Category: Tunji Adegboyega

• Asking Honourable Ministers who didn’t act honourably to do the honourable is good for the polity

President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration seemed to have woken up from slumber with last Wednesday’s presidential directive to cabinet members who have political ambition to resign, latest tomorrow. The President dropped the bombshell at the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting. For some of the ministers, that definitely was the last FEC meeting they would attend while even for others, they may never have access to the seat of power again. Such is the transient nature of power. Yet, this is a fact of life that is lost on most of our political leaders who behave, once appointed, as if they were indigenes of the seats of power.

Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, who disclosed the president’s directive at the end of the meeting said the Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo, was not affected by the order because he is an elected member of the cabinet. He added that he did not have the mandate to comment on the fate of non-cabinet members like the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, who had all the while been hiding behind one finger, until he instituted a court action against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), over his anticipated disqualification from a race he had said everything about even without opening his mouth.

Mohammed, however, disclosed the names of the cabinet members who had paid for, and collected nomination forms. These are: Ministers of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi; Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio; Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige; Science, Technology and Innovation, Ogbonnaya Onu, as well as Ministers of State for Education, Emeka Nwajiuba, and Petroleum, Timipre Sylva, who have all joined the presidential race on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Others are the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, who is vying for the Kebbi State governorship seat; Minister of State for Mines and Steel, Uche Ogar, who is running for the governorship position in Abia State, and the Minister of Women Affairs, Pauline Tallen, who declared her ambition to contest for a senatorial seat in Plateau State. Of the lot, only Nwajiuba did what a man does: he resigned well ahead of the presidential directive, citing conflict of interest and the need to concentrate on his political campaign. Talk of honour. The others wanted to eat their cake and at the same time, have it. Tayo Alasoadura, Minister of State for Niger Delta Affairs also resigned following the president’s directive.

This newspaper put President Buhari’s mood at the FEC meeting succinctly: “Speaking calmly, the President did not mince words. He showed a bit of anger. What followed was pin-drop silence before Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) Boss Mustapha rounded off the meeting.” For once, we saw a president who had been ruling taciturnly, (a thing exploited by many of his ministers and others to behave like tin gods, with the lack of synergy in government becoming so glaring), getting visibly angry. Everybody was doing as he or she pleased. This has made many observers ask at several critical junctures: “so, where is the president in all of these”? “It’s not their (ministers’) fault; it’s the president we have to blame.” These were Nigerians’ comments even when the debate on the impropriety or otherwise of the ministers’ decision to stay put, contrary to common sense and fairness, raged.

But the presidential directive eventually came like thunderbolt. It jolted not only Nigerians who were wondering where the president kept this kind of sweet wine these past seven years, serving them sour wine instead; but the ministers as well. Indeed, before now, not a few Nigerians had felt most of these cabinet members really got the original of whatever spell they had cast on the president, making him to still be keeping them in spite of their incompetence and cluelessness that have been so visible to the blind and audible even to the deaf, leading to the sorry state that the country has been largely, especially under this administration.

As a matter of fact, one of them, Ngige, was so thrown off balance after the announcement that he could not believe the honeymoon was over. He reportedly told Vanguard that he was not in a hurry to resign and that he would have to consult with the president and his constituents before resigning. “I have no reaction for now because the president said if anyone wants clarifications, the person should meet him. So I have to consult him and consult my constituents, Anambra State because I am holding the office for the government and my constituents”, he said. His reaction reminded me of one of my bosses at the then Kingsway Stores on Marina, Lagos, where I worked briefly after my school cert. The woman, one Mrs Dina, was such a funny fellow that there was never a dull moment with her. One of her popular jokes then was to tell anyone who ran afoul of the company’s rules and regulations that Kingsway “a koko le e lo, ki won to fi’we da e duro” (meaning Kingsway would first send you away before following it up with your sack letter).

I had wanted to advise the Minister Ngige to honourably drop his resignation letter so that Mrs. Dina’s expensive joke would not be invoked on him, when I learnt the President had hosted all the cabinet members concerned to a valedictory meeting on Friday. It should be obvious to the minister by now that the time of consultations is over. Moreover, it is in times of distress like this that our political leaders remember their constituents. As my people say, “b’aja ba f’ori ko’mi, a m’ona ile olowo e” (when a dog runs into trouble, he knows the way to its owner’s house). It is now that they are no longer in office that many of them will know how little they are. Many of them cannot even return to those constituents without police protection.

But then, most of these ministers in Buhari’s cabinet must count themselves lucky. Many other presidents would have fired them a long time ago. But Nigeria it is that has paid for the Buhari permissiveness that has kept many of them thus far. As a matter of fact, Ngige would have been rendered jobless the day he said we have enough doctors and that their exodus to other countries was a blessing to Nigeria. The same way Sylva would have been made to join the unemployment queues the day he said Nigerians should be happy the country was importing fuel from Niger Republic and not from some far countries. With a Minister of State for Petroleum with this mindset, what further proof do we need for why our refineries are not working? Please don’t remind me that the president is the principal manager of this vital sector. That is a different kettle of fish, altogether. How does importing fuel from wherever help our economy when we are a major crude oil producer?

For these careless statements alone, in saner climes, both Ngige and Sylva would have been checked out of the cabinet since.

Or, is it the all-powerful Malami that we want to talk about? The cat with nine lives and the president’s begotten son? The one we all thought to be invincible and beyond reproach? Despite the many sins he had allegedly committed, he still sat pretty in office, dishing the government personal or parochial opinions as legal positions. But what do you expect when a toddler wears the shoes meant for adults? His predecessors of yore must be wondering what an eaglet lawyer is doing on a seat meant for legal luminaries!

And Emefiele, the one who oversaw policies that saw our currency fell from the worst scenario of N198 to a dollar when he took over in 2015 to its present ridiculous and unprecedented rate of over N550 to one dollar. Is that what commends him for promotion to office of president? Emefiele, from what we now know is more politician than our professional politicians. This, apparently, was what had sustained him for long, not his professional handling of the apex bank’s affairs.

The refusal of President Buhari’s ministers interested in contesting elections to resign was probably the height of the impunity, shenanigans and corruption that define the government. It was so bad that they turned the highest office in the land to a wall clock joke, with many of them wanting to succeed their boss. There is no harm in this; except that governance suffers while these people exalt the wild goose chase they are after beyond the ministerial appointments already in their kitty. This shows that the ministers did not know or chose not to care that their government was barely being tolerated due to non-performance. What are they going to offer at the presidential level when they already failed as ministers?

This matter should not end with the officials’ resignation; their tenures should be probed. A friend usually cracks a joke that a man who ate stockfish without picking his teeth would most likely not pay his debt (eni to je panla ti ko ta’yin; to ba je gbese, ko ni san). We need to be sure that people like these without a moral compass have not tampered with our purse violently. By their action, the affected persons have proved to be the typical Nigerian politician that they are: all they see is their political ambition, nothing else. Even if the law permits their indulgence, what of the morality of it? What of the unfair advantage that such political offices confer on the public officials?

That reminds me; how do those of them who paid the N100million nomination fee want to convince the rest of us that it was not our money they used to get the form? Many Nigerians have also said that they thought N100million was a lot of money until the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) started selling its presidential nomination form for that amount. Also, as some people have argued on several platforms, the official salary of even the president in four years is about N120million. How then can someone buy ordinary form for that position with N100million? How many annual salaries of  a professor would that pay?

Meanwhile, university lecturers are on strike and government is saying it has no money to meet their demands. Meanwhile, our legislators who are asking the rest of us to patronise made-in-Nigeria products cruise about in the best of imported exotic cars that their counterparts in countries where those vehicles are produced can never use, not even in their dreams. Meanwhile, we are asking those countries that we are heavily indebted to for debt forgiveness. Even if they are ‘compound fools’, it is unlikely they would want to continue picking the bills of our unproductive conspicuous consumption. What are our politicians producing and selling that they have such money to literally set ablaze?

In spite of everything, it is still gratifying that the scales seem to have finally fallen from the eyes of President Buhari such that he could clearly see the true colours of some of his cabinet members. He could see them for the opportunists and sycophants that they are. He could see the lack or absence of moral compass in their actions.

Whatever the President’s motive, this singular action is likely to have some positive effect on his administration in the remaining part of its lame duck period, as not a few public officials would henceforth think twice before acting.

But can President Buhari sustain this, or is the action only a flash in the pan? The answer is not just in the wombs of time, especially with the president’s own legendary inadequacies, but in his choice of replacements for the former ministers. This is a golden opportunity for the administration to redeem its image. If governors ensured their aides with political ambition resign, nothing should make those at the federal level sacrosanct. If it means amending the constitution, so be it.

Given the rock bottom fare that Pastor Noah Abraham has advertised for his dream cruise to heaven, one can imagine the type of journey that he and his believers are in for. Most likely a journey of no return; whether in the spiritual or literal sense. The pastor has allegedly told his church members that all they needed to do was pay him the sum of N310,000 each and he would take them to heaven, preparatory to the rapture. The pastor, who heads Christ High Commission, otherwise known as Royal Christ Assembly, was reportedly based in Kaduna, Kaduna State, until he was seized by the fanciful utopia. To facilitate the mission, the pastor left his Kaduna base for Omuo-Ekiti in Ekiti State, where he has established a camp, with a gate which, according to him, leads to heaven.

Curiously, some members of the church have fallen for the antics and have consequently been at the camp since April 6. They have forsaken whatever they had in Kaduna to continue their lives at the ramshackle camp, from where they now go about their daily activities, awaiting the announcement of the arrival of the plane that would fly them to heaven! As a matter of fact, they were quoted to have vowed to stay put at the camp until that time comes, insisting that rapture was at hand. “We are not coming back. I can’t explain in details. We are going to make rapture from here. We are going to a heavenly place”, one of the people in the camp was reported to have said.

It is such a serious matter that some of them with children abroad have asked the children to return to the country and join them at the camp; mind you, to avoid Daddy G.O. or Daddy Abraham’s wrath, and not necessarily because of fear of missing heaven, which is the purported raison d’etre of their being in the camp. They fear the pastor could do things that would make such children who refuse to heed the call misbehave in their respective places, leading to their sudden deportation or imprisonment.

But, in the lighter mode, Pastor Abraham’s story has put the burden on the other pastors, particularly those of them high up there, to explain why they have been taking their congregations through the laborious journeys of coming to church every Sunday, to fellowships during the week, in some cases digging deep; to monthly programmes, annual conventions and all, when all these hapless believers needed to do was part with as little as N310,000 for both their visa and passport straight to heaven? Even yours sincerely can still afford to sponsor some of the people who might be interested in this trip despite my lean resources.

My only fear is the trouble that would follow if the mission is aborted for whatever reason. People say there is no fight in church; that it is all a matter of answering “Amen” when the pastor prays: (Ko si’ja ni sooshi, s’adura ns’amin ni). I have no problem with that. But there would be fight in the church if there is a failed contract, in which case the sponsor not only has to refund my money but also pay damages, for his inability to fulfill his advertised mission. Mind you; this is not an ordinary contract or mere dashing the hope that a few millions can assuage. It is about my whole essence as a Christian: making heaven. I believe the courts would be so appropriately guided in determining the fatness of the damages in my favour in the situation. Ha, nkan gbodo ki s’ese rago o, should a pastor make me miss heaven in this kind of circumstance.

But, jokes apart, the fact is that, these days, our eyes have seen and our ears have heard a lot, especially on the social media, about very bizarre things happening in some churches around the world. The consolation has always been that by the time one read the details, the dateline would be places like Kenya, South Africa, Zimbabwe, etc. Thank God it is not Nigeria, many of us would say and heave a sigh of relief. Indeed, it cannot happen in Nigeria, we would further boast. But it has happened, and finally in Nigeria. With this Daddy Abraham’s development, it is certain that stranger things could be happening in some churches in Nigeria. Just that they are not yet in the public domain. If this too had not been reported, we never could have imagined it is possible here. Many years ago, such news would be tucked into the ‘Odd World’ section of the  newspapers.

Unfortunately, these days, there is only a thin line between odd world and reality world. The gown has caught up with the town. There is nothing happening in the world that does not have its version in the church, an indication that the end of the world could truly be at hand. Or, what do you say about a situation where a pastor bathes married women and ladies naked right in the full glare of other church members, ostensibly to heal them of their afflictions? After bathing them in a basin right inside the church, another pastor rubs their bodies with anointing oil in their semi-naked state, from their legs up, after which the ladies or women are handed back their pants and they step aside in towels to go wear their dresses! Incredible? But that was precisely what happened at the cross-over service in December, last year, in a church in Ghana.

As Reuben Abati said on Channels Television, part of the problem why such things happen is that many Christians have turned their pastors into mini-gods such that whatever the pastors ask them to do, they do, without asking questions. Particularly the end-time and prosperity variants of the men of God. What Fela referred to as “joooro jaara joro, follow follow” mentality. I suspect the reason for this kind of unquestioned submission to the will of these pastors is laziness on the part of many Christians to search out the scriptures to know what exactly is required of them. The Holy Bible is a compendium on virtually every situation of life. Where, for God’s sake, did the members falling for the pastor’s antics see it in the Bible that people would be airlifted from a particular place to heaven to await the rapture? Apparently many of these end-time and prosperity pastors are feasting on the spiritual laziness of most of their members who are looking for the cheap way out of every situation.

Rather than simply believing Jesus Christ as their Lord and saviour, and asking for the grace to keep the commandments, they want to buy their way through. And so cheaply too. I guess Pastor Abraham knows what he is doing, that is, if all is really well with him. He must have pegged the transport fare at such rock bottom level to show the class of people he knew would most likely fall for his delusion.

That is the way such bigots operate. And, since religion has become the opium of most of the people, especially in the developing countries, it becomes easier for the pastors to hoodwink or hypnotise them into doing their bidding.

Unless the people who follow pastors like Daddy Abraham are hypnotised or something, I don’t know how even eaglet Christians could be so easily hoodwinked. Come to think of it, how can a paltry N310,000 take someone to heaven in a country whose currency has been so grossly devalued such that presidential nomination form now goes for a princely N100million? Which airline is going to accept such ridiculous amount as air fare for the flight? Daddy Abraham’s Airways, which promises to fly only coffins in the air, given the cheap air fare and the dungeon of a camp where the hapless believers are kept in Omuo-Ekiti?

But, as some people have said, if it could happen in the almighty United States of America, who, or what says it cannot happen in Nigeria or even elsewhere? I am talking of the Jim Jones November 18, 1978 experiment that is well documented in the Guyana Tragedy. Jones, also known as ‘The mad messiah’ was an American cult leader who led his believers to commit mass suicide, about 900 of them, in what has become known as the Jonestown Massacre, after his failed promise of utopia to them in the jungles of South America hit the rocks. He had earlier proclaimed himself Messiah of the People’s Temple, an evangelistic group based in San Francisco.

Just as well that the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Kaduna State, has disowned Pastor Abraham. Just as well too, that the pastor has finally hinted at what I expected: he has brought the almighty God into the picture. I saw this coming. When people are held for rape, armed robbery, murder or other crimes, they blame it on the devil. Unfortunately, the devil has never come out to say he never sent them on such errand. Now, a man of God has said God instructed him to charge the N310,000 fare per traveller to heaven. “I did it because I got the authority of God who called me to practise for all that want to serve the Lord with their whole heart”, he reportedly said.

The problem now is; how do we get to confirm this from God? When Pastor Noah Abraham’s name sake in the Bible, Noah, constructed his ark as directed by God, he never charged anyone who entered the ark. Even if he wanted to charge the human beings, how would he have charged animals that also made their way into the ark?

Without prejudice to this claim, and, with due respect, I think Daddy Abraham himself needs deliverance. There is need to ascertain his mental state. Where it is confirmed that he is alright, then the prime driver of what he has done could be economic. The harsh economic situation in the country compounded by Buharinomics has led to all manner of people devising equally all manner of ways to beat the president to his government’s economic hardship. But the government has a lot to do too to wean the poor masses off the situation that has made religion their opium.

We must see the Daddy Abraham’s matter to its logical conclusion. Let the rightful be done so that we don’t have a situation of the Jim Jones situation in Nigeria. Boko Haram and other criminals have sucked too much blood in the country these past few years. We cannot afford to shed more through senseless pursuits such as the one under reference.

Even if those in Daddy Abraham’s camp awaiting the announcement of the arrival of the aircraft that would take them to heaven have made up their minds to commit suicide (people who could fall for what they fell for could fall for anything), we owe them the responsibility of denying them the unwarranted privilege of delivering their graveside orations ahead of their God-appointed time.

Even though Prof. Akinjide Osuntokun’s name rings a bell, I never met him in person until our paths crossed at the Ijora, Lagos office of The Comet (now defunct) when I joined its editorial board in 2000. He is one of the great Nigerians I have had the privilege of working with on the editorial boards of both The Comet and The Nation.

Gentle, easy going and soft-spoken, Osuntokun, who clocked 80 on April 26, could hardly hurt a fly. Even when he is angry, he comports himself. It is an understatement to say he is brilliant and his brilliance tells  in his invaluable contributions on the editorial boards and in his other assignments. Of course you cannot expect less from a man with an exceptionally rich academic background who had served the country in various capacities, home and abroad.

You cannot miss the fact that he is a historian of repute. But the man is equally witty and blessed with uncommon candour. I remember one of the things he said on the editorial board of The Comet in those days at the Ijora office. A certain chief executive had narrated the story of some unworthy and wicked workers who stole four brand new tyres that their company purchased on a Friday for one of their vehicles, to facilitate the movement of their product to the market. The tyres were fixed on a Friday. But by Monday when the workers resumed, all the tyres had disappeared, with the vehicle suspended. For a company that was struggling to survive, this, definitely, was a huge loss. Prof Osuntokun replied that such a thing was not uncommon in a situation where members of the staff are owed months of salary arrears! His sympathy was with the workers. Obviously that was not the kind of reply the narrator expected.

But this does not mean Osuntokun supported stealing. It was only a reflection of his candour because what the person who told the story, himself an elder and respected member of the gathering, expected were bashings left, right and centre condemning the thieves who stole the tyres, as well as the security men who looked the other way as the tyres were taken out of the gate. And Prof. Osuntokun knew this. But he did not toe the line expected in spite of his respect for the person who narrated the story. That is the man for you.

Of course, Osuntokun could not have supported stealing. He had held several positions of trust but we never heard he stole. Indeed, in their days, stealing, that we have found all manner of names to glamourise these days when the act involves personalities (in order to lessen the gravity of the fact that they actually stole, and by extension, their punishment), was taboo in their days. Not that it was not there at all; but it was few and far between. And when caught, attempts were not made to glamourise it as we do now; the big thieves were served their due comeuppance in a manner that would not make the common thieves green with envy.

For Prof, as he is fondly called, money or material attraction means little. It is obvious he does not belong to the category of many other Nigerians who have no sense of shame. It would appear he waited patiently in heaven to be served his portion of the ‘scarce commodity’ before coming to the world. But for his being contented, he would have been a member of AGIP, that is, Any Government In Power, that many Nigerians shamelessly belong to. To further drive the point home that money is not everything, he had turned down several international assignments that would have fetched him a lot of money, opting instead, to remain in Nigeria. This was a demonstration of selfless service to the nation.

But one aspect of his life that really fascinates me is his marital life. His wife, Dr Abiodun Osuntokun, died in 2003. He has refused to remarry since then. Nineteen years as widower is no mean task, especially for a man like Prof Osuntokun who had the means, financial and otherwise, the erudition, handsomeness, cosmopolitanism, fame, and what have you to husband even more than one wife if he so desired.

Remaining single was therefore a tough decision to make in a local milieu where polygamy is the vogue and a veritable means of one proving to be a man. A man like him would have been a ladies’ man in his prime. An epitome of handsomeness that many young girls (not to talk of ladies and even women) would be falling over themselves for, offering him soap when having his bath by the riverside, each pleading passionately with him to take their own. Jide Osuntokun nwe lodo, gbogbo omoge nyo’wo ose: temi ni ko gba, temi ni ko mu; temi ni ko gba, iwo ni ma fe”, kind of situation. Apologies to my number one music maestro, King Sunny Ade.

Polygamy, though fashionable among our forefathers in this part of the world, was for the sole purpose the harem and their children could help in the farms, because farming was their preoccupation. But many people who go into polygamy these days do so for various trivial and sometimes inconceivable reasons. It is their own way of being a man. If the man had remarried at the time his wife died 19 years ago, he would, as he has always maintained, have had to be comparing and contrasting which of the two is better, a thing he does not think is good enough for the memory of their union. “There were attempts to persuade me to marry another woman, but it wouldn’t have been fair to the memory of my wife, nor would it have been fair to the person I would have married, because I would have been comparing the two of them. But I thank God it made me to bury myself in my writing, my commitment to whatever the activity I enjoyed, especially writing”.

Beyond that is the tendency of the new (or is it younger wife) to want to take dominion of the house, the foundation of which was laid by someone else, and any attempt by the man to resist would be frowned at by the younger wife, and perhaps interpreted as the man not loving her, or even comparing her with a dead person (his first wife). This might be the beginning of the problem for both the man and the late wife’s children. Prof’s children should therefore be eternally grateful to him and to God for this selfless decision.

Indeed, if Prof Osuntokun’s children have not been showing gratitude to him for this especial selflessness, they had better start doing so. By saving them from what Yoruba people call ‘agbole were’ (mad people’s compound) that polygamy represents, he has rendered them an invaluable service which must have had a major impact in the various enviable positions they have found themselves today, saved from the ruinous distractions of polygamy.

Whether Prof has not had any girl or woman friend since the wife died can only be answered by him. But that is not the point I am making because that would be a very tall order for any man.

The more reason he deserves applause is because, as a Christian, he has the opportunity of a second chance at marriage after losing his wife. So, he would have committed neither crime nor sin if he had remarried. In spite of this, he refused to remarry. I doubt if the wife herself would expect him to live a life of celibacy all of these years. But I have a feeling she would be satisfied by her husband’s decision not to mingle (remarry) at least for the sake of the memory of their union, and in the interest of their children.

But Prof too has God to thank for the gift of contentment. It takes more than simply being human for someone like him who had taught for decades in several universities where you come across all manner of ladies – tall, slim, light complexioned; or fat, of average height, black and beautiful – and  all you can wish for is that God should let this cup pass over you and it would be so all of the time, just like that? In this wise, one can only also imagine the temptations that Osuntokun would have passed through in the hands of women and ladies who would have wanted to succeed his late wife at all cost, especially knowing that he is a widower.

Born on April 26, 1942 in Okemesi, Ekiti State, Professor Osuntokun began his primary school education first at Holy Trinity School, Ilawe, and later Emmanuel Primary School in Ado-Ekiti. He proceeded to Christ’s School, Ado-Ekiti (1956-60); Ibadan Grammar School (1961-62); University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies and Queen Mary’s College (1964-65); University of Ibadan (1963-64, 1965-66); University of Ibadan Post-Graduate School (1966-67); Institute of Commonwealth Studies and School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London (1968-69); Ecole Pratiquedes Hautes, Sorbone University, Paris, France (1969, among others.

He had taught as lecturer, senior lecturer, associate professor at various universities, including the University of Ibadan, University of Lagos, University of Maiduguri and Redeemer’s University, Mowe, Ogun State. He had also served as visiting professor, head of department of history, dean college of humanities as well as professor of history, among several positions in various ivory towers.

Beyond the classrooms, Prof Osuntokun was Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Germany (1991-95), a position he occupied until the Abacha regime came and wanted him to sell the regime to the outside world. A thing Osuntokun refused and which consequently led to his removal and incarceration for six months, without charge. He was also director, Nigeria Universities Commission Office, Washington DC, U.S.A., as well as in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

Prof Osuntokun had authored several books including Chief S. L. A. Akintola: His life and times; Power broker: A biography of Sir Kashim Ibrahim and Abidakun: An autobiography of Professor Akinjide Osuntokun, in addition to several seminar and convocation lecture series. He also bagged Presidential Honour, Republic of Equatorial Guinea, Malabo, 1990; Officer, Order of the Niger, OON in 2004.

Like many of his contemporaries, Prof Osuntokun is still bewildered that a once promising Nigeria that they were very proud of in their time has been reduced to the present unenviable status of the poverty capital of the world by rapacious rulers. Rudderless. Adrift. And lost.

Permit me to end this piece with the following words of wisdom by Dare Babarinsa in a tribute to Akinjide Osuntokun in The Guardian of April 7. “For our country to make progress, many Nigerians must be ready to follow the example of Prof Osuntokun, leave our comfort zone and be ready to endure hardship to transform our society.” Are we ready?

• Unlike a former governor, Sanwo-Olu got the GAC’s approval for second term due to performance and not because he failed

Give it to him, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State deserves the endorsement for second term that the Governance Advisory Council (GAC) gave him on April 18. The GAC is the highest decision-making body of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state. Sanwo-Olu’s chief press secretary, Gboyega Akosile, made this known in a social media post: “Breaking news: Lagos GAC gives nod to Governor @jidesanwoolu’s second term bid. The Governance Advisory Council at a meeting  in Lagos today gave pass mark to Sanwo-Olu for staying through to the developmental agenda of Lagos.

Congratulations dear boss!”

The endorsement has put paid to the speculation that the GAC had its eyes on another candidate for the party’s ticket in next year’ governorship election.

Unlike a former governor, however, Sanwo-Olu earned the endorsement. After all, as they say, the reward for hard work is more work. His is the result of the good works he has been doing since his swearing in on May 29, 2019. He is therefore not in the same category with that former governor whose father asked that his son (the governor) be allowed “to repeat” (have a second term) because he failed to perform!

It was “breaking news”, indeed. Until the tenure of Sanwo-Olu’s predecessor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, the question of second term for governor in Lagos had always been a settled matter, at least since the country’s return to civil rule on May 29, 1999. This has remained so because the ruling party has succeeded in maintaining its strong hold on the state’s political levers since that day when Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu became the first governor in the new dispensation. Indeed, if anything, Tinubu has ensured that the state remains in the firm grip of the (now) APC right through all the political party name changes that the ruling party in the state has witnessed in the last 23 years.

With Sanwo-Olu’s endorsement, only Ambode missed the second shot at the governorship in the state in the last 23 years. So, if Akosile referred to his boss’s endorsement as “breaking news”, he was right. If he had said that before the Ambode years, people would have been wondering whether he knew news. Or, what could have been breaking about something that was more or less routine?

Again, the news qualified for “breaking” news because of the speculation that made the rounds early this year, that the GAC had been shopping for a replacement for Sanwo-Olu, a thing the council had dismissed several weeks before. Indeed, as far back as January, the GAC had made it abundantly clear that it had “not settled for any person to replace Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu as governor. Therefore, it is absolutely false and preposterous for anyone  to suggest so.” Indeed, the council had harsh words for those it considered ‘merchants of hate’ peddling the satanic rumour.

This, ordinarily, should have settled the question of Sanwo-Olu’s endorsement. But things don’t always work like that in Nigerian politics. It is a long time between January and April. Anything could have happened within the period. Indeed, it is instructive that that was the way Ambode’s problem began. What started like a child’s play eventually ended up in the former governor losing his second term bid. The difference this time around, though, is that Sanwo-Olu did not allow that banana peel situation to repeat itself.

Sanwo-Olu, even despite his modest achievements left the decision to return him for second term in the hands of the people. He knows it is not about achievements alone. Although the governor refused to state if he would seek reelection or not, he had told Channels Television in January, “I think we are doing a very good job” adding that “If I dare say so, I think that the citizens know what it is they will be missing if they don’t let us continue to wrap up all the things  we are doing.” He continued: “But for me, it is about ensuring that these four years that I have promised my citizens I put every bit of my sweat into it.” He said something that interests me and gave me the impression that he truly did not want what happened to his predecessor to happen to him. “I will ask, I will consult; citizens, how do you see it? That’s how you get it done. Keep your focus on, try and finish very strong.”

I know I had cause to ask some of my friends in the Ambode government whether they had any meetings where some of the decisions taken then were thrashed out. Like the simultaneous construction works on the Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway, Airport Road and the Pen Cinema axis. Very good projects if you ask me, but they should have been taken one after the other because what some of us feared then was what happened later: chaotic traffic in that axis due to lack of alternative routes. If the construction works had been thoroughly debated, it is not unlikely someone would have pointed out this implication right from the time the projects were on the drawing board.

I must confess I am seeing much of the fact that Lagos is still work in progress, with various projects here and there, particularly road projects. The Agege axis in the state is witnessing a massive urban renewal, especially with regard to inner roads. The Akowonjo Road is also being reconstructed, with befitting drainages on both sides. Roads that had never been tarred are being tarred, with drainages provided in many cases. Some other persons have reported similar activities in their areas of the state.

Although things are happening in several sectors in the state, I am however going to focus more on roads in particular, and transportation, generally, on which the state government is committing huge resources. Here, one cannot but start with the Lagos Rail Mass Transit (LRMT) Redline Project Phase 1.

The Red line is a 37 km North-South rail route that proposes to run on the same alignment with the Standard Gauge Rail system being constructed by the Federal Government, as part of the national rail network. It would be the first metro system in West Africa and the first of its kind in Nigeria.

It is expected to run from Agbado to Marina, with 11 proposed stations at Agbado, Iju, Agege, Ikeja, Oshodi, Mushin, Yaba, Ebute Meta, Ido, Ebute Ero, and Marina. The project is a part of the state government’s vision of an integrated multimodal transportation system. One can only imagine how far Lagos State would have gone on the development index if the then Buhari military government had not truncated the state’s metro line project initiated by the Jakande administration in the 1980s. One major detriment of the backward unitary system foisted on us by military adventurists! We must be wary of their civilian successors whose utterances and activities are also antithetical to civilisation and modernisation.

With a population of about 27 million residents, Lagos is the most densely populated city in Africa. Indeed, it is projected that by 2025 it would be one of the five most populous cities in the world. This is where the redline project comes handy. The train will transport some 500,000 passengers daily. This would naturally impact on the number of passengers scrambling to enter the few available transportation alternatives available today. That is not all. Transporters using rickety commercial buses on the roads too would not need any Vehicle Inspection Officer to tell them that market has closed. It would also impact on security, as ‘one chance’ thieves and other criminals would have to relocate or change from their sinful ways. Even ‘Okada’ riders that have become lords on the roads, violating every known civilisation, would know that something has hit them.

As with most construction works, the state government has had to divert traffic on the routes the red line rail would pass through, including the Ikeja Overpass, Yaba Overpass and Oyingbo Overpass. Expectedly, this traffic diversion has had to cause motorists and commuters some hardship while it lasted, the sweet part of the story is that such pains have to be endured to have a better traffic situation that would be beneficial to all in the long run. Moreover, the state government has made some arrangements to ease the pains.

Hopefully, as the governor promised, the Red Line would begin operations by the last quarter of this year, or first quarter of 2023. I cannot wait to see this project take off. I can imagine how anxiously the governor and other critical stakeholders in the state would also be anticipating its commencement.

If Lagos had so significantly changed for better between 1999 and now, we owe a substantial part of the gratitude to the fact that it has remained in the firm grips of the progressives, from the Alliance for Democracy (AD) to the present APC. Continuity is therefore not a problem in Lagos. Indeed, if there is a place where continuity has paid off, Lagos presents a good example. This credit goes naturally to Tinubu.

But there is still a lot to be done. I have had cause to mention street lights that have not worked for years. I used to mention that of Capitol Road in Agege. Mercifully, they are working today. But Fatai Atere has been in darkness long before the expiration of Ambode’s tenure. It is still in darkness almost three years to the end of Sanwo-Olu’s first term. I do not think it should be so. Once such facilities have been provided, they should be sustained. Adding more when some of those already provided are not functioning, for me, is not the way to go. And this is not only about Fatai Atere. Ditto all other areas where street lights have packed up, particularly the very critical parts of the state, if only for security reason. The same applies to traffic lights.

Moreover, I have observed several times that drainages are cleared almost regularly, particularly at the onset of the rainy season, the garbage from the drains is often left beside the roads for long. In the end, much of it is flushed back into the drainages when rain falls, thereby making nonsense of the initial clearing. This should be packed away immediately for optimum results. Waiting for it to dry before packing is sometimes counterproductive. I have also been harping on this street that links Isheri-Oshun with Ten Acres or White Sand. It has remained in a terrible state for years, despite the rising population of the area.

Lest I forget, those two defective skyscrapers under construction in Ikoyi should not be allowed to come down on their own, injuring or killing people in the process. If that happens, all the angels in heaven testifying for the state government would achieve nothing. Prevention is better than cure.

All said, Governor Sanwo-Olu has to realise that he still has Lagosians to contend with at the polls next year. The GAC endorsement is only one of the hurdles. This is not the time for him to rest on his oars. It is time for more work. This is especially so as Lagos keeps receiving unusual in-flocks of people, either from banditry-infested parts of the country, or from other states where governors think it is the responsibility of Lagos to cater to the needs of all.

Writing on Alhaji Aliko Dangote, chairman/chief executive officer, Dangote Group, affords one an opportunity to  unwind and break from the vicious cycle of commenting on the same depressing issues about Nigeria and its lackluster governments. At least, once again, it gives one another rare opportunity to say something refreshingly different about Nigeria. It is another opportunity to remind the world that has written Nigeria off (and unapologetically so) that something good can still come out of the country.

I always mention it as a fact when writing on Dangote, that he is one Nigerian entrepreneur no one can ignore. Whether you like him or not, the fact is, you cannot ignore him. Dangote has become a household name in Nigeria because of his resourcefulness. Even his ‘arch-enemies’, where they are angry with him and boycott his cement, they must be eating his indomie noodles. Where they don’t like the taste of his indomie, they cannot afford to do without his sugar. Where you don’t like his sugar, you have his salt to contend with. This man was able to identify the cheap but essential needs of Nigerian homes and ventured into producing them at a time when others were probably eyeing bigger things for the elite, and it has paid off for him. The little drops of water he has been able to get from both the poor and the rich consuming those essential products, taking advantage of the large market in the country, have ended up becoming a mighty ocean in the course of time.

For me, we should use every auspicious occasion to celebrate this man who is a source of pride not only to Nigeria but the African continent.

But, despite the fact that I believe Dangote should be celebrated as much as possible, I doubt if I have written up to five articles on him in my entire journalism career spanning three decades plus. The reason is simple: it gets to a point when you begin to sound patronising. But, if I may ask: why not? If you cannot sound patronising to Africa’s richest man whose source of wealth you largely can trace or explain, then who are you going to sound patronising to? Our politicians, some of who took oath of office in bathroom slippers today only to step out of their respective government houses in golden shoes tomorrow, moving around as if they were born with golden spoons in their mouths?

Presently, Dangote has businesses in 10 African countries. He is a philanthropist par excellence. Indeed, if he is Africa’s richest man, I think  it is partly because he understands and practices the principle of prosperity. Generosity. This has nothing to do with religion. Dangote has been giving back to the society through various corporate social responsibility programmes and projects, sometimes in multimillions, sometimes in billions.

With a net worth of $14.3billion as at April 15, 2022, Dangote is the 132nd richest man in the world. If the best of our universities is ranked at number 401-500 globally in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings today, at least our richest man is seated comfortably in the 132nd position in the cocktail circuits of the men of means. That should somewhat comfort us. It takes a lot to be in the midst of such men.

Astoundingly, however, despite his greatness and opulence, Aliko Dangote has only three children, at least according to Forbes. It is immaterial if Forbes is right or wrong. If Dangote has 100 children, he can train them to any level they want without sweating. Yet, the man is from Kano, Kano State, in the northern region of Nigeria, where illiteracy is rife and, when combined with its twin brother, ignorance, has led to the breeding of millions of Almajiris, euphemistically referred to as out-of-school children.

Yet, it is in the same region that you find several pedophiles. Yet, it is in the same region that some people who have a little change when compared with Dangote’s stupendous wealth, are breeding like rats. The other day, a member of the National Assembly proudly announced the arrival of his 28th child and his colleagues congratulated him instead of making him realise that he is a potential part of the problems of the region – abandoned children (that they are now exporting to other regions). Many of the children who ended up being abandoned when their parents could not sustain them again are the ones now revolting against the system that pauperised them because they are no longer convinced that Allah has created them as second-class citizens only good to be exploited for elections by the elite. We should condemn the practice whereby people use their ‘third leg’ indiscriminately to commit havoc all over the place in the name of culture, as if culture is cast in stone. These temporary money-miss road have to take tutorials on family planning from Dangote.

That Dangote is a phenomenon is confirmed by Forbes: “Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest person, founded and chairs Dangote Cement, the continent’s largest cement producer. He owns 85% of publicly-traded Dangote Cement through a holding company. Dangote Cement has the capacity to produce 48.6 million metric tons annually and has operations in 10 countries across Africa. After many years in development, Dangote’s fertilizer plant in Nigeria began operations in mid-2021. Dangote Refinery has been under construction since 2016 and is expected to be one of the world’s largest oil refineries once complete.” Even Forbes describes his source of wealth simply as “cement, sugar, self made.” This means it is traceable.

Soon, this would include petrochemicals when his refinery, the largest in Africa, roars into full operation. This means Dangote would soon realise that though sugar and cement are sweet, oil, is definitely sweeter. It was the Late Chief Moshood Kashimawo Abiola that was once quoted to have used that expression. Abiola was a successful businessman too; he had a flourishing media outfit, among several business concerns. But when he ventured into oil business, he was said to have exclaimed that “publishing is sweet, but oil is sweeter!”

Still talking about oil. The whole country is waiting for Dangote Refinery to take off. With its about 650,000 barrels per day capacity, the refinery is expected not only to meet our national fuel needs but still have sufficient to export. Even the Nigerian government which owns four refineries that it has no clue as to how to run profitably appears fixated on this world-class facility without necessarily saying so. Ceteris paribus, this should impact our exchange rate since it is said that we spent about $1.04 billion on fuel imports last year, down from $1.32 billion in 2020. But I am not that upbeat. The Buhari government does not seem to understand how a  modern economy runs. However, I would want to be proved wrong when the refinery comes on stream and we no longer have cause to import fuel, and we are able to save foreign exchange because that is one of the things that can save our children from the debt peonage that the government has thrown the country into.

If you are interested in Dangote’s secrets, then hear this: “Nigeria is one of the best-kept secrets. A lot of foreigners are not investing because they’re waiting for the right time. There is no right time,” the man once told Forbes. These are indeed words on marble. But it is one thing to know secrets, it is another to know how to plug into or take advantage of them. Dangote saw the secrets and took advantage of them. I salute the man’s courage. Where several others are waiting for the right time, which, according to Dangote may never come, he has no time for such luxury. He knows that where there is no pain, there is no gain. Where there is no cross, there is no crown. Life itself is all about risks; I mean reasonable risks. If we sit him down and ask him to tell his story, he surely would have a lot to tell about the vicissitudes of business and life, generally. It definitely could not have been a bed of roses all through. Obviously, one of the things that have made the difference for Dangote is the ability to take reasonable risks. That is one of the hallmarks of a genius.

Another is that he never despised humble beginnings. Again, hear Forbes, “Dangote’s grandfather was a successful trader of rice and oats in Kano, Nigeria’s second largest city. Dangote told Forbes that when he was young, he bought sweets, gave them to others to sell, and he kept the profits.”

Such is the extent of Dangote’s greatness that this newspaper did the unusual by publishing an editorial on him at 65 on Friday. The debate as to whether 65 years is a landmark was there quite alright, but it did not take time to resolve. It was argued, and members agreed, that 65 could jolly well pass for a landmark. But, if I know this paper well, that does not mean every Tom, Dick and Harry that clocks 65 would merit its editorial. What facilitated the Dangote editorial was the man’s unparalleled antecedents as well as what he means to the nation. If we spend all the time talking about politicians most of whom are not adding value to our lives but are interested in power for their selfish ends, then no stone should be spared celebrating Dangote.

I remember reading somewhere years back, (probably when I wrote on the man’s 60th birthday or when he made public his intention to set up a refinery) that he asked that his first million dollars be brought to his house and he slept with it overnight. I doubt if he could sleep well that night. But I want to believe that would be the last day bad dreams would ever visit that house. Prisoners, they say, have bosses. Even bad dreams would not wait to be told that that house had become a no-go area, henceforth.

I know at this juncture some people would want to know what my view is about Dangote Group assuming the face of a monopoly. I am happy to say my view on that has not changed. Dangote has never been in government. If he has been able to find favour in the eyes of successive governments, it is because he knows how to play his card. It is not Dangote’s job to make anti-trust laws to ensure his conglomerates do not become larger-than-life. It is the duty of government to provide a level-playing field for all players, and if it is not doing that, Nigerians must pressure it to do.

But I cannot end this piece without expressing the usual fear I always express about Dangote’s conglomerates. Although audacious and ambitious, I always ask myself when will this expansionist tendency be enough? That is whether diminishing returns would not begin to set in on his business empire when that empire becomes unwieldy. On this, I am always guided by some ancient empires, like old Ghana Empire.

We must wish Dangote well. To do otherwise means trouble for Nigeria because of the hope he offers for the country, the thousands of direct and indirect  job opportunities he has been able to create. The good public relations he has been able to gift Nigeria in the comity of nations, etc. But, much as I wish Dangote long life and prosperity, and also wish his conglomerates well, I still feel it is about time he reviewed his expansionist tendency to enable him concentrate fully on what he has on ground, with a view to consolidating it. It is high time he started thinking about a post-Aliko Dangote era. He should know that human beings are not equally endowed.

Ten kings. Ten eras.

Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu did the appropriate thing on March 29, when he cancelled the colloquium that had been organised to commemorate his 70th birthday. Many guests had arrived for the event, the 13th in the series, when the sudden cancellation was announced.

A lot has been said and would continue to be said about this man who has been bestriding the political space like a colossus, at least in about the last three decades. Hence, I would not dwell much on that aspect. Suffice it to say that I knew what Lagos was like when he became governor on May 29, 1999. And I know what the state looks like today. There is no doubt that the Tinubu administration laid a solid foundation for the developmental projects that the state has been witnessing ever since, on virtually all fronts. As a matter of fact, Lagos is still work in progress today, courtesy of Tinubu’s well informed decisions about successive governors in the state that he has had the privilege of supporting to get to the office.

One of the things that would continue to go for him is his choice of successors as governor. From Babatunde Raji Fashola, to Akinwunmi Ambode, to the incumbent Babajide Sanwo-Olu, they’ve all proved their mettle and the result is there for all to see. Of course disagreements there always will be in the course of human interaction.  And we witnessed some of these in the relationships between Tinubu and some of the people he was instrumental to their becoming politically relevant in the state and beyond. Overall, however, what cannot be denied is the fact that Lagos State has been the better for it. Even elsewhere that Tinubu had played significant roles in choosing governors in the country, particularly in the southwest, most of such people had performed, even if they later had cause to disagree with this man that many of them were always at his Bourdillon, Ikoyi, Lagos, residence, and were indeed ready to do whatever he told them before becoming political something, only to become larger-than-life after getting what they wanted. But, like the biblical prodigal son, many of them have always had cause to return, penitent (or pretentiously so), to the same Bourdillon that they despised after getting what they wanted, when they run into problems and need their political mandate renewed or reinvigorated. That is where they run to for the requisite elixir.

Interestingly, Tinubu is always ready to forgive. This large heart is rare among people of Tinubu’s political stature.  This is especially so when such ‘offenders’ seem helpless and are not better than underdogs at the point of being penitent, whether genuinely so, or otherwise. As a matter of fact, this is one of the reasons many political associates cannot forget him in a hurry. Even those who don’t like his guts still respect his political acumen.

This piece is not necessarily to celebrate Tinubu, though. But to also recall a personal encounter I had with him.

One such experience was during the disagreement between him and his immediate successor, Fashola. Then I had led a team of four senior editors of this newspaper – Kunle Ade-Adeleye, Bolade Omonijo, Sanya Oni and myself – to his Ikoyi residence to discuss the matter with him. After the preliminary banters, it was time for serious business.

I had thought a senior colleague would lead the discussion, even though the trip to Bourdillon was my idea, and so I was obviously not prepared beyond dotting the ‘i’s and crossing the ‘t’s in the course of the meeting. Some minutes gone, with the discussion yet to start, it dawned on me that the mantle of leading it had fallen on me and I had no choice than to begin. Two other very close allies of Asiwaju — Dele Alake and Tunji Bello, Segun Ayobolu – were present at the meeting, obviously because the purpose of the  visit, though seemingly political, was more about journalism. Specifically, about the then fledgling The Nation newspaper that many of us were foundation members of staff. Alake, Bello and Ayobolu are experienced journalists; so, their presence was understandable. As I later got to know, that is one of the secrets of Asiwaju’s strings of successes. He has this penchant of putting round pegs in round holes.

To cut a long story shut, I gave a brief introduction on the purpose of our visit. I made it clear that we were not politicians and so, Asiwaju should not expect the ‘all correct’ verdict that many politicians would pass in his favour on such an occasion. Everything went well. I told him that the people on the street were wondering why political godfathers would not leave their political god sons and daughters to call the shots, having assisted them to get power. At that point, I felt something touching my leg under the chair. I initially thought it was just one of those things and so continued with my speech. Apparently, the person who was using his leg underneath the chair was trying to tell me that the point had been well made but I didn’t think so. At least not until I had added, to boot, the Yoruba saying that people on the street were wondering why  our political godfathers still hold on to the rope after giving their political sons or daughters the ram.

Looking Asiwaju straight in the eyes at that point, I was disappointed with his reaction. How? Rather than an angry mien that I expected (and that some of my colleagues that we went together probably expected) the man just turned left and right on his revolving chair, unperturbed, despite what we considered the seriousness of the issue. We spoke at length and he indeed opened up to us. From what we left with as takeaways, the man did not appear as guilty as it seemed then. He then directed us to see the then speaker of the state house of assembly who told his own story, including that he bought virtually everything in his office with his own money since the state government did not furnish the office for him. Tinubu even asked us to book an appointment to see Governor Fashola for his own side of the story. Fashola declined our request. One cannot really blame him for this though; may be coming from The Nation, it must be Tinubu’s agenda. Unfortunately, it was not. It was rather, as I said earlier, a self-imposed assignment which Asiwaju himself never knew about until we requested to see him in respect of the matter, to avert the problems that The Nation would face if the matter lingered for longer than necessary. There was no way this won’t affect the paper because it would be operating on a faulty editorial policy which the ordinary man in the street, the potential reader, may not subscribe to.

Not many politicians of Tinubu’s stature can stomach the audacity of some ‘press boys’ or men coming to ‘lecture’ them the way we did to Asiwaju. You only have to have worked with them, even if remotely, or heard from those who worked under them, to understand what I am talking about. I cherish such personal encounters a lot.

All said, Tinubu deserves commendation for calling off the colloquium for several reasons. One, it was for a landmark birthday, 70. Two, a lot had gone into the preparation for the celebration; the logistics and all. Then the guests, most of them very important personalities from across the country and beyond. How do you tell such people, many of them already in town and at the venue, that the celebration had been cancelled? Then the media glitz, the razzmatazz which politicians in this part of the world so covet and all? Men, it’s not easy.

But Asiwaju summoned the courage to announce the cancellation of the event, one which could have been the talk of the country in the days, perhaps weeks to come. All the expenses! We know the implications of the cancellation for such a man of details and panache.

But it was the best decision to take in the circumstance. A leader looking forward to occupying the country’s number one seat cannot afford to pretend that his birthday is more important than the lives of the several people who were innocent victims of the Abuja-Kaduna train attack by terrorists less than 24 hours before. Their crime being that they chose to travel by rail. Imagine people who were running away from death, hence decided to travel by rail meeting their untimely deaths in the process. Can we see this as what Shakespeare said about death being a necessary end that would certainly come when it would come; or death triggered by the country’s leadership deficit?

Suffice it to say that many other political leaders in the country would literally have danced on the graves of these innocent victims by going ahead with the celebration, only to pretend to mourn later. And we would still have justified their decision by asking whether as public officials, they no longer have their private lives to live. We have had many such examples. Even if Tinubu merely played to the gallery, or cancelled the colloquium, as a news medium had suggested, because neither the president nor the vice president showed up at the event, the point remains that,  considering some other factors already highlighted and more, some other political bigwigs would still have found ways to justify why it must hold. Yes, in our environment we place much emphasis on the president gracing such occasion, the crowd there was still quality enough to make the occasion memorable. Apart from the political bigwigs in attendance or on their way before the cancellation of the event, there were also ambassadors, professors, retired and serving, as well as eminent traditional rulers present. The permanent secretary in the office of the secretary to the Government of the Federation, Andrew Adejo, was there to represent his boss, among others.

However, beyond commending Tinubu for sacrificing the most important aspect of his annual birthday celebration in honour of the innocent victims is the imperative of reminding the country’s political leaders, particularly those from the north, that it can no longer be business as usual with the sea of Almajiris in the region. They must be rehabilitated. There are no two ways about it. That is the only way to stop them from continuing to be murderers sans borders that they have become. The political elite generally must have seen by now, with the terror attacks on our roads, rail and even airport, that it is a matter of time before the terrorists confine them to stay ajuwaya if their matter is not adequately addressed from the root. That is stay where you are. No move. The country’s situation has now become like that of the child who says his mother would not sleep; he too will not know what sleep looks like.

I congratulate the Jagaban Borgu on this occasion and wish him whatever God wishes him in the race to Aso Rock.