The Nation Newspaper

Category: Saturday

Labour and the cracking facade

AHEAD of the February and March 2023 dates for the general elections in the country, cracks are appearing on the wall of organized Labour in the country.

The workers’ unions as represented by the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) cannot be said to be speaking with one voice as regards who should lead the country from May 29, 2023.

To say the least, the house of Labour is not united on the matter. Sentry recalled that last June, the leadership of both NLC and TUC announced Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) as the preferred choice of Nigerian workers.

NLC President, Ayuba Wabba, described him as one of the finest Nigerians and the first presidential candidate of Labour Party to be recognised by the labour centres. For his part, TUC President, Mr. Quadri Olaleye said all the unions were pleased with his emergence and ready to work with him. He said the entire labour movement had accepted him and would ensure workers vote massively for him in the presidential elections.

But chapters of the NLC and TUC in some states have since been rejecting Obi and endorsing others candidates for the presidency. In a surprise move, the leadership of the unions in Lagos State on Thursday endorsed the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, for second term in office.

Feelers reaching Sentry also revealed that Labour unions in Oyo State are on the verge of declaring their supports for a presidential candidate other than Obi.

Similarly, unions in Ogun State recently threw their weight behind the APC candidate, describing him as their preferred choice.

Organised labour, made up of NLC and TUC in Borno State, recently in Maiduguri, commended Governor Babagana Umara Zulum for being worker friendly and declared support for the candidates of the ruling APC in the state in appreciation of the governor’s performance.

In Cross Rivers State, some members of organised Labour are accusing the leadership of the NLC and TUC of trying to force them to support candidates of the Labour Party. In recent weeks, several petitions have been written to call attention to the development.

Sentry gathered that the development may not be unconnected with an earlier allegation that Wabba and Olaleye carried out the June 2022 endorsement of Obi without properly consulting with their chapters. “The crack did not start with the denunciation of Obi by the chapters, it started last year when our president publicly endorsed a candidate without consulting us,” a state chairman of one of the unions told Sentry in Lagos on Thursday.

It is left to be seen how the leaderships of NLC and TUC will manage this very open split over choice of candidate to back ahead of the elections.

January 14, 2023
February 25: Beyond ethnicity and religion

THERE are four major presidential candidates for next month’s election. They are: Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP), and Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso of the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP).

Their campaign strategies and manifestos differ. These speak volumes about what they represent and how they will manage the affairs of the country, if any of them is elected President. While some observers have identified ethnicity and religion as core factors that are likely to shape the February 25 contest, a deeper look reveals that there are other salient factors that will point to the direction the poll will take. But only the well informed about the nation’s political terrain can see and understand them.

First, only a candidate who can appeal to the generality of Nigerians, irrespective of tribe and belief, is likely to triumph at the poll.

This is why the debate on the impact of ethnicity and religion has dominated the current electioneering. Thus, candidates are very sensitive to the two factors. But it is becoming clearer that 2023 is adorning a similar garb that 1993 adorned when religion and ethnicity took the back seat.

How are the candidates responding to these twin factors? Former Vice President Atiku, in an earlier television interview he granted in Hausa, regressed into primordial sentiment, urging Northerners to vote for a Northern candidate.

Many Nigerians condemned the regression to ethnicity at the expense of national unity and cohesion. The statement was not only offensive to the North; it also sparked apprehension in the South because of the insinuation that the Wazirin Adamawa had obviously adopted a language of division. The self-styled unifier had employed a language of discord. But Atiku has recanted, saying he was misinterpreted and misunderstood.

However, if a campaign is anchored on ethnicity and religion, can a flag bearer scale through when the unresolved party crisis and controversy over the presidential candidacy has remained knotty?

For the Obidients, the supporters of Peter Obi, two factors are their pillars. Most of them are targeting Igbo in their Southeast homeland and others scattered across the country. Also, they are bringing religion to the front burner, emphasising that Christians should vote for Obi because he is a Catholic.

The disadvantage of this approach is that Obi’s bid for the presidency has an ethnic, indeed, a regional coloration. The argument is further weakened by the fact that besides their leaning on the two factors of Christianity and race, Obi cannot really be assessed by any great plan or manifesto beyond reeling out unsubstantiated and unreliable data about the economy.

Kwankwaso has conducted a neat campaign targeted at his few followers and avoided inflammatory statements about religion and tribalism. But, he appears to be the weakest among the four, not because he is not popular, but because of the unpopular party he has adopted for the election.

Evidently, Asiwaju Tinubu of the APC is the most visible candidate who has dominated the campaign scene. While Atiku and Obi are appealing to kinsmen to gain advantage, Tinubu is building bridges of understanding across the geo-political zones and appealing to all the people of Nigeria to elect him as their President.

Recently, the debate on ethno-religious factor assumed another dimension when few ethnic jingoists shouting Naka Sai Naka, translated as ‘Your own is your own,’ began to whip up sentiment and cause confusion ahead of the poll. In their narrow befuddled perception of politics, they allude to regional numerical strength as an exclusive factor.

But, factors that enhance national stability go beyond imaginary regional bullying. No region, big or small, can exist independently of others in this country. Experience has shown that partnerships between or among regions have led to victory of ruling parties during presidential elections.

However, despite the activities of those fueling ethnic tensions, voices of reason are not drowning. Elders who know the history of Nigeria and the implications of elevating sectional interests above national interest have called for caution. Elder statesman Tanko Yakassai has accused a Northern monarch, who allegedly asked his people to vote for “their son” of wreaking havoc and rejecting the basis for integration. Reports also said that a former minister who asked Nigerians to vote their kith and kin, particularly in a section of the country, has been advised to pull the break.

Since the annulled 1993 presidential election, it appears Nigerians have resolved to elect their presidents without ethnic considerations.

On June 12 of that year, people from the six geo-political zones jettisoned ethnic and religious considerations as they trooped out to vote for either the late Chief Moshood Abiola of the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP) or the late Alhaji Othman Tofa of the National Republican Convention (NRC).

At the end of polling, Abiola, a Yoruba, had more votes in Kano than Tofa, a Hausa from the ancient city.

Gone were the retrogressive sentiments of 1959, 1964, 1979 and 1983, which fueled ethnic suspicion and divided the country. After the fall of first and second republics, 1993, 2015 and 2019 presidential polls, more or less, have become unifying factors. For example, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who ran on the platform of PDP in 1999, won without the endorsement of his native Southwest. He profited immensely from his portrayal as a friend of the North.

Despite Gen. Muhammadu Buhari’s consistent 11 million votes from his native North, he never made it in 2003, 2007 and 2011 until he had an alliance with the South. The experience is very instructive.

The terms of the agreement were premised on zoning, which is now a stronger factor than ethnicity and religion.

Since 1999, the adoption of zoning through convention, rather than by the constitution, has become a baseline for the partial resolution of the ethnic question. Rotation of the Presidency satisfies the quest for equity and justice.

Another leg of the Naka Sai Naka argument is the improper comparison of earlier period with the present time.

Drawing a similarity between the 1979 presidential election and 2023 poll is a lazy intellectual effort. Although the Kaduna State chapter of Naka Sai Naka (only yours] campaign has insisted that a similarity exists, the claims of the group are spurious.

Is Obi, the candidate of Labour Party (LP), an incarnate of Dr. Nnamidi Azikiwe of the defunct Nigeria Peoples Party (NPP)?

Can Tinubu’s APC, which has been transformed into a solid and formidable national movement, be described as an offshoot of the defunct Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), led by the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo?

Is Atiku’s PDP a product of the Second Republic President Shehu Shagari’s National Party of Nigeria (NPN)?

In what way is the NNPP, borrowed by Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso, similar to the defunct Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) of the late Mallam Aminu Kano?

Early parties revolved around the personalities of their moving spirits; the illustrious nationalists and pathfinders who wanted to lead the country, based on their clear vision, ideology and future projections about the country of their dream. They were like father-figures, held in esteem and on many occasions, their moral authority was ever questioned. But, some historians have also described them as ethnic cham pions.

The old parties, except the NPN, lacked adequate national outlook. But, unlike today, their leadership was firm in the enforcement of party supremacy and discipline. Politics was not monetised and, although some moneybags, particularly captains of industry supported the parties, they did not directly bid for power.

Hierarchy was respected and there was orderliness. Factors that were considered before picking candidates were minimum education, character, standing in the community, subscription to party ideas and ethos, seniority, sacrifice and contribution to the party.

In its analysis, the Naka Sai Naka group omitted the significance of rotation, which was conventionally adopted by the NPN. It is noteworthy that the defunct NPN, which was the most victorious party in the Second Republic, had a future zoning plan, which would have been implemented as from 1987, if the military had not hijacked power.

Based on its shallow historical analysis, the group claimed, for example, that Kwankwaso can only win in Kano, just as Aminu Kano did some 44 years ago; Tinubu can only have an impressive showing in the Southwest, like Awo; Obi will only be restricted to the Southeast, like Zik; and only Atiku can win in the North, like Shagari, while also garnering votes from other parts of the country.

The permutations pale into day-dreaming. It cannot even pass the test of face validity.

The historical premise is even faulty. Zik’s NPP, through Solomon Lar, won in Plateau State in 1979 and 1983. Also, Aminu Kano won, not only in Kano but also in Kaduna.

Besides, some issues and alignment of forces have altered the geo-political calculus after the Second Republic. In the Third Republic, the two parties, defunct SDP and NRC, won elections across the six geo-political zones.

Between 1999 and now, PDP, APP (later ANPP), and APC have won presidential and governorship elections across the six regions.

There is a significant difference between the defunct parties and the current ones, and issues that have shaped political processes have not been the same. While old parties, except NCNC, were short-lived, contemporary parties are insulated from mortality and instability. For example, while AG and post-1950 NCNC only lasted 16 years from 1950 to 1966, PDP and other parties that have gone through metamorphosis in this dispensation have existed for a longer time.

The only similarity now between Aminu Kano and Kwankwaso is that they are both from Kano.

Aminu Kano was perceived as a radical who packaged his idealistic rebellion against the Northern feudalist power bloc. His party maintained an undisputed influence in Kano. But, equating NNPP with PRP or the old NEPU now smacks of fantasy.

Today, the fate of Kwankwaso’s NNPP in Kano is uncertain because the presidential candidate has to contend with other antagonistic forces, led by Ibrahim Shekarau of the PDP and, more importantly, Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of the APC.

January 14, 2023
2023: For Yauri Eleven, Chibok girls, Leah Shuaibu, it’s a loud silence

ON the 14th of April 2014, 276 students were abducted from the Chibok high school in Bornu state. Though some escaped while a few others were rescued, dozens are still unaccounted for eight long years after the abduction. There are no serious updates on the progress that the has been made for their rescue. Neither is there information about how the government has rehabilitated their traumatized parents a few of who had reportedly died of heartbreak.

On February 25th 2014, about fifty-nine students of Federal Government College Buni Yadi, Yobe state were killed in their dormitory. Not much has been heard about what the parents received from government either in terms of psychological support, therapy or otherwise.

On February 19, 2018, 110 school girls aged 11-19 were abducted by the Boko Haram terrorists from the government Girls’ Science and Technical School Dapchi in Bulabulin, Bursari local government area of Yobe state. All but Leah Shaibu, were reportedly released but there are no concrete news about Leah, now the face of school abductions in Nigeria. There are unconfirmed stories about her having been forcefully married and impregnated and her faith changed.

On 26th February 2021, 279 students of Government Girls secondary School Jangebe in Zamfara state were abducted from their school. On September, 13th 2021, 75 students were kidnapped from Government Day Secondary school Kaya, Maradun local government area of Zamfara state. They reportedly later regained their freedom.

On June 17th 2021, 80 students and five teachers of federal government college Birnin Yauri were abducted. Since then, there have been piecemeal rescues by the military and releases by the abductors. However, there are about eleven girls still being held by the abductors and with reports of an alleged marriage of thirteen of the girls.

Recently, the parents of the remaining eleven female students now referred to as the Yauri 11 have cried out in frustration because the abductors are demanding a 100million naira as ransom and the alreadt exhausted parents are resorting to selling off their properties and crowd-funding to raise the needed funds to secure the release of their children.

These are just a few of the school abductions in the last few years that have dire consequences for the education system in Nigeria. For a country with one of the world’s highest number of out-of-school children, these school abductions say a lot about the value the country places on not just education but the education of the girl child especially in the Northern part of Nigeria with very low literacy rate.

The Roundtable Conversation is worried that none of the Presidential candidates in Nigeria seems to recognize the very dire consequences of targeted abduction of students especially girls from schools. In most of the town halls and other organized meetings and campaigns, none of the candidates makes any reference to those forgotten students in captivity when they discuss their programme for education. It is not enough to mention improvement in education and the ending of strikes by the Academic Staff union of Universities (ASUU).

The Roundtable Conversation sees it as a strategic flaw that the candidates seem not to be very aware of the enormity of the attacks on schools targeted at preventing the girl child from being educated. The United Nations and other global institutions have always emphasized the dangers inherent in any nation that does not prioritize the education of the children. It is even worse when a nation is forced through the Boko Haram antics of discouraging western education to fail to secure the school environment as hundreds of students at all tiers of education, primary, secondary and tertiary education get abducted repeatedly.

If according to UNICEF and UNESCO statistics millions of Nigerian children are out of school and there are increasing numbers of school abductions, then the bottomline is that insecurity scare is the easiest way to disenfranchise parents from sending their children to school. The prognosis is dire for the future of the country where the girl-child is surreptitiously locked out of the classroom.

The implication of an illiterate girl-child growing into an illiterate woman or mother is that the future of her children is endangered and tied to her own poor life. If the saying is that when you educate a woman you educate a nation is factual, then it logically follows that when you do not educate a woman, you have an illiterate population in a world where technology and intellectual content rule.

The Roundtable Conversation had expected that presidential candidates and their political parties in this campaign period would touch on the vice that is the abduction of school children across the land especially the female students who are largely sexually violated and made premature mothers for those who are able to survive the pregnancy and la bour/delivery complications. Most of the child-brides either die, are maimed or develop the dreaded Visco Vaginal Fistula (VVF) a very debilitating outcome of obstructed labour and which often ruins the lives of many who are often abandoned by the same husbands that stole their innocence.

Illiteracy amongst child-brides comes with multiple births and the attendant complications like child mortality, malnourishment, stunted growth and lack of general healthy development and nurturing that brings out the best in a child. The high maternal and child mortality rates in the Northern part of the country are traceable to a highly illiterate female population who do not have the knowledge about simple nutrition and reproductive health.

The Roundtable Conversation feels that our politicians must be held accountable before, during and after elections and that has to be about every candidate. There is sense in which Nigerians tend to only focus on the presidency thereby giving governors and legislators at all levels a free pass. With all the school abductions in the last ten years, possibly less than 5% of the elected governors and legislators in those states and constituencies have intervened in any measurable level in either seeking the rescue of the abductees or even providing any sort of succor to their families.

If democracy is a government of the people, by the people and for the people, the Roundtable Conversation feels that evaluated critically, most politicians in Nigeria seem not to truly care for the people. There seems to be a wide gulf between the people and those paid to serve them. We expected that the hapless students held in captivity for years and months ought to be at the focal point of campaigns but sadly, there is a loud silence as most candidates just regurgitate the regular rhetoric about the education sector.

No nation can develop without the education and health sectors getting priority attention. A 20million+ out-of-school children is too scary for the future of Nigeria and if school abductions are unaddressed with the urgency it deserves, the number will skyrocket in years to come and Nigeria’s future generation might not fit into the modern 21st century and beyond.

The Yauri 11 whose parents have resorted to selling even the houses they live in to raise the 100million naira ransom have complained that governments at all levels have not come to their aid in an attempt to seek the release of those 11 students aged between 12-16. The question is, do the different candidates understand that the parents do not know its election time because they are too distraught because their children are in captivity?

The main role of government is the protection of lives and property, even though there is general insecurity across the nation, the school abductions must get priority attention given how vulnerable children are. We would not want to be seen as a nation whose children’s future are obstructed by insurgents. The much touted Safe Schools Initiatives with all the counterpart funding from the UN and other organizations must be made to function optimally so that our children, our future can embrace education in its fullness without fear of any form of abductions.

The Roundtable Conversations has been following very keenly the campaign trails of most of the candidates at all levels and we want to see a more robust and realistic focus on school safety and the protection of the girl-child. We acknowledge that both boys and girls and even adults like teachers have been victims of abductions but girls seem to be more in number and suffer the collateral damages like rape and pregnancies.

Political economists across the world have continuously maintained that countries where women are least empowered are always at the bottom rung of development. The 133million Nigerians living in multi-dimensional poverty are mostly women who if empowered by the system can be productive in ways that can boost the nation’s GDP. According to a financial analyst, Betty Wilkinson, Nigeria can do better to improve the gender equity that can empower women being that a huge percentage of small and medium scale industries that boosts economies are controlled by women. She sees the 1% budgetary allocation to women related empowerment issues by the government is too abysmal.

Candidates must go beyond persuading women to vote at elections to protecting girls who eventually grow, if protected to become women who beyond voting would be qualified to seek to be voted for in a Nigeria with one of the lowest gender inclusive ratios in politics. Women candidates across party lines for the 2023 elections are at less than 11%. The dynamics must change and that must start from the cradle through school to adulthood.

The dialogue continues…

January 14, 2023
Akpabio’s, Ekpoudom’s intractable battle for ticket

The real reason why Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Udom Ekpoudom, is unwilling to step down for former governor of Akwa Ibom State, Senator Godswill Akpabio, in the fierce struggle for the All Progressives Congress (APC) senatorial ticket of Akwa Ibom North-West can now be revealed.

Sentry can confirm that it is the age-long quest of the people of Abak Federal Constituency, popularly called Abak5, that’s driving the adamancy of the retired Police boss in the struggle for the ticket.

The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has affirmed Ekpoudom as APC candidate. He filed the appeal challenging the failure of the party to submit his name to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as its candidate for the elections. The area where Ekpoudom hails from has never produced a senator for the district.

“We see Ekpoudom’s candidacy as our best chance to achieve this life-long desire. This is why we are urging him to give it all it takes to represent us. We voted for him at the primary election and he is capable of winning the election. He cannot disappoint Abak Federal Constituency which remains the only one in Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District (Akwa Ibom North West) to produce a Senator since the creation of the state,” a source told Sentry.

Read Also: 2023: Akpabio harps on unity among Akwa Ibom APC stakeholders

It was also learnt that the struggle for power rotation in the district had for many years pitched the people of Abak against those of Ikot Ekpene Federal Constituency, Akpabio’s area.

Ekpoudom confirmed this rivalry recently when he described those asking him to step down for Akpabio as enemies of Abak Federal Constituency. He made the assertion while reacting to speculations in the state that some elders of his party, the APC have prevailed on him to step down for Akpabio.

He vowed that he would never succumb to pressure to opt out of the race, as it would amount to betraying his constituency.

“Some people have been appealing to me to step down, but I’ve been saying no. And will continue to say no because it is not my project precisely, but the people’s project. I don’t want to be chased away by my people,” he said.

“It is only Ikot Ekpene Federal Constituency which has produced five senators and somebody wants to come in again from there. It is not possible. Abak-5 is ready. Even if they want to offer me the Head of State, I won’t accept. All I want is to get what belongs to us. If Abak5 loses now, it would affect the whole federal constituency and senatorial district,” he said.

January 7, 2023
What is the worth of endorsement?

POLITICAL endorsement is not new. It falls within the framework of fundamental human right. It is a campaign style meant to boost the chance of a preferred candidate for election. It may also be a game, a camouflage and a deceit.

But, when an endorsement also becomes a tool for demarketing or pulling down the rivals of anointed candidates, a lot of dust is raised.

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, while exercising his right to endorse Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate Peter Obi, fired salvos at the Mohammed Buhari government, All Progressives Congress (APC) standard bearer Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) flagbearer Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.

The endorsement elicited a volley of criticisms from partisan aides and other observers. The reactions cannot tame the old soldier. In four years time, the Ebora Owu, is likely to repeat his ritual of endorsement and letter writing.

But, what is the worth of endorsement? It is not every endorsement that is meaningful. Neither will the latest move by OBJ, as the General is fondly called, will serve as key to a successful poll for the beneficiary.

OBJ’s politics of endorsement is laughable. It cannot measure up to a ‘researchable’ topic in academic history and politics. The wise old man gauges the public mood before pitching his tent with a preferred candidate. That does not mean that he has done his home work thoroughly. Obasanjo may have calculated that some gullible youths are gravitating towards Obi’s direction in the social media and wrongly concluded that they will sustain the theoretical affection for him on poll day.

Politics is deeper. It smacked of political miscalculation to endorse a candidate without considering other factors, including a formidable structure. To that extent, endorsement is an exercise in futility.

Obasanjo should not be among bad strategists who delude themselves into thinking that winning the 2023 presidential election can be accomplished by a candidate on the platform of a mushroom party. With a benefit of hindsight, he should know that a weak candidate can even make it if the platform is strong and fortified. Obasanjo should recall that although he was not a popular candidate in 1999, he still won because the PDP that he inherited without much visible input was a formidable structure with taproots in the North, Southeast and Southsouth.

The question is: where would Obi get voters that will back up the endorsement by his latest godfather? Will the elderstateman manufacture votes for him?

Obasanjo’s letter is quite revealing. He unveiled Obi as his mentee. When did that mentorship start? Was it after Obi won the governorship poll in Anambra and Obasanjo’s PDP candidate, who lost, was declared winner in 2003?

Did Obi receive advice from OBJ to leave his political family in Chief Emeka Odimegwu-Ojukwu’s APGA after using the party for eight years as governor?

Did Obasanjo pair Obi with Atiku in 2019, making Atiku to incur the anger of Southeast PDP governors who accused the Waziri Adamawa of lack of consultation before pick ing his running mate?

Did Obasanjo inspire Obi to run for president in PDP, and now in LP, so that he can operate from his pocket, if he wins?

There is limitation to the efficacy and fallacy of endorsement. Obasanjo may have uncritically confused the visits of presidential candidates to him as conferment of unlimited relevance beyond being a former president.

In 2015, the Generals never endorsed Major General Buhari. He won.

In 2019, when Obasanjo rejected Buhari and endorsed Atiku, who he had castigated in his book: ‘My Watch,’ Atiku, nevertheless, lost.

Read Also: Still on the Obasanjo endorsement

Endorsement, sometimes, only reflects peculiar grandstanding and unfounded bragging. It is illusory without appropriate back up.

In 2003, when Afenifere crisis had divided the progressive bloc in the Southwest, leaders of the pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation threatened to teach the former governor of Lagos, Tinubu, a lesson, following the collapse of the 60:40 distribution formula. Although the Leader, the late Senator Abraham Adesanya, had cautioned other elders to thread softly, they were adamant.

Vociferous chieftains of the regional group isolated Tinubu for ridicule, bragging that nobody can be re-elected governor without their input or backing. They mobilised, in their own way, for Tinubu’s colleagues in the five states of Oyo, Ondo, Ogun, Osun and Ekiti. They refused to endorse Tinubu of Lagos.

Unknown to the venerable Yoruba leaders of Awoist school, change is a constant thing in the dynamic Yoruba society. At the close of polls, Alliance for Democracy (AD) governorship candidates endorsed by Afenifere, Adeniyi Adebayo(Ekiti State), Adebayo Adefarati(Ondo), Lam Adesina (Oyo), and Olusegun Osoba (Ogun), their so-called stronghold were defeated.

Only Tinubu, who was not endorsed by the organisation, survived the OBJ’s federal might and became the last man standing.

The question is: what next after the endorsement of Obi by Obasanjo?

Endorsement is futile, if it is not backed by leg work, structure, skill and political network, which the Ota farmer lacks, judging by the current realities.

The feats achieved by the former president as a military officer were possible because military interlopers forced themselves on the country as rulers, having failed to limit their roles to the defence of the territorial integrity of the country. There is no room for barrel of gun again.

OBJ has been described as a civil war hero. But, the civil war was also foisted on the coun try, following the scramble for power, relevance and supremacy by early soldiers of fortune.

To whom were they accountable when they loomed large on the beleaguered country between 1966 and 1979, and between 1983 and 1999, when the few privileged class of adventurists pillaged the country? The residual class of the Almighty Generals are now political principals and principalities troubling the country.

In blissful retirement, they are permanently addicted to power. Thus, any president not produced in their image is a misnomer. The country should be weary of them.

The all-knowing Obasanjo has made himself ‘Tutor-General’ of the polity, and conferred on himself the power to give direction in every periodic election through subjective letter writing.

He has continued to evade reality. It appears that Obasanjo is somehow deficient in self assessment and introspection. The fact is that his influence is waning. Instead of thanking his creator for the unique opportunity to rule twice as military and civilian president, he is still reluctant to quit politics despite symbolically tearing his PDP card, which he never laboured for in the first instance.

Has Obasanjo not overrated himself? If OBJ was that popular in 1999, why was he, despite being a former military Head of State, unable to win his ward in Abeokuta during the presidential poll?

He was military ruler for three years. Also, he was civilian president for eight years? Does that make him a role model?

As military leader, he shocked the country when he said the best presidential material, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, cannot win. His transition programme was not designed to throw up the best. The political scheme paved the way for a mediocre in the Second Republic, who presided over a government of graft and sleaze in the Second Republic.

At a critical time in the life of Nigeria when a democratic and unifying presidential poll won by his kinsman, Chief Moshood Abiola of the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP), was annulled, he could not stand up for justice. He said Abiola was not the messiah Nigeria expected. In another breath, he said the interim contraption of Chief Ernest Sonekan was understandable.

Of course, he was later thrown up by the ‘annullers’ of the most credible poll in the nation’s history. President Obasanjo merely dumped his khaki for agbada. But, the adaptation to civilian life was difficult. He remained combative, disrespecting court orders, withholding allocations to states and blocking the creation of local government, while the Federal Government also frustrated the Lagos’ Independent Power Project (IPP)

Obasanjo failed to resolve the ‘National Question’ that would have put Nigeria on the path of federalism. His hand was heavy on some governors who were shoved aside through false impeachment.

Security was at a low ebb to the extent that when his Justice Minister, Chief Bola Ige, was killed, the killers were never found.

Garrison politics was enthroned. PDP chieftains in Ibadan, led by strongman Lamidi Adedibu, and stalwarts in Anambra became lawless. The governor, Chris Ngige, was abducted in Awka. Public buildings were in flames, courtesy of arsonists who enjoyed official patronage and protection. Normalcy only returned to Oyo State after the court voided Governor Rashidi Ladoja’s impeachment.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) was established. It later became a tool of victimisation deployed against political opponents.

So alluring was power that Obasanjo was even reluctant to quit until the third term project collapsed. He set up a National Conference. The report never saw the light of the day. Enormous resources were wasted.

For eight years, Southwest, his region of birth, agonised over impassage roads that was described by observers as death traps. The busiest Lagos/Ibadan Expressway and Lagos/Abeokuta Road became eyesore. But the Ekerin Egba and Balogun Owu has a presidential library and a private university to show for his eight years of service to the nation.

Although he is now posing as the lover of Southeast, his administration abandoned the Second Niger Bridge, sending travellers into nightmares.

   In 2007, OBJ left Aso Villa, Abuja, leaving behind a legacy of ‘do-or-die’ election. His successor, Alhaji Umaru Yar’Adua, owned up with humility and sincerity to the monumental electoral fraud, saying that he rode to power on the back of a flawed election. He embraced electoral reform, which his benefactor avoided, setting up the Uwais Panel to make cogent and genuine recommendations.

   Would Nigerians who witnessed those maladies now queue behind the puppet of a privileged elderstateman, who had a beautiful opportunity to reposition the country, but failed to do so?

   The endorsement may even translate into a big liability for Obi and his scattered Obidients.

January 7, 2023
Time to flush out club appointees

The synchronised reforms being effected on the rustic structures of the domestic league in Nigeria would flush out club appointees who have arrogated to themselves the title of club owners. It is a matter of time. History would be made tomorrow when the domestic league in the elite class would begin with the game between Akwa United and Bendel Insurance FC inside the Nest of Champions Stadium in Uyo. Why only one game would herald the commencement of a football season remains a puzzle. The bigger picture would be that the season would begin.

The absurdity in this setting is that a dangerous precedence has been set where one fixture would be played as the season opener. Nigeria we hail thee! We always feel that they are Nigerian ways of doing things no matter how laughable. Season openers in other climes are games between the champions of the leagues and those of the knockout competition. Where one team has clinched the two trophies, the country’s FA chieftains would pick a team to face the champions in what is now known as the Charity Shield. It is a symbolic game whose proceeds at the gates are donated to charity homes. What this diabolical arrangement as seen with the Akwa United versus Bendel Insurance game in Uyo, tomorrow, is that the oldest football competition, the Challenge Cup has been killed. What a shame.

My problem with this arrangement is that the Interim Management Committee (IMC) has allowed the Club Owners to claw back to relevance instead of the body sticking to its guns to their earlier programme as it concerns the league’s commencement date. It is wrong for partakers of the league to also be involved in the running of the game. It smacks of match-fixing which shouldn’t be allowed. It is the reason why home games are won at all costs and nobody is caught to face the laws of the land. Such compromises under the guise of settling rifts aren’t acceptable because the game belongs to the FIFS but is held in trust by NFF. In this case, the NFF has made the IMC the fall guy though many would argue that the Club Owners didn’t have their way since they wanted the full league of 38 matches not the abridged one of 19 matches. This decision would come back to haunt the IMC in future.

Perhaps, the IMC needs to spell out the rules of the game to participating teams in at least five national newspapers such that when the rules are being implemented, nobody cries wolf where there isn’t. Points deductions from clubs found guilty of crowd violence need to be brought to the public domain to avoid needless innuendoes of bias towards particular clubs. It must be stressed here that most club chairmen instigate violence at matches lost by the hosts. No away team would be violent after winning a game. One club chairman (club appointee) needs to be used as an example by dragging him before the judges in the courts to face the wrath of the law no matter his status.

These appointees have been chiefly responsible for the stunted growth being experienced in the domestic league. They abhor changes even when the roofs of their clubs’ buildings have fallen on their heads. The stench from all the sharp practices in the leagues including their refusal to pay their players, coaches and officials promptly hasn’t suffocated them enough to jump out from their dingy abodes to breathe the fresh air that is about to envelop the domestic league for the good of the game.

The IMC has been silent on the issue of clubs settling all the outstanding debts owed to the players, coaches, officials and ancillary staff of the league in line with the rules of the competition. I hope one player or different players don’t resort to self-help by holding debtor clubs hostage when they travel to centres where their ill-treated players would lay siege. Any club indebted to their players, coaches etc shouldn’t be given the N10 million take-off grant which ought to be used to offset such debts. The league should begin on a clean slate otherwise such club appointees should be asked to leave.

How can players risk their lives during matches when there isn’t anything concrete in terms of documentation to show that credible insurance companies do not secure the players’, officials’ and backroom staff’s lives in the event of deaths, and permanent disabilities by those who administer the game? Again, the stoic silence concerning the debts being owed match officials is worrisome with figures placed between N350 million and N500,000 million. It isn’t enough for the IMC chiefs to promise to pay this integral group leaving the settlement of huge debs in abeyance.

Why would any well-meaning people stand against new arrangements one of which will cover title sponsorship, broadcast rights, match officials’ indemnities, infrastructure development, properties, and ensuring that the 20 premier league clubs become independent of government sponsorship?

The projection by the group for the NPFL is expected to hit a mega figure of about N10 Billion in 2023/33 when the contract runs out. Isn’t it a welcome development in the annals of league football in Nigeria that plans are afoot to ensure that the NPFL is now domiciled with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and it is on TNFF, thereby divorcing it from the stranglehold of any individual or group?

According to the GMD of GTI Group, Abubakar Lawal: “It’s going to be massive, it’s pure business, and the clubs will stand to benefit a lot that will make them stop being government-sponsored clubs again. This is because there will be so much money to go around for the clubs.”

“We will secure title sponsors for the league, and will also attract money for the league from other sponsors. At the end of the 2022/23 league season, all the 20 premier league clubs will take 45 per cent profit from the sponsorship money,” Lawal disclosed.

“We’re looking at the possibility that in three years from now the government should hand off the funding of football teams in Nigeria, especially the Nigerian premier league clubs.”

You can see why these people wanted to disrupt the commencement of the league, knowing that the state government would soon cease to own clubs in the country. The projection by the group for the NPFL is expected to hit a mega figure of about N10 Billion in 2023/33 when the contract runs out.

“We expect that between now and the first three years of this deal, the Nigerian domestic league should have players in the NPFL earning about N1 million at least as salary,” the GMD said.

These appointees don’t want to depart from the untidy past where Nigeria’s representatives to CAF’s interclub’s competitions are ‘crowned’ at the whims and caprices of these so-called gurus of the game here, instead of on the basis of results over a completed league season – whether it is the full league of 38 matches or the abridged format of 19 games. One only hopes that these people’s grouse has nothing to the reduced revenue from their state governors if the league runs for 19 weeks instead of 38.

The editor of Vanguard on Saturday newspaper Onochie Anibeze sent these posers to this writer as remarks to my column last week: ”Those club owners you wrote about are bush men. That abridged league is the best for us. Aside from the reasons you wrote that the clubs don’t have the resources to fly their teams to match venues.

”What do you say of a team from Rivers going to Maiduguri by road to play a league match at the weekend and return to PH for a midweek match? Abroad, they fly. And there’s also a train service. Why do you think they have Eastern and western conferences in American basketball? We have to establish what suits us.

”The abridged league should not even be temporal. Our league should run like that. The super league of the Top 4 should even be another big event that will attract business and be so celebrated that European scouts will always find a reason to come. It should be made a big media event. Support them on this. Elegbeleye should make it a project. Tell him I said so,” Anibeze wrote.

January 7, 2023
For Chief Charles Amilo

Old age hath yet his honour and his toil; Death closes all: but something ere the end, Some work of noble note, may yet be done, Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods.”- Alfred Tennyson, Ulysses.

I was at a wedding of the sister to an associate of mine, angry at the non presence of palm wine, I was obviously bitter as I had earlier served notice on this associate of mine that one would care for the drink of the gods as I didn’t care much for the green bottles he lavishly supplied to my table even when we were on the cusp of seeing the Old year off and welcoming 2022 when I received a call informing me of the demise of a one time Member of the Old Anambra State House of Assembly, commissioner for information and present Chairman of the board of the Federal Polytechnic Nekede, a father and a man who was like a friend, Chief Charles Amilo. Udobodo Enugwu Ukwu.

I was immediately stricken by such sad news as I had earlier planned to go and pay him a visit in the new year, he had been sick and after seeing him in October last year where he had gifted me another big box of Coffee, we discussed a number of issues including his health and how he was pulling through, little did I know that such a day would be my last to see him.

I pay homage to one of Anambra’s finest politicians, scholar, encyclopedia of knowledge and image maker. I like Mark Anthony over the pyre of burning wood seek to extol the man, Chief Charles Amilo, sorry he was not a mere man, he was one of the Titans, the last of them, a model even in the cold ground.

Amilo was born in 1945 and like every young lad had his primary and secondary education in the Eastern Region.

As a brilliant mind, Amilo was to attend the University of Nigeria, Nsukka –

Chief Charles Amilo was a Former Member, Old Anambra State House of Assembly during the 2nd Republic under the platform of the National Party of Nigeria. One of the shining lights of that House, Amilo was to distinguish himself across party and legislative lines that he was gifted with another term. Using the gift of garb, oratory and a rich knowledge of the nation’s history, Amilo, effusively weighed in on several debates and helped the House pass numerous motions and bills.

Again, in the botched Third Republic, Udobodo participated in the politics of that era, ensuring that the likes of Chukwuemeka Ezeife emerged as Governor of Anambra State. By 2005, with the heightened battle royale between Governor Chris Ngige and his estranged godfather , Chris Uba, there was the general consensus that the gains of the then Ngige administration was not been marketed positively to the public. A quick search of capable hands were sought and within days the name Amilo was all over the place, within days his nomination was to follow suit and Ndi Anambra began to feel the difference.

I will always remember my first meeting with Chief Amilo in Awka,circa 2009. Amilo candidly listened to my request to join the Chris Ngige Media Machinery that was been set up for the 2010 polls, that was after he had read some of my articles then in the dailies. Amilo not only ensured that I was appointed into the media committee, he also sought to give me the neccesary encouragement then as a young man 11 years ago.

Read Also: UK unveils first bank notes featuring King Charles III

Today, I am a voice heard because of the opportunity he gave me, I recall how I would reach out to Amilo and he would bellow ” Ah, I just read your column in the Nation, well done Arinze” I can only say that it was his words of encouragement over the years that landed me such an opportunity and many more because he, Amilo believed much in me.

Amilo was an encyclopedia of knowledge, history and politics are at his beck and call, I still remember the numerous times he would regale us with stories of the 1st Republic and the alliance between the NCNC and the Action Group to form the United Progressives Grand Alliance, UPGA. Or the day, he and Chief ECJ Nwosu had a fierce but yet friendly and enlightening argument on who actually won the 1983 guber elections in old Anambra. Amilo against all voices present that day and entitled to comment vehemently insisted that it was Onoh’s NPN, his party that won; much to Kpakpando’s angst who countered that it was Jim’s NPP that actually won.

One key trait of Amilo was his loyalty to causes he believed in. Amilo’s loyalty was not only to those who occupied offices as is the present trend, nope, Udobodo would always stick with his principles as well as his friends, both young and old. A clear example was his relationship with Chris Ngige, who after leaving office saw a huge majority of his lieutenants seeking new camps, Udobodo stuck with Ngige, despite the latter’s notoriety for clannish politics and even when it was not favourable to him (Amilo). This makes him a shining example to our youth,for in an era where many switch parties at the speed of sound, Udobodo in his Herculean manner remained steadfast to his principles.

This piece was written exactly one year ago, reading through this, I mull over our last meeting, where I had frank discussions with him, I shudder that he is no more, that sonorous voice and gentle soul that would always seek peace even with his identified enemies. I yet again recall the numerous times he would call me to admonish me on some of my exuberances, particularly that quick temper or righteous anger as I would style it and he would simply say, “I did not teach you this way” indeed he was like a father figure to many , who also saw many through their own tough times , relatives and non relatives alike benefitted from his philanthropic gestures.

Anambra State will definitely miss you, matter of fact the reforms you began in the Anambra State Broadcasting Service is today yielding results, even in your homestead of Enugwu Ukwu, the people still feel your absence for you were a man indeed far ahead of your times . Sleep on Udobodo!

January 7, 2023
Are some 25 female governorship candidates political orphans?

The year 2023 is finally here and the Nigeria’s general election is a few weeks away. In a weird turn of events, the focus seems unfairly concentrated on the Presidential elections. The political parties are supposed to campaign for their candidates in all the elections; State Houses of Assembly, federal House of Representatives, the Senate, Governorship and Presidential elections. Ironically, only the All Progressive Congress (APC) as a major political party has a female governorship candidate in Adamawa state, Senator Aishatu Binani.

The Appeal Court had recently restored her as the party’s candidate her candidature having been challenged in the courts by some of her male opponents. So a Senator Binani remains the only female flag bearer of a major political party in the forthcoming election. This says a lot about Nigerian political space and processes. The reason for the very few female candidates is not far-fetched. Besides all the socio-religious reasons, the structure of the political parties is at the root of the problems women in politics experience in trying to win the tickets of their political parties.

Nigerian political party system is structured to treat women as second class citizens. This is why there is the amorphous Women Wing of political parties and to some extent, the Youth wing. These two voting demographics are often seen as mere appendages that like the proverbial toothless bulldog can bark but can’t bite. The Women Wing is a structural strategic positioning of the women in a somewhat subservient role in the political process. Sidelined to the ‘Women’s Wing’, their voice is muted in the core administration of the parties, their role seems to be solely to mobilize voters for the male members.

The lip service male politicians pay to gender inclusiveness often falls flat on the face of reason when one realizes that there are no Male Wings of political parties. The women, through the Women Wings of political parties are often at the table without having access to the menu or even partaking in the dinner. They are often consigned to the welfare and entertainment duties for party events. This cannot be seen as a fair political deal.

Not many people are aware that there are about 25 female candidates of many other political parties vying for the governorship positions in their different states. The Roundtable Conversation congratulates those women that have thrown their hats into the ring. It is a good step and even though it is not yet Uhuru, the journey of a thousand miles starts with a step.

However, while the elections are just a few weeks away, not much has been heard from the political parties that gave these women the tickets. What roles have they played in pushing the campaigns for the women like is normal with male candidates? Elections are not cheap and as such most of these women do not have the financial muscle to foot their bills based on the legal campaign fund limits. It remains to be seen how most of them would be able without equal support reach the nooks and crannies of their states to sell their candidacy no matter how qualified and viable their party manifestoes are.

The fate of these women trying to square up with the male candidates in the major political parties would depend on the support they are able to get from their parties. This brings to the fore the hypocrisy of the 9th National Assembly that willfully threw out about five proposed bill that would have given women a better chance at accessing political power especially at the legislative level where their voices can be heard and their concerns better articulated by their representatives that could be elected after the laws are passed.

A National Assembly with almost 90% male population threw out the gender equity bills and despite the protests by the women that even included picketing the National Assembly, it seemed the minority had their say and the majority their way. This must be traced to the structural defects of political parties in Nigeria where again, more than 90% of the leadership are men. One would have expected that if truly the political parties desire gender equity beyond the tokenism of ‘Women Wings’, they ought to have lobbied their members at the National Assembly to accommodate the women through the passing of the bills as proposed.

The Roundtable Conversation cannot be tired of drawing attention to the Kenyan political example where there was a constitutional amendment that makes it illegal for any gender to occupy more than two third of elective posts. Today, Kenya has seven elected female governors up from the three they elected in 2017. That is a country with men who recognize the value in complimentary leadership. It might not be perfect yet but they have deliberately started the journey for political gender equity and slowly and steadily the balance they seek can be achieved.

The lack of inclusiveness in the political space has dire consequences and some of them Nigeria is leaving with and paying dearly for it. Global economic and financial institutions have never wavered in telling nations where fewer women are empowered educationally, socially, economically and politically that underdevelopment cannot be wished away or physically destroyed through masculinity. The level of poverty in Nigeria is traceable to the lack of women on the political roundtable with a voice heard on a level playing field.

As the frontline political parties campaign around the country, it is ironic that all of them are promising inclusion of women and youths when they win. However, political economists tend to believe that the most powerful inclusive step for women, youths and other vulnerable groups like those living with disabilities is the constitutional amendments and the enactment of laws by the legislature at both state and national levels that can make political processes to be on a level playing field.

The selfishness of the male political elite in surreptitiously excluding women through structural dubiety in ways political parties are administered is at the root of the poverty weighing the economy down in a way that as many as 133 million Nigerians are living in multi-dimensional poverty. Any nation where the gender parity is so deep in the political space will always experience economic inequity that ultimately affects both genders as no economy is about any one gender.

Going forward, there must be a deliberate restructuring of the political party administration in a way that no gender has undue advantage over the other. Women have come a long way from the last century where they were not even allowed to vote let alone stand for elections. However, the global dynamics have changed and women now have access to education in different fields and have shown also that equal opportunity benefits everyone in any nation.

Political parties in Nigeria must begin to purge themselves of the feeling that the best way to go is to exclude women by denying them access to leadership positions that can be influential in the ways political parties are administered. It has far reaching effects because in a way, it stigmatizes women who dare to break the proverbial glass ceiling in their bid to be the voice on the political table.

The rest of the country seem to take a cue from political parties and how they sideline women. Since the return of democracy in 1999, many female politicians have faced undue pressure to quit. Some women have suffered various degrees of harassment both physical and psychological. Many women have been allegedly raped, physically assaulted and some totally killed as ways to scare them and other women away from the political space.

The cases of most murdered women are so pathetic because women are very harmless and to kill them so easily and often with no consequences sends the wrong signals about the criminal justice system and it is very telling. If truly political power is for public service, why do men assume they are the only ones that can serve the people? The capacity to serve in real terms often lie more with women as nurturers. They are the ones nature has imbued with the qualities that predispose them to care from the family units to the communities. It is therefore curious that these same gender is often denied the opportunity to serve.

The Roundtable Conversation believes that the current campaign rhetoric across party lines will come and go after the elections but there must be a deliberate effort to carry out a very thorough constitutional amendment that can create a level playing field. Equal opportunity in the political space can only give us the best humans whose combination of ideas can remove as many citizens as possible from the poverty bracket.

We urge the political parties fielding female candidates to realize that tickets are not enough, they need the support of their political parties as well as that of other citizens who we urge to vote for competent men and women. The country can only flourish with the input of every capable hand on the plough. The women should also realize that femininity is not enough. We want the women not just to flaunt tickets but to earn the votes that can give them the political power they seek.

The dialogue continues…

January 7, 2023
Candor, trust and leadership

The death of a rare specie of humanity , a retired Pope and the unprecedented burial by his successor also a Pope thrill my imagination today for the equally unusual reason that even though I am not a Catholic I   normally refer to the deceased Pope in private as ‘my Pope ‘ . Before you think that I am perhaps being more catholic than the Pope let me tell you that more unusual things happened locally and globally this last week that we will digest together today in the new year 2023 . Let me therefore first of all wish my readers a happy and prosperous new year and a peaceful and beneficial election for Nigerians as 2023 is the long awaited election year    of a new president for our nation .

Aside from the death of ‘ my Pope ‘ , Pope Benedict XVI ,real name Joseph Ratzinger , the German Pope who died at age 95 , there are other issues that defy history and beat the imagination in the world at large this week . First is the rancor in the US legislature over the election of a Speaker that has taken voting six times without a winner which is a classic case of the minority taking the majority hostage or to ransom as the saying goes . The last time this   happened was 100 years ago in 1923 . Next is the news that a former Nigerian Head of state has endorsed a presidential candidate for this February 2023 presidential election outside the candidates of the two main parties namely the APC and the PDP . The third is the campaign news on the APC Presidential   campaign trail in Kano that the party will , if it wins ,    as expected ,   establish   ‘ the proposed Kano Economic City because Kano is the hub of Nigeria ‘

Let me now dissect these unusual situations in terms of candor , trust and leadership which is the topic of the day starting again with ‘ my Pope’ .I first saw the late Pope Benedict XV on   TV I when he preached at the funeral of the late John Paul 11 at the Vatican and was impressed with his homily and thought he could become the next Pope , which he did at the conclave . I later read a book on him with his name as title and fell literally in love with his life and career hence the nick name ‘ my Pope ‘ Now my Pope is dead and now buried after his retirement . I was shocked when he retired but I knew the pressure he was under . Pedophilia dogged his papacy and he was vilified in the west especially the US for his firm stand on celibacy , sexuality and gender issues . He stood firm as the think thank of the John Paul 11 papacy and head of the Catholic Curia and insisted that morality is not a fashion changing with the times even though justice should not be relegated to the background . He was blamed for the disgraceful sexual abuse of priests in his time and under his control . In defence he attributed the social and religious cancer to the wild life of youths in the eighties when he said morality really broke down leading to the rise of pedophilia and homosexual clubs even in monasteries . A measure of the venom he faced and how he fared against   till     he retired , can be seen in the recent news that the US Transport Secretary a man travelled in an official plane with his husband a man too . The other news that would have been most unpalatable to my Pope and my self too was another news picture of the just released US basket ball player a lady kissing her wife another lady . Such issues were what my Pope tried to prevent and obviously lost to powerful interests groups especially in the present US government . He was to be disgraced out of office but   he eluded his assailants with his great erudition   and   intellectual   sagacity in referring to history and the retirement of a Pope 600 years ago and invoking the simpler   yoke of retirement albeit unthinkable till then . May the soul of ‘ my Pope ‘ rest in perfect peace Amen .

The   US Speaker election debacle is our next discussion . The presumed candidate of the Republicans Kevin Macarthy has had over 200 votes six times against 20 votes in his party yet is not electable because he need 218 votes from his party to be elected Speaker . Those against him , a minority of 20 do not trust him to carry through the agenda of their idol Donald Trump when he becomes Speaker because he had criticized Trump in the past . Yet   Trump too has asked that Macarthy be endorsed but the rebels against his election have not budged but have just thrown other candidates into the foray . Obviously with regard to their known loyalty to Trump they are showing that they are getting more catholic than the Pope .Some have said this is democracy at play but there should be order in any democracy and party discipline should not be thrown overboard in making a point . Even though it was wrong of Marcarthy to have seized the Speaker’s office without being elected on the floor of the house, his ouster after six failed votes     cannot augur well for the future of the Republicans as an organized and reliable political force in US politics and democracy as we know it today

Read Also: LivingTrust Mortgage Bank gets new rating

Another   surprise    on the issues   locally is the call on Nigerian youths by OBJ to literally take up arms and liberate themselves from the present Nigerian leadership . That to me is belated and is like arousing an insurrection like Trump was accused of on Jan 6 2021 in the US . OBJ has always said his mind and I admire his candor but he lacks the trust to make the call because he was a great part of the leadership he now rebukes . Any way his choice has no chance in the present political dispensation and it is like he is trying to close the stable doors after the horses have bolted . I expect a straight fight between the ruling APC and PDP presidential candidates next month . OBJ’s call is therefore a distraction and an extravagant one at that . He has in the past made great relevant calls fearlessly and at great cost to his life as with Abacha . This time however the die is cast on the showdown between the two main parties and OBJ’s now diminished   whimper can be safely ignored .

It is amazing however that the Governor of Rivers state Nyesome Wike has endorsed the OBJ condemnation of his party’s presidential candidate Abubakar Atiku by saying that some thing is wrong if your principal cannot endorse you . That however is not unusual in Africa . In Ghana’s last presidential election the former VP a   presidential aspirant , was not endorsed by his boss the president but he won . Wike’s point is however important in that he is still a member of the same party with Atiku and he is campaigning against him and he is even talking of ceding his part of the country to another party in the presidential election next month . Like I said before it appears that the PDP has gone to sleep in a house with a thatched roof and the   roof is on fire in this 2023 presidential election

Compare this with the campaign claims and points of the APC presidential candidate in the city of Kano where the turn out was stupendous and amazing according to reports . The presidential candidate of the APC the Jagaban Bola Ahmed Tinubu promised to make Nigeria safer and better for all Nigerians and he sounded credible and believable because of his track record in Lagos the commercial capital of Nigeria under great stress from that role given that all Nigerians are literally flocking to Lagos and literally choking the traffic and free movement   of the masses and vehicles in the city . It was cheering therefore to hear that the APC presidential running mate Kashim Shettima   while identifying Kano as ‘ ‘the hub of Northern politics and a [point of political direction ‘ also noted that Kano will become ‘ the hub of Nigeria when the proposed Kano Economic City is created after the election ‘ That to me is candor in election promises because I know some mischief makers will want to use that promise to turn the south against the North . Campaign promises are meant to be kept and the APC is looking forward in my view to decongest Lagos from its port congestion ,    massive trailers albatross and nuisance to decent living and that is a welcome development and a delightful    prospect   in my view .That certainly rhymes with the Jagaban’s promise to make life better for all Nigerians and especially those of us living in Lagos when he becomes president as expected next month . A word is enough for the wise .

January 7, 2023
OBJ and his endorsement drama

Some years ago, he announced his decision to quit politics. He supervised the symbolic tearing of his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) party card, thereby signalling his political retirement.

Later, he made a dramatic u-turn. After a sort of rapprochement between him and his estranged deputy, Atiku Abubakar, who he had lambasted in his book: My Watch, former President Olusegun Obasanjo ate his words.

Much more later, he announced that he would not support any presidential candidate again. He said he was only interested in what he described as a ‘national agenda.’

Also, at a time, he gave support to a group that masqueraded as the third force. The group fizzled out.

Two weeks ago, he gave a hint. It was at the 70th birthday of Chief John Nwodo, former President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo , where he started a subtle campaign for Labour Party (LP) candidate, Peter Obi. Many Nigerians did not take him seriously. But, they noted that the old soldier is always a happier man whenever he passes through Onitsha, Southeast commercial nerve centre. Critics have said that Obi lacked structure. But, it is now clear that Obasanjo is his structure. How far can the structure take him?

Obasanjo came out openly yesterday to endorse the former Anambra State governor, maybe, for personal reasons. Typical of him, he gauged the pulse of some ill-informed, disarticulated, gullible, directionless and online youths and their noise making backers crying wolf in the social media. He did not bother about millions of discerning youths who are not swayed by his rhetoric.

OBJ, as he is fondly called by some people, has exercised his liberty to pitch tent with a candidate of his choice. Like any other Nigerian, he is entitled to that fundamental right.

The all-knowing General tried to justify his intervention by drawing attention to his score card as former leader. He gave himself a passmark for governing Nigeria as a military and elected leader, a feat, which he said in his book:’Not My Will,’ eluded the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo.

He tried to cover up the hollow in his score card, deluding himself into thinking that Nigerians are assailed by collective amnesia.

To critics, Obasanjo is very cunning. He has a way of omitting past actions and inactions that have continued to hunt him outside power, particularly third term, an attempt to change the constitution to extend his tenure, a combative nature, disposition to ‘do or die’ approach to election, and legacy of flawed elections.

Is Obasanjo a hero because he withheld allocations to states, following a morbid hate for their governors? Was his opposition to the entrenchment of grassroots governance through the creation of more councils by willing states defensible? What did he do to resolve the national question? What is OBJ’s position on restructuring and federalism?

He did not adopt a new style. He stuck to his old style of letter writing. Unmindful of his fading and waning political influence at home, he packaged his controversial endorsement as a new year message. His targets were the youths. But, his candidate, at 62, is not a youth. Besides, there is no evidence to suggest that Obi has a superior manifesto beyond the peculiar appeal to sentiments and investment in unverifiable economic claims.

OBJ described Obi as a mentee. If Obi is being tutored by him, it is curious. Does it mean that Obi is being groomed to behave exactly like Obasanjo, if he assumes political control?

The gerontocrat is locked in a game of ego, unwilling to be dwarfed by either of the two frontline candidates, particularly All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential standard bearer, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is likely to achieve what he failed to achieve for the country as military Head of State for three years and elected president for eight years.

How potent is OBJ’s new year message as a tool or weapon of political mobilisation? Today, who will Nigerians listen to between Obasanjo and Atiku, or between Obasanjo and Tinubu?

Is OBJ a political asset or liability?

In 2019, the Ota farmer objected to the second term ambition of President Muhammadu Buhari. Buhari won nevertheless.

There is nothing on ground to show that Obasanjo’s support for any candidate will swing the votes. He is not a factor in 2023.

January 2, 2023