The Nation Newspaper

Category: Lawal Ogienagbon

  • Blessed are the peacemakers

    Blessed are the peacemakers

    Lawyer Dele Farotimi virtually saw hell towards the end of 2024. He brought whatever he went through upon himself anyway. His book: Nigeria and its Criminal Justice System was at the root of his problem. He made weighty allegations in the book which became hot cake after he was whisked away from his Lagos home to Ado Ekiti by the police.

    Farotimi and his supporters claimed that he was abducted and not arrested. “People are not arrested that way; they are arrested upon being showed a valid warrant stating reasons for such an action or their offences”, they claimed. For all the police cared, that was academic. They have arrested and taken Farotimi to the Ekiti State capital and were not interested in any debate whatsoever. Next stop was the court where Farotimi was arraigned some days later.

    Farotimi’s arrest followed the complaint of renowned lawyer and educationist, Aare Afe Babalola (SAN). Babalola claimed that Farotimi defamed him in the aforementioned book. He was not suing his “learned” junior for libel, but wanted him tried for criminal defamation. Only a few knew that criminal defamation is still part of our laws. People thought that with the promotion of free speech, criminalising defamation was no longer necessary.

    Why make defamation a crime when the aggrieved can file a civil suit for libel and seek millions, even billions, in naira for damages – that is if he has an unimpeachable integrity, which can stand the test of trial, if put to the strictest proof. There may be no need for all of that now, following the peace initiative of the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, and some other leading monarchs in Yorubaland.

    The traditional rulers were at Babalola’s expansive Ado-Ekiti home on Sunday to plead with him to forgive his son, Dele. “As a father, you have tough sons”, Ooni told Babalola. “Dele Farotimi is your tough son”. It was a disarming statement and it had profound effect on the accomplished lawyer. Besides, the status of Ooni was also an issue to consider. As the foremost traditional ruler in Yorubaland, Ooni is the father of the race.

    Read Also: Tanker explosions: FRSC, Fire Service join forces to combat fatalities

    Babalola alluded to this fact when he accepted the monarchs’ plea to let go. Babalola for those who know him does not play with his honour. To him, integrity is everything. He cherishes his name and he is ever ready to fight anyone who drags it in the mud the way Farotimi did in the book. The author made sweeping allegations about corruption in the judiciary and Babalola’s purported role in it.

    As a lawyer, he knows that such statements can only be made based on facts. The legal maxim is: “he who alleges must prove”. Allegations made without proof cannot stand anywhere. What were Dele Farotimi’s facts before arriving at his conclusions of corruption in the judiciary and against those he mentioned in his self-published book which many publishers ran away from because of those wild allegations?

    He based some allegations on the correction of the error made by the Supreme Court in its judgment on the number of acres of land in the Ojomu case. Others, he said, were “in the public domain”. Things shall always be in the public domain. There can never be a time that matters shall not be in the public domain. It is the meaning that many people, especially the younger generation (Gen-Z), have given to it that makes it look as if anything that is in public domain is a fact. It is not.

    In the public domain can only be correct and factual as long as the issue, individual or institution being spoken about is real. For instance, it is a fact that books by eminent authors and scholars like Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe, John Pepper-Clark, Charles Dickens, Cyprian Ekwensi, Kole Omotosho, Thomas Hardy, and James Hardly Chase are in the public domain. It will also be correct to say that some decisions of the Supreme Court are in the public domain. This is so because we can lay hands on these books and  judgements when we go in search of them.

    But how can you tag an individual or institution as corrupt or a thief and when asked for proof, you say it is in public domain? What is the sense in this response? Can you call the public domain as your witness if you are sued for defamation? Farotimi should know better than those of us who are laymen in law that ‘public domain’ cannot avail you as defence in a libel suit. Public domain is nebulous, vague and invincible. How can you then rely on such an inanimate object as your defence for maligning a person?

    It is the sign of the age that we live in. The age of laziness, recklessness and of anything goes. People hear damaging things about others and without verifying, post them in social media, warts and all. When called upon for proof, they say it is “in public domain”. Public domain has become the euphemism for outlandish,  unsubstantiated and destructive allegations made popular by the Obi-dient crowd during the 2023 presidential election.

    As a nation, we have yet to recover from its hangover. It has remained to haunt us some two years after the election. The crowd may yet do the same thing during the 2027 election. With his acceptance of the monarchs’ plea to forgive Farotimi, Babalola now has a huge role to play to call the Obi-dients to order before the 2027 election, that is if he would still be for Obi then.

    He has displayed a huge heart by forgiving Farotimi despite rejecting earlier pleas by Obi himself, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Reverend Matthew Kukah and several others to do so. Now, the ball is in Farotimi’s court. Will he reciprocate Babalola’s gesture? Or will he, as he did in the Peter Obi case, say he did not send anybody on such a peace mission? He has a chance to prove that he acted without malice, and also disclaim the spurious allegations in his book.

  • A tax tale full of fury

    A tax tale full of fury

    The change in their position was unexpected. It came with a bang! The media celebrated the development out of shock. There was nothing they could do anyway. They were looking forward to a long drawn battle between the governors and the President over the issue. It seemed there would be no headway over the Tax Reform Bills until the governors switched gears. The bills were introduced by the President to reform what he described as the nation’s archaic tax laws.

    The bills are four in all, but a part of it did not sit well with the governors, especially those from the north. But they made it to look as if everything was wrong with the bills, with their initial objection. They threatened fire and brimstone, as they declared that the north would not back the bills. At a meeting in Kaduna, the governors, some elders, religious and traditional leaders from the region unanimously rejected the bills.

    Buiyed by the support of these elders and leaders, the governors sent words to National Assembly members from their states to shoot down the bills during debate. Take down four bills, just like that because of their grievance over the value added tax (VAT) component in which they claimed the north was shortchanged by the sharing formula proposed by the Federal Government. They claimed that the sharing formula would pauperise the north. Pauperise? How? You only pauperise an individual, corporate entity or state that is viable. As the saying goes, he that is down, needs fear no fall.

    There was no cause for the governors’ anxiety, and some of their region’s leading lights put sentiments aside to speak in favour of the bills. Renowned Islamic and Christian clerics and politicians saw the bigger picture of what the bills are meant to achieve and said so without mincing words. Without looking at the faces of their complaining governors, people like Reverend Matthew Kukah and former Speaker Yakubu Dogara spoke glowingly about the bills, pointing out their benefits for the north. They argued that the bills would aid the growth of the north where people have suffered under the yoke of poverty and deprivations for years.

    Dogara bemoaned where the north is today in spite of having held leadership position more than any other region in the country. ‘’What did they do for the north?’’ He asked rhetorically. “Now that there is a leader who has thought of how to better the lot of northerners, we are  complaining of not being consulted on the tax bills. How many of these governors consult people in their states before they do anything?” These were some of the voices of reason that saw the good in the bills and spoke out. But the governors were still not swayed.

    They held on to their position which they carried to the National Economic Council (NEC) which is chaired by Vice President Kashim Shettima. At NEC’s meeting last October 31, the governors urged President Bola Tinubu to withdraw the bills. He responded that there was no better place than the National Assembly for them to air their grievances and make their own inputs into the bills. At his maiden Presidential Media Chat on December 23, the President said the bills had come to stay, but left the window opened for negotiation. The bills, he noted, are “pro-poor”.

    Read Also: DAVOS 2025: Nigeria pushes for UN Security Council seat

    The bills exempt those earning around N800,000 and companies making N50 million yearly from paying tax. There are other people-centric provisions in the bills, which the governors and their co-travellers did not look at. All they wanted was to throw away the baby and the bathwater. The noise over VAT too was needless. The government’s proposed sharing formula which got the governors’ dander up were: Equality, 20%; Derivation, 60%, and Population, 20%. The Taiwo Oyedele-led Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms said the formula was arrived at after a series of meetings with all the affected parties.

    It seemed that at that stage, the governors did not show much interest in what was happening. They feel that under the derivation principle they would be cheated because tax would be calculated on the basis of what is generated from a state. In their own estimation, states where corporate bodies are situated would benefit more at the expense of others, with little or no presence of such entities. As a way out, they proposed a sharing formula of: Equality, 50%; Derivation, 30%, and Population, 20%. Was it because of this simple matter that they wanted the four bills withdrawn?

    It pays to play things cool always and not to resort to acrimony over governance matters. Leaders should think more of the led and not themselves in any given situation. They are in office to better the people’s lot and not to do otherwise. It is good to see the governors fall in line over the bills. It is not an ego thing. They should see their change in position as more of a sacrifice to make for the greater good of the people. As the President said, “it is a commendable example of cooperation between the Federal and state governments”. This should be the guiding principle of the relationship between the government and its sub nationals.

  • Police: Law keeper or insurer?

    Police: Law keeper or insurer?

    The Nigeria Police Act 2020 as amended states explicitly the functions of the police. Without the benefit of this law, we were taught those days in our civics class the role of the police in the society. It is to maintain law and order. Pure and simple. When the police arrest a person for whatever reason, it is in pursuit of this age-long duty of ensuring that society works seamlessly. The police are there to enforce the law. The laws are there to protect everybody, no matter their stations in life.

    The police power of enforcing public safety, law and order is wide. It encompasses road safety and traffic control. The police are a must-have in any society. Without the police, public order and safety cannot be guaranteed. Safety on the road and in the home is essential. Without the police on the road, we are all at risk. Nine days hence, it will be February 1, the date set aside by the police to begin Operation Show Your Third Party Insurance Certificate by motorists. Is there a need to set aside a date for this operation? NO.

    Read Also: Avión Tequila expands to Nigeria

    It has always been the practice of the police to ask for ‘motorists’ insurance’. There is no way a policeman will stop a motorist on the road and not demand to see ‘your insurance papers’, whether comprehensive or third party, the two most popular classes of motor insurance. So, there is no big deal about it.

    The real deal is in the police going into insurance business, which take-off is expected to commemorate the operation show your insurance papers. The police in business? I have never heard of any police anywhere in the world mixing law keeping with busiess. What kind of police will go into insurance trade and also be the one enforcing compliance with motor insurance? The law does not back the police action. If the law frowns at officers managing or running any private business, or trade, except farming, can it back the institution to break the same law?

    It is not too late to have a rethink on this issue for the sake of the integrity of the police, and motorists who will be at the mercy of overbearing officers, acting under the guise of enforcing a law, a job they have been doing uhindered for many decades now, anyway. On what basis then did the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) grant the police an operating licence in the first place?

  • Too big for his breeches

    Too big for his breeches

    It was a bolt from the blue. Many were shocked on Monday when what transpired within the hallowed chamber of the Lagos State House of Assembly hit the airwaves shortly after midday. Mudashiru Ajayi Obasa, who for the better part of his tenure, saw himself as Lord of the Manor, had been impeached as speaker after a record-breaking term of over nine years.

    Obasa had everything going for him as the primus interpares (first among equals). All the members were loyal to him. They did his bidding as his word was law. He virtually turned the assembly into his fiefdom, determining who gets what, when and how. He has power, raw and naked power, which he wielded brutally.

    Obasa grew up in the streets of Agege, a part of Lagos, where class and status never counted, until now. Then, you kept your bigmanism in your pocket. Relationship, as in the omo adugbo mi philosophy, was key. Without it, you were nowhere with all your millions or even billions. Once you could touch base with the boys on the street, you were good to go.

    I know because I am an Agege boy (I schooled there, by the way, when it was still a bush). Agege boys know their way in every situation because they never forget where they come from. Those who forget their ‘roots’ always pay dearly for it. No one should know this better than Obasa. Thus, he was guided by his Agege mind when he took his first tentative steps as speaker in 2010, seven years after he became a member of the house.

    He knew the card to play,  and he played it well, as he took popularism to a new height. He threw his office open to old friends from Agege and any other person from the area who required his assistance. Undoubtedly, he put Agege first, but sooner than later, he became larger than life under his self righteous claim of ensuring that Agege is not marginalised. It was a ploy to expand his political territory and the discerning saw through him.

    Read Also: Surround yourself with like-minded people, Regina Daniels urges fans

    Obasa was no longer speaking for Agege, but for himself. There is nothing wrong in trying to raise your political profile, but you do not do so by fighting battles that will alienate you and your followers. Obasa who had consistently acknowledged how he was picked from nowhere, dusted up and given power a’la carte, allowed success to get into his head. He was consumed by hubris, that age-long enemy of successful people, who never remembered that “by strength, shall no man prevail”.

    As speaker, he had many things going for him. He was the third citizen in a state of almost 35 million people, with a lot of resources at his disposal. His fellow memebers of the assembly trembled before him. He knew how to whip them into line, forgetting that they were his backbone who may decide to break him, if things got to a head. No leader no matter how powerful is invincible and invisible. When a person’s time is up, they will get him, no matter how cunning or good at scheming he may think he is.

    Obasa’s cup became full when he started to openly fight Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who rather than fight back,  tolerated him, warts and all. To political pundits, Sanwo-Olu was too politically timid to have kept quiet in the face of such provocations. They believed that Obasa had constituted himself into a nuisance and should be so treated. It has now turned out that there was wisdom in the Sanwo-Olu approach. Those who could not stomach such nonsense, if they were in his position, picked up the gauntlet on his behalf.

    From then onwards, Obasa’s days as speaker were numbered. Obasa’s treatment  of the governor and his entourage during the presentation of the 2025 budget last November 21 was the last straw that broke the camel’s back. The governor was kept waiting for four hours and when the assembly eventually convened, Obasa added insult to the injury. He neither apologised nor explained why he and his fellow memebers turned out in dark goggles, similar to those worn by Gen Sani Abacha in his days as military head of state.

    His remarks on the occasion were confrontational, uncouth and disrespectful of the state’s first citizen. As usual, Sanwo-Olu took all in his strides. Even when his men were urging him to fight back, he kept his head. “He did not even report the speaker to the President”, a source confided in this reporter. But when the matter was brought to the President’s notice by others, he was said to have expressed shock. Obasa’s address at the budget presentation ceremony became his Achilles heel. He took not only on Sanwo-Olu, but also on others who once held the exalted office of governor.

    He never recanted the statement, which was also a direct attack on his benefactors who gave him the wing to fly. He now knows where power lies. Obasa lost out in the power game because he lost his Agegeness. He did not remain true to the unwritten Agege code of “remembering who you are and where you are coming from”. Just a little taste of power as speaker and he allowed it to get into his head. It is because of his likes that many benefactors think twice before picking up people from nowhere and turning them into political powerhouses. The fear is they may turn round and bite the finger that fed them.

    Obasa is not a good poster boy of a political leader who came from nowhere and hit the limelight. As he makes his way back home from the United States (US), where he was when he fell from office, he has enough time for sober reflection on his 21-year odyssey in the assembly. Will he return in 2027 or is this his last hurrah?

  • For our tomorrow…

    For our tomorrow…

    Yesterday, activities marking the 2025 Armed Forces Remembrance Day were rounded off nationwide. Vice President Kashim Shettima represented President Bola Tinubu at the Abuja event, while the governors took charge in theira respective states. The yearly event is in memory of soldiers who defended the territorial integrity of our country against external aggressions and also fought in other wars at home and abroad. If not for their sacrifices, we may not be here today.

    Read Also: How I survived life-threatening fibroid complication, by woman

    Yesterday, they fought to keep our country one. They left father, mother, wife and children to go to war. There can be no sacrifice too great today to make to honour and keep their spirits alive. We remain eternally grateful to them. As we remember them yearly, the greatest honour we can give them is to ensure that their families do not lack. It is disheartening to see those still living among them, sleeping on the road or going about with bowls in hands begging for alms. No soldier after serving his country nor his offspring should ever beg for bread.

    They were not soldiers of fortune, but men and women who laid down their lives for our tomorrow to be bright. May their sacrifices not be in vain.

  • Rivers: Is the law silent?

    Rivers: Is the law silent?

    Gone are the days that the law spoke from both sides of the mouth – unclear, confusing and misleading the public. Then, it spoke one language in peace time and another during war. Take peace for democracy and war for dictatorship. In the military era, Nigerians saw what happened as the junta used the obnoxious Decree 2 to silence critics and non-critics alike. That was our war time and two leaders best exemplified the period – Babangida and Abacha.

    The courts were silenced. They resorted to “blowing muted trumpets” on cases where their voices should have rung out loud and clear. It was that great orator Cicero, who noted in 52 BC that in the times of war, the laws are silent. That was centuries ago. The world has come a long way since then. Can the laws ever be silent in the world we are in now? They can never be. Happenings during the first and second world wars showed that might has no place in the global community, no matter how powerful a tyrant may be.

    No matter the sentiments of rights activists about the Nuremberg Trials that followed the world wars, the major takeaway from them is that there is no hiding place for tyrants. There can never be. No matter how far they run, they can never run faster than the law. The long arms of the law will catch up with them one day. Those behaving like tyrants today and treating court orders with contempt should remember that the day of reckoning is at hand. That day, ‘monkey go go market, he no go return’.

    The thing about the law is that it grinds slowly and steadily. Yet, it is no respecter of persons as Lord Atkin observed in the popular 1942 Liversidge v Anderson case in the United Kingdom (UK). Those trampling on the law today because they are governors will do well to study that case. There is a lesson in it for all men of power who turn tyrants, using their positions to oppress and suppress others. It was Atkin that turned Cicero’s saying on its head when he held in that case thus:

     “I view with apprehension the attitude of judges who… show themselves more executive minded than the executive… In this country, amid the clash of arms, the laws are not silent. They may be changed but they speak the same language in war as in peace…” These are immortal words. They speak to the situation we find ourselves in some states today as they did to the UK of Atkin’s day.

    Rivers stands out among the states where the law is being trampled upon by, even, judges who work hand in glove with the governor. Many of the judges of the state high court are in the pocket of Governor Siminalayi Fubara. They are helping him to wage war against their own constituency by undermining the Court of Appeal. It is unimaginable for a high court judge to overrule the Court of Appeal.

    It goes against the principle of hierarchy where the high court is below the appeal court. It is a cardinal sin for a lower court to overrule a higher court. Every judge knows the limit of his power. When they cross the line, they also know what awaits them. But many of them no longer care because of filthy lucre. It was a sad day for the judiciary on December 20 when Justice Sika Aprioku of the Port Harcourt High Court quashed the Court of Appeal’s verdict that the Victor Oko-Jumbo-led three-man House of Assembly is an aberration.

    Read Also: FG pledges adequate compensation for displaced Zungeru communities

    The appellate court had described the Oko-Jumbo assembly’s action in passing the state’s N800 million 2024 budget as a joke taken too far and ordered Fubara to re-present the proposal to the Martin Amaewhule-led 27-man assembly. The governor not only disobeyed the order, he on his own reversed it when he described the Oko-Jumbo group as the ‘authentic assembly’. The implication of his statement is not lost on the people, and that is, he will continue to deal with the Oko-Jumbo group, despite the appeal court’s decision.

    Fubara is fast becoming a tyrant in his determination to stamp his authority on Rivers. He can do that without being contemptuous of the court. He is carrying his fight for the leadership of his party in the state too far by treating the court with contempt. Lest he forgets, he cannot take on the judiciary and win. The earlier he realises this, the better for him and those benefiting from his impunity, lawlessness and rascality. How can he discard the judgment of the Court of Appeal stopping him from dealing with a three-man assembly and obey that of a high court which gave a contrary order?

    Fubara can fight his estranged godfather Nyesom Wike, and the Amaewhule-led assembly for as long as he likes, but he should be mindful of dragging the judiciary into it. Why make the judiciary suffer collateral damage in a political dispute that it knows nothing about? It is the more worrisome that a section of the judiciary too is openly flirting with him by overreaching itself.

    Fubara will lose nothing more than his position if he goes down in his fight with Wike and the Amaewhule group, but Justice Aprioku risks losing all if he joins a political fray that he knows little or nothing about. How can he explain it that he overruled the Court of Appeal in a matter? No wonder his judgment was shrouded in secrecy for over a week before it was made public after Fubara’s so-called presentation on December 30 of the 2025 budget to Oko-Jumbo and co.

    How can he be so audacious as to present the 2025 budget of N1.19 trillion to the same Oko-Jumbo assembly despite the subsisting appeal court’s order that it is not a properly constituted law making organ? Fubara’s position is that the Amaewhule group has defected from PDP to APC and so they can no longer be members of the assembly. That should be an issue for the court to determine and not for him to exercise a judicial power that he does not have.

    It is a slap in the face of the judiciary for him to use a court, a lower court for that matter, to justify his unjustifiable action of presenting this year’s budget to an assembly already found to be improperly constituted. Rather than advise him, those who should know better are hailing him for his contemptuous action. Let us assume that the governor acted in ignorance, but that cannot be said of the judge who should know his law inside-out.

    But then Fubara did not act in ignorance, he intentionally did what he did. It is left for the judiciary to respond in kind so that these governors will stop seeing themselves as being above the law.

  • Time and chance

    Time and chance

    Just Like that, 2024 is gone. It went in a twinkling of an eye. When did we start the year that is now gone for good, paving the way for 2025 that rolled in yesterday? In no time too, 2025 will roll out just like it rolled in, 24 hours ago.

    Before then, as it is the tradition, I wish you a happy and prosperous 2025. It is that time of the season that we shout out to our neighbours and friends across the fence or street and from the balcony of our high-rise apartments: “Happy New Year” and the ringing response is usually: “Same to you”.

    The late irrepressible social critic, Dr Tai Solarin, had a different way of doing it. Solarin had a morbid sense of humour which reflected in all he did. Sixty-one years ago on the dawn of a new year like this, he wrote an article published in the old Sunday Times, which in its apogee, had a print run of half a million. The title of that widely acclaimed piece was: “May your road be rough”.

    What manner of man wakes up on new year’s day, of all days, and sends such a message to people? The public reacted in different ways to the article which I first came across in my English class in secondary school in 1973. It was one of the Comprehension we were expected to read and answer questions on in our New Practical English textbook for Form 1 pupils. As minors, I do not think that we actually understood the message in that thought-provoking article. We were just struck by what we believed were the article’s swear words, which many in the public, perceived as a curse.

    Who entitles a New Year message as “May your road be rough”. Only a man like Solarin who thought ahead could do that. His message was only asking his readers to pull themselves up by the bootstraps and be ready to work hard for success. Nothing good comes easy, he was saying. “May your road be rough”, he began. “I therefore repeat, may you have a hard time this year, may there be plenty of troubles for you this year… Our successes are conditioned by the amount of risk we are ready to take”.

     As it was in January 1964 when Solarin wrote that piece, so it is now in 2025 as we embark on another new year journey. Beyond the traditional wishes and resolutions that greet every new year, how prepared are we as institutions and individuals for the tasks ahead? Did we keep the resolutions that we made in 2024? If not, why? Yes, I know, you will blame it on the economy. Was the economy like this in 1964 when Solarin asked us to be ready for the worst in our search for our daily bread?

    He was only preparing us for a day like this, yet he was not a seer. We have boarded the vessel, MV 2025, which will take us through the ups and downs of life. The time to plan for what we wish to do in the course of the year is now. How can we improve our lives? How can we better the economy? The President has laid out his plans for the nation. For the umpteenth time, he promised to serve the people and make life more livable for them. Again, he acknowledged the hardship of the past 19 months, declaring that in 2025 there will be positive changes in many areas of life.

    Read Also: I’m focused on building a model nation for future generations — Tinubu

    President Bola Tinubu, just like Solarin knows that there is no magic wand to success. The road will be rough and things will be tough, but as long as we burn the midnight oil, we will achieve our goals. Success comes to those who work for it. And time is of the essence in attaining any goal. The race may not be for the swift nor battle for the strong, as time and chance go a long way in determining people’s fates on earth. We should be ready to grab the chance that comes our way. No opportunity must be allowed to slip away. Why?

    Not everybody gets a second chance in life. Some are lucky that they not only get a second chance, they even get a third and a fourth. This is why any chance that comes one’s way must be grabbed with both hands, especially at a period like this. The English bard, Williams Shakespeare, put it succinctly: “There is a tide in the affairs of men, which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune…”

    When the tide flows our way, we should be ready to flow with it. It is by so doing that success can be guaranteed. In the face of the prevailing challenges, there is a ray of hope for a better future. The last few months of the just gone year signposted what to expect in 2025. The auguries are that things will work for the good of the nation this year and beyond. As they say, tough times do not last, tough people do. We must remain tough as individuals and a nation to overcome these tough times.

    There are no two ways about it. It is either we take the hard decisions now for the sake of our tomorrow or we do not and remain rooted to the same spot until the reality of our indecision dawns on us in future by which time it may be too late to do anything. Generations yet unborn will not forgive us for that. Let us travel the hard and rough road now for a meaningful and brighter future for our children’s children. After all, a good man leaves an inheritance for his children’s children. May you have a prosperous and fulfilling

  • The statesman president

    The statesman president

    The hallmark of a good leader is the ability to do what you have to do at the time it ought to be done – Tinubu

    AFTER a long lull, the Presidential Media Chat (PMC) returned on Monday, with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on the hot seat. Tinubu is no stranger to crossing swords with the media. He likes to talk and sell himself and his ideology to the people . But he does it with tact. He does not just go into a talk for the fun of it. It is for a purpose.

    If Tinubu chooses not to talk, it must be for a reason. Many may not know this and you would find them joining his detractors to insinuate that he is running away from a debate. Run away from a debate? Then, they do not know who the man Tinubu is. His maiden PMC should by now have cleared all their doubts about his ability to hold his own in a conversation.

    From the start to the end, the President was in charge. He took all the questions in his strides. He did not dodge any; he even went out of his way to answer certain questions, to the shock of his interviewers some of who looked askance. Their looks said it all: “Is this the same Tinubu that we have known for years?” The President carried the day, with the way he tackled the issues and comported himself. He concurred when he was told by an interviewer that he could not assess himself.

    Even though he argued that he could mark his own script, he was quick to recall the advice against self assessment and grading when he jokingly told another interviewer that he had been cautioned against “assessing myself”. There was no dull moment during the hour-long chat. He caught the questions as they were thrown at him, as the Yoruba would say. He spoke frankly and with candour. It was vintage Tinubu. It was no holds barred. The President was down-to-earth and courageous in his answers.

    Read Also: Nigeria in talks with Saudi Arabia to strengthens economic ties

    Of course, many may not like some of his answers because he was forceful and bold to a fault. Call it audacity, if you like, but one thing you cannot take away from him, is that Tinubu was presidential in his outing. He spoke like a true leader with the love of his people at heart. Everything he said centred around the people and his desire to meet their expectations. He knows that some of his actions so far have been hard, but according to him, they are decisions to be taken to secure the future of our country.

    Nigeria has been adrift for long. The President is not interested in what happened in the past. He is interested more in the present and how to make things work for a better future. “We were deceiving ourselves”, he said in his opening response to a question on petrol subsidy removal. “We cannot continue to give away subsidised fuel, while neighbouring countries benefit at our expense, like Father Christmas. I have no regrets about removing the subsidy. It was necessary. We cannot spend the investments of future generations today”.

    To him, the pains of today’s removal of petrol subsidy will be tomorrow’s gains of a better and improved livelihood for the masses who have for ages borne the brunt of the poor management of the economy. “Yes, we have taken wrong turns in the past, but I am focused on creating prosperity for Nigeria. We must think of tomorrow, starting today”, he said.

    Some analysts would say he courted trouble in some of his responses. They would have preferred that he remained politically correct by exercising restraint on controversial issues like the Tax Reform Bills which northern governors are kicking against. Tinubu is not known to do things in half measures. It is either he believes in something or he does not. Once he makes up his mind about a thing, he pursues it to logical conclusion. He has seen the good in the proposed tax reforms, which he said, are “pro-poor”.

    “The tax reform is here to stay. It is to widen the tax net so that we can have more people paying… Tax matters are subjects of debates and negotiations…”, the President said. He might also be taking up on his reaction to the stampedes in which over 60 persons were killed in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, Okija in Anambra State, and Abuja. While condoling with the bereaved families, the President blamed the incidents on indiscipline and lack of organisation.

    “Losing lives in such a manner is tragic. Organisers need to ensure proper discipline and organisation in society. My condolences go to the affected families… I understand the importance of proper organisation to avoid such mishaps. It is critical that if you do not have enough to give, you do not attempt to publicise it or create chaos. This incident is a grave error on the part of the organisers, and we must learn from it”, Tinubu.

    The President can be brutally frank. That is his nature. But it does not detract from his humaneness and compassion. He is a known giver and he does so unstintingly without looking at the personal cost to himself. As the father of the nation, he might have spoken from the point of pain of losing people, his children so to say, at a season like this. A season of love, care, giving and sharing. But what has happened has happened. What we should be thinking of now, as he said, is how to avert a recurrence during future festive seasons.

    As the President said, the incidents should not ‘kill the joy of the season’. He has revived the PMC, with his incredible performance. He ended the chat with a message of hope. Urging Nigerians not to despair in the face of the prevailing challenges, the President said: “Year 2025 is very promising. I’m here to serve. I seek your cooperation at all times; I seek your understanding. I’m aware of the trouble you’ve been through. But it’s just 18 months since I’ve taken over the reins of government… The promise is there… Tomorrow will bring a glorious dawn”.

    The President’s optimism is infectious. Things can only get better after all the toils and turmoils of the past years. Despite all the stress and strifes, there is still cause to cheer. So, compliments of the Season, dear reader.

  • Mission to Ekiti

    Mission to Ekiti

    Since Dele Farotimi’s arrest in Lagos and transfer to Ekiti 17 days ago, the world seems to have centred around him and his book: Nigeria and its criminal justice system. It is the book that put him in trouble. The contents of the book are said to be defamatory of some individuals and the judiciary.

    Leading the individuals aggrieved by the book, though not jointly, but severally, is accomplished lawyer and educationist, Aare Afe Babalola (SAN). Babalola’s complaint to the police led to the arrest of Farotimi in Lagos and transfer to Ekiti for trial for criminal defamation. The facts of the case are in the public domain, that even a schoolboy can reel them off heart, if asked to do so.

    That will show you how popular the  matter has become. Then, there are people for and against on both sides of the divide. There are those who argue that Farotimi went overboard in what he wrote about Babalola, some lawyers in his chambers, the chambers itself, and the judiciary, especially the Supreme Court, for which he has never hidden his contempt.

    At no time did his contempt for the judiciary become more obvious than during the 2023 presidential election which his principal Peter Obi, who coincidentally Babalola also supported, lost. Farotimi was livid that the judiciary upheld the outcome of the election which President Bola Tinubu won. In his characteristic manner, he tore the judiciary apart, wondering how it could have upheld what he called such a flawed poll.

    His controversial book is a reflection of his thoughts on the judiciary in his interviews in the mainstream and social media over the election. That was in a political season where, as they say, “anything goes”. The book is a different matter. The difference is now being seen as the aggrieved are challenging its contents and putting Farotimi to the strictest proof of his claims.

    Farotimi does not lack supporters. Here, I am not talking about the social media crowd that usually goes into a frenzy on matters that it knows little or nothing about. I am talking about the high and mighty; the affluent and the influential who would go to any extent to protect their honour and integrity. These are people, who if they were in Babalola’s shoes would not listen to any plea for mercy until they have exacted their pound of flesh from Farotimi.

    These rich supporters of Farotimi are in two camps. On one side are those that have seen what Farotimi is not seeing. On the other are those who believe in what he wrote, warts and all. So, the former group led by his main man, Obi believes that it is better to resolve the matter amicably, but the latter comprising the leadership of a faction of Afenifere does not. Obi has seen the danger ahead and wants to leverage his relationship with Babalola to avert it.

    He has met with Babalola who appears receptive to his proposal. But the issue is Farotimi, who is reportedly insisting on fighting to the end. He has the right to take any course of action. But he should remember that whatever option he goes for has consequences. Obi has done what he deems right. His initiative may not have been appreciated by Farotimi. As usual, he is insisting on his position in the book. As we wrote here last week, he can do that as long as he can prove the allegations therein.

    Read Also: 2027 elections: Ganduje tasks APC members to secure Tinubu’s re-election

    Obi knows why he initiated the peace moves. He might have done it to avoid a crack within his fold. Or he might have done it after seeing the grave allegations Farotimi made against Babalola. Can those allegations be substantiated? Obi might have asked himself. So, to help Farotimi save his face, Obi might have decided to beg Babalola on his behalf. Farotimi would have none of that. He said he never sent anybody to beg Babalola on his behalf.

    Of course, the world knows that. Obi and his team that comprised Sola Ebiseni, the Labour Party’s candidate in the November 16 Ondo State governorship election, among others, was on a peace mission, all for the sake of a loyalist who fought tooth and nail for him during the last presidential election. How do you abandon such a man in his hour of need? Obi has done what he should do for a follower. Whether the follower appreciates that move or not is a different matter entirely.

    If the follower decides to play along with self-styled revolutionaries or others egging him on just for the purpose of noisemaking and without cogent proof of the allegations contained in his book, then he should be prepared for any eventualities. The choice, I reiterate, is Farotimi’s. He is not only an adult, he is a lawyer to boot, who knows what is right and wrong. He knows what to do in the present circumstance to end this case. Babalola has set out the conditions for truce.

    Those conditions, I want to believe, are not cast in iron. They can still be worked upon until both parties reach an agreeable point. The truth is the odds are against Farotimi. He got himself into this mess and he is the only one that can extricate himself from it. It will do him well to calm down and listen to the voices of reason. It will do him no good to keep the company of people urging him to keep pursuing the same lines in the book, if he knows he has nothing to prove those allegations.

    He should like a fighting ram retreat to draw strength. No matter what people may say, that is no weakness, but wisdom. Only a fool fights and dies in battle. He who fights and runs away, lives to fight another day. The choice is Farotimi’s.

  • Just 10 grand!

    Just 10 grand!

    It is a simple matter, but GTCO is still adamant. It is going to two months now that I have been engaging the bank in a back and forth over this simple matter of returning my 10 grand. It is simple because they

    Read Also: NiMet holds training on balanced scorecard performance management system

    can simply look through their books and sort things out. It has refused to do so and I have also refused to budge. The battle continues until the matter is resolved. Is it not just 10k? I can hear you ask. Na only 10k o!