The Nation Newspaper

Category: Sunday

Trump, Elon Musk meltdown

Last week’s spectacular, predictable and messy falling out between United States President Donald Trump and billionaire businessman Elon Musk has riveted the world like no other subject in the past one year. Nothing compares to it. Now, seedy details of drug addiction and titillating mention in sex dossiers are flying around on Mr Musk’s social media platform inappropriately named X (formerly Twitter). The businessman reportedly spent about $250m to help get Mr Trump and a majority Republican congress elected. In return, in addition to heading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) programme, juicy federal contracts have continued to flow into Mr Musk’s space and electric vehicle projects. Beyond the surface frills, it is clear that Mr Trump’s inner circle exasperated by the boisterousness and obtrusion of Mr Musk had won the day. It is not clear yet how the fight would go down, but there are precedents elsewhere where billionaire businessmen close to the seat of power became too big for their britches.

Read Also: Stop selling your property to travel overseas, businessman tells Nigerians

In China, Jack Ma, the founder of the e-commerce giant, Alibaba, also ran his mouth in 2020 against state-owned banks which he described as having ‘pawn-shop mentality’. The repercussions were swift and damaging, including the cancellation of his $34.5bn stock market flotation of his Ant Group fintech giant, and presaged a general crackdown on China’s tech industry. When Russia’s Vladimir Putin kick-started his fight against the Russian oligarchs in 2000 and 2001, most of whom rose into financial prominence under former president Boris Yeltsin, it quickly degenerated into a brutal struggle. First to be hit was Vladimir Gusinsky who built his wealth from scratch, including owning a television station that skewered Mr Putin. The president ran him out of town. Next was Mikhail Khodorkovsky who bought the state-owned oil giant Yukos for a pittance. In 2005, he was jailed for nine years and then forced out of Russia. Considering his irreverence and abuse, there are already talks of forcing Mr Musk back to South Africa. Would Mr Trump go whole hog?

June 8, 2025
Military chiefs and the Sahel fire

Gen. Michael Langley, Commander of United States Africa Command (AFRICOM), warned last month in Kenya that terrorists might be eying Nigeria and the West Africa coastline. According to him, “Attacks are resurging in the Lake Chad region as well, and extremist groups are growing more aggressive. The recent attacks in Nigeria and across the Sahel are deeply concerning. The scale and brutality of some of these incidents are troubling. So we’re monitoring this closely. One of the terrorists’ new objectives is gaining access to West African coasts. If they secure access to the coastline, they can finance their operations through smuggling, human trafficking, and arms trading.” He was not exaggerating. Nigerian military chiefs have also been warning about the fire in the Sahel spreading southwards. It is now clear that it is not just about jihadist goals, it is also about the region’s coastline and the economic advantages it confers.

In May, while visiting Yobe State, the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lieutenant-General Olufemi Oluyede, told Governor Mai Mala Buni that the “fire from the Sahel region will consume Nigeria if urgent steps are not taken…We have no choice but to curtail insecurity, because if we don’t, at some point, we may not have a country to live in.” In the same May, while addressing State House correspondents in Abuja after a security meeting with President Bola Tinubu, the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Gen. Christopher Musa, confirmed that “What has happened of recent is that there’s a global push by terrorists and jihadists all over the Sahel area, and that pressure is what actually came into Nigeria because of the nature of our borders.” As Gen. Langley confirmed, the Sahel is on fire, and Nigeria is vulnerable. The situation requires urgent attention, especially with the brutal Wagner Group of Russia taking their leave of Mali almost at the same time as jihadists have started a major push southwards in Mali with deadly attacks on military bases.

The Alliance of Sahel States (AES) of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger may in fact have underestimated the jihadist crisis unfurling before their eyes in the Sahel. They assumed that their crisis revolved around the exploitative French who have been kicked out of the three countries, or around the meddlesome Americans who kept sentry on jihadist activities in the region but who have now also been kicked out in favour of the Russians. The crisis, however, transcends the struggle against neocolonialism or imperialism, as the AES states naively argue. Having forcefully taken over the reins of government in coups d’etat years ago, and disagreeing with ECOWAS on the restoration of democracy in their countries, and denigrating Nigeria and the rest of West Africa as neocolonial stooges of the West, they have nevertheless been unable to curb the fiery march of jihadists southward. Nigeria has two major headaches it must now contend with after hearing the warnings by the three military chiefs quoted above. First, it must find a way to get ECOWAS to respond to the jihadist push, regardless of the naivety of the AES states. The regional bloc last month announced some initiatives in that direction, but it must reassess whether what they are proposing and implementing will be adequate to respond to the massive scale of the challenges before them.

Read Also: Fire guts hotel with over 480 Nigerian pilgrims in Mecca

Second, President Bola Tinubu needs to urgently put Nigeria on a war footing, necessitating massive recruitment of soldiers. Fortunately this is not an election year which could prompt the opposition to accuse the president of trying to militarise the polls. The elections are still nearly two years away. But, meanwhile, the northern borders of the country remain inefficient, porous and still vulnerable, causing Gen. Musa to suggest that something other than just the clash of arms, including perhaps the fencing of Nigeria’s northern borders, should be contemplated. In his view, “the Sahel is heating up, and if it falls, it is Nigeria that they are interested in.” Unfortunately, the northern elite are oblivious of the looming catastrophe, and have continued to trifle with Nigeria’s grave existential challenges in their careless deployment of religion and ethnicity to achieve social and political agenda.

But it would cost a tidy sum to fence thousands of kilometers of borders; and while this may deter some illegal migrants, it will not deter determined attacks by jihadist forces. The Maginot Line experience of France during World War I and II comes in focus. The defensive and so-called impenetrable French fortifications were breached in an instance by Germany’s blitzkrieg through a flanking manoeuvre in Belgium. The Nigerian border fence, even if built, would be paperweight compared with the Maginot Line fortifications.

June 8, 2025
Coalition: dancing naked before the North

It will take a little more time before the leadership of the political coalition being formed to unseat President Bola Tinubu properly crystallises. But for now, former vice president Atiku Abubakar, former governors Nasir el-Rufai and Rotimi Amaechi are mentioned as belonging to the first tier of coalition leadership. First, there was talk of the coalition fusing into the Social Democratic Party (SDP), but the leaders postured too arrogantly to be welcomed warmly. Then they began talking glibly about moving en masse into the African Democratic Congress (ADC); but here, too, they met with some resistance and unnerving preconditions. Now, they are actively thinking of setting up a new party, where they can have the freedom to do as they please. It will undoubtedly cost a pretty penny, and a lot more arduous and sleepless nights to develop the rubric of a new party, but in the end they may have no choice. Whether they set up a new party or fuse into an old one in their desperate attempt to find a shortcut to power, they will go through many painful and sleepless nights, and they will spend a fortune.

Meanwhile, in their urgent quest to take the presidency in 2027, and regardless of whether they have found the vehicle and the drivers to take them to the promised land or not, the coalition has begun to agitate for change using two methods. First, they believe that casting the Tinubu presidency as either irreligious or too religious would be effective; and second, they think belittling the administration’s record in the fight against insecurity, including accusing it of being anti-North in appointments and policies, would impress sceptics. Their allegations fly in the face of evidence, but they recognise that they are appealing to illiterate northerners incapable of deep reflections or envious southerners consistent in their resentment toward the president, all of them united by the pains and hunger they have been made to endure as a result of the ongoing economic reforms. They begin with the implausible proposition that without the North, no southerner could win the presidency, ignoring the equally salient inverse that no northerner could win the presidency without southern support. Unsure whether this illogic about regional influence would fly, they have begun to suggest that the North – for the amorphous coalition is essentially inspired by northerners – would repudiate support for President Tinubu if he could not find a solution to insecurity in their region.

Former vice president Namadi Sambo is the latest proponent of the insecurity caveat. Mallam el-Rufai, despite being accused of predisposing the North to insecurity by his bigoted support for herdsmen and Fulani militias, has also been mouthing the subject of insecurity as a critical factor for denying President Tinubu support. Insecurity, especially in the North, may seem intractable, but it is hard to explain why any northern politician or leader would use that as an electoral weapon, especially considering that they have been accused of inspiring it, while the present administration has put them entirely in charge of reining in the madness and chaos in the beleaguered region. The coalition, when it finally crystallises, will, however, not be discomfited by logic or common sense. They know the people they are targeting: the talakawas susceptible to the twin emotional appeal of hunger and insecurity; and the core North ravaged by banditry, Boko Haram/ISWAP, Lakurawa, and now Mahmuda terror groups.

It is hard to understand why northern political leaders, whose derelictions engendered and entrenched poverty and insecurity in the North, are politicising the conjoined issues of mass hunger and insurgency. They will, of course, be cross examined at the campaigns; but even if they think they can explain their complicity in the tragedies and disasters afflicting the North, they may find themselves being nudged into responses certain to make their coalition inchoate or malformed. In late May, the National Political Consultative Group (North) invited the coalition leaders to address them on their plans for 2027 and the issues affecting the region. The itinerant Peter Obi, former Anambra governor and presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the last poll, made a presentation where he assailed the Tinubu presidency for neglecting the North. Sucking up to the North, and deploying his usual Asian Tiger developmental statistics in addition to Nordic sprinklings, he praised the region, describing it is a sine qua non for Nigeria’s development and renaissance. He would rewrite the region’s trajectory, he fawned in the presence of Alhaji Atiku and Mr Amaechi seating at the front row. It is not clear what the coalition aurochs thought as Mr Obi pontificated, but they wore glacial expressions as they ruminated on their own pending presentations. They probably knew that they must still argue their programmes before more northern groups in the months ahead as they frantically hope to retake office which they had incompetently deployed for decades to the mass impoverishment of the region.

But they are all barking up the wrong tree. First, despite his political peregrinations and pell-mell financial donations, Mr Obi, either as presidential candidate or running mate, will still have to address the conundrum surrounding his candidacy in the last presidential election when he described himself as the Christian champion in a race he characterised as a religious war. It is not clear how he will navigate or drain the swamp he walked into by his opportunism, but it is clear he cannot be persuasive. Second, the coalition leaders obviously hope that the old Nigerian political dynamic, influenced by decades of military rule monopolised by northern military officers, can be restored and would need northern political leaders to organise or inspire. Alhaji Atiku had hoped to ride on that wave in the 2023 poll but was shocked by how ancient the idea proved to be. He had obviously learnt little from the Muhammau Buhari years. In his speech before the northern consultative group, Mr Obi clearly and amateurishly tried to ingratiate himself with the North, believing, as Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, a former presidential assistant, recently argued, that the North could single-handedly determine winner of the next presidential poll. The coalition, when it finally takes form, may discover to its dismay that it is trapped in the past. President Buhari broke the mould, and President Tinubu proved beyond reasonable doubt that new dynamics are at play.

Read Also: Five budget-friendly Android phones under ₦100,000 in Nigeria

Passion has cooled considerably in the run-up to the coalition formation. In March, after a few months of fancy footwork, Alhaji Atiku, Mallam el-Rufai, and Mr Obi spoke elegantly in Abuja about the coalition to unseat President Tinubu. Since then, Mr Obi has hemmed and hawed, sometimes insisting that, to him, what mattered was good governance, not simply winning the presidency. He was of course simply throwing a red herring. His presidential campaign in 2023 and his insular team and ideology proved beyond all doubt that he valued power more than any other thing, especially seeing how clearly he anchored his every statement on the stump on moral exigencies and abstract statistics than on the existentially germane issues of federalism and secularism. His politics is, after all, one of paternalism, as his Obidient movement hinted by their unrelenting and unorthodox methods of browbeating dissenters.

Since that fateful March too, Mallam el-Rufai has vacillated between one fringe party and another, between a high today and a low tomorrow. He has even gone ahead to assume the coalition’s victory in 2027, has formed the cabinet in his mind at least partially, and indicated that the campaign that would procure success for them would rest on both the alleged inability of the Tinubu presidency to rein in insecurity and the mass misery in the country. He has, however, not been as cocksure as before about the fulcrum of the coalition, whether it would be the SDP which he rhapsodised in Kano very freely or the ADC which some of his coalition leaders muted in private discussions. Just as those who surround United States President Donald Trump clipped the tempestuous Elon Musk’s wings, even before the opposition coalition is fully formed, Mallam el-Rufai’s wings have suffered damage. Yes they will need an unprincipled and loquacious and eloquent speaker who could argue both sides of a position fluently and persuasively, but they fear much more his recklessness and the considerable baggage his Kaduna governorship might bring to a party that seeks to overthrow a behemoth.

A critical mass may already be forming in the North around the idea that four more years of President Tinubu, given the increasingly positive effects of his reforms, will not harm the country. There is hardly any governor, across party lines, who does not view the reforms positively, seeing how their swelling state coffers have enabled them more latitude to reengineer their finances and embark on major projects. And there is hardly any knowledgeable analyst who does not see the reforms as more promising than the time-worn hypotheses peddled by the coalition leaders. More critically, opinion is hardening even among the northern elite that it would amount to insensitive promotion of northern or Fulani exceptionalism to want to abridge the eight-year tenure for the South barely four years after a northerner spent eight years in office. Like it or not, as unorthodox as the principle might appear, it has helped to moderate Nigeria’s power game and the contest for high office. Regardless of the malicious campaigns by any coalition, the North will allow sleeping dogs to lie, and do everything to sustain the formula. They will prefer to play safe rather than embrace either Alhaji Atiku’s self-centred plan to win office for only one term and cede a second term to Mr Obi or the revenge attack by the spurned Mallam el-Rufai still hurting from his exclusion from the Tinubu cabinet.

June 8, 2025
Soyinka, Amaechi and APC presidential primary

Speaking at the 60th birthday celebration of former Rivers State governor and ex-Transportation minister, Rotimi Amaechi, Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka was expansively humorous. In praising Mr Amaechi’s manner of pursuing his presidential ambition, the laureate said the former minister’s intransigence reminded him of the stubborn refusal of President Bola Tinubu (as Lagos State governor) to yield to ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo’s political and financial pressures to abandon the creation of 37 extra local governments in Lagos. The laureate said he derived ‘rascally pleasure’ in seeing Mr Amaechi stubbornly refusing to drop out of the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential primary in June 2022 when nearly every other aspirant was dropping out of the race. In a delicate, and perhaps eerie, extrapolation of that intransigence some three years ago, Mr Amaechi has sustained his adamancy and opposition to the same Bola Tinubu who defeated him in that race and went on to win the presidency the following year.

The bigger story of the 2022 primary is not of course the intransigence of any of the aspirants, or the concessions of the curious handful. What defined the primary and swung the votes was the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) primary conducted barely a week earlier on May 29, 2022, over which former Rivers State governor Nyesom Wike has continued to have an axe to grind with PDP leaders and electors who jettisoned his aspiration in favour of former vice president Atiku Abubakar. Unknown to him, instead of confining themselves to their party’s rotational principles, they anticipated the victory of APC’s Bola Tinubu in the ruling party’s primary a week later and were anxious to secure the services of a champion who could fight for the crown and give a good account of himself. They imagined that Mr Wike, had he emerged the PDP candidate, would be eaten raw by Bola Tinubu. So they gambled on the APC outcome by preemptively securing for themselves a deep pocket champion.

Meanwhile, APC leaders and electors who had spent weeks pussyfooting around Aso Villa and gallivanting between powerful interest groups around the country and APC governed states were greatly consternated by the PDP’s deft anticipation and calculations. Instead of leaving the primary to chance, in a sort of ‘may the best man win’, they borrowed logic from the PDP and resolved to secure a champion who could ‘outstrategise and outspend’ Alhaji Atiku. Mr Amaechi’s recalcitrance and Mr Wike’s fulminations meant nothing to the PDP and APC overlords. They faced a historic election, and they were sure that rather than engage in fancy footwork, they needed to put their best feet forward. And they did so, with brutal efficiency and ‘devil may care’ frankness. Had the PDP sustained their realpolitik to the campaigns, with Alhaji Atiku opting for the most savage and unfeeling methods to prosecute his election, probably his last, he would have found the ultimate weapon, financial or political, to placate the aggrieved Peter Obi, and unite the party behind him. In the end, he could not rejig the party’s formula for holding political offices, and then followed up by spitting on the political grave of the enraged Mr Wike.

Read Also: No fight between Ooni and I, says Alaafin

On the other side of the aisle, the more astute and unassuming candidate Tinubu, who had been humiliated and humbled for more than two years before his party’s primary and thus had no airs about him, did everything possible, political and financial, to mollify his APC opponents. Those who held out against his blandishments or mollification were then isolated and neutralised. The APC and PDP candidates thus went into the 2023 presidential election with contrasting styles, thereby losing or winning the poll even before the first ballot was cast. Despite the clumsy and hugely disruptive intrusion of the Labour Party’s Peter Obi, which turned the election into a three-horse race, it was all but clear who the voters and the dithering presidency thought was the frontrunner. Their inability to cut that frontrunner to size was not due to a lack of effort as it was due to a lack of tactical brilliance. Once he became the front runner and sensed it, and knowing that the country’s political dynamics favoured a southern candidate, he pushed his luck, said many a gaffe, but managed to prevent himself from propounding anything that would scare anybody. His refrain at every campaign stop was simple, almost inelegant, but decidedly poignant and provocative, embellishing the country’s political dictionary and arresting the people’s wandering and often jejune thoughts.

And candidate Bola Tinubu won. Of all the footnotes of the 2023 presidential race, Mr Amaechi’s was the least significant. That of Mr Wike, which saw him carve a significant slice of the votes from Alhaji Atiku, was far more impactful, second only to the seismic electoral effect the unreflective Mr Obi brought upon the poll. Next time, in the face of Nigeria’s notoriously compromised pollsters whose predictions are always way off the mark, pundits should scrutinise the primaries to find clues as to the underlying dynamics capable of tilting the outcome of any general election. They will find, in the kitchen midden of the primaries, enough clues as to who will win, sometimes by a huge margin in the event of a two-horse race. They should never allow themselves to be distracted by the wailings and moaning of the Amaechis and Wikes, as crucial as they sometimes pretend to be.

June 8, 2025
Wike and his extraordinary media chats

When he was governor of Rivers State, Nyesom Wike held court extravagantly, complete with itinerant minstrels whose sense of timing and cues were impeccable. The former governor never allowed the state to have a dull day – it was a joyous concatenation of barbs, brickbats, folk songs, clerihews and anything that would make the former governor and his people exhale. To, therefore, expect he would suddenly become reticent and colourles, simply because he has become a former governor and is now an appointee of a president, will be asking too much of him. He will continue to hold court, and entertain and excoriate.

His last Monday media chat delivered as much entertainment to his admirers as he ladled out pain upon his enemies. He was a bit restrained on the current Rivers governor, Siminalayi Fubara, but did not hold back on a number of other topics and personalities, including the remonstrating Bode George, National Vice Chairman of his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), whom he derided as a debtor in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Read Also: No fight between Ooni and I, says Alaafin

More provocatively, Mr Wike said, jumping to another issue, he would lead President Tinubu’s campaign in Rivers State, despite being a leading member of the PDP. The president is APC. He was emphatic: “You have seen me here. I said I would support Asiwaju. The way we won other elections, that is the way we will win. I am not a liability. I am an asset. Whether you agree or you don’t agree, I am an asset. Whether you want to die, you don’t want to die, I am an asset. You may not like me; your likeness has nothing to make me. I am an asset to making sure that Tinubu wins second term.” Apart from demonstrating loyalty to the president, which some of his fellow appointees might find a little too forward and exacting, who would not look forward to his next chat, especially considering that he never disappoints in delivering frankness and entertainment, no matter whose ox is gored?

June 8, 2025
Phantom opposition and its discontents

Averting elite suicide in Nigeria

Two years into the Tinubu administration, the political society remains deeply polarized and bitterly divided. Some sections of the political class are still nursing the wounds of the last elections. Yet it is incontrovertible that before the current administration took over the reins of power, the country was on the verge of economic disintegration. All the indices were pointing towards a catastrophic collapse. But even if we ignore the countermanding chorus of hysterical supporters and hostile disapproval, not even Tinubu’s most virulent critic can deny the obvious fact. From his eclectic toolbox of orthodox and unconventional economic placebos sometimes so mutually exclusive and countervailing that they are supposed to cancel out each other, the president might have found the formula to stave off catastrophic economic collapse such as happened in Venezuela after the revolt against the ancient master-class, a development which sent millions of Venezuelans heading for the Colombian border or the apocalyptic fiscal meltdown that overtook Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe after the old Shona wizard went to work on the buoyant economy the colonial masters left behind.

It is a classic study in the management of mismanagement, and we must thank God for little mercies. Three generations down the line, Zimbabweans are still feeling the pains and pangs of the ruinous economic policies of their founding father. Only the discipline and resilience of a proud people and the bitter conundrum of having to fight to liberate themselves from their old liberator kept the nation together. It could have been worse. After the harsh and unforgiving Treaty of Versailles, the collapse of the German currency led to the collapse of the Weimar Republic and opened the door to Hitler and the Third Reich and the nunc dimittis of the extant world order. But Germany is an organic country with its disparate sub-tribes and warring principalities forcibly welded together through “blood, sweat and tears” by Von Bismarck, the Iron Chancellor.

   After two million souls have been lost to a civil war which failed to resolve the fundamental question, Nigeria is struggling to remain a single unified entity. If we are to witness the kind of economic meltdown occasioning a total currency collapse, the tenuous cord binding the entity together might snap irretrievably. The Tinubu economic programme with its “shock and awe” tactics reminiscent of an economic pacification of an already brutalized society is far from perfect. It has led to a fiscal distress for the most vulnerable sectors of the society, further polarization of the political elite and a rapidly expanding multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multipurpose underclass ready to do anything to stay afloat or to upend the entire system accordingly. The tragedy and bane of the current conjuncture of post-military rule in Nigeria is the dearth of coherent paradigms of alternative economic development and political pathway beyond ethnic sabre rattling and outworn shibboleths. If we can avoid a catastrophic currency collapse and ramp up local production which adds value to the export of raw materials while the government continues the tinkering with economic fundamentals, there may still be a lot to play for.

Virtually all those shouting themselves hoarse while angling to replace the Tinubu administration are tired and jinxed political jobbers who cannot come up with a single productive idea. Without any sense of irony, some of them even ape and regurgitate Tinubu’s economic policies or their main planks. When a major opposition figure rents a thirty million hall to celebrate his birthday and all he could come up with were shouts of hunger, you begin to wonder whether Kafka’s celebrated hunger artist is on a visitation to Nigeria. If this is the stuff the opposition is made of, what may be the staring the nation in the face is not a one-party system but the possibility of an all-party meltdown leading to elite suicide in all its dire consequences. It is this possibility that we must fear most and the story that follows should be quite illustrative of that possibility.

Read Also: No fight between Ooni and I, says Alaafin

In 2017 or thereabout, yours sincerely and one or two others accompanied Lieutenant General Ipoola Alani Akinrinade, the respected and influential former Chief of Defence Staff, to Bayelsa State to deliver a lecture on restructuring and the National Question. It was a golden opportunity to visit the old province which was part of the old Western Region ruled by Chief Obafemi Awolowo. That was in the magical days of regional governments and competitive federalism. There was no viable airport in Yenagoa at that point in time, so we had to undertake the journey, first by air to Port-Harcourt and then by road to Yenagoa. Before flying out, the famed warrior and celebrated military strategist had informed one that the aircraft was going to be a one-engine fixed propeller plane, a revelation which froze the spine.

   As the plane dipped and banked perilously through the enveloping clouds on takeoff before leveraging into the clear blue sky, the general reassured that he had been through more precarious and dicey flights during the civil war. Reminding him that you were not enlisted as a soldier was a waste of time. Luckily after about an hour, the aircraft, after a steep descent, bumped on the runway and gamboled to a halt without any further trepidation. Our host this clear calm morning, the then governor of Bayelsa State, Henry Dickson Seriake, was already waiting for us in his office with his Deputy Chief of Staff, a Ms Ndiomu. Seriake, who traces his remote ancestry to an Ijebu woman named Bola, was as courteous, polite and welcoming in the best tradition of native Nigerian hospitality. After official formalities including a welcome address by the governor, we were rushed through breakfast joined by two notable Yoruba Nation activists who had materialized from an inner room. They were on a different mission.

The lecture hall was filled to the brim despite the tight security. It was a distinguished crowd that came to hear out the general as he pronounced passionately and with cerebral gusto about the desirability and inevitability of a major structural reconfiguration in a country wracked by ethnic, religious and cultural schisms. His global references were apt and his conclusions sharp and point-device. The audience listened with rapt attention. It was obvious that this was an issue very dear to the people of Bayelsa and the attendance cut across the partisan lines of party, creed and credo. Among them were top traditional rulers, notable politicians, retired military brass-hats and high-octane clergy. At the end of it all, the general got a standing ovation which lasted for about five minutes. The governor concluded events with a rousing speech which was a tour de force of hope and optimism for Nigeria.

In the intervening years, Henry Dickson Seriake has transited from the gubernatorial mansion in sleepy Yenagoa to the senatorial coliseum in Abuja. Last week, the hefty, imposing law maker with the embonpoint of a retired American heavyweight bruiser made a dramatic entry into the palatial venue hosting the sixtieth birthday anniversary of Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, the former speaker of the Rivers State of House of Assembly, former governor of the same state and former Minister of Transportation in the underwhelming Buhari government. His intervention was no less dramatic and explosive. Bearing down on the august crowd which bristled with luminaries of state incapacitation and stars of national eclipse who were gathered in stiff opposition and conspiracy against the Tinubu regime, Seriake reminded them that that was exactly what some of them did about eleven years earlier with baleful consequences for the nation. He dismissed them as masters of perpetual conspiracies to unseat sitting governments but who lack the requisite skills, the political capacity and the mental magnitude to rule a vast and complex country.

It was a damning verdict on the phantom state of opposition in the country and the unenviable circumstances in which multi-party democracy has found itself in Nigeria. One or two of them was even regurgitating wholesale Tinubu’s subsidy removal regimen and deregulation package. Seriake’s Facebook wall page filled with admiring endorsements with one hailing him as the lion of the creeks but one sly sourpuss dismissing it as a gambit for the vice-presidential slot in a coming configuration. Meanwhile, the seminal contribution of the celebrant himself was to proclaim that he was hungry like everyone else, a clear case of post traumatic stomach disorder. If this is all the putative opposition against the Tinubu administration could muster, the leading lights of the regime can as well go to sleep with their two eyes firmly shut.

   But here lies the problem. The vulgarization of politics and the demise of a viable and functioning opposition bode ill for the entire nation. With discomfort slowly taking a firm grip and acute poverty spreading even if it is only temporary, the vulgarization of politics and the negation of its most sacred and noble ideals could push the masses and the vastly proliferating underclass in the direction of a revolt against politics and a ruinous de-marketing of liberal democracy itself. If that were to be the case, what is tugging at the undertow of the nation is not the prospect of a one-party state or all-party meltdown but the possibility of elite suicide in postcolonial Nigeria.

   As it is, Nigeria is prey to two major forces of destabilization. Both appear to be aided by significant sections of the elite bent on bringing the state to its knees. On the one hand are the shadowy activities of an ancient superpower which believes it could topple the nation into radical chaos and anarchy through massive propaganda and the relentless insinuation of AI generated pictures of paradise and el Dorado from a military-run, poverty-wracked landlocked African country. The other group consists of resurgent Islamic groups already operating within the confines of the nation bent on turning it into a fifteenth century medieval tyranny. Calls to arms are sprouting every day.

To spring the trap laid by these groups of enemy nationals, government must come to terms with some sobering realities. First, elite pacification is not the same thing as elite consensus. While elite consensus is a product of strenuous but free negotiations, conciliations and concessions, which conduce to national harmony and cohesion, elite pacification is often superintended by economic coercion and political cajolery leading to abiding resentments and hidden animosities which could find temporary truce in a one-party state but which is bound to erupt in open treachery in the nearest future. Second, government must improve on its political capacity building through open forums, interactive sessions with various stakeholders and brainstorming retreats with critical sectors rather than shadowy consultations and confraternity-like communing which sow the seed of doubt, distrust and discord in the wider populace and which revives echoes of an Ottoman presidency. Balancing the competing and often conflicting claims of various elite groups without harmonized values makes effective governance very difficult if not impossible. Despite all these, the balance of momentum and the possibility of critical success still lie with the former senator from Lagos who has many things going for him. The game changer may yet be his pluck, courage and capacity to change direction once it is obvious that he has taken a wrong turn.

June 8, 2025
Baba Lekki turns the table on June 12

To Gbayanrin and the upmarket Bantu Television Station where Baba Lekki was running rings around the main anchor of the station and his colleagues over the vexed issue of the annulment of the June 12 1993 presidential election and the true heroes of the struggle to liberate Nigeria. It was a long time one had heard from the geriatric scoundrel after his last attempt to scam a nearby bank using AI generated images failed and he took to his heels. When he was finally apprehended, he claimed to be a ghost on spiritual sabbatical attached to a nearby church and everybody fled in turn. It is a scammers’ market and no one is sure of who is scamming who anymore.

“Sir, if I heard you very well, you just said it is June 23 that should be celebrated and not June 12. If my memory does not fail me, that was the very day the election was annulled”, the anchor asked the old man who was beginning to show signs of growing impatience and irritation.

“So, if you heard me very well, why are you repeating the question? Let your memory fail you that is your father’s problem. All I am saying is that June 23 is the real day or the McCoy. That is the day the soldiers finally overreached themselves and shot themselves in the foot. That is the reason we are enjoying this spell of democracy, otherwise they would have been back again with their gra-gra and this nonsense about I Brigadier Sukuniyan or Colonel Dodondawa”, the old man exploded. The entire hall in turn erupted in rapturous applause. A Lagosian-looking dandy in Edwardian bow tie and heavy parting inhaled his snuff with preposterous loudness which reminded one of an asthmatic baboon.

   “Wo, omo eleniyan, o ri yen so”, he shouted and fell back asleep with thunderous snoring. Okon, who had staggered in moments earlier reeking of cheap alcohol and periwinkles and eyeing everybody with tipsy self-importance, saw an opportunity for his usual mischief and hanky-panky. He had fastened his gaze on a huge self-composed lady who sat quietly behind the crew taking notes and passing suggestions. He staggered up, ogling the lady with wild relish.

Read Also: Fire guts hotel with over 480 Nigerian pilgrims in Mecca

“Bia, bia, no be you I been they check out for Mafoluku before before, abi na for Akowonjo sef?” the mad boy drawled, rocking on his feet in a drunken haze. The lady, a no-nonsense disciplinarian, rose to her full, frightening height ready to pounce on the urchin but was restrained by the crew who might have seen her in action before. She weighed at six foot six with ample bulk to match. Rumour swept the hall that she was a niece of the famous Giant Alakuku from Mbala in Isuochi and could beat up ten men put together.

   “Idiot, I have been warning you, this is where you will meet your Waterloo”, Baba Lekki charged.

“Baba, water no dey for loo for Oshodi again”, the mad boy slurred and fell back asleep. The interview resumed.

“Baba, one last question and it is about this Amaechi fellow. How can a former minister say he is hungry in this country?” the youngest member of the crew asked.

“You have answered your own question. You see, government na wicked people. I used to like that boy. But when you suddenly remove the federal feeding bottle from an old man of sixty after feeding continuously for twenty four years, he is bound to develop some social psychosis known as Post Traumatic Stomach Disorder, a mad craving for anything ingestible.” The old man responded with professorial solemnity.   After that, a massive power outage terminated proceedings. Okon was the first to jump out through the window.

June 8, 2025
The rise, rise and rise of capitalism (XXII)

By 1930, the USA was in deep recession and had become a patently uncomfortable place where at least, a small majority of them went to bed hungry virtually every night. Soon after that date, the situation had crept around the world as quickly as it could until it had become a global phenomenon. Almost a hundred years later, there is virtually nobody left to give an eye witness account of what the Great Depression was really like. But I can give a reliable account of what it meant at a personal level because my father left a written account of his own experience of the Great Depression.

According to my father who was twelve years old at the time, the Great Depression arrived in Nigeria, it came in the manner of a thunderclap in the middle of the dry season. According to him my grandfather was a comfortable textile dealer, a typical Ijesa osomalo who was also a Railway contractor on the side. The economic turbulence which had gripped Britain from the middle of the twenties had progressively interrupted the importation of textiles into Nigeria, to such an extent that his osomalo business had taken a hit over time. He was however able to keep his head above the waves by also dealing in agricultural produce, especially yams. He lived in a small railway town just outside Ilorin and from time to time shipped yams to Kano on the railway. On his last trip, he had loaded up his yams as usual but, by the time he got to Kano, the Great Depression had hit and nobody had cash enough with which to buy the yams he had come to sell. The tubers quickly rotted under the heat. And that was the end of his career as a successful osomalo. He had to relocate back to Ilesa where he became a reluctant and not so successful farmer. At that point in time, it appeared that the light had finally gone out on capitalism, worldwide. To get a grip on the knowledge of what it was to live under the hellish conditions of the Great Depression, the fictional description of it in Grapes of wrath by John Steinbeck is worthy of consultation. A pithy paraphrase of the book is that it is a catalogue of examples of man’s cruelty to man as the big men consumed little men with unbounded relish. All part of the allure of capitalism.

My grandfather’s experience with the Great Depression was typical. It was not only personal but was also generic, as it was universal. All around the world people suffered without respite and without hope of amelioration of individual and collective conditions under which they toiled for little or no reward. It has to be said however that the practice of capitalism which had descended on the people, even those living in the most advanced societies of the world, was a far cry from what it has become.

The practice of capitalism in those days was described as laissez-faire, that is, just about everything and anything went. The rules governing capitalism were so loose that government was allowed to do no more than hover in the background as long as it did not interfere with whatever was going on. Even when it interfered however, it did so on the side of the capitalists. Under such conditions, the big man was allowed to get bigger by feasting on the legions of small men who did not even have the benefit of a safety net under them. For example, when the price of coal fell in Britain, the mine owners simply reduced the inadequate wages that they paid to their miners and compounded the situation by increasing the number of hours that the miners spent on the coal face. They were able to do this because a miner who lost his job simply starved to death as there was not even a shadow of social security. Pensions were non-existent and to retire was to be put to pasture. There to fade away and die in some considerable discomfort. People like my grandfather who lived in a colony on what can be described as the periphery of global civilization were simply lucky to be alive in any real meaning of the word. For them, capitalism was nothing but a force of nature, to be endured. From the point of view of most casual observers to the most fervid supporters of capitalism, it was clear that the system needed a hefty reboot. But that was much easier said than done, at least until the Great Depression arrived to force the issue. It was time to unveil the New Deal.

Read Also: No fight between Ooni and I, says Alaafin

There were presidential elections in the US in 1932, at a time when the country was in the grip of the Great Depression. The Democratic candidate was the Governor of New York, the patrician Franklin Delano Roosevelt whose distant cousin, Theodore Roosevelt had been a one time Republican President of the USA from 1901 to 1909. Before the election, he campaigned vigorously on the platform of what he called the New Deal and won in a landslide over Herbert Hoover, the incumbent president. In so doing, it was clear that he took office in 1933 with an obvious mandate to clean out the Aegean stables which the economy had become, by any means necessary. Furthermore, the situation he met on ground had become so toxic that Roosevelt did not have the luxury of time. He not only had to do something he had to do whatever was needed to be done very quickly. Fortunately, he had everything planned before taking over and so, he hit the ground running as soon as he took office. A review of his first one hundred days in office showed a healthy report card of activity and established the tradition of judging the achievement of American Presidents by what they had achieved or, not achieved after the first one hundred days of their term. To tell the truth, Roosevelt had so much on his plate that those first one hundred days in office could not but be remarkable. By that time, he had restored a good measure of confidence to banks whose vaults were once more filling up with cash which could be invested in new ventures to create jobs for many of the millions of people who had been jobless for far too long. These people could in turn contribute to the amount of money in circulation and in doing so, help to kick-start and stabilise the economy. There were successful moves to create jobs, many of them temporary but sufficient to put a noticeable dent in the number of those out of work and turn the government into a major employer of labour. In order to bring farmers in from the cold, food prices were increased and rural areas began to recover from the deprivation brought about by collapse brought about by farm closures. The most important achievement of those whirlwind hundred days was that the new President was able to pass no less than fifteen acts and seventy-seven laws through Congress. All were designed to build an enduring platform on which a new and improved form of capitalism could be built. This was done just in time to save capitalism from collapsing into wrack and ruin. The subsequent rise and rise of capitalism can be said to have been predicated on its reset at that critical juncture.

The effects of the New Deal went far beyond the limits of the economy as it also changed the social and political landscape of the USA profoundly. Some of the aspects of the New Deal were frankly socialist in nature, none more so than the act establishing the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). This institution was a government body which built dams in the Tennessee valley and not only supplied hydroelectric power to a wide area but was also responsible for the irrigation of extensive farmlands. This public corporation was set up in an area which lacked the most basic forms of social infrastructure and had to cope with poverty and neglect. Ninety years on the TVA remains one of the most efficient suppliers of electricity in the USA. It may be one of the most reliable power providers in the country but it is the only one such facility that is government owned. Roosevelt generated such tremendous political momentum that he remains the only President of the United States who won four presidential elections even though he died soon after he won his fourth term in office. He built up a large coalition of Democratic voters made up of labour unions, intellectuals, urban residents, ethnic minorities especially African Americans and whites in the rural South. This ensured that the Republicans were kept out of power until David Eisenhower broke their duck in 1952, to end twenty straight years of Democratic succession. There are still many social goals anchored on New Deal principles which are yet to be realised. But even then, the face of capitalism has undergone a fundamental change from what it was at the time of the Great Depression but there is still a long way to go before a truly human face can be attached to capitalism in the country which more than any other sets the tone for the practice of capitalism. The relentless growth of inequality within the USA is proof that over the last couple of decades, the poor have become noticeably poorer at a time when the rich are gathering virtually all the wealth unto themselves. This situation, like the Great Depression is being exported to other parts of the world and it is becoming an existential threat to the rise and rise of capitalism.

The Great Depression came long before my time but it has had a great impression on the trajectory of my life. It had such a devastating effect on my father that he turned his back on the world of trade and commerce into which he had been born and with the unwavering encouragement of his father became a teacher, a career path into which I was recruited as a matter of course. Without that background, I probably would not have been in the position to write this article.

June 8, 2025
Hagiography: Igbos deliberately distorting Yoruba history

What happened to all their previous claims? Before now, Igbos claimed that their ancestral origin was Nri where their mythical ancestral father, Eri, descended from with a chain many a millennia ago.

At some other time, they claimed they originated from somewhere around the Rivers Niger and Benue confluence. They are known to have, at other times, claimed both Benin and Egypt as their originat. Even until now they claim to be Jews, have their roots in Israel and, therefore, among the ten lost tribes of Israel” – Olukoya Dele Ogunfowora

So who truly are the Igbos and where do they come from?

They may soon claim to have originated from River Limpopo.

Igbos have a long line of witheringly brilliant History scholars, among them the likes of Professors Kenneth Dike and Adiele Afigbo both of the Ibadan School of History, representing the old generation while, amongst the new are Professors Elizabeth Isichei, Okoro Ijoma and Nnolue Emenanjo.

These eminent historians are well regarded in, and outside Nigeria, having made significant contributions to the study of History, particularly to the study of Igbo and African history and their work continues to be highly influential in the academic community.

But brilliant as they are, and despite the seminal work they have done on the History of their people, not one of them claimed that Igbos founded Ile -Ife. Unfortunately, this cannot be said of some Igbo charlatans now revelling in historical vandalism.

More surpring is the fact that these ones did not limit themselves to verbal diarrhoea as in when some Igbos say ‘Lagos is no man’s land’. Instead, they have attempted to cast this lie in stone by publishing it in school text books.

Let’s now see how a trending WhatsApp post exposed their blasphemy:

“Yoruba history is under siege, not by ignorance, but by a calculated ethnic agenda. A false claim is being pushed, namely, that the Igbo people founded Ile-Ife and were later chased

out by Oduduwa. It’s not on Facebook but in school textbooks.

It is in ‘Standard History Studies for JSS 1–3’, by Tony Duru & Ijeoma Duru, allegedly approved by NERDC where

students are being taught that Ife was originally occupied by Igbos until they were “invaded” by Oduduwa, thus foolishly accepting, for once, that these ‘Jews’ – or are they no longer Jews – were at a time not only conquered, but banished by the Yorubas.

Do they know what they are saying?

And was this before, or after they became Jews?

In ‘The Igbo: People, History and Worldview’ by Dons Eze & Chinedu Ochinanwata, they go even further, claiming that the Yoruba monarchy is built on Igbo spiritual systems, that Oduduwa overthrew a peaceful Igbo order, and that modern Ife is a hybrid of stolen identity.

Which of these their spiritual systems can they name?

Let it be said clearly:Ile-Ife is the cradle of Yoruba civilization. It was not founded by any Igbo. It was neither inherited nor conquered. And no amount of fiction can change that”.

There is no archaeological, linguistic, cultural, or oral record, Yoruba or foreign, that supports this heresy. What we have here is a disturbing weaponisation of their usual fraudulent pecadiloes.

And NERDC – the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council, the Head of

whose Book Development Centre is, unsurprisingly IGBO, must be held accountable as an accomplice. would have since been afoot.

But we owe it a duty to make these conspiratorial ignoramuses unlearn what they are not only regurgitating, but are deliberately trying to force down the throat of younger generations of Nigerians.

I now proceed to educate them by pressing into service, the most authoritative historian of the Yoruba people, namely, Prof Banji Akintoye, via his 498 – page book: ‘A History of The Yoruba People’.

Full disclosure: Prof Akintoye is my life teacher; he was my teacher at Christ’s School, Ado – Ekiti in the early ’60’s and taught me History at the Great University of Ife, Ile -Ife, same decade.

In ‘A history of the Yoruba People’, Professor Akintoye deployed four decades of historiography research with current interpretation and analyses to present the most complete and authoritative Yoruba history since Samuel Johnson’s work in the early twentieth century.

Therein, he traced the origins of the Yoruba from its earliest, legendary and mythical beginnings, to the development of early Yoruba society, the revolution and early primacy of Ife from the tenth to the fifteenth century, the founding of Yoruba kingdoms and the power of frontiers as well as to the rise and fall of Oyo Empire.

I write here of Professor Akintoye’s stupendous, Magnum Opus, a highly definitive story of the Yorubas.

Read Also: Fire guts hotel with over 480 Nigerian pilgrims in Mecca

Yet, not once was reference made to Igbos as inhabitants of Ife at any point in time except when reference was made, tangentially, to some external aggressors called Igbo – Igbo who never one day inhabited or lived in Ife.

These external aggressors have since been positively identified as the Ugbo people for which reason Ugbos, a sect of the same Yoruba race – and not some wayfarers, forever laying claim to what does not belong to them – have not stopped asserting that they were the original inhabitants of Ife.

That was the story they heard from a highly placed Yoruba Monarch, misrepresented and weaponised, to claim that they were expelled from Ife by the legendary Oduduwa.

No historian (before these perennial trouble makers). – archaeologist, anthropologist, or linguist, Nigerian or foreign, has ever claimed, talk less of presenting credible evidence, that Igbos founded or ruled Ile-Ife.

A History of the Yoruba People traced a long history of internecine turmoil and wars in, and around, Ife but they were between well known, and named, Yoruba individuals, among them:Oduduwa, Obatala, Oreluere and Obameri to mention a few.

Professor Akintoye also wrote as follows on the Igbo – Igbo, the external aggressors:”Concerning the attacks from Igbo- Igbo, a tale exists in Yoruba folklore about one of a LATER King’s wife named Moremi.

According to this tale, which various generations of Yoruba people have amplified and even set to song, this beautiful woman, having determined that the Igbo raids had to stop, deliberately let herself be captured and taken to Igbo – Igbo. While there, she became a wife to their leader and was therefore able to learn all the secrets of the planning and execution of their raids on Ile- Ife.

She subsequently escaped and returned home and the information she brought enabled her husband( said to be the Oni Obalufon) to defeat the Igbo- Igbo and end their raids. Most of the people at Igbo – Igbo ultimately returned to live in Ile – Ife”.

He continued:”The most touching part of this tale is that this woman, in preparation for her adventure, had asked protection from the spirit of a local stream, and pledged that if she succeeded in her adventure, she would sacrifice her only son to the spirit.

And when she returned alive and the Igbo raids were decisively brought to an end, she did take the painful step of sacrificing her only son”.

Now that a Petition to Defend Yoruba History From Ethnic Distortion in Nigerian Textbooks by concerned citizens of Yoruba origin has been forwarded to the President, demanding that the underlisted steps be taken, it is hoped that government would act without any delay:

1. Immediate retraction and public disapproval of any textbook or material spreading this misinformation.

2. A formal investigation into how these textbooks were approved by NERDC.

3. Inclusion of Yoruba scholars and cultural experts in the curriculum review process.

4. Public apology, and correction notice, to be sent to all schools using these materials.

5. Implementation of safeguards to prevent ethnic propaganda disguised as education.

All these steps are important, according to the group, because:

allowing false ethnic narratives in our education system would endanger national unity, undermine cultural integrity, and misinform future generations.

Also, if this distortion is not corrected, millions of Nigerian students, especially Yoruba children, will grow up believing a lie about their ancestral identity”.

Concluding, as Moremi did to Yoruba’s eternal glory, the time has come for Yorubas to find the final solution to the Igbo problem, not only in Lagos, but Pan – Nigerian, if they refuse to rein in their antagonism to Yoruba interests everywhere.

Please Google:”Understanding Yoruba Mindset in context of Igbos as traitors”—A Tribute to Bishop (Prof) Funmilayo Adesanya-Davis, by a honest Igbo scholar, Dr Nwankwo Tony Nwaezeigwe, PhD.

Incidentally, the final solution needs not be deleterious. It may just require Yorubas helping to infuse sense into their perennial, bloody and economically ruinous “war of independence” being spearheaded by some Unknown Gun Men(UGM).

Let us join them to work towards a meaningful devolution of powers in Nigeria in the hope that they will then go back home to develop their own territory rather than continue to ogle what belongs to others.

June 8, 2025
The road to inclusivity and the call to owning Nigeria

The just-concluded week offered another poignant window into the style, substance, and symbolism that define President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s leadership. While the week began with a relatively quiet spell — as the President spent time in Lagos in the lead-up to the Eid-el-Kabir festivities — its close was anything but muted. From his robust defence and detailed exposition of one of his administration’s boldest infrastructure undertakings — the Sokoto-Badagry Superhighway — to his deeply human call for prayers for the Nigerian Armed Forces during the Eid celebrations, Tinubu once again demonstrated a governing philosophy grounded in national inclusion and patriotic consciousness.

These twin moments — the infrastructure explanation and the Eid message — may appear disjointed at first glance. But they are united by a common theme: the burden of leadership borne with a vision for unity, and a deliberate effort to enlist every Nigerian as a stakeholder in the nation’s development journey.

At the heart of Tinubu’s public remarks during the commissioning of the Lekki Deep Sea Port Access Road was a forceful defence of his legacy projects, including the Sokoto-Badagry Superhighway, a legacy infrastructure project that has, until now, flown under the radar compared to its more publicised cousin, the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway.

With calm but firm articulation, President Tinubu dismantled the narratives spun by critics who had either misunderstood the scale and structure of these mega projects or, more cynically, chose to sow confusion for political gain. “Let them pay a toll if they think the road is too expensive,” he said, with a touch of humour that thinly veiled a deeper truth — nation-building cannot be done on the cheap, and progress must not be stalled by misinformation.

But beyond defending procurement frameworks and construction logistics, Tinubu used the opportunity to offer a compelling picture of the Sokoto-Badagry corridor — one that radiates economic potential, social inclusion, and national integration. Spanning seven states across Nigeria’s northwestern and southwestern flanks, the 1,068-kilometre six-lane superhighway is more than an asphalt ribbon connecting Sokoto to Badagry. It is a deliberate act of geographical justice — linking farmlands to ports, rural outposts to urban centres, and forgotten communities to federal infrastructure.

This is not merely a road; it is a declaration that no part of Nigeria will be left behind. Tinubu noted that over 10 kilometres of the project’s Kebbi stretch have already been completed, and similar milestones are being achieved in Sokoto. The phased structure of the work — each section awarded with clear procurement transparency — reflects a leadership style that prioritizes both vision and accountability.

And what a vision it is: a highway that connects over 58 dams, energizes commercial agriculture, integrates trade with West African neighbours, and even harnesses potential for renewable wind energy. These aren’t pipe dreams — they are blueprints actively being realised. By reviving a project first conceived under the Shehu Shagari administration nearly 50 years ago, Tinubu is demonstrating that legacy is not just about initiating new ideas, but also about fulfilling deferred dreams with modern urgency.

As the President turned from the bricks and mortar of road-building to the spiritual reflections of Eid-el-Kabir, another layer of his leadership came to the fore. On Friday, during his Sallah message and again after prayers at Dodan Barracks in Ikoyi, Lagos, Tinubu did what few political leaders consistently manage — he centered the nation’s attention not on himself, but on those who stand daily in harm’s way to protect the country.

His call for prayers for the armed forces was more than ceremonial; it was deeply empathetic. He reminded Nigerians that while many of us were celebrating with family and enjoying the comfort of our homes, there are men and women in uniform — some nameless, many young — braving terrorist enclaves and bandit-infested zones so that others may sleep safely. “We must pray for them specifically,” he said. “They are making sacrifices in the challenges that we face today.”

This statement, simple as it was, revealed a profound understanding of leadership as stewardship. In echoing the idea that national security is not the responsibility of soldiers alone but a shared civic obligation, Tinubu subtly reframed prayer as a form of democratic participation. If Nigerians can be urged to pray for the country’s protectors, they are being asked — quietly but firmly — to take emotional ownership of the country’s peace, security, and unity.

It is a strategic form of nationalism, couched in the moral grammar of faith. And it works. The call to prayer is not just religious; it is psychological — anchoring every Nigerian to the idea that our collective wellbeing is interconnected, and that our differences must not dilute our shared destiny.

Both the infrastructural advocacy and the spiritual exhortation reflect what is increasingly becoming the signature of President Tinubu’s administration: intentional inclusion. He is building with vision and governing with empathy.

Read Also: No fight between Ooni and I, says Alaafin

Critics who try to paint his administration as favouring certain regions were firmly rebuffed in his remarks. “We are not nepotic,” the President emphasized. “We are inclusive.” It was not just rhetoric — it was backed with geographical data, progress reports, and state-by-state milestones. The Sokoto-Badagry Superhighway is not in the South; it is not in the North; it is across Nigeria. Its benefits will be harvested by truck drivers and traders, farmers and exporters, mothers and students — from Illela in Sokoto to Badagry in Lagos.

This sense of shared benefit is critical in a country where regional marginalisation — real or perceived — has often been the root of resentment. Tinubu’s administration appears aware of this history and is attempting to write a new one — one kilometre at a time.

Similarly, his Sallah message was devoid of ethnic or religious lines. He spoke as Commander-in-Chief, but also as a father of the nation. His call for compassion toward the vulnerable, for unity among citizens, and for remembrance of sacrifice, was the voice of a leader who sees Nigeria not as a battleground of factions but as a family of faiths and hopes.

President Tinubu’s week may have started quietly in Lagos, but it crescendoed with clarity, purpose, and humanity. He defended the integrity of his legacy projects with data and transparency. He cast infrastructure not just as a physical endeavour but as a moral duty to connect people. And in urging prayers for the armed forces, he pulled every Nigerian into the sacred enterprise of nation-building.

Infrastructure alone does not make a great nation. But when it is backed by inclusion, transparency, and a leader who calls not just for contracts but for prayers — then you begin to see the architecture of something truly lasting.

A Week of Diplomacy, Recognition, and Reunion in Lagos

Besides the very significant events of Thursday and Friday was the flurry of activity on Tuesday. The most remarkable of the Tuesday engagements was the conferment of one of Nigeria’s highest national honours, the Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic (CFR), on American billionaire philanthropist and Microsoft co-founder, Bill Gates. The brief but high-profile ceremony took place at the President’s private Ikoyi residence, underscoring both the personal importance of the event and the diplomatic message behind it.

In Tinubu’s words, the recognition was not merely ceremonial. It was rooted in decades of Gates’ contributions to public health, education, digital innovation, and agricultural development in Nigeria and across Africa. “Bill Gates’ contributions have saved millions through the Gates Foundation and many such initiatives, uplifted communities, and inspired global action,” Tinubu wrote via his official X (formerly Twitter) handle.

The honour symbolised a deepening of ties between Nigeria and philanthropic international networks, but it also spoke volumes about Tinubu’s vision: a Nigeria that is open for partnership, innovation, and global cooperation. In a world increasingly shaped by digital and biotech revolutions, honouring a figure like Gates is a signal of where Nigeria wants to position itself.

Yet, as powerful as that moment was, it was not the only political theatre staged at the President’s Ikoyi residence that Tuesday.

In a move that caught many by surprise, Tinubu also hosted the Governor of Osun State, Senator Ademola Adeleke, his elder brother and respected industrialist Chief Adedeji Adeleke, and the globally celebrated Afrobeats star David Adeleke, better known as Davido. The optics were rich in political symbolism and cultural unity.

Governor Adeleke, a PDP governor, has often been seen as occupying a different political space from Tinubu. Yet, in Lagos, they shared smiles, handshakes, and conversation, signaling the President’s ongoing efforts at national reconciliation and inclusive governance. In Chief Adeleke, Tinubu acknowledged the role of private enterprise in Nigeria’s development. And with Davido, he recognized the role of culture and soft power — a sector in which Nigeria now stands as an undisputed global leader.

That same Tuesday, Tinubu also met with Governor Siminalayi Fubara of Rivers State, a man currently suspended amid a state of emergency in the oil-rich region. Although the details of the conversation remain undisclosed, the timing of the meeting — held amidst a charged political atmosphere in Rivers — suggested behind-the-scenes efforts to restore calm and constitutional order.

Earlier in the week, on Monday, the President had offered warm congratulations to Bashir Bayo Ojulari, Group Chief Executive Officer of the NNPC Limited, who turned 60. Tinubu described Ojulari as an “accomplished energy professional” whose leadership is vital to Nigeria’s economic growth and energy security. This tribute was more than personal; it was a quiet reaffirmation of Tinubu’s focus on stabilizing Nigeria’s oil and gas sector as part of his Renewed Hope Agenda.

Midweek, the President celebrated another icon, Chief Oyin Jolayemi, a distinguished industrialist who clocked 85. In his message, Tinubu lauded Jolayemi’s “grass-to-grace” journey, calling his life a reflection of resilience and hard work. On the same day, he welcomed Pastor Tunde Bakare, who came bearing what was described as a “message of national vision.” Such meetings, steeped in thought leadership and spiritual foresight, point to Tinubu’s ongoing attempt to harmonize moral authority with political leadership.

By Thursday, the mood turned reflective. The President mourned the passing of Professor Jibril Aminu, a former Minister of Education and one of Nigeria’s most respected elder statesmen. He paid tribute to Aminu’s “erudition and brilliance,” describing his career as one that brought intellectual gravitas to the corridors of power.

And on Friday, the President extended his condolences on the death of former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Mohammed Lawal Uwais, calling him a “phenomenal jurist and statesman.” Tinubu praised the late Justice for serving the nation with “honour, courage, and exceptional integrity.”

The week, in sum, was a blend of solemnity, celebration, diplomacy, and subtle political signaling. From his use of infrastructure to unite further to his aim at strengthening security, the global recognition of Gates to the local optics of hosting governors and artistes, and from honouring the departed, President Tinubu once again demonstrated the art of governing by gesture — where every meeting, every message, and every handshake carries a layered meaning. In Lagos, last week, it was diplomacy with a distinctly Nigerian touch.

June 8, 2025