The Nation Newspaper

Category: Sunday

EKO (1)



The Lagoon laughs at our triumphal boasts and primordial retorts.

For Lagos is a city with a saner story, saner voice, and saner vision. . . .

                   Drums; then the song:

                   Eko Akete,ile ogbon

                   Arodede maa ja o

                   Aromisa leegbeleegbe*

                      I

The Sea dances around your feet,

nestles in the plural nationality

between your fractious sands;

your text a boatload of blue tropes:

Mangrove mists, hazy hieroglyphs

billowing banter of waters speaking from both ends

of their mouth; laughter of the lagoon some-

times lush like the lethal beauty of hyacinths

A poem scribbled by the liquid lore

of a thousand deities, white-cap legends

never wrong in their rites, their temples made of water,

a vase of prayers germinates in their garden of songs;

A poem: etched by the daggerpoints of an alien conqueror

who, Bible in hand, empire in mind, mesmerised

by the amplitude of land and water, screamed

“Laa-gos! Laa- gos!” till his larynx trembled like a gale

Two names the City has, two souls,

one native and inexpressibly deep,

the other a rapid baptism from a foreign altar;

the two sometimes kiss, and sometimes quarrel

And Water here, wiser, wider, than land,

hoarding brackish dreams and broken shells,

the tides foaming like epileptic tempests

exploding in white tonalities and muffled thunders

And Lagos said: I will sing my own song

                There is no stone in my mouth…

     Arodede maa ja o

     Aromisa leegbe leegbe

   * Eko, city of wisdom

     The one that hovers precariously without falling

     Billowing eternity of water

(From If Only the Road Could Talk: New & Selected Poems (2017); first published in Lagos of the Poets, compiled and edited by Odia Ofeimun)

(Continued next week)

April 16, 2023
Your skills, your future

It’s always hard for me to decline an invitation to speak with students at various higher institutions, especially those studying Mass Communication which is the same course I studied years ago and have been a practising journalist since graduating.

I usually think I have an obligation to share my story, knowledge and experience with the students to guide them ahead of graduating and know how to prepare for the real world beyond the Ivory Tower.

I am of the opinion that professionals and others cannot just complain about the low standard of education or lack of necessary skills by new graduates instead of taking advantage of opportunities to counsel and mentor them.

In addition to now being a full-time media career development specialist, I easily accepted to stand in for a senior colleague who could not honour an earlier promise to speak at the Town and Gown programme by final year students of the Mass Communication department of the Lagos State University of Science and Technology, Ikorodu, formerly Lagos State Polytechnic Polytechnic last Thursday.

The theme of the programme which I found very apt against the background of the high rate of employment for graduates in the country was Your Skills, Your Future. While there are not enough jobs for many graduates every year, there is also the worrisome problem of unemployable graduates who don’t have the required skills and knowledge that makes them suitable for employment.

Like two other speakers at the programme, I stressed the need for students to have a clear understanding of the courses they are studying and know the basic skills they must have which they should start mastering before graduation.

Not only should they have academic knowledge, but they should explore every possible opportunity to learn the practical skills for becoming an accomplished professional in their field beginning when they go for an internship.

I shared my story of how being an intern at the defunct National Concord Newspaper gave me the opportunity to learn news writing, publish reports in various newspapers before graduation and being able to take the initiative of writing a major story that got me employed in The Punch after the national youth service without a formal interview.

I also recalled the exploits of some graduates of the department who came for internship while I was the Sunday Editor of The Nation and have not surprisingly become accomplished. They came in like other interns, but they were determined to learn skills they didn’t have and they did.

It’s usually shocking to find many graduates who barely understand what they can do with the courses they have certificates for and when you ask them what job they want, they say anything will do.

Unfortunately, as I usually tell them, there is no job like anything. They have to know what they want and have values they can add to whichever organisation they want to employ them notwithstanding that they are fresh graduates.

We are in an age when there are abundant opportunities to learn and develop many skills beyond the classrooms and there is no excuse to be clueless as some graduates are and yet claim they can’t find a job. Knowing the state of the economy, new graduates should also have the capacity to be self-employed as some are already doing.

The earlier students know that only skillful people have a future the better. The journey ahead of them is a long one and how prepared they are with the skills they have will determine how far they can go.

April 16, 2023
Obidients’ fantasy island

Desperate attempts by Nigeria’s sore losers to delegitimise Tinubu’s victory.

Ordinarily, one would have let sleeping dogs lie concerning the just concluded general elections in the country, especially since the aggrieved have decided to go to court. But then, the way some of the losers, especially the Labour Party (LP) chieftains have been going about their loss at the polls leaves a sour taste in the mouth. While one may dismiss their call to violence as ‘ranting of an ant’, not so the narratives they are trying to rewrite about the 2023 elections.

I am here talking of their frantic attempts to delegitimise the election, having lost at the polls. Like a mortally wounded lion, they have taken to every available space, particularly the social media, to rubbish the election as neither free nor fair, riddled with violence, and what have you.

This is where silence stops being golden. For a generation bereft of the country’s political and democratic history, the tendency is for the youths who form the bulk of the party’s support base to gulp up and continue to regurgitate whatever they find on the Internet as the truth and nothing but the truth. But we should not abdicate the space to people who are attempting to stand truth on its head. Nigerians must have access to alternative viewpoints, the authentic story, as it were, to counter some of the wild claims that these sore losers have been making, home and abroad, about the elections.

Let’s begin from the beginning.

After the presidential election on February 25, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared the candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu who scored 8,794,726 votes winner of the election. The opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar came second with 6,984,520 and Labour Party’s (LP) candidate, Mr Peter Obi, came third with 6,101,533 votes.

The election produced some upsets. Perhaps the most shocking was the loss of Lagos State by Tinubu, to Obi, by about 9,848 votes.

I remember vividly how the Obidients (Obi’s supporters) in my area jubilated that for once, Tinubu, a political juggernaut, has finally met his match in the relatively political Lilliputian, Obi. I hear it was like that nationwide. At that point, they praised President Muhammadu Buhari for bringing up the cashless and Naira redesign policy that effectively checkmated Tinubu’s capacity to mop up votes.

In a sense, they were right: Tinubu has never lost any election in Lagos since the country’s return to civil rule in 1999. Unfortunately, they jubilated too early. They forgot that the masquerade that danced first eventually ends up as a spectator. By the time the real votes started coming in, particularly from the north, they turned Obi’s few thousand votes lead in a place like Lagos into mincemeat. Then, those who had earlier praised the election as a true reflection of the people’s wish started to sing a new song. As the Yoruba would say, ‘won wo shin bi obe paanu’ (they simmered like the soup in an aluminum pot just put down from the stove).

By the time the dust eventually settled on the presidential election, APC won in 12 states, as against the 19 and 21 it won in 2019 and 2015, respectively, while the PDP also won in 12 states and LP won in 11 states plus the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). APC and PDP had the 25% threshold in 29 states and 21 states, respectively. LP, on the other hand, met the 25% criterion in only 16 states. The ruling APC which won 19 states in 2017 had lost seven by the time the 2023 presidential election was over. Also, margin of votes of the ruling party fell from 3,928,869 in 2019 to 1,810,206 in 2023, a more than 50% drop. Yet, some people have the guts to say the election was not free and fair.

It would interest our youths that, of the leading four candidates in the presidential election, only Tinubu came from a formidable, united front. The remaining three, Atiku, Obi and Rabiu Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) were at a time all under the PDP’s umbrella. Their inability to go to the polls united led to the splitting of their votes. As a matter of fact, a cursory look at the votes they had in the polls almost approximated the number of votes PDP had in 2019 when they were still together. It is instructive that both the APC and PDP polled a little over half of the votes they had in 2019, while the third force, LP, cleared up what both parties lost at the polls with its 6.1million votes.

If only Atiku had stooped to conquer the G5 governors, and if he had not allowed Kwankwaso to leave the party with his 1.4million votes, his story would have been different. Indeed, he would have been the one the Obidients would be crying after now like a child whose lolly has just been snatched by a stubborn toddler.

Atiku, as a veteran politician, would seem to have understood these and his other miscalculations. Hence, the ‘relative’ calmness in his challenge of the election result.

Not so the Obidients.

They are not ready to take no for an answer. It is either they are declared winner or the roof comes down. Yet,they came third in the election. As a matter of fact, the way they are going about this their so-called mandate would seem to me to suggest that they are looking forward to another route to the presidency beyond the election. Although Obi has distanced his party from those calling for interim government, how about his deputy and other supporters? Worse still, could they be hoping to ride to the seat of power on the wave of another mass uprising?

The earlier the Obidients accept the reality that the only acceptable road to power in a democratic setting is through the ballot box, the better. Apoarently, many of the youths who supported Obi never voted or voted for the first time, that is why they don’t seem to understand how elections play out, especially in this part of the world.

On the issue of political violence, only those who are either ignorant of the degree of violence in previous elections in the country, or the mischievous, would say that the 2023 elections were marred by violence and so should be cancelled. Yes, pockets of violence were recorded in places like Lagos, Kano, Bauchi, Osun, Cross River and Imo, the rate of casualties was relatively low compared with past incidents. Although it is not ideal that a single soul should be lost to electoral violence, seven people were reportedly killed in Lagos in the last election, five in Kano, Imo (six), Osun (five), Bauchi (three) and Cross River (three). In all, between 13 and 28 people were reportedly killed during the presidential polls.

Although it may not yet be our dream election, this year’s election would seem one of the most peaceful if the casualty rate is compared with the past. Most of those trying to make a mountain of a molehill know; they just want the youths who have largely been denied the benefit of studying History to go with the erroneous impression that the election was largely marred by unprecedented violence.

For the record, the 1964/65 elections in the country claimed 200 lives, 1993 (100); 1999 (80); 2003 (100); 2007 conducted by the Olusegun Obasanjo administration (300); 2011 (800); 2015 (100) and 2019 (150). This year’s record is nothing near these. Ironically, the former President Obasanjo who knew how many people died in the election conducted in his time is one of those spearheading the cancellation of this year’s election in certain areas, whatever that meant!

In terms of voter intimidation, harassment and assault, these were recorded in only five per cent of the polling booths nationwide.

Again, this year’s election is the most technologically advanced in the country’s democratic history. Devices such as Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), the electronic device designed to read Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs), was used with 88 per cent success rate across the 176,606 polling units nationwide. They were fixed in nine percent of places where they malfunctioned and replaced outright in two per cent of such places.

Perhaps the main bone of contention is INEC’s failure or inability to upload the election result real time as it promised. For me, this is a storm in a teacup. Even if INEC had promised to deploy its Results Viewing Portal (IReV), and circumstances later dictated that was no longer feasible, is the commission a robot that it would not reverse itself? Should INEC not change its mind if it saw cyber attacks ahead? Even the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, confirmed that there was an upsurge of cyber attacks on Nigeria’s cyber space, especially during the elections.

At any rate, the issue is not a constitutional matter.

As I have argued severally, many of our politicians are like the proverbial drowning man who would not mind clinging to a serpent for help. It is when they know they have no case that they start looking for technicalities in court. For me, however, the most important thing in this matter is that the votes cast represent the wish of the people, whether collated manually or electronically.

It is not funny that the party that came third in an election is the one most vociferously calling for cancellation of results in places where it lost. If LP and its supporters had thought that some benevolent spirits would help them crack their palm kernels at the polls and those spirits could not deliver because they met more formidable spirits on their way, that is not enough reason to pull down the house over everybody’s head.

The way the Obidients are going, it is as if the party itself realised that if the presidency slipped from their hands this time, they may never get the kind of momentum that gave them visibility in the just concluded elections again. Hence, all attempts to upturn the result and have the trophy handed over to their party that came third on a platter of social media popularity.

Even in the south east base of Mr Obi, his people have moved on as the governorship election showed. People have largely returned to their tents. Was he also outrigged in his region? If any of the LP candidates had been sleeping on waterbed in Aso Rock Villa before the election in his dream, such LP candidates should go and sleep again and dream reality. They will then realise that the waterbed that they found themselves on was in a dream; fantasy island.

As my people say, eni r’owo he loju ala to ndunnu, e so fun ko tepa mose e nitori ebi (anyone who saw and picked money in a dream should be told that he has a lot of work to do to ward off hunger). Mr Obi, as a first timer in such an election has done exceedingly well. But, oun ko lo kan. The 61-year-old youth should wait for his turn, if his supporters would allow that, with the angry manner they are chasing after something that is not lost.

It is preposterous for any reasonable person to say that an election in which a sitting president lost in his state was rigged. Or the one that saw ‘a whole’ Tinubu floored in Lagos by a political neophyte. Come off it! Those are idle talks and those peddling them should go tell that to the marines!

Finally, LP and its supporters must choose between the courts and street protests, intimidation and threats. They cannot be in court on the one hand and at the same time be threatening fire and brimstone if they lose in court, on the other. They cannot approbate and reprobate at the same time.

April 16, 2023
Tinubu: Turn this table!

“The measure of intelligence is the ability to change.” – Albert Einstein “To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.” – Winston Churchill

Francis Bacon, English philosopher and statesman, once pointedly pontificated thus: “reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man.” To some scholars, words scripted seemingly convey greater value than words vocalized; and equally, habitual reading nourishes the intellect and nurtures the reader’s imagination. In the year 2012, the trio of Sam Omatseye, Tunji Bello and Segun Ayobolu – ace writers and journalists, edited a book specifically on Tinubu’s leadership acumen in troubled times as exemplified and amplified in the Lagos context. In relevance to the topic of this edition of the “Followership Challenge”, this column will be quoting copiously pertinent and salient portions authored by celebrated columnist, Segun Ayobolu, in that treatise on Tinubu. Here it goes:

“Becoming the Governor of Lagos State after close to two decades of military dictatorship afforded Tinubu the opportunity to actualize his vision for the transformation of the state and the commencement of the radical modernization of its decayed infrastructure. The steps he took towards the systematic realization of his vision offer graphic lessons for students of leadership and those involved in engineering organizational change at all levels…they include the following: (1) As Governor Elect, he constituted 23 Transition Committees made up of experts in diverse sectors to dissect the challenges of the state and proffer solutions … (2) He appointed a Cabinet made up substantially of accomplished technocrats to optimize efficiency in policy initiation and implementation through professionalism. (3) Through a series of retreats/brainstorming sessions, the Executive Council, legislative arm and the Body of Permanent Secretaries distilled a Ten – Point Agenda based on the party’s manifesto and recommendations of the Transition Committees to reflect the priorities and guide the direction of the government …” – Segun Ayobolu, in “Asiwaju: Leadership In Troubled Times”, edited by the trio: Tunji Bello, Sam Omatseye and Segun Ayobolu, Kraft Books Limited, 2012, p.53.

Saliently and succinctly stated, it is imperative on the President Elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in departing from the “business as usual” stance in governance, associated with many occupiers of Aso Rock from 1999 till date, to turn the table in cuddling and championing core and crucial change, in a proactive and progressive mannerism that will ultimately usher in pragmatic developmental strides that majority of followers can feel, see, touch and embrace. This should be discernible in candour, colour, content and context within six months in the saddle. Yes, 180 days is enough to show positive and progressive reflexes in government if sagacious strategic actionable policy that will dovetail into programmes and projects, as a means of interventions are in place. It is germane to state without mincing words, that as rigorous and robust as the policy, programmes and projects may appear, if the drivers, heading Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs), are round pegs in square holes, then one may begin to sing the dunc mittis of the administration as nothing to write home about should be expected within the four-year span. Expectedly, many followers will expect a reenactment of the developmental template of Lagos which may not be feasible at the national level due to diversity, political preferences, cultural inclinations, environmental considerations, etc. However, even with the gamut of economic, energy and security menace on the table, Tinubu’s adroitness will be tested in accordance with the postulation of Nobel Laureate, Albert Einstein, “the measure of intelligence is the ability to change.” In essence, change should be the constant and common denominator to distinguish the incoming government, and more so, if the many naysayers are to be proved wrong; and that done within the nick of time!

Time To Turnaround

Turning the table, rather than shaking the table, connotes a complete reversal of the state of affairs, adroitly adopted or adapted without uproar. First and foremost, this column will like to remind the President Elect of the promise in his acceptance speech to side with national reconciliation and healing whilst championing a government of national competence. In this vein, the “Followership Challenge”, taking cognizance of perceptions of followers, will want to intimate the incoming President not to sit on the fence regarding legislative appointments. Globally, the issue of legislative appointments is a party affair albeit cleverly and covertly done behind the public scene. This is the right time to step in and for the party to take a stand that would be based not just on which district or region delivered the highest votes but taking cognizance of inclusion and national unity as the watchword, thereby kowtowing healing and reconciliation, in word and deed! The Muslim – Muslim brouhaha cum self determination or separatist squabble are still smothering. Hence, the need to apply caution and walk in a sagacious manner as Yorubas will say: “gbogbo aso ko la nsa loorun” (meaning: not all clothes (after washing) are sun-dried in the open).

Moreover, it is expected that there would be much lobbying and jostling for appointment as ministers into key Ministries Departments & Agencies (MDAs). Yours sincerely was a guest on TVC News Breakfast recently and was asked to add my voice to the expected cabinet make up of Tinubu presidency come 29th May 2023. In it, my perception was, and is still, making a case for political appointments such that round pegs are in round holes or square pegs in square holes though many politicians labour for the President Elect’s emergence. There should be a balancing and blending of technocrats with politicians as well as constitutionally adhering to the template of at least a minister from each state. Definitely, it is a herculean task for the incoming President. In all, Tinubu should turn the table such that no section or region or tribe or religion, by and large, feel short-changed or excluded. Putting it simply and squarely, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu upon inauguration come 29th May 2023 should in the spirit of national reconciliation and healing, which he alluded to in his acceptance speech, exhibit and exemplify inclusion, in colour, content and context in all appointments. Going this route, he needs to depict in appointing credible and competent citizens that any Nigerian, irrespective of his tribe or religion, can sit on top of any MDA so far as character and competence speak for him or her. This should be the yardstick or hallmark! He did this quintessentially as Governor of Lagos State, and bequeathed this template to his successors that has today tilted the scale in placing Lagos as the 5th largest economy in Africa.

Tinubu: Tipping Point

“To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.” – Winston Churchill

In seeing, feeling and experiencing improvement, specifically that is peculiar in governance, there should be proactive engagement in certain core and crucial sectors. There should no more paying lip service to the following: Agribusiness, Micro Small Medium Enterprises (MSME), Vocational and Digital Skills (VDS) (targeted mostly at the bulging youth population); Education (inculcating VDS into the curricula from the Junior Secondary School (JSS) to the Senior Secondary School (SSS). Each student passing both theory and practical in the SSSCE in VDS should earn credit and recognition for both admission, engagement and employment. For instance, graduating students with Credit level and above in VDS could be considered for One Year paid internship in certified institutions and organizations to imbibe in them advanced professional hard and soft skills that will be attractive to organizations not just in Nigeria but globally. Living example: Omojasola, graduated from one of the old generation universities in Nigeria and was ‘unfortunate’ to secure a good employment with her first degree in electrical and electronics engineering. She was introduced into digital skill learning and within a year she acquired the skill to code, and pronto, was hired by a United States of America (USA) firm based in Dubai. She started earning in dollars and handsomely too; she is now based in Dubai and very fulfilled! This is the right and better way to japa!! Malaysia, where this columnist resided and did his doctoral research, is wont to exporting skilled citizens in certain professions to the Middle East in such a way that if you are sourcing for carpenters, bricklayers or welders, you may likely get an Indonesian or Bangladeshi serving you; same way a gardener or house maid could not be a Singaporean. Outcome is that both Malaysia and Singapore made conscious efforts many years ago to the future they desired. Today, Diaspora funds pour in for Malaysia from the Middle East and across the world.

Fixating on Agribusiness: the state governments are constitutionally concerned with proactive agricultural production. However, under the watch of the incoming government headed by Tinubu, the focus should be to innovatively move Agriculture into Agribusiness via harnessing the value chain through modern production, preservation, processing, packaging and marketing. For instance, the Oil Palm industry is a gold mine if fully explored and exploited. Presently, Palm Oil sells for $600 per barrel in the international market! This is far greater than the Crude Oil price. More to specifically write on this in my Malaysia experience of the oil palm industry in this column soon. Likewise, Nigeria could consider empowering the state via public private partnership (PPP) investment into production, processing, preserving, packaging and marketing of such crops as Cashew, Cocoa, Groundnut, Rice, Plantation, Maize, Yam, Tomato, etc. depending on the region suitable for such cultivation. The Federal Government (FG) should partner with any state proactively involved in this. The FG can initiate a template with certain core conditions that the state must meet so that relevant FG institutions will intervene. Next under agribusiness is: animal husbandry. This is a humongous industry ranging from cattle, ram, sheep, goat, poultry, fishing, etc. production. The industry is laced with a lot of value chain to enhance economic development and food security. It is high time Nigeria kick-started ranching spanning nooks and crannies of Nigeria for states willing to partake. In the same vein, the FG and her agencies should support such ventures via adherence to stipulated criteria. Likewise for all the production in other aspects of animal husbandry with the attendant value chain.

Next in line is Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) empowerment. This is crucial and germane to checkmating and crippling unemployment with the concomitant criminal tendencies as idle hands could be quasi devil’s workshops. Moreover, proper and transparent development of MSME spanning the 36 States and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) would enhance the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in a humongous dimension. In addition, health care delivery should take pride of place. This columnist, appearing on TVC News Breakfast aforementioned, pontificated that in the aftermath of the Covid 19 saga, there has not been any world-class hospital in place by the government at the centre as we speak. Should we wait till another pandemic or plague? It is high time the FG stopped paying lip-service to the proactive and practical development of the health sector. Acting in line with this, the next budget (1st one by the next administration) should seek to establish world-class hospitals in at least three regions of the country. Subsequently, the 2025 budget should incorporate the remaining three regions accordingly. In such a way, official overseas travelling for public officers should stop at a set time, possibly, 2027! Doable, if the country strategically plans now, knowing that failing to plan is synonymous with planning to fail!!

Conclusion

“If you’re not changing, you’re not growing. If you’re not growing, you’re not being intelligent. Humans thrive in change and expansion — yet there can be so many internal or external blocks to change. Trying to keep things as they are is a very unhealthy approach to life. Avoiding change reflects a misunderstanding of the human condition and human flourishing. Change is not to be avoided, but embraced.” – Benjamin Hardy, PhD

All said and done, if the government commencing from 29th May 2023 would be impactful, at the backend would be peer review performance mechanism that would be properly benchmarked upon key performance indicators (KPIs). This is in following the globally acclaimed theory of change as exemplified and amplified in the adroit adoption of monitoring, evaluation and learning as enshrined in the book: “Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Processes In The Public Sector: Spotlight On Lagos, Nigeria” (published 2021 by Authorhouse UK), and co-authored by this columnist. It is available on Amazon. In essence, to deliver appropriately the dividend of democracy, there should be employment of relevant, robust and rigorous tools of Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) into governance at MDAs levels so that each minister should meet targets as chief servants of his or her ministry; failure to live up to expectations vis-à-vis resources of state allocated could result in the rug being pulled off the feet of such ministers. It should no longer be a tea party as appointed citizens should see themselves as servants and not demigods meant to be worshipped! The country will be waiting and watching!!

John Ekundayo, Ph.D. – Harvard-Certified Leadership Strategist, and also a Development Consultant, can be reached via +2348030598267 (WhatsApp only) and drjmoekundayo@hotmail.com

April 16, 2023
These incorrigible narcissists

“The open letter from Chimamanda Adichie to US President Joe Biden is ill-advised and fraught with self-contradiction. Nothing in her long, windy story reflects that she took time off to observe the elections. When she is not relying on one relative here, she is citing one cousin there. And pray, since she lives in America, Nigeria must be subordinated to that country? She just deceived herself, possibly addressing issues as she did in the land conflict between Abba, her hometown and their Ukpo big neighbours. There is so little any single person can do from the armchair, armed with only a pretty face and pretty prose without a grasp of the Nigerian Electoral Process, let alone its polity and attendant complications. There are really no specifics in that letter that relates to issues that can invalidate an election within Nigerian statutes. So, if it is outside Nigerian statute, what is the big idea? Biden should evoke American values and laws and issue instructions to their ‘colony?

That is far-fetched!”- Okelo Madukaife.

Writing about them recently, the Obidients, that is, Mohammed Adamu said in ‘Dirty’ Datti:

“The first unwritten rule of the ‘Obidient Movement’ is “Never to admit a wrong or own up to a mistake”.

While that should sum them up perfectly, the fact of they being narcissists, first and foremost, should better explain who they really are, and show abundantly, why we should all thank God that Nigerians dodged the bullet of having Mr Peter Obi, as their President and Head of state, come May 29, 2023.

The column will today assume a teaching curve but not with puny me as the teacher. Rather, we would have for our teacher, a highly regarded Medico in the person of Dany Paul Baby who, as recently as 4 March, 2022 treated the disease known as Narcissism, at some great length in: 2022 WebMD, LLCwhen he wrote as follows:

What is narcissism?

“Simply put, Narcissism is the tendency to think very highly of yourself and to have little or no regard for others.

A narcissist is selfish, vain, and a glutton for attention.

When does narcissism become a problem?

Experts might say it’s when those traits start to hurt your relationships and distort your sense of self. Extreme narcissism can cross over to a mental illness called narcissistic personality disorder. Your life revolves around your need for approval. You don’t understand or care about others’ feelings. You’re convinced you’re special, and you need others to acknowledge it.

Mirror, Mirror

The word narcissism comes from a mythical Greek youth who couldn’t pull himself away from his own reflection. Narcissus was beautiful. Narcissists, on the other hand, don’t have to be beautiful to believe they are. They’re convinced that they’re superior, even when it’s not the reality.

Endless Hunger For Praise.

That’s what a narcissist wants from you. All the time. Their appetite for it is unlimited. And it goes in only one direction, so don’t expect any in return. And if that constant stream of flattery and admiration stops even for a second, they can turn hostile or aggressive very quickly.

They Don’t Care

Really, they don’t. Other people’s feelings aren’t on a narcissist’s radar. They usually never grow any empathy. They see you as a tool to get what they want, or an obstacle in their way. Sometimes, they don’t mean to be insensitive. They’re simply blind to how they affect you.

They’re Bullies

A narcissist’s puffed-up self-image often masks a fear that they don’t measure up. When someone punctures their ego or insults them, narcissists can lash out. They demean, belittle, and intimidate. Many studies have linked narcissism with higher levels of aggression and violence.

Romance With a Narcissist

You might not see the red flags at first. Narcissists are often charming and popular. But over time, they may become cold, manipulative, and cruel. And they are often unfaithful, always on the lookout for a more impressive or better-looking partner.

Like Attracts Like?

You’d think narcissists would favor partners who feed their egos or who put up with their insensitivity. But that’s usually not the case. Narcissists hook up with all personality types. Still, they’re a bit more likely to end up in a relationship with another narcissist.

Narcissists as Co-Workers

They make good first impressions and excel in job interviews. But they can be lousy hires. Narcissists overestimate their own skills and put yours down. They’ll do whatever it takes to impress. They’ll barge into private conversations, give unwanted advice, and shamelessly steal ideas. They’re also rated worse by the employees they manage, except by those who are narcissists themselves.

If Your Partner Is a Narcissist

They may lull you with grand dreams when life is good. But when the fantasy pops, you may become the root of all their problems. Don’t buy into their distorted picture. It helps if you:

Don’t make excuses for them when they lie or hurt others.

Realize they will do the same to you.

Focus on your own dreams and goals.

How to Handle a Narcissist

Set boundaries. Decide where your limit is. Stick to it even as they try to punish, charm, or bully you.

Criticize gently. They may get angry if you threaten their self-image. Focus on how their behavior makes you feel rather than on their intentions.

Walk away if they become angry. Try again when they’re calm.

Don’t argue. They probably won’t hear you and may attack your motives.

Treatment

Narcissists aren’t keen to get professional help. After all, defensiveness is one of their hallmarks. And there’s no proven treatment. Some experts say talk therapy may help narcissists better understand how their behavior affects others. Some therapists may try more effective treatments meant for conditions with similar traits, like borderline personality disorder”.

With due regard to space constraint, let us quickly correlate Obidients to this superb offering by Dr Lady.

Considering himself better than all members of the Labour party, Peter Obi, without the slightest regard to provisions of the extant Electoral Bill, wangled his way into becoming the presidential candidate of the party even when he was not a lawful member.

That is one of their main problems: excessive self exaggeration.

Today Peter Obi is being presented to Nigerians, by his Obidients as a Saint and a Knight in a charming armour.

Not a word of all the serious allegations of drug dealing etc levelled against him by the highly reputable Igbo Association – Igbo Kwenu – nor those in the dastardly open letter titled: You Are Evil, Corrupt – An Open Letter To Peter Obi By Uloka Chukwubuikem October 2, 2022, would you sniff.

In the open letter, Obi was accused of utter lawlessness, including, not once conducting a single Local Government election in Anambra state or accounting for Local Government funds in all of the 8 years he was governor.

The writer also dealt at length about how he illegally pulled down the hotel of one Mr Bonaventure Mokwe on spurious charges before adding:”Perhaps I should remind you of your illegal use of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) in Awkuzu, Anambra State, when you were Governor and gave orders to kill, maim, and use innocent people for human barbecue. We all remember the Ezu and Omambala River massacres that you ordered when you gave outright orders to shoot at sight, the innocent Igbo youths, which was carried out by your man Friday, CSP James Nwafor. To this day, the memory still hurts the families of the over 500 young people murdered in cold blood without any kind of trials or fair hearing, just because you had the executive seal of office”.

This is the Peter Obi Obidients and several intellectuals of his ethnic stock are doing everything to present to the world as Mr clean.

Nor do we need mention the exalted place he enjoys in the Pandora papers as well as his investing Anambra state funds in his family business .

And lest I forget, Chukwubuikem further wrote:”On the same topic of transparency, Sir, it remains a mystery how you became rich and wealthy in dollars because you have refused to disclose to the public your life trajectory while you continue to avoid answering the question as to how you made your money”.

“Your parents, like most of our parents, were common traders in Onitsha, Anambra State, with no other investment aside from the kiosk at Ose Okwodu. But you became a billionaire out of nowhere and have never explained how”.

That is the narcissist at work. Not forgetting, of course, the most defining of Obidients’ characteristics, namely, their crass rudeness to just about anybody, especially on their hiding place – the social media – where all manner of illiterates open their mouths to pontificate on all subjects abusing, and painting others, in the most lurid of colours?

With this correlation made, it becomes very easy to see how a Peter Obi who placed a distant third, whose party couldn’t present candidates for election everywhere in the country, couldnt present enough party agents because there arent enough Igbos to go round, has a lone governor in the entire 36 states of the Federation, would swear anything claiming that he won the presidential election even if he didnt score 15 percent in any of the NorthWest and the Northeast and was beaten, overall, by over 2.5M votes.

Welcome then to Mr Trump of Africa.

April 16, 2023
Wike, G-5, PDP: Aluta continua

It is presumptuous to conclude that the humiliation of the factionalised Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the last presidential election could cause the party to regain its senses and unite for the future. Months before the fateful poll, and especially shortly before and after the PDP primary in May 2022, the main opposition party was unable to unite its fractious members. A few of the aggrieved leaders left and found special purpose vehicles to achieve their electoral and particularly presidential ambitions. Unseating the ruling and aggressive All Progressives Congress (APC) from the presidential stool would require unity and humongous resources. That feat was ordinarily a very difficult proposition. But to carry out that unprecedented upset while being factionalised into four parts was even more far-fetched. Disregarding logic and commonsense, and defiant of the rebellious and quarrelsome parts, the rump PDP nevertheless blundered into the election isolated and, predictably, lost woefully.

At least two of the PDP breakaways, to wit, the PDP itself and the delusional and overly optimistic Labour Party (LP), have sought to litigate their losses. The litigations, as expected, are not being carried out by the defeated political parties as such; the suits are essentially the preserve of the PDP and LP presidential candidates. Their parties are going along with the court cases in the dismal hope that what they describe as ‘stolen mandate’ could be recovered. No such miracle will happen, however. But what the parties, much more than the defeated presidential candidates, will concern themselves with going forward will be their fortunes as outsiders under the coming dispensation. They are left holding the short end of the stick as far as the presidency is concerned. However, they will hope to pull some weight in the legislature, having secured some significant victories, particularly in the House of Representatives.

But it is in the House of Representatives that indications of the fractiousness of the PDP continue to manifest, where their internal dissension will continue to endanger their future, and where, if no answer is found to their acrimony, the next set of elections will see them experience far worse beating. More significantly, it is in the House of Representatives that evidence of the leadership tussle within the party becomes at once axiomatic of their real character and symptomatic of the decay sapping them of oppositional energy. Of the 325 seats declared so far, the PDP has won 102, and could potentially go into alliance with LP, which has 34 seats, and New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) with 18 seats. Nothing of course is cast in granite. But for the APC, which so far has 162 seats in the 360-seat assembly, it will need to win 18 more seats in the lower chamber in the remaining 31 seats to be decided in yesterday’s supplementary election in order to have a majority as it does in the 10th Senate (57 seats to PDP’s 29 seats).

However, concluded elections or not, the PDP is poised for another round of attritional war in the House of Representatives. Since the APC has been unable to get an outright majority in the lower chamber, fierce politicking similar to the leadership struggle in the PDP has already erupted. The APC is unlikely to have it smooth sailing in securing the prized positions of principal officers. It must, therefore, engage in the most ingenious horse-trading or electoral pacts ever, especially in the face of threats by other parties to conspire for the same offices. The opposition will not only have to ensure unity in their ranks, including forming an alliance with the other minor parties, it must also win a majority of the undecided seats in the supplementary elections. That is a tall order. For not only will unity within the PDP, with its 102 seats so far, remain far-fetched, it must also lure the other minor parties with goodies which at the moment only the ruling party is best placed to offer.

This is where the ongoing battle between the G-5 and PDP leaders becomes hugely significant. Two reasons explain this significance. One, the G-5 House of Representatives members can theoretically help give the APC a legislative majority, assuming the ruling party is unable to secure more seats in the supplementary elections. To help the APC achieve its aim, the war between the G-5 and the PDP leadership represented by the party’s presidential candidate in the last poll, Atiku Abubakar, must continue. The arrowhead of the G-5 faction, Rivers State governor Nyesom Wike, has already signaled his readiness to cooperate with the APC. According to him, the APC won, and they deserve to have untrammeled advantage of their victory. Two, it is difficult to predict the outcome of the G-5 versus PDP war, in the short and long term. If the table turns against the Atiku caucus, as expected, and the Wike tendency in the party regains the momentum, the opposition could strike out in a different and assertive direction inimical to the APC. But if the table does not turn, and the Wike tendency is attenuated by his exit from Rivers Government House, a number of unforeseen variables could come into play in ways that are both unforeseen and unsalutary to the G-5. After all, nothing suggests that even the G-5 itself would remain intact and focused on a cause or causes that are morphing constantly.

What is almost certain is that the shape of the 10th National Assembly will favour the ruling APC in the Senate; but while its fortunes are not so predictable in the House of Representatives in the short term, the party is nevertheless expected to survive opposition plots to snatch the diadem. But keeping the diadem in the lower house will mean constant and unrelenting horse-trading and deft political machinations. If the APC enthrones a Speaker who is less than savvy in walking the tightrope, the House of Representatives will be in constant turmoil. So, far beyond merely taking the speakership, the APC must put forward a brilliant and intuitive man to head the lower chamber. For nothing, it is obvious, will remain static for a considerable length of time. Whatever help and advantage the G-5 and Mr Wike can confer on the APC will only sustain the ruling party for the initial months. What is more, no one knows at the moment how Mr Wike himself will fare in the ensuing battles in the PDP, especially after his exit from Government House. He is smart and daring, and his hunches are often flawless; but he must hope that both qualities will carry him very far in the tempestuous waters of South-South politics and the shark-infested rivers of national politics hell bent on castrating and sequestering him as a provincial politician.

Elections and FCT’s super beings

BOTH the PDP and the LP know they didn’t win the last presidential poll. But they desperately litigate the APC victory for only one reason: to cause a run-off that would allow them to enact the cooperation which their two presidential candidates urgently covet. Had they not miscalculated badly, had they buried their hatchets and pride to forge unity between their standard-bearers, they would probably be in the shoes of the triumphant APC candidate now awaiting coronation. Chastened by their mistakes, but still defiant, they have resurrected the uncontroversial and even commonsensical constitutional status of the Federal Capital City, Abuja, especially in connection with winning 25 percent of votes in two-thirds of the 36 states in Nigeria and the FCT.

The courts will decide once again on the subject, since desperate Nigerian politicians and their fanatical supporters are hard of hearing. What matters to this column is the absolute lack of sense of those who suggest that the framers of the constitution could conceivably project residents of the FCT as super humans. What on earth will make that territory or its inhabitants more special than the rest of Nigeria? And why would any constitution confer such special privilege on them to the point of wielding veto power over the rest of the country? That laughable interpretation of Section 134 of the Nigerian constitution is unlikely to impress a college student, let alone mystify constitution drafters, or confuse judges. But desperate politicians and their lawyers are not made from the human stock everyone is familiar with. They are a special, obtuse and incorrigible breed. They will mouth any jargon and clutch at any straw.

April 16, 2023
The time of these times

We live in very interesting times. The nation may well be on the cusp of momentous changes. All the old verities appear to be crumbling in the crucible of new contradictions. Yet an eerie uncertainty persists. Some of the cultural organizations through which ethnic nationalities stake their national claims are unraveling before our very eyes. Trapped in a time-warp, they seem unable to respond to the emergent dilemmas of their people in a multi-ethnic nation seething with mutual hostilities.

It has taken a momentous election to expose the hideous centrifugal forces that pull the country in different directions. Whatever the opinion of jaundiced international observers, the elections and their aftermath have affected the polity in a more fundamental way than anybody would have thought possible.

But change must come in whatever manner possible. When you block change in one direction, other possibilities open up from other directions to accommodate the return of the repressed. So once in every four years, most practicing democracies are mandated to open the Pandora Box of electoral validation and get on with whatever they find inside.

We have said it several times that elections do not resolve the National Question. More often than not, they tend to exacerbate it. The aftermath of the election has brought to the surface several tensions simmering just below the surface. In the past few weeks, we have witnessed an upsurge of hostilities: ethnic, cultural, literary, intellectual and journalistic with the combatants at daggers drawn. It has been a Babel of sorts with only a few able to rise above the dreadful cacophony.

But sweet are the uses of adversity. As this column noted a few weeks back, we cannot continue to patch up a festering wound with old suppurating bandage. The controversies have opened up the national wound in a way that makes it possible to apply novel medication. Nigeria cannot continue to live a lie. Nation-building is a task that requires thinkers, philosophers and statesmen.

In order to help the nation to overcome its foundational trauma and kick start the process of healing away from the current heckling and hooting by obviously traumatised citizenry, we republish this morning, an article that was first published in 2015 as General Buhari prepared to gather the reins of power. Obviously, most of the nation’s expectations have not been met. Otherwise, the demons of nation-disabling contradictions will not be back.

But in a significant manner and in ways he himself could not have imagined, the Buhari administration has opened up new vistas of the National Question. The thrust of angst and anger has been deflected in the aftermath of the election. Whereas it used to be the southern power groups up in arms against the northern feudal oligarchy, now it is the South East and the South West in open confrontation against each other with the north squirming in quiet delight. The general from Daura must be chuckling.

Judging from the open revolt of the past few weeks, it is now clear that the Tinubu presidency is the outcome some fundamentalist elements from the east dread most and it may yet provoke the most irrational elements into an armed confrontation which will test Bola Tinubu’s mettle as Commander in Chief and statesman.

Simon Ekpa, the rogue Finland-based agitator, has already declared himself the Prime minister of a Biafran government in exile. There will be no annulment this time around. But there must be a deliberate state policy to seek a reapproachment with the more reasonable elements among the contemporary Igbo leadership to douse a potentially untoward situation.

April 16, 2023
Okon impersonates himself

To the Ajanlekoko Station near Ajangila Bus Stop where Okon is being held on charges of self-impersonation. Baba Lekki had arrived lugging a trunk box containing his archaic law books and other jurisprudential exotica including a private correspondence involving Lord Denning and an Irish legal icon on the question of self-determination.

For some time now, nothing has been heard from the irascible old curmudgeon beyond occasional release of letters on the state of the nation. He had refused to have anything to do with the nascent political ferment in the nation dismissing the whole thing as an ethnic scam from the reactionary rearguard of the political class.

When Okon was nabbed, he was informed that he had committed the serious offence of impersonating himself. The mad boy was beside himself with tearful mirth as he rolled on the floor.

“Oga officer, how I fit do dat one now? How I fit impregnating myself, abi Sikira no dey again?” Okon had crowed eyeing the officer with scorn.

“Shut up your kukuruku mouth. Se na me you dey answer back, abi? Na for inside cell you fit understand wetin be dem matter”, the police sergeant screamed. Apparently, Okon had taken advantage of the confusion that followed the currency redesign fiasco to help himself to manufacture several versions of himself.

The old man was obviously in a jolly good mood this blustery morning as he eyed the desk sergeant with pity.

   “Officer, yeye dey smell, abi no be so?” Baba Lekki observed with a guffaw.

   “Baba, yeye no dey station today. We don clean am”, the tall lean sergeant replied.

“So, why are you keeping Okon?” Baba Lekki suddenly demanded.

   “Baba, dat one na Ogbonge thief. Dem say him thief sotey he come thief himself”.

   “Listen to yourself. Is it possible to impersonate yourself? Haven’t you heard of the man who was arrested in London for impersonating himself and was set free immediately? The man get multiple doubles so case come collapse. No be Oyinbo man teach us jibiti?”

It was at this point that the desk sergeant called out Okon and ordered him to leave the station.

April 16, 2023
Tinubu and political intangibles (6)

After making short work of many valiant men during the campaigns, supporters of Peter Obi, the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate in the February 25 election, have trained their guns on Nobel laureate, Wole Soyinka. They congratulate themselves on becoming the terror of Nigerian politics, a people held in dread by those who do not even fear God. Vicious, irreverent, iconoclastic and uncouth, they will turn on anyone, friend or foe, who as much as gesture suspiciously at their god’s Achilles heel. They were not supposed to be the centerpiece of the February/March elections, but by their sheer reprobateness, they have contrived to be the main talking point in the elections and beyond, far weightier than the shifty Mr Obi himself. Together with the LP candidate, they have also managed by their herd mentality and pugnacity to expose the insularity and shallowness of many otherwise respectable intellectuals and authors.

Weeks ago, former Ekiti State governor Ayo Fayose argued that President-elect Bola Ahmed Tinubu would have to grapple with the Obi factor in the years ahead, mostly because of the forces and tendencies that coalesced around him, or which he represented, in the last polls. This column disagreed vehemently with Mr Fayose’s postulations. Mr Obi, it reasoned, did not represent any force or ideology; he was instead a product of the chimerical pursuit of a band of unruly and unconscionable social media bandits and ethnic warriors. He would fade away as quickly as he manifested on the scene, this column argued, because of the impermanence that shrouded his being and politics. Without depth and ideology, it was impossible for Mr Obi to concretise anything any president or system should grapple with.

Despite unwisely but deliberately lending her authorial weight to Mr Obi’s specious style and politics, Chimamanda Adichie will still be hard put to give substance, structure or permanence to the LP candidate. He may have waved his talisman at the face of his south-eastern supporters, and bamboozled the church, and played the pied piper to angry and superficial Lagosians, but there is little anyone can do to elevate Mr Obi’s politics, not to talk of sustaining him till the next election cycle. His inflamed supporters will still register some presence on the social media, but their activities will taper off after the historic conjuncture of Obi, church, and Igbo presidential aspiration has been exploded as a myth. What indeed will remain for the president-elect to pay attention to in the opening years of his presidency will be the consequences of the actions of Mr Obi’s supporters and the nuanced forces and apparitions they gave vent. The LP candidate had initially scorned the need for a manifesto until the subject could not be waved away. He also accentuated the polarisation of the country by strategically wooing the church and the Igbo for his presidential ambition, and in the process disregarding the feelings of other religions and people. He was uncomfortable with proposing or embracing any ideology, and was so casual about important and tested ideas that he merely poll parroted jaded views on production and consumption as economic panaceas. And despite his grandiloquence and affectations, he told plain lies and scorned principles whenever he was cornered. Mr Obi will not be a political factor in the years ahead; he has run his last race and, as his leaked phone conversation showed, told the least lies to warrant any serious attention in the future.

The LP candidate came third in the presidential poll, but has disparaged the country, its institutions and the electoral process as if he was the first runner-up. Despite his capriciousness, he will, however, be unable to contribute significantly to national discourse, for he has attracted so much public image disproportionate to his real political size, competence and ideology. The first-runner-up in the presidential election, former vice president Atiku Abubakar, is steadily mummifying before the eyes of Nigerians, destitute of ideology, character and electoral savvy. He will also not contribute significantly to national discourse. That leaves the Obi crowd. Even they too can only contribute indirectly to national discourse, not so much by what they do or say – and they have offered nothing serious for anyone to pay attention to – but by the ghosts they have indirectly exhumed and inflicted upon the country. One of those ghosts is how to find a constitutional arrangement to help stabilise the country’s more than 250 language groups and get them working seamlessly together for a common purpose, devoid of suspicion and hate.

Other intangibles the president-elect will have to contend with are how to create a stabilising and forward-looking culture of leadership succession; heal the religious divides so mercilessly exploited and exacerbated by mindless politicians and scheming clerics; forge a national ideology cum national identity; produce a new governance paradigm that takes cognisance of Nigeria’s ethnic mosaic; and design a new constitutional arrangement capable of mediating ethnic conflicts that have ossified over decades. Resolving these intangibles will imbue Nigeria and Nigerians a national identity capable of soothing, if not curing, centuries of colonially-induced fissiparousness. The fault lines exposed by the last elections have been evident for decades and manifest in virtually every election cycle. Those fractures have not been rationally and realistically dealt with, hence their recrudescence. President Muhammadu Buhari had the goodwill and national mobilisation anchored on the coalition that produced the All Progressives Congress (APC) to do something about the malaise, but he chose to fritter away the gains of his stupendous election victory, leading to stasis and retrogression.

President-elect Tinubu will be inheriting a deeply divided country shorn of any rational and catalysing national rubric. Worse, he will be inheriting a national trust deficit worsened by the aggressive and poisonous falsehoods propagated by Mr Obi’s fanatics who incredulously imagined that they won the presidential election and needed to intimidate the judiciary to regain what they petulantly described as their ‘stolen mandate’. They may in fact have the backing of the increasingly insular ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo and a few elder statesmen, some of whom are inciting insurrection; but contending with and resolving these abnormalities, falsehoods, and destructive propaganda will take years of careful rebuilding of the national edifice, culturally, structurally and economically. The task will not be easy, especially in the face of a crisis of expectations bound to confront the Tinubu administration. He has been sold to the country as the first bold, prepared and intellectually equipped president to take the mantle of leadership. But because the damage of decades has been overwhelming, it will require a plethora of rejigging, if not gigantic reset of national foundations, to make a dent on the rot. Contending with foundational issues at a time when the country is also desperate for philosophical realignments can be quite enervating. The president-elect will, in other words, have to work magic in the face of recalcitrant opposition inflamed by Chief Obasanjo, Mr Obi, et al.

The task of rebuilding will also be difficult in the face of the existential crisis Lagos has become enmeshed. The Southeast seems unnaturally obsessed with Lagos, with every social and cultural infraction and electoral mishap in the state triggering scathing criticisms. Ballot boxes were snatched in many states, and more election-related deaths occurred in other states than in Lagos; but it was Lagos that dominated the news. Mr Obi’s presidential poll victory in Lagos tantalised many south-easterners whose idea of liberalism and multiculturalism was limited only to the ‘seizure’ of Lagos, especially with the collusion of a section of the Lagos elite. This led to the projection of the emotionally deficient and untested Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour as a plausible winner of the governorship poll. The candidate himself framed his campaign along the debilitating lines of ‘freeing’ the state from the vice grip of the ‘prehensile’ APC. The campaign was ultimately doomed, but not before it polluted national discourse about the constitutional rights of Nigerians to live anywhere and stand for election anywhere. This anomalous and poisonous understanding of national politics will have to be reviewed in the first term of the new administration if worse conflicts are not to be engendered.

This review will have to study the constitutions and political arrangements of Nigeria’s Independence Constitution; Belgium and its balancing acts between the French, Dutch, and German entities; Yugoslavia and the reasons for state dissolution; the Uyghur question in China; the Russo-Ukrainian War; the Jewish Question as a factor in German domestic and global hegemonic policies in World War II; the federal constitutions of the United States and Canada; Myanmar and the Rohingya question; and even the relationship between Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland in the United Kingdom. It is counterproductive not to settle Nigeria’s national question while attempting to proceed idealistically into multiculturalism. Western notions of liberalism and multiculturalism may not necessarily work in Nigeria, let alone in Lagos, or any part of Africa.

President-elect Tinubu will have to proceed from the realistic perspective that the British cynically welded many nations together to form Nigeria, and that these nations have retained their cultures, different stages of civilisation, religions, and even general worldviews. Little has changed. So, whatever restructuring is needed will have to take into consideration those intrinsic civilisational achievements. Waiting for the Yoruba to be apologetic about retaining Lagos, including deploying ‘unwholesome’ tactics to achieve that retention within the ambits of their heritage and worldview, is unlikely. For instance, religion plays very little role in Southwest politics. But in the past two decades or so, and as a result of the unhealthy projection of militant religion in other parts of Nigeria as well as the growth of Pentecostal fervour, religion has crept insidiously into Southwest politics. The region is resisting this strange anomaly, but the disease managed to infect and distort campaigns and relationships in the last elections in Lagos. In addition, the Southwest elite, regardless of differences, has retained powerful influence on the region leading them to leash self-determination movements in a way other regional elites have been unable to control IPOB and unknown gunmen, and banditry and Boko Haram. Proposed constitutional arrangements must factor these differences.

Obi, Oyedepo: of phone calls and religious wars

For much of last week, the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, contended with the fallout of a humiliating phone conversation he allegedly had with founder of the Living Faith church, Bishop David Oyedepo. The two men were reported by the Peoples Gazette, an online medium, to have plotted on phone how to persuade Southwest, Kwara, Kogi and Niger States’ Christian voters to join the LP’s saints triumphant column in the February 25 presidential poll. In the conversation, apart from other unflattering statements, the two men also reportedly likened the presidential contest to a religious war needing the militant intervention of unhappy and politicised Christians.

The phone conversation itself was alleged to have taken place shortly before the presidential poll, but reportedly leaked to the public two Saturdays ago. After being briefly tongue-tied, LP’s and Mr Obi’s spokesmen, Kenneth Okonkwo and Valentine Obienyem, finally found their voices and argued that the phone conversation was taken out of context, with some of the statements garbled and manipulated to insinuate religious war. Mr Obienyem even suggested the Obi camp knew who leaked the phone conversation. But the public was sceptical. Last Sunday, newspapers reported Dr Oyedepo’s response as evasive and unconvincing. He said he had never campaigned for any politician. Not only was that untrue, said commentators, and a far cry from the observable reality around the bishop, they also concluded that his response failed to answer the more crucial question as to whether the alleged phone conversation took place.

By last week, nearly everyone but the so-called hardened ‘Obidients’ believed the leaked phone call to be true. Dr Oyedepo did not deny that the phone call took place, he only affirmed his political neutrality. Might Mr Obi have a different version of what took place? Yes, it seems. The phone call never happened, he swore. What was leaked, he said glibly and threateningly, was a fake phone call. He had instructed his lawyers to take action against the Peoples Gazette, he deadpanned. Does anyone believe him? Perhaps only hardened ‘Obidients’. If Mr Obi left his spokesmen to contend with the scandal of leaked phone call for about a week before he found his wits, it speaks volumes of his organisational ability, if not his ethical standing. LP activists as well as Mr Obi himself ,and quite a number of party leaders and spokesmen, have been consistently dubbed as ‘liars’ for their fecundity in militantly conjuring alternative truths and universes. Their fame in creating distorted realities seems to have been earned, and will probably follow them for as long as the party exists under its present franchise. They will not recant anything; they lack the needed remorse and humility to accept wrongdoing.

In his statement debunking the leaked phone conversation, Mr Obi as usual engaged in a lot of waffling and dissemination of homilies. Then, he lied. In the third paragraph of his rebuttal, the LP candidate insisted he had never made recourse to ethnic or religious politics. Said he: “I repeatedly stated that no one should vote for me based on tribe or religion, but rather on the assessment of my character, competence, capacity, credibility, and compassion that can be trusted to create a New Nigeria!” Except he treats everything he said, which became controversial, as fake news, he was caught on video instigating the church to rise up and take back their country. Moreover, a central part of his campaigns was directed at churches, which he visited copiously and where he spoke glowingly about what God was about to do in Nigeria. He ended up being adopted by preachers who serenaded him with prophetic utterances decreeing his victory. Indeed, as the alleged phone conversation indicated, a desperate Mr Obi received, in response to his disingenuous solicitations, Bishop Oyedepo’s assurances that victory was imminent.

And just as he dragged the church into his campaigns, he also made the Igbo, his ethnic group, the locus of his presidential pitch. In Lagos and elsewhere outside the Southeast, Mr Obi visited Igbo settlements and business concentrations to pitch his ambition. He was enthusiastically embraced and adopted. The recourse to ethnicity and religion may be inadvisable and even harmful to national integration, but it fetched him tons of support that transformed his campaign, dynamited the presidential ambition of the PDP candidate Atiku Abubakar out of orbit, and eventually fetched him 11 states plus the Federal Capital City (FCT), Abuja. His achievement was unprecedented, and had he not made those deliberate pitches, it is doubtful whether he would have gone so far, let alone stake a dubious and increasingly futile but militant claim to victory. Unfortunately too, his ultimately doomed campaign has desecrated the image of the church and compounded the national mistrust for the Igbo still entertained in some quarters nationally. That mistrust is amplified by the overweening number of Igbo intellectuals, gullible writers and impressionable political leaders within and outside the country susceptible to his talisman.

Mr Obi has done incalculable damage to the Igbo brand and political fortune by his obdurate stance on an election he stood no chance of winning due to the limiting effects of his unusual campaign. The leaked phone conversation is merely emblematic of Mr Obi’s shortsightedness and desperation, perhaps even signposting his utter unwillingness to concede defeat and guarantee a plausible and perhaps successful future run for the presidency. He should have let bad enough alone; but he is now unwisely litigating an election where he could never conceivably secure 25 percent in 20 states (he met that percentage in only 15 states). The suit will miscarry, even as his running mate, Datti Baba-Ahmed, continues to flail wildly on the political scene, exposing the unsightly leitmotif of his brittle character and politics. Mr Obi has also signaled his readiness to litigate the Peoples Gazette story on the leaked phone call. How on earth he expects the suit to benefit his politics and standing, and not expose in ugly details his proclivity for telling tall stories and adding stretchers, is hard to fathom.

April 9, 2023
This too shall pass

Since 1999, we have always had general elections to elect the President, Governors, federal and state legislators, which have always ended up in disagreements over the results.

Candidates who feel aggrieved usually seek legal redress and election tribunals and courts have in some instances invalidated results declared by the electoral commission and declared petitioners as winners.

Though no petition or court cases at the Presidential level have ever succeeded, defeated candidates have in all previous elections taken their cases up to the Supreme Courts and accepted the verdicts.

However, unlike previous elections, the reactions to results particularly the last Presidential election are turning out to be unprecedented with how the parties involved are going about their claims and counterclaims.

While the first runner-up, former Vice President, Alhaji Abubakar Atiku of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) had simply addressed a press conference and issued press statements to express their protest against the result after which a petition was filed at the Tribunal, there have been lots of drama by the from the Labour Party’s end.

Not only have the party’s Presidential candidate, Mr Peter Obi and his running mate Senator Ahmed Datti been insisting that they won the election and filed a petition, their supporters and the ‘Obidient’ group have left no one in doubt that they are ready to go to any length to reclaim the mandate they claimed the Independent National Electoral Commission ( INEC) has denied their candidate.

Their Local and global online campaigns have been so loud that anyone considered to be opposed to their position on the outcome of the election is not spared.

It has been a battle of ‘war of words’ between them, members of the All Progressive Congress (APC) and anyone who accepts the verdict that Asiwaju Bola Tinubu won the election. For them, suing for peace or advocating for only the judicial resolution of the matter are not regarded as an option for Obi to be declared the winner, though he was third.

The bitter disagreements between individuals and various groups on the election have become worrisome that I had to call for some form of truce during the week noting that the earlier many of us get over the corrosive effects of the outcome of the recent elections the better for our individual wellbeing.

As I noted in my counsel, the election has been officially won and lost, but those who have good reasons to disagree with INEC’s verdict should diligently pursue their cases and await the outcome.

Arguments for and against the election results, abuse and bitter quarrels on social media will not be the basis for the final judgements by the Tribunal and the Courts.

Let’s get our pre-election cordial relationships back and pay more attention to equally important personal things we have abandoned due to the elections.

Let’s stop making unnecessary insinuations and reading meanings to every statement and post.

Let’s stop destroying our personal brands because of one candidate or the other. They can easily reconcile their differences while we destroy beneficial relationships we have built over the years.

Let’s not express our anger and delight in ways the candidates are not doing or saying.

Let’s remember that we have a life to live and careers to pursue when all the controversies over the election are over in preparation for the next elections.

For those who dismissed my call saying that this is a “battle” that must be won or nothing else will do, my reaction is this, like any other crisis we have had in the past, shall pass.

April 9, 2023