The Nation Newspaper

Category: Thursday

  • August One

    August One

    At Last, the day is here. Today is August 1. The day set aside by some groups for protest. Protest is a good thing.  It is healthy and allowed in any human community. People use it as a tool to make their demands known. To call attention to their needs and grievances. Every human-driven and well-organised society approves of a goal-oriented and peaceful protest. How can anybody even think of circumscribing a right that is inborn?

    As a right derived from birth, countries too are careful not to tamper with it. They do everything to protect it because willynilly, the people must gather. The gathering may not necessarily be to protest. It may be for a meeting or for any other private matter. It is only in closed societies that this right is circumscribed. The societies are the worse for it because they unwittingly allowed the blossoming of the underground movement.

    Nothing can be dangerous as having an underground movement in a society. As the name implies, its members do things covertly; they operate from hiding, moving from place to place stealthily to evade being caught. But protest on the other hand is about openness. Nobody protests in secret. It must be done in the open. It is no longer a protest when it happens in a coven. Initially, all the noise about the August 1 protest billed for today was done in darkness, that is to say those planning it refused (and many of them still do) to come out and show their faces.

      Despite being faceless at the outset, their message caught on. It resonated with many in the society, especially those who have kept the present administration at arm’s length since it came to powrr last year. Why will anyone or group be planning a protest and be doing so from the four corners of their room? Their action raised eyebrows. Something must be wrong somewhere, some watchers thought. Protest is not a crime, so why will the planners not come out confidently and let the world know them? They wondered.

    Read Also: Ondo protest organisers pull out

    This, in a nutshell, is the genesis of the unnecessary brouhaha over the planned protest. Now, the nation has gone past that stage. At least, some groups and people behind the planned protest have been coming out in the past few days to say why they want to protest. They are not saying anything new. Most of what they are saying is already in the public domain. They are outlined in flyers flying all over the place and in social media, which is their main turf. The news about the planned protest was broken about one month ago in social media, under the battle cry: #endbadgovernance.

    In effect, they are saying that the government is not doing enough for the people. How they arrived at this conclusion is shocking. Despite acknowledging their right to protest, their reason(s) for it leave(s) much to be desired. They are issues that cannot be resolved through mere protest. Even if they protest from now till eternity there is nothing anybody can do about such demands. Consequently, the government and its sympathisers have concluded that ejo low’onu (the snake has hidden hands). That is there is much more behind the protest clamour.

    Whether it is politically-motivated or not depends on which side the analyst stands. But what is the relationship between #endbadgovernance and the planners’ charter of demands which is made up of political expletives. What has the ‘return of fuel subsidy’, which they are calling for, got to do with ‘bad governance’ that they want to protest against? Or is it the ‘release of IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu from DSS custody’ that is a ‘bad governance’ issue?

    What do we say of the other demands, such as: ‘abolition of the Senate and introduction of part-time lawmaking’; ‘investment in education and grants for students’? Have they heard of the loan just given to some students under a scheme introduced by the administration? Their request for students’ grant is a misnomer. Are they talking of grant or bursary? Bursary is more like it.

    There is mo doubt that things are tough. People can hardly feed because of the rising food prices. The cost of living keeps soaring in the midst of other existential challenges. We do not need a seer to tell us all these. They are things we see daily. If there is anything the planned protest has done, it is drawing the government’s attention anew to these problems. It is to their credit that the government has stepped up its plans for tackling the hunger in the land. To this extent, they have made their point. Going into a ‘rage’ over it as the organisers plan will only exacerbate things.

    This is no time for a ‘Day of rage’; it is time for a peaceful resolution of  the issues at stake. This planned  ‘Day of rage’ may be a recipe for tragedy because anything can go wrong during its execution. Who goes on protest and tags it ‘Day of rage’? Only a troublemaker! They have already told the world what to expect. Should they be allowed to throw the nation into turmoil?

  • In defence of Bayo Onanuga

    In defence of Bayo Onanuga

    Bayo Onanuga, the much maligned president’s spokesman, is a Nigerian patriot. He secured his place in Nigerian history with his 1992 heroic deployment of journalism as a weapon of warfare against military dictatorship.  He was to later fight side by side with NADECO and other Nigerians, to secure the freedom that children of anger and social media terrorists who go by the name ‘Obidients’, a euphemism for unquestioning  mob, today take for granted.  Of course those who hobnobbed with the military for a port of porridge or organize ‘one million march for Abacha’ in Abuja, singing ‘Abacha today, Abacha tomorrow Abacha forever” cannot appreciate the value of freedom they never fought for.

    Speaking for government can sometimes be a nightmare especially when rising expectations of the governed are not being met or during social dislocations.  However the   ongoing smear campaign against the person of Bayo Onanuga is for daring to accuse  Peter Obi, a serial cross-carpet politician  and  Pat Utomi, a serial seducer (with his insightful diagnoses of Nigerian political economy) of successive Nigerian leaders, of sponsoring faceless groups planning to overthrow Tinubu’s one year old administration.

     Both have not only denied Onanuga’s accusation; they have also threatened to sue him for an amount ranging between N5b and N500b. “I am not afraid of any legal action” Onanuga has declared, promising to meet his political foes in court.

    Onanuga, contrary to his attackers has not asked hungry and angry Nigerians at the receiving end of President Bola Tinubu’s harsh economic policies not to complain or protest peacefully. He has only said the position of President Tinubu as an elected sovereign for four years cannot be threatened by sore losers. And within those four years, he could even breach the constitution as long as his action is aimed at protecting and safeguarding the interest of Nigerians who may not know what is in their best interest. And if he survives impeachment threat from the National Assembly, sore losers will have to wait for four years. Therefore any attempt to remove him before 2007 by force is treason.

    Read Also: Tinubu committed to Nigeria that works for young people, says Speaker Abbas

    And Onanuga advanced reasons he believed   Obi and Utomi should be questioned by security forces over their alleged plot to unseat President Bola Tinubu under the guise of protests.

    Those he described as malcontents planning to stage nationwide protests, according to him are supporters of Peter Obi. The Obidients; who long after the election have continued to behave like an unthinking mob “are the people spreading the hashtags ‘EndBadGovernance’, ‘Tinubu Must Go’, and ‘Revolution2024’.

    Attacks on Tinubu have continued with Aisha Yusuf describing his government as ‘illegitimate’ during a Channels TV programme only last Saturday. That Obi has not denounced the activities of his reckless mob is an admission that he sanctions their assault on his political opponents including the Nigeria president. I think Wole Soyinka who also came under vicious attack of ‘children of anger’ spoke of Obi’s failure to rein in his unthinking mob.

    But in a bizarre development, even amidst ‘Obidients’ mob vicious attack on Onanuga, Ohaneze has gone ahead to label his action against two Igbo prominent sons as ‘Igbophobia’

    It is also on record that Onanuga also came under severe criticism for the nature of his advice to Igbo after the 2023 Lagos governorship election. “Let 2023 be the last time Igbo interference in Lagos politics. Let there be no repeat in 2007; Lagos is like Anambra, Imo. Any Nigerian state. It is NOT NO MAN’S LAND, not federal Capital Territory. It is Yoruba land. Mind your business.”

    This was interpreted by Igbo elite as Igbophobia without critical analysis of the circumstance that led to Onanuga’s outburst.

    Onanuga, like many informed Nigerians understands Igbo political elite have always used their people as instruments of political bargaining. Unlike the Yoruba who Awo said would not vote for you because you are Yoruba if you don’t have policies that would impact positively on his life, ethnic sentiments define Igbo politics. In the 50s and early 60s, NCNC and its Igbo candidates were recording as high as 80% returns in most elections held in the East. But it is also instructive that Zik was recording victories in Lagos and in other Yoruba urban centres at the expense of Yoruba candidates. The only exception was the 1951/52 regional election which he lost because his Igbo supporters insisted he must become the Premier of the West instead of nominating a prominent Yoruba NCNC member such as TOS Benson or Olu Akinfosile as premier of the West.

    Not much has changed. In the 2023 election, while Peter Obi recorded between 85% and 95% in all the five eastern states, Tinubu scored just over 50% in only three of the six states of the old Western Region. He lost Lagos, Osun and Edo.

    With the defeat of Tinubu by Peter Obi in Lagos through exploitation of religion and ethnic sentiments, Igbo urban immigrants could not contain themselves. They were haunted by the usual Igbo affliction-empty boasting, the type that led to mass killing of Igbo in northern cities in 1966 following their insensitive celebration of Ahmadu Bello’s assassination.

    Trending videos of meeting held in one of the Igbo states in faraway east, presided over by a senator with participants boasting of their strategy of taking over Lagos soon emerged.  This was followed by trending video of Igbo rallies in Ikeja with empty boasting about ‘building and feeding Lagos’,  a wild claim they said justified their demand that Lagos State’s future governors must come from Delta and Anambra.

    Lagosians became apprehensive. Yoruba in and outside Lagos panicked. Of the 50 major companies contributing about N54billion to Lagos’ Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), 39 are documented as being owned by Yoruba while five are owned by Igbo just as 70% of residential houses in Lagos are owned by Yoruba with the rest shared between Igbo and other Nigerian tribes.

    Besides, Lagos is not just a Yoruba star state and the fifth economy in Africa, but in terms of ‘competitive federalism’, it is the first state of choice for Nigerians. This was just as the five Igbo states whose Lagos immigrants claim to build Lagos continues to increasingly look like a war-ravaged area where IPOB, the de facto government in all the five Igbo states routinely declare holidays and visit violence on security personnel and its innocent citizens. Just last Monday, three policemen and a POS operator were reportedly killed by gun men. Successful Igbo business men and politicians, for fear of insecurity, hardly visit home except those with armoured vehicles.

    With the above picture, the Yoruba resolved to save their star state. There was heavy mobilization for the governorship election to prevent Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivor, deficit in corporate experience, in spoken Yoruba, and regarded as Peter Obi’s choice just because the mother is of Igbo extraction, from turning Lagos into a waste land. 

    As a result of the tension that attended the conduct of the election, some Igbo voters were reportedly disfranchised by Yoruba thugs in Lekki area of Lagos. This was not in the character of Yoruba whose culture the colonial masters had described as ‘social’ at a period others were being described as “anti-social’ or naked warriors of the forest’.

    Agonised by this development, Onanuga advised Igbo to stay clear of Lagos politics. Although Onanuga spoke as a patriot, he was labelled an Igbo enemy by Igbo political elite. He was slandered and his name sent to the UN as one of those destabilizing Nigeria.

    Except for those who always want to play the victim game, I could not see Igbophobia in Onanuga’s warning to Igbos not to impose their values on Yoruba or his current face-off with two Igbo prominent sons who in any case have opted to seek redress in court.

    The problem, I think is that we sometimes forget we run a federal system which is designed to protect the rights of groups and individuals besides the UN charter which also protects the rights and privileges of indigenous people anywhere in the world.

  • 10 Days of Rage: It’s always the poor killing and wrecking the poor

    10 Days of Rage: It’s always the poor killing and wrecking the poor

    Enter August 1, 2024: the spectre of protest hangs precariously over Nigeria. Touted as “Days of Rage,” the masterminds intend to lead the masses on a 10-day nationwide protest to end bad governance. After 10 days, the government is expected to swiftly implement their list of non-negotiable demands, which include the reinstatement of fuel subsidies, power sector reform, the unconditional release of IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu, diaspora voting allowances, the abolition of the 1999 constitution, minimum wage increase to N250,000 monthly, and the release of EndSARS and political detainees, among others, within a couple of days.

    These demands are championed by hashtags like #DaysOfRage and #EndBadGovernance. The right to protest is inalienable, yet caution must prevail. The masses must beware of becoming pawns in a game orchestrated by manipulators who incite revolt from the safety of foreign shores and gated estates. Are they walking the dog, or is the dog walking them?

    The protesters must heed the warning in the wind. Their non-negotiable demands, while rooted in genuine grievances, spiral into the abyss of anarchy. It is premature to pass verdict on President Bola Tinubu’s government just after 12 months of his tenure. They must also appreciate why it is dangerous for any government to capitulate to a mob’s unrealistic demands. None of their highlighted demands can be flippantly done in a couple of days, within or after a 10-day protest – that this is their earnest wish, notwithstanding, depicts the depth of their unrealism and inclination to match the political class’ perceived malevolence and insensitivity to reality.

    Indeed, nationhood thrives as political theatre. And Nigeria offers one big stage to be entertained, informed and misinformed. The process, in recent times, however, assumes the course of indoctrination by courtiers.

    The latter manifests as our most malignant affliction. Comprising journalists, politicians, NGOs, and various shades of rights activists, their machinations are oft inimical to nationhood, individuality, and growth – ultimately because they are deployed as weapons of adverse programming.

    Read Also: Tinubu committed to Nigeria that works for young people, says Speaker Abbas

    This may no doubt resonate as far-fetched to individuals and groups profiting from the status quo, especially the press and civil societies. That is understandable. It is in the nature of bacterium responsible for a pandemic to deem itself the next best thing to happen to earthlings.

    For a people programmed for conquest, Nigerians carry on with unabashed ignorance and arrogance. Arrogance is pitiable. But ignorance is expensive and quite scary. The list of the protesters’ farcical demands reveals a troubling rebuttal of reality. Yet Nigeria soldiers on unperturbed by the ramifications of it all.

    This is what happens when a nation becomes unmoored from reality. It retreats into a fictive nirvana. In this predetermined cosmology, reality is redefined to suit dubious whims and facts are manufactured to soothe relative bias.

    If Nigeria seems unmoored from reality, it’s because our lives and national discourse are dominated by fabricated events. From exaggerated grief over insecurity, misgovernance, and national disasters to celebrity gossip and pageantry of political artifice, the country is sold to desperate narratives at home and abroad.

    Whether it is the soaring price of Premium Methylated Spirit (PMS), the terrorist creed of rage resonant with brainwashed minors and young adults, or the virulent manifestations of partisan politics, the compelling nature of the grievances articulated and the pervasiveness of despair are wielded to justify the rationale for Nigeria’s creed of carnage and the country’s enduring portrayal as a banana republic by foreign governments and consulates.

    A history of corruption and neglect at the federal, state, and local levels of government, among others, morphed into a major source of widespread dissatisfaction towards politicians, the legal system, and law enforcement by the masses.

    These sentiments thrive in greater depths across geographic and virtual space; as Nigeria rejuvenates from the intrigues of the 2023 polls, a wave of validation and reproof of the incumbent political class and the opposition seeking to dislodge it has produced a supercharged atmosphere of warring critics and apologists, cynics and anarchists.

    The bitter truth, like a dagger cloaked in velvet, pierces the heart of our national consciousness: it took the clamour of angst-driven protest and the spectre of anarchy for the ruling class to heed the miseries of its people. Yet they must appreciate why the populace, battered by misgovernance and bruised by broken promises, will not be swayed by mere rhetoric.

    The masses demand grand gestures, sacrifices that resonate with their suffering. Imagine the seismic shift in perception if public officers were to slash their salaries and allowances by half, or even scrap some allowances entirely.

    Recent findings reveal that the Senate President enjoys a basic salary of N2.48 million, while other senators receive N2.26 million monthlies. The quarterly office allowance, a staggering N52 million per annum for a senator and N32 million for a House of Representatives member, underscores the grotesque imbalance. A reduction of these allowances to a third of their fraction and a similar sacrifice by the executive would be a testament to shared sacrifice and a commitment to change.

    Such measures, adopted with transparent communication, must assure the public that the savings will be redirected towards the pillars of progress: healthcare, education, and infrastructure. A pragmatic approach to governance reform must align with our economic realities and developmental goals. It is greedy and self-serving of Nigeria’s leadership to expect the impoverished masses to endure stoically while they bask in the luxuries paid for from public coffers.

    Having witnessed the aftermath of the Arab Spring, the Liberia and Sudan’s protracted civil unrest and armed strife, I can authoritatively state that the impact of such crisis is borne most heavily by the poor. When mayhem erupts, those who march against the ruling class eventually turn on each other. In the ensuing chaos, the elite flee, leaving the masses to slug it out, driven by the toxic spurs of ethnic, religious, and class bigotries.

    The masterminds of the ten ‘Days of Rage’ draw inspiration from the recent Gen-Z protests in Kenya, where youth-led demonstrations against President William Ruto’s tax policies ended in bloodshed and destruction. The president recanted and fired his entire Cabinet, except the foreign minister, just to appease the irate youths. But the latter grew bolder, destroying public property and burning the parliament. The Kenyan National Commission on Human Rights said at least 50 people were killed and 413 others injured less than two months into the unrest amid government crackdown on the protesters.

    It is instructive to note that some of those calling for the protest have already fled the country, and those within the country have perfected their escape plans. Wouldn’t it be refreshing to see these defenders of the people’s rights lead the protests with their families? Yet children of the impoverished, struggling masses idealise the protest as yet another “organic protest.”

    It’s all hogwash. Like #EndSARS, the ten “Days of Rage” will end in further impoverishment and punishment of the poor, most of whom would return to lives of squalor, after trudging the streets chanting hostile, anti-government slogans, at the behest of wealthy, manipulative masterminds.

    In the end, none of the celebrity entertainers, politicians and activists, will share in the losses and hardships imposed on the masses. Let Nigerians be guided by the consequences of the October 2020 #EndSARS protests. Several breadwinners were killed and multibillion naira property destroyed.

  • U.S. presidential election and the rest of us

    U.S. presidential election and the rest of us

    One has always wondered why the whole world is seized with the question of who becomes president of the United States after their coming presidential election in November. Those of us from the peripheral parts of the world in the so-called third world are particularly concerned for several reasons.

    Let me begin from the pedestrian level that everyone can understand. There is a large Nigerian diaspora in the United States on which some families depend. These are children or grandchildren with strong family ties in Nigeria who fear what Donald Trump may do to them if he becomes president once again. He had described African countries and Haiti as “shit hole” countries whose nationals should be banned from the United States or deported back to their “huts” from beautiful American cities. Unlike Trump, President Joe Biden actually appointed Nigerian-Americans into the second tier of ministerial positions in his government. It is clear that people who know the difference between the Republican and the Democratic parties know where their bread is buttered. This is not to say the Nigerian diaspora in the USA is a monolith going only in one direction because there are some Nigerians who believe that Trump is God-sent to save them from Islamic fundamentalism threatening to run them and their religion down. While this group is very few, but it appears they genuinely believe in their position. In other words we in Nigeria and perhaps in Africa are interested in American politics for apparently selfish reasons.

    Read Also: Edo 2024: PDP’s Ighodalo meets with EU delegation to Nigeria

    From this rather domestic platform, we can now interrogate reasons while the whole world is concerned about American politics. From the First World War between 1914 and 1918 and its aftermath, America has remained pivotal in global politics. Indeed the League of Nations, the forerunner of the United States arose out of the fertile brain of the then American president, Woodrow Wilson. Although America did not remain in the League for long because of domestic American politics, the League nevertheless remained the first attempt at international government. America actually came to global prominence and dominance after the Second World War in 1945. It was the only nuclear power with the ability to deliver it on enemy territory anywhere in the world up to 1949 when the Soviet Union joined it in the nuclear club.  This military dominance is also reflected in the primacy of the American dollar as a reserve currency. The American dollar has remained the reserve currency of the world since 1945.  For a long time, one could talk about “dollar imperialism”. Until recently, the whole world works to earn dollars, the printing of which only America controls while most of the other currencies are only legal tenders in domestic and in restricted colonial empires of certain European countries.

    Even now after the disappearance of the European empires, neo-colonial economic ties still remain binding the former empires to their erstwhile metropoles. The so-called third world remains the satraps of their former colonial masters where for a while they kept their foreign reserves but even though this has been superseded by the desire to trade with the rest of the world using the dollar rather than the pound sterling for example. Most of the commodities, whether minerals like coal, copper, petroleum, silver, gold,  diamonds, bauxite (aluminium), iron, cobalt etc. and agricultural commodities like cocoa, maize, timber, wheat, rubber, alfalfa, coffee, tea, coconut, soya beans and so on are all priced in dollars. The use of dollars as reserve currency has gone on for so long that efforts to have other currencies like the Euro and recently the Chinese Yuan have not really gathered the same kind of force behind it. The reason for this apart from the productive capacity behind the dollar is the military, financial and scientific force America controls. The dollar as reserve currency has been in use for such a long time and it has become convenient that even though people would want a global currency that the global community controls, this would take a long time to fashion out.

    Despite the fact that China, the second biggest economy and military power in the world has emerged, they also take keen interest in American politics because Chinese prosperity in the past at least, partly depended on access to the huge American market to the extent that the two economies prosperity are curiously intertwined. The other players in the field like Russia since the collapse of the USSR are not at the same global level with the United States. Japan’s big economy which like that of Germany and the whole of Western European economy was built from the ashes and rubbles of destruction following the Second World War largely from American money and technology and the ingenuity of their people. Many of these countries still feel beholden to America and follow keenly the ups and down of American politics. They all seem to believe that the American nuclear umbrella covers them.

    For a considerable time, the entire Middle East just coming out from under British imperialism quickly replaced this with the overwhelming domination of American giant oil companies in Saudi Arabia, Iran and strategically, Egypt because of its control of the Suez Canal. American investors are critical in the rise of India too and even though India appears close to Russia, this is just to appear as a non-aligned state in the old ideological 1960s non-aligned movement because of American military closeness with Pakistan.

    The point I have been making is American tentacles are all over the world built since the end of the Second World War and through the Cold War and even up to now to a situation in which you either love or hate America but you cannot ignore it. This is why American politics is global politics because whoever controls the country and the policies he or she enunciates have global implications and consequences for us all.

    This is why the whole world was worried about the feeble performance of President Joe Biden in the presidential debate with his opponent former president, Donald Trump, a performance that appears to have handed the future presidency to President Trump with dire consequences for the rest of the world. Trump before even being elected has said he would expel all illegal immigrants back to their countries. Nobody knows the meaning of the “illegal immigrants”. This could mean all those turning American society into a racially plural country and not necessarily recent arrivals in the country. Trump also has embraced an isolationist foreign policy in which a fortress America would be built and would follow a strictly conservative policy of trade restrictions with other countries especially China and even the European Union. He would follow a transactional foreign policy in which American protection would be based on financial payments. South Korea, Japan, Taiwan and possibly the oil rich Middle East and even Europe would have to pay for American Defence. Immigration to America would be strictly controlled to favour people from the Nordic countries and other Lilly white countries in Europe. This kind of foreign relations will obviously not augur well for world peace because it will follow strictly American interests with no ideological or moral underpinning.

    This fear was what made Americans with different views of the future of their country to pile pressure on President Joe Biden to step down in the presidential contest since it had become obvious that he was too old to offer Trump a serious challenge. The failed assassination attempt on Trump by a deranged 20-year old nut who was quickly neutralized by the Secret Service operatives, drew more sympathetic support for Trump and elicited the urgency of the Democratic Party to find a new candidate to face Trump in the November presidential election. It therefore came as a relief when President Joe Biden finally acceded to demands of critical elements in his party by stepping down just a few weeks before the Democratic Party convention in Chicago.

    The question now is who the Democratic Party would pick to replace Biden.  President Biden has suggested his vice president, Kamala Harris. This has gathered political momentum, but her candidacy comes with considerable weakness of being seen as a continuation of the Biden administration which many Americans see as  weak and subordinating American interest to that of Israel particularly in the Middle East and causing inflation at home because of its throwing money at many problems without factoring in their inflationary consequences. Whether this view is correct or not seems to be generally held by critical sections of the American intelligentsia. Whatever the case may be, the Democratic Party by not fielding Biden in the forthcoming coming election has a fighting chance of winning the presidency or not totally being wiped out as it would have been if Joe Biden had stubbornly held to the ticket to run.

    The candidacy of Kamala Harris, I am afraid  to say, may still cause the party to lose because, I am not sure the United States is ready for a woman president whether white or black. Since President Barack Obama’s presidency or because of it as stated by President Jimmy Carter, the United States has become more racially conscious than before and fielding a black candidate and a woman at that may be assuming too much liberalism of the American electorate.

  • The LG autonomy buzz

    The LG autonomy buzz

    The Supreme Court has given Nigerians something to chew. Since its July 11 verdict, which  granted autonomy to local governments, the nation has known no rest. Political and legal pundits, and other members of the society have said one or two things about the judgment. The debate is raging. Nothing unsettles the minds of politicians, in psrticular, more than a troubling issue.

    The verdict has caused disquiet in their camps. Many of the states with hidden agenda for their local governments are dazed by the decision. The states had it coming. They had been warned by the same court in several past decisions to let the local governments be. In those judgments, the apex court categorically declared that local governments were not appendages of the states.

    In four cases, which it cited in its July 11 landmark verdict, the court recalled saying in Ajuwon v Gov. of Oyo State (2021) LPELR-5 339 (SC), Gov. of Ekiti State v Olubunmo (2017) 13 NWLR (Pt.1551) 7, Eze v Gov. of Abia State & others (2014) 14 NWLR (Pt.1426) 192, Friday v Gov. of Ondo State (2022) 16 NWLR (Pt.1857) 585 at 648 SC that “it is unconstitutional, illegal and of no effect for a local government to be run by a caretaker committee, interim council, administrator, head of local government administration, or by other name called, agency or body”.

     It added: “This court in Ajuwon v Gov. of Oyo State (supra) held that a democratically elected local government council does not exist at the pleasure, whims and caprice of either the governor or the House of Assembly. The misconception by the state authorities that the Constitution does not intend to grant and guarantee autonomy to the local government is only a brainwave nurtured by sheer aggrandisement and megalomamiac instinct to conquer and make the local government mere parastatals of the state.

    “That is the very mischief Section 7 (1) of the Constitution has set out to address and it must be so read and construed purposefully… It is unthinkable that a democratically elected governor would embark on unwholesome undemocratic tendencies which no doubt endanger democracy and the rule of law. It is almost becoming a universal phenomenon that democratically elected governors have constituted themselves as a specie most dangerous to democracy in this country. They disdainfully disregard and disrupt democratically elected local government councils and appoint their lackeys as caretaker committees to run the affairs of the councils…”

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     You can now know why Governor Seyi Makinde has been finding faults with the verdict. Those strong words were expressed in 2021, but nothing changed in the way governors treat their local governments in the three years interval between then and now that it took the apex court to use its power to grant the councils their constitutionally guaranteed autonomy, on the strength of a suit filed by Attorney-General of the Federation Lateef Fagbemi (SAN). The nation owes its AG a debt of gratitude for taking this matter up. The only new thing that the apex court did, which it did not do in the previous cases, was to make a formal declaration on how local governments funds should be remitted.

    It never made that order then because it was not sought. As we all know the court is not Father Christmas. Contrary to the thinking in many quarters, the local government autonomy is all-encompassing. It is not only financial, it is also political and administrative. The local governments have for long suffered in the hands of governors who treat the council chairmen as serfs. The chairmen must kowtow to them or be removed from office with ignominy. Yes, local governments may not be known in a federal system like ours, in the same way that the Federal Government and states are recognised, but they have a constitutional role to play in governance.

     The states should allow them to play this role. This is what the Supreme Court has been saying in a plethora of cases, but the message did not sink home, until its July 11 well considered decision. The clincher was its barring of the states from no longer taking custody of local governments’ funds. By that singular action of striking down Section 162 (6) of the Constitution, the apex court pulled the rug from under the states’ feet. Till now, they do not know what hit them. The court’s previous orders on local government autonomy which seemed to allow states to retain the control of the purse are child’s play compared to its July 11 master stroke of  a judgment.

    The judgment was unambiguous: local governments’ funds should no longer be sent to the councils through the states, using the States Joint Local Government Account vehicle which was created with good intentions in Section 162 (6). Rather than uphold the provision’s noble intentions by ensuring that the councils got their funds intact, the states abused it. They were meant to be couriers of the funds, but they became converters. They converted the money to their own use, deciding what the councils got, thereby making the chairmen beholden to them.

    All this has now stopped. The councils have been set free. All eyes are on the chairmen. A lot depends on them for the local government autonomy to be meaningful. They have a chance of a lifetime to live their dreams and make a difference in the lives of the people in their council areas. If the chairmen mess up, the governors will turn up their noses at them, with a wry look. They would not like that. I appeal to the governors too not to lay mines on the chairmen’s way.

  • Dare at 80: Ode to a mentor

    Dare at 80: Ode to a mentor

    Olatunji Dare, unarguably, the most celebrated Nigerian public intellectual, is an exceptional Nigerian journalist, journalism teacher and scholar. The 70th birthday of this acknowledged columnist and editorialist was in 2014 marked with a Public lecture- ‘On Memories of Censorship: Struggling for Press Freedom in Africa’, Chaired by Theophilus Danjuma and delivered by a media scholar, Kwame Karikari of the University of Ghana, Legon. There was also a book launch by his constituency- Journalism and Media Industry entitled: Public Intellectuals, the Public Sphere & the Public Spirit – Essays in Honour of Olatunji Dare, edited by Prof. Wale Adebanwi.  His 80th birthday celebration last week was similarly commemorated with a lecture: “Same craft, changing times- the columnist as societal conscience”, where leading light of the media industry paid glowing tributes to a ‘man of style, biting satire and rib-cracking humour and wit’.

    Prof. Olatunji Dare has been equally celebrated as a shining star by all the institutions he attended or worked for, starting with the University of Lagos where he was the first to make a first class in Mass Communication, Columbia University, New York, where he earned his Master’s in Journalism: and Indiana University, Bloomington, where earned a doctorate in communication research. We can add The Guardian, where he served as chairman of the Editorial Board and Director of Corporate Affairs, The Nation newspaper where he is currently, a columnist and Bradley University, Peoria, Illinois, United States, where he is now an Emeritus professor.

    From his native land where he is regarded as a Nigerian ‘sun’, have also come accolades by Nigerians and Nigerian stakeholders including President Bola Tinubu who last week commended him for his “unwavering commitment to journalistic integrity and ethics, even in the face of adversity during the military era as well as continued engagement in quality journalism and mentorship of younger professionals to build a stronger Nigeria”.

    But Dare’s humility like his humanity defines his very essence in spite these tributes and many awards which include The Robert A. Curry Prize in Editorial Writing from Columbia University, The Nieman Foundation’s Louis M. Lyons Prize for Conscience and Integrity in Journalism, and the Faculty Achievement Award in Teaching Excellence from the Slane College of Communications and Fine Arts at Bradley.

    We can safely conclude from the testimonies of many of his former students that Prof Olatunji Dare’s most enduring legacy will be his mentees. And having been publicly acknowledged for his ‘continued engagement in quality journalism and mentorship of younger professionals to build a stronger Nigeria’ by no less a person than President Bola Tinubu, I think what is left for me, beyond exploring the personal bond between us from The Guardian days in this tribute, is to also acknowledge my own intellectual debt to a committed mentor ‘driven by a rigorous conscience”.

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    My personal relationship with ‘Oga’ Dare at The Guardian started with my going to his office every evening to ask questions, a habit I started at the onset of the Flagship with Professor Femi Osofisan. The reasoning behind Prof Dare’s article even with all the humour is always unassailable. But after each debate, I always asked: “Oga, is it possible that we could also all be wrong? Olatunji Dare’s special way of reassuring his mentees is -a gentle smile with almost inaudible “let us wait and see”.

     And he was always right. And when you add this to his flawless editorial and feature writing, it is tempting to conclude that a celebrated star in total control of his art is infallible. I guess this is the sense in which one of his former University of Lagos students said in his own tribute that if he ‘were not a Christian, he would worship Professor Dare’.

    Perhaps my greatest indebtedness to Olatunji Dare as a mentee was in the area of intellectual pursuit. I had abandoned my PhD write-up as a result of joining The Guardian as a pioneer staff in 1982. With ‘Oga’s encouragement and continued prodding, I picked up the challenge in 1988. He took pains to read all the chapters and made constructive and valuable suggestions. I remember his ringing warning to build my confidence as I set out for my examination a year later before Professors Leo Dare, the late Ogunade and late Remi Anifowose. “Don’t forget ‘you are the expert lecturing the examiners on ‘the press and national integration in Africa”.  My exam took less than one hour. The credit goes to ‘Oga’ Dare.

    Of course, afterwards, the relationship between my intellectual mentor who fondly calls his mentee ‘omowe’ only grew stronger. We debated everything from serious issues of state to mundane issue of how long one should use a razor blade to shave.

    Prof. Dare was always looking at the larger picture. Even when I thought I was vindicated by MKO Abiola’s death, it turned out to be a pyric victory. The larger picture he saw in Abiola’s self-sacrifice was Abiola as a martyr  of democracy while the evil Babangida, Abacha, Shonekan, Obasanjo, Nzeribe  Uche Chukumerije and Walter Ofonagoro did, will continue to live after them. Abiola’s achievement in death would have been a bridge too far to cross even if he had lived for 100 years.

    Because you never leave empty handed after an encounter, Prof Olatunji Dare has a way of arresting his mentees with his presence. He once visited me at home to congratulate his mentee and his wife on their little baby boy. No sooner had he settled down on a chair than we embarked on one of our long debate on “Babangida’s Transition without End” (apology to Oye Oyediran). It went on for such a long time that when I eventually remembered the object of the visit and called on my wife to come and serve my ‘oga’, I received no answer. My furious knocking at the door to the room only produced an embarrassing silence.  After another twenty minutes, oga noticing my discomfiture, took his leave with his reassuring ‘I understand smile’.

    My wife did not break the ice until almost 25 years later as we set out for Dare’s 70th birthday ceremony at the Museum Centre.  She accused me of not just trading her for my Oga back in 1989 but how I also named our baby after him without her consent. I apologized. It was fruitless trying to convince her that it was my brother as the head of family in Lagos that gave a name to our new baby.

    The secret, for those who may not know, including envious spouses of mentees, of Dare’s ability to keep a harvest of his arrested mentees very close is that, he in spite of his enviable achievements, remains humble, dependable, civilized, compassionate and caring.

     These virtues, I think also account for his fidelity to friends including those who have proved themselves unworthy of his friendship. When he spoke to me in the US shortly after being named Executive Consultant (Editorial & Advert) the de-facto Head of the Guardian, about his unceremonious departure from The Guardian despite his acknowledged contributions, it was without bitterness. For the health of The Guardian, he advised we change its status from that of a firm where ‘gratuity was gratuitous’.’ And that was exactly what we did 2005.

    I have also seen Oga Dare display his “water has no enemy’ world outlook as a response to Obasanjo’s betrayal. Obasanjo often like to tap from intellectuals. Dr. Dare after Dr PD Cole and Dr Macebuh literarily became Obasanjo’s speech writer, intellectual sparring partner and diplomatic “handbag”. For his pains, people thought his name would feature prominently in Obasanjo’s cabinet’s list.

     Obasanjo’s Greek gift however was the Daily Times, destroyed beyond repair by Uche Chukwumerije under Shonekan and Walter Ofonagoro under killer Abacha, an offer Dare politely rejected. Ironically, long after ‘Aso rock intellectuals’ and ‘government pikin’ journalists had abandoned Obasanjo, Dare remained the only one defending him.

    Of course I confronted Oga Dare but all I got was the same ‘all will be well’ reassuring smile.  As a civilized man, Dr Dare would rather hurt himself than displease others.

  • Prof. Olatunji Dare: In his farewell, we find him anew

    Prof. Olatunji Dare: In his farewell, we find him anew

    In the quiet hum of The Nation’s newsroom, about a decade ago, I first encountered Professor Olatunji Dare. His presence was commanding yet unassuming, his words pulsing with the wisdom of a lifespan devoted to fiery journalism. It was in the office of the then Daily Editor, Gbenga Omotoso. That chance encounter would serve as a prologue to an enduring regard for one of Nigeria’s finest columnists.

    Fast forward to a Wednesday night in 2022. Fresh off the euphoria of winning the Fetisov Journalism Award (FJA) for Outstanding Contribution to Peace, my phone rang. The voice on the other end was unmistakable—incisive, soothing, and profoundly encouraging.

    Professor Dare had called to congratulate me. He said he had been trying to reach me for two days. At that moment, he made me a promise borne of a genuine desire to see me excel – one that supersedes what any benefactor may profess. Although I haven’t yet taken him up on that promise, the goodwill and sincerity behind it resonate with me still – a testament to his unwavering support for young journalists and writers.

    His retirement from The Nation’s back page as he clocked 80 isn’t just the end of a column; it’s the dimming of a beacon that has illuminated the landscape of Nigerian journalism for decades. Some have questioned the relevance of columnists, arguing that the ruling class scarcely reads them. Yet, Professor Dare is one of those rare breeds, whose incisive takes command the attention of even the most aloof political players. His writings transcend mere commentary. They are the pulse of the nation, echoing through the corridors of power, into the hearts of the citizenry.

    The beauty of his prose subsists in its appeal to both his fans and critics. His words, whether revered or rebuked, command engagement. Throughout his illustrious career, Professor Dare shunned the hubris that often ensnares intellectual giants. He never saw himself as an oracle, despite his authoritativeness and prognostic gift. His delivery, always steeped in a rare cadence of humility, ennobles and edifies society.

    Little wonder he maintained his oracular tenors from his days as the author of Matters Arising to his recently rested column in The Nation, At Home Abroad. From his unapologetic yet constructive criticism of military dictatorship to his clinical and didactic engagement with civilian leadership, Professor Dare’s contributions to nation-building are invaluable. Foremost columnists—some of whom were his former students—have paid homage to his literary and academic brilliance as he celebrated his 80th birthday.

    In his departure, I find him anew. Each column he penned provides an avenue for rediscovery, a chance to delve into familiar issues with fresh perspectives. His farewell offers an opportunity for new disciples to find him and for old friends and acquaintances to relive his wisdom.

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    At 80, the instinct is to let Professor Dare take his victory lap, applauding respectfully for the incredible work he has done. Yet, selfishly, I find myself yearning for more. Perhaps it’s because I suspect he still has much to offer. However, it is important to respect his decision to step back, given the immense sacrifices he has made and his invaluable contributions as a leading writer and moral compass for society.

    It is instructive that in over three decades of public commentary, the former Chairman, Editorial Board of The Guardian Newspaper and weekly columnist of The Nation, he never betrayed an exaggerated sense of self-worth. He neither declared nor paraded himself as an oracle, a temptation that many in his position would find hard to resist.

    Back in the military era, when eggheads sprouted and flowered as the mystical roses of the Nigerian mire – and endorsed brutes wielding unmerited power as they made our chaste, walled garden unchaste – Professor Dare refused to hop on the sycophantic bandwagon.

    Unlike several intellectuals who paraded flawed presence, he asserted real persona and moral substance. Thus, he was closed to and defiant of the seductive whisper of the crooked. He understood that the process of co-option is often subtle and reductive of journalists who must pride their independence.

    Few can forget how he resigned from his former workplace after the newspaper apologised to the late military dictator Sani Abacha. Professor Dare rejected the newspaper’s bid to earn the good graces of the late tyrant, and instead opted to resign, stressing that a newspaper that had always advocated the rule of law should not enter into a bargain that muddied the rule of law. “Since I didn’t participate in the resolution of the crisis,” he reportedly said, “I think it will be unfair to those who did if I benefit from the gains of the trip.” Thus, he relocated to the United States, where he started life afresh at Bradley University and the authorship of a 14-year weekly column, At Home Abroad, in The Nation.

    He shunned ghostly, amoral clout, and its promise of instant gratification, knowing it will eventually vanish in the long run, amid the sullied system that goads journalists to become soulless lobbyists.

    Professor Dare deployed fiery intellect to mirror societal hypocrisy and misgovernance, moral corruption and injustice. He walked his talk in the interest of Nigeria and the populace.

    For this and many other reasons, friends, family, colleagues, and former students converged on Radisson Blu Hotel, Ikeja GRA, Lagos on July 17, to celebrate a man who has spent his life speaking truth to power and mentoring generations of journalism greats. A recipient of several national and international academic and professional awards, the Emeritus Professor of Communication from Bradley University, Illinois, United States, has significantly contributed to public discourse in the country and beyond through his incisive columns in national newspapers and research papers in reputable journals. His satirical writings have been the subject of academic research in tertiary institutions within and outside Nigeria.

    President Bola Tinubu, in celebrating Dare, extolled him for his commitment to journalistic integrity and ethics, even when he faced adversity and repression during the military era. Professor Dare defies description and elicits awe for his brilliance, strength of character, and the courage of his convictions.

    If Professor Olatunji Dare’s life were a book, it would be a literary masterpiece, interlarded with patriotism, satirical genius, progressive scholarship, and a life devoted to the preservation of nationhood. His life is a saga of serialised valour, each chapter brimming with contributions that have shaped generations of writers and thinkers.

    Professor Dare deconstructs and illuminates the grey areas of governance and citizenship with painstaking, resilient introspection. His retirement is not just the end of an era; it is a poignant reminder of the power of words and the enduring impact of a life dedicated to truth and justice.

    Perhaps because he humanely engages with the issues and relates it to the people, Professor Dare attained noble repute, unsullied and deeply respected from the grassroots to the glitzy corridors of power. In retirement, he assumes a prideful place in the pantheon of Nigeria’s finest satirists, patriots and statesmen.

    As he steps away from his role as a columnist, we honour not just his contributions to journalism but also the profound impact he has had on our lives. Professor Olatunji Dare, at 80, remains a beacon of wisdom, a testament to the enduring power of insightful, humble, and impactful journalism. In celebrating his legacy, we are reminded that the adventures of our souls in knowing him—first through his engaging writing and then through personal encounters—have been nothing short of transformative.

  • The siren song of anarchy

    The siren song of anarchy

    How does one love or hate a country? To this, every answer may likely spiral into a fog or eclipse in a vapour of hanging participles. The ripostes may spatter and splay like a treacherous sandstorm but it’s about time we braved its tumult. It’s about time we addressed our innate demons. Call it our therapy of healing or stratagem of entitlement to national trauma.

    Too many people drift through each day with a siege mentality – each individual treating the nation as a savage space, where ferocity is fostered and condoned.

    Inspired by the recent protests in Kenya, Nigerian youths are planning a similar demonstration in the coming weeks. This looming unrest has sent ripples of anxiety through the incumbent administration, spurring a fervent campaign to discredit and deter the youth from this course of action.

    What the government must embrace is a vision of governance steeped in pro-citizenry policies. President Bola Tinubu and his team must avoid pandering to the fancies of the political and business elite. The citizenry has become more vigilant and cynical, and any hint that his policies cater to the inordinate appetites of corporate magnates and oligarchs will not be forgiven.

    There is no gainsaying he achieved a milestone by facilitating the empowerment, through legal provisions, of Nigeria’s local councils with their statutory funding directly from the federation account. This has drawn applause from Nigerians irrespective of political and ethnic affiliations. 

    Thus, Tinubu must understand how his deeds or misdeeds resonate among the populace. It is insufficient to brush off dissent and harsh critiques as mere machinations of a disgruntled opposition. Instead, he must strive to earn the trust and goodwill of the people through a commitment to transparency, decisive, and exemplary performance. This is the best way to earn the respect of his critics and the goodwill of Nigerians.

    Indulging in superfluous luxuries for public officials, especially at a time when Nigerians grapple with widespread hunger, soaring inflation, and insecurity, would be a grave misstep. Recent statistics reveal a staggering food inflation rate of 40% and general inflation at 34.19%. These alarming figures underscore the grievances fueling the planned protests, a poignant reminder of the urgency for genuine, people-centred governance.

    Yet, while Nigerians flay Tinubu for the hardship triggered by his radical albeit progressive policies, we must acknowledge that he isn’t the architect of the prevalent economic distress. Together, we embarked on this Nigerian journey into savage nature, trading vistas of hope for caskets of greed. Together, we railroaded Nigeria to self-destruct. And collectively, we must salvage what’s left of it.

    But we mistake the path we must take as shown by our resort to rant and rave. We cannot speak angst to misgovernance while we nurse barbarism within us. The solution isn’t speaking rage to pain either but healing through its sting and living it out.

    President Tinubu’s economic policies have been heavily criticised by Nigerians in fits of anger and frustration. In response, he has assured that there is hope for the nation’s financial and economic prospects, citing efforts being made by the administration in all sectors. He has assured that though things appear harsh currently, there is light at the end of the tunnel.

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    Speaking at a recent State House event, he said, “We might be going through difficult periods now, but when you look at the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission, the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning and people manning the ship of this country, including Central Bank of Nigeria, they have collaborated and in the spirit of development and progress, we are glad that good effort is being made to retool, re-engineer the finances of the country and make growth our hallmark.”

    As we await the promised dividends of his administration’s policies, shall we desist from inflaming the polity? Already, the social space thrives as a repository of venom and virulent dissent, triggered by the soaring prices of food, goods and services. Against the backdrop of the crisis, the possibility of the citizenry’s resort to anarchy remains the most frightful imagery. Too many social actors intensely replicate our primitive experience. But they have done nothing but reenact the vast facets of evil that we groomed them to personify.

    It hardly matters whether we publicly denounce them, Nigeria would never be rid of them until we set our grief’s needlepoint astride the prick of pain.

    The youths must avoid being used as cannon fodder for violence by disgruntled losers at the 2023 polls, and those embittered by the latter’s loss. The election is over, and it is time to rebuild Nigeria, not ruin it.

    Nigerian youths must shun the manipulations of devious demagogues and channel their ingenuity, passion and resilience into more constructive actions, like building a new Nigeria.

    It is wiser to engage in dialogue and advocate for transparent governance, and accountability from Nigeria’s leadership.

    The youth must avoid being used to sabotage the appreciable measures of regrowth initiated by the incumbent administration. They must avoid being misled by selfish elements seeking to hijack the masses’ dissent and quicken its degeneration into more sinister forms.

    Nigerians couldn’t have forgotten so easily the #EndSARS 2020 protest, and how youths marched onto the streets purportedly to protest bad policing and leadership failure.

    We must remember #EndSARS for what it’s worth: its elegiac stanzas, propitious rage, and inauspicious demise. The tragedy caused by the protest is instructive; it bristles even as you read, with consequences of leadership insensibility and imprudence of youths cut to size—no thanks to hubris.

    The instigators of the planned protest do not give a hoot if it results in widespread anarchy and destruction; if they succeed at burning the country to rubble, they will retire to their investments and opulent sanctuaries abroad.

    The celebrities and pawns inciting protests over harsh living conditions do not truly care about the common man. It will be recalled that they all fled Lekki Tollgate, the venue of the #EndSARS protest in 2020, just before the shit hit the fan. They were all warned off the streets by their powerful parents and other privileged sources. Again, some of them have been contracted to spread inflammatory messages and destabilise the country.

    It is interesting that, like during #EndSARS, Lagos has been chosen as the venue for the planned protest. Citizens should instead direct their grievances to their respective state governors and protest in their home states. Many governors have received unprecedented billions of naira from the withdrawal of fuel subsidies. It’s about time they accounted for how they are using the funds.

    Lagos demonstrates progressive governance, better than any other state, thus its blooming as a melting pot of commerce. The state government must take urgent steps to protect the state from any form of internal and external aggression. Another ill-fated protest in Lagos could destabilise the country and deepen ethnic divisions across the country.

    The most effective protest the youth and citizens can engage in is a strategic and peaceful one via the ballot box. It is reckless to assume that power can be seized through anarchy as seen in the protests in Kenya and the ill-fated Arab Spring, which did little to address the protesters’ grievances.

    For all its symbolism and contrived grandeur, Nigerians must look beneath the blankets of rage to see the true nature of dissent, its toxic traceries of thought, action, and reaction.

    Notwithstanding, President Tinubu must respond humanely, with utmost caution and resolve, lest the pallid yarns of patriotism corrupt citizenship and endanger the country.

  • Dare’s Day

    Dare’s Day

    Professor Olatunji Dare, the ace columnist, who was 80 yesterday, needs no further introduction. He joined the Octogenarian Club in a blaze of honour and glory. Some members of his constituency gathered in Lagos to mark the day, even though he is in faraway Chicago, United States, where family and friends also converged to celebrate him. So, Dare, the writer par excellence, is 80 plus one day today.

    On Tuesday in his backpage column in this paper, he wrote about his turning 80 yesterday, recalling that longevity runs in his family as his parents lived up to over 70 and 80, respectively. At yesterday’s colloquium organised by The Nation and the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE), a rare collaboration in the media world, to mark Dare’s birthday, speakers spoke glowingly about the erudite journalism teacher and practitioner, who caught all unawares with his Tuesday’s submission that he was an article away from taking a valedictory bow from column writing.

    My MD Victor Ifijeh was shocked by the surprise announcement as he drew my attention to the article titled: A preface to a valedictory. On entering my office on his way to his, which is just two doors away, the MD asked: S’o tika Dare? (Have you read Dare’s column?). Before I could answer him, he reached for the day’s paper on my table, went straight to Dare’s column, placed a finger on the last paragraph and said: ka (read).

    I read the paragraph which ran thus: ‘The column will take a valedictory bow next Tuesday’. I looked up and my eyes locked with the MD’s. We were both speechless, momentarily. When I found my voice, I asked: ‘Did he discuss this with you before writing?’ The MD shook his head sideways. Prof, as we call him around here, gave reasons for his actions, which we will come to later.

    The birthday colloquium, with the theme: Dare at 80: Same craft, changing times – The columnist as societal conscience was besides celebrating the eminent essayist, a forum for the media to reexamine itself in the wake of the prevailing political and socio-economic situation in the country. Dare is a known critic of the media and its offerings. To him, the duty of the media is to help in shaping the society to make it just and egalitarian for all.

    Though his absence was felt, it did not affect the quality of discourse on the occasion. Dare remained the focal point though, as the speakers noted how he has used his column over the years to contribute to national growth and development. He was described as a frank columnist who wrote without being beholden to the powers-that-be. Dare has always been more concerned about journalism of public service than self interest.

    The speakers were effusive in their praises. From the lead to the least speaker, everyone had good things to say about Dare. It was a superb outing to which his presence would have added more colour. In the gathering were some of his contemporaries, but many others were his students and those he mentored when he went into full-time journalism practice after leaving the University of Lagos (UNILAG) in 1988. Dare has seen it all as a teacher and practitioner. His teaching rubbed off on his practice.

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    The practice of the theoretical aspect of what he taught others for many years became a rich blend which he utilised to the highest advantage. He could teach journalism and also practice it, unlike many other scholars who are only grounded in mass comm theory. It is to Dare’s credit that he is at home in the classroom and newsroom. Not many of his colleagues can make that smooth transition. They will feel like fish out of water.

    Since 1988 till now, he has been writing a weekly column, with focus on the collective good. His People First kind of journalism earned him his name. He could have written and made tons of money from those in power, who wanted to be friends with him, but he chose to be the conscience of the nation than the mouthpiece of those in power. He was in the vanguard of a public-oriented media too.

    Dare detests anything that makes the media to look cheap before others. He wants a media with its head high, not bowed on the altar of filthy lucre. His 36-year crusade as a regular columnist cutting across The Nation and The Guardian, and discounting those years that he contributed articles to the Daily Times and other papers, cannot be said to be wasted. Dare has played his part. He has run the race.

    It is not often that an academic leaves the gown for the town and returns to the ivory tower as Dare did. Today, he is Professor of Journalism, Emeritus at America’s Bradley University from where he retired in 2015. But is it time for him to retire from column writing? I understand the wear and tear that come with aging as he wrote in his column on Tuesday, being not a spring chicken myself.

    I also understand that he needs to attend to other pressing issues, especially family matters, in the twilight of life. I bet that if he listens to the keyboard sound again, he will hear it ‘whispering’: tarry, Prof; your proteges still want you around. Perhaps, for a year or two more to enable us to prepare for what we know is inevitable.

  • Supreme Court ruling on LGs

    Supreme Court ruling on LGs

    Our predilection as a nation is often the refusal to confront our own demon.  Our founding fathers embraced federalism because it is a social system that guarantees unity in diversity. But because of some social dislocations normally associated with crisis of nation-building, our military adventurers truncated the first republic and imposed a unitary system on a multicultural society. But instead of confronting our demon through politics, we have for 60 years engaged on social engineering efforts that have left the country more fragmented than it was before independence.

    At independence, we operated a federal system where the federating regions/states and the centre were equal and co-ordinates. Confronted with crisis of underdevelopment, the military as custodian of the nation’s constitution developed a messianic complex. They embarked on whimsical creation of states and local governments without logic or rhyme.  They foisted on the country what they decreed a ‘third tier of government’ to be funded with funds which constitutionally belong to the second tier of government. Unfortunately the media and the intellectuals, who should know what is required for such an aberration is a political solution, have continued to talk about ‘local government autonomy’ and high-handedness of governors who are in fact victims of an overbearing centre.

     But I sympathise with the Supreme Court that has been called upon to apply a judicial solution a political problem. Its duty is to interpret the constitution. It did exactly that last week when it ruled that “governors’ retention of local government funds was a violation of the 1999 constitution”. According to Justice Emmanuel Agim: “Demands of justice require a progressive interpretation of the law… since paying them through states has not worked, justice of this case demands that LGA allocations from the federation account should henceforth be paid directly to the LGAs.” The Supreme Court cannot give what it has not got. The nation remains haunted just as our leaders continue to play the ostrich.

    But I sympathise more with President Bola Tinubu.  Since it is said one does not become a left-handed at middle age, one is at a loss as to whether the president for political expediency would want to become a dictator after all his previous battles for true federalism. It is on record that he,                                                                                                               as Lagos State governor some 20 years ago, dared Obasanjo by creating 37 additional LGAs and won his case at the Supreme Court that failed to annul elections to the 37 LGAs on the strength of his argument that by virtue of section 162 of the 1999 constitution, it is the state’s House of Assembly that are empowered to create LGAs.

    Although nothing has changed, but the president who has been under intense pressure since his inauguration last year while reacting to last week Supreme Court judgment said: “By virtue of this judgment, our people – especially the poor – will be able to hold their local leaders to account for their actions and inactions…what is sent to local government accounts will be known, and services must now be provided without excuses.” 

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    Many are now wondering whether in an effort to ensure the grassroots people feel the impact of his Renewed Hope Agenda, he is prepared to trade his life-long struggle for true federalism, the only thing that sets him apart from his fellow politicians, for such opportunism.

    But let us return to our untamed demon. First, the whole idea of federally-created and funded LGAs or third tier of government defies logic. When you say LGAs are independent of states, then what else is left for the states to do if they cannot interfere in the affairs of LGAs that constitutionally report to them?

    It cannot be an accident that Section 7(1) of the 1999 constitution gave the power for the establishment of democratically elected local governments, their structure and composition, finance and functions to the state Houses of Assembly.  These powers given to the states were independent of those enjoyed by the national government.

    Since the genesis of local government administration in Nigeria dating back to pre-colonial period, there has never been one uniform local government in Nigeria. The Emirate systems of Sokoto and Borno caliphates were different from the local government system in Ibadan, Egba, Ekiti and Oyo empires just as both were different from smaller districts, villages and wards that were subject to the kingdom and emirate government.

    And since the modernisation of local government whether as a tool for promoting democracy and participation at the grassroots level, offering the local people the opportunity to manage their affairs or performing the role of efficient delivery of services, such as local roads, distribution of water supply, housing for low income groups, health services, agriculture, the regions or states have always performed the supervisory role for the LGAs.

    Many therefore see the whole idea of a third tier of government independent of states they constitutionally report to as part of ‘military command and control strategy’ to undermine the states just as the whole idea of sharing among such arbitrarily created states funds that constitutionally belong to the states was born out of military age-long practice of sharing spoils of war of conquered territories.

    It is for instance on record that it was  Professor Chukwuma Soludo who, as CBN governor, first pointed out that Nigeria was the only know federal state where the centre funds LGAs that do not report to it.

    And this is exactly what many believe to be the source of massive corruption and lack of productivity in the local government. It is a well-known fact that even with the supervision of state governments, councillors have been known to erect mansions within one year in office. 

    As observed by Ayo Fayose, former governor of Ekiti, “Go to the council meeting on Wednesday or Friday, you will not find 10 per cent of the staff of the local government in the office. They don’t come to work. When you make moves to bring them to book, they will be telling you, we will not vote for you. At the local government, everybody comes to collect money, even people who have left some states. They live somewhere else and money just hit their accounts”. One can only imagine what will happen now that we have been told the LGAs are no more answerable to the states.

    For Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, the problem is neither local government autonomy nor of local government financial autonomy, all of which he dismissed as distractions. For him the problem is lack of productivity”.  As far as he is concerned, “the judgment of the Supreme Court, about local government autonomy, financial autonomy, and all of that, is just a distraction…The issue is that we are not producing enough”.

    But beyond corruption and lack of productivity by the LGs, what is at stake for informed Nigerian stakeholders is the re-enactment of the fundamental principles of true federalism as agreed by our founding fathers. And this is political rather than judicial.

    For instance what else can we advance as he the reason why Kano before it was carved into Kano and Jigawa with 71 LGAs had the same population and the same 20 LGAs as Lagos, other than politics?