The Nation Newspaper

Category: Tunji Adegboyega

  • IBB’s confession

    IBB’s confession

    • June 12, like 20-year pounded yam, is still steaming hot, 32 years after

    At last, at long last, Nigeria’s former self-styled President, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, has released his long-awaited autobiography. The book, ‘A Journey In Service,’ was launched at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel  in Abuja on Thursday.

    Babangida was Nigeria’s head of state from August 27, 1985 to August 26, 1993, when he was forced to ‘step aside’, following his government’s annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election.

    Babangida’s tenure as military president witnessed several controversies, the most prominent being the June 12, 1993 election. Babangida and his colleagues apparently underrated the likely consequences of the annulment of that election’s result. He admitted that much in his book.

    Anyway, belated or timely, I congratulate Babangida for the courage he eventually summoned to own up on June 12, even if, as many people have observed, he said nothing new. After all, President Muhammadu Buhari had in 2018 posthumously awarded Bashorun Moshood Kashimawo Abiola, the acclaimed winner of the election, the highest national honour for heads of state or presidents in Nigeria, the Grand Commander of the Federal Republic; an affirmation of sort, of Abiola’s victory in the election.

     Indeed, IBB described the annulment of the election as an “accident of history.”

    The truth of the matter is that in governments all over the world there are several dark deeds or ‘accidents of history’. Many things happened in government that the people only got clues to years after the occurrences, or sometimes long after the dramatis personae have passed on. Perhaps June 12 has joined the league of such events in Nigeria.

    IBB’s affirmation of Abiola’s victory is key because he was at the saddle at the time the election was held. Perhaps the only new dimension that Babangida introduced in his book is to mention General Sani Abacha as a critical factor in the annulment.

    “Unfortunately, the forces gathered against him after the June 12 elections were so formidable that I was convinced that if he became President, he would be quickly eliminated by the same very forces who pretended to be his friends,” IBB said.

    Read Also: IBB comes clean, but is far from cleansed

    He added: “Although I am on record to have stated after the election that Abiola may not have won the election, upon deeper reflection and a closer examination of all the available facts, particularly the detailed election results…there was no doubt that MKO Abiola won the June 12 election.”

    Not done, Babangida continued: “Upon closer examination of the original collated figures from the 110,000 polling booths nationwide, it was clear that he satisfied the two main constitutional requirements for winning the presidential elections, mainly majority votes and geographical spread, having obtained 8,128,720 votes against Tofa’s 5,848,247 votes and securing the mandatory one-third of the votes cast in 28 states of the federation, including Abuja.”

    While the more than N17 billion that was realised at the occasion was also significant, I think the fact that he has been able to empty his mind of the heavy burden of his involvement in the annulment of the result of the election  would be more significant to him than the billions.  I want to believe that, by now, Babangida would have realised, like King Solomon in the Bible, that “vanity upon vanity, all is vanity.” That no position is permanent.

     Before his confession, I had always remembered with awe the existence of God Almighty whenever people visited Babangida in his Minna mansion and the man could only receive them sitting down.

     This was the same IBB that radiculopathy did not condemn to a wheel chair. The Babangida that once told Nigerians that they were not only in government, they were also in power. The same Babangida that was bouncing on his legs when he was justifying the annulment of the election on national television a few days after, as if he was on something on that occasion.

    Alhamdulillahi indeed.

    As ‘A Journey In Service’  was being launched on Thursday, I remembered a book that myself and some of my friends were supposed to write on Babangida some years back. If my memory is not failing me, I think the title  was ‘IBB: The one they all call Oga’. There was also a documentary side that was supposed to be handled by another team. Somehow, the idea died. Even if that book had been written, it wouldn’t have carried the same weight as something on June 12 coming straight from the horse’s mouth.

    But I was the first person to opt out of the arrangement. I could not imagine  working for Babangida, the man who proscribed ‘The Punch’ where at a point during the June 12 struggle I was editor. Between Babangida and Abacha, ‘The Punch’ and two other prominent national dailies were proscribed for about 15 months!

    So, on the first day of our formal meeting on the book project at a friend’s office here in Lagos, I announced to the other team members — Olu Awogbemila, Bolade Opaleye and the team leader (name withheld), I think we were just four; that I was not interested in the project. It was as if we had planned it. But we are all long-time friends and what happened after I opted out was not surprising. Awogbemila and Opaleye too said they had thought it over and again and came to the conclusion that they could also not participate. Apparently on June 12 we all stood.

    Apparently too, the team leader, as the main man, could not ‘chicken out’ and he eventually went to Minna, Niger State, to meet Babangida in connection with the project. We were supposed to go together. I remember him saying the man would really have loved to meet me when he told him that a former editor of ‘The Punch’ was in the team. Trust IBB, he was generous to a fault. But if he had ‘settled’ me for the pains of proscription then, how would that have affected the other workers that went on forced holiday without pay as a result of the proscription? I said all of these in my tribute to Maryam Babangida, IBB’s wife when she died in December 2009.

    It is auspicious at a time like this to recount some of these incidents so that some other people who felt IBB’s apology is belated would know that many other people had their own pangs during the June 12 struggle and even after. Yet, they have moved on, knowing the best they could get from Babangida was the apology.

    I was picked up from the sick bed at Holy Trinity Hospital in Ikeja, Lagos, straight to the State Security Service’s (SSS) office in Shangisha, Lagos, over June 12. I also had some days with the police. My predecessor, Bola Bolawole, was detained in his office for about five days. I can’t remember the number of times I had to tuck out my shirt and throw my tie away just to evade arrest right on our premises. Anything could have happened in those days when soldiers could kill and go. Even if we had died somewhere along the other mines we had to tread at the time, it would not have changed anything whether our relatives decide to forgive Babangida or not, now that he has apologised. If multitudes die on Saturday, Christians who go to church on Sunday would still sing songs of praise and thanksgiving to God.

    But this is not to say that critics who feel Babangida’s apology is not enough do not have a point. The price we paid for this democracy. The price! The price!!

    Here, one remembers the pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere. I won’t be surprised if the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) that was formed to fight the military out of power express the same sentiment.

    Indeed, I agree with Afenifere that “However, this long-overdue confession cannot exonerate Babangida and his associates from the monumental betrayal inflicted upon the nation.” And that “It does not restore the lives lost, nor does it atone for the enduring scars of oppression, bloodshed, and the suppression of democracy. The consequences of that reckless annulment remain irreversible.”

    But nothing can.

    Indeed, for me, this is the most crucial aspect of it all. If something is irreversible, what then do we expect the person behind it all to do? Generals these days no longer commit suicide over such matters.

    It is important to note that, before now, many of us have been asking Babangida to say something on June 12, he has not only said something now, he has admitted that he made mistakes and apologised.

    Regrettable as all of the unintended consequences of June 12 were, we just have to accept the irreversibility of certain actions and take life in its strides. As one of my friends would say: eni k’ole sa, o sa; e ni k’o ju t’owo e sile, o ju sile; ki lo tun ku? (You asked a thief to run, he ran; you asked him to drop what he has stolen, he dropped it. Yet, you keep on pursuing him)!

    Nobody can deny the fact that one of the people who fought for this democracy is President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Yet, the tone of his speech at the book launch does not convey that pain or bitterness of harassment, up to the point of being hounded into exile. You may say then it was ‘Sad Asiwaju’; today, as president, he is ‘Happy Asiwaju’! May be.

    But, honestly, I think rather than keep sulking over Babangida’s regret or apology, it is the country’s current leaders who have lessons to learn from the IBB episode. Ours is a country where local government chairmen are kings, governors are emperors and presidents are like next-of-kin to God almighty. Babangida had made a grievous mistake in his handling of the June 12 election. We are not in a position to judge whether he is truly repentant or not. We can only assume he is.

    It is our current leaders that we have to hold accountable more for their actions so they too would not wake up sometimes tomorrow to offer belated apologies for their actions or inactions in government.

    Babangida operated in a military era. Despite that, we gave them close marking. We no longer do that and that is why people that we purportedly elected are getting more brazen with all manner of irresponsible behaviours.

     I want to believe that one of the reasons God has spared IBB’s life till this time is to enable him make some  restitution. Nothing can be done to bring back Abiola or those that were mauled down by soldiers for insisting on the de-annulment of the election from the grave; just as nothing can be done to undo the annulment of the election that Abiola worked hard to win such that he could reclaim his mandate. The apology should do

    What is more? Babangida had said that “The June 12 elections were the most challenging of my life. If I have to do it all over again, I’ll do it differently”. Unfortunately, in such circumstance, there is no second chance. At 83, we can only leave him to his conscience.

  • Power Rangers to the rescue

    Power Rangers to the rescue

    Not a bad idea if govt can blend this with technology to fight power lines vandals

    Power lines vandals who have been throwing spanners in the works and causing intermittent blackouts would have to think twice now that they would have dedicated security men to contend with. Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, disclosed this on Friday.

    “We have decided now with the Minister of Power to have what we call the Power Rangers,” the minister said during an appearance on Sunrise Daily, a Channels Television programme.

    According to the minister, the Power Rangers will be created within officers of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).

    This special security team to protect power installations and infrastructure would appear to be the Federal Government’s answer to the question of persistent vandalisation of power infrastructure.

    Power supply is pivotal to whatever we do. It is vital for our work, as in manufacturing and small-scale businesses; it is inevitable even for our leisure because, as they say, a hardworking person deserves his time of rest. Power is key even when we sleep; especially in our kind of tropical climate with its scorching heat. We need power for whatever we use to provide cool air for ourselves, be it air conditioners or electric fans. Name it, power supply is indispensable in virtually all aspects of our being.

    Unfortunately, as essential as this commodity is, Nigeria has not been able to produce enough for its over 200 million people.

    The country’s power generation as at 2023 was said to be in the region of 22,000 MW.  Even then, we do not have the capacity to transmit all. This is aside the problem of distribution, with all its bottlenecks.

    South Africa, with about 63.02 million people generates 58,095MW.

    As if all of these are not enough to contend with in the power sector, we have also had to deal with the nefarious activities of vandals who have made theft of power infrastructure their pastime. These criminals have continued to deal deadly blows to the power infrastructure, thus compounding the problem of inadequate power supply in different parts of the country.

    According to iProject Master (iPM) in 2013, “there were more than 12 incidences of vandalism recorded on the Alaoji-Owerri 132kV line, Jebba-Shirioro  330kV line, Osogbo-Ayede 330kV line, Oshogbo-Benin 330kV line, Oshogbo Ikeja 330kV line, Jebba-Shiroro 330kV line, Benin-Ikeja West 330kV line, Sapele-Benin 330kV line, Delta-Sapele-Benin 330kV line, Sapele-Benin 330kV line, Benin-Ajaokuta 330kV line and the Abuja-Keffi 132kV line. Some of these transmission lines were vandalised more than three times.”

    The incidence has not abated.

    Indeed, as at February 4, the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), said there have been a surge in transmission infrastructure across the country, with over 18 transmission towers vandalised between January 9 and 14, 2025, across Rivers, Abia, and Kano states. There have been several others, including the one that plunged Abuja into weeks of darkness recently.

    Power lines vandalism comes with its consequences. It has forced many manufacturing concerns to shut down because they cannot power some of their machines on generator. This has consequences for their income, investments and in certain cases where products must not suffer any break in power supply, commodities worth billions of Naira will be lost. 

    It also comes with grave risks.

     If there is  electricity during the power line vandalism, lives and properties of the people within the area would be at risk due to electric shocks, power surge and fire outbreaks, etc.

    Of course, vandalism has continued to thrive because of its expanding market globally. Industrialisation has continued to make the values of copper and aluminium, (the key targets of the criminals) to appreciate, hence the desperation on the part of the vandals; a desperation that sometimes makes the possibility of losing their lives in the process of stealing the items not to matter to them. It is so bad now that vandalism of high-tension towers, usually avoided in the past as a high risk, is now a thriving business.

    The financial implications of constant repairs to vandalised transmission installations, and the attendant stress on the national grid, are also huge. ‘The Guardian’ estimate shows that over 117 132kv/330kv electricity towers were vandalised nationwide between January 2022 and February 2024. The country spent about N110 million to fix each of the vandalised assets, and a cumulative N12.8 billion to repair the 117 towers.

    Read Also: Alleged bribery: House remains committed to protecting democratic institutions

    Energy analyst, Lanre Elatuyi, has this to say on the issue: “For many years, Nigeria has not been able to find a lasting solution to the problem of poor electricity supply, and recently there have been calls for the declaration of state of emergency in the sector.

    “The activities of vandals have aggravated the issues in the already troubled sector battling with poor performances of the market participants and acute illiquidity. Most of the projects in transmission were funded with borrowed funds that the FG has not paid back.”

    Elatuyi added: “To make matters worse, we are now spending borrowed funds to repair infrastructure with no sight to cost recovery of the initial investments”.

    The situation is dire indeed.

    With the proposed idea of Power Rangers, it would seem the Federal

    Government is now ready  to put its money where its mouth is. That is to say the government now seems ready to go beyond lamentation whenever power infrastructure are damaged or stolen, to taking actions to check the trend. As the saying goes, “it is the person that digs the grave that is keeping the dead; the one crying is merely making noise” (eniyan to gbe’le lo pa oku mo; eni to nsunkun, ariwo lasan lo npa); a thing which does not solve the problem in any way.

    Not a few people would think setting up of the Power Rangers is enough to check the vandalisation of the power infrastructure. They would rather want the government to adopt the use of technology for more effective result.

    This stems from the realisation that most times, the vandals get away with their loot because there are no electronic gadgets secretly installed to monitor the power lines. Where these gadgets are available, they have devices that alert when there are unauthorised movements near the power lines and the system promptly communicates this to the power line operators and the law enforcement agencies using radio frequency (RF) signal network.

    May be those who think ‘manual’ solution like Power Rangers cannot go far have a point. But the interior minister said they took a cue from the establishment of Mining Marshals established by the Federal Government in March, last year, to tackle security challenges in the mining sector, before coming up with the  proposal. According to the minister, the Mining Marshals have recorded tremendous successes.

    Not only that, the minister further justified the need for the Power Rangers thus: “What we had before we (the Bola Tinubu administration) came was the generalisation of national assets. But we said no, you cannot have one specific medication that can treat all illnesses.

    “So you have to analyse every sector, the power sector, the water sector, the education sector, the health sector… and be able to create arms of civil defence under the same umbrella.”

    Although Tunji-Ojo did not mention any specific date for the take-off of the Power Rangers, he shed some light on some of the steps being taken to create the unit.

    “We’ve already agreed on the modus operandi and as I speak to you, the officers are being screened,” he said.

    “Don’t forget that we are going to have officers in all 36 states plus the FCT because there is no state without a power infrastructure; it is just like the solid mineral sector.

    “We are already in the process of onboarding those officers; we have to profile them, look at their capacity, look at their competence, look at their area of specialisation, look at a lot of considerations, even physical strength.”

    All of these would seem to suggest that those who came up with the proposal at least did some homework; they didn’t just wake up from the wrong side of the bed to propose it.

    Since it would represent the first major attempt to isolate the problem from similar activities perpetrated against the Nigerian economy by some criminal elements, the idea deserves the support of all Nigerians.

    But it must be borne in mind that it should not necessarily mean abandonment of other extant strategies that are being used to solve the problem.

    Here, cooperation of the locals in the areas traversed by the power infrastructure is key. There is also the need for mass enlightenment even though this may seem to mean little to people bent on committing crime for profit as we have always seen in many instances where people still go to scoop leaking fuel whenever they have the opportunity, and in spite of the dangers.

    The security squad, when it finally takes off, would require adequate funds to get the necessary weapons and other gadgets required to make the team proactive rather than reactive, since they need to be ahead of the criminals in terms of intelligence gathering and superior fire power.

    Needless to say that they would require training and retraining to enable them be on top of their game.

    It is important to stress that both the human and technological elements must be combined in our search for enduring solutions to the problem. These evils are not perpetrated by ghosts, and, as some people have suggested, only insiders can be

    proficient in committing such crimes. We will be able to get out of the quagmire if some of them could be caught, exposed and punished for their untiring efforts to sabotage the country’s economy.

  • Tread softly, Ajaero

    Tread softly, Ajaero

    My initial reaction to the (suspended) protest by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) against the 50 per cent hike in telecoms tariff that should have taken effect on February 1 was to lambast the congress for overreaching itself. Why must Labour think it can jump into just any situation even when the issue is not strictly about workers’ welfare?

    I however, soft-pedalled when I remembered how the Global System for Mobile (GSM) communication service providers exploited Nigerians when they began operation in Nigeria in August 2001. Perhaps the highpoint of that exploitation was their initial refusal to offer per second billing on their menu. They gave us the impression that it was impossible, even though that was available elsewhere.

    But the entry of Globacom in 2003 changed the narrative. Glo launched itself into the Nigerian market with per second billing and others had no choice but to follow.

    It was this reminiscence that made me soft-pedal on the said protest. But then, the position of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) is more like it. It still pointed at the lacuna in the NLC’s stance.

     We would return to that shortly.

    The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the telecoms sector’s regulator, had on January 20 approved a 50 per cent hike in tariffs for the telecommunications firms, as against the 100 per cent that the companies had been clamouring for. NCC cited rising operational costs driven by inflation, foreign exchange fluctuations, and higher energy expenses to justify its approval. Unassailable points.

    But the NLC rejected the 50 per cent hike and in its stead pushed forward a five per cent increase. But it never told us how it arrived at the five per cent. It merely said the hike was insensitive and unjustifiable, adding that it would impose an extra burden on Nigerian consumers. Huh!

    Joe Ajaero, the union’s president, said

    “After extensive discussions…NAC-in-session totally rejects the 50 per cent telecom tariff hike, which it considers too harsh for citizens. It, therefore, strongly condemns the Nigerian Communications Commission’s decision to approve the increase.”

    He added: “This decision is insensitive, unjustifiable, and a direct attack on Nigerian workers and the general populace, who are already suffering under worsening economic hardship caused by government policies beyond their control.”

    The congress therefore asked Nigerians to prepare for mass protests against the hike. It also called for a boycott of the telcos’ services.

    But the telecom fìrms stood their ground and insisted on the approved 50 per cent. As a matter of fact, they ruled out negotiations with organised labour. I saw this coming; that a time would come when some organisations would begin to call the NLC’s bluff. More of this would come for as long as the congress thinks banging the table is solution to all problems. That belonged in the past. These days, ideas rule the world.

    The Chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Gbenga Adebayo, explained the telcos’ position: “This increase is a lifeline that enables us to survive. Anything lower would be like giving someone who needs 100 litres of oxygen only a fraction—barely enough to keep them alive but insufficient for long-term survival.”

    The stage was thus set for a showdown.

    Mercifully, however, the Federal Government intervened and the protest was suspended.

    For me, the NLC’s action was misdirected aggression. The telcos’ are operating in the same economic milieu that Labour is complaining about and are therefore not immune to its vagaries. Unless the congress wants us to return to the era of queuing up at designated centres to talk to our people wherever they may be on the surface of the earth, the congress has to tread cautiously on this matter.

    Those of us who were around in the days of the almighty Nigerian Telecommunications Ltd. (NITEL) when the entire country was served by about 450,000 telephone lines would never want that. Not even in our dream. Only our children who were born after the introduction of GSM in the country can say whatever they like on the said tariff hike because they do not know where we are coming from.

    For the benefit of our youths, some of whom are now carrying some of the very expensive telephones even as students, there was a time in this country when a minister of the federal republic told us that telephone was not for the poor! It was that bad. But the minister was not wrong; if about 180 million people then had to share 450,000 telephone lines, we did not need anyone to tell us that that was not an essential commodity that every Tom, Dick and Harry should have access to!

    Read Also:Japa syndrome: Fleeing Nigeria is not the solution – Ajaero

    Today, it is convenient for us to be saying ‘we no go gree’ because telcom firms said they want to review upwards their tariffs. We can now conveniently stay in the comfort of our rooms and talk to Papa and Mama in the village. Today, we can send money to them and they will receive it within minutes. Today, we can talk to our people who have ‘Japa’ to the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, etc., right from wherever we are. Not only that; we can even do video chat, send text messages, chat on various electronic platforms and what have you.

    It has not always been like this. It was the advent of GSM that revolutionised the way we used to do virtually all things – read, relax, work, talk, etc. It has become part of our lives that one feels incomplete if his or her phone is misplaced or stolen. Such a person is like fish out of water.  

    It is not surprising that the GSM Association (commonly referred to as ‘the GSMA’, originally Groupe Spécial Mobile), has welcomed the upward tariff review. And understandably so. GSMA is a non-profit industry organisation that represents the interests of mobile network operators worldwide.

    Workers in the telecoms sector too are happy with the hike. Again, understandably so. Unfortunately, the NLC did not even seek their opinion before threatening fire and brimstone. The workers who spoke through their umbrella union, the Private Telecommunications and Communications Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PTECSSAN) rejected the planned nationwide protest by the NLC. The association told the NLC that the tariff hike, though painful, was necessary to prevent the imminent collapse of the sector, with its far-reaching consequences for the economy.

    PTECSSAN, in apparent solidarity with their employers highlighted the severe challenges facing the sector, including skyrocketing operational costs occasioned by the removal of fuel subsidy, rising prices of diesel (Automated Gas Oil), and increased electricity tariffs.

    The union also mentioned the issue of foreign exchange that the sector sorely needs to import equipment, but which the depreciation of the naira has made increasingly expensive.

    PTECSSAN, of course did not forget to say that while public sector and other private sector workers have benefited from salary increases due to the new minimum wage law, telecoms workers have been left behind simply because their employers could not afford to pay from the inadequate revenue they are generating.

    In conclusion, the association said: “If a situation like this persists, what employers resort to is the termination of employment of workers. We are sure that you and the congress leadership will not be happy to see this happen, as

    we will not”.

    As things stand, the points have been well made. If a sector has retained a particular tariff regime for 12 years, it is more than ripe for another review, given

    the vicissitudes the economy has undergone in recent years that have dramatically altered the economic landscape and so significantly altered the business climate too. Prices have gone up across board since costs too have shot up astronomically.

    It is against this backdrop that the NLC should attend the meetings of the 10-man committee set up by the government and the congress on the issue with an open mind. What is on ground is a purely business matter; not an emotive one. Any attempt to go with a fixated mindset based on emotive arguments or rule of thumb (?) will be counter-productive.

    It was this commonsensical approach to the issue that made the National Civil Society Council of Nigeria (NCSCN) (which says it represents over 600 affiliate organisations) that had initially planned to occupy the headquarters of the NCC and the National Assembly, to also suspend its protest, having been shown the parameters used in arriving at the 50 per cent hike.

    But I wonder why TUC was not involved in the arrangement because it is also a major stakeholder in the matter. As a matter of fact, its position seems to me more unassailable than that of the NLC. Unlike the emotive argument of the congress, TUC dissected the problem well, pointing out the issues that others have identified as reasons necessitating the tariff hike, particularly the foreign exchange component.

    I am not opposed to further negotiations and possibly a further reduction in the tariff. But it is pertinent to let the NLC realise that it cannot be issuing threats all of the time, otherwise the threats would lose their potency. The fact of the matter is that telecommunications is not one of the sectors that the government is subsidising. The service providers are

    in business to make profit. They are therefore not bound by threats of boycott or protest by the congress or whoever. The NLC should not be behaving like policemen who intervene in every matter, including helping their friends or relations to recover loans or stolen property, which is not their core responsibility.

    People have a choice to use or not to use telephone, or at least regulate their use of it if it becomes expensive. As we say, no matter how tiny the hand of the rat is; it is that same hand that it uses to scratch its ear (bi owo eku ti mo lo se nfi yun eti). How much people enjoy the white man depends on their pockets.

    If the telcos say they cannot go below what the NCC has approved if they must maintain quality service, so be it. Let subscribers regulate their use of phones. Nigerians should not forward march to the better-forgotten past.

    We all know how frustrating it is to make calls that drop or send messages that don’t get delivered. We know what it means to be in a hurry online only for network not to cooperate because service providers are not getting commensurate charges to maintain their facilities.

     NLC cannot arrogate to itself the duty of a price control agency because that is what it is attempting to do in this case. Unless NLC provides concrete evidence that the telcos had been overcharging Nigerians, its reaction to this tariff hike is analogous to blaming waiters in restaurants for obesity.

  • A futile exercise

    A futile exercise

    Of Nigeria’s many challenges, it is curious that our House of Representatives’ law makers are fascinated by apathy during elections and are therefore thinking of making voting mandatory. The House is considering a bill to amend the Electoral Act 2022, to make voting compulsory for Nigerians of 18 years and above.

    The proposed law, titled “Bill for an Act to amend the Electoral Act 2022 to make it mandatory for all Nigerians of majority age to vote in all national and state elections, and for related matters,” is sponsored by the Speaker of the House, Tajudeen Abbas.

    The bill seeks to amend sections 9, 10, 12 and 47 of the Electoral Act 2022. If passed, Nigerians of voting age who refuse to cast their vote are to be penalised.

    Let’s look into the bill proper:

    The proposed amendment to Section 9 of the principal act states that “the Commission (INEC) shall compile, maintain, and update, on a continuous basis, a National Register of Voters (in this Act referred to as ‘the Register of Voters’) which shall include the names of all persons -(a) who have attained the majority age of 18 and are entitled to vote in any federal, state, local government or Federal Capital Territory Area Council election…”

    The proposed amendment to Section 47(4a) provides that “It shall be mandatory for all registered voters who have attained the majority age of 18 and above to vote in all national and state elections;

    “(b) A person who has attained the majority age of 18 years who refuses to perform his civic duty to vote commits an offence and is liable on conviction, to a fine not more than N100,000 or imprisonment for a term not more than six months.”

    It is true that, as Abbas noted, there is large-scale apathy to elections in Nigeria. “The percentage of registered voters that present themselves for actual voting is abysmally low and requires parliamentary attention.”

    Indeed, figures released on the matter by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)  puts the apathy in frightening perspective. Perhaps nothing exemplifies it more than the abysmal low turn-out of voters during the 2023 General Election. Whereas 94.4 million people registered to vote in the elections, only 87.2 million collected their permanent voters cards (PVCs) while only 25 million voted in the presidential election. 

    Another example was the last Ondo State governorship poll for which  2.053 million voters registered but only 508,963 persons ultimately voted. Other elections are not significantly different.

    True, it is bad that only about a quarter of registered voters do exercise their mandate during elections. This is contrary to what obtain in many other  countries where democracy is practised. In the United States, for instance, the percentage of registered voters vis-a-vis the actual number of voters is quite insignificant. Even in some African countries, we do not have such an appalling disparity between the number of registered voters and those that actually voted.

    Of course one reason that may account for the disparity in the number of registered and actual voters is the reform that INEC has been bringing to bear into the electoral process in the past few years. Tools like the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and the INEC Result Viewing Portal (IREV), among others, that the electoral commission has introduced are helping to enhance transparency in elections, even if there are still occasional glitches in their applications. Unlike before, it is getting more and more difficult for impersonators to hijack the process. 

    In a sense therefore, we can understand why far fewer people that registered for elections do vote on Election Day.

    But that does not totally explain the wide gap.

    The main reason why many Nigerians stay away from voting is because of the feeling that votes do not count in the country. And this is not a recent phenomenon. There is hardly an election in the country that its result was not disputed. The only exception  being the June 12, 1993 presidential election won by Bashorun Moshood Kashimawo Abiola.

    Most other elections have remained largely controversial. The result is that rather than winners being declared at the polls, the job has become that of judges who eventually decide election losers and winners. Not many people are comfortable with this arrangement which has sometimes brought the judiciary into disrepute because of allegations of bribery that are usually levelled against some of the judges handling the election petitions. The feeling on the part of many voters is that; if ultimately winners and losers are going to be decided by the courts, why don’t we select a few judges to choose for the country; why go through the rigours of election?

    For me, therefore, if the law makers are worried about voter apathy, making voting compulsory is not the place to start. What is the essence of waiting in the scorching sun or heavy rain, defying the odds just to vote, only for some people to make nonsense of the process?

    One other thing that is even annoying is this idea of shutting down the country during elections.

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    Elsewhere, people go about their lawful duties on polling days. The recent presidential election in the United States is an example. Over 156 million voters participated in the election. Yet, we did not hear of ballot-box snatching, we did not hear of rigging, voting took place over days without political parties’ supporters clashing, not to talk of killing or maiming one another. Voting was successfully concluded and results announced; we were not told of any serious breach in the process.

    And, if you want to say that is the United States: I recall a particular African country where voting took place overnight and only the polling officers were there till day break, attending to voters who strolled in till dawn to vote; they were not attacked and nobody attempted to snatch ballot boxes or compromise the result. May be that was many years ago.

    In our own case, election is war. The violence starts before the elections, with one party accusing the other of perfecting plans to rig an election that is yet to be conducted. Then all manner of scenarios come into play on Election Day proper. Thugs would snatch ballot boxes. It is almost predictable that violence would occur, with the possibility of some deaths being recorded. Figures would be falsified, and what have you. Yet, few persons, if any, are punished.

    All of these happen despite the deployment of thousands of security personnel, from civil defence corps to regular police men, the military, etc. Take the last governorship election in Edo State for example. It was an off-cycle poll; yet, no fewer than 43,000 security personnel were deployed. It is like that in other states.

    One major question the representatives have not asked themselves in their bid to make voting mandatory is why election has become a do-or-die battle in the country such that many politicians are ready to make votes not to count? The answer is simple: the perks attached to many political offices are too tempting such that people are ready to do anything to win. It is the same reason losers don’t want to accept defeat without a fight.

    So, if our law makers truly want voters to troop out on Election Day, the place to start is to make votes count. And that starts with them; the politicians. Not the hapless Nigerians who are not just victims of the unrepresentative people in power (due to election apathy) but are only reacting to the politicians’ contempt for free and fair polls.

    Our House of Representatives’ members may have been fascinated by mandatory voting for people of voting age in some other climes. But some of these countries have since jettisoned the idea having seen its futility. Again, the reasons why they adopted the idea may have been overtaken by events. There is nothing wrong with people in leadership positions in the country bringing ideas from other lands as part of the evidence of their being widely travelled. But then, they have to take into consideration the socio-cultural circumstances before introducing such.

    I know the idea of mandatory voting is dead even before arriving because it cannot just stand the test of time here. It may interest Mr Speaker who is sponsoring the idea that, what he wants to do is tantamount to not only forcing a horse to the stream, but also forcing it to drink water.

    And, should the law makers have their way on the bill, Nigerians too would perfect the act of turning out to cast votes that would ultimately be voided. To vote or not to vote should be a matter of choice; not legislation that borders on coercion. After all, that is the essence and beauty of democracy itself.  Politicians cannot defecate on the floor only to turn round to want to use Nigerians to deodorise the stench. Nigerians would start trooping out to vote the day their votes begin to count.

    For now, our leaders at all levels must work more towards giving Nigerians the basic things of life. Water, light, food, house, transportation, good roads, etc. That is their main concern. Give them that and other things would follow.

  • The wages of murder

    The wages of murder

    It is sweet music that Rahmon Adedoyin is to die by hanging for the murder of Timothy Adegoke

    I am glad to be back on this page, after about six weeks annual leave. But it is sad that I have to resume with my comment on the vexatious issue of an influential Nigerian who murdered a young and promising Nigerian, in the latter’s attempt to better his life.

    But first, let me apologise to my readers, some of whom were wondering what the matter was, especially when they suddenly discovered my column had disappeared without notice early last month. So, so sorry.

    I didn’t make any formal announcement about the leave because I wasn’t quite sure whether I would suspend the column during the period or not. Usually my column does not go on leave, except if for reasons absolutely beyond my control I couldn’t write in a particular week. Just that this time around, I felt I needed to rest my brain. I needed a complete break from every official routine. And I think it is good for my system. The truth is; it is not easy to sustain a weekly column, especially for someone who wants to focus on topical issues. So, whether it is a ‘dry’ week like the one you literally have to scavenge to get a topic; or one in which there is a glut of issues to comment on (that is typically Nigerian, with its one hour, one absurdity), choosing something topical to write on every week is laborious.

    It is easy to be on annual leave and still be tasking one’s brain as if one is not, if the tradition of quality or standard must be maintained. So, once again, sorry for my deciding late to let the column too take a well-deserved rest with me. I must tell you though that came with its sacrifice. For example, I think it was the week I began the leave that the story of the 753 duplexes in Abuja broke. It took me some time and discipline to say ‘’no, I won’t comment on it’’ despite its significance, and also despite the fact that the person fingered to be behind them was a man I had devoted six or seven consecutive Sundays writing on when he decided to punish Nigerians with his cashless policy (which actually lived to its name as Nigerians scrambled for the few cash that was available) in 2022; a record yet to be beaten by any person, living or dead, in my decades of column writing.

    My apology taken, I thank God for the privilege of resuming the column after my leave with the ‘Adedoyin affair’. I also thank the Court of Appeal for delivering its judgment on the case on January 23, barely 24 hours after I resumed, thus providing me the opportunity to start on a ‘good’ note. The court’s judgment was timely; at least I didn’t have to search too long for something to resume with.

    I know you would be wondering what is ‘good’ in the gruesome murder of a young man, Timothy Adegoke, by a very important but characterless personality like Chief Rahmon Adedoyin, a prominent businessman and hotelier in Ile-Ife. Adegoke was a postgraduate student of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), also in Ile-Ife.

    What happened was that in November 2021, Adegoke travelled from Abuja to Moro, Osun State, to sit for an examination at OAU’s Distance Learning Centre. He lodged in Adedoyin’s Hilton Honours Hotel in the town to prepare for his examination, only to be declared missing two days later when his wife could no longer reach him on phone. The family and the police then began the search for clues. Arrests were made, including some of Adedoyin’s workers in the hotel. Eventually, they found clues linking the victim’s murder to the hotel. To cut a long story short, Adedoyin was arraigned for murder alongside some of his hotel workers. Two of the workers — Adeniyi Aderogba and Oyetunde Kazeem  and himself — were eventually sentenced to death by hanging by the Osun State High Court in 2023, after being found guilty of the 2021 murder. 

    Justice Adepele Ojo, the Chief Judge of Osun State, who gave the judgment, held that the circumstantial evidence presented to the court pointed to the killing of Adegoke while being a guest at the hotel owned by Adedoyin. The judge dismissed Adedoyin’s alibi that he was not within the hotel when the late Adegoke lodged there, as if physical presence was a prerequisite for committing a crime.

    Apart from sentencing the trio to death, she also ordered the forfeiture of the hotel and the Hilux van used to transport the body of the victim after killing him. Not only that, she ordered that the victim’s children be put on scholarship by the convict.

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    Like all criminals, Adedoyin attempted to avoid paying for his sin. He went on appeal and it is gratifying that the Court of Appeal finally disposed of the matter on January 23. The sweet music is that the appellate court affirmed the lower court’s main decision that Adedoyin and his accomplices killed Adegoke and they too must die. But the court quashed the order that the hotel be forfeited, and that asking the convict to take responsibility for the education of the victim’s children.  “The order of forfeiture of Hilton Hotel is quashed and set aside. The order of education scholarship to children of Timothy Adegoke by Adedoyin and others quashed and set aside,” Justice Oyebisi Omoleye, who read the lead judgment, said.

    Although nothing can be done now to bring back Adegoke from the grave, the least the society owes his soul is to get justice for him by making his killers get their comeuppance, which is what the courts have justifiably served.

    Adedoyin’s sentencing is a welcome relief because we do not know how many such killer hotels exist in the country. Others who operate such death traps in the name of hotel should be made to know that they may not be lucky all of the time, since, as they say, “every day for the thief, one day for the owner”. We do not know how many innocent lodgers’ blood Adedoyin had shed before Nemesis eventually caught up with him.

    It is particularly gratifying because many Nigerians had thought he would have been able to use his influence in the society to pervert the course of justice. He failed at the court of first instance that tried the case. To the satisfaction of many Nigerians, the Court of Appeal affirmed his death sentence, even though it rejected some aspects of the lower court’s judgment. But what Nigerians are interested in most was what the appellate court affirmed, to wit: that Adedoyin must die by hanging. This is not only true in law; it is what the scripture also says: the wages of sin is death. Someone who took another person’s life for no just cause does not deserve to keep his.

    But there are lessons to learn from the gruesome murder of this young man. One, appearance or ownership could be deceptive, especially when checking into a hotel. Given the public perception of the murderer in this case, at least before his real character was revealed, who could have thought such a highly respected Nigerian could be involved in such heinous crime that bothered on rituals? Those who don’t believe in ritual killing would have to provide another reason why such a crime should have been contemplated not to talk of actual commission of the murder by an otherwise eminent Nigerian. Why would such a seemingly cosmopolitan and educated man be involved in the kind of gruesome killing if not for money or influence? Did he want to eat the victim’s body?

    Mind you, Adedoyin is not just a business man; he also owns a private university, Oduduwa University as well as The Polytechnic, both in Ile-Ife. This was a man who claimed in an interview with a national daily that the Late Oba Okunade Sijuwade, the immediate past Ooni of Ife, had nominated him as Ooni before his death, due to his ‘’developmental strides, particularly in the cradle of Yoruba land’’.

    If this is true, then we can only imagine what could have happened to the revered institution of the Ooni if a flawed character like Adedoyin ever mounted that throne. But thank God he never did and never can, at least not with his present baggage.  Adedoyin’s story confirms the Yoruba saying that whoever does not know the source of his peer’s wealth would run to his death in his quest for wealth (eniti o mo bi egbe oun se la, onitoun a sare ku).

    Be that as it may, we must realise that it is possible to get to the root of the murder because Adegoke made the appropriate contacts to let those who should know his whereabouts know. This is a mistake many people make. Many people behave like fowls when they go out. They just wander from one place to another without telling anyone their itinerary. They think letting one or two people know their movements belonged in the past or takes something away from them. Many people with such attitude have disappeared without trace.

    I know Adedoyin would still want to try his luck at the Supreme Court. I wonder why people who see nothing wrong in snuffing life out of others unjustly want to protect theirs at all cost. Even after the apex court would have affirmed the death sentence, he would still ponder the possibility of appealing to God, even with his soiled hands.

    But, let Adedoyin hear this: no matter the number of times one throws up a coin, it would always land on its side. No matter how hard he tries, he cannot escape this one. The blood that he spilled is too strong for him to escape justice. That was clear from the very beginning. And that was why all the buttons he pressed did not work. He should brace up for life in prison. Mercifully, governors no longer sign execution warrants in Nigeria. So, unless something changes that, he can only expect to spend the rest of his life in jail. Better still, he may look forward to freedom if one shameless politician decides to pardon him. But even then, things can no longer be the same with him or his brand again.

  • It is possible!

    It is possible!

    After wrestling with powers and principalities, Tinubu’s government makes Port Harcourt Refinery hum again

    Although the resumption of crude oil production at the rehabilitated complex of the old Port Harcourt Refinery on November 26, after several unmet deadlines and a long period of rehabilitation has not led to an automatic reduction of the price of petroleum products as expected by many Nigerians, it is still significant. This is the first time that the refinery would be producing in about five years. Second, it returned to operations after about seven failed deadlines, a thing that made many Nigerians to give up on the possibility of it ever working again. Third, it has started exporting, with its first cargo of low sulfur straight run fuel oil (LSSR) to Dubai-based Gulf Transport & Trading Limited (GTT). Praise God!

    Currently operating at 70 per cent of its 60,000 barrels per day installed capacity, the refinery has been revamped and upgraded with modern equipment. It released about one million litres of refined products on November 26.

    The Chief Corporate Communications Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Femi Soneye, said on the historic occasion: “Today marks a monumental achievement for Nigeria as the Port Harcourt Refinery officially commences crude oil processing. This groundbreaking milestone signifies a new era of energy independence and economic growth for our nation.

    “Hearty congratulations to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the NNPC Board, and the exceptional leadership of GCEO Mele Kyari for their unwavering commitment to this transformative project. Together, we are reshaping Nigeria’s energy future.”

    NNPCL appears not done with the refurbishment of the refineries as he indicated that the bigger refinery in the Eleme complex that houses the plants, with a 150,000-capacity, had yet to be completed. This, as well as the Warri and Kaduna refineries, would come on stream later.

    “We will deliver all the other projects. We are not going to give a timeline as he has directed,” the GCEO said while appreciating President Bola Tinubu for his support.

    No matter how we look at it, the resumption of operations at the refinery is a major achievement for the Bola Tinubu administration. Indeed, it is something that should have been celebrated because, if anything qualifies for being called a feat, Port Harcourt Refinery’s coming back on stream is it! Few people believed something good could ever again have come out from the ‘Nazareth’ that our local refineries have become. That was why, despite the fact that officials of the NNPCL conducted stakeholders around the facility where they took samples of the products   – petrol, diesel, and kerosene – many people still felt the story was too big to be true. This was even as some stakeholders, including marketers and the regulators also witnessed the loading of about 200 trucks at the gantry. But, can you blame them? Not really.

    For one, trust in governments has continued to dwindle over the decades. Two, NNPCL, the main celebrator of the feat, as owner of the refinery, is not particularly popular among Nigerians due to the opacity of its operations and the number of times it had deceived them in the past. Several times in the past it had told them there was fuel in abundance in its depots when there were fuel queues all over the place. I have always said if NNPCL said ”good morning”, I would have to check through the window to be sure it is not good night! It is as bad as that.

    It was the same problem of the NNPCL’s limitless capacity to amend the truth that stopped this piece from coming out last week; it had to be replaced with a hurriedly written piece that I was actually preparing for this week. Remember the news from the blues that the refinery had suddenly stopped producing crude, a few days after it resumed production? I didn’t want to be among those celebrating a fluke; so I decided to stay action on the piece. Mercifully, today, we do not need all the angels in heaven swearing that the refinery is working before we can believe. The lesson for the company is that it should review its PR strategy and learn to call a spade a spade and not to call dog monkey for Nigerians, because they can see; they can feel. Moreover, the NNPCL has to work on its secretiveness of operations and be more transparent.

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    It is instructive that both the government and NNPCL decided to take Nigerians by surprise on the November 26 resumption date, apparently to prevent saboteurs from throwing spanners in the works, rubbishing the achievement in the process. The saboteurs have been persistently figured as being behind the failed promises to make the refinery work in the last one year or so. Otherwise, nothing stopped the government from rolling out the drums in celebration. As they say, but for the fowl, the cockroach would like to dance and even shake its waist (o wu ayan ko jo ajoredi, adiye ni o je)!

    And, talking about saboteurs, Nigeria has a lot to contend with, especially in the critical sectors of our economy – energy, power, etc. They include subsidy thieves in the energy sector. These are even worse than the biblical powers and principalities. The House of Representatives took what we had thought was a courageous move to unveil those behind the humongous fuel subsidy racket early in 2012 when the government set up the Farouk Lawan Fuel Subsidy Committee. The committee looked into the subsidy regime from 2009 to 2011. It so decided because that was the period the number of companies involved in fuel importation (and by extension subsidy payments) grew exponentially. So was the amount claimed as subsidy. That committee submitted a report showing that certain companies involved in alleged fraudulent infractions to the tune of N1, 067,040,456,171.31 should return the sum to the treasury. Apart from companies, individuals and government officials said to have fraudulently enriched themselves at the public expense were to be sanctioned as appropriate, including prosecution where necessary.

    Unfortunately, that committee’s job would appear tainted by Lawan’s acceptance of $500,000 bribe from businessman Femi Otedola, Chairman of Zenon Petroleum and Gas Ltd. He was subsequently convicted in 2021 and completed his jail term only in October.

    This was followed later in the year by the Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede Presidential Committee set up on the 2011 fuel subsidy scheme by the Goodluck Jonathan administration. The committee indicted 21 oil marketers for fraudulently collecting N382 billion in 2011, in subsidy payments for fuel that was never delivered. We have not heard much about these committees or their reports again.

    Nigerians have therefore been calling for a probe of the subsidy scam ever since. This has to be revisited because millions of Nigerians cannot be suffering hardship for nothing. Those who stole subsidy funds should be made to cough them up. Of course these people could not have wished our local refineries well because that would signal an end to their ungodly honeymoon.

    What of the workers in the refinery? Apparently some, if not many of them, cannot be happy too that the refinery is now working. Nigeria has four refineries, in Warri, Kaduna and two in Port Harcourt. Unfortunately, none functioned for years until this latest development at Port Harcourt Refinery. Yet, the workers were getting paid. Not only that, their budget was increasing annually. Meaning people were probably being promoted, being sent on courses abroad, etc., for doing nothing! I won’t be surprised if some of them have not even ‘Japa’ while still collecting salaries and other emoluments. This is akin to what the Yoruba people refer to as ‘oga ta, oga o ta, owo alaaru a pe’ (the truck pusher will always get his money in full; whether the owner of the good he carries sells or not). I had thought that kind of concept belonged in the past. I don’t know how many other crude oil producers operate based on such template. BUSINESSDAY described the situation thus: “This development (return of operations at the refinery) is coming after several years of maintenance that leaves the refineries poorer than they were and their managers richer than they should have been.”

    The resumption of activities at the refinery would free Nigeria from the shackles of fuel importation and the attendant humongous foreign exchange that the country spends importing the products, thereby helping to sustain the jobs of crude oil producers in other countries at the expense of ours. It would also stop the humongous subsidy fraud.

    It is clear that the Tinubu administration must have fought with the Devil and sin, to be able to break the jinx about Port Harcourt Refinery. This was a thing many of the past governments could not do. As a matter of fact, former President Olusegun Obasanjo said he discussed the possibility of running the refineries for us with Shell Oil Development Company; they turned the offer down, citing corruption in the oil sector and government ownership, among other factors.

    After meeting the brick wall with Shell, the former President said:  ”I had virtually given up hope on the refineries when God did a miracle. Aliko Dangote and Femi Otedola approached me and said they would be interested in buying two of the four refineries. They said they would buy 51 percent stake in Port Harcourt and Kaduna. I was over the moon. I said, finally, this burden would be taken off the neck of the government. They offered $761 million and paid in two installments. Unfortunately, Umaru (President Yar’Adua) cancelled the sale and returned the refineries to NNPC. Today, we are still where we were. Someone told me Tinubu said refineries would work by December (last year). I told the person the refineries would not work. This is based on the information I received from Shell when I was the president.” Thank God, Tinubu has changed the narrative.

    Nigerians may not be as excited as they should be about the return of the refinery because it has not led to reduction in fuel prices. Meaning it cannot have any direct impact on food prices or transport fares. As a matter of fact, nothing matters to them now more than the high cost of food items. This is natural. But there is hope of a better life now that the refinery is working.

    It is gratifying that what many have written off as impossibility has become possible. Rubbing it on the faces of such people, who are not men of straw in the country, and those whose lives had been dependent on fuel importation (and would therefore want the refinery never to work) could provoke suicide or vengeance on their part, with unimaginable consequences that may end up spoiling the government’s, and, by extension, our collective joy.

    We have also been assured that it is a matter of time for the other refineries too to start working. Now that we have seen NNPCL do it with Port Harcourt Refinery, maybe we can begin to have some confidence in the company. This should be strengthened by the fact that the refinery has resumed exportation of one of its products, a thing that should translate into some foreign exchange for the country. This would, ultimately, be part of the songs we would sing and the dance we would dance when the naira begins to bounce back.

  • This North, ‘sef’

    This North, ‘sef’

    But for the fact that I don’t give awards to people, I would have decorated Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State and his Niger State counterpart, Umar Bago, with garlands, over their words and deeds at the tail end of last month.

     Most northern leaders have been behaving as if they expect other Nigerians to carry their (North’s) load on their heads while holding theirs (other Nigerians) in the hand. That has been the dominant mentality in the north, but it is unsustainable. It is like the ‘ranka dede’ system upon which the north has been based. It is because it could not have lasted forever that we have banditry and terrorism almost all over the north today.

    I remember several years ago when I was at ‘The Punch’, we were always saying that this feudal system would blow over our faces someday. How can some people think that a system whereby some people would be eating sumptuous meals in mansions with all modern gadgets while others stay locked outside the gate doing ‘ranka dede’ and waiting for the crumbs from the tables of the super rich, would last forever? How? When they are not blind. They see all the affluence in the midst of poverty. Certainly, a time would come when those people would start asking questions as to whether some people have two heads for things to be so skewed against the poor and vulnerable.

    That future is here.

    There is no part of the country without its peculiar kinds of bad boys and girls. We have ‘area boys’ in Lagos and other parts of the south west; their variants exist in the South East and South south in varying degrees, with some masquerading as freedom fighters. We have castle rustlers, bandits, terrorists in the north. Of course we have other kinds of criminals including cultists, kidnappers, ritual killers, Yahoo Yahoo boys and girls, Yahoo Plus, armed robbers, pick pockets, etc. all over. But nothing near the kind of evil going on in the north.

    Nigeria has 18.3 million out-of-school (OOS) children. At 15 per cent, it is the highest in the world. Of the current 18.3 million, the north takes a chunk of over 15 million.

    The religious/cultural factor is the worst of the factors that have sustained the problematic ‘ancien regime’ that has been used to exploit the average northerner. People who are not profitably engaged would always find alternative jobs from the devil.

    And, as if what is already on ground is not bad enough, we now have terrorism becoming a booming enterprise. Just at a time we were feeling that Boko Haram was dying, another terror group that calls itself Lakurawa or Lukarawa sprang up. So, we have terrorism mutating. At Nigerians’ expense. Yet, they did not cause the problem that led to this huge numbers of OOS children that have now become thorns in the flesh of everybody. The northern elite has been encouraging the ‘talakawa’ to go into the fattening rooms to produce babies without a thought for how their needs, including their education, would be met.

    Meanwhile, the north collects huge sums from the national purse ostensibly to take care of its huge population but the political elite and, to some extent, their religious counterparts, pocketed substantial parts of this money which they spend on the education of their own children in choice schools abroad. Meanwhile, they encourage the children of the ‘talakawa’ to go to ill-equipped Quranic schools where equally ill-motivated instructors teach them God knows what, after which they go to the streets to beg for alms. For want of any meaningful job or vocation, they end up as terrorists.

    Imagine the trillions that we have had to cough up to fight terrorism in the north alone! This is good money that would have gone a long way to better our educational system, improve healthcare, construct and maintain roads, increase power supply as well as provide other social amenities.

    But what, specifically have governors Bago and Sule said or done differently to catch my attention? Good question.

    I have always said that there is no part of the country that is not blessed. When we say the north is educationally disadvantaged, I do ‘t know when that and the unjust privileges that go with it would end. The north has been perpetually disadvantaged since I was a child. It is still so now that I am getting old. What’s ‘gwan’? We always give this impression of a dry and barren North. It is not true. The northern leaders either  want to continue to exploit the rest of the country or they simply refused to put on their thinking caps when they make such statements because free money is available for all to spend.

    Not long ago, Governor Bago said when he took over last year: “The State IGR was hovering between N500 million and N700 million but, right now, we are hitting almost N10 billion.”

    Of course, the next question is “where did you get that from”? His answer: “Just by blocking the loopholes. We have migrated a lot of collection system, reporting system. And, there is transparency in our application. We have seen loopholes; even people who generate and consume, now; don’t generate and consume. They report through the system. It is just responsible governance that we have brought into practice. Secondly, with the agriculture initiatives, we are making money.”

    I read Bago’s interview in a national daily and I must confess he mesmerised me. I don’t know him from Adam but I can tell you the sky is the limit for his political career if he can walk his talk in that interview, at least, substantially. He is a man of ideas. He has clarity of expression and he seems sufficiently informed about where he wants his state to be in a few years of his tenure.

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    Then Sule who is also the chair of North Central Governors Forum. Hear him: “Just like it is a sin to continue to marry wives you cannot take care of; it is also a sin to continue producing children that you cannot take care of.”

    Sule continues: “Why is it that it is only here? I just got back from Saudi Arabia. I didn’t see many almajiri in Makkah, Madina, Jedda, or anywhere else. They are an Islamic nation. Yes. You mentioned that in Pakistan, they have out-of-school children, but their situation is entirely different. Why should Northern Nigeria continue to hold the entire nation at ransom when we know that it is our problem and we have to go out there and find a way to solve it?

    Many of the northern elites and remnants of the oligarchy there would not be happy about these frank statements from the two governors. But their positions are the future that we are going. If the oligarchy is sad; I can understand. Nobody is happy to lose freebies. But the kind of honeymoon they have been having with public funds must come to an end someday. The owners of the money must be allowed to partake reasonably from the common wealth.

    Yoruba people have a proverb that a child that is not trained (educated) will end up selling the house that those who were trained built (omo ta o ko lo ma gbe ile ti a ko ta).

    Many northern leaders have abandoned their towns because of the problems now being caused by those children they played yo-yo with the money they should have spent to educate them. Those children have permanently ensured that those who refused to train them too cannot rest or sleep with their two eyes closed. So, it is now a situation of the bird that perches on a tree; neither the bird nor the tree can rest.

    On a rather sarcastic note, these politicians who can no longer go to their towns come down south, particularly Lagos to add to the infrastructural pull and catch fun. Yet, when it is time to talk about raising what comes to Lagos from the Federation Account, they shoot it down.

    But that is by the way.

    I agree with northern leaders who always brag that the north can stand on its own. They are very correct. As a matter of fact, that is what Gov. Bago has proved with the miracle of his IGR. The only difference between Bago and those braggarts is that while they believe the north can stand alone, they are very quick to see every move to make them demonstrate that as an attempt to take crutches away from them.

    That is why I am disagreeing with Gov. Zulum when he said that he won’t be able to pay salaries if President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s tax reform bills scale through in the National Assembly. For me, this is not good enough. The whole essence of the reform is, first, to obey the first cardinal rule of taxation which is to return a chunk of the tax revenue to where it is generated. To bring in more people into the tax net as well as check multiple taxation, among others.

    Zulum, I must confess, is one of the governors I admire. I love the passionate ways he has been handling the various challenges besetting his state. His passion for education as exemplified in his construction works, especially school buildings that he is modernising, etc. A long time ago, I dedicated this column to him, in acknowledgement of his good works.

     I could not but marvel when he waded through knee-deep floods that swept through the state capital in September. Many of his colleagues would simply stay at what they consider a safe distance and point at any object of interest.

    I know the Zamfara State governor has a peculiar challenge given the havoc wreaked in the state by Boko Haram and other bandits and terrorists. But if the governor looks well to the ground, he would always find a redeeming feature that could translate to money for the state.

    It is high time northern state governments began to do more of looking inward rather than relying on money from the Niger Delta. This is not about Zulum alone. It was the same mentality that made some south west governors to refer to their states as ‘civil servants,’ states, whatever that means.

    Just as babies are bundles of joy, human resource is about the most-priced  of all resources. It is the one that gives them meaning, galvanise them and put them to productive use. The North has a surfeit of it. It should flaunt it. If it cannot do that in its raw form as it were now, it should work towards making it productive rather than keep asking other parts of the country to wait for it.

  • Olukoyede’s mistake

    Olukoyede’s mistake

    The EFCC boss goofed by thinking Nigerians would shed tears over his disclosure on the national grid

    Last week, the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr Ola Olukoyede, threw two bombshells that should really keep us thinking as a nation. One, he said one of the reasons we have been having frequent grid collapses is because contractors supplying equipment and materials for the maintenance of the grid have largely been supplying poor and substandard ones.

    Two, that in the last 15 to 20 years, we have not achieved up to 20 per cent of our capital project implementation and execution.

    Olukoyede told members of the House of Representatives Committee on Anti-Corruption and Financial Crimes, who visited him at the headquarters of the commission in Abuja, last week, that Nigerians would weep if they know the extent of the rot that is throwing them into perpetual darkness.

    Let’s hear from the horse’s mouth: “As I am talking to you now, we are grappling with electricity. If you see some of the investigation we are carrying out within the power sector, you will shed tears”.

    Olukoyede added: “people who were awarded contracts to supply electricity equipment, instead of using what they call 9.0 gauge, they will go and buy 5.0. So every time you see the thing tripping off, the thing gets burnt, and all of that. It falters, and it collapses. It’s part of our problems”, Olukoyede said.

    That is for the power sector.

    Then the second bombshell: “We discovered that in the last 15 to 20 years, we have not done up to 20% of our capital project implementation and execution. And if we don’t do that, how do you want to have infrastructural development.

    “How do you want to grow as a nation…”? “So, our mandate this year is to work with that directorate (Problem Risk Assessment and Control) and with the National Assembly to see if we can meet up to 50% of our execution of our capital project for the year.

    “If we do 50%, we will be fine as a nation. Lack of implementation of this capital project is one of our major problems in Nigeria. And if we are able to tackle that effectively, we will make progress as a nation.”

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    I need somebody to help me here because the governments in power during the period were not giving us this ridiculously low performance figures. Although Olukoyede did not mention the specific time frame he was talking about, I doubt if any of the governments that could have fallen into the 15-20 years bracket ever said that was their best. Even then, we were saying the higher percentages they claimed were too low for a country that is thirsty for development. But we still celebrated the 50 or so percent average whenever any of them said they attained such.

    So, how come we are now hearing that we did not achieve up to 20 per cent in a stretch of 15-20 years? Were we conned by those administrations? Or is it Olukoyede that is not getting his facts right?

    The matter becomes particularly pathetic when we remember that some of these years in question were years of the locust when ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) in the federal public service would make sure they exhaust their budget for every year so they could get more money the following year. What they did toward the end of the year was to award emergency contracts for all imaginary items that they actually had no need of. The idea was just to make sure they returned zero balance. So, what happened to the balance of their budgets if the country in the last 15 or so years did not achieve 20 per cent of capital projects? At least the released sums?

    The EFCC boss’s disclosure that the commission has established a directorate of Problem Risk Assessment and Control that is working with the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation to look at releases against implementation of projects should have been a welcome one but for the fact that it is doubtful if the commission has the capacity for such extended responsibility.

    The truth is; in a seriously corrupt nation like ours, the EFCC has a lot on its sleeves to begin to add other responsibilities to its original mandate. Even concerning its core mandate, it is doubtful if the commission is adequately staffed or equipped.

    But, that is the problem with Nigeria. When an agency is not working, we simply shift its responsibility to others that are doing fairly well. Didn’t we have people who were supposed to certify the power sector materials and equipment as having been supplied to specification? Did we not have agencies that were supposed to monitor capital projects such that if we did not execute up to 20 per cent of them, the funds for the remaining 80 per cent (or whatever amount had been released in anticipation of a greater percentage of execution) was returned to government’s coffers? So, what is their role in all of these?

    One can only hope that this additional responsibility would not constitute an unnecessary distraction that would end up making the EFCC a jack of all trades, master of none; a thing which would not augur well for the anti-corruption war.

    As for the power sector, I want to believe that not many Nigerians would have been stunned by Olukoyede’s disclosure. After all, the power sector we have always known. Many Nigerians have had to suffer one way or the other from many of the corrupt officials in the sector, right from when it was still a government baby and, worse still, now that the sector has largely been privatised.

    Before the introduction of prepaid meters, many of the workers of the then National Electric Power Authority (NEPA), and the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) who then carried ladders about, either to connect or disconnect electricity customers, were usually bribed by some customers who either did not have the money to pay or just did not think they should pay. Such customers would thereafter continue to enjoy power supply without paying a dime. Of course, someone must pay for every such bribe taken.

    That must be one of the reasons why the electricity distribution companies (DisCos) preferred giving estimated bills to customers instead of giving them prepaid meters, apart from the companies’ insatiable appetite to reap where they did not sow. Today, the issue of estimated billing remains contentious despite successive administrations’ resolve to abolish it, even years after the sector was privatised.

    Until now, we have always thought that the main reason we have been having persistent grid collapse is because the equipment are largely obsolete and weak and are therefore too fragile to carry the kind of load that they are now putting on it. Of course this makes sense. As we were taught in ‘O’ Level Economics, continual application of a factor of production to a fixed factor would, after some time begin to yield less than proportionate returns. If you keep adding load to a grid that has not been expanded for decades, the grid would keep rejecting such load at a point. Since this is logical, not many of us avert our minds to the kind of corruption that Olukoyede talked about concerning the grid. And even if we did, we never made it a perpetual point of reference as we do the factor of obsolete and weak equipment.

     Add this to the fact that one national grid is inadequate to serve a country of over 200 million people and you think you have good enough reasons why we could tolerate the 10 grid collapses we have had this year alone. Indeed, the ‘Nigerian wonder’ would be that the collapse is not higher, given this ‘latest’ revelation that poor and substandard equipment have been supplying the oxygen that is keeping the grid alive.

    Only last week on this page, I told Africans and other migrants in the United States who are sad that Donald Trump won the presidential election not to weep for America but they should weep for their own countries. Disclosures such as the ones made by the EFCC boss are enough to make us shed tears, as he said; but we seem immune to shock. Nothing worries us as a people, especially about our own country. Many Nigerians who are out of the country would probably have remained at home if only there is reliable power supply because power is pivotal to everything we do. If we get the power sector right, plants would hum at full capacity. Many artisans would be gainfully engaged; our hospitals would run more efficiently, and so on.

    But, how can we have light in a situation where contractors who supply electrical cables and other equipment for the power sector supply poor and substandard ones? It is these same people who would be telling us sweet tales about how constant power supply is in the United States and other places. Is that the way their counterparts who render the same services to the American power companies behave to their country?

    Unfortunately, we seem not perturbed as a people to insist that things must change in our own country. Most of us are like frogs that are looking for a cool place to live. We are looking for ‘Olorunsogo’ (places made by some other people even if with the help of God) as if the ‘Olorunsogo’ was made great by some benevolent spirits. Even though many of us won’t mind to live in Surulere (here in Lagos), meaning patience has its reward, we are not ready to be patient to give whatever it would take, to take the phrase ‘move the country forward’ from the lips of pretentious politicians and put meaning into it.

    How can Nigerians who did not shed tears when, sometimes in July 2018, the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), told us that it had recovered more than 693 containers of power equipment abandoned at ports due to tariff, now shed tears because of the grid? Six hundred and ninety-three CONTAINERS, with some of them stranded at the ports for about 15 years!

    So, if Olukoyede expects anyone to be moved to tears by what he said, he would have to wait for Godot. As far as many, if not most Nigerians are concerned, they have since moved on, waiting for the next bombshell from heaven or the pit of hell. Nothing shocks us again as a people. And that is why we are where we are today.

    I hate the expression: ‘where we find ourselves’ because we brought ourselves here by our complacency; we didn’t just find ourselves here. This we all know. So, why pretend?

  • Weep not for America

    Weep not for America

    Unlike many Nigerians, I was not in any way excited about the just-concluded presidential election in the United States of America, right from the beginning. I knew that many of us in this part of the world anticipated a Camara Harris victory. I also knew that many of us would weep louder than the bereaved if Donald Trump eventually triumphed. In our minds’ eyes, including many of the pollsters in America, Trump could never have won. I don’t blame such people, after all, it is said that people see what they want to see.

    Now that the election has been won and lost, many of us are not happy with the result. I can understand if Americans are sad. But what is our own, such that we have to now remind the Americans and the world what they know: that Trump is an ex-convict? How can an ex-convict be the world’s Number One Citizen? Story!

    Democracy is about numbers. In terms of both the popular votes and the Electoral College, Trump, the Republican Party candidate, clearly trumped our favourite Harris of the Democratic Party. With 74,333,299 popular votes (50.7 per cent), he defeated Harris who had 69,857,510 (47.7 per cent). And, in terms of the Electoral College, Trump had 295, 25 more than the required 270, while Harris had 226. This was clear shellacking.

    So, come January 20, 2025, Trump would be sworn in as the 47th president of God’s own country, barring unforeseen circumstances.  He would be the first former president to return to office in more than 130 years, and, at 78, the oldest person ever so elected to the office.

    Let me state that I have never admired Trump until now that he has won and outsiders are complaining more than the Americans. If that is the choice of America, what is their own? Those who have the locus to determine their leader have spoken; let us respect rather than query their choice.

    After all, when we hold our own elections here, flawed as they usually are, and Americans tell us they are flawed, we tell them to mind their business. Why should their election give us sleepless nights? Why do we find it uncomfortable to live with the result of their polls simply because we don’t like the man, Donald Trump?

    Many of us don’t like Trump because he called blacks people from ‘shithole’ countries. Please, tell me, which of our attitudes present us differently? When I was a child, Nigerians merely went abroad, notably to the United Kingdom, to study or for vacation. They never went there with the intention of staying put.

    Then, we had good schools, good hospitals such that a Saudi Prince once came for treatment at our then prestigious University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan. Now, no water. No light. No road. Nothing that can make life comfortable. And, we think the solution is in running away to other countries that were transformed by people who made all the sacrifices that make their countries better today.

    Many Africans and blacks generally are ready to take any risk to travel to America, even if to go and be washing plates or corpses there. Many have died on the Mediterranean Sea and still counting, in their desperate bid to get out of their countries. As a matter of fact, people go to church for special prayer to facilitate their travelling abroad to live. So, if their countries are not what Trump said they are; why such desperation to ‘chicken out’ or ‘Japa’, as we now call it in Nigeria? Even our leaders prefer going abroad for medical treatment, to gifting us good hospitals. Our doctors are leaving in droves, yet no one seems to care.

    We are angry with Trump instead of with ourselves. A Yoruba proverb says ‘eniyan buburu mo; eni to maa so fun lo nwa’ (a bad person knows; he is only waiting for the person to tell him so). Do we need anyone to tell us that our continent is ‘shithole’? If our continent is not ‘shithole’, why are we leaving it for what we ourselves call ‘greener pastures’? Is it because God has not designed us for good life comparable to any elsewhere?

    And why do we have to be so hypocritical about some of these things? Those who are wondering what Trump forgot in the White House that he wants to return to take should ask the question again now. The fear of our people in America is so palpable that pastors have had to treat many of their prayer requests to escape Trump clampdown specially.

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    That is for the churches that are saying their own publicly. I want to believe that market would be booming for the Moslem clerics and ‘Babalawos’ too this time around. ‘Ki lo de’? Because one country held election and elected the candidate of their choice! Why should Nigerians catch cold simply because a Trump MIGHT sneeze? Are you not confirming his statement that you are from ‘shithole’ by so doing?

    Again, why should we be angry that the Americans want to take charge of their country? Even here in Nigeria, how much space are the Igbos yielding to other tribes in the southeast? At every election cycle, the Yorubas in the southwest generally, and Lagos in particular, are apprehensive of Igbo ‘takeover’ of Lagos. Both tribes take whatever they consider as reasonable measures to protect their heritage from falling into the hands of the other tribe.

    If both the Igbo and Yoruba are these passionate about their heritage, why would anyone complain that majority of American voters have voted for a man with an agenda that is dear to their hearts? Mind you, some 23.8 million of migrants (about 10 per cent of the U.S. electorate) have naturalised, meaning they can vote, according to the Pew Research Center. At the rate even Nigerians are leaving their country in droves, the figures can only become more frightening if the brakes are not applied, with the possibility that it is only a matter of time for America itself to be like some of those countries whose citizens are now seeking refuge in the U.S. (If you like, keep luxuriating in the belief that America (like Lagos?) is ‘no man’s land’). The owners of America have taken over their country.

    We need someone to let us know the limits of some of our actions or inactions. Sometime ago, some Nigerians in Canada protested because they were sleeping in the cold outside. Are their compatriots not sleeping under bridges and in other open spaces right here at home? If there is no longer space for you in a foreign land, do you now have to protest as if it is their responsibility to provide for you, whatever happens? Yes, you may say they have some rights under international law. Fine. Then let your country apply the principle of reciprocity. Simple. At any rate, didn’t Nigerians send Ghanaians away when economic crunch came, and vice versa? Isn’t there xenophobia in South Africa? So, how come we want to insist that governments of far away countries provide for us what we cannot insist our home government should make available?

    Some years ago, a colleague of mine and I went to interview one of the governors in the south-south. We were stunned when the governor said he only gave ‘okada’ riders in the state a short notice, with January 1 of the following year as deadline, to leave the state capital. The governor said on that day, he drove himself round the state capital and, lo and behold, there was no single ‘okada’. He said he could not believe his eyes and decided to repeat the inspection the next day; thinking may be the ‘okada’ riders were off the roads because they were in New Year mood. The second day, nothing. Third day, nothing. That was the end of ‘okada’ in that era.

    Guess what? None of the ‘okada’ riders protested. All they did was put their motorcycles in the next bus coming to Lagos. It was in Lagos that they raised hell simply because the state government banned them from plying certain routes, even though they were free to ply others. So, why are we like this?

    May be it is the Trumps of this world that are the divine instruments to wean us off our lethargy about where God designed us to be. When Trump tightens the noose, Britain stops people from bringing their entire families to the United Kingdom just because one member of the family is there as a student, etc., then, we would be compelled to know how to demand and insist on good governance at home instead of how to ‘Japa’.

    The way some of our pastors even celebrate this exodus is the most annoying. They do it in a way that would make one think that God made a mistake in making us Nigerians. Instead of praying for God to do whatever it would cost Him to make Nigeria great again; they do it in a way that makes it look like God has given up on Nigeria. 

    A man emerged victorious in an election in which he defeated his challenger by over four million votes; an election which by many standards was free and fair; one in which there was no snatching of ballot-boxes, one devoid of violence, one in which no election official was accused of altering election results despite the fact that the polls took days to conclude, and some people are still complaining about the outcome!

    Even if Trump ends up failing, that should be the business of the Americans; let them stew in their own juice. After all, how many times have we made wrong choice at the polls ourselves? Heavens have not fallen. As a matter of fact, some of our failed leaders have had several attempts to re-sit and repeat; but they kept failing. That is why many of our people found themselves abroad. So, why should it be news that Trump failed if he did?

    At any rate, when a man survives four known assassination attempts on his way to a particular goal, as Trump did, (two during the recent presidential campaign), you need to watch such a man. Chances of getting to his destination are high. If the bullet of the July 13 attempt that hit his right ear had happened to Harris, those of us in this part of the world would still have been condemning Trump for it, with or without proof. Well, that may be because of his past record of violence, though. But because it happened to Trump, we have since moved on.

    All said, it would be wishful thinking that most of these countries would perpetually keep their gates open to whosoever it may concern. It is only a matter of time for a wealthy man in the midst of six wretched-of-the-earth to chair the league of the poverty-stricken (olowo kan laarin otosi mefa; oun ni alaga won).

    Americans have made their choice. Let no non-American weep for America over Trump’s victory. Let them weep for their home countries instead.

  • Let Ikwechegh breathe

    Let Ikwechegh breathe

    Nigerians must accord people like him their due respect

    Something must be wrong with us as a nation. I don’t know why we cannot give honour to whom honour is due. What is it that Honourable Alex Ikwechegh, a member of the House of Representatives representing Aba North and South, did that no one has not done before? He assaulted an Uber driver who came to deliver a parcel in his house, and did not know the kind of respect such a place deserved. So what? Is that why we have been having storm in a teacup? And some people are making a fuss of that just because the social media has given them a near-free platform.

    Apparently there is so much joblessness in the country, honestly. Otherwise, how could such a minor incident have become an issue to trend on the social media for days?

    I wonder if those who are hammering on the issue ever read Chinua Achebe’s ‘Things fall Apart’. If they did, they would have known what a man that goes to a place and ‘defecates’ on the floor deserves.

    If a driver comes to the mansion of a whole honourable member of the House of Representatives with a parcel for delivery, should he ask the honourable to come get the parcel from him, or he takes it right to as far as the honourable wants him to in the mansion?

    What is getting me angry the more is that, even as the honourable took the pains to explain his status to the driver, the latter remained unperturbed or did not seem to appreciate what it takes to occupy such an exalted position in the country.

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    Yoruba people would say ‘biko to iberu, se ko to isaju’! Somebody help me, I can’t  interpret it. The frog says when it gets to the matter of tail, forget it (opolo ni to ba de ibi iru, ka fo)! What I am trying to say is that when you get to this part of the proverb that I can’t explain, invite someone well grounded in Yoruba language to interpret for you or just read on.

    But I think the driver overstepped his bounds.

    Hear Ikwechegh, “I can make you disappear. Do you know who I am? I can make this man (driver) disappear from the whole of Nigeria, and nothing will happen. Can you imagine this rat? I am not going to give this boy one naira of my money”. Even if a rat hears someone threatening that he would make it disappear, that rat would run first, and complain later. Not to talk of a grown-up man like Stephen Abuwatseya, the Uber driver.

    Even when our honourable made it abundantly clear that he would personally beat up the driver, Abuwatseya still did not get the message; that the person he was dealing with was not only a law maker, he was also something else.

    Hear Ikwechegh again: “I am not going to call my policemen to beat you up. I will do that myself. I will show you that I am a big brother. I will tie you up, lie you down and put you in my generator house. Do you know where you are? Because you saw me sitting outside here? Look at this monkey,” he added.

    At this point, should the driver not have realised that it was not a mere mortal that was talking to him? I am not a law maker; yet, I am already getting angry with the driver’s audacity. I can only imagine the embarrassment that our honourable went through seeing this driver exhibit such ‘I don’t care’ attitude in his home.

     Every statement of threat that Ikwechegh uttered was fear-inducing. But not to this audacious driver. Tell me, should any reasonable man not have taken off from the premises without remembering to collect his money hearing such threats?

     Since Abuwatseya had the temerity to overstay his welcome in the honourable’s premises, it was like daring his honourable to do his worst. But a

    magnanimous Ikwechegh didn’t even go that far. A people’s representative could not have done that, despite the provocation. He merely gave him three slaps. Is that not kind of our honourable? If he were to act in line with section 1 subsection 1(a) of the Law of Impunity (as amended) that big people in Nigeria derive their powers from, he would have thrown him into the generator house or simply make some incantations to turn the driver to cat or fowl, preparatory to his eternal disappearance from the surface of the earth without trace. And without question, to boot!

    To even think that it was snails that he brought to the honourable’s place; not loads of Ghana Must Go with fresh naira or dollar notes, consecutive numbers! So, he expected a whole honourable to come and collect snails by himself. Imagine, just imagine!

    By the way, I hope you people now know why snails are expensive. Gone were those days when you would get to pick them anywhere on the ground. When people earning millions per month are now ordering for snails, why won’t the price shoot beyond the reach of the poor? That has already become a ‘no-go’ area for the poor now. But, the poor too are not just resigning to fate; they have switched on to maize which they now eat with relish. If our law makers have used the power of the millions we pay them monthly to take snails away from the common menu, “we”, the other Nigerians too have used our own little power to snatch maize from fowls.

    I don’t know how many people saw the picture of a malnourished fowl that I saw sometime ago, watching with palpable anger as some humans were

    eating roasted corn voraciously. ‘With people like these, there is no way we fowls would not have kwashiokor’, that fowl must have said to itself. If only the fowl could talk.

    The way some people are making a mole out of a mountain on this driver’s matter was the way they raised hell unnecessarily when another member of our esteemed National Assembly, Elisha Abbo, senator of the Federal Republic, representing Adamawa North Senatorial District, gave a nursing mother some dirty slaps in a sex toy shop in the Wuse 2 area of Abuja on May 11, 2019. According to reports, Senator Abbo had gone into the shop with three ladies to buy adult toys. One of them started vomiting in the shop. Trouble started as the owner of the shop told her she should have vomited before coming in. This infuriated the senator and one thing led to the other and he slapped the woman several times. You may be wondering what an Elisha would be doing in a sex toys shop? Elisha?

    But I guess many of those who would have asked such a question then, or asked for Abbo’s head after the slapping-spree did so out of envy. The man was the youngest senator in the country at the time. Indeed, another reason we should be able to swear that he went to the place for first-hand experience to aid his patriotic duty of making laws for the good governance of the country, especially as they pertain to matters as the shop was set up to address. In other words, it was in line with his oversight functions as a law maker. As the youngest senator, he was expectedly inexperienced.

    But Abbo knew his limitations. Unlike Ikwechegh, he realised he had a  diminutive frame and therefore did not threaten to deal with the people he was quarrelling with by himself; he unleashed a policeman who promptly arrested the nursing mother. Ikwechegh, on the other hand, wanted to take advantage of his massive frame to personally deal with the errant driver. That was why he told the driver that he would beat him up himself. What is the point wasting such a natural endowment?

    The point I am making is that, rather than people seeing Abbo’s matter as one of youthful exuberance, they made unnecessary issues out of it.

    I digress.

    What I am saying is that Abuwatseya deserved what he got. As a matter of fact, he deserved more than three slaps considering the condescending manner he treated our honourable. He even had the effrontery to tell him the number of times the honourable slapped him. Ha! Na wa o! This was a man who should be glad that a honourable (looking so fresh in the midst of economic downturn) slapped him with that soft palm, and refuse to bath in the next three days so the freshness of the palm would not disappear too soon from his cheeks.

    Here was a man who should simply have turned the other cheek to the honourable for another dirty slap, counting the number of times the honourable slapped him!

    And, as if the police had anticipated the drama, they swiftly arrested our honourable just because he had boasted that nothing would happen to him, even if the driver reported the matter to the Inspector-General of Police (IGP). Apparently he was not arrested for alleged dehumanisation of the Uber driver but because he disrespected the office of the IGP. But IGP Kayode Egbetokun could have been more tolerant.

    After all, there was an IGP at the time many years ago when popular comedian, Baba Sala, threatened to give a masquerade a slap on the face, give the police a dirty slap on their cheeks and crown it all by stoning the judge (mo le gba egun loju, ma fo olopa leti, ma tun wa so oko lu adajo). Neither the Chief Justice of Nigeria then nor the IGP ordered Baba Sala’s arrest. That is why I said Egbetokun can do with a little more tolerance.

    What is more? The representative has even come down from his high horse to apologise. What else do we want? We think it is easy for people of timber and caliber like Ikwechegh to apologise to the hoi polloi?

    The only mistake he made was that he did not put on the usual well-starched ‘babariga’ that only our law makers can afford these days. May be if he did, Abuwatseya would have recognised him as one of the movers and shakers of the country, and therefore prostrate before handing over his parcel to him.

    That is why he is the main culprit now. He suffered due to his inability to decipher that only a law maker of the Federal Republic could have been talking the way Ikwechegh was talking to him; and that should have made him to comport himself.

    But the police and our people on the social media have decided to miscarry justice by nailing our honourable whose hands are soft; whose eyes seem mean.