The Nation Newspaper

Category: Sunday

  • Church rethinking 2027?

    Church rethinking 2027?

    Not likely. The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), which has in recent years acted as the unofficial political opposition, continues to promote active interest in both the 2023 and 2027 polls. Two Saturdays ago, at their conference in Akwa Ibom State, the Archbishop of Owerri, Lucius Ugorji, moaned that the conduct of the 2023 general election eroded confidence in the nation’s democracy. He was echoing the view of the opposition, indeed the general public impression, but without any substantiation. Responding, the electoral commission of course dismissed the bishop’s assertion as ungodly, insinuating that a section of the opposition had damagingly peddled that mendacity around the country for far too long.

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    In their communiqué, the CBCN was radical in condemning what they also concluded was a slide towards a one-party state. Again, of course, there were no facts adduced to support that conclusion, other than popular impression. Recently, some of their bishops had warned of dire consequences should the elections be rigged again. Again? Well, there was of course no proof that the 2023 elections did not reflect popular wish. Whether they dislike the judiciary or not, the fact is that no proof was tendered in court to cause the courts to decide differently. Given their propensity to immerse themselves in politics, thus sowing division among the brethren, the bishops would have, unlike the Early Church, called for a forcible overthrow of the Roman Empire government of Nero as he orchestrated bloody and barbaric persecution of Christians.

    But it is not all gloom. While the Catholics commit themselves to erasing the dividing line between church and state, the Pentecostals are beginning to have a rethink. As demonstrated by Prophet Isa El-Buba of the El-Buba Outreach Ministries in a recent interview, it had become necessary to be politically pragmatic in the preparation for the 2027 elections. In other words, some Pentecostal leaders may have cooled considerably concerning the infusion of religion into politics, and have used the present administration as a litmus test to determine that Nigeria’s religious dichotomy may not necessarily lead to subjugation or persecution. 

  • Fubara returns to seething Rivers State

    Fubara returns to seething Rivers State

    Returnee governor of Rivers State, Siminalayi Fubara, was expressionless as he addressed the state last Friday. He was incredibly conciliatory. He talked approvingly about his refusal to challenge last March’s emergency rule declaration, appreciated the president for his fatherly role in the whole saga, lauded the combative former governor Nyesom Wike, held out an olive branch to the state legislature, appealed to all injured by the events of the last six months and even farther back to embrace peace, and pledged to intensify his developmental strides. Whoever wrote that speech for him was a virtuoso: it was a model in political correctness, succinctness, and self-effacement.

    While Governor Fubara’s speech was textually brilliant, and the elocution sombre, few were persuaded last week that his heart was in it. He wore a glacial expression, albeit with a pained look delicately etched on his visage, and he read the speech with a slight injection of pathos. Some of his supporters as well as cynical commentators have suggested that the governor’s return to office mimicked the fate of a subdued hero, promising that they would exact some revenge on his behalf in the next poll. It seems likely that the state will continue to seethe in the next few months or more depending on how the governor manages the aftermath of the two years of brutal battle for the control of the hearts and souls of Riverians.

    There are doubts as to the capacity of the governor to manage the aftermath. He may have read a brilliant speech, but not much effort was put into getting him to correspondingly look the part. He has a close circle of aides, something akin to a kitchen cabinet, but they were probably men and women cut from the same cloth as he is. It was his duty to surround himself with a body of advisers who have the spirit of the gods, men whose counsels would prove both unerring and farsighted. He didn’t or couldn’t. If he had such men, they would have noticed a few outstanding issues relating to his impending broadcast, and perhaps helped to instill some pretentious enthusiasm in his delivery.

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    The peace Mr Fubara so eloquently spoke about in his broadcast, the same peace so tentatively alluded to by his former enemies, will likely be tested severely in the early weeks of his return to office. Before the open confrontation broke out less than a year after he was sworn in, the legislature was skewed against him: he had about four while the other side had the preponderant 27 or so. The same skewness still prevails. Could the lawmakers, some of whom appear to be diehard opponents, be trusted to restrain themselves in their dealings with the governor? Could they be trusted not to view the governor as a defeated foe? At the local government level, all but three LGAs have been warehoused in the All Progressives Congress (APC) far out of the reach of the governor, and amenable to the fiery control of the national ruling party. Here, the governor will have little elbow room. And to boot, Mr Fubara must now submit his budget and cabinet nominations to the lawmakers for vetting in tandem with democratic principles. Indeed, he will be sorely tested. Having spurned the last opportunity offered him last February by the Supreme Court judgment which reprimanded him for his dictatorial tendencies and ordered him to make amends, could he be relied upon to sensibly judge the spirit of the times? No one can say conclusively.

    But these imponderables are not insurmountable if Mr Fubara can assemble men and women able to coax him away from the cliff edge where he seems to perch. He cannot do it the extrication by himself. He lacks the depth and temperament. But whether he can even find gifted counsellors in Rivers is hard to say, for that state in the last two years has proved too implacable for their own peace of mind. In love and hate, and especially in political affiliations, they have often yielded to damning excesses. But needs must when the devil drives. The ball, once again, is in Mr Fubara’s court. He will have to find the temper and wisdom to juggle the difficult ball downfield. He must not play offside, and must not engage in dangerous tackle. If that means stooping to conquer, by all means, let him do it in order to berth the ship of state in 2027 safely.

  • Obi of Lagos? Abomination

    Obi of Lagos? Abomination

    Oba ipe meji laafin; ijoye le pe mefa laafin

    Although the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) has dismissed the publicised fundraising for the N1.5bn palace of the Obi of Lagos as a fraudulent agenda by an individual, the tension the announcement generated, particularly in the social media, should remind, if not tell us about the desperation of some people in the south eastern part of the country, to pursue ethnic expansion by some other means, in other parts of the country and probably beyond.

    Last week, the news went viral that one Chibuike Azubike, 65 years, had printed invitation cards inviting personalities to the unveiling of the prototype of the N1.5bn palace he intended to build for himself as ‘Obi of Lagos’. The event was billed to hold at Apple Hall, Amuwo Odofin, Lagos.

    Mercifully, the police waded in to forestall the trouble such an affront could have caused in an ethnocentric clime like ours. On Wednesday, they arrested the fake Obi and three of his alleged accomplices: 57-year-old Chibuzor Ani, 65-year-old Martins Nwaodika, and 41-year-old Ikechukwu Franklin Nnadi.

    The police said Azubike told them that he intended to swindle apparently unsuspecting Igbo people who would have come to donate generously at the occasion. The command’s deputy public relations officer, Babaseyi Oluseyi, said in a statement on Thursday that “Investigation revealed that the principal suspect, Chibuike Azubike, confessed he is not a qualified engineer but has been parading himself as one. Further findings showed that the planned unveiling of the ‘Obi of Lagos Palace’ was fraudulently designed as a ploy to swindle unsuspecting personalities and Nigerians of their hard-earned money.”

    The police have promised to prosecute the suspects.

    It is good that the police swiftly moved in to stop the nonsense. They have the onerous responsibility of securing lives and properties, a thing that could have been jeopardised due to the ethnic tension that the announcement of the said fundraising had already generated in Lagos.

    This should be expected given the assertion prevalent, especially among some Igbo, that Lagos is ‘no man’s land’. It is only in a ‘no man’s land’ that somebody would just wake up from the wrong side of the bed and say he wants to be addressed as so and so, and in a manner that contravenes the established laws governing such a declaration.

    I don’t know from which part of history those propagating the falsehood of Lagos being ‘no man’s’ land’ got it.

    But for this turning logic on its head, and fears induced by real rather than perceived experience from some people in the south east, the story would have passed for another rumour from the ungoverned space called social media which would ordinarily fizzle out the way it came. In which case, one would have allowed sleeping dogs to lie. But that would be tantamount to sleeping under a burning roof.

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    The case of the self-proclaimed Eze Ndigbo of Ajao Estate, Lagos, Frederick Nwajagu, is still fresh in mind. He was sentenced to one year imprisonment with no option fine in 2024, for unlawfully parading himself as a titled chief in Lagos. Nwajagu also had, in what seemed a clear indictment of the NPF and other security agencies of bias, allegedly threatened to invite members of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) to Lagos to protect the properties of Igbo residents in the state.

    Justice Yetunde Adesanya who in her judgment acquitted and discharged Nwajagu of terrorism charges because the Lagos State government could not prove that beyond reasonable doubts, ordered him to be released after the judgment since he had been in custody for over a year during the trial.

    Nwajagu had appealed the judgment, saying the Section 34 of the Obas and Chiefs of Lagos State Law (1981) under which he was convicted ran afoul of sections 39 and 40 of the 1999 Constitution which guarantee freedom of association and expression.

    We were still awaiting the outcome of his appeal when rumours of the Obi of Lagos emerged.

    Another compelling reason why one cannot let this too pass as the police merely dismissed it is because of the kinds of comments some people (I guess the youths, apparently from the south east) have been responding to Azubike’s arrest. People who are having the notion that some other people can just come and become lords in other ethnic regions have to be constantly reminded (in case they have forgotten, because it is convenient to do that sometimes), that it can never be so fast.    

    Azubike is said to be a native of Obodoukwu in Ideato North Local Government Area of Imo State. Just as no one jokes about fainting (a ki fi mo daku sere) in Yorubaland, so it is in Igboland. In Yorubaland, people don’t joke about land and traditional titles or matters, generally.

    ‎We see all of these things in Nollywood because movies reflect the environments in which they are being acted. We see blood relations running after themselves with machetes and other weapons that can be used to sever heads from the neck in the south east over land and chieftaincy matters.

    ‎It therefore beggars belief that someone from Obodoukwu, a distance of about 500 km to Lagos, (traversing at least five states and probably crossing several rivers) would leave his own state and indeed, his entire region for Lagos and proclaim himself king. By the estimation of Google Maps, it would take about nine and a half hours from Obodoukwu to Lagos. And some people would be defending that!

    This is a thing they would not tolerate even among Igbos like themselves. The matter would only be settled after some heads would be rolling on the floor. So, why are we just like this?

    If you are not hospitable, and nobody is grudging you for that, why would you now take it upon yourself to premeditatedly provoke others who are?

    The South East Council of Traditional Rulers had, in a release in January said, inter alia: ‘’Sequel to the controversy surrounding the “Eze Ndi Igbo” title which has reportedly been abused and misused by leaders of Igbo groups in the Diaspora, the Southeast Council of Traditional Rulers (SECTR) has released an approved title for leaders of Igbo groups and communities residing outside Igboland…

    ‘’We are glad to inform you that South East Council of Traditional Rulers after several meetings, deliberations and due considerations has approved ”Onye Ndu Ndigbo” (Igbo Leader in Diaspora) as the most appropriate name or title for whoever is the Head of Ndigbo in any place abroad or Diaspora within and outside Nigeria. Consequently, all Igbo leaders abroad or in Diaspora are to revert to this approved and agreed title with immediate effect. Similarly, all signposts, letterheads, complimentary cards, etc. should accordingly be designed to reflect this’’, the release, signed by the chairman of the council and others declared.

    These are people who have had cause to decide numerous cases involving land and chieftaincy matters in their domains and therefore understand what the issues are. Most of the people commenting on the social media apparently know not what they are saying; may be partly because they were denied the opportunity of reading History.

    But for the fact that the police had the preemptive job of preventing the kind of violence that such fundraising could have attracted, it would have been interesting to see who and who could have been at the event. The chief launcher, his supporters, royal father of the day, and so on. 

    Although the police have said Azubike was only out to dupe people; I don’t have cause to disagree. Even as I think it may be more than that, too. The point is that in Nigeria, anything is possible. If the man saw the reaction during and after the fundraising (if it had held), that he could actually go beyond raising funds, to actual construction of the palace, why would he not be encouraged to do that, seemingly remote as that might be? And after constructing the palace, someone must occupy it.

    ‎Anyway, even if the intention is only to get money from people by deception as the police claim, it would seem not a few Igbo people have seen such endeavours as new growth areas from where they could make stupendous wealth. If you cannot get it through Biafra nationalism, you can use the traditional institutions.

    Imagine Azubike succeeding in becoming Obi of Lagos truly, you will be shocked at the number of wealthy Igbo people who would be coming to pay homage to him, even if they tell you they don’t have much respect for chieftaincy or traditional matters. And the man would be staying in his palace doing nothing and feeding fat from both the gullible and even some of the supposedly educated people.

    See Simon Ekpa who has just been convicted for terrorism in Finland with his rotund cheeks? Which industry did he establish? Even Nnamdi Kanu that has been undergoing trial in Nigeria for some years was like a Messiah in the south east before his arrest, with many of the big names in the region at his beck and call.

    You should ask yourself why Obi of Lagos and not Obi of Izombe or Mgbidi, or any other remote part of the eastern region? For Azubike, if he must be Obi, it must be that of cosmopolitan Lagos because that is what could have brought the N1.5bn that he was looking for, a thing that might even have, surprisingly, been oversubscribed? Does a proverb not say that if one wants to eat a toad, he should look for a fat and juicy one?

    The Igbo who think they can just do as they please, those things that no one else can do in their own domain, have to do a rethink. I have no apologies on my position on a matter like this because it would only take an ethnic bigot who saw the altercations between two prominent Yoruba Obas, the Alaafin of Oyo,  Oba Abimbola Akeem Owoade 1, and Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi Ojaja II, over the award of a chieftaincy title that many of us Yorubas did not even know when it took place (until the matter became messy), to accuse anyone of being tribalistic over this idea of some Igbo misguided elements trying to do unto others what they would not want others do unto them.

    If Nwajagu could go on appeal over his self-declaration as Eze Ndigbo of Ajao Estate, Lagos; then, the Yoruba cannot be dismissed as rabble-rousers for taking on people like him. As they say in my place, it is one slave that makes us abuse two hundred others.

    In Yorubaland, we cannot have two kings in a place. It is only chiefs that can be as many as people choose to have (Oba ipe meji laafin; ijoye le pe mefa laafin).

    I can however support, albeit, with condition, the position of the SECTR that south easterners who are hungry for traditional titles outside of Igboland can only be called ” Onye Ndu Ndigbo’’(Igbo Leader in Diaspora). Even then, this has to be ratified by their domiciled state governments.

  • Jamb and the rest of us (III)

    Jamb and the rest of us (III)

    JAMB has been operational for roughly fifty years but in that time, it has not really settled in. It remains an organisation which is feared, endured or both. And yet, virtually every educated Nigerian has had to have been subjected to the authority of this body, at least once. Many have indeed filled a JAMB form and gone through its set examination several times before eventual success or enforced surrender to cruel fate. I did not have to take that dreaded examination but if I did, I am sure that its three digit examination score would have secured a permanent residence in my brain or mind, wherever such information is stored. There are some people however who will nonchalantly claim to have forgotten their JAMB score after only a few years, dismissed from their mind as inconsequential trivia. Those who failed the examination on several occasions may also lack the willingness to entertain such memories which are discarded as soon as possible. And yet, the individual serial JAMB scores may, for many former candidates, not be regarded as failure, but resilience. Some have consistently scored a succession of very high marks but because of their wish to be admitted to a highly competitive course of study, usually medicine or law in one of the first generation universities, are not able to secure their desired admission at the first attempt. Some of such people take the examination four or more times before eventually succeeding. But there are others who just give up after several attempts and thereafter carry a grudge in their heart against what is supposed to be a blind folded institution which is supposed to dispense justice even handedly. Such people are never likely to be convinced of the impartiality of JAMB, especially in a society within which short cuts are many and are tolerated or at least, endured. In addition, it is widely accepted that those who pass an examination do so on the strength of their hard work and intelligence whilst those who fail are regarded as victims of their spiteful examiners.

    JAMB, for whatever it is worth, has inserted itself into the consciousness of Nigerians all over the country. This is quite simply because it stands resolutely at the gate of every tertiary institution in the country and decides who is allowed to come in, or more commonly, who is to be excluded. For all that however, the individual institutions for which JAMB acts by law must be the final arbiter of whose application is accepted or rejected. Where the usual or expected muddle is introduced into the process of admission is in the formula which was designed by a government which was determined to create a country in their own jaundiced or, if you prefer, distorted image. From the very beginning, the government insisted that for every hundred persons admitted to a Nigerian university, forty were to be admitted on merit, thirty on the basis of their state of origin, vis a vis the geographical space occupied by the university of their choice, twenty were required to have come from one of the states which were derogatorily referred to, as educationally disadvantaged or frankly, just dumb and the last ten, at the discretion of the person making the admission. Those stipulations are the reason why JAMB has over the years been associated with smoke and mirrors in the minds of most Nigerians as it gives firm authority to those who wish to manipulate the system for whatever reason. Ask any random Nigerian and he is likely to say that there is a godfather behind every JAMB admission except their own.

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    The framers of the above formula for university admission must have thought that they were spreading the opportunity for university admission equally all over the country. What they managed to do however was to strike a fatal blow to merit. It was a version of the infamous federal character clause through which manifestly incompetent persons from so called disadvantaged areas of the country are dressed in clothes which are several sizes too large for their frame and inflicted on the country. The JAMB agenda would have been quite straightforward but for all this rigmarole. Now that we are told that ninety percent of admissions are now to be strictly on merit, we can see JAMB emerging from the fog and smoke which have obscured its image for far too long. The other ten percent which is still ascribed to discretion must now be put on notice. This is so that all the pressure which has hitherto been put on individuals responsible for admissions within the universities will finally be removed. The result is that only those who have what it takes to go through our tertiary education system with relevant merit will be given the opportunity of being admitted to study in them. Whilst on this subject of the JAMB formula it is worth pointing out that because of the cavalier manner in which matters affecting education have been handled all over the country in the last fifty years, all parts of the country can now be objectively described as being educationally disadvantaged. In that case, that stigma should be removed from those states which have carried that burden over many years. It also has to be said that in those days long gone by before the institution of that pernicious formula was introduced into our universities, the demography of our universities was a great deal more diverse than now. This is because candidates applied to universities far away from their places of origin. After all, they had the same chances of being admitted to the university of their choice as those who were indigenous to the state in which the university was sited. Ironically, this was at a time when the various existing universities were, with the exception of the University of Lagos, state owned institutions. So much for short sighted executive manipulation.

    The role of JAMB in the admission of undergraduates into Nigerian universities must be clear and unequivocal. It is to set and administer the entrance examination to those institutions. The actual admission exercise should however be within the sole prerogative of the institution to which students are being admitted.It is not in the interest of JAMB to admit students into institutions whose responsibility is to teach those students. The institutions have admission officers who should not be reduced to the position of liaison officers to some external body even if that body is the seemingly almighty JAMB.

    It is now clear that there are at least three levels of examinations that are to be prepared and administered to aspiring candidates. But, the fiction of the equivalence of university degrees and polytechnic diplomas must be protected by all means. And so, the two groups of candidates must face the same examinations. It is high time there was a separation in terms of the degrees of quality in the examination faced by the different groups of candidates taking JAMB examinations. Alternatively, different boards may be created to administer the entrance examinations to universities, polytechnics and Colleges of education respectively. There are however those who will argue that JAMB could be departmentalised so that it could continue to take care of the three streams of candidates which face its examinations annually.

    Another reason why it would be expedient to separate JAMB into three parts is the sheer volume of candidates which that parastatal has to process every year. Given the situation in which the only realistic option open to secondary school leavers in this country is to proceed to the tertiary level, the number of those seeking admission into tertiary institutions is bound to increase year after year. The attendant difficulties which are inherent in this situation are apparent. Whilst evolving technologies are simplifying the challenges of conducting the examinations successfully, the number of candidates who are determined to undermine the process is also increasing. In 2024, 1.90 million candidates were registered for the examination. This figure has risen to 2.03 million only a year later showing that pressure will increase in coming years. The tech savvy of candidates looking for short cuts is also increasing and may, in time, overwhelm the checks and balances which the examination body has put in place to safeguard the integrity of its examinations. Reducing the number of candidates in each round of examinations is likely to increase the ability of the examination to supervise the process effectively. Fifty years after its inception, JAMB remains a work in progress.

  • Some northerners are beginning to sing about how they led Nigeria to its insecurity cul de sac

    Some northerners are beginning to sing about how they led Nigeria to its insecurity cul de sac

    Six Nigerians – all Northerners – crowd-funded and transferred $782,000 to Boko Haram.

    They were all jailed in the  UAE only for President Buhari’s Attorney – General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, now an ADC top gun, to dilly dally with their trial.

    It is a crying shame that of all the different parts of this country, it is from the North, the least productive part of the  country, that some absolutely unreflecting politicians, crazy about power – raw political power – went out of their way to import into Nigeria the terrorists that  have now turned Nigeria into a living hell.

    It gets even worse when it is the same Northerners who shout the loudest, accusing President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of not taming the insecurity they inflicted on the country .

    The late President Mohammed Buhari had further worsened the Fulani onslaught on Nigeria when, at the Aswan Forum in Egypt on Ist January 2020,  he declared that visas would now be issued at the point of entry into Nigeria, ipso facto, opening the floodgate of unregulated entry into the country by many outright murderers.

    First it was Abubakar Kawu Baraje, a former Acting Chairman of nPDP who exposed these enemies of state when he told the world all they did in 2015 when Northern politicians were so keen on ousting President Goodluck Jonathan, that even top ranking Northern PDP chieftains, the likes of Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu, then Niger state governor, even of the PDP, had no qualms, whatever, in working against the very party that gave them fame and fortune.

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    Baraje opened up  in a statement he titled: “How we brought in Fulani militias from Mali, Sierra Leaone, Senegal, others to win the 2015 election.

    Therein he declared as follows:”We are not asking the right questions on how the same Fu­lani we have been living with suddenly turned out becoming a menace. We must also ask how they got access to  guns”.

    “The Fulani men wreaking havoc in the country are not the Nigerian Fulani.“The security agencies have not been open about the nature of the problem. “They have made arrests. Why haven’t they told the pub­lic who the terrorists are?”

    “The Fu­lani causing security problems in the country today were all brought in to help facilitate victory in the 2015 Presidential election”.

    “After the election, the Fu­lani refused to leave. I and other like minds wrote and warned those we started APC with that what is happening now was going to hap­pen but nobody listened”.

    Unfortunately,  the man they helped to power – Muhammadu Buhari -was more concerned with preaching Fulani exceptionalism and enhancing Fulani hegemony by literally putting the entire apparati of government in their hands through his very skewed   appointments which saw Northern Muslims completely dominate the entire gamut of Nigerian security. Under President Buhari, Fulanis had a field day.

    Fulani murderous herders, the world’s 3rd most dangerous terrorist organisation, according to the Global Terrorism Index, thus did whatever it was they wanted.

    Once they refused to return to their countries after the election, it became the business of government to pay them billions of Naira through the auspices of a then state governor who would later self – confess.

    Nigerians have basically kept their peace since they learnt that those allegedly funding terrorism whom Malami refused to try were now being tried under the Tinubu administration until ADC’s El Rufai messed things up well enough, accusing the Tinubu administration of hobnobbing with terrorists, feeding them – the reader will understand where El Rufai is coming from, that one of his ADC mates could no longer bear it he had to shut up his trap.

    I refer here to the no less loquacious Chancellor of Baze University, Abuja, and Peter Obi’s running mate as Labour Party’s Vice- Presidential candidate in the 2023 election cycle,Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, PhD, intervened.

    Nobody can better depict Baba – Ahmed’s anger than Lasisi Olagunju who we shall be quoting at some length in his

    column in The Tribune this past week.

    He referenced  Baba- Ahmed as saying the following on a TV interview:”If Tinubu had not offended El Rufai, we would not have been hearing the secrets we hear these days; very dark secrets couched as bad, wicked allegations. First he  accused the ruling APC and its government of financing bandits and terrorists as weapons of politics. Nasir said this and provoked his kinsman from Kaduna, Datti Baba-Ahmed, into making a counter appearance on the same TV platform. From Datti Baba-Ahmed, we heard what the forest heard that deafened it. The man told Channels TV’s Seun Okinbaloye on Tuesday last week that insecurity in Nigeria is “orchestrated and is political.” He said Nasir El-Rufai shouldn’t be the one crying wolf; because he belongs in the pack of the implicated wolves.

    Hear him: “Do we understand the gravity of his statement?…What I am about to say is that insecurity is part of APC; insecurity has been APC’s way of getting power. Insecurity has been APC’s way of staying in power.”

    He then went into accounts which I pray must not be true. He said, without mentioning names, that a former Nigerian president met with and collected huge sums of money from the late Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi, to sponsor extremists in Nigeria’s North-East. Hear him: “Go back in time. Do you remember that a former Nigerian president was attacked by terrorists? It was unprecedented; never in the history of Nigeria did that happen. Why did some young men in the forest in the North-East…what business did they have (with him)? When Nigerian leaders leave power, they are liked, they are loved, they are forgiven all their errors and everything. But, this one, they followed and tried to kill him. Why did that happen?” He asked, paused and feigned crying. Then he continued: “What happened to all the donations leading up to 2015? Why did he decide to run in 2015 after crying and telling the whole world that he was no longer running? What was his link with North Africa? What was his link with Muammar Gaddafi? He is not alive, but others are alive to say it. “I told you about 2015…you see… going after a former president and trying to kill him, what does that tell you? Before that, what had happened? After Jonathan won at the Supreme Court in 2011, the government called for dialogue (with the terrorists) and those young men nominated (the) former Nigerian president. It took three days to repudiate (that nomination). After those three days, go and plot the graph, you will see that between 2012 and 2014, the number of attacks in the North-East skyrocketed.” Datti Baba-Ahmed blamed the escalated terrorist attacks of that period on what he called “hunger, (and) lack of medicine (for the terrorists).” Why? “Because somebody had stopped sending the recurrent expenses of those people who used to come to Kaduna, collect (money) and go back.” He alleged (or claimed) that the funding was stopped as a punitive measure for the young men’s indiscretion of publicly naming their covert funder as their negotiator with the government. “That’s how the cycle went, in protest against ‘why did you call out that name (as your negotiator).’ They (terrorists) couldn’t bear it (hunger) anymore, so they felt the best thing was to go and attack (him). It failed; we are lucky… Jonathan provided him (the former president) with additional cars and money. And it was all about money; all about collecting money.

    “The truth is that someone had gone to North Africa and negotiated with Gaddafi; Gaddafi who was an international terrorist said ‘I will help you as I have been doing… I will retire to your country if you become president… He wanted to create a buffer in Nigeria. They gave crazy amount of money to that gentleman (the former president) to go and help these people with the intention of bringing them to fight in Libya. When Gaddafi died, ‘they’ sat on the money. They kept on (giving) the recurrent until (the terrorists) mentioned the name and then they stopped sending the money. Now, all these things are linked. They wanted Nigeria to burn if Buhari did not become the president in 2015. They brought people from neighbouring countries in readiness to remove Jonathan by all means. The desperation to get Jonathan out of power built up and added to what we call insecurity in Nigeria today.”

    Let’s leave matters there until the talkative man provokes them enough again to open up another chapter.

    Nigeria will outlive these Northern politicians who think nothing of deliberately endangering Nigeria simply because they cannot afford to be out of power for any length of time, even if it is a meaningless power for power’s sake.

  • Robert Mugabe passed here

    Robert Mugabe passed here

    In his journey through the circle of birth on 21 February, 1924, to living for up to close to a century, and to dying on 6 September, 2019, former Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe passed here. And his sojourn was quite eventful. On this sixth anniversary of his passing away, this column honours his memory today by bringing together a selection of his thoughts enunciated at public forums.

    Very many witty quotes have been attributed to the late President, especially on social media. It is not certain how authentic the attributions are. However, it is widely acknowledged that, in his days, Mugabe was the world’s most educated President who earned not less than seven university degrees, with two at the Masters level. He had a B.A. in History and English, B.Ed., BSc. in Economics, LLB, LLM, and B.A. in Administration, among other qualifications.

    It is therefore not surprising that he had an attention-grabbing style of speaking. And it is not certain whether a replacement has yet been found for him with respect to his witty, sometimes irreverent, rhetoric on the international scene. At the 68th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, in New York, on 26 September, 2013, the then-89-year-old Mugabe said: “We cannot accept situations whereby the UN Security Council is increasingly encroaching on issues that traditionally fall within the General Assembly’s purview and competence, including in the area of norm setting.”

    Mugabe continued: “Indeed, recent events have revealed that its [Security Council] formal decisions have provided camouflage to neo-imperialist forces of aggression seeking to militarily intervene in smaller countries in order to effect regime change and acquire complete control of their wealth. This was so in Libya where in the name of protecting civilians, NATO forces were deployed with an undeclared mission to eliminate Muammar Gaddafi and his family. A similar campaign had been undertaken in Iraq by the Bush and Blair forces in the false name of eradicating weapons of mass destruction which Saddam Hussein never possessed.”

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    Mugabe also noted: “For Africa, the reform of the United Nations Security Council is especially long overdue. The anachronistic and unrepresentative character of the Security Council must be redressed. For how long should Africa continue to be denied the right to play a pivotal role in the United Nations Security Council as it decides measures on conflicts within its own borders?”

    Mugabe further declared: “Zimbabwe strongly condemns the use of unilateral economic sanctions as a foreign policy tool to effect regime change. Thus, the illegal economic sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by the United States and the European Union violate fundamental principles of the United Nations Charter on state sovereignty and non-interference in the domestic affairs of a sovereign state. Moreover, these illegal sanctions continue to inflict economic deprivation and human suffering on all Zimbabweans. In the eyes of our people, the sanctions constitute a form of hostility and violence against them for the simple crime of undertaking the land reform programme by which land was put in the hands of the then majority landless Zimbabweans.”

    In addition, the Zimbabwean President asserted: “Our small and peaceful country is threatened daily by covetous and bigoted big powers whose hunger for domination and control of other nations and their resources knows no bounds. Shame, shame, shame to the United States of America. Shame, shame, shame to Britain and its allies. Zimbabwe is for Zimbabweans, so are its resources. Please remove your illegal and filthy sanctions from my peaceful country. If these sanctions were intended to effect regime change, well, the results of the recent national elections have clearly shown you what they can do.”

    He further declared: “We are preached to daily by the west on the virtues of democracy and freedom which they do not totally espouse. Zimbabwe took up arms precisely to achieve our freedom and democracy. Yet we have been punished by United States through the odious Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act enacted in 2001 to effect regime change in the country.”

    Concluding the speech, Mugabe said: “It appears that when the USA and its allies speak of democracy and freedom they are doing so only in relative terms. Zimbabwe however refuses to accept that these western detractors have the right to define democracy and freedom for us. We paid the ultimate price for it and we are determined never to relinquish our sovereignty and remain masters of our destiny. As we have repeatedly asserted, Zimbabwe will never be a colony again!!”

    Furthermore, on 21 September, 2017 at the 72nd Session of the UN General Assembly, Mugabe targeted President Donald Trump as follows: “Some of us were embarrassed, if not frightened, by what appeared to be the return of the biblical Giant Gold Goliath. Are we having a return of Goliath to our midst, who threatens the extinction of other countries? And may I say to the United States President, Mr. Trump, please blow your trumpet — blow your trumpet in a musical way towards the values of unity, peace, cooperation, togetherness, dialogue, which we have always stood for and which are well-writ in our very sacred document, the Charter of the United Nations.”

    Mugabe also had tough words for non-governmental organisations (NGOs). In a 9 August, 2004 News24 item titled “Zim slams ‘imperialist’ NGOs,” Mugabe declared: “We know their tactics, these imperialists … as they deploy hordes of their compatriots under the cover of innumerable non-governmental organisations to destabilise our country and to try and effect the so-called regime ‘change.’”

    Relating this view with the detrimental activities of local NGOs in South Africa, such as the Socio-Economic Rights Institute (SERI), the Acting Mayor of Cape Town, Kenny Kunene, was reported by TimesLIVE, on 25 May, 2023, to have angrily said: “I understand why Robert Mugabe banned all NGOs in Zimbabwe, and only allowed NGOs led by Zimbabweans that seek to help Zimbabweans to exist.” He also remarked cynically that NGOs should stop masquerading as political parties, and that rather, “If they want to govern, they must go and contest elections like we did. NGOs must not get involved in the work of government. It is none of their business.”

    Mugabe was most unsparing of homosexuals. In fact, he was reported by International Business Times UK, on 24 July, 2013, to have said: “[We] have this American president, [Barrack] Obama, born of an African father, who is saying we will not give you aid if you don’t embrace homosexuality … We ask, was he born out of homosexuality? We need continuity in our race, and that comes from the woman, and no to homosexuality. John and John, no; Maria and Maria, no. They are worse than dogs and pigs. I keep pigs and the male pig knows the female one.”

    He was also reported, by UPI.com, on 25 November, 2011, to have said: “It becomes worse and satanic when you get a Prime Minister like Cameron saying countries that want British aid should accept homosexuality.” To make it clear, Mugabe told the 70th UN General Assembly on 28 September, 2015 regarding Africans: “We are not gays!”

    It is amazing that in spite of his blatant opposition to Western hegemony and culture, and despite the spirited efforts of these hegemons to topple his government, they could not readily get enough capable renegade Zimbabweans to incite to do the dirty job. In fact, Aljazeera, on 6 September, 2019, reported Mugabe to have said: “Only God, who appointed me, will remove me – not the MDC [Zimbabwean opposition party Movement for Democratic Change], not the British. Only God will remove me!”

    Meanwhile, Mugabe had overstayed his welcome in power. He didn’t seem to be sufficiently guided by the admonitory Yoruba proverb which warns: “Tí a bá pé l’órí imí, esinkéesin níí bá’ni níbè. (‘If you stay too long on passing faeces, all sorts of weird flies would meet you there.’) Moreover, Mugabe did not seem to set much store by former United States President Barrack Obama’s admonition to African leaders to respect term limits.

    Specifically, in his 28 July, 2015 speech to African leaders at the African Union Headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, President Obama said: “I have to also say that Africa’s democratic progress is also at risk when leaders refuse to step aside when their terms end.  … I am in my second term.  …  I love my work.  But under our Constitution, I cannot run again. … So, there’s a lot that I’d like to do to keep America moving, but the law is the law. And no one person is above the law.  Not even the President. When a leader tries to change the rules in the middle of the game just to stay in office, it risks instability and strife … And this is often just a first step down a perilous path.” 

    Obama further said: “And sometimes you’ll hear leaders say, well, I’m the only person who can hold this nation together. If that’s true, then that leader has failed to truly build their nation.

    … And just as the African Union has condemned coups and illegitimate transfers of power, the AU’s authority and strong voice can also help the people of Africa ensure that their leaders abide by term limits and their constitutions. Nobody should be president for life.

    And your country is better off if you have new blood and new ideas.”

        In spite of these nuggets of wisdom, Mugabe clung to power in Zimbabwe, and some of his aides, to whom he had become a presidential pawn due to age-related infirmities, urged him on. In fact,

    the Zimbabwean newspaper NewsDay of 18 February, 2017 reported his wife, Grace Mugabe, to have said: “You hear people accusing me of still wanting to continue as the First Lady of this nation, saying that is why I don’t want to tell the President to retire. I am not the only one who voted for him. Only a fool will say that. We will field a candidate of a corpse on the ballot if God takes Mugabe and people will vote for him just to show how much the President is loved.”

    However, Mugabe’s faculties were declining, his steps were becoming increasingly unsteady and his capacity to continue to provide effective leadership waned dramatically. In the end, Mugabe was worsted by age, and on 21 November, 2017, at 93 and having ruled for 37 years, he was forced to resign as President to preempt impeachment.

    Robert Mugabe is an African hero. But our heroes are not saints, and nobody else’s are. So, let’s not throw the baby away with the bath water, but aggregate the noble visions and thoughts of our myriad of remarkable African leaders. From that aggregation, let’s build a workable template for a new African destiny.

  • Tinubu: Stretching for Nigeria, even on leave

    Tinubu: Stretching for Nigeria, even on leave

    The past week might have appeared unusually quiet on the surface regarding President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s public engagements, but that calm was by design. Nigerians were well aware that the President is in Europe for part of his statutory annual leave. Yet, true to his style, this was not a week of total silence or disengagement. Even while away from Abuja, Tinubu remained firmly in control of the wheel of statecraft—directing policies, consolidating foreign partnerships, and unveiling programmes that touch the lives of millions.

    In many ways, this week offered Nigerians a snapshot of what the President has become known for: stamina, relentless commitment, and the ability to stretch himself thin, always in pursuit of the noble intent of reshaping Nigeria into a model prosperous nation. His lunch with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Élysée Palace in Paris, his directives to crash food prices, his assurances on fixing the health sector, and the unveiling of RenewHER all reflected a leader determined to put substance over appearances.

    On Wednesday, pictures of President Tinubu and French President Emmanuel Macron at the Élysée Palace began circulating, immediately sparking interest back home. The engagement, however, was far from a mere photo opportunity. Tinubu himself, through his verified X handle, offered Nigerians a glimpse into the substance of the meeting.

    “Had a productive lunch with President Emmanuel Macron today at the Élysée Palace. We reviewed key areas of cooperation between Nigeria and France and agreed to deepen our partnership for mutual prosperity and global stability,” the President wrote.

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    This brief yet telling update underscored the continuity of Nigeria’s diplomatic engagements under his watch. France has long been a strategic partner for Nigeria in the realms of trade, security, climate action, and investment promotion. Tinubu’s appearance with Macron reaffirmed his commitment to deepening ties with key global allies at a time Nigeria needs sustained partnerships to meet its development goals.

    Such bilateral interactions are not casual. France has consistently demonstrated interest in supporting Nigeria’s energy reforms, counterterrorism strategies, and climate-resilient economic policies. For Tinubu, maintaining the momentum of such partnerships is as important as domestic reforms. It reflects his awareness that Nigeria’s prosperity cannot be achieved in isolation but must be anchored on strategic alliances that expand opportunities for Nigerians in an increasingly interdependent world.

    Back home, Nigerians were reminded that even in Paris, Tinubu had his gaze firmly on the local kitchen table. On the same Wednesday, the Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, disclosed that the President had directed a Federal Executive Council (FEC) committee to intensify efforts at reducing food prices.

    The President’s marching order, Abdullahi explained, was focused on ensuring the safe passage of agricultural produce across the country’s highways and logistics corridors. Transportation costs have long been identified as a critical driver of food inflation, and the President’s intervention strikes at the heart of this structural challenge.

    According to Abdullahi, “The President has given a matching order to a Federal Executive Council committee already handling it, on how we are going to promote safe passage of agricultural goods and commodities across our various routes in the country.”

    This is part of a broader vision aimed not just at lowering prices in the immediate term but also achieving food sovereignty in the long run. The President’s food sovereignty plan, as outlined, is holistic—covering availability, accessibility, affordability, and nutritional value of food on a sustainable basis.

    Beyond transportation, other complementary programmes such as the Farmer Soil Health Scheme and cooperative reform are in the works. Tinubu’s interest in cooperatives as a tool for mobilising resources and boosting livelihoods signals his resolve to empower ordinary farmers while laying the foundation for a more productive agricultural economy. In effect, the President is pushing to ensure that food stops being a burden and starts becoming a pillar of prosperity.

    Another highlight of the week was the President’s strong reaffirmation of his commitment to overhaul Nigeria’s health sector. On Tuesday, at the National Stakeholders Dialogue on Power in the Health Sector in Abuja, Tinubu delivered a message that cut to the heart of the matter: “No Nigerian should lose their life because of power failures in hospitals.”

    Represented by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume, the President highlighted how outages in surgical theatres, maternity wards, intensive care units, and emergency rooms have too often cost lives. He described the situation as unacceptable and vowed that under his administration, the problem would be tackled decisively.

    His plan is ambitious but pragmatic. By decentralising electricity delivery, promoting renewable and hybrid energy solutions, and incentivising private sector participation, the government intends to guarantee uninterrupted power in hospitals and public health institutions. These reforms dovetail with the Energy Transition Plan and the wider effort to end energy poverty across Nigeria.

    More than rhetoric, Tinubu’s assurances were also an open invitation to investors. He pledged that Nigeria is open for business in health, energy, and infrastructure, and promised an enabling environment that ensures returns on investment. This is the hallmark of his governance approach—treating social needs and economic opportunities as interlinked. In the long run, it is this fusion of compassion and enterprise that will guarantee sustainability.

    The week closed on a deeply human note with the unveiling of RenewHER, the Presidential Women’s Health Transformation Initiative, launched Thursday night in Abuja. Represented by Vice President Kashim Shettima, the President described the programme as “an answer to one of the nation’s most critical prayers.”

    “There is no greater test of a nation’s character than the care it extends to its women. Maternal health is the heartbeat of every family, the compass of social stability, and the truest index of national welfare,” Tinubu declared.

    RenewHER is designed as a national engine of collaboration, working through a newly established Presidential Focal Office on Women’s Health in synergy with the Federal Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Women Affairs, the Nigeria Governors’ Spouses Forum, and international partners.

    The initiative also includes the creation of an AI-powered National Women’s Health Digital Hub to deliver targeted campaigns on maternal survival, adolescent health, and preventive care. This innovation is as much about saving lives as it is about empowering women to participate fully in national prosperity.

    Tinubu’s words on maternal mortality were poignant: “Maternal mortality is a shame against which we must all rally. We owe every girl-child not just the eloquent promise of a better tomorrow, but the certainty of a healthier one.”

    In tying women’s health to entrepreneurship and national development, RenewHER reflects the President’s philosophy that social stability and economic progress are inseparable. By empowering women, the administration is laying a stronger foundation for generational prosperity.

    A Quiet Week, Loud Gestures

    It was, by all appearances, a subdued week in the Villa. With President Tinubu away on his annual leave, his public outings were fewer, and the usual swirl of activity around Abuja seemed to ease. Yet, beneath the calm surface, the President found ways to remain present in the nation’s daily discourse, his voice and vision transmitted through official statements and symbolic engagements that carried weight across the country.

    On Sunday, Tinubu’s message of congratulations to Vice President Kashim Shettima, Dr. Iyabo Masha and others on their elevation as Fellows of the Nigerian Economic Society (NES) struck a note of continuity. By hailing their “exemplary service” and highlighting their role in advancing the economic reforms at the heart of the Renewed Hope Agenda, the President affirmed his commitment to intellectual rigour and policy innovation as tools for national transformation.

    The following day brought a more somber tone. Tinubu mourned the passing of Chief (Mrs.) Leila Euphemia Apinke Fowler, the revered founder of Vivian Fowler Memorial College for Girls. Calling her death “a massive loss to the entire nation,” he underscored her legacy as a trailblazer in education and a matriarch who dedicated her life to nurturing generations of Nigerian women. It was a reminder of his deep respect for those who have invested in the country’s human capital.

    Midweek, the President’s tributes turned celebratory again. He praised Dr. Jobson Ewalefoh, the Director-General of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), on his 50th birthday, commending his stewardship of Nigeria’s Public-Private Partnership reforms. In the same breath, he extended warm felicitations to the venerable Chief of Kagoro, Dr. Ufuwai Bonet, on his 90th birthday, lauding his unwavering commitment to peace and unity in Kaduna State.

    By Thursday, his voice was again solemn as he commiserated with the family of Air Vice Marshal Terry Okorodudu, a steadfast ally and patriot. And on Friday, Tinubu celebrated the Etsu Nupe, Alhaji Yahaya Abubakar, at 73 and on his 22nd anniversary on the throne, recognising his role as a symbol of reconciliation and unity.

    Thus, even in a week of supposed quiet, the President’s presence resonated across the nation—through tributes, condolences, and celebrations that affirmed his steady hand and his conviction that leadership is not a matter of geography but of constant, deliberate engagement.

    Taken together, the week that seemed quiet was anything but inactive. Tinubu’s engagements abroad and his directives at home illustrated a governing style that transcends physical presence. He is not just a President working from his desk; he is a leader carrying Nigeria with him wherever he goes.

    From strengthening ties with France to pushing for food sovereignty, from tackling hospital power failures to unveiling a maternal health revolution, Tinubu again demonstrated the consistency of his vision. It is a vision of a Nigeria where international partnerships are maximised, basic needs like food and healthcare are secured, and the dignity of every citizen is respected.

    As he continues his leave in Europe, Nigerians can be assured that their President is not on pause. Instead, he is recalibrating, consolidating, and stretching himself yet again for the singular goal of building a prosperous, model nation that truly works for its people.

  • The Travails of Heroic Politics: Two exemplary paradigms

    The Travails of Heroic Politics: Two exemplary paradigms

    Last week was the sixteenth anniversary of the passing of Ganiyu Oyesola Fawehinmi, Nigeria’s legal Spartacus, fiery defender of human rights and indefatigable crusader against executive lawlessness, who shook the scaffolding of military absolutism to its foundation in Nigeria. As usual, there was a sprinkling of commentaries and commendations for the departed hero and icon of Nigeria’s anti-military struggle. But as it can be expected of a nation in perpetual mourning, they were few and far between.  Gani  is one of those rare people who pass into legend in their life time. But as time elapses, it is obvious that the late hero is beginning to recede into remote antiquity. There are many youngsters who will mope and gaze at you if you ask them what Gani meant to them. You will be lucky if one of the brighter and more informed ones  did not query you as to whether that was not an elderly mispronunciation of Gianni, a Serie A Italian League player.                                                                          

      To the best of our knowledge, there is no Serie A League player known as Gianni.  As reality becomes indistinguishable from fantasy in our brave new world, the ultimate nightmare will be when smart-school certificated ignorance and artificial intelligence overwhelm real knowledge. As time goes on, the real Gani is likely to morph into a veritable myth, shrouded in mystery and mythology ; a trope for freedom fighting just like the legendary Spartacus who led a revolt of slaves against the Roman oligarchy which provoked a bloody reprisal with Spartacus himself summarily executed upon capture. It can be argued that Gani’s military tormentors only subjected him to a more circuitous and devious execution with serial and sadistic detention among dope-crazed criminals and other dregs of humanity finally infiltrating and insinuating killer cancer cells into his brave lungs.

        This is where the historic ironies deepen. Heavens forbid that we suffer a relapse into military rule. But this is where Gani excelled most as a fierce and ferocious campaigner for freedom and scourge of military despotism rather than as an avatar of democratic emancipation except as a byproduct of his epic and herculean exertions. He could not be found in the great constitutional debates that shaped the foundational fortunes of the nation and the courtroom drama that defined its democratic existence. He had no time for democratic niceties and if his contempt for conventional politicians was legendary, so was his abrasive disdain for deal-making, bridge-building and grubby wheeling and shadowy conspiring which are the hallmark of regular politics, particularly in a fractious multi-ethnic and multi-cultural Babel like Nigeria.

     An anti-authoritarian authoritarian, Gani was the perfect embodiment of the contradictions and ambiguities of the age. His heroes are not democratic exemplars but visionary dictators who seized their societies by the scruff of the neck and dragged their denizens screaming and kicking to the portals of political modernity and economic prosperity by whatever means. Gifted with an impish sense of macabre humour, Gani famously opined that the only coup he would welcome henceforth in the nation was one in which the victor emerged on television after several days of relentless bloodletting too tired and exhausted to address the nation.

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      This is why Gani’s solitary shot at the Nigerian presidency in 2003 ended in an electoral debacle. Both the electorate and the selectorate made a short shrift of his ambition to rule his beloved country. His eponymous Nigerian masses did not materialize at the booths. Neither did his pan-Nigeria peasant class who were projected to sweep away the cobwebs of corruption and political perfidy from the nation. They voted with their feet or failing that with their stomach. So aghast was the legal crusader at the final audit of the miserable vote allocated to him in the egregiously rigged election that he broke down and wept profusely according to his own letter to the Nigerian press. It was the epistolary pinnacle of an electoral disaster foreseen. Gani’s lion heart could take only one more bogus election and he could only watch from the sidelines. That was the electoral disaster of 2007 which was so globally ridiculed that even the victor was compelled to distance himself from his victory. The legal titan was recalled by his maker in 2009. 

       Although our other  protagonist shared ideological commonality with Gani as a fellow progressive dedicated to the emancipation of their people, they did not employ the same means. Unlike Gani who was spontaneously combustible and socially engaging, Baba Omojola was the quintessential intellectual who hid himself from the limelight and who preferred to be in the operational engine room. Quiet, deliberate and understated, he did not need to carry arms because his head housed a grenade launcher. Soft spoken, wiry and slight of build, it was easy to mistake the harmless looking, chronically kind-hearted gentleman for a mildly successful farmer from the interior who was on a visit to the city.

      Yet he was one of the best educated and most internationally exposed Nigerians of his generation, graduating with First Class Honours in 1961 from the prestigious London School of Economics and was on the verge of being called to the English Bar when he erupted among a crowd of protesters against apartheid and was promptly arrested and charged to court for conduct prejudicial to public order. The judge gave him an option: apologize and go back to his legal pursuits or forfeit everything. Omojola refused and there and then ended his law career. But not so a lifetime of social activism devoted to the emancipation of the toiling masses. He would always be found in the engine room of revolutionary change and sometimes amidst the commotion and combustion on the street: uncomplaining, unrelenting, with his cherubic smile, his lack of airs and a hearty artlessness which endeared him to all. He fell fighting, just as he finished delivering a characteristically thoughtful presentation to President Jonathan’s commission on national dialogue in Akure a week after his seventy fifth birthday in 2013.

    Babarinde Adewole Omojola Ajibola was a giant among men and a rebel with a cause. It was easy to mistake him for a bucolic agrarian. But he was in fact of solid middle class antecedents and the son of a distinguished clergyman. But he forswore his class and religion to embrace the Ifa corpus and the global proletariat. Despite occasional strategic retreats necessitated by unfavourable balance of force, he never looked back and soldiered on till the bitter end. It must be said that despite fundamental differences in strategy and perhaps in ultimate vision, the current president is a staunch admirer of both men for their unwavering heroism and selfless sacrifices at the behest of their people. But while he was cagily wary of Gani’s tempestuous tantrums and iconoclastic disdain for politicians, Tinubu was wholly at home with Omojola’s earthy sense of humour and self-effacing benignity.

       On a visit to London in 2009, one had impressed it on the former senator the need to visit a sick and bedridden Gani and he wholeheartedly agreed. Upon returning to Nigeria, he called to inform that the great man had passed on that morning. Four years after in 2013, one had tried to nudge him to attend Baba Omojola’s birthday. We both agreed that one should do the needful. It was a colourful birthday for the gracefully aging icon with friends, admirers and ideological acolytes from all over the country gracing the occasion. We did not know that it was the last snapshot of a colossus. Exactly a week after, the great man slumped and disappeared forever into the cosmic void. Both men would not at this moment recognize the world they had left behind.

       As this column has noted several times in recent years, we live in very interesting times. Game-changing events are occurring with some amazing rapidity and at such a dizzying pace that it is difficult if not impossible to make sense of the emerging international order. First is the seismic shift to the right in many developed countries, particularly in leading western countries and the rise of authoritarian populism often accompanied by xenophobia. The rise of Donald Trump in America and the creeping ascendancy of Nigel Farage and the Reform-UK party are just the tip of the iceberg.                                         

      Second, insensitivity to harmonious coexistence within nations seems to compel insensitivity to ordered existence without and we are witnessing an upsurge of a telling disregard for the sovereignty of other nations and the sanctity of international borders which is the fundamental canon and raison d’etre of the nation-state paradigm in its post-Westphalia actuality.  As it is, America is still hoping for an annexation of Greenland if it does not succeed in adding Canada as its fifty first state. Israel, the new colonial power in the Middle East, is setting a new norm in international normlessness having bombed Iran and Syria into compliant quietude and having decimated both Palestine and Gaza Strip into near oblivion. The idea of a dual state is dead before arrival like thousands of Palestinian children.

      This week, the principal warrior-nation of our epoch added another feather to its cap by summarily descending on Qatar which was acting as a peacemaker and negotiator. With nothing to hold Russia back in its pan-Slavic hegemonic obsession, it is now obvious that the horrific slow-motion evisceration of Ukraine will end in cruel partitioning. With America considerably weakened by moral complicity and political decline that will be the signal for China to invade and take back its old province of Taipei. As it was with the old world, the map of the new world is being forcibly redrawn by violence and might. Things don’t ever change that much, or do they? The pristine nature of humanity appears irreversible in its irredeemable savagery.

       The third signal development of our epoch is the decimation of the old left as an effective force for setting progressive political agenda and for raising the moral tone and tenor of human engagement in a world of plutocratic politics and predatory decimation of human and national resources. Leftwing politics has suffered a calamitous decline and is in retreat everywhere. With this defeat, the prospects of a humane and humanitarian intervention in human affairs and of ameliorative and redemptive politics have gone out of the window.

    Some western commentators have called this development which can be linked to the death of actually existing socialist states as the de-Marxification of the western world but we see it as the de-socialization of human conscience occasioned by an exponential rise in global population and the attendant competition for resources. Given the unfavourable international climate and the decimation of the best and brightest and the most ideologically committed that Nigeria has thrown up at the altar of sectarian politics, is it not time to begin to reimagine politics in a way that repositions the Black race in a “post-ideological” world? May the noble souls of Gani and Baba Omojola rest in peace.

  • Nepal burning, social media and Nigeria

    Nepal burning, social media and Nigeria

    Days after the Nepali government banned 26 social media platforms for failing to register with the authorities, youths embarked on an orgy of violence that shocked many at how rapidly it grew in intensity. The immediate cause of the riots was the ban. But the remote cause, as cited by the self-styled Gen Z youths themselves, was unremitting governmental corruption. Protesters torched the house of a former prime minister, leading to the hospitalisation of his wife; parliament building and hotels were burnt; and looting, arson and rape were recorded. Even though the government lifted the ban last Monday, the rioters were not assuaged. More than 22 protesters had died by Tuesday, and 51 by the final tally on Friday. Analysts suggested that rampant poverty, in contrast to the luxury public officials basked in, probably fuelled the protests. By midweek, though the army had begun to intervene, the violence was yet to be extirpated.

    The Nepali protests reflect how deeply troubling and dangerous social media had become, not only in Nepal but globally. The youth are hooked on social media, and modern businesses view the platforms as their lifeblood. But social media remains largely unregulated, and now seems obviously impervious to laws and conventions. In 2023, Nepal had introduced comprehensive guidelines and directions designed to regulate the growing influence and use of social media platforms. Under the guidelines, social media platforms were required to register with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. Failure to enlist would attract a blanket ban. In April 2024, a digital media entity published texts and audio clips indicating that two chairpersons of top media houses in Nepal met with former and serving Supreme Court justices as well as senior lawyers to undermine some 400 corruption cases, including particularly an April 2021 court verdict. Two days after the digital media publication, the Supreme Court initiated suo moto contempt proceedings against the offending media organisation, and judgement was delivered last August. In the judgement, the Court ordered that social media platforms, whether domestic or foreign, must be mandatorily registered, and mechanisms put in place to evaluate and monitor undesirable content.

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    On August 28, 12 days after the judgement, the Communications ministry issued a seven-day notice expiring on September 3 that directed all social media platforms to register with the authorities as directed by the Court. TikTok, already registered, was spared the ban. Some 26 others, including the world’s leading social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and X, among many others, declined and were banned. Protests erupted spontaneously, leading to violence and carnage. The riots, mainly led by youths, continued even after the country’s leading newspaper and Army chief had called for and effected the resignation of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli. For days no one was in control of the government, but the military eventually restored normality without seizing control of the government. There were arguments that the Nepali government’s approach to regulating the social media was a little too drastic and sweeping, unlike India for instance; but most countries have begun to understand that an unfettered social media could spell disaster. Indeed, the challenge many countries face today is how to balance free speech on the one hand and national security as well as individual privacy rights on the other hand.

    After Nepal’s government lifted the ban on the social media last Tuesday, the youths refused to be placated. Instead, they declared that the real reason for the protests all along was the need to end corruption. As is usual in such matters, one concession always leads to more agitations. Recognising that such a demand could not be met under agitation but is a process that extends over a long period, the Army suggested that everyone involved should engage in dialogue. The problem, however, was that as at last Wednesday, no discernible leadership had yet emerged for the protests. The Gen Z mobilisation had been done almost entirely on social media. Recall that the June 2024 Kenyan revolt also started with agitation against the country’s Finance Bill that provided for tax hikes aimed at cutting Kenya’s debt burden of more than $80bn costing the country about half of its tax revenues to service. Even after the finance bill was withdrawn, protesters expanded their demand and began agitating for an end to corruption as well as the resignation of President William Ruto. The cost of the protest made nonsense of the amount saved by abrogating the bill. In Nepal, the army clearly tried to anticipate the demands of the protesters by calling on the prime minister to resign. However, Mr Oli’s resignation did not produce peace until Sushila Karki, a former chief justice, was sworn in as Nepal’s first woman prime minister. However, normality was not restored until Friday.

    No matter how long the Nepali protest, corruption will not end in a day, or even in a year. The protests may help to discourage impunity and create bureaucratic conditions and laws to curb corruption, but there will be no overnight miracle. More importantly, if the social media should remain unregulated and no one is held accountable for atrocious news and reports, anarchy would loom larger than any protests can deal with. Nevertheless, the Nepali Gen Z overreach is explicated by the country’s socio-economic conditions. Nepal, a country of about 30 million people with a per capita GDP of a little over $1,400 and a nominal GDP of about $43.6bn, is the 165th least developed country in the world. About 32 percent of the population lives on between $1.90 to $3.20 per day. It is a poor country, with corruption worsening its plight. The protests are, therefore, understandable. But reprieve will not come from burning their parliament building, sacking lawmakers, or torching government buildings, including a part of the Supreme Court. The military has inevitably stepped in, further dampening the enthusiasm of democrats and complicating the country’s tentative and unsteady progress towards economic development and national stability. Neither Nepal nor Kenya provides an enviable template for how protests should be organised or led.

    As the protests cooled last Wednesday, Gen Z protesters shamefacedly admitted that various but unidentified interest groups had hijacked the protests, leading to unimaginable destructions, including iconic Nepali buildings. They should have known. By organising a leaderless revolt, it should be expected that untold and unheralded consequences would follow. Jailbreaks, looting, arson, rapes and all sorts of violent crimes accompanied the leaderless protests. Now, taxpayers’ money will have to be allocated to reconstruct or repair the damaged buildings, further retarding the progress and development the protesters advocated. While the Nepali Gen Zs have shown remorse, it is tragic that a few Nigerian human rights lawyers, civil society organisations, and sundry agitators have recommended the Nepali example for Nigeria. Nigeria has a combustible mix of ethnic groups forever engaged in fierce competition for influence and control. Should Nepal’s protests, which flamed for two days of madness, take hold of Nigeria, there is no predicting what the short-term or long-term consequences would be. This is why it is urgent for Nigeria to find a novel way to regulate what is increasingly becoming a complex and ungovernable social media space, and to conjure a formula that balances free speech with national security interest and stability. Nepal escaped the ethnicisation and religionisation of the protests partly because the country is over 80 percent Hindu. Nigeria may not be so lucky should it embark on a mindless and foolish imitation.

  • Okon appears for the goat

    Okon appears for the goat

    As daily existence takes on a decidedly surrealistic and absurdist hue in Nigeria, not even the sacred laws of reality are sacred anymore. Welcome to Kafkaland. Reports reaching snooper indicate that the thief that turned to a goat has been auctioned to a popular Lagos food seller who journeyed south specifically for the purpose. So then if you order for goat leg at your local eatery and you find human toes popping out of the bowl, don’t be dismayed, it is all part of growing up in cuckoo’s land.

    Actually before the said auction, it had been drama galore with a substantial portion of the police equipment fund going to crack herbalists who had promised to force the stupid goat back to the hell of human existence. Alas, it was all to no avail as the mad goat stuck to its guns. You can trust Okon to cotton on to the dark fun, having recovered from the last fiasco with Baba Lekki. One fine morning, Okon showed up in court claiming to be an interpreter for the goat who happened to be his bosom friend in real—or unreal—life.

    The presiding lady judge could not understand what all the fuss was about as she descended from her chambers into the court room. The police quickly explained to her that they were on the verge of cracking a major mystery that had turned the entire force into an object of public ridicule. The good old lady could not believe her ears. She eyed Okon with a mixture of concern and bewilderment.

    “And what did you say the gentlemen is here for again?” she asked the police.

    “Na goat interpreter. Na him go talk to the goat, and the stupid goat must to answer today today”, the police sergeant said with malice and drunken frustration.

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    “I see”, the lady judge said shaking her head. “Mr Man, is that correct?” she asked Okon.

    “My sister, na true true. See me see trouble oo. You come resemble one woman  I dey hammer for Mushin Olosa. Abi na you true true?” Okon replied with a devilish smile.  The lady judge was not amused. She eyed Okon with a ferocious scowl.

    “Please conduct yourself properly before a court of law”, the lady snapped.

        “I no be bus conductor oo, I be houseboy”, Okon snorted.

    “All right, all right. What is your name?” the lady asked with a hint of panic and exasperation.

    “I be Etubom Okon Anthony Okon”, the mad boy answered.

    “And what is the goat’s name?”

    “Surulere”, Okon replied instantly.

     “No, no no. I don’t mean his nickname. I mean his real name”, the judge asked as panic and confusion began to set in.

    “Sebi im nickname na the name him dey use when him dey nick dem pocket for Tin Can, abi? Him name na Ejimofor Anikilaja and him be wharf rat no be armed robber at all at all” At this point, the goat let out some heavy bleating.

    “You see now”, Okon began with a triumphant grin. “The goat be angry and hungry. Him say he never chop since dem capture am. Him say dem wicked and crooked police dey take all him chop money drink burukutu so tey dem come dey smile like dem asinwin for court”. At this point everybody, including the police, broke into hilarious laughter. The whole place became a bedlam of raucous mirth. The lady judge brought her gavel down on the table with great force.

        “Order, order!” She screamed.

    “Me I want Apu and stockfish. Make dem give dem goat banana and ice cream”, Okon croaked.

        “What?” the judge said, straining her ears in utter disbelief.

         “My sister, I think say you say make we order?”

          “Oh my God!” the high strung lady judge shrilled.

          “My sister”, Okon began with sadistic glee but the irate judge cut him short.

           “Stop calling me your sister. I am not your sister. You say my lord, you hear?” she screamed.

           “My Rod”,,Okon began, eyeing the poor woman with criminal intent.

           “ What?” the poor woman shrieked.

            “You know say I be Efik and I know sabi call dem Yanminrin word,” Okon crowed with relish. At this point, the goat let off a prolonged bleating. “You see the goat say all of una na crooks and criminals and dat dis kontri don yamutu sam sam”, Okon intoned.

        On this note, the stricken lady began frantically gathering her paper as she back-heeled into her chambers. The police, sensing that they have been taken for a big ride, made a move to arrest Okon but the goat began barking furiously even as it strained its leash. “If you touch me, I will turn into a lion”, Okon threatened . Upon hearing this, the police fled, leaving Okon to walk out of the court room with a majestic frown.

         First published in 2010