The Nation Newspaper

Category: Jide Oluwajuyitan

  • Lessons from life and politics of Adebanjo

    Lessons from life and politics of Adebanjo

    Chief Ayo Adebanjo, progressive politician, elder statesman, patriot, and unarguably, a foremost nationalist regarded by many as voice of reason but no doubt a controversial politician died at 96 last Saturday. Adebanjo, who started as a Zikist in the years Dr Azikiwe ‘elezikify’ Nigerian press before embracing Awoism in 1951 ended as an enthusiast of Peter Obi, an equally gifted master of political intrigue and propaganda, lived a fulfilled life.

    He was one of the last surviving nationalists. Although he might have not won all his battle for a more inclusive, fair, just and equitable Nigeria society, I am sure he will rest well realising he has been succeeded by his some of his equally talented sons including our current president who understands that the Afenifere philosophy is not about Yoruba irredentism but about how Nigeria can fulfil her destiny, by returning to the ‘path to Nigeria Progress’ never taken.

    Awoism with its Afenifere-slogan (wanting the best for others as one wants for self) is an ideology propounded by Awolowo and his colleagues including Pa Adebanjo Chief Anthony Enahoro, Chief Bola Ige Chief Abraham Adesanya Sir Olaniwun Ajayi, Bishop Gbonigi, Reuben Fasoranti, Chief Alfred Rewane, etc. It celebrates public goods which find expression in free education, health, rural development welfarism and prosperity for all. Awoism, also celebrates values of federalism, regional autonomy and self-determination.

    The transformation of Western Region in the First Republic to one of the most educated part of Africa within 10 years was the reason for thinking that foisting it on the rest of the country would transform the nation especially the marginalised and exploited minorities in the north and the east. Sadly, they fought and defended it for over 50 years with only scars of war from Nigerian state to show for their pains.

    With the conspiracy of dominant hegemonic power and dominant Igbo ethnic group during the 1958 independence constitutional debate, the coalition of the two after independence, and the destruction of Action Group and its leaders by the coalition partners shortly after independence, the minorities that saw hope for freedom in Awoism, decided it was in their best interest to find accommodation with their overlords.

    The east and the north were opposed to federalism. The former wanted a unitary system where citizens of their landlocked country would be free to thrive in other people’s land, and the latter, the feudal leaders of the north didn’t want their sense of entitlement to power in Nigeria questioned.

    The collapse of the First Republic and the civil war meant diminishing relevance of Awoism. The outcome of the 1979, 83, 93, and 99 elections saw the minorities massively voting for dominant ethnic groups in their respective geo-political zones. The military backers of the unitarists and confederalists only brought more confrontation between them and Awoist ideologues misrepresented as arrogant Yoruba trying to impose their culture on the rest of the country.

    This misrepresentation was widely promoted by Igbo and their northern hegemonic ruling class counterparts to delegitimize MKO Abiola’s unprecedented  landslide 1993 electoral victory leading to the annulment of the most credible election in the nation’s history, the justification for imposition of the contraption called Interim National  government, and the unilateral imposition of Obasanjo as Yoruba candidate who, without support of his Yoruba base, literarily climbed the palm tree from the top by winning the election.

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     Of course, Obasanjo known for his vindictiveness ensured the Yoruba leading lights of Awoism were humiliated after the 2003 election when all the five governors of AD progressive states were overrun by PDP with exception of Lagos’ Tinubu.

    Although Pa Ayo Adebanjo is on record for thanking Tinubu for liberating Yoruba from Obasanjo, he didn’t still believe Tinubu had done enough to earn the highly coveted position of Yoruba political leader. He therefore didn’t believe even with Tinubu’s achievement, there was a need for a change of strategy. Pa Ayo Adebanjo could not stand being told he was wrong when his children proved they could on their own win vote in Yoruba land after abandoning the carcass of his AD. For him, it only got worse when his children settled for Afenifere Renewal Group.

    Pa Adebanjo forgot he was dealing with a highly discriminatory voters who Awo, the sage said would not vote for you because you are Yoruba if you have no agenda that will impact positively on his life.  In 2015, he crossed the red line no Yoruba leader had ever done by decreeing Yoruba must not vote for Buhari but Atiku. His directive was of course ignored.

     Although he correctly predicted that Buhari would betray Tinubu, but he underestimated Tinubu’s capacity for political intrigue that often put his political opponents in disarray, ahead of his political foes.  Baba moved from blunder to blunder advising Yoruba who could make an informed choice between Obi candidacy with his uninspiring legacy in Anambra, his prostituting with PDP from where he crossed over to Labour Party to harvest undeserved 94-to 95% of Igbo votes and Tinubu and his legacies in Lagos, his silent persecution under Buhari government he helped to install and his betrayal by southwest governors he mentored and brought to national attention. Tinubu who managed to win four of the Yoruba sates was not expected to do more than that among his highly discriminatory Yoruba voters.

    For the 2023 election, the Hausa Fulani hegemonic ruling class and their ever-willing Igbo brides were ready to forget their differences to fight Awoism, the perceived common threat.

    The Igbo threat in the event that the presidential ticket of PDP, a party they faithfully served for 21 years was not ceded to the southeast, found expression in Igbo voting massively for Peter Obi, one of their own while call for justice and fairness counted for very little among the hegemonic power in the north who believe that democracy is about group interest and therefore had no problem rallying round Atiku Abubakar.

    Pa Ayo Adebanjo along with Obasanjo joined forces with Igbo leaders and the Obidients in an effort to delegitimize Tinubu’s hard-earned victory by unpatriotically attacking the integrity of INEC and the Supreme Court, two institutions critical to survival of democracy in any society. They in addition openly called for military take-over.  Atiku and his supporters headed for America in search of evidence to show Tinubu did not have a degree.

    Unfortunately, Pa Adebanjo forgot his Yoruba people never had leaders they could not handle. If such leaders became too powerful and could not be controlled, they would adopt the help of the talking drum while such leaders danced until they discover they dance alone albeit naked.

    Yoruba’s recent history is replete with examples. There was not too long ago Ogun Oba koso, the powerful and tyrannical Alaafin of Oyo who committed suicide when he discovered he was dancing naked. We had SLA Akintola, a foremost Yoruba irredentists, a terror to the colonial masters and their preferred northern hegemonic power. Yoruba culture detests biting the finger that once fed you. Following his legal removal from office, he was accused of seeking the help of northern hegemonic feudal lords to upstage Awolowo, his principal. He literarily committed suicide when he took up arms against trained soldiers during January 1966 military coup.

    There was also Uncle Bola Ige, loved by the young and the old for being an unrepentant Yoruba irredentist whose major weapon against Yoruba detractors was his caustic tongue. His decision to spite his fellow Yoruba cult of elders to take up national appointment under Obasanjo against the warning of their late leader, Obafemi Awolowo attracted the anger of his fellow elders. He was believed to have been murdered by the state following his attempt to retrace his way back to fold.

    Our consolation is that Pa Adebanjo, who like his leader believed that you can only be a good Nigerian if you were first a good representative of your people, will today be comparing note with his leader in the great beyond, a task he anxiously looked up to while with us here.

    I have no doubt Awo would be pleased to let him know that he is pleased that Awoism has been repackaged by someone not on the succession line, in a new language now more pleasing to the ears of those who only yesterday complained Awoism jarred their ear lobes.

    Awoism, beyond service and search for an egalitarian society, is true federalism, regional autonomy, fairness and distributive justice, virtues without which any nation can progress,

    And lastly, Yoruba leadership often comes from behind and seldom from the aristocratic class. Awo the sage himself never had money to attend primary or secondary school at a time his age mates were securing six A1s from Government College, Ibadan Kings College Lagos and proceeding to London to study law. Tinubu is haunted by his poor background and derided by those who could not find his name in Government College Ibadan.

  • Democrats without democratic ethos

    Democrats without democratic ethos

    In spite of our crisis of nation-building, the people of Nigeria, a nation of over 400 multi ethnic nationalities have been described at different times as  ‘the happiest people on earth’. The scourge of our nation however remains the political elite notably from the dominant ethnic nationalities whose zero-sum struggle for power has kept us in a state of war since independence. Nigeria lost her innocence in the run up to independence as leaders of ethnic nationalities struggled to build a nation of their own within the greater Nigerian nation.

    The battle became more intense after the 1959 election in which NCNC came first, AG second with the NPC a distant third. With the willing bride, the AG and his leaders anxiously waiting in Asaba to seal a pact with her NCNC suitor while the latter and its leaders were perfecting a pact with Ahmadu Bello and his NPC in Kaduna, an irreparable damage was done to trust, an important badge of honour in a democracy.

    The intrigue and the battle were no less vicious with the misadventure of the military into politics in January 1966. After the elimination of their civilian benefactors, the misguided soldiers descended on themselves, killing the most talented of their men. Again, Thomas Aguiyi Ironsi, the commander-in-chief and Nwafor Orizu, the Senate President betrayed Nigeria by ceding power to the military as against swearing in the most senior surviving minister as acting prime minister as enshrined in the 1963 republican constitution.

    It only got worse after the July 1966 vengeance coup accompanied by mindless, selective killing of military officers. With the swearing in of Gowon as military head of state in breach of its own rule while Brigadier Ogundipe, the most senior military officer fled to Britain following the refusal of northern foot soldiers to take order from him, Esprit de corps in the military was also destroyed.

    In 1979, Obasanjo admitted betraying the nation when he self-conceitedly confessed favouring Shehu Shagari in that year’s presidential election. This was followed in 1993 by Babangida’s fraudulent ‘eight years of transition without end’ which resulted in the annulment of the 1993 election regarded as the most credible election in our nation’s history.  MKO Abiola, the winner died in detention, defending his mandate.

    It only got worse in 1999 with state capture by anti-democratic forces as represented by Generals Obasanjo, David Mark, Useni, Dongoyaro etc. and their new breed politicians, the nation had fought and defeated.

    The outcome of the 2007 presidential election supervised by Obasanjo was no less bizarre with President Yar’Adua, the beneficiary of the massively rigged 2007 election, not only denouncing the exercise but also setting up the Uwais Electoral Review Commission.

    Nigerians had in 2015 massively voted for Muhammadu Buhari, the anti-corruption crusader believing he was the messiah Nigerians were waiting for. Tragically Nigeria had to go through eight years of Buhari’s misrule, incompetence and provincialism to realize they were swindled by Buhari’s promoters.

    The frustration experienced by Nigerians probably accounted for the vicious attack on candidate Tinubu, the man who carried Buhari on his back across Nigeria despite his well-known anti-democratic credentials. Desperate major players thereafter freely deployed everything, including religion, ethnicity, political intrigue and outright lies as weapon of war. Institutions such as INEC and the Supreme Court, critical to the survival of our democratization process came under severe threat by desperate politicians who freely called for a military takeover of government.

    The 2023 losers who have not behaved like democrats but like those driven by greed for power are today trying to change the narrative as the 2027 battle for the soul of Nigeria draws nearer.

    During last week two-day conference themed, ‘Strengthening Nigeria’s Democracy: Pathway to Good Governance and Political Integrity,’ organised by the African Centre for Leadership, Strategy and Development, etc., in continuation of the battle, Kaduna’s ex-governor, Nasir El-Rufai, former VP Atiku Abubakar and former Rivers State governor and former Minister of Transportation Rotimi Amaechi called for a coalition to remove President Tinubu in the 2027 general election.

    This was followed by another close door meeting by El-Rufai and Atiku allies, Major Hamza Al-Mustapha, Abacha’s man Friday in the dark period of Nigerian history  and Otunba Segun Showunmi, Atiku’s former spokesman  with SDP to “review the state of opposition democratic engagement in Nigeria”, last Tuesday  in Abuja.

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    But Uba Sani, the governor of Kaduna State, has taken a swipe at the trio of former Vice President Abubakar Atiku, his predecessor, Nasir El-Rufai, and former Transportation Minister, Rotimi Amaechi,  accusing them of  scheming to reclaim power not because they have the interests of Nigerians at heart, given their bad records while in government.

    Of course, there is nothing anti-democratic in the opposition scheming to take over power in 2027. Our own problem however as indicated above is that our own political elite since independence have practiced democracy without democratic ethos which often finds expression in character and loyalty.

    As Uba Sani observed, “Most of these politicians that came out and say they are coming as a coalition, “What did they do when they were in government? They were only fighting for power, not because they could do anything better”.

    And since it will also appear most of us tend to suffer from collective amnesia, interrogating the past records of these new democratic crusaders while in office as suggested by Uba becomes imperative.

    Let us start with Rotimi Amaechi. While applying to be president, Amaechi had said: “Fellow Nigerians, I stand before you today to declare my intention and submit my application to serve as your next president.  I have been in the political arena for 23 years. Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly (1999 to 2007), Governor of Rivers State, (2007 to 2015) and Minister of Transportation of Nigeria (2015 to 2022) I have served at every level of government – local, state, and federal. I have served both as a political appointee and an elected official.”

    During the APC presidential primary election held in June 2022, Amaechi polled second position behind eventual winner, President Bola Tinubu with 316 delegate votes against Tinubu’s 1,271 votes. From then on, democracy-crusading Amaechi started his anti-party activities. He neither congratulated Tinubu over his resounding victory at the end of the primaries nor over his triumph in the presidential election. Amaechi, the sore loser did not publicly endorse his party’s flag bearer who despite his open hostility went on to win Rivers with the help of Governor Nyesom Wike.

    The question then is, at what stage did Amaechi who is only out of government for two years and has now joined opposition PDP and El-Rufai to work towards removal of President Tinubu from government in 2027 discover  his fellow politicians ‘kill steal and maim’ to hold on to power? Was he speaking from experience since he was in government for over 23 years?

    Loyalty and character, as indicated above, is democracy greatest badge of honour. Unfortunately Atiku is loyal to neither party leaders nor his party’s constitution. At the slightest sign of tempest, he abandons his party, moving from PDP to AC, through ACN to APC and back to PDP. His breach of his party’s rotation clause was responsible for the party’s loss in the 2023 election and the crisis currently rocking the party.

    The testimonial by former President Obasanjo on former VP Atiku Abubakar is all that is needed to confirm if Atiku Abubakar has character deficit. Obasanjo went as far as saying God would punish him if ever he endorses Atiku Abubakar for presidency on the account of all he knows about him.

    And as for El-Rufai, the National Assembly’s report on The National Council on Privatisation (NCP) which .was very critical of El-Rufai’s handling of the affairs of the organization places question mark on El Rufai’s character,

    Obi, an opportunist, is Atiku Abubakar’s alter ego. Besides being tagged a ‘container economists’ on account of being importer of foreign manufactured goods all his life, Obi doesn’t appear to believe in anything. He is not even in control of his supporters, the ‘Obidients’, a euphemism for an unthinking mob.

    Obi like Atiku is an opportunist. He had moved from APGA, the party that gave him its platform to serve as governor for eight years to PDP where he rose rapidly to become the party’s VP candidate for the 2019 election. Following Atiku Abubakar’s disruption of PDP constitution that favoured Obi’s emergence as PDP presidential candidate in 2023, Obi did not hesitate before pulling down PDP edifice to join Labour Party to contest the 2023 election. With the crisis currently rocking Labour Party and Obi’s endorsement of El-Rufai and Atiku Abubakar’s conspiracy to pull down Tinubu in 2027, many believe Obi is on his way back to PDP.

    Our new warriors for democracy are democrats without democratic ethos.

  • Of journalists’ unethical awards and odious comparisons

    Of journalists’ unethical awards and odious comparisons

    Journalists by training and orientation suffer two major disabilities.  Insufficient grounding in sociological theories, the foundation of society, and avoiding core economic and business/accounting  courses  at school which lay them open to manipulation by vicious business men at in later years as practicing professionals. Unfortunately, humility is not often a virtue in display among highly qualified professional journalists. As students of society that routinely dine and wine with owners of society, they sometimes forget their place on the social ladder. They often put their hope and aspirations in the hands of vicious businessmen who see restless journalists as the only obstacle to turning society into an empire of slaves.

    Stanley Macebuh, The Guardian pioneer managing director and editor-in-chief who promised to publish one of the best three newspapers in English-speaking Africa south of Sahara, and achieved the goal through unflawed exploitation of talents of first class young brains from our universities and those of the best young educated professionals from the then existing media houses to ensure the flagship was read ‘sooner than later’ was unarguably the man behind the success of The Guardian.

    But Stanley knew very little about business and business’ dirty wars. He was a civilized man with a touch of human kindness. His goal was making the world a decent place for all. He did not think anyone would be opposed to this noble pursuit. But he was wrong because he never really understood that the economic status of a man determines a man’s position in society.

    I walked up to his office around 6pm sometime in 1983 to report a crime. One of the new pool car drivers took his colleague’s car out without permission. When he returned 40 minutes later, he had replaced the car’s new engine with an old engine. When Stanley finally raised his head up from the script he was reading, he asked with sadness boldly written over his face: “How much do we really pay those poor boys?” as if all of us were not victims of capitalism, a euphemism for slavery. I also started to feel sorry for the criminal. But for Mr. Alimi, the experienced transport manager who had by 8am the following morning prepared the young man’s sack letter ready for collection, left to my humane MD/Editor-in-chief, the boy would have retained his job. Stanley Macebuh could afford not being ruthless precisely because it is not he but the much derided vicious businessman  that went to the bank to borrow money, cut deals and must be prepared to fight dirty publicly as most businessmen do.

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    Maiden Ibru, the current chief executive of The Guardian is not much different. Also a trained media practitioner with bias towards public relations, by orientation, she also cannot be vicious.

    Just like Stanley who treated me like his graduate student from the Daily Times days all through his stay at The Guardian, I think I also know Mrs. Ibru fairly well.

    As the Executive Consultant (Editorial and Advertising), the de facto chief operating officer of The Guardian from 2003 to 2008, Mrs. Ibru, the chief executive of The Guardian snubbed the tastefully furnished expansive chief executive office on the first floor preferring to spend the period in my scantily furnished and noisy office downstairs. After our daily round of meetings ranging from directors’ meeting, editorial content review meeting or editorial board meeting, she would return to my office where she ate the lunch procured for her from our cafeteria by Biola my secretary.  That was at a time lunch could have been ferried down from the Federal Palace or Sheraton, owned by her husband. Maiden is humble, kind and stands for the building of a more humane, just and compassionate society.

    Mrs. Ibru  is the chief executive  who on her way to the office would stop by an accident scene,  ferry victims to hospital where she would pay for their care before returning to the office, of course with her day totally ruined.  Like Stanley she just wants to serve humanity in her own little way. Accepting Nduka Obaigbena’s award despite her well-articulated position on the contradiction between an arm of state institution giving award to other state institutions it is constitutionally empowered to keep on their toes is no doubt part of Maiden Ibru’s efforts to please others.

    Maiden like many other decent and accomplished journalists is very vulnerable. That Obaigbena, a ruthless businessman and a veteran of many boardroom dirty wars including the ongoing one with his friend, Femi Otedola and First Bank, easily outwitted Maiden Ibru was not a surprise.

    The way fiercely competitive and ruthless businessman Obaigbena outwitted Mrs Ibru is the same way businessman, Alex Ibru who held no hostages when alive, outwitted Stanley Macebuh and effortlessly eased him out of The Guardian. It is not different from the strategy adopted by the late Chief Aboderin to ease out of The Punch Sam Amuka (Sad Sam) who had to start the Vanguard at his garage in Anthony Village Lagos. Who would have thought Ray Ekpu and Malam Haruna Mohammed, after building the Newswatch brand for over 20 years would allow Jimoh Ibrahim, a controversial ruthless businessman to effortlessly take their well-nurtured baby away from them? Unfortunately, journalists with all the influence they wield, they are no match for calculating ruthless businessmen, unrestrained by any form of moral appeal when they choose to fight dirty.

    As for the contest for superiority between The Guardian and Thisday, I think comparison can be odious especially when it is all about comparing apples and oranges.

    A newspaper, we are told, operates at three different levels of society (Lade Bonuola).  The one operating above the level of society tries to set agenda for society to follow. That is the task The Guardian has set for itself since 1982 when it first set out “to produce the best and most authoritative newspaper Nigeria had ever seen, that would be committed to the principle of individual freedom where citizens have duties as well as rights, which will, at all times uphold the need for justice, probity in public life and guarantees equal access to the nation’s resources and equal protection under the law of Nigerian for all citizens”.  And the paper resolved to achieve the above through “factual reporting, and well-reasoned and mature opinion and editorials arrived at after an exhaustive and painstaking examination of issues” – (Dr Patrick Dele Cole in his preface to ‘Selected Editorials of The Guardian 1983-2003’ edited by Reuben Abati). The Guardian has remained committed to this creed.

    The second type of newspaper operates at the level of society and merely reflects society and its idiosyncrasies for all intent and purposes. ThisDay is a newspaper that operates at the level of society and mirrors society through celebration of human vanity; it pioneered this from the birth of the fourth republic. As it has turned out, all those whose vanity were promoted in government and the banking sector from 1999 have all turned to be men and women with feet of clay.

    And if further empirical evidence is needed to prove how Thisday smiles to the bank by celebrating vanity of Nigerians, the outing of Nigeria political economic and military elite in their flowing agbada and Babaringa wanting to be recognized for doing their job as governors, bankers and other professionals is all we need. ThisDay has continued to do what it does best-mirroring society through celebration of human vanity.

    It is therefore apparent that there can be no basis for comparing The Guardian with ThisDay. Each from the onset clearly defined the nature of its service and commitment to society. And their past speaks for them.

  • Ganduje and constitution of new boards

    Ganduje and constitution of new boards

    Government periodic appointments into boards of parastatals and other federal organisations to manage the affairs of over 500 small governments needed to implement its policies is critical to the survival of the democratization process.  Unfortunately this process has in recent years become a veritable source political party patronage often secured through intense politicking and lobbying by party members.

    When Buhari’s list – with 209 board chairmen and 1,258 board members – came in December 2019 after over two years of haggling and indecision, he admitted not knowing over half of those on the list including a number of names of individuals long declared dead.

    Last week, following almost two years of delay as a result of bargaining and horse trading by politicians, President Tinubu, according to Bayo Onanuga, the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, last Monday approved the appointment of board chairpersons for 42 federal organisations out of over 500 small governments the president needs to faithfully implement his party manifesto. We were also told the president directed the board chairpersons not to interfere with the management of the organisations, emphasising that their positions are non-executive.

    Much as we have no reason to doubt the capacity and the integrity of most of those currently appointed by President Tinubu, what the nation has often experienced after government’s four year periodic ritual especially since 1999, has been an assemblage of deadwood and failed politicians who just wanted to continue to be relevant by continuous’ sucking of government and its resources.

    The president appeared determined to change the narrative this time around. Without prejudice to his party’s periodic ritual of politicking and lobbying, he seemed to have deliberately gone out of his way for those he believes could add value to his administration.

    For instance Professor Bolaji Akinyemi is our nation’s ‘Sun’. A resourceful intellectual, an outstanding diplomat who played a key role as our external affairs minister to end Chad, Libyan and Mali, Burkina Faso wars, Professor Akinyemi was the brain behind the highly successful Technical Aids Corps Scheme, the concept of the Concert of Medium Powers to mediate within the international system. He was a member of the Uwais panel and deputy chairman of Jonathan’s constitutional conference. He was on the side of Nigeria during the NADECO confrontation with Sani Abacha when the likes of Tom Ikimi and Babagana Kingibe sold their conscience by trading Nigeria for a pot of porridge. To bring him on board, the president had to present Akinyemi as Lagos State candidate as against his Osun State where warring politicians like Rauf  Aregbesola and Gboyega Oyetola  had destroyed the APC over their ego battle for its soul before trading it for PDP, a fact confirmed by Governor Adeleke. 

    Of course, the president’s deliberate efforts did not preclude the emergence on the list of some other self-proclaiming patriots including the likes of Abdullahi Ganduje.  In fact it will not be out place to assume that Ganduje, a man with history of endless political wars, mischiefs and intrigues and for whom there is never a dull moment, nominated himself as chairman of the Governing Board of Federal Aviation Authority of Nigeria (FAAN). This becomes a force majeure when it reached the president’s table. In any case, when it comes to party patronage, the buck stops at the desk of the national Chairman of APC.

    The only charitable conclusion is that Ganduje outwitted the president.

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    After all, Ganduje from 1984-1994 occupied various positions within the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja. In 1994 he was Kano State Commissioner for Works. From there he in 2007 moved on to become the Executive Secretary of the Lake Chad Basin Commission in Ndjamena. Although a full time job, workaholic Ganduje could not resist combining the job with that of the chairmanship of the Governing Council of Federal Polytechnic Ado Ekiti. A workhorse, he was so dedicated that for his board meetings in Ado-Ekiti, he would first fly from Ndjamena to Kano and from Kano to Abuja from where the vehicle sent from Ado-Ekiti would ferry him down to Ado Ekiti for a board meeting which may not take off until 7pm.

    At close to 77, Ganduje, the national chairman of APC and the recently appointed chairman of the Governing Council of FAAN, has pledged to continue his selfless service to the nation.

    I wish to align myself with Ganduje. With his past record of service to the nation, I have no reason to doubt his competence and ability to do more than one thing at a time. And contrary to his envious detractors from his native Kano, I cannot see any contradiction between presiding over the affairs of the FAAN and meeting the demands of his office as chairman of APC which involve strategies for recruitment of party membership, retaining those so recruitment  and periodic fundraising and internal party governance. For even his political foes, the outstanding performance of his party in Edo and Ondo in recent times was evidence enough Ganduje was on top of his games.

    But for those who hate Ganduje with a passion, I think it is the case of a prophet without honour in his own country. His detractors seem to come more from his own Kano State, where he and his good friend Rabiu Kwankwaso have been consumed by politics of ‘deposition and imposition’ of Emirs, demolition and reallocation of supporters’ physical properties in Kano in the last eight years. Since the duo did not tell us the source of their bitterness and endless war, outsiders think it must have been over the control over Kano resources, a common weakness among our greedy and selfish political elite. Many also consider Ganduje and his warring rivals’ political failures for their inability to exploit their past relationship in the age of innocence before their exposure to great wealth to liberate the people of Kano from pangs of sorrow and pains of hunger

    There was recently a trending picture of Ganduje and Kwankwaso moving around on a Vespa motorcycle on the streets on Kano in the early seventies; many thought that was a relationship both could have exploited to change the fortune of Kano.

    Lagos State Security Trust Fund which changed the face and character of Lagos was first launched in 2007.  Many outside Kano believe that if beyond primitive accumulation, the duo came together to exploit their past friendship to launch Kano Almajiri fund, such could have in three years cleaned up Kano.

    Meanwhile, all hail Abdullahi Ganduje, the nemesis of political foes, un-fearing Emirs and political benefactors who, at close to 77 has continued to ride against the tide.

  • Trump’s return and beauty of American democracy

    Trump’s return and beauty of American democracy

    As President Joe Biden, the 46th American president bowed out yesterday after 52 years of service to the nation he passionately served as a parliamentarian and president and Trump took over as the most powerful leader in the world in a seamless transition, devoid of the uneasiness and anxiety that heralded his first coming, it was the beauty of the American system that was in display.

    Trump’s landslide victory over both Biden and Harris is but once again a confirmation that all politics is local. No matter how much Trump is derided by the rest of the world over what was considered his infantile behaviour, character deficit and right-wing world view, it is the Americans who wear the shoe that know where it pinches.

    And lastly, the unexpected outcome of the American presidential election also once again confirmed the major weaknesses of the democratization process -free and fair election the hallmark of participatory democracy which is capable of throwing up anyone.

    Biden had exploited what has turned out to be unfounded fears about Trump’s threat to democracy and the battle against Trumpism a “fight for the soul of the nation” to cruise into power in 2020. First, in order to rescind some of the Trump policies, Biden on his first day in office, issued executive orders that took back the US into the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, cancelled the US withdrawal from the World Health Organisation and a number of other executive orders in the areas of immigration, health care and environment.

    In spite of the control of the presidency and both houses of Congress by the president’s party, after the 2020 mid-term election, three significant pieces of voting rights and electoral-reform legislations, including the For the People Act, passed by the House in March 2021; the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, passed by the House in August; and the Freedom to Vote Act, introduced in the Senate in September. (The first two bills were later versions of legislation passed by the House in 2019) were all blocked in the Senate by Republican filibusters, which could be overcome only with the support of at least 60 senators.

    Finally, believing he, and his party knew what the people wanted without asking them, Biden became a victim of his own hubris.  On December 13, 2022, Biden signed into law the “Respect for Marriage Act which   formally repealed the federal Defence of Marriage Act (1996) which had defined marriage as a legal union between one man and one woman and had permitted states to refuse to recognize same-sex marriage performed in other states.

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    Biden had earlier alienated the power American Pentecostals who supported Trump by appointing Pete Buttigieg, a gay as U.S. Secretary of Transportation. Biden also went on to sign an LGBTQ executive order which advanced equality on June 15, 2022.

    Of course, the unexpected outstanding performance of Biden and his Democratic Party in American last mid-term election was American women’s show of gratitude to the president and his party’s crusade over women’s right to control their bodies But their dismal performance in the last November election was American women’s rejection of the notion that institutions of state manned by individuals who have no children can decide for parents how best to groom their children. If there are American adults who today exhibit evidence of maladjustment as a result of challenges of growing up, parents don’t want confused state officials to tell their five year old boys and girls about their right to change their sex.

    Biden, a veteran of foreign relations having served as Foreign Relations Committee chair twice (2001–03; 2007–09), was no less haunted by his mishandling of foreign issues with domestic issues content by failing to rise to the occasion as the leader of the world. His unconditional support for Jonathan Netanyahu was to set him up against moderate democrats, students, first time voters and American Arab voters and the rest of other world leaders that had expected him to use his moral voice to provide leadership for the world in disarray.

    But then Biden could not give what he did not have.  He instead on October 2023 secured Congress aid package $15 billion in additional military assistance for Israel in its war against Hamas. It was true Hamas started the war with the unprovoked killing of 1,200 Israeli civilians and soldiers. But informed members of the international community understood the act was out of frustration by Palestinians after over 50 years of Israel’s occupation, scores of rejected UN resolutions with tacit support of the US.

    Israeli response in form of massive invasion and destruction of a ‘caged’ Gaza resulted in the death of over 45,000 Palestinians mainly innocent children and women.

    Israel’s indiscriminate bombing of schools, hospitals and mosques, blockade preventing water, food, medicine, electricity, and fuel from entering the territory, was declared disproportionate response by the Pope, genocide by the United Nations and the rest of the world leading to issuing of warrant of arrest of Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, his former defence minister ‘for crime against humanity and war crimes committed from at least October 8 2023 until at least May 20 2024”.

    Biden, a Catholic who takes Holy Communion every day and the only man with leverage on Netanyahu kept insisting Israel has the right to defend herself.

    And finally, Trump’s triumph was one more evidence of the major weaknesses of democracy-free and fair election the hallmark of participatory democracy which often involve group bargaining. Democracy is capable of throwing up anyone including, outright idiots who do not know their right from their left  or even those who have no faith in democracy at the expense of those who have faithfully served their nation in the military, bureaucracy and parliament such as John McCain in 2008, Hillary Clinton 2016 and Biden and Harris 2024.

    In fact, the apprehension of most enlightened Americans during Trump’s first coming was the parallel between Trump, his rhetoric and Adolf Hitler. Like Hitler and most far right politicians, Trump had blamed economic and social crises in America on outsiders. And sounding like Hitler before the Jewish final solution, he had said ‘we have problem in this country. It is called Muslims; we know our current president is one, he is not an American”…”They have training camps where they want to kill us; we want to take our country back”. He blamed China for America’s economic woes and the menace of drug and unemployment on Brazil.

    Like Hitler, Trump does not believe in political parties. Just as Hitler used Nazism as springboard to take over power, only to later destroy the leadership of the party as well as the party’s values before taking upon the world as a dictatorship responsible for the death of over 11 million people, six million of them from Israel, Trump hijacked the Republican Party to secure the party’s presidential ticket. Like Hitler, he went on to assault the core values and the soul of the Republican Party. And just like what Hitler did to his party leading members, Trump had humiliated leading light of the GOP before the far-right Republicans, particularly members of the Trump-led MAGA movement, who generally supported Russian President Vladimir Putin and Viktor Orbán, the authoritarian leader of Hungary took over.

    Trump was against the Fourteenth Amendment which confers citizenship on all children born in America and threatened to deport all such children. Worried Americans back then could not but see the parallel between this and Hitler’s ‘bastardisation’ policy which considered children born in Germany but of non-German parents inferior and could not be given citizenship because citizenship was by blood of the Aryan race.

    Trump neither believes in free press or shares the sentiments of Thomas Jefferson, the American founding father and the principal author of American declaration of independence (1776) that “were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter”. Today Trump has undermined confidence in the free press, creating his own alternative reality through lies propagated by Fox news and other platforms that supported him.

    Trump’s ‘I am the only one who can fix America’ is not markedly different from Hitler’s delusion that he was ordained to protect the Aryan race.

    But Trump’s 2020 defeat despite his failed insurrection and his return to the White House yesterday after four years in the political wilderness speaks to the resilience of the American system. It shows the American system has an in-built mechanism to prevent any America from taking a precipitate action which poses danger to American democracy.

  • Obi’s New Year message and ‘Obidients’ threat

    Obi’s New Year message and ‘Obidients’ threat

    Peter Obi in his New Year message reminded Nigerians of the obvious:  the worsening political, economic and security situation of our country. Food insecurity that has become our new national norm; our nation and its fortunes are in clear reverse, while Nigeria remains one of the poverty capitals of the world, with over 100 million people living in extreme poverty and more than 150 million in multidimensional poverty.

    To change the narrative, Obi wants President Tinubu to cut down what he considers as his “wasteful foreign trips; travel around Nigeria by road to observe the condition of most of our collapsed highways; visit our national hospital, make both impromptu and planned visits to our tertiary institutions, visit various IDP camps and assure these Nigerians that they will soon return to their communities.

    Finally, he wants the president to ensure “future elections are credible and truly reflect the will of the people”.

    The president has already acknowledged some of these problems and the harsh effect of his economic policies. What he said was that to avoid mortgaging the future of our children the way PDP did by selling or sharing properties kept in their care for our children, we needed to make some sacrifices today.

    In fact, the expectation of most Nigerians was that the president’s first act in office was going to be resettlement of those driven from their land to IDP camps back to their land. That is distributive justice.

    Nigerians did not only expect the president to visit the hospitals, they had expected him to sponsor a bill stopping all political appointees and lawmakers from embarking on medical tourism. This is the only way to equip our teaching hospitals.

    Obi is also allowed to make few exaggerations including his claim that Tinubu’s less than two years administration should be held responsible for the current figure of 100,000 Nigerians living in extreme poverty despite ARISE Television’s admission during the interview that the figure as at the time Buhari took over power 10 years ago (2015) stood at 70%. After all, government is a continuum.

    Obi who claimed victory despite coming a distant third in the 2023 election and who is yet to congratulate the winner of the contest despite INEC’s verdict and the Supreme Court’s celebrated judgment also has the right to call on the president to guarantee the sanctity of the 2027 contest. 

    I think what Felix Morka decries is Obi “crossing the line of truth and peddling false narratives, arrogant unwillingness to acknowledge obvious markers of progress, mobilizing outrage and stoking tension against the government’ which he thinks  are not exactly the most admirable hallmarks of leadership.”

    He also frowns at the fact that Obi led a restless band of online mobs, who continue to attack, intimidate, bully and issue death threats to other citizens who dare disagree or criticize Obi or his opinions or position on any subject or matter of national conversation.

    Even here Obi has not crossed any red line. The beauty of democracy is that no one has the last say especially in a world where the media is a captive of the dominant ruling class and where no newspaper or news platform can be said to be truly free. We have seen selective coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza by CNN and presentation of alternative reality by the Fox News which aided Trump’s triumph in his re-election bid despite his election denials and sponsoring of an insurrection against his own government.

    This is why I also think ARISE television cannot be accused of crossing any red line for  its decision to play the devil’s advocate following attempt by APC and its spokesman, to discredit Obi and  his message. It was obvious whose battle was being waged when Felix Morka, the National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress (APC), was confronted during an interview on its THIS WEEK program on Saturday, January 4, with a question such as –  “You have actually hit back with a volley of attacks, calling Peter Obi a prophet of doom. Some of you have said he is always embarking on voodoo economics that are not in line with current realities. Don’t you think that is a slingshot that has gone beyond normal politicking?

    Morka’s: “No, he is the one throwing darts. Mr. Obi is shooting from the hip… Obi has crossed the line so many times. And, I think that, at this point, he has coming to him whatever he gets. He should manage it” would have been sufficient answer for those not engaged in politics of mischief and subterfuge. But for ARISE reporters   “it is a threat to free speech”; for Obi  it is an indication of impending crackdown by an intolerant federal government  while for former VP Atiku Abubakar, “an alarming disdain for democratic principles.”

    I sympathize with Morka who, as a result of “Peter Obi’s allegations has received  about 400 documented threats, about 200 of which are explicit death threats messages, individuals have detailed how they plan to harm me—threatening to shoot me, behead me, and carry out other gruesome acts”. But even in spite of the above, I still don’t think anyone has crossed the red line. Free speech is another name for democracy.  

    The beauty of democracy is that it is not without its democratic ethos which for instance celebrates character. In this regard, the messenger is often the message. Probing the character of purveyors of messages is as important as free speech.

    Unfortunately, the common denominator between Peter Obi and Atiku Abubakar is opportunism. Atiku Abubakar has moved from PDP, through ACN to PDP, back to APC from where he went back to PDP where he first served as vice president in 1999. Upon his return, he waged war against those who kept the party together while he was shopping for presidential tickets from other parties. And tragically his breach of PDP’s constitution was to put the party in disarray in the run up to the 2023 election.

    Peter Obi is tarred with the same brush.  He first rode on the back of Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu’s APGA party to power. After publicly declaring he would never abandon APGA, he jumped boat after his second term to join PDP. He rose rapidly and became Atiku’s running mate in the 2015 but following Atiku Abubakar’s breach of PDP constitution which would have allowed Obi to emerge as PDP candidate in the 2023 election, Obi decided to pull down the edifice on the heads of everyone.

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    Obi decided to play identity and religion politics by exploiting the sentiments of his Igbo people that had since 1999 supported PDP to victory. Close to 70% of his six million votes in the 2023 election came from Southeast and South-south populated by his Igbo brethren,

    For Atiku and Obi’s infidelity and opportunism, Tinubu’s eight million votes would have been no match for PDP and Labour’s close to 14m votes.  Their loss was Tinubu’s gain.  Sadly despite being deficit in character, both men still pretend to be part of solution to Nigerian crisis of nation building.

    Peter Obi, the Obidients’ best candidate to govern Nigeria, displayed no special skill as governor of Anambra, a state he left as a jungle. As a business man once described as ‘a container economist’ by President Tinubu, all he has told us publicly is that he was a wine importer. And for Atiku Abubakar, Obasanjo’s testimonial on him was damning.

    I think we must start to interrogate how we got to this sorry path while remembering with nostalgia, the role of Nigerian youths in the evolution of the Nigerian state. While the nation is today being haunted by a mob ready to fight and kill for a man who believes in nothing, we easily recollect how it was that 20 Nigerian law students who in 1920 first proposed the idea of a Nigerian federation patterned after Switzerland to the colonial masters.

    While we today have in Lagos some youths who do not behave much differently from the Almajiris of the north, visiting violence and destruction on government and private properties, what we had in the forties in Lagos were youths who organized debates and strategized on how to get rid of the colonial masters.

    It is on record that Chief Anthony Enahoro who went on to become one of the  best parliamentarians Nigeria has ever produced was an editor  of a national newspaper at 22, and that Bode Thomas, the deputy chairman of Action Group who died at 33, was the author of ‘regionalism’ despite his principals’ preference for federalism. Even military boys who did not have advantage of education but joined the military to be able to climb the social lather ended up ruling our country in their twenties and thirties.

  • Obasanjo and NNPCL war

    Obasanjo and NNPCL war

    Ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo, a veteran of war, and proponent of ‘do or die politics’ that sees politics as war by other means, is set for war against NNPCL. Obasanjo, a formidable opponent with intimidating credentials is an adversary who says “nothing embarrasses him”, a warrior who routinely cuts deals with enemies of his enemies, or “an incredible opportunist” to borrow retired Brigadier General Alabi Isama’s phrase in his “Tragedy of Victory’. NNPCL must also be warned that Obasanjo is a fighter who in the words of his friend, Andrew Young, former US permanent representatives at the United Nations (UN), “pursues his goals with great tenacity without caring about who he made mad”.

    But this is not to discourage NNPCL; I will in fact encourage NNPCL to accept Chief Obasanjo’s challenge. After all, it is not as if NNPCL, regarded by many as ‘a cesspool of corruption, an organization deficit in character and honour and the scourge of Nigerian fuel consumers has much to lose in a battle over honour. It was only  two days ago that the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) was asking through its letter dated January 4 that the Group Chief Executive Officer of the body, Mele Kyari, to explain the disappearance of over N825 billion and $2.5 billion allegedly deducted from crude oil sales between 2020 and 2021 ostensibly for refinery repairs.

    All Obasanjo – who cannot stand being proved to be imperfect – wants is for NNPCL to stake its honour by confirming that Port Harcourt and Warri refineries are indeed working. And now with  a television station mischievously waking up trouble that was hitherto deep asleep, the die is cast. It is one more opportunity for a vindictive Obasanjo to prove he alone is infallible, the fact he tried hard to establish in his war memoir “My Command” and in his “Olusegun Obasanjo, The Presidential Legacy 1999-2007”.

    His current battle is anchored on the following syllogism: He had as president invited Shell International to buy equity or run our refineries for us on its own terms, offers Shell turned down. Aliko Dangote, the apple of his eyes, was able to put a team together and offered government $750m to run the refineries on Public/Private Partnership basis (PPP) His successor, the late Umaru Yar’Adua refunded Dangote’s money following undertaking by NNPCL to manage the refineries. NNPCL ended up frittering away billons of naira without giving relief to Nigerians since he, Obasanjo left office. Therefore, NNPCL’s claim that both Port Harcourt and Warri refineries are now working cannot be true.

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    Obasanjo might have not provided enough empirical facts to validate its thesis beyond NNPCL’s past records which seem to provide additional ammunition to consolidate what Obasanjo considers as an unassailable position.

    But that was until Femi Falana, the respected human rights lawyer, who besides Obasanjo who wears his “PDP’s award of ‘Father of Nigeria’ title like St Christopher’s cross, is in my opinion, one Nigerian, that is deserving of being called “Mr. Nigeria”, stepped in to provide the missing link.

    According to him, the cancellation of the federal  government’ Public, Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement for the management of the Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna refineries approved by the Obasanjo government in 2007 was attributed to the questionable circumstances surrounding the deal. First, it was alleged that Obasanjo “in utter breach” of the Privatisation and Commercialisation Act, side-lined Vice President Atiku Abubakar, the chairman of the National Council on Privatisation (NCP), and “took over the privatisation of a number of public enterprises.”

    These include Obasanajo’s sale on May 17, 2007 of a 51% stake in the Port Harcourt refinery to Bluestar Oil for US$561 million and on May 28, 2007, sales of 51% shares in Kaduna Refinery at a cost of $160m to the same Bluestar, a consortium of three domestic companies, including Dangote Oil, Zenon Oil and Transcorp in which Obasanjo had acquired large shares through ‘blind trust.’

    Scandalously, the deals were consummated in the last days of the Obasanjo administration despite the four-day protests by National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) which also alleged that the nation had been short-changed as the shares acquired in the Port Harcourt refinery for $516 million were worth US$5 billion.

    Obasanjo’s case is not helped by the National Assembly awful report on the privatization programme he supervised. The World Bank for instance had defined privatization as a programme for middle-income countries ‘with a competitive market, a market-friendly environment with a good capacity to regulate. But as victims of cultural imperialism that ape everything, including policy thrust that have no chance of survival in our own environment, our leaders sheepishly followed Britain and France’s privatisation of the eighties.

    First to be launched was the Babangida’s Privatisation and Commercialisation Act of 1988, the Bureau of Public Enterprises Act of 1993 and Obasanjo’s Privatisation and Commercialisation Act of 1999. They were all doomed to fail.

    We don’t need any other proof than the 7th Senate report of November 30, 2011 which directed that the National Council on Privatization rescind the sale of Abuja International Hotels Limited (Nicon Luxury Hotel) for failure of the core investor to deliver on  some of the fundamental provision of the Share Purchase Agreement/Post Acquisition Plan; that the sales of assets of Daily Times Nigeria Pic by Folio Communications Limited and its directors should be investigated by anti-graft agencies and the sold assets recovered; that the former Directors-General, Nasir El-Rufai, Julius Bala and Irene Nkechi Chigbue be reprimanded for seeking approval directly from the president instead of the NCP as stipulated in the Public Enterprises Act 1999; and that   the Director-General, BPE, Ms Bolanle Onagoruwa be relieved of her appointment for gross incompetence in the management of the Bureau of Public Enterprises and for illegal and fraudulent sale of the 5 % FGN residual shares in Eleme Petrochemicals Company Limited (EPCL).

    Privatisation of the power sector by President Jonathan, his godson was also a rip-off. In August 2013, 15 companies made up of 10 Distribution Companies (DISCOs) and five Generation Companies (GENCOs) paid $2.238b to take over 60% of unbundled PHCN after an injection of between $8-$15b of tax payer’s money.

    Commenting on this on the occasion of the 11th Bola Tinubu Colloquium that took place in Abuja, Tinubu had then observed that “The PDP administration shared our generation, distribution and transmission to their friends and cronies without very deep and thoughtful research and evaluation. It has now become pork chops. It was his view that “for a more constructive reform to improve generation, transmission and distribution, “the privatisation must be reviewed”.

    Unlike our one-eyed kings who had no faith in themselves, it is on record that Obafemi Awolowo and his colleagues who laid the foundation for the Western Region, today regarded as the most educated part of Africa; Ahmadu Bello, who put together the biggest business conglomerate in Africa, south of Sahara and Michael Okpara and his group credited with running the fastest growing economy in the world in the early sixties, did not quarrel with  the economic model foisted on them by the colonial masters. All they did was to adapt mixed-economy model/public enterprises to the peculiarities of their own environment and the special needs of their people.

    It was also unfortunately lost on our one-eyed kings that we have no capitalists in Nigeria but parasitic elites who have no stakes beyond taking whatever they can get from the state. We see this play out daily with importers of labour of other societies including substandard goods and drugs while thousands of our highly qualified youths scrambled abroad in search of greener pastures. We also see this among unpatriotic sponsors of violent armed immigrant herdsmen who illegally occupy our ungoverned forests in the north from where they visit periodic violence on subsistence farmers, killing, maiming and sending survivors to IDP camps while houses, farm lands and villages are forcefully taken over.

    Whereas Western societies are owned by powerful individual capitalists who in early eighties under Margaret Thatcher decided that public enterprises had fulfilled its historical mission of repositioning the impoverished poor of the post World1 and 11 period as average workers  Their historic mission was to guarantee system survival without posing a threat to the highly stratified class social system by being able to build a house without mortgage or sending your children to the university without loan.

    And for Obasanjo and his crusading colleagues who falsely claim ‘for our today they sacrificed their tomorrow’, we now know patriotism sometimes is not without altruism. It was Babangida, who annulled the most credible election in our nation’s history, in order to remain in power or swap position with Abacha, who put and sustained him in power through military coups. Obasanjo’s boys also spoke of alleged bribe with tons of naira stocked in ‘Ghana must go’ bags in pursuit of derailed third term agenda, Obasanjo has continued to deny.

  • Why we must probe Buhari’s zealots

    Why we must probe Buhari’s zealots

    Many Nigerians believe President Buhari, a veteran of war, lost the war against insurgency because of his mismanagement of leakages in the armed forces. Generals whose primary duty is the defence of the territorial integrity of the country lost focus and started competing as to whom among them would build the biggest university in his village. While the president remained indecisive, the war rapidly spread from its Middle Belt epicentre to the Northwest with the insurgents repeated threat to take over the president’s Katsina State driving many to seek refuge in neighbouring Kano State. With increase in daily harvest of death and seizure of victims’ land by immigrant herdsmen while the president writhe his hands, many, including governors of affected states, could not resist suspecting the president was complicit in the tragedy that befell their people.

    But President Tinubu made it clear during his last week chat with some selected journalists that he was not going to waste his time on probe, because of his respect institutions. President Tinubu, it must be admitted, knows what he is doing. He is in charge. As one journalist puts it after the presidential chat: “the president is in control”.

    But if you ask me, I will say beyond President Buhari’s mishandling of the insurgency war, associated suspected leakages and even the economy, I will say one area that calls for urgent probe is acts of impunity, which has come to define not only current political actors but the successive leadership of our country from Zik to Balewa, Ironsi, Gowon, Babangida Obasanjo and Buhari.

    A journey through memory shows acts of impunity has been tragic for political actors and the nation. Zik and Balewa’s act of impunity in interfering in the affairs of Western Region in 1962 led to the death of the Prime Minister, the collapse of the first republic and the subsequent civil war. Shehu Shagari as interior minister, in total disregard for the constitution, also ordered the deportation of Dingle Foot, a British lawyer, representing Awolowo and his 26 fellow accused, from the airport despite having a license to practice in Nigeria.

    NPN’s 1979 victory secured through Obasanjo’s act of impunity was short-lived. The party’s 1983 victory, secured through Walter Ofonagoro’s warped theory of “landslide and sea slide victory in opposition strongholds” was also short-lived as violence in Ondo and Oyo states forced the military to return to power.

    Once again, besides politicians who hardly learn from history, the major casualty was Nigeria’s thriving economy where Nigeria Airways had a fleet of over 30 aircraft and where the naira was stronger than the dollar. By his own act of impunity, Obasanjo destroyed an inherited healthy economy built through Gowon’s five year development plan and midwifed by pre-independence Nigerian visionaries including Obafemi Awolowo, Anthony Enahoro, Aminu Kano, Edwin Clark, J.S Tarka etc.

    Ibrahim Babangida came in 1985 and in share act of impunity, hilariously declared himself president without elections, decreed two political parties, frittered away billons on building party headquarters, introduced Structural Adjustment Programme(SAP) that opened our country to imported goods that eventually killed our budding industries. He went on to annul the 1993 election won by MKO Abiola and whimsically imposed a short-lived interim contraption called Interim National Government. His perfidy signaled the end of his military and political career.

    Obasanjo who claims to only listen to God as president was no respecter of constitution, institutions or political office holders. He supervised rigging of elections, masterminded removal of party leaders and impeachment of governors and National Assembly leaders.

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    But if we must stop the vicious cycle, we have to start with Buhari’s era. Of course, Buhari unarguably is a patriotic Nigerian. He fought a war to keep Nigeria one, walking on foot form Makurdi to Port Harcourt. He served three years in prison for standing on the side of Nigeria against apostles of IMF and exporters of wheat.

    But like most of us, he no doubt, has his personal weaknesses. For instance, he has been accused of being a slave to his religion, of cronyism and provincialism and distrust of politicians. But this was a leader who in the night of many knives was betrayed by his close allies including IBB who after a consensus on policies thrust for the nation, turned around to accuse him of ‘arrogating to himself absolute knowledge of problems and solutions’.

    He also fears politicians. He had picked Edwin Ume Ezeoke, as VP candidate during his first shot at the presidency in 2003. He was however abandoned in court by Ume Ezeoke who went to join the winning party. In 2007, he picked Dr Chuba Okadigbo, a second republic senate president as VP candidate. The story was not different. Okadigbo abandoned him in court and sought accommodation with the winning PDP.

    In 2011, he picked Pastor Tunde Bakare. He was to realize too late that Yoruba as discriminatory voters, are hardly influenced by tribe or religion in a nation where Christian Bishops, Muslim Imams and traditional worshippers coexist within a family and are in fact intolerant of pastors with extreme views. Even while without “political structure, he vaulted on the back of Bola Tinubu” to power in 2015, even as Tinubu remained an outsider during his eight year presidency.

    But the act of impunity by those crusading zealots who falsely swear by Buhari’s name while serving other tendencies in his government and others who exploited his human’s frailties, is the reason why incorruptible Buhari, perceived to be above board, and whose military background was thought to have prepared him for war against Islamist Boko Haram, ended up presiding over an administration defined by corruption, that deepened  ethno-religion cleavages between  Christians and Muslims and left a legacy of kidnapping, mindless killing and insecurity.

    Topping our list is Defence Minister, General Mansour Dan-Ali. His unrestrained comment: “If those routes are blocked, what do you expect will happen? These people are Nigerians and we must learn to live together with one another. Communities and other people must learn how to accept foreigners within their enclave. Finish!” as response to the killings of over 70 farmers in Benue only emboldened immigrant herdsmen to visit more violence on innocent subsistence farmers in the north; it similarly set the tenor of response of  Mansour’s men to the demand for justice by victims of herdsmen who took over their land.

    It was perhaps this denial of justice by Nigerian security forces that   occasioned former Minister of Defence,  General Theophilus Danjuma’s 2018 clarion call on his people: “ rise to protect yourselves from these people; if you depend on the Armed Forces to protect you, you will all die”;  this ethnic creasing must stop in Taraba, and it must stop in Nigeria”. 

    There is also Abubakar Malami, the Attorney General and Minister of Justice. As against the pursuit of justice for victims of herdsmen violence, he focused on sting operations to capture and fly Nnamdi Kanu from Kenya to Nigeria for “inciting violence through television, radio and online broadcasts against Nigeria” and DSS’ midnight invasion of the residence of the Yoruba activist, Sunday Adeyemo, because “he and his group, in the guise of campaign for self-determination, have become well-armed and determined to undermine public order”.

    While Malami was urging Buhari to sanction those who violated non-existing pre-independence grazing routes in the south, he was silent on the 415 grazing reserves established by the northern regional government in the 1960s “which have succumbed to pressure from rapid population growth and the associated demand for farmland, overrun by urban and other infrastructure, or appropriated by private commercial interests.”

    We can add to this list Garba Shehu, who has nothing against the setting up of 10,000 strong Sharia Hisbah police corps by northern Sharia governors who believe their priority was to arrest anyone sporting “indecent dress” but was fiercely opposed to the Southwest ‘Amotekun’ security outfit, or  “whatever name they call themselves”.

    That he picked up a quarrel with the late Ondo State governor, Rotimi Akeredolu for ordering criminal herdsmen out of his state’s reserved forest, but was silent Taraba Emir of Muri, Abbas Tafida’s  30-day ultimatum to Fulani herdsmen to vacate his forest in July 2021, speaks volumes about his true intentions. .

    We also remember Isa Pantami, who as the Director General/CEO of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) was charged with developing the ICT infrastructure to counter Boko Haram despite opposition of well-meaning Nigerians. As it turned out, his promise to disrupt communication activities of insurgents had exact opposite with terrorist coordinated attacks on railway, airports and military formations and seamless negotiation of ransom with victim’s relatives.

    Impunity by our leaders and political actors has continued to be the bane of our society. We can therefore not delude ourselves by deciding to focus only on today because yesterday was gone. Today is but a reflection of yesterday. Today’s social dislocation, economic hardship, economic anarchy, unhealthy ethnic rivalries are but offspring of yesterday’s impunity of forced centralization. We have to decide the tomorrow we want today. Otherwise tomorrow when scores of other Emefieles with 11.4 billion slush fund and 775 duplexes and the likes of Bauchi’s Bala Mohammed Bello who is currently mobilizing to take over power in 2027 after telling us that all AK-47 wielding Fulani immigrant herdsmen are not only Nigerians but have the right to protect their cows against Nigeria’s subsistence farmers.

  • Kemi Badenoch and her father’s ‘Voice of Reason’

    Kemi Badenoch and her father’s ‘Voice of Reason’

    Kemi Badenoch, Britain’s Leader of Conservative Party and the Leader of Opposition, has gone through severe stress and strain since she first described Nigeria as a country plagued by “fear, insecurity, and corruption”, while reflecting on challenges of growing up in Lagos. She was accused of the denigrating the country of her parents.  Not even David Cameron who back in 2016 described Nigeria as “fantastically corrupt country” received the type of criticism that trailed what some considered as an unpatriotic assault on Nigeria.

    But if Badenoch, whose brand of ‘saying it like it is’ and promises to tell ‘hard truths about her country’ does not feel intimidated by a section of the British press who described her as “ever-out-raged Kemi” and a “passionate defender of free speech – apart from any criticism of her” (John Crace Feb 19), she is not going to be cowed by some self-proclaiming patriots, Nigerian journalists whose tantrums include describing her as one “who gets banana brain with bad parents without home training”; outbursts  that will have no effect on her future electoral fortune.

    But more unrestrained attack has since followed her declaration during an interview with the Spectator two weeks back that she identifies more with the Yoruba group than the people from northern Nigeria. This is the natural order of things. Our first allegiance is to our families through whom we acquire through a process called political socialization, the process by which the norms and values of our tribe that “are associated with performance of political roles and values guiding standards of political behaviours are learnt mainly through parents.

    “A man is born into his political party just as he is born into his probable future membership of in the church of his parents”. (Babawale 1999). We will see how this played out with Badenoch shortly.

    Tragically, most of our politicians who are below 65 years of age who at best can be described as ‘new breed’ politicians’  who have been misled by their military role models that one can be a Nigerian first without first being a good family man or a good representative of his people. And sadly, it is futile preaching to the converted in view of empirical evidences all around us.

    We have Chief Obasanjo who, after deriding his people by boasting he would rather be a Nigerian leader than a Yoruba leader, went on to become a military Head of State and two-term elected president with little or no contribution from his people beyond ensuring he lost at his ward and polling unit.

    We have General Theophilus Danjuma, Nigeria foremost philanthropist who spends money like water on account of having secured an oil well because he is first a Nigerian.  We have David Mark, who as a self-proclaiming Nigerian was in the senate for close to 20 years despite being a sworn enemy of those who fought and died for democracy in 1993. 

    Of course, there are scores of other Nigerian billionaires who made their fortune from the state because in Nigeria, it is literally possible to climb the palm tree from the top.

    But these aberrations should not make us become ashamed of our tribes. Since in the real world, studies have shown that you cannot love Nigeria without first loving your family or by first becoming a good representative of your people, no Nigerian should be ashamed to see herself or himself as a proud Yoruba, Hausa, Fulani, Igbo, Ijaw, Urhobo, Ibibio, Munchi etc. man or woman.

    Kemi Badenoch who identifies herself as a proud Yoruba woman, by virtue of her political socialization, is a chip of the old block. She is a thorough daughter of her father Olufemi Adegoke, a medical doctor who, before his death two years back, was unarguably a good Nigerian despite his life-long struggle like most of his Yoruba compatriots, in the forefront of returning Nigeria to the abandoned path to freedom through restructuring.

    Badenoch’s ‘Voice of Reason’ (VOR) is a grouping of eminent Nigerians of Yoruba descent, who is accomplished professionals, academicians, entrepreneurs, business men and women and persons with private and public service experience

    The over-arching objective of VOR is the enthronement of a regime, or structure and culture of developmentally-oriented values and conduct of leadership, followership and governance of Yoruba land and specifically within a broader framework of Nigeria’s unity and all-round national development.

    VOR’s objective  include working for a new, equitable and efficient structure of governance in Nigeria; putting pressure on the central government to take appropriate steps towards meeting  the earnest yearnings of majority of Yoruba people for a restructuring of Nigeria; and impressing it on the central government that restructuring is the best and most peaceful path to national harmony and nation-building; enhancing the quality of stewardship, accountability, human asset development and mass wealth creation dynamic in the southwest geo political zone.

    VOR members committed themselves to keeping VOR strictly non-partisan.

    VOR argument for restructuring was anchored on the understanding among people of Nigeria and the departing colonial authority at independence and after independence that “the regions represented a group of people who had long standing affinities based on ethnic, linguistic, economic and through relationships.

    Kemi Badenoch’s father-led VOR believes for development to take place, we must first have a country and to have a country, the national question must be resolved. From the views of Yoruba leading light and those of the leaders of other Nigerian ethnic nationalities, there appears to be unanimity of purpose on issue of restructuring, in spite of their different political orientations. The followings attestations seem to confirm this:

    Lack of restructuring “is the cause of secessionist’s agitation – (Prof Banji Akinoye, Emeritus professor of history and prominent Yoruba leader).

    Restructuring will give sovereignty to states on education health, mineral resources (John Nwodo former president of Ohaneze).

    Break the myth of leadership in Nigeria. Give us a true fiscal federal constitution by the people and for the people and watch this land thrive in great leadership…This centralized governing system is all about the rule of men. Give us the rule of law, to be enshrined in the people’s constitution where no saint or devil is above the law (Prince Olagoke Omisore, The Conveners of Voice of Reason 2014).

    The current federal structure is unbalanced, unfair, over-centralised and therefore unstable. We firmly support the demand to restructure the federation with appropriate devolution of powers to the federating units and a commensurate revenue allocation formula” – (Prof Jerry Gana, national president, Middle Belt Forum).

    As presently constituted, it is unwieldy and a contraption for annihilation of the Middle Belt, our cultures and aspirations – (Dr Bitris Pogu)

    Restructuring must not be seen as a demand for a previously unknown Nigeria. What we demand is a return to a Nigeria we have had before, a Nigeria that worked for human progress and development – (Obong Victor Atta).

    “I am all ears to hear how the people will convince the powers-that-be on restructuring. Change begins with restructuring – (Alfred-Diete-Spiff ((Amayanabo of Twon-Brass and first governor of Rivers 1966-1976).

    “If rapid political progress is to be made in Nigeria, it is high time we were realistic about its constitutional problems; Nigeria is not a nation. It is a mere geographical expression. There are no Nigerians in the same sense as there are ‘English, Welsh or French. The word Nigerian is a mere geographical expression to distinguish those who live within the boundaries of Nigeria from those who do not” – Chief Obafemi Awolowo in Path to Nigeria Freedom (London, Faber and Faber 1947) p 478.

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    “What Nigeria needs is a change that will make politics less attractive, make each state to develop at its own pace and do away with all shades and shapes of criminality – Chief Afe Babalola, SAN, founder of Afe Babablola University.

    There is an urgent need to restructure and reconfigure the country in a way that would suit all sections of the country – (Prof Wole Soyinka Nobel Laureate).

    We should adopt a restructured true federalism which I believe will provide the best basis for the realization of the Nigerian nation that we all desire, a stable, united and socio-economically fast developing country with a correspondingly accountable and citizen-empathetic leadership – (Chief Emeka Anyaoku, former Commonwealth Secretary General).

    The constitution of this country must be restructured towards true federalism. If it is not restructured, there will be no room for development. A country must exist before development. This country cannot exist without restructuring” – (Chief Ayo Adebanjo Afenifere leader).

    “I hope to live to see the day in a properly federalized and restructured Nigeria, the return of the groundnut and cotton pyramids to Kano wrapped with colourful hides and skin, huge cocoa plantations to the west, the palm oil and kernel industry to the east and the appearance of yam skyscrapers in Makurdi, Gboko and Jalingo” – General Ipoola Alani Akinrinade, civil war veteran.

    For close to 60 years we have groped in the wilderness.

    Voice of Reason (VOR), believing all the above Nigerian stakeholders cannot all be wrong, is today making a case for a return to the path to the Nigerian freedom we abandoned in 1966.

  • Kemi Badenoch’s phenomenal rise

    Kemi Badenoch’s phenomenal rise

    Kemi Badenoch, Britain’s Leader of  Conservative Party and the leader of Opposition, while recently reflecting on her challenges of growing up in Lagos in the eighties had  described Nigeria  as a country  plagued by “fear, insecurity, and corruption”, a comment VP Kashim Shettima, groomed in an environment where leaders play the ostrich, found offensive. He therefore choose the event highlighting the contributions of Nigerian immigrants to national development in Abuja last week not only to acknowledge the Nigerian government’s pride in Badenoch’s achievements, but also to remind her of her right to remove the Kemi from her name instead of denigrating Nigeria.

    Kemi Badenoch has since come under severe attack from all manners of self-proclaiming patriots and self-serving media platforms. But sure-footed Badenoch is not going to be intimidated by those who have chosen to play the ostrich instead of addressing the problems bedevilling Nigeria. She is therefore standing by her words.

    “I tell the truth. I tell it like it is. I am not going to couch my words”, she added

    Badenoch’s greatest advantage is that for her political socialization, she went through parents who as medical doctors bothered only about their patients without losing sleep over the larger society and her challenges. That she is believed to be on the right-wing of the Conservative Party should therefore not surprise anyone. That she was at 16 exposed to British “political culture whose components are “values, beliefs and emotional attitudes about how government ought to be conducted” (Samuel Beer) prepared her for her choice of politics as a career at 25.

    Those  accusing her of singing one creed when she needed Nigerian voters at constituency level and another now that she has an ambition beyond leadership of her Conservative Party, should understand Badenoch is a political genius who knows how to make a choice that will not lead to future regret when faced with environmental limitations. She must be given credit for knowing how to exploit both her psychological and operational environments to her own advantage (Sprout and Sprout Journal of Conflict resolution1 (1957). The truth is that Kemi Badenoch did not achieve what many see as a miracle by accident. She came fully prepared.

    British political culture coupled with her “very tough upbringing as a middle class living in a house in Lagos with no running water or electricity,” accounts for her strong character and readiness to fight her own battles.

    As a Shadow Secretary for Housing Communities and Local Government, she publicly criticised Rishi Sunak and Suella Braverman.  It was also claimed she had a confrontation with Canada over Canadian demands to lift the ban on hormone treated beef being sold to UK consumers.  In July 2024, The Guardian reported at least three officials working under Badenoch felt “pushed out” by “bullying and traumatising” behaviour, claims Badenoch denied and described as smears from former staff.

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    She has made her choice between Nigeria and Britain. “Our country” she once declared, “is not a dormitory for people to come here and make money. It is our home. Those we chose to welcome, we expect to share our values and contribute to our society. British citizenship is more than having a British passport but also a commitment to the UK and its people.” Sunday Telegraph- September 2024

    Accusing Badenoch of unpatriotic behaviour therefore as some media platforms that falsely swear in the name of patriotism have tried to do long after declaring her loyalty to another country is to stand logic on its head. But we do understand “patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrels’ as argued by Samuel Johnson back in 1775. Nothing can be more paradoxical than the fact that those today swearing in the name patriotism yesterday served as promoters of Dele Farotimi, who as a leading light of the ‘Obidients’, a euphemism for an unquestioning group, went to US where he recklessly declared before an audience albeit without proof that “as I stand before you, a convicted drug baron is about to be sworn as president of my country”.

    Noisy but empty activists and their promoters perhaps need a lesson in patriotism by America that recently elected a man who on account of over 36 convictions including corruption, women abuse, tax evasion, insurrection etc can be best described as a crook.

    But back to Badenoch’s thesis. Was Nigeria under a siege between 1983 and 1999? The answer is yes to Lagosians except those below 35 years of age who were misled by their sponsors and some media platforms to visit violence on government and private properties in Lagos

    Between 1984 and 1999, neither Muhammadu Buhari, Ibrahim Babangida, Gbolahan Mudashiru Marwa nor Olagunsoye Oyinlola had answer to insecurity in Lagos. Lagos in the words of Badenoch “was a place where almost everything seemed broken”; “there was no freedom either, the government deciding which school your child would go to, deciding what businesses could or could not operate all the way to arrests with no trial, state-sanctioned murder”.

    She was right about “destructive government policies” including Babangida’s commercialization policies through which most of our public enterprises were sold at next to nothing to military fronts and Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) which opened our market to importation of manufactured goods which sounded the death knell of our budding industries, the collapse of our naira which marked the beginning of ‘japa’ syndrome of our educated youths.

    Badenoch’s only error was describing the confusion as socialism. If anyone was practicing socialism at all, it is Britain that has in response to Karl Max prediction that capitalism carries within it enough contradiction to lead to its implosion, introduced welfare policies for the most vulnerable of their citizens.

    But we have Badenoch to thank for bringing the past to pain because our youths who were denied the opportunity to study history do not understand where the rain started to beat us. Like it is in the north, where the almajiris are mere disposable instruments of political bargaining, Lagos’ urban immigrants are canon fodders in the war against their Lagos host that give them succour.

    While it is true that many of the Lagos State developmental projects from rail line to General Hospital in all LGAs were the brainchild of Jakande, contrary to claims by revisionists posing as journalists, change of fortune for Lagos did not come until after 1999 when Bola Tinubu started clearing refuse dumps that enveloped Lagos, earning the city the description of ‘the dirtiest city in the world’.

    There was also general insecurity as Badenoch had pointed out. Lagos residents were routinely attacked in broad day light on Oshodi bridge, and Ketu bridge while Mile Two and Okokomaiko were no-go areas after 7pm. It was Bola Tinubu who found answer to insecurity challenges that defied Marwa’s heroic efforts and rehabilitation of collapsed Lagos roads Oyinlola could not find bitumen to mend.

    Let me share my own personal experience with you dear readers. I live in an estate not too far from Lagos State Secretariat.  It is not unusual to see through your window as many as 15 AK-47 wielding robbers some nights. There was in fact particular house down the street said to belong to Senator Chuba Okadigbo’s friend that was under periodic attack. The poor man, with a small stature had to be kept inside a water tank by his wife the last time they came.

    And when they came for me, I was left with nothing except the boxer I was wearing and my lacerated palms I was using to wade off machete attack aimed at my head while my wife and I were on our knees. A neighbour we fondly call Emir in the estate came to give me something to wear the following morning. The massive alarm machine Marwa encouraged us to procure from Lagos State and mounted on our building was useless when the marauders came calling

    I was tempted to flee like many of my neighbours. But I was held back by the pains of going to procure cement directly from West African Portland Cement, going to buy sand in Alapere, going to Nigerite to negotiate rebate for roofing sheets with Yemisi Shyllon and following Engineer Bella to Ijebu Ode to buy planks.

    My family weathered the storm but my children who often woke up at the slightest sound in the night, like Badenoch, bore the scars.

    Tinubu brought sanity back to Lagos in 1999.  For us in my estate, all he did was taking government off our back by creating LDAs for us. I think we got two armed police men. Residents taxed themselves by contributing money to procure transformers and to tar some of the inner roads. Heaven as they say helps those who help themselves. Today our estate is one of the most peaceful in Lagos.

    Except anti-Tinubu and anti-Lagos sponsored EndSARS vandals and the Obidient children of hate and anger, those of us who live here since the eighties long before most of them were born or came as fortune seekers, are aware that the foundation of today’s peaceful and prosperous Lagos with network of roads, fly-overs, General Hospitals in all Local Government Areas, the Atlantic City, the blue and red rail lines were laid between 1999 and 2007. These are facts revisionist posing as journalists cannot change.