The Nation Newspaper

Category: Sunday

  • Onayemi: Adieu Baba Iroyin

    Onayemi: Adieu Baba Iroyin

    IN 1984 when I was an intern in the defunct National Concord Newspapers, one of the senior editorial staff who took time to teach me the rudiments of news writing was Mr Femi Onayemi.

    He was particularly very patient with the interns as he read our stories, told us what we got wrong and how we can write better. He took some of us to assignments and showed us what we needed to know about covering them as comprehensively as possible.

    I remember watching him rewriting stories of other reporters as he asked for more offcut sheets of paper and marvelling how he seemed to be doing it effortlessly.

    I returned to my department of Mass Communication at the University of Lagos with the training I got and was appointed News Editor.

    Though we didn’t meet physically after the internship, I kept hearing about him as he moved from one media organization to the other. Notwithstanding his age, he proved to be the thorough breed journalist of his generation and was acknowledged as an outstanding veteran news reporter and writer.

    Thanks to Facebook I reconnected with him and we have remained in touch since then. He visited me in my office at The Nation when I was Managing Editor, Online and I had an opportunity to thank him again for his tutelage during the internship.

    I gave him a copy of my book, The Journalism of my Life, in which I recalled how he and others trained and got me fascinated about news reporting.

    He told me he was very proud of the accomplished journalists many of us students and young reporters back then have become.

    I am always humbled when I read his comments on my Facebook posts commending me for one thing or the other.

    I was looking forward to reaching out to him ahead of the new year when a colleague called to find out if I heard Baba Femo as he was fondly called by colleagues and friends.

    Baba Onayemi was a great journalist in his own right even when many present-day journalists may not have heard of his journalism exploits.

    Born September 6, 1940, in Eruwon, Ogun state, his over 50 years of journalism practice has seen him working with O Daily Times, Daily Sketch,  National Concord, The Mail, National Daily and many other publications.

    The congratulatory message to him by President Muhammadu Buhari when he clocked 80 years on September 6, 2020, for his 50 active years in the journalism profession is very apt.

    Buhari, in a press statement issued by Femi Adesina, the presidential spokesman saluted the commitment of Pa Onayemi to a profession he loves dearly.

    If I have any regret about his death, it is that I didn’t have an interview I planned for with him to share details of his career journey and lessons he would love to share for the benefit of practising journalists.

    One of the many journalists groomed by Onayemi at the defunct National Daily newspaper, Eddie Kingsley wrote a glowing tribute in the honour which captures the kind of lasting mentoring the deceased gave many.

    “I will miss you. You were the first News Editor I worked with. Many production nights with you, I cry. Still crying. Since the news got to me. It hits me differently. Because I love you. I wish I told you. It’s too late now.

    “But I managed to let you know that I respect and honour you. These recent times I started introducing you to peeps as Book Editor. I know you were too energetic to just be retired. You showed no signs of retiring. You were strong.

    “We shall be comforted. You lived well. Earned a presidential commendation. A diligent patriot. A renowned Journalist. A mentor to hundreds of Journalists.

    “Above all a Lover of God. You were a great man. Baba Onayemi. Life. It’s painful. But over 80 years. Peaceful departure. Well…I will wipe my tears. Toast to the afterlife.

    “For all the great days we had in the newsroom. For all the great nights we had in the production room, fixing headlines.”

    Adieu, Baba Iroyin (Father of News) May his soul rest in peace.

  • R.I.P., subsidy withdrawal

    R.I.P., subsidy withdrawal

    CHRISTIANS and Muslims all over the country must be celebrating the suspension of the so-called fuel subsidy removal by the Federal Government, last week. I do not know whether their traditional religion counterparts contributed to this outcome. But I know that several churches and mosques held all kinds of prayer sessions where they besieged the almighty to afflict with restlessness, all those who say Nigerians would not rest. The ocean is ever restive, they reminded the almighty. The swiftness with which the government reversed itself was confounding. Not that I ever was under any illusion that the government would get away with the blue murder if fuel begins to sell for N300 plus that our governors  proposed months ago, because that kind of money only resides with those holding political offices, not among the ordinary Nigerians that are moving about with the emblem of the poorest people on earth. But, like millions of Nigerians, I had thought the ‘Battle of 2022′ would be fought on the streets, with the security agents killing and injuring as many as they can, triggering further resentment against governments, not only at the centre, but even in the states whose governors came up with the satanic proposition.

    Indeed, if there ever were reasons Nigerians had looked forward to this year with trepidation, fuel subsidy removal occupied a pride of place. Many people had thought that the Federal Government would, like Pharaoh, ignore the strident calls not to further impoverish Nigerians by tampering with successive governments’ self-inflicted subsidy. It cannot be worse for the poorest people on earth.

    As a matter of fact, the way the government doused the tension was so confounding that the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) president, Olumide Akpata, said the Federal Government soft-pedalled because of the 2023 General Elections. But I want to see the volte-face as a function of several factors. The election theory might be part of it; but it does not explain it all. The government, as the sitting government, can attempt to rig the election. Although this might be difficult for a government that is increasingly loathed at home even as it is not understood abroad, but they can still try rigging, banking on the power of incumbency. Then, we should not ignore happenings in the subregion, Mali, Burkina Faso, etc, as well as reasons for the unsavoury developments. There is also the razzmatazz about paralysing strike by Labour, and all. This also played a significant role because, in the final analysis, the usual ethno-religious cleavages that our politicians easily resort to would not work when there is a general strike. Nigerians are now bonded by poverty and insecurity which do not discriminate between creed or colour. We saw that in the 2020 #EndSARS protests. I doubt if any government can survive such experience twice.

    The reason the government gave for backing down, i.e. because of the hard times Nigerians are going through is the least sellable. Since when have Nigerian leaders had such compassion on the masses? Most of the country’s leaders are like carpenters that everything looks to like a nail. All they know is money, money and money; it is not their business how that money is made.

    What the entire subsidy debate suggests, at least until President Muhammadu  Buhari  pulled the rug off the feet of the sharks in the system is that Nigerians are largely saddled with mindless politicians who care only about themselves. Their actions and utterances remind us of their First Republic progenitors. One song that some of us still grew up to know about them was: bamu bamu la yo; bamu bamu la yo, awa o mo bebi npomo eni kankan, bamu bamu la yo (we have eaten and are satisfied; we don’t care whether some people are hungry …).

    This can only be the driving force of any political leader advocating fuel subsidy removal, especially at this point in time. Having driven Nigeria aground, and, having left undone those things which they ought to have done, the Federal Government now wants to shift the responsibility to hapless Nigerians. Now, Femi Adesina, President Buhari’s special adviser, media and publicity, is already flying the usual kite about what next after rejection of the so-called subsidy withdrawal by Nigerians. “Head or tail, Nigeria will have to pay a price,” he said. “It’s either we pay the price for the removal in consonance and in conjunction with the understanding of the people, but if that will not come, the other cost is that borrowings may continue, and things may be difficult fiscally with both the states and the Federal Government.”  Again, Adesina, a very senior journalist who, ordinarily should have been interested in how come we are importing petrol despite being divinely blessed with crude oil also conveniently, like his masters, glossed over that fact and keeps parroting what those before him had kept repeating to our ears.

    Interestingly, it was the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed, one of those to break the most current round of the sad news of subsidy removal was also the one to announce its suspension. Apparently, she had been looking only at the books. She must be too naive to know that this is not a matter to be decided strictly by the dictate of the books. We also have the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, who hails from the Niger Delta where the crude oil comes from yet, the region has only produced a few oil sheikhs at the expense of millions of poverty-stricken compatriots. Then, the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Malam Mele Kyari, who had been talking too about his corporation’s inability to continue to absorb the subsidy shock. The list is endless. By the way, I won’t forget so soon that Sylva once told us that we should be happy to be importing refined petrol from nearby Niger Republic, instead of from the western or other far-flung countries. Are we not going to pay Niger Republic with our hard-earned foreign exchange?

    If these are the people who had been advising the president on the subsidy conundrum, then we should understand why our refineries would never work. Suffice it to say that in civilised climes, many of these people would have tendered their letters of resignation, with the government’s volte-face on the matter on Monday. Not in Nigeria, one big-for-nothing country where public officials are pampered with the hard-earned sweat of the toiling hoi polloi, but who deliver less-than-proportionate returns. To add salt to the injury, many of them even loot our common wealth.

    It is good that sanity finally prevailed and the president suspended removal of the subsidy. There is this expression that not all seemingly good pieces of advice are implementable (ki ise gbogbo imoran to dabi eni pe o dara lo se mu lo). Bretton Woods economists and their sympathisers who have always insisted on subsidy removal might say the government’s new decision is unsustainable, but more so is the decision to remove it. It is foolish of anyone to continue to think that Nigerians have an infinite capacity to absorb shock or that whatever ‘kaya’ (load) you put on their heads they would always gladly carry. It gets to a point where even the ‘happiest people on earth’ will simply shrug off the excess load when they lose their coping mechanism.

    Be that as it may, it is important to say that if the economy collapses today, it is not because of Buhari’s decision to retain subsidy, but because of the road to travel that we have severally ignored. In order words, it is because of successive governments’ failure or unwillingness to fix the country’s refineries. Having spent more than six years in office without reversing the trend, the Buhari government is equally culpable. How can we have four refineries and none is functioning at any significant level? And the same NNPC GMD who is to ensure they function prefers to be importing petrol only to turn around to complain that the behemoth that he oversees can no longer bear subsidy costs? A case of a particular bird that caused rain to fall only to complain later about the accompanying rainstorm! How many other crude-producing countries  do not have functional refineries and so resort to fuel importation as national policy? How many such countries would spend hefty sums on turn-around maintenance (TAM) on refineries that have refused to be turned around?

    The annoying part of it is that they give all manner of puerile excuses as to why the refineries cannot work. They say some of them are too old and their manufacturers have since moved on to something else, etc. But then, the oldest of our refineries is only about 57 years old. There are older refineries elsewhere. Instead of doing the rightful, these government functionaries keep forcing subsidy withdrawal down our throats. They keep behaving like the one-eyed man that is holding a social party. They say subsidy must go because fuel is smuggled to our neighbouring countries because it is cheaper here. Please, whose business is it to secure our borders? When they have nothing else to say, they tell us Nigeria is the only country where fuel is cheaper than soft drinks. What gibberish?

    This country does not necessarily have to borrow more, more or less as punishment for the people’s rejection of ‘fuel subsidy’ withdrawal. It has already borrowed so much and Nigerians are saying they cannot see the justification for such huge borrowings. Granted that the government’s predecessor left the country’s economy in bad shape, the government needed some loans to shore up revenue, particularly with the effects of COVID-19 on global economy. Still, Nigerians are not comfortable with the magnitude of the loans already taken and the high scale of corruption even under this dispensation that rode into power on the crest of fighting corruption. Rather than continue to take loans, the political leaders should check this and curb their flamboyant lifestyle.

    Let the Buhari government not give the impression that it has come to solve ALL of Nigeria’s problems. No government anywhere in the world does that. By now, the government should be winding down, having spent more than six of its cumulative eight years in office. We now know its capacity. It is good to bank on Dangote Refinery as it has done even though it has not told us so. Barring unforeseen circumstances, the refinery would come on stream in the third quarter of this year. This is cheery news, but then, we should not leave the country’s destiny in the hands of one man. People that we have literally been spoiling in fattening rooms across the country can do better by way of creative thinking, to take us out of this mess.

  • West Africa’s retrogressive coup politics

    West Africa’s retrogressive coup politics

    Burkina Faso was, last week, the latest African country to embrace coup d’etat as a means of rectifying poor governance. Chad (strictly speaking a member of the Economic Community of Central African States, but shares border with Nigeria), Mali and Guinea had gone down that chute in 2020 and last year when soldiers shot their way into office. Chad got away with its coup because the change seamlessly accompanied the assassination of President Idriss Deby Itno when he visited the war front, and partly because his successor was his son Deby Itno Junior. ECOWAS leaders have tried to deal with their three renegade countries as best as they could, but have met with qualified success. Mali, the most recalcitrant, has lashed out at everyone – ECOWAS, France and the European Takuba task force set up to help the country combat Islamic State and Al Qaeda militants. Mali has instead invited Russian military advisers and mercenaries to do the job, while it called the bluff of every other country and power bloc.

    On the many occasions this column addressed the Chad and West African coup crises, it had decried the mealy-mouthed approach of ECOWAS leaders in condemning the coups, not to talk of the long ropes they gave the coupists to make amend. The column warned that if regional leaders continued to pussyfoot over the coups, other ambitious soldiers would not only be encouraged to organise coups, they would also be emboldened to defy sanctions and every other diplomatic actions the bloc might propose or impose. The warning has proved prescient.

    Worse, ECOWAS leaders have been befuddled by the massive civil society support the coupists have received in their unconstitutional efforts to revivify their weak and stuttering governments. Clearly, constitutional rule has remained incapacitated and unattractive in the region. No country has proved to be an inspiration, and Nigeria, which was supposed to be an example of how a democracy should function, has proved spectacularly inept, unmanageable and unwieldy. The region has a population of over 350 million people, more than two-thirds of whom are Nigerians. The continuing failure of West Africa, not to say its indolence and inability to delink itself from its colonial past, is a reflection of the impotence of Nigeria. Nigeria’s democracy itself teeters on the brink, with the country ravaged by insurgents and bandit terrorists on the one hand and the failure of its leaders to proactively address diverse and crippling challenges.

    The unfurling of coups in the region may continue for a while longer, not only because forceful change of government appears attractive, but also because West African leaders have no practical answers to the coup crisis or possess the acumen to arrest poor governance. West Africa’s civil society has enthusiastically welcomed the coups, insisting that overthrowing incompetent elected governments had become a duty. There behaviour is probably due to their limited understanding of how democracy works, and its limitations, and because poverty, a byproduct of poor governance and meddlesomeness of foreign powers, particularly France in its continuing expropriation of Francophone West African countries, remain debilitating. Forced to choose between the stalling or even death of democracy and their economic wellbeing, the people have repeatedly opted to sacrifice ideas and idealism.

    ECOWAS has handled the affairs of the region with embarrassing tameness and lack of surefootedness. Most of those whose democracies are surviving today are, strictly speaking, not better than those who have now lost theirs. Until there is a marked difference and significant improvement in the practice of democracy between military dictatorships and elected governments, the attraction for coups might continue to percolate. More importantly, Nigeria with a population of more than 200m people owes the region a duty to clean up its act. It often defied ECOWAS court rulings, truncated its own practice of democracy by undermining the rule of law, and offered its people appallingly low quality of leadership that birthed insurgencies and banditry on a scale that beggars belief. Even its elections are disgraceful and shambolic. Until it shows leadership by example and produces the zeal to make black people all over the world proud, and until it becomes an ambitious country of decent people and exemplary leaders, it is unlikely West Africa will make progress, let alone develop its democracies and dissuade its soldiers from forcibly overthrowing elected governments.

    PDP’s 2023 dilemma

    Probably the most convincing argument any high-ranking member of the PDP has made so far on the presidential zoning brouhaha is that the opposition party would not be bound by the mechanistic strictures that compel the ruling party to zone or rotate the presidency. He is right. Having had a northerner as president for eight years, the APC will be reluctant to push the aspiration and candidacy of another northerner. It would not make sense. There would be no way to defend such callousness. However, as sound and logical as the PDP position is, they may soon find out how interconnected the country is, an interconnection that strangely transcends tribes, parties, and sometimes religion.

    For reasons partly coincidental, most of the well-known presidential aspirants on the PDP platform are northerners. Former vice president Atiku Abubakar, former Kano governor Rabiu Kwankwaso, former senate president Bukola Saraki, serving Bauchi governor Bala Mohammed and serving Sokoto governor Aminu Tambuwal, all northerners, have indicated interest in running for president. Contradistinctively, nearly all the major APC aspirants for the highest office in the land are southerners. This seemingly natural dichotomy may be more intuitive than calculated. The APC can’t defend the retention of the presidency in the North; but the PDP, whose last president was from the South, can.

    But that is where the dichotomy ends. While it is not clear what the final positions of the parties would be when they hold their presidential primaries before the year runs out, they may discover before the next poll what the prevailing national sentiment concerning the highest office sounds like. Once discovered, that sentiment will probably impel the parties into fine-tuning their perspectives and choices and give them the boldness to judge which party and candidate are likely to win the presidency. Months before the 2015 presidential poll, it seemed all but clear who between Goodluck Jonathan and Muhammadu Buhari would win. That vague sense of who the winner would be in turn triggered Dr Jonathan’s futile desperation and challenger Buhari’s confidence. Would the country pass through the same furnace again?

    In the months ahead, the PDP may increasingly feel being boxed into a corner. Everything about the party reeks of a northern candidate for the 2023 poll. But if the prevailing sentiment of the country shows a repudiation of another northern president, the PDP would discover its elbow room completely constricted. What the country thinks of another northern president? It is not certain yet; but Nigerian voters might be influenced by the fear of keeping the presidency in the North for another eight years, and if care is not taken, ad infinitum.

  • Attaining and maintaining healthy sex life

    Attaining and maintaining healthy sex life

    When cleaning up, women should avoid the use of too much alkaline soap because it can disturb the natural ph level of the vulva and as a result, make the clitoris hard and painful.

    The reason is that the female vulva, which comprises the clitoris and other organs, produces slightly acidic ph that encourages growth of a bacteria known as lactobacillus, which keeps the clitoris in a healthy condition for as long as possible.

    The clitoris is the sex organ that makes it possible for a woman to have an orgasm. If she keeps experiencing healthy orgasms, there is the possibility that she will not even have any menstrual pains and cramps. Sexual orgasm actually minimizes or prevents menstrual pain and cramps. This is because the vigorous muscular activity that takes place during orgasm, down in the clitoris, releases tension and soothes pain, such that if a woman is ‘turned off’ sex because she is suffering from menstrual pain and her husband demands it, it will eventually be to her advantage.

    Interestingly, orgasm increases the chances of conception occurring after intercourse. This is because when a woman experiences orgasm she retains more sperm in her body, thereby increasing the possibility of fertilization taking place in her womb. However, couples should avoid frequent sexual intercourse during the wife’s menstrual period because she is more susceptible to infections at this time than any other time.

    Do you know that having orgasmic sex three times in a week burns off between 7,500 to 15,000 calories in a year? Besides a healthy orgasmic sex is a natural antihistamine that can that help combat asthma and common cold. That is why couples do not catch cold or sneeze in the middle of sexual act.

    The skin is another sexual organ that must be cared for. Couples should endeavour to have a regular bath, at least twice daily, to prevent bad body odour especially at this period when there are lots and many activities. Therefore, when couples form the habit of washing up in the morning and at bedtime, they are very likely to end up having very healthy skins, such as would be sexually appealing. However, salty food, alcohol, and cigarettes can leave the skin in a bad shape, as a result of an overload of toxins.

    To enjoy the service of your skin in a good sexual relationship, it will be wise to avoid highly salty foods. Similarly, the level of alcohol intake should be minimized because it affects the liver and excess alcohol affects your ability to enjoy good sex.

    The mind is another important key to building a good sexual relationship. Married couples should always strive to keep their minds free of hurtful memories, inhibiting notions and stress, in order to increase sexual enjoyment. You must on a regular basis make up your mind to always forgive your spouse, regardless of his or her offence. You may never have a healthy sexual relationship with your partner until you are ready to overlook his or her faults.

    Many people do not have an idea about what gives sexual fulfilment to their partners. They don’t even know how often their partner wants sex. For instance, do you know how much hugging and cuddling your lover needs before and after intercourse? How about the sexual fantasies each partner nurses?

    Well, paying a little extra attention to your sex life may be all it takes to transform it . Couples put many efforts into their careers, friendship and parenting-they read books and improve on all other areas in their lives. Well, that is not a bad idea at all. However, good sex requires the same level of attention and education. That means making time for sex, thinking about it and making sure you have enough energy for it matter a lot.

    Beautiful fireworks need romance. Romance is like the goose while sex is like the golden egg. You don’t kill the goose that lays the golden egg. Romance your partners at least once every other day this Christmas time, kiss for ten seconds every morning when you say good-bye and every evening when you say hello.

    Hug each other for 20 seconds each day and flirt with each other. Even when there isn’t time for sex, make sure your mate knows you want to have one with him or her at any accessible time. Leave a romantic message on your partner’s phone or e-mail. Daydream about making love to your spouse while doing the cake, dishes, and while at work or during your free time and so on. Occasionally, while getting ready for bed, play romantic music on the radio or CD player. This is one of the best firework stimulants. Anytime the opportunity arises, give your spouse a one-minute shoulder rub. Use your tongue to caress his or her ears and simultaneously rub some love-scented oil on the lower lobe of the other ear and the base of the neck. Go as far as renting a romantic movie and watch it together after the children might have retired to their room. One of the secrets of sexual Christmas firework is that the fervour, closeness and passion must never be taken for granted because Christmas comes once in a year and one in three men wishes their wives were better in bed.

    Read Also: You can still enjoy your sex life

    Be generous outside of the bedroom with foot rubs, shoulder rubs and loving words. Little signs of affection can build up and put you both in a mood that you weren’t necessarily expecting. ‘Nothing spoils’ when husband and wife shower together before bed time, seeing the glistening body of each other is not only sexy, it sparks raw fire. No harm happens to the marriage union when partners play naked together, exercise naked together. It will help keep you both fit, relieve stress and it will enable you to work as a team. It builds companionship and spices things up.

    Note that while playing together; if you are the shy type that likes to put some clothes on remember to put on seductive underwear. Most men like white or pink cotton panties, especially the ones that are seductively designed.

    Don’t forget to break away from the children’s grip and chores and demands  by eloping out a few hours or days  and booking a night in a hotel as it enables couples to unwind and focus on themselves once in a while. Go ahead, become each other’s baby and share bedtime stories.

    Take the bull by the horn. You can’t sit around waiting for someone to make you happy, and that goes for sexual happiness too. When there is a raise in salary, the arrival of a new car into your garage or something new and special happens in the family, you can think up an extraordinary way of celebrating it.

    Pay yourselves compliments, women expect and need compliments as much as men do. If he knows that you think he’s sexy, he’ll try harder in bed to please you and prove that you’re right. With one compliment an hour, the firework flame comes alive.

    In all you do as a couple, put sex first. Let it top your priority. It’s harder to find time together when the visitors are endless and the children [either toddlers or teenagers]  stay up later than you do and most times know what you are up to. Therefore, sometimes you have to put your relationship first before the visitors, children; that could mean sneaking into the extra room, the pent house or the master bedroom bathroom to have a short warm sexual escapade together. ‘If both of you are not sexually naughty now, you may bore yourselves to death later in years to come.’

    Statistics indicate that our husbands frequently think about sex than their wives, and it is of topmost importance to them to know that their wives need them sexually. It further says that the media, sexual menace, high immorality in the society is pointing to the fact that husbands want to come home to a ‘pure’ outlet. In addition, for 90 per cent of these men, intense sexual relationship with their wives is more of physical and emotional tranquilizer; it enables them relax and really enjoy the season as it should be, and this gives them ability to  solve  the following year life’s issue better subsequently after sex.

    A sexually fulfilled man is more productive, a better giver, better lover and a better caregiver.

     

    Question one

    Why do I sometimes get headaches during sex? Do not get me wrong, I love sex, I enjoy it with my husband I ask for it more than he can even give me most times, but it always come with persistence headache, why?

    Answer

    Ideally, when women have sex, endomorphism are released into her body, which in turn relieves pain but it sounds like you are suffering from what doctors call coital cephalagia, or sexual headaches. The pain, which typically begins during foreplay, peaks with orgasm, and can last for an hour afterward, is caused by sudden changes in blood flow.

    During arousal, your heart rate and blood pressure go up quickly, and that can cause blood vessels in the brain to swell but there is an upside. “Prolonging foreplay can prevent that surge in blood pressure if you know you’ll be having sex take some libido enhancer or cold ginger drink to relieve the ache.

     

    Question

    I just gave birth to a bountiful baby girl. She is so cute, but I notice that over some months now, I have been bleeding heavily. Is it normal to have a heavy bleeding while breastfeeding?

    Answer

    Congrats, on your new child. Well the hormone oestrogen in a woman’s body is like the fertilizer that causes a thickening of the lining of the uterus. While progesterone keeps the lining thin by different mechanisms; feeding on demand around the clock, will usually decrease oestrogen levels–leading to absent periods since there is not much lining to be shed. Those same low oestrogen levels are responsible for the severe vaginal dryness that some nursing moms experience.

    When the intensity of feeding declines, oestrogen levels begin to normalize so more lining tissue is available to be shed. However, it can take longer for ovulation and progesterone production to return to pre-pregnancy levels. It can be very common for a bleed, which was not triggered by an ovulation, to be prolonged and very heavy. One study showed that the median time from delivery to first ovulation was 259 days–compared to 119 days for non-breast feeders. You did not mention how old your infant is, so your current bleeding might be a postpartum infection or other delivery related issue.

     

     

    Question

    My wife and I have been married for nine months, and she hasn’t yet had an orgasm. She has certain fears for sex, and many inhibitions. What can we do to help things get better?

    Answer

    New couples have similar cases; early adjustment problems are not unusual. Most couples have questions related to their physical intimacy. Since sexual development is such a private experience, there can be many reasons for the difficulty. These could be related to early restrictive teachings that presented sex as dirty. Many women were never given the message that marital sex is a God-given gift meant for our pleasure. It might be helpful to see a qualified sex therapist to help your wife. Many of the books on sexuality can be helpful in overcoming inhibitions; you can get a copy of my book, ‘Sexual Intimacy in Marriage,’ a whole chapter is dedicated to this topic.

    Another common cause is a woman’s need for her own emotional control and her related feelings of anxiety as erotic stimulation increases. The intensity of pre-orgasmic excitation can seem threatening for a woman who has learned to stay in control of her feelings. In addition, guilt related to sexual fantasies or premarital experiences can create barriers to full sexual enjoyment. Of course, early sexual abuse can stimulate fearful associations.

  • 2022: The year of pessimism

    2022: The year of pessimism

    In 2022, nearly all the events that will shape next year’s polls will be imbued life or death. If Nigeria is draped in pessimism this year, it will take a miracle to consecrate next year with optimism. Unfortunately, few Nigerians are optimistic about 2022. Having muddled through the past six years and more, sometimes deploying strong-arm methods to pacify the country, federal and state governments are confident that the reasons for optimism far outweigh the reasons for pessimism. This difference in perspective is not unusual. Car drivers are naturally more sanguine about excess speed than passengers, despite precipitous slopes, craters, sharp corners, and thick and sometimes impenetrable fogs. But the events of 2022 are loaded, treacherous and building up into a crisis, and there has not been a corresponding demonstration of capacity and ingenuity by the government to manage the sanguinary events twisting the country out of shape and turning the people into angry, impatient and violent citizens.

    No region is spared, and the North is the worst hit. The 12-year-old Boko Haram/ISWAP insurgency in the Northeast remains unmanageable, as it drains resources, bleeds communities, weakens and disorients state governments, pauperises the youth, and has in the past few years metastasizes into cancerous banditry fuelled by small armies sometimes running into thousands in each camp. Poverty is directly blamed for the catastrophe. But while poverty may be the immediate trigger, other factors such as elite irresponsibility and the politicisation of religion have also contributed significantly to the social distortions that have bred the alienated young publics of the north-eastern states and inspired the civil war between farmers and herders, between Hausa and Fulani, in the Northwest. Other than military responses, nothing significantly mitigating is being done to reshape and reset the region. Climate change is still wreaking havoc in the Sahelian belt, but the federal government waits for international consensus to ameliorate the problem. Nothing is being done to control population explosion in both the Northeast and Northwest, with the elite sometimes gloating over the political advantages it confers. The result is that the North is engulfed in flames which no one, not even the government, is certain would be put out in time for the 2023 polls.

    Down south, the Southeast is sitting on a powder keg, with many unresolved existential issues tenuously restrained by federal might. The region is blamed for bad and sometimes incestuous politics that produced the alienation it is currently contending with. While this may not be far from the truth, there is little doubt that alienation exists, and it needs to be managed. It will take wholesale restructuring of the country to eliminate many of the factors predisposing the country to crises. There is little imaginativeness from the federal government in drawing a nexus between the crises ravaging Nigeria and its structural deformities. This distortion has engendered opportunistic freedom fighters like Nnamdi Kanu determined to upend the country. Rather than examine the reasons for the ongoing destabilisation of the Southeast, the federal government has opted for military action and halfhearted dialogue. The rebellion has been temporarily smothered, but the excessive focus on the rebel leaders is unlikely to deliver a permanent peace, let alone enthusiastic participation in Poll 2023. The alienation is also compounded by the Southeast elite’s incompetence in fighting marginalisation. They hope for a national consensus to produce an Igbo president when no Igbo politician has produced the acceptable and inclusive national politics needed to take the presidency.

    It is not surprising that the extreme contentiousness of Southwest politics leads them to interpret their political and economic fortunes under the Muhammadu Buhari presidency as mediocre and injurious to their wellbeing. The reason is embedded in who is doing the talking and the argument, and their clever ability to disguise their private interests as public interest. The zone has produced the vice president, headship of the House of Representatives, powerful cabinet positions, and notable infrastructural projects far in excess of what they got under the previous Goodluck Jonathan administration. Yet, a vocal few campaigned for and nostalgically spoke about the Jonathan presidency when he lost the presidency. But the region as a whole, as distinct from those clever few, has also managed to conflate its principled campaign for healthy federalism and the general principles of democracy with the private, largely pecuniary interests of the activist few. A thin and barely perceptible divide consequently exists, producing a climate of anger and distrust suffused with bad politics capable of injuring 2023 polls.

    It took the Buhari presidency’s extreme primordial politics to generate the open rebellion Sunday Adeyemo, a.k.a Sunday Igboho, implausibly personified. He didn’t have the personality to lead the cause, nor the intellect to elucidate its structure, but he had the charisma to birth and drive it for a brief, obscene moment. That rebellion, it became clear, manifested through the Southwest’s existing political fault lines. However, the fault lines will not be cured before next year’s elections. Mr Igboho’s proverbs-strewn rebellion might have been halted, and his excitedness quenched, but the Southwest will still be in tumult through 2022. The region is dominated by the disunited All Progressives Congress (APC), but like a voyeur it still manages to cast furtive glances at the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The Southwest also served as the exemplification for the EndSARS revolt in 2020 because it hosts a lethal and unique agglomeration of civil society activists and angry, unemployed and frustrated youths. Sometimes this latter group, which has turned the social media into a battering ram against every fancied grievance, and is swearing there would be no polls until restructuring is done, coalesces around the anti-establishment faction of Southwest politics. Just as there is disquiet in the Northwest and Northeast, there is also dreadful unease in the Southwest and Southeast.

    The general unease, it is clear, is merging seamlessly with deep estrangement over Nigeria’s poor and struggling economy ravaged by debts, intolerably huge debt service payments, high unemployment, poor investment in social services, abysmally poor wages, and unacceptably high level of insecurity. There will be no magic between January and June to raise wages, increase employment, and stamp out insecurity. To, therefore, propose the removal of the so-called petrol subsidy not later than June this year will introduce into the tinderbox which Nigerian politics has become factors that may be difficult to manage. As the EndSARS revolt illustrated, the social media has become a lethal weapon in the hands of youths and disaffected people and politicians to promote sometimes indefinable but mostly idealistic philosophies and policies. The social media, as sometimes deployed, has become disruptive, destructive, iconoclastic, and unruly. It makes consensus difficult to reach, and the most astute and enterprising government to govern with the self-assurance of previous decades. The social media-led EndSARS campaigns for instance managed to goad a vast number of Nigerians into revolt with concocted stories about death figures and gory photographs of purported scenes of violence and bloodshed. Social media judgement is not always the best, and its conclusions and rationalisations are often naïve and unfeasible, but it will nevertheless attempt to sway the votes in 2023 if it convinces itself this year not to campaign against the poll.

    But what will even create the most disquiet this year is the politics of the ruling and opposition parties as they compete for public goodwill and support, fight over defectors, enunciate the principles for which they are willing to die or ‘kill’, and battle internal conflagrations. The PDP has managed its elective convention very well, showing just how well consensus politics works. But it is not clear whether consensus can be sustained in their search for a presidential standard-bearer. Few are optimistic that without shifting their gaze south, they can make any inroad in the presidential contest. Their tragedy is that they don’t have a sellable southern aspirant, assuming many of their northern aspirants decide on self-immolation. Until it bares its fangs, the APC’s presidential gaze seems set south. But party hierarchs appear determined both in their February convention and presidential primary to entangle their processes in unfathomable schemes and plots. They are yet to disentangle themselves from the convention it has taken them nearly two years to conduct, instead of six months from the sacking of the former party executives. To launch recklessly into presidential and governorship primaries with their present mindset will expose them to the most cataclysmic intraparty jousting ever. How far can their brinkmanship take them in an unstable country and era?

    In the end, if the economy does not undo the country, interparty or intraparty chicaneries might; and if these two factors don’t cause substantial chaos, the mayhem in all parts of the federation, against which the federal government has proved increasingly desperate and inept, may very well make Poll 2023 a bridge too far. The percentage of Nigerians uninterested in elections without fundamental and structural political and economic changes may not be known; however, a silent majority may wish to get the system trudging along, and the elections conducted. Determining who will master the impending uncertainty will depend on whose arguments resonate more with the wary and fearful public; that is if youth unrest, insecurity, and the social media are somehow unable to complicate or subvert the coming year.

     

    Sen Kashim Shettima’s piquant metaphors

    Former governor of Borno State, Senator Kashim Shettima, is noted for his sharp wit and candour. Intelligent, fearless, eloquent and relentless in the pursuit of ideas and policies he believes in, he once again demonstrated these traits when he addressed the Tinubu Support Groups conference in Abuja last Monday. He is a longtime friend and ally of former Lagos State governor, national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and now presidential aspirant, Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Chairing that conference was, therefore, not a surprise. But what he had to say, not to say the way he phrased his thoughts, was even more captivating and provocative. His thoughts and language are peerless. While his political ideas are not too well known, enough is known to underscore his progressivism, political inclusivity and his seamless drive for fairness and justice. What in fact the public has not paid attention to is his matchless use of literary devices in his speeches.

    This writer has not investigated the closeness between Sen Tinubu and Sen Shettima, but whatever reasons explain their friendship and alliance, outside of course their political affinity, must relate to what the Bible describes as ‘deep calling to deep’. Other than Lagos and Borno, it is not clear how many other states have had the brilliant successions the two states have engendered. Both states have master plans, and their successive governors have been assiduous, generally faithful to the plans within the limits of what law and order would permit, and development-oriented. There is indeed no telling what the two states could achieve in terms of development had Lagos not been burdened by relentless internal migration and Borno by unyielding insurgency.

    But this piece is not about the politics of Sen Shettima or even the presidential aspiration of Asiwaju Tinubu. It is essentially about the literary flourish of Sen Shettima, the veritable connoisseur of wit and sarcasm. During his tenure, and on one occasion when he commissioned some projects in Maiduguri or its environs, he spoke off the cuff at a dinner in honour of his guests, probably including the same Asiwaju Tinubu. In his remarks, a part of which dripped with sarcasm, he jauntily described his overbearing and insufferable predecessor, Ali Modu Sheriff, as ‘Alhaji Allah’. Curious and entranced by the then Governor Shettima’s sarcastic remark, and struck by what literary depths he had to plumb to ferret out that exquisite expression, this writer called a reporter in Maiduguri to ask for the context of the governor’s dismissive remarks. It must be the gilded house Mr Sheriff built behind the Government House in Maidguri, responded the reporter. The house, he added, menaces and almost overshadows the seat of government. No one who has studied Senator Sheriff’s political peregrinations will fail to be impressed by his successor’s quaint characterisation of the serial defector and political pugilist.

    If anyone thought Sen Shettima’s coruscating wit and nose for satire were an aberration, his remarks last Monday in Abuja during the support group conference should be an eye-opener. Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State is arguably the most pugnacious and irreverent of all Fourth Republic governors, but Sen Shettima does not play second fiddle to anyone in wit and sarcasm. He proved it by his captivating remarks selling Asiwaju’s presidential aspiration in Abuja on Monday. Said he: “In 2015, some aspirants with very huge war chests were itching to clinch the ticket of the APC, but like the Rock of Gibraltar, Asiwaju and his progressive team stood solidly behind the candidacy of President Buhari. My simple question, distinguished ladies and gentlemen is, where were the new members of what I call ‘the Buhari’s Church of Latter-day Saints’; where were they?  We knew where their political loyalty lay in that particular convention when Buhari emerged as the presidential candidate of the APC. Where were they?”

    Church of Latter-day Saints? It takes a well-read man to make that allusion, an urbane politician whose mind is not occluded by sham religiosity and debilitating conservatism, a lawmaker who is self-confident and unwavering. He was of course referring to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, otherwise called LDS Church or Mormon Church, but the operative word is ‘latter-day’, which is meant to reference new converts. He was of course not inviting his audience to a consideration of the rubric of that church. It was well known in 2015 that many of those who were to later hijack the Buhari presidency scoffed at their candidate’s chances, believing that after three failures, a fourth failure was assured. Sen Shettima reminds his audience that one man believed, and made the difference – Asiwaju Tinubu.

    Reassuringly, the eminent senator from Borno will play a significant role in the coming campaigns, and thus the entertainment the public will receive will continue steadily. He is in fact unequivocal in determining early in the day whom to support. Responding to the whoopla over Asiwaju Tinubu’s age and health as factors in the race, he had heartily responded that: “The mark of true leadership isn’t the ability to lift a bag of cement. It’s the mental effort to think rationally of solutions designed to redeem one’s people and territorial jurisdiction.” His political analyses are not run-of-the-mill, and his responses, even when they are not festooned with sarcasm and metaphors, are nevertheless delicious. In the months ahead, Sen Shettima will not only tickle the midriff of the electorate, he will excite their cortices as well. He is idiosyncratically equipped to go beyond the ordinary in responding to political stimuli and the silly ratiocinations of political sceptics who deplore sound reasoning and historical experience.

  • AYÒ ÒRÒ

    Better a shot in the arm

    Than a shot in the head

    I know a man whose tongue

    Is many miles faster than his feet

     

    Life without irony

    Is life without iron

    Who does not hear the sin

    In the Symphony of the Spheres?

     

    The landlord’s greed ate the tenant’s wages

    The tenant ate his wife in his long absence

    The Jury blamed both parties

    For their uncontrollable appetite

     

    In this giddy era of Facebook fad

    The Influencer trades place

    With the Influenza. Two trendy pandemics

    So lethal in their viral virtuosity

     

    Between the crowds who vote

    And the Kings who veto

    Lies the exquisite secret

    Of our incomparable democracy

     

    No Empire ever falls

    Without a silent, insidious decline

    The Emperor sometimes mistakes a rampaging mob

    For a flag-waving, adoring crowd

  • Buhari’s rice pyramids

    Buhari’s rice pyramids

    HURRAY! Nigerians should expect a fall in the price of rice. That was the assurance by President Muhammadu Buhari, at the launching of 13 pyramids of rice at the Abuja International Trade Fair Complex, Abuja, on Tuesday. An obviously elated and optimistic President Buhari said at the occasion that the measure was part of efforts to reduce the price of the staple. “The significance of today’s occasion can be better understood by looking at the various economic strides the administration has achieved through agriculture,” he said. He lauded the Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP), which is behind the government’s agricultural revolution. The Nigeria Rice Paddy Pyramids is an initiative of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Rice Farmers Association.

    To be sure, the Buhari administration has invested a lot in agriculture, especially through the ABP. This much the CBN governor noted at the launch of the rice pyramids. “The past few years have been quite challenging towards some of the farmers, as they have battled with insurgency, banditry, lockdown and other related setbacks”, Emefiele said. He added that “Indeed, we lost some of our farmers to insurgency attacks nationwide while some could not access their farms for several months yet, they kept faith, they did not give up, they persevered, and they did not abandon our fight for food self-sufficiency.”

    The CBN governor was right. Insecurity played a major role in the food crisis that the country is facing today. But this is only a leg of the story. The other leg that the CBN governor failed to mention, and for obvious reasons, is that President Buhari’s failure to tackle the challenge when it was still tractable is largely responsible for the precarious security situation in the country. The man simply looked the other way when the entire country was complaining about the menace of killer Fulani herdsmen who believe they own all parts of Nigeria and could therefore do and undo. They became a nuisance to farmers in several parts of the country and even when some people retaliated the attacks by the Fulani herdsmen, security agents arrested several of them whereas the herdsmen enjoyed official protection.

    This lackadaisical attitude of the government to the security challenge emboldened not only the herdsmen but other criminals, who seized the opportunity to wreak havoc, leaving behind tears and sorrow. By the time the government seemed ready to confront the situation, it was almost late; as it had become something akin to a malignant tumour.

    A good example of the mishandling of insecurity, particularly as it affects agriculture, is the case of 44 rice farmers that were murdered by terrorists in Borno State in 2020. Rather than protect the farmers, or at least speak words of consolation to their relatives, or go after those who killed them, the government blamed them for going to farm without informing soldiers in the area! How does that help farming or agriculture? If farmers in every troubled part of the country have to first take permission from security agents before going to farm, is that not an indictment of the government and its security agencies?

    The truth of the matter is that we do not have to look too far to see that whatever this government gained in agriculture has been lost at the same time on the altar of its nepotistic handling of the security challenges, especially at the onset of the administration. Statistics on what we are still spending to bring in food items confirm this much. A CBN report on sectoral utilisation of forex for the third quarter of last year indicated that the country spent a whopping $1.68bn on food importation between January and September. Similarly, it should worry us that we spent about N1trillion on fish imports from nine major countries in the last two years. And this, too, is official, coming from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

    The same applies to milk imports said to have risen by 28 per cent within nine months. What all these tell us is that the various interventions have not had any profound effect on food security. And for reason/s already stated. Nigeria was only busy pouring hard-earned public funds into a bottomless pit, pretending to be fighting the criminals.

    Ordinarily, the president’s assurance should calm frayed nerves about the skyrocketing price of rice, a staple food in the country because, when a leader in his kind of capacity speaks, his words should be like those of an oracle: unimpeachable.

    But then, it is doubtful if many Nigerians took the president for his words. Not a few would have dismissed whatever he said as one of those political rhetorics for which our politicians are notorious. And they cannot be faulted: the present government has since joined the bandwagon; it has proved time and again, that it is also mastering that notoriety of not matching words with action.

    But beyond this is the fact that under President Buhari’s watch, prices of every imaginable item have been skyrocketing. From gas to power, rice, tomatoes, cement, iron rods, to what have you. Very soon, Nigerians will have to start paying for petrol literally with their blood.

    Indeed, many of us who are Christians have only taken his promise of cheap rice by faith rather than by his record because we don’t want our situation to be like that of the man who did not believe Prophet Elisha when he said “about this time tomorrow, a seah of the finest flour will sell for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria.” True, given the physically visible in Samaria at the time, this seemed more like an improbable fiction. The officer who did not believe the prophet saw the good times but did not eat of it, in line with the prophet’s curse on him. You can see why we need a leap of faith to accept the president’s promise as the gospel truth: one, he is not a prophet and, two, his record does not engender such optimism. Yet, we must say ‘Amen’ to his wish or prayer that the price of rice will soon fall.

    Perhaps the fact that President Buhari’s words have hardly been his bond explains the perception in some quarters that the whole idea of the rice pyramids was nothing but a ruse. That it was, at best, some political gimmick aimed at shoring up the government’s dwindling image. At the vanguard of this blow below the belt is the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP). The PDP, which appears to me to be waking up from its slumber to give the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) a good run for its money really took the pyramids to the cleaners. The party, which rechristened the project as “pyramids of lies” said the government was only staging another media stunt to deceive Nigerians ahead of the 2003 general elections. PDP’s National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, said “There is nothing to celebrate in the APC pyramid of lies in Abuja. It is rather shameful that APC leaders are again ridiculing President Muhammadu Buhari by making him unveil pyramids of allegedly imported foreign rice which are re-bagged as locally produced, just to create an impression of a boost in local production under his watch.”

    Although the opposition party made some bogus claims, like saying their party turned the country into one huge rice growing centre, leading to the price of 50kg of the commodity selling for about N8,000, I do not know whether this was the reality or whether the country was flooded with imported rice then, leading to the crash in price. But then, what is undeniable, as the opposition party noted, is that rice was very cheap then, compared to the gold that it has become in the Buhari years. Again, the opposition party claimed that what the Buhari government advertised were fake pyramids of rice with sandbags and rebagged rice stacked on pyramid-shaped wooden structures. As if the party knew that people would ask how it got the impression that the rice pyramids were fake, PDP quickly reminded that there is nothing novel in the arrangement because an APC governor allegedly did the same thing a few years back, with his own brand of rice pyramids.

    Be that as it may, I have no proof that what the president commissioned on Tuesday was fake or, at best, imported rice. The only scientific proof of that would be what happens to the price of rice after these products have arrived the market. So far, however, there is no proof that the one million rice paddy has had any effect on the price of the commodity. Perhaps it is too early to feel the impact. So, I will still give it the benefit of the doubt that the PDP is only still bellyaching, hence, its writing off the government’s rice pyramids as bogus lie. A party that had boasted to rule the country for 60 years in the first instance and was booted out after about 16 years because it was too inept and corrupt certainly has every reason to bellyache. And if the party could not take a leap of faith like some of us, it is because only a thief can trace the footsteps of another thief on the rock. May be the former ruling party organised similar shenanigans in its days in office and in power.

    All said, the jury is out on whether what President Buhari commissioned on Tuesday were indeed rice pyramids or mere sand. Whatever it was, it is only a matter of time for the truth to be revealed. If it was the former, Nigerians will enjoy the dividend and it would be a plus for the Buhari government. In the same vein, if it was the latter, it is the government that would bite the dust after the people would have exhausted the real rice, which would further dent the government’s image, at quarter to general elections. My father used to tell us that if the person being lied to does not know, the liar at least knows that he is lying. Moreover, anyone who sold sand as a good should not be surprised if paid with stones.

    President Buhari should pardon those of us with sympathy for the PDP and other doubting Thomases about what he commissioned. In the first place, the PDP was in power before and knows how they did some of those things in their time. They are bound to be believed by some people too because not much has changed between them and the ruling party, in spite of the ‘change’ mantra of the latter. Today someone is in PDP, tomorrow he changes over to APC and vice versa. The difference is no longer clear. You cannot put any mischief beyond our politicians. I have always said that when many of them say ‘good morning’ Nigerians should pull up their blinds to be sure it is not goodnight.

    All said, Nigerians should be able to tell whether the rice pyramids are fake or genuine when they buy the next bag or bowl of rice in the market. After all, people selling all manner of concoctions in ‘Molue’ buses usually tell us that we can only buy na true after several times of buying na lie. In Nigeria, we have been buying na lie from government since; may be this time around we’ll buy na true. The price will tell.

  • Key life lessons to note

    Key life lessons to note

    I love reading interesting threads and comments on Twitter for insights and different perspectives they offer.

    I read an interesting one recently by Founder @WestAfricaWeek, David Hundeyin about his relationship with a Zimbabwean lady that ended when he was not expecting. His story and comments offered a lot of life and relationship lessons.

    As I read through many of comments late that evening, some lines stood out for me and will like to share them for the benefit of whoever may learn from them.

     

    Here are some of them with my thoughts:

    There is no need to traumatise yourself in pursuit of love

    There is nothing wrong in going all out in pursuit of love, but know the limit and don’t make unnecessary sacrifice.  If it ends suddenly for whatever reasons, being traumatized at the risk of personal mental health is not worth the trouble. You can agonize over it, but know when to come to the reality that it is all over and you need to move on.

     

    Life isn’t Nollywood

    Yes it is not.  It is not also any of the make believe films from all the ‘woods’ – Hollywood, Bollywood and others. Someone in the thread puts it more aptly, life is generally unscripted. You don’t know the end from the beginning like any typical script. You learn on the go and hope for the best based on decisions you take which can make or mar you

    If only many know better, they would have acted their life story better. Once in a while we get the chance to re-write our life story but only if we live consciously.

     

    Learn to cut your losses

    If you don’t, you will pay dearly for it. When the decisions you take are not turning out well as you want, the best thing to do is to minimize your losses by not investing further. Stop investing in bound-to-fail relationships or projects.

    As long as you keep going in a wrong direction, you will never get to the right place you desire to get to.

     

    Life is deeper than we think

    It is indeed. There is more to what we know per time. It’s a long journey. A marathon and not a sprint like many think. It can be complicated or simple depending on how we make meaning of our realities. Time and life’s realities do wonders eventually as another contributor said and we must be prepared for any eventuality.

     

    Never too late to start all over again but first forgive yourself.

    You can always find love again no matter how far gone you are into the one that ends against your wish. The thing is not to hold on to memories of the past when the other partner has moved on.

    Forgive and forget.

     

    We can’t always make it work

    Responding to the views by many that “We can make it work” when relationships are threatened by unexpected developments, someone wondered if we are like mechanic who can always get a vehicle working no matter the technical fault. There are situations that are hard to “make work” again like they use to be. Even mechanics give up sometimes.

     

    Love is not enough

    To use the exact words of the commentator, “it is just one of those hormonal rushes to tell you your preferences in a woman and things that spark up the furnace in your loins. Never make love your station when capacity is a train in transit.” Love will wane, beauty will fade and what will sustain a relationship is more than love. Those who claim love is blind see clearly when reality dawns upon them.

  • At long last President Buhari aborts CECPC’s chicanery

    At long last President Buhari aborts CECPC’s chicanery

    The APC has constantly claimed that the PDP performed ‘badly’. However, they are the first to woo PDP members to join the APC. Why are they scrambling for the same people they claim led the country into problems? Politicians who move from PDP to APC get taken to the Presidential villa for a welcome event. Why welcome ‘sinners’ if you are a saint? There is speculation that the APC is trying to woo Goodluck Jonathan to contest on the platform of the APC. This development proves that people who called us all sorts of names were never real. They only wanted power, and they did not know what to do with it.” – Senate Minority Leader, Enyinnaya Abaribe,

    Nothing proves the craftiness of the Governor Mai Mala Buni- led Caretaker Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) of the APC more than the above statement which shows how the interim committee completely abandoned its mandate just so its tenure could be severally renewed. The aim was to stay in office to conduct the party’s presidential primaries since it owed its establishment solely to calculations for the 2023 presidential elections. That was the reason for all the Adam’s Oshiomhole brouhaha and CECPC was nothing other than the tool to bring the scheme to fruition.

    So set was the committee in its ways, therefore, that no opposition to any of its delay tactics meant anything to its minders, not even when the Progressive Youth Movement announced its sack and, in its place, announced a new national caretaker committee with Mustapha Audu as chairman. The committee was forever cocksure, relying on the goodwill of President Muhammadu Buhari who, most probably, was not privy to the serpentine agenda of a committee whose establishment he had approved so that the house would not fall on everybody’s head, given the ramifying nature of the Oshiomhole -Obaseki crisis. Their agenda, as we showed here last week, was multi-pronged: do everything to retain presidency in the North after President Muhammadu Buhari’s tenure and, failing that, install a pliable Southerner – a lackey, indeed, so that as NEF spokesman, Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, once put it: the North will lead Nigeria the way it has always done, whether a Northerner is president or vice president.

    The committee was initially so desperate to have the presidency retained in the North, it allegedly went in search of Northerners, on whatever party platform, who would fit the bill.

    However, realising the likely consequences of insisting on that, especially with all the separatist agitations sprouting in literally every corner of the country, they reluctantly relented.

    The Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) has since played every trick in the book, perennially adding all manner of new functions to its mandate, just to have its tenure extended at the end of every six months until the party’s presidential primaries at which the minders intended  to have a candidate of their choice inflicted, willy nilly, on the party. It is the same reason some elements within the party will now fight to the death to have consensus included in the 2021 Electoral Bill now being revisited after the President denied assent.

    I digress.

    This was the point at which the interim committee, and those controlling it, began toasting a slew of party chiefs who were individually being assured of the President’s support, most probably without the President’s knowledge, as the office was literally being hawked all over the place.

    Initial emphasis was on the Southwest geo-political zone where, on the basis of perceived capabilities or religious consanguinity, they picked on some high profile individuals who obviously didn’t know, until fairly late, that they were being played.

    When this wasn’t delivering in the West, they headed further South where history has shown, very abundantly, that the people are a solid support block for the opposition PDP. However, luck smiled on them there and they succeeded in prising away from the PDP, two state governors who decamped to the APC, substantially with only members of their family in tow. So seriously did they take their toasting that one of them has since declared interest in contesting the presidential election, come 2023. Funny, isn’t it?

    Now it is believed that the committee is shuffling between a decent gentleman who  they loathed to see effectively function as the elected Vice President; one they hardly allowed to act as President despite President Buhari’s many health related trips abroad, and a former President they called all manner of names including – wait for it – ‘clueless’, in spite of his Ph.D.

    Since they are still hard at work too, as the end justifies the means, the CECPC was reported to still be resolutely opposed to the decision of majority of the party’s governors to have the APC convention hold in February, 2022. That, of course, was until President Buhari, seeing that it was all becoming a huge joke, reportedly called a halt to  CECPC’s  plots, insisting that he now wanted to have democratic organs of the party get reinstated, by having the party’s convention hold,  not later than February, 2022.

    That was when the interim committee ran, its tail behind its legs, to announce 26th February as the convention date. You would have thought that arranging a party convention was the equivalent of going to the moon.

    So committed to their scheme was the CECPC that it never managed to react, appropriately, to all the strictures the PDP, under the lead of a very experienced Senator Iyorcha Ayu – an intellectual in politics – has been piling on APC these many weeks. It is, however, not surprising that it is Governor Kayode Fayemi, like Ayu, another intellectual in politics and, incidentally, the pioneer Head of the Policy, Research and Strategy Directorate of APC at inception, who has set an agenda for the CECPC in the hope that it will now be more focused.

    Counseled Fayemi:” We are going into our convention. I will like to plead with the chairman (Buni) that we should make this a policy convention, where we can specifically take, one by one, all aspects of life for our people to know what we have done in the last six years; what we are still going to do roughly in the next 17 months left to our government and how we will consolidate on that by ensuring that we elect another APC President in 2023″.

    That should, indeed, be a no brainer given Nigerians’ current perception of the party.

    In a by no means surprising move, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, at a time when most party members were unhappy that the convention hadn’t held, in an act of pure obscurantism, wrote to the CECPC Chairman, Governor Buni, as follows: “It is with a sense of commitment and unflinching loyalty to our great party, the APC that I write to you, the content of this letter regarding the national convention of our party slated for February, 2022. “I must also commend your peaceful disposition and sense of commitment to the growth of our party which also saw very peaceful congresses across the states – (totally irrelevant massaging). When he finally returned to any seriousness, it was to suggest, for a number of barely intelligible reasons, that: “It is important to first postpone the convention with all peace and reconciliation machinery fully put in place. The issue of zoning should be properly handled with even representation across the six geopolitical zones”.  He even wanted both the convention and the presidential primaries held at the same time. A greater obsequiousness you’ll never find.

    Now that any hope of the CECPC sitting tight in office to superintend over the party’s presidential primaries has been blown to smithereens by the timely intervention of the President, its members should henceforth be concerned with the task of leaving a good name behind by organising an irreproachable convention.

    SOS to southwest governors

    In the past two weeks or so, Lagos – Ibadan Expressway has become a no-go road, with kidnappers killing and maiming travelers, at will.

    We cannot afford to let this expressway become another Abuja-Kaduna Expressway.

    I am therefore calling on not just our Governors and Police Commissioners in Yoruba land, but every omo bibi ILE KARO, O JIRE, to take this as an emergency call, and wake up to confront these monsters attacking us everywhere in Yoruba land.

    They have dared us and we must NOT let them go unscathed.

    Southwest governors must now press home their request for an appropriate arming of Amotekun.

    Eternal rest to all our departed compatriots

    These past few weeks have been exceedingly harsh on us, the CHRIST’S SCHOOL, ADO-EKITI, family.

    The grim reaper, which my friend, THE POET LAUREATE, Niyi Osundare, elsewhere called the Implacable Foe, visited and snatched away from us, not one, two,  but FIVE of our truly remarkable brethren in as many weeks: Papa, our alumnus and teacher, the indomitable Dr Simeon Akeju, B.Sc., Ph.D., who entered ‘The School’ in 1949 and was a prefect in ’52,  the winsome Engineer Eben Alade, one time Chairman, Ekiti Electricity Board, the cerebral and unflappable journalist, and one time Editor of  the defunct Sunday Concord, Sina Adedipe, my classmates, Chief Joseph Ademuagun, one time Chairman, Ekiti state PDP and TOS, the Surveyor, Theophilus Olutola Sunday Ogunleye.

    Eternal rest grant them O Lord and comfort the family they left behind.

     

  • Tinubu’s trajectory to the throne (Part 2)

    Tinubu’s trajectory to the throne (Part 2)

    “Let me say generally about this public image that I do not remember one public contest where he has lost the war. I speak of many battles-fronts; from Oyo to Borgu, Ife, Ibadan, to Lagos and Anambra to mention but a few. Of course, he bears many battle scars and these attests to his tactical ability to surrender battles in order to win wars.” – Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN; erstwhile Governor of Lagos State, presently the Honourable Minister of Works and Housing, in the book: “Asiwaju: Leadership in troubled times”, edited by the trio of Tunji Bello, Sam Omatseye and Segun Ayobolu, pp. 67-68.

    It was in the year 2015 and a few days to May 29. This columnist was opportune as one of the stakeholders to be present in a valedictory event to appreciate the tenure of the cerebral, Mr. Ben Akabueze, as the Honourable Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning in Lagos State. Towards the tail end of the event, the Anambra-born but Lagos-bred technocrat, rose up to appreciate the attendees, especially those of us who worked closely with him. He said inter alia that while he was being considered for an appointment in Anambra, out of the blue, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu who he had known in his heydays in the banking industry, invited him and offered him the opportunity to serve in January 2007. He was retained throughout the era of Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN, from 29th May 2007 till 29th May 2015. In the treatise edited by the trio of Tunji Bello, Sam Omatseye and Segun Ayobolu, published in 2012, the sagacious Akabueze stated succinctly of his experience serving Lagosians with Tinubu in the saddle: “Asiwaju . . .has displayed an unusual success in attracting and retaining some of Nigeria’s best professionals in various fields to serve in government during his tenure as Governor of Lagos State. These professionals come from different states in the federation because for Asiwaju competence counts far above other primordial considerations. Indeed, this is one defining character of the Tinubu leadership style (sic).” Presently, in the government circles, states and federal, appointments are done with partisan, parochial, pecuniary, puerile or pedestrian consideration! In sane clime, where professionalism, profile and pedigree are taking cognizance of, someone in the likes of Akabueze would be the Minister of Economic Planning and Budgetary Matters. Nay! Governance has been mostly hijacked in Nigeria and subjugated by sycophants. Do we then cry over spilt milk of bad governance when non-professionals possessing no matching competencies are calling shots in agencies of government? This was not so in the eight years of Tinubu in Lagos. Virtually, it was evident in the subsequent administrations of his successors: Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN, Mr. Akin Ambode and the incumbent, Mr. Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu. This is just one issue in the quest to the presidency of 2023 that all aspirants to the prestigious and onerous seat of the president should address.

    Tinubu: Time To Talk

    It is noteworthy that the public announcement signaling Tinubu’s intention to throw his hat into the ring towards the 2023 presidency has rattled and ruffled feathers in hallowed and high quarters, pointedly the corridors of power. Was it that it was unexpected? Definitely, not the case for most public analysts and political watchers. Seemingly unsettling was the timing of Tinubu dropping the ‘bomb!’ Could it be strategic coming just few days after President Muhammadu Buhari’s interview on Channels TV in which he refused to give a hint of his possible successor fearing he might be ‘eliminated’ from the political scene and space taking cognizance of Nigeria’s muddy and murky political waters? Suddenly and seemingly, as if coordinated, vociferous voices have been so loud, some for and some against dwarfing comments on other contenders and possible contenders. Having perused and read many articles and online posts on Tinubu’s (why so much on him anyway?), I wondered whether many followers really know his leadership profile and pedigree while in government as a senator and governor. This is partly why this columnist has to come out with salient statements by two personalities that are not known for genuflecting or being garrulous in nature – Babatunde Raji Fashola and Ben Akabueze. I am not oblivious that these statements were penned down in 2012. Could things have changed and there is a different song, even though the story cannot change?

    Someone like Senator Femi Ojudu has a story that is fixated albeit his song has changed! This columnist often tells anyone that cares to listen: “if you do not know my story, you cannot understand my glory.” Definitely, my song has changed from my usual song of ten years ago! God used some people for me along the way in turning my story to glory. Succinctly stated, Senator Femi Ojudu’s statement was ill-conceived and ill-timed for someone who was once a benefactor. Silence mode could be best for him while he chooses his candidate. The content and context of his seemingly skewed tinkering is against the Yoruba wise saying: “Omi l’eniyan te ko to te yaanrin” (meaning: someone’s feet first step upon water before it could stand firmly on the sandy platform at the bottom of the river). In this vein, one writer, even pontificated that Tinubu rather used many of his mentees rather than he being used to develop them. This is apparently against scholastic sagacity as in a leadership-dyad typical of mentor protegee relationship (MPR); a saturation stage is reached where the mentee feels he needs to be a mentor himself and no more a mentee. However, in the saturation stage, the mentee still acknowledges his mentor’s helping hands. At this juncture, one may ask pointedly: who gave most of these people (proteges or mentees) the platforms to serve? It is like saying Simon (who was surnamed Peter) and Saul (who later changed his name to Paul) were self made or Jesus Christ made use of them. This awkward and awful line of thought would be simply and squarely denigrating the personality and platform that processed, packaged, produced and promoted them. Even Tinubu could not say he was self made as he cut his political teeth under mentors and guardians who offered him platforms to showcase strategic sagacious steps in governance. One of his mentors is Chief Pius Akinyelure. He mentored the young BolaTinubu while in the corporate world; even though politically, in the present-day Nigeria, the table has turned, yet Tinubu cannot denigrate Pa Akinyelure, covertly or overtly! Yorubas also say: the river that forgets his source will dry off (“omi to ba gbagbe orisun e, a gbe”). This columnist reflectingly attests to some people being part of his “curriculum vitae” for life! Why? The emergence and encounters between him and such personalities are memorable. Hence, it is time for proteges and mentees of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to step up and speak so loudly before the naysayers do havoc through what they know best to do – hatchet jobbing!

    Tinubu 2023: Agenda Setting

    Presently, socio-economically and politically, certain sordid statistics are staring us in the face. These are the   issues  to  bring  up  as  2023   beckons!  It is high time followers focused and fixated on these core and crucial matters than mundane fables. Going forward, lovers of Nigeria (patriotic followers) should focus on issues that will deliver Nigeria walloping in this wild weirdly wilderness we have found ourselves socio-economically and politically! Away with jejune, puerile and pedestrian old wives’ fables and debates. It is high time, many followers reflected, reasoned and rationalised in towing the path of progressive tinkering in order to prevent the emergence of many “accidental aspirants” ending up elected as “accidental governors, senators, house of representatives’ members, house of assembly members, and even becoming president” of our country. To this columnist, this is the real “affliction rising up the second time” if followers fail in checkmating and crippling this drift. In essence, this columnist would enjoin followers to focus and fixate on issues and ideas, and not sentimental or emotional comments. Let us look out for, vouch for and vote for aspirants who have pedigrees of success knowing there is no political saint – we all have our past! We need men and women now who have histories of rescuing their organisations or governments out of crisis into reckoning to be our governors and president! Asiwaju had demonstrated that in Lagos in raising IGR monthly from 0.6 billion Naira (1999) to 6.9 billion Naira (2007). This is empirical and evidential! (Source: Olawale Edun, in the book: “Asiwaju: Leadership in troubled times”, p. 142 edited by the trio of Tunji Bello, Sam Omatseye and Segun Ayobolu). Asiwaju Tinubu with canny and cerebral traits for identifying talents and financial engineering could replicate the same feat in our dipping and dwindling economy if given the chance. Presently, Nigeria is borrowing heavily to finance the budget. We need a game changer as President in 2023.

    Conclusion

    This is one battle Tinubu, Jagaban Borgu, would fight with all in his political arsenal! In the opening of this write up, Babatunde Raji Fashola attested to the determined might in his political mentor when he enthusiastically and elated expressed way back in 2012: “Let me say generally about this public image that I do not remember one public contest where he has lost the war. I speak of many battles-fronts; from Oyo to Borgu, Ife, Ibadan, to Lagos and Anambra to mention but a few. Of course, he bears many battle scars and these attests to his tactical ability to surrender battles in order to win wars.” All eyes are on Tinubu, as a sagacious strategist. This columnist would want to pointedly the following questions: Is BAT prepared for all the darts and arrows his opponents are(will be) launching at him? Does he consider this “lifelong ambition” a war or battle? Is his arsenal strategically stocked to ward off expected and emerging attacks on the way to victory in his party? Is the vehicle rugged and robust enough for him on the bumpy ride to 2023? Supposing there is a gang up against his riding in that vehicle towards his fulfilling his lifelong ambition, will he be stranded and abandon his lifelong pursuit? In the alternative, as a master strategist, does he have an Option B? Will he rather support a viable candidate taking his vast political structure with him? In closing, digging deep into Tinubu’s tinkering, he is a strategist who does not run and rush to battle. Going by his corporate and political antecedents, from his days in Mobil Oil Producing to the Senate to Lagos House to his membership of Alliance for Democracy (AD) to formation of Action Congress (AC) to transforming to Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) (to give the party a national outlook); and then finally to merger of parties establishing the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Tinubu has been acclaimed as a determined and distinguished dogged fighter. These last lines fitly depict his personality, profile and profundity in politics and politicking within Nigeria’s context: “I plan for betrayal, I plan for backstabbing, I also plan for reunion and forgiveness long before they happen. In life, I expect nothing, I expect anything, I expect everything.” There is no gainsaying the fact that he is well prepared for the hurdles and hustles head up to 2023. I wish him the best!