet, with President Bola Tinubu taking the decision on his inauguration on May 29, last year, to remove the subsidy, an unpopular policy option his predecessor had kicked down the line, his defeated opponents in the last election – Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi- have opted to play politics with the issue grandstanding that they could have pursued a different path. In truth, the country had hardly any room for maneuver. A sinister and cynical cabal had seized on the inexcusable non-functioning of local refineries for decades to turn the importation of refined petroleum into an expansive criminal self-enrichment enterprise.

    The option of the government continuing to bridge the gap between the combined associated costs of fuel importation and the relatively affordable price it was sold to consumers was unsustainable. The government had had to resort to incurring humongous debts in foreign loans to fund its operations with sizable amounts of dwindling total revenues dedicated to debt servicing.

    But at the time President Tinubu announced the ‘final’ removal of the subsidy, the new administration was not totally in the picture as regards the sharp decline in volume of crude oil production due to industrial scale oil theft, the large amounts of crude oil that had been sold upfront in the futures market with the revenue collected and expended in advance and, of course, the deceptive illusion of expectations that the Port Harcourt refinery would be functional by April 2024 as repeatedly confidently affirmed by chief executives of the NNPCL. The new target date of the Port Harcourt refinery commencing local refining and sale of fuel was set for August and yet we are now in September and there is no indication of the pledge being redeemed anytime soon. Remarkably, the NNPCL celebrated its achieving what it considered to be an appreciable level of profitability in the last financial year only for its huge indebtedness to oil marketers responsible for the current acute scarcity of fuel across the country to be made public. Is this not a contradiction in terms – high profitability co-existing with humongous indebtedness?

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    Only the mischievous and crassly partisan would blame the a little over one year in office Tinubu administration for the complications, challenges, and mostly self-inflicted woes of the petroleum industry and the associated sufferings inflicted on the Nigerian people as exemplified, for example, by the fresh fuel price increases. Yet, the administration must take it as a cardinal responsibility to undertake a surgical organizational procedure on the NNPCL to sanitize and reposition the company to offer productive service to the Nigerian people. The NNPCL should not be immune from the kind of forensic audit conducted on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in the aftermath of Godwin Emefiele’s reign of impunity for which he is currently facing the due process of law.

    Despite the enactment of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) and the purported transition of the oil behemoth into a private company, its operations and processes are widely believed to be as opaque as ever. Some experts contend, for instance, that the cost of producing a barrel of crude oil in Nigeria is the highest in the world. The controversial but knowledgeable Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, has publicly averred that the efforts of the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr Wale Edun, and the CBN governor, Mr Olayemi Cardoso, cannot bear optimum fruit without a more transparent operation of the NNPCL and a more accurate data on the country’s crude oil sales and attendant revenues.

    The quagmire in which our petroleum industry finds itself today was quite avoidable had the country’s leaders at various times listened to and worked more closely with Nigeria’s conscientious and patriotic progressive intellectuals. For instance, as far back as 12th February, 1971, the late Dr Bala Usman had, in a paper titled ‘Petroleum in the Economy of Nigeria’ had undertaken an incisive analysis of the problems and prospects of an industry so critical to the country’s development. As he put it then, “All the proposals and plans for post-war Nigeria are based on certain assumptions about our oil. From the government which, according to its Commissioner of Finance, expects a revenue of several hundred million, to the foreign businessmen licking their lips and assuring us of our rosy economic future, to the ordinary man and woman – oil has become a basis for optimism about the future. This widespread awareness of our wealth in oil is combined with gross ignorance about the operations of the petroleum industry and its international context.”

    It is the unfortunate truth that ignorance about the operations of the country’s petroleum industry including the actual amount of crude oil extracted from the bowels of our earth and sold as exports by the oil multinationals has persisted for the most part of our post-independence history. In his submission over five decades ago, Bala Usman had pointed out not only the impunity of the international oil companies in their mode of operation in the country but even the reckless flaring of gas which he had identified as a major problem even then. In his words, “Put against the great potentialities of the oil industry as a generator of both industrial and agricultural growth in the whole of our country, what we have gained so far from the industry is paltry. The government in the seven years 1958 to 1966 received a sum of £68.7 million, cash, since that time this sum might now total up £150 million. A few Nigerians (actually about 5,000) have got jobs, mostly semi-skilled and unskilled. A few contractors have made a fortune. But the price of petroleum products from petrol and kerosene to fertilizer, drugs and nylon have gone up. The crude oil is sucked out of our sub-soil, piped straight to the tankers and taken straight to Britain and Western Europe to feed their expanding refineries and petrochemical works and fuel their industries”.

    Of course, there is a lot that has changed in the petroleum industry terrain since Bala Usman penned those words. It has generated much higher revenues for the economy over the years but the developmental impact of this has been mitigated by astronomical corruption. The Nigerian Liquified Natural Gas Company (NLNG) has emerged as a viable, profitably and relatively efficiently run company indicating better utilization of the country’s gas resources and with many suggesting this as a model for the NNPCL to follow. To some extent, the current travails of the petroleum industry are also partly a function of the perhaps inevitable politicization of what ought to be essentially purely technical economic public policy issues. On the decision to construct the Kaduna refinery, for instance, Cliff Edogun, in his study, ‘The structure of state capitalism in the Nigerian petroleum industry’, noted that “The issue was whether another expensive refinery situated hundreds of kilometers from crude source was necessary, especially when the mode of withdrawal was to depend on pipelines that are vulnerable and subject to sabotage. The technocrats were arguing for cost-saving but the bureaucrats concluded that it would be politically expedient to site a refinery in Kaduna to justify federal character”.

    The roll out of locally refined petrol this week by Dangote Industries Limited is good news from an embattled sector but the much sought-after relief that this is expected to provide consumers may not be immediately forthcoming due to continued inefficiencies and opacity in the industry as well as complications associated with the interplay of market forces. Beyond this, how much of the monumental Dangote Refinery is reflective of local knowledge and domestic mastery of the industry’s technology thus stimulating confidence in Nigeria’s enhanced capacity to autonomously optimize its potentials for the country’s future transformation?

    Even as we daily suffer from our incapacity to refine crude oil locally, we read and see daily in the media how security agencies ceaselessly destroy hundreds of illegal refineries operated by enterprising locals to refine the commodity admittedly in a rudimentary and crude manner. But can’t they be empowered with the requisite skills to refine the crude more professionally and thus add their output to our legal stock of local capacity? I recall once again the words of the late Professor Pius Okigbo at the First Obafemi Awolowo Foundation Dialogue in 1993 that during the civil war, the Biafran scientific community, among other feats, “succeeded in building out of entirely locally fabricated materials a giant petroleum refining facility and thereby made the technology so diffuse and more universally understood and applied than anywhere else in the world”. Surely this should not be unattainable rocket science to us in today’s Nigeria.

  • NPFL’s kalokalo rules

    NPFL’s kalokalo rules

    The domestic league in Nigeria is back. Not without the characteristic upheavals. This new term comes with a great debate about a relegated team buying over the promotion ticket of a team in the lower rung to escape the drop. One can’t understand why a relegated team can’t accept their fate and struggle to return to the elite class the following season. It isn’t rocket science. Leicester City FC are back in the Premier League in England, having been relegated the previous season.

    Not so in Nigeria. A team whose owners didn’t care a hoot when their club’s league fortunes were sliding down the abyss is now doing everything under the sun to retain their position by default and people don’t see the misnomer in such an exercise. Where is such a thing done in the world? Who does that?

    In trying to justify their decision, the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL)  issued a statement which said: ”Specifically, there is one ownership of Beyond Limits Football Academy and Remo Stars, a club already competing in the NPFL, which constitutes a breach of Rule B11.4 of the NPFL Framework and Rules.

    ”As a result of this decision, the slot previously occupied by Beyond Limits Football Academy has been relinquished and subsequently handed over to Heartland FC. This decision aligns with Rule A5.2, which stipulates the criteria for club participation. Heartland FC met the requirements set by the NPFL board and was the only relegated club to express interest in filling the vacancy.

    ”We also need to clarify that there was no slot buying transaction, as such practices are explicitly prohibited under NPFL rules. The NPFL remains committed to upholding a fair and competitive league. While the NPFL rules do not explicitly foresee every scenario, the board has exercised its discretion, as permitted under the league’s governing documents, to ensure that decisions are made in the best interest of the league and its stakeholders.”

    The questions to ask NPFL chieftains include wanting to know the essence of demoting poorly performing teams and rewarding those in the lower rung who did well with an elevation into the elite if a relegated side in the previous season decides to buy one of the promoted side’s space? Wouldn’t it have been right to promote the next qualified team in the lower rung than to reward a failure on the altar of dishonourable laws? What happens to the space which this relegated team ought to occupy in the lower rung of the league? Won’t this lacuna affect the structure of the lower division by one in terms of its composition? What rules determine the team that should occupy this unethical imbalance of teams? Are rules not meant for men than men for rules? What this decision represents is that any relegated team with new ownership can escape the drop, if any promoted side can’t fund its campaign in the elite. Isn’t this a tacit invitation to match-fixing soonest?

    Dear NPFL, having disqualified the lower side which got a promotion on grounds of single ownership of two clubs, does the rule directly say that such a team should be replaced by a   demoted team whose owners have suddenly become rich? Why didn’t NPFL raise the alarm to NFF when it was obvious that Beyond Limits Football Academy would be promoted on grounds of single ownership with Remo Stars?

    Interestingly, a country’s growth in the game is most times judged by the number of home-grown players in their senior soccer teams at the World Cup, not by the sickening number of Nigeria-born lads discovered by other football nations. If we can’t run the domestic league on rules universal to all climes, it won’t come as a surprise if we need another 38 years to win any continental trophy with our local clubs.

    A domestic league without a regimented calendar can’t produce new stars, since they only know when the season begins without knowing when it would end.  We have had in the past in Nigeria, a league season without end, hence such contraptions as abridged leagues or regional league competition, become the only way out of a self-inflicted quagmire.

    I have always advocated here that the best form of security starts by ensuring that the competent referees are assigned such red-lettered matches are handled by the best set of referees and match commissioners with several independent assessors. League matches can’t be played to attract sponsorship from the blue chip companies without television coverage.

    A league without an official television rights holder is a circus, which should not be taken seriously. Such leagues obviously cannot produce national team players since they wouldn’t want their careers truncated through the organisers’ ineptitude. Any league without title sponsors has no business with the corporate world – it has unwittingly become a commercial failure. Any league without an official insurance company for the clubs, coaches, and players can best be likened to celebrating mediocrity.

    This writer challenged a member of the league board over the possibility of having VAR machines at league venues across the country bankrolled by the committee. The league board member welcomed the suggestion but disclosed that it costs about $377 million to buy the VAR machine not forgetting the cost of installation and training of the experts to operate the machine. Quickly, we both brought out our phones to convert $377 million to naira and the expression on our faces told the story about the slippery pole task if it was to be purchased and installed for use during matches by either the league board or the participating teams.

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    Should we throw our arm up over the purchase and usage of the VAR machines during domestic league matches? No, except we are saying that there are unresolved issues surrounding the live transmission of games in the courts or are out of it by way of existing Supreme Court judgments which must be respected and obeyed.

    The league board may need to sit with those in whose hands lie the right ownership of the domestic league’s television rights for proper schooling for the good of the game. Government bodies should learn how to respect such issues since the owners of such rights did so with large sums of money, most times secured from

    commercial banks with very vulgar interest rates. Besides, these rights owners are businessmen and women whose intellectual property shouldn’t be wished away on the altar of a few people’s penchants of always thinking that there are Nigerian ways of doing things. No way. That is why we have the courts to help adjudicate on such matters.

    League matches can’t be played to attract sponsorship from the blue chip companies without television coverage. The league board should, therefore, sit with the true rights owners and talk things over. These rights owners love the game and have chosen to do the business of television coverage based on the tenets of their contract. Breaches to contracts should be frowned upon. This perhaps may have prompted the decision to head to the courts for judgments which must be respected.

    The call to have a live telecast of the domestic leagues is on the NFF in conjunction with the bodies law section to look at the defunct league board’s document to see how best the problem can be resolved amicably for the good of the game.

  • Benue APC and challenge of reconciliation

    Benue APC and challenge of reconciliation

    Many issues should bother the people of Benue State, particularly members and supporters of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the divided chapter.

    The subsisting ethnic cleavage makes the Northcentral state a mini-Nigeria in want of unity in diversity. The memory of past inter-tribal clashes is scary. The scars are visible. The pains have not subsided. The tension may not have abated. From his predecessors, Governor Hyacinth Alia has inherited a big burden of ensuring peaceful coexistence. He is achieving this through his peace-building styles and people-oriented policies and programmes.

    Benue of Tiv, Junkun, and other groups has been a wide theatre of mass killings and other forms of violence – on the farms, in the villages, and on the roads. The perpetrators are unknown. They are usually spook-like, always at large, only to reappear to wreak more havoc and vanish into thin air again.

    The state prides itself as the Food Basket of the Nation. But it is now troubled by the disruption of farm practices. Farmers are slaughtered by public enemies. Kidnappings, banditry, and farmer-herder clashes create panic and apprehension. The actual number of needless deaths in the last nine years is unknown. It is mind-boggling.

    The highly heterogeneous state is thirsty for peace and development across sectors. The sectors require surgical operations, which Rev. Fr. Alia is carrying out with patriotism, commitment, and dedication, thereby rekindling hope about a brighter future, despite the constraints and obstacles on his way.

    Before the cleric got in the saddle under the current republic were George Akume, Gabriel Suswam, and Sam Ortom. It could be said that they did their best to lay the foundation on which Alia is building. However, many agree that the cleric has a different approach. He attends to issues with speed. He sees his mandate as the extension of his service to humanity as a priest.

    This is the core issue: while Alia’s predecessors were accountable to the constitution, the party leadership, and certain benefactors or godfathers, the priest in Makurdi Government House, first and foremost, believes that above all, he is accountable to God, the Alpha, who gives power, and the Omega, who also has the power to retrieve power from the beneficiary, in the course of human history.

    Rev. Alia took the politics of Benue by storm, ahead of last year’s general election. He crossed the partisan bridge from the pulpit to the corridor of power, leaning on an unprecedented following cutting across ethnic, religious, and political leanings. His antecedents as an anti-HIV/AIDS campaigner and organiser of Holy Mass made him famous. He is a household name in Benue, and even in Taraba.

    The priest came when the state thirsted for a clean break from the past. He wanted to make a difference in a state that has literarily been crawling for over four decades. In Benue, there were no jobs because there were no industries. People also started deserting farms to stay safe across 20 of the 23 local governments. Over 2.3 million displaced people sojourned in Internally Displaced Persons’ (IDPs’) camps. The salaries of public workers were not paid. Pensions and gratuities were hanging.

    The APC needed a game changer. Thus, in 2023, the interest of Benue State, the party’s chapter, and the candidate aligned in their collective pursuit of greater welfare and prosperity for the generality of the people.

    Highly popular, charismatic, focused, and honest, Alia came with a message of hope, revival, and change. The people of Benue believed him as a man bubbling with the courage to correct the cumulative errors. His manifestos were captivating. On the podium, the priest, as usual, was electrifying.

    Read Also: Onjeh congratulates Benue APC Acting chair Omale, hails Alia, APC NWC

    At the close of the poll, Fr. Alia defeated his rival, Titus Uba of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The outcome of the electoral exercise underscored a vote of no confidence in the opposition party and the immediate past administration in the state.

    Following his swearing-in, the governor hit the ground running, not as a run-of-the-mill prevaricator or bread-and-butter politician but as a genuine and devoted servant of God dedicated to ministering to the vast needs of people. So far, he has been fulfilling his campaign promises, to the delight of the electorate.

    But the attention of the people’s governor is being distracted by intra-party intrigues, bickering, and war within the state APC chapter on which platform he rode to power. Yet, Alia needs the support of the entire party to achieve more for the state.

    There is a curious battle for supremacy; a needless struggle for the control of the party between the godfather, Senator Akume, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), and his godson, Alia.

    Akume is the hero, party builder, and leader. Alia is the champion of progress, the ‘political star boy,’ the cynosure of all eyes, and the consolidator of party gains. The challenge now is that while Benue APC has succeeded in bouncing back to power, the chapter is also waging war against itself.

    The protracted crisis between the two leaders should be the focus of the APC National Reconciliation Committee. The division should end in the collective interest of the state and the party. It is surprising that gladiators who worked together during the elections are now working at cross-purpose, almost without justification.

    Leading the Akume forces in the war of attrition is Austin Agada, chairman of the polarised chapter. The governor’s forces are led by Benjamin Omale, chairman of the caretaker committee. The two camps are in and out of court, underscoring that things are falling apart in the party.

    Party stalwarts are flexing of muscles. Observers have rightly captured the rift as Abuja forces, fanatically loyal to a chieftain of national stature, Akume, versus Makurdi combatants, fiercely loyal to the governor, who is the legal and legitimate state party leader. The turn of events is worrisome to party members who are boxed into emotional wrenching. Mutual admirers of the two leaders – Akume and Fr. Alia – both loyalist of the National Leader and Commander-in-Chief, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, are taken aback.

    Efforts by traditional rulers to resolve the conflict have collapsed. The peace meeting brokered by the Tor Tiv, Prof. James Ayatse, only led to a temporary cessation of hostilities. After departing from the ancient Gboko palace, the rift escalated. It is because, in the game of politics, the contest for power and influence are characterised by competition and antagonism which the natural rulers cannot moderate in a republican setting.

    Yet, sources of discord can be resolved through the conflict resolution mechanism within the party at the state and national levels, if the warring “factions” are willing. Issues like the choice of House of Assembly principal officers, criteria for the selection of commissioners and special advisers, and appointment of caretaker committees for councils often generate friction and tension. However, they are peculiar challenges confronting winning parties. In victory, Akume and Alia should mutually demonstrate the partisan capacities for the management of electoral achievements.

    The split is dangerous for the future of Benue APC. A party in crisis is a house divided. The negative impact would be felt by the administration it midwifed and the warring leaders locked in political enmity.

    The way out of the quarrel is simple yet challenging. There is no permanent friend or foe in politics but permanent interest. A house divided can fall. The watchword, therefore, is reconciliation.

    The two sides should sheathe their swords. They should give concessions. They should embrace consensus on issues. Their leaders should remember the beginning and strive at an accord. They should learn to forgive and forget.

    The Benue APC warriors should collectively work for concord. It is in the interest of the party and the gladiators too. Crisis, unduly prolonged, can only weaken the platform ahead of future polls.

  • The Dangers of selective government ‘philantropy’

    The Dangers of selective government ‘philantropy’

    Nigeria practices the presidential style of democracy fashioned after that of the United States. However, there is a myriad of structural differences in the two systems. Somehow, the elected representatives of the people in the executive and legislative arms seem not to be held accountable by the people and the system. That is why campaigns in the United States are more  expository of the character and professional competences of politicians.

    On the other hand, the Nigerian political system is flawed in some key areas; the political party structure, the electoral system, party leadership style, campaign funds and lack of accountability by the elected and appointees. The political parties seem to lack definable ideological convictions making it difficult for the people to really align committedly with any political party as a development agenda. Most partisan party members are in it for the socio-economic expediencies they will get after election victories.

    Most Nigerian politicians easily swing between the political parties depending on which side they feel their bread can better be buttered. There is hardly any identifiable sense of patriotic verve that motivate most politicians in Nigeria. This lack of patriotism manifests in the ways they handle their public service. Most are in it for their egos as can be seen from their attitude in offices. Immediately after elections. They often forget their promises to the people and literally fence off  the voters.

    The lifestyles of many politicians in offices spell luxury and arrogance. Many are in it for the opportunities for self-aggrandizements that accrue from certain positions and influence peddling. Immediately after elections, it is often a ‘we vs them’ attitude as the politicians tend to live in a bubble feigning ignorance of the challenges the citizens face. This is not the best of democracy. There is an aloofness that Nigerian politicians show that any little action by them is seen as a favor to the people and they make media song and dance over things that ought to be insignificant and ordinary.

    The fact that Nigeria is battling with more than 133million citizens living in multi-dimensional poverty, more than 20million out-of-school children, more than 10million children chronically malnourished with the attendant consequences of mental and physical retardation amidst the resources and human capital since independence shows that the Nigerian democracy has not paid off as expected.  The political class has over the years failed the people. 

    Curiously though, the Roundtable Conversation has observed over the years that most politicians love the limelight with their tokenism to the some of the people. They invite media attention when they renovate schools, build infrastructure,  give scholarships to deserving students, give out palliatives or assist some indigent people in dire need. It is even worse with the advent of the social media. The moment certain pathetic cases of some individuals are highlighted in the media, some politicians jump on the bandwagon possibly for the visibility and media attention that would give them.

    Recently, a young lady who is described as content creator in the social media made a video showcasing her mother living with mental health challenges.  It attracted mixed reactions from Nigerians. Some commended her for being sincere and caring for her mom who apparently is on the streets uncared for by no one except possibly her children one of who damned a very judgmental society that stigmatizes mental health issues to bring her mother’s challenges to the media space.

    The Women Affairs Minister, Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye upbraided the young lady for filming her mentally ill mother, “for personal gain and social media content”. While the minister might mean well with her comments, the young lady might possibly have done that in desperation. Given how mentally health cases  are treated by society, that young lady must be commended for her courage and tenacity. Yes, if it was for personal gain, what in the world would be better than attracting attention to possibly help one’s mother? Yes, it is for a personal gain but the one worth every effort. In a society whose healthcare system for even regular illnesses is in shambles, mental illness is often shrouded in many superstitious beliefs and patients are often left uncared for. We suspect desperation to get help for her dear mother and hopefully help others.

    Yes, mental health issues are global in nature but it is for governments to create room for their care to the best of their ability. There are mentally ill people on the streets around the world but there are more facilities like rehab homes, therapy and social welfare agencies and psychiatric institutions. The essence of governments is to see to the welfare of the people to the best of their ability.

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    While the Women Affairs minister might be correct in admonishing citizens not to exploit vulnerable individuals especially those struggling with mental health issues, we feel the young lady might just have taken the bull by the horn to bring government attention to the challenges she and her family are facing over their mother.  We however commend the minister for seeking more information on this case and promising to ensure proper care for the woman.

    A few days ago too, one 22 year old Grace Udeme Esenowa,  a mother of four who dropped out of high school due to teenage pregnancy was in the news. She is a farm house worker who fed her four kids with chicken and fish feeds. Her employer, one Pastor Uzoma had taken interest in her case and escalated her story to his social media influencer daughter who put up Grace’s story on Instagram. Grace’s partner had previously been beaten to death because he allegedly stole some potatoes.

    The wife of the Akwa Ibom state governor, Pastor Patience Umo Eno had on reading the story demanded a mental evaluation of the young lady while offering to rehabilitate her with accommodation, sponsorship for skills acquisition and other forms of assistance. That is very commendable. However, Grace is one out of millions of young ladies whose lives are distorted by teenage pregnancies. So tragic that her partner passed while possibly trying to provide for the four children they had together. We believe that governments in the country must do better not necessarily to eradicate certain social ills but to minimize them.

    The beginning of Grace’s sad life is her teenage pregnancy and parental rejection that forced her to go live with a man that had violated her innocence at 16! How serious does Nigeria treat such sexual abuse of young girls? It is possibly only Lagos state that has a very functional Gender-Based Violence Agency that is very diligent and tries to prosecute conclusively sexual predators. Many of them have been jailed in the recent past.

    What is the Akwa Ibom state government planning to do to address teenage pregnancies? What is their school curriculum like? Did the young lady realize what it meant to have sex with a man if it was consensual?  What counseling agenda does Akwa Ibom and other states have for young ladies and their parents in cases of teenage pregnancies when they  inevitably happen? It is not enough to stigmatize the young lady, in many ways, the state had failed her and her ilk.

    She went to live with her violator because she had no options. Her life trajectory is enough to induce mental health issues. Feeding her children with animal feed must have been an act of desperation. She possibly had no option in a situation where caring for the kids had become her  responsibility given the death of her partner which was enough to induce some mental health issues too.

    The Women Affairs Minister and the First lady of Akwa Ibom State through their actions narrated above have not broken any laws. Their actions are commendable. However, the Roundtable Conversation believes that governments in Nigeria at local, state and federal levels can do better. There can be more efforts at making policies and laws that can help the citizens better and reduce the often media glitz that comes with certain isolated cases of human needs. There is no perfect system anywhere in the world but we all know that Nigeria often lacks the political will to plan properly for a functional society that can reduce poverty and give more dignity to the human person.

    Most politicians in Nigeria treat citizens as one mass of needy group who must be eternally grateful for the little given every once in a while. We cannot continue to be a country of pity parties. The 22 year old might not have been in the news if the society cared better for the girl child. Caring for the girl child does not mean waving the magic wand and abolishing teenage pregnancies, it is more comprehensively about planning for the welfare of the different demographics.

    Policy and law makers must work together to develop more functional systems that address social issues that make life difficult especially for the vulnerable in the society. Sexual offences against young girls are not treated with the seriousness it demands. There must be serious plans to institute social nets that can cushion the vagaries of life to avoid all the spontaneous acts of isolated philanthropy that merely puts government officials or their spouses as some Mother Theresa to a tiny percentage of the deprived in the society.

    Make no mistake about it, the Roundtable Conversation is by no means implying that assistance by public officials to those who need them is wrong, we just feel that a society is not run sparks of seeming humanitarian acts. There must be a deliberate attempt to build a system that fundamentally takes care of certain basic issues to minimize spontaneous rescue missions. Democracy in Nigeria must be truly government of the people, by the people and for the people. That way, we can address the core illnesses not the symptoms that exert palliatives that are not far reaching.

    • The dialogue continues…
  • Jonathan and 2027 poll

    Jonathan and 2027 poll

    All politics is local, but certain peculiarities define political players as either prescient or improvident in their quest for political power. The ideals political leaders pursue define their place in history. Circumstances often dictate such ideals. But the circumspect weigh the options rationally before putting their first foot forward. This happens across all continents and political climes. 

    In Africa, many political leaders appear very addicted to the corridor of power. They are always reluctant to leave political office. It is because power is alluring. Only a few are motivated by patriotism, or the desire to offer selfless service. Most of them are merely interested in the pecks and afraid to be off the radar of privilege and relevance.

    When they are forced out by circumstances beyond their control, either through a coup or legitimate election, which underscores their rejection by the people, they are still willing and eager to stage a comeback, thereby reclining themselves as other circumstances may permit.

    For African politicians, retirement is never contemplated. The label of statesmen in advisory capacities is rejected as they scheme for active participation in national affairs through the ballot box.

    They hide under the constitution which guarantees their fundamental human rights to aspire – like other citizens. But on many occasions, they are also desperate to circumvent the rules to pave the way for their return, even without justification.

    As former leaders, they exert influence on the slippery political class, which they can toss around at will because of their stupendous wealth, and which also tosses them around, as the situation permits, because the former leaders and other political actors are “same of the same” and confederates in their hunt for power.

    If Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, president of Nigeria between 2009 and 2015, is being contacted by some unidentified Northern elements to vie for the president, it is not new. He also has the inalienable right to contest. Ahead of last year’s poll, some faceless people attempted to fly the same kite before returning to their sheds after courage deserted them. After some days of noise-making in the media, their voices faded. They went into oblivion. Jonathan has neither acknowledged nor denied the aspiration.

    It is the height of political kleptocracy for certain leaders to always see Aso Villa in Abuja, the seat of government, as their permanent home, when there is no evidence that they possess some superior ideas to back their inordinate ambitions.

    The tenures of the two leaders – Olusegun Obasanjo and Muhammadu Buhari – who successfully staged a comeback, were not inspiring, despite their touted soldering credentials and cumulative leadership experience spanning decades. There is no certainty that past leaders, who never bowed out of power in a blaze of glory, should be depended upon for salvation.

    The disease crept into the body politic around the 1970s. War-time Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon, who was expected to unfold a transition programme in October 1970, floundered. He told the anxious nation to wait for the handover in 1976. He was toppled in 1975 by his boys, led by the Communications Minister, General Muritala Mohammed, who succeeded him.

    Curiously, Dr. Gowon, who spent nine years at Dodan Barracks in Lagos as Commandant-General, was overshadowed by covetousness in blissful retirement. Seventeen years later, he sought presidential nomination on the platform of the proscribed Social Democratic Party (SDP) from his Kaduna base. Also, another former Military Head of State, General Obasanjo, was taken aback. “What did Jack forget in Dodan Barracks that he is going to take?” he queried. Gowon was stopped at the first stage of Option A4. The transition arrangement eventually hit the rock in 1993.

    Also, after five years of power hijack, General Sani Abacha attempted to transmute from a maximum ruler to a civilian president. His military government was tension-soaked. Nigeria was in chaos. Nobody could predict the kind of doom awaiting the country, but it was clear that a huge crisis was looming. Suddenly, General Abacha died. It was the end of a national nightmare.

    Ironically, Obasanjo, who later loomed large on Nigeria’s political stage as president between 1999 and 2007, succeeded where his former boss, Gowon, had failed. But after eight years, there were signposts of a sit-tight agenda which found expression in the inexplicable third term, a tenure extension project that sparked uproar and rage among Nigerians.

    The Evil Genius, Military President Ibrahim Babangida, who bowed out of power in disgrace after his elongated transition programme crashed, sought the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential ticket ahead of 2007. The pact between him and Obasanjo on succession, if any, could not be ascertained. He failed because apart from the factor of Obasanjo, whose succession agenda was not immediately clear, the mood of the nation was totally against the prospect of the reemergence of the ‘Prince of the Niger.’

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    Many notorious soldier-politicians often delude themselves into thinking that Nigerians are enveloped by collective amnesia. In 2011, the residue of ‘June 12’ travellers were planning an onslaught when news filtered from Kaduna that Northern elders had chosen Atiku Abubakar, and not Babangida, as its anointed candidate. On that note, Babangida’s bid to return to power permanently collapsed. Whereas if Babangida had honoured his promise to hand over voluntarily thereby liquidating his self-acquired power, it would have been possible for him to return to power after Abiola’s presidency. The annulment will remain a permanent cross he has to carry for the rest of his life – and perhaps for as long as history will remember.

    Unlike these leaders, shoeless Jonathan from a minority area of Otuoke in Bayelsa State came into the limelight from obscurity. Well-educated, gentle and peaceful, he was catapulted to stardom by fate. He was the opposite of his boisterous and pompous boss, Ijaw Governor General Diepreye Alamiyeseigha, whose larger-than-life image completely dwarfed the personality of the colourless yet affable deputy and spare tyre.

    Without displaying an ambition for the driver’s seat, the position landed on his palm when his governor misbehaved.

    After Obasanjo threw his weight behind Umaru Yar’Adua for president, he found Jonathan the most suitable candidate for the running mate. He did not know the good fortune that awaited him at the PDP Presidential Convention. In 2007, he became vice president.

    Two years later, he became the acting president, through the Doctrine of Necessity, and later, president, following Yar’Adua’s death occasioned by a prolonged illness. After completing the residue of tenure, Jonathan, aided by the tutor, Obasanjo, beat Atiku Abubakar at the primary and defeated Nuhu Ribadu of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) during the 2011 election.

    But instead of taking a bow and exiting the stage when the ovation was loudest in 2015, he insisted on his constitutional right to seek reelection so that he could be sworn in for the third time.

    The decision showed that Jonathan was not a student of history, particularly the history of conventional zoning or power rotation, which underlined the strength of his party. The study of PDP antecedent revealed that any time zoning was jettisoned, the platform was engulfed in an intra-party conflagration.

    Besides, Jonathan’s government had been rendered unpopular and weakened by consistent criticisms and war by the opposition, assisted by the media. His main rival in the then-ruling party – Atiku – said the former president was clueless. Other foes reechoed the dark side of an administration that had overstayed its welcome. Protesters occupied Lagos and Abuja to decry his policies and programmes. The zoning battle raged ahead of 2015 polls, and the critical North/Southwest alliance favoured rotation or power shift to the North with justification – to foster equity, fairness, and justice.

    Although Jonathan viewed the struggle for power as purely political and constitutional, those with a sound knowledge of history perceived it as more of a moral issue. Tension arose between the constitution and party convention, which the former president, with the weight of office, flagrantly violated. The rest, as it is said, is history.

    Jonathan displayed wisdom when he was ousted. He never contested the validity of the poll. Unlike Obasanjo, he did not allow anybody to tear his party membership card for him. But by personal design, he opted for a nominal role in the party that gave him privileges.

    In a post-Jonathan era, the former president never built or nurtured a structure. At home, many of his supporters even teamed up with David Lyon of the All Progressives Congress (APC) against Douye Diri of the PDP in 2019. Neither has he been a reconciliator or rallying point in the party.

    As Atiku and Nyesom Wike are locked in a supremacy battle ahead of PDP’s mini-convention, Jonathan is not yet in the picture. If some northern regional interests are said to be positioning him for 2027, which party is their best bet? It is illusory to ever think that Jonathan would obtain the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential ticket in 2027, even if he defects today.

    Gone are the days when interested or entrenched regional voices hijacked party tickets and started chasing a former president and begging him to join the race with the assurance that he would pick the ticket.

    From all indications, Bauchi State Governor Bala Mohammed’s subtle campaign for Jonathan does not represent the North’s position. He is demonstrating loyalty to his former boss who appointed him as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) minister while serving in the Senate. But his remark is significant.

    As a PDP leader, he is conscious that in the spirit of fairness, equity, and justice, the South should still produce the next president.

  • New constitution as magic wand? (2)

    New constitution as magic wand? (2)

    Pushing on from its meeting with President Bola Tinubu last week where they strongly made a case for the adoption of a brand new constitution as the desired panacea to the country’s multifarious challenges such as mass corruption and insecurity among others, The Patriots, a group of respected elder statesmen, has proceeded to set up a 17-man committee to spearhead the advocacy and ultimate actualization of the idea. The committee, inaugurated by the leader of the group, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, headed by Professor Tony Kila with Senator Shehu Sanni as co-chairman, has the task of interfacing with different segments of the public including the National Assembly with the aim of devising methodologies for the promulgation of a new constitution for the country.

    But is the extant 1999 Constitution (as amended) so inherently flawed and innately bereft of any redeeming feature whatsoever that it deserves to be jettisoned wholesale and a new document conjured to take its place? Our answer to this poser in the first part of this piece last week was an unequivocal no.

    True, the 1999 Constitution is not a perfect document. No human constitution is. Will the new constitution envisaged by The Patriots be drawn up by beings from outer space and implemented by faultless angels once it assumes the authority and legitimacy of law? As I contended last week, it is not particularly intellectually honest to describe the 1999 Constitution as an imposition of the military. It is also a gross exaggeration to aver as some do that the Constitution lied when, in its preamble, it described itself as a product of “We the people”. The truth of the matter is that the 1999 Constitution has its roots in and is virtually a carbon copy of the 1979 Constitution which to a significant degree had some input from critical sections of the populace.

    One of the chapters in the new book, ‘Nigerian Public Discourse: The Interplay of Empirical Evidence and Hyperbole’ by former governor of Lagos State and two-term federal minister, Mr Babatunde Fashola (SAN) is titled, ‘Our Constitution The Fundamental Problem? A Legal Analysis.’ It is pertinent to quote him at some length on the origins of the 1999 Constitution. In his words, “It is worth recalling that at the juncture when the 1999 Constitution was promulgated, Nigerians had languished under military rule for over a decade and were fervently desirous of a return to civilian governance. General Abdulsami Abubakar, the transitional figurehead of that period, was constrained by time and could not convene a comprehensive Constituent Assembly. The 1999 Constitution was thus the product of Justice Niki Tobi’s Constitution Debating Coordinating Committee, which essentially revised and updated the 1979 Constitution”.

    Continuing, Fashola wrote, “Upon submission of his committee’s report, His Lordship articulated, among other observations: “In the light of the memoranda and the oral presentation on the 1995 Draft Constitution, it is clear that Nigerians fundamentally opt for the 1979 Constitution with relevant amendments. They desire it, and they have copiously articulated their reasons for their preference in various memoranda and oral presentations. Thus, we have recommended to the Provisional Ruling Council the adoption of the 1979 Constitution with relevant amendments from the 1995 Draft Constitution”.

    The 1999 Constitution is thus not some illegitimate bastard fathered by the military as many hastily insinuate. She is the progeny, largely, of the 1979 Constitution which in turn was the outcome, first, of the recommendations of a Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC) made up of 49 of the country’s best and brightest professionals with the towering Chief Rotimi Williams as its Chairman. The CDC’s proposals were debated, modified, and ratified by a Constituent Assembly comprising members elected on non-party basis with the Local Government Councils serving as electoral colleges.

    What do those who canvass the jettisoning of the present constitution and the wholesale adoption of a new one want us to do with the experiences of the last 25 years of unbroken democratic governance under the constitution since 1999? Are we to discard them as wasted years of the locusts throwing away both the baby and bath water? Not even the 1999 Constitution is cast in stone as sundry legislative amendments and recurrent judicial pronouncements have, in many instances, fundamentally altered the texture and tenor of the Constitution.

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    Changes to the Constitution continue apace as illustrated, for example, by the recent decision of the apex court granting financial autonomy to the local government councils as an authentic third tier of government. Surely, more of such alterations can be expected as Nigerians take advantage of the clauses provided for in the constitution to effect changes in the ceaseless drive towards a ‘more perfect’ democratic order.

    Driven by youthful passion and patriotic exuberance, the brains behind the January 1966 coup that decapitated the first republic were not sufficiently patient to allow the political class and general populace to learn appropriate lessons from the inevitable pitfalls and stumbles in the path of a burgeoning democracy. This is a sharp distinction from India which is no less culturally complex and plural as Nigeria but has never experienced military intervention in its politics.

    Yet, the lesson of several coups in our post-independence history is that achieving rapid development cannot be a function of policies conceptualized and implemented with ‘immediate effect and automatic alacrity’. In virtually every instance, so called corrective Messianic military regimes end up perpetrating worse atrocities than the elected administrations they toppled. As has been repeated all too often, the key to overcoming the inevitable challenges of democratic governance is more, not less, democratic practice.

    Nigeria moved away from the parliamentary system of the first republic to escape the evils believed to be associated with that form of governance only for those negative practices to rear their ugly heads and accelerate the collapse of the presidential system of the second republic. Yet, there are those who are currently advocating a return to parliamentary governance as a cure to the perceived shortcomings of the presidential system. This will amount to a fruitless going around in cycles. The problems we confront stem not only from the political structure but no less from a substantially negative political culture that sabotages good and productive governance as well as compounds the conundrum of underdevelopment.

    The current high costs of governance is one reason often adumbrated to make the case for dumping the current constitution for a governance model that ensues in more parsimonious utilization of public resources. But the high governance costs is not necessarily inherent in the presidential system of government. This is an issue that can be effectively tackled administratively without recourse to fundamental constitutional change. Much of the humongous governance costs have to do with the massive corruption which is eating deep into the fabric of our social system. But the cure for corruption lies less in constitutional changes than in the revamping and overhauling of social values through massive re-orientation campaigns as well as the institutionalization of an efficient, effective and credible judicial system that ensures that there are swift and weighty consequences for corrupt practices.

    There are those whose grouse with the 1999 Constitution is that they perceive it to be outrightly unitary in orientation or insufficiently federal in content. It will be difficult to prove that the Constitution does not have undeniably federal features as Fashola rigorously demonstrates in his essay quoted earlier while the areas of federal deficit can be pragmatically addressed without recourse to the extreme of discarding the entire Constitution and embarking on a fresh voyage of constitutional search with no clear destination in focus.

    As Fashola aptly put it “In my scholarly analysis, the issue is not that Nigeria lacks a federal constitution. Rather, the question that arises is whether our current constitutional arrangement is sufficiently federal. I posit that this should be the focus of our discourse. Perhaps our constitutional arrangement is not sufficiently federal. Perhaps we desire to have appellate courts at the state level, drawing upon historical examples like the Western State Court of Appeal. Perhaps we aspire to have Supreme Courts at the state level. These are potential areas for discussion, around which we can conduct a cost-benefit analysis of pursuing such a path”.

    And it is certainly difficult to credibly fault Fashola’s submission that “As I acknowledged earlier, there may be the need to further amend part of the constitution and indeed- the amendment has been made in 2023, but those who seek those amendments, must move away from wholesale condemnation and recommend specific amendments that they seek. This approach will strengthen their position, attract intellectual rigour to their proposition and enable them to be taken seriously by parliament”. Anyone expecting a grandly fashioned new constitution as a magic wand before which our multifarious challenges will be miraculously resolved occupies an illusory universe.

  • Good for nothing Nigerian clubs

    Good for nothing Nigerian clubs

    History has an uncanny way of vindicating the just. It takes time for the sins of the past to catch up with those who employed untoward ways to gain success. What our local clubs’ management don’t realise is that a house built on quicksand will always crumble like a pack of cards. Nigeria’s representatives at the CAF inter-club competitions’ scorecards are awful.

    Rather than do holistic reforms of their problems they prefer quick fixes. It is in the character of our continental representatives to almost replace the players who won the continental ticket with either recycled old players who failed with previous representatives or recruit players who simply want to play at the continental level. They recruit strangers who don’t know what the club represents.

    What stands out clearly which our club managers don’t appreciate is that those who win laurels do so with structured settings not the cash-and-carry style in Nigeria. Some of the African clubs we played against have befitting stadia which they use as venues for their matches unlike ours who play on pitches alien to them. Where  lieth the home advantage in these games? Monies accruing to such a team from gate-takings become bonuses to their ‘alien’ hosts, leaving the real owner of the club with less than nothing to show in their books when the auditors visit.

    It is laughable that a team such as Enugu Rangers International FC doesn’t have its stadium distinct from the government’s so much that its matches are played on ‘away’ soil. Yet, the owners of the club expect the players and coaches to compete. It won’t happen. It is sad that 34 years after the so-called professional league was inaugurated, you can count teams that own their stadium. What a shame.

    When in 1990 some respected Nigerian soccer administrators conceptualised the Nigeria Professional League body, they were responding to the new trends in the beautiful game in other climes. These men couldn’t stomach the mediocrity associated with the Nigerian game. They wanted a departure from the tardy past to embrace the new dawn where very good players could earn a living outside the country. The ‘wise men’ foresaw the future where with a new mentality to matches, the country could one day play at the senior World Cup.

    The pioneers’ dreams came to pass in 1994 with Nigeria’s Super Eagles qualifying for the USA ’94 World Cup using players who had been exported to Europe to hone their skills which were still lethargic as a result of obsolete facilities across the country. The elite class was structured out of the old order. Indeed, there was something to fight for while those not listed fought gamely each season to qualify for the elite cadre.

    The quasi-professional league witnessed a lot of improvement except that the ownership structures didn’t quite change with most of the teams owned by the government. The few private clubs (Leventis United FC of Ibadan, Abiola Babes FC of Abeokuta, New Nigeria Bank FC of Benin City, Flash Flamingoes FC of Benin City, Julius Berger FC of Lagos, Iwuanyanwu Nationale FC of Owerri, etc) left their marks, although they were eventually emasculated by the government teams which had tremendous cash which their administrators used to corrupt the system. The thought of having four teams in Benin City didn’t excite the fans as much, having only their darling team in the elite class. The private clubs’ owners soon dropped their sponsorship when they couldn’t cope with the malfeasances of the league.

    The conspiracy against the privately-owned teams brought back the sharp practices of the competition leading to the dearth of new talents. These private clubs couldn’t enjoy the support of the fans in those cities where the states owned teams operated. Leventis had to manage its relationship with the Ibadan fans. Flash Flamingoes FC went through hell playing inside the Samuel Osaigbovo Ogbemudia Stadium in Benin. The fans’ favourite was Bendel Insurance FC. The defunct New Nigeria Bank FC had a similar problem of acceptance. In fact, games involving these teams and their traditional local rivals threatened public peace as the security operatives had to be at their best before, during, and after matches. In one of such needless skirmishes, Bendel Insurance FC’s chairman, the late Major Ojo lost his life in a car crash very close to the stadium while trying to rescue the matches’ referees from being lynched by irate fans. Gallant soldier, if you ask me. May his soul continue to rest in peace.

    The rot in the league was such that we had predictable victories for home teams ably aided by the dubious calls of match referees who most times are cajoled into taking such decisions. Who would blame the referees when their entitlements were being paid by the home sides. Not forgetting the overdose of hospitality to the referees by anxious home clubs eager to win their matches at all cost to justify the huge resources splashed on them by their owners. The administrators further bastardised the league by introducing board room points in connivance with officials in the former NFA’s league department which then was just one scruffy room at the Glasshouse compared with the league’s current digitalised and functional offices. It was that bad.

    The league had difficulties in getting television sponsorships after the existing ones opted out because they were not getting commensurate returns on their investments. Urchins, beasts, hooligans, and hostile home supporters made life difficult for the fans, especially the visitors, to watch matches of their choice. Unlike in Europe where fathers come to the stadium to watch matches with their family members, it was risky doing so here and it affected pitching for sponsorships with the blue-chip companies.

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    Such hazardous settings soon affected the players’ performance with many of them opting to seek greener pastures elsewhere. This star-trek of players out of the country soon affected the quality of the league. Television coverage which serves as the biggest money-spinner for teams in Europe among other marketing windows couldn’t gain ground in Nigeria. The few who dared to cover matches lost equipment anytime there was violence in the stadium. There were always chaotic settings during matches because the fans took the laws into their own hands rather than allow the referees to do their jobs according to the dictates of the rulebook.

    During the trying periods of the Nigeria league, IICC Shooting Stars of Ibadan (3SC) won the Cup Winners Cup in 1976. They were dethroned as champions in 1977, with the games between 3SC and eventual winners Enugu Rangers International very problematic. The second leg game had to be played on neutral ground in Kaduna, no thanks to the lunacy of the irate fans. NNB and Bendel Insurance at different years won the WAFU Cup for keeps with Bendel Insurance winning the Confederations Cup in 1994 along with the WAFU for the third time in the same year. It must be said that 3SC won the Confederations Cup in 1992, the trophy was donated by the late Chief MKO Abiola.

    Many have called those victories pyrrhic because it didn’t represent how badly the league was organised. In these years, there wasn’t any deliberate plan to train the coaches, officials and even educate the players about new trends in the game which is dynamic. Even the simplest of tasks in getting the elite clubs to also run youth teams which could also play league games either a day before the main teams’ or at an earlier time on the same pitch their seniors uses. This is how it is done in Europe. It explains the ease with which these European clubs replace their aging stars or those burdened by injuries. These youth teams help the countries by having them pick players for their age-grade teams just as it provides the country’s Football Associations (FAs) data to plan for the future.

    Thirty four years after the self-acclaimed professional league, we aren’t sure of terrestrial television coverage across the country. Who will bell the cat on television coverage in Nigeria?

  • Mr President, I disagree!!! (1)

    Mr President, I disagree!!! (1)

    I am one of those who supported President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for a number of reasons and one of these reasons was due to his stand on restructuring. Of all the major candidates, President Tinubu had talked and walked restructuring, particularly whilst serving as Governor of Lagos State.

    Sadly, it appears that the President is engaging in a “forbacki” dance on the topic of restructuring, on one hand, he has danced forward on the subject as seen in the recent Supreme Court judgement granting financial autonomy to the local government system in Nigeria, but on the other hand he has much dragged his feet on effecting a thorough restructuring of the nation, which can be achieved via the formation and drafting of a People’s Constitution.

    This prompted me to pen the article with the title ‘ Will President Tinubu Restructure Nigeria’ sometime in February this year in which my pen declared :

    “President Tinubu and his handlers must therefore heed the call by numerous persons calling for restructuring, some of these voices have served as voices of conscience for the nation and did not just wake up now to call for such. He must heed such calls as posterity would much be grateful to him for such an act!”

    I was thus saddened when I watched the same man who had staked so much for a restructured Nigeria tell a group of eminent Nigerians who under the auspices of The Patriots has called on the President to kick start the process for the promulgation of a new constitution which would be crafted out by a Constituent Assembly, that he was busy with the economic restructuring of Nigeria and that he wouldn’t tinker with the idea of a new constitution until he was done with the economic restructuring!

     Truth be told without mincing words, the president’s statement put in abeyance the hopes that this administration was very much likely to restructure Nigeria or at least kickstart the process at an early stage of his administration.

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    His talk, that he is much focused on the economic programmes and perhaps sees the talk of a new constitution as some form of distraction which ought not to be; first of all, we do not know when the economic reforms will begin to bear fruit as we have seen where economic programmes and its dividends took time to mature, sometimes outliving the tenures of these leaders. Second, there is nothing esoteric about the attempts to fashion a new constitution, coming at a point in time that more Nigerians have joined the fray of those calling for such alongside with the numerous clamoring for the splitting of the nation into mini republics, the time for a new constitution  is now. Like President Abraham Lincoln response of “Now! Now!! Now!!!” was when asked why he was keen on getting the votes for the abolition of slavery amendment from the Congress in which he faced a possible loss, whereas he could rely on his Emancipation of Slavery Proclamation as an all time measure even after the war, President Tinubu should understand that the nation is already suffering much from its failure to restructure and that numerous dangers await it further should it fail to pull itself from the brink. Did previous administrations not seek out political reforms whilst in the process of hammering out economic reforms? Did the Murtala administration not juggle both? Did the Babaginda administration not tinker with the Structural Adjustment Programme and other economic ideas of his whilst carrying out his political experiments which saw him establish the Nigerian Political Bureau of 1986, which debated on the political future of Nigeria and led to it fashioning a report which was debated by the Constitution Review Committee and the Constituent Assembly which then birthed the 1989 Constitution and produced a near seamless transition before that own goal of annulling the June 12 elections.

    President Tinubu should know that his call for a new Nigeria, one where the Renewed Hope Agenda of his is expected to usher the nation unto greatness cannot work without the question of the nation’s restructuring, he ought to come to terms with the proposal of the Patriots for a new constitution stems from a desire to better address the multifaceted challenges facing Nigeria. Yes, the New Constitution may not entirely end the nation’s woes, thought must also be given to the strengthening of institutional frameworks too, but then let us begin with the search for such a constitution from which we could clamber out of the morass the nation has found herself in for ages.