Category: Opinion

By Felix Osasuwa

In a vain attempt to obscure the indelible fingerprints of his wanton mishandling and maladroit leadership of the APC, former National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, has spoken prolifically regarding the situation in Edo State. Listening to him now, one could be forgiven for thinking this John Oyegun is a vastly different man to the one who tried to shirk the party constitution whenever possible and who made a mockery of the party’s quest for internal democracy and fair primaries.

When in power, he abused that power. Now out of power, the devious man feigns a saintly innocence. When he speaks, the man speaks as if a saint. But when he in position to turn words into deeds, he demurs, in favour of running heel to jowl with sinners. His words occupy a different universe than his actions. At the centre of that universe is an orb called mendacity that rotates around a larger one known as hypocrisy.

Chief Oyegun has no political standing independent of that which was not given him. He did not earn the APC National Chairmanship; it was bestowed on him by those who formed the party. He was a late comer whose contributions to the party’s genesis were nil and nothing. Instead of seeing the position as a chance to make an enduring contribution to the growth of our nation’s democracy, the man took a venal detour. He set about undermining the institutions of the party so that he and his masters might exploit the party for their own gain and self-aggrandizement. Fortunately, Oyegun’s power play did not work. Just as other misfits left the party to return to the PDP, Oyegun’s days were also sorely numbered. This was for the good of the party and of democracy. The party has been better off without him as he has been worse off after revealing the depths of his mercenary and undemocratic character.

Remember he was the father of the meretricious doctrine of the right of first refusal. Attempting to hold his seat at any costs, he offered the outlandish proposal that as an incumbent he should have the right to decide whether to continue in his position or not. This showed his utter contempt for democracy. First refusal pertains to commercial transactions. It has no relevance to elective office. Oyegun was advocating a doctrine that would kill democracy. He was postulating that incumbency gives an office holder a personal right in that office.

This is an insane thought that cannot coexist in the same space as the democratic principle that all elective offices are owned by the people. In the case of the nation, the offices are owned by the electorate. In the case of the APC, party officials occupy their positions on behalf of the party’s members who are the true owners of its institutions. Office holders are fiduciary agents not owners. That Oyegun so blatantly misinterpreted this fundamental aspect of democratic governance is telling. Oyegun’s claim of a personal property right in the chairmanship was so antithetical to democracy that merely advocating such a regressive and unabashed notion revealed his unfitness for the high responsibility he held.

Fortunately, both the office and its sober responsibilities were taken from his  custody.

It is no surprise, given his antics as National Chairman, that Oyegun has tried to exacerbate intra-party tensions in Edo state. But it is a strange moment when the thief seeks vengeance because the rightful owners thwarted his escape with their goods. The man claimed to be a party elder but it is wisdom more than age that tenders such status. Without wisdom, a man of advanced years is simply a man of advanced years. He has done nothing to broker peace. Oyegun has done precisely the opposite by carefully using words that he hoped would stoke intramural war.

He has pitched himself as the blind admirer of Governor Obaseki not because he believes in the Governor. Oyegun did this because he simply has no other place to go. He desperately walked through the only door opened to him.  He attaches himself to  Obaseki not because of a shared vision of democratic governance but as a marriage of convenience. As is his right, Governor Obaseki sought support from wherever available in his quest for the party nomination. As is his wrong, Oyegun joined the effort not to support Obaseki but to vainly try to regain a modicum of political relevance. Toward this objective, Oyegun is willing to do and say anything. Falsifying the words of the President is not beyond him.

Oyegun’s only loyalty is to feeding of his personal ambitions; it comes as no surprise that he would make incorrect claims about the President. Oyegun had the temerity to write and publish a claim that the President wanted Obaseki re-nominated without recourse to a primary. Oyegun knew this was false because he knew that the president had insisted on subjecting himself to a primary to obtain the party’s re-nomination in 2019. When his deceit was revealed, the unregenerate Oyegun did not apologize. He merely shifted his focus toward besmirching his successor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole.

Oyegun would do well to remember that Oshiomhole replaced him but did not remove him. If Oyegun wants to find the person most responsibility for his ouster, he should rush to the nearest mirror. He ruined himself and almost the party. He weakened the party’s internal organs and sidestepped vital checks and balances. He made an incoherent mash of the primary process. He willingly hired himself out to PDP fifth column that temporarily infiltrated the party. After his naked attempt to defy the party’s constitution by elongating his tenure, Oyegun was escorted to the exit by the popular will of the party. Most party members and officials had tired of Oyegun’s lethargic leadership. His eventual defeat in the 2018 National Caucus was more than a relief; it was a rescue.

Let’s return for a moment to Oyegun’s attempt at awarding himself an extra year in office. This episode clearly demonstrated Oyegun’s disdain for the party’s constitution. The APC Constitution contains express provisions regarding the election of party officials and their tenures. The constitution contains not a single word that would suggest the unilateral extension of any term in office, including that of the National Chairman. In fact, the idea of tenure elongation is abhorrent to the spirit and every word of the document. For Oyegun to espouse such a doctrine means he never read the constitution or that he read it both upside down and backwards.

After his cardinal indiscretions, it stretches credulity to think he would deem himself fit to proffer comment on the present situation. Before lecturing others on the flaws of their ways, Oyegun’s time would be better spent exorcising the demons that guide his heart and peck at his  mind.

The crises within the party resulting from Oyegun’s machinations should not easily be forgotten. His determination to remain the National Chairman was so great that he was willing to sacrifice the party’s entire governance structure at the altar of his ambition. His mismanagement of the party’s ward and state congresses led to violence, rancour and litigation across the country. Knowing that confusion and a weakened party structure would abet his schemes, he was only too happy to let the party organs crumble so that he might arrogate power that did not properly reside with him. Even the re-election of the President and consolidation of the party’s 2015 electoral gains were of minor importance to positioning himself as perpetual regent and potentate of the APC.

Present chairman Oshiomhole has his flaws like any other man. He has made mistakes at the helm. However, he distinguishes himself from Oyegun in his attitude to leadership. Oshiomhole stands ever ready to work for others. He campaigned tirelessly the president’s re-election and that of our governors. If Oyegun had remained at the helm, the results of the 2019 elections may have been much less of a resounding victory for the party.

While National Chairman, Chief Oyegun led the party toward his private needs. He thus misled the party and has clearly learned nothing new since then. Rather than foment trouble and fake headlines, he should try to make amends for his misdeeds. The first step would be to find the nearest dictionary and look up the word “democracy,” then memorize its definition. By this simple act, he would have made himself wiser and he would have done more for the party and nation than any anything he did during his term as party chairman.

• Osasuwa is a political analyst based in Benin-City, Edo State.

By Tokunbo Ogunsami

Coronavirus pandemic, otherwise known as COVID-19, caught the whole world unawares. When the disease broke out in Wuhan, China in December last year, nobody knew it would spread quickly to other parts of the world and become a pandemic.

The first case of the pandemic in Nigeria was confirmed by the Federal Ministry of Health on February 27 in Lagos State. The case is an Italian, who works in Nigeria and returned from Milan, Italy on February 25, 2020.

Since then, Lagos, being the commercial capital of Nigeria, has been adversely affected by the pandemic.

There is no gainsaying that Lagos State abinitio had positioned itself in preparedness for such unforeseen circumstances, with the state being named by the Rockefeller Foundation as one of the 100 resilient cities in the world as far back as 2016.

Lagos was not only named as a resilience city, but the Lagos State Government also went ahead to set up a Resilience office. This led to the launch of the Lagos Resilience Strategy documents on February 4, 2020.

Read Also: COVID-19, Lagos and Nigeria

Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu had said: “With the delivery of the resilience strategy, the task of implementation of the Lagos Resilience Strategy will enable us to build a greater Lagos. A Lagos that is safe, sustainable and inclusive; a Lagos which anticipates and plans for different shocks and stress; a Lagos which survives, adapts and grows in spite of any challenge it may experience.”

It is, therefore, expected that Lagos State should be touting this strategy with a view to addressing challenges now and in future.

Following the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, schools have been shut down. Churches, mosques and other worship centres are no longer operating. Industries, companies, ministries and other organisations are not operating in full capacity. In fact, the economy of Lagos State has almost been shut down.

Establishments have been adversely affected during the full and partial lockdown. Consequently, people have been thrown into the unemployment market, thus increasing the number of jobless Lagosians. Those who are fortunate to retain their jobs have their salaries slashed. The poverty rate is now very high.

Governor Sanwo-Olu has, however, indicated his administration’s intention to reopen the economy. The Lagos State Government, through the Lagos State Safety Commission (LSSC), has come out with guidelines to be obeyed by ministries, companies, industries, banks and other establishments before the economy will be reopened.

However, there is a saying that prevention is better than cure. How can the Lagos State Government in future prevent a pandemic or even an epidemic from spreading to the state?

The step the government should take in post-COVID-19 period is that in future if a pandemic or an epidemic breaks out anywhere in the world, all borders and boundaries (land, sea and air), should be shut immediately. People coming from other states of the federation and other countries should be screened health-wise, they should be isolated, before being allowed to enter Lagos State, to prevent them from infecting Lagosians with the pandemic or epidemic.

The government should educate ministries, companies, banks and other establishments on the need to save for the rainy day. They should be taught how to invest money and diversify their operations so that in case there is a recession in the economy, they will have enough money to continue their operations fully and not resort to the sacking of workers.

Suffice to state that resilience is the ability or capacity of a substance or an object to recover quickly from difficulties or to easily adjust to change. The resilience strategy should be looked at as a pointer to developing a better understanding of the challenges faced and yet to be faced in future, while also reviewing abilities to address these challenges.

By Tunde Dairo

Those who think they can curry favour or earn ranks by fighting dirty in the “perceived” feud between Symbol and Ileri Oluwa, be conscious of history and apply decorum. Should this end in Mutual Assured Destruction, history will not absolve you!

It is either you are on a mission and sponsorship of destabilising the party by some agent provocateur who benefitted from such in the past or you are absolutely ignorant of politics of sabotage or suffering from selective amnesia or covered with rage devoid of reasoning.

Should the said feud be resolved, which part of the divide will you be counted? Will you not be a scapegoat? As young men and women, it is better to err on the side of caution than to be caught in the web of “had I known?”.

Aregbesola is made already, Oyetola is fulfilled and you are there playing ‘Abijawara’ on free, donated or borrowed data oozing with ignorance. Be conscious of your public conduct and be aware of potency of the social media space. ‘Iyan Ogun Odun’ can still be hot and painful to touch.

The ruling class understands the enormity of the task ahead and you won’t be one million miles near the table when issues will be resolved. Has Ileri Oluwa discussed his second term ambition with you or has Oranmiyan registered his disdain for Ileri Oluwa with you?

Whichever way the pendulum swings for Ileri Oluwa, he will forever be addressed as His Excellency and on life benefit that can sustain his modest living. Will you share same with him? Wisdom is highly required at this juncture.

It’s high time the two camps team leave the pre-primary election stage and move to the stage of providing leadership without segregation or vile. Yes, there were camps and aspirants prior to the general election of 2018. As soon as Oyetola emerged APC candidate, camps and divisions that struggled for power from all ends were fused into one and deployed to prosecute the gubernatorial election.

Everyone played one role or the other; they deserve commendation and attention not condemnation and segregation as party people who toiled to see the emergence of the present government. Or was it the might with which the primary election was won that gave the overall gubernatorial election victory?

Divisive utterances such as “He does not belong to Ileri Oluwa”, “he is Oranmiyan” or Returnee from ADP should have ended by now as we approach the middle of the term. The focus now should be how to embrace all ranks and end sectional or selfish interests.

After all, the SDP who later joined via emergency alliance are properly integrated into governance while the ADP returning were properly reckoned with. What about those who remained steadfast within the Osun APC but were not into the Ileri Oluwa structures, the task ahead is enormous and collectivity will play a major role.

The hawks are hovering to pick live preys while the vultures are patiently lying in wait to devour the carcass. Your role as a destroyer or keeper will not be ignored in the eventual outcome.

There are options laid before everyone and there is liberty to choose. With one house there was a rerun, what will be the result for a divided party? 2022 is just some months away, be guided.

• Dairo wrote from Osogbo, Osun State

By Igboeli Arinze

I was quite taken aback when a friend of mine messaged me on the decision of President Buhari to immortalise the June 12 struggle as well as its hero, Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola. At first, I thought it was a ruse, the concoction of some fake news by some mischievous fellow, who had then hoodwinked some others by virtue of the forwarded as received trends we see these days. However, on second thought, I wondered what there was to gain from the propagation of such news? I mean understanding the fact that the propagators of such fake news seek to score cheap political points, what then was there to gain in the propagation of the immortalization of June 12 and Abiola. I quickly made a flurry of calls and each call confirmed what my friend had initially told me.

I was old enough to witness the June 12 elections, I followed the debates between Abiola and Tofa as an eleven year old inquisitive chap; listened to the discussions between my father and my uncles on who was the best candidate for the nation. I also recall my father coming back home on that fateful day to announce to us that he had voted for Abiola. I cannot forget the tensions that followed afterwards and the annulment proper itself that faithful night as we all sat glued to our television and watched General Babaginda who in one unfair stroke threw this country into monumental confusion.

I recall witnessing a number of riots then as the whole country burst into flames. I recall my father refusing to take flight to his village, a flight that was real and was rechristened as “Oso Abiola” owing to the threats and fears of another civil war.

The struggle did not end there, nor did the confusion, and even after Babaginda stepped aside, putting an Interim National Government headed by the debile Ernest Shonekan, Nigerians all over clamoured for the restoration of Abiola’s mandate. Eventually, Sani Abacha using the confusion as a pretext assumed power and looked much like the man who would right all wrongs, so much that MKO Abiola was the first to pay him a solidarity visit in the aftermath of his palace coup. Sadly, this was not to be as Abacha clamped on Abiola and those who clamoured for the restoration of Abiola’s mandate.

Year after year, the nation witnessed the ding dong affair between the military class and Nigeria’s crop of activists; this resulted into jailing a number of these activists, who were dubbed as” prisoners of war” whilst also harassing their families and their businesses, assassinations were rife, while a good number of these activists escaped to safety.

To add salt to the nation’s wounded conscience, Abacha was planning to foist himself on the nation with his own transition programme, after all, the ” Youths ” were supposedly or is it earnestly asking for Abacha. Also, five political parties which were said to have been lepered by Abacha’s leprosy had endorsed Abacha as their sole presidential candidate.

The rest is history, Abacha died on June 8 and Abiola was to join him in mysterious circumstances. The military junta that succeeded Abacha seemed too eager to put the ghost of June 12 as a topic for history discussants, he also dealt the sham of a transition programme under Abacha the death blow. Nigeria was to take a fresh path unto democracy!

Thus whilst Abiola and his June 12 disciples had paid the price for standing doggedly by that mandate, a new set of Pharaohs that pretended not to know Abiola became beneficiaries and for sixteen years scorned, denied, danced ajorojarajoro and pussyfooted on giving June 12 is rightful place. It was that bad that even Bill Clinton, then President of the United States in his historic visit to Nigeria was allegedly lobbied to drop Abiola’s name from his list if heroes who struggled for democracy.

Thankfully, a number of other Nigerians disagreed or should I say refused to get bitten by the ” Forget The June 12 Bug” these democrats majorly of the Alliance For Democracy, AD, then insisted on honouring the unsung heroes of the nation’s democracy, this way the June 12 flame was kept alive.

Thankfully, President Buhari has corrected such injustice with the stroke of his pen and he deserves our commendation. Let me state that Buhari’s action is indeed altruistic as a number of Nigerians know that Abiola was the chief financier of the coup that toppled his administration. In a country where politics with bitterness much thrives, Buhari could have looked at June 12 with a ” He deserved it posture” , he could have chosen to look the other way, waving his hands tepidly in protest that since this matter seemed beyond his predecessors, then who was he to act differently?

By Victor Ikem

The word ‘palliative’ has become a commonly used word in recent times just as the efforts to slow the spread of novel coronavirus remain on the top of the global and national agenda. This is amidst measures such as social distancing, lockdown, and the likes, all geared towards improving public health safety. While palliatives have been used repeatedly to suggest an effort by governments and well-meaning individuals to support the less privileged, the vulnerable and poor, the term has also acquired some unfortunate connotations.

An aspect of the COVID-19 pandemic that has not been sufficiently emphasized is the implication on the rate of poverty. It is evident that with the growing rate at which the economy has declined over the past three months, on account of this pandemic, there will be a heavy impact on citizens in terms of a drop-in household income resulting from job losses which will negatively affect the overall wellbeing of families and individuals, as much as it does to the national wellbeing.

Combating poverty has remained top on the national agenda for many years with several past governments in Nigeria either genuinely pursuing policies to reduce poverty or paying lip service to the aggravated cases of the rising annual poverty rate. Reckoned as the poorest country in the world, according to data released by the Brookings Institution in 2018, Nigeria currently has over 90 million citizens living below the poverty line. This translates to individuals living below two dollars per day.

There are visible and most often shameful pieces of evidence of poverty across Nigeria regardless of the geographical or ethnic divide. Although Nigeria is rich in human and material resources, the country’s wealth has not been translated into meaningful gains for the vast population of ordinary people. Instead, the vast national wealth has been hijacked by the elite, a ruling class that feeds on corruption, denial, ignorance, and myopia.

The poverty situation in Nigeria did not need the COVID-19 to reveal its true extent since without this health crisis the nation is already suffering heavy consequences as a result of growing poverty rates. The COVID-19 pandemic has merely made it worse. Global poverty rates are projected to rise from this pandemic. For instance, researchers from the Columbia University project about 15.4% of Americans will fall into poverty for the year 2020 regardless of whether the economy recovers quickly or not, suggesting that the level of poverty will exceed the peak of the Great Recession and add nearly 10 million to the poverty pool by end of 2020. It is expected that the numbers may well exceed that in the case of Nigeria.

The Nigeria Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in its report on Poverty and Inequality in Nigeria 2019 stated that 40.1 percent of Nigeria’s population is classified as poor and this translates to 4 out of 10 individuals and overall, about 82.9million people. This is expected to rise post-COVID-19.  Why Nigeria’s poverty crisis has yet to blow open and translate to the mass revolution is because Nigerians, on the average, are hardworking, determined and self-sacrificing with layers of family and friends support systems (palliatives) to fall back on during periods of intense crises such as the COVID-19. Take this away, and Nigeria would have seen more instability and political conflicts would have been greater than the pockets of crimes such as armed robbery, kidnapping, and banditry recorded daily.

This is so because the government seems not determined to solve the problems that have continued to force people into poverty. The various poverty alleviation programs by governments in Nigeria, past and present, have often turned out to be insufficient in addressing the real causes nor indeed, prevent an eventual crisis of poverty. This current government led by Mr. Mohammed Buhari, a retired army general and former military head of state, has introduced several schemes such as the conditional cash transfer, the school feeding program and other social welfare schemes which follow the same model as the National Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP) which was launched in 2001. The previous NAPEP program was aimed at poverty reduction, in particular, reduction of absolute poverty in the country but instead added to the poverty problems because of poor implementation emanating from corruption backed by fraudulent data of beneficiary and no measurement of impact.

Citizen’s data are crucial to fighting poverty. But without a comprehensive national population census data, without a reliable and verifiable household and income data, it becomes a matter of serious concern of how Nigeria intends to embark on a serious journey to reducing poverty. It must, of course, not be left to just deliver foods and cash to ‘ghosts’. The country has to adopt the right technology for citizen’s data generation and analysis as well as utilizing other data sources such as Bank Verification Number (BVN) and mobile phone data backed by comprehensive national Population data and internal migration trends which are all fundamental tools to poverty reduction.

All these will dovetail into a comprehensive national poverty reduction policy that is different from the previous attempts that ended in disappointments. Nigeria’s poverty crisis is adding to global instability and has further been heightened by this pandemic. To revise the ugly trends, global efforts may also be required to force the Nigerian government to rethink its poverty reduction policies, seeing that some Nigerian citizens are forced daily out of their country to seek greener pastures in other developed economies.

• Victor Ikem, a public policy analyst, write from Lagos

By Abiodun Komolafe

Yesterday, June 12, 2020, marked the 27th anniversary of ‘June 12’ in Nigeria. On this day in 1993 – and, for the first time in her post-colonial history – Nigerians went to the polls to elect a president. Unfortunately, the election, won by the late Moshood Abiola, was annulled by Ibrahim Babangida, then, Nigeria’s military president.

Well, while the last of that crime against humanity is yet to be heard, 27 years after, there are those who might be tempted to insist that, since June 12 has acquired a life of its own, it lives on. The hard truth, however, is that the ‘June 12’ mantra has become stale, dead and buried!Presently, no matter how Nigerians look at it, June 12 neither possesses the driving force capable of driving a socio-political movement, nor does it provide needed answers, clarity and adequacy of meaning to the knotty issues troubling the country. It is no longer a goal, set to be actualized; and its symbolic relevance is fast waning!

Abiola, the owner of the mandate, has paid the supreme sacrifice. Babangida, the evil genius, who brought the trouble upon the country, has limited influence in Nigeria’s current political space while Sani Abacha, who arrogantly inherited the mess and made it even messier, has reportedly become a victim of an uncanny apple fruit and vanished forever. Abdulsalami Abubakar, who feigned the ‘good man’, is also no longer relevant in the national equation. Coincidentally, too, majority of those who formed the party on which platform Abiola contested and won the election, are also gone while those who are fortunate to be alive have long forgotten the essence of the struggle, switched political camps, feeding fat on its carcass, without caring a hoot about whose ox is gored. In a word, June 12 is now confined to national history, only to be stoked by political actors, some activists and others, at will; but, more often than not, for selfish reasons. Which therefore explains why, very soon, children born around June 12, 1993 may not likely understand why people will be shouting ‘June 12’. Of course, that’s a sad note! Had it been premised on an ideological prism, its sustaining life strength would have been so solid that even generations yet unborn would understand the very principle and the ideological bent upon which the struggle was based, and what it aimed to achieve.

Yes! June 12 has come and gone! But, at a time like this, Nigerians need a deep-seated appraisal of the past, a projection into the probable future, and an audacity to adopt a plausible and pragmatic development plan for the country. For instance, Nigeria, as at June 12, 1993, was in palpable multiple crisis. Sadly enough, twenty-seven years after the annulment of the fairest, freest and the most credible election in the land, Nigeria is still battling with the crisis of identity as a nation! Twenty seven years after, everything has changed but nothing has changed! Nothing has explained to the outside world that Nigeria has evolved as an organic nation, talkless of being portrayed as a serious people of vision, who want development.

There was a time in this country when the destiny of premium motor spirit, pms, was surrendered to the whims and caprices of the marketers. Not too long after, it had to change when the marketers allegedly bastardized that awesome privilege; and the society suffered for it. If we may ask: what has changed that government has now decided to revisit its vomit, a policy that has glaringly failed Nigerians? Part of the explanations offered by the government, then, was that the marketers were ‘shylocks’ who were only interested in their pockets. Some of them were even accused of hoarding the fuel so that the price would jump up. Why is the government now going back to the same ‘shylocks’ to determine the price of Nigeria’s most important commodity? Or, do we now have a new set of marketers who dropped from heaven? Aren’t they the marketers who, more than two weeks after the government slashed the ex-depot price of pms to N108/l, are still dispensing at the old rate of N123/l in Ijebu-Jesa and its environs? Where lies the place of the agencies statutorily responsible for ensuring compliance in all of this?

In December 1983, Brigadier-General Sani Abacha (as he then was) had described Nigeria’s hospitals as “mere consulting clinics.” Well, this is 2020! How do we still describe our medical centres? Aren’t they now worse than mere consulting clinics? Again, where do we go from here? If Nigeria had upgraded her hospitals in line with international standards, why should her medical personnel act Usain Bolt on mere rumours of COVID-19?

Let us come to the issue of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC). Has it achieved the objectives for which it was originally established? How far has it brought Nigerians together beyond what can be described as ‘scratching the surface’? Has it in anyway helped to ameliorate the pains and sufferings of poor parents from resuming the struggle to feed and clothe young graduates immediately after service year? How can we leave posterity to make its own judgment of NYSC when our graduates are dangerously ill-equipped for the future; when they remain the problems and liabilities of their parents?

Anyway, the memorial of June 12 has again offered an opportunity to interrogate salient issues of development and decide how we can move forward as well as identify the tools we need to take along with us on the journey to nationhood. If we truly want Nigeria to grow, efforts should be directed at discouraging a return to the atavistic era when primordial instincts held sway. Instead, it should be our collective duty to prevent mean minds, antidevelopment experts and ‘turn-by-turn’ irredentists from laying claim to the soul of Nigeria. How not to start repeating past errors should be of paramount interest to Nigerians.

Lastly, Nigerians owe President Muhammadu Buhari a debt of gratitude for eventually recognizing  June 12 as Nigeria’s ‘Democracy Day’. But, beyond the watershed which the experience has provided, Nigerians must also realize that June 12 is the harbinger of the democracy we currently enjoy. The symbolism, therefore, is that we should uphold democracy. The democratic system, no matter how fragile and imperfect it may be, must not be allowed to peter out!

May the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, grant us peace in Nigeria!

By Dare Adejumo

It is never a simple task to dissect a global spiritual personality such as Prophet T.B Joshua. You need to be in a higher etereal realm or be graciously given the grace to do so.

TB Joshua as fondly called is a prophet of God with uncommon Christian lifestyles.  Such a  being cannot but generate some controversies. By his divine gift and endowment, he operates on a higher pedestal with an incomprehensible yawning spiritual gap between him and his generation.

He is the known but unfathomable divine envoy on earth. He has remained an enigma, a gigantic puzzle, a bundle of God’s inexorable and inexplicable mysteries to which mankind must simply and humbly accept their limitations.

The most persecuted, the  most vilified, the most grossly misrepresented and disdainfully maligned  in his country of birth, TB Joshua has continued to pray for his adversaries like his Master, Jesus Christ: ‘Father, forgive them for they know not what they do’.

In today’s firmament when Christianity has become a mockery in many quarters, TB Joshua remains a shining light in darkness and has clearly shown to the world that  “by their fruits you shall know them”!

One incontrovertible great  fact is that The fate of TBJoshua cannot be different from his divine predecessors especially His Master Jesus Christ who out of  spiritual blindness, rigidity, ignorance, crude envy, fear and unbridled jealousy was maliciously crucified in the most excruciating and agonizing manner by the same people believed to be most respectable religious authority of his time. What an irony!

TB Joshua must necessarily drink of that  cup and joyfully too because of the grace of his Father.

There is something extraordinarily peculiar to TB Joshua. This is the UNCONDITIONAL  LOVE he radiates like the soothing moonshine in the sky. He cannot be offended. As a human being I doubt if he can allow any offence with him for five minutes.

It is love without discrimination and this is reflected in his joyful superlative giving, charity, activities and humanitarian and selfless services.

Unlike some other churches where you will be turned back if not in compliance with their physical and religious appearance standard, TB Joshua is home to everyone. Whether you are a Muslim, pagan, occult groups, lesbian, gay, idol worshippers just name any, TB Joshua is a friend to all.

“ I am interested in the salvation of their souls. Jesus does not hate sinners what he hates is sin. If Jesus came for the salvation of sinners who am I not to welcome sinners in love and bring them to knowing Jesus Christ my Master and our saviour”? He would enthusiastically appear publicly with them like one who has just found a new lover. I could remember when a group of herdsmen in their rusticity visited him. He welcomed them like VIP, sat along with them and even collected their traditional caravan gourd which they all usually put their mouths in to drink water to also use the same thing to drink the water inside with them!

Because of human spiritual banality and pedestrianism, TB Joshua has oftentimes been maligned with outright chimerical tales and concocted lies by his superficial observers who could not decipher the Spirit of the Father working in him.

“I must necessarily experience all these. Who would I then resemble? Rejoice because every temptation and every situation is meant to draw you closer to God if you have been called by Him and maintain your focus, He would continue to strengthen you because God would never forsake His own”.

To talk of TB Joshua’s God’s endowed towering spiritual power in him is like dipping a cup into the sea to fetch water. The power radiates as he walks or talks with countless diverse healings and miracles beyond human imagination. There was one occasion when armed robbers waving fiery guns and shooting sporadically were operating in the upper street during the church service. The suffocating miasma of their operations extended to the church area. In holy anger TB Joshua fiercely came out of the service  to confront them and collected their guns from them! The armed robbers were reduced to vegetables by the TBJoshua’s superb Holy Spirit power. It is not surprising to find Ogbonis, witch doctors, idol worshippers, psychists, Hindus, just name them – all forms of esoteric practitioners, confessing their sins and  surrendering their satanic  instruments by the fire of Holy Spirit engulfing them and accepting Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior in Synagogue Church Of All Nations SCOAN through the God’s nature in TB Joshua.

Nothing is done in secret in SCOAN. Everything is open and transparent. It is not a place of spiritual manipulation. Any wonder then that foreigners are trooping into SCOAN in droves and the church has to be overwhelmingly checkmating requests of intending pligrims  and yet countless others will find their ways to Nigeria through back doors thus causing a lot of embarrassment in the enviroment beyond the church expectations.

“It is not everybody that can come here” says the Man of God. “Only those God calls will come here”.

TB Joshua is humility personified. Ordinarily he is very shy. He is indeed the biblical  broken vessel in the hands of God.

TB Joshua has made the physiognomy of Christianity real and Jesus and His mission on earth clearer with discernible understanding of that narrow path to the Luminous Heights.

One of the most shockingly admirable things in TB Joshua’s life is his in-depth knowledge of Bible and the words of God. Here is a person who never went to theological school, mentored by anyone or really educated in the real western sense. Yet he is a teacher of teachers with strikingly penetrating power into your spirit. He opens your  eyes and hearts at every teaching with profound  spiritual transformation for eternal yearnings in the listeners! It is usually a moment of spiritual rediscovery. You cannot ignore his messages. Simple, nonoratorical or colourfully/attractively presented, it carries fire and power with uncommon insight and revelations.

You cannot be going to SCOAN and be engaging in sinful lives. TB Joshua will see all you are hiding secretly in your house or any immorality you are  committing which you think has been successfully covered. He would compromise indiscipline and immorality. He is stern and firm!

I have severally witnessed instances where such members are called out except he doesn’t come across you.

“In this church, you are coming here and you are still living in this sin”? Whatever is saying is confirmed, no quibbling or mincing words  as such sinners will immediately fall down crying to Jesus narrating the circumstances that led him or her to it asking for God’s forgiveness. You will be shocked when he exposes all the details of what you did!

SCOAN is not a place for ‘bigmanism’. Whatever you are from outside cannot be carried inside the church. You must be humbled! Have you ever seen where a big man or woman is asked to go and join sanitation group where they do cleaning or  what you can regard as menial jobs? Yes, TBJoshua would tell you: ‘go and join them, God will hear your prayers’. In most instances it is like the case of that  army General Naman the leper in the Bible who in arrogance felt how could he go and wash in a particular river directed him to go by the prophet when there were other better rivers he could go. But the grace of God saved him by listening to his servant and eventually was made whole as he washed himself in the very river.

One crucial lesson you learn from TB Joshua regarding prayers and fastings is that when they are not done on the precious arms of the Holy Spirit it is a balderdash. “ You can pray and preach wonderfully. Once you have not been adopted by Holy Spirit, people may hear you and even clap for you but God will not hear you. You can call yourself born again but as long as you are not adopted by Holy Spirit you are simply wasting your time”.

He has made worshippers in his church realise that your faith must be genuine, your meditation in God’s Word and making it the standard practice in their lives as NOT NEGOTIABLE for their Christian lives not be a failure and for them to have rewarding faith. To live in pure love to all your neighbors regardless of their religion or who they are, holding no  offence against anyone and be a blessing to others for you are blessed to bless otherd. “O Lord give me love enough not to see the mistakes of others” is  one of the prayers

Hear the Prophet:

“God cannot entrust you with His power if you do not have UNCONDITIONAL LOVE. This is because you will begin to use it for the benefits of those you want and then against your enemies. Look at this church, can you see any member of my family holding any positions? It’s God’s church and He knows what to do even when I am no more”!

TB Joshua is not competing with anyone. He has no faculty for looking into the affairs of any other churches or what anyone is doing or saying anywhere. His focus is on God. His only pain is the disunity in the church of Christ.

On several occasions when people from other churches received landmark healings and miracles he won’t allow them to do any Thanksgiving in SCOAN. He would tell them: “go back to your church and do the Thanksgiving there. We are working as a team. It is the prayers you have been praying in your church that also brought you here. Go and remain in your church and be worshipping there”.

That is TB Joshua for you. He is the embodiment of Jesus  Christ himself. In SCOAN no soliciting for fundraising, sowing seeds, donations or Thanksgiving. Even payment of tithes  or offering is completely voluntary. “Take your tithes or Thanksgiving money to the needy; look for  poor pupils to give scholarship; look for the sick and all others you see in hardship to help. When you do that God will hear your prayers”.

Hear him again:

“Have you ever seen me printing envelopes here asking for donations? No! When God truly  give you an assignments He would also put in the hearts of those that would assist you on the assignments”.

Today TB Joshua has brought back the early church of the apostles with Christian revival for a better understanding of worshippers to worship God in truth and in Spirit.

Speaking with a spiritual  elder who prefers anonymity, he said: “There is no other person like him today in the entire world. It’s usually one at a time. He is on God mission but unfortunately God’s design did not permit many who ought to know from recognizing him. Do you think if he is fully recognized in Nigeria there will be any space in Nigeria for other people in the world to come?

Hear him: “You can see he is not establishing branches like others. He has kept absolutely to God’s directives and agenda and not to human opinions.

“God really loves TB Joshua. Some did not know that it was out of God concern for him to fulfill his mission that his last prophecy on American election did not  click. If it had clicked there’s every tendency for some people to turn him to God which will affect him. God has brought him for the rise and fall of many. I only pity those in ignorance of his origin and are using their mouths unconsciously to  jeopardize their own eternity”.

• Adejumo is Lagos based journalist and public affairs analyst.

By Bola Ahmed Tinubu

The election of June 12th 1993 changed Nigeria profoundly. That it would have this deep and positive effect was not always certain. Many people laboured, struggled and sacrificed for democracy. They fought not that we would have democracy day but that Nigeria might exist as a democracy every day. When I say democracy, I mean more than that we conduct periodic elections. Democracy means that we adhere to and live by the enlightened premise that all human beings are of essential value and are possessed of fundamental rights and liberties, which cannot be arbitrarily taken away or denied.

Democracy means that everyone has a right to peacefully influence and determine who governs them and how their government should work. It means that we all have a right to pursue our ambitions and aspirations so long as our actions do not wrongfully impede the aspirations and hopes of others. We have the right to believe, think and pray as we deem fit. In our democratic system, nobody can dictate your beliefs and your thoughts unless you voluntarily permit them to do so. These things are what true democracy means and they are what we celebrate today.

In this, we dare not forget how we got to this point. Planting the seedlings of democracy required much toil and sacrifice. Many potent forces tried to prevent both the planting and the harvest.

People like late Dr. Beko Ransome Kuti, late Gani Fawehinmi, Baba Omojola, late Pa Rewane, late Pa Enahoro, Baba Ajasin, Pa Adesanya, Baba Adebanjo, Prof. Wole Soyinka, Prof. Bolaji Akinyemi, Femi Falana, members of the civil society groups, student-activists and others fought hard and struggled mightily on our behalf. Many laid down their lives that we may have this brighter moment. Many people who we do not even know gave of themselves and lost life or limb to bring this moment to pass.

On this day, we duly honour such patriots. We remember them and commend their sacrifice. We mark this day that we not take this good form of government or their august labour for granted. We must keep and nurture democracy, not for its own sake, but for ours. Bashorun Moshood Abiola stood fast and strong despite the enormous pressure against him. Those who hated democracy and equality tried to break his spirit and make him lose hope that democracy would ever come to our land. Abiola withstood it all and held to a dream. They could not crush his spirit so they took his body. They did not allow his dream turn to reality but victory was still his because he held fast with uncommon determination and principle. In spirit, Abiola was truly the first president of this democratic period.

Here, I must commend President Buhari for having the political courage to make June 12 Democracy Day. It would have been easier to let things stay as they were. But President Buhari, himself a man of integrity and honesty, realised the import of June 12 and understood that this day more than any other best symbolized our national pursuit of democracy. Despite political opposition, President Buhari helped set the record straight by making today, June 12, Democracy Day.

I also congratulate our various governors including Governor Babajide Sanwo-olu of Lagos. They must all continue to do their level best to make the desired difference in the lives of our people.

We are recording appreciable progress on the political front. The Executive and Legislature are working harmoniously to deliver the programs and policies required for people to live a better more democratic existence. The courts are doing better in protecting the rights of individual Nigerians. The press is free and robust although, like any nation, we must remain vigilant and do even more to elevate freedom of thought and expression.

The civil society remains alive and active and holding government accountable to the people. The government too has continued to exhibit tolerance of constructive criticism and demonstrate endurance in a bid to nurture our democracy. A relentless battle is being waged against corruption. This fight would have been impossible or ineffective under a military dictatorship.

If we look at where we were and where we are now, we have cause to be thankful. We have left dictatorship forever behind. We see new and better ways to define and execute our democratic journey. For example, Youth and Women’s groups that in prior times had no voice or did not even exist. Now they are actively engaged and demanding political participation and a place in democratic decision-making. This is how it should be. Within this new, dynamic and vibrant democratic and civil society lies the hope and promise of a better, more representative government and nation.

Democracy Day and our commemoration of it must not descend into empty ritual. We, as a people, have chosen democracy as our preferred form of governance not because it is easy to hold and make work. We choose democracy because it is the most humane and representative form of government the human mind has thus far devised and imagined.

Nigerians deserve congratulations and commendation for their investment in democracy and for how far we have come. However, we equally must warn and remind ourselves how far we must go. We must continue to work to entrench and improve on our democracy. We must continue to be vigilant and keep watch over our democracy and ward off those who may want to draw us back toward a dimmer period.

The nation now grapples with COVID-19 and its resultant public health and economic challenges. The government has performed admirably in explaining its actions to the people and informing us about the disease. Only a democratic government would have been so informative and open. Only a democratic government would have initiated palliatives. Only a democratic government would have worked in a cooperative manner with the states to devise the best possible policies to fit local circumstances. By being frank and honest, lives have been saved and the pandemic contained. This has been democracy at work.

Government is still hard at work trying to protect the people from the virus and to revive the economy so that we can return the people to their livelihoods and to the road toward prosperity. The battle against the pandemic will ultimately be won. Even then, we still will have much to do. We still have challenges regarding economic development, economic inequality, administration of justice, violence against women and environmental degradation.

Yet, we have the human capacity to fight and win these battles. Democracy is the best avenue to harness and direct our collective abilities in the urgent resolution of these steep challenges. Thus, as we mark this day, let us be thankful to God and let us remember all of those who sacrificed to enable us to advance this far on our democratic journey. Let us also look eagerly ahead to the things we must do and the problems we must solve.

Let us not be weak and shy away from the obstacles in our path; let us learn from the courage and compassion of those who came before us. As they faced and won the battle of democracy over dictatorship, let us now use that democracy to win the present battle of national prosperity in all of its forms over poverty in all of its forms. The times we face are not the easiest but we have a destiny to reach and a democratic roadmap on how to get there. Hand in hand, let us get there together.

I wish all Nigerians a memorable Democracy Day and many more years of enduring democracy. I implore you all to be safe and act with compassion toward one another.

• Asiwaju Tinubu is National Leader of All Progressives Congress (APC)