The Nation Newspaper

Category: Tuesday

  • Old wines, ruptured wineskins

    Old wines, ruptured wineskins

    Only a clime given to celebrating form over substance can explain the perceptible overdose of excitement in some quarters over the transmutation of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) from being a political party worthy of its name into the vehicle of convenience for internally displaced politicians, especially those for whom the lure of power particularly the nation’s number one office has become a morbid obsession.

    Now that the migratory band have all but sealed their hostile takeover of the party against its governing rules and the established norms that governed its operations, Nigerians ought to be spared any further pretences about the niceties of rules and basic decency, let alone the grave charges ceaselessly thrown at the APC by the desperate band. 

    Thanks to this newspaper’s Monday July 7 edition, Nigerians are better informed of a major misstep that is very much in the character – call it the DNA – of the roving band, but which in the end is fated to doom the assembly. I refer to the July 3 purported crowning of Messrs David Mark, Rauf Aregbesola and Bolaji Abdullahi as the interim chairman, interim national secretary and interim publicity secretary respectively.

    Going by article 23, Clause 4 of the party’s constitution, that act alone would appear a grievous error. The section reads: “If a vacancy arises in any party office, the appropriate executive committee shall appoint a replacement from the same zone or constituency as the outgoing office holder.

    It says further: “This appointment is to remain in effect until a new election is conducted at the next congress or convention.”

    David Mark, the paper would note is from Northcentral while Nwosu is from the Southeast; and whereas Aregbesola is from the South, Sa’id Baba Abdullahi National Secretary is from the North.

    Read Also: We cannot defeat Tinubu in 2027 divided, says Edo PDP

    Talk of impunity writ large!

    In any case, there was no known national executive committee meeting where the interim national officers were elected. In fact, Nwosu, according to this newspaper only announced his resignation at the event in grave violation of the provision of Clause 3 of the same article mandating him to resign from office by submitting a 30-day written notice to the appropriate executive body.

    Ditto Mark – a two-time numero uno lawmaker of the republic: it was sufficient that he announced his exit from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) – a party that gave him all he ever attained as an elected official – at the floor of the event.

    And we have not even touched upon the question of eligibility for their offices. Here again, this newspaper, citing a part of the same Article 23 says: “To be eligible to hold any party position, a member must be in the party for at least two years for national and zonal offices, and at least one year for state, local government and ward positions”.

    To all of these weighty issues, Nwosu, playing the emergency placeholder had a ready answer: “Why are people so scared of change? Why should the restructuring of a political party cause such panic?”

     Believing that by stepping down, he has done his party, nay the country, a world of good, he says: – “If a leader steps aside for the greater good, that is not a weakness but a show of maturity”.

    In other words: All are invited to the great feast; no rules are in place and none is there to be broken!

    Better still: Nigerians shouldn’t be seen to bother about the ethical fibre of the coalition; at least not this particular assembly birthed in iniquity and impunity as to put any pretence to legitimacy as anything between a farce and a fraud. Nigerians should just tolerate them because their good, in view, will more than atone for everything in the end! 

    Well, the Yoruba saying, which loosely translated means –from the black pot comes forth the creamy-white pap – may provide some consolation in the event of anyone ever daring to question their good intentions. How about the scriptural wisdom about “the little leaven that puts the whole lump to waste” and the evergreen saying that a tree is known by its fruits?

    So much for the coalition of the hungry and the angry, the promoters of Nigeria’s Hungry Incorporated; Nigerians surely know the individuals by name and by their antecedents. What else is left unknown about that serial political philanderer in perennial quest for a special purpose vehicle to realise his political dream? Or the individual who has been on government payroll since he stepped his infant feet in the soil of a military school as boy-soldier, spending decades in the army thereafter, capping his public service with the nation’s number three position for eight unbroken years, and only now in the evening of his life claiming to be seized of a new vision?

    Is it the one who spent eight years as speaker, another eight years as governor and still another eight years as minister of the republic claiming to have gone hungry barely two years after leaving government job? And still the other that served as commissioner for eight years under a benevolent leader from where he was thrust into the governor’s mansion and much later as a minister in the republic? Is it the most insufferable one, the arrogant, divisive and the supremely entitled former governor whose wounds from a botched ministerial outing seem unlikely to heal anytime soon?

    Now, all of them, without exception are asking Nigerians to judge them by their past – which, far from being unreasonable is the right thing to do. Of course, the records are all out there in the open: In the bungled privatisation exercise under which the nation still reels and which no one is yet to be called to account; in the botched mono-rail project and the crude alienation of power projects to friends and cronies that have gone into a faded memory, the learning tablets that would not avail the pupils for whom they were intended because the entire thing was badly thought out; the humongous loans allegedly diverted by those whose sense of unchallengeable power is unequalled. All of them linked one way or another to actors who have practically nothing new to offer beyond their obsession for office, those who sowed division among their people and whose sense of exceptionalism borders on lunacy; those whose costly experimentation and activist mind-set borders on the bizarre, and those who feel entitled apparently because they have nothing else to do.

    They have charged the Tinubu administration with sundry crimes ranging from the removal of fuel subsidy to collapsing the infrastructure of forex manipulation that has served the powerful elite for so long; of spiralling inflation and the cost of living crisis and, that over all, the government has done pretty little after two years in office – conveniently forgetting the quantum of mess the administration inherited. One thing remains though. Nigerians are still waiting to know what their ADC mutation would have done differently in practical terms! Only thereafter will Nigerians begin to take them seriously.

  • Of ADA, ADC and all that

    Of ADA, ADC and all that

    But for Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola’s mix-up in it all, ADA and ADC — ADC,  like LP, clearly the latest whore in town for high-wire political hire — are a vortex of ironies.

    In 2013, a dummy APC — African People’s Congress — leapt from nowhere, as soon as the legacy opposition coalition announced their merger into APC — All Progressives Congress — now the ruling federal party, since 2015.

    But the moment INEC held that the dummy APC had breached section 222 (a) of the 1999 Constitution, with insufficient information for registration, it vanished to nowhere.  Wrecking APC’s formal registration had proved a mission impossible.

    Like 2013, like 2025: two ADAs — All Democratic Alliance and Advanced Democratic Alliance — were out there.  It’s not clear though, which is fake, which is real. 

    Still, unlike their fake APC ancestors-in-farce, one of the ADAs — which the Atiku-led coalitionists had pushed to empty into — dropped the enterprise like a steaming hot pot: they sighted a naughty alter ego at the registration party!  But that’s even the more civil interpretation of the burlesque.

    A less flattering account claimed the Atiku ADA scrammed the moment their social media tormentors forged for them a cynical logo — Ada (Yoruba for cutlass!) — to replace the ADA originally proposed logo of a corncob!

    In 2013, the real APC prevailed, the fake sunk.  In 2025, both ADCs may well sink sans trace.  But we’ll have to wait.

    Even then, this stillbirth ADA’s flee into ADC mimics yet another parallel: a 2019  exodus into this same ADC, registered since 2006, but largely dormant.

    In his trademark bluster, former President Olusegun Obasanjo had announced, with media drums and cymbals, that he had midwifed a political third force, outside APC and PDP — his sour grapes for being scorned by both, despite his venomous letters.

    That idea was a damp squib.  It didn’t fly beyond a dig at mutual opportunism. 

    Read Also: Oyebanji, Fayemi not for ADC, says aide

    Among those at that dig was the SDP (the poor clone of the original that powered MKO to epochal victory in 1993) that wanted to use Obasanjo, as Obasanjo wanted to use it. 

    But it all collapsed after the imperious Ebora Owu told Oba Olu Falae, then SDP national chair, to surrender SDP’s registration certificate; and Oba Falae told the Ebora to go dive into the nearby Ogun River! 

    After all the movement without motion, Obasanjo canonized ADC as pick for his 2019 election racket.  Again, at the polls, ADC made absolutely no impact.

    But the ADC electoral crash isn’t the story. The parallel of SDP-to-ADC pre-poll transit, in a futile bid for power, is.  Nothing mirrors that now than the impulsive Nasir El-Rufai.

    The former Kaduna governor boomed he had stormed into SDP, gobbled it up, and was summoning every political malcontent to come join him there to root out the ruling APC — pure gas!

    But as Falae called Obasanjo’s bluff, SDP leaders called El-Rufai’s.  As Obasanjo and his fictive “third force”, El-Rufai and loud coalition fled SDP into ADC!  It’s true: history repeats self as farce — but only after avoidable tragedy!

    Indeed, top hierarchs of new hire ADC come with a baggage.

    David Mark, a former brigadier-general, comes with two high blights.  He was not only spine of the political military’s conspiracy against June 12 (the harbinger of this democracy),  he threatened  —  by the late Prof. Omo Omoruyi’s account — to shoot President-elect MKO Abiola, should anyone dare to swear him into office. 

    Yes, MKO never hit Aso Rock. But Mark too failed to halt the re-advent of democracy, even if it came as a poisoned chalice, aka Army Arrangement (AA) — high blight No. 1.

    Ay, Mark romped back as elected Benue senator, in the democracy he had tried to kill, when their AA birthed, under Gen. Obasanjo, in 1999. But fate would have the last laugh: he sunk, with the PDP defeat of 2015, as the last Senate president of the PDP era — high blight No. 2.

    You then can imagine the propaganda ruin, en route to 2027, for ADA: its gifted cutlass logo, with Mark as protem national chair!  Mark and co dodged that bullet with the ADC landing!  But they all gained boos and jeers of treachery from a prostrate PDP!

    For ex-PDPs, Mark and co, apparently, that crippled behemoth is useless without its frenetic slogan — power! — which doubles as its lethal fixation!

    With Obasanjo’s rear shadow over ADC and Mark as its fake face, it’s the PDP military wing on the prowl again!   How they’ll fare, after their 2015 collapse, is left to be seen.

    With treachery, Atiku Abubakar stands fairly docked in the PDP court: Vee-Pee for eight years (1999-2007), two presidential slots much later (2019 and 2023) that ended in blistering defeats — even after moonlighting with AC (2007) and APC (2015) — yet Atiku’s payback is preening in his ADC hire cap and daring PDP to come join or die!

    PDP’s grand sin?  Hesitating to gift Atiku yet another ticket, for a putative hat trick of defeats in 2027!  Atiku, the “northern candidate”, wiped out PDP from much of the South in 2023!  Now he, the born-again pan-Nigerian, wants PDP to vaporize into ADC to brew his umpteenth presidential ticket!

    This is beyond treachery. It is crass entitlement, powered by a fox-trotting ingratitude!  Does Atiku ever ponder his legacy, beyond his desperation for presidential power?

    Then Peter Obi: only less peripatetic, in political opportunism, than Atiku himself!  From APGA, to PDP, to LP — and now to ADC?  The motor mouth, that talks 19 to the dozen, straddles to find his bearing!  Perhaps some soapy yarns and China stats would help?

    But Obi wastes his time haggling over a ticket.  He has the “capacity, competence and compassion” — to mimic Obi-speak — to form the Demagogues Party of Nigeria (DPN) and be a shoo-in as presidential candidate.  His Obidient zombies would be ecstatic!

    Then, the pair of El-Rufai and Rotimi Amaechi — the one PDP minster and APC governor, the other PDP governor and APC minister — proved themselves, as worthy of either party’s technocratic bastion, with plausible tenures.

    But their policies are brilliant as their politics is lousy! That explains why both have unravelled, because of self-stabbed political gashes.

    O, for a toast of grace, English romantic poet, John Keats would have roared!  Amaechi bawling: “I’m hungry! I’m hungry!” all over, as some uncouth Roman pleb. El-Rufai blowing his tops in rude and crude TV screeds and graceless X posts!

    Then, the take-away tri-absurdity: Atiku, Obi and Amaechi claiming they’d do only one presidential term, should they get the ADC ticket!  After selves, they can tell that to the marines!  Over that, trouble would soon brew in paradise!

    So, how did Ogbeni Aregebesola, the most ideologically driven politician of his generation, get mixed up with this wild breed?  How?

    The air is filled with treachery, ingratitude and allied moral strictures.  But the hard question, after the Awolowo-Akintola crisis of the 20th century: is 21st century Yoruba political conflict resolution still as tame as it was in the 1960s?  Sad to ponder!  Where are the elders?

    But a word for the ruling APC.  At least, the new ADC should lure it out of a false complacency of everyone collapsing into its ranks, with PDP in death throes.  Politics!

    Now governance.  Until the APC economic reforms morph from fancy numbers to bulging tummies, the ADA — sorry, ADC — pretenders, with their Obi demagogues, will fancy their chances of selling sweet poison — just as Donald Trump did to poor America!

  • Dilemma of coalitionists

    Dilemma of coalitionists

    The coalition of disparate altars at the temple of the seemingly reinvigorated African Democratic Congress (ADC) can be described as a dilemma. Last week, notable factions of the aggrieved political elites, cutting across different political parties, gathered at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre, Abuja, to announce a coalition aimed at ousting President Bola Ahmed Tinubu (PBAT), in the 2027 presidential election. David Mark, who seized the chairmanship of the ADC, with Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola as secretary, until the political palace coup, would have been framed as diverse arch-conservative, and arch-progressive, respectively.  

    But, hurray, in pursuit of the coveted seat of their common political enemy, the two claim they have coalesced to cure all that is ailing Nigeria. Until this marriage, Aregbesola, would have dismissed Mark, as one of the reactionary forces that has kept Nigeria underdeveloped since this republic. On his part, Mark would also have called Aregbesola, a liberal ideologue, with leftist tendencies. But here they are, ironically, accused of seeking to undemocratically commandeer other people’s party, the ADC, as a special purpose vehicle, to achieve a democratic agenda.  

    Among the major gladiators, at the launch of the coalition was former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, former governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi (Okwute), former governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El Rufai, former governor of Rivers State, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, and several others, including Chief Tom Ikimi, Nigeria’s foreign minister during the inglorious years of Sani Abacha. What beguiled this writer most was the video of El Rufai and Peter Obi, holding hands like political love birds. El Rufai, whom many of the followers of Peter Obi would describe as a political Lucifer, was seemingly in a coalition with the arch-angel Peter, to wrought salvation for mankind.

    El Rufai, who openly rebuffed a significant section of the state he governed for being of different faith as the majority which he belongs, was now in a happy relationship with Peter who has been framed as the guardian angel of the faith of that same dishonoured people of Southern Kaduna. Instead of a clash of the extremists of different faith, as many would expect, we now have a coalition. Interesting times. This writer wonders what El Rufai, who has preached and practiced exceptionalism of his tribe and religion, would tell his followers, he was doing holding the hand a vilified enemy of the recent past.

    Read Also: Coalition crusaders are internally displaced politicians — Basiru

    Peter Obi, surely is not an archetypal politician, otherwise he would not be in the company of El Rufai, talk less of holding his hands like a long lost lover. Another intriguing drama in the theatre of the absurd is the coming together of presidential candidates who must be president, in 2027 or never. Atiku Abubakar’s chance of becoming president is in 2027, or never. Presently 78 years, Atiku, would be 80 in 2027, and if he misses the chance, would be 84, in 2031, when the next election would hold. On his part, Obi is 63 years, and would be 65 years by 2027.

    If Obi misses the presidency in 2027, he would 83 years, by the time, the presidency returns to the south in 2035 all things being equal. So, for Obi, like Atiku, he must have the presidential diadem in 2027, or never. That explains why after all permutations, he has offered to do only one term, as president, to gain the confidence of his coalition partners. Of course, his greatest obstacle to that aspiration would be Atiku, whose time is also running out. The wily El Rufai would agree to Obi’s deal, more than an Atiku’s presidency.

    El Rufai, would hope that a four-year term for Obi with him as vice president would enable him become a president in 2031. Of course, he believes he can explain away to his people, why Obi, whom he had vilified as a religious extremist, during the 2023 presidential campaign, should now be trusted by the same north he had alarmed in the past.  The other presidential wannabe, Rotimi Amaechi, at 60 years, has age on his side. But he has no cache of votes to bargain with, amongst his fellow gladiators.

    While he came second, during the All Progressive Congress (APC) party primary, he has not been tested on the national scale, like Atiku and Obi. In the coalition, he would likely support Atiku, hoping to be picked as the vice, when Obi departs with his Obidient family. Even if he is not picked, he would have a chance of contesting as candidate for president, after an Atiku presidency, whether one or two terms. So, while El Rufai would be supporting Obi, Amaechi would be angling for Atiku in the presidential primary, should ADC fly.

    But all these permutations would only happen if the invaders are able to pacify the landlords of the ADC to birth the coalition. No doubt, the price for such pacification would be very high, probably higher that what they must have paid, for the present hitch hike ride.  With the provisions of the ADC constitution clearly marking David Mark and Rauf Aregbesola out as illegal occupants of the offices of the party chairman and party secretary respectively, it is absurd that despite their pretentious astuteness, they could jump, without looking at the ground. Clearly, the antecedents of the two men may have been over exaggerated.

    When PBAT referred to the coalitionists as ‘political IDPs’, many did not give credit to the political correctness of that acronym. Now, without doubt, the wisdom in that statement has come to the open. The foremost political IDP, amongst the coalitionists are David Mark, Rauf Aregbesola and El Rufai, who already left their political parties to roam in the wild. Unlike most IDPs, who are usually welcomed by host communities, these ones have been declared persona non grata by majority owners of the party they jumped into.

    Atiku, whose soul has already left the PDP and is wandering in the wild may remain in limbo for some more time to come. Obi, who is fighting not to be internally displaced in the Labour Party, would not smell the presidential ticket of the party, if those opposed to him, outwit his faction in the party. One wonders how these hitherto thought political juggernauts, became enmeshed in this theatre of the absurd. Could it be that the capabilities of these men are overrated?

    How can these men with the enormous resources at their disposal, fail to do basic due diligence, before placing the purchase order for their special purpose vehicle? Could it be that they were hoodwinked into buying a lame horse for a horse race? If they cannot manage their respective political plans to contest in the 2027 general elections, how would they convince Nigerians that they have the capacity to manage the complexities of the Nigerian nation?

  • Blues from Rivers

    Blues from Rivers

    Those whose palm kernels are cracked for them by benevolent spirits should learn to be humble — Igbo proverb, courtesy Chinua Achebe

    From Rivers, it’s blues for conflict proxies! War-weary Governor Siminalayi Fubara groans the armistice is “bitter and heavy”.  But it’s either Fubara ate crow or nothing!

    Still, that hardly makes Fubara a foolish man; or even craven, as many in his emotive ensemble are already blurting.  He just re-found wisdom at a stiff price. 

    In political brawling, awesome gubernatorial biceps are seldom enough.  As Sim just found out, high delusion of power only goads the governor to be a bully, hungry for a fight, whenever he sights a fella he can maul.  That pretty much summarizes Sim-1.

    But Sim-2(?) just faced off — and bowed to — a structure that made him; and was ready to maul him.  It was the underdog facing the netherworld.

    That is eminently ugly.  But it is what it is — and Fubara seems resigned to living that harsh reality.

    Or is he?  Maybe not!  That explains the puff, huff and gruff from his conflict proxies.

    The shock and awe of vanished combat, as Fubara himself hugs peace — more of pacification, they scoff — has clearly thrown his proxies into fresh tantrums. 

    None would appear more dramatic than the antics on the media front of Arise TV.

    The duo of Reuben Abati and Rufai Oseni wailed and cried, hissed and shrilled, screamed and screeched, over what Abati called the Fubara “surrender”!  Is crying more than the bereaved part of their mandate as TV anchors?

    By the way, which media canon turns TV anchors — equivalent of senior reporters, or at most, desk editors in the newspaper newsroom — to double as opinion writers — or worse: live editorial thunder for their TV — ranting to soothe their bruised egos?

    That was exactly what Abati and Oseni assumed in the aftermath of “peace” from Rivers.  Both had backed the wrong horse, based on nothing, but frothy sentiments — and inserted themselves into the fray as they are wont to. 

    Seeing their poor horse writhing in pain and defeat would appear too much to bear!  That seems why they interpret the Rivers denouement as craven collapse.

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    Oseni went making gaseous claims on air.  It’s all about Rivers resources! It has nothing to do with the Rivers people — maybe! But again, it’s the market folks’ credo: blab what “everybody knows” but get suddenly tongue-tied, when summoned to provide concrete proof! 

    There has got to be a limit to populist rascality on air! 

    Abati too flipped, went ape with “unconditional surrender! unconditional surrender!”, in clear disorientation: with the dazed gait of an agama lizard that just fell off the high Iroko tree, and needed frenetic nodding to reassure itself it’s still alive and well! 

    If the pair hoped such on-air tantrums would make a dent on Fubara’s “unconditional surrender”, they are entitled to their democratic delusions!

    On media professionalism, isn’t it high time the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) imposed standards in this era of “broadcasting of anything goes” — as in Sani Abacha’s Nigerian Army of anything goes?

    But back to Rivers and its aftermath.

    No less upset are Fubara’s other sympathizers, on the Ijaw and allied political fronts.  A report claimed the likes of Timi Frank, Uche Secondus, Peter Odili, Asari Dokubo, and Ann-Kio Briggs were upset with Fubara — understandably so.

    Even Dele Momodu wondered if Fubara would have died, had he not fallen on his sword, just to regain his governorship.

    Now, each of these confederates came to the Sim combat with own intimate motives.  Frank has been incensed since he parted ways with APC. Wike is to Secondus a mentor-turned-tormentor. 

    For Ann-Kio Briggs and Asari Dokubo, it’s Ijaw power and glory, garnished with strutting Ijaw exceptionalism, championed by the dead Edwin Clark.  Dr. Odili, a mentor backed a wrong mentee, in the Rivers power civil war.  Momodu is newfound PDP activist and caregiver, when PDP itself is on self-caused death bed!

    Long story cut short: they didn’t love Sim for Sim; but as putative strong breed to cut arrogant Wike to size! 

    No crime, to be sure — Wike himself had it coming.  But the harsh reality is Fubara hasn’t quite pulled off that rogue regicide.  By embracing peace — or pacification — he just decided to cut his loss, and serve out the rest of his troubled tenure.

    Half-bread is better than none?  Hardly illogical, even if moral purists would pout, growl and bark! 

    Still, Momodu’s rhetorical question, bristling with moral scorn, stings no less. The question, though: had each of these folks acquired power the way Fubara did, what would they have done, faced with such a stark choice: eat crow or be eaten?  Talk is cheap! 

    Still, it resonates with romantics, fixated with what might have been, had the underdog somewhat trumped the over-dog!  Well, that hasn’t happened — and Fubara just chose to live, warts and all!

    If he chooses craven life over heroic death — as Momodu’s harsh stricture hinted — it’s his democratic choice!

    But that links us right back to the opening quote of this piece: those whose palm kernels have been cracked for them by benevolent spirits should learn to be humble — lest those spirits turn malevolent!

    That aptly captures the Rivers crisis.  Really, knowing how he got power — being picked over everyone — Sim should have been more circumspect.  Power always has own catches!  If really it was all about “Rivers’ money” as Oseni claimed, Sim couldn’t have been the only saint in the dirty coven of wizards and witches, no matter how anyone spins it.

    Then, a question of “war-time” strategy! While Wike warred, he did his job as FCT minister and ensured, every second, he pointed — and still points — attention to his deliverables. Like him or hate him, Wike delivers, anywhere, anytime.

    On the contrary Fubara — maybe pressured into it? —  allowed the crisis to define his term until the emergency pause.  However this peace — or pacification — pans out, Rivers people ere entitled to some relief.  They should draw democratic dividends, not perpetually dive — for cover — before political warlords.

    With the balance of forces, Wike appears to have won the war, bringing to heel a rebellious protégée.  But will he win the peace? 

    That’s doubtful. His work rate is top-notch. But with his penchant to rub in stuff, his grace is inverse to his industry.  So, don’t be surprised if brash Wike bawls around town, impressing it on everyone the lord and master is here! But at least Sim-2 (poor guy!) knows what he’s signing again into!

    Still, things would get progressively clearer as we near 2027.  That Sim-2 signed a one-term pact to regain his governorship is no news. The Wike structure will never trust him with power again.

    But who says Sim can’t re-contest, with or without the Wike structure, with his own Simplified lobby waiting in the wings?  Election 2027?  Rivers, for good or for ill, is a state to watch!

  • As Fubara capitulates!

    As Fubara capitulates!

    Expectedly, opinions have remained divided on the truce between the feuding parties in the Rivers State crisis as hammered out by President Tinubu, particularly in terms of what it bodes for the peace of the state. Going by the sketch of the details already in the public domain, it is clear that the suspended governor came out far worse than his supporters could have imagined. Going by the terms of the settlement, not only is the governor precluded from having a go at a second term which he is constitutionally entitled, his boss and nemesis, Nyesom Wike, still retains the prerogative to nominate all the local government chairpersons across the 23 LGAs of the state.

    In fairness to the suspended governor, he appears to appreciate, at least for the time being, the imperative of peace, going as far as to declare his willingness to make difficult but necessary sacrifices.

    His words: “The sacrifice that we are going to make for us to achieve this total peace is going to be heavy, and I want everybody to prepare for it…Without a total reconciliation, which by the grace of God both of us have gotten, there’s no way we can make progress in this state, there’s no way the president can come in to save the situation…So, I want to appeal to everyone, I have accepted that we must accept this peace no matter how it looks. No matter how you feel, we must accept it.”

    He also left no one in doubt of how much of the native wisdom that must have come his way, in the past few months of grim reflection. Using the analogy of the native fish ‘Atabala’, (tilapia) to make his point, he says: ‘The native tilapia doesn’t grow big. The mother tilapia tells the kids that if you want to grow up to my own size, hide your head inside the mud’ – an apt reminder of the folly of duelling with one’s chi!

    Now, Nigerians cannot but wonder how different things would have been had the ‘Atabala’ wisdom availed him in those early days.

    Of course, the beautiful, multi-billion naira edifice that served as parliament building would have been spared the torching by arsonists and subsequently, the bulldozers of a desperate governor.

    Second, the needless turf wars and the resort to brigandage would have been needless; in fact, Nigerians would have been spared the debate on parliamentary quorum and the question of whether a governor could pick which faction of the parliament to work with. Third, the whole point about the president being dragged into the fray between godfather and son would have been most unnecessary. Indeed, the president would have been spared the indignity of having the settlement he brokered torn into shreds by the governor and his army of conflict entrepreneurs.

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    Fourth, the ordinary citizen would have been spared the affliction of those asinine talking points daily regurgitated on prime time hours on television by those whose interests are barely disguised.

    Fifth, the section of the judiciary which insisted on playing the errand for soulless politicians would have been spared the indignity of being de-robed in the market square by the apex court, followed by the weighty characterisation of the governor as a ‘dictator’ and serial lawbreaker and with it its frightening constitutional portents by the highest court in the land!

    We can add to these the ordeal of kicking the executive and the parliament out of office – temporarily – to stave off further impunity!

    Little wonder the Holy writ counsels that one gets wisdom as it is the principal thing in all of life’s endeavours.

    As it is, it must be interesting to see the parties back to the same spot where they left off: the feet of the same president whose counsel the suspended governor and his supporters had once scoffed. This time around however, he’s probably emerged far worse than the last time. Once out of power, he suddenly realises that has no jokers left to play.

    Faced with the new reality, the governor, now powerless, is forced to carry the burden of marketing the gospel of conciliation to his Simplified Movement even when all they could see is plain, undisguised capitulation! Nothing about his willingness to swallow the humble pie to enable peace to return to the state appears to make sense to them. One particular group that calls itself the Rivers Emancipation Movement says Fubara’s concessions amount to a “surrender” of his authority; and that they were made without sufficient consultation! (Did they bother to read the constitution?)

    As far as the group is concerned, any settlement that falls short of restoring their man to his erstwhile pre-eminence is akin to a blow to the solar plexus.

    Never mind that the governor and he alone, will have to bear his cross!

    Of course, the group of 27 lawmakers must be having a good laugh at the turn out of events. After all, it is an open secret that even before the governor’s rustication, he had neither regard for them nor the institution they represented. Unable to carve the institution in his image and likeness, he, Fubara, had thought little of abolishing the institution, opting to work instead with a renegade minority that had no quorum and so no authority to conduct any business let alone the all-important legislative business. Now they are back, with their powers fully restored. They have nothing to worry about in whether or not their due emoluments would be paid, or who had the authority to pass and oversight the state budget.

    In all of these, I believe the lesson is clear: there can be no fighting a right battle in a wrong way or vice versa. Nyesom Wike and the Group of 27 may have been Lucifer and his fallen angels combined; they may actually represent everything odious in politics and leadership to some, there is no reported incident of brazen lawlessness on their part. It was not his group that torched the parliament or desecrated the sacred institution that is at the heart of constitutional democracy; they had no part in the pulling down of the parliament building, which although not illegal outright in the circumstance, amounts to an egregious mocking of the law. Wike’s group had nothing to do with it! Or what the apex court aptly described as the reign of the dictator or autocrat, in a constitutional democracy. It was a case of one group taking to brazing outlawry while the other watched.

    May it never happen again!

  • Wike as an asset

    Wike as an asset

    The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, a former governor of Rivers State, lawyer and member, Body of Benchers to boot, has shown himself a man beloved by the god of politics. That may explain his triumphs in many fronts. But while appreciating his bright stars, perhaps the Wike personality may be a very vital factor in his successes. The man chooses his fights, and when he takes a position, he sticks with it, through thick and thin.

    From available records, he supported the emergence of Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, as the gubernatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in 2007, in Rivers State, against the wishes of federal forces and stood by his conviction, even when Amaechi allegedly ran away to Ghana, for safety. The legend had it that Wike sold his father’s property to fight the legal battle for Amaechi. From the recent interview Amaechi granted a national television, it can be deduced that Amaechi did not fully appreciate the sacrifices Wike made.

    When Amaechi fell out with President Goodluck Jonathan, Wike choose to be on the side of Jonathan, and with the bravura of Mama Peace, Dame Patience Jonathan, the first lady, Wike became the governorship candidate of the PDP, when his former principal, Amaechi, moved over to the All Progressive Congress (APC), to help President Muhammadu Buhari get elected in 2015. That decision paid off, as Wike got elected as governor, despite the opposition of the departing governor, and since then, he has been on the ascendency.

    As governor, Wike endeared himself to Nigerians and even to President Buhari of the opposition party, with his flamboyant celebration of his numerous projects. Again, after completing his tenure and failing at the presidency project, he chose to align with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, of the APC, while rejecting overtures from Peter Obi of the Labour Party, and former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, the man who defeated him at the primary and refused to pick him as vice presidential candidate.

    Wike rallied the governors of Benue, Enugu, Abia and Oyo states, to trenchantly oppose the presidential candidate of his party, and played roulette with the candidate of the LP, while extracting promissory notes from the APC, under the nose of his estranged former boss, Amaechi, an APC stalwart. In a manner akin to eating your cake and still having it, Wike delivered his preferred gubernatorial candidate, Similayi Fubara, and the candidates of the national and house of assembly, to PDP, while handing over the presidential poll to the APC, to the consternation of both his APC and PDP opponents.

    In the ensuing fight in the National Working Committee, of the PDP, Wike and his friends aligned with Samuel Anyanwu, the party’s secretary, against the more powerful forces in the party. Anyanwu had gone to contest for the governorship of Imo State, and after losing to Hope Uzodinma, of the APC, returned to the party to reclaim his position as secretary. Despite the misgivings of other party stalwarts who want Anyanwu out, Wike chose to back Anyanwu to retain his seat, on the premise that the PDP constitution and 1999 constitution allows party officials to contest elections without resigning.

    The efforts by those opposed to Anyanwu to get the courts to determine his tenure failed at the Supreme Court which held that the courts lack the jurisdiction to interfere in the internal affairs of a party.

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    Instead of putting their house in order, the PDP crisis is increasingly becoming intractable, with the PDP governors divided as to the way forward. The Board of Trustees, instead of bringing neutrality to the dispute, chose to take a stand that has further polarized the party. The party’s National Working Committee, already divided down the line, seems determined to fight to finish. When some party members insisted that the National Executive meeting must hold, despite the issues raised by INEC, one wonders whether the entire party leadership is under a form of spell.

    While everyone in PDP seems to be losing their heads, Wike is insistent that Samuel Anyanwu, remains the party’s secretary, and he appears to be winning over some of his former foes like the governor of Bauchi State, Bala Mohammed. Over the weekend, Wike toasted Anyanwu, at his 60th birthday celebration, at the recently refurbished International Conference Centre, renamed after President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Wike advised Anyanwu to remain steadfast to his conviction and not be afraid. He told him to remain calm as those he defeated will come to seek his face, and not for him to go in search of them.

    That fearless capacity to confront political opponents may be one of the factors that endears Wike to President Tinubu, himself a fearless political warrior. When President Tinubu describes Wike as an asset, he may not just be referring to his stellar performances at the minister for federal Capital Territory, but his inner core, as a person. As Chief Obafemi Awolowo, is reputed to have said, only the deep can connect to the deep. Wike, showed himself an intractable political warrior, in his battle with his now reconciled political godson, the governor of Rivers State.

    Wike, who fought many political battles to make Fubara governor, fought even greater battles, to reclaim him, from his opponents, who wanted to reap where they did not sow, as he put it. Instead of running scared or capitulating, Wike stayed his cause with his supporters, until the battle was won. This writer had advised Fubara months before the hammer of emergency rule fell on his executive duties to obey the rules of the game he freely and willingly entered.

    Wike’s greatest fan, who has referred to him as an asset, remains President Tinubu, a veteran of political roforofo. Through uncommon capacity to deliver on his mandate as a minister, Wike has gained the confidence of the president and even majority of Nigerians living in Abuja. For more than two weeks, the president has had the honour of commissioning landmark projects that will endear him and his party to the masses, as he celebrates his second year anniversary as president and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.           

    No person in the shoes of President Tinubu, would not be happy with the achievements of Minister Wike. From roads, to water works, to fly overs, to bus stations, it has been celebration time for the president. The projects are so many that one wonders how Wike, was able to execute such projects in less than two years of his appointment as minister. Such capacity to deliver on an assignment, is truly an asset, as President Tinubu has reiterated many times.

    What remains to be seen is whether Tinubu, would be able to lure that asset to his party, as he has wished.

  • Amuwo Odofin stakeholders task LG aspirant

    Amuwo Odofin stakeholders task LG aspirant

    Lagos State has been agog with campaigns, for the upcoming local government election, slated for July 12 and Amuwo Odofin, home to the famous FESTAC TOWN and its alluring neighbourhood is not left out of the political fiesta. The ruling party in the local government and the state, the All Progressives Congress (APC), has the Labour Party (LP), the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and some mushroom parties to contend with, at the polls.

    After a highly contested party primary, the chairmanship candidate of APC, Prince Lanre Sanusi (PLS), and his deputy, Maureen Chika Ashara, are not leaving anything to chance in their campaign for votes. In the past two weeks or so, this writer has thrice witnessed the candidates speak on their vision and mission for the local government area hence this piece. The first was an evening with Amuwo Odofin Stakeholders Forum, of which this writer is the legal adviser. The candidates were clear on their mission to build an all-inclusive local council, regardless of tribe or religion.  

    The Amuwo Odofin Stakeholders Forum has Sir Benson Abalogu as chairman Board of Trustees with Sir Chidolue Levi Chidinma as vice. The key officers are Chief G.C. Ochie, chairman, Chike Okonkwo, vice chairman, Barrister Chidi Njoku, Secretary, Chief Emmanuel Orjichukwu, Treasurer and Chief Kenneth Ntong, PRO. In the interactive section, at Benny Hotels, the business moguls, professionals, residents and dignitaries who make up the nascent group told the candidates that the sole aim of the group is to promote good governance in Amuwo Odofin and by extension the state. They pledged funds and campaign materials to the team. 

    At another well-attended meeting with the general Amuwo Odofin Stakeholders, organized by the local government at the Festival Hotel, the young and ebullient Sanusi, who goes by the acronym PLS, showed promising prospects in political rapprochement, which this writer hopes will crystallize into an enduring political relationship with indigenes and non-indigenous residents of the local government area.

    Considering the infrastructural challenges facing the local government, particularly the dilapidated roads and blocked drainages within FESTAC TOWN, this writer was initially apprehensive how the evening would go. With who is who in Amuwo Odofin seated in the hall, with the incumbent chairman of Amuwo Odofin Local Government Area, Valentine Braimoh, it turned out an evening of honest conversation. Despite the rains and traffic bottlenecks at the apple junction road-about, intersecting Festac Town, Amuwo, Ago and Jakande Estate/Apapa expressway, which need a fly-over, the hall was filled to capacity.

    Gathered were the representatives of the business class, land owners, professions, leaders of residential estates, landlords and tenants’ associations, market men and women, and the ubiquitous traditional rulers. Amongst the APC leaders in the local government council, were the party chairman, Apostle Ayodele Ogungbiye, the councillorship candidates, and those who contested for the chairmanship ticket with Prince Sanusi. After introductions, the chairman of the occasion, Chief Igbokwe George Orji (Okosisi Nnewi), in his introductory remarks delved into the two major reasons for the gathering. The first is to lay bare the challenges facing Amuwo Odofin Local Government.  

    He mentioned three major challenges facing Amuwo Odofin Local Government, namely, roads, roads, and roads. His presentation resonated well with the audience, since all the roads in FESTAC town are in ruins. The chairman made a handsome donation towards the fund raising. Another speaker raised the issue of discriminatory taxes and rates within the local government, asking for equity and equality in assessment for indigenes and non-indigenes alike. The next speaker urged Prince Sanusi and his team to collaborate with estates to maintain the roads and other infrastructure within the local council.

    This writer who spoke on behalf of the Amuwo Odofin Stakeholders Forum, urged other stakeholders, especially non-indigenes to collaborate with Prince Sanusi who has made strong impression as a detribalized candidate in the forth-coming local government election, with an impressive manifesto. Another impressive outing by Prince Sanusi and his deputy was the meeting with the leadership of the Catholic Men Organization, Festac Deanery, led by its coordinator, Sunday Dim. After an evening of frank conversation, the consensus was that the APC candidates should be given a chance in the forthcoming local council election, unlike the voting pattern in the past.  

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    At each of the meetings Sanusi, didn’t disappoint his guests. In the event at the Festival Hotel, Sanusi before delving into his presentation, first removed his jacket and folded his long sleeves shirt, like a manager set to confront a big task. He gave a brief resume of himself, tracing his ancestry to the first Oba of Amuwo. He reminded his audience that he started small in the nearby market, like an Igbo apprentice, where he cut his teeth in business and established strong relationships. He subsequently travelled to the United States of America, where he bagged a BSc in Business, and an MBA, from Dallas Baptist University.

    Sanusi spoke eloquently on his blueprint for economic growth and expansion and laid before the assembly his five core values of integrity and accountability, excellence and innovation, inclusivity and equity, sustainability and stewardship, and collaboration and partnership. Thrice he has promised that within the first 100 days in office, he would make motor-able the 2nd Avenue road, a major artery into FESTAC town, which has become a death trap. Sanusi, urged residents of the local government to vote for the APC in the forthcoming local government election, to give him a bargaining power to attract state and federal support to the local government, with a peculiar status.

    He promised to seek collaborative partnership between Amuwo Odofin and County Councils in the USA. He reminded the audience that FESTAC town estate belongs to the federal government, even though it is the seat of the Amuwo Odofin Local Government Area. Indeed, FESTAC town is like a goat owned by many, which is left hungry, as each part-owner leaves the others to make provision for the hungry goat. At each session, the stakeholders contended that what will endear APC to the residents of Amuwo Odofin local government area are good roads, whether done by the local government authority, state government or the Federal Housing Authority (FHA), in the case of FESTAC town.

    As a stakeholder, this writer hopes Prince Sanusi will live up to his mission statement. On it, he wrote: “My mission is to build a vibrant, inclusive, and diversified economy where every individual has the opportunity to thrive.” He continued: “I am committed to fostering lifelong opportunities that uplift social welfare, ensuring that prosperity is shared by all, not just a few.” The Amuwo Odofin Stakeholders Forum, and indeed other stakeholders, earnestly look forward to a new era of political rapprochement, for the benefit of all and sundry.

  • Putting Dangote to the sword?

    Putting Dangote to the sword?

    So much for the wailing and gnashing of teeth in the aftermath of Dangote Refinery’s planned ‘intrusion’ into that last bastion of the inefficiency in the fuel supply and distribution chain; the talk about the new wave of disruption set to be loosed upon the segment is no longer whether or not it is unprecedented, but about the impact of the new measures will have in a terrain that has hitherto thrived in institutional lethargy, plain opportunism and organised subversion.

    I refer hereto the plans by Dangote Refinery to start direct distribution of petroleum products to filling stations and other stakeholders across the country particularly those in the critical sectors of aviation, manufacturing, and telecommunications – not excluding of course the so-called independent marketers. Not known to settle for half measures, the Dangote initiative, set to commence on August 15 will see the behemoth roll out some brand new 4,000 CNG trucks in furtherance to this.

    Surely, if Nigerians had prayed for that day when a band of unscrupulous predators would be put on notice that their perfidious game was over, they seem to have got more than they could have wished for in the Dangote plan! 

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    The deployment has, expectedly, raised questions about logistics dominance, fair competition, and pricing control in the downstream sector. Specifically, marketers under the aegis of the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria (PETROAN) have since concluded that the plan would distort the market. Drawing attention to their earlier warning about the refinery’s intentions to dominate the downstream sector, the body fears that “the company may leverage its market power to fix prices, limit competition, and exploit consumers, much like it has done in other sectors.”

    It went on to note that the development “could lead to a massive shutdown of filling stations across Nigeria, resulting in widespread job losses. The introduction of 4,000 brand-new Compressed Natural Gas-powered tankers…poses a significant threat to the livelihoods of thousands of truck drivers and owners.

    “While CNG trucks may offer a lower cost of transporting petroleum products, this shift could lead to widespread job losses in the industry”, it noted.

    Dangote Refinery, it also added, “might be deploying a price penetration strategy, offering fuel at low prices to seize market share and force smaller players out, ultimately threatening the survival of independent operators”. In their opinion, Dangote refinery should focus on refining and exporting fuel rather than competing directly in the retail distribution chain!

    I believe that the body deserve more pity than understanding. This concerns (or is it recommendations), coming from a group long fattened by the regime of ‘equalisation’ under which uncountable billions of naira are doled out in bridging claims to fuel transporters is, to put it mildly, gratuitous and rich!

    Most certainly, I do understand why the Dangote plan comes close to a final death knell in an industry known to mistake rent for enterprise. For while their cash cow, the Petroleum Equalisation Fund (PEF) may have been certified as dead and buried, at least officially, under the current regime of liberalisation; it remains a measure of how deeply ingrained that psychology of rent is, particularly among the players of yore that some, among them, still fantasise about possible return of that ancien regime under which transporters collected subsidies to maintain fuel price parities long acknowledged as existing only on paper! Truly, old habits die hard.

    By the way, how about the tyranny of tankers drivers, whose all-powerful union could decree, at the drop of hat, that their workers embark on strike on just about anything ranging from a mild skirmish with police on the highways to frustrations with the electronic call up (e-call up) system at the loading bays is finally nearing its end? Who wouldn’t want their chokehold on Nigerians broken?

    Even among the hordes cringing at the budding ‘monopolistic dominance’, it seems unlikely that any, would crave for a return to the fraudulent, organised chaos of yore!

    So much for the labelling therefore; the choice, really, is hardly one between the so-called monopolistic dominance’ as some have chosen to frame the Dangote Refinery’s ‘intrusion’ into the fuel distribution segment on the one hand, and the fading past characterised by organised chaos foisted by the players in the absence of a virile rail infrastructure, functional pipelines and other ancillary distribution infrastructure on the other. To that extent, current concerns, though legitimate, matters little to Nigerians already ill-served by their predatory distribution arrangement; at least so long as fuel flows at the pump and at a price that seems fair enough!

    Rather than the strange charge that the development bodes ill for the market, I believe Nigerians should ordinarily be interested in seeking answers to the far more profound issues provoked the development. Issues about the state of the depots and the products receiving bays, the sprawling pipelines criss-crossing the entire country and countless critical ancillaries that once defined the downstream sector, all of which are now currently in ruins with no plans to resuscitate them. What of the railways that once served to transport bulk products into the hinterland? Billions of dollars of loans after, the sector not only remains subpar, but a recurrent item on electioneering manifestoes!  To imagine that the whiners – the same cartel that has contributed in no small measure to the sorry states which the industry has found itself, whose activities have undermined the very notion of competition, and whose understanding of competition comes to bear only when it suits them; that they have suddenly become drum majors of equitable rules in the market must be the revelation, the joke of the century!

    Yes, there is little doubt that Dangote’s 4,000 trucks present a looming threat to the club of indulgent and patently short-sighted players in the same way that the cartel of fuel importers have been whining to no end about the dominance of Dangote  Refinery hurting their market! The challenge is to engage; not one of a fruitless call to arms. Call it a price to pay at this stage of the industry’s steady evolution. How I love the way a certain Obasa Sanmi put out the matter in his social media handle. “Please Dangote; come up with a scheme like that for the distribution of cement. The middlemen are the profiteers. It’s time to chase them out!”

    Surely, Nigerians understand that. If anything, it seems the way to go. Most certainly, it is a far cry from the chant which comes basically to putting Nigeria’s leading entrepreneur to the sword, and this for no crime other than putting his money where his mouth is!

  • Emperor over crumbling empire?

    Emperor over crumbling empire?

    Imagine an emperor strutting over a crumbling empire? 

    That perfectly projects the latest legalism, from the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, in his latest opposition to state police.

    If indeed the IGP is a crack mathematician — he earned his first degree in Mathematics from the University of Lagos — then he would realize the math just doesn’t add up!

    State police is an idea whose time has come.  It would be enlightened self-interest for the who-is-who in the national security apparatus to support it. 

    Every passing day returns the same grim verdict: a centralized police, that the Nigeria Police now constitutes, can’t deal with the current security crisis.

    It’s time to face the harsh reality and stop playing the ostrich, because of extant power and positions.  There’s neither power nor glory in vanishing quicksand!

    Yet, the IGP’s legal take, to the House of Representatives constitutional review dialogue, themed “Nigeria’s Peace and Security: the Constitutional Imperative”, is hardly haram.  Before we take any wise step, we must be steeped in the constitutional birthing of the Nigeria Police.

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    The IGP, insisting on Section 214(1) of the 1999 Constitution, which lawfully allows only one centralized Police, told us what we already know.  But then, isn’t replacing that unitary police, in a supposed federal state, the reason for having this dialogue?

    Worse: doesn’t that law — cast in stone ? — grimly remind us how harsh reality has beaten it black and blue? 

    The result?  Lost lives and hewn limbs, seasonal bloodbath in the macabre massacre of the helpless and peaceful, with the central authorities pledging to do better, each time killers strike.  Yet, are condemned to re-making same grim promises, when terror strikes next time? 

    Wasn’t the IGP struck by the irony of these ardent but never fulfilled promises?

    They are ardent but unfulfilled  — or even unfulfillable — not because the Nigeria Police is incompetent.  Even with its bad eggs, our cops rank among the finest anywhere.  They are near-unfulfillable because the police, no matter how earnest or dutiful, are already trumped by an impossible structure! 

    There simply is an imperative for more boots on the ground, especially in Nigeria’s wide, wild and un-policed spaces.  The Federal Government simply can’t go it alone. 

    It needs complementary investment from state governments that can, for now, afford it.  Those who can’t, right now, can follow later.  Easy breezy?  Not quite! 

    Which then leads straight to the Nigerian power elite’s centralist mindset, when they hit the federal capital of Abuja — an irony in itself?  That’s masked by paternalism that crows but seldom delivers!  If it did, we would still not be in this insecurity mess.

    Such strange paternalism was dutifully reflected in the IGP’s anti-state police position.

    “Let me state unequivocally that the National Police Force acknowledges the rationale behind the demand for state police,” conceded the IGP,  “including the desire for locally responsive policing, quicker reaction to community-level threats, and decentralized law enforcement presence.”

    “However,”  — it’s glorious paternalism, stupid! — “our assessment, based on current political, institutional and socio-economic realities, shows that Nigeria is not yet … politically prepared for the initialization of police powers to the state level.”

    Why? “Key concerns include the possibility of political misuse of police powers at the state level, lack of funding capacity by most states to maintain and equip a state control force, the potential for fragmentation of national security, intelligence and command, the absence of regulatory architecture to ensure standard and operational cohesion”.

    Let no one hurry to shoo the IGP out of the room.  Indeed, his fears are backed by solid historical horrors, in the 1st Republic order (1960-1966), that caused so much disorder and sent the political military grate-crashing into power.

    Indeed, it was a period best forgotten!  Alkali police in the North and naked thugs, hiding under local police, visiting mayhem; and muscling elections in the name of the local rogue order.  It’s rather forgettable, from the prism of police professionalism.

    So, a furious military, with no command flexibility, would go the other extreme of re-shaping the Police in its centralized, bristling law-and-order image.  No crime!

    Still, has the Federal Government, with a police that takes orders from the President and commander-in-chief, via his operational viceroy, the IGP, fared better?  Hardly!

    The Shehu Shagari era (1979-1983) birthed the Mobile Police unit, notoriously re-named “Kill and Go”!  President Olusegun Obasanjo, in his two (s)elections of 2003 and 2007 — his 2007 war cry was do-or-die — had the police proudly embedded in that electoral heist and rape. 

    To be fair, though: many governors, if they had the chance, would gladly have misused and abused the police, without blinking, for selfish ends.

    So, if abuse is an equal-opportunity possibility, why would the federal czar posture it would abuse the police less than the many wannabe czars in the 36 states?

    To that extent, much of the IGP’s anti-state police worries are just stacking cards and stoking fears.  The lesson of history and strict laws and regulations should take care of those. 

    In any case, why should past fears cripple our thinking and shackle us to past horrors, when what to do is fresh and rigorous thinking, to make laws that should impose security in today’s dynamic setting?

    That’s what the new thinking in state police is all about. 

    That dynamism, most times, is dangerous and life-threatening.  But that precisely makes an unassailable case for state police, over the present clumsy omnibus.

    The “North”, not long ago, was an impregnable fortress against state police.  Now, harsh reality has set in — and the “North” has become cheer leaders in state police advocacy!

    They see the yeoman efforts by the Army, the Police — conventional or secret — with the other security sister agencies. Yet, these agencies often fall short, when the chips are down!

    Isn’t it better then, to merge state and federal investments in policing, federalize command-and-control to localize policing, effectively cover more of ungoverned spaces and maximize the grassroots to tap intelligence, and curtail crimes, even before they are committed?

    Isn’t that better than the President, as he did in Benue, wondering aloud why the IGP and his (wo)men had not made any arrests, among the latest band of marauders?

    Questioning the appropriateness of state police is rather belated.  The challenge, right now, is to put in place stout laws to regulate operation and check abuse. 

    It’s not about a superman at the centre playing Hercules.  That has failed us for much too long!

    It’s rather a super-structure that federalizes the Police, but puts in place robust checks and balances, at every level of the command chain.

  • Bursting custodial centres

    Bursting custodial centres

    Most Nigerian custodial centres are bursting at the seams, thanks to our ailing criminal justice system. According to a newspaper report, the number of awaiting trial inmates across custodial facilities in the country has increased from 48,900 in January, to 53,178 detainees in June 2025. The report indicated that out of the over 80,879 inmates in our custodial centres, only 27,701 inmates have been convicted. By another account, the number of inmates stands at 81,011 as at end of May, 2025.

    The Nigerian Correctional Services puts the current capacity of the custodial centres at 58,278. So, clearly from these accounts, Nigeria’s custodial centres are overpopulated by about 37 percent. Of course, the more popular centres like the Kirikiri Maximum and Medium Custodial Centres in Lagos, have higher percentage of the overpopulation than the far flung centres in other parts of the country. Sadly, the number of awaiting trial inmates continues to rise, despite several advocacy programs of non-governmental groups.

    This anomaly of what in some cases amounts to indefinite detention of persons awaiting trial, clearly contravenes the 1999 constitution (as amended), which made an elaborate provisions on the right to personal liberty of citizens and persons in Nigeria. Section 35(1) provides: “Every person shall be entitled to his personal liberty and no person shall be deprived of such liberty save in the following cases and in accordance with a procedure permitted by law – (a) in execution of the sentence or order of a court in respect of a criminal offence of which he has been found guilty”.

    Sub-section (c) provides: “For the purpose of bringing him before the court in execution of the order of a court or upon reasonable suspicion of his having committee a criminal offence, or to such extent as may be reasonably necessary to prevent his committing a criminal offence.” A significant proviso to section 35(1), says: “Provided that a person who is charged with an offence and who has been detained in lawful custody awaiting trial shall not continue to be kept in such detention for a period longer than the maximum period of imprisonment prescribed for the offence.”

    Section 35(4) provides: “Any person who is arrested or detained in accordance with subsection 1(c) of this section shall be brought before a court of law within a reasonable time, and if he is not tried within a period of – (a) two months from the date of his arrest or detention in the case of a persons who is in custody or is not entitled to bail,; or (b) three months from the date of his arrest or detention in the case of a person who has been released on bail, he shall (without prejudice to any further proceedings that may be brought against him) be released either unconditionally or upon such conditions as are reasonably necessary to ensure that he appears for trial at a later date.”

    This writer is of the opinion that a combined reading of the sections quoted above should lead to one conclusion by our courts, if so moved. That any deprivation of liberty, save under the circumstances clearly provided for in our constitution is unlawful, illegal and voidable. The provision of section 35(1) is mandatory. It provides that every person SHALL be entitled to personal liberty, and no person SHALL be deprived of personal liberty save as permitted by law (emphasis mine). 

    In Obafunso vs I.N.E.C. (2019) All FWLR Pp 597-598 paras H-B, the Court of Appeal held thus: “The word “shall” when used in a statutory provision imports anything must be done. It is a form of command or mandate. It is not permissive, it is mandatory. The word SHALL in its ordinary meaning is a word of command which is normally given a compulsory meaning as it is intended to denote obligation.” That court further went on to hold that words used in a statute are to be given their ordinary and unambiguous meaning.

    Even on issues of bail, pending trial, it is strange that our courts in flagrant disobedience to the provisions of our constitution and other subsidiary statutes have condoned the illegal detention of offenders, sometimes in practice, indefinitely. Section 162 of the Administration of the Criminal Justice Act, 2015, which many states have domesticated provides: “A defendant charged with an offence punishable with imprisonment for a term exceeding three years SHALL, on application to the court, be released on bail except in any of the following circumstances: (a) where there is reasonable ground to believe that the defendant will, when released on bail, commit another offence; (b) attempt to evade his trial; (c) attempt to influence, interfere with, intimidate witnesses, and or interfere in the investigation of the case; (d) attempt to conceal or destroy evidence; (e) prejudice the proper investigation of the offence; or (f) undermine, jeopardize the objectives or the purpose of the functioning of the criminal justice administration, including the bail system.”

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    Section 165(1) provides: “The conditions for bail in any case shall be at the discretion of the court with due regard to the circumstances of the case and SHALL NOT BE EXCESSIVE.” In Uduesegbe vs FRN (2014) LPELR 23191, Ekanem J.C.A, Pp 11-12, paras F-B, excoriated the lower court thus: “The lower court ought to have realized that the conditions of the bail granted by it were stringent. A proper exercise of discretion would have been shown by a grant of the application to vary the conditions. This is especially so since the appellant had earlier been granted bail before the charge before Bello J. was withdrawn and struck out and he did not jump bail.”

    This writer is usually saddened each time he visits the prison through one of the advocacy groups that have made custodial centres decongestion their business. Just like going to the hospital and morgues have a sobering effect, it is advocated that public officials especially those charged with the enforcement of Nigeria’s criminal justice system, make annual visits to the custodial centres their business. It is hoped that with increased advocacy, custodial centre decongestion would become a campaign point for legislators and members of the executive. A gubernatorial or a legislative candidate should be coerced to include in his/her campaign manifesto, the decongestion of custodial centres.

    But all said and done, in my humble opinion, the authority with the most influential power to decongest our custodial centres is the judiciary, especially at the lower bench where the hoi polloi are charged for one infraction of the law or another. Most of those languishing in the jails were charged before the magistrate courts, and with utmost respect, the magistrates, more out of worry for attendance at trial, on behalf the state, set stringent bail conditions that the poor are unable to meet. The judiciary of forward-looking states should outline reasonable standard bail conditions, which magistrates SHALL apply.