The Nation Newspaper

Category: Wednesday

  • ‘Breaking news’; Corruption vs 18m

    ‘Breaking news’; Corruption vs 18m

    The ‘Breaking News Bar’ is a popular and important media device to get viewers’ attention. Indeed, there are prizes for ‘Best Breaking News Media House’.  However, it is not scrutinized enough to deliver quality material all the time. It is often too slow, too verbose, too often interrupted by programming or adverts and often has spelling mistakes. I record these on my camera and have over 100 mistakes.

    Worse than these problems with the ‘Breaking News Bars’ is that the decision to insert a news item is considered more important than the decision to edit or withdraw the BREAKING NEWS resulting in untrue news being displayed sometimes for two-four days. 

    The media houses should teach their editors that there are two decisions the ‘Breaking News Media Editor’ must take. The first is to ‘INSERT BREAKING NEWS’ and then the even more important second decision, ‘UPDATE or REMOVE BREAKING NEWS’ . This requires the editor to actually follow the news on his and other media outfits and know when to order a modification, update or takedown before the news becomes stale and even misleading.

    When is ‘Breaking News’ not ‘Breaking News’? When the news becomes stale or been remedied. Nigeria’s ‘Breaking News’ may be okay when it is broken but the editor should do due diligence and continue to monitor the news for further developments.

    For example, ‘Heathrow Shut Down Due To Fire’ was correct on Day 1. The same headline was used on Day 2 the following day when it was wrong as the airport was reopened within 24 hours. Was this deliberate corporate laziness? However, the Breaking News was still seen on Day 3 when the airport had been opened for two days. Is this mischievous malicious misinformation on Day 3? MEDIA BOSSES AND NEWS EDITORS SHOULD MONITOR AND UPDATE BREAKING NEWS INFORMATION HOURLY.

    For the information of media houses, it is advised that they study the presentations of DSTV Channels 414, 417, 410 which have a vertical left side bar with news items. Learn from the competition.

    It is obvious that in addition to having competitions for the ‘BEST Breaking News’ media outlet we should also have awards for the ‘WORST BREAKING NEWS’ media outlet. Every media house editor should ask the monitoring staff aloud every hour: ‘TEAM, IS THIS BREAKING NEWS BAR STILL ACCURATE?’ If they had, the HEATHROW BREAKING NEWS BAR would have been changed to ‘HEATHROW PARTIALLY REOPENED AFTER FIRE’ on DAY 1 1/2 and then ‘HEATHROW FULLY REOPENED AFTER FIRE’ on DAY 2. The delayed removal of a breaking news bar amounts to ‘disseminating misinformation’ which must be legally and morally wrong and a breach of media ethics.

    This matter should be taken seriously by lazy and inefficient media houses. If they can break the news, they can update the news. A simple moral responsibility to the public which does not want to be bored by yesterday’s news. Remember that ‘yesterday’s media truths can easily become today’s media lies’.

    We are our own worst enemies. We are daily reminded of our great wealth, not by the mirage of Nigeria’s successes but by our monumental failure to meet the needs of the citizens in proportion to our income at Local Government, state and federal levels. We know from history and learn from today’s international politics that foreign powers actively conspire to keep us on our knees bickering and fighting to the death among ourselves, while they cart away our wealth. At the local level, our political leaders and their cohort prefer mayhem to making up and prefer to run a ‘winner takes all’ rather than ‘share and share alike’ according to the political equation of voters or supporters.

    We are living the life of a wealthy family fighting over and losing our rightful huge inheritance being stolen because we refuse to be honest and share.

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    The best evidence of the huge wealth Nigeria has, does not come from CNN or abroad. The evidence comes from the courts and nauseatingly frequent mega-normous amounts of money, in repeated N100billion stocks, announced in the EFCC confiscations, plea bargains and accusations, naturally mostly not proven. Who knew a country could have so many mega-thieves all in one country, all hating their fellow citizens so much that they would routinely steal them blind and be happy to leave children and patients in pigsties for education and health facilities and 18million ‘Out-of-School children’.

    Of course, some societal facilities are good but the majority do not meet minimum Sustainable Development Goals standards. Trillions of good pre-devaluation naira, stolen from every single human being born a Nigerian and stolen daily from the day of birth to the day of death. As long as they appear to get away with it and as long as punishment does not fit the crime, for that long will the criminals in authority at every level will steal through inflated contracts, outright theft and blatant criminality.

    Look at the fortunes recovered from Abacha, Diezani, high moral titled people like Auditor and Accountant General and the numerous governors under investigation for theft in the N100s of millions each. Every thief disguised as a political, contractor, banker, business professionals, security, medical, administration must be made aware of the 18,000,000 Out-of-School children, with 18,000,000 crimes creating 18m reasons for Nigerians not to steal their food, water, shelter, books, pens, paper, classrooms, school time and future successful lives.

  • The Senate as theatre

    The Senate as theatre

    The foundation of the Fourth Republic Nigerian Senate was set in the dramatic. Twenty six years after, not much has changed as the chamber is roiled by a storm that began as a minor disciplinary matter, but has now been framed in the untamed courts of public opinion as a case of abuse of power.

    As a political reporter back in 1999, I recall being present at a pre-inauguration get-together in Enugu for senators-elect. As the event wound to a close I was privileged to corner the late Dr. Chuba Okadigbo who conspiratorially whispered, ‘the deal has been sealed.’ The deal in question was that majority of the lawmakers had agreed to back him for the Senate Presidency. The event was on a weekend.

    Between then, and Thursday, June 3, 1999, when voting took place, President Olusegun Obasanjo who didn’t want a strong personality heading the National Assembly, mobilised his allies within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and across two opposition parties, to thwart what many had thought was a given. By the time the dust settled Enwerem had prevailed by 66 votes to 43. Such was the shock of the defeat that Okadigbo, who looked like he had been poleaxed, took a while to arise from his seat.

    But that was just the beginning of the drama. Enwerem would be toppled in a matter of months after being accused of corruption and falsification of documents. A big deal was made as to whether his academic qualifications which bore the names ‘Evan’ and ‘Evans’ belonged to the same person. Okadigbo would take over the seat he was earlier denied but only occupy it for barely a year before being ousted by forces sponsored by the Executive Branch.

    Who can forget that it was in the belly of the Senate that Obasanjo’s Third Term project which looked all but done was undone, in a theatrical seating that had many lawmakers mocking the then president’s well-funded bid to perpetuate himself in office?

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    In 2015, the All Progressives Congress (APC) won the presidency and secured a comfortable majority in the Senate. The party’s hierarchy and new president, Muhammadu Buhari, favoured Ahmad Lawan for the Senate President. They didn’t factor in the ambition of former Kwara State Governor, Bukola Saraki, and elements of the ‘New PDP’ tendency. So while the obedient lawmakers were being whipped into line in one location in Abuja, a rump of the party in cahoots with the PDP were already in the chamber voting. It was an embarrassing coup d’état that destabilised the administration for the next four years.

    Today, that dramatic tradition continues in the Godswill Akpabio versus Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan controversy. Many view the clash as some kind of David versus Goliath sequel – with the Kogi legislator in the shepherd boy role and the Senate President as the Philistine giant. How wrong they are; the reverse is actually the case here.

    In one corner you have a beautiful woman with a colourful past. She’s a wily fighter who knows how to weaponise vulnerability and hurl emotional grenades. She’s not new to taking on powerful men, having fought her former governor, Yahaya Bello, to a standstill.

    She defiantly told the Senate President after refusing to move from her seat according to the rules: ‘I’m not afraid of you!’ It was a pregnant statement that many scrambled to decode. By next morning, she had moved things a notch further by openly accusing Akpabio of sexual harassment on national television.

    In the opposing corner you have the supposedly powerful former Akwa Ibom governor turned Senate President. He is a genial gaffe machine with a penchant for off-colour jokes; a walking disaster every time he opens his mouth. Even worse, this isn’t the first time a woman would accuse him of being fresh with her.

    Former Acting Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Joy Nunieh, once claimed she slapped Akpabio – then her supervising minister – after he tried to kiss her. He rebuffed her claims by directing people to ask her ‘four husbands’ about her character. He also claimed that they were about the same age so nothing could have attracted him to her.

    The same thing cannot be said of Natasha. She is dazzlingly beautiful and very conscious of the fact. But she would also be something of a problematic witness given that she once accused former President Goodluck Jonathan aide, Reno Omokri, of making advances toward her.

    Omokri was able to prove that at the time the supposed encounter allegedly took place he was in the US. He had his passport and airline tickets as evidence. Once he placed those online his accuser quickly deleted her posts. The matter was reportedly settled after payment of cash. With that in her past I can just imagine how much some vicious lawyer would give to cross-examine her. Was this just a case of mistaken identity, mischief or something more disturbing?

    One of the deadliest accusations any man – weak or powerful – can face is sexual abuse or harassment. People quickly believe the accuser female. The question that often pops ups is why would she lie if these encounters didn’t happen.

    One of things muddying the water in the current face-off is that Akpabio is a figure many hate. He has foes who have been gunning for him for ages. They see in his current troubles an opening to take him down. They didn’t want him as Senate President and detest his alliance with President Bola Tinubu. They don’t like the fact he leads a National Assembly that isn’t adversarial towards the Executive but favours cooperation. Others can’t stand him because of what they view as buffoonery in his utterances.

    The opposition see in him a weak link in the government. They see blood in the water. Their belief is if they can take him down the administration can be destabilised at a critical juncture of its tenure. All of these things colour the interventions of the critical and throw things out of perspective.

    No matter how things are twisted, remember that the row started over a simple matter of seating arrangements. Senators – male and female – have testified they have moved seats several times. Those rules were there long before the Kogi senator was elected and haven’t been changed. But Natasha refused to move and openly defied the Senate leadership. Should the rules have been ignored just to accommodate her defiance? Many have argued that knowing punishment was coming she decided to bring the tent down on everybody – making the sexual harassment allegations seem like an afterthought.

    This is not to say that her claims against Akpabio shouldn’t be dealt with in a fair manner. But that petition is a totally different matter which she never brought up over a year after it allegedly happened. That notwithstanding, she has placed something on the table that has to be addressed.

    Her critics say her anger boiled over after being removed as chair of the Senate’s Local Content Committee and shunted aside to head the one on the Diaspora and NGOs. Is this truly the case?

    While one is against powerful individuals abusing their positions to take advantage of others, questions must be asked about how Akpoti-Uduaghan has gone about prosecuting her fight. Is this about seeking justice over things allegedly done to her by the Senate President or is it an all-out war against the institution? With her swinging and slashing in all directions it’s becoming hard to tell.

    In an interview she just gave to the BBC, she likened the Senate to a cult where people are afraid of uttering contrary views for fear of retaliation. That’s like slapping the coward tag on over 100 of your colleagues who you still hope to work harmoniously with. It’s not a very smart move because you would need allies to reform the place you dislike so much.

    Even more curious is her surprise appearance at the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) where she, again, ventilated her sexual allegation claims. Aside the fact that she wasn’t a member of the Nigerian delegation, her choosing that platform to wash dirty linen speaks of questionable judgment knowing that the IPU has no power to sanction or regulate a sovereign country’s legislature. So what was the whole show about?

    In the end only one chamber would matter as the senator pursues justice: the courts where she filed suit for defamation and challenged the legality of her suspension. She would also have her day to respond to Akpabio’s wife who has equally sued her for billions. Hopefully, she has stronger evidence than that the man she accused, squeezed her hand in a ‘suggestive’ manner.

  • Revisiting polytechnic education in Nigeria (1)

    Revisiting polytechnic education in Nigeria (1)

    At the instance of the new Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, and with the sponsorship of TETFund, the Chairpersons of Nigeria’s Federal Polytechnics met recently in Calabar for four days (February 9-14) in a brainstorming retreat. The dual goal of the retreat was to discuss the problems facing polytechnic education in the country and to recommend possible solutions. It also afforded the exchange of ideas and social networking among the Chairpersons.

    Their findings are implicit in their recommendations, which were summarised in a comprehensive communique, reported by various newspapers after the retreat. However, the newspaper reports only regurgitated the contents of the communique, without discussing them. Besides, in the typical tradition of Nigerian newspaper reporting, there has been no followup. This article attempts to fill both gaps.

    As expected, the major recommendations of the communique cover: (1) funding; (2) curriculum; (3) supervision; (4) infrastructure; and (5) security

    Funding

    Perhaps the most significant factor behind the fall in educational standards in Nigeria’s federal educational institutions is inadequate and irregular funding. This is especially true of polytechnic education, where less than half of approved capital budget is often released, thus making it difficult to maintain existing structures or pay contractors for ongoing construction, not to speak of embarking on new projects. The result is the abandonment of numerous projects as elsewhere in the country. As if this were not enough, delays in releasing subventions translates to delays in releasing funds for overhead expenses and the payment of salaries.

    Right from the inception of polytechnic education in this country, the emphasis has been on the development of necessary skills and competencies that would prepare the students for appropriate job placement. This also has been the reason for recent emphasis on entrepreneurial skills that would prepare the students to initiate some business or some trade after graduation. Unfortunately, however, this desire has not been backed up by the necessary funds for the polytechnics. Hence the call by the Chairpersons to the government to set aside special funds for skills development so that a key goal of polytechnic education could be attained.

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    Although not expressed in the communique, it will be very helpful if the federal government could allow the polytechnics to keep and use tuition fees collected from their students as this is the main source of Internally Generated Revenue for these institutions, especially those created within the past five years. Asking under-resourced institutions to remit as much as half of tuition fees collected to the federal government amounts to double jeopardy.

    Nevertheless, credit must be given to the government for TETFund’s release of funds to federal institutions for special projects, staff training, and attendance at conferences. It is also TETFund that provides the seed money for newly established federal institutions. It must be emphasised, however, that the fund does not come directly from the federal budget but from two percent of the taxes collected from the profit of companies registered in Nigeria. True, TETFund was set up by the federal government to arrest the deterioration in educational infrastructure caused by years of poor resource allocation. Nevertheless, TETFund cannot, and should not, replace the government’s responsibility to the institutions it established. This is the essence of the Council Chairs’ call to the federal government for more and regular funding to the polytechnics.

    Curriculum

    A comprehensive review of polytechnic curricular offerings in all disciplines is long overdue in order to align them with current technological realities and ensure that they meet the needs of the Nigerian job market. Another important reason for curricular review is the pending legislation in the National Assembly to equate HND with a university degree, by awarding a Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech) to successful candidates. If future HND holders are to just the elevation of their degree to a university degree, then some knowledge equivalent is warranted.

    My experience with the polytechnic graduates I have hired has led me to question their knowledge and even that of their teachers. One had an OND in statistics but could hardly do simple computations, not to speak of basic statistical analysis. Another had HND also in statistics but had no idea of the meaning and uses of basic statistical terms, such as mean, variance, and probability. Worse still, she could not even make sense of an opinion poll done by my company after the data were coded and analysed, although she took part in data collection. It was not surprising, therefore, when, in another study along Oke-Aro street in Akure, I discovered that a number of the women petty traders, selling soft drinks, fruits, and roasted plantain or corn, were polytechnic graduates. One of them said she took the decision to start selling foodstuff after looking for a job unsuccessfully for over six years.

    In engaging in any curricular review, it will not be enough for the National Board of Technical Education to do so in Kaduna or Abuja, without involving experienced past and present polytechnic faculty.

    Supervision

    At present, the supervision of the polytechnics is done by the NBTE, which currently supervises 787 institutions throughout the country. The polytechnics are the apex of these institutions. However, because the NBTE is overburdened, the polytechnics have been left to be preyed upon by other arms of government.

    As a result, various ministries, departments and agencies of government and numerous committees of the National Assembly devolve on the polytechnics or summon their Rectors (and sometimes, their entire management team) to Abuja for one reason or the other. It would have been great if these visitations and summons resulted in improvements in the quality of polytechnic education or their funding. On the contrary, their goal has been extortion of the meagre resources of these institutions. I drew attention to this unwholesome practice in an earlier article (see Repositioning TVET in Nigeria, The Nation, February 5, 2025).

    In order to correct this anomaly, the Committee of Chairpersons recommended the establishment of a Polytechnics Commission at par with the National Universities Commission with similar functions. Indeed, the polytechnics have been asking for such a Commission for quite some time.

    However, the current bill before the National Assembly on awarding a B. Tech degree to HND holders should require the National Universities Commission to supervise the HND programme in order to maintain parity with other university degrees, while the NBTE should be left only with the OND programme. Nothing should prevent the NBTE from imitating the NUC practice of employing reputable polytechnic teachers along with the NBTE staff in carrying out the evaluation and quality assurance of the OND programme.

    I am aware that many Polytechnic Rectors support the establishment of a Commission for their institutions. However, their demand seems to come more from frustration with the NBTE than from anything else. Nevertheless, I am not sure that the solution they need is more bureaucracy.

    •To be concluded next week

  • Christie Ade-Ajayi @ 95; 180m books?

    Christie Ade-Ajayi @ 95; 180m books?

    Mama Christie Aduke Ade-Ajayi nee Martins, born March 13, 1930 is 95 years young and active. Congratulations and Praise God. She is a pioneer children’s author, early childhood education doyen and champion of education, still directing a home library. If Nigeria had implemented her work regarding the quality and quantity of materials, staffing and personnel at ‘Child and Teacher Friendly Classroom’ kindergarten and primary school level, we would have 18 million more willing children in school and not sadly 18m ‘Out of School’ children today.

    Nigerian governments ignored experts telling politicians, at useless expensive repetitive outcome education summits, the truth and bullet points, but the politicians with a pathological hatred for educational development, rarely listen. They keep the youth ignorant as servants and rabble for rent.  Nigeria has 5% of budget for education.

    Notice ‘International’ kindergarten and primary schools in name only.

    Mama Christie Ade-Ajayi made a very comprehensive and formidable education team with her husband, the titan of history, Emeritus Professor JF Ade Ajayi who was also the third vice chancellor of University of Lagos.

    Government can best honour the works of Nigeria’s past educationists and writers by making their work readily available and  implementing time-tested worldwide applicable but neglected policies and keeping alive their ideas and books. Fortunately, the University of Ibadan Archives and maybe the University of Ibadan Library among other libraries should have copies of most, if not all, ‘ancient and modern’ books published by Nigerians and on Nigeria.

    The personal treasure trove libraries of many great past academics and citizens have been donated as ‘Family Legacy Projects’ to the universities, especially the University of Ibadan.

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    Sadly, due to space constraints and budgetary, interdepartmental, interfaculty conflict, not all donated libraries will ‘see the light of day’ unless accompanied by an endowment for creating dedicated bookshelf display sections and maintenance costs from the donor families adding to the cost of the gifted library. However, such monetary donations can disappear like the books. Nowhere, even university, is corruption free.

    In short, the books of most donated libraries may rot and be food for silverfish, in the cartons they arrived in. Even sending books to one’s old school faces a similar fate. Immorally, we have more than one generation of students, ‘book-fiends’, not a typo for ‘friends’, with a modus operandi of tearing pages out of journals and books.  ‘Page tearers’ never care about other readers.

    Even as we praise the preservation of ‘ancient donated libraries’, we lament the almost uniform absence of ‘modern libraries and library renewal budgets’ throughout our public education system struggling against an unfriendly budget which cannot accommodate books for the children and teachers but can accommodate jeeps and perks for thousands of advisors, special assistants, commissioners and ministers even of education.          

    An old book can still be a bold good ‘new’ book to read. A book you have not read, no matter how old, is a new book to your brain, unchartered waters. Ask why the world never lost sight of Shakespeare and others who annually ‘Must-Be-Read’ worldwide? It was British Empire government board room policy, a deliberate dissemination ‘sacred’ policy, not of the dead Shakespeare, his dead family or his dead publisher, but by serial governments, trans-party, to propagate the name and fame on Shakespeare and his pedigree of writers, trans-centuries.

    But in Nigeria, publishers sometimes sadly have to pay to even get on book lists for schools. There is little attention in Nigeria to practice promotional policies for Nigerian writers. How many students actually read Nobel Laureate Soyinka? Disgraceful! No Soyinka or writers’ policy. But when Soyinka passes, we will kill 300 mourning cows for suya but buy no Soyinka books for schools. We all know British Nursery Rhymes and children’s stories. But how many Nigerian children have read Mama Christie’s books Ade, our naughty little brother, Akin goes to school, Ali’s bicycle, Emeka’ dog, Which way, Amina? which would make interesting children’s reading today?

    Perhaps the family will compile the Complete Works of Christie Ade Ajayi for children. The children can read a 600-page Harry Potter Books, so, a few stories in one book should not be a problem.       

    When you corrupt education, you kill your country, you corrupt the mind and actions of teachers and corruptly stunt children mentally for life.

    Nigerian governments at all levels should to use the generic academic, teacher and student education descendants of the Mama Christie and Emeritus Professor Ade Ajayi to defuse the time bomb of 18million ‘Out Of School’ ‘Army’ growing up uneducated, blaming their suffering and conflicts on deliberately negligent political educational and budgetary policies, or lack of policies, of almost all past governments to date.

    We are yet to see decisive three-tier government ‘Emergency Education Action’ collectively to harness this massive opportunity to empower and educate the 18,000,000 with 180m+ books for today’s Out of School children to become integrated and empowered to become tomorrow’s creative youth and next week’s productive selfless leaders. Rather that, than an army of destruction. Of course, education is no guarantee of goodness or good sense. It is a right of a child. 

    Let us not kill an academically strangled Nigeria. If jeeps are for every National Assembly, NASS member, then quality education is for every Nigerian child. Leave not one of the 18m ‘Out of School children’ behind or you create a monster that will kill all the skill in Nigeria. Universal education is worth more than 200 universities and 18m OOS children.       

  • NOA + Health ministry; Suspension

    NOA + Health ministry; Suspension

    Congratulations National Orientation Agency (NOA).  Please also include public media messaging in all local languages to help prevent diseases especially cancer. NOA needs priority Health Ministry Media Campaign Meetings to identify the top 100 messages for dissemination.

    In my ultrasound clinic last week, I saw several different conditions. One patient was a mother of four who had family planning for nine years but developed an eight-centimetre cancer of the cervix because her clinic did not remind her to also, as a woman, do cervical screening annually. Her cancer grew because her clinic staff focused on the family planning forgetting to take the opportunity to do simple cancer and breast annual screening.

    Another patient was a delightfully intelligent  young man who understood immediately when informed of the steps of the test and on being reassured that no injections were to be given, cooperated completely allowed his closed eyes to be scanned. Sadly, he was completely irreversible blind in both eyes seeing just light in one eye. What future awaits him?

    Another patient came to the clinic close to delivery. The ultrasound finding was that the inside the uterus the baby’s cord was ‘around the neck’ like an incompletely tied tie. This required a Caesarean Section delivery to avoid the baby dying during the delivery.

    Another patient was child of seven who had a pain in the side and eventually revealed she was beaten in school.       

    Another child came for an eye scan, having suffered an injury inflicted in school. We see a large number, too many,  children with permanent eye injuries in the classroom, the playground or even at home and in the neighbourhood resulting from accidental but mostly deliberate use of catapults, fights, stones and sticks. There is a need for an NOA/Min of Health campaign against eye and other injuries in schools and homes.

    Another patient had testicular swelling which turned out to be a cancer of the testis. Yes.

    Another patient had giant fibroids causing her heavy periods and inability to get pregnant.

    Another patient has male infertility with absent sperm.

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    A pregnant patient was seen with a foetal heart rate of 160 beats per minute requiring immediate delivery or we would have lost another Nigerian to be added to the coming population census figures.

    Why are we discussing these patients who, though each an individual deserving 100% care, are collectively maybe a drop in the ocean of needs of Nigerian patients seen daily?

    The reason is that as we left the clinic wondering who would survive and get adequate treatment, we had to join the real-world stage and its playacting around matters which started out as a very serious accusation. The vehement rebuttal of male-on-female sexual harassment allegations in the National Assembly, the self-proclaimed and often ‘cry-able’ and not ever laughable ‘hallowed chamber’,  have degenerated. Now we witness displays of gross pettiness manifest embarrassingly by senator husband and wives receiving ‘my kiss is better than your kiss’ from their embattled or battling spouses.  Coming when Nigeria witnessed a ‘spiritual tongue exchange’ in pastor-ship ordination ceremony, it left a bad taste in the mouth. Apologies to true lovers everywhere.

    In 2025, with all the NGO programming and social media coverage of incidents, and widespread disgust around male-driven violence against females, it is expected that accusations of sexual harassment must never be trivialised. In fact, the accuser should never be dismissed by a deliberate policy of ‘never be taken seriously’, except when rape takes place. Because past accusations were quashed does not mean that subsequent accusations could not be true. Sexual harassment has a low conviction rate.

    Most Nigerians feel they have suffered the consequences of a poor output relative to the huge ‘investment in Salaries and Perks’ extracted from the state. Nigerians do not care much about the National Assembly gossip as they believe the National Assembly members mostly service themselves excessively to the detriment of the masses. A falling out among members is of little concern to Nigerians unless it reveals an honest outburst of anti-corruption fervour among the membership. It would be a demonstrable leadership stroke of  unusual justice if the sexual harassment matter was resolved by an impeccable unbiased evidence review and not reserved for the judgement of well-paid influencers, their teaming 1million ‘under-the -influence’ followers and heckling female politicians, we hope not affected by Stockholm Syndrome.

    The suspension for six months, even subject to an apology to the senate, hopefully not the senate president, an accused party in the matter, is an extraordinarily severe mega-punishment for all the constituents represented.

    It is as much overkill as some irresponsible states charging N50,000, almost minimum wage as simple traffic fines – the highest traffic fine relative to daily wages worldwide, inviting massive staff corruption. 

    Representation is a right of citizens. The representatives have responsibility to the citizens in their actions but are usually very full of themselves. But the job is not about self but national service. However sexual harassment is not a requirement of that national service and should be investigated and punished. Nothing swept under the uneven senate carpet. Some National Assembly members, even female, have fought physically before. Who was suspended for six months then? Nigerians demand the suspension be suspended or reduced to one week to cool tempers. An apology to Nigerians, the senate employers, seems to be in order.

  • Why more young people are dying these days

    Why more young people are dying these days

    As I reflected on the recent deaths of many young men and women between 35 and 50 years old, two questions crossed my mind. One, if it is true that we now live in an age when hygiene and modern medicine have made it possible to live even longer, why are people dying young? Two, what is Professor Daniel Lieberman’s answer to why young people are dying more than before, given the medical resources available?

    About a decade ago, I reviewed The Story of the Human Body: Evolution, Health, and Disease, by Daniel Lieberman, a Harvard University Professor of anthropology and evolutionary biology. The book, first published in 2013, does (a) charts a chronology of our biological evolution up to the time that we have our present bodies; (b) shows how our cultural evolution has transformed our environment, the way we live, and what we eat; and (c) explains how mismatch between our biological and cultural evolutions has caused many modern-day diseases killing us today. By mismatch is meant that there is a conflict between the conditions of modern life and our prehistoric bodies. That is, we were not adapted to where and how we live our lives today as well as what we eat. Food and drinks are meant to give us energy and valuable nutrients, but the way food and drinks are prepared, preserved, and stored today may bring us closer to the grave as they lead to the prevalence of diseases, such as obesity, diabetes, heart disease, back pain, depression, various cancers, and so on.

    You do not have to be an evolutionary biologist to follow Lieberman’s argument. Similarly, the idea of cultural evolution should not be strange, even to a lay person. Nor should you be an anthropologist to understand the three major cultural transitions in human history that have major implications for our bodies.

    The first was the transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture, when we began to settle down to farm our own food. The second was the industrial revolution, when we began to use machines to replace human work. The third transition, an offshoot of the technological advancements of the second, was the digital revolution, when we began to replace physical meetings with virtual ones and social media networking. In many advanced economies, more and more people are now working from home.

    Each of these transitions came with advantages and disadvantages. For example, agriculture brought predictable food supply, but farmers were susceptible to famine and food shortages as well as contagious diseases.

    The industrial revolution brought science and technology as the major driver of human activity. Social and economic institutions were reorganised, factories began to produce on a large scale, and the economy of delayed return replaced the economy of immediate return of the farming age. Human populations exploded with progress in medicine, sanitation, and food storage. As a result, there is much more food variety than the average farmer could provide. However, the varieties and the surpluses came at a cost. Most of what we consume today is processed and shipped by machines, and they contain huge amounts of pesticides, inorganic fertilizers, and antibiotics. Worse still, processed food contains more sugars and starches, causing spikes in blood sugar levels that our bodies were not designed to deal with. Even the fashionable non-stick pots with which many of us cook contain PFAS chemicals, which can lead to serious health problems, when the coating is damaged or overheated.

    The digital revolution may have brought radical changes to how we communicate and work. However, it has also made us more sedentary and less physically interactive. The implications for our bodies are still being studied. But the social implications of social media on our social lives and political participation are no longer in doubt.

    The truth is that we live in a world of new handicaps and new diseases, which never afflicted our prehistoric ancestors. Unfortunately, many of us overlook or are unaware of some common sources of today’s diseases. Many of these sources became prevalent only recently, coinciding with the appearance of today’s youths on the food scene. The sources include preservatives and additives in processed foods, chemicals in plastics, non-stick pots, makeup and hair products, asbestos, and formaldehyde in building materials.

    Today, in part because they care less about safety, the younger generation is ultra-exposed to these sources, most of which are associated with one type of cancer or the other. They consume a lot of ultra-processed foods, which are associated with a higher risk of gastrointestinal cancers, regardless of their weight or body mass index. Youths are particularly susceptible to exposures to toxins in the environment and in many everyday goods listed above, which are also known to cause cancer.

    Youths are also victims of modern lifestyle changes, which involve less physical exercise, and less or interrupted sleep. Recent medical research shows that sleep and circadian rhythms are important components of health. Getting less sleep may be a factor in developing colon, breast, ovarian, or prostate cancer. Although genetic inheritance remains a predictor, but many cancer patients these days have no such history.

    It is not the case, of course, that older adults over 60 are inoculated against these diseases. My focus on youths is motivated partly by the spike in the number of youth deaths and partly by a recent meta-analysis by the American Cancer Society, which found that 50 percent (17 of 34) of the most common cancers are occurring more frequently in younger people. Worse still, while death rates are dropping for colorectal cancer patients over 65, they are increasing among younger patients, partly because colonoscopies are not recommended until after 45. The problem with youths is that cancers are often not caught until it is too late for treatment. All we tend to hear is that X or Y was rushed to the hospital two days ago, but he or she did not make it.

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    To complicate matters for today’s youths is the prevalence of psychotropic, illicit injection drugs, and stimulants to get high in a country that lacks effective drug regulation. To be sure, NAFDAC is doing the best it can, but it can only do so much in a society where rules and regulations are breached more than they are observed. Besides, today’s youths are so daring and creative that they’ve reportedly created deadly concoctions out of pain killers.

    Perhaps at no time in human history is Lieberman’s “mismatch” theory more relevant than today. Our bodies were not designed for what we do and consume. And our youths, who consume any and everything, are the greatest victims. Many of them began early with processed baby food, continue with ultra-processed food, consume sugary and alcoholic drinks, and top them with drugs to get them high. They stay on the phone till 2am or later and have little or no time for regular physical exercise. And the killer of it all—they shrug off symptoms and only seek intervention when it may be too late.

  • CBN; Fuel; NAFDAC; N758b; Evans

    CBN; Fuel; NAFDAC; N758b; Evans

    We see many things beginning to resurrect. The key events include the corrupted CBN resurrected and paying corruptly delayed genuine debts in forex for industrial growth. There is also almost reunification of the official and parallel markets, sadly at the lower level.

    Another event was the price in petroleum products facilitated by private and public refineries. Celebrating the petrol price war, we ask: ‘Is it to kill the competition only to raise prices once competition is bankrupted?’ This was past corporate methodology. So, was lower priced fuel ever a benevolent gift or just boardroom steps in competition destruction?  Only time will tell.

    Another event is the production and export of oil towards the OPEC’s approved Nigeria1.8/2m barrels per day. This figure was unachievable due to lack of political will, corruption, bunkering and waste perpetrated by pirates, bunkerers and corrupt security and monitoring agencies all thirsty for corrupt oil.

    The current security-driven increased production increases government’s monthly allocation. Of course, the poor exchange rate means a lot more local money. We talk trillions no longer billions of naira. So, we may get more dollars but less dollars will be used to pay years old naira debts to contractors, pensioners or unpaid salary workers. That in turn means that much less can be done by the recipients paid years behind expected dates. The delayed pensions are worth and can buy only one third of a pension paid in the past.  Our past pension scheme managers including governors failed where pensions were delayed.

    The government is to raise N758b to clear backlog of payment liabilities for workers. Hurray. The payment of pensioners is a key component of reinforcing the ‘dignity of labour’ principle so battered by our youth witnessing our koboless parents and grandparents and those carrying placards demanding unpaid pensions for years. The nationwide civilian/military driven ‘Unpaid Pension Scandal’ has been instrumental in ruining societal social structure and the ‘Extended Family Structure’ for 40 years.

    Nowadays the youth have no regard for the elderly-especially those financially weak. Unpaid grandparents cannot provide the traditional pocket and under-the-pillow gifts of sweets and biscuits for grandchildren. What lesson about the value of hard work and honest working life do we force our grandparents to project when they have been stripped of their dignity for a generation by an absent or an inadequate non-economic index-linked pension and a chronically corrupted pension scheme in which the staff, unsupervised and unchecked sometimes extort from the vulnerable aged?

    Let us ensure that pensioners get this money in a timely, atraumatic and non-corrupt manner. They must not be subject to a corrupt conveyor belt with demands for gratification by staff of pension and government personnel. In 2025, Nigeria must elevate our wronged pensioners who must not pay from their pensions or even with their lives just to be verified and to collect their rightful overdue share of the N758b pension arrears.

    It is a disgrace not to USAID officials, though the US Government will think different as it has shut down USAID, but to the delivery chain, mostly local Nigerian conduits, that USAID drugs were discovered among N1trillion seizures by NAFDAC. This is according to the NAFDAC DG Prof Mojisola Adeyeye whose life is being threatened just as her predecessors including Prof Dora Akinyuli who was shot at. Were the attackers caught?

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    In 1975/6 during NYSC Posting in Lafia General Hospital, patient relations travelled to Onitsha Market for unavailable life-saving medication. I remember vividly wondering why relatives had to buy anti-snake venom and anti-tetanus serum and anti-rabies serum stamped with the labels ‘WHO – NOT FOR SALE’ or ‘UNICEF -NOT FOR SALE’. Corruption, of course! So, it is not surprising that even today USAID drugs have been stolen and sold.

    A serious investigation is required to identify the route that the USAID drugs took and who were involved. Fortunately, every bag, container bottle and sachet will have a tracking number to track the route and personnel in touch with the products in Nigeria. This can be done even if USAID has been destroyed by its own political leadership. On receipt of such material, local organisations and receivers will have documentation so the fraud trail can be exposed and participants prosecuted. Some of the material was for IDPs.

    How callous to steal from such traumatized Fellow Nigerians, who have already lost everything. We must prosecute the criminals for ‘bringing Nigeria into disrepute’. If not, all Nigerians will be assumed guilty by the foreign government justifying terminating USAID.

     We congratulate NAFDAC’s leadership on their success supported by security agencies. However, the bankers and masterminds behind the hugely expensive unpatriotic, greed-driven effort delivering stolen free medication and purchasing, importing, smuggling or adulterated murderous medications to Fellow Nigerians must be tracked and trapped.

    The notorious kidnapper Evans, maybe worth N2.2b, sentenced to life and 14 years caused destruction, terrified, tortured and murdering at least one person, an 86-year-old, must be denied clemency and any secret or public plea-bargaining options until his death. Can he resurrect the dead papa? He is sorry he got caught! Period!

    He should not be allowed to teach in prison. He should be in solitary confinement. His property worldwide must be used to reimburse robbed families and businesses. Kidnapping is a heinous crime killing spirit and body, smashing social norms, impoverishing surviving victims and families mentally, physically and financially forever.   

  • Ethnicity and religion as Nigeria’s albatrosses

    Ethnicity and religion as Nigeria’s albatrosses

    The place of ethnicity and religion in Nigerian society has hardly been fully examined in the Nigerian media, partly because they are complicated subjects and partly because they are considered too sensitive for discussion. Rather than pay due attention to them, the focus has been on weak leadership, poor governance, and corruption as the major factors responsible for Nigeria’s lack of development and progress. Yet, ethnicity and religion have been at the root of Nigeria’s problems since colonial times.

    Ethnicity was a critical factor in the delay of Nigeria’s independence till 1960. The Fulani-dominated North insisted that they were not ready for independence at an earlier date. Ethnicity also was at the root the crash of the first republic, which was aided by an Igbo-led military coup in January 1966 in which political leaders across the country were killed, except those from the coup plotters’ ethnicity. It also was at the root of the Fulani-led counter-coup by General Murtala Muhammed, which led to Aguiyi-Ironsi’s assassination. Today, ethnicity is in the forefront of the agitation for self-determination by several groups.

    This is not surprising, given the multiplicity and complex distribution of ethnic groups and religious practices across the vast land that the colonial government brought together as one. What is surprising is Nigerian leaders’ unwillingness to take necessary steps to limit ethnic and religious tensions and their effects, despite several suggested solutions, including various recommendations of national political conferences convoked by the government. 

    On the surface, it would appear that Islam predominates in the North, while Christianity predominates in the South. Below the surface, however, is a complex tapestry of ethnic and religious identities and interactions.

    In the North, for example, sizable groups of Christians are to be found largely in the Northeast and North-central, while the Northwest is the bastion of Islam, being the entry point of the religion into Northern Nigeria possibly as far back as the 11th century. But in that same Northwest, there are smatterings of Christians here and there, notably in the southern part of Kaduna state. In general, however, there are no states in the North in which Muslims and Christians do not coexist, although Muslims are a clear majority.

    By the same token, there are Muslims in the South, especially in the northern part of the South to which the jihadist influece spread in the precolonial period. Nevertheless, Christianity predominates in Southern Nigeria, because it was the region of entry for Christianity. While the Anglican and Protestant missions predominated in Southwest, the Catholic mission predominated in the Southeast and parts of the South-south, because Irish Catholic priests were in the majority in those areas during the missionary phase of colonisation.

    Neither Islam nor Christianity is monolithic in terms of beliefs and modes of worship. Each has various denominations or sects in Nigeria as elsewhere. However, the different sects within each religion often come together as one when confronted with the other religion. This was evident, for example, during the 2023 presidential election, when the Christians as a block opposed the Muslim-Muslim ticket of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Vice-President Kashim Shettima.

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    A major drag on progress in Nigeria is the commercialisation of religious worship and the belief by many Nigerians that Imams or pastors could provide solutions to their problems. This is especially true of Evangelical Christianity, which preaches prosperity  gospels, attracting many followers. Even politicians run to Muslim and Christian leaders for blessings and support. Perhaps no politician in Nigerian history has foregrounded both ethnicity and religion than former Governor Peter Obi, the candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 presidential election.

    The various shades of religious sects are not as worrisome as the complex interplay of ethnic identities in the country. If we go by Ethnologue’s list of nearly 500 languages in Nigeria and assume that each language is spoken by a distinct ethnic group, then there are possibly 500 ethnic groups in the country. Even more challenging is the tapestry of dialects within particular ethnic groups, leading to subdivisions within each group. This is especially true of the Southwest, where each of the six states is composed of distinct dialect groups, except Ekiti state, which appears to be linguistically homogeneous.

    Two related formulas are employed in Nigeria to accommodate ethnic and religious factors in the distribution of political positions at federal, state, and local levels. One is the constitutional requirement of “federal character” (Section 14(3)) and the need  “to recognise the diversity of the people” within a state or local government (Section 14(4)).

    The other formula is the convention of zoning political positions at federal, state, and local levels. Nevertheless, it is sometimes difficult to accommodate the two factors of ethnicity and religion at the same time, without violating meritocracy or incurring some tension. For example, Christians across the country criticised President Tinubu for choosing a Muslim running mate, while other ethnic groups in the North wondered why he chose a Kanuri man and not Fulani, Hausa, or some other ethnic group from the region.

    What is even less discussed is the system of internal colonialism by the more powerful ethnic or sub-ethnic groups within each local government, state, zone, or region. Perhaps no where is this better demonstrated than in Northern Nigeria, where Hausa identity is masked by the adoption of Islamic religion and the adoption of their language by the Fulani, who conquered them and imposed Islamic religion. The situation is further complicated by the adoption of Hausa-Fulani as a single label for both groups.

    The truth, however, is that over the centuries, the Fulani have taken over Hausaland, while their cattle have been eating up Hausa crops in the little land they have left. This has been, and continues to be, a source of tension between the two groups. What is worse, the leading traditional rulers in the North are Fulani. So are the leading politicians. That’s why, today, there is not a single Hausa Governor, whereas there are at least 9 Fulani Governors. The remaining 10 Governors from the North are distributed across various minority ethnic groups: (2 for Kanuri and one each for Ebira, Jukun, Nupe, Marghi, and Mwaghavul).

    Secession or disintegration of the country is not a desirable solution to ethnic rivalries and religious tensions. Rather, a reorganisation of the country is necessary in which power is devolved to states and local governments in such a way that each group can attain self-fulfillment. The less the power of the central government and the less frequently the states and federal institutions go cap-in-hand to Abuja for bread, the more self-actualisation will be achieved across the country. The present administration has initiated measures on devolution of powers. There should be further action, rather than a pause.

  • Fubara: Between a rock and a hard place

    Fubara: Between a rock and a hard place

    Prominent Nigerians in trouble quickly find religion. It’s a soothing balm when they are down; a ready tool when they want to manipulate the gullible. Sometime last year, the once all-powerful former Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele, found himself a regular presence in the courts, fending off corruption charges an arm long.

    On one of those occasions, the now frail looking banking supremo, shorn of the power and prestige of office, turned up clutching a massive copy of the King James Bible that the Archbishop of Canterbury would have been proud of.

    Just days after receiving the political equivalent of an uppercut from the Supreme Court, Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, was spouting scriptures to lift up the spirits of his deflated supporters.

    He referenced Philippians 3:18-19 which says: “For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.”

    He meant it as a rallying cry to his troops, encouraging them in the vain belief that there’s still a way to victory in a rapidly narrowing path through the courtroom. But sometimes Bible verses serve a dual purpose. This one also had a barb directed at foes he had repeatedly accused of only being interested in plundering the state’s finances. Surely, they were the ones “whose God was their belly.”

    Last Friday in Abuja, the governor’s arch nemesis and erstwhile godfather, Federal Capital Territory Minister, Nyesom Wike, was croakily leading a conclave of his closest allies in a session of praise and worship, fuelled by what looked suspiciously like one or two glasses of alcoholic cocktails, to celebrate a thumping legal victory over a man he had dubbed a ‘mistake.’

    It was a measure of how much the triumph meant to him that the minister who often comes across as rough and tough, and hard as nails, was momentarily overwhelmed with emotion and was captured dabbing away tears. He knew he had been in the fight for his political life.

    Fubara, too, knew it was all or nothing. Having been rebuffed by the lords of the highest judicial temple, his only hope now lay with the Lord which art in heaven! Hence the recourse to the Holy Book.

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    This war of attrition could have played out in a totally different way but for the wrong choices made by the governor. President Bola Tinubu was barely six months in office when as part of his earliest fire-fighting assignments he oversaw a parley at Aso Rock between contending parties in the Rivers’ political crisis.

    At the end of the talks an eight-point communiqué was issued which many felt would extinguish the flames consuming the Rivers PDP government. Key points of the pact included withdrawal of court cases by all sides, recognition of Martins Amaewhule as Speaker and the 27 lawmakers loyal to him as members of the assembly. It was also agreed that legislature would be free to do its business wherever it chose and wouldn’t be hindered in any way by the Executive.

    It’s interesting that what Fubara, his supporters and advisers spurned 14 months ago, is the exact thing the Supreme Court has established as irrevocable law. What could have happened if all parties had acted with good faith at the time they were required to do so? Unfortunately, in the time elapsed the key players have crossed the Rubicon. Now, only the vanquishing of one’s foe would suffice.

    The president’s intervention was hailed by many as statesmanlike given that the problem wasn’t that of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). But his good gesture would be frustrated by parties whose main concern was to see Wike’s vicelike grip over the state’s governance apparatus broken. As is to expected in any Nigerian political conflict, Fubara’s Ijaw kinsmen soon weighed in, injecting a dangerously ethnic dimension to the conflict.

    The governor was told that the Tinubu deal favoured Wike. He was advised to man up and fight fire with fire. The minister had had his turn in power and should let his successor breathe. These were the sentiments that encouraged the governor to stymie the plan and embark on an experiment with an illegitimate four-man assembly – a car crash that was just waiting to happen.

    With a political solution dead in the water, the only path left was the courts. But something interesting is happening in Nigeria these days. Governors with a political agenda approach state high courts secure in the knowledge that they would do their bidding. Their Abuja-based rivals do their battles through the Federal High Courts also sure that these would be favourably disposed towards them. Even when the Supreme Court – universally accepted as the final bus stop – delivers judgment, litigants don’t want to accept verdicts that go against them.

    In his initial reaction, Fubara made the point that he disagreed with the judgment. The Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), proceeding from the viewpoint that the poor would suffer due to directive to withhold state allocations, demanded the Supreme Court – whose judgment is supposed to be final – reviewed itself.

    Not to be outdone, the Ijaw National Congress (INC) released an incendiary statement that looked beyond the verdict. It warned against the governor’s impeachment.

    The statement signed by the group’s president, Prof. Benjamin Okaba, stated: “If Governor Fubara’s tenure is truncated by the Martin Amaewhule-led Assembly or anybody else, the INC cannot guarantee the sustenance of the current peace in the Niger Delta, nor the continued rise in oil production – a veiled warning of potential disruptions in the region’s petroleum industry.”

    The statement goes on to give a short history the contributions of the Ijaw people to the political development of Rivers State. In this instance, Fubara’s reversals are being painted as an assault against the interests of his ethnic group. It doesn’t matter whether his comeuppance came through the courts.

    Blackmailing the central government with threats of attacks against the nation’s economic interests is par the course in this region. But the INC is a mainstream pressure group, it remains to be seen whether it would stand by this extreme position just because of a downturn in one man’s political fortunes.

    The threat of impeachment hangs over Fubara today as it did fourteen months ago.  It was that fear that drove the errors that have kept the crisis alive over the last one year. It was what led to the bombing of the assembly’s chambers. It was the lone factor that informed the sudden need to renovate all structures of the legislature arm – demolition of several buildings within the complex.

    While these steps may have appeared very wise to the governor and his supporters, they drew widespread outrage. The Supreme Court reiterated that shock that one arm of government could visit such subversive violence against a co-equal arm in the pursuit of political ends.

    Fubara first speech last Friday was measured and conciliatory. The second was emotional, laced with menace and actionable intelligence Telling the youths to ‘wait for instructions’ means exactly what? Instructions to do what exactly? Can Fubara and his legions prevail in a battle against the state?

    All through the crisis the governor has exhibited questionable judgment. Going on record telling the youth you will give them signal at the right time isn’t smart. Are you encouraging them to rise up against the state? The recent history of the Niger Delta shows that youths have been used for violence. Even if it were to come to that would such destruction force the Supreme Court to reverse its judgment?

    Why boast about not being afraid of impeachment when nobody asked you? This unforced revelation could be a pointer that it’s what you spent your waking and sleeping hours thinking about.

    There are two main routes for resolving the logjam. One is impeachment given that the two sides have shown they can’t tolerate each other. The lawmakers just gave the governor a 48-hour ultimatum to present the budget to them. This was unnecessary, provocative and petulant.

    With the Supreme Court verdict they already have Fubara where they want him. No matter how long he foot-drags, he would sooner than later have to comply. Their action can only then be interpreted as symptomatic of the state of relations between the sides. It’s also indicative that pulling the impeachment trigger is only a matter of time.

    The pro-Wike forces have the numbers to force it through. If it ever happens, the heavens won’t fall. Fubara wouldn’t be the first person to be removed in such a manner despite the threats.

    The other option is an uncomfortable cohabitation that enables the governor see out the remaining two years of his tenure as a lame duck. It would be a very long two years requiring him to swallow a daily or weekly dose of humble pie in dealing with a hostile assembly. For a governor who once boasted that the 27 legislators existed only because he permitted it, this could be a fate worse than death.

    Nigerian governors are very powerful. But we’ve seen time and again that they can be brought to heel. Success in this high office is often a function of political skills rather than deployment of crude force and threats. Fubara can choose to play the politics he needs to survive, or go down in flames as the martyr who actually believed he would save Rivers from a godfather. Either way, this doesn’t look like it would end well for the governor.

  • El-Rufai’s long goodbye

    El-Rufai’s long goodbye

    Last week in this column, I tried to examine former Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai’s, theory on the North’s king making role in Nigerian politics. I was keen to move on to some other subject this week, but the man of the moment clearly had too much on his chest and had to unburden. Cue Monday’s soundbite-laden interview on Arise TV. So, permit me dear reader, to drop my twopence on this matter.

    Almost six years to the day, the former governor visited Lagos as guest speaker at the Bridge Club where he gave an exposition on how to retire political godfathers. Given the time and location, it was no mystery who his comments were aimed at.

    The dust had barely settled on the 2019 polls where former President Muhammadu Buhari secured a further term – albeit with diminished voter enthusiasm. The country had not even put the ritual of a second inauguration behind it, but El-Rufai was already talking about the race for the 2023 All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential ticket.

    He admonished the then incumbent to deal with ‘desperate’ and ‘over-ambitious’ elements within APC whose activities, he said, could make the president’s second term difficult from day one.

    That same pattern has been noticeable in the past couple of months. His party’s federal government led by Bola Tinubu has been in power for less than two years, but he started his scheming much earlier; defiantly holding meetings with elements of the opposition Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    The sole purpose of these explorations certainly isn’t strengthening the ruling party, but how to take it down from its perch. Why else would you profess membership of one party and be brazenly consorting with others – not caring who took notice?

    El-Rufai loves to brag about his fearlessness. He thrives on supposedly ‘speaking truth to power’ – which in itself is something more politicians should be encouraged to do. Unfortunately, his volubility may just be his greatest weakness.

    In my 2019 piece titled “El-Rufai the godfather slayer”, I wrote that the man was “something of an enigma. To some he is a straight talker given to shooting from the lips. Others would say he shoots first and reflects later – thus pushing him into the category of loose cannons.”

    Watching and listening to him in his latest interview you came away with the picture of an angry, embittered individual who was determined to burn as many bridges as he could find. He blithely declared that he no longer considered longstanding associates like his successor Uba Sani and National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, as friends.

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    He would then allege a grand conspiracy between the twosome in cahoots with the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) to destroy his reputation via the agency of an ongoing House of Assembly probe of Kaduna State finances under his watch.

    Ribadu is supposedly driving this because he is interested in becoming president in 2031 and wants to eliminate all potential Northern rivals. This is a weighty allegation to be made against even an estranged friend. Unfortunately, El-Rufai who is alleging doesn’t provide any proof beyond suppositions and suspicions.

    He, also, finally got round to blaming Tinubu for his failed ministerial nomination. Although, he admitted the president was well within his rights to change his mind. It is understandable that he would feel a sense of deep disappointment having appeared like a shoo-in for the cabinet. But let’s not forget that he was nominated and screened by the Senate. Whatever stumbling block prevented the president from making a call to clear the way must have been a veritable immovable mountain.

    Some of the information in the interview was unnecessary and only served to raise questions as to what his true motivations for past political moves were. For instance, to what purpose was his going on about how he and the president were never friends?

    One thing is clear: his political journey in the APC is clearly at an end. His recent actions are not indicative of someone intent on promoting healing in home but rather those of a man who would rather wreak as much havoc as possible on his way out. He’s doing so by accumulating foes instead of multiplying friends – not a wise move by any politician

    Criticising the party’s leadership since Tinubu assumed office., he said: “I’m a founding member of APC, but I have concern about how the party is being run… how many people sacrificed a lot to ensure that it was an internally democratic party with progressive ideals, two years after the election of President of Tinubu, none of the party organs is functioning. The progressive ideals are not being pursued with any vigour,” he said.

    “APC is my party. But the APC has left me; I didn’t leave the APC. We founded this party based on certain values, but today, the party has moved away from them. I feel stranded.”

    “If I can’t find those progressive values in APC, sooner or later, I may have to find another platform to pursue them. But I still hope the party will correct its course,”

    Fair criticism, if indeed the party hasn’t been meeting in line with its constitution. But it’s funny how history repeats itself. These same rumblings are reminiscent of what transpired at different times under Buhari when influential members of the party complained about party organs not functioning.

    Well known El-Rufai associate, Salihu Lukman, then a member of the National Working Committee (NWC) wrote long public letters bemoaning dysfunction within the APC structure. But not many who were so dissatisfied have taken things to the scorched earth level of threatening defection.

    Early in April 2023 under the chairmanship of Senator Abdullahi Adamu, Lukman claimed that the National Executive Committee (NEC) and Board of Trustees (BoT) were ineffective, stressing that they have not been holding meetings in accordance with the party’s constitution.

    In a statement titled: “APC and Questions of Progressive Credentials”, he complained that the NWC had rendered other party organs prostrate since 2022.

    He alleged that no statutory organ of the party had functioned in line with the constitution of the party, adding that the National Advisory Council (NAC) was yet to be constituted.

    The former Director-General of the Progressive Governors’ Forum (PGF) lamented that the Adamu-led NWC had committed fundamental infractions like the ones that led to the dissolution of the Adams Oshiomhole-led NWC in 2020.

    These infractions, he said, included the refusal to convene the NEC and National Caucus meetings, and refusal to give quarterly financial reports.

    Clearly, the ruling party has had a challenge in this area, so it is a bit dubious making it look like a Tinubu invention.

    The way it is being flogged by El-Rufai looks like someone is preparing an alibi or justification for an imminent action.

    Of course, it is to be expected that whoever takes over would effect changes that make the party more democratic internally. So, hopefully the NEC and Caucus meetings scheduled for this week could be part of that course correction. Dissent is part of democracy and no party member should be crucified for being critical. However, questions have to be asked when disgruntlement crosses the line and becomes open fraternisation with political opponents whose stated agenda is ousting your own party’s government.

    Questions have to be asked when a notable member of APC takes to social media every other day to launch attacks against the president, fanning embers of anger against him in the North, excoriating his Southwest kinsmen and denigrating his appointees as incompetent ‘Lagos boys.’

    This is more so when the likes of the ex-Kaduna governor never raised a voice in anger when Buhari was accused of lopsided appointments in favour of the North. That galling hypocrisy is what blunts some of their criticism of Tinubu’s appointments.

    It remains to be seen how much more of El-Rufai’s slash and burn criticism the APC hierarchy can take before moving against him in some fashion. He may not even wait around much longer to be served such humiliating punishment. As he has said, the party has left him and he’s clearly on his way out to the perfect platform. Talk of a divorce made in heaven.