The Nation Newspaper

Category: Tunji Adegboyega

An ungrateful nation?
- Whether Frank Kokori was abandoned in his hour of need, or didn’t have adequate help; none was good enough.
Former general secretary of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), Chief Frank Kokori, died on December 7, barely a month after he complained of abandonment in a ‘third class’ hospital in Warri, Delta State, where he had been admitted over kidney-related ailment. Kokori, one of the fighters for the nation’s freedom from the claws of military rule, was so bitter on his sick bed because never in his imagination could he have envisaged a situation where such abandonment would be his lot.

The man sent a save our soul (SOS) message to Nigerians and the government to assist towards paying his hospital bills.

Anyone who carefully analysed his message at the press briefing would know he was no longer coherent and was indeed getting nearer to his Creator. “I have something to tell this country, please. Please, do your best. Tell them that I can pay any amount, but let them switch on the AC for me because I am dying. The AC went off. Please do your best. Flash it. I can come alive again but I just want the world to know that if I survive, I will shame the leaders of this country.” Kokori said he was dying and at the same time said he would pay and things like that.

If it was true that Kokori was abandoned in his most critical moments, then our so-called champions of democracy must be ashamed that they looked the other side as the man pinned away. The reactionaries may be rejoicing that one of their enemies is gone; not so the progressives because every gain for the reactionaries should be a loss to the progressives properly so-called.

Nigeria may have failed Kokori and other older citizens, but the progressives ought to have done everything to make him live. If he still died after all said and done, it shall be said of them that they tried their best. Just that that best was not good enough.

In saner climes, older citizens are government property. Governments support them with virtually everything they need to reduce the burden of old age on them. Not so here. People who diligently served the country in their prime are made to suffer when they can no longer fend for themselves, on interminable pension queues, whereas the leaders who worked for only a few years in public offices ensure they pay themselves off as soon as it is clear they are getting out of political office.

I have always said it that part of why we have made little progress since the return to civil rule is because many of those that took over from the soldiers that we forced to retreat to their barracks from the political scene in 1999 never lifted a finger for democracy during the struggle. I have had cause to name some of them before, including those of them in the National Assembly, past and present. Even presidents. After fighting the soldiers to standstill, the civil society and other non-governmental organisations that actively participated in the struggle simply left the scene for all manner of characters to hijack power. The result is where we are today. I say where we are because I hate this idea of some people saying where we find ourselves. We did not just find ourselves in this state of despondency, we are the very architects of it.

If truly those in a position to do something about Kokori’s fate while it mattered did nothing, then we would be reinforcing the belief in some quarters that Nigeria is not worth dying for. And I am yet to see any country where this is the philosophy or attitude, that attained greatness.

Countries that are great today are great largely because of the good deeds of their heroes past (to paraphrase our national anthem). From Great Britain to France, Russia, Germany, name it. Some people sacrificed at one time or the other to make them great. And there is no country that is not blessed with such people; just that the way we treat our own heroes is discouraging. That is why you can hardly see anybody that sees Nigeria as worth dying for. As a matter of fact, that is the prevalent expression here: Nigeria is not worth dying for. It is the little acts of compassion that we show to people like Kokori, the little gratitude that we extend to them while they are alive that would serve as a source of encouragement to others who want to follow their footsteps. But when we leave such people to their own device when they need help, we are invariably reinforcing the belief that it does not pay to be good to one’s fatherland.

Come to think of it; Kokori had the option of selling out instead of taking the grave risks that he took, all in a bid to make Nigeria great. I was reading an interview that he granted sometime ago where he said he was number two, after Bashorun M.K.O. Abiola (winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election), on the list of those that the late despot, General Sani Abacha, planned to eliminate. It couldn’t have been a lie. Those of us that were around during the June 12 struggle knew that Kokori should, in fact, be the number one on that list but for the fact that Abiola was the symbol of the struggle. If Abiola was eliminated, then there would be nothing for Kokori and others involved in the struggle to continue to agitate for. Which I think was what eventually happened.

Kokori occupied a strategic position in the country as NUPENG’s general secretary and he made the best use of it in Nigeria’s interest. The Cable summarised it all: “Obituary: Frank Kokori, the ex-union leader who ground Nigeria to halt during June 12 struggle”. He ground Nigeria for good reasons.

Whenever Kokori’s NUPENG sneezed during the struggle, the military dictators shivered. Kokori was locked up for about four years for his several successful strike actions that always crippled the nation. He realised the power of the oil sector and exploited it to the fullest in support of the struggle. Tinubu spoke of the man in a 1998 interview thus: “…Our own situation was even much better than him (pointing to Kokori) who we are here to pay tribute to today. A man (detained) in a dingy, six-by-six cell, blindfolded, not with cloth but there was no daylight in the prison; he was tortured mentally, physically and emotionally. Ours was only restricted to mental torture…”.

Read Also: I remember Frank Kokori

When some of us are recounting our experiences during the June 12 struggle to the younger generation, they hardly believe the stories. True, most of what happened was incredible. We would have reasoned like them if we were not witnesses to what happened in that dark era of the country’s history.

As editor of ‘The Punch’ newspaper at some point in that era, I know what we went through in the hands, first of General Ibrahim Babangida, and later, General Sani Abacha. The paper, because of its uncompromising anti-military rule stance suffered proscription and de-proscription several times in the hands of both dictators. At a time we were proscribed (I think) for about 14 or so consecutive months! That was how callous Babangida and Abacha were, not in advancement of Nigeria’s cause but in their self-perpetuation bids. They did not care that families were by those proscriptions denied their means of livelihood. I remember how those of us who were lucky to be getting salaries throughout the periods shared our salaries with the other members of the staff that were suffering vicarious liability with us (editors) that were responsible for publications that the dictators considered distasteful.

Indeed, if Kokori was number two on Abacha’s wanted list, ‘The Punch’ must have been its number one newspaper in that category. If the paper is standing tall and smiling to the bank ‘stress-free’ and ‘without borrowing a dime’ to perform the wonders it has performed, especially in the last two decades or so today, to borrow Bishop David Oyedepo’s words, it is because it has more than paid its dues.

Some of these experiences are due for release to the public in a book, ‘Our Punch years’, to be launched on Wednesday, December 20 at NECA House, Plot A2, Hakeem Balogun Street, Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos.

Be that as it may, Kokori is gone and whatever had been done or undone about him can no longer be changed. They remain indelible. But then, the only legacy we owe him and others who put their lives on the line for us to have the civil rule that we have is to ensure they did not die in vain. I can only imagine what would have been going on in his mind when he was on admission in the hospital before his death. He could not have believed that it was for real that he could not get the kind of priority attention that he deserved when he needed it most.

Kokori was obviously not happy with NUPENG too: “I’ve called on NUPENG that this is what they’ve done to their leaders. That NUPENG could not even take care of me. It’s sad. God bless everybody,” he said. Ha!

Today’s NUPENG leaders must do some soul-searching on the matter. Did they handle it well? Could it have been better handled? This is important because no one knows tomorrow. Years back when Arakunrin Rotimi Akeredolu was criticising the then ailing President Umaru Yar’Adua for not transmitting power to his deputy when he was away on medical treatment for months, Akeredolu did not realise that he would be in Yar’Adua’s shoes a few years later. Akeredolu himself has been down for several months and did not transmit power to his deputy until he was forced to do so. Such is life. My people will say, ‘atori la’ye, to ba fi siwaju, a tun fi seyin’ (the world is a cane; which swings back and forth). Or, better translated, what goes round comes around.

The progressives properly so-called should immortalise one of their own.
December 17, 2023
‘Kalokalo’ managers?

National Lottery Trust fund earned billions, spent all, despite being fully funded by government

Fuji legend, the late Sikiru Ayinde Barrister it was who sang years back when he was literally drenched in ‘naira rain’ that Nigeria has a surfeit wealthy men! ‘Olowo nbe ni Nigeria yi’, he shouted at the top of his voice like someone whose finger was just trapped in the home-made door of a Danfo bus. ‘Barry Wonder’, as he was then called, was right. But it is not only that Nigeria is blessed with many wealthy people; the country itself is rich.

Just that there are too many leakages. Euphemism for corruption? May be.

Something happened last week that reinforced my belief that something has to be done to reduce the weight that the Federal Government is carrying. The government is unwieldy and there is more than enough evidence to support this assertion. I watched on television, last week, how the Executive Secretary/Chief Executive Officer of the National Lottery Trust Fund, Bello Maigari, responded to questions on what has happened to the billions that the fund generated in the past few years. That was when he appeared before the House of Representatives Committee on Finance on Monday, during the 2024-2026 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper Interactive Session with Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs).

Maigari’s response to enquiries on the fund’s activities was such a bundle of disappointment that the committee had to place the fund on status enquiry for spending all its internally generated revenue (IGR). Maigari said the N2.5bn it has so far generated from statutory remittances from licenses and permit holders in 2023, as well as the N6.8bn it generated last year, had all been spent on various critical sectoral interventions, including education, sports development, social services, public welfare and disaster management, across the country. Not only is the fund’s purse empty, it also had a deficit of about N255m in 2022 because they had a carryover of liabilities in 2021!

Equally shocking to the committee was Maigari’s statement that the fund was expected to pay emoluments, allowances, and benefits of members of its board, as well as salaries and allowances of its members of staff! This is shocking because the fund is fully funded by the Federal Government and, as is usual with such agencies, they are expected to remit 100 per cent of their revenue to the government.

An apparently annoyed chairman of the committee, James Faleke, retorted: “, “It’s like the government opened this agency for you and your family. That is what you are saying. That is the meaning. You generated almost N2.5 billion and you spent the N2.5 billion on the last kobo…

”We are going to carry out a status enquiry on the Nigerian Lottery Trust Fund. Status enquiry means we are going to bring in an external auditor to audit your accounts, your books, all your income, and expenses from day one to date. We would send our report to the plenary and if you are found guilty, you will be made to refund all expenditure and any other punishment thereof,” he added.

Let no one be deceived that the lottery fund is alone in this. There are countless other agencies doing the same thing. The fact of the matter is that there are too many Federal Government agencies such that keeping tabs of their activities is difficult, if not absolutely impossible. That is why so many of them don’t get audited for years when, in actual fact, they should be audited annually. Even for those that are audited, it is difficult to follow the process through unless something snaps somewhere and some of these lapses suddenly rear their ugly heads.

Yet, it is taking eternity for the Federal Government to prune the number of these agencies. Yet, the government keeps complaining about its huge overhead costs. Yet, the government keeps borrowing to sustain the country when we can get virtually all we need if we are able to harness our resources properly.

Even in countries where public officials do things with the best of intentions, it is wrong for different agencies of government to embark on projects with their IGR or even the left-over of their annual budget. Where they must, it should be projects for the use of the respective agencies and these must be scrutinised by the appropriate agencies to ensure that the tax payer is not short-changed, not intervention programmes like the one Maigari talked about.

If this can be permitted in saner climes, it is a different kettle of fish in our kind of country where corruption is endemic. Such a system does not give room for effective coordination of projects. Some sectors that are not particularly essential could be given priority attention for all kinds of reasons, including awarding the contracts to cronies of those managing the agencies that are awarding the contracts, for pecuniary gains. We may thus have situations of over-concentration of projects in some sectors at the expense of some other sectors.

By the way, I used to think that an age-long practice in the MDAs; that is that of the ministries and agencies spending whatever was left of their allocation anyhow at the end of the year to enable them get a bigger allocation in the next budget, was over. But it seems the practice is still very much with us.

What happens is that towards the end of the year, MDAs submit their requirements for capturing in the next budget. Money is then allocated based on those submissions. Somehow, despite the corruption and all in the system, some MDAs would still have some money left in their accounts. Then the managers of such MDAs would start awarding all manner of frivolous contracts around early December so they could have zero balance. Suppliers would be asked to supply (and remove) things that they did not actually need. This was all that was required to raise their allocation in the next budget. Zero balance. This meant the previous allocation was not enough! Nobody bothered to check how the previous allocation was spent, or asked questions why millions or even billions that was not spent from January to November suddenly vamoosed in December.

I heard the practice is still rife, despite theTreasury Single Account (TSA). This is because in Nigeria, public money is seen in the light of a mad man’s leg that everybody can just go to cut his or her piece from without anyone asking questions.

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The fact of the matter is that many MDAs are viable; just that we did not know because we never bothered to find out. For so long, we had carried on as a nation where money is not the problem but how to spend it.

Until Prof Ishaq Oloyede assumed office as the registrar and chief executive officer of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), not many knew the board was a cash cow in its own little way. As a matter of fact, one would have thought those posted there before him were sent to ‘Siberia’ to go and labour. But Oloyede came and changed the narrative. JAMB now remits billions to the Federal Government’s coffers every year. Oloyede has set a record which his successors must be ready to sustain if not improve on. As a matter of fact, I won’t be surprised if some people reject appointment as JAMB registrar after his tenure because taking it means work and self denial. Not many people in Nigeria look forward to such appointments. Oloyede has proved that appointment as JAMB’s registrar could be juicy, but many Nigerians prefer juicier appointments! Like the lottery fund thing.

True, JAMB too is now encouraged to embark on intervention projects, but they are related to its sphere of responsibility. And it is only a fraction of its IGR that goes into such projects; not the entire amount.

It would be interesting to see details of the intervention projects that Maigari’s lottery fund spent its entire earnings on and even incurred debt for the government in the course of undertaking those obviously self-appointed assignments.

I hope by the time we have the breakdown of the expenditure, it won’t remind one of one of Baba Sala’s plays when he was asked what he did with a hefty sum of money that he collected. He replied that he bought popcorn, groundnut as well as a cart! ‘Mo ra guguru, mo r’epa, mo ra omolanke ninu e’.

If the situation does not remind one exactly of the Baba Sala play, then it would remind us of our military governors in those days who met their state treasuries empty and left them empty! Or a father who impregnates his daughter and tells people who want to know why he did that they have no locus: after all, ‘ na me born am, na me give am belle’! Or, is Maigari merely telling the Federal Government that it should not expect to reap where it has not sown? Meaning if he made the money, he should be free to spend it as he likes?

Whatever it is, I can bet my life on it, even before the lottery fund probe reports are out: Baba Ijebu, with all his imperfections, would have managed the National Lottery Trust Fund better.

All said, the fund’s case is another eye-opener; another wake-up call on the government to look critically inwards for money instead of overburdening Nigerians with the task of vomiting the billions and trillions that they only hear about being spent.

As a Yoruba saying goes: ‘ai rin jina, lai r’abuke okere; ta ba wo’le daadaa, a ri eera to ya’ro’. Meaning literally, it is when we don’t go far that we don’t see a squirrel with hunchback; if we look well to the ground, we will see ants that are lame.

Let the government sniff out similar MDAs like the lottery trust fund and recover our monies from their managers. Where necessary, send to jail those of them who have dipped their hands illegally into our common purse. The lottery trust fund is only a tip of the iceberg. It is set to be only one of those little drops of water that make up the mighty ocean of corruption in Nigeria.

December 10, 2023
32 new varsities

Our lawmakers in the 10th National Assembly want 32 more federal tertiary institutions! If you find me using universities instead of tertiary institutions in this piece, never mind. There is no difference. As they say, ‘arun to nse Aboyade, gbogbo oloya lo nse’ (Whatever afflicts the universities afflict also other tertiary institutions).

Whatever is true of federal universities is true of other tertiary schools — be they polytechnics, colleges of education, or what have you.

But the present lawmakers deserve a round of applause for being more considerate than the immediate past NASS members who wanted a whopping 200 more tertiary institutions!

Senate President Godswill Akpabio led the pack with his desire for the creation of Federal University of Technology, Kaduna, which received its first reading on July 6, 2023. Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu, followed suit with his advocacy for the development of the Federal University of Medical and Health Sciences, Bende, in Abia State.

There are also bills proposing the

establishment of Federal University of Information and Communications Technology, Lagos Island; Federal University of Agriculture, Ute Okpa in Delta State; Federal University of Biomedical Sciences in Benue State; Federal College of Health Sciences, Gaya; Federal College of Dental Technology, Faggae; Federal College of Agriculture, Agila in Benue State; Federal College of Education, Dangi-Kanam, Plateau State; Federal College of Education, Bende, Abia State.

We also have requests for Benjamin Kalu Federal Polytechnic, Rano, Kano State; Federal Polytechnic, Shendam, Plateau State, among others.

There are at present 45 federal government-owned universities in the country, 53 state-owned universities as well as 99 private universities, according to the National Universities Commission (NUC). In like manner, there are 40 federal polytechnics, 49 state-owned polytechnics, and 76 private polytechnics, according to the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE).

In addition, the National Commission for Colleges of Education estimates that Nigeria has 219 colleges of education. There are also 70 federal and state-owned colleges of health; while the number of private colleges of health is 17. Of course there are other tertiary institutions like the monotechnics, etc.

All of these institutions have capacity for about 510,957 students, as against about 1,157,977 applicants seeking admission into the tertiary institutions yearly. Although this is not to say that all the 1,157,977 admission seekers have the requisite qualifications going by the prescriptions of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board and other criteria, the fact remains that the spaces in the existing tertiary institutions are inadequate for our population.

This is the issue. This inadequacy of spaces is what our NASS law makers are supposed to address. Unfortunately, they have chosen the wrong way out of the problem. As we sometimes say, the law makers are only trying to further problematise the problematic by asking that more federal universities be established.

It is an open secret that funding is one of the major problems in our tertiary institutions. That is why the two academic unions in the university promptly reacted to the law makers’ desire for 32 more tertiary institutions.

Both the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), the Congress of University Academics (CONUA)

and other experts have cautioned the government against establishing new institutions, especially as existing ones are ‘malnourished’. The underfunding has been manifesting in the dearth of lecturers and other personnel to adequately cater to the needs of existing universities.

CONUA’s National President, Dr Niyi Sunmonu, believes there is a problem of space for our youths yearning for university education. But while establishment of more universities is one way out of the problem, it is not going to take us anywhere because they are also going to have issues with funding. So, the way out is to expand the facilities in existing ones.

Hear Sunmonu: “There are two ways to approach the issue, we can set up new ones or expand the capacities of existing ones. But it will be a great disaster if we set up new ones and continue with the trend of poor funding of our universities. It will simply compound our woes.”

He is not done yet. “Even if we are going to expand the capacities of existing universities, we still need to fund the universities properly. If we are to expand the capacities of existing ones, what we need to do is conduct NEEDS assessment and go round the universities to know what they need and and how to expand their capacities.”

“Once the needs of the universities are met, they can expand and admit more students. Even the new ones they are proposing, who is going to man them?”

ASUU’s National President, Prof. Emmanuel Osodeke, is more scathing in his criticism. Indeed, he struck a right chord when he said that universities should not be turned to constituency projects by the lawmakers, which is what our law makers have turned the issue into. The average Nigerian politician wants to be seen to be working; even when what they are doing is working in the wrong direction. They politicise everything. The NASS law makers do not seem to be contented with making laws for good governance; they want to be known by the number of physical structures they bring home to their constituencies. That is the only reason that can explain, not just their dabbling into university education, but asking for more federal universities when the existing ones are gasping for breath.

“It is like they don’t know how universities are set up, run and what the universities are for. If we are grappling with universities that are poorly funded, with outdated facilities and where lecturers and other staff leave in droves, how are we going to cope with new additions,” Osodeke asked.

He added: “Now, every set of lawmakers in the National Assembly wants to have new universities established in their constituencies.” Then, the big question, as asked by Osomeke: “Nigerians should ask them if they have hope and faith in these universities, and whether they can send their children there?”

This, really, is the million dollar question.

After establishing glorified modern schools called universities for the children of the poor, the political elite (I am less concerned about the corporate elite, especially as they fund their own desires) now take their own children abroad to receive sound university education in well-funded universities.

These are the issues. Indeed, from the way some of our lawmakers talk, one wonders, like both Osomeke and Sunmonu, whether they know anything about university or university education.

This reminds me of the argument by the former deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, Idris Wase, when a similar issue of establishing more federal universities came up in their time in the immediate past NASS. Hear him: “Everyone knows the importance of school with the high rate of out-of-school children. We need to establish a number of high institutions, if the government can fund it, so be it.” The question that should readily come to mind was his proviso “IF THE GOVERNMENT CAN FUND IT”. Pray, was the deputy speaker just arriving from Jupiter or Mass to be talking of ‘if the government can fund it’. As a member of the NASS, he didn’t know that the Nigerian government that he was a top member of could not fund the universities and that that is indeed one of their main problems? So, who is fooling who?

As if to compound the ignorance, he went on to say in the course of the debate on the matter, still in support of more universities in Nigeria that, “We were together with you in Harvard, that district alone, they have over 200 universities, for God’s sake.” So, if a district in Harvard has more than 200 universities (let’s even assume he was right), is that district the same as Nigeria? Is this not analogous to comparing apple with oranges; or sleep with death?

How can anyone do that? Is there no longer a difference between wants and needs? Has Wase forgotten that there is a gulf between demand and effective demand? Nigeria is in trouble if this is the kind of mentality that drives debates in the National Assembly.

This kind of mentality is just like people going ahead to have children simply because they are sexually active and have functional reproductive organs. So, what happens after giving birth to the many children? How do they feed? Can the parents afford to send them to school? How are the children’s other needs to be met?

These are the issues. We are complaining about existing tertiary institutions suffering funding problem and some people, including those who should know are saying we should establish more. More universities would mean more vice-chancellors, more bursars, more registrars, etc, complete with all the paraphernalia of the offices, including, of course, exotic vehicles.

How can a top law maker in the NASS be comparing an American university with Nigeria’s?

None of our present universities makes the list of first 1,000 universities in the world. Our academic calendar has been disrupted for so long because of incessant strike by both academic and non-academic members of the staff in our universities. Many of our graduates are not employable because they are not well baked due to prolong strike in the universities. No one can tell when a four-year programme would end in our universities for the same reason of strike. So, how can establishing more universities be the answer to these chronic challenges? To churn out more half-baked graduates?

Our NASS members should please leave us to continue to rue our problems rather than make idiots of us through ridiculous and ill-digested solutions to our hydra-headed problems. Let them content themselves with doing ‘in and out’ and enjoy on our behalf rather than keep insulting us.

‘Awon lo kan’!

December 3, 2023
I appreciate you all

Of course, I cannot but appreciate some of the people and organisations that stood by me morally and financially through the difficult times. Yes, difficult times because no matter how old one’s parents are, very few people are in a hurry to let them go. Here I cannot forget Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, registrar and chief executive of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB); former chairman of Punch Nigeria Ltd, Chief Ajibola Ogunshola; former Lagos State Commissioner for the Environment, Mr. Tunji Bello; Mass Comm.’84 Set; Prof Adebayo Williams, member, board of directors of The Nation Newspaper; Prof. Olatunji Dare, editorial adviser; members of the staff of the newspaper led by the managing director, Mr Victor Ifijeh; executive director (finance and administration), Mr Sunday Adeleke; chairman, editorial board, Mr Sam Omatseye; members of the editorial board; Alhaji Najeem Jimoh, former editor, The Punch; Bolaji Sanusi, former Managing Director, Lagos State Advertisement and Signage Agency and Pastor Samson Adegboyega as well as Dotun Adegboyega, both in the UK.

I cannot but also thank our inlaws, Pastor Robert Fadero of God of Miracles Evangelistic Ministry, Ibadan; Mr B. A. Adeleke; and His Eminence, Julius Olayinka Osayande Abbe, the Primate of the African Church.

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Others are Brig-Gen. O. A. Solarin, Col. Yomi Dare (rtd), Ambassador Dapo Fafowora, Fred Ohwahwa, a retired senior manager with Total, Wole Akinyosoye, retired deputy director, Department of Petroleum Resources; Tunde Thani, Managing Director, Explicit Communication, Sunnie Ojeriakhi, MD, Oaks Advertising, Olu Awogbemila, Director, Encore Ltd, Barr. Bolade Opaleye and Prince (Dr) Laja Omofade, former permanent secretary, Lagos State Ministry of the Environment.

I also express profound gratitude to the Chairman of Emmanuel District, Cherubim and Seraphim Movement Church, Ota Road, Sp. Apostle/Pastor S.O. Ewulo, Leader, Sp. Ap/ Pastor Mobolorunduro Olatunji, deputy leader Sp. Ap./Pastor S. A. Faleye and the pastors, prophets and entire members; Pastor A. A. Akinde, Christ Apostolic Church, Bariga; Toro Osunrinade, Cathedral Warden, African Church Cathedral Salem, Ebute-Metta, Lagos, and the entire congregation, Lekan Olasode, my other friends, colleagues and relations, particularly my siblings both sides, and others too numerous to mention. God will continue to be with you all.

November 26, 2023
A mother like no other
- That was ‘Sisi Mi’ for you
If anyone had told me that my mother, Mrs. Winifred Feyishetan Olaleye (nee Cole) was going to die as a result of the injury she sustained on her right leg on July 19, last year, I would have told that person to perish the thought. She had slipped between her bedroom and sitting room and got injured in the process.

Our expectation was that all would be well in a matter of weeks. It didn’t so happen and we began to count months. It’s a long story and by May when we were asked to do hip replacement for her, we had thought things would be okay thereafter. After the hip replacement surgery, things appeared to be getting better. She had as a matter of fact commenced physiotherapy. Then suddenly, suddenly, things relapsed. Opportunistic circumstances took over. Then we started treating other challenges like malaria, etc.

Meanwhile, all kinds of drama were going on. There was even a day everyone had thought she was going to die only to come alive again after holy communion was administered to her.

At some point, she started talking about some gates not being opened for her in heaven and stuff like that. Then at another point she told people around her that the last gate had been opened and that, as a matter of fact, a magnificent white vehicle was waiting to pick her at the premises of the house she was. One could feel some sense of frustration on her part when those around said they could not see the things she was seeing. I used to regard things like this as myths.

Anyway, that was the situation until October 2 when she breathed her last, peacefully.

I consider myself lucky that I was not only able to survive both my father and mother, I did so at a relatively old age.

When in retrospect I remember those of my age-mates whose parents died while we were still in primary or secondary school, I know I would only be an ingrate if I do not appreciate God for this singular privilege. As a matter of fact, I remember how we used to pity those of them in that category, particularly those that had lost both parents at tender ages, as if the world was going to crumble under their feet.

So, why should my siblings and I not appreciate God that not only did we survive our mother, she was also able to see her grand-children from all of us, even when this seemed forlorn at a point.

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I can recollect how troubled she was when none of my sisters gave birth many years after their marriage. She might have been troubled by this, but she was ever optimistic that she would see her grand-children from all of us before departing, a wish that God eventually granted. The youngest of her grand-children is now six years old. Not many of their contemporaries are so privileged.

The long and short of what I am saying here is that when there is life, there is hope. In spite of this seemingly insurmountable difficulty, I cannot remember her talking of going to any other place apart from church, to look for solution to the problem. That she was able to come this far in the faith is not in any way to praise her as such, but to return all the glory to God that kept her faith alive throughout those difficult times.

Then, her single-handed care for her female children in particular since the death of her husband, Bernard Oke Olaleye, in 1979, was something to commend. I don’t know why she decided not to remarry ever since and this was a thing I regret not asking her while she was here.

Perhaps I assumed that I know. But what we assume may not be the actual reason a thing happened or did not happen.

The lesson? People whose parents are still alive should ask them any question under the sun now that they are still around. Not only that, we should try to get as much as possible historical treasures from our older citizens at all levels before they go. They should not be interred with those treasures.

Perhaps the most profound of the things that followed my mummy’s death was my realisation that barely two hours after she died, we were already thinking of a change of address for her. As soon as I was told that she had died, I immediately put a call through to the mortuary.

As soon as I got to the room that had been her abode since May when we took her there from her own residence at Ebute-Metta, Lagos, until she died on October 2, 2023, I looked at her lifeless body. I remembered the last time I saw her before then. It then dawned on me, even if for the umpteenth time, that this world is indeed a stage and we, the people, mere actors. And when every actor gets to his or her bus stop, he or she alights from the bus. ‘Sisi Mi’ finally dropped off from the bus when she got to hers.

And the next thing was arrangement to take her to the mortuary. I then began to ask myself if we could have mentioned mortuary in her presence about three hours before. But that is life. She lost the privilege to remain in that room the moment she stopped breathing. She must change address, either to the morgue or the cemetery, if a Muslim.

Then it dawned on me again that this life is all vanity upon vanity; all is vanity.

‘I want to become this’; ‘don’t you know I am that’! Vanity! For ‘Sisi Mi’ like any other person, the final resting place would be six feet below.

The most shocking thing is that this lesson that we should learn from death is hardly ever learnt, especially by those in leadership positions in the country. Otherwise we would not be talking about National Assembly members who would be justifying the purchase of vehicles worth N160m apiece in a country reputed to be the poverty capital of the world. A country where millions of their compatriots go to bed on empty stomachs, not knowing where even the next breakfast would come from.

We should wonder whether such people ever think of death, not to talk of its aftermath: judgement.

As I welcome myself to the orphans’ club, my advice to those who still have their elderly ones around is to take care of them now that it matters. If you don’t take care of them now, only to buy the best of casket for them and take them to the most expensive cemetery to bury, it is neither acceptable to God nor to the dead.
November 26, 2023
Atiku: It’s all over
- What an inglorious fall of a political titan!
Barely two weeks ago, precisely on October 15, I wrote a piece titled “Atiku’s wild goose chase” in which I made it clear that the discerning would know that whatever the veteran presidential hopeful hoped to achieve by going to America in search of evidence to render President Bola Ahmed Tinubu jobless would end up being an exercise in futility. I am happy the highest court in the land, the Supreme Court, on Thursday, October 26, confirmed that position with the unanimous decision of the judges who decided the appeals by both Atiku, the presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), and that of the Labour Party (LP), Mr Peter Obi, against the victory of Tinubu in last February’s presidential election. I can’t help but reproduce the piece today, now that it would appear the election and all matters pertaining to it are now over and we should therefore put politics aside and face governance.

But that is in a country where politicians are rational. Not in our kind of situation where we are highly litigious, such that the armed robber caught with the goods he had stolen, the blood of his hapless victims still in his hands, would insist on going to court to prove that he is innocent. Otherwise, why would Obi who should have gone to church as a true Christian to offer thanksgiving for the feat he achieved in his very first attempt at the presidency, also want the court to declare him winner? It is not easy to come third in an election in which one had two powerful contestants. But we know the circumstances that made such feat possible for Obi.

I agree with lawyers and those who believe there must be an end to litigation. But the Tinubu government would be making a big mistake if it goes to sleep with such belief. Those who pursued it to this point are not likely to relent. I see them continuing the battle by some other means. A word is enough for the wise.

In the meantime, I reproduce, quite substantially, my piece of October 15, 2023, on Atiku’s voyage to the United States because that was a future article here today (read penultimate week). Even some of those who did not like my position, I mean Tinubu’s sworn critics, said my position was unassailable given the way the points were clinically marshalled. Please enjoy yourself as we celebrate what may be the end of Atiku’s quest for the highest office in the land. Excerpts.

“I deliberately refrained from commenting on the allegation by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu forged the certificate of the Chicago State University (CSU) in the United States of America that he submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), until the deposition by the university, for obvious reasons. I could not have imagined that someone would go to the extent that Atiku went in search of what has now turned out to be so little.

But the university has now spoken.

CSU spoke in simple English language that should have put paid to the now needless saga.

For me, the questions are: did Tinubu attend CSU? Yes, he did. Did he graduate from there? Again, the answer is yes. The university’s current registrar, Caleb Westberg confirmed that “He was awarded a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration with Honors on June 22, 1979. His major was accounting.”

Is Bola Ahmed Tinubu the same person as Bola A. Tinubu whose name is on the certificate in question? Again, given the response by Westberg, the university said it believes that both are one and the same person.

Indeed, part of the reasons I was initially hesitant to comment on the matter was because, as a graduate, if I misplace my certificate, I would expect a replacement from the university where I graduated. But CSU says it is not in the habit of replacing such certificate, being a purely ceremonial matter. But vendors are permitted to replace such certificate.

So, what is the ‘shock find’ here?

He may not be able to admit it publicly, but I have cause to believe that what Atiku got from that university couldn’t have been the reason he spent what must have been a fortune to pursue.

Indeed, something keeps telling me that Atiku knows he has reached a dead end in his quest to prove that Tinubu either did not attend CSU or, if he did, he never graduated there. But, having raised the hopes of most of the usually gullible Nigerians, Atiku cannot afford to tell them he returned virtually empty-handed from the U.S.A. Hence, his pretension to have gotten something weighty enough to present to the Supreme Court, to show that Tinubu committed forgery.

Obviously, Atiku is fighting his last political battle.

The many years of bad governance by largely those, in the Babangida years we referred to as ‘old breed’ politicians, may make Atiku and people in his age bracket not to be in contention again. Nigerians would have been tired of them and would be routing for something different. Whether the something different would be refreshingly so is however in the womb of time. I have said it before that President Tinubu may be the last of that generation to rule Nigeria if he disappoints Nigerians.

So, we can see why Atiku is so desperate not to allow this last opportunity, as it were, slip pass him. We can understand why he is running from pillar to post in search of the presidential seat. Atiku is running against time and no amount of counselling can convince him to retrace his steps.

Let no one make no mistake about it. What Atiku is doing now is merely a continuation of the politics of the 2023 election by some other means; a thing they started long before the polls. And he is not alone in this. He is only the face of the anti-Tinubu cabal. All the shenanigans they brought into play; the cashless economy and all…

That Tinubu still won the election has remained a jigsaw puzzle to them, knowing full well the numerous landmines they put on his way.

Read Also: JUST IN: Atiku addresses media on Monday

It is in the bid to cover up their dirty tracks that many of those involved in the illegalities that were perpetrated during the Muhammadu Buhari years decided to do all that was humanly possible to ensure Tinubu did not win the election. Now that all their evil plans had crashed like a pack of cards, they are afraid of their shadows. So, the war must continue at some other levels.

Be that as it may, the discerning would have observed that Atiku is not even talking more about the allegation that he was out-rigged in the election again. May be he has realised the dead-end that that has become. If three people from the same party went their different ways at election time, it would take a repeat of the Miracle of Dammam for any of them to win an election in which they had a formidable challenger. May be that has dawned on him, rather belatedly. His emphasis is now on CSU. In other words, it is technicality to the rescue. His miserable world press conference confirmed that much.

And, to show how desperate Atiku and his silent orchestra have become, it is now if you miss the ball, don’t miss the leg.

But this is not the first time that politicians in Nigeria would be exploiting the gullibility of Nigerians for selfish reasons.

A time there was when, in the Buhari years, it was claimed that the then president was not the original Buhari that we knew. That the original Buhari had died and what have you. Interestingly, many Nigerians believed this and still do. In fact, not only did they believe, they were helping to circulate that falsehood. Meaning virtually everyone could be conned? That was the implication of that falsehood. The original Buhari’s wife, Aisha, would have agreed to be under ruffling sheets in ‘the other room’ with a fake husband? The original Buhari’s children would have agreed to call a person that was swapped their authentic father? Buhari’s colleagues in the military, the international community and all could be successfully made to believe that the original Buhari was indeed dead! Come of it! But that is the level of ignorance in the country. Many Nigerians would always believe what they want to believe; they are not interested in evidence.

Such is the ignorance that the (anti) social media spreads like bush fire.

Obviously, the harsh situation in the country has contributed in no small measure to the Atiku crowd and anti-Tinubu sentiment. The government must therefore take decisive steps to reduce the hardship in the country. Atiku does not deserve the kind of popularity he seems to be enjoying, especially in the permissive new media.

This is a rolling stone without ideological conviction. In his inordinate ambition to rule Nigeria, nothing noble matters to him. He jumps in and out of political trains as soon as he discovers he cannot get the presidential ticket where he is. There must be something inherently wrong in the ambition of a man who wants to succeed his ethnic stock in a plural society like Nigeria. Atiku had made six attempts at the presidency and lost. If he tries a seventh time he will still lose if he remains his unstable or selfish self.

All said, this is the time for lawyers to make money off politicians. I suspect Atiku’s lawyers are still the ones urging him on. When lawyers who are eager to make money off politicians meet incurable optimists that many of our politicians are, the result is the kind of desperation that is making Atiku run helter-skelter, having returned from America almost empty-handed, when he had hoped to bring in the joker to nail the Bola Ahmed Tinubu presidency.”

And, is there still someone out there who believes the Supreme Court’s decision has brought denouement to the matter? Count me out. Only that one cannot put a finger directly to the bile next time around.

My candid advice to the Tinubu administration: watch and pray.
October 29, 2023
Remember the poor

Lawmakers in the National Assembly are obviously not representing the people

If our National Assembly (NASS) legislators are interested in learning any lesson, we would not be at this juncture again where we would be talking about the kind of vehicles they should be using, whether as official or personal vehicles. Unfortunately, as many of us have always argued, our politicians are largely taught nothing, learnt nothing.

The House of Representatives had on Sunday, last week, admitted that each of the 360 lawmakers in the NASS would get a brand new Prado SUV worth N130m, totaling N57.6 billion. They claimed the cars are not personal gifts but the property of the National Assembly.

They should go tell that to the marines! Where are the cars bought for their predecessors? This is a familiar story; a familiar excuse. One unfortunate thing about this insensitive and ungodly decision is that it is coming at a time the country’s economy is under very serious stress.

Nigerians have always complained about our lawmakers living like oil sheikhs in a country reputed to be the poverty capital of the world, even when the economy was far better than it is today. How on earth can one explain a situation where our present lawmakers insist almost on the affluent lifestyle lived by their predecessors at a time like this, when the country’s currency is trading for over N1,000 to an American dollar?

What makes the decision of the legislators the more shocking is that these vehicles are imported. Meaning we have to cough up huge forex to get them for our over-pampered lawmakers.

Meanwhile, we have local vehicle makers in the country who even made representations to the NASS on the imperative of buying made-in-Nigeria vehicles. As if they needed that prompting.

The founder of Nord Motors, a local vehicle manufacturing company, Ajayi Oluwatobi, put the matter succinctly, even if some of us may see it as self-serving.

“The National Assembly buying foreign built vehicles at this time is dispiriting, especially when you consider that we are all trying to promote buy Nigeria to grow the Naira.

“How can you represent Nigeria but refuse Nigeria, especially when some of us have shown you that we would offer similar top quality at a better price? Why do you want to be seen driving a foreign brand when a Nigerian brand can offer you the same quality at a better price?”

Then, the clincher: “No automotive sector can become successful without the support of the government. The Tesla we see today is the result of years of support from the US government. We want to create jobs but export the opportunities to create jobs to other countries at every chance we get,” he said.

Meanwhile, it is these same lawmakers that would also tell us tomorrow that they are working in the interest of Nigerians. Just last Thursday, both the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, and Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, spoke glowingly at a retreat for members of the Senate on fiscal policy and tax reforms in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State. They both pledged to work with the executive arm towards making laws that would promote economic development. I deliberately looked out for whether they would mention patronage of made-in-Nigeria goods as part of how they intend to restructure and grow the economy. There was nothing of the sort.

Meaning they both understood the economic implications of their buying foreign SUVs.

In the light of a decision like this, the government must understand why Nigerians would most times support Labour when they reject government’s excuses that the country has economic challenges, so, Labour should bear with the government. There is little to show that on the part of the people in the country’s leadership positions, particularly the NASS.

Yet, it was not like this before. I remember some years back when I wrote a similar piece on the NASS, someone who was a legislator from either the old Ondo or Ekiti State wrote a piece in support of my position. If I was a kid in the First Republic, at least I wasn’t in the second, being an undergraduate then. Lawmaking as we knew it, even in spite of the imperfections of that era which eventually culminated in the overthrow of that republic, was by far more diligent and godly compared with what we have been having, especially since 1999. Even the then National Party of Nigeria (NPN) that most Nigerians considered a den of robbers has proved to be more saintly than the political parties that we now have. That is why politicians can jump boat anyhow. Today they are in this party, tomorrow they are in that other party. And they are received with fanfare. The line of demarcation in terms of ideology is not even clear.

When some of our older citizens that some of us have the privilege of rubbing minds with tell us the el dorado that Nigeria was in their time and keep lamenting and wondering how the country suddenly became this sorry pass, those of us the relatively younger generation keep wondering, ‘what are these people talking about. How can they be wondering’? But we now know better because those of us who also enjoyed the remnants of the el dorado that they bequeathed to us are also wondering how the little enjoyment we met evaporated before our very eyes. That is the Nigerian wonder for you.

But we should not wonder far. Things became this bad because we stomached a lot of things like this aberration of exotic cars for NASS members. One question I always ask when writing on this vexatious topic is what are the NASS members producing that qualifies them for this affluence in the midst of grinding poverty?

To say they need SUVs to function is bunkum, absolute rubbish. Those who occupied the seats they are occupying today before produced by far better laws for good governance. What Nigerians have been witnessing since this nonsense began with furniture allowance for NASS members in the Obasanjo era cannot qualify for law making to better the lots of Nigerians. And the only proof we need is the continued decline in the quality of life of the vast majority of Nigerians, in spite of the fabulous pay and pampering of the country’s lawmakers.

It is better for our politicians, particularly the NASS members, to retrace their steps. Nigerians are no fools and even if they appear to be, it only seems so.

How in this age will some people be justifying this kind of expenditure just because they have no one to call them to order? To try to justify this by saying Nigerians should look in the direction of other arms of government for the same extravagance and misapplication of public funds is vexatious. While it is true that government officials as a whole must live by example, it is not an acceptable alibi that because there is fiscal indispline in one arm, other arms must emulate that bad example.

At any rate, I hope the legislators are not looking in the area of the judiciary because to compare that arm with the other two arms is analogous to comparing apple with oranges. We cannot compare our judges and other judicial officers with politicians holding public offices. The judicial officers are long-term or permanent public employees, with many of them serving for decades before attaining their present statuses. They cannot be compared with political appointees who in several cases start enjoying extraordinary privileges almost as soon as they assume duties. Like the NASS members, for instance. They are to get these SUVs even when they have not served for six months. Where else are their counterparts so pampered?

Read Also: Kogi guber poll: No room for ethnicity, says Bello

Even in the executive, some of us are already feeling the impact of some of them who are barely three months in office.

Meanwhile, these same lawmakers are among those shedding crocodile tears that the Naira is sinking. How does the national currency of people who cannot patronise their own home-made products have value? Value does not fall from the sky. Countries whose currencies have value worked at it. Their leaders lead by example and not by the do-as-I-say attitude of our NASS members.

Meanwhile, it is the same people who are buying multi-million naira vehicles for themselves that would start pinching money and spending sleepless nights on calculators when it comes to paying minimum wage that cannot even take workers home.

If there is to be any law making properly so-called, it should start with stipulating the kind of vehicles Nigerians public officials must use. After all, a time there was in this country when public officials could not use anything beyond Peugeot products by Peugeot Automobile of Nigeria (PAN). They did not die. That is where promotion of locally made products should begin.

If our lawmakers say they need rugged vehicles apparently because our roads are generally bad, that is an indictment on their part. If they need bullet-proof cars for themselves, it is still self-indictment. Where then are the effects of the laws they have been making, even since 1999? These are all indications that Nigerians have been wasting money on unproductive money guzzlers called lawmakers. If they had made good laws, especially since 1999, our lot as a people would have been far better than it is today.

As our elders used to say, a gourd without a neck is the one that will tell where to put a rope on its body (keregbe ti ko lorun, lo maa so ibi ti won ma sokun mo lara oun). This NASS should stop provoking Nigerians. Otherwise, a time would come when the people would remind them that what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. I am not aware there is any member of the NASS that their people went to beg to represent them. People who cannot feel what their constituents feel have no business being in the NASS. It is because of ungodly privileges like this that the battle to get to the place has become do- or-die. Not because they want to serve the people. People who genuinely want to serve would not be running after exotic vanities when those who voted them into office cannot afford one meal a day.

October 22, 2023
Atiku’s wild goose chase

I deliberately refrained from commenting on the allegation by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu forged the certificate of the Chicago State University (CSU) in the United States of America that he submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), until the deposition by the university, for obvious reasons. I could not have imagined that someone would go to the extent that Atiku went in search of what has now turned out to be so little.

But the university has now spoken.

As usual with such issue, all manner of ‘experts’ have hijacked the media space such that other voices have been drowned in the cacophony of ignorance.

CSU spoke in simple English language that should have put paid to the now needless saga. Indeed, the 125-page deposition by Mr Caleb Westberg, the university’s current registrar, speaks to Tinubu’s education at the university, his identity, and the certificate issued to him.

For me, the questions are: did Tinubu attend CSU? Yes, he did. Did he graduate from there? Again, the answer is yes. Westberg confirmed that “He was awarded a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration with Honors on June 22, 1979. His major was accounting.”

Is Bola Ahmed Tinubu the same person as Bola A. Tinubu whose name is on the certificate in question? Again, given the response by Westberg, the university said it believes that both are one and the same person.

Indeed, part of the reasons I was initially hesitant to comment on the matter was because, as a graduate, if I misplace my certificate, I would expect a replacement from the university where I graduated. But CSU says it is not in the habit of replacing such certificate, being a purely ceremonial matter. But vendors are permitted to replace such certificate.

So, what is the ‘shock find’ here?

He may not be able to admit it publicly, but I have cause to believe that what Atiku got from that university couldn’t have been the reason he spent what must have been a fortune to pursue.

Indeed, something keeps telling me that Atiku knows he has reached a dead end in his quest to prove that Tinubu either did not attend CSU or, if he did, he never graduated there. But, having raised the hopes of most of the usually gullible Nigerians, Atiku cannot afford to tell them he returned virtually empty-handed from the U.S.A. Hence, his pretensions to have gotten something weighty enough to present to the Supreme Court, to show that Tinubu committed forgery.

Obviously, Atiku is fighting his last political battle. I don’t see him shining again as to clinch the second position that he got in the 2023 election in 2027. Indeed, for Atiku, it does not seem there would be any such opportunity in 2027. Not that I wish him dead; it is just that things happening in the political terrain make him an unlikely marketable material in any future election in the country.

He would be about 80 by the time we are having the 2027 elections. This may not be enough reason to disqualify him, even if unofficially, though, because I have argued severally on this page that age may not be an issue in all circumstances. I won’t deviate from that position now because the issue is Atiku. The present American President, Joe Biden, is about 80 years. Meaning he was about 78 when he was sworn in on January 20, 2021. And, Jagunlabi (Biden) is looking forward to contesting next year’s election at 81. If he is able to make it, he would be sworn in as the 47th President of God’s own country in January 2025 when he would be over 82. His predecessor, Donald Trump, who wants to return to the White House to pick what he forgot there is not by any stretch of imagination young either.

Read Also: Strip Atiku of national honours, CSOs tell Tinubu

But Nigeria is not America. The many years of bad governance by largely those, in the Babangida years we referred to as ‘old breed’ politicians may make Atiku and people in his age bracket not to be in contention again. Nigerians would have been tired of them and would be routing for something different. Whether the something different would be refreshingly so is however in the womb of time. I have said it before that President Tinubu may be the last of that generation to rule Nigeria if he disappoints Nigerians.

So, we can see why Atiku is so desperate not to allow this last opportunity, as it were, slip pass him. We can understand why he is running from pillar to post in search of the presidential seat. Atiku is running against time and no amount of counselling can convince him to retrace his steps.

Let no one make no mistake about it. What Atiku is doing now is merely a continuation of the politics of the 2023 election by some other means; a thing they started long before the polls. And he is not alone in this. He is only the face of the anti-Tinubu cabal. All the shenanigans they brought into play; the cashless economy and all, which ensured that one candidate (or probably more than one candidate) got enough cash, naira and forex, to prosecute the election while effectively denying another major contender in that election, specifically Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the much-needed cash. At least so they thought. That Tinubu still won the election has remained a jigsaw puzzle to them, knowing full well the numerous landmines they put on his way.

It is in the bid to cover up their dirty tracks that many of those involved in the illegalities that were perpetrated during the Muhammadu Buhari years decided to do all that was humanly possible to ensure Tinubu did not win the election. Now that all their evil plans had crashed like a pack of cards, they are afraid of their shadows. So, the war must continue at some other levels.

Be that as it may, the discerning would have observed that Atiku is not even talking more about the allegation that he was out-rigged in the election again. May be he has realised the dead-end that that has become. If three people from the same party went their different ways at election time, it would take a repeat of the Miracle of Dammam for any of them to win an election in which they had a formidable challenger. May be that has dawned on him, rather belatedly. His emphasis is now on CSU. In other words, it is technicality to the rescue. His miserable world press conference confirmed that much.

And, to show how desperate Atiku and his silent orchestra have become, it is now if you miss the ball, don’t miss the leg.

But this is not the first time that politicians in Nigeria would be exploiting the gullibility of Nigerians for selfish reasons. A time there was when, in the Buhari years, it was claimed that the then president was not the original Buhari that we knew. That the original Buhari had died and what have you. Interestingly, many Nigerians believed this and still do. In fact, not only did they believe, they were helping to circulate that falsehood. Meaning virtually everyone could be conned? That was the implication of that falsehood. The original Buhari’s wife, Aisha, would have agreed to be under ruffling sheets in ‘the other room’ with a fake husband? The original Buhari’s children would have agreed to call a person that was swapped their authentic father? Buhari’s colleagues in the military, the international community and all could be successfully made to believe that the original Buhari was indeed dead! Come of it! But that is the level of ignorance in the country. Many Nigerians would always believe what they want to believe; they are not interested in evidence.

Still on Buhari. Recall the time he was sick and was being flown abroad for treatment on several occasions? We cannot forget how at a point the then president was said to have died abroad in the course of treatment. His ‘obituary’ was even released by some politicians at a point. So, how many times would Muhammadu Buhari die? If the man was a Christian, I am sure some people would have organised service of songs and wake-keep for him while urging Nigerians to await his corpse for state burial!

What is not funny is that many Nigerians believe such tales by moonlight and, to worsen matters, they are ever ready to flog into line those who try to tell them there is no iota of truth in their claims. Such is the ignorance that the (anti) social media spreads like bush fire.

Obviously, the harsh situation in the country has contributed in no small measure to the Atiku crowd and anti-Tinubu sentiment. The government must therefore take decisive steps to reduce the hardship in the country. Atiku does not deserve the kind of popularity he seems to be enjoying, especially in the permissive new media.

This is a rolling stone without ideological conviction. In his inordinate ambition to rule Nigeria, nothing noble matters to him. He jumps in and out of political trains as soon as he discovers he cannot get the presidential ticket where he is. There must be something inherently wrong in the ambition of a man who wants to succeed his ethnic stock in a plural society like Nigeria. Atiku had made six attempts at the presidency and lost. If he tries a seventh time he will still lose if he remains his unstable or selfish self.

Anyway, it is a matter of time for us to find out whether the man now masquerading as freedom fighter and lover of equity has the clean hands to pursue such noble objectives.

All said, this is the time for lawyers to make money off politicians. I suspect Atiku’s lawyers are still the ones urging him on. When lawyers who are eager to make money off politicians meet incurable optimists that many of our politicians are, the result is the kind of desperation that is making Atiku run helter-skelter, having returned from America almost empty-handed, when he had hoped to bring in the joker to nail the Bola Ahmed Tinubu presidency.

October 15, 2023
‘Sisi Mi’ is gone!

Sisi Mi’, as my mum was fondly called before she eventually became upgraded to ‘grandma’, is gone! Mrs. Winifred Feyisetan Olaleye died on Monday, October 2, in the course of a protracted sickness that began with what we thought was a minor leg injury, following a fall between her room and sitting room, in July, last year. That was the last time she walked properly.

Read Also: How MohBad died, by Police

When in May, 2023, her right hip was eventually replaced, albeit without any seeming complications, we thought the worst was over. She had even begun physiotherapy and appeared to be recovering. Then one thing followed the other until she eventually succumbed to the cold hands of death.

She was aged 87.

October 8, 2023
A promise keeper?

Many Nigerian public officials are very tall in words but short in action. That was why I wasn’t particularly optimistic when the Minister of Interior, Dr Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, said in an interview on Television Continental (TVC) that he was going to revolutionise the issuance of international passports, about three weeks ago.

Until recently, it was easier for the proverbial camel to pass through the eye of a needle than it was to get our passport. It could take months, perhaps longer. Indeed, Tunji-Ojo inherited a backlog of over 200,000 passport applications.

I never knew the minister from Adam. But he impressed me during the interview on ‘Journalists Hangout’. He spoke on the passport conundrum, condition of our correctional centres, etc. My conclusion of that first impression was that if only this man would match words with action, then, his ministry and indeed Nigeria would be the better for it.

Another new appointee of the Federal Government who impressed me in a similar interview on the same station about two weeks ago is the new Chief of Air Staff, Air Vice Marshal (AVM) Hassan Abubakar.

He too mesmerised me with a thorough articulation of his brief.

If the depth of understanding of their briefs by these two men is a fair representation of the government’s cabinet, then, Nigeria should be in for an early recovery, despite our present seemingly daunting challenges.

Read Also: Tunji-Ojo, Sununu resign from House of Reps

I am however devoting today to Tunji-Ojo. He has begun to deliver on his promises. ‘Talki-n-ado’ (talk and do), as we say. He has not only cleared the backlog of passports awaiting action that he inherited, about 204,000 in all, he has gone some steps further. His reforms include applicants uploading their “passport online, you upload your supporting documents online, so when you go to the immigration office, you spend just like five minutes just to have your biometric captured; that’s all,” he added while speaking with Channels Television, last week. Hopefully, this new arrangement would be in place by December. The long and short of it is that by the time he is through with his revolution in the passport offices, virtually the entire processes would be computerised, thus reducing human interaction to the barest minimum.

This makes eminent sense. Human beings are prone to temptations. Their wants (mind you, wants, not needs) are numerous. They want to own the most grandiose houses, ride the best vehicles (and, may be men or women), drink the costliest ‘koinyan’, flaunt their ill-gotten wealth, sometimes in the most annoying and ungodly manner. In most cases, it is only corruption that can produce and sustain these wants. The computer has no such need and so is not corrupt. It can only be corrupted.

It beggars belief that someone would head a ministry like that of interior for years and Nigerians would be cringing before very junior public servants and miscreants to get passport, which is their natural right.

Tunji-Ojo has proved that it is not a question of how long but how well. He was sworn in only on August 21. No one should blame those of us who suddenly had a change of our names to Doubting Thomas when he promised to clear the backlog within two or so weeks. It is not our fault. That is what we had been conditioned to believe over the years. That issuance of our passport is rocket science. Something that Christians among us have to read the Litany, the Muslims reading the longest ‘Ayat’ in the Holy Quran, or the traditional worshippers making some lengthy incantations besieging our ancestors to see us through the laborious processes of making Nigerians get international passport!

Tunji-Ojo’s achievement with issuance of passports has completely demystified his predecessors under whose watch passport ownership became a status symbol and its issuance, a growth area.

But, let no one make no mistake about it; there will be backlash from people who had been feeding fat on the decadent order, particularly in the ministry. They are the much-talked-about corruption that would always fight back. As I have always said, corruption in this country is like sin that many of us eat as if we are eating food. It is very sweet, especially as it makes its perpetrators smile to the bank with so much ill-gotten wealth for doing little or nothing.

But the war will not only come from the miscreants and leeches in the system who profit from other people’s sorrow. Some of those who had presided over the rot that sustained the delay in issuance of passports in the ministry are also not likely to take their being demystified kindly.

So, the minister has to keep watching his back all the time. There should be neither spiritual nor physical carelessness, especially with regard to his security. He is working in the midst of wolves.

But this is not to say that everybody in the ministry is corrupt. There should be some good people in the system, after all the place is neither Soddom nor Gomorrah.

The minister must, after settling down to business, sift the wheat from the chaff so as to know how to relate with the different categories of workers. Each must be rewarded according to his or her contribution.

But, if such noticeable improvement can happen in so short a time with regard to issuance of passports, then there are several possibilities in other areas, if only the drivers of the process know what they are doing.

But the government must be ready to render the necessary support. It is astonishing that a country that is celebrating 63 years of independence cannot produce its own international passport. The Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company (NSPMC) must be provided facilities to produce such document. It should be given the marching order to do things like that after the government must have done its bit; that is, provided it with the requisite tools to perform such functions. After that, those running it should be told to shape up or ship out. The naira cannot appreciate if we continue to do some of these things that we should do within, abroad.

There should be no big deal about issuance of international passports. This is a document that virtually every country issues to their nationals wishing to travel out to other countries without hassle.

All said, Dr Tunji-Ojo must realise that he is also in charge of our correctional centres. The point must be made that although the name has been changed from prisons to correctional centres, not much has changed in terms of welfare for the inmates.

After stabilising on issuance of passports, this should be his next port of call. How can the lot of inmates in the centres be improved? The money may not be enough for everything, but the best must be made of the available resources. Leakages must be blocked because no one can convince me that the correctional centres are immune from the corrupt tendencies in the passport offices or even the country at large. The minister has to strengthen the security in the correctional centres to reduce jailbreaks to the barest minimum. I say this well conscious of the fact that the ongoing fight on President Bola Tinubu’s academic credentials is getting messy and can only get messier. It has become ‘roforofo’ fight which might be continued in every imaginable area. We all know how far some of our politicians can go to make political point.

Be that as it may, I congratulate the minister on his appointment and appeal to him not to rest on his oars. It’s a marathon. He should expect all kinds of obstacles on his way. These are mere distractions that should be ignored. He should be guided by the fact that it is he who endures to the end that gets saved.

And, as for AVM Abubakar, he had delivered in terms of his theoretical understanding of his brief. I want to also have the opportunity to write on him as I have done about the Minister of Interior. I know the situations are not exactly the same. But there is no challenge that is insurmountable. The government should endeavour to provide whatever he needs to deliver. Nigerians want to be able to sleep with their two eyes closed. Abubakar and the other service chiefs are crucial to the realisation of this dream.

October 8, 2023