The Nation Newspaper

Category: Tuesday

  • Anthem blues

    Anthem blues

    Frankly, “Nigeria We Hail Thee” (the renewed National Anthem), is no more glorious than “Arise O Compatriots” (the junked one) is rotten.

    Each has its own strong points — which makes the point: if nothing was wrong with “Nigeria We Hail Thee”, why its change, under Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo, in 1978?

    If 1978 was military hubris — that decreed a change-for-change-sake — that same logic (or illogic) just thundered too in 2024, though under preening democratic rule.

    If one indeed cancelled out the other, why the hoopla in some quarters, particularly those you expect to react to issues more logically than emotively?

    The reason seems clear: they react to other matters but use the renewed National Anthem as hysteric fob.  Still, it’s a democracy, and hysterics are no crime!

    Nevertheless, you would worry — or wouldn’t you? — about an Oby Ezekwesili (the Obasanjo presidential-era Madam Due Process) blowing her tops.

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    “Let it be known to all and sundry,” she howled, “that I, Obiageli ‘Oby’ Ezekwesili, will, whenever asked to sing the National Anthem, sing: ‘Arise, O Compatriots, Nigeria’s call obey’ …” Again, wilful delusion is no crime in a democracy!

    But shouldn’t our Oby have reserved her clinical dissent for the IPOB sit-at-home (May 30) that could have robbed some Igbo kids of writing a critical public examination, than for a National Anthem change (May 29) that really changed nothing, in real terms?

    In the one, she was mute.  In the other, she was shrill.  Yet, both events happened a day apart!  Hypocrisy?  Again, no democratic crime! 

    Still, you’ll wonder what had befallen Oby’s Due Process credo.  1978 was pure military fiat.  2024 is parliamentary law.  Yet, by Oby’s skewed logic, a parliamentary act was “obnoxious” while a military diktat was divine!

    Madam Due Process, indeed!  More of Madam Skewed Process!

    But to another impassioned opposer, Is’haq Modibbo Kawu, who signed off his piece as “Broadcaster, Journalist and a Political Scientist.”

    Indeed, Kawu tried to marshal his points, though the entire piece almost sank into name-calling, with Kawu progressively seeming to have a personal grudge with Opeyemi Bamidele, the Senate Leader.

    Kawu scoffed at “tribe and tongue may differ”: an evocative part of the renewed anthem. Yes: “tribe” as connotation could assume some racial slur — a valid stand. But that hardly cancels its basic denotation: a social category of distinct peoples.

    Besides, his take on demographics is really and truly rich. 

    He posits that since — by his own statistical calculations — those born in 1960 (now over 60 years) are just 2.56% of the present population, and the median age today is 17.2 years, so the wordings of the renewed anthem have no relevance to Nigeria’s young population, of 30 years and under — 70% of living Nigerians today!

    That is mere stacking of statistical cards, which cannot be true.  At best, it’s alarmist.  At worst, it’s a clever ploy, hoping to game the naive.

    By comparison: Britain’s “God Save the King” was composed in 1745.  The US “Star-Spangled Banner” was written in 1814 but adopted as national anthem, by the US Congress, in 1931. 

    Using the Kawu quaint logic, both anthems would not only be alien to young Brits and Americans, they would also be irrelevant to the dreams and aspirations of Brits and Americans unborn.

    That’s clear baloney! 

    But even that again points to the more fundamental question: would all this quibbling have arisen had the military not changed the 1960 original in 1978?

    This piece won’t even touch the callow, shallow social media children of anger, bred on Bring-Back-Our-Girls (BBOG) campaigns and EndSARS protests.  Those ones know neither history nor introspection.  Hare-brained reflex is their eternal god.

    But away from all the bedlam: should any unelected band, no matter how conceited, have tinkered with a sacred national heirloom, as the National Anthem? 

    That’s the historical significance of this reversion.  The democratic order — for the first time lasting all 25 years, and still counting — is weaning us off the last vestiges of junta imposition.

    That cannot be bad — can it? — even if you love “Arise O Compatriot” or scorn “Nigeria We Hail Thee”?

    Obasanjo, the nettling symbol of military arrogance, still lives. But before his very eyes, his grand pretence of 1978 just crashed! His 46-year grand delusion just sank!

    Now, a brief foray into Nigeria’s unfortunate military rule history.

    Gen. Thomas Aguiyi-Ironsi’s tenure (15 January 1966-28 July 1966) was too volatile to bear a fair assessment, though his naive Unification Decree of 1966, which abolished the regions for unitary provinces, would unleash Nigeria’s crisis of federalism. That has endured till today.

    Gen. Yakubu Gowon (1966-1975) had his faults.  But that quintessential officer and gentleman defined his dealings with the state with utmost decorum — at least in settled issues, as the Nigerian National Anthem.

    Not so, the breed that came after him: Murtala Muhammed/Olusegun Obasanjo (1976-1979), Muhammadu Buhari (1984-1985), Ibrahim Babangida (1985-1993) and Sani Abacha (1993-1998). This coarser power clan became cockier and recklessly more iconoclastic.

    That was the “too-know” complex that brewed a new National Anthem in 1978, when the old one suffered no especial defectiveness.

    By the way, the trajectory of the post-Gowon junta quad is rather interesting: Murtala died a glorious death that wiped off his alleged past sins in the public mind.  Abacha expired in office but still oozes a deep stench of sleaze.

    IBB is living out his last years in tame surrender that power rascality does not pay. 

    Muhammadu Buhari regained democratic power (2015-2023) during which he made June 12 Democracy Day, buried Obasanjo’s earlier imposition of May 29, and retired into dignified quiet.

    Only Obasanjo still snorts at everyone in bad grace.  Yet, after three years as junta head, and eight years as elected president, his cumulative 11 years in power made no difference in the lives of Nigerians.  It rather boosted his personal fortunes. 

    If you doubt, link how the Land Use Decree, the law Obasanjo made as junta head, drove his twin post-power fortunes — Obasanjo Farms Nigeria (OFN) and Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL)!

    But maybe the most telling of the historic symbolisms: “Arise O Compatriots” was junked, without much ado, on May 29 — the personal glory day of Obasanjo’s second coming that the former president tried to impose as Democracy Day!

    Nigeria We Hail Thee!  For burying military hubris and neo-military grand folly, the renewed National Anthem has my support!

  • A note to Ajaero and company

    A note to Ajaero and company

    For a leadership only too eager to display how much bite (as against reason) it could muster, I was not particularly surprised that the organised labour finally hit the nuclear button on Sunday night. As if to prove that they meant business, they have trained their attacks on vital public utilities in what could only have been a calibrated measure to blackmail and thereby force the hand of the government.

    Confirming the swoop on the company’s facility in the wee hours of Monday morning, the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN)’s General Manager, Public Affairs Ndidi Mbah cited the Independent System Operations unit of TCN as reporting the shutdown of the Benin Area Control Centre with their operators driven out of the control room while those staff that resisted were beaten with some wounded in the course of forcing them out of the facility. The TCN spokesperson also named other transmission sub stations affected as those in Ganmo (Kwara), Benin, Ayede (Ekiti), Olorunsogo (Ogun), Akungba (Ondo) and Osogbo (Osun). The ensuing disruption led to the Jebba Generating Station shutting down one of its generating units with three others in the same substation subsequently forced to shut down on very high frequency. The high frequency and system instability would later eventuate in the shutdown of the national grid at 2:19am.

    There have been similar reports of the air space being closed to traffic as a result of the strike by air traffic controllers and allied workers. As at 5 pm yesterday, no single domestic airline was reported to have flown while the fate of international flights remained uncertain. For the financial services sector, it was a mixed grill with banks in Lagos carrying as if nothing happened; those in Port Harcourt were said to have complied with the directives of their union to join in the strike. Health and other social services, for the most part, are still in a wait-and-see mode – with those whose gates are still open working sub-optimally. Over all, the reports across the country were of substantial compliance with the NLC/TUC decreed shutdown, the costs of which in the long run, would be difficult to determine. And all of these because organised labour could not find a common ground on the issue of the new minimum wage. 

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    Unfortunately, whereas the leaderships of both the Nigeria Labour Congress and its Trade Union Congress counterpart have all been too eager to press the point about the rightness of their cause as against the assumed obduracy as indeed what they perceive as lack of seriousness on the part of the federal government to address concerns that had become somewhat existential; what Nigerians daily see are their unbridled lawlessness and contempt for the rest of the silent majority.  As if being out of touch with reality is not bad enough, their specious understanding if not entirely lack of grasp of basic economic issues is as revealing as it is astounding. 

    No thanks to the NLC/TUC alliance, Nigerians are increasingly told that might is right; that a party in a negotiation is at liberty to hold the gun to the head of the other party so long as it is convinced that its case is just. Never mind that there is a third party –a silent party whose acquiescence is not only expected to count, but whose nod is expected to make the outcomes effective and enduring. 

    Yes, it’s been a little more than five months since the 37-man Tripartite Committee on National Minimum Wage was inaugurated by the federal government. The committee, chaired by the former Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Goni Bukar Aji, has members of the organised labour, the private sector, the federal and state governments represented. Surely, if Nigerians understood that the work of the committee would not be easy, it is most certainly, a far cry from suggesting that it is not doable. Nigerians, not least the governments across all levels, surely understood and still understand the imperatives of a fairer deal for the producers of wealth.

    Of course, they do not disagree that the current minimum wage has become obsolete, or that it has, in the current circumstances of unprecedented inflation and the generalised spiral in the cost of living, become a joke. The main issue in contention is what the parties in negotiation are able to agree as reasonable, fair and affordable.

    Fair is of course what those who pronounce on it says it is. In other words, it is subjective. But then, we do know also that what is fair may not necessarily be reasonable. From what we know, the organised labour has oscillated between an initial 615,000 to N494,000, which it considers both just and reasonable. The government and the other interested party – the private sector – on their part have put up differing figures of N60,000 and N57,000 respectively – which they deem to be fair and realistic. Even that government’s offer, which is 100 percent above the current one, will, according to Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, cost the federal treasury a hefty N500 billion. This is against labour’s proposal, which by comparison, would cost the federal government a whopping N9.5 trillion annually for its 1.2 million-odd army of workers.

    Not too long ago, the NLC President Joe Ajaero was on a courtesy visit to this newspaper. His explanation on the occasion of how the NLC and TUC came up with their figures was as interesting as it was fascinating. What his team did, he explained, was to draw a bucket list of the basic needs of a typical household with figures attached to them to arrive at their proposal on minimum wage! Talk of a specious econometrics, which proposes a 1,547% increase on the wage bill, being sold as product of rigour by a once-upon-a-time fire-brand labour movement – a body once powered by a research department that could, at a time hold its own as a beacon of scholarship?

    I imagine the top brass at the Labour’s elite training institute – the Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies – shaking their heads in wonder at the depth to which negotiation and collective bargaining have sunk! 

    If one may ask – where will the funds come from? And all of these to pay those on the federal payroll – representing 0.006 percent of the population? Assuming the federal government can afford to pay – which is doubtful – can the states – most of whom are struggling to pay the old rate – afford it? What of the private sector currently reeling under the inclement operating environment; would they be able to pay? Has the NLC and its TUC agitator-counterpart considered the possible effects on inflation, which ironically is one of the fuels at the heart of their agitation?

    So much for the Unions and their love for drama; labour’s weaponisation of the strike tool at every turn cannot be acceptable any more than their penchant to scoff at the laws to press their cases is tolerable. It is time, in my humble view, for new tools and perhaps new rules of engagement if they desire to be taken seriously. No one denies that they have every right to voice their displeasures on everything under the sun – from wages of political office holders to the outrageous executive compensation by occupants of our corporate suits. What NLC/TUC cannot do is burn the edifice just for the pleasure of getting their way! Yesterday’s shutdown of the power grid and the air space comes dangerously close to that!

  • Fairer labour expectations

    Fairer labour expectations

    The Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, has declared the strike called by the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), on Monday, as illegal. And he is right. But over the years, the Labour Unions do not rely on the legality of strikes to press home their demand. This is because, the rigorous procedure provided by the relevant laws to legally call a strike, makes it near impossible, to call a legitimate strike. So, the unions rely on strongarms tactics, to get government to accede to their demands.

    The letter by the AGF succinctly put forward the case of the federal government. Section 31(6) of the Trade Union Act, as amended, provides that no person, trade union or employer shall take part in a strike or lockout, if operating an essential service. The section goes on to list several other requirements, like the nature of the dispute, the requirement on arbitration, and democratic process of the affiliate unions. If those requirements are not met, any person, trade union or employer who participates in strike, commits an offence, and on conviction, is liable to imprisonment or fine.

    The AGF also referred to sections 41(1) and 42(1) of the Trade Disputes Act 2004, which requires certain categories of workers, to give a 15-day prior strike notice before embarking on strike, which the Labour Unions failed to do in the present circumstance. Of course, the unions usually don’t obey those rigorous measures, and that explains why one of the conditions to call off any strike, is that none of their members should be punished for acts done in furtherance of the strike.

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    So, invariably the solution to the strike is political, not judicial, except President Bola Ahmed Tinubu (PBAT) administration is willing to drag the union leaders through the courts, damn the fallouts. That is not advisable. But as I argued last week, the NLC and TUC must be realistic in their demands, unless they have other motives, beyond getting a fairer wage for their members. The amorphous N494,000 minimum wage demand, is grossly unrealistic, whether for government employees or private sector workers. Agreed that inflation has made mincemeat of the naira, it has not gotten to the level of demanding such an amount as the minimum wage.

    The Information and National Orientation Minister, Mohammed Idris, has warned that the proposed minimum wage would balloon the wage bill to N9.5 trillion annually. Meanwhile, the estimated revenue for the 2024 fiscal year is N18.32 trillion. If the information minister is correct, that means that about half of the entire projected revenue would be used to pay the wages of the workers. According to the 2024 budget plans, even without the new wage bill, the country may need to source extra N10 trillion, to meet its budgetary estimates.   

    Should the government agree to pay the proposed minimum wage, the federal and state government may have to borrow massively to be able to pay, even when the glaring infrastructure deficit, plaguing the country would largely be left unattended. Meanwhile, the debt stock of Nigeria, made up of external and domestic debt, stood at N87.38 trillion, as at quarter two, of 2023. One can imagine what additional debts the government would incur, to meet the wage increase at N494,000, should labour have their way.

    Notably, any wage increase, usually leads to inflationary pressure, as the markets instinctively react to the news that there is more money in the system, chasing the available goods. Also, traders, artisans and sundry service providers, naturally increase the prices of goods and costs of services, to make up for the increase in wages for paid workers. So, while any wage increase ordinarily impacts inflationary pressure, it would certainly get worse, should the change be so astronomical as the unions are demanding.

    This column agrees that if that demand is made the minimum wage, inflation will further worsen the national currency. Indeed, many private companies would retrench their workers, while some may simply close down business. Even the federal and state governments may also resort to retrenchment, as a way out of the quagmire, with all the attendant impacts on the national economy. While those who survive may have more money in their pockets, a lot of their colleagues will lose their jobs, necessitating another round of strikes.

    But on its part, the federal and state governments, as well as the private sector, have to offer an improved minimum wage to the workers, to avert a prolonged strike action, which would have severe impact on the struggling national economy. Even a one-day strike, is not good for the economy, which grew by mere 2.98 percent, in the first quarter of the year, a drop from the 3.46 percent recorded in the fourth quarter of 2023.  Should the strike go on for days, the second and third quarter growth will be adversely affected.

    I call on the minimum wage tripartite committee to call the unions back to the negotiating table, in the larger interest of the national economy. The state governments representatives who have been acting as if the minimum wage is the challenge of the federal government alone, must come to terms that together they owe the nation as much responsibility as the federal government. Even though by section 34 Part 1, of the Exclusive Legislative List, 1999 constitution (as amended), the federal government has exclusive legislative powers on “Labour, including trade unions, industrial relations, conditions, safety and welfare of labour, industrial disputes, prescribing a national minimum wage for the federation or any part thereof, and industrial arbitrations.”

    The indifference to the negotiation, shown by the six governors representing the six zones, is unbecoming. Perhaps, because Nigerians are fixated on the federal government to resolve the wage palaver, the states act as if the fortunes of the federal government can be separated from the fortunes of the sub-nationals. Otherwise, how can one explain that majority of the state governors have shown insignificant concern about the burning issue of wage increase, as if it does not concern them?

    The Labour union has called for the direct intervention of PBAT, believing that he has the magic wand to resolve the impasse. This column hopes he has, and that when he waves it, the labour leaders would be operating on the same wave length, to positively receive his communication. In closing this column, let me reiterate the need for a fairer wage structure, across all sectors of the economy. For instance, it is absurd to have some fresh university graduates earn monthly, what the professors who taught them, don’t earn in three months. 

    Finally, the political class must tame their insatiable appetite, to leave enough resources, to gift every Nigerian worker, what is reasonable and a fair wage.

  • The return of a hustler

    The return of a hustler

    In a curious failure of judgment that almost ruined the epochal event, former British prime minister Tony Blair —  Phony Tony or Tony Bliar (rhymes with Liar) to most of his countrymen — was invited as keynote speaker at ceremonies to herald the inauguration of Muhammadu Buhari as Nigeria’s 15th president.

    On the eve of his scheduled outing, he scurried out of Nigeria, and his one-time secretary of state and ideological soulmate, Peter Mandelson, was ferried in to take his place.       

    Last May, he hustled his way into Abuja, wangled an audience and a photo opportunity with President-elect (as he then was) Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, and offered gratuitously to help the in-coming Administration launch Nigeria on the path of democratic governance and development at home and as a respectable international actor. 

    Granting Blair an audience was a misstep in an otherwise calibrated countdown to the Inauguration that culminated in yesterday’s inspiring rite of renewal. 

    He has no core convictions.  He has no political or moral capital that he can deploy for Nigeria’s benefit.  President Bola Tinubu and his Administration must not allow him to indulge in that pretence again.  But there he was in Abuja again last week in an audience with Tinubu, unctuous as ever, as Tinubu marked the anniversary of his administration. 

    Abuja is one of the few capitals where Tony Blair can still count on a polite welcome.  His 2015 visit was the third in just a little over four years.  Since then, by my count, he has visited Nigeria twice. What about Blair guarantees him a hospitable official reception in Nigeria, whereas he is much despised in his own country and elsewhere in the world?

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    I was reminded the other day that it was my column for May 19, 2015, “An unwelcome visitor,” that scuttled Blair’s scheduled presentation before Buhari’s inauguration.  I would like to take the liberty to draw substantially on it for this.

    In February 2010, his hands still wet with the blood of tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis he liberated from this world and from their relations in a military invasion that he helped gin up with a raft of lies, he was invited – along with fellow war criminals former U.S. president George W. Bush and his former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice – by one Nigerian newspaper proprietor basking in the illusion of influence and affluence to speak at a ceremony in Abuja purportedly honouring distinguished Nigerians past and present.

    On a different occasion, Blair even got to meet a star-struck acting President Goodluck Jonathan, as he then was, to discuss “matters of mutual interest” between Nigeria and Britain, and his desire to keep that relationship strong.

    Nine months later, declaiming with the unctuousness that becomes him so well, he claimed that the “international community” was nursing a great deal of interest and excitement in Nigeria’s elections scheduled for 2011.

    More to the point of his new career as a money-grubbing influence peddler, he declared, with JP Morgan chief executive officer Jamie Damon in tow, that the global financial giant’s decision to upgrade its Nigerian office to a full branch was a demonstration of confidence in Nigeria and in President Jonathan’s effort to transform the economy.

    Shortly after that visit, JPMorgan bagged a huge chunk of Nigeria’s controversial Sovereign Wealth Fund, even as it recorded huge losses resulting from reckless transactions.

    Blair’s 2015 visit was no accident.  It was designed to secure future access in the Buhari dispensation for the major players in international high finance, for which he is a well-paid lobbyist

    It was entirely in character that Blair should have presumed at every stop to speak for the “international community,” though he held no public office and was in fact a hugely discredited politician who, in a just world, should be in prison serving time for war crimes.

    So resented and discredited had he become at the end of his record tenure as prime minister that he could not embark on a farewell tour of Britain, where he was sure to be greeted with shouts of “Liar, Liar” and pelted with tomatoes and eggs. They even re-christened him BLIAR, And so, he went instead to bid farewell to British troops in Basra, in Iraq, and in Afghanistan.

    Blair’s quest to become president of the European Council ended in humiliation. The British Government withdrew its backing when it became clear that member-states wanted nothing to do with him.  The Middle East for which Blair was designated international mediator has rarely witnessed greater turmoil. 

    When Blair went to testify before the Chilcot Inquiry into how the UK entered the unholy alliance that invaded, occupied, and destroyed Iraq, he had to be smuggled into the Committee Room through a back door, to save him from the wrath of protesters.

    More recently,  I should add,  more than one million Britons signed a petition against his being conferred with a knighthood by King Charles the Third.

    This was not the way the script was supposed to end for the youngest prime minister of the UK since 1812, the skilled politician who rescued Britain from the exhausted Tories, redefined its place in world politics,  and led his Labour Party to three back-to-back election victories.

    He seemed destined for greatness.

    But hubris and delusion soon set in, and glory turned to ashes.

    Blair seized the  September 1,  2001 terrorist attacks on the United States as a lifetime opportunity to project himself as a statesman of global reckoning.  The United States would not fight alone, he assured Americans.  Britain would stand “shoulder to shoulder” with America as it confronted the terrorist threat.

    -From then on Blair made it his business to confect a casus belli, just in case the United States could not come up with a compelling one.  First, he published a dossier on what he said was Iraq’s weapons-of-mass-production programme.  It was a “dodgy” document, copied in part from a sophomoric doctoral dissertation that an American university had rejected.

    Next, he put it out that Iraq had sought to buy uranium cake from Niger Republic.  The document detailing the alleged transaction was a transparent forgery.  The minister who purportedly signed on behalf of the Niger Government had left office at least eight years earlier.   It is as if Federal Government documents dated May 2014 were to surface today bearing the signature of Olu Adeniji as Nigeria’s foreign minister.

    Blair also claimed, again falsely, that Iraq had developed nuclear weapons that could be assembled and deployed for combat within 45 minutes — the same Iraq that could not shoot down a single plane from the armada that had been patrolling its air space and since the end of the Gulf war and bombing military and non-military assets at will.

    The United States quickly latched on to the document as proof that its homeland was imperiled and that it could not afford to have its skies darkened by a mushroom cloud before striking.

    For his domestic audience, Blair declared that Iraq had developed missiles capable of hitting British forces in Cyprus. Why Iraq would want to attack British troops that had been garrisoned in  Cyprus since the 1970s.

    So determined was Blair to take Britain to war that even when Bush offered him a chance to change course, fearing that the British parliament might not share America’s enthusiasm for war, Blair deployed his forensic skills to stay the course, with no consideration for the massive anti-war demonstrations in London and around the world.

    Whenever he prefaces a statement with “to be perfectly honest” or “to be absolutely candid,” which he does very often, you could be sure that he was going to zap you with a falsehood, a barefaced lie.

    He did just that when he claimed in a debate in the House of Commons that “weapons of mass destruction” would be found in Iraq within two weeks.

    Contrived earnestness, evangelical fervour, and the ability to tell a blatant lie with a straight face: That is the quintessence of Tony Blair.

    No weapons of mass destruction were ever found in Iraq.  But by the time British forces pulled out, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis had been killed.  Hundreds of thousands more had been displaced, and Iraq lay in ruins.  Hundreds of British soldiers had also been killed – all for a lie.

    Blair says he is not sorry for that lie because other countries – Australia is the example he and George W Bush frequently cited — also believed it.  True, Britannia no longer rules the waves.  But when did Britain become just another country?

    Germany did not believe it.  France did not believe it  China did not believe it.  Russia did not believe it.

    Blair compounds his war crimes each time he asserts that removing Saddam from power was “the right thing to do.”  But at what cost?

    The hundreds of thousands of Iraqis whom Blair’s warmongering removed from this world, and the hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis it turned into refugees or otherwise brought to ruin have no place in Blair’s consciousness.

    He condoned or turned a blind eye to torture.  To head off trials that would have embarrassed the authorities, the British Government in 2011 paid out millions of pounds to persons tortured by officials in parts of Iraq occupied by British forces.

    No wonder, then, that when Blair offered to donate the earnings from his memoir to the families of British troops killed or wounded in Iraq, they rejected it angrily, calling it “blood money.”

    In a just world, Tony Blair would be serving a long jail term — my aversion to capital punishment is total and unconditional, unlike his — for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

    In the meantime, the Federal Government and other institutions must stop inflicting this hustler on the Nigerian public.  He needs them more much more than they need him. They must realize that he comes here for one purpose and one purpose only:  To obtain.

  • One year today

    One year today

    By this time last year, the polity was in a whirl!

    Catholic high priests swore, by Jehovah, why the Bola Tinubu inauguration must be stalled, till post-poll adjudications were over, despite the clear stand of the law.

    Some clowns, suspected to be Peter Obi partisans, were marching on the Defence Headquarters, Abuja; goading the military to oust the same democracy that gifted them that march, simply because their man had lost.  Clowns!

    A frenetic Atiku Abubakar was romping through US courts, looking for a certificate that was neither lost nor forged.  It was his own way of managing crushing defeat.

    Labour President, Joe Ajaero — of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) or Labour Party (LP): which one? — was, for Obi, lancing and thrusting, slashing and stabbing: using organized Labour as battering ram.

    Why?  Ajaero even invited Obi to the May Day rally — as his own “Mr. President”? — among many post-poll derring-do of irrational strikes and sundry rackets!

    But the equation has since scattered: the NLC no longer equals LP, mere anarchy is loosed upon the LP-Obi-Ajaero bubble. Things have fallen apart!

    Still, all that dramatics rather pushed the new administration to shoot off the blocks. It knew, with all the rackets and emotional racketeering, it had absolutely no honeymoon.

    Still, the first twin-policies were not exactly “pro-people” — which sent NLC’s Ajaero hopping mad, howling about the new government’s “anti-people” policies!

    But the cold doctors in the policy suites balked.  The policies, they insisted, though harsh, were meant to heal, not to kill.

    It was the twin-combo of removing fuel subsidy; and floating the Naira to find own parity, in a rather harsh foreign exchange mart.

    That was shock therapy that sent the economy into a tailspin.  It was a cold reset that pushed inflation tearing through the roof.

    After, public discourse spoke of rumbling bellies; and condemned the new order — federal or states — to rushing through palliatives, to calm the grumbling hoi polloi.

    It was pain foretold before paradise regained.

    Still, the past one year has seen a policy rush, never seen on the federal front, since democracy returned in 1999.  Road infrastructure has been especially vibrant.

    Enter, three rather ambitious arteries: the Lagos-Abuja superhighway (to reduce travel time to six hours), the Lagos-Calabar coastal road (with an added rail corridor) and the Badagry-Sokoto expressway.

    Neither the Lagos-Calabar road nor Badagry-Sokoto expressway was new.  Indeed, both had cluttered the policy space for quite a while — as mere papers.  That the administration is pushing paper into reality tells of its infrastructure promise. 

    That only reinforces the road activism of the APC era (from 2015); against the lethargy of the PDP epoch (1999-2015).  Infrastructure, as front burner, is excellent news, though the huge challenge of funding, in harsh times, remains.

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    Still, not much has since been heard of the Lagos-Abuja superhighway.  Works Minister, Dave Umahi, should use the first anniversary blitz to shed more light on the project.  But so far, road has done rather well in this first year.

    Not so rail — though both the Port Harcourt-Aba narrow gauge line and the Abuja standard-gauge Metro rail are bursting into life again. 

    Still, the polity awaits much more from the Transportation ministry on critical rail works in the works: as the Ibadan-Abuja and Abuja-Kano segments of the Lagos-Kano standard-gauge rail, for instance.  In this first year, rail has been rather muted.

    Very early, the Tinubu government declared a state of emergency on food security.  That appeared a code-name for cracking down, well before the farming season, on bandits and terrorists. They often extort farmers and scare them off their farms.

    So, that “emergency” is as much about agriculture as it is about security.  Feedback from the security front appears encouraging.  The security agencies are making slow, if steady, headway against the security threats. 

    The government also took the first steps on state Police.  That’s admirable.

    Still, farm yields this year — and how they tamp down high food inflation — will gauge how effective the “emergency” has been.

    Power, of all the critical infrastructures — rail, roads and electricity — has been the umpteenth laggard.  True, power has somewhat rallied from April, from the high lows it sunk from November 2023. 

    But even at its present resurgent level, it’s doubtful if it has reached the heights attained during the Buhari years.  So, this past year, power has been a net deficit. 

    Still, Power Minister, Adebayo Adelabu, always speaks of the ingrained complexities of the electricity market.  In truth, the power sector is very complex. It’s an area the Tinubu order should work harder on, in the next one year.

    Aside power, stars appear realigning on the petroleum products arm of the energy front.  By June, the Dangote Refinery, by own projection, should finally pump out petrol.  The NNPC Ltd’s Port Harcourt Refinery should join in July — again by own timetable.

    But more exciting: petrol fuels are assured of stiff competition from compressed natural gas (CNG) — and maybe electric batteries — to power autos; and drive down transport costs.  That should be cheery news on the inflation front.

    This first year has also witnessed the dawn of Students Loan for tertiary education, Consumer Credit, as well as support grants (for nano ventures); and support capital for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and large-scale players, like big factories, both at 9% interest — well below the market rate of sub-30% minimum.

    How they all impact on cooling off the economy will be clear in the next one year.

    Still, this first year has been the year of capital — hardly of the people, that bear the brunt of the harsh market.

    Three critical pillars of the administration are unabashed market hawks: the Finance and Economy coordinating ministry, the Central Bank and the Power ministry. 

    From the triad, it’s always investors, investors, investors — as if investors are willy-nilly gods to serve or perish!  Pray, who balances the scale for the people, at the other end of the harsh market?

    That’s why the government must close the never-ending “investigation” into the Humanitarian and Poverty Alleviation ministry; and restore — or replace — the minister to balance the scale.

    From available facts, Betty Edu, the suspended minister, stole no money.  The issue was a suspect instruction, borne from a suspect in-house practice, that nevertheless was stalled by the Accountant-General.

    It shouldn’t take an eternity to establish the facts and give the ministry back its life.  President Tinubu should make that top priority as he starts his second year.

    As the government sets out on its second year, it must be especially wary of booby traps: the Rivers power tussle and the Kano emirship crisis are two of such. 

    It must defuse both with tact and wisdom.

  • PBAT: 365 days after

    PBAT: 365 days after

    The knives, as one might expect at a time like this, are out! It is less than 24 hours to the Bola Ahmed Tinubu first anniversary in office. Clearly, if Nigerians understood the depth of the rot that the administration inherited and so were initially prepared to give the administration the benefit of the doubt in those early days, trust a good chunk of that number, increasingly unable to see the possibility of that tiny flicker of light on the horizon anytime soon, growing weary over time.

    Today, it seems the best time ever to remind Nigerians of how the journey began if only to appreciate the larger picture of the current happenings in what should be a productive mission to stimulate the discussion on where the country should be headed.

    It shouldn’t surprise that some self-appointed jurors have already gone out to pronounce what could only have been a jaundiced verdict. It seems a necessary rite of opposition by the same elements known to be resolute in their ill-will against the administration and by extension, the republic. After all, they have since sworn that it is either their way or hell’s highway!

    Imagine one particular individual – the acclaimed letter-writer whom I prefer to call headmaster – known to have openly called for civil disobedience as soon as it became clear that his preferred candidate had lost in the last presidential election, lately holding court to pronounce judgment on an administration that has had barely 12 months to do a job that he, had a whole of eight years to do but left mostly undone. He is not only pontificating but asking to be taken seriously!

    Hear him: “Our economy has consistently suffered from poor policies, lack of long-term sustainable policies, discontinuity, adhocry (sic) and corruption firmed on personal greed, avarice, incompetence, lack of knowledge and understanding and lack of patriotism.

    “For instance, the statement and proposed actions given 45 years ago to stop fuel scarcity are the same statement and action being touted today. I recall when I made the statement that the refineries will not work, the sycophants and spin doctors of this current administration went out to castigate me as not being a petroleum engineer and that I did not know what I was talking about.

    “They forgot that the attempt that was made in 2007 to partly privatise the refineries was made by me after a thorough study of the situation. But the decision was reversed by my successor and the 750 million dollars paid was refunded.”

    How about that, coming from Chief Olusegun Obasanjo!

    By the way, he forgot to say that he actually ruled for nearly 12 out of the 45 years; or that he could have, if he was so minded, taken those same measures he is accusing others of neglecting to do in his two terms of eight years! An administration that wasted taxpayers’ money to import gas turbines for electricity generation only to discover on arrival at the ports that the main bridges to the site could not carry the weight of his import! 

    Who will tell this individual that his beloved Nigeria is where it is because he, in particular, failed to do what is right by her!

    That is not what this piece is all about!

    Today, it is about charting the path forward. Yes, the past 12 months under President Tinubu, have been terrific, breath-taking. The president has taken some tough measures – measures that those before him knew were right but which they could not do because their nerves, for whatever reasons, failed them. Never mind that those previous administrations understood them to be albatrosses that they were but did nothing about them.

    I refer here to monstrous regime of fuel subsidy which takes from the poor to subsidise the rich – an unquestionably regressive system that sucks out nearly N3 trillion in a year to shadowy elements, and the multiple exchange regime which fostered the culture of wealth without work while actively encouraging corruption and crony-capitalism!

    But then, like everything Nigeria, those bold measures which even the worst critics of the Tinubu administration have long admitted was necessary, have, suddenly, like the headmaster’s cane become the scourge to whip the administration. As they say – all is fair in war…

    Read Also: Ondo 2024: Canvass for votes honourably, Aiyedatiwa tells opponents

    Without question, the measures taken by the Tinubu administration have engendered the spiralling inflation with food prices in particular hitting the roof tops. The food supply situation in particular, would seem a case of double jeopardy: the farmers claim they can’t undertake their business due to insecurity while the harvest can’t reach the market no thanks to the unbearable cost of transportation. The same with the naira: with the best of the efforts by the current government to tame the inflationary spiral, the national currency is still, at best unstable. No thanks to naira’s devaluation, everything from basic household items – whether imported or not – is badly hit.

    Now, the question is – has the administration done enough in the past year?

    Interesting, isn’t that everyone somehow believes that the government possess some kind of magic wand to decree hardship out of existence in one fell swoop. We are talking of problems that the Great Obasanjo himself has admitted has endured in 45 years!

    Most certainly, I will agree that there is a lot that the government can do – and if I may add, is doing – to make a difference. Surely, there are is a sense that the administration is steadily tackling the issue of insecurity more robustly. That obviously gives a lot of room for hope.

    I have much earlier on this page argued that the current understanding of food insecurity suffers a crisis of definition. Even with the current internal security challenges, we have not reached the point of crushing shortage of food that could be described as crisis. And there have not been widespread reports of crop failure to warrant any panic. Yes, the prices have gone up beyond the reach of the common folk. Like I said, this is because the costs of transporting them from the hinterland to the markets have gone astronomically high. The government, both states and federal, have to crack the conundrum of rural access roads. I understand that a lot is being done already. So we should see thing coming down soon.

    Let me close on the subject of the naira – our beloved currency. Surely, those looking up to Yemi Cardoso and company to work some magic on forex rates miss the point. The apex bank is merely the banker to the federal government. Its job is merely to process the bills of exchange; it has no power to mint the dollar or any other foreign currency for that matter. Yes, no one should lose sleep over the current forex rate; what should worry is whether the right things are being done to boost domestic production and exports while curbing our appetites for foreign goods.

    I believe that the administration is well on course to doing something big in these areas.

  • Fearless and compassionate

    Fearless and compassionate

    The one-year anniversary of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s (PBAT) administration, expectedly, is not drowned in pump and pageantry. While many Nigerians would say there is nothing to celebrate, those with acuity would say the building blocks are being laid. It is like digging the foundation of a multi-storey building, which the pilling going deep into the earth, are not seen. Of course, the majority of Nigerians, like the biblical Thomas, must see and feel, a rejuvenated national economy, before they believe.

    In fairness to that majority, the PBAT administration, which took off in a very turbulent weather is yet to reach the cruising altitude, and yet to stabilize. So, it will not be right to dismiss the penetrating discomfiture from the turbulent winds, assailing the ascending aircraft. But it will be unfair not to concede to the competence of the pilot, even when he has enormous credentials, the experience and boisterous bluster of “I can do spirit”. More importantly, it will be unfair to brush aside the testaments of his bold initiatives.

    Even as this writer is not insulated from the deprivations associated with the twin economic policies of fuel subsidy removal and the devaluation of the naira, he believes that perhaps, Nigeria would have been in the throes of social unrest, if PBAT didn’t boldly confront the double headed goliath. As became evident after the removal, Nigeria was actually subsidizing the fuel exports to her neighbours, and by extension, her neighbours’ neighbours. That was clearly unsustainable, by any stretch of imagination.      

    With the removal of subsidy, the subsidized fuel imported into Nigeria, fell by more than 50 percent. According to a Punch newspaper report, three months before the removal of fuel subsidy, the NNPC reported that Nigeria was consuming 66 million litres of PMS daily, and N400 billion was spent to subsidize PMS monthly.  But presently, with the subsidy removed, Nigeria is consuming 33 million litres daily. So, but for the fearless determination of the president, Nigeria would still have been subsidizing fuel used in neighbouring countries, amongst other challenges in that sector.

    The other fearless economic policy was the removal of multi-layered exchange rate platforms, which the Central Bank of Nigeria, under Godwin Emefiele, was abusing. This columnist was amongst those complaining during Buhari’s era that officials and friends of the regime were feeding fat on the multiple exchange rate regime through unconscionable arbitrage. Going forward, PBAT and his team are also following up with the sanitization of the foreign exchange sector, with the streamlining of Bureau de Change operators, and the most resent ban on street trading of forex.

    This writer believes that this twin initiatives, while causing massive economic discomfiture to the masses, is ironically, perhaps, the saving grace why the masses are not in the streets demonstrating and calling for extra constitutional measures to change the government. For without it, Nigeria had reached the tipping point, where the fallout would be that states would not be in a position to pay salaries or engage in any form of economic activities. And of course, that would percolate to the local governments.

    On its part, the federal government, having the exclusive constitutional control over currency, was merely printing more money, like the government of Idi Amin in Uganda, to meet the most basic of its responsibilities, including payment of salaries and similar recurrent expenditure. Even when they were also heavily engaged in forward sales of crude oil and other assets of the country, the Buhari regime, could not only raise enough money to pay its matured debts. We had a situation where almost all the entire national income could only pay the matured debt obligations.

    Clearly those two scenarios were not manageable by any other means than to kill the monsters. Otherwise, the national economy was akin to pouring water into a leaking bowel. But having slayed the monsters that were terrorizing the national economy, this column admonishes that it is time to govern the people with compassion.  Since the removal of the fuel subsidy, the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) in street language has been smiling to the bank. Last March, the federal, state and local governments shared N1.123,391 trillion, compared to N860.04 billion shared in March, 2023.

    Since the removal, the federal, states and local governments have not only been receiving more monies, they have been sharing earned resources of the federation, and not monies sourced from the wizardly, ways and means, of the CBN. Some state governments, like Enugu, has been up and running in the payment of salaries and pensions. But some states are reportedly lagging behind, some even refusing to pay the old minimum wage, as reported by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).

    Read Also: FG to establish 24 skills, innovation hubs, entrepreneurship centres – Tinubu

    PBAT, who is in a joyous mood as his administration clocks one-year-old, has been urging the sub national governments to spread the fruits of his labour to their people. While on a visit to Minna, Niger State, last March, he pleaded with state governors, to pay wage awards, to their workers until a new minimum wage is promulgated into law. On its part the federal government last year, entered into an agreement with the Organised Labour, to pay N35,000 as wage award to workers, until a new minimum wage is legislated into law.

    While that award will not gift the workers, the life of opulence that government officials are living, it will ameliorate the debilitating economic hardship, the workers are facing. Sadly, many state governments shamefully are neither paying the old minimum wage, nor any form of wage award to their workers. Such states governed by men and women without compassion include Kogi, Zamfara, Anambra, Ebonyi and Sokoto. While all the concerned states should feel ashamed for being laggards, Anambra, governed by a professor of economics should hide her face in shame.

    President Tinubu, who showed fearlessness in dealing with the fundamental and structural defects of the national economy, should regardless of the brusqueness of some state governors, show compassion by ensuring that a new minimum wage, worthy of its name, is legislated into existence, as soon as possible. This writer had wanted to title this piece, “The joy of a leader” in solidarity with the president, who asked us to be joyous with him, as he flagged off the Lagos-Calabar highway, two days ago.

    At the commissioning, PBAT had enthused: “It will be a success for Nigeria and we will do more. I am a very happy man today. Share with me in the joy.” No doubt, the president has every cause to be joyous. Few leaders have the opportunity to start a legacy project, in the first year of coming into office. Some are so distracted that it is only towards the end of their regime, they remember that power is transit, and would soon leave them. Then, they start battling the wind of time.

  • A year later

    A year later

    The day they said would never come passed, and the event they said would never take place was staged in a grand style. On May 29, 2023, Bola Ahmed Tinubu was inaugurated as Nigeria’s 16th President.

    They said he was too old, physically depleted from life on the miliki lane, bereft of mental energy, and too far gone in cognitive decline to be trusted with any public office, let alone that of President of Nigeria, home of every fourth African, the world’s largest Black nation, and a global power-in-waiting.

    They said he had to be sandwiched between trusted stalwarts at public events to keep him from tumbling over, or to catch him as he fell.  These aides had the additional task of folding the capacious sleeves of his agbada over his shoulders, lest they tripped him.  He could not be trusted to do the flipping himself because he did not have enough muscle power to lift his arms.

    Tinubu was not, as the counter-social media and its denizens had predicted, seized as he arrived at the parade ground in Abuja and whisked to prison to await the grim fate reserved for grand impostors, and replaced immediately at the seat of honour by Peter Obi, to whom it belonged by right, serenaded by the triumphal chants of the Obedients.

    He did not collapse halfway through the ceremony, as had been bruited by those who wagered that the no amount of steroids pumped into his bloodstream from vials sewn into the sleeve of his buba could keep him on his feet for more than one hour.

    Even at his best, you could never accuse him of crisp delivery. Given his consuming stupor, expect a performance that it would be courteous to call Jabberwocky – in the unlikely event of the day’s schedule getting that far that stage.

    Just about the only thing that Nigerians agreed on in the run-up to the General Election was that it was going to be the “most consequential” in the nation’s history. Just how consequential it would be, they had not the slightest inkling.

    In the event, many a rampart fell; verities that had endured for ages collapsed, and the political map of Nigeria took on a new shape.

    For political advantage, desperate actors invested sectarian religion and ethnicity with far greater salience than they had ever possessed, corroding both factors in the process and setting up the country for an implosion.

    Never had the country been so divided, in the home and in the workplace. Civility became a stranger, and yesterday’s neighbour became an object of suspicion, if not loathing. A return to anything resembling amity was unlikely to occur anytime soon, I feared.

    Resentments hardened and deepened, and everyday language coarsened in private and public intercourse. It was a far cry from the carnival atmosphere that had characterized the election season, especially from the party conventions to the post-election jubilations of those who had cause to celebrate.

    And what a jolly time it was, and how rich its sartorial heritage, not forgetting its symbols. Even in the present distemper, I can still see much of it with my mind’s eye. I can still see the blizzard of brooms fashioned from palm fronds, held aloft by the APC party faithful, their ends dipping and cresting and swaying as their handlers desired – handlers who, at the end of another long, tumultuous rally, showed nary a sign of fatigue nor a loss of enthusiasm.

    It was not inconceivable that an object designed to symbolize the party’s commitment to sweeping the dirt-strewn landscape clean could in a moment be turned into a weapon of brutal offence, given the intended or accidental provocations that occurred at such events.

    But it never happened. The crowds were too disciplined for that.

    The greater surprise was that none of the other 17 registered parties said a kind word about the palm trees whose branches were hacked down for the brooms, nor about the ecology, the sustenance and health of which the trees are a crucial factor.

    Read Also: FG to establish 24 skills, innovation hubs, entrepreneurship centres – Tinubu

    More surprising still, in retrospect, is that none of them sought a court injunction restraining the APC from hacking down palm tree fronds to knit into brooms just to gratify the party’s iconolatry. None among them invoked national or international environmental law to move the APC to cease and desist.

    Three months after he was sworn in, the future of Tinubu’s presidency, no less than the destiny of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, hung precariously on a verdict expected from a federal court in Chicago.

    At issue was whether Tinubu had truly earned a degree in Accounting from Chicago State University, as he had indicated in election filings going back to 1999 when he first ran for Governor of Lagos State, or he had been using another person’s identity and credentials to advance his political fortunes, at the expense of candidates who had duly complied with all the rules and regulations.

    Since then, the issue has dogged Tinubu like a shadow.  And there it was, more menacing than ever, when he made his biggest political move career, declaring that it had been his ambition since childhood to serve as President, and that the time had come.

    The verdict:  Not proven.

    The issue was laid to rest, but there was no respite for the new administration, no honeymoon.  Lifting the subsidies on petroleum products without planning for the consequences deepened the distress into which the fraud-ridden currency reform of the former Central Bank governor, Godwin Emefiele, had plunged it.

    To this day, the consequences of both measures haunt the waking moments of most Nigerians.

    Tinubu’s “Emi lo kan,” or “It is my turn” declaration at a difficult time in his campaign for the APC ticket left no one in any doubt that his resolve was unshakeable, despite dark whispers that he was in poor health and probably terminally ill.

    The significance of that locution was lost on most analysts as well as his teeming supporters in the Yoruba country.  He did not say Awa lo kan, meaning “It is our turn” but “It is  my turn.”  He framed his quest not as a group, ethnic or sectarian project, but as a dream he had nursed from childhood. 

    He was seeking consummation of that dream, not for its own sake, as he had pointed out again and again, but to serve the public; hence the pacts and alliances he had built in his career.  He was making it clear that he was running not as a candidate of an ethnic or religious group but as a builder, and unifier.

    Those who accuse him of paying scant heed to the Yoruba cause, however it is defined, must understand that he did not run on that platform.   They diminish him and subvert his national stature when they measure him, based on the extent to which they think he has upheld or deviated from that platform.

    One year later, no one can in good conscience call Tinubu’s a do-nothing administration.  If anything, it is doing too many things and pursuing too many goals at the same time.  Given the parlous state of the economy and the infrastructure, that approach is understandable.  But in the process, the administration is spreading itself too thin, with the risk that results will be distributed in the same manner even where a radical transformation in some key areas is indicated.

    In our circumstance, this scatter-shot approach simply will not do. 

    Going forward, an urgent re-ordering of priorities is imperative. A quantum leap in electricity supply is the one measure that can bring about the quickest and most far-reaching change in the economy and in the quality of life for the vast majority of people.   

    Give them electricity, and their lives will for the most part no longer be defined by privation.  New technologies have made it possible to generate electricity more cheaply and at a faster rate than the obsolescent practices Nigeria’s electricity industries are mired in.  The key is to invest in new technologies rather than patching up junk equipment.

  • Judicial officers and public opinion

    Judicial officers and public opinion

    • By Olukayode Ariwoola

    Political matters always tend to occupy the front burner of our adjudicatory activities as all the subsisting electoral laws have placed some time frame within which they must be heard and decided. Besides, the kind of attention and emotions attached to political matters in this country have collectively made our work more excruciating, painstaking and some times, endangering, as we are  occasionally exposed to threats, especially from some elements within the political fold.

    But like I always say, no amount of threat or intimidation should make a thoroughbred judicial officer deviate from the law and pander to public sentiments and emotions which are often misplaced.

    Most times, we see trials being conducted in the media with a view to intimidating a Judge to do their bidding. Media trial can never hoodwink a Judicial Officer to begin to do what is unconstitutional and at variance with our extant laws.

    The 2023 election has opened a new vista in our adjudication in political matters in the country. So many things have been thrown up in the course of the various adjudications that took place at the different tribunals and courts that we now have to serve on our workshop table for intense rumination and digestion, as it were.

    This workshop is, no doubt, coming at the most auspicious time. It will, undoubtedly, offer us the rare opportunity to review those things that we may have done at our various levels which may not have been done with the best of intention and professionalism.

    Like I always say, it is better late than never. Every given opportunity offers us a free ticket to do something novel and more impactful, especially if there was any previous act of wrongdoing or misapplication of discretion.

    As judicial officers, we should be very mindful of the enormous confidence the public reposes in us and their great expectations as well. To whom much is given, much is expected in return. We must not rest on our oars. The onus lies heavily on us and we must guide our loins to do more to earn lasting trust and integrity. Our conduct and disposition must respond to the yearnings and aspirations of the generality of the citizenry.

    We are not in our respective positions to serve ourselves, but the Nigerian masses; and the best way we can serve them is by doing what will make them feel safe in our hands and also trust us to always deliver the right judgment that will not be tainted by sentiments, emotions, nepotism or other extraneous considerations. We should always be mindful of the fact that we stand in the place of God on earth to give judgment. The weight of this burden is so enormous that we cannot afford to do what is wrong, as we are all aware of what lies ahead of us when we appear before our Creator to give account of our deeds on earth, particularly the various judgments that we may have given.

    Read Also: Yahaya Bello: Appeal Court fails to hear EFCC chair’s case against contempt proceeding

    No doubt, the adjudication on the 2023 election petitions came with varied challenges that have to be critically assessed and reviewed in order to forge a much better way forward. In those areas that we have done well, we can literally eulogise ourselves and strive to improve on them, as self-praise is no viler an offence than self-denial. As for those areas that our inadequacies are manifestly obvious, we have to properly address them and bring on board new methods and approaches that would whet our appetite for success. We must intensify efforts in engaging in those activities that will earn us more accolades than vilifications.

    I have sounded it clearly and loudly, too, at different occasions that any judicial officer who conducts himself in a manner that is considered unbecoming of a judicial officer will not only be shown the way out, but will equally be made to face the consequences of his actions.

    There will never be room for any sacred cow in the Judiciary, because our image and reputation deserve more crystallization and embellishment than what we are getting. This is, indeed, a task that I enjoin all of us that are directly and remotely connected with the administration of justice in this country to take dearly and closely to our hearts; and it must reflect in our conduct and disposition. This is the time that we have to occupy a place of pride in the hearts of our fellow Nigerians. Yes, it is true that we cannot please everyone through our actions and work, but then, with the right application of the law and the Constitution of the land, which we all have collectively pledged to uphold, we can go a long way to do the things that our conscience will be proud of, and the generality of the public will be happy about. Once our conscience leads the way, every other good thing will naturally follow.

    We have been treated to an unpalatable cocktail of misleading and conflicting judgments as well as frivolous interlocutory orders emanating from courts of coordinate jurisdictions which attempt to make a mockery of our judicial system. This is, largely, an embarrassment to our jurisprudence, and we will not take it lying low. Punitive measures must be taken against such erring judges.

    As I prepare to hand over to my successor in August, 2024, by the grace of Almighty God, it is my  fervent wish and desire to bequeath a robust and prosperous Judiciary that will be the pride of, not only Nigerians, but the African continent.

    •Ariwoola, the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), delivered this paper yesterday at the opening of a two-day workshop for the review of the 2023 Election Petition Tribunals/Court and Appeals

  • Wild breed of Rivers

    Wild breed of Rivers

    Dey your dey, make I dey my dey, dey your dey o, nobody worry nobody … — Fubara camp.

    Obey, obey o, obey, Fubara must obey Wike, obey … — Wike camp.

    Tizzy tragedy teases Rivers: sweet songs and counter-songs waxed in pidgin — all joyful intrigue that could spiral out of control, and bury the mutual antagonists.

    Fubara and co want Wike to “dey your dey” (stay in your lane) — and no problems.  Wike’s supporters want much more: “Fubara must obey Wike, obey” — or else!

    It’s the making of the wild, wild breed of Rivers, when responsible (wo)men dig it, hot and sharp, to irresponsible music, which could clearly undo them all! 

    Yet, it couldn’t have been otherwise — with Wike yoked to Karma and Fubara hugging perfidy and ingratitude, twin spiritual combos that knock the wind out of their captives.

    There’s pretty little Ezenwo Nyesom Wike could do with own trials in Karma’s dock.  Whatever Siminilayi Fubara, sitting Rivers governor, threatens to do with him, Wike himself did — much more? — to his predecessors.

    Talking down?  Fubara appears unhinged with his latest rabid anti-Wike blusters.  Yet, he is still a far cry from how Wike gored Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, Wike’s immediate predecessor and benefactor.

    Weaponizing judicial probes?  Fubara just announced, with glee, he would probe the Wike government, waving the red flag of tantalizing sleaze.  But it was the same order same Fubara served as accountant-general, wasn’t it?

    Why?  This very same Wike blocked EFCC from this same Fubara, over some alleged regime graft!  How such a probe — if there’s anything to it — won’t amount to a spectacular own goal by Fubara beggars belief.

    Still, Wike himself had thundered and dragged Amaechi in the mud over a certain Rivers aircraft: bought by Peter Odili; allegedly vanished under Amaechi. 

    Why, for daring to ogle a counter-Wike lobby, Governor Wike decreed that dummy Governor, Celestine Omehia, refund all his post-office perks!

    It was probably the right thing to do under the law.  Omehia, rogue beneficiary of former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s imperial impunity — remember: Amaechi’s candidacy “don get k-leg”? — was never governor in the eye of the law.  But when has the law ever stopped members of Nigerian elite politics from protecting their own?

    By the way, Wike just committed virtual sacrilege by gutting Peter Odili — grand Rivers political godfather — and his jurist wife, because Odili switched his support to Fubara. 

    That was crass ingratitude. Wike had publicly, at a church thanksgiving, lauded the role that couple reportedly played to rescue his first term as governor in 2015.

    Both the tribunal and the Court of Appeal had left his win for dead.  But the apex court — in which Justice Odili sat — gifted him miraculous life.  Without the Odilis, therefore, would there have been a Governor Wike?

    Well, Wike’s hard tussle with Karma is well and truly settled.  That cup won’t pass over him, with an incensed Fubara huffing and puffing, roaring and growling, flaming and searing!  If Wike can rubbish Odili, why can’t Fubara too rubbish Wike?  Karma!

    But does that mark Fubara’s triumph?  Hardly!

    True, if indeed Wike is the bully that Fubara is making him out to be, then Fubara is flush with victory!  Why?  Because, say control theorists, you triumph over the bully (over power) by defying him (it) — even if you died doing it.

    But Fubara craves to defy and live, not defy to die.  He wants to slay the godfather, and live to preen about it.  That is the snag, though. The more Fubara gallops in victory, the more he seems cantering very close to own political grave. 

    Whereas his allegations against Wike are at best partisan vilifications awaiting proof, Governor Fubara’s high political crimes are very stark: demolishing the Rivers Parliament building to shut out law-making; and spending public money without due appropriation — with the sinister motive of one easily flowing into the other.

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    Then, Fubara’s penchant for “simple minority” — the inglorious parliamentary invention of Obasanjo’s imperial presidency. 

    First, he put his commissioners through a four-man legislative assembly — an illegal act voided (and corrected) by the Abuja Rivers presidential accord.  After trashing that accord, he put his new attorney-general through an even smaller three-man assembly! 

    Pray, even if the governor is playing desperate politics, which SAN worth his silk would embrace screening by that glaring “simple minority”; and kid himself, a veritable man of law, that he had scaled a key constitutional requirement to arrive office, as — wait for the irony — commissioner for Justice! 

    Then, Fubara’s dire body language, nosing for “structural defects” to pull down the new legislative quarters, opened just an odd year ago! The lawmakers now operate from there, even if they too have turned that building into a lair of rabid opposition, from the even and balanced legislation that the Rivers voters expect of them.

    Still, make no mistake: the moment the lawmakers decide to cage Governor Fubara, that very day he would be history — and no din of politics will save him.  The No. 1 crime in a democracy is cancelling the legislature, its most visible soul and essence.

    In swallowing the many Wike baits, Fubara is blundering into avoidable traps, by his own reckless actions.  Indeed, the governor, from his most recent howls and growls, seems approaching a nervous breakdown.  He probably needs an urgent shrink.

    If Governor Fubara escapes impeachment, he would still have to account for wilful destruction of vital public assets on the emotional spur of the moment — if not now, then in the future when his own Karma would be waiting and ready.

    Still, that’s not to say the Wike camp, savagely baiting the governor, are sitting pretty. Their own self-trap is clearly taking their PDP mandate to APC, where they claim to have defected.  They would spend quite a time trying to spin that self-destruct move.

    On the balance, the dire truth is that both sides are heading into a dire bind. 

    The “structure” that Wike has thrown in everything to preserve appears smashed for now — if not forever.

    The more Wike tries to play the hard ball, unfazed by the present crisis, the clearer it is that he’s far more weakened than he was on 29 May 2023, when he handed over power.

    The governorship that Fubara is pulling all stops to protect is badly battered. The governor’s cabinet is hit, for the umpteenth time, by a gale of resignations — the obvious exit of Wike loyalists.

    Okay, the governor is desperate to save his gubernatorial hut. Yet, he’ll think little of lobbing tinder at its thatch, though it’s harmattan — if only to make a point!

    By blundering into a reckless path of no return, both sides bait a state of emergency. 

    That’s a recipe for mutual ruin.  But both sides can still do compromise politics: cut their losses, lick their wounds and await the next battle — perhaps at the next election?

    But will they?  The omens are bad.  The wild, wild breed of Rivers are on the prowl!