The Nation Newspaper

Category: Sunday

  • Tinubu at 73: A President’s Selfless Reflection

    Tinubu at 73: A President’s Selfless Reflection

    For the fourth consecutive year, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu chose to forego the usual fanfare that typically accompanies his birthday, instead opting for a solemn observance centered around prayers and national reflection. As he turned 73, the President’s decision to mark this milestone with special prayers at the National Mosque in Abuja was a continuation of his deeply ingrained commitment to Nigeria’s collective well-being over personal celebrations.

    The annual Bola Tinubu Colloquium, once a hallmark of his birthday celebrations, was last held in 2021. Since then, pressing national concerns repeatedly compelled the President to set aside personal traditions in favour of actions that underscore his empathy for the plight of Nigerians. The first indication of this shift came in 2022, when Tinubu abruptly cancelled the 13th edition of the colloquium in response to the tragic Abuja-Kaduna train attack. In his own words, he could not, in good conscience, celebrate while fellow Nigerians were mourning.

    That moment set a precedence that has since defined his approach to commemorating his birthday. In 2023, then-President-elect Tinubu again eschewed festivities, choosing instead to observe his birthday with prayers, mindful of the economic and security challenges facing the country. By 2024, fully immersed in the responsibilities of the presidency, he continued this pattern, redirecting attention from personal accolades to national supplication.

    This year, his birthday coincided with the conclusion of Ramadan and the subsequent Eid-el-Fitr celebrations, a time traditionally spent in Lagos, his political and personal stronghold. However, President Tinubu, fully aware of the inevitable outpouring of goodwill and celebration that Lagosians would extend to him, deliberately decided to remain in Abuja. His rationale was simple yet profound: the nation’s current reality demanded sobriety and prayers, not extravagant merriment.

    Beyond the symbolism of self-sacrifice, Tinubu’s decision spoke volumes about his leadership ethos. He has consistently demonstrated that his commitment to Nigeria transcends personal rituals and traditions. As President, his focus has been on economic revitalization, national unity, and ensuring that Nigerians see tangible improvements in their daily lives. This latest decision aligned seamlessly with his broader vision of a Nigeria where leadership was about service and self-denial for the greater good.

    The significance of Tinubu’s choice cannot be overstated. In an era where political leaders often embrace grandiose birthday celebrations, he stood out by making a statement of humility and national solidarity. His decision to dedicate the day to prayers for Nigeria’s peace, progress, and prosperity reflects his deep understanding of the country’s needs and his unwavering belief in divine intervention for national healing.

    Critics might have argued that birthdays are personal and should not bear the weight of national issues, but Tinubu’s actions suggests otherwise. For him, leadership is about setting an example. His conscious decision to put Nigeria’s challenges at the forefront—even on a day that could have been about personal joy—reinforces his credibility as a leader who prioritizes the people’s welfare above all else.

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    This year’s birthday prayers were not just about personal gratitude; they were a call to all Nigerians to come together in prayer and collective introspection. Tinubu has consistently urged citizens to pray for national unity, healing, and guidance. He understands that beyond policy frameworks and economic strategies, the spiritual resilience of a nation plays a crucial role in its growth and stability.

    The decision to forgo celebrations also has deeper roots in Tinubu’s personal philosophy. Throughout his political career, he has shown an inclination toward pragmatism and sacrifice. His tenure as Lagos State governor between 1999 and 2007 saw a relentless push for reforms that often required tough choices. This same willingness to put the country ahead of personal gains has continued into his presidency.

    His leadership style, marked by a results-driven approach, has always been about long-term gains rather than immediate gratification. His economic policies and infrastructural initiatives bear testimony to this, as he remains committed to making difficult yet necessary reforms. The choice to mark his 73rd birthday with prayers rather than festivities is simply an extension of this ideology.

    Nigeria’s current economic and security landscape also provide a backdrop to Tinubu’s decision. The nation continues to grapple with inflation, unemployment, and insecurity in some regions. While his administration has rolled out various initiatives to address these concerns, Tinubu understands that healing a nation is both a political and a spiritual process. By dedicating his birthday to prayers, he underscored the importance of unity, patience, and faith in the country’s collective journey toward progress.

    Moreover, Tinubu’s decision was a message to other political leaders. It was a call for more selflessness and a reminder that true leadership requires sacrifices. In a political climate where many still cling to ostentation, Tinubu’s choice to remain understated on his birthday was a quiet yet powerful statement about the kind of governance Nigeria needs.

    His move also resonated with many ordinary Nigerians, who saw it as a reflection of shared struggles. Many citizens are themselves facing economic hardships and uncertainties. By aligning himself with their reality, Tinubu reinforced the perception that he is not detached from the challenges of everyday Nigerians.

    As Nigerians reflect on this gesture, it serves as an opportunity for collective contemplation on the values of selflessness and national unity. Tinubu’s leadership philosophy is clear: Nigeria first, always. And in this moment of prayer and solemnity, his message to Nigerians is equally clear—hope, resilience, and faith would pave the way for a stronger nation.

    Looking ahead, Tinubu’s decision to prioritize national healing over personal celebration sets a tone for his administration. It indicates that for him, leadership is about setting priorities right, making difficult choices, and leading by example. As he moves into the next phase of his presidency, Nigerians can expect more of such symbolic, yet profound gestures that reinforce his commitment to their well-being.

    At 73, Tinubu remaines as committed as ever to Nigeria’s progress. His journey from a political strategist to the highest office in the land has been marked by unwavering dedication and an unrelenting focus on national development. His choice to once again skip elaborate birthday festivities was a testament to his understanding that true leadership is about serving others—even on days that could otherwise have been about oneself.

    For Nigerians, this act of humility and devotion is not just about Tinubu—it is about the nation as a whole. It is a reminder that in times of challenges, the greatest gift a leader can give is not a display of wealth or power, but a commitment to unity, progress, and the collective good. As Tinubu turns 73, he reinforces the idea that leadership, at its core, is about service—and that principle, more than any grand celebration, will define his legacy.

    In a week that marked his birthday, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu maintained a busy schedule, balancing governance with personal reflection. Choosing to commemorate his birthday in solemn prayers and supplications for the nation, he demonstrated his unwavering commitment to Nigeria’s progress. Yet, beyond the quiet moments of reflection, the President engaged in a flurry of activities that underscored his dedication to national unity, diplomacy, and development.

    The President’s week began on a somber note as he extended condolences to the Governor of Katsina State, Dr. Dikko Umaru Radda, on the passing of his 93-year-old mother. Tinubu’s empathy was again evident when he mourned the loss of Ebunoluwa Esther Ojelabi, wife of Lagos APC chairman, Pastor Cornelius Ojelabi, and later, the untimely death of Bisola Kola-Daisi, daughter of former Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi. These gestures reinforced his deep connection with Nigerians in times of grief.

    Amid the solemnity, Tinubu found cause for celebration as he felicitated with notable Nigerians, including former Deputy Speaker and Imo State Governor Emeka Ihedioha, Fuji music icon Adewale Ayuba, and the Elerinmo of Erinmo Ijesa, Oba Michael Odunayo Ajayi, on their birthdays. His recognition of these individuals highlighted his appreciation for leadership, culture, and traditional institutions in national development.

    On the governance front, President Tinubu made key appointments to strengthen various institutions. He approved new governing councils and principal officers for the Federal University of Technology, Iyin Ekiti, and Federal University of Health Sciences, Otukpo. He also bolstered the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) with four new appointments and appointed leaders to the River Basin Development Authorities. His commitment to institutional efficiency continued with appointments to 23 federal agencies, including the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) and the National Automotive Development Council.

    Sports and youth development were not left out, as Tinubu ignited the Torch of Unity to commence the countdown to the National Sports Festival, reaffirming his administration’s commitment to sports as a vehicle for national cohesion.

    The pinnacle of the week’s engagements was his diplomatic meeting with Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama. As Chairman of ECOWAS, Tinubu emphasized the importance of dialogue in resolving tensions with Sahelian nations Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger. His discussion with Mahama underscored ECOWAS’ commitment to regional stability, economic cooperation, and security—a significant step towards fostering unity within West Africa.

    Rounding off the week, the President ordered a manhunt for the killers of hunters in Edo State, showcasing his resolve to combat insecurity.

    From solemn prayers to pivotal diplomatic talks, Tinubu’s week reflected his unwavering dedication to governance, regional peace, and national unity.

    It is a new week and we all have our expectations, we just need to hold our horses till the next move is made.

  • SNAPSONG 251

    SNAPSONG 251

    State-of-the-Nation Snaps. (Part 3)

    (Dancing DISCOS and their distribution of Darkness)

    Do you know how it feels

         When the nation’s outrage

    Surges sky-high with NEPA’s outage

         And our few joyful moments

    Drop and sink like hapless stones

    Do you know how it feels

         When darkness eats your night

    And powerless hours undo your day

         While failing factories dip you deeper

    In the abyss of penury’s pain

    Do you know how it feels

         When the fridge turns into a furnace

    And the microwave oven becomes

         A grave of macro miseries

    Shrouded in spider webs and silent neglect

    Do you know how it feels

         When the National Grid collapses

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    Like a house of children’s cards

         Hapless victims of the greed      

    Of Eating Chiefs and visionless czars

    Budget after budget

         Billion after billion

    Endless rounds of mindless resolutions

         Our rulers balance their books

    With graft and galloping debts  

    BAND A, BAND B, BAND X, BAND Y

         DISCO companies never falter

    In their distribution of darkness

         In a sad, groping country

    Where the National Grid succumbs to the National Greed

  • ‘Why I wrote two books on Tinubu’

    ‘Why I wrote two books on Tinubu’

    In keeping with the tradition of “emi lokan”, a Yoruba saying made popular by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu while he was campaigning for presidency, it is time for the public presentations of two new books written on him, The Pathfinder: The Life and Politics of an African Politician and The Blueprint: How Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu Transformed Lagos State.

    In the line of following the practice of the popular saying which roughly translates to “it’s my turn”, the books, published by the Topseal Communications Limited, are being planned to be unfolded to the public to coincide with the commemoration of President Tinubu’s birthday this March.

    Both books are written by Taiwo Ogundipe, an author and veteran journalist.

    The Pathfinder details the accounts of Tinubu’s life and politics from the early years, his education, his brillant professional career as an accountant, his engaging political activities, his ground-breaking two-term tenure as helmsman of Lagos State, his active post gubernatorial period, his unique leadership in the political landscape of the country that led to the formation of All Progressive Congress (APC) and his midwifing the election of Ex-President Muhammed Buhari.

    The Pathfinder is written to highlight the essential Tinubu; documents his struggles and accomplishments, and show the value of his political dexterity in the context of nation building. The book also provides a useful insight into the background that shaped a political figure that has come to represent progressive politics in Nigeria.

    The book is lucid and engaging, enriched by Ogundipe’s journalistic background. It is unprecedented as a penetrating deeply enlightening portrait of a personality whose history has so far been largely presented superficially. Ogundipe brings a unique perspective to the project, which anyone interested in Nigeria’s democratic evolution will find invaluable.

    On the other hand, The Blueprint is an engaging documentation of the financial strategy and the foundation that Tinubu laid for the enduring economic development of Lagos State. The compelling Lagos economic story, especially during the tenure of Asiwaju Tinubu as governor, is one that has to be told.

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    The two books have garnered the endorsement of President Tinubu who was personally involved in their evolution. He got his trusted associates to scrutinise the manuscripts. He also contributed to financing the production and printing of especially The Pathfinder, which was done in the United States. The printed copies have since been stored up in his custody awaiting eventual public presentation. In the course of developing the books, Tinubu coined a pet name for the author, “akowe kowura”, which loosely translates to “the man with the golden pen”.

    The book projects are important historical documents in this era when the Federal Government is reintroducing History back into the school curriculum. It is therefore inevitable for President Tinubu to support and push the projects just as he stood up for Femi Adeshina’s book on Buhari’s tenure, Working for Buhari.

    Rave reviews

    The Pathfinder has garnered some rave reviews. Sam Omatseye, writer, columnist and Chairman of Editorial Board of The Nation Newspapers wrote of the book: “Once in a generation, a leader erupts to inspire and define his times. A book inevitably emerges to tell the story. Asiwaju Bola Tinubu is that man for this era and The Pathfinder is that book.”

    Segun Ayobolu, a columnist and former Chief Press Secretary to Ex-Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu wrote of the book: “The book, The Pathfinder, is a rigorous attempt to dissect the essence of the man Bola Tinubu – his life and politics – since his emergence on the political scene of the country. The book traces his root, growing up years, adulthood, professional life and his foray into politics, which has turned him into an icon ….

    “Mr Taiwo Ogundipe, veteran journalist and author, documents for history in this enthralling book, The Pathfinder, (such details of the momentous events and achievements of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s tenure as Governor of Lagos State).  Those who have read Ogundipe’s bestselling book on the mercurial General Murtala Mohammed titled The Hurricane, will not be surprised at the muscularity and vitality of his prose, his perceptual acuity and the vividness of his imagination. There is no doubt that scores, even hundreds of books, will yet be written on Tinubu’s epochal role in Nigeria’s development but Taiwo Ogundipe’s offering is sure to occupy a unique place in the growing corpus.”

    Professor Segun Gbadegesin, retired Professor of Philosophy and former interim Dean, College of Arts and Sciences, Howard University, USA also wrote: “Taiwo Ogundipe, the author of this masterpiece on the life and politics of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has done a wonderful job of placing the subject of his research in the center of the democratic struggles with its fits and turns, failures and achievements since the beginning of the ill-fated Third Republic. From being a consummate professional in the finance industry, where he was already a force to reckon with, and where he made his fortune, Tinubu saw the need for thoughtful and visionary citizens to intervene in the rough and tumble of politics.”

    The making of The Pathfinder

    Taiwo Ogundipe started work on The Pathfinder since Tinubu’s first year as governor of Lagos State, researching and interviewing numerous people for the project. Ogundipe was so committed to seeing the project to fruition that he had to forego his opportunity for post graduate studies in the United States of America, and come back to Nigeria for the then proposed launch of the book a few years back.

    About the author

    Taiwo Ogundipe has had a distinguished career in journalism, working with various media houses. He started as a reporter with the then The Democrat newspapers based in Kaduna, after which he joined ThisWeek magazine as a senior reporter. He thereafter moved to the Daily Times as a senior writer and ran a very popular column in the then widest circulating Sunday Times. He later joined The Concord press as an assistant editor and edited the weekly Midweek Concord. He eventually became a member of the editorial board of ThisDay newspapers and pioneered a very popular column on Sunday. He was until recently an Associate Editor at The Nation newspapers.

    Ogundipe is also a talented television and film writer/producer. He has created, written and produced a number of highly rated programmes on the network service of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), and the African Independent Television (AIT), notably SPACS, a detective series and MAGNATE, a soap opera.

    He is also the author of the widely acclaimed The Hurricane, a biography of the late General Murtala Muhammed. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo wrote the foreword to that book.

    He also wrote Henry Kissinger, the African Mission and Henry Kissinger, the Metamorphosis of an American Diplomat, both of which are available on the Amazon publishing outlet.

    He is currently working on releasing The Angel of Love, the biography of the late tele-evangelist, Pastor Bimbo Odukoya of The Fountain of Life Church.

  • Opposition coalition finally birthed

    Opposition coalition finally birthed

    The much-awaited coalition of opposition political parties expected to give the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) a run for its money in the 2027 elections may have been birthed. The birth was, however, inauspicious. Some of the key inspirers of the coalition were absent from the first media engagement purporting to have been carried out at the behest of the coalition. At the head of the coalition’s press engagement were former vice president Atiku Abubakar, former Kaduna State governor Nasir el-Rufai, former Secretary to the Government of the Federation Babachir David Lawal, and a representative of Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP), Tanko Yinusa. The other names mentioned in association with the coalition, to wit, Kayode Fayemi and Rotimi Amaechi, reportedly took permission to be absent.

    As this column suggested last week about the coalition, other than the glacial Alhaji Atiku and the imperious Mallam el-Rufai, the other political big wigs associated with the coalition would bide their time and hedge their bets in a clever demonstration of extreme caution. They would like to see which way the cats jump before leaping into the chasm. They have not disappointed. Going by the inauspiciousness of the coalition’s birth last week, and the damp squib it turned out to be, they would be glad they showed foresight. The coalition’s media engagement was fixated on the Rivers State emergency proclamation. Predictably, the leaders launched into a tirade against President Bola Tinubu whose administration they described as autocratic. The group called for the reversal of the proclamation. They said little else. They probably sensed that the emergency issue was the hot-button issue of the moment, and it would live up to its billing of serving to launch the coalition and impress its aims on Nigerians.

    The coalition’s timing was awful. Not only are Nigerians largely ambivalent to the proclamation of emergency in Rivers, even those who oppose it have shown less vehemence than those who support it. If the coalition would oppose the proclamation, perhaps they could offer the public a less partisan and demonstrably clear-sighted analysis of an alternative way of managing a very bad and potentially explosive situation. Emotions and hysteria were unlikely to help the coalition strike a powerful public pose or convince Nigerians that they were not witnessing the antics of desperate power grabbers. In short, the coalition did not make an impression, certainly not a positive impression. They could of course address the subject matter, for it was clearly relevant, but they should have done it as concerned patriots and delinked it from any electoral coalition.

    It was clear last week that the so-called coalition was inchoate. Does the country need a coalition or even a merger? Absolutely. The ruling party needs to be kept on its toes, and the public would appreciate any group that opens their eyes to credible alternatives. Indeed, the problem last week was not that Alhaji Atiku and Mallam el-Rufai stoked the embers of discord or tried to present an alternative; the problem was that they chose a topic they were neither emotionally nor intellectually capable of addressing with conviction. They misjudged the country’s mood, having spoken to their inner caucus and listened only to themselves. The painstaking consideration and dissection of issues that should presage their press engagement was obviously not done. Having adopted a tunnel vision of the issue in contention, they went prematurely public on behalf of the coalition, making a hash of it that newspapers of the following day struggled to accommodate the news on prominent pages.

    But perhaps the most damning part of the whole fiasco last Thursday was that the two or three eminent political personalities who conducted the media engagement – all of them controversial figures and perhaps long past their ideational prime – gave the impression that they did it on behalf of the coalition. Some excitable social and print media analysts suggested that the coalition leaders who addressed the media spoke to a political storm gathering in the horizon, and palpable anger wafting through the atmosphere; but in reality, the men at the high table cut a dismal and isolated picture, nearly all of them wearing forlorn looks. The said analysts spuriously likened the coalition to the one that birthed the APC in 2013, a comparison that is so far-fetched that it is incredible any reporter could make that mistake. When the APC eventually went public, their outing had been preceded by hard and comprehensive cogitations about the aims and objectives of the coalition, its ideology, finances, and leadership. They were clear what they felt was impracticable: a coalition. They, therefore, opted for merger. The Alhaji Atiku-led coalition has neither engaged in any such cogitations nor found an ideological or administrative fulcrum to balance the group. All the men at the high table last Thursday are expert joiners who thrive on other people’s foundations, not founders, and certainly not ideologues, despite Mallam el-Rufai’s vaunted oratory and academic brilliance.

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    It was only a few months ago that the group’s potential leaders considered the idea of merger. Many of them, including New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) leader Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso who was also approached, dismissed the idea as a flight of fancy. Worse, after many false starts and fainthearted attempt to retake the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), a task now complicated by the judicial loss to the Nyesom Wike camp of the national secretary’s position, Alhaji Atiku has probably come to the conclusion that he seems partyless in the real sense of the word. He could, therefore, not influence or control the PDP. He might soon defect to another party, perhaps the Social Democratic Party (SDP), and join the fierce and unabating struggle for dominance and positions. Mallam el-Rufai was himself in the throes of migrating from one party to the mutant SDP, and was not well placed to inspire any merger deal. The former SGF, Mr Lawal, had been perpetually fulminating on the political sidelines, and was for all intents and purposes also partyless. They were, therefore, realistic enough not to contemplate a merger. They were all best suited for a coalition. Yet, a coalition needs abundant spade work by brilliant and gifted founders who could concretise a vacuum, men and women who could conjure something from nothing, leaders who could suckle, wean and nurture any organism. As it stands today, none of the so-called coalition leaders fits the bill.

    As indicated in this place last week, except some phantom lightning strikes the primordial soup located in the imaginations of the coalition leaders, nothing of substance would emerge to present a serious, let alone formidable, opposition to the APC. The ruling party knows this, hence the party chairman, Abdullahi Ganduje’s sweeping and boastful assertions. The opposition coalition leaders also suspect this, and are dismayed by their own self-imposed impotence. Alarmingly, the public also know this and are mystified by the ineptitude of the hefty political leaders determined to unhorse the gifted equestrian, President Tinubu and his party, the APC. If Alhaji Atiku and Mallam el-Rufai wish to be taken seriously, they will need to return to the drawing board, assuming they can become what they are not built for, and manage their obsessions far better than they have done.

  • Fubara and state of emergency

    Fubara and state of emergency

    On Tuesday, President Bola Tinubu suspended the main democratic institutions of Rivers State when he proclaimed a state of emergency pursuant to Section 305 of the 1999 Constitution. The House of Assembly, Governor Siminalayi Fubara, and Deputy Governor Ngozi Odu were asked to step aside for six months. A sole administrator, former Naval Chief of Staff Ibok-Ette Ibas, was appointed to run the state for six months in the first instance and restore normality. The National Assembly, in approving the president’s action, anticipated a shorter state of emergency period. In his broadcast, the president predicated his action on the implacability of the warring sides in the Rivers crisis, and the implications for critical national infrastructure, particularly two pipelines vandalised in the Ogoni area of the state on Monday.

    The proclamation was almost spontaneous, coming on Tuesday hours after suspected militants blew up sections of the Trans Niger pipeline in Gokana Local Government Area of the state, disrupting electricity supply to parts of Abia State. Given the elaborate preparations necessary to deploy resources and troops to police the emergency, it is unlikely the pipelines vandalisation was anything more than a trigger. The president must have authorised the plan for a state of emergency days ahead of the proclamation. He was more likely to have been influenced by Mr Fubara’s frustrating and deliberate refusal or reluctance to give effect to the Supreme Court judgement of February 28 that compelled him to relate with the legitimate House of Assembly in budget presentation and screening of commissioners. Regardless of the propaganda the governor deployed, much of it not as clever as he thought, it was clear he had only feigned to implement the judgement.

    It is one thing to instigate a welter of court cases, many of them ending in a cul de sac, but it is another thing to deploy propaganda and arm-twisting to undermine the Supreme Court judgement. The governor was clever enough to understand that his tormentor and main antagonist in the Rivers crisis, former governor Nyesom Wike, was not as magnanimous in victory as the situation demanded. Recognising that the former governor’s triumphalism and hysteria had struck a negative impression on the minds of Riverians, Mr Fubara hoped that if he baited Mr Wike long enough, circumstances in the state could tilt the argument against both the House of Assembly and their main backer in Abuja. For the governor, the court defeat was too humiliating, perhaps unfair, and undeserving of implementation. He simply did not see the plausibility of relating with an enemy who had rubbed his nose in the defeat and kicked him in the groin.

    The pipeline vandalisation obviously took the crisis a notch further, with Abuja understanding clearly that Mr Fubara had remorselessly turned the ‘guns’ on the nation itself, a heinous crime against national security. But it is even more likely that the state of emergency proclamation was contingent upon factors more insidious. Apart from the governor’s plot to weaken or even invalidate the court’s judgement and render it ultimately nugatory, the presidency also suspected or feared that impeaching the governor could tilt the state into almost irreversible anarchy. Mr Wike had hyperbolically declared that heavens would not fall should the governor be impeached, oblivious to the fear that the state could indeed explode, but the federal government was unprepared to take chances. The presidency would not tie the hands of Mr Wike’s camp to fight back against Mr Fubara, for many reasons including politics, but it knew it had a more salient responsibility to the nation than considering and acknowledging its own political interests. It knew, probably from security reports and even common sense, that Mr Fubara would not go down quietly in the face of impeachment threats, an action that appeared to materialise in the pipeline vandalisation.

    Unfortunately for the governor, he had been quoted at a public function as instructing youths of the state not to be ‘perturbed’ about events in the state, but to ‘await instructions’ at the appropriate time. The vandalisation of the pipelines was interpreted as ‘instructions’ given to the youths or militants, while the governor did not condemn the violence or take proactive or reactive steps to ensure peace and order in the state. Mr Fubara’s serial tragic missteps, more than Mr Wike’s grandstanding and loquacity, contributed enormously to the proclamation of a state of emergency. With one stone, the president defused the violence anticipated over the fear of impeachment and the pipeline vandalisation that could have spiralled out of control damaging the economy and reinforcing other forms of violence if militants and other disaffected Nigerians sensed the weakness or dilatoriness of government. President Tinubu was more than willing to act in ways some legal experts interpret as constitutionally controversial rather than indulge a governor who sadly has a record nearly two years long of defying the law and the constitution.

    The proclamation of a state of emergency in Rivers State was unavoidable. The governor, much more than his enemy, Mr Wike, made that outcome inescapable. But there have been a lot of discussions about whether a state of emergency should involve suspending elected officials, in this case, the governor and the legislature. In the first instance, neither the president nor the constitution talked about emergency rule. Section 305 of the 1999 Constitution provides for the proclamation of a state of emergency, and the president in his speech also talked about the same thing. In addition, the constitution does not define the parameters of a state of emergency, how wide or deep. It only defines the conditions precedent to the proclamation. The president, too, perhaps anchoring his wide-ranging action on historical examples, simply left the public to infer the plausibility of how expansively the administration had gone in suspending democratic institutions.

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    Clearly, after the furore has died down, the National Assembly will take another look at Section 305 of the constitution and attempt to define its parameters, perhaps a little bit more rigidly than currently provided for. They will try to remove all ambiguities. But they must caution themselves in doing so because if the hands of a president is restrained or shackled too much, it could lead a governor as incautious as Mr Fubara to test the constitution to its inelastic limit. The Rivers governor was completely inured to the dangers constituted by his defiance and instigations. Right from when he allegedly inspired the arson on the legislative building, to when he approved its demolition, not to say his serial defiance of court judgements as he chose which judgements to take and which lawmakers to deal with, it was a mere short walk to constitutional and national security disaster. He indulged in these provocations because he was sure he had wrong-footed Mr Wike who had been painted as greedy, insatiable and meddlesome. Backed by a sizable percentage of Rivers elders, Mr Fubara paid less attention to fighting his cases in court than harnessing public anger against the Wike camp.

    If commentators on the Rivers crisis had been less partisan, they would have seen clearly that the emergency proclamations in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa under the Goodluck Jonathan administration differed markedly from that in Rivers. In the earlier three, they were designed to defeat insurgency or checkmate enemies without. In the 2004, 2006 and First Republic state of emergency proclamations, they were designed to quell internecine political conflicts threatening the republic in the affected states and regional administrations. In fact, the Dr Jonathan emergency proclamations had no pretext to be called state of emergency. They were nothing more than heightened military exercises heavily supported and bankrolled by the relevant state governments against Boko Haram insurgents. The classical definition of a state of emergency actually involves the suspension of civil and constitutional authorities. If the constitution left the definition unresolved or ambiguous, it is probably because it never countenanced the day when a Mr Fubara or Edo State’s Godwin Obaseki would destroy the legislature, bar lawmakers from doing their work, and instigate the populace in the classical dictatorial sense into taking the law into their own hands.

    There was no saving Mr Fubara last week. He should now concern himself with ensuring that he changes his mindset completely away from his natural instinct for autocracy to that of a democrat, even if it makes him a very awkward democrat. His statement rebutting the president claim about his involvement in Mondays vandalisation of pipelines does not show a man willing or capable of learning from his mistakes. He is fixated with Mr Wike, but the latter is not the governor. He is. To hope that the public would continue to conflate their distaste for Mr Wike’s obtruding methods with their support for his rashness in such a manner that extenuates the governor’s authoritarian methods is to chase shadows and doom both his return to office and his first term.

  • Rivers, state of emergency and saving bad case with strong hands

    Rivers, state of emergency and saving bad case with strong hands

    In a bold and necessary move, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has declared a state of emergency in Rivers State. This decision, made in response to escalating political turmoil and alarming security threats, underscores his commitment to preserving stability and protecting the lives and livelihoods of the people.

    The political crisis in Rivers had reached a boiling point, with the state legislature paralyzed, governance stalled, and tensions boiling over into violence. The President’s hand was forced by a series of explosions targeting critical oil and gas infrastructure—a stark indication that the crisis was spiralling out of control. The destruction of the Trans Niger Pipeline, an economic lifeline, was not just a local issue but a national emergency.

    Far from being a hasty decision, the state of emergency followed extensive consultations with key stakeholders. Before making the proclamation, President Tinubu convened a high-level security meeting with the National Security Adviser, the service chiefs, intelligence heads, and the Inspector-General of Police. The leadership of the National Assembly was also present, demonstrating the gravity of the situation.

    After hours of deliberation, and with fresh intelligence reports at hand, the President took the only course of action that could prevent further escalation. His decision was swift, precise, and, most importantly, constitutional.

    In his national address, Tinubu laid out the justifications for the proclamation. He pointed to the destruction of the Rivers State House of Assembly by Governor Siminalayi Fubara in December 2023, which has yet to be rebuilt. He referenced the Supreme Court’s ruling that declared the absence of a functional legislature as unconstitutional, warning that no state could function under such conditions.

    Read Also: Why NGF is silent on Rivers crisis, by DG Shittu

    “The state has been at a standstill since the crisis started, depriving its people of the dividends of democracy,” Tinubu stated.

    The suspension of Governor Fubara, his deputy, and all members of the state House of Assembly for six months is not an act of punishment but a necessary reset. In a democracy, elected officials must act in the interest of their constituents, not their political survival. The Rivers crisis had reached a point where governance was impossible. The executive and legislative arms were locked in a bitter standoff, and militant groups were exploiting the chaos to further destabilize the state.

    President Tinubu, in his characteristic wisdom, understood that an impartial administrator was needed—one with the experience and understanding of the region to navigate its complex political and security challenges. His choice of retired Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas as the Administrator of Rivers State is both strategic and practical.

    A former Chief of Naval Staff, Ibas is a man of discipline and deep knowledge of the Niger Delta’s terrain. His military background equips him to handle the security threats posed by militant groups, while his administrative experience positions him to stabilize governance. Importantly, he is not from Rivers State, ensuring neutrality in a highly polarized environment.

    The President has been clear: this is not military rule. The judiciary remains intact, and the administrator will not legislate. Instead, any necessary regulations will be subject to approval by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) and promulgated by the President. This careful balance ensures that while order is restored, democratic principles are upheld.

    The people of Rivers State have suffered enough. Political actors on both sides have failed them, prioritizing personal and factional interests over governance. With this intervention, President Tinubu has created a breathing space—a pause in hostilities that allows all parties to reassess their actions and return to the path of responsible leadership.

    His message is clear: Rivers State must not be allowed to descend into anarchy. The oil-rich region is too critical to Nigeria’s economy and security. Stability must be restored, and democracy must function.

    For those who question the necessity of this move, the recent explosions serve as a stark reminder of what was at stake. If decisive action had not been taken, the crisis could have escalated into a full-blown security catastrophe, with consequences not just for Rivers but for the entire country.

    As the initial six-month period unfolds, all eyes will be on Rivers State. The administrator’s ability to restore normalcy will be key. More importantly, political actors in the state must see this as a moment of reckoning. They must recognize that their mandate is not a personal prize but a responsibility to the people.

    The National Assembly will have its role to play by reviewing the emergency proclamation, but the ultimate resolution lies with the political leadership of Rivers. They must abandon the path of strife and work towards genuine reconciliation.

    President Tinubu has shown leadership at a critical moment. His decision was not just about resolving a political dispute but about protecting the fabric of Nigeria’s democracy. In times of crisis, true leadership is measured by the courage to act in the interest of the people. On this, the President has not faltered.

    For Rivers State, this is not an end but a new beginning—a chance to move from conflict to cooperation, from chaos to governance. With this intervention, there is hope that sanity will return, and the state will once again fulfill its potential as a beacon of economic and social progress.

    Steady Hand in Challenging Times

    President Tinubu once again demonstrated his unwavering commitment to governance, balancing a series of crucial engagements while addressing one of the most pressing political crises in recent history. Despite the weight of events in Rivers State, the President remained focused on his broader agenda—ensuring the nation’s progress in multiple spheres, from education and security to humanitarian efforts and national unity.

    The week began on a celebratory note as President Tinubu extended his congratulations to Dr. Fene Osakwe, the first African to win the prestigious Cyber Personality of the Year award in the United Kingdom. Osakwe’s historic achievement in cybersecurity not only highlighted Nigeria’s growing global influence in the digital space, but also underscored the administration’s commitment to excellence in innovation and technology. The President’s recognition of such feats sends a strong message: Nigerian talent is world-class and deserving of recognition.

    Yet, even in moments of celebration, the President did not lose sight of the human aspects of leadership. On the same day, he reached out to Dr. Tunji Olowolafe, expressing his condolences on the passing of his wife, Gbemisola Olutayo Olowolafe. Tinubu’s personal approach to governance—acknowledging not just policy and politics, but also the lives and losses of those who contribute to the nation’s progress—was once again evident.

    By Monday, the President was fully engaged in the critical task of nation-building. In a move that reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to strengthening higher education, he appointed the fiery priest, Bishop Matthew Kukah, as the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council of the Federal University of Applied Sciences, Kachia. Bishop Kukah’s deep intellectual background and moral authority make him an inspired choice for the role, reflecting Tinubu’s strategy of bringing respected and visionary leaders into public institutions.

    Later that day, governance met faith as the President hosted an Iftar dinner for members of the National Assembly, an event that transcended religious observance to become a platform for national unity. Representing the President, Vice President Kashim Shettima called on lawmakers to prioritize cohesion over division, a timely message as the nation navigates complex economic and political realities. A striking highlight of the evening was the House of Representatives’ donation of ₦705 million to support vulnerable Nigerians during Ramadan—a testament to the administration’s ongoing commitment to social welfare.

    By midweek, Tinubu made one of the most consequential decisions of his presidency: the swearing-in of Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (Rtd) as the Sole Administrator of Rivers State. With months of political unrest escalating into a full-blown crisis, the President’s decisive action was aimed at restoring stability and ensuring governance does not grind to a halt. Flanked by his closest advisers, Tinubu executed the swearing-in with the gravity the moment demanded, making it clear that the security and welfare of Nigerians remain his top priority.

    But even amid such high-stakes governance, Tinubu’s administration continued pushing forward reforms. On Wednesday, he approved the appointment of board members for the newly established Nigerian Independent System Operator (NISO), a critical step toward ensuring efficiency and transparency in the electricity sector. The reform signals Tinubu’s commitment to tackling Nigeria’s long-standing power supply issues with decisive policy action.

    Thursday saw the President commend the National Assembly for ratifying the state of emergency in Rivers State, emphasizing that national security must always supersede partisan considerations. His gratitude to lawmakers reflected an understanding that leadership, especially in times of crisis, requires cooperation across all arms of government.

    On the same day, tragedy struck in Karu, Abuja, with a devastating tanker explosion claiming many lives; the police put it at ten persons as at Friday. Tinubu responded swiftly, ordering a thorough investigation into the incident and directing immediate medical assistance for the injured. His ability to pivot from handling a political emergency to addressing an urgent humanitarian crisis speaks to the demands of leadership and his readiness to meet them.

    The President also made time to engage with traditional leadership, hosting the Asagba of Asaba, Obi Prof. Epiphany Azinge, and representatives of the Asaba Kingdom. Such meetings are more than ceremonial—they reinforce the administration’s respect for traditional institutions as vital stakeholders in national unity and development.

    As the week drew to a close, Tinubu turned to celebrating the contributions of distinguished Nigerians, honoring two exemplary figures—pharmacist and public health icon, Ifejola Arowolo at 80, and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Dr. Oluwakemi Pinheiro, at 60. These tributes, though seemingly symbolic, serve as reminders that nation-building is not only about policies but also about recognizing those who have shaped the country through their life’s work.

    Through the highs and the challenges of the week, one thing remained constant: Tinubu’s steady leadership. While the Rivers State emergency undoubtedly dominated national discourse, the President’s schedule reflected a leader who understands that governance is multifaceted. From education to humanitarian relief, security to economic reforms, and even moments of personal outreach, Tinubu’s week was a testament to his resolve to keep Nigeria moving forward, no matter the circumstances.

    Now that we are in a new week, which takes us to the end of the month of Ramadan, he is expected to spend time with family and his kin in Lagos, being a devout Moslem himself. We only need to wait to see as the week unfolds.

  • The Rivers state of emergency

    The Rivers state of emergency

    In a national broadcast on 18 March, 2025, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, exercising the powers conferred on him by Section 305 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended, declared a state of emergency in Rivers State to resolve the political logjam in the state arising from the feud between Governor Siminalayi Fubara and the Rivers State House of Assembly. The crisis had led to the demolition of the House of Assembly complex, the running of the state with only four or three legislators loyal to the Governor and the seizure of the salaries and entitlements of the 27 lawmakers whom he believed were disloyal to him and could impeach him. The terms of the state of emergency included the suspension for six months of Governor Fubara, his Deputy Governor (Mrs. Ngozi Odu) and the elected members of the House of Assembly and the nomination of an Administrator (Vice-Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas) to run the affairs of the state during the period.

    The President referred to the Supreme Court judgement of 28 February, 2025, which observed: “a government cannot be said to exist without one of the three arms that make up the government of a state under the 1999 Constitution as amended. In this case the head of the executive arm of the government has chosen to collapse the legislature to enable him to govern without the legislature as a despot. As it is there is no government in Rivers State.” He also noted: “The Supreme Court then made some orders to restore the state to immediate constitutional democracy.” Still, “both the House and the governor have not been able to work together. Both of them do not realise that they are in office to work together for the peace and good governance of the state.” He also noted: “The latest security reports made available to me show that between yesterday and today there have been disturbing incidents of vandalization of pipelines by some militants without the governor taking any action to curtail them.”

    Usually, on a controversial constitutional issue such as the declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State, the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) is expected to be the point of reference and the arbiter, and its opinions are expected to be definitive and authoritative. Unfortunately, in the present circumstance, the views of the NBA have not been of much help. For example, in its reaction to the state of emergency, an 18 March, 2025 release by the NBA President, Mazi Afam Osigwe, SAN, stated: “These [constitutional] provisions provide that a state of emergency declared by the President does not assume automatic validity. It requires legislative ratification within a defined timeframe to remain in effect.”

    The NBA further declared: “A state of emergency is an extraordinary measure that must be invoked strictly within constitutional limits. The removal of elected officials under the pretext of emergency rule is unconstitutional and unacceptable.” Mazi Afam Osigwe, SAN, then declared: “The NBA, therefore, emphasizes that the National Assembly should not approve the declaration of a state of emergency in Rivers State as the same is unconstitutional.”

    Read Also: Why NGF is silent on Rivers crisis, by DG Shittu

    Probably taking their cue from the NBA, the Peoples Democratic Party, through its National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, on 19 March, 2025, also said: “Section 305(2) of the Constitution clearly states that the President must transmit the proclamation to the National Assembly, which must approve it before it takes effect. Tinubu’s order for immediate implementation is a blatant violation of the Constitution.” Ologunagba further claimed: “The purported suspension of Governor Fubara is unconstitutional, impracticable, invalid, and completely out of the question. No provision of the Constitution empowers the President to dismantle a sub-national government or suspend a democratically elected governor under any circumstances.”

    However, some commentators have been more cautious. For example, Babatunde Ogala, SAN, in a TVC interview titled “I see Fubara return as governor after suspension is lifted – Ogala”, on 19 March, 2025 said: “In my opinion, I think NBA perhaps should have tarried a while before speaking out.” He then noted: “The first step the constitution prescribes is the proclamation; so that the President takes action first and goes for ratification. … It did not say that he must seek the consent first before proclamation. Proclamation comes first. He has to declare first before going to the National Assembly.”

    This view is consistent with Section 305(6)(b) of the 1999 Constitution which states: “(6) A Proclamation issued by the President under this section shall cease to have effect – … if it affects the Federation or any part thereof and within two days when the National Assembly is in session, or within ten days when the National Assembly is not in session, after its publication, there is no resolution supported by two-thirds majority of all the members of each House of the National Assembly approving the Proclamation.”

    Babatunde Ogala, SAN, further noted with respect to President Tinubu’s suspension of the Governor, Deputy Governor and the elected members of the Rivers State House of Assembly: “When you declare a state of emergency, it is unusual times … Let us wait for the National Assembly to say no, you cannot suspend. Those are his [the President’s] terms of the state of emergency, because the state of emergency is not just a blanket thing. He could declare a state of emergency and say we retain all structures. He could declare a state of emergency and say maybe it’s the legislative arm we are suspending.” 

    In addition, Babatunde Ogala, SAN, said: “The Supreme Court had consolidated about eight different appeals and the key thing the Supreme Court said – this is the highest court of the land – they had said the governor was … behaving like a despot, that governance had ceased in the state. … The Court made allusion to the demolition of the House of Assembly, how the House had been scuttled, how he was running the state without that other structure for governance. So, in clean conscience, can we really say there was a democratic structure in Rivers without a House of Assembly? … Nothing thus far has been done that is not in accordance with the Constitution. Nothing.”

    Honourable Justice (Prof.) Mojeed Owoade (rtd.) also observed, in a 19 March, 2025 Arise News interview: “The law is dicey. Nobody seems to know the limit of Section 305, except it is properly interpreted. … Yes, Section 188 talks about how a governor can be removed: impeachment, sickness, et cetera. No one is sure that that precludes removal in a state of emergency. Like I said, that is for interpretation.”

    Furthermore, popular Lagos-based lawyer, Mr. Jiti Ogunye, asserted in a TVC interview on “Beyond 100 Days with Nifemi Oguntoye” on 19 March, 2025: “I’m aware that a number of lawyers in Nigeria, including the Nigeria Bar Association, have contested the power of the President to suspend a governor and members of the House of Assembly while declaring a state of emergency. In all these public declarations or pontifications or enlightenments, as the case may be, nobody has been able to cite a precedent in Nigeria by which a court of law positively and categorically declared that kind of action by previous Presidents or Prime Minister to be illegal and unconstitutional. I’m a lawyer. Lawyers live by and they practise by precedents and decided cases … and so what has occurred largely will be regarded as enlightened opinion. I won’t say guesses. Enlightened opinions on what the issues are. … People are speaking too affirmatively when there is no guidance, case law guidance, on the subject.”

    Jiti Ogunye continued: “Historically in this country, declaration of a state of emergency on ‘a political crisis’ has always come with these kinds of suspension. … So, the point I’m making is that while there is nothing under Section 305 that clearly permits a President to take this step … there is no case law precedent prohibiting that conduct as we speak. So, all of us are then left with our own opinions.”

    The conflicting or contradictory or superficial or even emotional views of sundry legal practitioners have given room for a wide range of non-experts to pontificate magisterially on the constitutionality and legality of declaring the state of emergency by President Bola Tinubu and his suspension of Governor Fubara, his Deputy and the elected members of the House of Assembly. This situation has resulted in what is called the “Dunning-Kruger effect.”  According to Healthline.com, the Dunning-Kruger effect “is a type of cognitive bias [or delusional self-perception] that causes people to overestimate their knowledge or ability, particularly in areas with which they have little to no experience.” The debate on the state of emergency in Rivers State has therefore continued to be muddied with all sorts of sentimental outbursts and illogical arguments passing off as informed opinions.

    Meanwhile, as the Alhaji Atiku Abubakar-led coalition of opposition political parties was stoking dissent by the National Assembly members on 20 March, 2025, and directing or urging them not to approve President Tinubu’s declaration of the state of emergency in Rivers state, both arms of the National Assembly were critically examining the details of the declaration. At the end of the day, both the Senate and the House of Representatives approved both the declaration of the state of emergency and the suspension of the Governor, the Deputy Governor and elected members of the House of Assembly.

    It is heartening that in his speech at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, after his swearing in on 19 March, 2025 as the Administrator of Rivers State, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (rtd.), said that he recognised that the task before him was “to work together with other stakeholders to ensure that we bring peace, order and security and stability to the people and government of Rivers State and Nigeria at large”.

    In addition to these commitments, the Administrator should, as a matter of priority, pay the 27 legislators whose salaries and entitlements were stopped by Governor Fubara. He should also note that, arising from the Fubara-Legislature conflict, the elders in Rivers State have suffered collateral damage, with neither of the feuding sides respecting them. Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ibas (rtd.) therefore needs to do all he can to bridge the divide, restore confidence in the elders and get them to interact harmoniously for the benefit of the people of the state.

    Moreover, given the shambolic Local Government elections which held under Governor Fubara on 5 October, 2024 and have now been rightly declared null and void by the Supreme Court, it is important for the Administrator to organise new free and fair Local Government elections or at least prepare the ground for free and fair elections to hold into the offices of that very crucial level of government.

  • The recrudescence of criminal herders’ kidnapping activities in Southwest

    The recrudescence of criminal herders’ kidnapping activities in Southwest

    These infidels are back. They struck again this past week, killing five in Akure. Yes, infidels they are because were they true Muslims, though renegade Fulani murderous herders they are, there isn’t a chance in a million, they would have committed such gruesome murders during Sallah.

    No. I wasn’t surprised they are back, because they never really left these shores; not since the Muhammadu Buhari – era Fulani armada Southwards when, in spite of a so – called ban on interstate movements,  thousands of these vermins were freighted down in Dangote -like trucks, complete with cows, AK 47 rifles, arrows and daggers and intentionally  planted in our forests in Southern Nigeria, among them elderly Almajiri’s then recently expelled by Northern state governors. The latter are now scavengers demeaning most Southern cities, begging.

    I shouted myself hoarse on these pages but to no avail.

    For instance my article of 17 May, 2020 titled:”Waves and waves of Northerners coming South despite ban on interstate travel – What is a presidential order now worth?”, contained an advisory to Professor Agboola Gambari, then the new Chief of Staff to President Buhari which I would like to quote in full.

    It reads:”His appointment can only come as a surprise to those who do not know him as a keen Arewa ideologue. I expect him to use this opportunity to achieve at least two things, nationally, and personally.

    Given his advanced age and extensive experience at the world level, especially, having served in places like Myanmar and Iraq, two absolutely atrocious countries, representing the U.N Secretary – General, he should be able to assist the President in mending a divided and painfully agonising Nigeria. With the massive resurgence of banditry in Katsina, Kaduna and Zamfara portraying the government as weak, he should be able to dig deep into both the Boko Haram and banditry conundrum, with a view to reaching an agreement which, apart from stanching the ferocious blood-letting

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    on both sides , will also put a stop to these North-induced ‘burning’ of billions and billions of naira, on security – related matters, which the country could have put to much better use especially in that same part of the country which accounts for more than 70 percent of the  national poverty index.

    He should also devote some quality time to seriously interrogate the nuisance the Fulani Nationality Movement, (FUNAM) is fast turning to. Only on May 2, 2020, that atavistic body issued a statement, saying, inter alia, to Northerners now being furiously transported southwards: “We your leaders held meetings across the key Northern States of Sokoto, Bornu, Katsina,  Kano, Yobe, Kebbi, Bauchi and Kaduna. Our resolve is that Northern youths should move enmasse to Southern States. Relaunch the mass movement in ways they have never seen … If the towns and cities are hostile,  hang out on the street corners, in uncompleted buildings, occupy the forests, pitch tents, make any where available as your abode, your rest places, your home.We urge you to be armed. The infidels may want to attack you”. Were this statement made by any other group in the country, the Nigerian police would have become unusually hyperactive, but a whole two weeks after, mum has been the word from both the police and the other security agencies”.

    Two issues emerge from the above. One, the nefarious elements are back, killing everywhere in the South but now more viciously in the Southwest where there have been several instances in the past few weeks, amongst them the notorious seizure of many surveyors, at a go, in Ondo state and the absolutely harrowing experiences of Prince Eniola Ojajuni, the Afenifere National Youth President and his team who, on February 17, 2025,  became victims of this growing wave of kidnappings by Fulani herdsmen in Southwest Nigeria. Ojajuni has since escalated their traumatic ordeal to the whole world. While this portrays weakness on the part of government, at all levels – Federal, state and at Local Government, it has shown more poignantly, that the killers planted in Southern forests a few years back have now matured and, are ready to start reaping benefits for their patrons who  probably reside very far away from Southern Nigeria.

    I say this because, according to Ojajuni: “The kidnappers, armed with over 20 AK-47 rifles, operated with precision, coordination, and alarming confidence. They used my phone to track, negotiate, and monitor communications, revealing their advanced technological capabilities. These criminals have established well organized kidnapping camps across Southwest Nigeria, strategically positioned for their operations:Ondo State – 27 camps, Ekiti State – 16 camps, Osun State – 7 camps and, Ogun State – 5 camps. Their reign of terror targets innocent travelers, extorts families, and destabilizes communities with impunity”.

    The recent resurgence of kidnapping activities by criminal Fulani herders has sent shockwaves throughout Nigeria, raising concerns about the safety and security of citizens in the country.

    This phenomenon is not new, as the Southwest has witnessed sporadic incidents of kidnapping and banditry by Fulani herders in the past. However, the latest wave of attacks has been particularly brazen and widespread, prompting calls for urgent action by government and security agencies.

    One of the most disturbing aspects of these attacks is the seeming impunity with which these criminal elements operate.

    Despite the presence of security personnel in the affected areas, they have continued to carry out their nefarious activities with alarming frequency.

    This has led to widespread fear and anxiety among the people, with many residents living in constant dread of being kidnapped or attacked.

    Shockingly, one victim somewhere in the North, who managed to overpower, and killed his attacker in self defence, recently saw the Supreme Court confirm his death sentence, obviously suggesting extra judicial considerations.

    The impact of these kidnappings on the affected communities has, of course, been devastating. Many families have been torn apart, with loved ones being held captive while the killers wait for ransom. The emotional trauma and psychological distress cannot be overestimated. Nor are the economic consequences less severe as many businesses, especially farms, have been devastated and forced to shut down, whilst the patrons of these irritants smile to the bank.

    Unfortunately, despite the efforts of security personnel,  kidnappings have continued unabated.

    It has now become obvious that in addition to various state’s efforts, for instance Amotekun in the Southwest, Federal authorities must now consider establishing  a special task force to tackle the menace head on. The task force should consist of personnel from all the security agencies- the police, military and, for purposes of intelligence gathering, the Department of State Services (DSS).

    In conclusion, concerning the  return of this menace in the Southwest, state governments must be encouraged to do more than hitherto, especially by further arming Amotekun which has done tremendously well, in keeping these criminal Fulanis out for quite some time.

    No amount of resources should be spared in putting increased technology at their disposal in addition to enhancing their investigative capabilities, especially as they are dealing with a very dangerous, and stealthy, people. All must be done to bring Amotekun to speed if we would like to sleep with our eyes closed in Yoruba land.

    Kudos, in advance, to our state governors, and well meaning stakeholders, as they take these onerous responsibilities in hand.

    Odua a gbe wa o.

  • The rise, rise and rise of capitalism (XII)

    The rise, rise and rise of capitalism (XII)

    The population of Europe was on the rise at the beginning of the Industrial revolution. Looking back, this increase was at least partly instrumental in pushing this revolution forward. The revolution required a large population to push it and two processes merged to produce a situation in which the outcome was greater than the sum of the two processes.

    The population of Europe had increased steadily since the end of plague years during which the continent lost about half of its population. For various reasons, Europeans began to colonise other parts of the world where the overspill of their increasing population was accommodated. Mostly in the New World; the Portuguese in Brazil, the Spaniards in the rest of what we now call Latin America and the British in what became the USA. In the aftermath of the wars which led to the independence of countries in Latin America, many settlers came over from Spain and Italy to settle in Uruguay, Chile, Columbia and others in that region turning the Americas into European settled countries. In this way, the European diaspora spread all over the Americas having slaughtered the indigenous people and imported millions of Africans to do all the heavy lifting for no pay. This led to a situation in which European capital accumulation prepared the way for total world domination and the rise of capitalism.

    As long ago as 1823, the USA declared herself the superpower in the Western hemisphere. In doing so, she sealed off Europe from the Americas to prevent any further colonisation from Europe. At the time of the promulgation of what is now known as the Monroe doctrine, the USA had no power to enforce the doctrine but it stayed on the books and became USA policy. Later on, the USA became powerful enough to dictate policy to her hemisphere neighbours and she could shield the Western hemisphere from European powers. The USA was invited to the Berlin conference even though she had no interest in hacking out any colonies in the backwoods of Africa. Her interest in colonies with the potential for capitalist exploitation was restricted to her neighbours in Latin America. The invitation to Berlin was simply an acknowledgement that American interests could no longer be ignored. European powers on their own welcomed this arrangement because it allowed them to carry out their designs on the African continent without looking over their shoulders at what American interests in the matter were. American representatives were in Berlin but their minds were fixed on Latin America. When the time came she flexed her muscles and sent her troops to help shove out Spain completely from the Western hemisphere. In doing so, the independence of Cuba from Spain was secured and the Monroe doctrine became fact after close to ninety years.

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    The Europeans spread throughout the world with the British spreading out farthest into Australia, parts of Canada, parts of South Africa,  Rhodesia and New Zealand. All these were settler colonies to which they migrated in considerably significant numbers. They also  emigrated to parts of Kenya, to the very fertile land in the Rift valley where they acquired large tracts of land from which they had evicted the indigenous people, mainly the Kikuyus. Decades later there was the Mau Mau uprising against the settlers. This occurred in the immediate period after the Second World War. In cold blooded imitation of German reaction to the Hereros of South West Africa, the uprising was ruthlessly put down by the British. They poured in thousands of battle hardened troops into Kenya. They then proceeded to herd thousands of people into primitive encampments where suspected Mau Mau fighters were interned for long periods. Many of those who disappeared into those camps were subjected to intolerable torture or simply executed. Put down like rabid dogs who had been given an odious name. They kept a lot of hangmen busy. Jomo Kenyatta who later became the President of an independent Kenya was jailed for five years and placed on restriction for another two years for being the leader of the Mau Mau, a charge which could not be proved beyond reasonable doubt. The most important settler colonies in Africa were Algeria in the North and South Africa.

    The Dutch arrived in the Cape of Good Hope in 1652. This was roughly the halfway point between the Netherlands and Dutch possessions in the Dutch East Indies mainly Malaya and Indonesia which were valuable sources of spices which were much sought after in Europe. It made sense for the Dutch to set up a refitment point in the Cape. This they did under Jan  van Riebekke in 1652. Ships belonging to the Dutch East Indies Company sailing to and from the East picked up fresh supplies at the settlement on the Cape. It was strictly an agricultural outpost which supplied passing ships with fresh food. The first thing that needed to be done and was done with despatch was to eliminate the indigenes of that region through military action and the spread of exotic diseases. They then  imported slaves from the surrounding area and all the way from Malaya. The descendants of these Malayan imports are now referred to as Coloureds. In doing these, they laid the foundation for the sin of apartheid which is still awaiting redemption.

    In time, many settlers arrived from the Netherlands and France. The French arrived on the Cape as refugees, Huguenots, Protestants who had to flee from France after the Saint Bartholomew massacre carried out by their Catholic neighbours and countrymen. Today, the flourishing vineyards of South Africa owe their origin to these French refugees.

    For close on one hundred and fifty years the Dutch colony on the Cape was devoted to agriculture. So much so that they acquired the name Boers or Farmers in English. The Cape colony first attracted the attention of Britain in the closing years of the eighteenth century. That interest was ignited by war with France and a determination to keep the French out. The British moved in to protect the trade route to India, the territory which they were looting systematically if not ruthlessly at the time. It did not take them long to realise the potential of that region for producing the raw materials with which British factories were fed and translated to wealth. In the end, the British took over the administration of South Africa, their new creation on the Cape. It also became a British colony which attracted migrants from Britain and set the stage for the hundred and fifty year tragedy of apartheid.

    The arrival of the British in South Africa led to serious demographic problems especially after slavery was ended throughout the British empire. The Boers had depended on slave labour to run their farms for a century and a half. This being so, they were not about to submit to the British on this point. In order to preserve their way of life and extricate themselves from British overlordship, they set out on what has come to be known as the Great Trek into the interior. They loaded up their ox wagons with all their possessions and armed with the most lethal guns available moved into lands belonging to African tribes such as the Xhosas and Zulus, dispossessing them of their lands as they went. They then settled on these lands on which they set up their Boer republic of the Transval, Natal and Orange Free states at the expense of the original owners of the land. This is why today, the whites in South Africa who make up 8% of the population own and control 72% of all available land. Blacks who constitute 81% of the population own only 4% of the land. This means that all the capital in South Africa is concentrated in white hands even if blacks have the consolation of political power. The current, albeit minority government is trying to rectify this situation but it is difficult to see how justice can be done under the prevailing circumstances. The contribution of South Africa to the rise of capitalism has been tremendous. But the human cost has been even more so. This connection is worthy of further interrogation.

  • Beyond the debacle

    Beyond the debacle

    After theatre comes thunder. Now that the political somnambulists in Rivers State have wandered their way into a sucker punch, all is quiet on Lord Harcourt’s Beach. But the politically naïve and foolishly optimistic always find some straw to cling to in the hope of finding some restitution in the face of unremitting tragedy. It all adds to the suspense. And since Nigeria is a country of one political drama per diem, it helps to sustain the adrenalin surge in the audience as drama becomes the national diet which keeps the nation permanently on edge.

    Before the national assembly endorsed the suspension of constitutional order on Thursday, the rumour was rife that somebody way up in the Aso Rock hierarchy was about to get his political comeuppance in the hands of irate lawmakers who were fed up with all the political shenanigans going on. It turned out a damp squib. But rather than wild jubilations, the circumstances call for sober national introspection.  We need to probe why after twenty six years of post-military rule, genuine democratic rule continues to elude the nation and why the democratic process is often imperiled by complex, countervailing and overdetermined forces which often compel us to live dangerously. To do this, we need to return to the Rivers State imbroglio and its squabbling political elite.

       On further reflection, it might have been a political death wish, but how any of the major protagonists could not see this coming is an affront to rectitude and political common sense. We warned. We cautioned. We admonished them. This was a duel programmed for mutual self-demolition. But they were too far gone. It seems to be in the DNA of the post-military breed to gamble with everything until there is nothing left to game and gamble except gambling with gambling itself. Then what is left is for the gamblers to be taken home, and that is if there are takers. Politics in a distressed polity mirrors the preoccupation with serial coup-plotting in a distressed military formation. In the game of thrones, even the victor presumptive is hostage to political misfortune.

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    Two weeks ago, this column issued the final travel advisory on Rivers State. It bears repeating today:

    “Once again, we warn that an extraordinary state of emergency looms in Rivers State. It is going to be extraordinary because it will involve a complete militarization of the state with the possibility of fatally undermining the prospects of the principal product the nation depends upon at this moment. This column is not interested in the outcome of the ego tussle in Rivers State between lapsed godson and former godfather but the extent to which the battle will impact on the democratic prospects of the nation and its continued viability. It is unfortunate that the political common sense that Nyesom Wike demonstrated by making sure an Ijaw person succeeded him and forcing this through has now completely disappeared in a miasma of mutual hatred and contempt”. Travelling Theatre and Travelling  Thunder, The Nation on Sunday, March 9, 2025.

      Last Tuesday, thunder struck at the ancient theatre of Riverine political deities, sweeping away all extant democratic organs with full militarization of the enabling structures of governance. Once again, the political cohabitation between godfather and former godson has ended in tears and tragedy. In any fledgling democratic system, a state of emergency in any part of the federation represents a profound political setback. It truncates the learning process and further de-acculturates the political class from the democratic norms which they have never fully imbibed as it cuts them off from the principal source of their livelihood and state patronage. In an unruly environment in which politics is weaponized to confront real and imaginary feelings of age-long victimhood, many of the demobilized and disbanded party henchmen and honchos will resume petty crimes or heavy infractions where the state is most vulnerable. This is likely to compound the security situation in the coming months, a situation which will in turn invite scary state reprisals.

       It is unfortunate that it has come to this once again Rivers State and the fabled state’s political juggernauts have returned to their homestead from the forest bearing ant-infested firewood. Yoruba drummers always warn their masquerades against climbing aladin-clogged trees. (Aladin is a tough, no-nonsense ant mutant with a ferocious bite which can send the victim into a delirium of pains leading to swift disembarkation or precipitous fall. In olden days, this oblique warning was usually sounded by the drummers whenever Alapansanpa, the Ibadan master masquerade justly celebrated for its power and the potency of its whiplash, approached the area known as Isale-Ijebu which was brimming with no-nonsense and non-obliging sub-ethnic irredentists who always had their firearms well-oiled for confrontation. They could not be blackmailed or bamboozled by the cultural dictates of the host community.

      Ogundeji sogigun

      Magun’gi aladin

      Sogigun

    Caution and discretion always prevailed in this explosive encounter between man and masquerade among the Ibadan natives. Their principal historic luck is ethnic homogeneity. Unfortunately and as a result of ethnic mix and age-long anxieties about ethnic domination, violence and armed confrontations have been the recurrent decimals of politics in River States since the coming of the politics and strategy of alignment with dominant nationalities. Subtle persuading and sophisticated bargaining have no place in the political lexicon. The political entrepreneurs holding the people to ransom will not let go. Thrice in twenty six years, the state has witnessed a breakdown of law and order as a result of the revolt of political subalterns against their masters with dire consequences: Amaechi versus Odili; Amaechi versus Wike and Wike versus Fubara.  Rotimi Amaechi was said to have been a mere office boy in Peter Odili’s clinic, but he went on to send his former boss into political coma from which he is lately rousing.  Nyesom Wike, the former local government chairman, became the agent of the political defenestration of his boss, benefactor and enabler. And now, Wike himself is fighting for his political life in the hands of his anointed son, political collaborator and acknowledged guru of financial hocus-pocus.

        In the absence of consensus, conciliation and compromise among the political elite of the state,      

    what  plays out in Rivers State and to a less extent in many other parts of the nation is the unmediated subalternization of politics, a play of giants in which strongmen of means, material and munitions prevail and the whole nation feels like a vast military garrison superintended by a hostile colonial force. That is until stronger men emerge. A direct corollary of this is the robotization of political hierarchies in which human actors are compelled to act like unfeeling and unthinking cyborgs in the face of overwhelming economic tariffs until the subaltern finds his voice. The dire effects of this twin-incubus on the post-military polity are better imagined in terms of party cohesion, internal discipline, energetic but legitimate dissent, lawful associations and the credibility and legitimacy of the parties themselves as authentic agents of national development and genuine democracy. It is curious and very interesting that some of the bitterest and most unsparing denunciations of the State of Emergency in Rivers State are coming from disaffected party insiders, former ministers, special advisers etc who are still nominal party members until they formally renounce their party membership. It says a lot about the state of the parties and the kind of democracy we shall leave for posterity at the end of it all.

      Why this is so is the debate we should be having while we still have the time rather than  rancorous sparring sessions about the legality or otherwise of the presidential abridgement of the increasingly rowdy proceedings in Rivers State which has for now put a lid on the executive, legislative and judicial rascality in the roiling rivulets. It is a reflection of the grave polarizations in the polity that matters of great security implications are treated with levity and viewed from the partisan lens and the cold suspicion that there must be something in it for the powers that be no matter where it is all leading the nation. Even where the body-politic is hemorrhaging on all fronts, it is seen as a smart career move from the man they have learnt to fear and hate in equal measure. This is straight from the Machiavellian play-station: it is better and more secure to be feared than to be beloved.

     But since no single individual however politically talented and exceptional can have complete mastery over the competing and contradictory power dynamics of his society, it follows that bad can flow from good and good can flow from bad. There is also the law of unintended consequences to contend with. Whatever the impure motives ascribed by his implacable political adversaries to the declaration of a State of Emergency in Rivers State, what is obvious is that the president has thrown the warring factions, particularly its two leading political gladiators, a lifeline.

       By sparing Siminalaya Fubara the impeachment axe that could have decapitated his political career despite his obtuse calling for insurrection, the obdurate political neophyte has been given an opportunity to reassemble his scrambled wits and put his political house in order. Nyesom Wike has also been given the chance to reorder his political priorities and master his choleric tantrums. If after six months in political purgatory, nothing has changed, then something will give. The respite should also afford President Tinubu an opportunity to begin to give serious considerations to the kind of political legacy he hopes to bequeath this fractious and dangerously polarized nation. Let no one deceive him that all is well.