I began “Lest Nigeria Strays Into War’, published on these pages on July 28, 2019 with the following comment from a compatriot who was reacting to the article on the column the previous week: “Re your last week article – ‘Rwandan genocide: Elementary lessons of history’, the historical account you gave on what triggered the First World War, and what culminated in the Rwandan genocide, are as scary as they are frightening. And it requires no extra-sensory perception to know how indicative they are of what may befall Nigeria if President Buhari remains undecided as to the way out of the near implosion of our country” – Emmanuel Egwu.

Because my late friend, of blessed memory, the highly prolific Dr Anthony Akinola, forwarded the article to the USAAfrica Dialogueseries for publication, it also received many comments, especially from outside Nigeria, an example being this one from Ghana: “Sitting calmly under a coconut tree and drinking fresh and delicious coconut water at Elmina Bay Resort in Central Ghana, I very much enjoyed Femi Orebe’s “Lest Nigeria Strays Into War”. Sadly, it did remind me of another prophetic piece I read (as a Ghanaian Journalist working in Nigeria and UK, respectively), before the beginning of Nigeria’s catastrophic civil war. That published column was titled, “Before Darkness Falls.” In my legendary Baba Ijebu’s vernacular, is Orebe’s current piece, akin to “Before Darkness Falls”, a doomsayer’s prediction? I hope not”. “So, as Baba Ijebu would have counselled: Let our Nigerian brothers jaw-jaw, but not war-war!! After all, war — civil war or otherwise –is not a pretty business”. A.B. Assensoh

“Proceeding from my last Sunday article on the Rwandan genocide, I took the opportunity of an invitation by the Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG) to give a pre – meeting talk last Sunday (21/07/19), on any topic of my choice, and I chose to canvas a peaceful resolution of our Nigeria’s challenges.

In the article you are about to read, captioned: ‘Lest Nigeria strays into war’, I continued with the same theme. It was, therefore, a pleasant and heartwarming coincidence, to see a group of eminent Nigerians, same week, pondering over our grim situation, concluding that Nigeria is on the verge of a war and, therefore, cautioned that all hands must be on deck to avert the looming disaster. Amongst them are Dr Christopher Kolade, former Nigerian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, former Director General Nigeria Television Authority (NTA), Pastor  Shyngle Wigwe; Prof Anya Anya;  Ambassador George Obiozor, Chief Philip Asiodu, Mrs. Folake Solanke, Professor Akin Mabogunje, Mr Olumide Onabolu and Ladi Thompson.

Their plea could not have come at a more auspicious time and it is hoped that our politicians would take this as a divine call and work towards a peaceful resolution of all our challenges”.

It is a moot question now if fissiparous tendencies in Nigeria then were as dire as they are today with, among other things, non state actors destroying everything INEC, and working assiduosly towards rendering the election umpire hors de combat, long before the scheduled dates.

The perpetrators of these nefarious activities, among who security agencies have fingered politicians and ethnic nationalist state agitators, deserve a learning curve, if only to know what danger they are playing with.

This, therefore, takes me to that talk with the Afenifere Renewal Group from which I shall be quoting at some length.

I said as follows:

“In his article captioned ‘Egbe Omo Yoruba and the Nigerian Project’, Segun Gbadegesin, a Professor of Philosophy wrote: “In Failed State 2030: Nigeria- A Case Study – a 2011 Occasional Paper No. 67 by Colonel Christopher Kinnan and others of  the Air War College, USA, the authors noted that in a 2007 Failed State Index, “with the largest population in Africa and a top-20 economy, Nigeria ranked the 17th most likely to fail” on a list of 148 countries.

It is a dire assessment of the state of the nation. But there are, he notes, more notable points in the study. First, the factors that the authors identify as conducive to state failure include “an uneven economic and social development; a failure to address group grievances; and a perceived lack of government legitimacy” – all three are, unfortunately, as Nigerian as our national anthem”.

Second, in 2011, the study notes that “the youth bulge in Nigeria may swap roles from productive laborers to disaffected rebels in the next two decades.” In 2019, we are already witnessing widespread banditry, kidnapping, armed robbery, and cultism by rebellious youths.

Third, the authors suggest that a state that fails may require up to 56 years to recover, or it may actually never recover.

Fourth, a failed state is a threat to the survival and prosperity of ethnic-nationalities. Therefore, when a multinational state like Nigeria fails, even the quest of ethnic-nationalities for independence may not be realised. So much then for the drumbeats of war and our passion for ending it all so we could go our separate ways”.

Gbadegesin went further: “What does this all mean for our present heightened political rhetoric? First, another civil war is not an option simply because it will not end well for any zone. 2019 is not 1967. To borrow an analogy from the study authors, our china plate is so full of many cracks now that allowing it to drop on a hard floor will lead to many broken pieces”.

So what should we do as Nigerians to turn back from this road to Golgotha?

That question rightly deserves to be the focus of today’s article.

But then, first things first. We must leave politicians and non state actors already identified by the police to be dealt with, squarely, by the security agencies while we rather choose to concentrate on about the most dangerous, but benign, of Nigeria’s deadliest enemies; so described because they believe that because they are very rich and powerful, they are above the law of the land. They equally believe that because they have the most sophisticated airplanes in their hangars, and with which they can hop out of Nigeria at the drop of a pen or a bomb, it matters nothing, if they deploy their mostly illiterate church slaves to spread views that are worse than those which precipitated the horrible Rwandan genocide.

I talk here of the politicians in religious garbs who use, not just their pulpits, but all means of communication, to spread extremely divisive views, forgetting that should the looming disaster eventuate, not only Nigeria, but the entire West African sub region will be completely destroyed, ran over by hordes of safety and exile seeking Nigerians, thousands, if not millions, of who could perish in the process.

In case they are too conceited because of their stupendous wealth to see this possibility, they should watch CNN to see what is currently happening at the U.S southern border where the most powerful nation on earth is grappling, unsuccessfully, with an unprecedented surge of the ‘wretched of the earth’ from her southern neighbours. And in case they do not know this: all that anybody can know is when a war starts; certainly not how it will end.

This is a group of dangerous, politically – motivated, indeed, satanic religionists who are encouraging their dumb followers to inundate the country with asinine, religiously motivated campaigns complete, in some cases, with cheap videos containing worse preachments than what has precipitated wars in different parts of the world.

Commenting, this past week, on one such video which, unfortunately, found its way to a WhatsApp platform to which I belong, I wrote:

“This is a very dangerous, politically motivated video that must have cost the maker a pretty penny. Anyway, they have funding patriarchs. So money is not their problem.This exactly is how these powerful religious zealots cause wars that completely destroy nations when they inflame, and ignite, the passion of people who are majorly half illiterates.

The satanic man, that is, the video maker, said, among other things, that the NorthWest and the SouthWest have an alliance. And I ask: is the purpose, which is well known to be political, and resulted in the APC, intended to Islamise Nigeria?

How will that happen?

Didn’t they once say they would “open the gates of hell on whoever opposed President Goodluck Jonathan?”. Where did that take them or the decent man they supported only because he is of their religion? What conflagration will Nigeria not see were Muslims to behave like these gods of men?

Still playing God, they have now gone overboard, mis-speaking, and claiming that “the number of people who vote for APC in 2023 will determine the number of mad people in Nigeria”.

How does a so- called Man of God bring himself to utter those nauseating words?

Happily, a respected Man of God, proudly an ArchBishop of the Anglican Communion, has asked them to just shut up; admonishing them to the effect “that religious leaders must see themselves as instruments of unity, whatever their personal political preferences”. 

Continued the educated ArchBishop: “let candidates’ manifestoes and competence speak for them and not their religion or tribe”. “Religious leaders are part of the political problems we have in this country”.

They, however, need to be further schooled that spreading their kind of inflammable campaign is dangerous rhetoric that can bring about consequences we least expect.

They should rather just use their PVCs to elect their Saint and not blindly drag Nigeria into war.

They are supporting those who claim they are not a political party, but a movement. Change agents, they even surnamed themselves, as if Nigerians have forgotten that their Saint was a part and parcel of the past which they so cavaliarly thrash; one who has not been able to respond to any of the allegations of drug dealing made against him by respected association, as well as a young lady who was arrested, tried and jailed in faraway Peru.

That is their Saint for whose sake these powerful Church people will think nothing of edging Nigeria into war.

I can only urge Nigerians, like the ArchBishop counselled, to vote for  the candidate with the ability, the capability and a political trajectory suffused with well known, and measurable, achievements in public office.

“IF I want to answer the foolish question you have just asked, let me tell you, I have a row of electric push- buttons on my desk, and by pushing the right button, I can summon to my desk, men who can answer any question I may wish to ask concerning the business to which I have devoted most of my adult life, and efforts”.

“Now, will you tell me, why I should clutter up my mind with general knowledge, for the mere purpose of being able to answer questions when, I have around me, men who can supply whatever knowledge I require?”

That answer floored the lawyer.

Everybody in the courtroom realised that the answer was, not of an ignorant man, but of a man of education, intellect and, indeed of a genius.”

That was Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7 1947), an American industrialist and business magnate, founder of the Ford Motor, being cross- examined in court.

The Lesson in the above quote is that through the assistance of his “Master Mind” group, Henry Ford had at his fingertips, all the specialised knowledge and expertise he needed to enable him become one of the wealthiest men ever in America.

That, for those who genuinely don’t know, or the mischievous ones who deliberately misrepresent it, was exactly what the JAGABAN demonstrated at Chatham house, showcasing his leadership and ‘team spirit’.

To chatter is to talk rapidly in a purposeless manner. And that is what many have been doing since the APC Presidential candidate, Bola Ahmed  Tinubu, appeared at the Chatham House, London, and dazzled in his inimitable way.  He has once again shown them that political campaigns, like democracy itself, has no DNA, and can, therefore, be calibrated by any wise individual, in his or her own way, for maximum effect.

The opposition’s major grouse was his deployment, to their utter chagrin, of some seminal individuals, to speak to specific areas of his party’s manifesto, demonstrating, once again, his well known dexterity at mentorship, especially in matters pertaining to governance.

He equally demonstrated that the President is not a ‘mister – know – all’, but a leader, who can expertly and effectively lead, coordinating the work of his brilliant team. I have, for instance, personally watched, U.S President Biden so deploy Dr Fauci and other experts around him to expatiate on issues.

He did precisely that with great aplomb, and success, the entire 8 years he was Lagos state governor, and ended up, erecting the building blocks of a state that has since emerged about the 5th largest economy in Africa.

I recently watched a WhatsApp video where Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, the State’s then Attorney – General and Commissioner for Justice, elegantly described the Tinubu template that has confounded many lazy souls.

Opposition spokespersons, especially, have not rested since. They have been everywhere, even literally on rooftops, whining.

One Charles Onunaiju, who Nigerians would remember as a one time animated PDP Spokesperson but who, like Peter Obi, has now  joined ‘Labour’ – has shouted the loudest, especially on TV,  probably believing that he would not be heard unless he  shouted.

I saw him on Channels TV the other day, playing the medico, furiously posing questions about Tinubu”s health. Not even when the moderator asked if he had any documentary evidence for his outlandish claims would he be properly guided.

But he is not alone as those other surrogates, under whose principal, Nigeria’s 100Billion dollar plus investments, dating back to the 60’s, were sold off for a  miserable 1.5Billion dollars, have also not rested, nor would they ever. Their principal has, once again, promised to take off from where he left, and sell off Nigeria’s four refineries as well as anything sell- able.

From his own stable came the pugilist former legislator, the funny maker of cheap, third rate videos, weighing in. Nigerians must, of course, vote wisely, lest the massive railway infrastructure President Buhari built, got sold off behind their backs.

But the truth of it all is that, were these surrogates properly organised, they should have realised that they have weightier, and much more urgent issues, to contend with for their respective principals.

As an Igbo, Onunaiju must have heard of Igbo kwenu. That highly regarded Igbo Association once made very weighty allegations against Mr Peter Obi. That was shortly after he left APGA – long enough now for him to have reacted – but Nigerians are still waiting. Will Onanuiju please do Nigerians a favour: let us have  obi’s defence to those thoroughly ingratiating allegations part of which was his allegedly spending 12 years in the University to do a 3- year degree course in Philosophy,  graduating with a pass.

Allegations have similarly been made against Tinubu but, not only did he competently defended himself, the U.S authorities formally wrote to the Nigerian government affirming that he was never tried for drugs in the US as some political enemies were alleging.

Also Mr Onanuiju should please equally use the opportunity to react to the allegation by the  21year old Igbo lady, Chinenyenwa Ezewuzie, once a staff of Peter Obi’s NEXT, who was arrested and jailed for drug trafficking in Lima, Peru.  Chnenyenwa allegedly confessed that she was forced by Peter Obi to carry the suitcase which contained cocaine worth £1.5 million.  Nigerians deserve to hear from the Labour Party presidential candidate on these grievous allegations, failing which, he should honourably withdraw from the presidential race.

Nigerians, yours truly inclusive, take H.E Mr Peter Obi, as a decent man. He, therefore, cannot afford to keep these allegations hanging. And just in case he has replied to them, all he needs do now is tell Onanuiju to let Nigerians know where to find his rebuttal.

Regarding Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, isn’t it time the PDP presidential candidate opens up on the privatisation programme he had full control over, as VP in the Obasanjo government? Incidentally, membership of that government is Atiku’s sole qualification for wanting to be our president now and that was his biggest assignment in that government.

I also think it is time the respected VP, the Unifier who couldn’t unite his party, talks to Nigerians about why former president Obasanjo, his boss for 8 years, said that he can never recommend him for the Nigerian Presidency.

Since none of the issues raised in this article has been mentioned at any of the many townhall meetings – perhaps deliberately, I think both Obi and Atiku, either by themselves or through their spokespersons, should now talk to Nigerians.

We do not deserve less. OBASANJO

Resplendent in Igbo attire and flanked by Papa Ayo Adebanjo, former President Olusegun Obasanjo recently told his majorly Igbo audience in Enugu, this past week, that they should stop thanking him for backing the Southeast for the Presidency.

They were in Enugu for two main reasons: to commiserate with the family of an elderstatesman who just passed, and to honour a very decent Chief John Nwodo, one time leader of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, who I have known as a University student who demonstrated great leadership qualities as President of the University of Ibadan students Union in the ’70’s when I was an Assistant Registrar in the institution.

I sincerely believe that the two elderstatesmen missed the opportunity the occasion offered them. Rather than the self congratulation they indulged in, they should have, much more profitably, used the occasion to talk seriously on the unspeakable mayhem ravaging the entire region or what’s the point in achieving Igbo presidency while the entire place is rendered desolate?

They should have admonished, especially Igbo elders, who obviously haven’t done enough to rein in the gangs killing Igbos, security personnel and burning INEC infrastructure in the hope that elections will not hold there.

They should have made the point that with its rather little voting population, the Southeast has no margin of error to be able to scare away their people from voting, as happened during the Anambra state governorship elections, if, truly, they want to make Peter Obi president especially since, with all the prayers to the contrary, ethnicity will still play a significant part in the election. For instance, those who had to carry identity cards to move freely within their own country or the Hausa traders who had to relocate to Delta state, during governor Obis time as the stare governor, may not be Catholic enough to easily forget.

If, therefore, our two highly regarded elders do not want their endorsement of Peter Obi to go to nothing, they must find time for another visit.

By Femi Orebe

My first received impression of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar was that of an arrogant, condescending Hausa-Fulani senior customs officer who considered himself superior to all – thanks to two friends of mine – also customs officers -both now long retired, one of who actually worked directly  with him at the Lagos International Airport, Ikeja.

This view got further confirmation when I saw the entitlement mentality he exhibited while pursuing his ambition to be Chief MKO Abiola’s Vice Presidential candidate, for no other reason than that he was a protégé of the powerful General Shehu Musa Yar’ Adua. The unimaginable intra-party crisis that followed the choice of Babagana Kingibe did not help. Of course, I was all the while rooting for Kingibe in my column in a Lagos evening newspaper.

Below is how I captured that period in my forthcoming book: SIMPLY A CITIZEN JOURNALIST: “My next episode at columnising ( after stints in Niyi Oniororo’s Ondo state based PEOPLES NEWS, the Tribune during the tenure of Banji Ogundele as Sunday Editor and the Sketch during the time Uncle Jide Adeleye was editor but not in that order) was when an evening newspaper floated by Ibadan- born, Alhaji Balogun, had as its Managing Editor, my friend,  the  erudite journalist, and one-time Sunday Tribune Editor, Banji Ogundele. This again happened to be a period of frenetic politicking. It was in the era of the two political parties – the SDP, a little to the Left, and the NRC,  a little to the Right, both  the result of General Babangida’s harebrained political

experimentation. My column in the newspaper was so well received that  a journalist, Mr Segun Adelugba, now of blessed and cherished memory, made it his thesis in part fulfilment of his  Post graduate  Diploma in  Journalism  at the Institute of  Journalism,  Ogba, Lagos.  Hard hitting as usual, it was a veritable column for propagating the obvious superiority of the candidature of the SDP Presidential candidate, Chief MKO Abiola, over and above that of the presidential candidate of the National Republican Convention, Alhaji Bashir Tofa.  Another subject that enjoyed considerable attention then was who, of Alhaji Abubakar Atiku or Alhaji Babagana Kingibe should be Chief Abiola‘s running mate.   The column unapologetically rooted for Baba Ghana Kingibe to whom I had earlier been introduced by his friend, the Late Professor Adeleye Adegite, at the Ikoyi office of the SDP, when  Adegite mooted the idea of my being appointed an Aide to Baba. I, however, demurred because my sympathies were with the Chief Ajasin -led PSP.

Atiku has demonstrated a striking lack of patience in waiting  to take his turn, the reason I recently captioned one of my articles on this column as “Atiku Abubakar: Desperation is Your Name”.

Underpinning his desperation is his superiority complex. He so much believed he was better than his boss, former president Olusegun Obasanjo, that he actually wanted to supplant him as the PDP candidate in the 2003 presidential election.

Read Also; Between Tinubu and Atiku – who is the unifier?

Let us hear how the Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka put it while answering a question at the special presentation of his book, “Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes?: Gani’s Unfinished Business”,  at the Freedom Park, Lagos:

“ Before the PDP primaries in January 2003, Obasanjo got everyone he knew could reach me on the surface of the earth including Yemi Ogunbiyi and my son, to get me to help him intercede when it was clear that (Abubakar) Atiku was in a position to take his job. He knew Atiku had a lot of regard for me and calls me ‘Uncle’.

“The pressure was intense. Of course, I could not have knelt before Atiku not to embark on a course of action that would lead to his boss’ disgrace. But I can confirm to you that Obasanjo as President knelt down before Atiku so that he would not lose his job”. “But I warned Atiku that for making Obasanjo to kneel down for you, be sure you would have to pay heavily for that. I guess my warning came to pass if you remember Atiku’s dramatic change of fortune once Obasanjo was sworn in for a second term of office.”

That is vintage Atiku.

Another instance when Atiku demonstrated his belief in being superior to everybody was when he took peremptory action, though coyly, in his choice of Ben Obi as his running mate in the 2007 presidential election. Again, let us, respectfully, press Chief Bisi Akande into service by showing how he captured that event in his Autobiography, ‘My Participations’, Pages 485 – 486: “In 2007, we formed a party, the AC, with Atiku Abubakar. We agreed that Atiku should be our presidential candidate and we had the understanding that he will run with Bola Tinubu. I was the Chairman of the AC. One day after we had nominated Atiku as our presidential candidate, one young man came and gave me a form from INEC. I told him I could not sign a blank form, and that I, as Chairman, must know the name that would be filled in the form. The young man, Bashir Yusuf Ibrahim, must have been the organising right- hand man of Atiku. The following morning, he came again with Lawal Kaita. Kaita begged me and said it was Ben Obi whom Atiku had chosen as his running mate behind our back. So I signed the form because I believed that as the candidate, Atiku had the right to choose his running mate. We believed that Atiku should have chosen his running mate from the AD even if he was no longer favorably disposed to Tinubu. With Atiku, the party will be strong in the North, but because of the preponderance of PDP in the South East and the South – South, it would face more resistance in that area. Obasanjo was stepping down from the Presidency. Therefore, the Yoruba, even the few that benefited from his arrogant rule, would no longer be obliged to vote for PDP”. You can see in how Atiku tried to trick Chief Akande into signing a blank ‘cheque’ that he was, indeed, being pompous; all in the attempt to show that he was wiser than all. That was apart from the way in which he unilaterally chose Obi as his running mate, in a political party which  he did not own, and where you had the likes of Tinubu and Akande. What could be more audacious? This exactly is what Governor Wike has been saying about Atiku’s unreliability. Any rational person would expect that he would, at the very least, let the Chairman of the party know who he intended to choose as running mate , but Atiku so believes in his superiority, he thinks he can get away with just about anything, which is what is playing out today in the PDP.

Two other events are worth recalling in respect of the 2007 presidential election cycle. One Sunday, absolutely unknown to both of us, it so happened that Tatalo Alamu and I wrote two very scathing articles on Alhaji Atiku, the candidate of the AC who we should ordinarily be expected to be rooting for. Indeed, I actually went ahead to endorse General Muhammadu Buhari. I would hear, weeks later that the Monday after, emissaries of the Atiku campaign organisation visited with Ashiwaju to remonstrate against the two articles. The other event was, however, much more momentous. We would have to go back to ‘My Participations’, Pages 429 – 430 where Chief Akande brought into bold relief, the incredible support General Muhammadu Buhari enjoyed in the North in 2007. He wrote: “During the 2006 electioneering campaigns, as the National Chairman of AC, I was leading the party’s meetings and campaigns to most of the emirate capitals and cities of Northern Nigeria, crisscrossing Buhari’s ANPP in the political spaces of the North. We were trying to market Atiku Abubakar. One day, according to our schedule based on police permit, we were to hold a public rally at a particular open concourse in Jalingo. Buhari’s ANPP too was granted a police permit to address his rally a few days after our own rally at the same venue. As our aircraft was descending into Jalingo from the sky, I saw a large crowd of party enthusiasts in the bowl of the venue. I was secretly jubilant that we were being welcomed by such size of crowd. AS we touched down, our waiting party leaders told us that the party had to change. I was wondering as to how we would evacuate such a large crowd. It was alarming that the crowd I saw at our supposed venue were reported to have come to wait and catch a glimpse of Buhari at the ANPP campaign being anticipated a few days after our rally. The people had come to avoid harmful jostling among Buhari’s die-hard supporters at the expected date”. “When it became impossible to block their coming or prevent their intended waiting, the police had to advise AC to look for another venue. In our own case, the practice was to provide fund for transportation and logistics in advance, to mobilise our party loyalists. However, I was made to understand that Buhari would advance nothing for mobilisation, yet his enthusiasts would travel by foot, or ride on donkey, days ahead to beat the time. Such was Buhari’s charisma in the political space of the entire Northern Nigeria”.

I digress.

Now Atiku has met more than his match in Governor Wike. Believing Wike was a person he could easily wrong foot, having coyly beaten him to the presidential candidacy of their party, the PDP, the first thing he told him when he visited his house after their party’s convention was: Ayu must go. He had expected Wike to jump at that but instead, he was asked why? And although he it was who volunteered that since the presidential candidate is from the North, the party Chairman should come from the South for fairness, and equity, he has been saying other things since, claiming he hasn’t the power to effect what he jubilantly promised.

That exactly is how the man’s superiority complex, and cunning, not forgetting his entitlement mentality, have all caught up with him that if care is not taken, these human frailties may end up being the final nails on the coffin of his presidential ambition. It is precisely this ego-maniacal superiority complex that would not let him see the greed, and the unfairness, that out rightly perfume the North holding tightly to all the consequential positions in the PDP, namely, the Presidential candidacy, the party Chairmanship as well as the Director- Generalship of his campaign. It is only fair that the Wike-led Group of 5 is stubbornly, but righteously, standing up to this one-upmanship.

And some people have the temerity to suggest that APGA’s candidate should “step down” for Peter Obi as the “Igbo candidate”. I wonder when Igbos met to choose a candidate”

“…Let’s be clear: Peter Obi knows that he can’t and won’t win. He knows the game he is playing, and we know too; and he knows that we know. The game he is playing is the main reason he didn’t return to APGA. The brutal truth (and some will say, God forbid) is that there are two persons/parties seriously contesting for president: the rest is exciting drama!” – Governor Charles Soludo in History Beckons and I will not be Silent (Part 1)

By the time the respected Pa Ayo Adebanjo announced his unilateral endorsement of Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party as the Afenifere, read as Yoruba candidate, have the good people of the Southeast decided that Obi was their regional – better put – ethnic candidate, that is, that Obi is an IGBO PROJECT, or was Baba merely jumping the gun, trying to dictate  to Igbos which of their two illustrious sons contesting, (APGA also has a  presidential candidate) they should endorse?

As at that time, or since, has Chief Adebanjo met, or has it been reported in any Nigerian news medium, that he has met with Obi for discussions on the candidate’s manifesto which, as you read this, has not yet been formally presented to Nigerians? What exactly is in it for the Southwest Region? If the answers are in the negative, then on what basis was Baba jauntily leading the Yoruba nation into a cul de sac, particularly at a time when no consequential Igbo leader has rushed headlong, into endorsing the Labour Party candidate?

It will also be perfectly rational to ask Chief Adebanjo about how well he knows the man to whose apron strings he was so cavaliarly tying the Yoruba people.

Given the unrestrained abuse to which Professor Soludo said he, and his family, have been subjected by the Obidients, and their clansmen for saying the truth about the much hyped  investments which governor Obi  claims he made in Anambra State, wasn’t Adebanjo leading Yorubas into a guillotine?.

Obi’s successor, as governor of Anambra state who, incidentally he, allegedly, personally head – hunted, has shouted himself hoarse, denying the rosy picture Obi painted of his investments everywhere he spoke.

Governor Soludo volunteered exactly what he knows about the investments, as well, as did a critical analysis of the forthcoming election,  given his candid views about how far he believes Peter Obi could go and, as has become the practice with these uncouth Obidients, all hell was let loose you would think Armaggedon was at hand.

The governor should, however, still count himself lucky that he escaped that lightly in a region, and in circumstances, when his head could very well have been separated from his trunk or alternatively, get hanged.

In order, therefore, not to expose him to any further danger by referencing his piece, I have decided to press Dr. Nick Obidiukwu into service by quoting, at some considerable length, from his piece titled ‘The Problem Is Not Soludo But Obi’s Serial Lies’, which has been trending now for days on WhatsApp.

Therein, he wrote as follows: “Professor Charles Soludo had barely finished his interview with Channels Television when the media thugs and supporters of Labour Party presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi, descended on the Anambra State Governor with characteristic bile. What vitriol Obi’s social media gangs spared the governor was what their dark minds did not conjure up”.

“Mr. Obi’s rampaging supporters could not live with the indictment that it did not make sense to be saving money when a state lacked critical infrastructure and the people were wallowing in hunger and in poor health. It also grated their ears that the value of the controversial investment in a brewery had drastically depreciated.

Obi, who had lately metamorphosed into a candidate of regional and generational anger, was bound to contend with the consequences of his serial lies some day.”

“Whereas he handed over N44b in cash, savings and investment and debt of over N127b, he deceives the public with the figure of N75b. (See Vanguard newspaper of November 15, 2015) for the Obiano administration’s repudiation of N75b handover. Part of the wrongful and inadmissible entries of the phantom N75b assets are the following old investments that predated Obi’s government by decades: Emenite Industries, Enugu, is one instance. N1.4b was invested in Intafact Beverages but recorded as N3.5b.  Donor agency counterpart funds were included as investment! Same for N2.2b agriculture loans given to farmers!

All these were part of the assets inherited by the next government! If the announcement on this flawed documents had been made just once, the errors would easily be passed over as an oversight. But Obi and his propaganda team have persisted in publicising the disinformation, thereby underlining the deliberateness of their action.

On the brewery investment, it is not considered a scandal for Obi and his media mob that Anambra State money was ploughed into a business in which their hero is a part – owner.

On top of that, Obi’s propaganda organs periodically told the world that it invested $20m. Anambra State Commissioner of Finance, Ifeatu Onejeme, was forced to issue a statement clarifying that the true equity investment was $12m. Obi and his riot squad would not apologise for their misconduct. Rather, they abused the Commissioner as they have abused Professor Soludo for speaking up.

In a bid to be seen as a super achiever, equally, Obi has been prancing about that he neither borrowed as governor nor left debts behind for his successor. Is there no limit to duplicity?

Mercifully, perceptive Nigerians have seen through the posturing. For instance, Farooq Kperogi, wrote as follows in the Tribune of October 20, 2022: “He (Obi) lies a lot – like other politicians. He claims he never borrowed as a governor and that he left a surplus when he left office as a governor. Records at the Debt Management Office do not support this. Anambra’s External Debt was $15 million by December 2007. At the time Obi left office in June 2014, the state’s external debt had risen to an astronomical $41 million, indicating a 173 percent jump.”

It is same with his claim about not owing anybody while handing over in 2014. Indeed, local government staff pension were owed, ABS pension were owed, Water Corporation salaries were owed. Contractors were owed.

So resolute and so cunning has Obi been in this project of self-glorification that the Obiano administration spent valuable time correcting the distortions his predecessor dropped around at every opportunity.

And there are many others like having only one wristwatch, two pairs of shoes and not using bullet-proof vehicles.

In the face of Obi’s willful determination to misrepresent facts, it would have been irresponsible of Soludo to allow the former governor get away with his falsification of Anambra’s public records. Free flow of verified information is a basic requirement for good governance.

If the exposure of Obi’s lies has hurt his presidential ambition, he has only himself to blame.

Back then to Chief Adebanjo. How much of the above does chief know of the man he endorsed for the highest office in the country and why should he be bothered as it conforms with his long standing animus against Tinubu with whom he has drawn the battle line since 2003 when the political tactician and strategist refused to be led by the nose by the ‘Baba so pe’s’ of Afenifere into an unholy alliance with the wily Obasanjo. The other five Southwest AD governors who didn’t see what Tinubu saw, came a cropper, as they were all defeated by PDP candidates.

At every subsequent election since 2011, Adebanjo has ensured that he was in a party opposed to Tinubu. That was how he inspired Afenifere into supporting Buhari in 2011, Jonathan in 2015, Atiku in 2019 and now, Obi. Curious though that he is no longer supporting the man he rooted for all the way only four years ago and who will be contesting on the same PDP platform.

To dub that type of action as principle would mean that the word has since changed meaning as Pa Adebanjo neither knows Obi’s programmes, nor have Igbos endorsed Obi as their sole candidate.

The ever perspicacious Yoruba has a saying for what is on ground: “ti a ba le’ni ta o ba ba ni, a ndehin ni”. Because Adebanjo’s endorsement of Obi is not a product of love, but of crass opportunism, he should, while he still have the time, re-think the Obi endorsement which will do no more than the earlier ones did for Buhari, Jonathan and Atiku in previous elections in which they collaborated.

My two pence.

It is out of the greatest respect for an elder that anybody, especially in Yoruba land, would show any concern over whether, or not, Chief Ayo Adebanjo endorsed any candidate for the 2023 presidential election, or any election at all. This is because, as we say in these parts, ‘tana da?’, which pidgin speaking parts of Nigeria would interpret as ‘na today’? In the election cycles 2011, 2015, and 2019, Chief Adebanjo led Afenifere –he seems to always have the last say in the Pan-Yoruba organization, except now – to endorse candidates Muhammadu Buhari(the late Yinka Odumakin, Baba’s subaltern was the Buhari campaign spokesperson), Goodluck Jonathan and Atiku Abubakar, respectively, but with nothing resembling victory recorded by any of the candidates at the elections. Mr Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labor party should, therefore, be wary and learn appropriate lessons, despite the sweet theorising of the likes of Professor Pat Utomi who was on Channel’s tv,  justifying Chief Adebanjo’s one-man act.

Commenting on my article:’No Candidate Adopted By The Chief Ayo Adebanjo Faction of Afenifere Has Ever Won a Presidential Election’ – The Nation, Sunday, 2 October, 2022 a friend, and classmate of mine at Ife, and a Professor of Political Science to boot, wrote as follows: “Very well written=ØOÜHowever, you might have been beating a dead horse with a big stick. Afenifere is a dead pressure group. Pa Adebanjo is in a time warp; 1999 is not 2022. He is on his own. People now coalesce around political parties, not cultural or pseudo-political groups”.

He should know.

On the issue at hand, that is, the endorsement of Ashiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the APC Presidential candidate, by the Afenifere Leader, Pa Fasoranti and the absolutely needless controversy which Chief Ayo Adebanjo, the Acting leader, and the young men surrounding him, majority of who come from a minority of Yoruba states, have generated, I can only, like saint augustine, say:

“Roma lacuta, causa finita est”

(Rome has spoken, the matter is finished)

Yoruba has spoken through Papa Fasoranti

Matter is finished

End of story!

The above should, ordinarily, be the end of story on the controversy about what happened at the Akure meeting hosted by Pa Fasoranti, at which many distinguished Yoruba leaders were present to welcome, and endorse Ashiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the APC presidential candidate in the 2023 election. It is worth recalling that before he set out on the titanic task of vying for the ruling party’s presidential candidacy at the party’s primaries, Tinubu had thought it wise to come home for prayers; with a promise to return after clinching same. But some of our compatriots, who believe they know more than others , and believe that the  Yoruba people, via Afenifere,  must be traded to all manner of  candidates at every election cycle, are trying to raise hell.

But this time around, Yorubas say no. Eni kan ki je awa de.

It is unbelievable that any Yoruba leader would not appreciate the real import, and the  implications, of the forthcoming elections for the Yoruba race, but would rather, go on a freeloading excursion all the way to Igbo land to endorse a presidential candidate in the name of a principle which changes every four years as shown above. For the education of such leaders, however, please permit me to quote from Adewale Adeoye  in  his recent article: ‘2023: Who are the Yoruba leaders? He wrote: “Yoruba leaders should know that their people will like to see 2023 as an election which will produce a leader that will save the race from the present cultural genocide, the regression, the oppression, the loss of ancestral territories to armed savages, the raping of women on our farms, the killing of our kings as well as the violation of the sacred norms of our humanity. Resolving these issues to guarantee self-determination is far more important than any other issue. To the Yoruba, the 2023 election is only useful if it has a solution to the gruesome situation in our fatherland”. “There is an urgent threat of being overwhelmed by Talibans. The people have to take a decision. For now, whatever discussion, or power struggle by Yoruba leaders, not motivated by, and linked, to the struggle of the people for survival and upliftment from the current stupor, is counterproductive and can only be the masturation of an individual ego”.

Given the existential challenges presently ravaging literally every ethnic group in Nigeria, Yoruba inclusive, what manner of principle is Chief Adebanjo claiming to  pursue, leaving Yorubas adrift? How can it be called leadership, hoisting a pan – Yoruba organisation, even if now substantially diminished, in support of an igbo, or any  other ethnic candidate when we have one of our own contesting? Indeed, how reasonable is that when that organisation is not the personal property of anybody?

Chief Adebanjo has, understandably, been loudest in criticising President Buhari for the insecurity convulsing the country.  So how come he now wanders all the way to the Southeast to locate a presidential candidate to whose apron strings he must tie yorubas? So that what will, or not, happen? Chief  Adebanjo must tell Yorubas the truth of his present infatuation .

Meanwhile, his choice of party – the Labour party- is one that hasn’t a single recognisable Yoruba within its leadership cadre. Besides that, the party “has no candidates for the Senate in Borno, Ekiti, Katsina, Kebbi and Lagos; has one out of 3 in Bayelsa, Delta, Jigawa, Ondo and Yobe and has 2 out of 3 in Bauchi, Kogi, Niger and Sokoto States. For the House of Representatives, Labour has no single candidate in Borno (9 seats), Ekiti(6 seats), Katsina (13 seats), Kebbi (8 seats), Lagos (24 seats) and Ondo (9 seats) just as it has less than 50% representation in Bauchi, Jigawa, Kogi, Niger and Plateau. Representations by candidates, for the Labour Party in the following states are also incomplete: Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Kano, Sokoto and Zamfara”.

So what principle drove Chief Adebanjo to such a party? What, for him, is the end in view even for the  Igbo people he is so vociferously supporting, or for his Yorubas, who must be igbo attaches? Of course, Igbos are not deceived, and I believe that both igbos and  Yorubas must ask him these crucial questions or are both being recruited for purposes of the Chief’s political relevance, come 2023?

One of Chief Adebanjo’s major criticisms of the Akure meeting is that many of those who attended the meeting are not members of Afenifere, and that they are, indeed, APC leaders. Where, at all, he conceded the membership of some, he went on to ask, rhetorically:when last did they attend Afenifere meetings? In fact, one of his subalterns put it more blandly. Wrote Akinyemi Onigbinde elsewhere: “The issue here is straight forward: the Akure meeting was not an Afenifere meeting, and those who signed the letter inviting people did that under a well stated organization. I got a call from Chief Seinde Arogbofa who informed me that Pa Fasoranti asked him to request of me to join him to receive Tinubu, a request I declined, with apologies to the grand old man who was being manipulated to give a veneer of Afenifere cover to a meeting that was to be attended, mostly, by chieftains of APC and their sympathisers in the South West. Thus, inviting people like me was to help achieve some objective which I refused to help realize”. Indeed, to drive home his case, he wrote further to the effect that even the General Secretary of Afenifere –  a position Chief Adebanjo personally donated to Ebisemiju who, on papa’s 94th birthday anniversary, wrote to Chief Adebanjo that he was giddily happy for the honour – and is from Ondo state, refused to attend, as if that amounted to anything.

With all due respect, Chief Adebanjo must be told that he has scared not a few away from Afenifere. As my two- time teacher, both at Christ’s School, Ado –Ekiti, and at the University of Ife, I have known, and have been very close, to Senator (Professor) Banji Akintoye for no less than six decades but I have never seen him half as distraught as he was, the day he told me his experience in the hands of Pa Adebanjo and Yinka Odumakin, of blessed memory, all because he was, absolutely unsolicited, elected the Yoruba leader at an event in Ibadan. According to him, there was no name the duo didn’t call him and he made up his mind, there and then, never to attend any meeting of Afenifere ever again. Professor Akintoye was, by the way, at the time, Chairman of Afenifere’s Political Committee and, indeed, the organisation’s brain box.

How many people do we know have fared worse as long as Chief Adebanjo prefers to run a one – man show in Afenifere; the reason he had no qualms saying, on television, that he needs not take any advice from Pa Fasoranti?Indeed, if we were moved to consider the argument of the naysayers, is contemporary Afenifere in a position to command the stellar attendance of highly regarded Yorubas, the kind we saw at the Akure event?

No way.

In fact, when last did Afenifere meetings enjoy attendance of members from majority of Yoruba states? Chief Adebanjo has, of course, always seen ‘ara Oke’ Yorubas as aliens in Afenifere, and this has been the inspiration for his attempted sole ruler ship of what, essentially, is a Pan –Yoruba organization. There isn’t a scintilla of doubt that Afenifere needs a proper re-engineering which the leader, Pa Fasoranti, must begin to think about in consultation with others. Afenifere affairs must, in no circumstance, be personalised. For instance, its meetings continued to be held at Chief Ajasin’s house in owo even after Chief  Adesanya had been appointed Acting Leader and got moved to Ijebu only after he became the substantive Leader.

This event also reminds me of another of Chief Adebanjo’s one-upmanship. Eager to resolve any differences, whatever, with the older Afenifere, the Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG), ahead of its first ever public outing at the IITA, Ibadan, decided to invite all Afenifere leaders to what we called ‘THE IBADAN RETREAT’. It was packed full and, in fact, for the entire 3 days it lasted, we were blessed to have the presence of both Senator, and Mama Ayo Fasanmi, while most did only one day. At the event, all the Afenifere leaders, speaking in turn, said all misunderstandings were forgiven, and forgotten. But trust the ever seminal Hon. Wale Oshun, leader of ARG. As we were about rounding up, he dug deep into his rich history of Afenifere, and suggested that we set up a few sub groups to visit each of the Afenifere leaders to make sure that, of a truth, a closure has been put to every misunderstanding. When reports of the visits were subsequently being collated, the report from Hon Oshun who, understandably, led the group to Chief Adebanjo, showed that all we had been doing was no more than pouring water in a sieve.

Afenifere sure needs a rejig, and there can be no denying the fact that Pa Fasoranti is the undeniable Afenifere, as well as the ‘numero uno’ Yoruba Leader.

Were General Musa Yar Adua to resurrect today, indicating he wanted to contest for the presidency of Nigeria, those who know Atiku Abubakar, his old protégé well, contend that the latter would also announce his own interest in the post. This is the spirit that has seen Atiku contesting for the presidency since the 90’s, and for him, anything goes. Let us briefly sketch his 30 plus years odyssey, trying to actualize that ‘Maraboutian’ chimera. I am not going to be original here, as I would rather, respectfully, press into service, his one-time boss, ex- President Olusegun Obasanjo who saw him close up for 8 years as well as the inimitable journalist, Louis Odion, who has spent some quality time, studying the enigma called Atiku Abubakar.

The contributions from these two distinguished Nigerians will show, very clearly, that nobody should be surprised when, before the entire Northern ‘eminence grise’, people who , eager to build a virile, peaceful and united Nigeria, had chosen to interrogate presidential candidates regarding their programmes, and plans, for the country, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar could only utter the following utterly unstatesmanlike drivel, following upon Hakeem Baba-Ahmed’s simple question as to why Northerners should vote for him: “What the average Northerner needs is somebody who’s from the north and also understands that part of the country and has been able to build bridges across the country”. “This is what the Northerner needs, it doesn’t need a Yoruba or Igbo candidate, I stand before you as a Pan-Nigerian of northern origin” – a most unfortunate response from a veteran presidential candidate, and a former Vice President to boot.

Of course, haven’t the Holy Books say that from the abundance of the heart, a man speaketh?

That is the Alhaji Atiku Abubakar some people are dying to sell to Nigerians as a unifier, as if the word has changed its meaning, even as his party, the PDP, is in unspeakable turmoil. Without a scintilla of doubt, and as will be attedted to by the testimonies in this article, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar is obviously being driven by an un-tameable desperation to be Nigerian president. This apparently is not because he has anything of note to offer a country in desperate need of rebuilding and re-engineering, but just so he could say his Marabouts are right again.

Even as Vice -President, Atiku was more concerned with upstaging his boss and becoming the President as he had been promised by those who had once, uncannily, predicted his political trajectory.

Ex-president Obasanjo, therefore, had the following to say, and has promised never to change a word of it, come rain or shine, about his Vice: “Without seeking my view or approval, he started planning the installation of Chuba Okadigbo as the senate president. I did a background check on Chuba including his past as a student and made enquiries about him in the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) under (President Shehu) Shagari and no one would recommend him for the post of senate president. “I left Atiku to go on his chase while I carried out a meticulous and detailed investigation and background check on each senator from the South-east. The one that appeared most appointable was Evan Enwerem. I canvassed the senate across the board for his election and he was elected. Atiku did not expect it and he felt sore. He began to strategise for Enwerem to be removed and Chuba Okadigbo to be installed. His strategy worked because I was at the Abuja airport to receive a visiting head of state when the news reached me that the Senate had impeached Enwerem and elected Okadigbo. I was not perturbed. I came to understand from some senators including Florence Ita-Giwa, who later became my Special Adviser/ Liaison Officer to the National Assembly, that Atiku distributed US$5,000 each to some senators to carry out the ‘coup’. “That was the beginning of bribing the legislature to carry out a particular line of action to suit or satisfy the purpose or desire of an individual or a group.

The National Assembly had tasted blood and they would continue to want more. From the day I nominated Atiku to be my vice, he set his mind not for any good, benefit or service of the country, but on furiously planning to upstage, supplant or remove me at all cost and to take my place”.

“That was what I brought him for, but he was impatient and over-ambitious. He was not ready to learn or to wait. His marabout, who predicted that despite being elected as governor, he would not be sworn in as a governor, which happened, also assured him that he would take over from me in a matter of months rather than years”. “All his plans, appointments of people and his actions were towards the actualisation of his marabout’s prediction. Once I realised his intention and programme, I watched him like a hawk without giving any indication of what I knew and letting down my guard. I could not succumb to the distraction, diversion and malevolence of an ambitious but unwise deputy”.

If that was eons ago, let us see Atiku in contemporary times in the exhilarating words of Louis Odion, writing in: ‘Atiku: The Peril of inordinate ambition’, (The Nation, 16 October, ’22) where he wrote, inter alia:

“Atiku is a conflicted bigot, consumed by inordinate ambition. He remains a bare-foot slave to an empire the Nigeria of the twenty-first century has outgrown. In 2011, he battled Jonathan for PDP ticket, on the argument that the ‘North has not used up its two term slots’, following Yar’Adua’s death in office on May 5, 2010. (In the meantime, forget that he stubbornly refused entreaties not to go to court when the same Umar Yar’Adua was declared winner in 2007 in the spirit of ‘northern solidarity’ and fought like a wounded lion up to Supreme Court”.

“But he got a shellacking at the PDP primaries in 2011. In 2014, he, still driven by that inordinate ambition, again led the rebellion of nPDP to evacuate PDP in protest of Jonathan’s bid for 2nd (3rd?) term; that it was ‘the turn of power to shift to the North’ for the ‘sake of justice and equity’. In 2018, realizing he stood no chance against President Buhari’s winning 2nd term in 2019, he migrated back to PDP. Of course, he suffered another shellacking in 2019. With the power of Dollars, and a thoughtless invocation of the ethnic card at PDP’s May primaries, he overpowered Southern contenders (like Wike) to the presidential ticket”.

While Northern politicians, even of much sterner stuff, like the APC Northern governors, were more concerned with fairness, equity and the unity of Nigeria and, therefore, conceded the party’s presidential slot to the South, as Governor El Rufai said Sir Ahmadu Bello and the Northern founding fathers would have wished, Atiku would, in Odion’s words: “sacrifice national unity, put a knife on the fragile thread that holds Nigeria together, in the desperation to rig the fulfilment of the long-standing prophecy by marabouts (according to ex-President Obasanjo) of ruling Nigeria some day”.

But that is not all we see in the character sketch of the man who believes he ‘just must rule Nigeria’, as Nyesom Wike, a PDP chieftain and Governor of Rivers state, has severally attested to Atiku’s unreliability. For instance, Wike said:”Now, when we finished our convention, the candidate of the party ( Atiku) came to see me in my house in Abuja on Monday, around 10:30am, and said ‘Listen, I want us to work together. Ayu must go.’

“I asked him why, and he said because when a candidate comes from the north, the chairman will come from the south. Today, Ayu is in office as PDP Chairman. Thanks to the same Atiku’s unreliability.

But there are other instances of his double dealing.

Speaking at a meeting with PDP stakeholders from the South-East in Enugu on Tuesday, September 27, Atiku said he was “interested in repositioning the region to play bigger roles in the country’s survival”, noting that “because of his love for the region, he twice chose Igbos as his running mate; and has now, for the third time, chosen another”. Therefore, dclared the man who is adept at trading the Nigerian presidency: “I confidently say, I will be your stepping stone to becoming president”.

But before the cock could crow, listen to Atiku talking to an estranged Governor Nyesom Wike.

If the promise to the entire Ndigbo was on Tuesday, September 27, 2023, Atiku soon turned tail, full circle, and the promise to the Southeast evaporated, pronto.

Of course, for good reasons, he would say.

Worried by the danger posed to his presidential ambition by the camp of the Rivers State governor, Atiku thought nothing of offering Wike the same presidency, on a platter come 2027, on the one condition, however, that he must agree to sheathe his sword, and support him in the 2023 election. That was when both men met in Abuja in a fresh bid to patch up their differences. Thus vanished, in a twinkle of an eye, his promise to the entire Ndigbo nation..

Lo ba tan, as the Yoruba would say. End of story.

Pray, is this the same man going all over Nigeria, asking to be our president?

God forbid.

He must perish the thought because we won’t know when he would sell Nigeria to whomsoever he chose, and there would be nothing we can do about it, as character is key. I honestly do not think there is a better way of ending this article than as Odion did his own when he wrote:”This presidential ‘candidate of habit’ will soon find again that the Nigeria of his depraved, bigoted dream no longer exists”.