Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto, Rev. Matthew Kukah, is accustomed to speaking with unrivalled candour. Last week, while delivering a lecture at the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS) in Abuja, he refused to shy away from the delicate topic of identity politics, particularly the raging but ultimately futile controversy over Muslim-Muslim ticket associated with the All Progressives Congress (APC) bid for the highest office in the land in 2023. He neither opposed nor endorsed same-faith ticket, perhaps so as not to be seen as immersing himself in the murky waters of political endorsements. No, he was not afraid – his logic and position do not suggest anything fearful – but he was careful and deep enough to know that identity politics can be treacherously difficult to manage.

As the bishop put it: “The greatest challenge for us is that our identity politics has not been well managed. The most important ingredient in politics is diversity. You have heard me in the last seven years or so, I have been relentless. I am convinced beyond reasonable doubt that, had we developed the skills to manage diversity effectively and efficiently, that’s what is happening in other parts of the world…The question for every politician is, what do I want to be known for? Nigeria has produced some dramatic politicians. There are people, who can hold you spellbound. Every campaign must be characterised by a slogan. Nigeria politicians need to understand that wiping out corruption campaign no longer works. Nigerians are looking for a country they can believe in. Our identities are not a problem. Religion is not actually a problem. When you talk about issue-based campaign, there has to be an aggregate of safety: how do you manage a country like Nigeria with so many religious and other differences? People have to get a sense that they are in this, too. I think that when we talk about what the issue should be for 2023 election, it’s basically same thing we have been addressing. Every Nigerian has looked himself in the mirror and asked themselves, whether I’m a Christian or a Muslim, am I better off now? Under saner moments, we shouldn’t be talking about Muslim-Muslim ticket.”

Though expertly nuanced, the bishop deprecates identity politics and the controversy over same-faith tickets. He understands that the quest for true leadership transcends the superficiality and ephemeralness of religion, tribe or any other identity. Somalia is a failed state, but it is ethnically and religiously homogenous. History is replete with leaders who hid behind religion or tribe to unleash terror on their people. In the quotation above, Rev Kukah argues that Muslim-Muslim ticket should ordinarily not be an issue under sane conditions. He recognises that it has become an issue, but regrets it. Being a Christian leader, and one whose stand on issues is usually highly respected, he is unlikely to make a definitive statement deploring the controversy. From his arguments, he hopes the country will transcend that unwholesomeness. However, he acknowledges that given the prevailing political climate, that is unlikely to happen. Clearly, in the foreseeable future, the bishop will continue to delicately navigate the treacherous rapids of identity politics until a groundswell of public opinion and reorientation causes a tectonic shift in Nigerian politics.

Finally, the bishop hits the nail on the head by challenging Nigerians to rethink and re-envision their country. “The questions Nigerians are asking are legitimate and it’s the responsibility of these politicians to deal with it” he advises. “We need to re-image Nigeria. The Nigeria we have today is not something many of us can recognise.” The problem, however, is that it is not even clear that Nigerians understand vaguely how to rethink their country, or when they do, whether they can accurately deconstruct that vision. Nigeria is of course not the only country incapable of knowing what it really wants. Too many countries grope in the dark. The bishop does not exaggerate when he accuses Nigerians of embracing identity politics. It is a fact. They have the capacity to overcome it, as they have demonstrated repeatedly throughout their history, particularly in some regions, but it is not clear whether they have not perhaps retrogressed in the past few decades as a result of the deliberate projection of identity politics by their leaders, particularly their military heads of state.

Even though he does not state it unequivocally, but only hints it, it can be safely gleaned from his lecture that he wishes Nigerians would denounce identity politics and the nonsensical arguments over same-faith candidature. He hints of much saner yardsticks against which a party’s presidential ticket should be judged. For now, though probably unplanned, there are three visible contenders for the 2023 presidency: former vice president Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), former Lagos State governor and national leader of his party Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and former Anambra State governor Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP). Of the three, Asiwaju Tinubu has the acknowledged track record of democratic activism. His life has been dedicated to fighting for democracy and the rule of law, and his time in office has also been the most genuine and impactful. It is curious that his candidacy is even judged against the yardsticks of identity/religious politics.

Nyesom Wike spills the beans

Still angered by how shabbily he has been treated by his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Rivers State governor Nyesom Wike has begun talking furiously more than usual. Normally, he talks nineteen to the dozen; but last Friday, he exceeded himself when he threatened to spill the beans on how the embattled PDP chairman Iyorchia Ayu collected one billion naira from a certain politician and PDP presidential aspirant in Lagos before their May presidential primary. The governor has not indicated whether the money helped sway the direction and outcome of the primary, but he can be trusted to reveal more in the course of time, especially as long as his struggle with the party persists. Indeed, insisting that he had evidence to back his allegations, he has promised to supply the details of who gave what and when.

The acrimonious battle within the PDP is just beginning, just when everyone thought it was about to end after the PDP presidential candidate had called Mr Wike’s bluff and constituted a campaign council that again treated the Rivers governor with less respect than he thought he deserved. The problem is that Mr Wike has a group of backers who appear resolute in supporting his stand on political and regional balance within the party. The group demands the resignation of the party chairman in favour of a chairman from the South, a change the Wike group insists could not be compromised without consequence. The PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, insists the intransigent Dr. Ayu could not be forced to resign in defiance of party rules and constitution. As a matter of fact, the party chairman is very loth to resign, for as Mr Wike alleges, the position is indeed a plum one, susceptible to all kinds of gratifications.

The campaigns begin this week, suggesting that little else will get done in the interval between that date and the elections in February. Alhaji Atiku is probably right that he can’t ask Dr Ayu to resign; but perhaps he can get him to want to do it of his own volition. The assumption of course is that the candidate really thinks Dr. Ayu should go, and that Mr Wike is dispensable. Meanwhile, it is now abundantly clear that the Rivers governor will not go down without a fight, as he is prepared to drag the whole party edifice with him into the abyss, not caring whose ox is gored.

The stalemated Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) stakeholders’ meeting last Wednesday in Ibadan, Oyo State, showed clearly how difficult it is to resolve contentious issues in any big party. Instead of the party moving forward and constituting its army and coalitions to fight the 2023 presidential election, it is trapped in discord over calls by the southern wing of the party that Chairman Iyorchia Ayu, elected at a convention late last year to pilot the affairs of the party for four years, should resign and be substituted by a southerner in order to create a balance between the North and the South in the top echelons of the party. Rivers State governor Nyesom Wike has remained the most vociferous in calling for that balance. Last week, host of the meeting, Oyo State governor Seyi Makinde, also remained unrelenting in calling for Sen. Ayu’s resignation, while the party’s presidential candidate and former vice president Atiku Abubakar hemmed and hawed over the issue.

Newspaper reports of what transpired at the meeting were a little divergent. Indicating some kind of disingenuous thaw over the issue, a few newspapers suggested that the former VP had agreed that the resignation was achievable, even attainable, if the right things were done and an agreement cobbled among the party’s leading lights. Those right things, the papers explained, concerned adherence and fidelity to party rules and constitution. Other papers seemed to have quoted the former VP as ruling out the possibility of compelling Sen. Ayu’s resignation. Nigerians would distrust the party should it coerce the chairman to relinquish office, Alhaji Atiku reportedly groaned. It would also mean the reconstitution of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) only after the party’s constitution had been amended. But glossing over that bottleneck, Mr Makinde saw the dilemma as an opportunity for the party to prove it had some honour and integrity.

It is not clear in what mood Alhaji Atiku left Ibadan, whether he thought he was persuasive and had made the southern antagonists, who seemed united in their demand for the chairman’s resignation, to see reason, or whether he left the state convinced that a meeting point was a chimera. Regardless of the tenor of the reports of the meeting, it seemed all but certain that party leaders appeared gravely aware of the irreconcilability of their positions. For a fact, there is no way what the southerners are asking for can be achieved without a constitutional amendment. Party delegates at the convention had shot themselves in the foot when they bucked the trend early this year by cajoling themselves to elect a northern presidential candidate after they had clumsily elected a northerner as chairman in anticipation of a southern presidential candidate. However, after perusing the list of aspirants for the coveted position and discovering that no southern aspirant had the beam and heft to win the presidential poll in 2023, they balked.

The PDP has, therefore, boxed itself into a corner. Theoretically they can amend their constitution through a special convention. But they are smack in the middle of electioneering as it were, and pursuing amendments now, not to talk of inescapably handing over the party to a man whose loyalty might not necessarily be first and foremost to the presidential candidate, may be trying. Alhaji Atiku has the confidence of Sen. Ayu, which probably explains why the latter was able to win a vote of confidence at the last National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting. A new chairman, who would in all likelihood be a south-westerner, could upset the apple cart and create a disharmony in the party’s presidential campaigns. This danger is of course not inevitable; but Alhaji Atiku probably entertains that fear. Worse for him and the party now perched dangerously on the horns of a dilemma is the fact that the man pulling the strings from the background is Rivers’ Mr Wike who is still sore from how he was characterised after he was twice spurned by party leaders.

Assuming the party surmounts the theoretically obstacle of organising a special convention to tweak its NWC in order to please the party’s vociferous southern wing, it will also have to scale the even more practical and treacherous obstacle of injecting instability into its constitution as alluded to by the former VP. At the moment, should Sen. Ayu resign, his position can only be taken by the deputy national chairman from the North, Umar Damagum, not a south-westerner. Hence the call for a constitutional amendment. That provision was supposed to inject stability into the system and into the constitution so that a region/geopolitical zone is not disadvantaged by resignations or impeachments. The question then will be whether the party would again amend the constitution after it had won or lost the election in order to return to the status quo? Worse, apart from constitutional obstacles, the former VP and his allies fear that a change in the upper echelons of the party would hand the party over to the cantankerous loyalists and allies of Mr Wike. That possibility appears galling to them.

The only possibility left now is for one side to the conflict to step down from its hardened position. Should Mr Wike conciliate, he will see himself gaining nothing, with the possibility, as he has voiced, of being treated even more shabbily should the party win the 2023 poll. He has fewer incentives to conciliate. The only choice left is for Alhaji Atiku to adopt flexibility, a position that seems to him completely appalling. If he is desperate enough, he will. But the more he hesitates, the harder it becomes to exploit any elbow room as the campaigns loom into view in about 10 days. Albeit, this wound to the PDP is not really self-inflicted. Had the party a great southern aspirant for the presidency late last year, ceding the chairmanship to a northerner would have been a non-issue. In the end, Alhaji Atiku was probably their most sensible choice, not Sokoto State governor Aminu Tambuwal, and not former Kwara governor Bukola Saraki. Now they have the former VP; but concomitantly, they also have chaos to contend with. If they do not close ranks in the weeks ahead, they stand the risk of becoming hors de combat even before the battle is properly joined.

Southwest not prudent on Amotekun

The shooting of Ayodeji Eweje last May by operatives of Ogun State Amotekun Corps has raised questions about the training, orientation and ultimate objectives of the state/regional security outfit. The shooting has become controversial, with the Corps insisting the victim was a cultist, and the family of the young man swearing that he was just an onlooker during the state governor’s inauguration of the Adigbe-Panseke road. The circumstances of the shooting, regardless of the alleged offence of the victim, indicate that there are question marks about the training and deployment of the Corps as well as the danger of the initial euphoria surrounding the Corps waning sooner than expected.

Conceived initially as a regional outfit, but later scaled down for legal and constitutional reasons to become state security outfit, primarily designed to counter threats by rampaging herdsmen and other cross-border attackers operating in forest redoubts, Amotekun Corps was expected in the hands of the polished and enlightened people and governments of the Southwest to set the pace in law enforcement. The region’s governments have perhaps kept their eyes on the initial objective, succeeding in a few of the states in countering the menace of attackers, but in a marked show of lack of discipline, some of the states have deployed the outfit for riot control and other tangential assignments.

Gradually, both the rule of engagement and effectiveness of the Corps are being eroded. If Southwest governments do not quickly arrest what is beginning to look like a drift, it is a question of time before the Amotekun is made to ape the methods and operations of the conventional law enforcement agencies riddled by graft, cruelty and imperiousness. The region held out great hope for the Corps; that hope is in danger of being compromised or even betrayed. If the Southwest with all its enlightenment and sophistication cannot make a success of Amotekun, and make the Corps an example for Nigeria and other countries to emulate, then perhaps there is no hope anywhere.

Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) president Francis Wale Oke, who is also Bishop of the Sword of the Spirit Ministries, Ibadan, stoked controversy last week when he warned of the disaster awaiting the church should it deviate from its foundational and doctrinal norms. He issued this warning during the Church’s annual Holy Ghost Convention 2022 in Ibadan, Oyo State. Even though newspapers reported him as warning of the end of the church in Nigeria consequent upon such deviations, the bishop was careful enough to warn only of disaster. Notwithstanding the misquotation, his diagnosis was still problematic. His emphasis was on the church resisting the temptation to adopt the methodologies and behavioural tendencies of Boko Haram and bandits.

According to the bishop: “The future of the church in Nigeria is glorious. Listen to this. Boko Haram is no problem, banditry is no problem, kidnapping is no problem; they are happening, they are real, but the church has to be careful. Let’s not enter into their territory. Let’s not reply with hate and bitterness because that is not our domain. We are in the domain of love; they are in the domain of hate. If we cross over from our domain to their domain, we will lose. That is not our native territory; we are not fitted for it. If we cross into the domain of hate and bitterness, we are like fish out of water. Stay in the domain of love and we unleash the ability of the King of glory. What is Boko Haram? The rate at which Muslims were getting born again in the 70s and 80s was serious, but since people began to respond in hate, something is happening to that. We must go back to our domain.”

It is difficult to controvert the ultimate goal of the bishop’s analysis, regardless of the controversial planks upon which it is based. There is no dispute about the church’s need to sustain its focus, particularly as streamlined by Jesus Christ in the Sermon on the Mount. In place of hate, the church must show love, regardless of how difficult it may seem. Bishop Oke warned that responding to bitterness and hatred in kind was inimical to the growth and wellbeing of the church. In fact he illustrated his argument with the decline in conversion to Christianity as a result of Christians responding to hate with hate. It is time, he warned, for the church to return to its ‘domain’.

Why, despite this sensible analysis, the bishop still missed the import of his own nuanced argument, is hard to understand. Firstly, he and many church leaders of the day have wandered away from their ‘domain’ by crossing into the domain of politics and secularism. It is not only when the church responds in kind to Boko Haram’s hatred and bitterness that crossing into ‘strange’ domains has occurred. Other insidious routes exist. The church, for instance, is ill-equipped to play politics as a collective, but it is now keen to play it. But once it transcends the individual playing politics, the church is ensnared; for as it is obvious, churchgoers cannot be straitjacketed into one political party or ideology, nor can they be coerced into embracing one candidate or another simply because he is a Christian. When the church begins to make political pronouncement, sometimes festooning it with curses and unappeasable orders, and particularly by endorsing one party or candidate, it enters into strange territories, into domains fraught with division and animosity. It is not only Boko Haram’s hatred that constitutes foreign and alienating domains.

The history of the early church, particularly its first few decades under the Roman Empire is instructive. Christ was careful to avoid politics. He focused on the transformation of the individual. Decades later, as Rome persecuted and attempted to wipe out the church, the apostles were also careful not to make judgements about the secular leaders of the time. As Paul the Apostle demonstrated, while the church disagreed with the decisions of secular leaders of the day, they neither remonstrated with them nor allowed those decisions to detract from the doctrinal essence of their faith. It is that doctrinal essence of the faith that Bishop Oke appears to be reigniting in disavowing the methods and behaviours of Boko Haram and bandits. As a matter of fact, the church was lucky not to be sucked into that error in the early days of Boko Haram when a few church leaders threatened to return fire for fire. In the end, love prevailed.

However, it still does not appear as if all the lessons that should be learnt have been learnt. Yes, the church escaped apostasy by whiskers in those early days of Boko Haram when churches were burnt and Christians murdered with glee, sometimes with government officials looking on with indifference. But the church regained composure and began to realise that what they began in the Spirit could not be completed in the flesh, and that love, prayer, fasting and other such Christian virtues were the weapons the early church deployed to subdue kingdoms and empires, including the fiercest critic and persecutor of the church, Rome. But centuries after, Christians not only battered and maimed one another, they also planned and executed the Crusades against unbelievers, disregarding the futility of wars and bloodshed, not to say the utter folly of seeking to convert unbelievers by the sword.

Had the lessons effortlessly imbibed, enunciated and propagated by the early church been well and truly learnt by modern Nigerian church, Bishop Oke would have extrapolated and extended the doctrinal purity he preaches to warn the church against unholy and problematic secularisation and politicisation. Rather than produce Christians who would affect their generations in profound and healthy ways, a difficult thing any day because of the unhealthy materialism into which the church itself has been sucked, it is now plotting for political office in the mistaken belief that its salvation and longevity rest on occupying office at the highest level. Such plots miscarried under the Goodluck Jonathan administration; it is unlikely that the way the church has managed its involvement in presidential politics it will not be construed as hateful to those it should seek to convert by love, patience, forbearance and understanding.

Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) president Francis Wale Oke, who is also Bishop of the Sword of the Spirit Ministries, Ibadan, stoked controversy last week when he warned of the disaster awaiting the church should it deviate from its foundational and doctrinal norms. He issued this warning during the Church’s annual Holy Ghost Convention 2022 in Ibadan, Oyo State. Even though newspapers reported him as warning of the end of the church in Nigeria consequent upon such deviations, the bishop was careful enough to warn only of disaster. Notwithstanding the misquotation, his diagnosis was still problematic. His emphasis was on the church resisting the temptation to adopt the methodologies and behavioural tendencies of Boko Haram and bandits.

According to the bishop: “The future of the church in Nigeria is glorious. Listen to this. Boko Haram is no problem, banditry is no problem, kidnapping is no problem; they are happening, they are real, but the church has to be careful. Let’s not enter into their territory. Let’s not reply with hate and bitterness because that is not our domain. We are in the domain of love; they are in the domain of hate. If we cross over from our domain to their domain, we will lose. That is not our native territory; we are not fitted for it. If we cross into the domain of hate and bitterness, we are like fish out of water. Stay in the domain of love and we unleash the ability of the King of glory. What is Boko Haram? The rate at which Muslims were getting born again in the 70s and 80s was serious, but since people began to respond in hate, something is happening to that. We must go back to our domain.”

It is difficult to controvert the ultimate goal of the bishop’s analysis, regardless of the controversial planks upon which it is based. There is no dispute about the church’s need to sustain its focus, particularly as streamlined by Jesus Christ in the Sermon on the Mount. In place of hate, the church must show love, regardless of how difficult it may seem. Bishop Oke warned that responding to bitterness and hatred in kind was inimical to the growth and wellbeing of the church. In fact he illustrated his argument with the decline in conversion to Christianity as a result of Christians responding to hate with hate. It is time, he warned, for the church to return to its ‘domain’.

Why, despite this sensible analysis, the bishop still missed the import of his own nuanced argument, is hard to understand. Firstly, he and many church leaders of the day have wandered away from their ‘domain’ by crossing into the domain of politics and secularism. It is not only when the church responds in kind to Boko Haram’s hatred and bitterness that crossing into ‘strange’ domains has occurred. Other insidious routes exist. The church, for instance, is ill-equipped to play politics as a collective, but it is now keen to play it. But once it transcends the individual playing politics, the church is ensnared; for as it is obvious, churchgoers cannot be straitjacketed into one political party or ideology, nor can they be coerced into embracing one candidate or another simply because he is a Christian. When the church begins to make political pronouncement, sometimes festooning it with curses and unappeasable orders, and particularly by endorsing one party or candidate, it enters into strange territories, into domains fraught with division and animosity. It is not only Boko Haram’s hatred that constitutes foreign and alienating domains.

The history of the early church, particularly its first few decades under the Roman Empire is instructive. Christ was careful to avoid politics. He focused on the transformation of the individual. Decades later, as Rome persecuted and attempted to wipe out the church, the apostles were also careful not to make judgements about the secular leaders of the time. As Paul the Apostle demonstrated, while the church disagreed with the decisions of secular leaders of the day, they neither remonstrated with them nor allowed those decisions to detract from the doctrinal essence of their faith. It is that doctrinal essence of the faith that Bishop Oke appears to be reigniting in disavowing the methods and behaviours of Boko Haram and bandits. As a matter of fact, the church was lucky not to be sucked into that error in the early days of Boko Haram when a few church leaders threatened to return fire for fire. In the end, love prevailed.

However, it still does not appear as if all the lessons that should be learnt have been learnt. Yes, the church escaped apostasy by whiskers in those early days of Boko Haram when churches were burnt and Christians murdered with glee, sometimes with government officials looking on with indifference. But the church regained composure and began to realise that what they began in the Spirit could not be completed in the flesh, and that love, prayer, fasting and other such Christian virtues were the weapons the early church deployed to subdue kingdoms and empires, including the fiercest critic and persecutor of the church, Rome. But centuries after, Christians not only battered and maimed one another, they also planned and executed the Crusades against unbelievers, disregarding the futility of wars and bloodshed, not to say the utter folly of seeking to convert unbelievers by the sword.

Had the lessons effortlessly imbibed, enunciated and propagated by the early church been well and truly learnt by modern Nigerian church, Bishop Oke would have extrapolated and extended the doctrinal purity he preaches to warn the church against unholy and problematic secularisation and politicisation. Rather than produce Christians who would affect their generations in profound and healthy ways, a difficult thing any day because of the unhealthy materialism into which the church itself has been sucked, it is now plotting for political office in the mistaken belief that its salvation and longevity rest on occupying office at the highest level. Such plots miscarried under the Goodluck Jonathan administration; it is unlikely that the way the church has managed its involvement in presidential politics it will not be construed as hateful to those it should seek to convert by love, patience, forbearance and understanding.

PANDEF and the Nyesom Wike conundrum

The Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF) recently made a brilliant submission about the ineluctability of rotating the presidency, this time to the South, if Nigeria is to avoid a political and probably existential catastrophe. Should power return to the North, Ken Robinson, PANDEF’s national publicity secretary warned last week, there would be crisis. He argued that the South had begun to nurse suspicion about plots by the North to dominate the South. As he put it: “There are 17 major paramilitary intelligence agencies in the country. At the last count, 14 of them are headed by persons from certain parts of the country, three from southern Nigeria. The NNPC limited as it is called has 11 key management and board members, the South-South has no person, and 80 per cent of our resources come from the region, the Southeast has two, the Southwest one. And in that kind of discriminating administration of eight years; then somebody in that kind of scenario wants to retain power again in the north…If the injustice in Nigeria is addressed nobody will talk of your geographical location…”

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Atiku Abubakar, is the leading candidate from the North. The PDP is one of the two leading parties in Nigeria. PANDEF’s warnings are clear. However, many Nigerians are curious to find out what the most vociferous advocate of southern presidential candidacy, Rivers State governor Nyesom Wike, would do if he had been appointed Alhaji Atiku’s running mate. He lost the PDP presidential primary by a margin that did not disgrace his politics; but being passed over for the running mate position galled him to no end, and he has demonstrated his resentment by the snidest denunciations ever. What if he had got the running mate ticket?

Senator Ibrahim Shekarau, 66, is used to meteoric promotion, but like nature, he abhors vacuum. Apart from being restless, he feels threatened by vacuums. Soft-spoken, confident and eloquent, he seems perfectly made to convince everyone about everything. His meteoric rise as a schoolteacher is probably unequalled in Kano State where he was born and has achieved so much, and is now a senator representing Kano Central. He had barely spent two years as a Mathematics teacher between 1978 and 1980 before he was elevated to principal, and became principal of four schools in a dizzying row, spending two years in each. Between 1992 and 2001, he rose faster than a meteor in the state’s civil service. He was not, in the pejorative sense, a rolling stone unable to gather moss. He gathered moss all along his peregrinations, and ended up smack in the plum job of secretary to businessman Aminu Dantata whence he contended for the Kano governorship in 2003 under the aegis of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP).

Yes, you guessed right, he won, his every step and path paved with gilded stones, lathered by the perfumery of heaven itself. He not only won, he got a second term, hardly breaking a sweat, and like ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo, convinced that God was at his beck and call. Politicians like that tend to acquire a streak of messianism. As Kano governor, and despite being a university graduate, Sen. Shekarau fought against polio vaccine until he was arm-twisted with superior scientific arguments to relent. Perhaps it was just sheer politics, the kind of messianic politics that seduced him into also inspiring the formation of Hisbah, the Sharia police. Nigeria is after all a federal republic, and states can darn well do as they please. Having won the governorship twice, it was thought that his restless days would peter out into something more stable and sedate. Not a chance. He became an even more aggressive adrenalin junkie, cat-jumping at a higher level from one party to another. He had just begun, fired up, and roaring.

The ANPP had expired under its own gross weight of ideological emptiness. Might there be succour elsewhere, some balm in some hypothetical Gilead, perhaps? Why, of course. Two years after he left the governorship, he defected to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2014 and promptly became Education minister. Had the Goodluck Jonathan administration been gifted a ‘second’ term, Sen. Shekarau might have endured the staidness of standing still in one place. Perhaps, perhaps. But needs must when the devil drives. In 2018, probably flying on the wings of fate, he landed in the All Progressives Congress (APC) and promptly got the senatorial ticket with which he contested and won the legislative election in 2019. He remained in that party, his hormones unassuaged, until angels from heaven stirred the Nigerian political pool in 2022 and he was one of the first to leap into the frothy, misty void. He trusted his instincts that he could find water, at least moisture, on the Martian surface called the New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP), a solicitous senatorial ticket handed to him as compliment for his jauntiness. Then, he changed his mind, yes, just like that, and barely three months after his bromance with Sen Kwankwaso, leapt lecherously back again into the seductive and cuddling arms of the PDP temptress. He is still nimble of feet, he believes.

Sen. Shekarau’s political nomadism has been pilloried by his friends and rivals alike. He is unprincipled, some of them say. It is good riddance to bad rubbish, others hollered in his former parties. If his friendship with the brain behind the NNPP, Rabiu Kwankwaso, another Kanawa political stalwart with whom he shared ideas, political trajectory, and probably ideology, was insufficient to rein him in and smother his adrenalin-fuelled defections, then it is hopeless, some of them argue, to expect him to respect time and space, let alone gravity. The eminent peregrine is just 66. He has enough time and agility to continue his flip-flopping, his political gymnastics, and his untethered adventurism. They are written into his DNA; he will not disappoint. Every square meter of Kano State will be contested by three behemoths, to wit, Governor Ibrahim Ganduje, ex-governor Kwankwaso, and the increasingly amorphous and fractious PDP whose presidential candidate is ex-vice president Atiku Abubakar. Perhaps the Mathematician Sen Shekarau has done his calculations and understood he stood no chance with the NNPP. Whatever the case, it is important to recognise that he has once again leapt into the void, alleging that Sen. Kwankwaso had betrayed him. But he must hope he has leapt onto solid ground.

In his serial defections, there was never a time he was left holding the short end of the stick. It is not known whether 2023 will buck the trend for him. If it does, as his opponents hope, it would be hard for him to recover, particularly because of his age. But if he wins again, he will continue to see virtue in jumping from one end to the other, assuming, like Sen Kwankwaso, that Kano can contain him. Both Sen. Kwankwaso and Sen. Shekarau have presidential ambitions. The PDP and its presidential candidate have welcomed Sen. Shekarau with open arms, assured that his presence in the party would be impactful in 2023. It remains to be seen whether he would make a difference. But regardless of the outcome of his latest movement, there is no doubt that the eminent senator and former governor is probably the most ‘travelled’ politician of the Fourth Republic, bar Alhaji Atiku himself.

The ordeal of Miss Lois John

Miss Azurfa Lois John, 21 or 23, is one of the hostages abducted by Abuja-Kaduna train attackers last March. She is in her sixth month in captivity, unable to raise the ransom money of N100m to buy her freedom. In a new twist, according to Tukur Mamu, media consultant to Sheikh Ahmad Gumi, self-appointed and altruistic negotiator, and publisher of the Desert Herald, a bandit commander has threatened to marry her if she is not ransomed. It is not clear whether it is just a ruse to compel urgency into the ransom payment or a real plot to forcefully marry her off as Boko Haram did to Leah Sharibu, the only schoolgirl from Government Girls’ Science and Technical College, Dapchi, Yobe State abandoned by federal government negotiators in March 2018 when Boko Haram released 106 kidnapped schoolchildren taken about a month earlier.

Mallam Mamu alerted the government and relations of Miss John that one of the top bandit commanders had professed his love for her, and planned to marry her in lieu of ransom. There is no way Miss John’s family can confirm whether the threat is real or otherwise. Nor is it clear what information the government has regarding the sordid affair. However, the onus to rescue Miss John lies with the federal government, a responsibility they have sadly and tragically refused to live up to, citing a lot of excuses. The government was inexplicably and indefensibly remiss in the case of Miss Sharibu, who has now been married off, perhaps already having two children, her life and ambition truncated, if not entirely ruined.

If Miss John is subjected to the same horrendous marriage, the blame will rest squarely with the federal government. Many families rescued their members with huge sums, while the government looked askance. It would be sad and tragic should they continue to look on helplessly, as it has now become their custom, as Miss John continues to be traumatised. In the event of failure in rescuing Miss John, the government would be accused of lacking empathy and responsibility.

Former House of Representatives Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, and former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir David Lawal, have taken it as their mission to campaign against their party’s presidential ticket, which they regard as heretical for promoting a Muslim-Muslim candidacy. Weeks before the All Progressives Congress (APC) organised their presidential primary in June, and it seemed obvious that former Lagos State governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu would win and pick a Muslim running mate, Messrs Dogara and Lawal had been up in arms against the anticipated ticket and the ruling party itself. They had thundered and hollered, promising that should the APC attempt that same-faith gambit, they would bring Armageddon down upon the party and work against the ticket. It would amount to belittling the North’s Christian population, they fumed, to ignore them on the ticket.

In the intervening period between Asiwaju Tinubu winning the ticket and picking a running mate about a month later, Messrs Dogara and Lawal stormed through the media and a few states to protest what they anticipated as the APC plan to present a Muslim-Muslim ticket for the 2023 presidential race. The duo’s fiery denunciation of the anticipated ticket was anchored on the fact that Asiwaju Tinubu had, a few days after the primary, picked Ibrahim Masari, a Muslim, as placeholder in lieu of the real running mate, former Borno State governor Kashim Shettima, who was to be unveiled a month later. Messrs Dogara and Lawal crisscrossed the country campaigning against a Muslim running mate on the APC ticket, arguing that it was unethical and inequitable for the presidential standard-bearer, a Muslim, to pick another Muslim. Despite the agitations, the APC remained unmoved. Not only was a Muslim running mate selected, the ruling party defended the choice on strategic grounds.

Unimpressed, however, both Hon. Dogara and Mr Lawal have sworn that they would do everything to defeat the ticket, winning in the process a significant section of the Christian, particularly Pentecostal, community. It boded ill for northern Christians, the two eminent gentlemen wailed, for a Christian not to be on the ticket, ignoring whatever strategic electoral input a Muslim, contrary to a Christian, might bring to the ticket and the race. Mr Lawal had in particular penned two acerbic essays on the audacious Muslim-Muslim ticket. And he had continued to pour vitriol on the APC and its presidential candidate, despite paradoxically confessing his friendship with Asiwaju Tinubu. When it came to the Christian experience and community, he said exasperatingly, he neither considered friendship nor saw any political strategy.

More than a month after the APC had settled its presidential ticket and had given reasons party members found to be persuasive, Messrs Dogara and Lawal have continued to rail against the party for, as they put it apocalyptically, taking the Christian community in the country for granted. How they reached the conclusion that they spoke for either the whole or a significant portion of the nation’s Christians is baffling. They discounted any ethnic consideration in the race for the presidency, and refused to appreciate that ethnicity could in fact bifurcate and deplete the Christian phalanx which they both had in mind. By pursuing their campaign against a Muslim running mate, they also seem to have precluded that in their political career, assuming they still nurse one, they will have no reason to appeal to Muslim electorate. They then went ahead to convene the APC Northern Christian Forum to deliberate on the same-faith ticket issue and produce a damning communiqué.

Dissatisfied that their communiqué garnered little attention, and perhaps suspecting that the controversy was not gaining traction, they have sought ways to keep it alive in the public consciousness. Last week, taking a few northern politicians in tow, they organised a visit to former military head of state Ibrahim Babangida, and planned another one to former military head of state Abdulsalami Abubakar, pursuant to their intention to create a groundswell against the APC presidential ticket. They claim they are consulting with principal stakeholders, while in fact, their campaign has become hysterical. It is not immediately clear what they hope to achieve with visits to the two former military leaders, both of whom are Muslims. Do they hope to appeal to their sense of fairness and political astuteness as former heads of state by drafting them to discriminate against or disavow a Muslim running mate?

Whatever objectives Messrs Dogara and Lawal hope to achieve will in the circumstance have to be accomplished outside the APC. Their party has made up its mind on the 2023 presidential ticket. That decision will not be rescinded. Since the two agitators already insinuated that they were left with no choice but to pick between the remaining three parties that seem like credible alternatives, they may have to actively consider those alternatives: the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP), and the Labour Party (LP). Many Pentecostal churches gravitate towards Peter Obi’s LP, but they are in fact chasing a chimera. Rabiu Kwankwaso’s NNPP has sunk under its own levity, unable to fly or even crawl. And the PDP of Abubakar Atiku, should Christians support it, will be enthroning not only another Muslim but another Fulani. Clearly, the choices before Messrs Dogara and Lawal are stark and complicated.

After the shock of the primaries and the presidential tickets have receded, and after emotions have died down, Northern Christians are likely to take more rational decisions regarding whom to back and which party to support. The Dogara and Lawal campaigns are also likely to peter out into nothingness: it will be of little consequence after the campaigns begin and attention has shifted to the limited choice between keeping the reins of power in the North for another hypothetical eight years or experimenting with the untested and hyperbolic Mr Obi. It is surprising that the experienced Hon Dogara and Mr Lawal seem unable to do their mathematics well, and fail so flagrantly to recognise that they will advance their interests and agenda more assertively while being voices of reason and moderation within the APC. Now they are campaigning themselves out of relevance and influence.

Ebubeagu as ominous precursors

Advocates of state police, among whom this column is numbered, will find the reported excesses of Ebubeagu, the Southeast’s security outfit, in Ebonyi State two Saturdays ago distasteful. Seventeen women groups from 13 local government areas of the state had gathered in Abakaliki, the state capital, for their Annual General Meeting; but citing security reports about a supposed gathering of separatist groups, the government deployed the security outfit to disperse the meeting. According to the women, Governor David Umahi had orchestrated two such disruptions in the past, and this time, using Ebubeagu, ‘abducted’ 10 attendees and stripped them naked.

If, as the government, insisted, separatist groups had convened the meeting, it should provide evidence. No convincing evidence has so far been provided. Last month, Ebubeagu allegedly masterminded the murder of seven wedding guests at Awomama, Oru West, Imo State. The killings were not denied. Instead, Ebubeagu insisted it fought and killed militiamen of the so-called unknown gunmen who were on rampage in the state. The controversy is yet to die down. Clearly, Ebubeagu, though devolved in state chapters without central control, is poorly conceived, structured or run. Given the careless and sometimes political deployment of the security outfit, there are doubts many states are capable of running law enforcement agencies, or are immune to the murderous mistakes the country’s centralised law enforcement agencies had consistently made.

Ebubeagu indicates the poor quality of political leadership in some Southeast states. Given the criticisms leveled against the Nigeria Police, it is embarrassing that the affected states are proving themselves incapable of doing any better. They do a disservice to the quest for devolved policing. If state police is to be legalised, the country will have to put in place stringent rules to ensure that abuses do not derail the new constitutional order.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) may have had a head start on the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in electing its chairman and generally putting its house in order, but months down the line, there is little to suggest that that advantage has reasonably benefited the main opposition party. The party’s chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, is probably the main reason. When the party fixed its elective convention for October 2021, at a time the APC was engaged in one of the most elaborate and sustained political rigmarole ever, the country whooped with excitement. Should that elective convention hold, the country speculated, the PDP would prove itself rejuvenated and reinvigorated. And should they flawlessly elect their chairman and other national executives, despite the initial acrimony bifurcating their ranks, they could go on to mount perhaps a credible challenge to the dominance and suzerainty of the APC.

Not only did the PDP pull off a coup of the most extraordinary complexion, they did it with aplomb, too textbook to be believed. In retrospect, it looked like the party was all along engaged in a fairy tale adventure as implausible as flying to Mars and back in a day or two. Not only did they have a smooth convention and elected a chairman even more smoothly through consensus and affirmation, they went on to organise a presidential primary in May that made the APC green with envy. The incredibly smooth presidential primary seemed an even more incredible act for the APC to follow in June. Yes, that primary involved despairing compromises and horse trading of the most pernicious kind, but many party denizens put that outcome down to politics, as a matter of fact, realpolitik. Alas, when things look too smooth, it is perhaps time to be wary. Yes, they had two glorious conventions, and it even looked initially like all they needed to do was just paper over the cracks to give a semblance of unity, but the aftermath is now trying their souls sorely and also trying their patience badly.

More and more, the PDP leadership, particularly their presidential candidate, has become exasperated with that aftermath. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, said William Congreve. But with respect to the scorned runner-up in the presidential primary, Rivers State governor Nyesom Wike, hell’s fury is an incandescent rage. He is irate, bitter and, from all indications, inconsolable. He argues that though he feels pained being scorned, especially because it negated the party position on rotation of the presidency between North and South, he is embittered because of the manner he was corned and the demeaning reasons adduced by the presidential candidate, former vice president Atiku Abubakar, and other top PDP leaders. On the other side, however, he was rejected and conspired against, they suggested gamely, because the scorned Mr Wike lacked the carriage and temperament to preside over Nigeria should Alhaji Atiku, assuming he was elected, become incapacitated. Then they drove the knife in by dismissing him as flippant and lacking in gravitas, or something to that effect.

Now, no one liked to be spurned at all, let alone by those who by every definition are not one’s betters. But to be dismissed in uncomplimentary phrases will be difficult for anyone, let alone the supremely confident and witty Mr Wike, to live down. Consequently, he has made it difficult for reconciliation to be forged as quickly as possible. Mr Wike has kept the PDP leadership guessing what his next move might be, and he has alternated between lauding them one day and denigrating them the next. He has also flirted with the opposition and given hints he might not be too indisposed to defecting. He stopped just short of voicing that heresy. But he has acted it inexpertly, and done it with extravagant flourish during the commissioning of some projects in the state. Unable to make up his mind, and still miffed by the inability of the party leadership to cobble a peace deal with him, he has doubled down over his demands, chief among which is the resignation of the party chairman, the exceedingly ambivalent and now increasingly flighty Senator Ayu.

Few outside the PDP remembered that Sen. Ayu was close to Alhaji Atiku, and was thought to even be one of his confidants. At the presidential primary, the PDP chairman simply removed his gloves, rolled up his sleeves, and instead of remaining an arbiter, entered the primary fray on the side of the eventual winner. He helped the winner scheme, jostle and cajole delegates; and when the final tally was read out, he was uncharacteristically delirious with joy. He was quoted as making the inelegant statement describing Sokoto State governor Aminu Tambuwal, a former ally of Mr Wike, as the hero of the convention for being what the Rivers State governor’s camp labeled as a turncoat. Now, whined Mr Wike’s camp, Sen. Ayu wants to have his cake and eat it. Asked shortly after he was elected chairman whether he would step down should the party pick a northern candidate for the presidential election, he evasively suggested he would. It is true he did not make an unequivocal statement in that regard, and managed to leave many observers befuddled with his answers, but it was clear that those who heard him, not being too schooled in the dialectic of English semantics, went to bed assuming that the unprincipled former senate president would act nobly.

At a point in the past one week, he was thought to have actually resigned, with another former senate president David Mark thought to be in custody of the letter. Not so, said the chairman’s spokesman: should he deign to resign, he knew the process to follow, for he is a stickler for the fine arts of resigning plum jobs. The summary of the whole back and forth is that Sen. Ayu has not resigned, despite the resignation being probably the main reason blocking the rapprochement between Alhaji Atiku and Mr Wike. And surprise, except PDP leaders make it compulsory, the chairman will not resign, not now, not in the future, for as he put it, he was elected for four years. And if at all he would consider stepping down, he grunted, it would be after Ahaji Atiku had been elected president. And if he was not elected president, why, the inimitably ambivalent Sen. Ayu would find another excuse from his rich armamentarium. It is not for nothing that he has secured the reputation of being unprincipled and ambivalent.

Convalescing APC surprisingly unites, but…

While the opposition PDP appears frazzled by internal dissension, the ruling APC, initially thought to be irreparably damaged by its same-faith ticket, and terminally wounded by their leaders’ non-performing administration, has begun to convalesce. Now more united than it was last year, and more focused than the early starter PDP, it is perfecting its strategies far from the glare of publicity.

But the embers fanned by its acrimonious interim management team, which heralded their convention in March, are still smouldering. The anger is yet to be doused, and the crushed ambitions of disappointed aspirants left unassuaged. Overall, however, the APC is now doing far better than its beginnings suggested.

Nevertheless, the challenge that will prove the most difficult for them will be how they will convince the electorate during the campaigns that they can transcend the limiting and limited achievements of the current administration. There are some records to recommend the party, but the state of insecurity and the parlous condition of the economy will be their worst disincentive. Much more, paralysed by inaction and inflexibility, they will have a tougher time explaining why ASUU has been on strike for about six months and students kept idle at home.

Yes, the party is convalescing, but the process is slow, fitful and uninspiring. They have barely two months to make a difference if critics are not to begin suggesting that the APC leadership is deliberately setting up their party to fail next February.

Instead of admitting what his group did and showing contrition, leader of the National Association of Seadogs (NAS), aka Pyrates Confraternity, Abiola Owoaje, prefers to disparage those who feared that the group had become politically partisan, contrary to its founding creed. On August 4, NAS had organised a procession in Lagos State as part of its 46th Annual General Meeting, the climax of which was the incident captured on video interpreted as denigrating the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC). The mocking song was explicit, and could not be interpreted any other way. It was doubtless rehearsed, certainly not spontaneous or impromptu, and clearly calculated as a partisan intrusion into the already bad-tempered 2023 presidential campaign.

Because the video went viral, Mr Owoaje felt obligated to address the press to put to rest any insinuations of his group’s partisanship. Instead of laying the matter to rest, however, the NAS leader came across as evasive and cocky. Said he: “Quite contrary to the manner in which certain aspects of the video are being portrayed, no aspect of this procession or the event itself was political. Rather it was a typical climax of our annual general meeting. At no time in the history of this organisation has this event or indeed any of our events had any slanted political leanings. Let it be known that the National Association of Seadogs (Pyrates Confraternity) does not mock or discriminate against the physical condition of any person. It is an unfair characterisation and offends everything that we stand for. Indeed, this could cause offence to even our own members that are also unfortunately afflicted that this would never be condoned.”

Mr Owoaje must be living in denial, or calling everybody who has described the song and video as highly objectionable, an ignorant fool. The procession in reference portrays NAS as politically partisan. It is possible that for decades past NAS had refrained from being openly and indiscreetly partisan, but what the group did, very heartily it must be added, was nothing less than offensively partisan. He said NAS never mocked or discriminated against anyone’s physical condition, but that was what the group inelegantly portrayed during its Ikeja procession. And they did it deliberately, knowingly and blatantly. Then Mr Owoaje had the nerve to suggest that public interpretation of their offensive song could cause offence to NAS members. Really? Are they in fact so sensitive, but yet adamantly inured to the feelings of others?

What Mr Owoaje failed to admit is that NAS has clearly become partisan, and has been infiltrated by openly and remorselessly partisan members with preconceived political agenda. He dubiously disagrees that the processional song was derisive, while he tries unsuccessfully to put a gloss on it; and clearly neither he nor any of the group’s composers will accept responsibility for that appalling misjudgement. Now that they have been made aware of what they lacked the finesse and culture to acknowledge, can they be trusted to make amends? It is doubtful. They are already doubling down, and seem convinced that what they did, even though it cannot be interpreted any other way, did not amount to partisanship or a mockery of anyone’s physical pains. As Mr Owoaje provocatively and insensitively put it: “We understand that political merchants, desperately seeking media mileage are all over the place misinforming and twisting events to suit their political agenda.”

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Indeed, the current NAS leadership takes issue with Professor Wole Soyinka, one of the seven founders of NAS in 1952, insisting that his reading of the video was mistaken. A few days after the video went viral, the eminent professor had issued a statement deploring the judgement of NAS and wondering what they hoped to gain by negating the group’s essence. He had said:  “My attention has been drawn to a video clip making rounds on the internet of a dancing and chanting group, in red and white costume, purportedly members of the Pyrates Confraternity. The display acidly targets a presidential candidate in the awaited 2023 elections. Since the whole world knows of my connection with that fraternity, it is essential that I state in clear, unambiguous terms, that I am not involved in that public performance, nor in any way associated with the sentiments expressed in the songs. Like any other civic group, the Pyrates Confraternity is entitled to its freedom of expression, individually or collectively. So also is Wole Soyinka in his own person. I do not interfere in, nor do I attempt to dictate the partisan political choices of the confraternity. I remain unaware that the association ever engages in a collective statement of sponsorship or repudiation of any candidate. This is clearly a new and bizarre development, fraught with unpredictable consequences. In addition, let me make the following cultural affirmation. I have listened to the lyrics of the chant intently and I am frankly appalled. I find it distasteful. I belong to a culture where we do not mock physical afflictions or disabilities.”

Prof Soyinka even left a little room for NAS leadership to wriggle free from the tight spot NAS members had unwisely sung and danced their way into, suggesting that perhaps the video was stage-managed, yet Mr Owoaje simply flung that help back at the Laureate’s face. Sadly, now, NAS has made its stand clear, and where it belongs quite obvious. They should proudly own their effrontery, as indeed, they are entitled to, going by the disingenuous rebuttal they issued last week, no matter whose ox is gored.

Signs of national fracture

Nigerian commentators and the media pay delicate attention to the background of their exceptional sportsmen and scholars. Whether this is conscious or subconscious is hard to say. They paid attention to the background of those who did Nigeria proud at the 18th edition of the world athletics championship in Eugene, Oregon, USA, even though it was unnecessary. This unfortunate tradition is a long-standing one, harking back to even before the country’s independence. Then, also, high educational achievers, particularly at the secondary school level, are promoted by their ethnic groups as stars even when their families would prefer to be silent.

The emphasis on background to explain excellence has also caught on with the objects of such adoration themselves. In Nigeria’s deeply religious communities, it is not uncommon to hear an achiever attributing success to his God, almost as if worshipers of other deities are precluded from high achievements, or insinuating the primacy of his background as if that background has a monopoly of success and achievement. All this, however points to one thing about Nigeria: the country’s inability to transcend its differences and fault lines.

Clearly, until the country is restructured to create a stable and advanced society capable of harnessing and unleashing the potentials of its gifted children, the restraining hindrances of primordial fetters will continue to hold sway to everyone’s embarrassment. Can these great changes be fostered soon? Not likely. Business as usual still dominates the polity, and will likely continue to hold sway in the years ahead. It now seems like idealism to imagine a country where every citizen and especially its high achievers are seen first and foremost as Nigerians than through the prisms of their ethnic background or religion.

No remark has been as poignant in recent years as the one made by Nasarawa State governor Abdullahi Sule when he held a meeting with all his political appointees in Lafia, the state capital, last week. Mr Sule, like his predecessor Umar Tanko Al-Makura (2011-2019), is widely acknowledged as brilliant and eloquent. It was, therefore, not surprising that his remarks at the said meeting exuded a touch of finesse and irony, a clear indication that he is much deeper than many think, and that he pays a lot of attention to forming his thoughts, and pays even greater attention to accompanying his public statements with all the literary flourish he can muster. He may be underreported because of the geopolitical positioning of his state, but he does not seem deterred by any geographic or political inconvenience in continuously upping his game, and when the opportunity sometimes present itself, to put up a class act.

Observe his remarks very closely when he made reference to the presidential primary of his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC). It was clear that there were questions as to the excessive drama that accompanied the primary, particularly the dissonance among northern governors, and the allegations that consciences were bought and sold before and during the event. Addressing the subject boldly and frontally, Mr Sule had said in respect of the conflict between the northern governors in determining which aspirant to support: “As governors, they were not carried along that the Northern part of the country is trying to present a candidate who is going to be the presidential candidate.” He did not try to put a gloss on the disagreement between the northern governors; he acknowledged that there were two factions backing two distinct positions: one for power shift, and the other for power retention. He of course belongs to the former, a testament to the character, courage and public resolve of his faction, and ultimately of the North.

He added, in his speech, that power shift was needed to protect the image of the North, so that it would not be seen as unreliable and greedy. Again, as he put it: “And we said we were not carried along. A few of the governors got together and said it’s time for us to speak up, so that we would not be taken for granted. We said let’s go and speak to our leader, because Mr. President is the leader of the party. He is somebody we respect. Sometimes, he will say certain things, even if we don’t like it, because he is the leader, and that’s what he wants, we follow…We don’t want the northern part of the country to be seen as people who don’t keep promises. We want the North to be seen as a region that can make sacrifices for other parts. We believe in fairness. We believe this position should rotate to the South, irrespective of who emerges.”

So, apart from plotting the defeat of the power retention faction, Mr Sule’s statement is suggestive of how delicately nuanced he can be. He acknowledged that his faction met the president, but declined to tell his Nasarawa audience all they discussed with their leader. He was being diplomatic. It is now known that the president was unhelpful in the matter, as he left the convoluted matter entirely to the governors’ discretion, though they had come to him for a solution. To the credit of the faction that embraced power shift, they took the bull by the horns and, virtually the night before the primary, aggressively pushed for change. And as Mr Sule disclosed, the faction took no kobo. Indeed, as he put it, he was not aware anyone, members of both factions, took anything. It is not clear whether Mr Sule emphasised the nobility of purpose of the northern group for a reason, but judging from how the presidential ticket was traded across regions in the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), it must make special meaning to him and to his audience that the North neither asked for nor got a kobo from any of the APC candidates. Without saying so, he left it to the media to find out if the South asked for and received any kobo.

The North may have been initially factionalised in the APC presidential primary struggle, but in the end, despite the twist and turns that began nearly a year earlier, the region behaved nobly. One good turn, Mr Sule had hinted, deserved another. His perspective does not paint him as a regional aberration. The APC presidential running mate, Kashim Shettima, is also widely acknowledged in the North and parts of the South as secular, liberal and a deft manager of men. He proved himself in Borno State at the apogee of the Boko Haram insurgency, a foundation his successor, Babagana Zulum is building upon to wide acclaim. Besides the three governors, Kaduna State governor Nasir el-Rufai is also acknowledged as brilliant and visionary, despite his penchant for impatience, acerbity and sometimes promotion of Fulani exceptionalism. On the whole, the decisiveness with which the APC North rose to the defence of fairness and equity should be envied by their southern counterparts. When the time comes, years down the line, their deed will be remembered.

Shettima unveiling and CAN controversies

Instigated by Nigeria’s feral and self-righteous social media, the country went into overdrive in ridiculing the APC and the ‘bishops’ the ruling party invited to grace the unveiling of their presidential running mate, Kashim Shettima, more than a week ago. The party had been enveloped in controversy over its decision to contest the 2023 presidential poll with a Muslim-Muslim ticket. It was suggested that the APC’s attempt to mitigate the negative impact of the ticket led to its ‘hiring’ the ‘bishops’. It was, however, conveniently ignored that none of the attendee clerics declared himself a bishop nor claimed to represent the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN). But once the social media labeled the pastors inappropriately, including unilaterally assigning them artisanal titles, the pejorative labels stuck. The public simply concluded that the clerics were impostors, against whom a livid CAN was decidedly profane.

The clerics at the unveiling, none of whom was a well-known televangelist, had of course come out to defend themselves and set the records straight. But the public had made up its mind. Armed with skits, clerihew, and playlets, the APC has been skewered on social media and radio and television programmes. The controversy showed the inimical power of the social media. Once they latch on to a narrative, often negative, it becomes difficult, if not impossible, to redress. The embattled clerics had collectively told the press: “Our decision to attend the event was neither procured nor compelled; rather, we chose, freely, to attend due to our sincere and genuine desire to express our goodwill and lend our support to a man whose tenure as the governor of Borno State heralded unprecedented government support for the Christian faith in the region. We have a strong belief in his nomination. A leader’s faith is not, and should never be, the only marker of their ability to lead an inclusive government that respects and protects the interests of all, while also preserving their rights.”

The controversy and the gross misrepresentation will soon blow over, but the scars will remain for a while. More importantly, the role played by social media in the matter should alert the public to the dangers of generalisation and stigmatisation.

Ado Aleru, Ada Aleru, Adamu Alero: the media are unsure how to spell his name or what to call him. For the purpose of this piece, he will be called Ada Aleru, though his real name is Adamu Yankuzo, not because that is surely the spelling of his alias, but because it is necessary to cut the Gordian knot, assured that what matters most now is not really his aliases but his feats, his murderous feats. He is 47 years old. He had earlier been declared wanted by the police after his gang went on a murderous spree killing over 100 – some say over 200 – men and women and children at two communities in Katsina State, Kadisau and Faskari . Remorseless, cocky and reckless, he and scores of his bandits two Saturdays ago, however, breezed into Yandoton Daji, an emirate carved out of Tsafe Emirate in Zamfara State on May 18, to be conferred with the chieftaincy title of Sarkin Fulani. Conferring a title on a terrorist suspect obviously rankled with the state government. By the last count, three emirs and a number of district heads had been suspended or deposed in Zamfara State for aiding or abetting banditry.

The whole story about the chieftaincy conferment has not come out yet. The state government’s dissociation from the conferment was neither spontaneous nor, to many outside Zamfara State, convincing. National outrage seemed to have goaded the government into action. (As a matter of fact none of the royal fathers suspended or deposed for aiding or abetting banditry has been charged in court so far). For a ceremony in which government and security agents were present, it is remarkable that the government feigned ignorance or lack of interest. At the ceremony was the Emir of Yandoton Daji, Aliyu Marafa. So too, according to some reports, were Home Affairs and Security commissioner, Mamman Tsafe, security advisor to the governor, Abubakar Dauran, Tsafe local government chairman, Aminu Mudi, representatives of the Information commissioner, and many others. The emir and his officials claimed Mallam Aleru was a repentant bandit, and had hoped that as a title holder, he could be coaxed into sustaining the ‘peace’ deal he entered into with the emirate.

The problem, however, is that Mallam Aleru is an alleged cross border bandit and killer with N5m bounty on his head. Had his terror been limited to Zamfara, the purported peace deal with him, and perhaps too his penitence, might have made sense and acquired credibility. But he is also wanted in Katsina for acts of terrorism, while some of his victims even in the emirate where he was conferred with a title are reportedly livid with the state for ignoring their concerns and feelings. The state may not have had any choice but to revoke the gratuitous title and punish the emir, but the problem of how to deal with surging terrorism in the region remains on the front burner. Many emirs and district heads have been punished for allegedly fraternising with bandits, but peace has proved elusive because the fundamental problems that birthed outlawry and gives it fillip remain largely untouched. Meanwhile, it has been suggested in most of those blighted regions that what seemed like emirate connivance at terrorism is nothing more than a desperate and last resort attempt to forge peace, a task that had obviously eluded overstretched security agencies.

Zamfara has constituted a six-man committee to investigate what informed the emir’s action. It is not clear whether the state’s remedial action will amount to anything. It seems someone will in the end be made the fall guy. It is also possible that some emirate officials are colluding with terrorists and profiting from booty exchange. But overall, and indeed far more than the direct victims of terrorism or even the government, the emirs and district heads who have watched their people needlessly slaughtered carry the biggest burden of the unrelenting bloodshed in the region. Perhaps this dilemma accounts for why the state government has lacked the courage and the moral right to prosecute suspended or deposed emirate officials. The quandary will intensify as the months go on and as long as banditry and terrorism continue unabated. Sadly, there is nothing on ground at the moment, particularly as it concerns the economy and interethnic disputes and cultural clashes, to suggest that the situation will inevitably improve significantly in the months ahead. For positive changes to occur, there will have to be revolutionary interventions in the economy, society and politics.

ASUU and NLC sympathy protest

It is incredible that this year’s university teachers’ strike has lasted for about five months. After incalculable damage had been done, the federal government, beginning from the presidency, has finally stirred itself to do something. President Muhammadu Buhari has asked negotiations to be restarted, and has given a two-week ultimatum for a resolution to be reached. Great. More remarkably, he has ousted the showy and imperious Labour and Employment minister, Chris Ngige, from heading the negotiating team. In his place, ordered the president, the more realistic and accommodating Education minister Adamu Adamu should take control. It does not seem like Mr Adamu has a chip on his shoulder; he will be sensible and understanding in leading the negotiations and reaching a resolution, perhaps surprising to the university teachers themselves.

But meanwhile, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), having waited endlessly for the federal government to demonstrate seriousness, recognised the pains idle students and their long-suffering parents had endured for months, if not years and decades, and tired of watching such damage inflicted on the young of Nigeria without any kind of abatement, has waded into the fray and scheduled a sympathy protest for early in the week. They will receive tremendous support, regardless of their own fickleness and sometimes duplicity in negotiating demands touching on Labour matters. The sympathy action may be coming a little late in the day, seeing how evidently everyone, including the government, had virtually given up in frustration; but like they say, better late than never.

Whether the NLC protest will amount to much or be superfluous is not clear. For whatever it is worth, let the protest hold, let it be total, let Labour’s voice be heard loud and clear, and let the country be sensitised to the issues at stake. Above all, let it be made clear, to quote the president on the issue, that enough is enough. How could this generation forgive itself that in their lifetime, they watched as the lives of Nigerian youths were wasted and stymied by irresponsible and unresponsive leadership?

The Academic Staff of University Union (ASUU) is sometimes blamed for being too inflexible and dogmatic in negotiations. But given the rot in the universities and the near total collapse of tertiary education, an ugly situation that cruelly mocks ASUU, the teachers have been quite tame in their view of strike. They are blameless. After this strike is called off, would all the stakeholders be kind enough to call a conference to hammer out a realistic and workable template for tertiary education, please? The alternative to sanity in the education sector, particularly tertiary education, is too grim to contemplate.

It will take some time, probably many years, before the obsession with politicians’ certificates abate significantly to allow sensible focus on issues and ideologies in Nigerian politics. The obsession, not to say the controversy that often accompanies it, will likely get worse in the months ahead before it gets better in years to come.  The list of candidates for the next elections whose certificates have either been misplaced or lost altogether is growing longer. Scrutinised properly, the list may in fact be much longer than anyone has imagined. Delta State governor and running mate to ex-vice president Atiku Abubakar in the 2023 presidential election, Ifeanyi Okowa, demonstrates why the obsession with certificates will not cool anytime soon.

Defending himself against cynical politicians who mock his loss of school certificate as wrongful conduct, the Delta governor seized the occasion of an inspection of ongoing projects in the state to boast of his scholarly exploits. Said he: “On the issue of my certificate, I think it is a misconception. People try to play politics with everything. Yes, I lost my WAEC certificate, but I have the printout from Edo College, Benin-City, which clearly stated that I have distinction in all subjects. The Higher School Certificate was attached and it has been acknowledged by Edo College and the school put it out there that I made an ‘A’ `B’ `B’. I do not pride myself but it was very difficult to make such grade in higher school at that time. My high school result was the second best nationally in 1976, when I finished. So, many universities admitted me through Telegram as at that time, and I had to start making choices of which to accept. Of course, it’s very clear that I finished medical school at the University of Ibadan. I was 21years and some months; I was less than 22 years of age.”

Well, after this deserved boast, it remains to be seen who else would summon the courage to attack Dr Okowa again. For not only did his alma mater attest to his bona fides, they appear proud of him. The governor is proud of himself too. Would his attackers like to show their faces, and be made to produce their own certificates, perhaps to see just how scholarly they were? It is unlikely. Dr Okowa has silenced his traducers; they are unlikely to produce even a whisper ever again on the governor’s lost certificates. As a matter of fact, his accusers will hope that no enterprising social media fanatic or traditional media reporter would go after them. Should they attempt to seek the governor’s accusers out and peruse their certificates, there might be some embarrassment. Dr OKowa has won this round; his accusers will need to restock.

But there are many more out there, politicians and all, who have genuine cases of missing certificates. After changing residences a number of times, and despite the most meticulous bookkeeping, scores of highly placed people may fall within the bracket of officials who have lost their certificates and have not bothered to make good as Dr Okowa did with school-attested printouts. This columnist falls within that bracket. Not only has he done change of name, he has moved residence nearly a dozen times, photocopied his certificates and forgot some of the documents in the photocopiers, and fallen victim to thieves who rifled through his property and made away with documents.

Admittedly, it is politics for desperate politicians and their lackeys in the social and traditional media to take advantage of the misfortune of their rivals and opponents. The grumblers may have had their fingers burnt in the case of Dr Okowa, but nothing will dissuade them from making similar attempts in the future. The tardier in bookkeeping the politician, the more versatile his rivals become in drawing him out into the open for ridicule. As the attempt to derail the campaign of the then Candidate Muhammadu Buhari in 2015 over his school leaving certificate shows, the effort often falls flat, especially considering that nearly all the politicians in question had gone on to much higher studies and educational successes. The certificate issue will, however, remain a weapon, albeit a weak and momentary one, in destabilising the campaigns of political rivals.

What the certificate campaigners, some of whom have even morphed into birther critics, conveniently ignore is whether the victimised politician is competent to provide sound leadership, at least sometimes, if not nearly always, in contrast to the certificated politician. Dr Okowa boasted of his certificates, but critics should really interrogate his leadership ability, his administrative acumen, his behaviour under pressure and under fire, his adherence to ethics in governance; in sum, his character. These are the more germane virtues critics and certificate advocates have entirely glossed over. But as certain as day follows night, these critics, knowing themselves to have feet of clay, will be extremely reluctant to draw attention to virtues they do not, and probably can never, possess lest they be hoisted with their own petard.

Pampered bandits push the envelope on terrorism

It needed no expertise in soothsaying to anticipate that once the March 28 Abuja train attack terrorists freed their men from Kuje jail in Abuja, they would immediately begin to monetise the release of their captives held for over 100 days. By the last count, some 43 are still being held hostage in the terrorists’ dens. About seven were released two Saturdays ago after N100m (in dollars) ransom was allegedly paid for each hostage. The remaining captives are having a hard time shelling out such princely sums.

The whole saga is mystifying. Some ‘300’ terrorists, perhaps ISWAP members and affiliates, were said to have swooped down on Kuje, a community and local council deep in the bowels of the Federal Capital City of Abuja, on June 6 and attacked the correctional centre in the town. It is not clear how anyone estimated the number of terrorists, for the attack happened in the night. But given the number of the attackers and the weapons they packed, it is shocking they waltzed their way through checkpoints, bypassed security establishments, including electronic surveillance and even direct alerts by human assets, and attacked the jail for more than an hour without any significant response.

More shocking is the fact that after that bravura display, they took all their jailed comrades away without any hindrance, still waltzing through the town and the FCT, until they reached their dens. Satisfied that they had got their bargaining chips without any hassle or bargain, they are proceeding to profit from the misery of their captives. Yet, they are in Nigeria, obviously not too far away, and are laundering money and organising open shows in a country with intelligence assets capable of interdicting self-determination advocates in far-flung places outside the country. Any wonder some Nigerians smell complicity and conspiracy? As the terrorists push the envelope, more Nigerians are becoming convinced that there is really no official will to deal with the bandits and terrorists, whether they are Boko Haram or ISWAP.

Jandor, Funke: a political cohabitation

It seemed a joke at first that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Lagos had become so capricious that they would produce a starry-eyed ticket to fight the next governorship poll in the state. But there is no rabbit this social media generation cannot produce from their uppity hats. Surprise! They pulled one out last week when the PDP, leveraging on their social media presence, paired Abdul-Azeez Olajide Adediran, alias Jandor, with Nollywood sensation Funke Akindele, alias Jenifa. They will be contesting the Lagos governorship poll next year, hoping that their fame and notoriety, not to say the capriciousness of disenchanted youths, would get them the diadem.

Lagos has a population in excess of 20 million. Governing them surely can’t be a cakewalk, nor entertainment. But Jandor and Jenifa, like the musician Davido and the dancing Osun senator Ademola Adeleke, swear it is entertainment borne on the wings of social media following.