The Nation Newspaper

Category: Barometer

  • Sights and sounds of PEPC judgement

    Sights and sounds of PEPC judgement

    The about 12 hours it took to deliver the Presidential Election Petition Court’s decision on the suits filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Labour Party (LP), and the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) against the victory of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the February 25 presidential election should rightly define the judgement’s fame. Instead, other sights and sounds of the September 6 judgement have seemed to dominate the airwaves. Among them were the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) warning strike of September 5 and 6, PDP chieftain Bode George’s preemptive verbal strike against the court verdict, ex-governor Kayode Fayemi’s belated epiphany on what constitutes electoral victory, and Justice Mary Peter-Odili’s controversial admonition against party supporters’ fanaticism.

    In the end, the APC’s Bola Tinubu won the case, retained the presidency, and cost the opposition over N80m awarded as costs against the three petitioners, Atiku Abubakar, a former vice president, Peter Obi, a former Anambra governor, and Chichi Ojei of the APM. The APM candidate called only one witness, the LP 13, and the PDP 27. How they believed with their few witnesses and incompetent arguments they could win their petitions left everybody dumbfounded. The justices breezed through the APM petition, dwelt substantially on the LP case, and finally landed with a thud on the PDP petition, this time, inured to time as it were, leaving petitioners, counsels and other busybodies soundly asleep. It was an uproarious time in court last Wednesday.

    Here are some of the sights and sounds. The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), whose brainchild the LP is, ordered a two-day warning strike ostensibly to ground the country in protest against the federal government’s dilly-dallying over how to meliorate the harshness of its economic policies on workers and the poor. In reality, however, and given the unholy connection between the union and the LP, the strike was widely seen as a ploy to indirectly pressure the justices into ordering election rerun. Not only was the strike poorly observed, especially with the less politicised Trade Union Congress (TUC) disavowing the subterranean tactic, it had little or no effect on both the country and the justices, who had by then become clearly incensed by the bullying and irritating tactics of a section of the political public.

    Read Also: PEPC: Judgment validates Tinubu’s earlier victory-Uzodinma

    As if by coordination, Bode George, a PDP chieftain and former military governor, also weighed in on the pre-judgement politics of the season. His dilatoriness had of course become legendary, given how he took oath to go into exile should the then APC presidential aspirant Bola Tinubu become the president, an oath he quickly and remorselessly abjured when it became inconvenient. His volubility had also become unquenchable, but perhaps now bettered only by Edo State governor Godwin Obaseki’s petulant and superficial contribution to national discourse. Last Monday, Chief George warned the election court justices not to declare any of the contestants to the presidency winner of the poll, but to instead order a rerun. It would be injustice to give victory to President Tinubu, he growled. What evidence did he give or speak to? None. He only spoke from his distant and intangible approximations, given his long-lasting animosity towards President Tinubu, and knowing full well that neither Alhaji Atiku nor Mr Obi could prove their cases.

    And there was the sound of fury of former Ekiti State governor, Dr Fayemi. Discarding his progressive credentials, ignoring constitutional provisions, and sneering at past relationship with the president, Dr Fayemi, a day before the PEPC read its judgement, began questioning the rationale of declaring a candidate who scored about 35 percent president. It was an indirect reference to President Tinubu who scored about 37 percent. The politics of the former Ekiti governor is actually not as complicated or amoral as many people think. It is far worse, and its rubric quite unsavoury. He will be numbered among opposition politicians in the foreseeable future if he is not accommodated in the administration. The wonder is not how he sometimes disavows his friends, helpers and mentors; the miracle is how he combines reactionary and progressive politics, and how incredibly he makes both look like progressivism.

    The vacillations of Pat Utomi, an LP chieftain, constituted another mesmerising sight and sound of the PEPC judgement. Shortly before the judgement was delivered, and in line with the inciting rhetoric he and the LP, together with many others around the country, had deployed to whip up hatred against Nigeria, Prof Utomi lied in a tweet that many politicians and judges were fleeing the country to avoid judgement day apocalypse. There was no iota of truth in the statement, but he made it anyway. His reputation, supposedly built over decades, was flimsy at best; now it has been demolished on the altar of LP and ethnic politics.

    Unfortunately, it was in the midst of the muckraking that preceded the PEPC judgement that Justice Odili made a harmless remark warning against ‘fanning the embers of hatred’ or trying to burn the country because of electoral setbacks. She had also advised that politicians refrain from ‘bringing the roof down’ over everybody. For this, she was pilloried in unprintable terms, and accused of directing her statements at LP and PDP candidates. It was clear that except one sounded like the dilatory Chief George or the Machiavellian Dr Fayemi in the service of delegitimising the presidential election, any other point of view was to be denounced. But regardless, the PEPC gave its judgement last Wednesday, affirmed the February poll, and damned the consequences. The heavens have not fallen, obviously.

  • Two sides of a judgement coin

    Two sides of a judgement coin

    After a draining and soporific 12-hour judgement by the PEPC last Wednesday, during which lawyers and the public battled to stay awake, Nigeria is no less divided after the 2023 presidential poll than they were before the poll. After examining in detail the evidence presented before the PEPC, one side has concluded that the judgement is excellent, impregnable, thorough and irrefutable. They base their conclusions not only on what the justices said, or on their erudition, but on the final written addresses by the counsels to the petitioners and the respondents. The other side, naturally and incorrigibly sceptical, insists that the judgement was procured and flawed. They refuse to take cognisance of the written addresses of the petitioners, and, sounding lawyerly and magisterial, scoffed at the arguments and logic of the justices. For them, since their candidates did not win, there was no jurisprudential logic to be admired.

    Read Also: Tinubu/Shettima: Yahaya applauds PEPC’s verdict

    There are suggestions the petitioners will be heading to the Supreme Court, obviously after paying the fines levied on them, some N84m in all. Should they go ahead as they have sworn, they hope it will afford them the opportunity to continue sullying the image of the president, certainly not to affect the substance or direction of the case. The verdict will of course not change, but so too their determination to cause a lot of reputational damage to the president, the country and its institutions, up to the point of wishing the system to collapse. Even after the apex court has had its say, the PDP and LP will sustain their attacks and excesses until their pastime become unbearably costly. 

  • Despicable petitions against PEPC justices

    Despicable petitions against PEPC justices

    On the surface, the petition written by the Coalition of Concerned Nigerians (CCN), and signed by about a measly 100 people as at Thursday, is an altruistic attempt to ensure justice in the suits filed before the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Labour Party (LP). The coalition seemed dedicated to the cause of democracy, and is anxious to promote justice. But the content of the petition, which its leaders claimed had been signed by some 100 people, reveals that their commitment to democracy and justice is tenuous, if not superfluous. Whether the coalition recognises that assailing the eminent justices with petitions and innuendos is capable of eroding rather than reinforcing justice is not clear. What is, however, clear is that their petition aligns with other actions taken by opposition forces to pressure the judiciary, discompose the judges, and in the end probably truncate the cause of justice they claim to be advancing.

    The opening paragraph of the petition addressed to the lead judge, Justice Haruna Tsammani, manages to sustain feigned neutrality for a few sentences. “We, the Coalition of Concerned Nigerians (CCN), write to you today with a deep sense of responsibility and a firm belief in the sanctity of justice,” the petition begins grandiosely. “As the lead Judge of the esteemed panel of Judges entrusted with the critical task of adjudicating the 2023 presidential election petition, we implore you to honour and strictly abide by the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, to which you have all solemnly sworn allegiance…Nigeria stands at a watershed at this moment, where citizens from all corners of our diverse nation have united to safeguard our democracy through free, fair, and credible elections. We trust in your wisdom and impartiality to recognise the gravity of this moment.”

    Read Also:JUST IN: PEPC to deliver judgment in Obi’s petition

    But in the very next paragraph, all pretences are off. The coalition writes: “It is crucial to note that invited and accredited election observers, such as the European Union (EU) mission, have presented detailed reports highlighting numerous aberrations before, during and after the elections. These reports, along with other substantial evidence, have been diligently presented before this tribunal. We beseech you to consider these vital pieces of evidence and apply the law with the utmost objectivity and fairness. The judiciary holds the sacred responsibility of being the last hope of the common man. Nigerians at home and abroad anxiously look forward to you for justice in this unprecedented and distinct election.” It is only the PDP and LP, especially the latter, that set much store by the reports of the few EU observers. The opposition had also given far more publicity to the EU reports than its evidentiary value was worth. And to suggest that the EU reports, together with other ‘substantial evidence’, had been ‘diligently presented’ before the court is to stretch legal fabrication to its inane limit. Clearly the CCN’s second paragraph insinuates very distressingly that the EU reports are ‘vital pieces of evidence’ deserving of the application of the law ‘with the utmost objectivity and fairness’. Obviously, in the estimation of the coalition, any other outcome other than the one it secretly nurses will not be objective or fair.

    But not satisfied trying the case out of court and disreputably assigning weights to the evidence before the court, the CCN goes on to issue threats against the justices, probably not aware of just how close it is sailing near the wind of insurrection and incitement. According to the coalition, and still addressing the court and the lead judge: “Your decisions will profoundly impact the course of our nation’s future. This is a golden opportunity for each of you to etch your names in the annals of Nigerian history by upholding the principles of justice and equity. In the words of Martin Luther King Jr., ‘Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.’ As guardians of justice, we implore you to recognise the profound importance of your role and the impact it has on our society as a whole. By delivering a just and unbiased verdict, you will not only uphold the principles of justice but also inspire faith and confidence in our judiciary…”

    Even if the threats are ignored or downplayed, the question still remains: what in the eyes of the CCN amounts to ‘a just and unbiased verdict’, and in what ways would the judgement and the justices ‘uphold the principles of justice’? It is disheartening what partisanship is doing to reasoning and sense of community in the country. If the CCN is in Jos, and going by the metrics of the votes in Plateau State, it may be inferred that the coalition has probably been influenced by religious sentiments. But quite apart from whatever influences are driving and distorting the logic and vision of the CCN, it is shocking that the coalition and other LP and PDP sympathisers are not shaken by their unrestrained and subversive goal of pressuring and subverting the judiciary. They seem to recognise that their actions are unprecedented and unnatural; but they have a messianic and amoral goal to achieve, and they will stop at nothing to achieve it.

  • But another Igbo coalition cautions

    But another Igbo coalition cautions

    While many coalitions and civil society organisations are caught up in the frenzy of deploying unlawful and insidious measures to dismantle the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential election victory in favour of the PDP and LP, an umbrella body of Igbo youths, the Igbo Youths Movement (IYM), has cautioned the Southeast from waging a recklessly abusive post-election war to advance the interest of the LP candidate, Peter Obi. Though the IYM did not, however, mention names, it left no one in doubt what the statement meant.

    Read Also: Okwara: Igbo must be agreeable residents in Lagos

    According to the IYM: “The elections were held over six months ago, but the ugly abusive culture of mob attack deployed by certain individuals during the elections is getting difficult for our people to leave…The unrestrained, mostly unjustifiable mob attack of insulting anyone with contrary political views associated with the past election is dangerous, unhealthy and unhelpful. Hurling insults at highly respected clerics for no other reason than the fact that they called for respect and support for our political leaders will isolate our region and make it difficult for us to find allies in our hour of need. Men of God presently ruthlessly pilloried by our people do not deserve the insults rained on them for standing on God’s word that we should respect and pray for our leaders. This new age 2023 culture of descending on anyone with contrary views, is strange and not Igbo. We are frightening other Nigerians; we are unwittingly suggesting that we are desperate for power.”

    Unfortunately, as sensible, relevant and prophetic as the IYM statement may be, the abusers will neither listen to nor heed the warning. It is not even clear that after the election petition is finally resolved the abusers will relent. They have been primed to go on and on. 

  • Southwest states and Isese Day

    Southwest states and Isese Day

    Last Monday’s commemoration of Isese Day by the four Southwest states of Lagos, Ogun, Osun and Ekiti is a pointer to the secularity of the Yoruba and a reminder to the rest of Nigeria of the region’s determination to build a civic culture devoid of the discrimination and intolerance that have wreaked sectarian havoc on many states. Until now, until Ilorin in Kwara State rode roughshod over the constitution to elevate a religion above the others and make value judgement on the acceptability or otherwise of other faiths, Isese Day had been practiced and observed for decades without acrimony. Isese is an agglomeration of the traditional religious and spiritual concepts and practice of the Yoruba-speaking people of West Africa and other parts of the world, including Cuba, Brazil and the United States.

    The constitution accords recognition to all faiths. And for centuries, all faiths, whether Christianity, Islam or traditional religions, have co-existed, sometimes with frictions, but often without the law enforcement agencies taking sides. But the constitution is now being deliberately and consciously diminished by some states and traditional chiefs in favour of some chosen faiths. This may explain why the preparations for marking Isese Day in Ilorin, Kwara State, became highly contentious in the past few weeks to the point of eliciting heated exchange between Professor Wole Soyinka, who advocates freedom of religion, and the Ilorin traditional chieftaincy institution which increasingly and disturbingly sees Ilorin as a theocracy, contrary to the provisions of the constitution.

    Read Also: Fani-Kayode seeks end to power cut in Niger Republic

    Since Isese encapsulates Yoruba culture and tradition, it also embodies their indigenous festivals. Despite their protests, Ilorin is and remains a Yoruba city, regardless of which faith commands the largest following. But the police inexplicably took sides in the controversy over whether Isese Day should be celebrated in Ilorin or not, in fact up to the depressing point of arresting, detaining and arraigning one Adegbola Abdulazeez, an Isese devotee and activist, who was arrested in Ibadan and arraigned in Ilorin for allegedly insulting the Emir of Ilorin. Presidents and governors in Nigeria have been insulted and ridiculed, with ex-president Goodluck Jonathan once describing himself as the most insulted Nigerian president ever. Yet, no arrests were made. But in a clear subversion of the constitution, and an indication of the servility and misguidedness of the police, law enforcement agents are being dragged into fighting the constitution and laying the foundation for future religious disturbances.

    This is the point the Southwest states made when they officially enabled the celebration of Isese Day in the region. Though the region is the most secular part of Nigeria, it is not immune to the continuing denudation of secularism in the country.  That it declared last Monday Isese Day and made it a work-free day deserves commendation, especially in the face of other parts of the country that continue to erode secularism in favour of religious fundamentalism. The Southwest’s high degree of tolerance has made the region cosmopolitan, fairly progressive, peaceful, and economically more advanced than the rest of the country. Tolerance and religious freedom have made the region a magnet for the rest of the country. But, apart from the Ilorin chink in the region’s armour, a few groups are beginning to rise up in the region, dedicated to politicising the faiths of elected and appointed officials. If these incursions are not checked, it is a matter of time before the cancer of religious intolerance and political retardation erode the gains and progress the region has made for centuries.

    The four Southwest states marked Isese Day, not because the governors and Houses of Assembly are devotees of the festival or that they substantially care about Yoruba religious practices, but because they needed to underscore the beauty of the principles and values that have shaped their progressive and secular worldview for centuries. They should be applauded for spontaneously rising in defence of their culture. The region also rose in defence of Isese because its leaders and chiefs, not to say the leadership of other faiths, recognise that Yoruba culture and tradition have been the distinguishing and catalysing factor in their progress. The region has a track record of promoting worthy men and women, irrespective of their faiths, into prominent positions in the society, including in the judiciary, legislature and executive, sometimes electing governors and deputy governors of same faith. In protecting Isese, the region invariably indicates its preparedness to protect its identity in a world that is increasingly nationalistic.

    The Southwest must not allow extraneous factors diminish and neutralise who they are as a people. As the fountainhead of the Yoruba culture, the region must take care not to be outdone by Cuba and Brazil or any other secondary proponent of their tradition. It must also not be timid in projecting Yoruba culture in a Nigeria increasingly given to intolerance and cultural diminution. It must recognise from a study of history that the great empires of the world – Greek, Roman, Pax Brittanica, Pax Americana, etc. – left indelible marks on the world. If those empires had not been bold in exporting and projecting their cultures and values, their global influence would have long ago been attenuated and superceded by more resilient and powerful cultures. Indeed, the Southwest must impress on the federal government the urgency of reining in a police force that seems to have lost its way in defending the constitution.

  • As Tinubu inaugurates cabinet

    As Tinubu inaugurates cabinet

    The inauguration of the President Bola Tinubu cabinet was colourful and businesslike. Among so many others, ex-governor Nyesom Wike received applause; and Hannatu Musawa and Lola Ade-John were either lachrymose or expressive. Overall, expectations regarding their performance are high, perhaps unrealistically sky-high. The economy they will be dealing with, and the administration they inherited, not to say the administrative culture of Nigeria, are almost completely broken. Remedying this brokenness, in addition to meandering around Nigeria’s bitter and acrimonious and ethnicised politics, will not be easy at all.

    Read Also: Abia announces free health scheme for pensioners

    The inauguration will not completely mitigate the fouling of the polity by the so-called Obidients, but given the audaciousness of some of the ministers, and the vicious fighting skills of each minister’s public relations army, the president will probably begin enjoying relief from his traducers. For months, the president had been buffeted by bitter insults. And because of him, the judiciary has continued to suffer collateral damage. Now, the targets are diffused; and so, too, the defensive lines. Expect plenty of fireworks in the months ahead, especially after the courts will have dispensed with the opposition’s shoddy litigations. It is a mystery why the Tinubu administration had been imperceptive in recognising the potent value of quickly constituting a cabinet whose ranks are manned by veteran political combatants accustomed to giving no quarter to the enemy.

  • Controversial billboard and judicial blackmail

    Controversial billboard and judicial blackmail

    Just weeks before the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) deliver judgement, the losers in the February 25 election have ratcheted up their pressures on the judiciary, and especially on the justices hearing their suits. Part of the pressures involved controversial billboards projecting the message “All eyes on the election tribunal judges”, and purporting to be sponsored by Diaspora’s for Good Governance. Erected in Abuja and a few other states, the billboards were clearly designed to pressure and intimidate both the election courts and the judiciary as a whole. In the name of free speech and constitutional guarantees, the intimidation has been insidious and unchecked since the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Labour Party (LP) lost the presidential poll.

    Read Also: JUST IN: PEPC to deliver judgment in Obi’s petition

    The pithy but deplorable message on the controversial billboards was not lost on anyone. It was a brazen and intentional innuendo to let the adjudicating judges know that only one outcome was expected and ‘just’ – the dethronement of the APC from Aso Villa. It was surprising that the billboards lasted a few days before they were brought down. Indeed, at a point, few people were sure that the relevant advertising regulatory bodies would have the courage to tackle the provocative billboards, afraid that constitutional provisions supported the unprecedented and insidious pressures on the judges. In the end, the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria (ARCON) wielded the big stick. It is unlikely that going forward, at least in the foreseeable future, such wanton disregard for legal and political propriety would be tolerated.

    In dealing with the regulatory lapses that enabled the erection of the billboards, ARCON did not mince words. It said: “The attention of the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria [ARCON) has been drawn to the ‘All eyes on the Judiciary’ advertisements exposed on some billboards across the country. The Advertising Standards Panel (ASP) of the Council also erred in the approval of one of the concepts as the advertisement failed to vet guidelines on the following grounds: The cause forming the central theme of the campaign in the advertisement is a matter pending before the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal. Hence, it is jus pendis… The advertisement is controversial and capable of instigating public unrest and breach of public peace. The advertisement is considered blackmail against the Nigerian judiciary, the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, and particularly the honourable justices of the tribunal who are expected to discharge their judicial functions without fear or favour over a matter that is currently jus pendis.”

    Predictably, there has been a great hue and cry over the dissolution of the standards panel that appeared to have approved the advertisement and the investigation launched to expose the sponsors of the advertisement. The hue and cry will lead nowhere. The billboard message was indefensible by any consideration, and it clearly put the lives and families of the judges at risk. The message seemed to suggest from the beginning that the judges were incapable of delivering justice, and that the judges were innately disposed to cruelly denying justice to the supposed ‘winners’ of the poll. The provocative and inciting billboards were undoubtedly designed to intimidate, unsettle and unnerve the judges into producing only one ‘desirable’ outcome in favour of the complainants. Despite two leading opposition parties filing suits against the APC victory, it is widely believed that the billboards were inspired by the fractious and intemperate supporters of the LP, the so-called Obidients, whose irrational displays since their defeat had tested the patience of the government and the silent majority to the limit. Such behaviour is unprecedented in the history of elections in Nigeria.

    It is unclear how the LP thought it won the presidential poll, nor why it felt it was denied victory. It had months to prove its case in the election court, but party leaders suspect its lawyers had been unable to offer those proofs. Thus, since the case began, the party had engaged in various subterfuges designed to deliver to itself a favourable outcome, to wit, either annulling an election it swore it won, or calling for a runoff in which both the LP and the PDP, being two sides of the same coin, could confect their own victory. Unsure that both PDP and LP could prove their cases in court, the two had, right from the start of the court case, advocated for live coverage where they hoped their histrionics and the powerful use to which they had put the social media would help instigate popular outrage designed to skewer the judges and leave them helpless, fearful and amenable. The billboard gambit was just a logical progression of the nefarious baits thrown before the judges, baits that impugned the integrity of many of the justices, including, unfortunately, the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) himself, Olukayode Ariwoola, who was repeatedly slandered.

    But the country has taken note of the slanders, subterfuges, and the nightmarish deployment of ethnicity and religion in the last presidential race. It knows which party is behind these practices, and which candidate was unable to take defeat gamely without wishing to plunge the country into chaos. It knows those who have weaponised the social media and seduced the unwary, many of them educated and highly placed, to nihilistic politics. The country will await them in 2027, and will have an opportunity to prove that the world does not begin and end with them and their tantrums.

  • Akpabio needs gravitas, not comedy

    Akpabio needs gravitas, not comedy

    Senate president Godswill Akpabio is naturally humorous. As governor of Akwa Ibom State, he was gregarious in his approach to politics and fecund in the production of terms and phrases which festooned his public statements. Even after his governorship, he has clearly not lost his conviviality. Getting into the Senate, he has also kept and nurtured his exuberance. And now that he has become the senate president, but needing to quietly and gravely substitute his feistiness for a little more sobriety and gravitas, he has instead awakened his latent capacity for flippancy and frivolity. Since mounting the senate throne, he has been having a ball, flinging wisecracks everywhere and anywhere, shooting grisly jokes at public midriffs, alas, in the midst of serious legislative work.

    Read Also: Group urges stakeholders to support Akpabio

    Notable among his many wisecracks was his “Let the poor breathe” in imitation, if not mockery, of the campaign by anti-deregulation advocates for low fuel prices and low cost of living. Then came his ‘little token’ allowances paid into the accounts of lawmakers to make their vacation palatable, little tokens that became ‘prayer tokens’ when he was sensitised to the import of his goof. If he is not to be impeached sometime in the future, he must learn to rein in his jokes and acquire more restraint and gravitas. Yes, his position needs humour to lessen the tedium of lawmaking, but his jokes must be measured, appropriate and sophisticated. The problem with the senate president’s jokes is that they are close to being ribald and generally off-putting. Better a tonne of sternness than an ounce of comedy.

  • Southeast premier, IPOB’s Nnamdi Kanu

    Southeast premier, IPOB’s Nnamdi Kanu

    About two years after the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) began enforcing its Monday sit-at-home order to promote self-determination and secure the release of the detained leader of the movement, the measure appears to be waning. Past and present Southeast governors have fought valiantly to end the self-flagellation, but IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu, was at first noncommittal, for the order was partly designed to facilitate his freedom, while self-acclaimed deputy leader Simon Ekpa was too obsessed with self-promotion to relent. The two IPOB chiefs thereafter embarked on a game of cat and mouse that exasperated the governors and the entire Igbo business community who wondered how the self-punishment could ever profit them.

    The Monday protest has been ruinous to the region and beyond. By some educated guesses, the economic loss occasioned by the order was in excess of billions of naira weekly, and close to four trillion over two years. Though the figures remain controversial, there is no denying that the region suffered huge losses every Monday. The sit-at-home order is now thankfully in abeyance; the outcome of the Southeast governors’ efforts to frustrate IPOB’s tactics and give fillip to the region’s vast economic potential. Mr Kanu’s apparent change of heart has strengthened the Southeast governors’ resolve. He now ‘talks’ freely and fervently about peace and development. One of his lawyers, Ifeanyi Ejiofor, claims the IPOB leader speaks through him. South-easterners were at first sceptical, but soon, everyone seemed to think that the lawyer’s communication of the thoughts and grandiosity of Mr Kanu were neither calculated to deceive nor meant to confuse by exaggerations.

    Last Monday, the sit-at-home order had begun to peter out. Vulnerable commercial institutions were of course hesitant to open for business; but in all the Southeast states, indigenes went about their businesses unmolested. It seemed that the Igbo people gave Mr Ejiofor, who released a statement in the name of the IPOB leader, the benefit of the doubt.

    Forgive the highfalutin tone of the statement, or the pointed barb at Mr Ekpa who lives out of harm’s way in Finland and is portrayed as a liar. Ignore also the statement’s lack of elegance and conciseness, since this sort of weakness often accompanies statements issued in the name of detainees who are unable to verify the integrity of words attributed to them. What matters is that the statement massages Mr Kanu’s ego and replaces the Monday sit-at-home order with Economic Empowerment Day (EED). As galling as it seems, the governors had no choice but to pressure the IPOB leader to rescind an order they could do little mitigating as well as coaxed him to disavow Mr Ekpa’s self-gratifying fanaticism. Though the Finland-based agitator sought to cast doubt on the messages Mr Kanu’s lawyers disseminated, insisting that no prisoner could negotiate behind bars, the Southeast was tired of immolating itself and allowing the region’s economic development to be retarded.

    Read Also; One man, one gun

    At long last, the fame Mr Kanu coveted while he was a free man, but was denied because he lacked constitutional legitimacy, has become his. The sit-at-home order ensured that his stature grew in proportion to the biting effect of the order. He has now disavowed the order, but he will undoubtedly be convinced that while it lasted, and given the sweeping manner it was obeyed, first willingly, as he acknowledged, and later by coercion, it nonetheless made him virtually the region’s premier. The whole political elite, including governors and nearly all federal and state lawmakers from the region, agitated for his unconditional release and also pressured him to cancel the Monday order. They had announced to the world that Mr Kanu was central to any discussion of peace in the region, while they equally sought to persuade Abuja to free him. So far, Abuja has not buckled; but his detention has reinforced the high esteem in which he is held in the Southeast, either because of the currency and resonance of his ideas about self-determination or because of the violence his henchmen were willing to practice without discrimination upon the region.

    Mr Kanu is in court fighting all manner of charges, including treason, brought against him by the past administration. He had fought some of the charges successfully, but fresh ones had been filed against him almost immediately. The present administration is unlikely to embrace such disreputable tactics, but no one knows whether any out-of-court settlement would be reached sometime soon. The IPOB leader has underscored and reinforced his social and political relevance in the Southeast; whether he is released or not, that relevance may not immediately diminish. But if ending the Monday order is not a precondition for his release – a sort of good faith offer from him – then it is indeed a risky gamble. Re-imposing the order, should his release not happen as quickly as he probably expects, may not meet with the unqualified success of the last two years of agitation. Meanwhile, he can at least bask in the euphoria of being a, if not the, central figure in the Southeast’s search for peace.

    Niger Republic crisis recalibrates

    Judging from President Bola Tinubu’s opening remarks at the Second Extraordinary Summit on the Socio-Political Situation in the Republic of Niger last Thursday, ECOWAS handling of the problem may invariably become tempered by new realities. The regional body had raged over the earlier coups in Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea, but in the end, they discovered how utterly difficult it was to rein in sovereign countries. Mali dithered over what to do with their own coups, but they eventually surrendered to their hunger for power as well as for freedom from France. Indeed, after Niger Republic defied ECOWAS and dared the region to attempt a military intervention to restore the presidency of Mohamed Bazoum, the regional body has woken up to the reality of its dilemma.

    ECOWAS intentions are noble and unimpeachable. Anchoring their resolve on the nobility of their motives led them sadly to biting more than they could chew and promising more than they could deliver. It is true that the coupists were led by the baser motives of acquiring power essentially for their own sakes. However, they have also been clever in resting their arguments on the horrifying neo-colonial exploitation of the region by France. It is this latter excuse that the coupists have pushed to the front burner, leading them to form a coalition of the damned. ECOWAS may rank democracy over the bitter and more damaging details of French exploitation and expropriation, but for the rest of the continent, the nefarious activities of France remain very persuasive in justifying the coup. ECOWAS will probably ignore the French connection. In fact, the regional body stands the risk of helping Niger Republic’s exploiters, to wit, France, United States and others in their neocolonial designs upon West Africa and the rest of the continent.

    For now, ECOWAS has entered a cul de sac, a phony war of back and forth. The Niger Republic coupists have constituted a cabinet and are digging in. They have received helping hands from Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Russia. Clearly, military intervention will be messy and without a certain nor probably welcome outcome. It is now the turn of tortuous negotiations and diplomatic interventions. If outside powers successfully raise and finance a Tuareg rebellion, it will shorten the coupists stay in power. But even this will leave unresolved the terrible afflictions that have undermined peace and development in the Sahel.   

  • The Catholic opposition

    The Catholic opposition

    By a strange and unfathomable coincidence, the Catholic Church in Nigeria has seemed to set itself against the Bola Tinubu administration. The opposition began immediately the All Progressives Congress (APC) opted for a Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket, and it lasted through the elections, and has flowered till today. Some of the bishops have indicated they might relent if the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) returned a verdict in favour of President Tinubu; but given the stridency of their opposition to the APC-led administration, there are no guarantees they will honour their promise. The protestant clergy also fiercely opposed the same-faith ticket before the election, with some of them cursing their dissenting congregants who harbour sympathies for the ruling party, but they have since shrugged their shoulders at the election outcome, swallowed their pride, left the matter in the hands of God, and in some instances even congratulated the winner of the presidential race. The Catholics are, however, standing pat. Their priests give the impression that their congregations are united behind them, probably the most homogenous religious group ever known to man.

    It is unlikely the Catholic bishops gravitate even mildly towards the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in the last election, ex-vice president Atiku Abubakar. Like most Christians, they were tired of the political and religious chicanery of the previous administration, particularly the land-grabbing antics of herdsmen and the unmitigated violence of bandits. The kind of change the clerics wanted could not lure them into the cold embrace of Alhaji Atiku. Instead, the bishops eagerly embraced the Catholic ensign, Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), who deliberately postured as the Christian candidate out to remedy historic wrongs. Mr Obi and the bishops easily became kindred spirits, and during the campaigns, they politicked as if religion and ethnicity were the main considerations. Unlike Mr Obi who was provocatively flagrant in his exploitation of religion to win votes, the bishops had couched their opposition to the APC in legalisms, morality and empathy for the poor and oppressed. But despite the disguise, despite the subterfuge, it is still as plain as daylight that the bishops are prepared to sink or swim with Mr Obi, logic be damned.

    Under the auspices of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), the bishops last week waded into the murky waters of politics. Speaking through the president of the CBCN, Most Rev. Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji, at a reception in Owerri last weekend, the bishops declared:  “The suffering in the land has over the years been galloping uncontrollably. Our growing economic crisis became exacerbated with the recent withdrawal of petrol subsidy by the Federal Government. Indeed, Nigeria is on the brink of collapse. Government has not ceased to inundate citizens with its fabled palliative measures to cushion the effects of the subsidy removal. I am sure those running the nation’s affairs at all levels know that palliative measures can never be a cure for any economic or health challenge…So, I ask: Why waste resources on palliative measures, instead of attacking the problems frontally? Provision of a constant source of energy remains the driving force in all developing and developed economies. Why is ours different? Why should we not subsidise fuel?”

    The bishops’ view on economics, particularly on the oil and gas sector, is a badly jaded. They said little about the cancerous effects of subsidising oil which is then smuggled by powerful cartels across Nigeria’s long and porous borders. And they dismiss the programme of palliatives without proffering any other panacea. The last elections witnessed the undue politicisation of worship centres, thus polarising worshippers and sowing seeds of distrust and bitterness. Clearly, the negative effects of politicising the church will take time to heal, assuming the clerics have learnt any lesson.

    Among the vociferous bishops, no one has been as truculent as Archbishop Emeritus of the Catholic Archdiocese of Abuja, John Cardinal Onaiyekan. Last October he declared that he would never support a Muslim-Muslim ticket, and he has kept faith with that declaration. The problem is that given his standing in the Catholic Church, his seemingly private views on politics do not remain strictly private. Those views are transformed into something much bigger, more encompassing, even more proselytising. Here him: “Honestly, it is difficult to have any views on the activities of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu since in my own opinion, he is not yet our president until the courts have finished their job and declared who our president is. He is obviously labouring under a very serious liability of questionable legitimacy.” Would his eminence say the same thing were Mr Obi to be president? Would he be as implacable over the Christian ticket, had his Christian candidate won?

    The bishop continued:  “I take all this to mean that the declaration of results by INEC is not final. It is subject to the adjudication of the courts, which may either confirm or reject the declaration of INEC. It means that until the court gives a final judgment on a disputed election result, the election process cannot be said to be concluded. A swearing in ritual of any candidate still being disputed does not change this fact. Therefore, it is my position that a president sworn in under our present circumstances is at best holding office in a temporary capacity, until his status is confirmed. If and when the court confirms him, I will give him my full loyalty.”

    Last March, in a statement issued on his behalf, the bishop also bellowed: “After a tragically questionable election, his eminence blatantly refuses to be drafted into boosting a non-existing credibility of results and its consequent legitimacy of the declared winner. His eminence is a firm lover of peace, but Never at the expense of TRUTH AND JUSTICE. God bless Nigeria.” In short, he has taken sides, and for him, only one side, Mr Obi’s side, could be right, just and true. Like all Obidients who run rampage all over the social media, if the courts do not give Mr Obi what he wants, but does not deserve, then justice had not been done.

    A faction of the Yoruba socio-cultural and political organisation, Afenifere, has also joined the opposition to the APC. In a statement issued by factional secretary general, Sola Ebiseni, the group says: “Nigeria is currently caught in a labyrinth of inclement weather of a convoluted election process and its unwieldy outcomes, intractable security problems and the nightmarish aftermath of a sudden and harsh removal of petrol subsidy on the other. In less than six weeks, an already asphyxiating economy reeling under the crushing impact of hyperinflation, unemployment, mass hunger and poverty foisted by the gross ineptitude and incompetence that characterised the watch of eight years is looking like an episode drawn straight out of Dante’s Hell.” The group will persist in its opposition politics, just as the Catholic bishops will remain intransigent, long after the courts have laid the matter to rest. To them, the APC presidential victory, not to say the same-faith ticket, is too execrable and too galling to be countenanced.