Cross River State Governor Ben Ayade has taken issues with the basic concept of liberal democracy, which vests the power of political choice in sheer voting numbers. He believes the brand of democracy handed down by the developed world is defective because it does not take account of African peculiarities of cultural, religious and ethnic balancing and is thus insular to natural justice. By his reckoning, democracy is best guided to accommodate these sensitivities.

“Democracy is so primitively blind that it reduces itself to numbers: the higher your population, the more you win. So there is nothing like balancing, there is no equity in democracy,” the governor said, adding: “There is no moral conscience. Democracy is blind to ethnicity, it is blind to religion, it is blind to fairness, it is repugnant to natural justice.” He insists on the factor of voting numbers being moderated by geopolitical balancing in his state, Cross River, hence he holds that his successor as state governor must come from the South senatorial district. The issue of zoning is a hot button in the state and Ayade reaffirmed his commitment to hand over only to someone from the southern district.

Before defecting from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in May 2021, the governor had canvassed zoning the office South in 2023, saying it would enable everyone to know his turn at every given time. Addressing some stakeholders of his new party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Calabar on Sunday, 9th January 2022, he debunked insinuations that his stance had changed. “I have not changed my mind. It is my unalloyed commitment to ensure that power returns to the southern senatorial district come 2023. It is the moral thing to do.” He noted that the South had taken turn to produce a governor in Donald Duke, the Central took its turn in Sen. Liyel Imoke while the North has its turn in him – Ayade. “So, it is common sense that we must go back to the South for equity. Every zone should know that their turn would come one day,” he said.

The governor’s passion for equity among the Cross River senatorial districts is quite noble, indeed laudable. But it must yet be subjected to the sovereign will of voters and their judgment regarding candidates’ qualification for the office. The remit of moderation is in how political parties throw up their candidates, out of which voters will be free to choose without being constrained by ulterior parameters. When Ayade pontificated on his successor coming non-negotiably from the South, he overreached – as in saying ‘I, the people.’ He should do all that he can to persuade and convince his party to present a candidate from the South, but when Cross River voters choose in 2023 it will be their sovereign decision and not his. That is democracy.

On December 21, 2021, Hardball asked: Will Uzodimma keep his promise? Imo State Governor Hope Uzodimma had created a buzz at an event in Owerri where he addressed state officials of his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), saying he would reveal the identities of those sponsoring insecurity in the state.

He had chosen a place and date. The names would be made public during the Imo stakeholders meeting in January 2022, he promised.

Uzodimma said: “18 suspects are now in custody in connection with different dimensions of crimes against the people of the state, and they have also given dependable evidence about those sponsoring them. The sponsors will be made known to Imo State stakeholders.

“We have clear evidence of those who are behind the insecurity based on information from the suspects.

“And I assure you that… when I will hold Imo stakeholders meeting I will reel out their names one after the other with the evidence of their roles.”

The public awaited the revelation.  But there was no revelation on January 4, 2022, when Uzodimma addressed Imo stakeholders at the Government House.   Instead, he appealed to the people to allow the security agencies to complete their “tremendous work.”

Read Also: Has Southeast found answer to Igbo question?

“The security agencies have done tremendous work on those behind sponsors of insecurity in the state and I think we should allow them to complete the good work they have started and charge them to court,” the governor was quoted as saying.

It was a new tune from Uzodimma. It was unexpected. It was a disappointment. Why did he make such a promise in the first place?

He now wants the public to wait for a trial that will unveil identities. Did he have second thoughts about his earlier promise? Why?

It is unclear when the security agencies will complete their work and charge the suspects to court. It is unclear whether this will lead to the disclosure of the identities of insecurity sponsors in the state.

If the investigation had progressed to the point where some suspects were going to be prosecuted, why did the governor fail to name names in the fight against kidnapping, banditry and terrorism, three crimes that continue to fuel insecurity across the country?

Uzodimma should have avoided making such a promise if he wasn’t sure of the stage of the investigation and the likelihood of prosecution.

The situation now makes him look like he played to the gallery, and makes him look unreliable and not a man of his word.

There’s an aphorism that exists among different cultures, which equates to saying it isn’t wisdom to continue to compound a situation you seek to redress. The way the saying goes among the Yoruba is roughly that a leper whose fingers are already endangered by the degenerative ailment does not make ring wearing a favourite fashion style. The general sense in this aphorism applies to the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and how it is carrying on with its separatist cause amid ongoing prosecution of its leader, Nnamdi Kanu, who has been in Department of State Security (DSS) detention since late June 2021.

It is a pervasive desire among people of the Southeast that Kanu, who is being prosecuted for treasonable offences, be allowed his freedom as part of efforts to defuse the separatist agitation he leads and deescalate tension in the zone. Nearly all leaders in the region, including those who are targets of attack by Kanu and his group, have weighed in to canvass some political solution by which Kanu could be released. IPOB itself has repeatedly demanded its leader be unconditionally released, which implicitly envisages a political deal since his ongoing trial already subjects him to a deal through the courts that is never unconditional. In November 2021, Igbo leaders led by 92-year-old First Republic parliamentarian and Aviation minister, Chief Mbazulike Amaechi, visited President Muhammadu Buhari to make a passionate plea for Kanu’s freedom, and the President reportedly promised at the time to give their request some consideration. He, however, walked back the hope raised when, last week, he ruled out the possibility of Kanu’s prosecution been called off. Speaking in a Channels Television interview, he said the last thing he would dare do was interfere with judicial processes, and in any event Kanu had the opportunity to state his case in court and possibly prove his innocence. Not that he foreclose a political solution, saying: “There is a possibility of political solution; if people behave themselves, all well and good, but you can’t go to a foreign country and keep on sending incorrect economic and security problem against your country and thinking that you will never have to account for what you have been doing.”

‘People behaving themselves’ seemed to be a conciliation window the President left open for a political deal. But that was one thing IPOB was not warming up to in its exertions. Last week, the group issued a series of directives that included introducing a Biafra anthem to be recited in Southeast schools. It had previously claimed to have outlawed hoisting of Nigerian national flag in all establishments in the zone. “We want every school to start reading the Biafra anthem and soon every school is going to receive copies of the Biafra national anthem, because Biafra is coming and nothing will stop it,” it said in a statement, adding that any school found to be disobeying the order would regret its action.

IPOB’s exertions complicate Kanu’s case and people prospecting for his freedom should get the group into the conciliation orbit.

Perhaps predictably, the proscribed separatist group, Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), has started the New Year combatively.

Ahead of the next court appearance of its detained leader, Nnamdi Kanu, scheduled for January 18, 19 and 20, the group demanded that the Federal Government should release him unconditionally.

“We want to declare that the Nigerian government and its security agencies will have no peace of mind unless they release our leader,” IPOB said in a statement issued by its media and publicity secretary, Emma Powerful, on January 5.

However, the group also indicated that there would be trouble for people in the Southeast geopolitical zone, which it prefers to call “Biafra land.” The zone is made up of five states: Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo states.

“Fulani cows are banned in Biafra land starting from April 2022,” the statement said.  “Those in the animal husbandry business must switch over to our native cow without delay.”

Also, the group said: “Concerning stopping the Nigerian national anthem in our schools, we want every school to start reading the Biafra national anthem. Soon every school is going to receive a copy of the Biafra national anthem.”

In October 2021, IPOB had attracted attention with a statement that showed its plan to regulate cattle business and cow meat consumption in the Southeast.

Its head of Directorate of State (DOS), Mazi Chika Edoziem, had announced a ban on the rearing and consumption of “Fulani cows” in the Southeast states, saying the ban would take full effect six months after the announcement.

According to him, “from that date no more Fulani cows shall be allowed into Biafra land for any reason, not for burials, title taking, weddings, etc.”  He added that only cows bred in the territory would from that time on “be consumed and used for all ceremonies in Biafra land.”

Now the group has shown that it meant what it said by saying the cow ban will take effect from April, which is about six months after the initial announcement.

It is unclear how the group intends to enforce the cow ban and the anthem ban in the five states. It already has a bad record when it comes to enforcing its bad ideas

Possibly IPOB’s ban would be enforced by enforcers like the ones that disrupted the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) in many parts of the Southeast in September 2021, based on the group’s unlawful sit-at-home order. The disruption was condemnable.

Ironically, IPOB continues to reject its categorisation as a terrorist organisation but also continues to speak and act terroristically.

Karl Marx famously described religion as an opium of the people, to explain its delusional power and capacity to de-rationalise adherents. Not everyone agrees with Marx because there is really some rational basis to dogma, namely personal satisfaction that keeps the dogmatised at peace with the dogma whether or not others share same. Still, there’s a sense in which some adherents – not exactly of religion but of professed leaders of religion – are so overly deluded that you can’t help questioning their rationality or wonder if they were bewitched.

When Jim Jones would enact the Guyana Tragedy in 1978, he invited his followers to take a lethal drink in mass suicide, and some 900 members of the Peoples Temple cult willingly obliged him. Closer home we have condemned ‘Revered King,’ who was in the habit of setting fire on his followers as punishment for their errors until the death of one as a result pitched him against the law, and he has been on death row for years on end.

A male Ghanaian ‘pastor’ who bathed female members of his flock naked during the 2021/2022 crossover service is the latest case in point. In a video clip that has caused a huge stir online, the pastor is seen inviting ladies in the congregation to come for a ‘holy bath,’ whereupon they stepped forward in turn, stripped naked and squatted in a basin where the pastor bathed them in full glare of a cheering congregation and with the service on video livestream. They were thereafter loosely wrapped up in a towel and moved over to an assistant of the pastor who rubbed on them purported anointing oil. Local news outlets in Ghana reported that the pastor undertook the bizarre ritual to cleanse his members so they will be “holy and pure.” In the video clip, the pastor acknowledged the absurdity of his action, but he also argued that he got the directive from God and had no choice than implement even though he knew it might generate controversy.

There are many questions begging to be asked about the weird rite and subscribers to it. For instance, what manner of spiritual cleansing applied to only female congregants, such that they had to be bathed naked by the male pastor? What happened to decency, against which the male pastor took liberty with private regions of female members, and publicly so, in the name of ‘holy bath’? The biggest question, perhaps, is what the flock members were thinking / seeking for by willingly partaking of the ‘holy bath’ – money, fame, or spiritual illusion of holiness through a most unholy ritual? When people subscribe to dogmas without some minimal thinking-through, they readily fall prey to ravaging wolves.

It’s a suspense story that has continued for about six months.  It’s the story of the 121 students kidnapped at Bethel Baptist High School, Kaduna State, on July 5, 2021. Bandits had invaded the school and carried out the mass kidnapping.

According to the Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Kaduna State chapter, Rev. John Hayab, two more kidnapees have been released by their captors.  He said one of them was released on December 28, last year, and the other was released on January 1, this year.

“With the release of these two students, a total of 120 students have regained their freedom so far and only one student is still with the bandits,” he added.

It was indeed disappointing that the authorities failed to rescue the kidnapees as days became weeks, and weeks became months.  The bandits freed the kidnapped students in batches.  On July 25, 2021, 28 of them were freed after 20 days in captivity. On August 19, 2021, 15 of them were released; and on August 27, 2021, 32 of them were released.

The batch-by-batch approach continued.  On September 26, 2021, 10 abductees were set free. According to a report, the parents of the 10 students “went into fresh negotiation with the bandits before they released the students. This was after they had collected a total sum of N100m ransom.”

More abductees were freed on October 8, 2021.  At the time, the President, Nigerian Baptist Convention, Dr Israel Akanji, said there were four students remaining in captivity.

In September 2021, the police in Abuja showed to the public three suspects, Adamu Bello, Isiaku Lawal and Muazu Abubakar, who allegedly participated in the mass abduction.  One of them, Abubakar, was quoted as saying 25 people carried out the kidnapping.   “We kidnapped them because we needed money,” he was reported saying.

The arrest of these three suspects was expected to lead to the rescue of the students still in captivity, the arrest of the others involved in the crime, and the prosecution of all those who participated in the abduction.

At the time, the police said they were “closing in on the others.” Nothing has been heard from the police about progress made regarding the case since then. This leaves much to be desired.

It remains to be seen when the student remaining in captivity will be set free by the bandits, and whether the police will be able to arrest and prosecute the kidnappers.

This ongoing suspense story has further exposed police underperformance.  It’s unacceptable.

It was the 19th Century Irish writer, Oscar Wilde, who once said “a dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world.” From indications, that may be the lot of Cross River State Governor Ben Ayade regarding some visions he had nursed for his state, and his people’s preference that pitched into the contrary. Ayade had wanted to privatise 34 Cross River State-owned companies, but has had to toss the plan in view of Cross Riverians’ aversion to the idea.

The governor, a professor of environmental microbiology and university teacher before joining politics, announced recently that even though privatising the state-owned firms was the right thing to do, he was giving up the idea in deference to the preference of his people. The state government had a few weeks ago put the policy proposal to a referendum, which returned a majority of ‘No’ verdict by the people. The governor explained that his desire to privatise the companies was borne out of positive intentions because government has no business running businesses, but he said he bowed to public sentiment “not because it is right but because it is politically correct.” He further noted: “There is a Privatisation Act of 2007 that empowers the state to carry out such action but it was necessary to seek the opinion of the people. This is so that it would not be said that I have sold the companies to myself or to my friends.”

Cross River used to be famed for yearly carnivals with an array of costumes worn by competing bands, besides other attractions of scenery that tantalise tourists. But on Ayade’s watch, the state has lost its festal vibes with the Christmas carnival shelved for two years in a row – ostensibly because of the Covid-19 pandemic but implicitly because the current administration lacks enthusiasm. Ayade justified the new trend, saying: “I took over a state that is basically a civil service state, happy with dancing on the streets during Christmas in the name of carnivals, which does not really yield much to the state. Experience has shown that the money we spend on hosting the carnival is far more than whatever comes into the state after it. Unfortunately, it is difficult for many people to see the big dreams of the governor as they prefer the filling of potholes, planting grasses, hosting carnivals and paying salaries.” He added that if Cross River would grow, it must go beyond being a civil service state with salary mentality.

For a governor perceived as inhabiting an idealistic realm in disconnect from pedestrian reality, the deference to public sentiment this time equated to a needle in the bubble. This bubble has been consistently reflected in the titling of his administration’s yearly budget: from ‘Deep Vision’ (2016), ‘Infinite Transposition’ (2017) and ‘Kinetic Crystallization’ (2018) to ‘Qabalistic Densification’ (2019), ‘Olimpotic Meritemasis’ (2020), ‘Blush and Bliss’ (2021), and for 2022 ‘Budget of Conjugated Agglutination.’ With the botched privatisation bid, Ayade comes on the same wavelength with the people.

Yet again, the Department of State Security Services (DSS) is in the news for negative reasons. It’s familiar information about the agency’s notorious crude methods.

On the receiving end this time was the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), a non- governmental organisation focused mainly on the National Assembly and its legislative role and activities.

CISLAC protested about the invasion of its office in Abuja by DSS operatives in a December 29 letter to the agency’s Director General, Yusuf Bichi, on “intimidation and profiling of civil society groups during Yuletide.”

According to the organisation’s executive director, Auwal Musa, DSS operatives, on December 27, “stormed” the office of CISLAC, the National Chapter of Transparency International, TI Nigeria, in Abuja.

“Laying siege,” he said, “the operatives demanded to see the Chief Security Officer of the building…our initial thought was that these were individuals masquerading as DSS agents…

“This thought was further reinforced by the fact that there was no prior notice, invitation or pending request from your office regarding any such visit.”

Any doubts about the identity of the invaders disappeared following a phone call from the organisation to a number provided by them. “An individual further confirmed that he was an agent of your agency providing details of his position,” the letter said.

CISLAC wants the agency’s boss to “investigate those who carried out this visit and for what purpose(s).” In addition, the organisation wants him to “call these operatives to order and charge them to be civil in their approach and not militarize our nascent democracy.”

The DSS has not responded to the issues raised in the letter. Are the allegations true? What explanations does the security agency have for the alleged incident and the conduct of its operatives?

The use of particular expressions in the CISLAC letter is of particular interest. The organisation described the said invasion as a “Gestapo approach.” It also called the action “unprofessional.” It further referred to the approach as “bad policing.”

It is unclear why the DSS regularly uses methods that are condemnable. The agency continues to act without a sense of the rule of law. It may not understand that lawlessness can never help its case.

Who knows what will happen next, to whom, or where? Which individual or organisation will experience the agency’s lawlessness next?

Moving from one crudity to another in a chain of unjustifiable assaults on democratic principles, the DSS acts like an oppressive bully in perpetual search of whom to oppress.