The Nation Newspaper

Category: Sunday

A mere red herring

This past Sunday I wrote as follows on these pages in the article: ‘The Unabating Kidnapping in The North: Price We Are Paying For Long Years Of Feudalism’:”Knowing how much insecurity can imperil its economic programmes, especially its drive for foreign investors, the Federal government must now,

put in place, appropriate measures to nip the terrible situation in the bud. The place to start, however, will be to seek the support of both the Northern elite and that of its traditional authority, both of which have demonstrated unbelievable equanimity in the face of massive insecurity in that part of the country”.

“This level of insecurity could not be happening in any other part of the country without the people becoming thoroughly agitated, and showing appropriate concern. It is time Northern leaders are roused from their lethargy even if it means that President Tinubu would have to specially appeal to them.

Enough is enough”.

As if the Northern eminence grise ever stooped to read columns like this one, newspapers were awash this past week, with phographs of Northern leaders, His Eminence the Sultan of Sokoto inclusive, meeting under the auspices of the Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG), to discuss what they described as “Multidimensional Approach to Tackling Insecurity in Northern Nigeria”.

God be praised: President Tinubu no longer needs plead with them to join hands with his government to rein in the insecurity conundrum which, for 8 years, a retired general could not tame.

This will only happen, though, if respected Fulani leaders will tell their compatriots, whether as herdsmen, or foreign Fulanis who are keen only on forcefully taking over other peoples’ ancestral lands, that enough is now enough.

Not even the highly regarded, but sanctimonious President Buhari who Nigerians believed would do so, did. Which is why I hope that this current meeting would not be an exercise in futility as”their shared goal, according to General Abdulsalami Abubakar is “to foster a secure environment that enables the prosperity and well- being of the people of the region”, as against what my people, the Yoruba, would have done in similar circumstances: call a spade a spade, apportion blames as they deem fit, and ask the aggressor in the long running ‘war’, to stop their aggression. Simple.

How exactly do you “secure an environment where one group is doing everything to dispossess another group of their ancestral lands, whose original names they promptly change, while security people never ever effect a change to the status quo ante? This is a group, it is alleged, that comes in fully armed, at night, completely ransacks the place, leaving the land free for some people to do illegal mining.

It’s a joke.

Any attentive Nigerian would know that the uproar in the North concerning the anticipated transfer of a department of the Central Bank of Nigeria and the headquarters of the Ministry of Aviation from Abuja to Lagos, is a mere distraction, a precursor to what could be a far worse brouhaha; the only surprise being that it is coming this late in the Tinubu administration.

This should, however, be understandable since all the efforts to see a Northerner succeed Buhari after 8 years, came a cropper. And some people sure still hate that to their stomach.

When the North moved, therefore, it was not just the Arewa Consultative Forum(ACF). Her normally, self -serving senators who have never shown any concern for the parlous material condition of the region, except when they want to make mischief like now, had to roar too with Ali Ndume, as usual, arrogantly grandstanding, telling Nigerians – on television for good measure – to expect political consequences arising therefrom. What cheek! Worse though, was the claim by the senators that the National budget was lopsided against the North.

How rich?

Were they sleeping in their huge, but hardly effective numbers, while the budget exercise lasted?

What a self – indictment.

This is a group of individuals who have refused to express any tangible concern regarding the horrendous Christmas Eve slaughter of over 100, some reports put it at 195 persons, in the Bokkos and Barkin-Ladi Local Government Areas of Plateau state. Also, hearing nothing from these pretending Northern zealots, the killing armada again went back to work, last Wednesday, mauling another 30, even though a state of emergency was declared by the Plateau state governor. The Mangu CAN Chairman has just now made a public announcement to the effect that the state of emergency was effective only in the Christian area where security men looked askance as their houses wee being reduced to rubble. He even suggested that soldiers should better be withdrawn from their area so thar they too could face their attackers. Suffice to say that the military has since described the announcement as malicious.

All these remind me of my article of 10 December, 2021.

Titled: ‘Nigeria at 61:The North Must Restrategise’, it reads as follows:”I have severally made the point here that for Nigeria to make any meaningful progress, we all must tell truth to both power and to ourselves, no matter the risk. One of the weaknesses of the current administration (Buhari’s), derives from the fact that those closest to the president, and should always tell him the truth, are somewhat precluded from doing so, either because of the Rankadede culture, or for fear of his larger than life persona.

This has led him into making some avoidable mistakes which have, in turn, negatively impacted not only him, personally, but also on the North as a whole – cronyism being a good example.

For changes to happen in the North, deliberate effort must be made by its leaders, especially the state governors, to reduce poverty by aggressively investing in education rather than just trying to grab power for the mere sake of power. As you read this, 65 per cent of Nigeria’s 86 million poor live in Northern Nigeria, complete with millions of out – of – school children.

Education is the fundamental tool of reducing the intolerable insecurity currently threatening the very survival of the region. Appropriate attention must be devoted to it.

Let us now hear from Minna-based, Dauda Hussaini Paiko, a Northern activist, public affairs analyst, social commentator and motivational speaker who, in a trending WhatsApp post wrote as follows:“Northern governors are the most unhelpful set of people in the world. They don’t meet to discuss how to improve life, or add value, to their citizenry. The only time they meet is when they gather to discuss Social Media Bill or zoning of the Presidency. We have 19 Northern States out of which only two, Kano and may be, Kaduna, are viable. The others merely survive on federal allocation. They don’t meet to end banditry, or terrorism, let alone talk of economic development, and growth, or how to foster good governance across the region. Rather they will come and threaten everyone on how power must remain in the North, claiming they have the numbers. Yes, you have the highest number of out of school children. With time, Boko Haram and banditry will be a child’s play because those you fail to educate, and empower, will have no option than to take up arms. Yes, you have the highest number of Girl child marriages. In some states, girls aged between 10 – 12 years are married off, the reason VVF has become prevalent in North West States.

You have the lowest GDP in the country because you produce nothing of commercial value. Your land that could have been used to produce large farm products to be used for industrial production are now homes to terrorists. The only thing you know is Power. Power without value. Power without making a difference. Power without control.

I am a Northerner. And I speak for majority of the sane ones. Power sharing is not our problem. Our problem is lack of Peace, Progress and Prosperity. We want industry, trade, tourism and employment. Anyone parading himself as my leader should share that common interest with us. I want food, employment, education, roads and access to credit to establish myself. I am tired of running about”.

Paiko has said it all, and everything he said concerning state governors are true of most Northern leaders who deliberately feign ignorance of all the atrocities that have continued to make life there short and brutish.

Read Also: Naira redesign, ‘Emilokan’ speech, excerpts from Femi Adesina’s ‘Working with Buhari’

This current noise is intended to maintain the unearned, and totally unmerited advantages which President Buhari gifted the North and it is quite unfortunate. Whatever people like senator Ndume see affecting the North, no matter how tangentially during the present administration is wrongly taken as politically targeted at it which is why he was talking about political cartels as if every President must be sucked in by a cabal.

Meanwhile, Kaduna state alone, is home to more federal agencies than 10 southern states put together.

All put together it is refreshing to conclude this piece with the elevated views of one who should know.

I had intended to end it with an advisory from

Mohammed A. YAKASAI, a former CBN director. That is now being replaced by the very authoritative views of Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, a former CBN Governor and one time Emir of Kano.

He wrote:”There are a number of errors in the previous write ups on the CBN’s initial strategy on departmental locations.

I did not demolish the old building. The credit for the design and the contract for the new Lagos building goes to Charles Soludo. But it is true that I did the formal foundation laying ceremony when JB brought the building to ground level, and I opened the building and used it before I left the CBN.

There was no “blue print”. Yakasai may have been informed by someone of conversations among the governors ( and he was not present in those conversation) in which we proposed that DG FSS and his departments move to Lagos and he could come to Abuja anytime for meetings.

Kingsley Moghalu was happy with the arrangement but we did not have time to come round to it. Having said that – moving certain functions to the Lagos office ( which is bigger than the Abuja head office) is an eminently sensible move. In my mind what I would have done was to move FSS and most of Operations to Lagos such that the two Deputy Governors would be largely operating out of Lagos or, even if they were more in Abuja , the bulk of their operational staff would be in Lagos. Economic policy, Corporate services and all the departments reporting to the Governor directly such as Strategy, Audit, Risk management, Governors’ office etc would remain in Abuja.

It makes eminent strategic sense. And I would have done this if I had stayed.

All this noise is absolutely unnecessary. The CBN has staff manning its branches and cash offices across the Federation. Moving staff to the Lagos office to streamline operations and make them more effective and reduce cost is a normal prerogative of management. The problem we have now is that many employees are children of politically exposed persons ( no thanks to Emefiele – Columnist) and their Abuja life and businesses are more important than the CBN work.

The CBN is just an address for them and if they have to choose between their spoilt Abuja life and the job, they would gladly leave the CBN.

All the more reason for the Governor to put his foot down and get rid of those elements they are dangerous for the bank’s future. Having said that I think the CBN needs to get a few things right. First, the question of locating functions is a STRATEGIC and not tactical one. A proper analysis should be done to identify which roles are best suited to Lagos and which to abuja. Once the logic is clear the people then follow. Non communication of strtategic intent opens the door to mischievous misrepresentation and arbitrariness.

I dont like the idea of arguing that the office structure can not handle the staff numbers. I am sure Julius Berger would refute that if they wanted to engage. Second, individual situations should be considered. As much as possible we should be empathetic. For example young mothers with kids in school who do not need to move can be prioritised to stay in Abuja or those with medical conditions etc. Third the CBN needs to focus on the exchange rate and inflation. Once it has control of these it earns credibility. Once CBN has credibility the Governor is untouchable.

So long as people think CBN has lost control of its key mandate everyone can make it a target and simple things like this- staff movement- become an issue it has to defend itself on. When the CBN delivers on its mandate it can push through any changes no matter how tough and ignore the noise.

*My advice to the Governor is to go ahead with his policy.* Once the CBN starts bending to political pressure on one thing it will continue doing so.

Northern policians will shout that this is moving from Abuja to Lagos. Abuja is a federal capital not a northern issue. So long as this is a principled decision the noise should be ignored.

When i was about to license Jaiz bank there was a lot of religious noise from CAN etc. Even enlightened people like Okey Emelamah were going to sue me to court on religious grounds. I ignored it and licenced the bank. Nothing happened.

A christian Governor after me licenced at least two more non- interest banks. No one is even noticing again. Ethnic and religious bigots will always shout. The CBN should rise above it and just do what needs to be done. It is a very unpopular and difficult job and the Governor needs to be tough”.

May his tribe increase.

January 28, 2024
Carry go, Cardoso
- Sanusi takes the heat off my zone over relocation of some CBN’s departments from Abuja to Lagos
Hell has literally been let loose since the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) announced its intention to move some of its departments down to Lagos from Abuja about two weeks ago, so as to facilitate operations in those departments as well as save cost.

The departments pencilled down for relocation are Banking Supervision, Other Financial Institutions Supervision, Consumer Protection Department, Payment System Management Department and Financial Policy Regulations Department.

As usual, all manner of experts have suddenly sprung up denouncing the move and indeed asking that the apex bank rescind the decision. A senator of the Federal Republic even threatened that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu should be ready to face the political backlash for daring such a move. The Northern Elders Forum (NEF), one of the earliest groups to reject the move, said the decision would “widen economic disparity between Northern and Southern Nigeria”. How? It didn’t say. In a statement by NEF’s director of publicity and advocacy, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, the body said “It would require significant financial investment as the CBN would need to allocate funds for setting up new offices, purchasing or leasing properties, relocating employees, and other infrastructural requirements. This would strain the CBN’s budget and divert resources away from other essential functions and initiatives.” Like the moribund and catastrophic Anchor Borrowers’ Scheme?

It also said that the decision could lead to loss of expert members of the staff of the bank who may not be willing to relocate; that the relocation would entail the newly-posted people getting used to their environment and that valuable time would be lost to such adjustments. It added that the movement of the sections would hinder cooperation among the bank and other government agencies with which it must work together in Abuja, etc. Is this a way of saying the policy was not well thought-out or just wanting to weep louder than the bereaved?

The Northern Senators Forum (NSF) also joined the group of critics, including also the Arewa Consultative Forum. As a matter of fact, the senators forum said it may consider legal action on the matter even as it appealed to their constituents to remain calm while they explored all opportunities to make the government rethink the decisions.

I must say I was not surprised that the reactions have come the way they did. I know the government too must have factored that into consideration while preparing the grounds for making the decisions public.

It is instructive that Sanusi essentially chose to comment only on the CBN’s relocation; he was silent on the relocation of the FAAN to Lagos. I can understand why; apparently the CBN is his familiar turf, having been governor of the bank before. I would toe a similar path, even if I must mention that I also saw reason with the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, for moving the FAAN headquarters to Lagos.

Sanusi may be a northern aristocrat, he is no doubt more cosmopolitan than most of the other people who are not comfortable with the decisions. Not only that, he has the experience, having once served as governor of the apex bank. As a matter of fact, he not only supported the relocations of some of those departments to Lagos, he said he would have done the same thing if he had stayed longer at the CBN governor. Hear him: “In my mind what I would have done was to move FSS and most of Operations to Lagos such that the two Deputy Governors would be largely operating out of Lagos or, even if they were more in Abuja, the bulk of their operational staff would be in Lagos. He crowned it all by saying that “It makes eminent strategic sense. And I would have done this if I had stayed.” So, what are the critics talking about?

Read Also: CBN battling to restore naira to its real value, says Cardoso

It gladdens my heart that a man who is eminently qualified to speak on such a matter, a former governor of the CBN, a northerner of repute and an aristocrat of northern extraction could get that blunt in approving an issue that the prominent Northern Elders Forum (NEF), the Northern Senators Forum (NSF), among others, have vehemently rejected.

I am impressed with Sanusi’s candour and clarity on the matter. There was nothing like ‘on the one hand, and on the other’. Indeed, his position is in tandem with the one-time American president, Harry Truman’s who insisted on having a one-handed economist. ”Give me a one-handed economist. All my economists say ‘on the one hand…, then ‘but on the other…” This is not the time for such ambiguity.

As Sanusi rightly observed, ”ethnic and religious bigots will always shout” over such decision but it should not deter the CBN from forging ahead. Sanusi described the move ”as an eminently sensible move” adding ”my advice to the governor is to go ahead with his policy.

Indeed, Sanusi said something of note that some of us knew as reason why some people are opposed to the CBN move but which we could only mention in hushed tones because of the high wire ethnic dimension that would be read into it if such sentiment had come from this part of the country. Thank God Sanusi took the heat off our zone by bursting the speaker, as it were: ” The problem we have now is that many employees (of the apex bank) are children of politically exposed persons and their Abuja life and businesses are more important than the CBN work.

“The CBN is just an address for them and if they have to choose between their spoilt Abuja life and the job, they would gladly leave the CBN.” Would we say that Sanusi does not know what he is saying?

This, indeed, is the main reason behind the noise. If you ask me, such people should go in peace. Neither the country nor the bank requires the services of such spoilt brats. What the CBN needs now are dedicated members of the staff who are ready to earn their pay. The country cannot be spending so much on their welfare only for them to be part-time workers in a business that requires more than 24 hours in a day!

But, Sanusi also made some valid points that the CBN would do well to consider. The apex bank’s governor, Olayemi Cardoso, should not only take the sweet part of the pieces of advice given by the ‘expectant’ former Emir of Kano. He should ponder the not-too-sweet aspects as well. There is no doubt that Sanusi is right in his assertion that many of those who have joined critics of the decisions did so because the apex bank has not been able to find its feet, especially concerning the high exchange rate that has made nonsense of business projections, especially in recent times. This is the ‘koko’. I agree with the former CBN governor that once the CBN gets its bearing right on its core mandate, some of the noise now making the rounds will simply fizzle out.

Although I disagree with Sanusi’s position on the capacity of the CBN office in Abuja when he said ”I don’t like the idea of arguing that the office structure cannot handle the staff numbers. I am sure Julius Berger would refute that if they wanted to engage”. The only reason I would agree with the former CBN governor on this is if he disagreed with the capacity quoted by the apex bank as the maximum the building could carry; in other words, the over 1,000 extra personnel the building is carrying does not matter? Be that as it may, we are not supposed to agree on all aspects of everything.

Perhaps the only thing Sanusi did not say that I love to add is that we need to take it easy with people who feel aggrieved with the policy decisions rather than start calling them names or wondering why they cannot see reason despite the unassailable reasons given for the relocations in the two instances. Matters such as this are usually emotional matters in our kind of country. If anything, what Sanusi’s experience with his licensing of Jaiz Bank and the issue at hand reminds us is the mutual suspicion we still harbour about ourselves despite professing to be one Nigeria. It is only sad that the political elites are exploiting such suspicion for their personal interests while they paint the picture as if their position was informed by some national interest.

All said, Cardoso does not have to pander to political pressure. “My advice to the Governor is to go ahead with his policy. Once the CBN starts bending to political pressure on one thing, it will continue doing so”. I am fascinated by this latter part of the argument of Sanusi because it would seem to me that the immediate past governor of the CBN, Godwin Emefiele, began with some ‘just little sins’ when he started pandering to political pressures, until he landed in the ocean of trouble that he put the entire country eventually.

But then, the CBN governor has to think deeply before making sensitive decisions. The job, as Sanusi said, is a thankless job. And, having taken this path, both the Federal Government and the CBN must watch out for the backlash because the affected beneficiaries of the decadent system that is being dismantled would always fight back. They had been eating corruption and it is very sweet in their mouths. To wean them off it or vice versa would take extra-vigilance on the part of both the government and the apex bank.
January 28, 2024
Immortalising journalists

God bless Abisola Itua, daughter of the Late Mr. Tayo Awotunsin of Champion Newspaper who was killed during the Liberia war in 1990 along with his Guardian colleague, Krees Imodibe, for bringing back the memories of the two journalists with her poem titled Heroes Without Garlands published on Saturday.

Explaining the reason for writing the poem, Abisola who was six years old when the incident happened lamented that her father and Imodibe deserved to be better acknowledged and celebrated for the ultimate price they paid in the course of their official assignment.

According to Abisola “they deserve to be immortalised. Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) should have a building or research centre in their names and they should start a foundation that caters for the well-being of children/wives of journalists who die in line of duty in their names.”

“I can hear your cry, my nobles

Your quest for acknowledgement

I can feel your disappointment

And your dissatisfaction

At the triviality with which your great sacrifice

And commitment is handled,” she wrote in a paragraph of the poem.

Abisola is right. Her father, Imodibe and other journalists who have died on duty over the years should not be forgotten by the organisations they worked for, media professional associations, their colleagues and society generally.

Their memories should be kept alive through programmes in their honour or places named after them and not be forgotten by those who should keep celebrating their exploits to inspire especially the younger generation of journalists.

A lot has been done in memory of the late Editor-In-Chief of the defunct Newswatch Magazine who was killed with a letter bomb in 1986 which should be replicated for Awotunsin, Imodibe and others like them.

The Chairman of the Etsako Central Local Government Area of Edo State, Solomon Obomighie, where Giwa hails from recently instituted an essay competition in honour of the late renowned investigative journalist.

The council chairman explained that the essay competition for secondary schools was aimed at celebrating and promoting the values that Giwa embodied throughout his career.

Read Also: Capacity building training for journalists

The place of outstanding journalists in the history of journalism in the country should be fully documented in books and other publications which should be part of studies by journalism students.

I’m aware that The Guardian, Champion and media groups supported the families of the deceased and organized some programmes to honour them back when they were officially pronounced dead, but deliberate efforts should be made to sustain such initiatives. Over the years, the initial sympathy that usually follows the death of journalists doesn’t last long and proper structures are not put in place to ensure that plans and promises are followed through.

An annual event and awards to remember journalists who die on duty are not too much for the sacrifice they made. Foundations set up in memory of journalists should be properly managed to ensure their sustainability as we have in some other climes.

Apart from insuring the lives of journalists, there should be adequate provisions to support the families of journalists who die on duty.

How deceased journalists are supported and honoured will go a long way in encouraging those still practising to be as committed as they should be.

The issue of security of journalists should also be prioritised by their employers and individuals. Risk assessment of every major assessment should be done to avoid exposing Journalists to unnecessary risks.

As much journalists should be daring in going about their getting stories, it should be clear to all concerned that no story is worth dying for.

January 28, 2024
An afternoon in Ondo

To sedate and serene Ondo town, penultimate Saturday for the funeral of Madam Mojisola Agbeke Akintunde, nee Oyeneyin, and relic of late Pa Fredrick Olaleye Akintunde. Ondo is the home of the old monied class and proud aristocrats full of swank and swagger.

You can always tell a well-heeled Ondo aristo from his gait and the stolid mien of some ancient royalty. Given the way the praises are tumbling out perhaps one should declare some consanguineous interest from the onset. Our own paternal grandmother, Madam Rainat Eketunde, was a proud, regal-looking descendant of the Jomu family.

One has been in Ondo a few times in recent years. Once through the forbidding Ore route for the funeral of Madam Ose Fajemirokun, the mother of the man we call Odidimade, aka Baba Oba of Ifewara. The second time was via helicopter to dedicate a well-appointed Events Centre in memory of the late matriarch built by her children led by the selfsame Odidimade, a mysterious and reclusive billionaire magnate if you have ever seen one.

This afternoon, the normally alluring and lush landscape enveloping Ondo town wore a parched and famished look from feverish expectations of the early rains. The last time one journeyed through the old pristine forest that connects Ile-Ife to Ondo via Fagunwa’s fabled territory was for the funeral of Madam Ademulegun, relic of the iconic Brigadier Julius Ademulegun who fell during the mutiny of January 15, 1966.

Gbenga, the younger sibling, was our boy at Federal government College, Kaduna. But he has since transformed into a banking mogul and a Lagos big boy. As the funeral reception got underway, Kole, his elder brother, had drawn yours sincerely aside to inform that he was putting finishing touches to a book about the life and times of the late brigadier and would want one to be the reviewer at the event. He was told to consider it a done deal. Now, Kole himself has gone to join his illustrious father.

The funeral reception was well under way by the time one got to the hall. It was like a carnival. There was singing, drumming and dancing outside and inside the capacious hall. The entire Akintunde clan and their friends and well-wishers turned out in their resplendent best decked in gold-coloured fineries with sanyan caps and headgears to match. The lead mourner and oldest child of the deceased, Funmi Oluwole, expressed surprise that one had made it to Ondo even if a tad late. If only she had known that this was a journey that began in Lagos about ten hours earlier.

One had been ushered into a seat next to Professor Francis Oluwole, her husband. The normally placid features of the distinguished, globally celebrated physicist glowered with excitement at the prospects of some interesting intellectual exchanges which always mark our rare encounters. But it was not to be. The din was simply too much.

Read Also: Ondo Guber: Jimoh Ibrahim waxes stronger, intensifies consultative tour in 203 wards

Sitting next to the octogenarian scholar was his younger brother, Professor Soji Oluwole, the equally distinguished and acclaimed professor of Surgery at Columbia University, two winners of the highest national honours from the same loin. One had not seen him since our OAU days. Yours sincerely asked after his son in law, Omoyele Sowore, the fabled blogger and scourge of the Nigerian establishment, and was informed that he was around earlier but had since left.

The Oluwole brothers from Ijare are an exemplary model for younger Nigerians. It is hard and rare to see human distinction conduct and comport itself with such grace, such simplicity, such humility and amazing equanimity. It was a lesson in the stellar alloy of true greatness.

Snooper asked the younger Oluwole about an old woman of regal composure who had earlier dragged him out and who reminded this writer so much of his paternal grandmother, the ancient no-nonsense Dowager from the Jomu clan who had named him Mukaila and who passed almost seventy years ago in August 1956.

“Oh she is an auntie from Ijare”, the younger Oluwole replied with polite diffidence. It was time to leave. Without any further ado, yours sincerely vanished into the darkening horizon. It has been quite an afternoon in Ondo. May God grant mama eternal repose.

January 28, 2024
National questions are forever
- On the emerging world order
National Questions just wouldn’t go away. They seem eternal; intrinsically bound to some mysterious uncontrollable forces. Seven months after we thought we got a reprieve in Nigeria, they seem to be back with a vengeance. To flee your fate is to rush to find it, says an Arab proverb. Kidnapping and abduction are back on the national menu. Armed marauders are back on the highways.

   There is a resurgence of political, ethnic and religious mayhem on the plateau. After the lull, the pincer movement on Abuja by various sociopathic elements and criminals appears to be on underway again. When a nation’s capital is besieged and embattled to a point where citizens cower and tremble in the sanctuary of their living room, the handshake has gone beyond the elbow.

   African colonial nations often remind one of Aboliga, the man-child, Ayi Kwei Armah’s weird and haunting monstrosity, who grew into full manhood the very day it was born only to die later in the day. Of his native Germany just emerging into late nationhood from the Bavarian bog, Karl Marx thundered:” Verily, Germany will one day find itself on the road to ruins like other European nations without having achieved their economic and political consolidation”.

Germany duly paid its dues and reparations after plunging itself and the rest of the world into two global conflicts which finally saw off its old Junker military caste and its dominant xenophobic political class famously described as Hitler’s willing executioners. Without its elites achieving an organic unity of purpose and national will, many colonial African nations have found themselves on the road to ruin even before consolidating the nation-state paradigm imposed on them by their European masters. It is a cruel and unjust fate, but the world does not wait for any laggard nation or people for that matter.

In all this, it is the American nightmare that concentrates the mind. The scary possibility of Donald Trump, the archetypal demagogue and supreme anti-humanist, returning to the White House gives one the jitters. Trump is America’s ultimate nemesis, a disturbed and possibly deranged doppelganger programmed to bring out the worst in America and Americans.

Ugly Americans are on the ascendant in America, particularly its middle belt. With Trump calling the shots in the Republican primaries even while facing criminal charges that would make a normal person go home and hide, only a miracle can save America from itself. If the invasion of the Capitol is a dreadful dress rehearsal of what is to come, then a civil war cannot be off the card.

America has not always behaved well in the pursuit of its national interests on the global scene. Its hegemonic Brahmins have been responsible either directly or by covert conniving for some of the bloodiest conflicts the world has seen in the modern times. In the name of protecting itself, it has imposed many psychopathic dictators and bloodthirsty tyrants on hapless nations stalling their economic and political developments as they dissolve into chaos and disorder.

But this is only one side of the coin. No nation is perfect or completely sane for that matter. When America puts its better foot forward, when its finest people who have retained fidelity and faith in the grander and more noble ideals that impelled its founding fathers to surge forward as an organic mass, they have been responsible for some of the greatest leaps forward intellectually, economically and politically by humanity and modern civilization.

This is when America is a marvel to behold, a biblical city shining on the hills which cannot be hidden. Unfortunately, despite the highfalutin noise about its exceptionalism, America, like every other nation, is prone to fundamental disorder and vulnerable to unresolved aspects of the National Question, particularly what to do with its native Indians, its Black populace and the descendants of barely literate hordes from mainland Europe it has used to populate the American interior as the ungainly behemoth opened up.

   This last lot tend to be intellectually obtuse as they are spiritually tone-deaf. The two aces they hold close to their chest are race and religion. Having been outsmarted by people they consider to be racially inferior and spiritually lower than themself, their resentment and indignation can only find outlet in racial and religious bigotry as well as ethnic block vote. This is where Trump draws his greatest support and sustenance from and they constitute the Praetorian Guard of his electoral insurgency.

From the look of things, it is becoming clearer by the day that this is no longer a matter for the democratic rabble to resolve. Rabbles do not resolve National Questions. They only tend to exacerbate the tension and national fault lines. This is the time for America’s finest people, the true intellectual heirs of the founding fathers, to rise to the occasion. America needs to return to the Philadelphia of Benjamin Franklin and all the avatars that forged a new type of nation on the ashes of feudal Europe.

Despite their democratic aspirations and pretensions, the American founding fathers were no starry-eyed idealists. They loathed the rule by rabbles and ragamuffins to death. This was why they hedged their bet and did everything possible for their age to forestall and prevent this. Against the Plebian lower house, they installed a patrician and authoritarian senate. Against the idea that every vote is equal, they ceded the ultimate power to elect to an electoral college. Both Hillary Clinton and Al Gore outstripped their opponents in terms of popular vote but the Electoral College gave the nod to George Bush and Donald Trump. This writer describes it as a kind of democratic eugenics.

    Barbarians are at the barricades. The American founding fathers could not have foreseen the ascendancy of the descendant of an old German drafter dodger from Bavaria. National Questions are never solved on a once and for all basis. They depend on the stage a nation has reached in the course of a turbulent and tumultuous march through history. It may well be that America needs the Trumpian tornado to reset its democratic momentum.

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   America’s serial setback may be symptomatic of a decline in the nation-state paradigm itself as the premium human mode for organizing and valorizing territorial space. For some time, acute observers have noticed a fraying and frazzling at the edge of the nation-state paradigm, particularly its inability to offer stability, accelerated development and protection for weaker nations against bigger predatory states.

Just as it happened at the tail end of the Ottoman Empire, there are whispers about a post-American world and the whetting of appetite about the culinary possibilities. Many countries are jostling for contention to replace the greatest power the world has seen since the Roman Empire. But if history is any guide, it will not happen the way they envisage.

We are already witnessing the advent of some strange hybrids. With the devastation of Gaza and its possible annexation, Israel is transiting to a colonial power in the post-empire age. Iran, the residual relic of the ancient Persian Empire, acting as a countervailing power against American designs in the Middle East, is gradually transforming into a new type of imperial power as it nurtures and empowers a network of clienteles which includes the Houthi insurgents in Yemen, Hezbollah in Lebanon and a cluster of rogue militias stretching from Iraq to the Maghreb corridor in North Africa. Having swallowed the Tibetian nation, China waits furtively for American potency to decline further before pouncing on Taiwan.

It has become a very dangerous world out there as the nation-state paradigm is convulsed by terminal stress. It is perhaps the developments in Russia that are most interesting. An empire before its revolution, Russia became a colonial behemoth once again after the Second World War by adding many satellite states in what became the USSR.

The empire collapsed in the wake of Gorbachev’s reforms, a development Vladimir Putin has described as the greatest geo-political catastrophe to have befallen his people. But Putin is already making hay. With the looming annexation of Ukraine coupled with the earlier confiscation of huge chunks of Georgia and the Crimean peninsula, Russia is set to reconfigure itself as a modern empire-nation.

These oddities, hybrids and genetic monstrosities portend a world out of joints, a world structurally misaligned and badly configured in which the nation-state paradigm faces its greatest threat. Nobody knows how the new global order will shape up, but it can be safely conjectured that by the time the cloud clears, a few more weaker states will be gobbled up with impunity by the stronger states and the brave International Court of Justice would have become the splendid court of international criminals.

Africa nations are most vulnerable. Verily, without having achieved the political stability and accelerated economic development offered by the nation-state state paradigm in its prime, African nations have found themselves being frog-marched to the post-nation frontiers. National Questions may be forever. But the world will not wait for any nation to resolve its national questions.

   In conclusion, what is most tragic about all this is the fact that Nigeria which has the strengths and the spunk to act as a countervailing lodestar for a new vision and vista of human conurbation based on social justice and inclusive governance is so hobbled by internal contradictions that it cannot help itself not to talk of providing leadership in harmonized existence for the Black race. In its state of hapless paralysis, Nigeria, without formal annexation, has become a prey to several predatory groups that have turned its chaotic landscape into a vast extractive emporium.

Heavens forbid, but if care is not taken, this is where and when the torrential rains that will supplant the heavy clouds gathering will beat the hell out of the Black person. It is a tragic pity that early African heroes and political visionaries of the decolonizing phase such as Kwame Nkrumah, Gamel Abdel Nasser, Amilcar Cabral, Julius Nyerere, Samora Michel and Augustino Neto saw the critical need for this Pan-African concert. But they could not overcome the internal contradictions of their respective countries. Almost to the single person, they were felled by these contradictions. It is time once again to begin to reimagine the continent.
January 28, 2024
LP chairman’s revelations on Datti

Labour Party (LP) chairman Julius Abure has been incredibly caustic in his revelations about the politics of Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, Peter Obi’s running mate in last year’s presidential election. Mr Datti has become deeply controversial and divisive since his party lost last February’s election by an unbridgeable margin. He had threatened fire and brimstone, dared the electoral commission to announce the winner, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and warned of Armageddon should the winner be sworn in and Nigerian politics remained the same. However, his party had provided no evidence it won the poll, nor admitted which party did. Yet, he has continued to speak daggers with such ferocity that Mr Obi himself sometimes winced. So far, Mr Datti’s rage is yet to be mollified.

It was thought that only opponents of the LP or enemies of Mr Datti felt miffed by his politics and rhetoric. There is now obviously evidence that even his party chairman, Mr Abure, is mystified by Mr Datti’s persistence and excesses over the last presidential poll. Online medium Sahara Reporters published an interview Mr Abure had last Sunday with Rudolf Okonkwo of 90Minutes Africa. In the interview, the LP chairman made seismic statements regarding the personality, temperament and politics of Mr Datti. The LP chairman’s views may not represent the official position of the party, but they are undoubtedly pervasive among its members. Should Mr Obi attempt to run again in 2027, and given what he and the party now know and probably fear about Mr Datti, they are unlikely to include the Baze University founder on the ticket. He was of no electoral value in the 2023 poll; his fierce and uncompromising views make him far less valuable than anyone first thought.

Does Mr Datti look at himself in the mirror? Obviously not. Mr Abure has now offered him that unsolicited service. In the interview with 90Minutes Africa, the LP chairman said with shocking candour: “…If Datti was the presidential candidate, he wouldn’t have been able to create the movement, the following that gave rise to the results that we have in the first instance. So the analysis isn’t correct…The analysis doesn’t follow because a lot of people joined the Labour Party because of Peter Obi’s personality. Apparently, because of his character, performance, and behaviour, people saw him as a leader and, therefore, wanted him to be. Datti is not on that same pedestal. Datti doesn’t have that kind of followership that has the capacity to change the political trajectory that we had before. And therefore, he wouldn’t have been able to create that situation that would have given rise to what could have happened with the election. But after the election, after the election and the outcome of the election, if it was that, probably the country would have been divided, and in the end, a lot of people would have died by now. Every folk has their perception, has their views. But I think that having a peaceful country, and we are still available in the country, still alive to be able to agitate for reform, put the government on the spot, and continue to agitate for a better country, I think, is better…We are already here. We are here talking about the 2027 election. If the country were at war or in a crisis, we wouldn’t be here talking about the 2027 election. So, however we look at it, I think we’ve done very well. Datti and PO were a very good combination.”

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Mr Abure was responding to the interviewer’s supposition that had Mr Datti been the presidential candidate, and the LP made the same political impact, what would have happened? The LP chairman rightly argued that the question was unscientific, for had roles been switched, Mr Datti would never have made the kind of impact Mr Obi pulled off. But more critically, the LP chairman lashed out, perhaps without really meaning to, at Mr Datti’s divisiveness. Knowing full well that a tomorrow beckoned, Mr Obi pursued the legal option and resigned himself to fate after unfavourable judgements. All through the court cases, he did nothing more than express his anger and disappointment. Mr Datti was not cut from the same cloth. He was enraged even before INEC declared the final result, threatened fire while the first runner-up, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was less inflammatory, and spoke the language of fascists on a scale that left many Nigerians transfixed. Why was this political neophyte eager to plunge the country into war despite his party coming a dismal second runner-up? After the INEC declaration, Mr Datti simply lost his mind and began to call for insurrection. Such a man, said his party chairman, would have plunged the country into war. They were not behind him, and they were not even beside him. He was on his own. It was far better to lose an election and still have a country than to go to war with uncertain outcomes, said Mr Abure ruefully, while unequivocally deploring Mr Datti’s fanaticism.

The variables that will influence the next presidential election will be quite different from the ones that influenced the last election. Even if the LP still retains some relevance in the next poll, it is unlikely to perform as well as it did last year. More, and obviously worse, Mr Datti will not be on the ticket. He is not a politician at all, not by a wide margin. Many observers may even begin to wonder what kind of university proprietor he is, considering his lack of accommodation, restraint, moderation, and vision. With one careless throw of the dice, Mr Datti exposed himself in all his ugly details as a man unfit for office, if not any responsibility.

January 28, 2024
Lagos should learn from Ibadan blasts

The details of what caused the explosions that leveled a whole street in the Old Bodija section of Ibadan have not been released. However, it is already clear that malfeasant businessmen conducting unscrupulous deals were fingered. The little gleaned from Oyo State government is that they were not aware of what was happening in their domain, and had no clue whatsoever who was stockpiling anything or what was stockpiled. Old Bodija is a fairly medium density environment. Should that blast occur in most parts of Lagos, a state which has exceeded its carrying capacity by more than a hundred miles, the death toll would have been unimaginable.

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Oyo State government didn’t know what was happening in its backyard; does Lagos monitor its backyard and businessmen? Does the coastal state know in nearly all cases who owns what and by what means those things were bought? It took the drug law enforcement agency to uncover properties in highbrow neighbourhoods illegally converted to drug labs. Where else in Lagos are unscrupulous people dealing in unwholesome businesses capable of wreaking death and destruction, especially as people sand-fill swamps and build houses without approvals? The Ibadan blasts should be a wake-up call for Lagos to intensify enumeration of properties and businesses. The state cannot afford to blame the constitution, which sanctions free movement of people, to justify dereliction of duty.

January 28, 2024
Unabating kidnapping in the north – price we are paying for long years of feudalism

Late Chief Obafemi Awolowo is the most qualitatively outstanding and memorable legend of Nigerian politics and governance since the 1940s. He is the one whose role in politics and governance can still be a reliable guide for Nigeria even though Nigeria lost the opportunity of having him as its President”.

“He knew how to be relevant both in government and in opposition. When he ceased to be the Premier of the old Western Region, he became a credible and dependable opposition leader. If his policy of free, qualitative, and functional education, for instance, had been implemented and sustained throughout Nigeria, the 40 -year gap in educational development between the North and the South, which inevitably makes the North stand more in the way of peace and national unity would have been avoided” – Alhaji Balarabe Musa, former Kaduna state governor, at the 2012 Awo Foundation lecture.

One of Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s most cryptic sayings, call it prediction, was that the North will, in future, be the nemesis of Nigeria.

With all that is happening in the North today, with the daily gnashing of teeth, and given the billions of Naira government has been spending, these many years, to pacify an absolutely restive North, the time predicted by Awo has, indeed, come and the Avarar could not have been more prescient.

To put the event at which Alhaji Balarabe Musa made that speech in proper perspective, it had in

attendance, about the most eminent royal fathers in Nigeria, among them:the Ooni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuwade, the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Mohammed Sa’ad Abubakar, Emir of Kano, Alhaji Ado Bayero, Emir of Zauazau, Alhaji Shehu Idris, Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Nnaemeka Achebe, Emir of Ilorin, Alhaji Suru Gambari, King Edmund Daukoru, Amayanabo of Nembe, King Dandeson Douglas, Jaja Amayanabo of Opobo, and King Mujakpero, Orodje of Okpe.

Put in other words, the iconoclastic Balarabe Musa knew the gravity of what he was saying – especially his reference to “the 40 – year gap in educational development between Northern and Southern Nigeria”, as well as its consequences.

If you ask me, I would wager that he deliberately wanted to lay bare to the eminent Northern royalties present, what roles they played in bringing that gap about, because it was feudalism – denial of education, for so long to the citizenry, especially the children of the poor by the rich and privileged Northern elite. It was through that unkind denial, that Nigeria is today harvesting, among other things: illiteracy, 15 million plus out – of – school children in the North, kidnapping, Boko Haram and such other blood- sucking vermins Nigeria has had to contend with since around 2009. Nigeria, especially Northern Nigeria, has consequently been turned to worse than Armaggedon, given the incidence of daily kidnappings, killings etc. These are, of course, now spreading southwards.

Akinwumi Adesina, the ADB President, once appropriately described the millions out – of – school – children in the North as the super market of terrorism. And as recently as during the defence of his ministry’s budget, Dele Alake, Minister of Solid Minerals Development, told the House of Representatives Committee on Solid Minerals that a lot of the banditry, terrorism, and insecurity   associated with the sector are sponsored by some powerful people who are involved in illegal mining. These are the men who daily patronise that “super market”, and because of who they are, the last administration, for ethnic and religious reasons, just couldn’t touch them.

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Had these illiterates in that ” super market”, the benefit of education, it is doubtful if any of them would choose death, over living, just because he was promised a dubious seven virgins in heaven.

It was obviously in appreciation of the place, and role, of education, as well as the consequences of lack thereof, that President Tinubu,

in his address to a visiting delegation of Jam’iyyatu Ansaridden this past week said as follows:”There is no weapon against poverty that is as potent as learning. I can assure you that we are here to change the lives of our people. We are here to promote peace, stability, and economic prosperity. We are dedicated to building a lasting peace with a focus on the comprehensive education of our children”.

That is the very ingredient Northern leadership denied the people, especially the children of the poor, just so they could continue to use them as serfs.

Today, those serfs of yester years have become objects of terror in every part of Nigeria. These bandits and terrorists are no longer ready to hide in bushes, or wait for their prey on highways. They now head straight into homes to sieze the entire members of a family some of who they gruesomely murder, while awaiting payment of ransom.

That precisely was the ill- luck that befell Nigeria this past week but, in particular, the families of Alhaji Mansoor Al- Kadriya and that of Lawyer Oladosu Ariyo. The details are so gory, empathy and decency will not permit me discuss the events any further.

Suffice to say that    security in Nigeria has sunk so abysmally, kidnappings and murder have birthed right in our homes and streets. It is no longer enough to start chorusing ‘not my portion’ as the situation calls for only much tougher actions on the part of government can answer appropriately to this epidemic .

It is particularly galling that this is happening after about a decade, and a half, since our gallant security forces have been battling the satanic forces with not a few of our service men and women paying the ultimate price.

May God Almighty rest them and comfort the families they left behind.

Unfortunately, their gallantry and sacrifice were not appreciated by Nigeria’s political leadership, especially during the last administration which treated the killers with kid gloves because of religion and ethnicity . For instance, despite the thousands of school children kidnapped in the North, you would count less than 20 kidnappers who were tried and jailed for their heinous crimes. Even when a foreign country handed over names of terrorism sponsors to the Buhari government, it still could not muster the political will to try them, all for the twin reasons of religion and ethnicity.

It is this same powerful people who have stood, ramrod, against the creation of state police. On several occasions, Northern state governors claimed, publicly, to have endorsed state police. But once they depart the public shows – for that’s what they are – they chicken out and end up doing nothing. Below is a newspaper report, dated 14 September, 2022 announcing their usual meaningless endorsements:”The 19 governors under the aegis of the Northern Governors Forum (NGF) unanimously expressed support for the establishment of state police in a bid to tackle the activities of insurgents, kidnappers and other criminal activities across the country. The Northern Governors’ stance was contained in a communique issued at the end of the meeting with the Northern Traditional Rulers Council held on Monday in Abuja, organised to “review the state of security in the North and other matters relating to its progress and the development of the region.” “While reading the communique, NGF chairman and Governor of Plateau State, Simon Lalong, said the meeting reviewed the security situation in the North and other matters relating to its development and resolved to support further amendments of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) in the bid to accommodate the establishment of state police”.

End of story.

Not a word of it was heard again because some in the North actually believe that these evil perpetrators are out to promote their religion through Sharia which they proclaim in conquered spaces.

Even though it is common knowlege that the Nigerian Police lacks the wherewithal to successfully fight these terror groups, yet the North, with all its executive power and overwhelming majority in the National Assembly, still failed to see creation of state police passed in the National Assembly. It was, in fact, alleged to have been deliberately killed out of respect to Northern oligarchy which is believed to be not well disposed to it. It is for this same reason restructuring Nigeria has become a no go area.

It is now far past the time for buck

passing. The Federal government must now, knowing how much insecurity can imperil its economic programmes, especially its drive for foreign investors, put in place appropriate measures to nip this terrible situation in the bud.

The place to start, however, will be to seek the support of both the Northern elite and its traditional authority, both of which have demonstrated unbelievable equanimity in the face of massive insecurity in that part of the country.

This could not have been happening in other parts of the country without the people getting thoroughly agitated and showing appropriate concern. It is time they are roused from their lethargy, even if it will mean the President having to specially appeal to them.

Enough is truly enough.

Also, it is true that the President has met severally with the Service Chiefs especially in the past few days, demanding concrete action from them to put an end to an insecurity that has gone beyond description. But nobody can forget that President Buhari also had similar meetings but with little or no positive result since the real enemies are very powerful people who would do anything to protect their hugely profitable business.

This means that President Tinubu is doing the same thing as his predecessor, which should not be since it yielded no positive result. I will suggest that he seeks additional help from wherever; persons, organisations or even foreign countries, who are knowledgeable, or had practical experience in these matters so as to be able to fashion out new ways of confronting, and defeating, the menace.

Below are Five (5) things government should consider doing:

(1) Introduce and properly fund an aggressive education policy in the North as the millions of out -of – school – children are a waiting time bomb;

(2) Create state police;

(3) Begin a massive recruitment in to all arms of the security services;

(4) Introduce a massive infusion of appropriate technology into each arm of the security services,

and

(5)President Tinubu must decide to get to the very bottom of those fueling insecurity in the country.

Fortunately for him, and unlike President Buhari, he has no   cultural or religious reasons to impede his doing so.

Until this is done, Nigeria will only be fighting insecurity on the surface and going round in circles.

It is time those behind insecurity in Nigeria are outed.

January 21, 2024
Ex-governor Akande on ‘vagabonds’ in power

Former Osun State governor and first chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bisi Akande, was simply being prescient. In his remarks during his 85th birthday celebration last Tuesday in Ibadan, he warned political office holders of the dangers they will confront in the near future as a new set of rich and ambitious but unprincipled people make a bid for power. It will be a war of uncertain outcomes portending great danger for peace and stability. There were enough powerful politicians in the audience to take heed of his warning, if they can, and it is probably even more appropriate that Vice President Kashim Shettima spoke eloquently on the lecture theme titled The Leadership Question: Prospects for Nigeria. It is, however, not certain that the generally fearful political class drained by tyrannical social media voices will pay enough attention to the uncertain future looming against them.

No one knows exactly what Chief Akande really thinks about the warning he gave, whether he thinks the current political class or their successors have the stomach for a fight or the savvy to even win. But for whatever it is worth, the former APC chairman nevertheless spoke his mind. Referring to the lecture theme, he said: “I am becoming afraid because you are talking about leadership. In my party, it is even more difficult. Our governors are our leaders in our party. But the war has started and when the battle comes, I pray to be alive. I know my body will be feeble; I will not be in the front but I will be behind you. This will be a party of our leaders and new brand of vagabonds. The new brand of vagabonds is ready to fight you and is all out. They have not named the date but they will fight a serious battle with you. Take note so that when the fight comes, you will know that the future leaders are going to fight with the new brand of vagabonds. The language they use is to call you corrupt. They say politicians are corrupt, but this new brand of vagabonds is the most corrupt. They are everywhere in this country and they are gaining more adherents every day.”

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Chief Akande was not simply warning ‘others’, he was even more insistent on the ruling party, his party, wondering whether its leaders could sense the war shaping up in the horizon. Anyway, he continued, this time with added poignancy: “The new brand of vagabonds are the drug barons, crude oil thieves, (illegal) bunkerers. They are among you; they are richer than you; they are calling you corrupt and hiding behind the cloak that they are not corrupt, but they are more corrupt and they will fight you. So, we are in a Nigeria now where everybody is struggling to be corrupt and the mindset of everybody is corruption, and they don’t point the fingers to themselves; they are pointing it at you, politicians. But that is not the end; they are going to fight. They are in your ward meetings, they are struggling to become ward leaders, they want to become local government leader, state leaders. By the time they become ministers and everything, we are all in trouble. The Armageddon is coming.”

The war may have already begun, however. But perhaps what is obvious now is that the war is nothing more than mere skirmishes that may soon become full-blown in the near future. If the United States could be confronting in Donald Trump hints of its own dystopian politics, nothing suggests that Nigeria with its weak and faltering institutions, could build the moral and institutional ramparts to forestall a catastrophic political future. The dangerous populism fostered by the social media and the cleverness of ambitious but amoral politicians taking advantage of loopholes, may both combine to undermine Nigeria’s political and leadership future. Chief Akande’s warnings need to be taken seriously. But why he thinks he is speaking about the future is not known, for his warnings are alarmingly apposite and apocalyptic for today, perhaps concealing far more than he revealed in his plaintive remarks. Respected for his methods and observations than for his political tactics, he is nevertheless quick and smart enough to suspect many of those who offered themselves for leadership positions in the last polls, men and women who had ‘laundered and legitimised’ their acquisitions, and whose rhetoric fooled countless and undiscriminating millions. If those nefarious politicians could make such huge impacts in the last election cycle, imagine what they are capable of in the coming years. As Chief Akande said, there is trouble ahead.

January 21, 2024
Misplaced anger at crowdfunding for ransom

Addressing the press after last Wednesday’s Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, Defence minister Mohammed Badaru warned about the dangers of crowdfunding for ransom payment. It would exacerbate kidnapping, he moaned, insisting, however, that he was not unmindful of the dilemma hurting families desperate to secure the release of their relations faced. Taking his point of departure from the agonising story of the abduction of the Mansoor Al-Kadriyar family from the Bwari area council of the Federal Capital City (FCT), the minister referenced the existing law on ransom payment to remind the public that paying ransom was counterproductive.

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Unfortunately, while the minister is right about the drawbacks of ransom payment, especially because it incontrovertibly gives fillip to kidnapping, there is little the government can do to prosecute families of victims. It makes little sense to prosecute families paying ransom when the government has proved nearly impotent in stamping out the mass abductions that have made highways and whole communities unsafe for travelling and habitation. It is evidently misplaced aggression to talk of the law while kidnappers run riot. Nigerians expect the government to fight kidnappers with all it has got rather than nitpick helpless and traumatised victims, some of whom have spent months and years in the den of brigands. No victim or their families will listen to Mr Badaru. They will suggest he reorder his priorities.

January 21, 2024