Category: Hardball

There isn’t much love lost between the administration of Kaduna State Governor Nasir el-Rufai and unionised workers, hence intermittent burst-ups between both sides have never been far off. Fresh crisis is brewing between the government and teachers on the platform of the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT).

The state government last week announced it had concluded plans to recruit 10,000 primary school teachers to replace disengaged ones and improve the teacher-pupil ratio. It had on 19th June announced the sack of 2,192 teachers including NUT National President Audu Amba for refusing to sit for government’s competency test, and 165 others for failing the test that was conducted in December, last year, by the Kaduna State Universal Basic Education Board (KADSUBEB). The government had in 2018 sacked 21,780 teachers for failing a similar test, while 233 others were sent packing in December 2021 for allegedly presenting fake certificates. Following the 2018 culling, the el-Rufai administration took on board 25,000 new teachers.

Kaduna Deputy Governor Hadiza Balarabe said the administration would continue weeding out unqualified teachers from public schools and would not be distracted by opposition. “The quality of instruction is very important in determining the educational outcomes of our children and we cannot allow only the children of a few to steal the advantage that education provides. Nor shall we continue to allow poor quality education to be available to the children of the weak and vulnerable in our society who attend public schools,” she said.

The deputy governor spoke against the backdrop of threats by the NUT to stage a nationwide strike if the Kaduna government fails to reverse the sack of its president and 2,356 others. At the National Executive Council meeting of the union penultimate week, Deputy National President Kelvin Nwankwo accused the administration of witch-hunting teachers for standing up for their right by not sitting for the competency test, since in the union’s view, it is the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN) that has the statutory mandate to test and certify professional teachers and not any state agency. Besides, according to NUT, the test held amidst pendency of a suit before the National Industrial Court, while the sack was announced amidst pendency of another motion on notice seeking an order restraining the Kaduna government from dismissing any public school teacher for not writing and or passing its competency test.

Competency testing must not be a guise for witch-hunt, but neither should the federalism principle that vests states with certain autonomous rights be constrained. Since, however, there are issues about the competency testing before the courts, Hardball will refrain from further comments.

Chapter II of the 1999 Constitution (as Amended) stipulates inter alia that “the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government.” But persistent breaches of security by terrorists have exerted such heavy toll that some state governments have been forced to rally their people to self-defence. Zamfara State is the latest and most concerted proponent of that creed yet.

The government, last weekend, instructed state residents to move towards obtaining guns to defend themselves, saying it had prompted the police chief in the state to issue licences to those who qualify and are willing to obtain guns. “Government is ready to facilitate people, especially our farmers, to secure basic weapons for defending themselves… People must apply from the Commissioner of Police licence to own guns and such other basic weapons to be used in defending themselves,” it said in a statement. The government resorted to that option following fresh surge in attacks on state residents by terrorists. It was also against the backdrop of failed efforts at striking a peace deal with the criminal elements, as well as desperate counter-measures including the shutdown of telecoms services and border-region fuel stations and markets. Although there was momentary let-up in attacks while the shutdown order lasted, the spate resurged soon after the measure was eased.

Zamfara is the first state government to give official imprimatur to call on residents to arm-up for self-defence, though not the only state to have made the call. In August 2021, Katsina State Governor Aminu Masari urged residents of areas prone to banditry in his state to acquire weapons and defend themselves, saying it was morally wrong for people to submit meekly to the outlaws since security was everybody’s business. He made his own call on the back of repeated clamour by Benue Governor Samuel Ortom that Benue people should defend themselves against herdsmen militias killing residents across the state’s communities. At least twice in May 2021, Ortom asked the people to acquire weapons not prohibited by law to defend themselves. And both governors had a ‘patron saint’ in no less than Defence Minister Major-Gen. Bashir Magashi (rtd.), who in February 2021 challenged Nigerians to show they aren’t cowards by defending themselves against bandits.

Self-protection is a reasonable option in the face of inability of the state to provide protection. It also impliedly confirms failure of government, which must be why there was swift pushback by military brass against the Zamfara order. Truth however is, that order is a desperate recourse compelled by an unsavoury reality. But security shouldn’t be for only those who can afford personal weapons, and so government must yet step up to its constitutional mandate.

Considering the Federal Government’s rationalisation of the controversial presidential pardon granted to ex- governor of Taraba State Rev. Jolly Nyame, and ex-governor of Plateau State Senator Joshua Dariye, in April, isn’t it curious that the men are reported to be still in jail two months after?

They were two-term governors from 1999 to 2007.   Nyame was serving a 12-year jail term, and Dariye was serving a 10-year jail term.  “Both men were jailed for criminal misappropriation, diversion of public funds, and criminal breach of public trust and misappropriation of public funds,” the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had said in a statement.

They were not expected to be set loose without completing their prison terms. But the unexpected happened.  On April 14, the presidency announced that it had granted pardon and clemency to 159 convicts based on the approval of the Council of State following recommendations of the  Presidential Advisory Committee on the Prerogative of Mercy.

Nyame and Dariye were listed among those pardoned. Predictably, the action was criticised by many Nigerians, and described as unpardonable.

At the time, presidential spokesmen Garba Shehu and Femi Adesina struggled to defend the government’s action.  Shehu had argued that “the president would have come across as insensitive were he to have ignored compelling cases recommended for pardon because someone is a former governor.”  Adesina had explained that “The reasons adduced for those two former governors were age and severe ill health.” The two ex-governors are in their sixties.

If they indeed had severe health challenges that necessitated their pardon, why are they still caged two months after? Has their alleged poor health improved or worsened? Or was it a lie?

Interestingly, the spokesperson for the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCS), Abubakar Umar, was reported saying the NCS was not responsible for the situation. He explained: “Why they have not been released is because we are still waiting for correspondence from the Ministry of Justice. The moment we get that, we will effect their release. It is a presidential pardon, no doubt, but there must be a document to back their release. They can’t be released on pronouncement alone.”

This explanation also applies to the other 157 pardoned convicts.  It’s unclear if there were other convicts pardoned on alleged health grounds, apart from Nyame and Dariye.

Why has the Federal Government not completed the process that will get them released, having pardoned them?  It’s untidy.  The question is: What’s pardon without freedom?

UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, asked a rather mischievous, nay, condescending question: would President Muhammadu Buhari run in 2023?

Now, why would PMB run?  Don’t Boris Johnson and his brood of brilliant UK constitutional lawyers know that Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution is term-barred, to a maximum of two four-year terms?

But perhaps, with classical English stiff-lipped mischief, that dig was aimed at Rwanda President Paul Kegame.  He had amended his country’s constitution to make himself virtual life president.

Yet, he dazzles the starry-eyed with sundry tinsel of “good governance”, while the authentic gold of the Rwanda constitution, which ought to be the cornerstone, is corrupted beyond repair.  How long that would stand is in the belly of time.

But whatever PM Johnson’s motive, PMB’ riposte was a classic in laconic wit: “Another term for me?  No!”  Then the cluster bomb clincher: “The first person who tried it didn’t end very well”!

That was quite some bomb and you could emerging the Ebora Owu, like some rat being smoked out of some hole, running helter-skelter, in blind panic, through all the crevices of his Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL) — first in Africa! — lair.

It’s, of course, an open secret that the former president attempted a term extension, which spectacularly failed, and which the Ebora Owu had even more spectacularly denied like a child hide behind one finger, but which epochal muck even a million OOPLs can’t hide!

Still, watch out — and very soon — for Baba Iyabo to respond in kind, even if that would appear like a blunderbuss raking against the rapid “ra-ta-ta-ta-ta” of a Kalashnikov.  It’s the primacy of historical truths, stupid!

A good thing though, despite one’s tragedy and another’s laconic humour: Nigeria’s democracy appears deepening.  In 2005, en route to 2007, one president and his court hustlers — and jesters — were pressing for “third term”, with the media quite hysteric (and rightly so) in their opposition.

In 2022, en route to 2023, another president is categorically declaring “third term” a constitutional heresy, which really is what it is.  Besides, as the one who first tried it here “didn’t end very well” — in PMB-speak! — it also never ends well.  If in doubt, ask Guinea Conakry!  And maybe, Rwanda, when it starts unravelling — for it will!

That should be a thing of pride: Nigeria showing other African nations a path to democracy deepening.  That is something to celebrate.

Autocracy is essentially power hijack, and an autocrat typically takes power by coercion of others with force of arms or by an ambush of legal alchemy. It is sheer contradiction in terms to seek to be gifted with autocracy. But that is what avantgarde cleric, Pastor Chris Okotie, just canvassed.

The founder of Household of God Church proposes that the current democratic dispensation be aborted at the expiration of President Muhammadu Buhari’s term of office next year, and the undergirding constitution jettisoned. In place of those, he suggests that an ‘Interim Government of National Reconciliation and Reconstruction’ be installed – an arrangement whereby all governance structures including the national and state legislatures as well as executive cabinet offices would be scrapped. The catch is: the cleric who has thrice run for election to the presidency and failed would love to be coronated to lead the interim contraption that would “address aberrations and anomalies in the polity.”

Speaking in Lagos last Sunday during his 63rd birthday celebration, Okotie said the current Nigerian constitution is alien and isn’t working, and should therefore be discarded. He called for enactment of a ‘people’s constitution’ and restructuring of the Nigerian federation to enable the country overcome its travails. Under the arrangement he proposed, political offices would be scrapped as the presidential system, according to him, has brought more pains than gains. So also would all political party structures, because “some political parties were formed by rich men for selfish purposes so that they can impoverish the masses.” The cheek of it was, he called out presidential candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Labour Party (LP) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who emerged through primaries, to back his proposal, which in his view offered an avenue by which true democracy could emerge.

Okotie is an ace musical artiste-turned clergyman, but he is also a lawyer by training and it is difficult to see the legal premises he contemplates for his proposed arrangement. By what statutory route would he emerge as the head of an interim government, for instance, since it won’t be by election? Whose mandate would the interim government hold; and with the legislature at all levels scrapped, how would the law to form the legal spine of the arrangement be enacted? Without political offices in place, the cleric proposes to work with members of  professional associations, but in what capacities?

Like all similar suggestions previously, Okotie’s proposal of an interim deal is chaotic and would be a backflip into the Hobbesian jungle.

Predictably, the conflict between Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde and his deputy, Rauf Olaniyan, has escalated.   The governor has thrown the first punch by relocating his deputy to an office at the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources.

True, the deputy governor still has the position and title, and appears not to have been demoted.  But appearances can be deceiving. And they are in this case. His forced relocation amounts to demotion of sorts.

Olaniyan tried to downplay the implications of his ordered relocation, and even tried to make a joke of the situation.  He told reporters: “This is not a new office; it is still my office, the office of the Deputy Governor irrespective of the location or structure. Cold water is cold water irrespective of the fridge you are bringing it from either big, small or even a cooler.”

He also explained how his relocation happened, and why he obeyed the order to move to the strange office:  “People who know me well know that I was in the public service for 28 years and I did not receive a query for a single day. So, why should I get a letter informing me that the governor directed something and I will not comply? No, I have not been known for insubordination to past governors whom I worked with, both military and civilian. Why should this be an exemption? There is no reason why I should not comply.”

His headaches started when he announced his defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC).   He publicised his defection during an interaction with journalists on June 5. There had been rumours of a wall between him and Governor Makinde. His exit from the ruling party in the state confirmed the disharmony.

Oddly, he had argued that he remained the deputy governor of the state, adding that his defection did not affect his relationship with the governor. He was probably dreaming.

He is still deputy governor, but no longer operates from the normal office of the holder of the position. He should wake up to the seriousness of the situation. Can he honourably continue to think that his defection does not demand his resignation?

The PDP in Oyo State has asked him to resign without delay, arguing that “Oyo people did not vote for a PDP/APC ticket, they voted entirely for a PDP mandate.”

It’s unclear how the two leaders who won an election together became strange bedfellows.  Makinde’s first punch suggests that he is ready for a messy fight.  The governor should have acted with a sense of civility.

No, this is no exercise in Greek lexis but the emergent situation in the Yobe North senatorial district makes a rather compelling pun.

For starters, the dramatis personae, to return to theatrical lingo: Ahmad Lawan, sitting Senate president and one — yes one — Bashir Machina!  You got the gist now?  Not quite?  Okay.

In Greek drama whenever the playwright ran into a storm in resolving the plot, he would throw the denouement to the divine.  That divine intervention would resolve the plot anyhow the divine was damn well pleased — and the audience would roar its approval!  Indeed, who are you to go against the gods?

Well, back to 21st century Nigeria.  As the Yoruba would say, the Most Distinguished Senator Ahmad Lawan, PhD, had gone after the proverbial two rats, at the same time.  He gambled to be the APC presidential “consensus” candidate, which he lost.  After, he reverted to the other “rat” — holding on to what he had: the Yobe North senatorial seat.

Well, winning or losing is prosaic enough.  It’s routine and heavens don’t fall, either way, though winners make a meal and losers make a row.  In this case, however, which involved a primary winner named Machina, some folks in the Yobe APC jurisdiction tried to play the deus-ex-machina: gods in politics that can do and undo!

From media reports, the Yobe APC has junked Machina’s name and replaced it with Lawan’s.  The problem, though, is unlike the theatre folks of ancient Greece, Bashir Machina is not cheering.  On the contrary, he and his supporters are growling — and calling the bluff of the local tin gods!

A live Machina calling the bluff of the Yobe political deus-ex-machina?  What grim poetry!  What grim drama!  What titanic battle!  Unlike old Greece, it appears a very sexy time to challenge the gods!

How it all pans out is in the belly of time.  But it appears Senator Lawan, who by 2023 would have spent 24 years in the National Assembly (eight in the House of Representatives and 16 in the Senate), is quite a legislative giant and living institutional memory.  Yet, he’s poised for the political battle of his life!

Will he yet triumph?  Or should he be singing his swan song, on route to a David Machina crushing a Goliath Lawan, despite the do of the deus-ex-machina?  Time will tell!

There’s a saying couched differently in diverse tongues, but all to the same effect that prolonged expectation makes the mind / heart sickly. Five months into the strike by varsity teachers, who have been joined by non-teaching staff, the prospects of public universities returning to action remain bleak. Government and the workers’ unions say they’re negotiating, but there is no indication of imminent thaw in the ice. And the parties involved seem to be cool with that!

After a protracted strike that lasted nine months in 2020, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) returned to the trenches this year and kicked off a roll-over strike since 14th February. Three other varsity-based unions namely the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities and Associated Institutions (NASU) and the National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT) are also at daggers drawn with government over university funding and welfare matters.

Ask government about the chances of early resolution, and the answer you get is that the matter is complicated but work is underway to reach a truce. “I wish that the ASUU issue is as simple as many of us think. I don’t think it’s that simple. But I want to assure you that a lot is going on behind the scenes,” Information Minister Lai Mohammed said last week. When ASUU was asked how soon its members would return to work, the union, also last week, was at ease to place the onus on government. “I don’t know if we are calling off the strike soon. We are waiting for the final response from the government. (Government’s negotiating committee) is a committee of different government agencies. They need to go back to their principal and look at what we agreed on, and then get back to us,” ASUU President, Professor Emmanuel Osodeke, told the media.

The seeming ease on both sides about the pendency of the crisis is, however, not shared by students who are most debilitated by the industrial crisis, and neither by parents / guardians who watch helplessly at the frustrating limbo in which their wards are locked. Besides the chagrin that rankles over idle time that is irredeemably lost in the lives of the students, the damage to educational standards is to be dreadfully imagined. At optimum level of operation in the sector, the standard of education in Nigeria is shambolic; it is scary to contemplate the additional injury to standards the protracted strike in the sector portends. Nigerians are not interested in the complexity of negotiations, but that the matters at dispute be resolved urgently and varsities restored to life.