The Nation Newspaper

Category: Tunji Adegboyega

  • The southwest governors

    But for the timely intervention of leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the southwest before the last General Elections, the rampaging Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) would have ‘captured’ at least three more states in the region, in the elections and the preceding election that ushered in the new government in one of the states, Osun, last year. Indeed, what happened in Osun State in the gubernatorial election last year was a narrow escape for the APC, and, as I have always said, needlessly so. Yet, it was not that the tell-tale signs had not been showing long before the election. I remember that, as far back as August, 2014 when the then incumbent governor, Rauf Aregbesola, was reelected for a second term, I had warned in an article on this page titled “Beyond Aregbe’s victory : For the progressives, it’s time for introspection” (August 17, 2014). The result of that year’s governorship election was more emphatic than the one that ushered in the Aregbesola government in its first term, but there were tell-tale signs that all was not well.

    Lest we forget, the Court of Appeal ruled that Aregbesola had 198,799 votes as against PDP Olagunsoye Oyinlola’s 172, 880 in the 2007 governorship election. The APC governor in 2014 had 394,684 votes as against that of the PDP’s aspirant, Iyiola Omisore’s 292,747 votes. I had argued, inter alia, in that piece that “…The political leaders in the region have to learn to sell their programmes to the electorate instead of putting up a ‘know-all ‘or being arrogant or messianic in doing things. And, when, like all mortals they find they are wrong, they should not hesitate to reverse themselves. That is one sure way to keep the predators at bay.”  Two weeks earlier, (i.e. on August 3, 2014), I had argued (in my article titled “Let Aregbe do it again”) for the reelection of the Aregbesola government. The truth was; long before then, I had, like many others, been seeing the warning signs of the danger that loomed in the state.

    I wish I could lay my hands on some other write-ups where I had warned of the looming take-over of some of these states, like Oyo and Ogun; I would also have loved to quote copiously from those articles.

    But that is not necessary, at least for now. The major elections have come and gone. We can heave a sigh of relief. The worst is probably over, at least for now. Oyo is already lost to the PDP as foretold by many. Ogun would have followed the same trajectory, again but for the APC leaders’ intervention. What some of these southwest governors do not realise is that they may be the direct losers of elections, but the consequence of the loss is felt by the generality of the people of the region. Sadly, the loser in the Ogun State governorship election would have been the party’s candidate and not the outgoing Governor Ibikunle Amosun who has had his two terms. Just the same way the incumbent Governor Gboyega Oyetola would have lost to the PDP if party leaders had not come to his rescue at the nick of time. Yet, both Aregbesola and Amosun somewhat managed things well when seeking second term for themselves. The good thing is that Amosun has been shown that the party is bigger than him or his desire. No one would try what he did in the military era.

    It is not by accident that Lagos State is the only state that has never fallen to any other political party since the return to civil rule in 1999, of the six states in the southwest, thanks to the indefatigability and political sagacity of the man, Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Yet, it is this same man that some of those who had caused the fall of their states in the region to the ‘enemy’ despise and seek to diminish in stature, after in some instances cringing to him to get into political offices. As I have always argued, I have nothing against people who might have issues with Asiwaju Tinubu. That is only natural; especially in a politically active region like the southwest. Even the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo had people who were opposed to him and whatever he stood for. But when such people happen to be the very persons that climbed on Tinubu’s back to power, it is imprudent to want to stab him in the back for selfish political gains. That is why till this moment I admire Olusegun Mimiko. He proved he was the issue when he dumped the PDP to contest under the Labour Party, won the governorship election in Ondo State and was sworn in in 2009. The only thing is that that franchise has expired, as the same Mimiko could not muster enough votes to see his senatorial ambition through.

    So, Senator Babafemi Ojudu, special assistant to the president on political matters would appear wrong to have blamed the political apathy in the region on some ‘self-sufficient elite’. Ojudu had, while reminiscing on the outcome of the presidential election, promised that the (APC would address the question of voter apathy in the region. But, if Lagos, in INEC’s record, had 5.5 million registered voters, and only about 1.5million (less than 18 percent) voted in the presidential election, it was worrisome indeed. Ojudu said, inter alia: “our leaders must do more recruitment of people into the electoral process. We must tell the self-sufficient elite to take interest in voting; this is the best way to get it right.” This is where I have issues with Ojudu, The point is; it is the political leaders themselves that are largely responsible for the apathy. Unless the governors are not part of the political leaders; then I can agree with Ojudu. Some of us had been warning of the catastrophe looming in the southwest when we saw the way some of the governors were behaving like Lords of the Manor.

    The voter enlightenment that Ojudu spoke about is only a minute part of the problem. Even when we accuse the ‘self-sufficient elite’ of not voting, the attitude of some of the governors in the region is enough put-off, even to the ordinary folks; not to now talk of the elite. The point is; the Yoruba people would always want to assert their pride. They would never want to be seen in any position suggesting being condescending to people that they supposedly put in government. When a governor talks so rudely to people and they clap for him for having such a caustic tongue; he should watch it; he would get his result on Election Day. Some of these governors just have to learn how to bridle their tongues, especially when speaking in public. People who are too big to mind their language in public need not vie for such public offices, unless they were not the ones that offered themselves to serve. In this business of elections, the elector is king.

    One should not be tired of saying it; some of the APC governors messed up big time and this was evident in the result the party got even in the last governorship and state house of assembly elections. It was clear before the March 9, 2019 governorship election in Ogun State that the candidate of the incumbent Governor Ibikunle Amosun would be trounced at the poll.

    As I had said in some of my write-ups on this vexatious issue, what I hate about some of these governors is the way they humble themselves when looking for the positions only to get there and become too big for their boots. Many of them see good press as part of their birthright. If you write a whole page praising them for doing their job, they won’t see that. The only thing they see is the one or two sentences in the full page where you criticise them; whereas their counterparts from the other regions will call to engage and thank you even if you lampooned them.

    Let the APC leaders in the southwest beam their searchlight on Ondo State before the next governorship election there. Quote me, the state is likely to go the way of Oyo State if things continue the way they are. I guess what His Excellency’s reaction would be like after reading this piece. But, that is not important to me now. What is important is not to allow the people of Ondo to take the unusual decision of wearing their caps on their navels instead of their heads. That is what we have in the southwest when the people are provoked unnecessarily.

     

  • Thinking aloud

    Afe Babalola on sundry national issues

    Since sometime late last year when I had cause to travel to Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, for the funeral of one of our former consultants on the editorial board, Prof Moses Akin Makinde, I had wanted to write on the man, Chief Afe Babalola. I almost fulfilled that desire when, a few weeks back, he suggested a uniform examination for all university finalists in Nigeria. Aare Babalola, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), who is the pro-Chancellor and founder, Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, ABUAD, had said at ABUAD’s 2018/2019 Matriculation and Founder’s Day Ceremony in Ado-Ekiti, in January that: “I want to suggest to the National Universities Commission, NUC and the Ministry of Education that in order to maintain quality and high standard in Nigerian universities, the final year students in all programmes in all our universities should take the same national final examination.”

    According to him, this would make all the universities to strive to attain high standard. “In this way, every university shall work hard to ensure that their students pass the national examination thereby ensuring high standard in teaching and research,” he explained.

    Ordinarily, this would have been a good idea, even if it does not seem to have a parallel in any other country. But then, not a few saw in it a self-serving agenda, given that Aare Babalola’s ABUAD boasts some of the most sophisticated facilities one can think of in any university, perhaps even beyond our shores. I was privileged to visit the university in November; as a matter of fact, I stayed at the ABUAD Inn, which is right on the university premises for the night. It was a pleasant experience. Before departing the next morning, my colleague and I that went to represent this newspaper at Prof Makinde’s funeral decided to drive round the university premises. What we saw was astounding. We interviewed some of the students, and we confirmed what we had always known; that the school fees do not come cheap. But when we match what is on ground with the fees; there was little basis to complain. After all, as they say, obe to dun, owo lo pa (a good soup is a function of good money).

    Anyway, so it does not look like I am doing PR for ABUAD, let me stop there and leave the rest for another day. As I was saying, when Aare Babalola suggested the idea of a harmonised final examination for all university finalists, it was seen as a way of exposing the glorified secondary schools that pass for universities in many parts of the country, whether privately or publicly-owned. Perhaps those who saw the suggestion as self-serving are right. Last year, four of ABUAD graduates who went to Nigerian Law School graduated with first class, with one of them emerging overall best. Another of its graduates emerged overall best in the final Medical Examinations in 2018. The school had other feats which I also would not want to mention here. Suffice it to say that the university’s achievements are beyond its relatively young age; it was established in 2009.

    Aare Babalola was probably genuinely concerned about the falling standard in many universities; which is obvious even to the blind. Whenever I come across materials indicating the very high standard in some of our universities of old, it grieves my heart that many of them have become shadows of their former shape. A time there was, I can still recollect, that in my days in the University of Lagos, we had students from other countries even outside of the African continent. I must confess this did not have meaning to me until Prof Is-haq Oloyede, the registrar and chief executive of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) explained the rationale behind the board’s decision, last year, to reduce application form fees for foreign students who want to study in Nigerian universities. Oloyede said they did that to attract those foreign students because the number of foreign students in a country’s university is part of the criteria used in rating the institutions. But how many foreign students would want to come to a country where university teachers or other ancillary workers are perpetually on strike, where you can only determine when students would be admitted but not when they graduate? This is the situation in many of the public universities. But not so in the private ones where students do not stay beyond the stipulated period, unless they have issues with their studies.

    So, if the proprietor of a private university, and a flourishing one at that, is suggesting a common final examination for university finalists, we can see where he is coming from. Apart from the fact that each university is supposed to have its own identity, its niche,  the environments in the two types of universities (public and private) are not the same. The advice one can give Aare Babalola is that he should take consolation in the fact that the market will always determine who to employ. So, the wheat and the chaff can continue to be together, at the appropriate time, each would find its level.

    Barely six weeks after this suggestion, Aare Babalola came up with yet other suggestions which are also likely to attract criticisms, for obvious reasons. For example, he wants those who aspire to the country’s presidency, governorship or other elective positions to have a minimum of first degree. Speaking at the Obafemi Awolowo Leadership Prize Award Ceremony at the Harbour Point, Victoria Island, Lagos, on Wednesday, Aare Babalola, who is the latest recipient of the award also spoke on sundry political issues, including the lucrative perks attached to political offices which have made the struggle for political offices to be bloody in some cases; the unwieldy number of political aides to the president and some governors; the past when members of the House of Assembly were only paid allowances as against these days when they earn mouth-watering salaries and allowances. The SAN, who spoke on “Awoism and the Unending Search for Transformational Leadership in Nigeria: Political, Economic, Educational and Social challenges”, is the third recipient of the prize since it was instituted 10 years ago ; the others being Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka and former South Africa’s president, Thabo Mbeki.

    It is belabouring the issue if one is asking whether Aare Babalola merits the honour. He does.

    But, should first degree be the minimum educational criterion for political office seekers in Nigeria? I think so. Take the lawmakers for example, these are the people who are supposed to make laws for good governance. How can people who cannot differentiate their left from right make sensible laws for good governance? I remember in the first term of Otunba Gbenga Daniel as governor of Ogun State, he made what seemed shocking to many of us at a meeting we were having then that there was not a single university graduate in the state house of assembly. It was like; ‘no wonder’ nothing good was coming from that Nazareth! Those of us at the meeting with the governor were so shocked to hear that because, given the state’s proximity to Lagos, we had thought that would also rub off positively on the politics of Ogun State, particularly on the caliber of people to be elected into sensitive positions.  Later events in the house and the state at large validated the negative consequences of the lack of educated elite in the assembly that was supposed to make laws for good governance.

    But then, education is not the only criterion for quality delivery in political appointments. For the first time in a long time, Nigeria had a graduate (a PhD holder at that, in the person of Dr Goodluck Jonathan from 2010 to 2015) as president for about five years. How did that impact on governance? How was the Jonathan government different from those of Shagari (a Grade Two teacher), or Chief Olusegun Obasanjo who only became a graduate after his tenure as president, thanks to the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN)? Again, there are several graduates in the National Assembly and state houses of assembly, but this has not necessarily translated to quality governance. As a matter of fact, some of the people in the National Assembly and in government houses went to some of the best schools abroad, yet, there is hardly any difference between them and those who schooled here or those who did not go to school at all. This notwithstanding, I still will align with Aare Babalola that in this age, Nigeria cannot afford to have illiterates or semi-illiterates as president, governors, legislators, etc. We need people who understand where the world is headed; people who can adapt to the dynamics of modern realities, modern technology and all that. Nigeria cannot afford to have analogue leaders in a digital age.  Such leaders cannot be good ambassadors of the country in the comity of nations.

    All said, Aare Babalola has not said anything new apart from his suggestion that a uniform examination be conducted for university finalists  in the country. But his ideas on the political plain may not go far because those benefiting from the awkward arrangement are not in a hurry to give up their illegal perks. Yet, that is the way to go if the country must stop the profuse bleeding occasioned by the humongous amounts we spend on people who are adding little or no value to our lives.

  • Reward for honesty

    REFERENDUM on honesty”. That was the way The New York Times captured President Muhammadu Buhari’s victory in the February 23 presidential election. It could not have been more apt. Unfortunately, this was the point missed by those who had been hallucinating about an Alhaji Atiku Abubakar victory at the poll. I had made the point several times; that Atiku and Buhari are not mates when it comes to electoral contest. Atiku may have all the money, he may have been in the trade for decades; but money and experience alone cannot ensure victory for him in an electoral contest with a man like Buhari, given the fanatical support Buhari enjoys, especially among the talakawa (the poor) who constitute the majority of voters in the north.

    I have said it several times , and it bears restating that whatever might be Buhari’s shortcomings in the last three and a half years, Atiku cannot be the solution. I cannot imagine a Nigeria in the hands of an Atiku. A major point that Atiku’s backers missed and continue to miss, and to their own peril, is that Atiku’s baggage is too much of an albatross. It is immaterial whether the baggage is real or perceived. That perception has come to stick; and unfortunately so. To the extent that Atiku has not succeeded in shaking off that tar, he would keep losing elections to a man like Buhari again and again.

    Buhari’s victory only shows that there are some things money cannot buy. The victory is indeed a victory for democracy with its ‘one man, one vote’. Left to the country’s rich, Buhari would not have had the opportunity of even a first coming. And if by some error he got that, they would make sure he never got the revalidation of the mandate. Those of them in the north who know the consequences of openly opposing Buhari after the announcement of the result have since held their peace. They know that denying Buhari’s victory would attract sanctions of unimaginable proportions from the talakawa that they (the political elite in the region themselves bred).

    Indeed, to say that Buhari is a movement, especially in the northern region, is saying the obvious. So, that he got  15,191,847 votes to defeat Atiku who had 11,262,978 should not have come as a surprise to any rational observer of his antecedents since 2003 when he had been contesting for the office of president, before he finally made it in 2015. In 2003, he had 12,710,022 votes; in 2007, he had 6,605,299 votes; in 2011, 12,214,853 votes and in 2015, he had 15,424,921 votes. Except in the 2007 elections which were known to be generally flawed, Buhari had been reaping millions even when he was not in power. So, what is the hue and cry all about now that he had 15,191,847 votes?

    Pray, where did the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) get its 24.4 million votes in 2003; 24.6 million votes in 2007 and 22.4 million votes announced for it in 2011? In all those elections, Buhari believed he was elbowed out by the powers that be. In all of those years alone, over 35 million voters were recorded for the PDP and Buhari on the average. Yet, his was a lone voice in the wilderness. The man was in and out of courtrooms in his efforts to seek redress for what he saw as electoral injustice. He got none; until Dr Goodluck Jonathan was magnanimous enough to concede defeat to him in 2015. And now that he repeated the feat by getting the same 15 million plus votes that he had in 2015, Atiku is crying foul. What happened was that apart from retaining his hold on the north, Buhari was able to use the power of incumbency to garner votes from other regions, including the southeast and south-south where some of the political bigwigs there aligned with his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC). That did not happen in 2105, or before.

    The problem with many of our politicians, especially the moneybags, is that they find it difficult to believe that there is nothing money cannot buy. Ask the Late M.K.O. Abiola, he would tell you that he knew money was shamed when, in spite of his billions, all he could do was watch his dear wife (Simbiat) die slowly in the hands of some of the world’s best physicians that money can assemble. One needs to be close to these politicians and their foot soldiers to know how the latter flatter the former at election times, just to get money from them, ostensibly for their campaign. I guess this is one of the things that happened to Atiku that kept giving him the impression that he could floor Buhari. He had probably been deceived by his campaign handlers that the entire country was in his pocket. I do not know how much Atiku committed to this battle of his life; but I know it must have been humongous. Just as I predicted in my column last Sunday, Atiku has indicated interest in seeking redress in court. I wish him whatever he deserves.

    But then, it is pertinent to ask who Atiku’s campaign managers were that gave him the audacity to be hopeful. Senate President Bukola Saraki was the director-general of his presidential campaign organisation. Former Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, led the South-west axis.

    We have now seen that Saraki is only living on past glory; he is indeed a spent force. ‘O to ge’ has silenced him in Kwara State. How could someone who could not save himself in his state and got mercilessly shellacked all round in the presidential and National Assembly elections there have been chosen to lead the campaign of a serious presidential hopeful? If Atiku did not see what happened to his campaign director-general coming, he must have been naïve indeed. Then, what is Fayose’s political worth in the southwest? Atiku aligned with all the spent forces in the region, including Afenifere whose members cannot win elections even in their homes, and hoped to win election. Things don’t work that way. Even former President Olusegun Obasanjo who endorsed Atiku after saying God would never forgive him (Obasanjo) if he ever supported Atiku, has always been a political Lilliputian in his sphere of influence. As a matter of fact, the way things are, anyone supported by Obasanjo is likely to lose in the southwest. The people are too sophisticated to be led by a man who is swinging support at every turn. The dynamics have since changed from the perception of Obasanjo of 2015. It is too bad if Atiku did not reckon with this too. We can go on and on.

    The point is; only Atiku has the kind of money to throw away on a dicey mission as challenging Buhari, with all of the latter’s imperfections. Others who might have coveted Buhari’s job saw through the futility and decided to keep whatever was left of their money for something viable. Even if someone else had emerged as the PDP presidential flag bearer, it was unlikely Atiku would support the fellow financially the way he did himself. This is only natural. Hence, they all conceded to Atiku at the party’s primaries on the ground that the exercise was transparent and fair, as well as pledged their support to him. Indeed, they had no choice; they have a common enemy in Buhari who they could not predict what he could do to them if he got a second term.

    In essence, therefore, Atiku failed to understand that with the massive captive kind of supporters that Buhari has, it would be difficult to push him over in an electoral contest, despite how sunk values have even in our country. It is the kind of thing that money cannot buy. Let Atiku shut the tap of funds, look behind him and see how many ‘yes orchestra’ would still be following him. The opposite is true of Buhari; his supporters are simply crazy about him and would follow him come rain, come shine. In sickness and in health.

    I do not know what Atiku is looking for in court beyond exercising his democratic right to seek redress for real or perceived injustice in the election. I would rather suggest that he does forensic audit of the cash he disbursed to his campaign managers for onward transfer to his supporters. I guess Atiku himself is not a nincompoop in this business. He knows that many of those given cash for sharing to party supporters are not honest enough to share everything. As a matter of fact, those of them who shared between 40-50 percent of the money would have been deemed very honest indeed. What is more? In most cases, these people ‘edit’ such money into their pockets when they know that their principals do not have any chance of winning. So, they want to take care of their pockets so they do not lose out completely when the results are eventually announced. Meanwhile, they would have started addressing their principal as ‘Mr President’, ‘His Excellency’ for governor, or ‘My Chair’, depending on the office the principal is seeking. The good news for Atiku from me is that I have the rare gift to sniff out such people and what they had embezzled, and I am hereby offering myself for this noble service. But that is only for a fraction of what he spent on the election! Or, am I not entitled to that?

    Anyway, since Atiku has decided to go to court, I guess it is time for lawyers and probably judges who are yet to get their billions to smile to the bank. God probably wants to bless some of them too. By his decision, Atiku is only exhibiting one of the known traits of our politicians; they are incurable optimists. And who would blame him if the money in his arsenal is crying to be spent? Even the international community that seemed to be on his side has since abandoned him, seeing the futility of his agitation. That is how, one after the other, his backers would continue to thin out till he remains the only man standing for himself. Such is life.

    Finally, I enjoin Atiku and his supporters to go and read the The New York Times editorial after the election. Buhari’s victory was a referendum on honesty. No more, no less. Honesty is one of the few things money cannot buy. It was one of the major determinants of the presidential election. Ordinary Nigerian voters took the bull by the horns and seized their destiny from a tiny minority living on our rentier economy that has held them down for decades. Buhari happens to be the face of these hapless hoi polloi.

     

  • At last, the poll

    Soon, very soon, the battle will be over

    By the time you are reading this piece, the presidential and National Assembly elections would have come and gone, at least, other things being equal. I have now learnt my lesson, hence, my adding ‘other things being equal’ this time around. I made the mistake of not putting the caveat last week, and it almost made nonsense of my message. Only those conversant with the newspaper production process in this part of the world would understand that my last week column had gone to bed hours before the postponement of the then elections earlier fixed for February 16 (presidential and National Assembly) and March 2 (governorship and state assembly elections). As a matter of fact, the piece must have been snoring when the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced the postponement. I am not going to blame INEC for the postponement. What I know, however, is that it is better to postpone and have credible polls rather than go ahead and have a sham of an election. My hope is that the postponement would be worth it after all.

    By now, some of the results of the elections would have been made public. But it is still too early to tell who would win, even though one has his own preference. But campaigns are now over; what we are all awaiting is the result. Who is the winner? Will the incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) retain his job or will Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) render him jobless? That is the next question to ask. One of the things that are certain from the election is that the result will not be determined at the ballot. Ultimately, it would be hotly contested by whoever loses in court. So, attention will soon shift to the courtroom where, once again, some of our senior lawyers would be abundantly blessed. They are as a matter of fact already waiting in the wings and warming up to push technicalities to the front burner in the courts as soon as the matters get to court.

    It is their season; so no one should grudge them if they are getting ready to take back from many of those who had stolen more than enough for our economy to sink, but for its resilience. We should expect more ‘billionaire’ judges to spring up, even as some of those who are already swimming in billions will have more. But our judges must have learnt one or two lessons from the suspended Chief Justice of Nigeria, Walter Onnoghen. The man ran into stormy waters because he kept his hard earned million dollars in the bank and in his own name, to boot. That is what to do when you have nothing to hide.

    As a matter of fact, some people have argued that it is in anticipation of the fact that the courts will eventually determine who the president is, and in many cases, governors, etc, that made President Buhari to put the heat on Justice Onnoghen, to nail the expectation of those they felt had been lodging illicit funds into the CJN’s accounts in anticipation of the good turn that should naturally deserve another when the presidential election issue gets to the Supreme Court where Onnoghen once held sway. I was tempted to believe this seeming fallacy when the opposition elements began to weep louder than the bereaved, seeing that Onnoghen would no longer be the one on the throne at the apex court when the matter eventually gets there. I wonder whether they would have allowed the chief justice in office longer than necessary if they were in Buhari’s shoes, seeing the potential danger that that portended for their electoral chances and given the stupendous amount found in the CJN’s accounts.

    I do not know how many people also noticed one other thing that I noticed in this election. I did not see much of Ghana must go bags of old. I mean it does not seem there is much ‘obtainment’ or ‘Atikulation’ unlike we witnessed in 2015, when the then President Goodluck Jonathan  spent money to bribe voters as if to actually demonstrate that money was not Nigeria’s problem, but how to spend it. We saw what they did with foreign currencies that they dispensed in a prodigal manner and they are now crying that the value of the naira keeps depreciating. Did they not know they were sowing the seed of what the country is now reaping with the low naira value? Yet, they are the ones crying foul! Anyway, I say again that it is Buhari I blame. But one must also sympathise with the president because our judiciary, as presently constituted, cannot redeem us or stop corruption in any form. It is not designed to wipe out corruption; it was in fact designed to fertilise it.

    As I kept ruminating on the money-for-vote scenario of 2015, and lamenting that I have neither ‘obtained’ nor got ‘Atikulated’, some of those who know me well said there is no way they can share pig that it would get to Lemomu (a Muslim cleric). They said those distributing it know where to channel it to. I was forced to agree with them because even as democratised as the practice was in 2015, I only heard about it; I neither got nor saw it.

    The churches and mosques also have done fairly well in their run-up to the elections. Many of them have rained more than enough curses on those who have been using their ill-gotten wealth to bring in arms and ammunition to foment trouble during the elections. Such moneybags won’t spend their money to create viable jobs for the country’s teeming jobless youths. The curses cannot go without having the desired effect on those who flew their own children abroad to safe havens while arming other people’s children to fight their dirty political battles. I have always said it; and it bears restating, that the most painful aspect of this useless scramble for and the partitioning of the country’s political spoils is that the rat race is not necessarily about the bettering of the lives of Nigerians. It is about personal aggrandisement.

    The struggle to render Buhari jobless has become fiercer because the free money that some top Nigerian politicians used to get has been stopped by Buhari’s policies. The taps are no longer running freely as they used to. Yet, these people have spent so much to unseat Buhari that they must just win the election, by hook or crook. They cannot contemplate another four years of the ‘dryness’ that Buhari’s government has unleashed on them. It is like another four years in the wilderness. That is why they are exploiting the gullibility of the average Nigerian to accuse Buhari of being responsible for the economic hardship the country is going through. But the result of the presidential election would ultimately show whether Nigerians are wiser or they still believe in selling their votes (and by extension, their future) for peanuts instead of interrogating those giving them the peanuts.

    My own Christian conscience cannot take money from a candidate I know I can never vote for. As a matter of fact, I won’t even take money from my choice candidate before voting for him or her. But I have also been telling those whose Muslim or Christian conscience does not forbid taking such money to take it because it is our money. They can still take the money and vote according to their conscience. No one will spend billions of his or her hard-earned money to bribe voters without looking forward to recouping after getting to office. This, as a matter of fact, is at the heart of the strong desire to take Buhari’s job. For some of those seeking it; this might just be their last chance. It is possible the youths would be better organised before 2023 when another General Elections would be held in the country. So, all these spent forces who have done more harm than good to the country would be retired.

    Let parents warn their children against being used as cannon fodder by politicians. President Buhari has warned that ballot-snatching would not be tolerated. Nigeria is one of the countries where people snatch ballot boxes and are even recorded on tape, yet, there are no consequences. When people are punished for electoral malpractices, those who might want to toe similar path would begin to think twice.

    May the God of Shedrack, Meshack and Abednego who saw us through the 2015 elections see us successfully though this one too.

  • The ‘vote’ I couldn’t cast

    Last week I was unavoidably missing in action, as I would have loved to add my voice to the number of those rooting for the reelection of President Muhammadu Buhari. One of the salient points I would have loved to make last week was that yes, the president may not have performed to expectations, definitely the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and particularly its candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, is not the alternative. I have said it several times, that President Buhari made some mistakes, especially at the beginning of his administration. He wasted so much time in constituting his cabinet. He played so much to the ethnic gallery in a way that people could not but notice. He seemed to have treated killer herdsmen with kid gloves although we hardly hear of them again now. His handling of the economy might not have been excellent, and all that. But, one would be unfair to the Buhari government if one does not put certain facts in perspective.

    Perhaps this Vanguard report would open our eyes and understanding to the country’s revenue realities from 1958 when we started producing crude oil in commercial quantities. “Between 1958 and 1966, Nigeria earned N140 million from crude oil; 1967 to 1975, the General Yakubu Gowon got about N11.03 billion; while the late General Murtala Muhammed/ Olusegun Obasanjo military regime scooped about N25 billion from 1975-1979.

    In like manner, the civilian administration of President Shehu Shagari earned N36 billion oil money; Buhari, in his first coming as military head of state (1984-85), earned about N25 billion; General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, 1985 to 1993, N420 billion; the Ernest Shonekan/Abacha regime (1993-1998), N1.6 trillion; and General Abdulsalami Abubakar regime (1998-1999), N350 billion.

    With the return to civil rule, Nigeria, under President Obasanjo realised about N27 trillion from crude oil between May 1999 and May 2007. His successor, Umaru Yar’ Adua, reaped about N9 trillion in his almost three-year rule before he passed on.

    The luckiest of the leaders is former President Goodluck Jonathan, whose administration in five years, between 2010 and 2015, earned about N51trillion from petroleum resources. Since he came to power on May 29, 2015, the President Buhari administration has been able to earn just   about N6 trillion from crude.” That was as at 2016, though. In 2017, the country made N7.13trillion and realised N7.93trillion between January and July 2018.

    At a glance, those pilloring the Buhari administration over the economy can see that the Jonathan administration made the highest revenue from crude oil, with an average of N10trillion per year. But what did Nigerians get from it? Is it not sad that the same people who put us in economic doldrums are now accusing Buhari of non-performance, barely 42 months after they left the country in ruins? Who does not know it is easier to destroy than it is to fix? In saner climes, many of these people who put us in the mess would be languishing in jail by now. But here, they are not only contended with being free to walk our streets, they want to return to power to continue the bad work they were doing before they were sacked, no thanks to some of our senior advocates and their corrupt accomplices in the bench who made this possible.

    It is only  in our kind of country that  Atiku will not only have the audacityto contest for the highest office in the land, but would even be the top challenger to the incumbent. If they say it is an animal with horn that will hit and kill someone, it is not the kind of horn on the snail’s head that we are talking about. Atiku has not hidden his intention: he would make his friends happy and one could infer from this that the friends are going to be the beneficiaries of the sale of our Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and other public assets his government may put up for sale if he wins the election. It is the same people who killed public universities in the country now either sending their own children to schools abroad or building private ones in which they charge outrageous fees. They killed our hospitals so they could seize every opportunity to go abroad, ostensibly for common medical check-ups.

    Indeed, it would not be out of place to insinuate that those who killed our educational system did so deliberately. And that is why some Nigerians can be this forgetful that the stone we resoundingly rejected barely four years ago is now the one trying to position itself as the corner piece of governance that this country requires at this point in time. By killing our educational system, and either sending their own children to choice schools abroad, or to the local private universities with extraordinary fees only a few elite can afford, they have limited knowledge to only those who can afford it. Even the Holy Bible says that people perish for lack of knowledge.

    With due respect to those who might be thinking of a return to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) fiasco so soon, I respect their opinion; but I think they can only be having such dream due to lack knowledge. Even if they are doing so for pecuniary gains, it still boils down to the same reason. Perhaps I would not grudge them if they are opting for something entirely different or refreshing if they believe neither Buhari nor Atiku fits the bill. But to be considering an Atiku presidency after Buhari’s is to see Majek Fashek’s “I and I experience” coming after his “Send down the rain” as an experience. “I and I experience definitely cannot be an experience after “Send down the rain”.

    If voting for Buhari in 2015 was a mistake, then, given all available facts, and considering the circumstances, that is a mistake one would gladly love to repeat. If I failed that exam then, I would gladly want to repeat that class. If only to ensure that our treasury no longer leaks the way it did in the Jonathan era; that was something one cannot quantify in monetary terms. Atiku, Senate President Bukola Saraki, and even former President Olusegun Obasanjo and their fellow travellers know deep down their hearts that their campaign to wrest the presidency from Buhari is not fired by any patriotic instincts. Rather, it is all about them.

    It is all about how they can continue to primitively acquire the country’s common patrimony for themselves, their friends and their yet-to-be-born generations. I have heard some of them saying that the kind of stealing in high places even under the Buhari dispensation is huge; some even went as far as saying that more money had been stolen in Buhari’s years than in the Jonathan era. How can this be possible? Do you steal money that is not there? How could it have been possible for people to steal more in a Buhari era that made far less money than Jonathan? But people can make all manner of claims in a country with an undiscerning audience. Where education had been liberalised and not made an exclusive preserve of the rich as in Nigeria, such claim would have been subjected to more critical reasoning.

    Are we going to say that we are not noticing improvements in power supply? Yet, it was in this country that a government spent $16billion on power that we did not see. There a a few other things here and there that space would not allow me to list.

    This, in essence was the vote I could not cast last week, for unavoidable reasons. These were some of the points I had intended to remind us about as we prepared for the presidential election which held yesterday. I would have loved to tell us that we need to first reprimand the thief before telling the owner that where he kept his property was not safe enough. Well, this campaign after election might be of no value for this year’s presidential election, but it is still useful for subsequent elections, particularly the governorship election. Many states in the country are not doing well not only due to the economic downturn that hit the country at the tail end of the Jonathan years but also due to corruption, mismanagement and inability of the chief executives to think out of the box. Everybody looks on to Abuja for the monthly handout. The day this dries, they will be forced to resort to their creative abilities to solve the problems bedevelling their states.

    I cannot stick out my neck for most of the state governments (even in the south west) the way I am doing for the Buhari administration. One of the states that I would have been interested in is Ekiti, but they are not conducting any governorship election there this year. Lagosians will do well to vote Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the APC governorship candidate to continue to enjoy the dividend of democracy via the developmental process started about 20 years ago. It can only get better.

    All said, however, President Buhari has to change his style, if reelected. His main luck this time around is the absence of a more credible alternative. But the APC may not be that lucky next time.

     

  • Onnoghen’s self-inflicted conundrum

    Suspended CJN has a case to answer

    One good thing about the suspended Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) Walter Samuel Nkanu Onnoghen’s saga is the way many Nigerians have risen to the occasion by taking on the senior advocates who like taking the rest of us for granted (for committing the sin of not reading law) whenever any of their own is caught on the wrong side of the law.

    The impression they give is that they are afraid of seeing the CJN go down over the matter because he is not likely to do so alone. Although Justice Onnoghen has reportedly said he made the money through savings from estacode and stuff like that, the courts will have to determine the veracity of that claim.

    But the earlier these senior lawyers realised that this country belongs to us all; and not to them alone, the better for them. There is no mystique about law; so, nobody should attempt to pull wool over our faces. Indeed, as I argued with a friend of mine a few years back, law is predictable; at least in sane climes. If it is not here in Nigeria, it is because those who should make it so are themselves complicit in mystifying it through their usual clinging to technicalities at the expense of substance. They thus constitute themselves to clogs in the anti-corruptuion battle. The truth is, my friend has for long been used to the way the legal profession is practiced here such that it took the explanation of a lawyer friend who happened to be in the car when we were discussing for my friend to agree that, indeed, law is predictable.

    As a matter of fact, I want to believe it is this predictability that has made many of our senior advocates to jettison the substance of many of the matters they handle for technicalities. They know that once the law is applied as enshrined in the statute books or even by precedence, technicalities that they have tended to specialise on would crumble in the courtrooms like a pack of cards. Of course, that assumes the issues will be decided by incorruptible judges.

    Let no one make any mistake about it; this country cannot fight corruption without first fighting some of these senior lawyers and judges who have judgments on the shelves, ready to sell to the highest bidder. There are many responsible lawyers out there who themselves know this as a fact. Unfortunately, they have allowed the voices of the very corrupt few to appear as the dominant voice in the Onnoghen affair as well as other sordid affairs involving the high profile clients of these lawyers. The other day when Senate President Bukola Saraki was arraigned at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), a retinue of senior lawyers went for their gowns. How come we don’t see our senior lawyers file out anymore in defence of the defenceless?

    If these senior lawyers truly love this country, and if they truly love their profession, they should be worried about the fact that when Nigerians and foreigners are involved in crimes, as in Siemens, Halliburton, etc, their foreign accomplices quickly get their comeuppance in courts in their respective countries when back here at home, the matters would still be at the preliminary stages for years due to stalling tactics that many of these senior advocates are now trying to push forward as the law. If these lawyers are truly patriotic, what should be uppermost in their minds is how to improve on the legal system to make it faster and better, rather than how much stonewalling they can make the courts endure or how much funds (particularly illicit funds) they have in their bank accounts.

    One area they should be looking at is that dealing with proof. As things stand, the lawyers queuing behind the suspended CJN would have been asking the rest of us to prove that the hefty sums found in Onnoghen’s accounts are proceeds of corrupt enrichment if they have had their way. That would have been the next stage of their argument: technicality. Not how a public servant, and CJN for that matter, came about the money. Yet, they know that even if the suspended CJN had not spent a dime of his salaries, he could not have saved that much since the time he was employed.

    Here is the same Onnoghen that had himself ruled that the CCT is the one in charge of matters bordering on assets declaration now running helter-skelter, including to the National Industrial Court seeminglyto evade justice. What has the industrial court got to do with this? Meanwhile, the same NJC that some people say should sit over the CJN’s fate has had its meeting postponed by Onnoghen sine die (indefinitely). How then does it sit over the matter?  Mercifully, it finally sat and, hopefully, it would be able to do the needful at the appointed time. Those who are hammering on process should know that we might not have got here but for the uproar.

    We should all remember that President Muhammadu Buhari was hesitant in appointing Onnoghen as CJN. However, he had to bow to pressure when ethnic dimension was brought into the matter in the usual Nigerian character. We do not know what security or other reports the president had on the man then. Unfortunately, he too did not help matters by not putting anything in the public domain if he had such incriminating details on him. Perhaps he didn’t have enough evidence then.

    Again, it was difficult not to believe those who were reading ethnic dimension into the appointment because the president too did not help matters the way he was handling some of the crises at hand then, especially the herdsmen/farmers’ clashes, the issues of Babachir Lawal and others whose cases took the president so long to decide in spite of what seemed overwhelming evidence of wrongdoing against them.

    Nigeria must be the only country where a question as simple and straightforward as: ‘did you or did you not’ will lead to prolonged litigation in which senior lawyers would lead the way in legal rigmarole/gymnastic just to make sure that their very important criminals escape justice or sufficiently waste the time of the court and wear out the prosecutors.

    Then we have foreign countries and institutions that are complaining about the level of corruption in Nigeria and are at the same time trying to read unnecessary meaning into a matter as simple as Onnoghen’s. The suspended CJN himself had admitted that he forgot to declare a hefty $3million, among other things. Is that a defence? Will Onnoghen have pardoned an accused who made such a statement in his court? Alhaji Aliko Dangote may have to come to our rescue here. Is it not fit and proper that we know the source of that money for a public servant, particularly no less a personality than the CJN?

    We have seen how the British dealt with parliamentarians over what we would term ridiculous amounts, like a few hundred pounds sterling. Can the chief justice of America boast of $3million without hell being let loose? If this kind of scenario had occurred in the U.S. or Britain, will they be talking about anything else when the person involved did not deny ownership but says he forgot to declare the amount? For sure, no one would tell that Chief Justice to resign. He knows that is the next thing in the circumstance. So, why are these countries now trying to prescribe lower standard for Nigeria? Could they be doing this because their vaults are still safe havens to some of these slush funds?

    Anyway, if anyone expected that because the subterfuge and pressures worked at the initial stages of Onnoghen’s appointment, they would work again now; such persons should perish the thought. You cannot have the kind of evidence in the public domain against the CJN and then begin to pander to pressures, either from his comrades-in-crime or ethnic bigots who are never in short supply when it comes to matters like this. Justice Onnoghen himself should be ashamed that his matter has now become a subject of public protests for or against him. He is sufficiently damaged such that it is ridiculous to contemplate his return to his exalted seat. We would not have got to this sorry pass if he had done the rightful

  • Not yet ‘Dangote petrol’

    Going by earlier projections, I had thought that Dangote Refineries and Petrochemicals Company would start production as from the first quarter of this year. And, when I talk about production, I am talking specifically and most importantly about petroleum products, particularly petrol, because that is one of the country’s main headaches, as we speak. Although this should not be a problem, but like most things characteristically Nigerian, it is something we have been importing for decades despite the fact that we are a major crude oil producer. We are all familiar with how we found ourselves in this peculiar mess; so it is pointless taking us down that memory lane again. It is not that the other products that the company will naturally produce, being a petrochemical venture, are not important; it is just that petrol is the premium product for obvious reasons. Much as we need fertiliser, one of the many products to expect from the company, it is still a far cry from the pride of place that petrol occupies in the scheme of things. We have had fertiliser shortages but the effects are not as pronounced as that of fuel scarcity.

    Indeed, I had planned to devote another piece to the man that the entire country is waiting on to stop the importation of petroleum products immediately the announcement of its take-off is announced. My proposed headline is: “Waiting on Dangote”. As things stand, that may have to wait till next year.

    That Aliko Dangote is a phenomenon is saying the obvious. It is not everybody that has a heart for a project costing about $9billion; it is not small by any standard. That is why the project is being financed not only by local banks but also some foreign banks. Even the CBN itself had to chip in about N75 billion loan in support of the project.

    I cannot wait to see the day that Nigeria would stop the importation of petroleum products. One has to look forward to such a day because importation of fuel had not always been so for us. At least it was not so in the beginning. It was corruption that led to our importing fuel, thus giving the country the unenviable description of a crude producer that is dependent on fuel importation for its survival. I cannot wait to see the day that we would stop talking about fuel subsidy occasioned by fuel importation. Isn’t this something big enough to ponder, given the massive sleaze that characterised the subsidy regime? I cannot wait to see the effect of Dangote Refinery on the exchange rate. If we suddenly stop spending a third of our hard-earned forex on fuel importation, this should impact positively and hugely too on the value of our currency.

    Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) governor, Godwin Emefiele, has every cause to be happy about the development. He knows how much the apex bank churns out to import fuel. His words, ”This is certainly a transformational project for Nigeria and it totally keys into the objectives of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration that says that we need to think about how to conserve foreign exchange, how to diversify the economy and put it in proper perspective. By the time the size of foreign exchange used in importing petroleum products is dimensioned, it is at least one-third of the foreign exchange that the CBN spends to import items into Nigeria today.”

    Dangote’s journey to where he is today could not have been smooth all through. Apart from battling the peculiar inclement business climate in the country, Dangote Group has also had to contend with other factors. But, one thing going for Dangote is his doggedness; his never say die approach to business. Indeed, one of the reasons Dangote’s businesses have been having government backing is because of his braveness. The man symbolises the difference between winning and losing, with his resolve never to quit on whatever he has set his mind to do. As Walt Disney said, “the difference in winning and losing is most often, not quitting.” Most people would have beaten a permanent retreat if they were in Dangote’s shoes, when his quest to buy the moribund Kaduna and Port Harcourt refineries in 2007 failed. The then Obasanjo administration had sold the refineries to a consortium of companies belonging to Dangote and Femi Otedola a few months to its exit. Organised labour and some Nigerians protested the sale at $721m. The Yar’Adua government that took over from Obasanjo could not bear the heat generated by the sale, even as the consortium, Blue Star Oil Services Ltd., too, told the government it was no longer interested in the deal and asked for a refund of its money, with interest. The Yar’Adua government eventually reversed the sale. Today, the refineries have remained as moribund as ever with the Federal Government continually shifting the date they will return to full production. Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu, is now saying they would resume production next year, as against the earlier promised 2019.

    It should be shocking that in a country where not many investors are willing to go into refining, preferring instead to do buying and selling, or simply fix their money for profit or establish retail outlets for petrol, we would still not give kudos to someone who is prepared to brace the odds to venture into the petrochemical industry. After the nasty  experience, some other persons would have vowed never to touch any refinery project again, not even with a long spoon. But not Dangote; the man returned to the drawing board and the result is the Dangote Refineries and Petrochemicals Company that would in no distant future become a money spinner not only for its owner, but also the country, especially since it equally has the capacity to export petroleum products and other items that the company would be producing.

    This is why I wholeheartedly support the N75billion loan given to the Dangote project by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). As the CBN governor noted during a facility tour of the project, it is worth it because of its many advantages. It is in sync with the Federal Government’s determination to diversify the country’s economic base.

    Dangote has before now become a household name in Nigeria. It is immaterial whether you like the man or not; the point is, you must be consuming one or two of his diversified products. These include: cement, sugar, flour and semolina, pasta, salt, food seasoning, packaging materials, logistics, food and beverages and now petrochemicals and fertiliser and crude oil refinery. As a matter of fact, just as water has no enemy because everybody has one need or the other for water, so it is that even if you do not like the man, Dangote, you cannot afford to extend that hatred to all of his products. Even then, all of these may pale into insignificance when finally the refinery takes off, hopefully, next year. Should there be anyone who has refused to buy any of these products produced by Dangote Group, it would be a tall order to take the fight to his petrol which would be the dominant fuel in the country come 2020. With a capacity for 650,000 barrels of crude oil per day, things could not have been different.

    One major area that may cause some friction when Dangote petrol eventually gets to the market is the issue of pricing. A project of this magnitude, with a lot of loans to repay, is likely to have a lot of pressure from all fronts with regards to how to liquidate the loans. Granted that everyone involved knows the industry requires some gestation period, yet every creditor would also be anxious to recoup their money. So, it may be too early in the day to say whether Nigerians would pay more or less for fuel even when the refinery takes off because of the volatility of crude prices in the international market; what is certain is that the country would at least be saved the forex that would have been used to import the products.

    Definitely, some narratives would change once Dangote Refinery and Petrochemicals Co. plants are completed. One, Nigeria would be the largest exporter of fertilizer and petrochemical alongside refined petroleum products in Africa. This will, without doubt, have a multiplier effect on the nation’s economy in terms of job creation as well as generation of foreign exchange. I can understand why Emefiele is upbeat and perhaps ecstatic: the CBN that he heads will be relieved in terms of forex management.

    If we feel Dangote is being over-pampered by government, we should not blame the man; we should blame the system. But, in a country where some people sit in the comfort of their homes and oil blocs are allocated to them, which they in turn sell and become stinking rich, we should salute a man who sweats for his money.

    Meanwhile, I am keeping vigil for ‘Dangote petrol’ because I can see the day is coming, when petrol would cease to be just petrol; it would be  ‘Dangote  petrol’.

  • Hurrah, Atiku goes to America!

    We should clap for the former VP for the feat after about 13 years

    When on Friday I read the news that former vice president and Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) presidential candidate in next month’s presidential election, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, posted on his official Twitter handle on Thursday that he had finally arrived the United States of America, I suddenly remembered some of those books I read in my secondary school days: “Eze goes to school”, in particular. It dawned on me, once again, the huge joke that this country that has remained potentially great ever since I can remember, has become. So, going to America is now a big deal for a man of Atiku’s stature? Or, how else can one describe the posting by no less a personality than the former vice president himself? As one of my colleagues would say, Atiku is now celebrating the trip and is so exited about it like a baby that has just been handed lollypop or chocolate.

    Hear Atiku: “Just arrived Washington D.C. for a meeting with the US government officials, Nigerians living in D.C. metropolis and the business community.” Indeed, to prove that this is for real, the former vice president was said to have posted a photo of the visit where he was being presented with a bouquet of flowers. He was said to have been accompanied on the trip by Senate President Bukola Saraki. This was amidst denial by the Embassy of Nigeria in Washington, D.C. that Atiku had arrived America. “Actually we have not received any information for the embassy but we are just trying to find out whether he is really coming. That is what we are doing right now … So we are still trying to see but if you get anything, please just let us know also because they said he’s coming here so that if you’re able to get any updated information, just inform us so that we can prepare vehicles to go to the airport and meet him”, The Punch quoted a  News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) source as saying.

    This is the standard practice. But, it would appear someone must have told Atiku the Biblical story of the three wise men that were told by King Herod to return to him to tell him where the new king was born so he could go greet him, too. But the wise men never returned to him after finding where Jesus Christ was born because they knew Herod’s satanic intention. So, apparently because of the do-or-die nature of politics in the country, Atiku sidelined the embassy on the trip. No one can blame him for being extra careful, though. But one thing I have not understood in the entire matter is why travelling to America by Atiku should be a big issue. This is what every Tom, Dick and Harry does without much ado. So, why would Atiku’s trip to the US become controversial? Definitely, something is wrong.  The All Progressives Congress (APC) would appear to have provided the basis for the controversy, which may be germane to our understanding of the personality of the man, Atiku Abubakar, especially now that he is aspiring once again to lead the country.

    Indeed, some time ago, in a statement by Yekini Nabena, APC acting national publicity secretary and made available to Legit.ng, the ruling party said former President Olusegun Obasanjo was lobbying US authorities to withdraw the ban reportedly placed on Atiku after a $500,000 bribery scandal in 2005 that involved Atiku’s fourth wife, Jennifer, and former United States Congressman, William Jefferson. Obasanjo, reports said, finally succeeded in having a US visa for Atiku sometime last December. Even then Atiku could still not trust that the Americans would not hold him if he landed in their country, so, he took his time to be sure all issues around the matter were resolved. He knew the political implications of making the headlines in the U.S. for the wrong reasons, especially with the elections only a few weeks away. That would have convinced  even Doubting Thomasses who never made up their minds on the kinds of stuff they have been reading or hearing about him.

    Anyway, after procrastinating for a long time, Atiku finally made up his mind to go to America. And the matter is being treated like the days of old when someone travelled abroad from Nigeria. The only difference between that experience and Atiku’s is that in those days, the entire community would gather to celebrate the person that was lucky to travel abroad or had just returned from there. So, what is making Atiku and his supporters to feel that the ability of their principal to travel to the US. is something to wash or celebrate?

    We almost crucified the Late President Umaru Yar’Adua when he said during a visit to the White House in 2007 that that was the happiest day in his life. But, the man was being honest with himself; many people dream of getting to the place to have a handshake with the World’s Number One citizen. Never mind if Donald Trump is now the one occupying that exalted office. The only thing is that we had expected Yar’Adua to be more careful about making such a statement in public.

    Anyway, notwithstanding that Atiku has finally made it to the U.S., after more than a decade, there is still an important question that the former vice president has not answered. Was it that he was not interested in travelling to the US for more than a decade after his last visit to the place? If he answers this question in the affirmative, then he must be a different kind of Nigerian public figure. And he would also have to tell us since when he stopped seeing America as the place he could do without for that long. Perhaps God is yet to create that Nigerian big man that can say ‘to hell with America’ because they all crave America and America knows it.

    As a matter of fact, that was one reason the United States could play the key role it played during the country’s struggle to get the military out of political power in the 1990s. The US knew that Nigerian generals, military officers and their political collaborators in ‘agbada’ generally would not find any meaning in life without travelling to God’s own country. It was only a man like the late General Sani Abacha that couldn’t care less about America. His self-perpetuation agenda was paramount than whatever allure America could offer. But we should understand that; Abacha was a provincial man through and through and he made no pretensions about it. He was not one to be swayed by ‘toys’ that foreign travels, particularly to a place like America, offered.

    All said,since this is the season of celebration, I want to join the supporters of the former vice president in congratulating him for the feat of successfully travelling to America, in spite of detractors’ assertion that if he dared it, he would be whisked away from the airport. At least Atiku has shamed his enemies. It is immaterial whether he went there in own recognisance or as an ‘attache’ to Saraki’s diplomatic entourage or luggage (as is being peddled in some quarters), which naturally enjoys immunity. But if the latter was the case, it would only have further confirmed to the Americans the extent to which some Nigerians in leadership positions can take advantage of loopholes in laws that were hitherto thought were watertight.

    But, we cannot bring closure to this matter until Atiku has told us everything he knows about this controversial trip. American visa might not be something to pick as cowries at the beach, but it ought not to become bone in the mouth of a man like Atiku. We wait to hear the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth from our presidential aspirant.

    Atiku goes to America!

  • Vanishing rice pyramids?

    That a 50kg bag of rice sold for N17,500 in December is indication that something went wrong somewhere

    About six weeks to the  Yuletide, a notice was pasted on the notice boards on our company premises asking members of the cooperative to request in advance for their choice commodities. Items on offer included beef and groundnut oil and, the last but not the least, rice, which sat majestically on the list as the king of all the other commodities. Back then, the price per 50kg of rice was N14,500. As a typical Nigerian, I did not take advantage of the early notice to book. I waited till the last minute and I paid dearly for it. Of course, I am not to blame; I had always had the impression that rice was no longer an issue so we did not have to rush to buy it again since we now have many state governments and others investing in it.

    At least, that was the impression the Federal Government, and particularly the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, gave Nigerians. We were made to understand that rice has almost been successfully banished from the list of items Nigerians should lose sleep over. So, I waited till the last    minute to add my name to the list of people willing to buy things with which to make the Christmas and the end of year memorable. Then an impediment! The price of rice had changed. By the time I was now ready to buy, the price had jumped from N14,500 to N17,000! The implication was that I had to review the number of bags I needed downwards. I had to cut my coat according to my pocket. But, one natural question that has not ceased agitating my mind is: so what happened? What happened to the rice pyramids that had given us the erroneous impression that we were nearing self-sufficiency in rice production?

    I still keep asking myself that question till today. I had thought that somehow, the Federal Government, and specifically, the agriculture minister, would offer an explanation. But mum has been the word from their end.  And, typically Nigerian, the people are not asking questions either. We seem to have moved on, as if there was nothing unusual about this development.

    If I can remember vividly, I bought a bag of rice for about N13,000 in December 2017. I even think some brands went for a little less. So, what happened? Where is Lake Rice? Where is Abakaliki Rice? Where are the other local brands of rice that were usually pushed into the market to augment the imported rice that we all seem to have fallen in love with, not minding whether it is plastic or polythene rice? Something went wrong. Will the honorable minister step forward to tell Nigerians what really happened to our local rice? We have been told it is more nutritious and all that. No argument; but where is it now?

    The Buhari government identified early in the day that rice had become a staple food all over the country and took some measures to increase production and drastically cut down on its importation.

    Without necessarily trying to mock the collaboration between Lagos and Kebbi state governments that resulted in the production of Lake Rice, it was obvious something was amiss as the rice was being rationed whenever it was time to sell it. What this tells us is that demand still outstrips supply, hence the rationing, or one man, one bag. I had thought that by now, the rationing would be relaxed, given the resources, energy and enthusiasm put into it by the two state governments. Abakaliki Rice too was hardly found beyond its immediate area of production. What we keep seeing all the year round are these imported brands of rice from Thailand and other places, in spite of government’s restriction on their importation. Indeed, people who went to Sango-Ota and Idiroko areas of Ogun State in December told chilling tales of determination on the part of well-armed rice smugglers to bring in the commodity thr   ough the borders in time for Yuletide sales. What this tells us is that men of the Customs service might be battling smuggling; they are yet to find the joker to eliminate or even reduce the incidence of rice smuggling.

    Today, rice has become a source of high wire politics, whether locally or internationally. Nigeria has had to engage in shouting match with some rice producers abroad. For instance, Thailand’s ambassador to Nigeria, Wattana Kunwongse, in March, last year, faulted a claim reportedly made by Chief Ogbeh, that Thailand accused Nigeria of being responsible for the collapse of its seven rice mills, following the drastic fall in rice importation from Nigeria. Contrary to the claim, the ambassador said Thailand’s rice export had risen to 11.48 million tonnes worth about $5.1 billion, the highest in recent times. Even Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State declared war, so to speak, against the people who accusedhim of making dubious claims about his Mitros Ofada Rice.

    It is true that Nigerians responded positively to the calls by the Federal Government to focus more on rice production, especially between 2015 and 2017. Chief Ogbeh said that much at a forum in Abuja in March, 2017. He even boasted that there were strong indications that Nigeria would become self-sufficient in rice production by 2018 because many farmers had rediscovered their potential in rice farming. The minister added that rice production had improved appreciably, particularly in states like Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo and that even northeastern states like Kebbi, Kano, Jigawa, Sokoto, Katsina and Zamfara states were taking due advantage of their dams by engaging in rice production as well. The government, Ogbeh said, had even imported 110 rice mills to be distributed nationwide.

    More specifically, Ogbeh had, while speaking on the achievements in the sector in the last three years in May, last year, backed up his claims with statistics. “We have reduced the quantity of rice coming in through our ports by 95% which amounts to a savings of about $5 million a day and all this happened between December 2015 and now”. He said Nigeria was currently producing 5.8 million to 6 million tonnes of paddy rice and the number of paddy farmers in the country had risen from five million to 12.2 million and that the number would increase to nine million tonnes per annum  this year.

    “We are between 5.8-6 million tonnes of paddy rice, the number of farmers growing paddy has risen from five million to 12.2 million, more are coming in as we clear more lands for them and arrange irrigation facilities, by the end of this farming season we should be approaching eight million tonnes of paddy which will give us roughly 6.5 million tonnes of processed rice and we hope that by this time next year we should be targeting nine million tonnes of paddy… but irrigation has to come on board because as long as we depend on rain-fed agriculture we will have difficulties achieving that target”, the minister added.

    In spite of all these, and just as President Goodluck Jonathan’s promise to ‘dash’ us his generator with improved power supply but he could not fulfill that promise because power supply failed to improve, Ogbeh too has not been able to match his claims with what is on ground in the agricultural sector in general, and particularly with regard to rice production. Yet, this is something we have to take more seriously. In this regard, we need to behave like an adult who fell down; he looks back to see what it was that made him to fall. Otherwise he would not learn any lesson and would therefore stumble again. Why are we miles away between dreams and deeds on self-sufficiency in rice production? Is it that the Customs men and officers are not doing enough? If yes; why? Is it that they are ill-equipped, simply incompetent or they have been bitten by the corruption bug beyond redemption too? Is it the handiwork of importers threatened by the anticipated self-sufficiency? Or is it because of the coming General Elections because, to our politicians, election matters is their first commandment? Until we find answers to these questions, we may never be self-sufficient in rice production or anything for that matter because we are a people that forget so soon.

  • It’s all politics

    Unnecessary brickbats over Osinbajo’s statement on Yoruba presidency in 2023

    Vice President Yemi Osinbajo’s comment during the house-to-house campaign in Oyo, Oyo State, on December 22, has generated controversy which could easily pass for storm in a teacup. What did Osinbajo say? The vice president, who also seized the opportunity of his visit to the ancient town to have a 45-minute closed-door meeting with the Alaafin, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi, said that the victory of President Muhammadu Buhari in next year’s presidential election was crucial to the south western part of the country as it would guarantee the geo-political region’s clinching of the presidency in 2023.

    According to the vice president, “Yoruba have a lot to contribute to Nigeria for the 2019 elections. It is for us, Yoruba; if you understand, it is for us. We are not looking at 2019, but 2023. If we don’t get it now, it may take some time again,” Osinbajo said. For me, this is political talk, and it should be expected, especially in a season when politics is very much in the air. Truth is; Nigeria’s presidency is not something that someone could wish into existence.

    The plank of the critics’ argument is that Vice President Osinbajo’s assertion in Oyo contradicted President Muhammadu Buhari’s message through the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, assuring the south easterners of handing over to them in 2023 if he could get their support for his reelection bid next year.

    The major criticisms came from the Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere; the Igbo pan-cultural group, Ohanaeze Ndigbo; the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Uche Secondus, among others.

    Of course, when a man of Osinbajo’s stature opens his mouth, especially on an issue as contentious as the country’s presidency, there will always be brickbats and the reactions will expectedly depend on the side of the fence that the critics belong to. It is therefore not surprising that even Afenifere has taken up Osinbajo on the matter, despite the fact that the vice president is one of its own. That is the nature of politics in Yorubaland. There has been no love lost between the group and the Buhari government and it therefore should not surprise anyone that the group is not on the same page with the government over sundry issues, including especially restructuring that the group believes the Muhammadu Buhari government, under which Osinbajo is vice president, does not believe in.

    Afenifere also seized the opportunity to specifically pick holes in the ‘Trader Moni’ scheme, one of the social investment programmes of the Federal Government, which provides an opportunity for petty traders to take between N10,000 to N50,000 loan, collateral and interest-free. By this arrangement, all the encumbrances encountered in securing bank loans are either eliminated or minimised. But a segment of the Nigerian elite has mocked this scheme, saying that N10,000 is too small to do any meaningful trading. The response of the beneficiaries nationwide has however proved such critics wrong. It has shown that many of us just sit in our respective comfort zones and assume that the way money rolls in for us is the same way it does for every other Nigerian.

    I remember a few years back, (I think in  early 2000), a report claimed that there were some Nigerians who never at a time had up to N5,000! We would be deceiving ourselves if we assume that was a long time ago. As a matter of fact, things have gone progressively worse since then. And one cannot blame the Buhari administration for this; at best, we could blame it for not having the expected magic wand to turn things around within three years. There is no doubt that small as the N10,000 ‘Trader Moni’ seems, it is appreciated by many of its beneficiaries. Trading is in categories; just as traders. Even some of the big traders today will tell you they started small. Anyway, let me stop here on this because it is not a piece dedicated to ‘Trader Moni’ but the country’s presidency in 2023 that the vice president wants for his geo-political zone.

    Ohanaeze, on its part, completely missed the point almost as usual, in reacting to Osinbajo’s comment when, instead of making its case for the southeast, it resorted to threats and curses as if these are the essentials needed for the Igbo or any part of the country for that matter, to clinch the presidency. Its spokesman, Uche Achi-Okpaga, said in an interview that Nigeria would continue to wallow in abject socio-political, economic and developmental blindness until an Igbo man becomes the President. And that anything done in Nigeria without the active cooperation and participation of the lgbo would always crumble.

    Ohanaeze was right in listing some of the people from the region that have done creditably well in their respective public offices. While some of the claims are true, the fact is; it is not only in the southeast that we have such distinguished Nigerians. They are all over the country. According to Ohanaeze, “The Igbo are the descendants of King David, the man after God’s heart. Anything you do in Nigeria without the active cooperation and participation of the lgbo would always crumble as exemplified in the present administration of PMB. The Igbo are to Nigeria what Israel is to the world today.

    “Take my word today, until an Igbo man leads, Nigeria will continue to wallow in abject socio-political, economic and developmental blindness”. How does the southeast think this kind of disposition can advance its cause? Isn’t it a way to further alienate the region and pushing it farther from its dream presidency? Anyway, if things are as Ohanaeze claimed, and if Ohanaeze believes in the God factor that it said Osinbajo and the Buhari presidency do not take into reckoning, then clinching the presidency should have been a walk-over for the region all these years; in which case it won’t have to use curses and threats as a bridge to its dream world.

    Perhaps most laughable is the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that was sacked about four years ago; which has naturally joined the fray. Kassim Afegbua, one of PDP’s Presidential Campaign Council spokespersons, said “giving out two promises has exposed the insincerity and dubious intention of the Buhari-led Federal Government with the people of the South-East and South-West geopolitical zones with empty promises of bequeathing power to the two zones at the same time in 2023. “This is why Nigerians cannot take the APC and the Buhari Presidency’s seriously any longer as we prepare for the 2019 elections.” The PDP easily forgot how it deceived its presidential aspirants in 2015 by collecting money for nomination forms from them when it knew there was no vacancy, and that the ticket had been duly reserved for the then incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan, among some of its numerous sins. A case of the kettle calling the pot black? The party conveniently forgot how ‘papa’ deceived the presidential (PDP) aspirants in its own fold in 2015. Such is life!

    I sympathise with the south east geo-political zone which has not had a shot at the presidency for about five decades. But, the point must be made; that the country’s presidency is not something to be handed over to any geopolitical zone on a platter. Any zone that wants it must crave it. It must work assiduously towards getting it rather than wait for others to place it on its laps. Part of the problem of the region, as some observers have noted, is that even if the south east was asked to produce a presidential candidate, it would hardly do so in unison. So, the Igbo must first be ready to convene a family meeting where they will agree on a consensus and marketable presidential candidate that they can now market to the rest of the country.

    While one could pardon those of the critics with genuine criticism, after all we are in a democratic era and democracy permits plurality of opinions or beliefs, there are also others who would not see anything good in whatever the vice president says or had said. Even when mum is the word from him; some people would still say he ought to have said something, if only to make political points. I can imagine how Afenifere, for instance, would have descended on the vice president if he had said the Yoruba should not take part in the 2023 presidential race for whatever reason. Already, the group has accused the vice president of failing to identify with most of the important things the Yoruba race sees as dear to it.

    Without doubt I agree with critics who believe that Prof. Osinbajo is the country’s vice president, and should therefore be seen to be putting on a national cap; but he is first and foremost a Yoruba before being a Nigerian and then vice president. Indeed, it was on the basis of his geopolitical zone that he was even nominated and eventually elected as vice president, as the position was strategically zoned by his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the south west. Although zoning is alien to the Nigerian constitution when it comes to elective offices, it has become a useful instrument that political parties use in balancing the power equation among the country’s various ethnic nationalities.

    At any rate, democracy is only still evolving in the country. We therefore cannot compare it with advanced countries where democracy has grown over the centuries. For me, therefore, there is nothing inherently wrong in the vice president advancing the interest of his geo-political zone in the context that he did. It’s all politics. And, as Hans J, Morgenthau said: “ all politics is a struggle for power”.