The Nation Newspaper

Category: Hardball

  • No, UI, no!

    It’s the ultimate stain — that the University of Ibadan campus is fast becoming a growth area for robbers wanting to make a few bucks and mug a few heads.

    Or what can you call three robberies, around the same area, in practically two months?

    That is absolutely unacceptable and the university’s vice chancellor had better sit up.   Otherwise he might just pass as a chancellor of vice — or how do you excuse all these vices, the regular robbing and mugging of students, under his charge, in a campus that should be a sanctuary from the vice outside?

    For many alumni and alumna, it’s a stain you can’t ever live down.  How can a university that gave you everything — the very best in learning and in character, not to talk of cultivated bragging rights (no contradiction, Hardball can assure you!) — and on which campus you could trudge, throughout its length and breadth, in those halcyon days and nights, suddenly become so porous students now learn to sleep with only one eye closed?  Abomination!

    That porosity bucks about everything that suggests the university is a model for the outside world.  That is the hallmark of the university providing solutions, to about every challenge the environment faces — the classical gown leading the town, to the proverbial promise land.

    But this embarrassing siege bucks everything.  If UI, the citadel, is under siege for common robberies, how can its faculty egg heads proffer solutions to the crisis outside its walls — or are universities no longer the society’s brain boxes again?  Shame, especially for the Premier University, touted as first and best.

    Yeah, the university authorities, it would appear, are at last waking up to the challenge. News reports talk of a partial curfew, between 12 midnight and 5 am, within which time-belt movements would be scrutinized.

    They have also imposed restrictions on movements, particularly in the female halls of residence, temporarily controlling male access.

    As a temporary measure, these are fine; and should be rigorously implemented.  But curbing movements can’t be a permanent solution.  It can’t make up for imposing a security shield that though allows unfettered movement 24-7, still sieves criminal elements from infiltrating the campus.

    Besides, the Idia-Awolowo-new sports centre-Awba Dam sector, its proximity to The Polytechnic, Ibadan/UI common fence and its notorious porosity, need to be tackled fast, as most of those breaches happen along that corridor.

    Give us back our old UI, where you could leave your room at any hour, no matter how late, saunter to your classroom in the Faculty complex; or even your departmental library if you had access, study to your heart’s content and return to your room, without breaking any sweat.

    Indeed, security was the last thing on your mind, whether venturing outside or swotting in the sanctuary of your room; visiting the Arts Theatre to see a film or watch a play; or even partying anywhere you so decided.

    Give us back our UI — the serene haven of safety and security, 24-7.

  • What a man can do …?

    WHAT a man can do, a woman can do worse?

    Hey, this is no misogynist or male chauvinist, thumbing down the female folk — just an alarmed citizen decrying how low our values have sunk, so much so you couldn’t even vouch for some women to keep to the straight-and-narrow; after the menfolk appear well and truly lost, zooming in the wide and merry way, that leads nowhere but perdition.

    A news report in The Nation, headlined “EFCC traces cash to Kwara ex-governor’s wife’s account” (August 13) has got to blow your mind in sheer chutzpah for mischief, if not outright evil, of the most unconscionable hue.

    But it is not on account of the main dramatic persona alone, a former Kwara State First Lady.

    According to the story, the First Lady’s account is allegedly home to some of the allegedly looted N2 billion, belonging to the Small and Medium Enterprises Development (SMED) programme.

    Challenged by the EFCC, the First Lady allegedly returned N3 million from her alleged trove, reportedly refused to honour EFCC’s invite for interrogation and pronto sent in words she was ill, without reportedly bothering to back that with any medical evidence.  What chutzpah!

    That appears to be getting the EFCC raving mad, threatening to watch-list her and disallow her from jetting out of the country, for whatever reasons.  A showdown would appear imminent there — wonder who will blink first!

    The First Lady was alleged to have diverted the SMED money to her foundation.

    Then, wait for this: another unnamed woman, a market woman-politician, was reported to have spent part of her share of the alleged loot to disrupt the Tradermoni visitation of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo to the Kwara market folks — and to think most of the putative beneficiaries would have been fellow market women!

    Pray, when do dogs start eating dogs?  So, a woman first, then a market woman, would use her vocation of politics, to block the chances of other struggling women to micro-credit, for partisan reasons? Geez!

    Where is Alhaji Waziri Ibrahim (God bless his kind soul!), the 2nd Republic apostle-in-chief of politics without bitterness?  Could a woman be so callous to have used allegedly stolen funds to block the licit chances of fellow folks, who probably are honest and law abiding?

    Hardball would have thought such wickedness was the monopoly of men, who by the way appeared beyond redemption?

    What a man can do, a woman can do worse!

    What EFCC must do is to clinically investigate this case and bring everyone involved to heel.

    If these allegations are true, both First Lady and the market woman politicians were supposed to be mothers, with gushing milk of human kindness.  But the reverse appears the case.

    The EFCC should therefore do the needful: dutifully investigate, prosecute and secure conviction.  To recover our lost values, making stiff scapegoats is imperative.

  • Sallah and the Sultan’s charge

    THE Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III’s take on hate speech, and how to deal with the menace, is spot on.

    As part of his Sallah message, the Sultan called on the Federal Government to hit hard at anyone guilty of spreading hate, no matter how highly placed, saying such misconduct fuels a precarious security situation.

    The government, he declared, should be “decisive in dealing with those who are bent on heating up the polity with hate speeches, no matter how highly placed they may be.”

    He also spoke on the dire security question: “This situation, which seems to preoccupy the attention of the Federal Government at the expense of other issues in the socio-political and economic spectra, appears increasingly problematic.”

    A probable de-code?  The more the authorities try to stem insecurity, the more reckless tongues among the citizenry fuel it, leveraging ethnic, faith and sundry differences, not to talk of pressing democratic rights.  Ironically, these lobby, almost with sadistic pleasure, would be the first the scream at the government’s “failure” to  sort out the problem.

    Then, the monarch’s  Sallah plea: “Today is a day of sacrifice.  We must seek divine intervention in all our activities … We have seen a lot of commitments and dedication to the fight against insecurity.  With our support and fervent prayers, we will surely succeed” — quite!

    In other words, security is collective business.  Unless and until the government and the governed meet at some points on this crucial matter, both could be running at cross purposes, with devastating consequences.

    As for seeking divine intervention, it could well go back to the tongue.

    It is the same mouth that you use to pray that you use to curse; the same reasoned mouth that calls for moderation and restraint harbours the lunatic tongue that glories in tearing down everything; the same mouth that shows empathy and constant encouragement, along the process of solving a problem, is the one that, without thinking, hollers, barks, roars and growls: the government has done nothing!

    True, all of these are allowed under the democratic ethos.  Still, you must secure a country before luxuriating in its democracy; and its guaranteed freedom and liberty.

    The Sultan’s charge could not have come at a better time.

    Those who have ears, let them hear.

     

  • Ibbi-gate

    What happened at Ibbi, on the Ibbi-Jalingo road, in Taraba State?

    Fact: Three policemen, belonging to the crack Intelligence Response Team (IRT), under tough cop, Abba Kyari, were felled by bullets, allegedly from servicemen from the Nigerian Army.  A civilian was also reportedly killed.  The claim, according to news reports, was that the killed were alleged “kidnappers”, a claim the Police have already debunked.

    Fact: Alhaji Hamisu Wadume, a local philanthropist but alleged big time “kidnapper”, was reportedly in the custody of the ill-fated IRT trio, handcuffed after arrest and heading for police headquarters in Jalingo, for further processing.  He was reportedly arrested over a recent kidnap, from which N100 million ransom was allegedly paid.

    In the melee, Wadume vanished; and has since been on the run.  The police claim the soldiers that attacked the IRT team sprang him, after killing the policemen, despite being showed proof that they were genuine policemen on legitimate duty.

    In a follow-up development, Daily Trust reported that the Police stormed Wadume’s home in Ibbi, took away his vehicles and made mass arrests.

    But what really happened at Ibbi?  That is what the authorities should find out — and find out fast!  The conjectures are just too gory to stomach.

    Claims are that the IRT murder was a result of rogue clientele between a citizen (alleged cooked) and elements in the Army — not official or formal “Army”, but personal relationship allegedly compromising official duty, climaxing in alleged high crime-in-uniform, that claimed four lives.

    Indeed, there were claims that the soldiers’ action was premeditated; since the junior officer that reportedly gave the IRT chase allegedly acted to save a Wadume-in-distress, after an SOS call by Wadume’s boys, on their principal’s arrest.

    Indeed, the claim is that the “kidnap” angle originally came from a dummy sold by Wadume’s boys to the officer, who without much ado, despatched his soldiers to apprehend those who had “kidnapped” Wadume, who often did him — and many others in the locality — a good turn.

    Indeed, the idea of Wadume being freed from “kidnappers” reportedly sent agog the local populace, gathered at the crime scene — until further facts emerged.

    There are also claims that the soldiers might not have done their due diligence before attacking the policemen, with some even suggesting a cold and brutal plan, aimed at springing Wadume the benefactor, by his beneficiaries; and somewhat hoping whatever happened could be buried — and all these by servicemen bearing legal arm, donning the Army green!

    What really happened at Ibbi?  The people have a right to know — and fast.

    It is good the government has set up an investigating panel.  But the suggestion that some blokes could carry legal arms to free an alleged kidnapper, wasting three crack cops along the way, sends a chill down the spine!

    That is why the government must act fast — and bring those indicted in the murder of the IRT 3 to justice.

    Soldiers killing three policemen to spring a kidnapping suspect?  Ibbi-gate just sets you breaking out in cold sweat!

    But the Police too should not go on wild indiscriminate arrests.

  • Moses the mule?

    DURING the reign of Jose Mourinho at Chelsea, Victor Moses, Nigeria’s former international and part of the victorious Eagles campaign at AFCON 2013 in South Africa, was almost surplus requirement.

    But then came Antonio Conte and everything changed.  Under Mourinho, as an out-and-out winger, Moses’s playing time was rather limited.  But Conte had a joker, into which Moses fitted pat — the modern wing-back.

    Now, nobody ever doubted the audacious skills of Moses, whose impudent dribbles could take your breath away!  But he also had in abundance the proverbial African strength, as grand reservoir for the energy a wing-back needs, as he defends this second; bears down the opponents’ penalty area the next; and still boasts enough vim to dash back to his own box 18, should his team lose possession!

    That was the niche Conte located in Moses and milked it to the full.  Welcome a brand new Moses, that ran riot with Chelsea, in that 2016/2017 season, en route to the English Premier League (EPL) title.

    All of a sudden, Conte’s Chelsea was incomplete without Moses — talk of the stone that the builders refused that nevertheless became the head cornerstone!  Moses — the quintessential, ultra-mobile, modern wing-back!  So good was the deal that Moses called his international career to devote full time to his darling Chelsea.

    Well, good — or bad — times don’t last; and Conte soon departed.  Enter Maurizio Sarri, he of the famous  Sarri ball; but for Moses, a Pharaoh that knew no Joseph, leading to inevitable exodus to Fernabache, the Turkish top league side, on loan, in search of more playing time.

    But old plague (playing as a winger, with little or no goals) at Chelsea appears catching up with Moses at Fernabache. Ersun Yanal, his Fernabache boss, is grumbling about low productivity (a euphemism for few goals).  That means the playing time he junked his international career to secure might yet again dry up!

    But umpteenth salvation appears beckoning from good old Conte, now boss at Inter Milan, that famous Italian club side that shares the famous San Siro Stadium with the no less famous, AC Milan, a one-time dominant force in the UEFA Champions League.

    Apparently, Conte wants Moses to replicate his Standford Bridge wing-back magic at the San Siro.

    Will a deal happen — who knows?  If it does, Moses would yet again become the football equivalent of Sidney Carton, the “fellow of no delicacy” in Charles Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities — the mule that did all the work, while Charles Darney, his alter ego (“the fellow of delicacy”) got all the glory.

    That again reminds you of compatriot, Joseph Yobo and Everton.  In a particular season, Yobo played every single match of the EPL season for his club side.  That was a record but its effect was dire!

    Moses and Yobo are examples of how African footballers perhaps have to do much more than their peers from elsewhere, to corral playing time.

    Moses the mule?  Perhaps that is serious warning that Nigeria — indeed, the whole of Africa — should develop own domestic  leagues, to avail their youngsters opportunities at home, rather than  go abroad to grind.

     

  • Chimamanda’s call

    WORLD-famous novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has been reported to rue how Nigeria had been unfair to her native Ndigbo.

    PM News reported she planted trees in Asaba, as guest of Walter Jibunor, the equally world-famous environmentalist.  At that ceremony, she was quoted to have lamented the Igbo raw deal.

    She mentioned the best-forgotten Igbo massacre at Asaba, during the opening stages of the Nigerian Civil War (1967-1970), by federal troops.  That indeed was a gory sight.

    She also recalled how Port Harcourt, Rivers State locals seized Igbo property, mainly real estate, claiming the property were “abandoned”.

    She then suggested the setting up of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to thrash out these seedy sides of Nigerian history, and once and for all, reconcile everybody.  Beautiful!

    A Truth and Reconciliation Commission would hurt no one, so long as everyone involved is ready to be reconciled.  More importantly, everyone would bring their grievances into the open — away from one-sided narratives, an umpteenth pattern Chimamanda’s latest narration has followed.

    Read Also: Chimamanda Adichie fetes writers

    Indeed, Chimamanda’s is no different from Chinua Achebe’s swan song, There Was A Country.  They both follow the same theme of Igbo victimhood.

    But might the Igbo themselves have been unfair to others?  Not a few would answer in the affirmative.

    For starters, the abandoned property issue was no pan-Nigeria policy. It was more of former Eastern minorities (mainly now in the South-South), taking it out on their former Igbo majority, who some of them accused of domination.

    But beyond that intra-regional beef, is the Igbo sweeping narrative really fair to others, not really part of that injustice?  Shouldn’t the Igbo acknowledge those that looked after their interest, during those troubled times, as trenchantly as they condemn those who did them in?

    In Western Nigeria, for instance, there was nothing like “abandoned property”.  Indeed, many Igbo came back to Lagos, to be handed yields from their ventures while they were away.  Shouldn’t the Igbo acknowledge these acts of justice, even as they lament the other acts of injustice?

    And now that we are talking history, how fair were the regnant Igbo elite themselves, in those tragic days, after the first coup of January 1966?  Couldn’t the tragedy have been avoided with a little bit of restraint and circumspection, on their own part — particularly between that coup (that claimed mainly non-Igbo politicians and soldiers) and the Unification Decree, and its ogre of Igbo domination?

    The blunt fact is every part of the country can lament its nasty deal from the Nigerian common wealth — for this polity is replete with tales of domination, failed and successful.

    The writer is right: a thorough, honest and sincere Truth and Reconciliation Commission may well exhume all the rotten bones from all sides, before finally laying them to rest.

    But until then, all sides should eschew one-sided stories, of saints and sinners.  Those tales grate.  All sides have more than enough share of both.

  • Liberty, protest and security

    “Revolution Now”  — the protest of Omoyele Sowore and co — how does that fit into a civil protest?

    Well, to the extent that it is a citizens’ demonstration against an unsatisfactory state of things, it would appear legitimate.  But legitimacy oozes from the law, and the due rights it confers; so long as the beneficiary himself or herself has not run foul of that fundamental platform.

    But what does “revolution” entail?  An entire and sweeping overthrow of the law.  Now, if you sweep away the law, can you still maintain the action is civil, lawful and legitimate?  Hardly!

    That is the bind Sowore and co have found themselves.  If Sowore indeed ended up in the DSS slammer, he certainly walked himself into it.  You don’t brag to the state you are midwifing a “revolution” — that is no tea party — and expect the government to send you congratulatory flowers.

    That said, does that banish the citizens’ right to legitimate protests?  No.  But if you must do one, you must first know your limitations by law.  That mix-up, which perhaps Sowore and co feel people must figure out, would appear fatal to this case.

    Unfortunately, it could also be ultra-dangerous to the state itself.  When there is high anger, and temper is flaring in the land, open protests act as catharsis to boil off bile.  You holler, insult, abuse, curse and scream, assured in your subconscious that you’re taking out your oppressors — bravo!

    That could be purely psychological.  Nevertheless, you get it out of your system, feeling you’ve “nailed the bastards”!

    But you cannot even do that, when the first thing you bawl was “revolution!”  and how you go about recklessly cramming empty walls, in the public space, with “Revolution” written in bold, red(?) letters.  That would be setting yourself up, shooting yourself in the foot, and denying yourself your legally guaranteed right to democratic dissent.

    Nigeria at present isn’t exactly the dream of anyone.  The current government has its own issues.  But the bulk of the problem comes from bad choices from the past.

    To make matters worse, the unrepentant champions of those past bad choices now posture as newfound “critics”, in a sickly grandstand to the gullible segments of the masses.  But really, what they do is try sabotage corrective measures, so that they can escape the consequences of  their past crimes.

    That makes efforts like Sowore’s “Revolution Now” rather harebrained.  What it does is attack those trying to solve the problem (simply because they are presently in government) but leave the old, cold-blooded criminals that caused the debacle alone to plot further plots.  It’s a grand distraction of tragic proportion, indeed.

    Still, protests are part-and-parcel of democracy.  It’s just that next time, Sowore and co should be smart enough to carefully pick their words.

    Public protest is serious business.  It’s not some campus aluta, where about everyone regresses into infancy, and mouths childish slogans, to corral attention.

  • Non-parents

    The story’s headline was grim: “Man allegedly slices daughter’s throat” (The Nation, August 1).

    But even chillier was a section of the reportage: “We have a Pauper’s Fund from which we will treat this patient,” that was Dr. Yerima Suleiman Yusuf, head of clinical services, Federal Medical Centre, Yola, Adamawa State, “because we realize that the mother is not ready and the father has a psychiatric problem.”

    The victim — now the hospital’s patient, now clinging to life by a slim thread, is Zarau Seidu, 8, whose throat Seidu Dan Iya, her own father, reportedly sliced.  The wound is so bad the hospital authorities say the poor girl has a 50-50 chance of survival after surgery.  Even if she does, how would she survive the trauma, of a near father-slaughterer, even if she lives 10 lives?

    Seidu, when asked why he did that terrible act, responded he just felt like doing it!  Just felt like slaughtering a fellow human being, who also happened to be your daughter, a child  that came from your loins? God!

    The report said Seidu suffered from a psychological challenge — the hospital insists it is psychiatric — allegedly after a long period of drug abuse.

    But if the father was mentally crippled, would the mother also have been emotionally paralyzed, such that she couldn’t give her own daughter the support she needed, even while hanging precariously between life and death?  Or what exactly does the hospital mean, saying the “mother is not ready”?

    Shock — at the goriness of it all?  Or poverty — could Zarau’s mother have been so poor the very sight of the hospital is so intimidating, such that the mere thinking of looking for treatment money is so paralyzing?

    Or shame and fear of stigma — the local folks beholding the wife of a crank who nearly slaughtered his own daughter?  The fear of stigmatization is real, yes!  But shouldn’t even that be secondary to saving the life of the poor child?

    FMC Yola should try everything to save poor Zarau.  Good knows, no child should be that abused by her parent.

    That is why the state must ensure Seidu Dan Iya gets what comes his way.  Such lunatics should not be allowed to roam free, in a civilized and law-abiding setting.

    But first, the state should attend to his medical needs.  A psychiatric problem, that pushes you to want to slaughter your own daughter — just because you got the kick — is no easy problem.  Let Seidu access treatment.  Afterwards, however, let him face the full wrath of the law.  If Zarau survives, she would be better off without him.

    Zarau’s mother too appears to need urgent rehabilitation.  Requisite Adamawa State authorities should intervene.  If Zarau survives, at least she needs her mother’s care and support.

    As reported however, Seidu and wife appear the classic case of non-parents.  They seem living parents worse than dead ones.

  • Dialogue by monologue?

    In Nigeria’s gripping, griping, exciting and excitable politics, a new joker could have dawned — dialogue by monologue!

    Impossible and diametrically opposite?  Not quite, given the stance of a lobby, to invitations to dialogue, by the Abdulsalami Abubakar Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution, in Minna, Niger State.

    To that lobby — a medley of groups really, that call themselves the Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum (SMBLF)  — the dialogue ended with the monologue to ban the Miyetti-Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) from the talks, even before the talks began!

    How quaint — dialogue by monologue!

    All appeared set (at least, according to media reports) with Gen. Abubakar himself speaking about the tension and resentment in the land; and the imperative to do something fast, before it spiralled out of control.

    “Nigeria is going through a period of trial amidst growing tension and resentment all over the country,” he warned. “This roundtable is the centre’s contribution to the search for solutions to some of the problems we are currently experiencing as a nation, particularly issues and matters  around co-existence and security.”

    The chair of the forum, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, also weighed in: “There can be no genuine military solution to conflicts, except dialogue.  We have to realize the vision of our founding fathers, which is a prosperous Nigeria.”

    All appeared set with some heavyweight attendance: King Alfred Diete-Spiff, Gowon-era governor of Rivers State (now Rivers and Bayelsa states) and now the Beyelsa State Rulers Council chairman, Emir of Minna, Alhaji Umar Bahago, Emir of Kazaure, Alhaji Najib Adamu, Gen. Alani Akinrindade, Gen.  IBM Haruna, Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi, Prof. Ango Abdullahi, Prof. Kingsley Moghalu, Mrs Josephine Anenih, Ambassador Zubairu Dada, among others.

    But shortly before dialogue, came the SMBLF diktat: we can’t dialogue with MACBAN, in supreme monologue, followed by a pullout.  Thus was born: monologue as dialogue!

    The mercurial SMBF?  Afenifere (which faction?), Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), Middle Belt Forum (MBF), and  Ohanaeze.

    The other bodies that got invited, aside from contentious MACBAN, were Northern Elders Forum (NEF) and Arewa Consultative Council (ACF).

    What MACBAN’s sins were, news reports did not say.  But the monologue is SMBLF could not dialogue with it — shikena!

    The two-day talk nevertheless continued.  The problem though was Gen. Abubakar’s pledge that the forum would share its deliberations with both the federal and state governments.

    Hardball wondered what it would share — the latest Nigerian joker of monologue as dialogue?  Toh!

     

     

  • Lagos wonder, national canvass

    By sheer coincidence — or was it intentional? — two high performers in the Tinubu Lagos gubernatorial cabinet (1999-2007), were up for screening yesterday as ministerial nominees.

    Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola, as infrastructure commissioner, was responsible for the infrastructure upscale and urban renewal of the Tinubu gubernatorial years.  

    That included the Ikeja and Lagos central business districts, Yaba-Lawanson-Itire road, Ikotun-Igando roads, Oregun road (renamed Kudirat Abiola Way) and even the loop over the Oshodi-Mile 2 expressway, at the popular Cele bus stop, that pilots traffic from Okota to the Oshodi-bound end of the expressway.  

    That abridged travel time a lot; for it jettisoned driving all the way to Mile 2 to access the other side, from the Cele end.

    While all that was happening, Babatunde Raji Fashola, clinical, quiet, efficient and effective, was running the back room, as the governor’s chief of staff.  Nobody saw him.  But about everybody felt his quiet efficiency.  That gave the governor the leeway to combine policy with politics, knowing that there was no tumult in the back room.

    But Fashola would burst on the public consciousness as Tinubu’s successor (2007-2015) — and vroom!  The man Tinubu himself dubbed the Actualizer had come to cement the Tinubu legacy!  

    He availed himself well as two-term Lagos governor.  When in 2015, at the virtual worst of economic times, Fashola got a national call to help arrest the national infrastructure decay, as three-in-one minister (Power, Works and Housing), he plunged into work with the trademark Fashola zeal and focus.

    But as Fashola was negotiating the end of his first term in Lagos, Aregbesola was assuming office, in 2010, as Osun governor — no thanks to electoral heist of a mandate that took nearly three years to reclaim.

    Again, Aregbesola assumed in Osun, a state with scandalous below-par infrastructure.  But what is economy in a modern state without glittering infrastructure?  It was an epochal challenge, which the new government faced, determined to develop the state in every ramification.

    The salvage efforts were on, full-steam, when the mismanagement of the national economy, by the Jonathan-era free-wheeling and crippling corruption scuttled everything.  That led to a national salary crisis.

    Though Aregbesola was the first to warn about the new peril, after picking up the disastrous signals before most, he ended up its ultimate scapegoat — no thanks to near-terrorist media profiling and the most unconscionable form of political scapegoating, by partisan opponents, who couldn’t compete on the level of winning ideas.

    Yet, Aregbesola rounded off his tour of duty as the driver of the most ambitious social democratic pro-people programmes, since the Awo Western Region feat before independence; and Lateef Jakande’s Lagos feat of the 2nd Republic (1979-1983).  Needless to say, his Osun schools feeding programme led the way, for a nation replication of the scheme, though Osun had a humble purse.

     Aregbesola and Fashola represent the growing corps of quality and tested public servants, the return to democracy in 1999 has thrown.  It is a plus; and can only deepen democracy, despite the present challenges.