The Nation Newspaper

Category: Hardball

  • Biden unravelling

    Biden unravelling

    Millions across the world joined millions of Americans to watch the country’s presidential debate last Thursday and the apparent outcome was humbling as it was unnerving: old man Joe Biden is in age-related meltdown. The verdict from the debate for the 81-year-old president who is seeking another term in the United States’ November elections seemed all too clear to many. It was a disaster!

    Before viewers’ very eyes, the octogenarian who is the oldest in US history to be seeking the world’s most powerful office stuttered and doddered in the face of taunts by not-too-young former President Donald Trump, who is seeking a return to the White House despite a first term so chaotic that many – even outside of American shores – wish an encore is evitable. Trump himself is 78 years of age, but he staged a relatively forceful performance that made his three-year age difference from Biden, who displaced him in the 2020 US election, seem like a generation.

    Biden, for Democrats, and Trump, for Republicans, locked horns in the Atlanta studios of frontline news network, CNN. The debate was aired live across the world, though there was no studio audience on hand. Immediate feedback from American voters was that respective performance by both oldies was underwhelming. But the performance by President Biden took ‘underwhelming’ to a new high. CNN’s analysis described the president as having posted the weakest performance since John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon started the tradition of televised debates in 1960 – then, as on Thursday, in a television studio with no audience.

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    Biden’s performance reportedly left his party into panic mode over his chances, with barely five months before the US heads to the polls. “Biden has rooted his reelection in the idea that he is the last thing standing between America and a second Trump presidency that would destroy democracy and usher in an unprecedented era of American autocracy. Voters who take him at his word could not help but be alarmed at his abject debate showing,” CNN wrote in one of its analyses. “Biden’s voice was weak, at times reduced to a whisper. Early on, the president’s answers drifted into incoherence. He missed openings to jab Trump on abortion – the top Democratic talking point – and meandered into highlighting his own biggest political liability, immigration. ‘We finally beat Medicare,’ Biden said at one point, lapsing into confused silence. It was the kind of debate gaffe that Democrats had hoped to avoid. Worse, while Trump spoke, Biden often watched, his mouth gaping open, exacerbating an impression of a president cruelly diminished. His bravura battering of Trump in a debate four years ago was a distant memory,” the news site added.

    It may well be the world is witnessing an involuntary winding out of the Biden era.

  • Kenya’s EndSARS riots

    Kenya’s EndSARS riots

    Call it Kenya’s season of EndSARS destruction , though this violence flared from public — read angry youths’ — anger over a taxation bill, which President William Ruto passed through the Kenyan Parliament; and which would have imposed a rash of new taxations, even with soaring costs of living.

    It was the Kenya contemporary equivalent of Rehoboam’s tragic roar: my father lashed you with whips; I’ll thrash you with scorpions!  How could such ringing stupidity ooze from the mouth of the scion of Solomon, the wisest man in history? 

    The Kenyan youths won’t stand for such: hence, the protests that turned bloody and claimed lives and limbs, while a part of Parliament was torched by irate protesters.

    In a way, Ruto was a victim of own electoral derring-do — that penchant to over-simplify problems, with the promise of magic wands that simply are not there. 

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    In his campaign mode, Ruto waxed lyrical and poetic, as iconoclast Deputy President (shunned by own President Uhuru Kenyatta at the polls), come to crash the old, and erect a new order.  He swore he was a “hustler” like the hungry and angry youths in the street.  He knew where the shoe pinched, and with street sense, he would snap fingers and move mountains.  Magical! 

    Shaman-like roars won the polls.  But alas!  The nitty-gritty of governance, especially one with severe structural defects, doesn’t respond to magical promises. 

    You could compare the Kenyan Ruto show to Peter Obi’s here in Nigeria.  The so-called youth drowned selves in the Obi torrent.  But even the most basic application of rigour shows it’s nothing but fluff and deceit.

    Still, Kuto could have been earnest in his campaign promises.  His main flaw was over-simplifying stuff. 

    But even in that, his receptive youths were no less guilty — thinking public problems are one-sided.  They are not.  Yes, those in government are paid to solve problems.  But the people too are supposed to be day-to-day partners, not cynical onlookers maniacally busy at pointing fingers, and distracting everyone.

    Well, the Kenyan protesters claimed their rights under the law: the government must be aware of how the people feel — and adjust accordingly.  Where the protesters erred was the violence bit.  As everyone has found out, violence is a no-no.  It doesn’t solve any problem.  Rather, it complicates everything.

    But the Ruto government itself should have been more sensitive, to public opinion, before pushing its tax bill, given its “conspiratorial” pact with young voters. 

    Still, a new balance appears emerging.  President Ruto isn’t signing the bill into law.  He is opting for engagement.  The protesters should grab the olive branch: dialogue. 

    So, pressing for the president’s resignation is sterile and populist.  A systemic problem doesn’t respond to human daring.  So, a change of personalities might just return the same old drag — plus time lost seeking magic that isn’t — and will never — be there.

  • Wasted money

    Wasted money

    How the Federal Government and the state governments contributed to poverty in Nigeria can be seen from the allegation by the Minister of Women Affairs, Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye, that the Muhammadu Buhari administration had mismanaged the first tranche of the $500m World Bank loan for women’s empowerment in the country.  The first tranche of the loan, meant for the Nigeria for Women Project (NFWP), was $100m.

    According to her, the President Bola Tinubu administration, which succeeded the Buhari government, was “not satisfied with how the money was used.” She alleged that the money had been misused “mainly for advocacy, meetings, and consultancy, and that was it and they shared it among the states… It is supposed to be meant for projects for women, but that was not the case.”

    Perhaps this partly explains why the number of Nigerians living in poverty is disturbingly high. Official statistics show that well over 100 million Nigerians are “multidimensionally poor,” with three out of five citizens living in poverty. The data calls into question the anti-poverty efforts of the Federal Government, and also raises questions about the seriousness of state and local governments in the fight against poverty.

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    The minister, who spoke about the women’s empowerment project on Arise Television’s Morning Show, said the project targeted vulnerable women in the country, and had been launched in 15 states and the Federal Capital Territory.

    The project aims to address barriers to women’s prosperity towards inclusive poverty reduction in Nigeria, and guarantee improved livelihood opportunities for thousands of women in the country.

    The minister lamented that under the former structure “women continued suffering.”  She, therefore, “raised a new structure on how that money will be utilised so there won’t be more issues of advocacy, meetings and consultancy, which to me is a way of lavishing the money.”

    The implication is that the money did not reach the targeted beneficiaries under the Buhari administration, which is indefensible. It suggests that poverty in the country is, ironically, partially government-driven. Poverty reduction demands integrity on the part of the authorities.

    The awaited new implementation structure, according to the minister, will positively change the story. She said: “$500m is not a small amount of money, and I can assure you that it can change the lives of every woman who is vulnerable in this country.”

    It remains to be seen whether the new approach will, indeed, succeed in empowering the targeted vulnerable women, and help reduce poverty in the country.

  • The Bullfight cometh

    The Bullfight cometh

    Thursday, 27th June, is the D-Day. President Joe Biden and ex-President Donald Trump will on that day square off in a stage debate that will be akin to a bullfight over the prized jewel of the United States presidency. It is the first of two debates agreed to by the candidates, who ahead of the party conventions in the summer have emerged presumptive nominee for their respective party: Biden, 81, for the Democrats and Trump, 78, for the Republicans. Thursday’s debate will hold on the platform of CNN networks, while the second in September will be on ABC News.

    Candidates’ debate is an important feature of the American electoral system and the Biden-Trump match is no less billed to reset the momentum of electioneering leading up to the 5th November presidential poll. The two men will  lock horns in what analysts noted will be packed with firsts.

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    This is the earliest televised stage debate in US general election since 1960. Never before in modern history have two presumptive nominees met on the debate stage so early in election season; but polling has revealed dicey trends and the gladiators aim to factor in states where American voters cast early ballots. Never before have two major White House contenders battled at such advanced ages amidst widespread concerns about their fitness for office. Biden is the oldest in America’s history to seek the presidency and there are questions about his cognitive health. Never before, also, has a contender had a felony conviction hanging on him: the stage debate holds just two weeks before Trump is scheduled to be sentenced on 34 felony counts in his New York hush money trial.

    Biden and Trump faced off against each other twice before their 2020 contest in ugly and heated shows that few Americans looked forward to recurring. A rematch has, however, become inevitable and the old men are expected to go for each other’s jugular from the starting line to build whatever momentum they can with a jaded electorate. But the rules are firm. Both candidates will stand for the duration of the debate. Campaign staff are not allowed to interact with either candidate over the course of the event, including during the breaks. Each man will be given a pen, a pad of paper and a bottle of water – but no props or pre-written notes are allowed on stage. Unlike in their previous showdowns, the candidates will have their microphones muted except for when it is their turn to speak. There will also be no studio audience – and CNN intends to “enforce timing and ensure a civilised discussion.” Belt up for gerontocratic show of the year!

  • Congress bluff and bluster

    Congress bluff and bluster

    House Republicans and Democrats in the US Congress, from time to time, engage in ideological shadow boxing on the home front. 

    Abroad, however, they appear to share that same bully trait to ride roughshod over others; and bleat fanciful nonsense — thinking because they are Americans, they  simply can.

    Or how else would you explain the spin that Tigran Gambaryan — and run-away Nadeem Anjarwalla — both Binance executives, here on trial for alleged economic crimes, are “wrongfully detained”; and urging the US Embassy to push for a “humanitarian” release?  Just like that?

    Do these blokes think Nigeria is some Panama, in its backwaters, on which America can impose its whims, sense or nonsense?

    The funny drama started when French Hill (Republican) and Chrissy Houlahan (Democrat) visited Gambaryan in Kuje Prison, Abuja, where he is in lawful detention.

    Hear the delusional American thunder, from French Hill: “Tigran must be immediately granted a humanitarian release, the remaining charges dropped, and he must return home to America where he belongs.”  What arrogance!

    Now, on what basis is this bloke yakking? As a one-man US Congressional Supreme Court over Nigeria?  Or as delusional counsel to Gambaryan?  Even the accused would be far wiser than hiring such a rash lawyer! He knows, too well, his thumping foolery will railroad him into bumper jail terms!  What a hare-brained bluster!

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    Even if Gambaryan was “wrongfully detained”, shouldn’t that be canvassed with facts and figures in court, by his lawyers, in the best tradition of the rule of law, which Uncle Sam always makes a fetish of?  So, if the rule of law holds in America, to the extent of convicting Donald Trump, ex-US president as a felon, why should it hold any less here?

    By the way, did this guy, now shooting from the hips, probe why Gambaryan ended in Kuje Prison?  Was he told how Anjarwalla, his co-accused, abused the Nigerian sense of mutual respect by bolting as a fugitive, after his guards extended to him the courtesy to say his Friday prayers?  Did he know that was how the duo forfeited house arrest for prison detention, without bail?

    It’s good the Nigerian authorities have responded to the US legislators’ full emptiness with a measured response.  Forget the hysterics of the duo.  The accused persons are facing fair and legitimate trial.  On that, the court — no other person, no matter how deluded — has the final say.

    Nigeria must walk this talk.  Let the trial continue uninterrupted until the court returns innocence or guilt.  That’s the rule of law — and it won’t change because of some rude, uncouth and noisy Americans.

  • Messy recruitment

    Messy recruitment

    In a dramatic twist, the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) rejected the list of 10,000 recruits released by the Police Service Commission (PSC), and called for “a total review of the process with a view to recruiting qualified, competent, trainable and productive hands.”

    According to the Force Public Relations Officer, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, the recruitment of police constables was marred by “irregularities.”  He said in a statement: “The published list contains several names of candidates who failed either the Computer Based Test (CBT) or the physical screening exercise or both.

    “There are those who made it to the last stage of the exercise but were disqualified, having been found medically unfit through the standardised medical test, but who also made the list of successful candidates as published by the PSC.

    “Most worrisome is the allegation of financial dealings and corrupt practices leading to the outcome where unqualified and un-trainable individuals have been shortlisted.”

    The PSC had said 9,000 applicants were approved for recruitment for general duty while 1,000 applicants were recruited for the specialist cadre, adding that each stage of the recruitment process was “carried out with a high level of scrutiny and care.”  It also said 10 applicants were selected from each of the country’s 774 local government areas, to demonstrate fairness and inclusivity.

    In response to the NPF’s allegations, the commission explained that it had constituted a Recruitment Board comprising “representatives from virtually all the stakeholders in the Police Sector such as The Commission, the Police, Ministry of Police Affairs, Federal Character Commission, the Police Colleges and the Police Trust Fund.”

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     But the NPF alleged that the Recruitment Board “was crippled and never allowed to carry out its mandate, insomuch that even the final list was not consented to by the Board.”

    This is a messy situation. Ex-President Muhammadu Buhari had introduced a policy to recruit 10,000 police officers annually over six years, to boost police manpower. However, this was hampered by conflict between the PSC and the NPF over who should be responsible for such recruitment. The Supreme Court, in July 2023, ruled in favour of the PSC, after a legal battle that lasted about four years. This was expected to put an end to the conflict between the police force and the commission regarding police recruitment. But that is clearly not the case. 

    It is estimated that Nigeria has a ratio of one police officer to about 600 citizens.  The UN-recommended ratio is one police officer to about 450 citizens. The country is critically under-policed, which is bad for security as well as law and order. There is no doubt that the country needs to increase its police personnel, particularly in the context of a complicated security crisis. This clash over police recruitment does not help matters.  Who will clear up the mess?

  • Zamfara blues

    Zamfara blues

    Zamfara is the home state of Defence Minister of State Bello Matawalle, but it is as well among states most embattled by banditry in the Northwest of Nigeria. Incumbent Governor Dauda Lawal described Zamfara as the country’s  hub of banditry and alleged that the state wasn’t getting much help from Matawalle’s ministerial office. But if the menace is contained in the state, more than 90 percent of the insecurity challenge in the entire North would have been solved, he added.

    Lawal cited lack of political will as reason why banditry persists. According to him, there is seeming indisposition on the part of security organs under the Federal Government’s control to frontally confront the challenge. Speaking recently on a Channels Television programme, the Zamfara governor alleged politicisation of an existential threat, saying security operatives were never there when needed. “Even when they are there, they are given certain instructions on what to do and not what to do.” He ascribed the formation of Community Protection Guards by his administration to tardy action by federal security agencies: “We, as governors, don’t have control over the military, we don’t have control over the police as well as the civil defence. In most cases, we get frustrated. When you need these people, they are nowhere to be found and the best thing to do is to set up that kind of security outfit.” Among other claims, he alleged that absence of political will was frustrating efforts to speedily end the banditry menace, saying: “In two weeks, we can take care of the situation but the political will is not there. We know who they (bandits) are. We know we they live. It’s just that there is no political will.”

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    There were no specific identifications by Lawal as to who to blame for the alleged tardy response by conventional security agencies to the menace of banditry, but here’s the catch: whereas the Zamfara governor is of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), his predecessor and current Defence minister of state, Matawalle, is of the All Progressives Congress (APC). Asked what impact the minister has made in containing the crisis, the governor said: “It is always interesting when this Minister of Defence thing comes up. Yeah, he is Minister of State, Defence, but of what benefit to us? Just about few weeks ago, bandits went to his hometown, killed many people, what has he done about it? Yes, we have Minister of Defence but of what benefit to Zamfara State?”

    Matawalle hasn’t been reported responding to the claims by Lawal. But it is the height of leadership irresponsibility to politicise the insecurity challenge, and their excellencies must know that they owe it a duty to Zamfara and, indeed, the entire country to eschew all differences and concertedly confront the banditry menace.

  • Promise of Senegal

    Promise of Senegal

    The promise of Senegal is not the attempt by its youthful President, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, to impose price control over staple foods and essential commodities: rice, bread, cement and fertilizer, to curb inflation.

    Spiralling cost of living appears a global crisis; and any measure to make things more bearable must be appreciated.  It’s a moot point, however, if price control ever works. From reports, however, the latest Senegalese attempt would appear more of subsidy to modulate high prices, than outright price control in its harsh form.

    By it, the government would let go of its earnings, in customs duty on (food and essential commodity) imports, to the tune 53.3 billion CFA (US$ 87 million).  Well, we’ll see as it goes.  But price control hardly works anywhere.

    Again, that’s not the promise of Senegal.  Rather, it’s in its youthful president as a champion of legitimate power; contrasted to at least two of Senegal’s neighbours: Mali and Burkina Faso, preening poster boys of youths as romantic power robbers.

    President Faye is 44.  Mali’s junta head, Assimi Goita is 40 years.  Burkina Faso’s Ibrahim Traore, an Army Captain, is even six years younger at 34.

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    Unlike Goita and Traore that betrayed their country’s sacred trust, using legitimate arms to grab illegitimate power, Faye was part of a movement that, against all odds, pushed, campaigned for, and won democratic power.

    Of course, winning power is the easier part, no matter how daunting. The real do is to deliver, which President Faye now tries to do with the food subsidy cum price control.

    Unlike his Mali and Burkinabe pair, however, he doesn’t have to don ludicrous camouflage and over-worked military gears, just to put some sheen over power robbery by state arms, pure and simple. 

    Faye, as elected president, is also commander-in-chief.  If he chooses, he can clad himself in ceremonial military wear, and it would still all be graceful and legitimate.

    At the beginning of that power rascality in Nigeria, Wole Soyinka, in the final, closing phrase of his “Jero’s Metamorphosis”, put down those comics as ‘desk generals’. “After all,” dapper prophetic swindler Jero quipped, “it’s the fashion these days to be a desk general!”

    The inimitable Chuba Wilberforce Okadigbo (God bless his soul!) was even more clinically dismissive: “Our Generals are coup heroes” — and that at the height of that rascality!

    The promise of Faye, therefore, is weaning the thieving power youths of Mali and Burkina Faso from romanticizing power procured by the barrel of the gun.  Their contemporary next door is showing youths can be less knee-jack in their thinking.

    Sooner than later, Mali’s Goita will morph into a socio-economic goiter on Mali’s neck, with dire political consequences.  Only a counter-gun can remove him.  An army power grab seldom ends well.

    Even if Faye falters, the next election is virtually by the corner.  So, no fundamental damage is done.  Youths can take power by the depth of their intellect, not as hare-brained power bums, hiding behind army uniforms. 

    Faye is a living example.

  • A question of morality

    A question of morality

    Federal lawmakers representing Delta State are not only enjoying creature comforts connected with their office; there seems to be no end to the things they enjoy as members of the Delta caucus of the 10th National Assembly.

    Delta State Governor Sheriff Oborevwori made the headlines following his purchase of Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs), allegedly worth N1b, for the 12 legislators representing Delta State in the National Assembly.

     According to a report, the SUVs were described as “operational vehicles” in a letter of gratitude, dated May 4, 2004, written to the governor by one of the beneficiaries, Francis Waive, representing Ughelli North/Ughelli South/Udu Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives. He commended the governor for “upholding the tradition of assisting members of the National Assembly from our state with operational vehicles.”

     He also said in the letter: “You have done what has never been done in our history by extending this kind gesture to all irrespective of political party affiliation.

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    “Today, I received mine and all of us in the Delta caucus of the 10th National Assembly appreciate you.

    “You have demonstrated again and again that you are governor of all Deltans and posterity will not forget you.

    “This is a new dawn in our polity; please keep carrying everyone along, because this is the right thing to do and our state and you too will reap the benefits.”

    It is unclear what he meant when he said the governor would “reap the benefits” of giving the federal lawmakers SUVs. But critics, who accused the governor of insensitivity to difficult living conditions in the state, alleged that the purpose of the car gifts was to win the favour of the lawmakers as part of his reelection plan.  Oborevwori of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) assumed office as governor in May 2023.  He has a four-year term, and can be reelected for a second term.  Also, critics argued that the money spent on the vehicles could have been better utilised for development purposes in the state.

    The federal lawmakers representing Delta State have two SUVs each for their duties, having received one SUV each from those purchased for the 109 Senators and 360 members of the House of Representatives by the National Assembly leadership last year. The vehicles were reported to have cost N160m each. 

    It is a question of morality whether Governor Oborevwori should have bought the SUVs for the lawmakers, considering that they already had one from the National Assembly leadership. It is also a question of morality whether the lawmakers should have received the SUVs, given that they already had one from the leadership of the federal legislature.

  • A road no longer to be travelled

    A road no longer to be travelled

    Ancient wisdom teaches that you do not go revisiting a path on which you had pulled the curtains for lack of prospects therein. If it was tried before and was abandoned because it didn’t work, it doesn’t make much sense contemplating a revisitation. That is the challenge Hardball has with a recent proposal by the Nigerian Senate that government should explore the prospects of negotiating with bandits.

    Concerned about escalating insecurity in the Northwest and Northcentral zones, the Senate requested President Bola Tinubu to raise a task force that will evaluate the effectiveness and implications of negotiating with bandits. The task force, according to the red chamber, will analyse short-term gains against long-term consequences of such option. The Senate adopted the resolution following a motion by Senator Nasiru Zangon Daura (APC, Katsina North) on urgent need to review security approach to dealing with banditry menace in Northwest and Northcentral states.

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    The lawmakers, of course, proposed other measures including reintroduction of patrol spots across affected states to deter bandit incursions, review of operational methods of security agencies, deployment of additional security personnel and special task forces to identified hotspots to ensure safety and protection of lives and property, and collaboration among the relevant security agencies, state governments, local communities, traditional leaders and stakeholders towards gathering intelligence that will enhance security operations in affected areas. The Senate also urged security agencies to adopt proactive and innovative strategies to secure farmlands, so that farmers can safely return to their farms in affected areas.

    Governors of states in the Northwest had about mid-last year served notice of their toeing a new path in dealing with the menace of terrorism and banditry in the zone. Kaduna’s Uba Sani said governors currently in the saddle in the zone had resolved to “have a common approach to the issue, and we have to move away from the mistakes made by some previous governors that decided to compromise the operation in the past when they started giving money to the bandits and negotiating with them.” He spoke against the backdrop of previous governors like Katsina State’s Aminu Masari and Zamfara State’s Bello Matawalle having voiced frustration with their own efforts to bring bandits to reason through negotiation; and Kaduna’s Nasir el-Rufai’s advocacy of a hard hand against the criminals including carpet-bombing their forest hideouts. Only in March, Katsina State Governor Dikko Radda said negotiating with bandits was a doomed approach to addressing the menace of banditry because of multiplicity of layers of their operational command and diversity of their objectives.

    Negotiating with bandits is so proven to be a dead end that senators needn’t contemplate exploring its potential application, much less recommending it.