Category: Opinion

By Sunday Saanu

A recent advertisement placed in some national dailies by the Management of the University of Ibadan (UI), signed by the Registrar, Mrs Olubunmi Omobolanle Faluyi entitled “Appointment of Vice Chancellor” clearly indicated that the five-year tenure of Prof. Abel Idowu Olayinka is gradually coming to an end! How time flies! The tenure which began like yesterday ends November 30 this year.

Well, like his predecessors, Prof. Olayinka has put in his best efforts to sustain the enviable tradition of academic excellence peculiar to Ibadan. He came in on December 1, 2015 as the 12th VC with all his hairs black, he is leaving the leadership seat with grey hairs, having worked tirelessly to take UI to the next level. His achievements are no mean feats. The making of Prof. Olayinka’s successor is what has informed the vacancy advertisement.

However, with the benefits of hindsight, this writer can assert that the requirements expected to be possessed by the next VC are way beyond what the advertisement specified. Given the weight of the burden on the table, I sympathize with whoever emerges as the next VC in advance. This is not intended to scare anybody, but the point must be made that the job in question is as difficult as grasping shadow. It is a job with almost an endless scope. The position obviously carries a heavy price tag. It is a job that requires a king to work like a slave. The good news, however, is that true gold fears no furnace.

Perhaps it is against this background that an American literary critic, John Updike notes that a leader in this kind of a context is “one who, out of madness or goodness, volunteers to take upon himself or herself the woes of a people” The maxim that uneasy lies the head that wears the crown rings ever so true in this situation. With much confidence, one can say that the road to Vice Chancellorship of a university, particularly of Ibadan status is not only intellectually tough and somewhat rough, but also rigorous. It is a journey that is travelled by the brilliant, bold, and destined. This is a University with close to 500 professors in different disciplines. UI is a leading Centre of quality learning with untrammeled generations and contestation of ideas, free flow of thoughts, a cradle and crucible for the vigorous commerce of human mind and its restless traffic of imagination and intelligence.

The truth is that whoever is interested in leading this kind of a community of scholars must not only be confident of himself to provide intellectual leadership, but must also be a man or woman who will bring the full weight of experience and exposure to the tasks at hand. The person must be a specialist in integrative thinking. He or She must have the capacity to hold two diametrically opposing ideas in his or her head and be able to reconcile them. Interestingly, I have so far worked with three VCs, including Profs Olufemi Bamiro, Isaac Folorunso Adewole and the incumbent, Prof. Idowu Olayinka. I saw some of their challenges. I saw the weight of the burden they bore for the system to survive. I saw the way they worked day and night for five years without going on leave. They were barraged round the clock by all sorts of demands from staff and students.

To underscore these challenges, I asked Prof. Adewole in the twilight of his tenure to tell me his saddest day in office as VC, he retorted “my saddest day was the day I first sat in this office as the VC. It dawned on me that the challenges were daunting. I asked myself if it was worth it after all. It was burdensome but I thank God I survived” His successor, Prof. Olayinka in his own reaction told me that the unpredictability of human nature has been his major disappointment.

Indeed, the journey on this seat is an admixture of dismay and delight, if not an undulating wave of sweet, sorrow and sadness occasioned by the vicissitude of life and the complexity of the system. Whoever is interested in this job therefore must be a person of huge intellectual savvy, uncompromising sense of justice, uncommon courage and steely grit in defence of rule of law and justice. On this job, whoever emerges to succeed Prof. Olayinka must be a philosopher, a seer, and a thinker of finest hue. He should be ready to dream and dare in order to succeed. On the other hand, s/he should be ready to face mob malediction and merchants of mischief. S/he may have to suffer unwarranted malice and face undeserved attack. It is part of the job.

Yet, he must have the wit to humour the schizophrenic by calling them the bridegroom so as to have a way out of trouble. He should be able to regale his audience with banters, thus, creating a gregarious atmosphere for intellectual adventure. Conversely, he must be courageous to face danger, for it is demeaning for an elder to tremblingly shout for help, just as it is disgraceful for a hunter to flee before a game. The person must be ready to work to a breaking point so as to achieve breakthroughs.

The tension associated with this position is enormous. Since 2015 when Nigeria tasted what is called recession, workers have been under pressure. The salary is poor. The system is underfunded. The condition of service is increasingly inclement and there is a gross disenchantment among the workers. This poor situation has created a serious suspicion between the leaders and the led. Interestingly, leaders are like a thermostat, they determine what happens to everyone in the sphere of their influence. They are a compass which provides direction to others. Consequently, any direction that is perceived to be antithetical to the interest of the workers is vehemently resisted.

Therefore, the next leader coming after Prof. Olayinka should be a person of creativity and prayer. He must know about the Bible, the Quran, the Torah, and the Veda- all of which contain divine knowledge. The candidate that will be picked by the Nde Joshua Mutka Waklek led governing council must be a man or woman of valour, whose courage is that of a cognoscenti and illuminati ready to die for the system. Beyond academic profundity, the 13th VC should be able to sing, drum, dance, crack jokes and laugh heartily. He should be able to drink wine, but not to the state of stupor! This is because the job is not only about serious scholarly enterprise, but also involves social engagements.

The next VC should be able to manage his mood effectively, mind his manner in public places and master his mouth. He must be at his best behaviour all the time because the moment he or she is announced, the global attention shifts to him or her till 2025 when the tenure expires. People will be looking up to him or her for inspiration and limitation. He must be legacy obsessed, ready to drudge all day long. He must not be a vindictive person, planning to use the position to punish his perceived fiends and reward his friends. He must not be enamoured with the rule of arbitrariness. He must do away with parochial encumbrances.

Certainly, this coming 13th VC is not a man that will carry the carcass of an elephant on his head and still be using his feet to hunt for crickets. Through the instrumentality of a scientific platform for proper interrogation and provision of enlightenment, he is expected to shape the tone and texture of the development paradigm. Leadership isn’t a joke. The point has been made ad nauseam that the causative factor in Nigeria’s underdevelopment is failure of leadership elite. Leadership simply means influence. Two major components make a leader:character and competence. A leader has an uncanny ability to see far deeper, larger and longer than the ordinary man. This 13th VC as a leader must have capacity to learn, tackle difficulty and question the status quo. He should be ready to lose a battle in order to win a war.

He should be tenacious without being overbearing, accommodating but not permissive, firm but fair, displaying amazing discretion and diplomacy. A man or woman who will hear more and talk less. The Council has the responsibility of choosing a person of humility and humanism. Above all, all the candidates must realize that the interest of the institution is far bigger than theirs. They should therefore pursue their ambitions with a sense of emotional moderation.

Whoever is picked must be supported in the interest of UI. Five years is like five months as time does not go like a vista. Whoever is appointed must be magnanimous in victory. He or she must immediately extend a hand of fellowship to his co-contestants, seeking their assistance and cooperation.

May UI continue to be great.

• Saanu (08059436919) is Media Assistant to the Vice Chancellor, University of Ibadan.

By Igboeli Arinze

I have never met Professor Wole Soyinka, I was this close to meeting him in my student days in the University of Benin, I grinned much with envy that fateful day when the likes of Alfred Ajagbe showed me their pictures with Kongi, I think he had come for a function and made a brief stop over close to the university, I cursed my luck that day.

Oh yes, Soyinka is one of the few Nigerians I would love to meet, perhaps over lunch or dinner while I sit and try to bait his sharp mind with some questions. Ibrahim Badamosi Babaginda is in that category too, the much I have read about him is yet to birth germane answers as to why he took certain actions in government. Then there’s the Otta farmer, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo who I once met at a forum and threw a question at him, to which he never readily answered, perhaps would Baba spare this unflinching critic of his who yet admires some things about him an hour or two to rummage through his mind? There are a number of notable Nigerians, younger than the trio mentioned above that I would also love to meet but then I am still a young man, perhaps before I turn 70, the Supreme Architect sparing me, I am sure I would have met a number of them.

My first knowledge of Soyinka as a child was I think in the news, his visage was quite striking then. Sporting an afro and beard, he struck me as some sort of fellow who took pleasure in looking out of place when compared with those around him but then there was something eerie about him, as a child I could only peer at the Nobel laureate from our television set but then I had much begun a life long fixation on one who has cut the mustard of becoming one of the few voices of conscience in our nation.

Such fixation is yet to end and still I do not see it ending even when he bids us farewell in his trans-earthly voyage.

How can I? Soyinka remains one of the many reasons the Nigerian nation is largely celebrated in other climes, this is despite the series of negativities our country unfortunately continues to emit despite the huge abundance of human resources and wealth, bequeathed to us as a people.

Florence Stratton in a journal article titled “ Wole Soyinka: A Writer’s Social Vision” published by the African American Review described Soyinka as one who has foremostly rejected literary ideology and yet has caused disquietude with what she dubs as his social vision or his political orientation. In my little interpretation, I am able to deduce that even though one cannot equate Soyinka with the Gramsci’s, Marti’s and Marxists not because his writings are not as deft as the aforementioned but because the latter attached ideology to their writings, still Soyinka evokes the same if not a greater paranoia on the authorities as seen in the Nigerian elite cum leadership that has ruled this country since its post colonial era.

In espousing his social vision, Soyinka came into having several brushes with the authorities which resulted in his been arrested and at a point in time forced into exile where he continued to taunt the Abacha government and all who supported it. Obasanjo didn’t himself find it easy with the griot that at a point in his leadership as a democratically elected president and even after, Soyinka has continued to throw barbs at one of the luckiest of Nigerians, describing Obasanjo at one point in time as a “degenerate in need of help”.

In retrospect, Soyinka has somewhat perambulated between the roles of a literary icon, academician, social critic, activist and Pan Africanist. From his formation of the Pyrates Confraternity to his seizing of the Western Nigerian Broadcasting Service Studio in an attempt to force the electoral authorities to cancel the heavily rigged 1965 elections, an election where loquacious leader of the then Nigerian National Democratic Party NNDP, Samuel Ladoke Akintola was said to have boasted to the electorate that he would win the election even if it was one vote that he got. Also, his eventual incarceration following his secret meeting with Emeka Ojukwu who at that point in time was been pushed to secede from Nigeria and later years of exile speak volumes of one not at home with the supposedly false kindred spirits that have dogged the African intellectual from helping to correct societal’s ills as well as help uplift the African continent.

Through it all, Soyinka’s greatest legacy will not be his intellectual or academic achievements, nay, it is in his larger than life’s ability to speak truth to power! It is in his ability to appeal to us that beyond the clutches of ethnicity, tribalism and moribund convention, humanity’s finest hour is yet to come.

Happy birthday Kongi.

By Emmanuel Oladesu

He came. He saw. He planned to conquer. But, today, like his predecessors, Ibrahim Magu, acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), may leave office unceremoniously.

The verdict, as it now appears, is that he could not conquer. The hunter has become the hunted by the grace of some principals and principalities. The forces that frustrated his confirmation may have finally got rid of him, five years after he embarked on the tempestuous journey.

Their claim is that a hollow has been detected in his score card. To them, he is an unwanted czar with a blemish; a huge moral burden that should not be associated with a financial crime crusade. May be, he played into their hands as Yoruba will always say: “you cannot master the art of walking without shaking your head (A kii mo on rin, ki ori ma ji).

The tragedy of imminent mid-career crisis is not beyond expectation. It has been a subject of media speculation. It is at a personal cost to the man in the eye of the storm. It may inadvertently translate into a greater cost to the nation, if not a disservice to the entire anti-graft war, one of the pillars of the Buhari administration. In whose interest is the removal of Magu, if he is to be shoved aside? If he is unfit for the EFCC job, can he also be fit for the job of a policeman thereafter?

The allegations against him are weighty. The burden is on him to defend himself. The burden may also be on those behind the allegations to provide incontrovertible evidence.

But, the chance of survival for him is predictably slim. The concern of the public is not the charge, but whether there is also an underlying agenda on the part of his ‘tormentors’ that is beyond the ken and comprehension of the ordinary people. If there is an agenda, then, it may be political. If it is political, then, it may be futuristic.

If the allegations levelled against him are true or if they are proved beyond reasonable doubt, then, it is a national disaster;  a betrayal of public trust on the part of a person who should be above board.

Magu sought to make a difference. That has been the general impression of the masses who are mostly victims of financial crimes and economic adversity. The perception is that he fought with bravery, despite the obstacles on his path. He confronted the plague from a vulnerable position and without the total institutional backing, as reflected in his non-confirmation.

To observers, Magu had the force of character, willingness and patriotism. All these were not enough in the absence of total freedom to combat sleaze in high quarters. Not only was corruption fighting back, the acting chair also had a formidable hindrance. He was bound to take orders from a minister of government. How independent therefore, is the anti-corruption commission?

Since former President Olusegun Obasanjo set up the EFCC to fight money laundering, stealing of public funds and general economic sabotage, the agency has gone through transformations and trials. An important impediment is the lack of a separate anti-financial crime tribunal or court to try corrupt public officials. The normal court proceedings are cumbersome, long and prolonged by parties in disputes. Magu, like his predecessors, were still erroneously blamed for the judicial slowness.

From the inception, the agency also had been contending with the hostility of privileged, powerful and influential few, who are personification of graft and hence, a

target of EFCC. These public enemies may be mocking Magu in his hour of trial and tribulation.

The first chairman of the EFCC, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, lawyer and policeman, set out to genuinely pursue the cardinal goals of the commission. He was brave, bold and daring. He was even courageous to move against his boss, Police Inspector-General Tafa Balogun, who escaped a jail term through plea bargaining.

But, EFCC under Ribadu was said to have derailed, owing to political pressures. The agency became a veritable tool for manipulation and witch hunt of perceived political foes. The pioneer chairman left without actualising his dreams for the agency. Later, Ribadu was persecuted. When tribulation arose, he was spirited across the borders. He returned as a politician; a presidential aspirant who could not fly.

His successor, Mrs Farida Waziri, a police officer and lawyer, tried her best. The seat was hot for the Amazon. While the suspects came to the court, they came with drums and supporters who hailed them to high heavens. She was alarmed that society was encouraging corruption.

Waziri’s memoir is full of how impediments were thrown on her way and how the powerful and the mighty undermined the anti-graft war. She was in the saddle for three years.

Her successor, Lamorde, came with a different style. He was not a noise maker, but a silent worker. But, his days were numbered on the day he assumed the reins.

While Ribadu, Waziri and Lamorde were confirmed by the Senate, Magu was not lucky. He had stepped on toes. The acting chairman was rejected by the Senate in 2015. Ahead of the parliamentary screening, security agents had forwarded conflicting reports about Magu. One of the reports was an indictment. Based on the unfavourable report, Senate President Bukola Saraki called for a replacement. President Muhammadu Buhari refused. Nevertheless, Magu continued in office.

Recently, the acting chairman reeled out his achievements. These include the recovery of billions of stolen money and convictions of perpetrators of financial crimes. But, trials were unduly prolonged by the antics of suspects and their counsel who hid under legal technicalities and other loopholes.

Suddenly, the beat stopped. Magu became the guest of a panel chaired by Justce Ayo Salami set up to investigate his involvement in alleged infractions. Also, he was grilled by the Directorate of Security Service (DSS).

It is not clear whether he is now on suspension. If he is on suspension as alleged, the suspension marked the end of an era in the EFCC.

Was Magu a hypocrite pretending to be a saint? The nation awaits a new czar. If the verdict is that the acting chairman should go, who is the saint that will replace Magu?

The EFCC needs the collective prayers of Nigerians as it continues to fight economic crimes in post-Magu era.

The EFCC will continue to bare his fangs. Corrupt elements should have no hiding place. But, eyes will also be on the commission as it discharges its duties. May the agency under the new helmsman in post-Magu period remain focused and never regress into a tool of political manipulation, victimization and repression.

May the EFCC not become a tool for harassment and liquidation of the aspirations of certain ambitious politicians as Nigeria peeps into 2023, reminiscent of the past.

May the agency muster the strength to justify the trust and confidence reposed in it by Nigerians at all times.

Caleb Adebayo

On February 27, the first case of COVID-19 was confirmed in Nigeria. In no small way, the country was shaken, as many had prior to that time expressed confidence that the virus could not come into Nigeria. All of a sudden, Nigerians woke up to the reality that it was indeed here, and the memories of the Ebola virus the country recently battled with as well as the Lassa Fever to which it had lost at least 100 lives in the year alone, rebounded.

However, when the Italian man who was the index case was contained in the infectious diseases facility, it seemed for a while that all was well, until March 7, when the first Nigerian tested positive. For those who had thought it was a disease the black man was immune to, this shattered their confidence. Yet again, a few days later, the Nigerian tested negative. Social media was agog with renewed confidence and “I-told-you-so’s” – COVID could not stay in the Nigerian blood. This was short-lived though, as on March 17, another Nigerian tested positive, this time with four more following the next day. Indeed, as they say, the rest is history, since today we have counted more than 11, 000 confirmed cases, some of which have been discharged and some of which have died.

We typically mark the 100-day milestone in governance with a recount of the achievements. For COVID-19, June 5 marked that milestone. COVID-19 came at a time when Nigerians were just easing into the new year and reaping the remnants of the Valentine celebration. About a month after the index case, we had a nationwide lockdown imposed, airports closed, flights cancelled- both international and local and borders shut and suddenly. We saw things happen that we did not think possible- for one, that people would not be able to travel outside the country, regardless of wealth, political class or social status. We saw churches and entertainment centres, schools, NYSC camps and private sector workplaces shut down. Nothing like it had ever been experienced, but thankfully, we had seen other nations do it, so we were not the first in a line of countries that were shutting down.

With COVID-19, we saw quite a number of negatives. Apart from the spread of the virus and the deaths that accompanied, we saw crashing oil prices as a result of low global demand and the Saudi Arabia-Russia oil war. We saw barges stranded on open seas with no buyers and crude oil barrels with no one to off-take. We also saw a devaluation of the naira against the dollar and harsher economic conditions, especially for those in the informal sector. We saw crime rates rise and a period of terror emerge from organized criminals and the infamous One Million Boys. We saw the rise of domestic violence and law enforcement brutality. We also saw the spread of false information about treatments for and origins of the virus and we cannot forget too, the indiscriminate hike in prices of protective equipment and hand sanitisers.

Yet, we must also count the positives that the virus brought with it. For one, the health sector received the N500 billion intervention fund set up by the federal government, an intervention that prior to this time might never have been possible. Following it up, the Central Bank Of Nigeria rolled out a $100 billion credit support scheme for the health sector and a N50 million targeted credit facility for SMEs. There was also the life insurance scheme launched by the government for frontline health workers. A few weeks ago, we also witnessed the N2-trillion stimulus for two major Nigerian airlines. There were very generous goodwill donations from individuals and organisations as well as support from the World Bank and IMF while Chinese billionaire, Jack Ma donated testing kits to Nigeria. Various non-profit organisations reached out to rural communities and organised associations provided palliatives for their members. We essentially saw a resurgence of charitable gestures across the country. There was innovation too, as Nigerians began to make re-usable cloth masks, which soon became the go-to option for many.

With the formal sector, there was a splurge of webinars, with various individuals and organisations taking up the mandate of sharing knowledge. Entertainers too were not left out as they launched online shows, Instagram Live engagements and did the popular “giveaways” for fans. Workplaces quickly began to adapt and use online tools to work from home, public education adopted radio and television learning while private schools went online. Soon the courts began to hold virtual hearings for important matters, since justice could not be put on hold. New laws, regulations and orders were also churned out at breakneck speed. VAT and other tax reliefs were put in place, moratoriums on loans were extended and interest rates were reduced and we began to for a moment look away from oil and to gas and renewables as energy sources.

In all, the first 100 days of Covid-19 were eventful- we experimented as a nation with things we had never done before; we fought, we grew, we endured just as the virus has kept us at home- not just in our houses, but within our country, where we have been forced to fix the ills we have ignored for so long and it has certainly strengthened the synergy between the public and private sector.

For COVID-19’s first 100 days in office, it has done quite a lot. It is my hope that the positive effects are sustained, and that for the negative ones, we make a swift rebound.

• Adebayo, a lawyer writes from Lagos.

By Nnedinso Ogaziechi

Politics like most human actions requires some individual and developmental variables. Because politics is about power and its usage by humans, anyone, man or woman who is ready to sit at the table at whatever level must come with an understanding that the dynamics for a productive political participation requires a lot individual and group development.

An individual has first to realise that politics is about the human being and as such there are basic requirements for an effective participation. Self-development is key. There must be a readiness to understand fully the essence and relevance of leadership and the people.

Because democracy is a government of the people for the people and by the people, it is a team work and as such, any individual wanting to be actively involved must be ready to breast all the qualifying tapes of participation. In party politics, there are requirements in personal development but it has to somehow rhyme with group interests when party politics is on the table. Politics requires a lot of hard work and bridge-building across groups, voting blocs and demographics.

The Roundtable conversation in interrogating solutions to the gender disparity in Nigerian politics sought the views of Funke Egbemode, a veteran journalist, former President, Nigerian Guild of Editors and currently the Commissioner for Information in Osun State. She had worked for about eight months as a media adviser to the very first female Speaker of the Nigerian House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Patricia Ette whose  turbulent tenure again signposted the intrigues and politicking that is common in global politics but which gets a deeper gender debate in the Nigerian environment.

Egbemode as a woman, a journalist and a two-time close participant in the political field and with a global journalistic experience about politics and gender parity qualified to talk on the ways Nigerian women can actively take their place politically. To her, “there is more to politics and politicking than competence, you cant as a woman assume that because you have degrees or have worked for international organisations  or reached the peak of your career or succeeded as a woman in a ‘man’s world that the political red carpet must be rolled out for you”. Playing an effectual part in politics is like being a CEO of four companies or running multiple organisations. Ability to multitask is key.

Being a member of a political party for instance requires a lot of interactive engagements, you must have to be ready to win the acceptance of the various interest groups that make the parties or communities. If we even take a trip to America or Europe, we can see that a Nancy Pelosi and some other European Prime Ministers or even an Angela Merkel as German Chancellor have had to endure a lot to make it to the top of the political careers.

Nigerian women need to be ready to work for interminable hours, attend impromptu or nocturnal meetings,  have thick skin to absorb shocks of varied weights, we need to have money to fund politics, you need, in our peculiar political space be able to appeal  to the people you intend to serve. Politics needs money and women must begin to galvanise to fund their ambitions to avoid falling victim of the perennial god-fatherism in Nigerian politics to avoid dancing to the tunes they might and usually play. Women need the financial independence to perform well if they win.

Nigerian women again must be willing to start where the men started, you notice that most of the men have a political history from ward to the highest levels. Women must be ready to start from the starting blocks, start from your community, your local governments, to constituencies and rise to the highest.  According to Funke, “You can’t roll into the arena and want to be president just because you graduated from Harvard or Oxford or because you were successful professionally”.

Nigerian women have the education, the competence and ability to be president, but political processes must be followed diligently and steadily. We must work together as a team, build bridges, make contacts and be united in the pursuit of political inclusiveness. Women must be ready to diligently and as a team, like the men, climb the political stairs from the Councillor level to the Presidency. Women must come together as a team as they say in our local languages, a broom stick cannot sweep as clean as a bunch. Women should not trivialize political inclusiveness or come to the arena with a flawed sense of entitlement or arrogance or victimhood. We must work together because we have the power and the number.

Moji Danisa, the famous Nigerian Queen of entertainment journalism who has been an active observer of the Nigerian political scene believes that lack of financial empowerment affects the women and the men who have the financial power sponsor fellow men even when women in the parties prove to be more competent and ready. That cling of their patriarchal instincts is a huge factor. She questioned how the political leaders for often instance put the nomination forms up for millions of naira. Most women even when they have managed to be active politically do not generally amass wealth through political processes and horse-trading like the men.

Women are not generally known to be as profligate as most men in politics. Infact most women are disliked in the public service for being very prudent and not arm-twisting contractors for kickbacks so most times they do not have extra monies to throw around during campaigns. She equally believes that unlike the men, most women do not believe in supporting others. In her view, some women are often more of a stumbling block to the political success of fellow women either due to the sociological conditioning that leadership lies with the male figures or just out of pure jealousy and ignorance.

So even women who have the financial capacity are not mentoring the less financially able but competent women. Women should learn from the men who support each other to succeed. Preaching sisterhood without the belief in the ability of fellow women and support of such women will continue to tilt the political scale against women. Some women equally assume that leadership should stay with men because men are more generous to women. Erroneous as this sounds, the analogy might be coming from a subconscious socialisation which is equally manifesting in the use of the social media to attack fellow women in most cases based on wrong premises and victimization of victims.

Sisterhood must have a follow up Moji insists. Women must focus on what really matters, men are together and protect each other. Women must stop fighting each other over inanities like male attention, money, power, women must learn to carry each other along. The Pull-her-down rhetoric especially in a powerful medium like the social media by women is digging in and doing a lot of damage and injustice to the women and invariably affects their seats at the table of politics. Women have the number and must collaborate to push each other up the political space because invariably bad policies and execution by the men affect more women and the children who these days have almost equal stakes in the homes given the global financial challenges.

Women must be more self-loving instead of playing to the gallery and looking for male validation.  Moji believes also that the few women that have been in politics seem to have done well given that in most case politics being a game of numbers see the odds against their attempt to make gender sensitive laws. If more women are in state and federal parliaments for instance, laws would be made for the benefit of all and not what obtains now where the men kill bills that are to the benefit of the girl child and women. Rwanda today has a global highest of women in parliament at 61%. Liberian women came together after the war to make sure Madam Johnson Sirleaf became the first female president in Africa through  deliberate sisterhood acts. Nigerian women must work together and seek to uplift each other and gain from their voting demographics that is highest in the country.

Hon. Chris Azubogu an engineer who represents Nnewi North/South/Ekwusigo Fedreal Constituency in Anambra state believes that his state  has really never been about male/female political argument as his state alone has the highest number of female Senators in the National Assembly. Senators Uche Ekwunife and Stella Oduah and the fact that two other women, Chinwe Nwebiri and Rita Maduagwu both served as Speakers of the state assembly. The first female governor in the country, Virginia Etiaba is from Anambra too he asserts.

He feels that Nigerian women have been well represented in all arms of government given the history of their headship of the different judiciary arms.  Justice Aloma Mukhtar as the former chief justice and several Court of Appeal Presidents that have been women at the national level shows that women are doing well. Hon. Azubogu feels that the fact that politics is about elective and appointive positions of leadership shows that Nigerian women are not doing badly given the likes of the present Finance/Budget and Planning Minister, Alhaja Zainab, Amina Mohammed, first Speaker of the House of Reps, RT. Hon. Patricia Ette, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala  etc.

While he believes there is still room for improvement he is of the view that the Nigerian political environment must begin to prioritize merit and competence for progress and there must be more advocacy for the need to jettison certain discriminatory ideas against the empowerment of women educationally because when a woman is empowered it cascades down the society for better progress and development. To him, if we seek the best surgeon for a needed surgery, we must empower everyone to be the best through education for a better society. To him, as a representative of his people, he is on a campaign to enlighten them towards better gender inclusivity, away from the old retrogressive social conditioning. In a twenty first century world, ideas and education rule and those are not gender sensitive. Merit must rule the Nigerian political space if we must progress as a nation he said.

• Our dialogue continues…

By Femi Adesina

It came like a bolt out of the blue early this week, Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, issued an advertisement, which went in a completely different direction compared to what he had always said of President Muhammadu Buhari.

The Wike we knew was either usually crying wolf where there was none, alleging that the Federal Government wanted to kill him, or claiming that he was not answerable to the central government at Abuja in any way, or even pontificating that the President and his political party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), had failed the country in diverse ways.

If not for the maturity, and the avuncular attitude of President Buhari to all state governors, it would have been easy for one to conclude that he and Wike were enemies. Forsworn ones.

There was also the then Ekiti State Governor, Ayo Fayose, who had formed a tag team with Wike in the anti-Buhari tendency. The President could have dealt with them in many ways, either overtly or covertly, but he let them be. He was a father ready to tolerate his many children, irrespective of their differing idiosyncrasies, propensities and predilections.

A couple of weeks back, the Federal Executive Council (FEC), of which President Buhari is the Chairman, had approved the refund of N148 billion to five states in the country for repair of Federal roads. They included Rivers, Cross River, Bayelsa, Ondo and Osun.

Of the five states, only Ondo and Osun belong to the APC. The other three are of the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP). Rivers, under Wike, was particularly combative, truculent, if not at times insulting. But the President did not let that influence his decision. He did what was right, fair and just, irrespective of party affiliations, or personal inclinations.

Rivers State got the highest figure of N78.9 billion, and I remember some people asking me why the President should give such money to a governor who would call him names the next day. But that was where Wike surprised everybody. Last Monday, he issued newspaper advertisements with the title, ‘Thank You Our Dear President.’

Dear President. False? True. Was it the Printer’s Devil? Not so. The Governor boldly appended his signature to the document.

He thanked the President for approving the refund, noting: “Mr President has by this remarkable and heart-warming gesture shown not only your love for the Government and people of Rivers State, but also, demonstrated expressly that you are, indeed, a President for every State of the Federation and all Nigerians.”

False? True. Printer’s Devil? Not so. The Governor went on:
“I assure you that the Rivers State Government is willing and ever ready to cooperate and partner with the Federal Government to advance the developmental aspirations of Rivers State in particular, and our nation in general.”

On seeing the above, I am sure millions of people must have cleaned their eyes, wondering if they were reading correctly. Having satisfied themselves that there were no cataracts, they went ahead:

“I wish to, therefore, appeal to Mr President to kindly oblige us a State visit when invited, to see what we have accomplished for the State and our people with the money.”

Wike, inviting President Buhari on a State visit. False? True. Printer’s Devil? Not so. He meant every word of it, and therefore appended his signature.

Many times, I had responded as spokesman to the President, to wolf cries by the Rivers State Governor. At a point, I began to ignore such cries, just as I did to Fayose before him. Mr President simply took all the wild allegations in his strides, and continued working for the country, all parts of the country.

In January 2018, there had been vicious killings in some parts of the country. States affected were; Benue, Taraba, Plateau, Yobe, Rivers and Zamfara. The President decided to embark on sympathy and solidarity visits to the states. All the Governors were receptive, except Wike, who said the visit was a smokescreen, meant to revive the dying APC in Rivers State.

“Apart from Jesus Christ, we don’t know of anyone who has risen a dead thing. APC is a dead party in Rivers State. No matter how you fast and pray, it will never wake up, “ he had said.

Again, he declared at another time, talking of the President: “We are the only state that the Federal Government refused to pay us our money used to execute Federal projects, because I don’t go to see him in the night, and I won’t go. He is not my friend, he is not doing well…”

When about 20 people were killed on New Year Day 2018, in Omoku area of the state, and the President wanted to visit, Wike demurred. He said there were killings everyday all over the country, and it meant the President must visit every State on a daily basis.

The circle has turned fully round, and Governor Wike is inviting the President to visit. He says he’s “a President for every State of the Federation and all Nigerians.” Wonderful!

Some people say it is N78.9 billion that is working, and the Governor is clearly inebriated by that windfall. But I don’t think so. Rivers is by no means a poor state. The amount is handsome, no doubt, but the state is oil rich, and can hold her own when it comes to finances. I rather choose to believe that Governor Wike had been playing a curious kind of politics all along, and now, fairness and justice have touched him in a positive way.

“He is not my friend, he is not doing well, ‘ he had said. Now, he is calling the man “our dear President “ asking him to be “assured of our profound esteem.” Wonders, indeed, shall never end.

There are millions upon millions of us round the country, who love President Buhari, and believe in him. We are called Buharists, and we have no apologies. They abuse us, deride and malign us, at times, they even threaten us. But we remain who and what we are: Buharists. Come rain or shine.

Why do we love the President, and unconditionally too. Is he a flawless, perfect man? Does he run a perfect, flawless government? Not exactly so, and I’ve not seen any in this world. But we stand by him, through thick and thin. Like Dr Okolo Oteri Eme, one of the Buhari Amazons posted on Facebook earlier this week, “We do not support him because we like him but because he gives us solid, verifiable reasons to love him on a daily basis.”

I see a man with solid integrity, honesty, sense of accountability, in a forest of crooked, perverse people, and you ask me not to follow him? I will follow him from Benin to Beijing, from Cape to Cairo, anywhere, everywhere.

I see a man bringing enduring change to agriculture, to infrastructure; roads, rail, bridges, airports, laying a $2.8 billion gas pipeline, money he could have craftily diverted for himself and for generations unborn, and you ask me not to believe in him? #We Believe! Ask Maryam Shetty, another Buhari Amazon.

I am glad Governor Wike has now seen what we had seen long ago, some of us as far back as 1983. And he has realized that it was time to stop the kind of politics he had played all the while.

My friend, Lorenz Mba, summed it all up in a message he sent to me on Wednesday. “For those who constantly maligned PMB, and called him all sorts of unprintable names, N78.9 billion is your answer. You simply won’t give those you hate N78.9 billion. I see that this gesture has truly humbled Nyesom Wike. Politics is all about propaganda. I salute PMB for his show of maturity in all these grandstanding by Southeast and South-south politicians. Go to Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway, Onitsha-Enugu, 2nd Niger Bridge today. Talk was cheap. PMB showed up. Enough of rhetoric, Biko.”

We said it that President Buhari hates no part of the country. He has come to serve, and not to be served. He is fair and equitable to all. But they said our mouths were smelling, and we should shut up. Governor Wike has now vindicated us. We are glad. We Believe!

• Adesina is Special Adviser to President Buhari on Media and Publicity