Category: Segun Ayobolu

Segun Ayobolu

Is there any such thing as developmental monarchy? Is the traditional institution in Nigeria, nay Africa, not an anachronistic relic of the past, an enduring reminder of our political backwardness as a people and the progress-inhibiting, anti-democratic inheritance of our past? Perhaps three decades ago, in the naive brashness of youthful radicalism and exuberance, I would have answered these questions in the affirmative. But it is impossible, in the light of our post-colonial experience, to deny that the traditional institution continues to occupy a central and deeply rooted place in the political consciousness of the various constituent peoples and cultures of Nigeria; that indeed we have foolishly not allowed the rich institutional heritage of our past inform our present and shape our future more positively.

Incidentally, last month, July 11th specifically, was the 40th memorial anniversary of the transition of the late legendary Ooni of Ife, Oba Tadeniawo Ayinla Adesoji Aderemi, who died at the age of 91 after five memorable decades on the throne. It is a testimony to the nobility of his character, the quality of his leadership and the enduring nature of his impact and legacy that various activities were held to commemorate the occasion within and beyond Ile-Ife.

It is difficult to name many political office holders across the country’s various supposedly democratic dispensations from the first to the current fourth republic who can compare with Oba Adesoji Aderemi in terms of strength of character, commitment to principle, integrity, astuteness, acumen and high vision. In his eulogy to the monarch on his transition, delivered at Enuwa Square in Ile-Ife on Saturday, July 11, 1980, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, who was Premier of the Western Region when Oba Aderemi was Governor of the Region, paid fulsome tribute to the uncommon monarch. In his words, “Oba Aderemi became the Ooni of Ife in 1930. At that time, 50 years ago, the only reputation Ile-Ife had was that it is the cradle of Yoruba people. But within 10 years of his rule, Aderemi had transformed Ile-Ife, by Nigerian standards, into a modern town, a virile business center and a haven for the acquisition of secondary education, which was a very rare facility in those days. As a natural ruler, Oba Adesoji Aderemi can be described as a radical traditionalist”.

Was Awolowo exaggerating possibly because of the Oba’s political inclination towards his party? Certainly no. In a richly researched piece, lawyer and former member of the House of Representatives, Honourable Femi Kehinde, gives concrete evidence of Oba Aderemi’s indelible contributions to the modernization of his domain. For instance, Oba Aderemi founded Oduduwa College, Ile-Ife, the first privately owned college in Nigeria, on January 22, 1932. In 1935, the Ooni aided the installation of the Ife Waterworks at Mokuro, Ile-Ife. Apart from building an official residence for the Ooni, Oba Aderemi attracted telephone services to Ile-Ife in 1938.

When the colonial authorities erected some structures to serve as a proposed military barracks in Ife, the Ooni persuaded the authorities to discontinue the plan because his people were opposed to it. He later allocated the abandoned structures to the Seventh Day Mission, which utilized them for its mission hospital in the town constructed in 1944. As Governor of the Western Region, he was instrumental to the siting of the University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), in his domain. Beyond his role in the transformation of Ile-Ife, it is impossible to tell the story of the dazzling success of the Awolowo administration in the Western Region without reference to Oba Aderemi’s principled support and wise counsel to the government.

Across thousands of communities in Nigeria – Ijebu, Egba, Lagos Island, Oyo, Kano, Benin, Iwo, Osogbo, Sokoto, Borgu, Owo, Onitsha, Jos, Tiv, Idoma, Calabar, Igala – to name a few, we have strong, historically rooted traditional institutions that are contributing significantly to the continuous elevation of their people. They enjoy far greater reverence among their people than state officials who emerge through the supposedly superior electoral democratic system. Apart from these traditional structures enjoying far more stability, most times, the occupants of these thrones have higher moral integrity and character than the elected officials who steer the reigns of government at constitutionally recognized levels.

If the disadvantage of these indigenous institutions in the past was the low level of education of the traditional rulers, things have changed radically. The typical traditional ruler today assumes office at a youthful age, is exceedingly well educated and sophisticated, has a track record of accomplishments in the professions, academia or business and is financially munifficient. Thus, the modern traditional ruler today is well equipped to play the role of developmental monarch.

For instance, the current Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, Ojaja 11, is undoubtedly treading the transformational path of Oba Aderemi. He has exhibited a wisdom beyond his years in trying to weave greater cohesion among traditional rulers in the South West and has launched initiatives to help elevate his domain to higher developmental heights. Oba Ogunwusi has donated automatic fumigation machines to several states in the South West and beyond to combat the Coronavirus pandemic. But the focus of this piece is the newly crowned Oniru of Iru land, HRM, Oba Abdulwasiu Omogbolahan Lawal (Abisogun 11), who incidentally clocked the golden age of 50 last Friday.

The Oniru has impeccable academic credentials obtaining a Bachelors degree in Botany from the University of Port Harcourt, a Post graduate degree in Violence, Conflict and Development from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, as well as an Executive M.Sc in Cities from the London School of Economics and Political Science. During an unblemished career in the Nigeria Police Force over two and a half decades, he served as Aide de Camp to Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Governor when the latter was governor of Lagos State. Ever since his exit from the police, he has held key ministerial positions in every administration in Lagos State between 2007 and his ascension to the royal throne, a measure no doubt of his competence, diligence, industry, dependability and integrity.

Two things struck me in the personal message issued by Oba Lawal on the occasion of his Golden Jubilee. First, he had been well groomed and nurtured as a prince for his possible future Royal ascendance. In his words, “Growing up in one of the palaces of a fast-growing metropolis like Lagos in the 1970s, I had the privilege of a front row seat at some of our most significant rites and events. As my father’s Ilari; it meant being groomed in the ranks of titled men and those of Royal and noble blood; those who would be clad in white attire and various beaded ornaments connoting various positions, rights and privileges at special traditional events. In sitting around, listening and learning in the Palace all through my young and adult life; I never knew what fate had in store for me – an opportunity to continue and build upon a legacy for the great people of Iru land”.

Secondly was Kabiyesi’s articulation of his developmental vision for Iru land. According to him, “My vision for Iru is to ensure we become one of the most desirable places to live, work and do business in Lagos, Nigeria and the continent. In another few weeks, the Palace Media Team will share updates on our plans for Social Investment, Tourism and Culture, Security as well as Health and the Environment. These, we intend to leverage, with your active support and participation, to ensure widespread sustainable development”. Here certainly is an Oba with a clear sense of purpose and focus. Kabiyesi is poised to become an outstanding model of developmental monarchy.

Have I painted too rosy a picture of the traditional institution? True, it has its own share of bad eggs as is only natural. However, the Royal grooming of princes in preparation for the throne appears to me better placed to produce leaders of exemplary character than the electoral democratic system, which breeds many politicians difficult to distinguish from touts. Our political scientists still have a lot of work to do to draw on the values and virtues  of traditional monarchy to transform democracy in Nigeria into a developmental enterprise.

Segun Ayobolu

DEAR Supreme Commander,

It is with great pleasure and sense of fulfillment that I forward to you another of my series of reports on our ongoing battle against humanity. Coronavirus and the disease it causes, COVID-19, have struck fear into the hearts of millions of men and women across the globe. The global economy is in a state of paralysis. Key sectors of economies in rich and poor countries have shut down. Businesses have collapsed at an unprecedented rate. Multitudes have lost their jobs and millions have been plunged deeper into the mire of poverty. At least 15 million people worldwide have been infected by the virus with over 600,000 deaths. In Nigeria, my primary area of responsibility, close to 40, 000 cases have been reported and nearly 900 deaths.

Of course, sir, we have inflicted much more devastation on the country where, as a result of their characteristic national lack of seriousness, less than half a million tests for the virus have been conducted. This means that many more asymptomatic persons in the country are going about with the disease undetected and infecting other people daily. I think we may record our greatest success in this viral offensive against mankind in Nigeria. Both members of the ruling class and the mass of the ordinary people treat our virus with arrogant disdain, laughable ignorance or outright indifference. This is, of course, very helpful to our cause.

I am also happy to report that, despite the country’s rich natural pharmaceutical endowment with one of the world’s largest variety of plants and herbs that could be utilized to fight our virus with diligent investment in education and research, Nigeria’s leadership is waiting lazily for the developed countries to develop a vaccine and cure for our disease. I hope, sir, that you are able once in a while to watch the country’s Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19’s briefings on the fight against our virus in Nigeria. They routinely report new statistics of infected persons, recoveries and deaths. Hardly any mention is ever made of deliberate, coordinated and determined efforts to find local vaccines and cures. Here again, the country’s pathetic intellectual dependency and inferiority complex, a feature profoundly analyzed by one of their great intellectuals, the late Professor Claude Ake, in his book, ‘Social Science as Imperialism’, is on display.

True, the search for vaccines and cures for our deadly viral weapon is going on at a feverish pace in the advanced countries of the world. However, our cause is greatly being served by the fact that the richest and most powerful country in the world, the United States, is currently led by the infantile and moronic Donald Trump. He is more concerned with his quest for reelection in November than the devastating effect our virus is having on his hapless country men and women. Without recourse to informed scientific opinion on our virus, he dismissed it as nothing but a common flu that would simply fizzle away. There has thus been a very heartwarming lack of leadership in the global superpower’s response to the crisis. Following the American President’s misleading prompting, many states are rushing to ease restrictions, open up their economies and permit large gatherings of people. Thus, the infection rates in the country and attendant deaths continue to soar daily.

Lately, Trump has been forced to admit that the destructive effects of our virus in his country is likely to worsen before getting better. He has even begun occasionally to wear face masks and also urging his fellow citizens to do the same. Even then, our formidable battalions of Coronaviruses continue their deadly onslaught on America even as that country’s fearsome land, sea and air war arsenals watch on helplessly. I have, however, advised our viral war commanders to ensure that Trump remains uninfected by our virus. This is because we made a strategic error when we infected his fellow traveler in leadership myopia, Boris Johnson, with the disease. The British Prime Minister’s near death encounter with the virus has made him wiser and more cautious and restrained in leading the containment against our virus. But for that, he would have been as reckless as Trump in denying the reality of the disease, advocating easing of restrictions and opening up of the economy.

To our utmost benefit, rather than offer leadership to the world in collectively and creatively responding to our viral onslaught against humanity, Trump is further polarizing and dividing the world for purely selfish reasons. It was with great astonishment but delight, for instance, that we received the news that Trump has frozen his country’s substantial funding for the World Health Organization (WHO), which ought to be at the forefront of any meaningful global response to our virus. I am confident that we will continue to wreak havoc on mankind for a considerable time to come.

What countries like my primary area of jurisdiction, Nigeria, do not know is that even if a vaccine or cure is found for our virus in the advanced countries today, it is unlikely that cynical and self-centered leaders like Trump or Boris Johnson will allow such remedies to be available to the vast majority of the peoples of the world. Given the essentially greedy and exploitative capitalist economy prevalent in the world today, even when vaccines or cures are found, pharmaceutical multinationals that invested in the project will be more interested in recouping their investment than being sources of charity to humanity. It will continue to be profit before people and this is all so very good for us.

I am forwarding to you video recordings of encounters in Nigeria’s National Assembly between the country’s Ministers of Labour and Employment as well as the Niger Delta, Dr Chris Ngige and Senator Godswill Akpabio, respectively, and investigative committees of the legislature. Both ministers allege mind boggling fraud and massive corruption in parastatal agencies under their watch, namely the National Social Investment Trust Fund (NSITF) and the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). The minsters in turn have been accused of no less stupendous acts of criminal self-enrichment. All this is, of course, to our benefit.

No less dramatic is the ongoing investigation of fraud allegations against the suspended Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr Ibrahim Magu, by the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Mr Abubakar Malami. All these indicate that, despite all the anti-corruption grandstanding, corruption is alive and well in Nigeria and this is very good for us. As long as corruption continues to thrive in the country, she will never have the first class health care system capable of responding effectively to pandemics like ours, which she can easily afford with selfless, diligent and competent leaders, given her huge resource endowment.

Lastly, sir, a major boost was given to our onslaught against humanity in the Nigerian sector when President Muhammadu Buhari was persuaded by aggrieved and extremely ambitious elements in the All Progressives Congress (APC) to dissolve the Adams Oshiomhole-led National Working Committee (NWC) of the ruling party for no just cause. With an interim caretaker committee in place, the party is slated to hold its National Convention in November to elect new officers to run its affairs. This means that rather than concentrating on governance and particularly in containing our rampaging virus in the country, various individuals, forces and tendencies in the ruling party in all the states will be dissipating energy and focus on trying to seize control of the party structure in November. From all indications, the prospects of our virus are very bright in Nigeria.

By Segun Ayobolu

A lively and vigorous conversationalist, Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka is always the interviewer’s delight. His keen intellect, the variety and diversity of his prodigious literary output, his fierce commitment to the cause of justice in Nigeria and beyond, his deep immersion in the history and politics of Nigeria, his perceptive insights into the character and evolution of Nigerian politics and his often scathing assessment and critique of the country’s leaders make any conversation with Soyinka a veritable feast of ideas. The Nobel Laureate’s life has been intricately interwoven with the political and socio-economic evolution of Nigeria at almost every point. His prophetic play, ‘A Dance of the Forests’ was performed in commemoration of the nation’s independence in 1960.

A number of his autobiographical works and memoirs in particular demonstrate Soyinka’s deep interest in and participation in some of the more dramatic incidents of Nigerian history including the civil uprising against an unpopular Samuel Ladoke Akintola government in the Western Region in the First Republic, the Nigerian civil war (1967-1970), the dismal and corruption-ridden politics of the Second Republic (1979-1983), his skirmishes with successive military dictatorships, his frontline role in the struggle for the actualization of the unjustifiably annulled June 12, 1993, presidential election as well as the politics of this political dispensation since 1999.

Some of these works include ‘AKE: Years of childhood’, ‘Ibadan: The penkelemesi years’, his prison memoirs, ‘The man died’ and his autobiographical tome ‘You Must set forth at Dawn’.  In novels, poems, drama, essays, music, film etc, Soyinka has ceaselessly confronted the challenges and travails of post-colonial Nigeria and sought to enable the actualization of the country’s largely trapped potentials. On one of my visits to a favorite bookshop here in Lagos, earlier this year, I came across a new book, ‘The Man Lives: A conversation with Wole Soyinka on Life, Literature and Politics’, published in 2019 by Okey Ndibe, the award winning novelist   and literary scholar.

The title of the book is obviously a derivative of Soyinka’s prison memoirs, ‘The Man Died’. Of course, yours sincerely could not resist the temptation of acquiring a copy of the book as I eagerly sought to engage once more with the thoughts of Soyinka on diverse issues of life and living not least his political thoughts. I remember vividly when I first came into contact with the book, ‘The Man Died’. It was sometime in the late 1970s if I recall correctly. The entire family was on the way to Bacita in Kwara State to visit and spend some weeks with some family friends. Ensconced in the backseat of the car, my father was engrossed most of the time in reading a book and had barely any conversation with my mother and other siblings. What book could have captured his attention so intensely I wondered?

I was later to discover that it was Soyinka’s ‘The Man Died’. Although I was later to try reading the book, it was much later that I was able to comprehend much of what the author wrote. The book has long since been one that I return to again and again with fascination at the author’s sheer courage and audacity in resisting and actively confronting injustice and abuse of power. Sometimes in the 1970s, I came across and owned a copy of an interview by John Agetua with Soyinka largely centered essentially on his prison memoirs. That slim publication also contained interviews by Agetua with Zulu Sofola and Amos Tutuola if I recall correctly.

One of Soyinka’s memorable phrases that struck me in the Agetua interview was when he described literature as ‘a hand-grenade which you detonate under a stagnant way of perceiving reality’. And that is exactly what Soyinka in ‘The Man Died’ and other literary offerings strives to do. The conversation with Okey Ndibe in ‘The Man Lives’ is wide-ranging and thought provoking. Thanks to the interviewer’s probing questions, Soyinka speaks penetratingly on diverse issues including his attitude to life and religion, his uncompromising opposition to any form of injustice, his intriguing relationship with Nigeria, his motherland, his relationship with fellow writers such as Christopher Okigbo, Ngugi Wa thiongo and Chinua Achebe, his role in the civil war, the writings of emergent younger writers, the Pyrates Confraternity, the Nobel Prize which he won in 1986, language and literature and diverse issues in Nigerian politics.

It is inevitable that Soyinka would also share his opinion on diverse personalities on Nigeria’s political terrain, most of whom he had interacted personally with across time. These include General Yakubu Gowon, Colonel Odumegwu Ojukwu, General Olusegun Obasanjo, military President Ibrahim Babangida, Chief MKO Abiola, Colonel Chukwuemeka Kaduna Nzeogwu, Colonel Victor Banjo, Alhaji Abubakar Atiku among others.

The 140-page book is divided into three subsections. First is an introduction by Okey Ndibe, which is a wide ranging discourse on Soyinka’s literary works as well as his political thought and praxis. The actual conversation with Soyinka takes place partly in Soyinka’s house in Abeokuta and partly in a car on a trip to Makurdi, Benue State, to attend a literary event and constitutes the second section. There is then a postscript, which is a follow up conversation with Soyinka in the aftermath of the 2019 elections to enable the Nobel Laureate offer his insights and perspectives on that election. The final section is the appendix in which the interviewer gives a succinct analysis of the political evolution of Nigeria.

From this book, Soyinka remains fervent in his belief that the pogrom in the North in the aftermath of the July 1966 counter coup, which led to the death of thousands of Igbo citizens, was a gross act of injustice which cannot be justified under any guise. In a similar vein, he condemns in vehement terms the execution of Ken Saro Wiwa after a controversial trial by the Abacha dictatorship. It is unfortunate that the interviewer did not ask Soyinka to comment on the murder in broad daylight of the four prominent pro-government Ogoni chiefs, allegedly at the behest of Ken Saro Wiwa and his supporters, that resulted in the latter’s trial for murder in the first place.

And on Biafra, it would have been useful if the interviewer had sought Soyinka’s views on the contention by the late Professor Billy Dudley in his book, ‘Instability and Political Order: Politics and Crisis in Nigeria’ that Igbo in and outside the Ahmadu Bello University, where he taught at the time, held northerners in barely disguised contempt. According to Dudley, “Outside the university, the practice of Igbo men holding up Northerners to ridicule had become a common enough experience. Pictures of Nzeogwu with one foot over the corpse of slain Premier of the North, Sir Ahmadu Bello, symbolic of the downfall of the North and the ascendancy of the East and Ibo, were to be found on sale in the markets in the North. These and other petty humiliations were reported to the Attorney General of the Federation, Mr. Gabriel Onyuike, but thinking they were ‘harmless practical jokes’, he dismissed them, refusing to take any action”.

Perhaps it is within this kind of toxic context, worsened by the perceived lopsidedness in the appointments and promotions in the various public services of the federation under General Aguiyi Ironsi, that such a gruesome bloodletting like the pogrom can be explained and understood. Over all, this is a worthy addition to the already massive literature on the epic life and times of Soyinka and will make rewarding reading for all.

By Segun Ayobolu

To its credit, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at least steered the affairs of the country for 16 years as the ruling party before it was dislodged from power in 2015 by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), which raised so much expectation by campaigning vigorously on the platform of change.

The APC was hurriedly cobbled together as a coalition to dislodge the sitting PDP federal government that, under President Goodluck Jonathan in particular, had become incredibly indulgent of corruption.

Having achieved that goal within an unbelievably short time frame, the diverse interests, fractions and factions within the APC have since turned on each other with ferocity.

There has been a desperate battle for the soul of the party with prominent party members seeking to seize control of its structures in the run up to 2023.

If the relatively narrow victory it secured over a still badly disorganized and disoriented PDP in the 2019 general elections is anything to go by, however, the APC, with the intensity of its internecine battles, will have gifted the opposition the presidency on a platter of gold long before the next polls.

This is probably why, as the party descended ever deeper daily into sheer anarchy with the confirmation by the Court of Appeal of the suspension of its National Chairman, comrade Adams Oshiomhole, President Muhammadu Buhari moved decisively on Thursday to return the APC to the path of sanity.

But should the President, the undisputed leader of the party, have acted through the instrumentality of a National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting convened by the self-proclaimed Acting National Chairman of the party, Chief Victor Giadom?

Matters were not helped by the phrasing of the press statement issued on the matter by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Shehu Garba.

In his words: “The President has received very convincing advice on the position of the law as far as the situation in the party is concerned and has determined that the law is on the side of Victor Giadom as acting National Chairman.

Because he will always act in accordance with the law, the President will be attending the virtual meeting Giadom called for tomorrow afternoon”.

In reality, there appeared to be little or no legal nexus between Chief Giadom as Deputy National Secretary of the party and the national chairmanship.

There are higher officers in the party hierarchy such as the national deputy and vice chairmen, with constitutional authority to act in case of the incapacitation of the national chairman.

Furthermore, Giadom had not only been suspended by his ward and state chapters of the party in Rivers State, there was a subsisting injunction by the Federal High Court, Port Harcourt, restraining him from participating in the activities of the party in any capacity pending the final determination of the case.

Again, the ex- parte order on which he laid claim to the position of Acting National Chairman had lapsed after 14 days since it was purportedly issued in March and had not been renewed.

Moreover, Giadom was a key party to the contrived factionalization of the National Working Committee (NWC) and his recognition by the President would deepen rather than resolve the party’s crisis.

However, Giadom and his faction of the party could not have been more grossly mistaken if they thought the NEC meeting he convened and which enjoyed presidential endorsement would canonize him as Acting National Chairman. President Buhari obviously had other ideas in mind.

At the end of the day, the President’s recommendations for moving the party forward took out all contending factions by dissolving the National Working Committee, constituting a Convention planning caretaker committee and directing all members with cases against the party in court to withdraw them or face disciplinary action.

There is thus the opportunity for the APC to go back to the drawing board, learn appropriate lessons from its misfortunes and misadventures and chart a new path forward.

True, this method of resolving the problem has its own drawback. Giadom had the support of not more than two other members of the NWC. The preponderant majority of other members supported the leadership of Chief Hilliard Eta, National Vice Chairman, South-South in the absence of Oshiomhole.

It could thus not rightly be claimed that the NWC was faction-ridden and thus rendered dysfunctional. Rather, a minority in the party with Giadom as its face, obviously disenchanted with Oshiomhole’s attempt to enforce party discipline and supremacy and also because of their ambitions for 2023, decided to deliberately foment crisis and make the party ungovernable for the leadership.

They sought to achieve their objective through access to the presidency but for President Buhari’s characteristic preference to play the statesman.

But then, disgruntled minorities can easily resort to these kinds of destabilizing antics in future and this is something that must be guarded against by not treating indiscipline and brazen flouting of the party constitution with kid gloves.

Of course, members of the dissolved NWC can justifiably raise questions as regards the constitutionality of the NEC action in this regard. But is it worth it? I don’t think so.

Oshiomhole took some courageous steps in trying to instill party discipline, empowering rank and file members to take ownership of the party and reducing the power and influence of overbearing caucuses.

Perhaps he could have adopted a less abrasive and confrontational style and treaded more gingerly on mine-ridden terrains especially when taking on entrenched power groups. His successes and failings offer useful lessons for the party’s future leadership.

One of the grievances against Oshiomhole is that under him the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party did not meet regularly to play its organizational roles as stipulated in the party constitution.

Consequently, party appointments and other disciplinary and procedural decisions that ought to have been made by the NEC were reportedly taken by NWC. This is a serious allegation. But the blame here does not belong to Oshiomhole alone.

If the National Chairman does not call for a meeting of NEC as he is required to do by the party constitution, at least two-thirds of the members of NEC are empowered to make a written demand for such NEC meeting to hold provided not less than 14 days notice is given.

Oshiomhole’s perceived petulance, stubbornness and rigidity are surely not the most critical challenge confronting the APC.

Rather, it is those members of the party in influential public positions who seek to utilize the tremendous resources of their offices to seize control of the party with a view to actualizing future political ambitions at higher levels.

But a political party in the true sense of the word is not a vehicle for the selfish pursuit of individual ambitions. It is a collective platform through which ideological like minds craft and promote the implementation of public policies for the common good.

The dissolution of the current NWC and the emergence of a new leadership at the next convention of the party do not mean that ambitious individuals who place their electoral ambitions in 2023 above the collective interest of the party will cease to exist.

Rather, they will continue to intensify their machinations towards capturing the party for their personal ambitions the nearer we get to 2023.

The only viable way forward for the party is to enforce strict adherence to its constitution at all levels as much as possible and subordinate every member no matter how highly placed to its supremacy.

It must also not cease to enhance popular control of the party by members through continuously deepening internal democracy while also reducing the influence and control of powerful caucuses who seek to subordinate collective purpose for personal agendas.

It is this kind of private capture that led the PDP to the electoral doom it experienced in 2015 and whether or not the APC will avoid such a fate is entirely in the hands of the party.