The Nation Newspaper

Category: Wednesday

  • What Orunmila wanted me to do to my new car

    What Orunmila wanted me to do to my new car

    In order to understand the story I am about to tell, it is important for readers to have an idea of my background. Briefly, I was brought up in the Ifa tradition, and the first school I attended was an Ifa divination school. Neither of my parents could read or write. But they were very successful farmers. True, my father eventually bought the Bible and Catechism, neither of which he could read, and attended church on Sundays, the remaining weekdays were devoted to Ifa worship. No child was taken to the church or the pastor for being sick or for needing help in any way. Rather, it was to the Babalawo (Ifa diviner) my father took us. He alone had the authority to diagnose our problems and seek Orunmila’s help in prescribing the right sacrifice and necessary antidote.

    I had many memorable encounters with the Babalawo, because my father would take me to him at every turn in my health situation or career. And so, we went in 1972 to seek protection for me and my new car on the roads. I had just bought a new Volkswagen Beetle from Mandilas and Karaberis, located at Oke-Bola in Ibadan. The discounted price of the car was £900. The discount was in celebration of the 25th anniversary of the M&K dealership in Nigeria.

    My father had given the Babalawo advance notice. He knew about the car already and had prepared the necessary etùtù to ward off danger. So, as we stepped into his divining paraphernalia-filled room, he consulted Ifa again to reconfirm what Orunmila had told told him earlier. He thereafter beckoned to me to kneel down before him. Very quickly, he grabbed my head and made seven small cuts, known as gbere, across the top. He then robbed some concoction into it, mixing it with blood from the cuts. I had had gbebefore. So, it was not strange to me.

     The next activity moved to the car outside. With some powdery substance in one of his palms, the Babalawo began some esoteric incantation, followed by prayers in Idanre dialect: oko yí e ní kolu’gi. oko yí e ní kol’ope. oko yí e ní kol’òkúta. oko yí e ní kol’ènìyàn. oko yí e ní kol’oko ’loko. okomúen e den níí kolù ú. (May this car never collide with a tree. May this car never collide with a palm-tree. May this car never collide with a rock. May this car never collide with a person. May this car never collide with another car. And may another car never collide with this car). To every prayer, we said Àse (So shall it be). He blew the powdery stuff across the car, leaving some portion for the four wheels.

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    I had thought that was all. But no. The Babalawo beckoned us inside. It was time he told us the sacrifice Ifa had prescribed in order to fully protect my life and safeguard my car. Instead of speaking directly to me, the diviner turned to my father. Ifa says your son should remove all the four tyres of his car and burn them before nightfall tomorrow.

    I had thought to myself at the time that the sacrifice was a punishment too severe for my purse. How much was I earning as a young lecturer at the University of Ife at the time? I later complained to my father but he said I should not worry. My life was more important than my worries. He then told me that the diviner confided in him that jealous and envious eyes had settled on the tyres, wishing them to burst in motion and derail.

    I did not believe in the connection between jealous and envious eyes and the tyres of my car. But then, my father had made it possible to get a car loan from the Cooperative Society, by standing as my guarantor. When he sensed my hesitation about the loan payments, he offered to pay it off. He was a highly productive cocoa farmer.

    I decided to offer the sacrifice to please him. So, off to a known vulcanizer in Akure I went. I negotiated with him to remove my four new tyres and keep them until I came back for them. In the meantime, however, he would give me eight from his pile of used tyres. He agreed for a small fee. So, he removed the four new tyres and replaced them with old ones. The remaining four old tyres were kept in my car.

    My father and I went back to the diviner in the village to offer the sacrifice. To the diviner and my father, we had removed the hands of the devil. To me, it was an uncomfortable experience.

    But, as fate would have it, the whole experience played out in real time about five weeks later. I experienced my first major car accident on my way back from Abeokuta, where I had gone to spend a weekend with a close friend. I was trying to remove a cassette from the player and insert another one in its place. Unfortunately, I took my eyes off the road for a moment and the car veered off the road into a roadside ditch. The car was stopped by a log of wood at the base of the ditch, which dented the front fender. In the confusion, I quickly got out of the car and left it running. Three other drivers had stopped their vehicles to help me. We managed to get the car out of the ditch, and I was able to continue my journey. My two hands were on the steering wheel and there was no music whatsoever until I got to Akure. I left the car with a mechanic there and went to Idanre in public transport.

    When I later told my father the story of the accident, I was surprised that he quickly got up dancing and praising Ifa for saving my life. And where is your car now? He asked. It is outside, and it has been repaired. I was not used to arguing with my father. You couldn’t even argue with your father when I was growing up. But I told him Ifa was not there to save me and that kind passersby helped me out. He laughed! My son, what if you did not offer the sacrifice? But I still had an accident in spite of the sacrifice, I responded. My son, you don’t understand.

    Fellow anthropologists later replicated my father’s analysis of the situation, when I narrated the experience at an international conference. Many agreed with my father that my skepticism notwithstanding, my compliance meant that the sacrifice worked, and Ifa was justified. His belief in the system, not necessarily mine, made it work.

    My father belonged to the age when the belief system that Ifa worked was at its peak. I belong to the transition period, when some of us believed in Ifa and some didn’t. Those of us who went to school had gone to Christian schools and adopted Christian ways. But my skepticism was not about Ifa alone. I later dropped the Christian baptismal name my father got bestowed on me in his church.

    Today, Ifa has been relegated to near oblivion by Islamic fanaticism, evangelical Christianity with unbridled prosperity gospels, and a youth population lost to cultism, cyber fraud, and irredeemable materialism.

    Yet, Ifa is a major repository of Yoruba knowledge, epistemology, philosophy, and precepts for the omoluabi ethos. It is for these reasons I have gone back to Ifa again and again as an anchour of Yoruba values and good behaviour. This is the context within which I later reinterpreted Orunmila’s prescription of sacrifice and my father’s joy at following through on the sacrifice.

  • One year jail/N2m; Auditor General 2020-21; Fuel

    One year jail/N2m; Auditor General 2020-21; Fuel

    ‘One year jail term /N2m stolen’.   Please note this is the new EFCC corruption exchange rate. ‘Businessman jailed 21 years for N45.5m misappropriated in 2016.’ Corrupt politicians, civil servants, contactors and bankers should paste on their walls, a poster with this new rate for ‘jail time for theft’ with ‘immediate effect’. Using this rate, theft of N100m, N1b, N10b= 50, 500, 5,000 years in jail. ‘Steal big: Jail time big!’

    Newly released Auditor-General’s Office Report discovers N197bn contract fraud in MDAs for 2020-2021. Good report with bad news but the accused organisations have accounting teams, heads and other officials requiring to be brought to book for accounting, administrative, ‘Early Warning’ and corrupt lapses.  Nigeria has lost huge developmental progress in poorly monitored uncompleted contracts in rural electrification and other areas across 31 MDAs. The Auditor-General’s Office needs catch-up staff and a quick intervention increased budget as it still has 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 reports outstanding.  EFCC should step in now.   

     Who is afraid of local refining? 

    The murky waters of the petroleum industry are not clearing but appear to be getting even murkier and facing a crisis without end. Notice that since the death, no, murder, by international conspiracy,  of Nigerian refineries in the 70s, every time a saving lifeline appears, it raises our hopes only to be dashed sooner than later. We were told that local refining will cheaply solve our problem and give us 1] Cheap fuel because there is no international mileage to travel or transportation costs in dollars, and, 2] visible, usable and sellable by-products galore which usually, and corruptly,  have always completely disappeared in international financial accounting and corporate remittances from international oil refining. We must factor these by-products and in-out international transport costs added to the cost of fuel.

    Now we find we can refine fully in Nigerian in the brand-new Dangote Refinery, witness the multitude of obstacles strewn in the way before providing the required number of 340-600,000 barrels of oil, per day. Witness the huge quantity of fuel imported recently almost as an emergency to prevent the need to use any fuel from the Dangote Refinery. How is it possible that exporting barrels of oil, refining abroad, reimporting products could ever be cheaper than  local export-local refine and immediate local distribution? Oily mathematics?

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    But remember,  it is only in Nigeria that a nationwide electricity  company, which had repeatedly failed the country, boastfully providing a shaky 5Mw when we require 200Mw, criminally sat down and set out to scam consumers and said ‘let us charge higher per unit for more product use’  i.e. ‘more-for-more’. It got away with it and now we have the same problem with the petroleum industry.  So, the electricity band system is a ‘legalised’ scam, simple impossible in a normal ‘more costs less per unit’ world. Band A is criminal, extortionist and an immoral punishment for the consumers on Band A. Ditto for all bands.  Elsewhere in the world, the business model is ‘the more you use – the less the unit cost’.

    The good thing about the Dangote Refinery, even if ‘they’ , ‘the cabal’ or ‘whoever’ sabotage its function now is that with government backing and increased daily exports to 2.2 m barrels per day, our true, daily consumption of finished products will be revealed. The correct figure is the most closely guarded secret among the corruption causes of Nigeria’s past failure. We were told our daily petrol import needs dropped from 60m litres to 40m on so-called removal of subsidy.   It was already revealed that the so-called daily consumption was corrupted by thousands of diverted tankers crossing Nigeria’s borders; daily feeding other countries need with the greed of our own petrol managers. Any customs’ connivance? These stopped. The petrol and diesel consumption is even lower, 4-20m/day now as evidenced by the empty petrol stations, empty roads even at rush hour and the masses walking and fewer social visits.

    Without imported fuel and with reliance only on the local refineries, none working yet apart from Dangote Refinery, it will be easy to compute and publish our daily consumption of fuel, less with poor naira value.  And this is when the extent of our perennial ‘FUEL FRAUD’ will be revealed in all its pungent criminality. That figure is what the oil thieves want concealed as long as possible.

    As long as they can muddy the ‘locally produced fuel’ waters with ‘undisclosed fuel import volumes’, for that long will petrol corruption persist. Please note I am not a fan of Dangote or his well-known monopolistic business tactics. However, it is our job as a country to give him and others, there are other local refineries, the opportunity to use Nigerian oil fields to produce Nigerian petroleum products for the Nigerian market and local export to neighbouring countries.

    Remember, although initially successful for 5-10 years, our government-rundown refineries crumpled into a brazen corruption driven recurrent Turn Around Maintenance scam as well petrol smuggling networks for 40-odd years and a petrol tanker count scam where a ship  is counted as loaded but does not offload  but the country pays for the fake delivery.

    The cost of fuel to the citizen will depend on the exchange rate and the source of the oil for the refinery, imported or local, as well as the greed and honesty of those delivering and if the almighty regulators are corrupt or not.

  • Nigeria’s national malaise

    Nigeria’s national malaise

    Yesterday, the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) announced the commencement of operations at the revived old Port Harcourt Refinery. Videos shared on X showed tankers loading petrol. Diesel and Kerosene are also being produced.

    According to the company, the restored facility would for now be able to process 60,000 barrels of crude per day, servicing up to 200 trucks within a twenty four hour cycle. Side by side with the giant Dangote Refinery in Lagos which has the capacity to process 650,000 barrels within a similar time frame, this looks like a puny step for the much-maligned corporation.

    Put in proper context though, it’s actually a massive leap for Nigeria. This refinery built in 1965, along with a newer version constructed in 1989, hasn’t functioned for nearly 20 years. In that time, billions of naira was spent by different administrations for Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) that was supposed to keep the facility ticking. This was akin to making a bonfire of naira notes as it never worked for one day. It was the same story with other NNPCL refineries in Warri and Kaduna.

    Such was the lack of faith they could be salvaged that former President Olusegun Obasanjo, in the waning days of his administration, pronounced them unserviceable and proceeded to sell them off to the Bluestar Oil Services consortium led by Aliko Dangote and Femi Otedola.

    The Port Harcourt refinery was sold for $561 million, while the Kaduna facility was released for $160-million. These transactions weren’t universally applauded. They were perceived as ugly examples of cronyism given that the billionaire businessmen were especially close to the then president.

    Not surprisingly, pressure from labour unions and other interests who felt that our common patrimony had been pawned off too cheaply, forced the newly-installed President Umaru Yar’Adua to reverse the sale. But retaining ownership in government hands and investing further billions in TAM didn’t change the story.

    Today, however, a government that has been buffeted by a succession of bad news has something positive to celebrate – the Lazarus-like resurrection of a refinery many had written off. The news comes on the back of the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reporting that the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 3.46% year-on-year in real terms during the third quarter of 2024.

    This is welcome relief for an administration which for much of its 18 months of existence has been battling runaway food inflation, soaring petrol prices and managing the fallout from the floatation of the naira. Despite encouraging data suggesting an economy gradually on the mend, the average man hasn’t seen this translate into an easing of his daily struggles.

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    That, perhaps, explains why the excitement of those in government contrasts so sharply with the more restrained response from the wider populace. It’s as if many are still pinching themselves, waiting to be assured that this is for real. Some others are more interested in whether it results in lower prices.

    Again, this is understandable. In September when the Dangote Refinery began producing petrol, many erroneously assumed it would lead to lower prices just because processing was being done locally. But they soon got a reality check. This wasn’t a charitable organisation but a business that was going to sell its products at market prices reflecting global trends. So, no one can blame people for not getting their hopes too high this time.

    The next few days would be interesting as we get more clarity on NNPCL’s pricing. Would it be marginally or substantially lower than Dangote’s? A few days ago the latter shaved off N20 from its ex-depot price. Was this really in appreciation of the support of Nigerians as it claimed, or an action that anticipated the return of a formidable rival to the fray?

    Perhaps a truer picture of the dynamics should emerge in coming months as more government-owned refineries across the country bounce back to life. Rehabilitation is estimated to be between 60% and 80% in all of them. There would then be a more competitive environment in the local energy market that ultimately benefits consumers by way of lower prices and disappearance of queues.

    The country is also now in that pleasant place where its refineries are legally exporting crude to the West Africa market and beyond. The legitimate earning of foreign currency can only have a salutary effect on the economy.

    In his remarks welcoming the revival of the Port Harcourt refinery, President Bola Tinubu complimented his predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari, for starting the process. So how much credit does his own administration deserve for what has been achieved? I would say a lot. But that sentiment isn’t shared by many of his compatriots trapped in the crippling grip of cynicism and bitterness.

    In today’s Nigeria, there are many convinced that things can only get worse. They are instantly suspicious, if not out-rightly hostile to any mention of good news. They would never give credit to the man who claims to be reforming the economy, but who they primarily view as the cause of their hardship.

    I indulged myself in the comments section of stories about the revival of the refinery and found very interesting reactions. One reader who was convinced that the reports were lies suggested that NNPCL had only trucked in petrol from Dangote Refinery, and was dispensing same in Port Harcourt, to deceive a gullible public!

    Another declared it was just a photo-op to make Tinubu look good; by making it appear he had succeeded where a procession of past presidents – from Obasanjo to Buhari failed to deliver. Working facilities – especially those which have just been resurrected from the dead – don’t fit into the failed nation narrative which Obasanjo has been hawking around.

    Yet, another swore the revival of the refinery wouldn’t last. It was only a matter of time before it returned to the status quo. He didn’t offer any explanation why this would happen beyond certain assurance it would.

    In the chain of comments, you could only find a handful that was genuinely pleased at the positive news. The vast majority were determined to hang onto their doom and gloom. Truly, self-loathing is not only becoming a pastime, it’s almost now a national malaise. 

    It’s all too reminiscent of a time in the late 70s when former United States President Jimmy Carter faced seemingly intractable problems. Inflation had hit a giddying 13 percent. Fuel queues were forcing Americans to wait at petrol stations to fill their cars on alternating days.

    Amid the crisis, and with his popularity at rock bottom, Carter hid himself away at the Camp David presidential retreat where he spent close to two weeks hosting business, religious and political leaders – consulting them on how he should address the nation’s problems.

    At the end of period the president delivered what would come to be known as the “Malaise Speech,” in which he claimed America was suffering a “crisis in confidence” which struck “at the very heart and soul and spirit of our national will.” He called upon the country to reflect upon its meaning and purpose. It was a speech that was well received at the time.

    In the course of the past 18 months, Tinubu has made many speeches which have challenged Nigerians not to wallow in self-pity but hope that things would pick up. Indeed, his whole platform of governance is dubbed ‘Renewed Hope.’

    So, at a time when lots of people have lost hope because of economic challenges, does the president need to go the Carter route by delivering another stirring sermon that attempts to convict the prophets of doom? Certainly not!

    We live in times when many don’t want to listen or reason. In one recent example, a senator form the Northeast who is opposed to the tax reform bills currently before the National Assembly, openly admitted he hadn’t read the details. Despite not being familiar with its contents, he still swore to vote against them all the same!

    It is very difficult to argue with evidence or results. Even those who chose to do so for a while will soon reconcile themselves with reality. That’s why Tinubu must prioritise the delivery of the other refineries. Much of the inflationary pressures in Nigeria are driven by energy and transportation costs whether you are speaking of businesses or families.

    He must quickly deliver on other low-hanging fruit regarding the economy. There would be a tipping point in the national mood when the constant dripping of good news drowns out the bad.

  • ‘Free C/S: Policy to Practice’

    ‘Free C/S: Policy to Practice’

    Every new governor brings hope to the common man, too often dashed as the governor, no matter his dreams for state development, is caught in the state-wide quagmire of corruption, as evidenced by the fact that almost every governor leaves a desolate state behind, not even paying salaries and pensions and faces multibillion naira questions by EFCC. The question all governors must ask is: ‘How would I like to be remembered?’

    As the three new governors answer, we pray it is ‘To be Faithful, Loyal and Honest and Even-Handedness.’ They should investigate why so many states fail. The governors should ask where all the state citizens are as for example in Ondo State only about a quarter of the 2.1million voters actually voted. Is it possible that the population is half or less the projected population? As this ‘poor voter turnout’ is a nationwide phenomenon, INEC must verify its National Voter List and eliminate ‘Ghost Voter Cards’.

    Meanwhile the World Bank (WB) identified $32m as unaccounted for in a Water Development project asking CBN, the guarantor, to return t$22m to the WB. Meanwhile our citizens in 2024 die of cholera etc. The WB Report should be handed to EFCC, ICPC etc for immediate prosecutorial action including ‘Disgracing Nigeria’. Heads should roll! Officials must be sacked and demoted. Trials and prison sentences should follow.      

    Nigeria verbally offers free Caesarean Section operations for poor needy Nigerian women. The ‘Best of News’ for pregnant women going forward and a great plan on paper. The practice traditionally in Nigeria has been completely different in outcome in past promise cases, even for simple promises. Remember that we promised an Academy for Brilliant Students and had the disgraceful temerity to gather them and then abandon the children to mediocrity even though the academy was in Abuja. Remember the recent absolutely unnecessary ‘old backward education @18 years thinking’ now finally changed to 16 years which required a minister to be removed. It is easy to understand why it was probably some government order to let the academy and its pupils rot, while being surrounded by an opulent political class in the same Abuja. Let us face grim reality. If Tinubu was not president today, the age of entering university would still be 18 or even raised to 20!

    So, when we cannot hold government to its sacred political promise to one single education institution in Abuja, how will we offer free C/S with all the immediate urgent ‘two lives’ threatening emergency financial and facility  demands?

    A service will be meaningless if, as of now, the patient’s relations are still given a midnight list of TTB – Things To Buy before the ‘emergency Caesarean Section’ can take place. When, during NYSC in 1975, I used to do CS operations at midnight or later in Lafia, then Plateau and now Nasarawa State, the single generator for the entire town had to be turned on for the operation. Next morning people would thank me because their fans came on. Nowadays the TTB list disgracefully often includes oxygen, water and petrol or diesel for the inevitable power failure, usually at the most critical and blood flowing time of the surgery. We have all used a torch to locate and tie off a seriously bleeding artery deep in the pelvis and lost in NEPA-lessness darkness.

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    Having done 3,000 Caesarean Sections and stood in countless pools of poor mother’s blood, I know that ‘emergency’ means instantly, now. Imagine the doctor who gives such a TTB list to a desperate father-to-be, his wife’s labour screams driving him to dementia. He will insult the doctor, pointing to the wall-poster proclaiming ‘FREE CAESAREAN SECTION FOR ALL’ FROM NOVEMBER 2024. The doctor will be in a no-win situation. He or she will not get enough equipment and support services from the hospital and will have to say he cannot do the surgery. The husband for genuine poverty reasons, rejecting the TTB, will accuse the doctor of stealing the needed equipment or refusing to work or sabotage, and manhandle the doctor. It happens now. ‘FREE CS’ though desirable may put many medical personnel at risk, unless the strategies or all hospital scenarios are worked out. For example, what to do if there is inadequate equipment to perform surgery? How to reimburse to families any expenses incurred on TTB list. Does free CS include post operation antibiotics, pain killers, wound dressing or is it just the theatre procedure cost being eliminated?  Remember to factor in the anaesthetic drugs and drips.

    Nigeria has had many ‘free  programmes’ education, feeding, health, for example, which backfired on the supervising teachers left with nothing to teach with, or with supervising doctors, nurses and pharmacists left with nothing to give patients. A Commissioner of Health once asked us to stop writing O/S Out of Stock, as it reflected the government ‘free health programme’ in bad light, and instead give patients Panadol when there were no antibiotics as the patients did not know the difference. Of course we did not! The lethal consequences for failing to perform a CS are immediate. The medical profession cannot take responsibility to deliver a free CS as and when due in the absence of a monitorable, non-budget dependent government budgetary commitment to the equipment and medications and CS kits to bring a successful outcome. The C/S delivery devil is in the support for the surgical detail, turning the policy into practice.        

  • Awaiting Nigeria’s one-party state

    Awaiting Nigeria’s one-party state

    The just concluded governorship election in Ondo State was expected to be one-sided. But not even the cockiest could have predicted a clean sweep of all 18 local government areas by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Lucky Aiyedatiwa.

    The last time this happened was ten years ago in Ekiti when the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Ayodele Fayose, floored the APC governor, Kayode Fayemi, in all 16 local government areas of the state. Many expected a tough contest in which the incumbent would prevail somehow. What played out was an unscripted electoral massacre.

    The Ondo poll is the second victory pulled off by the ruling APC in two months. The other was in Edo where a resurgent opposition deftly exploited the cracks within Godwin Obaseki’s PDP to seize power. Both victories come against the backdrop of severe economic challenges across the country. You would therefore expect that, as of happens in similar circumstances, the party at the centre would pay a price for the hardship facing the citizenry.

    But in the two states, voters were clearly influenced by other local issues and personalities in making their choices. Never mind that the losers have been singing the same refrain about rigging and blaming the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for their woes. In these latest polls, independent observers acknowledge that while there may have been flaws in organisation, the outcomes largely reflect the will of the people.

    The defeat in Edo has been especially galling for the main opposition PDP as it meant ceding territory to APC where it should have been gaining ground, or keeping what it had, if it is to have a realistic chance of upstaging the ruling party in three years.

    It lost the 2023 presidential contest against the background of economic turbulence. That losing streak has been sustained amid internal divisions that remain unresolved, and don’t look like they are going to be resolved any time soon. The uncertainty has seen a near one-way traffic of defectors to the other side. It is surely must be demoralising when the spokesman of last year’s PDP presidential campaign, Daniel Bwala, is now holding forth in Aso Rock as one of the mouthpieces of President Bola Tinubu.

    The opposition’s frustrations have led to claims that APC was somehow implementing a grand scheme to turn the country into a one-party state. In a statement on October 1, Nigeria’s Independence anniversary, PDP’s candidate at last year’s election, Atiku Abubakar, warned that a one-party dictatorship was imminent and called for action to reclaim democracy.

    He accused APC of manipulating opposition parties to weaken their effectiveness, stating, “Our political milieu has become corrosive; opposition parties languish in weakness, while the ruling party appears to manipulate internal processes to render them ineffectual.”

    A little over six weeks after delivering this rallying cry for citizens to save democracy, his party got a shellacking in Ondo which showed he and his types are still pressing the wrong buttons. They have no clue how to save their hides, talk less of rescuing a system of government. Clearly, ordinary people were not sufficiently frightened by the so-called threat to democracy.

    The comprehensive nature of PDP’s defeat in Ondo was not because of vote-buying or manipulation by INEC officials. It was down to the fact that major stakeholders in the state had lined up behind Governor Aiyedatiwa. Many were stalwarts of the opposition who have since moved on, others were statesmen and local pillars who couldn’t bring themselves to back Agboola Ajayi’s enfeebled challenge.

    Read Also: ICPC tracks N610b constituency, executive projects in 22 states

    Equally critical was Tinubu’s intervention. People forget that at the time of former Governor Rotimi Akeredolu’s death, the APC in Ondo was riven with factions. Many commissioners were opposed to Aiyedatiwa taking over and openly contemptuous of his person. It took the president entering the fray to get even the most bitter foes to back down.

    The result was a house that went into battle with common purpose as opposed to its rivals who offered only anaemic resistance. Any talk of them being cheated, therefore. is just the usual grandstanding of Nigerian election losers.

    The next major electoral contest in the country would be Anambra’s gubernatorial poll in November 2025. The state is the spiritual home of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) which has governed it for the past 21 years. It is also the home state of Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi. He won here by a landslide in the 2023 election. But that pattern wasn’t repeated in the legislative and local polls that followed.

    Aside APGA, only the PDP, APC and LP have a realistic chance of denying incumbent Chukwuma Soludo a second term. Nigerians can begin to take the talk of a one-party state seriously if, against all odds, APC manages to capture the state. Even with all the might of the party at the centre behind its local arm, not many would be placing their money on such a bet.

    If Nigeria were to suddenly become a one-party state much of the credit should go to a clueless opposition. It wouldn’t just be down to the Machiavellian manoeuvrings of APC leaders.

    The opposition dream of taking power but are not offering fresh ideas to energise a lethargic electorate. Rather than focusing on the future they spend their days whining about a 2023 loss that is now historic and would never be upturned. Beyond scaremongering, hurling abuse and spewing hate, they don’t offer anything that makes them a more attractive proposition that the government in power.

    Take, for instance, Tinubu’s tax reform bills, which have stirred up some passion in polity. Rather than coming up with credible reasons for opposing them, someone like New Nigerian Peoples’ Party (NNPP) leader, Rabiu Kwankwaso, who aspires to be president, descended into parochial regional rhetoric. He accused ‘Lagos boys of trying to recolonise the North.’

    Even as they scheme with an eye on 2027, the opposition would still be held down by a heavy weight of deadwood. Most Nigerians have come to accept that there’s not much that separates the major parties in terms of ideology. This belief is supported by the regularity with which politicians switch platforms without the least discomfort or embarrassment. The one, who derided APC yesterday as a congregation of demons, thinks nothing of leading the choir of devils next day.

    Only a new generation of leaders can rescue the opposition. As long as they are held captive by egotistic figures in their dotage, who insist on leading them, they would be viewed by voters as more of the same.

    Even more deadly is their refusal to take a look at themselves, their methods and the product they are selling. Rather than take accountability for their mistakes, they remain stuck in the unproductive exercise of blaming the electoral umpire.

    I am certain that if APC were offered the chance to govern all 36 states and the federal government, they would seize it with both hands. Every party wants to win. That is why those, like governors, who make the most noise about the one-party threat, gladly superintend local government elections in which their parties always win 100%! One-party system is bad at federal level, but just great at state level. Such grand hypocrisy!

    They only way a ruling party can be stopped from achieving overarching dominance in the country, is by the opposition making an alternative pitch to the electorate. So far they’ve failed woefully in this regard and become key enablers of the trip to the supposedly much feared one-party destination.

  • Hurray! $40b reserves: $180b needed

    Hurray! $40b reserves: $180b needed

    Foreign reserves are not just a number but a ‘cash rock’ on which nations are built or fall as demonstrated by our current suffering. Some entrusted with such cash funds steal and misuse their position because they are small-minded myopic persons with no national pride despite medals and national [dis]honours.

    Nigeria’s accumulation to $40b as foreign reserves from the ashes of our recent disastrous financial mega-mismanagement and corruption is therefore especially worthy of applause for the CBN team led by Governor Yemi Cardoso. Foreign reserves are only grown by persons of vision, professional responsibility, national pride and a passion to pave the way to a brighter financial tomorrow for the street children they see through their bullet proof glass daily on the street. They are driven to try to turn a rag back into the rich cloth as it was in the beginning when our currency was a proud N1=£1. Such persons work for the citizens, not for themselves.

    To further their success, the CBN governor and his team must take on a new task. The CBN governor must lead and prod Nigeria further down the economic road to foreign reserves stability  and project a roadmap to meet timelines for a national target of foreign reserves, (FR), at least $180b at $1b/1m population to strengthen the naira ‘in the beginning’ years. For CBN figures to be the masterclass in relevance, FR must be compared with other countries and their populations.

    Nota Bene that our population may not be more than 160-180m judging from our historical corrupt census inflation for political reasons. Our voting numbers and other statistics do not add up to more. Does Nigeria have 20-40 million ghost citizens?

    Our fellow travellers in this economic journey can teach us something. South Africa has foreign reserves of $63b for 60m citizens, $1b/1m citizens; Morocco has FR$37b for 36m citizens, $1m:1m citizens;   Algeria has  FR$72b for 46m, $1b/0.6 m;  Egypt has FR$46b   for 112m, $1b/2.4m;  Ghana has FR$7b for 34m citizens, $1b/4.8m citizens.  Nigeria has $40b foreign reserves for maybe 180m citizens i.e. $1b/4.5m. So, we have a lot of good governance, anti-corruption and wasteful spending to curtail to build up to $1:1m a developing country’s target minimum ratio.

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    This headline of FR $180b would have been achieved years ago with a strategic published and publicised economic roadmaps with re-education of the political parties and politicians and their special assistants and properly articulated plans by our presidents and CBN past governors since the 60s. That action would have saved the CBN funds from being so recklessly looted by in-house complicit CBN directors and other staff and carpetbag politicians and private sector moguls and rich but common thieves especially in our banking system who seem to think that all money must be ‘stolen not saved’. Stop stealing saved funds. 

    The calculated $180b would merely make Nigeria’s foreign reserves levels close to international developing country levels and massively strengthen the naira. The CBN governor needs to instruct its CBN Public Enlightenment Division to engage and enlighten the National Orientation Agency to, in turn, articulate regularly and publicly the causes and the cures for our deplorable disease of poor naira: dollar value. This enlightenment should repeatedly target the legislature to cure their delusional demand for ‘Political Salaries and Perks and Pension Grandeur’ and ‘all knowing over-sabi’. This enlightenment drive may get a more cooperating political and public response and support for its policies than in the past since we are all every man, women and child is passing through this 1+year of the shadow of financial death!

    Growth in our FR is a main key to rescuing our naira, traumatised by greed-driven unbridled political acquisition of enormous cash through ‘legal and illegal incomes’ requiring changing to forex for ease of carrying and concealment. In addition, there is a historic massive general corruption and a historically arrogant and wayward unbridled ‘black market’ in foreign exchange. We must add a disregard of ‘naira pride’ as a national symbol by successive governments and the ‘cash splashing’ political and rich classes who stopped spraying in favour of throwing naira bricks! Spraying, stomping and squeezing the naira do not affect the economic value of the naira, already less value than toilet paper! They spray dollar now. Did the dollar fall in value on the floor? No.

    Government, citizens and political class must address all the above as well as our careless over-dependence on imports even of toothpicks. Unfortunately, instead of nurturing, we have lost manufacturing capacity. Poor, third world, asymmetric costly power generation, multiple taxation and negligent supervision of weaponised and road security personnel remain stumbling blocks to economic development.

    The sooner our FR reach and pass the required important milestones of $45b, $50b, $55b, $60b to $100b, the better for the exchange rate. This will force the vulture forex traders, in banks and black market, to find productive jobs. An example of banking negligence of supervision… ‘A bank staff laundered N70b and forfeited N120b to federal government as part of a plea bargain’. Ditto for billions of CBN funds.  

    So, let us support Governor Cardoso and his team and tell everyone especially politicians  that for Nigeria to grow, Nigeria’s CBN and banking system must be ‘closed for corruption business’, ‘lock the corruption shop’ and achieve a target of $160-180b in foreign reserves just to be on par with South Africa and Morocco, our football foes.

  • When last did you hear from your Governor?

    When last did you hear from your Governor?

    When last did the Governor of your state call a press conference to give an account of the situation of the state, beyond occasional appearances, for example, to address the insecurity situation or launch a project? Has your Governor ever disclosed how much money came into the state treasury from Federal allocations and Internally Generated Revenue the previous month, quarter, or year? In short, how accountable has your state Governor been to the people he was elected to serve?

    There are many factors responsible for the Governors’ lack of accountability. They include (a) lack of an effective system of accountability; (b) illiteracy; and (c) poverty.

    There is no standardised system of evaluating state governments or otherwise hold them accountable. In the absence of such a system, the electorate use elections as a system of evaluation. Those who look promising are voted in, while those who performed are reelected. Not in Nigeria, though, because such evaluation is mitigated by other factors. Governors exploit this lacuna to maximum advantage through deception and other mischievous exploits.

    Take, for example, the case of Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau (2015-2023), who claimed that he bought 400 tractors for N5.6 billion for farmers in his state as part of the state’s agricultural production scheme, even after each participating farmer paid a deposit of N1.5 million to the state for the equipment. However, upon investigation by Premium Times, it was discovered that only about 90 tractors were bought and fewer (just 40) were displayed when President Muhammadu Buhari commissioned the project in 2018. Yet, the unknowing electorate was recruited to sing and dance on the occasion in praise of the Governor (see The true story of ‘400 tractors’ ex-Gov. Lalong claimed his govt bought for Plateau, Premium Times, July 4, 2024).

    Illiteracy prevent the public from pressing for accountability. I use the term illiteracy here in two senses: One, in the sense of stark illiteracy, that is, inability to read and write, which applies to about 40 percent of the Nigerian population, much more so in the North than in the South, and the other in the sense of political illiteracy, despite the dual ability to read and write. Many literate Nigerians are politically illiterate in this sense. Some of them may know that Governors should be accountable, but they will not hold the Governors to account either because they are “eating” or because they hope to “eat” from the Governors’ government or they don’t care at all. Both groups of illiterates take part in singing and dancing in praise of Governors for doing their duty, such as tarring a road or building a public facility, such as a school, hospital, or clinic. This practice has the inverse effect of making the Governors feel they have achieved, and they use the praise singing as a surrogate for accountability.

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    Poverty also prevents voters from holding their Governors to account.  is poverty, which makes them satisfied with tokens, such as rural roads, boreholes, or a poverty alleviation measure, such as N5,000 or a scoop of rice. Many of them have no idea that whatever they get from their state government is their right and that it is the Governor’s duty to provide them. Unfortunately, the illiterate and poor electorate have been led to believe that whatever problems they have are from Abuja, and that their enemy is the federal government and not their Governor or state government. That’s why protests are directed at the Federal Government instead of state governments.

    It is the dual scourge of illiteracy and poverty that makes vote-buying central to our electoral practice. Save for occasional investigative journalism and a few civil society organisations, which demand accountability, sometimes by going to court to demand some records, little or nothing is heard about the performance of state governments.

    Any wonder then that corruption is rampant in the states, and it takes various forms, including bribery, inflated contracts (to disguise cutbacks), and outright embezzlement of public funds, often through diversion into private or business accounts associated with politicians, political appointees, civil servants, and/or their surrogates. To be sure, corruption is not unique to Nigeria. It is everywhere across the globe. What is peculiar about corruption in Nigeria is twofold, namely, the impunity with which corrupt practices thrive and the degree to which the practices are condoned, especially by the respective local communities of the politicians, political appointees, and civil servants in question.

    Most state Governors are corrupt. Once elected, they are either looking for campaign funds for reelection or for running for Senate or for supporting a Presidential candidate for expected reward, such as a Vice-Presidential pick or ministerial nomination. Some even accumulate funds to run for President. For incumbents, the state treasury is often the starting point, using various methods, including the so-called security vote, which, in some states, is as high as N1 billion a month, which the Governor is not bound to account for.

    Some of them may also want to retire from active politics once they feel that they have accumulated enough money to sustain them and their family for the rest of their lives. Remember that, besides their savings, they are treated to a fat severance package and monthly pension, which varies from state to state. In addition, they keep several vehicles, drivers, police escort, kitchen staff, and other assistants for which their states or the relevant government agency, such as the police, allegedly continues to pay.

    It is against the above backgrounds that the Governors’ performances since May 29, 2023, should be assessed. It is pertinent to emphasise that since fuel subsidy was removed by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the inception of his administration, state allocations have more than doubled. Yet, there have been no corresponding improvements in people’s lives, despite the distribution of funds and other resources for palliatives, including cash distribution, agricultural development, transport facility, and infrastructural development.

    How will the Governors be made accountable? The answer lies with residents of each state as the Federal Government has no power under the constitution to interfere in the affairs of the states. True, the EFCC and the ICPC are under federal control, but neither institution can act in the absence of credible petitions or prompted enquiries. It is time for citizen action, not necessarily to go to the streets but to seek alternative ways, including litigation, to make their Governors accountable.

    •An earlier version of this essay was published on September 4.

  • Push and pull on devolution of powers

    Push and pull on devolution of powers

    It is becoming increasingly clear that Nigeria, as currently structured, is ungovernable. It is equally becoming clear that much as we all know where the solution lies, its attainment has been elusive since the National Political Reform Conference of 2005 whose far-reaching recommendations were ignored for political reasons. The truth is that there are far too many centrifugal forces pulling the diverse groups or nationalities in the country in different directions on key issues. These centrifugal forces include region, religion, ethnicity, language, class, gender, and other social features. That is why the call for unity is nothing but political talk, which politicians themselves know is unattainable.

    What is more, President after President has been driving increasingly toward unification, while also projecting the propaganda of unity. True, the forces of unification are ever present—a common country called Nigeria to which we pledge citizenship; a common flag; a common national anthem, which maintains that “in brotherhood we stand”; and a common purse from which oil money is shared among the 36 states, the Federal Capital Territory, and the 774 local councils. Nevertheless, unity remains elusive owing to the power of the centrifugal forces highlighted above.

    Ironically, on the one hand, the call for devolution of powers is rooted in the desire for self determination and fulfillment within each group’s own geographical, cultural, and economic space. The more powers are devolved to the federating units, the lighter the burden on the Federal Government to satisfy every group.

    On the other hand, the attendant reduction in the powers and resources of the central government is viewed by parasites of the state as a move toward disintegration. It is a false view that hides their fear of losing dependency on the centre, given their age-long inability to manage independence.

    Yet, there appears to be no better time to devolve powers to the federating units than now, because it is the only way the federating units and their residents could begin to look inwards for survival and development rather than outwards to the centre, some for plums and others for crumbs. True, major hardships have accompanied President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s economic policies, the measures taken by his administration to ameliorate the hardships have been obscured by non-performing Governors. Yet, most citizens are unaware that state allocations have more than doubled since the removal of fuel subsidy and the establishment of more efficient tax collection practices. This knowledge gap has led them to keep directing their anger and frustration at the Federal Government.

    The question now is what will the federating units look like, given the large number of states, some of which are struggling to survive? Not a few people thought that the outline of the federating units was emerging when each of the six geo-political zones established a Development Commission. Each zone also is working together through its Governors Forum, which allows for shared ideas on security and economic development.

    But while this looks like a step forward, raising the hope that the geo-political zones might become the new regions, the Federal Government established a new Ministry of Regional Development to oversee the various development commissions. Some observers view this as another layer of bureaucracy and another step toward centralization.

    Earlier in the year, the financial autonomy granted to the local councils attracted criticisms, because it also was viewed as another step toward centralization. It is a case of a curative medicine with debilitating side effects. In this case, the disease was state governors’ habit of sitting on local council funds and misappropriating them. However, a direct link between the centre and local councils raises serious questions about the power given to the states in the constitution regarding the control and financing of local councils within their jurisdictions.

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    These apparently centralizing tendencies notwithstanding, there are discernible movements toward devolution of powers. Three such developments stand out. One is the power granted to the states to develop and manage their own rail network. Another is the power to generate, transmit, and distribute electricity, rather than rely on the national grid. Yet a third is the pending creation of state police to enhance security. While a few states have already taken advantage of the first two developments, the creation of state police is still in process. The good news is that as many as 32 states have submitted the paperwork agreed upon in the meeting between the President and the Governors in February 2024.

    What remains to be resolved is the nature of federating units. Not a few advocates of devolution of powers think that the present 36-state structure is unwieldy. Besides, some of them are struggling to meet their obligations. There are, however, two counter-arguments. First, if appropriate measures are put in place to check corruption, the struggling states may begin to stay afloat. The starting point is for residents, civil society organizations, activists, and the media to demand accountability from state Governors as well as transparency of state records. Second, reallocation of resources should go hand in hand with devolution of powers, such that states will be better funded than they are now.

    These counter-arguments notwithstanding, the cost of maintaining 36 Governors in a largely consumption economy is an avoidable burden. The wastefulness in the lifestyle of our Governors is beyond pardon. It often begins with so-called security vote for which there is neither a set limit nor accounting requirement. For example, at the governorship debate in Ondo state last Sunday between incumbent Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa of the APC and challenger Agboola Ajayi of the PDP, it was revealed that the Governor was taking home N1.2 billion as security vote every month. The Governor contested the amount but wouldn’t reveal the actual figure, arguing that it is state secret.

    One can only imagine the humongous amount allocated to security votes across the 36 states. As several state officials have told me in the past, security vote often translates into the Governor’s pocket money, which he often spends as he likes. For those who have reelection ahead of them, security vote is often the starting point of raising campaign funds.

    There should be a better way of reconfiguring the federation units, if the devolution of powers were to be meaningful. That’s why some observers are advocating geopolitical zones as good candidates for federation units. It will then be left to each zone to determine how the constituent states and local councils would be managed.

    Admittedly, a major hurdle to devolution of powers is the present constitution. It has to be overhauled to accommodate necessary structural change. That is why President Tinubu needs to embark on this task as early as possible.

  • Punish supervisor negligence; Dis-Honourable

    Punish supervisor negligence; Dis-Honourable

    Hurray, Dr Ganiyat Popoola, traumatised and kidnapped on December 27, 2023  is finally released 30 October 2024 after 11 months. Thanks to all including the NMA. Please repeat for all kidnapped victims.

    The ‘Curse of the uniform’ discussed last week is further exemplified by the killing of a musician recently. Why are supervising senior officers not held accountable for subordinates’ abnormal activities? They should be tried together. This will stop the ‘Uniform Murder Crime Wave’ immediately. Juniors fear the ‘OGA AT THE TOP’! Beyond guardroom trial, we demand senior officials/officers to also be held accountable and charged with ‘culpable negligence of duty to closely supervise subordinates and failure to instil discipline and self-control and to prevent an illegal act.

    Learn from the US school gun crime epidemic where government now prosecutes parents alongside their murderous children, both disgraced in orange prison suits, handcuffs and leg irons.  Now parents will help prevent gun crime. The UK government should prosecute parents in the epidemic of knife crime related to no father-figure, single-parent families and youth, school and neighbourhood gang crime.

    Similarly, but at a higher governance level are politicians not taught good manners, dignity, comportment and respect for every citizen voter. Perhaps orientation is only about how to spend the huge salaries and perks of office? The arrogance of Nigerian public office holder and even official drivers knows no financial, moral, physical or mental or Highway Code boundaries. The self-acclaimed self-styled excellency, distinguished & honourable prefixes mostly fail woefully to describe them. They constantly disappoint us with their mediocre performance and social arrogance established solely with huge amounts of the people’s money while we have 10+m out-of-school children.

    This behaviour has made too many of our politicians pompously ‘Un-Excellent, Un-Distinguished and Dis-Honourable’ and now we have a House of Representatives ‘Most Dis-Honourable Member Award 2024’ winner. He inflicted harm and also threatened to inflict Grievous Bodily Harm, GBH, including murderous ‘disappearance’ on an Uber driver. All Nigeria REJECTS HIS APOLOGY. He should be suspended until after the court’s judgement, dismissed in disgrace or forced to resign, be arrested, and prosecuted. He is half Russian- does this interest DSS?

    If and when found guilty of a felony OF HARM, GRIEVIOUS BODILY HARM OR THREAT OF MURDER AND [a new one unknown to law] ‘DISAPPEARANCE’ under Criminal Code Acts sections 320, 335, 355 he will be liable to IMPRISONMENT FOR 3, 7, 14 years. Thereafter he should be banned from holding public office and government contracts and should do 100 hours of Community Service.          

    The parade of 67 under-aged children in court is a disgrace to Nigeria’s police and criminal justice system. ‘JUVENILE COURT WHICH DENIES THE MEDIA ACCESS’ is a CHILD RIGHT to anonymity as the child is not mature enough to be fully responsible for aberrant behaviour requiring a court case. The juvenile court eliminates sensationalism and prevents mental scars. Privacy is the right of the child and can only be guaranteed in a juvenile court. Worse, apparently some children face the death sentence. Seriously? Is this the terrible headline that Nigeria wants to be known for, added to ‘Nigeria abandons 10+million out of school children and under-educating an entire generation of Nigerian children’?

    No matter their crime including ‘Rioting for a foreign country’, it is inhumane that they have been incarcerated in Nigeria’s notorious prison conditions from August to November. Shame. Note, UK was jailing convicted rioters within 2-4 week of the riot.  Justice delayed is justice denied.

    A lawyer in the case said on television that the accused were not children. If he lied, he should be prosecuted. Also, was ‘mass fainting’ genuine or rehearsed – another ‘court tragi-comedy’ play-acting plaguing our courts when politicians and those accused of financial crimes routinely feign a faint or other illness to delay justice. Note that those politicians, claiming to be too sick for trial, but were never too sick to steal. Lawyers worldwide seriously coach clients on ‘acting on the court stage’.

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    The children were actually punishingly undernourished and some could genuinely have collapsed. Shame on us all. However, some of this ‘67 Court Performance’ could have been engineered for the court stage worthy of a ‘Nigerian Judicial Oscar Nomination’. If so, the defence lawyers should be prosecuted for ‘deception’. Beyond ‘Humane justice for the 67 and Presidential Order of RELEASE’ we should get them and 10-million others into quality school, now!

    Let us add FAKE MEDICAL COURT PERFORMANCES to Nollywood for a new category of Annual Nollywood Awards – ‘Most Dramatic Court Deception-2024’. And the winner[s] is/are ……….!

    But look at the FALSE outrage and condemnation from ‘Northern Coalition’  politicians who for 30 years have serially failed to send to school and educate these same 67 children and 10+m other out of school children’ and vulnerable street children who are now in court as ‘political cannon fodder’. The political architects of this education failure should be ashamed and face court for ‘Failing to provide a conducive learning and living environment’ for 10m children. The politicians’ own children do not riot or rot in prison or feign a faint in court. Why were those 67 in a position to be arrested? The answer is because we have a consumptive politics and not a service politics. How else can we explain this degree of abandonment of the education system – the cause of the ‘case of 67 children’?

  • The uniform as a curse

    The uniform as a curse

    There is a video of a ‘five-man team of uniformed officials vs a white minivan’. Three of the uniformed men were in white tunic on black trousers with black lapels and black face cap and two of the uniformed men were in grey T-shirt with right one arm in red and grey face cap. Vehicle Inspection Officers, VIOs, they were. They strategically encircled the van which they had directed ‘to park’. One grey uniform was strategically stationed in front of the van stopping it ‘in the name of the law or bye-law’; one in white uniform was strategically stationed at the driver’s window talking to the driver. Another, also in white uniform was strategically stationed at the passenger side all in typical harassment/distraction/disorientation/ submission strategy. And yet another in white uniform was strategically stationed at the vehicle driver’s side rear blocking his mirror view. Surrounded, he must have committed the most heinous of traffic offenses.

    Had he run over a groundnut, driving on three tyres, exhaust on fire or overloaded? Perhaps his birth certificate expired and could no longer be linked to his NIN so he was no longer human but a spirit? To choose from this tsunami of offences would be wrong. He was none-of-the-above, but just another innocent Fellow Nigerian, doing legitimate business, completely well documented and probably recently VIO-certified. The uniforms were not yet accusing him of any traffic transgressions because none had as of then been committed. He was being held ‘in advance’ for the ‘uniform newly created crime’ to ‘catch up’ with him! They were a devious gang getting ready to charge him with a crime they were creating for him. 

    You would never guess how evil people can be at work even though they have proud parents, wives and children boasting ‘My Son/husband/father is in white or grey uniform. To discover what crime they were devilishly cooking we observe the evil work of the fifth government official, actually paid by taxpayers’ money who went to office and agreed to do what? So, the fifth person in government uniform turned robbery gang? The fifth person in grey uniform is actually bending down and using government time and probably government screwdriver struggling to remove the legitimate vehicle number plate. Yes! On successful removal, the one in white uniform at the vehicle’s rear who had been supervising him, signalled, by placing his right hand on top of his cap, to the other talking to the driver ‘Mission Accomplished’. The one in rear then went behind the vehicle and took hold of the number plate to allow the second grey uniform to reapply the screws. The one in white uniform gave the one in grey uniform back the number plate and then disappeared in the direction pointed out by the one in white uniform. Then all remaining uniforms descended on the innocent-now-guilty driver, accused of a crime he did not commit and has no knowledge of. They pounced on him, verbally, mentally abusing his fundamental rights as they were the accusers and the criminals.

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    The suitable government agencies should check their records for a white van victimised and facing charges on the charge sheet of ‘NOT POSSESSING A REAR NUMBER PLATE’. THE CRIMINAL OPERATION WAS SO WELL RUN THAT THERE MUST BE MANY MORE VICTIMS’. So, a search must be carried out especially in the area run by this criminal gang in white uniform to identify and exonerate all other victims. The gang must have already boasted at departmental meetings about their ‘successful arrest’ and their departmental heads must fish them out and have them paraded so other victims can come forward.  A proper internal investigation will get the syndicate but we need their history of crime-driven arrests. We want restitution from the authorities and better internal policing of uniformed officials especially those coming up with strange new crimes like ‘MISSING REAR NUMBER PLATE’. Thank God for this video and the recorder. Make sure he is not targeted.

    Nigeria is awash with officials disgracing their uniforms covering terrorism. We saw police putting drugs and bullets in cars for arrest at the next checkpoint. I used to carry police out of sympathy. We read of a ‘fake LASTMA’ fellow ‘mis-making’ 750k monthly. The nearly invisible faded yellow line at Ojota incoming Maryland was routinely used to extort from travellers on Saturdays. Some time ago, at Ikire Dam, off-duty LGA officials harassed motorists savagely.  In Ibadan, LGA officials blocked my car on a federal road.  And we want tourists? A FRSC official at Ogere actually kicked my licence plate accusing it of being fake and unregistered. This was not the FRSC we hoped for when the FRSC logo was being designed and drawn and the final draft of the 2nd Highway Code was being synthesised with social service friends on my dining room table in Ibadan for FRSC’s Professor Soyinka and Olu Agunloye from three Highway codes and the FRSC Owl was being designed gratis by Fellow Nigerians. Then being nationalistic, we were pride-filled and happy with a red-inked Soyinka ‘ok’ or a tick.

    Uniformed men need to be constantly supervised, secretly, by superiors. Unsupervised Uniforms too often create evidence and give false witness leading to fines, loss of livelihood, disgrace within the family and society, imprisonment and even death. We see what solders sometimes do. And some FRSC will soon be carrying arms? UNSUPERVISED, THE UNIFORM IS ALREADY A CRIMINALLY MURDEROUS CURSE.