The Nation Newspaper

Category: Sunday

Money matters

I Really thought that I had finished my treatment of various aspects of money on this platform with my last article. However, it seems that there are a few loose ends that need to be tightened hence, another article about this interesting subject.

There is no doubt that the subject of money is so broad that it is a difficult to do justice to it. To make matters worse, I made what I now see as the more or less fatal error of straying into the truly nebulous territory of happiness in my last article, can money buy happiness? My contention is that money can buy a lot of things which can create a state of happiness. The problem here is to come up with a universally acceptable definition of happiness. Everyone is sure that they know the meaning of the word but I doubt that everyone is reading from the same page and were we to interrogate the meaning of happiness, we are not likely to advance from first base as it is a word that is used all the time. This is even if it’s precise meaning differs from one person to another.

A cursory examination of the state of happiness shows that it is a combination of emotions; joy, pleasure, satisfaction born of achievement, bliss and I am sure several other words are associated with happiness without any one of them covering the meaning of happiness satisfactorily. One thing is sure however and that is, everyone wants to be happy and consciously or even unconsciously engage themselves in those things which promote happiness or create situations that will lead to the attainment of happiness. But, is it possible, given the human condition that a permanent state of happiness can be achieved?

I am happy, agh, that word again, that I came to the conclusion rather early in life that happiness is a state that is always tantalisingly just beyond the reach of the normal human being. And reaching out for it may be an exercise in futility comparable to the torture of Tantalus who was condemned never to slake his thirst or satisfy his hunger even though he was knee deep in clear, running water and luscious fruits were hanging just out his reach. We all want to be happy without really knowing what it is to be happy.

The sad truth is that happiness is like that mythical moving finger which having written moves on, never to come back to make any amendment. The Yoruba qualify happiness with the word, tiny because any state of happiness is frustratingly fleeting. You can only be happy for a short while before the feeling of euphoria engendered by an event or an achievement before you are brought back down to earth by other realities. The Yoruba also warn unequivocally that you are most vulnerable to danger and unpleasantness when you are in the state of being happy. This suggests that happiness travels in tandem with its opposite, sorrow. Where you find one, you can be sure that the other is lurking with intent.

Now, to the vexed issue of the contribution of money to happiness. It is clear that there are many issues and problems which can be redressed with money and this is not to be sneezed at. It is said that a hungry man is an angry man and since the rich hardly ever go hungry, they are protected from the anger which frequently blights the lives of those who cannot for the life of them guess where their next meal is coming from.

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Life is full of choices and we all have to take decisions virtually everyday of our lives. Some of those decisions determine the trajectory of our lives and some of them we take more in hope than on the reality that we are confronted with. Money can make it possible for you to take the right decision in the same way that poverty can blind you to a lot of possibilities. Even more important are the temptations we have to confront from time to time. For example, it is easier for a rich man to resist the temptation of selling his conscience for the proverbial mess of pottage. On the other hand, money may inflame the ego of those who are backed by vast sums of money and this may drive to take decisions which may not be in their favour. For those who cannot be described as rich, their pecuniary situation may be so crushing that it is the single most important determinant of how life unfolds for them. That is because they may have to spend a great deal of their time trying to make the money with which they can buy bodily comforts both for themselves and for their offspring whose basic needs they are unable to provide. Thus the status imposed by poverty is inheritable, often for several generations in the same way that a wealthy man can pass down his wealth to familial generations yet unborn. These conditions must weigh heavily on both the poor and the rich heirs to such an extent their respective characters as human beings are determined by their different backgrounds.

The burning question and one on which I was burnt earlier is if money can buy happiness. I feel more confident about putting an answer now than before because I am at least clearer in my mind about how to describe the meaning of happiness.

Having money can allow one to buy those things from which it is possible to derive some joy, satisfaction or pleasure all of which can be added up to give happiness. From this point alone, it is suggested that money can indeed buy happiness but that is only part of the story as a legion of things, none of them remotely connected to the source of happiness. It is indeed possible that the Ferrari, the purchase of which is being celebrated may veer off the open road to hold a lamentable congress with an inconveniently positioned gnarled tree bringing celebrations to an abrupt and painful end. After all, we are most vulnerable to various calamities in our moments of joy.

Only yesterday, the results of a fascinating study which has been going on since 1935 was brought to my notice. Over that period, the lived of thousands of men from all strata of society were minutely studied. This was with a view to finding out what made them tick. In the final analysis, it was found that indeed money could buy happiness to the limit of $100,000. After that, rather modest sum, if you lived in the USA, it did not matter how much money you had, the overload of cash did not make you any happier than those who were more modesty endowed with money. This implies that those who continue to work, sometimes relentlessly, to pile up the cash are not necessarily looking for greater happiness. They simply enjoy making money to satisfy a craving for it. In other words, they are turned on by the sheer pleasure of making money and it is the pleasure derived from the process of making money that drives them on to make even more money than they can spend in a million life times like the robber barons. Or perhaps in the manner of Silas Marner, a simple weaver in the eponymous novel by George Elliot. In the days before power looms were invented, master craftsmen like Silas could make a great deal of money from their craft and because of his dexterity, Silas made a great deal of money in gold coins but the only pleasure he derived from his money was to simply look at the money and revel in the knowledge that he was rich. When a chance thief deprived him of his money, he was heart broken over his loss even though the money up till the time of his loss was spectacularly useless, at least in terms of buying things to gladden his heart or make him happy. This story is perhaps no longer possible first, because unlike gold coins which have a beguiling beauty of their own, the paper money which we all spend now do not have that intrinsic beauty which will compel us to stare at them for hours on end as Silas Mariner did with his gold coins. However, there is a story which tells of the compelling physicality of money. The story concerns Dangote (your fame is secured when you are known everywhere by one name; such as Pele, Messi Beyoncé etc). According to the story, Dangote was described as a rich man by friends, acquaintances and even his detractors as a rich man. But the man did not see himself as such. To test his hypothesis, he went to his bank and presented a cheque for ten million dollars. To his surprise, that sum of money was released to him, no questions asked. When he got home he spread the money out on a table and it was seeing all that money spread out in front of him in his own home and under his absolute control that finally convinced him that he was a rich man.

This brings to the contemplation of another character of money, it’s lack of attachment to anyone including the one that has propriety rights over it. You cannot patent your money such that you and only you can spend it. A thief who has no idea of how the money in any purse he stole was gotten, is instantly conferred with the power to spend that money on anything that catches his fancy and frequently does so at his earliest convenience. This means that apart from making any money, you have to fence it round in such a way that the random thief cannot have access to it. In the end anyway, most fortunes are passed on to other persons who no matter how closely related they are to the original owner of the money may have absolutely no idea about how the money was made, their only consideration being how to spend it.

Taking everything into consideration, it is perhaps tragic that money is the universal badge of worth as it is a determinant factor for virtually everything. I once asked a young man what the importance of his education had been to him. Without a moment’s hesitation, he replied that it was his education that made it possible for him to get a good job which paid him enough money to marry a fine young lady. Without the lift which his salary gave him, he would have had to settle for someone beneath the quality of his wife. The lesson here is that his genealogy from that point was dependent on the availability of the money he spent on the pursuit of his wife. I suppose that everything considered, the young man of this story considered the money spent on courtship as money very well spent. From this point of view, who says that money can’t but you love? It surely can which is why you can say, Money – that’s what I want!

November 26, 2023
Kudos to Nigerian journalists

I am always amused each time I hear many Nigerians, including those who should know better complain about the Nigeria media not producing investigative reports like in the past as it was in the days of especially Late Dele Giwa, former Editor in Chief of the defunct Newswatch Magazine who was letter-bombed during the Babangida military regime.

Even those who have never read the supposed investigative reports of the period they speak of usually lament how most of the present corps of journalists have supposedly become lapdogs instead of watchdogs.

They are quick to claim that Nigerian journalists have sold out to politicians and government officials who they should hold accountable by the provisions of the constitution.

Many accuse journalists of collecting ‘brown envelopes’ as if every journalist indulges in the unethical practice. They hail people who claim to be investigative journalists based on unethical reports they amplify on social media as the best thing to have happened to journalism in Nigeria.

When international media organizations publish or broadcast investigative reports about Nigeria, critics of the media wonder why our media organizations cannot do the same or better ones since the issues in focus are local ones.

Read Also: Seeking better remuneration for Nigerian journalists

While the media, like any other sector in the country, has been weakened by various factors considering the state of the economy and other factors, the performance of the media in the country is not as bad as many critics claim.

Contrary to the impression that Nigerian journalists are not living up to expectations regarding investigative journalism, many investigative reports are published regularly across our print, broadcast and online platforms.

Despite limited resources, legacy media organizations are still churning out investigative reports as often as they can along with many Online platforms.

More than ever before, we now have several media Non-Governmental Organizations devoted to training and funding investigative reports, including the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ), the International Center for Investigative Reporting, (ICIR), the Center for Journalism Development and Innovation,(CJID ) formerly known as Premium Times Centre for Investigative Journalism and Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ)

Unfortunately, many critics claim they are not aware of the various investigative reports by the Nigerian media. What’s apparent is that even those who know of such reports are no longer moved by whatever level of shocking revelations about corruption in government, abuse of office, mismanagement of public funds and any other.

Many outstanding investigative reports by Nigerian journalists have won local and international reports which should be acknowledged instead of the sweeping claim that Investigative reporting belongs to the years past in the profession.

The job of the journalists is to investigate and report with the hope that anyone guilty of any infraction will be held accountable by the necessary authorities. While there have been instances where the government at various levels have been forced to action regarding some investigative reports, many have been ignored by not only the government or even the public who should use them to demand good governance.

Beyond investigative journalism, Nigerian journalists have keyed into new forms of practice including Solutions Journalism, Data Journalism and Fact checking.

While I agree that more investigative reporting can still be done considering the rot in the country, it’s necessary to acknowledge what exists and support media organisations that are also battling to survive due to the economic situation of the country that has affected their revenue base.

November 26, 2023
I appreciate you all

Of course, I cannot but appreciate some of the people and organisations that stood by me morally and financially through the difficult times. Yes, difficult times because no matter how old one’s parents are, very few people are in a hurry to let them go. Here I cannot forget Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, registrar and chief executive of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB); former chairman of Punch Nigeria Ltd, Chief Ajibola Ogunshola; former Lagos State Commissioner for the Environment, Mr. Tunji Bello; Mass Comm.’84 Set; Prof Adebayo Williams, member, board of directors of The Nation Newspaper; Prof. Olatunji Dare, editorial adviser; members of the staff of the newspaper led by the managing director, Mr Victor Ifijeh; executive director (finance and administration), Mr Sunday Adeleke; chairman, editorial board, Mr Sam Omatseye; members of the editorial board; Alhaji Najeem Jimoh, former editor, The Punch; Bolaji Sanusi, former Managing Director, Lagos State Advertisement and Signage Agency and Pastor Samson Adegboyega as well as Dotun Adegboyega, both in the UK.

I cannot but also thank our inlaws, Pastor Robert Fadero of God of Miracles Evangelistic Ministry, Ibadan; Mr B. A. Adeleke; and His Eminence, Julius Olayinka Osayande Abbe, the Primate of the African Church.

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Others are Brig-Gen. O. A. Solarin, Col. Yomi Dare (rtd), Ambassador Dapo Fafowora, Fred Ohwahwa, a retired senior manager with Total, Wole Akinyosoye, retired deputy director, Department of Petroleum Resources; Tunde Thani, Managing Director, Explicit Communication, Sunnie Ojeriakhi, MD, Oaks Advertising, Olu Awogbemila, Director, Encore Ltd, Barr. Bolade Opaleye and Prince (Dr) Laja Omofade, former permanent secretary, Lagos State Ministry of the Environment.

I also express profound gratitude to the Chairman of Emmanuel District, Cherubim and Seraphim Movement Church, Ota Road, Sp. Apostle/Pastor S.O. Ewulo, Leader, Sp. Ap/ Pastor Mobolorunduro Olatunji, deputy leader Sp. Ap./Pastor S. A. Faleye and the pastors, prophets and entire members; Pastor A. A. Akinde, Christ Apostolic Church, Bariga; Toro Osunrinade, Cathedral Warden, African Church Cathedral Salem, Ebute-Metta, Lagos, and the entire congregation, Lekan Olasode, my other friends, colleagues and relations, particularly my siblings both sides, and others too numerous to mention. God will continue to be with you all.

November 26, 2023
A mother like no other
- That was ‘Sisi Mi’ for you
If anyone had told me that my mother, Mrs. Winifred Feyishetan Olaleye (nee Cole) was going to die as a result of the injury she sustained on her right leg on July 19, last year, I would have told that person to perish the thought. She had slipped between her bedroom and sitting room and got injured in the process.

Our expectation was that all would be well in a matter of weeks. It didn’t so happen and we began to count months. It’s a long story and by May when we were asked to do hip replacement for her, we had thought things would be okay thereafter. After the hip replacement surgery, things appeared to be getting better. She had as a matter of fact commenced physiotherapy. Then suddenly, suddenly, things relapsed. Opportunistic circumstances took over. Then we started treating other challenges like malaria, etc.

Meanwhile, all kinds of drama were going on. There was even a day everyone had thought she was going to die only to come alive again after holy communion was administered to her.

At some point, she started talking about some gates not being opened for her in heaven and stuff like that. Then at another point she told people around her that the last gate had been opened and that, as a matter of fact, a magnificent white vehicle was waiting to pick her at the premises of the house she was. One could feel some sense of frustration on her part when those around said they could not see the things she was seeing. I used to regard things like this as myths.

Anyway, that was the situation until October 2 when she breathed her last, peacefully.

I consider myself lucky that I was not only able to survive both my father and mother, I did so at a relatively old age.

When in retrospect I remember those of my age-mates whose parents died while we were still in primary or secondary school, I know I would only be an ingrate if I do not appreciate God for this singular privilege. As a matter of fact, I remember how we used to pity those of them in that category, particularly those that had lost both parents at tender ages, as if the world was going to crumble under their feet.

So, why should my siblings and I not appreciate God that not only did we survive our mother, she was also able to see her grand-children from all of us, even when this seemed forlorn at a point.

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I can recollect how troubled she was when none of my sisters gave birth many years after their marriage. She might have been troubled by this, but she was ever optimistic that she would see her grand-children from all of us before departing, a wish that God eventually granted. The youngest of her grand-children is now six years old. Not many of their contemporaries are so privileged.

The long and short of what I am saying here is that when there is life, there is hope. In spite of this seemingly insurmountable difficulty, I cannot remember her talking of going to any other place apart from church, to look for solution to the problem. That she was able to come this far in the faith is not in any way to praise her as such, but to return all the glory to God that kept her faith alive throughout those difficult times.

Then, her single-handed care for her female children in particular since the death of her husband, Bernard Oke Olaleye, in 1979, was something to commend. I don’t know why she decided not to remarry ever since and this was a thing I regret not asking her while she was here.

Perhaps I assumed that I know. But what we assume may not be the actual reason a thing happened or did not happen.

The lesson? People whose parents are still alive should ask them any question under the sun now that they are still around. Not only that, we should try to get as much as possible historical treasures from our older citizens at all levels before they go. They should not be interred with those treasures.

Perhaps the most profound of the things that followed my mummy’s death was my realisation that barely two hours after she died, we were already thinking of a change of address for her. As soon as I was told that she had died, I immediately put a call through to the mortuary.

As soon as I got to the room that had been her abode since May when we took her there from her own residence at Ebute-Metta, Lagos, until she died on October 2, 2023, I looked at her lifeless body. I remembered the last time I saw her before then. It then dawned on me, even if for the umpteenth time, that this world is indeed a stage and we, the people, mere actors. And when every actor gets to his or her bus stop, he or she alights from the bus. ‘Sisi Mi’ finally dropped off from the bus when she got to hers.

And the next thing was arrangement to take her to the mortuary. I then began to ask myself if we could have mentioned mortuary in her presence about three hours before. But that is life. She lost the privilege to remain in that room the moment she stopped breathing. She must change address, either to the morgue or the cemetery, if a Muslim.

Then it dawned on me again that this life is all vanity upon vanity; all is vanity.

‘I want to become this’; ‘don’t you know I am that’! Vanity! For ‘Sisi Mi’ like any other person, the final resting place would be six feet below.

The most shocking thing is that this lesson that we should learn from death is hardly ever learnt, especially by those in leadership positions in the country. Otherwise we would not be talking about National Assembly members who would be justifying the purchase of vehicles worth N160m apiece in a country reputed to be the poverty capital of the world. A country where millions of their compatriots go to bed on empty stomachs, not knowing where even the next breakfast would come from.

We should wonder whether such people ever think of death, not to talk of its aftermath: judgement.

As I welcome myself to the orphans’ club, my advice to those who still have their elderly ones around is to take care of them now that it matters. If you don’t take care of them now, only to buy the best of casket for them and take them to the most expensive cemetery to bury, it is neither acceptable to God nor to the dead.
November 26, 2023
Jagaban says ‘educated population’is Nigeria’s newest selling point

It was another very hectic week for President Bola Tinubu, for more than one reason. One, he still had to cross oceans into Europe and two, he was engaged, most part of the week, seriously marketing the country he leads to international investors.

He was in Germany to participate in the G20 Compact with Africa (CwA) Conference, which was hosted by the German Chancellor, Mr Olaf Scholz, and as usual, Asiwaju killed it. The President made as much use of the time abroad to fish for and make bountiful catches from the German business world.

Remember the week before last week was similar to what the world saw last week; during the week before, he was in Saudi Arabia, consorting with God and some very key men, key to the his agenda of reviving Nigeria’s economy. This week, it was still about ‘hawking’ the image of the Fatherland, this time around, far from the East or the Middle East, right at the heart of the West, heart of Europe, the country that represents the economic strength of Europe, just as Nigeria represents Africa’s.

However, there was something different about this effort at rebranding and showcasing the country. In previous outings, President Tinubu has always made the selling-point about the country’s natural resources and huge market, which always translates, simplistically, to the huge population, being the biggest black nation in the world. It has been documented that one out of every four Africans is a Nigeria and one out of every five persons of African origin is still a Nigerian.

This time around, he literarily changed the narrative about what makes Nigeria so important as foreign investment destination. Speaking as a panel discussant at the G20 CwA Conference on the topic “Fostering local value chains and investments in Africa – The role of the German private sector”, the President, while emphasizing the other unique investor-friendly attributes of the Nigerian market, pointed out the almost-matchless Nigerian knowledge market, brimming with talents in virtually every of human endeavour, as the most valuable factor that should endear the country to investors.

Of course, we are doing every other thing to make both the local Nigerian businesses and foreigners’ investments survive and thrive, but the most valued of everything in the ease-of-doing-business and every other process is the well-educated population, which is one of the ingredients for building a modern economy.

He pulled that card out because all along, the focus has always been on the natural resources, particularly oil and gas, then the sheer largeness of our population, but no one has placed that on the table as one of Nigeria’s bargaining powers, even when almost everybody knows that the Nigerian Diaspora community, especially in the United States. A report once said 60% of Nigerian immigrants in the US, between ages 25 years and above, hold a bachelor’s degree, at least. In the United Kingdom, it is at least 66% of Nigerian immigrants, holding a qualification of any kind. Even at home, the literacy rate has not done badly; as at 2021, the literacy rate stood at 77.6%, according to GlobalData.

So while in Berlin, our President showed the world something about us, an edge, which has been taken for granted for too long. He has been telling them, in virtually all the places he has taken the investment shopping to, that Nigeria is ready for business, but this time around, he showed them something they have not given thoughts to; that just like China and India did, rising from the backwaters to contend with the most stable economies, Nigeria has come with the same edge, to take its pride of place among the visible economies of the world

Read Also: Jagaban’s paths to ‘not spending the people’

“We are dogged in our pursuit of natural gas development today, in tandem with hydrogen production for tomorrow. The world knows Nigeria as a leader in the energy sector. Our vast gas deposits and business-friendly environment make us an attractive investment destination. But we are going a step further now. We are creating fiscal responsibility and tax reforms as we reform our financial institutions to expeditiously accommodate foreign investments.

‘”We are eager and ready to partner with you. We have the youngest, largest, and most vibrant youth population in Africa. Equally, we have every ingredient required in the making of a modern economy: a well-educated population, a massive market, and the political will to bring it all together under my leadership.

“Africa has moved beyond the false past notions of business disincentivization and poor adherence to the rule of law. We now fully recognize the nexus between the inflow of investor money and the sanctity of contracts. We want to partner on the basis of who we are and what we do, rather than on the basis of long-held misconception”, he announced to the world.

You must have noticed one more ingredient he threw on the table; the political will to make it all work for the good of Nigerians and the rest of the world. He highlighted the readiness of his administration to go through with the whole economic reparation process, without allowing any distraction. It is the newest of the three ingredients, which should make the system work.

Much later that day, he met with the Chancellor Scholz to discuss issues bordering of cooperation in various areas of development, including infrastructure, energy and power production, transmission and distribution. Specifically, the area of infrastructure that fascinated the President was transportation-focused and categorically how the sort of railway advancement that Siemens is constructing in Egypt could be infused into the Nigerian railway system.

He drew the attention of Scholz to the need for his business community to focus their attention on value-additive processing in Nigerian solid minerals, agricultural goods, automobile production, and other job-creating sub-sectors of the economy, saying “everything the world requires in terms of business environment reforms are underway in Nigeria. Perhaps our foreign investors are still a bit paranoid that those old Nigerian issues are intractable. But my track record speaks for itself. I have transformed an entity before now. I am here to do it again, and I will”.

The German Chancellor nodded in agreement and said, “there is nothing too unique on the growth of China. It came down to a lot of investment from overseas that leveraged on cheap and skilled labour with adequate internal infrastructure and shipping infrastructure for imports and exports to flow easily. These things are possible in Nigeria. You even have abundant natural resources. Step by step, it is achievable, Mr. President”.

Then on Tuesday, besides witnessing of two Memoranda of Understanding (MoU), as well as addressed the 10th German-Nigerian Business Forum. For the agreements signed between private countries from both countries. The first one was on the supply of gas from Nigeria to Germany, while the second one was for $500 million worth of renewable energy projects in Nigeria.

While speaking to the bi-national forum, Jagaban gave the German side the assurance that investing in Nigeria now will prove to be one of the wisest investment decisions any investor from any part of the work will be making in contemporary times. His reason was simple: he has taken some of those difficult steps required to birth economic recovery and then growth. Speaking of the lecherous petrol subsidy and the arbitrage regime in the FX market, then talk of the ongoing policy reforms, are have been focused on effecting the right environment for investments, either local or foreign.

Then he ended his pitch with “I appeal to you to forget the past and focus on building a relationship that removes obstacles, fostering progress and prosperity in Nigerian-German relations. You can rely on us; we can rely on you; both of us can chorus Hallelujah at the same time”.

He finally returned to Nigeria on Wednesday evening and since he returned, he has been engaged with providing solutions. For instance, on Thursday, besides signing the Defense Industry Corporation of Nigeria (DICON) Act, 2023, he appointed Desmond Akawor a Federal Commissioner of the Revenue Mobilization, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC). Later in the evening, he hosted the Special Envoy of the President of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Reem Bint Ebrahim Al Hashimy, also happens to be the country’s Minister of State for International Cooperation. The message was that the Emiratis want the ties with Nigeria strengthened.

Then on Friday, he made three sets of appointments; first it was the appointment of eight new permanent secretaries, the ten members into the Board of the Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MOFI), assigning Shamsudeen Usman as Board Chairman and Armstrong Ume Takang as Managing Director. He later announced two more for the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) Board as representatives of the organized private sector.

He also held two meetings, one being the audience he granted the Zimbabwean Islamic cleric, Mufti Menk. Then later and till very late in the night, he hosted political stakeholders of Ondo State, over the unending faceoff between Governor Rotimi Akeredolu and his deputy, Lucky Aiyedatiwa. It is believed that this meeting will determine a lot in the life of that state in coming weeks.

It’s a new week and will just need to wait it out to see what the Jagaban will come up with, you can also take is as a guarantee that they will be focused on making life more livable for Nigerians.

November 26, 2023
NTA interview: Buhari says little unpretentiously

It was ex-president Muhammadu Buhari’s first major interview since he left office in May. It didn’t quite have the kind of enigmatic impact he and his supporters expected. But the country is grateful that he gave the interview, particularly on some issues that agitated the minds of many Nigerians. Yet, the interview was almost anticlimactic in its effect. Perhaps he should have held on for a little longer to give his reflections time to mature and be refined in order to avoid being precipitate in doubling down on some of his controversial policies or showing contrition on policies that had plunged the country into turmoil. The Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) interviewer, Thecla Wilkie, was empathetic, pleasant and restrained, sometimes rephrasing her statements to make them accessible to the often nonplussed former president. But when she sensed his dilemma notwithstanding, she baulked at pursuing her quarry, preferring instead to let go altogether or to gloss over the question with a fetching grin.

The interview was hugely revelatory. It confirmed all everyone knows about his difficulty with words and his discomfort with complex and nuanced policy issues, especially those bearing exotic labels. It confirmed his expedient resort to deploying, often inadvertently, extraneous and tangential issues to explicate difficult or inaccessible questions. The Borno State governor Babagana Zulum story of thrift and ‘virtually incorruptibility’ was very handy to him. The former president has obviously nurtured his long-standing wisecracks, and was sometimes convulsed by his own laughter that flowed from his self-deprecating humour. His thoughts may wander sometimes, yet he remained his good old self, comfortable in his own skin, healthier it seemed, and mightily relieved that the nuisance which governing the country had become had been passed on to another perhaps luckless administration. He concluded derisively that governing Nigeria was a near impossible task when everyone else knew how to do it better than the hapless and vilified president.

The former president spoke about being too preoccupied with domestic issues to bother about external and diplomatic relations; but it was clear that as widely travelled as he was, particularly during his presidency, his response to a question on Nigerian diplomacy was a cover-up for his inability to decipher what seemed to him an inscrutable puzzle. Nigerian borders were too extensive to be manned by Nigerian security personnel, he sighed, and then concluded that only God could do it. His views on borders were not new, of course, considering that his administration simply slammed them shut as a tool for curbing smuggling. And when he was asked, as a former military and elected president, to compare military rule and democracy, especially to find out how he navigated the strictures of checks and balances, he quibbled considerably, and eventually returned to the subject of his eternal fascination, insecurity. Thrice the interviewer tried to reroute the question, thrice the former president returned to insecurity. Ms Wilkie was gracious on all three occasions, rather than exasperated. What is more, neither the interviewed nor the interviewer fared better on the subject of the cause célèbre, Process and Industrial Developments Ltd (P&ID), which tried to scam Nigeria out of about $11bn arbitral award as a result of a bungled oil and gas contract in Calabar, Cross River State.

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Three other germane questions lent themselves to him to finally display a fundamental grasp of governance and politics. It is unclear whether he satisfied himself with his sometimes convoluted and tangential answers. For his larger audience, they are more likely to be mystified by his responses than entertained. Indeed, that larger audience may become more convinced than ever why Nigeria went both broke and broken in eight giddy years of a president doing little in undistinguished ways. The naira redesign policy must rank as one of the hottest issues of the Buhari presidency, coming frightfully close to the end of his presidency as well as the fateful election of February 25, a mere few weeks away at the time. Answering the question of what spurred him to enact that deeply offensive and despised policy, he cited the objective of curbing Nigerian materialism as a factor in politics. In his view the policy became imperative to try and make Nigerians believe that there was no shortcut to successful leadership. He didn’t actually say how one fiery and disruptive policy a few weeks to an election could change in fundamental ways a country’s political behavior. Was the idea entirely his or was it what he was made to believe? It is hard to tell. Whatever its origins, and whichever way it is considered, it was a policy that made little sense.

Then there were the quibbles on whether he knew a cabal had hijacked his administration as well as how he rated his administration. He did his best, he said ruefully, echoing what he had said a long time ago about suspecting that few Nigerians were impressed with his performance as president, but was unsure he had convinced the people he led. And on the cabal issue, he was tentative, almost indifferent. Perhaps a hijack took place, he said bemusingly, but no one who ran afoul of the law escaped punishment. He will be unable to prove that assertion, not even if he tried in a million years. On his watch the long arm of the law became the withered arm of the law, with justice blinder than a bat. On the whole, the interview ended without a major incident; yes, a few howlers, one or two deadpans, but nothing astonishing, and nothing provocative. But for those who expected a pearl or two, at least from a two-term president who had even had a stint as military head of state, they will have to go much farther afield than the mind can conjure to find a competent and diligent leader.

November 26, 2023
Obasanjo’s shameless sophistry

Former president Olusegun Obasanjo is keenly aware that he manages to attract significant attention every time he speaks or dissembles. Last Monday, for a few newspapers still hooked on his snake oil, he got the front pages and even took the headlines to boot. His talisman obviously still works. This time, however, his fixation is on Western liberal democracy which he considers, for Africans, a boondoggle. Shortly before the February 25 presidential poll, he was obsessed with railroading Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) into office. When it looked like his candidate was faltering shortly after ballot counting began, the former president desperately advocated the abortion of the election. When no one would buy his miscarriage pill, he advocated popular revolt and actively instigated it. When that also failed, he flirted with one-term presidential tenure. That sure cure also gained little traction, forcing him last Monday into what he described as ‘high-level consultation’ at his presidential library complex in Abeokuta on the subject of “Rethinking Western Liberal Democracy in Africa”.

Nothing will come out of the so-called consultation. Not only is the consultation not altruistic, it is desultory and whimsical. There is often no rigour or substance behind his actions or thoughts. The high-level consultation he is swooning over is essentially to satisfy his narrow political agenda. He was Nigeria’s military head of state between 1976 and 1979 during which he superintended the adaptation and adoption of the United State’s presidential system. Political plagiarism, as he confessed to have embraced, can be very problematic, especially when the presidential system in question is adapted without much thought for its undergirding principles, cultures and philosophies. Chief Obasanjo is not a deep thinker, and he compounded this failing by inspiring a mechanical adaptation of a complex, disciplined and novel system birthed by a college of brilliant and foresighted thinkers. Much worse, even the adaptation was largely eclectic and egotistic. His military government dictated a number of no-go areas, and then hewed out parts of the presidential system that should ennoble the federalist principles without which the system would either wobble or remain inoperable.

On his second tour of duty as president between 1999 and 2007, he stood for election without his predecessor first promulgating a new constitution. And when he assumed office and perused the document, he waited till the tail end of his second term to attempt a rejigging of the constitution. The enormous powers conferred by that pretentious document greatly gratified his senses. He would brook no attenuation of its immense powers, until perhaps he could trade it for an abridged third term. The obvious fact known to most analysts is that Chief Obasanjo is no federalist. He scorns federalism, an idea completely antithetical to his entire being and worldview. As president, he ran roughshod over the states, destabilised, enthroned, dethroned, subverted, impeached, and intimidated state governors, some of whom barely escaped his tyrannical attempt to jail them. The courts did their best to stand up to him; but against the judiciary, he was excoriating and scurrilous. Now, the same Chief Obasanjo has experienced the epiphany of Western liberal democracy failings. Had his favourite Mr Obi won the poll – the manipulative LP candidate he erroneously believed he could pull by the ears in reprimand – would he be campaigning for a new system he amorphously dubs ‘Afro Democracy’?

Chief Obasanjo emerged from the Nigerian civil war a controversial, undeserving and narcissistic hero. His books, all of them incapable of teaching anybody anything either by experience or by theory, are completely dedicated to massaging his brittle ego. There is nothing in those books that reflect on the subject of federalism or that took apart Western liberal democracy, whether parliamentary or presidential. He spent much of his adult life cozying up to Western countries, struggling to remain in their good books, despite the nationalisation of British Petroleum (BP) during apartheid days, and he is now spending his twilight years suffering from buyer’s remorse. He came out of the civil war a 33-year-old colonel, became general and head of state at 39, and was elected president at 62. Finding himself on public payroll for nearly all his adult life, he has become inured to hardship, and at old age has also become accustomed to a life of entitlement. It is tempting for such a man to despise or at least ignore the reflectiveness that produces better understanding of arcane subjects like democracy, Western or Eastern, one-party or multiparty.

Read Also: Obasanjo and his ‘Afro-centred democracy’

The problem is not his military background. In fact, two other military generals present striking and inspiring contrasts to Chief Obasanjo. France’s Charles de Gaulle, then a colonel, led the Free French Forces during World War II against Nazi Germany, and headed the provisional government in 1944 when the country was liberated. In 1946, he resigned because he disagreed with his colleagues about the workability of the constitution. Both the provisional government and the country distrusted his ideas for a new constitution, repudiated the changes he wanted to introduce, and even accusing of him being obsessed with power. It was not until 1958, when France faced existential threats from angry and rebellious generals that de Gaulle returned to office and gifted the country the Fifth Republic constitution written almost entirely by him. That constitution has endured till today, while the economic policy, the Dirigiste, which he foisted on the country in 1944, produced 30 years of unparalleled growth known as the Trente Glorieuses.

The second example is from the East. Japan’s 1947 Constitution is described as the oldest unamended constitution in the world. It is a mere 5,000-word constitution drafted by American civilian officials under the supervision of Gen. Douglas MacArthur (1880-1964) during the United States/Allied powers occupation of Japan at the end of World War II. The constitution is a rework of the 1890 Meiji (Emperor Meiji, 1867-1912) Constitution which in turn drew inspiration from the British and Prussian models. Unlike Nigeria’s ponderous Constituent Assembly, two US senior military officers with law degrees drafted much of the constitution while a few Japanese scholars reportedly reviewed and modified it before promulgation. That constitution has stood the test of time. Gen MacArthur anchored the new constitution on three principles, to wit, “make the emperor accountable to the Japanese people, eliminate Japan’s ability to wage war, and create a parliamentary system akin to the British system, abolishing the inherited power of Japan’s aristocracy”. The debate before the drafting of the constitution was robust, its philosophical principles were unassailable, and sculpting it as a visionary document probably guaranteed its future and relevance.

Chief Obasanjo is 86 years old. But neither in his youth nor middle age did he engage in the contemplation necessary to birth lasting projects, whether they are constitutions or other legacies. Do his failings preclude him from proposing amendments to the Nigerian constitution or even asking for a total overhaul? No, of course not. His relentless mischief must never preclude him from making contributions to public discourse, no matter how skeptical and cynical the country has become. And nothing must be allowed to abridge or discountenance his rights. The problem, however, is that there is nothing in the consultation he convoked last Monday in Abeokuta, or in his own prefatory remarks at the occasion, that show that Chief Obasanjo is remorseful for the poor leadership he gave Nigeria when he was twice gifted the chance. Had he been capable of deep and lofty ideas, regardless of his lack of principles, he might be given a hearing on his rage against liberal democracy. They have talked empty bombasts at his presidential library; but nothing beyond the talk will translate into anything noble or implementable now or in the future. His time is long past, vitiated by his appalling politics and his immense appetite to burnish his faltering image. Few will henceforth pay heed to his preferences, knowing him for who he is and what he wants, even if he gets increasingly more cantankerous for being sidelined by the new administration.

November 26, 2023
The June 12 General

When he passed last week after a long battle with illness, the applause was faint and muted, minus an engaging editorial and one or two public commentators who recognized his true heroic worth and sterling contribution to the evolution of the military profession in post-independence Nigeria. Major General Chris Mohammed Alli was a soldiers’ soldier in every sense: noble, brave, bold, forthright and professional to the core.

The last time we met, it was obvious that he was not in the best of physical conditions. It was a few years back at a clothier’s emporium owned by a Nigerian of Ijesha royal descent on Edgware Road in West End London. If one was astonished by the growing decline, one did not let it on. In these climes, military juggernauts appear to be indestructible.

The general sat on a chair that had been provided for the purpose. It was clear that he was in some discomfort as he beamed what seemed like a cross between a grin and a grimace. We could only manage a few pleasantries before one disappeared among the maze of sartorial extravaganza.

   The former Chief of Army Staff was a gallant and chivalrous officer driven by an unusual passion for social and political justice. It was this passion for justice that led him on a collision course with his superiors in the military after the annulment of the freest and fairest election in the history of the country. It eventually earned him a dismissal from service.

It is a tribute to the courage, professionalism and fair-mindedness of the current leadership of the military that they recognize the qualities of their former boss and swiftly put in place the appropriate measures to celebrate and honour the illustrious departed .Among other things, flags are to be flown at a half-mast for three days.

Yet it may appear curious and ironic that apart from the military authorities which recognized his stature and contribution, the public response to the demise was tame and low-keyed. The people have since moved on, confronted by new existential threats and political challenges. Even the newspapers and magazines that hailed him as a hero of the June 12 struggle have long disappeared or mutated into something else.

In a society without much institutional memory and without a tradition of long-distance protest, this is quite understandable. It is almost thirty years since Major General Chris Mohammed Alli disappeared from public consciousness after being ousted as Chief of Army Staff in a dramatic night of the long knives which sent shock waves through the entire military establishment. Even then, Alli was never one to play to the gallery. He shunned publicity and the klieg light like a plague, believing that a true officer could be seen but never to be heard.

   Neither an activist in uniform nor a politicized officer, Alli, until he breathed his last, held on to his belief that the annulment of the June 12, 1993 was a political misadventure, an error of judgment which would cost the institution dearly. The military had no business in politics, he insisted. Quiet, serious-minded and quite cerebral Alli also enjoyed his drink and was a gentleman officer to the core.

The paradox of Alli’s career lies in the fact that although naturally rebellious, he was not a professional agitator or an in your face military rebel. It was a case of loyal dissent. He made his point within a certain code of courtesy and civility without degenerating into rudeness and rancour. He could disagree with his superiors without being disagreeable. He was reformist rather than revolutionary.

   Despite his open hostility to the annulment, this was probably what preserved his career for such a long time and saved him from more severe and punitive retribution in the hands of the no-nonsense general from Kano. His appointment as army boss was a sop to the radical elements in the forces following a particularly rowdy session at Victoria Island after Abacha took over.

Read Also: Chris Alli (1944 – 2023)

The infantry general from Kano needed that respite to gather his aces together for the inevitable showdown with the rump of the prodemocracy forces in the military as well as civil society. It was said that General Abacha despite being mildly irritated by Chris Alli’s aluta antics treated him with wary bemusement until matters came to a head and one of them had to go. A veteran of several military ambuscades, Abacha had the patience of a coiled cobra waiting for the right moment to strike.

The dark-goggled general was a shrewd and gifted military tactician who knew where the real levers of power lay when it came to open confrontation between the two forces. How many divisions can Chris muster, as Joseph Stalin was said to have asked of the pope when he was punching above his weight. As Alli would have discovered on that night, the army chief of staff was a mere staff of the chief of the army staff.

The spontaneous outburst that Chris Alli might have been hoping for did not materialize. Many in the officer-corps who felt affronted by the annulment and the incarceration of the winner of the election did not feel sufficiently roused or convinced enough to mount a challenge to the system. It would take another four years for the army to exhaust its political and historic possibilities.

As it happens in nations, classes, institutions and societies, what was unfolding was a case of uneven development of political consciousness among individuals, sections, groups and segments within the same professional formation.

   At any moment in the life of any organization, there is residual consciousness which is formed by accretions from the past and a reactionary impulse to cling to these. Then there is primary consciousness which is the dominant and dominating worldview in the formation and there is emergent consciousness which are new ideas emerging and yet to withstand the test of realities. It is an eternal battle in which progressive breakthroughs are often followed by counterrevolutionary pushbacks.

Major General Chris Mohammed Alli was at the vanguard of consciousness in a conservative military institution that owes its origins and roots to colonial occupation. He paid a terrible price for this. But it could have been worse.

It is a universal phenomenon. As it has been observed by Louis Althusser, western intellectual tradition often makes the intellectual orphan to pay a terrible price, it is a price which ranges from exclusion, alienation, incarceration, madness and even death.

Alli was somehow lucky. Long before his death, he had secured and cemented his reputation as a thinking soldier and a military intellectual with the publication of a hefty tome titled The Federal Republic of Nigerian Army: The Siege of a Nation. The allusion to Von Bismarck’s Prussian army is unmistakable.

It was said that whereas in Europe, other countries produced armies, in emergent Germany, it was the army that produced a country. In post-independence Nigeria, the army appropriated the nation. The Prussia/ Germany army either directly or by proxy cost the world two global wars. The Nigerian Army managed one local war and was only preparing for another before it succumbed.

This was the road to personal ruin and professional ruination, Alli seemed to be telling his compatriots. For over thirty years, the Nigerian military held the nation to ransom until it ended in mutual ruination for army and nation. This was never the road to travel, Alli insisted with the benefit of deep cogitation and the authority of personal entanglement.

As it has been noted by many, history is a cruel and unforgiving taskmaster when it comes to making amends or settling account either in open defiance of current developments or in furtive deference to the inevitable. Thirty years after the Nigerian military committed its gravest error of judgment, it is celebrating the passing of a man who not only stood firmly against the error but lost his commission in the process.

    It is a measure of how far both the nation and its military have come that in the very week the army is mourning the loss of its old chief who fell in controversial circumstances almost thirty years earlier, it was also welcoming its first indigenously produced military professor in Lieutenant Colonel Abubakar- Sirajo Imam.

For a long time, yours sincerely wondered whether this strange anomaly of a general who is also a professor was the exclusive preserve of the old Soviet military. Now, it has berthed in Nigeria. It is a perfect symmetry. History will always vindicate the just. Chris Alli, the quintessential military intellectual, would be chuckling in his grave. May his noble soul be granted eternal repose.

November 26, 2023
Okon’s black-eyed beansfor Joe Ajaero’s black-eye

Strange times are abroad. As the harmattan chill suddenly descended on Lagos, Okon has adopted the most outlandish antic for warding off the biting cold. He has taken to wearing a full masquerade costume nicked from fleeing armed robbers somewhere on the mainland. So bizarre was the spectacle that it had become an unending source of fun and comic relief for urchins and streetlings who normally gather together whenever they sighted Okon, taunting and abusing him.

“Egungun egungun, your blokos don come out, he don come out. Say na snake abi na crocodile sef?” they taunted the mad boy as they pointed at an open gap in a critical intersection of the costume. Okon would respond with the full measure of his nettling tongue.

“Na your papa’s blokos be dat no be Okon. Na your mama’s husband be dat. Na di thin I dey use wire your mama when your olosi father don kaput from burukutu and ogogoro”, Okon would snap back.

This morning, the crazy boy was sighted carrying a black pouch donning his now familiar egungun uniform with a leglessly tipsy Baba Lekki in tow spewing anti-establishment expletives.

“Okon, by the way, and before you mislead me once again, what is in that bag you are carrying?” the old man demanded.

“Baba, I wan reach Ajegunle make I give dem Labour man native juju for him eye. He don tey wey dem give am dem okampi blow for Owerri and each time I see am for paper I see dat him eye don nearly close. I wan make dem eye better make him come another rally for Uyo make him come see him mama him papa,” the mad boy sniggered.

“So, wetin you put for dem bag? Abi na sigidi sef?” the old man screamed.

“Baba make you no dey start yelling like dem hyena for dem Obudu forest. Na beans with dem black eyes dey inside. You know say for Itigidi like dat when dem give somebody okampi blow for him eye like dat you go crush dem beans and put am for him eye make dem thing come down small, small. Abi if one obonge blow no come down, wey dem space for another? Abi na black nose he fit get next?” the crazy boy snorted.

Read Also: Joe Ajaero v the state

“Kai, kai, Okon, worukutindi, worukutindi”, the old man began chanting an ancient Yoruba homage to beans as he danced in the manner of a votary of Orisa Oko, the God of farm produce and productivity.

“Baba, you don come with dem jaguda Yoruba cunny cunny again? Yeye people if to say na among you dem Joe man come do him nonsense, you go dey laugh. Ibo man no dey carry last. Dem come show dem labour man pepper”.

“Ha, Okon you are a big fool. We tell Joe make him no go for political rally, but mala tira catch am well well, he no listen. When dem mad Ihube boys come lift am up like useless feather, he come dey cry, papam, papam, papam”, the crazy old man drawled as he burst into his trademark fit of convulsive laughter.

“Ha, Baba dem Chigbu boy for Alaba tell me say na for a place dem dey call German Hill for Okigwe na where dem dey train dem boys. Even Tyson sef no fit fight dem. Na one old Major for Biafra who dey train dem. Him get one leg and him dey use am bring down elefant for Afikpo bush.” Okon chanted with fear and apprehension written all over him.

“Okon, Okon, na top security matter. No let dem roga roga boys hear you. If Ogbanje pikin wan quench dat one na him mama him business. Dem time wey I dey worry about dem obodo kontri don pass well well. I fight sotey I beat white man for him own kontri. Now I dey wait for boarding time”, the old man noted wistfully and suddenly vanished.

Before Okon could gather his wits together, the sky suddenly darkened as a police patrol vehicle emptied its contents of crack detectives on the street. They pounced on Okon and told him they were arresting him for stealing stolen goods and for disseminating subversive docu

November 26, 2023
Edo’s Philip Shaibu bites the bullet

After agonising for weeks about whether he should contest the governorship or not, and then enduring reprisal for months from Governor Godwin Obaseki determined to ensure his deputy does not succeed him next year, Edo State deputy governor Philip Shaibu has finally decided to throw his hat in the ring to contest the 2024 governorship election. The feud between the governor and his deputy broke into the open in September when Mr Shaibu dragged the governor and the legislature to court over what he termed a subterranean move to impeach him for daring to indicate interest in next year’s governorship poll. Mr Obaseki had been hostile to him, he said, since August when his political ambition came to light. In fact, the feud between the two men had been simmering since February 2022 when the voluble Mr Shaibu warned that he would turn against the governor should the latter attempt to play the godfather over the 2024 succession. The governor noted the threat and bided his time.

That time came last September when Mr Shaibu went to court. With alacrity, the governor bared his teeth, gave the deputy governor the cold shoulder, embarrassed him at state functions, and eventually kicked him out of the Government House into exile in a nondescript office nearby at Number 7, Osadebey Avenue. Chastened and humiliated, but immoderate as ever, Mr Shaibu ate crow before the whole country, in terms that amplified his total lack of principles. “I am missing my governor and by the grace of God, He will touch the governor’s heart and touch all of us and even those that are between us,” Mr Shaibu began ignominiously. “I mean well. If there is any mistake I have made as a human, it is not out of wickedness because I know I’m not wicked. I have a very clean heart. I want to use this medium to appeal to Mr. Governor that if there is anything I don’t know that I have done, please forgive me so that we can develop our state together.”

For a few crazy days, it seemed the deputy governor’s blandishments would work, especially with the governor who is himself unaccustomed to nobility driving the knife deeper into his deputy’s back in the manner he eventually accepted the apology. Sadly, the rapprochement was too good to be true. By last week, it was clear Mr Shaibu was simply baiting the governor, hoping that his boss would reset the relationship to its pristine days. But Mr Obaseki is an old warhorse who knew his sabre and could predict the enemy from one hundred miles away. He accepted his deputy’s apologies quite alright, but he was cautious about a man who thought nothing about ‘betraying’ him and who was flippant about it. He would bide his time again. True to prediction, and fearing that the governor was taking too much time in resetting and restoring the relationship he had craved and alluded to, Mr Shaibu went for broke and bit the bullet. The first time he broke ranks with the governor, Mr Shaibu loved the taste of blood, especially seeing the governor so flustered and livid. Practicing ‘betrayal’ a second time would do nothing spectacular to hurt a man who was already down and needn’t fear any fall.

Though the deputy governor claims to be consulting, it is all but clear he has made up his mind. He will contest the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) primary, and if he wins, he will go on to fight for the governorship. Here is his argument to justify his final break with fear and with Mr Obaseki: “With the 2024 Edo governorship election fast approaching, the state cannot afford to experiment again with someone who does not understand the politics of the state or the needs of the people. Edo people need practical governance and you cannot experiment again with somebody that does not understand the politics of a good state and the needs of the people…Are we going to experiment with a new person again? And the person will spend the first four years learning on the job and he will spend another four years trying to embezzle, set up his businesses in the name of consolidating on the gains of the first term. Or do we need a governor that from day one will hit the ground running?”

Read Also: Philip Shaibu and curious case of phantom impeachment

After playing the rhetorician so elegantly, Mr Shaibu threw this clincher in response to the governor’s argument about zoning and fairness: “Whereas other senatorial districts have had more than one turn in the governorship position in the state, Edo North had only one turn. We have had four governors from South, two from Central and only one from North. Just like my ambition to be the deputy governor was not mine, but I made myself available, so also the ambition to be governor is still not mine. I’m only making myself available.” Here are two extraordinary things in one. Firstly, his foes interpret zoning from the perspective of the Fourth Republic, starting from 1999. But Mr Shaibu goes farther back than 1999 to give his audience a more comprehensive background of the Edo sons who have had the privilege of governing the state. The PDP and Edo public will determine which perspective to choose as the campaigns begin and the aspirants become known. Second, Mr Shaibu is not just a rhetorician, he is alarmingly also an equivocator. The public adorned him with the robe of ambition as deputy governor, he says; they will do the same again as they clothe him with the ambition of governor. In other words, he is not greedy for power. It is unlikely he believes himself.

How far can he go? Not very far, it seems. No matter how much he detests the governor’s godfather status, he will be unable to match Mr Obaseki’s resources in fighting for the PDP ticket. He will also not be welcome in the All Progressives Congress (APC) should he take flight from his party, for the leading opposition party in the state is wary of those with betrayal in their genes. Indeed, should Mr Shaibu find accommodation in a third party, he will fare very badly in the poll. Does this mean Mr Obaseki will have his way in enthroning a successor in 2024? If Edo agrees with his perspective on zoning, and if the PDP produces a more acceptable candidate than the APC and Labour Party (LP), he will get his way. But ultimately, being a betrayer himself, it is hard to see the governor retaining any hold on whoever he installs. He flabbergasted ex-governor Adams Oshiomhole, and wiped the smile off the face of ex-governor Nyesom Wike, his backer at a point in time in his moment of distress. He is as unscrupulous as they come. Those who live by the sword, as Mr Shaibu will doubtless be attesting in the months ahead after coming to grief, will also die by the sword. It is karma; but in these parts, it is the beautiful art of politics.

November 26, 2023