Category: Opinion

In one of his New Year sermons, Pastor Adeniyi Ajayi of the Gospel Promotion Outreach, Ori Oke Baba Abiye, Ede in Osun State numerated ‘The Currencies of Life’ as ‘time, money, knowledge and relationship.’ According to the cleric, while “time is money and should not be wasted, wisdom entails the correct application of knowledge.” Also, while “time and knowledge bring money, time and money yield knowledge. On the whole, “money and knowledge create and, ultimately, save time.”

 “Relationship can get something for a man without having to spend a dime! The evil ones can waste one’s time; thus wasting one’s life.” Taken together, “whatever happens to one’s time happens to one’s life.” Therefore, knowing how to “organize one’s time as well as manage one’s money is important in a race of life.”

Without being immodest, I also share Pastor Ajayi’s views! Take for instance, when the people talk about leadership in Nigeria, they sometimes forget that ‘the wrong we see are symptoms of a deeper root cause of an ailment’ and that it is not just the leadership but also the prototype of our leadership that is fraught with flaws. And when a prototype is designed to fail, shifting the responsibility of that failure to the leadership can be likened to abandoning the object for the shadow. Again, it is as if we are no longer taking cognizance of the fact that this ‘mere geographical expression’ is a peculiar country, inhabited by peculiar people and that it is from the pool of this population that we draw the willing and available individuals who eventually rule the mass of the people. Without doubt, ours is a country which looks like a ship in a vast ocean without a rudder. And, as we are aware, a rudderless ship is bound to surrender its destiny to the dictate of the waves.

 ‘Idalu n’iselu, bi a ti n se nile yii, eewo ibomiran ni’ (The constitution for administering any place must be indigenous to its cultural foundation). If we have agreed that “whosoever desires the office of a Bishop … must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach …”, then, whosoever wants to be, say, a governor in Nigeria must not be a criminal, must be kind to all without exception, and must not be self-centred or nepotistic. Once these requirements are there, we ought not to be complaining about leadership in Nigeria. After all, no leader comes to power without knowing what he or she signed for!

Remember the British system of government where, deliberately, an intending leader must come from a cadre of the people! Of a fact, it prefixes certain social structures in the society for a man to emerge as a Prime Minister in England. For example, a man who must aspire to hold such a high office must be somebody who can debate anybody, anywhere in the world; and must have been tested. To that extent, every member of the British Parliament is a potential prime minister.

To be frank, the fundamentals of public administration in Nigeria are not rooted in wisdom. In other words, there is no sound fundamental philosophy. People just come into government, run it the way they like and leave it even worse than they met it. Contrary to the vision of the man who turned Dubai to the wonders of the 21st century, there’s no hardcore pattern that is followed by aspiring leaders in Nigeria with regard to how the government is run. Through the systemic understanding of the powers of the state, governance is also about aggregating the people’s views such that, by the time it comes out with a policy, it will go a long way in addressing the yearnings of the people.

Read Also: Nigerians ‘can stop leadership woes’

It is because our leaders do not have a sure pattern of what to do that they mess up in government. At the end of the day, they would have wasted the four or eight years – as it were – as prescribed by the constitution. Besides, they would have also succeeded in wasting the time of the citizens as a whole. For instance, a citizen with a hope that a particular government would address a particular matter of his or her life would wait for eight years only to have the matter unaddressed even as there is no assurance that the next government will even think about it.

Obafemi Awolowo! Ahmadu Bello! Nnamdi Azikiwe! We need to bear in mind that politicians are not necessarily leaders; for, while leaders are always conscious of the fact that they are leading a people and that it behoves them to strive to build a future for those they are leading, politicians are only thinking of how their pockets can be lined with the people’s commonwealth. So, when a supposed leader comes with a moribund idea, of course, the people will just be running upandan, without being able to clearly define anything. So, such ‘leaders’ are most likely to waste the four or eight years constitutionally approved for them to govern. From independence till date, Nigeria’s problems remain largely unaddressed! The politicians are just using excuses as smokescreens to deceive the people. In our fatted clime, democracy has been misconstrued for the will of ‘Mr President’ or ‘Mr Governor!’ And that’s the issue! It’s an unending circle; and it will just be repeating itself until the people come together.

Of course, it is not as if Nigerians are daft! If somebody like the inimitable Awolowo could think of establishing the first television station in Africa; Liberty Stadium, Cocoa Board and many others, by now, his descendants ought to be thinking of accessing the moon, because the thinking should be on how to be better than their forefathers. But, here we are, without our being better than our forebears. And that’s a shame! In Osun for instance, the State Broadcasting Corporation came long before ‘Channels Television.’ Now, the difference between the two organisations is clear! Even ‘Rave FM’, which came into the business only yesterday, has continued to make waves while the state-owned Radio Station is almost becoming a distraught, disorganized and laughable news station. 

Right from the beginning of the Fourth Republic, observers were of the opinion that Bisi Akande came with his own dream which, from all indications, successive governments did not buy into. So, for Osun, it was always a case of ‘start-all-over-again’, each time a new government took over! By the time Olagunsoye Oyinlola was being booted out of office on November 26, 2010, he was in such a hurry to leave ‘Bola Ige House’ that he forgot to drop his bag of dreams (and that’s if he ever had any). So, there was no dream in place for a Joseph to interpret for Rauf Aregbesola, his successor in office. ‘Oranmiyan’ also came in with his own ‘Government Unusual’, which the immediate past Governor Gboyega Oyetola did not embrace. So, the ‘State of the Virtuous’ was observably fated! Now, Ademola Adeleke is in the saddle with his long cap, dancing, histrionically; and banning everything ‘bannable.’ So, where lies growth in the pattern of development in Osun since the time of Akande? One can only pray the ‘Dancing Senator’ changed his ways! Otherwise, that’s how things will continue until he, too, finds his way out of government.

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

•Komolafe wrote in from Ijebu-Jesa, Osun State, Nigeria (ijebujesa@yahoo.co.uk)

But for this campaign, we would not have known how strong and energetic Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has been. At his age, he did knee cap replacement and within three months, he started going about as if nothing had happened. He works at least 18 hours of the day, attending to the challenges of his campaign, people, interests and scenarios. Just late in December, he was in London, left London on the 30th, to Saudi Arabia for lesser hajj, returned to Nigeria on Monday, 2nd January, proceeded to Kano for campaigns. After the Kano campaigns, he proceeded to Edo State, from there to Abuja to attend the youths summit, then proceeded to Ondo state for campaign, then entered into Lagos to received endorsement of the Arewas in Lagos on aspiration. From there he hosted the business community and private sector operators, then proceeded to Adamawa for campaigns. All within 8 days, yet someone will tell me Asiwaju Tinubu is not strong? How else do you define strength, energy and capacity to stand your own and cope with the pressure of office, if not this way. Aside from coping with the pressure of campaigns, Tinubu stays late into the early hours of the morning attending to people and planning his next strategy with associates, like-minds and lieutenants.

 The first time I was to have a discussion with Asiwaju Tinubu, he gave me a 2am appointment. I wondered aloud, and asked from my end, if he meant to say 2pm, he answered with a chuckle, “I said 2am. I thought you people said I am not strong, so why should a 2am appointment be strange to you”. I managed to break my communication with the goddess of sleep, to honour the appointment looking forward to be disappointed by his timing. Getting to Asiwaju’s house, I saw a busy environment with over 20 persons still waiting to catch space with him. I waited for about few minutes, and he came out, looking like someone who was just starting his day, appearing so refreshed. He beckoned on me and off we settled down for discussion. For the next one hour, Asiwaju was upbeat, answering my interrogative questions and offering very rich insight into the rationale for his contest. He spoke so frankly and pointedly that I was left wondering the source of those negative news against him. Well this is politics where all manner of falsehood and orchestrated reportage are churned out to pollute the atmosphere without repercussions. By 3.05am, I was in a hurry to round off my discussion, but Asiwaju was still ready to push our talk further, before I cautioned that it was auspicious to allow others have a slice of him.

 While I departed at about early hours, I could still estimate the number of persons that were waiting to see him and probably keep him awake till daybreak. That is his routine; keeping awake most nights, a thing that he’s so used to and had to be prevailed upon to apply break so he doesn’t break down. So, each time his aides unsuccessfully persuade him to slow down, they come with the option of foreign travel, which will give him the opportunity to refresh himself, even though at those times, he still works through his phones to keep tab on people. Talking seriously, I think leadership comes with its own challenges, but one’s ability to keep tab and burn the midnight oil in order to sustain catch up with lost time, often times, define the cutting edge of leadership. Asiwaju is an uncommon leader that understands the peculiarity in a volatile political atmosphere with so much hostility, but each time those hostilities are thrust upon him, he comes out looking real refreshed and stronger. He understands human nature and knows how to cultivate friendship and sustain same without betraying sentiments. He also understands the issues around governance and leadership, issues of development and how to grow nations with policy frameworks that can endure the test of time. Asiwaju Tinubu is being largely under-rated, but the energy in his political undertakings is what anybody cannot under-rate.

 Asiwaju Tinubu is one Nigerian politician that is so strategic with a street sense, whose level of interaction with the ordinary folks is profound. Aside from being a pro-democracy activist of note, he stood on the side of the people through the trenches to birth this Democracy. If anybody must take credit for the enthronement of this democracy, Tinubu’s NADECO and the activities, helped in no small way to push the military back to the barracks. His ability to sustain a succession plan in Lagos has also deepened stability and development in Lagos. His contributions to the sustenance of this democracy is remarkable, little wonder his popularity across the country has become formidable. He understands the political dynamics in the country, and the intricate logic of the Nigerian federation. Tinubu’s boldness, courage, and strong political will, are ingredients that stand him out as a leader of men that is circumstantially suitable to strengthen our national conversation at a time of anomie. What Nigeria desires at this time is a man who can initiate and sustain elite consensus to promote unity in diversity. Once this national dialogue becomes a veritable tool to jaw-jaw on issues of our nationality, it will be a more assured way to finding solutions to developmental problems.

 In the last one week, Asiwaju Tinubu has broken bookmakers prediction by virtue of his continuing campaigns across the country. He has covered about five states within this period. The president, Muhammadu Buhari has also joined the campaigns, raising assurances that the APC has become one family to prosecute the remaining part of the campaigns. Those who stayed back before without participating have now realised the need for joining to build a holistic and collective approach towards the election. Tinubu’s opponents are in the social media in London and else where, abusing the man on the field. Like the brilliant approach of a strategist, Tinubu is keeping them busy, while he is adding more pep to his effort at ensuring that he covers the entire country more than once. On top of that, when Asiwaju Tinubu retires home for the day, you still see him engage in several meetings and also keeping other important appointments. Asiwaju does not know how to pretend about situations. He believes in working hard to get results instead of laying back thinking that the job will be done by others. He believes in the philosophy of power that it is not served ala carte, but a serious indulgence that has to be cultivated with all seriousness, tact and diplomacy.

 By all implications, Asiwaju Tinubu is leading the charge for the 2023 general elections. No matter how dubious the pollsters have tried to manipulate the narratives, Tinubu is surely the man to beat. The ruling party have the reach, spread, structure, contact and ability to mobilise the electorates for a positive outcome baring any unforeseen circumstances. There are several permutations that tend to suggest that anything can happen, but my crystal balls told me unassailably that Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Jagaban Borgu, will clinch the trophy. A greater responsibility rests on INEC to generate a defensive mechanism that can checkmate deliberate attempts to hack into its server by desperate PDP goons, who see 2023 as a seemingly final lap to get itself into office. But the odds are against the PDP. The G-5 have since pulled the rug off the feet of the PDP, just like the 2015 scenario that altered the permutations. The G-5, more than anything else, have solidly spoken with one voice and consistently made its position known about the need to balance power in the name of equity, fairness and justice. Given the internal dissension within the PDP and the crossroads of its leadership, it will be a tall order to contemplate that the party will ride smoothly through the rigours of campaigns and the elections. 2023 is the year of Asiwaju Tinubu, such a strategic political thinker, planner, organiser and risk taker of no mean repute, who has been able to sustain his Democratic battles with successes at different levels.

•Ajegbua is a member of the All Progressives Congress Presidential campaign Council (PPC)

By Felix Oladeji

Revenues from oil, gas and mining should spur economic growth and social development in developing countries. In practice, however, economies that are overly dependent on oil and mineral wealth have often encouraged authoritarian rather than democratic forms of governance, particularly in countries with weak legal or regulatory frameworks. Profits from natural resources allow ruling elites to consolidate power through patronage systems, while revenue mismanagement may fuel devastating spirals of corruption, conflict and poverty. Competition for control over natural resources has led to armed conflict in Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, and to the suppression of political dissent and the violation of human rights in countries like Congo-Brazzaville and Chad.

The efforts of various local organizations and advocates to promote greater transparency in the management of their countries’ natural resource wealth have garnered increased international attention in recent years. A growing number of initiatives target oil and mining companies, governments and international financial institutions in their advocacy efforts.

Paradoxically, many countries with abundant mineral and oil deposits have seen less economic growth or human development than countries without such endowments. Some have experienced declines in the competitiveness of other economic sectors, macroeconomic vulnerability to fluctuations in world commodity prices or crippling indebtedness because of excessive government borrowing during ‘boom’ years. The economies of less developed mineral-rich countries are further disadvantaged by the need to sell raw materials that cannot be refined locally. Although 80 percent of the known global reserves of coltan are found in Africa, for example, few of the countries possessing the resource have the capacity to maximize their export earnings by refining the mineral, a key component in the manufacture of cellular telephones.

The complexity of multinational business negotiations and the time lapse before profits accrue can frustrate efforts by civic groups, host governments, the international community and corporations to promote transparency and accountability. Significant capital investments are often required to extract or develop natural resources like gold, diamonds, oil and gas and in many countries, only those with political power, a relatively small circle, have the authority to grant access to those resources.

Published literature on countries that have fallen prey to what is often called the “natural resource curse” points to multiple causal factors. These include: multinational corporations whose business practices have serious human rights, political, economic and environmental implications; the home governments of corporations who often fail to hold the international practices of their corporate citizens to acceptable standards; and export credit agencies that support the destructive behaviour of their clients.

Ultimate responsibility for the management of a country’s natural resource wealth, in the circumstance, lies with that country’s elected government. The principal means of ensuring sound management at all stages of natural resource exploitation from extraction to the collection and expenditure of revenues is through the adoption of practices that adhere to and reinforce agreed upon standards of accountability and transparency. Countries that have successfully used proceeds from the extractive industries for national development purposes, including Australia, Canada and Norway, have such practices in common.

Ideally, host governments negotiate the most beneficial contracts for the exploitation of mineral wealth, oversee corporate compliance with contracts and the nation’s laws, and manage revenues properly. Even in the absence of wilful corruption or influence-peddling, however, public officials often lack the expertise to accomplish these critical tasks, or the foresight to invest or save portions of the proceeds for the future. In many cases, the discovery of oil and other resources creates unrealistic expectations about future income, leading to increases in current expenditure, often on large and impractical projects.

For example, many newly wealthy mineral producing states have historically increased foreign imports, regardless of indigenous production ability, destroying local incentives to produce items that can be either imported at lower cost or whose prices may be lowered through state subsidies.

The nature of the resource often defines the set of challenges surrounding its management. For instance, oil sector revenues typically outstrip income from solid minerals. According to a 2015 International Monetary Fund (IMF) report, revenues from oil and gas account for 52.7 percent of total fiscal revenues in oil dependent economies, on average. The average income from the mining sector in economies dependent on solid minerals is only 12.7 percent. Mining sector receipts are smaller and less complex than those from the oil and gas industry, whose contracts typically involve confidentiality clauses, signature bonuses and production sharing agreements.

Questions over transparency in the management of revenues paid to local and regional governments are more often, though not exclusively, an issue in the solid minerals industry than it is in the oil and gas sector. Further, a broader range of operators and investors, including large transnational companies, medium to small scale local business and individual prospectors, is engaged in the mining industry than is the case in the oil and gas sector. State-owned companies control the mining sector in certain countries but lack the size and influence of similar bodies in oil and gas sectors. Finally, civil society groups and other activists monitoring the solid minerals industry are often more focused on the sector’s broader contribution to economic and social development than they are on the specific issues of revenue management.

In recent years, the efforts of various local organizations and individuals to promote greater transparency in the management of their countries’ natural resource wealth have garnered increased international attention. Presently, there are a variety of advocacy initiatives targeted towards oil companies, governments and international financial institutions. The Kimberly Process, a joint initiative of governments, civic groups and the private sector, aims to limit the unregulated sale of rough diamonds as a source of funding for conflict. The Publish What You Pay (PWYP) Coalition, a worldwide network of over 280 non- governmental organizations (NGOs), promotes mandatory disclosure of the payments made by oil, gas and mining companies to governments for the extraction of natural resources. The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, (EITI), developed by the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID) and the World Bank, encourages governments to sign onto a voluntary set of principles that include publication and verification of company payments and government revenues from oil, gas and mining. Transparency International’s Revenue Transparency Project aims to set and support the adoption of industry and government standards for revenue transparency, and to measure revenue transparency performance and diagnose areas for improvement.

However, governments face two principal challenges in determining the policy framework for the exploitation of oil and minerals in their countries. First, they must create a business climate that attracts private investment, a necessary precondition to the development of the extractive industries. Second, they must address relevant domestic policy issues, such as the environmental impact on communities affected by extraction activities, and ensure the equitable distribution of profits from the industry.

Policy or regulatory frameworks and laws governing the exploitation and management of natural resources are often spread across different pieces of legislation and other government instruments. In most cases, constitutions vest natural resources in the people but grant the government the authority to manage those resources on their behalf. In some cases, constitutions specify formulae for revenue sharing between national and state or provincial levels of government.

Mining or oil codes specify procedures and parameters for the granting of concessions and other rights of access, general conditions for exploitation, royalties, taxes, and other incentives specific to the extractive industries. Corporate tax structures and laws governing employment, the environment, and occupational health and safety also have implications for extractive industry management.

Through their law-making functions, legislators can support the passage of laws or other instruments that create an enabling environment for sustainable and accountable management of oil and minerals. Regrettably, legislators from a number of African countries described situations in which they were under pressure to move legislation forward quickly, often without amendment, because funding from international development partners depended on the passage of legislation. In other cases, executive branch officials argued that changes proposed by legislators would discourage foreign investment in the country’s mining sector. Confidentiality clauses are also often used to prevent public scrutiny of contract details.

Regulation and oversight of the extractive industries requires an understanding of complex technical and financial issues. Legislators themselves must engage in efforts to raise standards, make more effective use of the powers available to them and build the resource base necessary for them to fulfil their responsibilities. Through the ‘power of the purse,’ legislators can shape the allocation of revenues in ways that promote fiscal discipline and limit funding for high-profile projects that have little impact on citizens’ quality of life.

• Oladeji writes from Lagos.

By Pippa Morgan & Andrea Ghiselli

China has rapidly become Africa’s most important infrastructure builder, and the footprint of Chinese construction companies is seen in cities, towns and villages across the continent.

With the launch of Beijing’s “Go Global” policy in 2000, and President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative in 2013, the volume of roads, bridges, railways, power stations and other infrastructure built by China has increased markedly. The number of overseas contracts signed by Chinese companies more than doubled from just under 6,000 in 2004 to almost 12,000 in 2019.

In 2019, Chinese companies won over US$250 billion of infrastructure contracts around the world, paid for by the Chinese government, international institutions and host governments. Chinese firms won over 30% of public works contracts funded by the World Bank, one of the world’s largest infrastructure financiers.

Chinese records also show that the number of Chinese citizens dispatched to work on infrastructure projects increased almost five-fold, from a global total of 79,000 in 2002 to 368,000 in 2019 (with a peak of 405,000 in 2015). Of these, around one quarter were recorded in sub-Saharan Africa, while one-third were in the Middle East and North Africa region.

The presence of large numbers of Chinese workers labouring on these projects is one of the most controversial aspects of China’s economic engagement with Africa and the wider world.

Chinese workers have been accused of taking job opportunities from locals, undercutting labour standards by being willing to work for longer hours and with fewer rest days, and being the source of culture clashes. A 2021 meta-analysis of Chinese labour practices in Africa found evidence of tense labour relations driven in part by practices such as weekend work and dormitory systems. These are common practice in China but not in many African economies.

However, the debate on Chinese workers underplays the agency of host governments. After all, they make local laws and issue work visas.

Our research covering 195 countries explored whether different types of host regime were more likely or less likely to allow Chinese workers in or force Chinese companies to hire locally. We found that democratic governments were much more prone to limiting the number of Chinese workers in the infrastructure sector in the face of potential domestic opposition to those workers. The opposite was true in more authoritarian countries.

This means that the long-term economic benefits that Chinese-built infrastructure brings are likely to be limited in authoritarian countries. It also gives rise to the possibility that local dissatisfaction with the lack of job opportunities complicates the political relations between China and the host country.

China’s overseas infrastructure builders

Prior research has shown that Chinese companies like to bring their own workers because they require less training, work efficiently and help to avoid difficult labour relations issues. However, the number of Chinese workers varies a lot across different host countries. For example, Algeria has long hosted huge numbers of Chinese citizens building infrastructure. Others, like Ghana, have relatively few, despite China playing a large role in the country’s infrastructure sector.

There has been remarkably little quantitative research on the factors shaping the number of Chinese workers completing infrastructure projects in different countries. Our research, using data gathered from Chinese statistical yearbooks (many of which are available only in mainland China), aimed to address this gap in knowledge.

The starting point of our research was that it matters how policymakers assess and pursue their interests. In democracies, governments face more pressure to ensure that construction projects deliver local jobs. They run the risk that opposition groups can use the presence of foreign workers as an issue to stir up opposition to the government. Therefore, they are more likely to force Chinese firms to hire locally, even if it means projects are completed more slowly.

Autocrats, on the other hand, do not face the same electoral pressures. Instead, their interest lies in completing construction projects quickly and efficiently. Doing so boosts their “performance-based legitimacy” – citizens accept them because they get things done. Foreign workers, who are politically neutral, provide a convenient way to do this.

The evidence

Our analysis used data gathered from 195 host countries and territories. It showed strong empirical evidence that democracies host significantly fewer Chinese workers than autocracies, all other things being equal. The results hold up using a variety of different statistical modelling techniques.

We also explored two case studies: Ghana and Algeria.

In Ghana, a vibrant democracy, we found that both the country’s main political parties faced pressure to ensure Chinese-built projects delivered local jobs. For example, in the construction of the Bui Dam, the agreement between Sinohydro, the Chinese state-owned behemoth contracted to complete the project, and the Ghanaian government stipulated that a certain proportion of the workforce would be local.

Unlike many governments, Ghana’s tends to limit foreign workers in practice as well as on paper.

In Algeria, on the other hand, Chinese labour has been used to quickly complete projects seen as politically expedient. Algeria is a “hybrid” regime that was ruled by a single man, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, from 1999 to 2019. Even when domestic discontent over Chinese workers prompted measures to limit their presence, the measures were not implemented.

Why this matters

Our findings have several important implications. First, host country agency is important. Host governments have the ability to ensure Chinese companies hire locally.

Second, projects that hire locally may bring more long-term economic benefit to host countries. This can happen both directly through the jobs that they create, and via knowledge and technology transfers into the wider economy. Our analysis therefore suggests that the wider developmental benefits of Chinese built infrastructure may actually be stronger in democracies than in autocracies.

Finally, there’s an implication for China’s foreign policy and diplomatic relations. Many Chinese citizens are in autocratic countries where they may be welcomed by leaders but resented by the local population.

• Morgan teaches, Political Science, Duke Kunshan University. Ghiselli is assistant professor, School of International Relations and Public Affairs, Fudan University. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. “https://theconversation.com/chinese-workers-on-africas-infrastructure-projects-the-link-with-host-political-regimes-195732”

By Adedotun Ajulo

It’s election season in Nigeria again. It’s therefore not totally strange that the political landscape is getting charged with all kinds of raw emotions, jejune sentiments, deliberate vending of falsehood, half-truths, flagellation of toxic propaganda, amplification of misinformation and disinformation e.t.c all in a bid to cast a candidate or a political party in a bad light for the sole purpose of demarketing the candidate or the political party before the voting public. 

Of a truth, though, this pernicious element of the electioneering process is not peculiar to Nigeria’s electoral culture alone. It happens abroad, even in much older and more refined democracies like the United States of America, France, and Germany, among others. The recent midterm elections in the US and even the presidential election in Brazil suffice to lend credence to this claim.

The difference between Nigeria’s brand, however, and the aforementioned is that the latter have institutions and robust media to checkmate the excesses of the extremists and political hooligans who hide under the guise of free speech to trade libel, defamation, propaganda and falsehood for political advantage.

Unfortunately, in Nigeria, it is saddening and unthinkable to know that some sections of the media that ordinarily should be setting nation-building agendas for the candidates and their respective political parties as the country inches towards the 2023 general elections have now become willing tools in the hands of desperate politicians and their agents to pollute the political firmament with assorted junks of yellow journalism, pay-as-you-go commentary, one-sided analysis and rabid partisanship as against the ethics of the profession that include fairness, impartiality, objectivity, among others.

Sadder still is the realization that one of the nation’s leading media platforms – This Day newspaper in conjunction with its broadcast cousin, Arise TV – owned by Nduka Obaigbena, a rabid pro-PDP media proprietor, has now become the propaganda arm of the opposition PDP, casting aspersions at every available forum on the person of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress and the man destined by fate and diligence to win the 2023 presidential election. They have consistently thrown known law, convention and culture to the wind against the settled position of law. On the right of the press media, our courts have always posited thusly;

“… I should here say that it is much to be desired that newspapers, television or news media generally should be free to bring to the notice of the public any matter of public interest or concern. But in order to be deserving of that freedom, the press must show itself worthy of it. A free press cannot be deserving of that appellation unless it is a responsible press. The power of the press is enormous. It must not abuse that power. If a newspaper should act irresponsibly then it forfeits any claim to the defence of qualified privilege. The press, in a society that upholds the rule of law as a way of life, has a solemn duty to feed the society with true facts and honest comments. That crucial function, in my view, tantamount to moulding, positively, public opinion”.? The above dictum is still very much apposite here. Perhaps, however, I should go further by saying that a press that acts irresponsibly will lose its claim to any defence: which includes the defence of fair comment.”

Per ADEREMI ,JCA (Pp. 14-16, paras. E-A).

Of course, the quoted position of the court above applies only to a responsible press. As much as I know and I believe a lot of other Nigerians agree with me, the Obaigbena media enclave is not a responsible press and thus deserves to be treated that way. A media platform that disregards all the known tenets and ethics of responsible journalism is grossly irresponsible.

The anti-Tinubu antagonism has now become a subculture within Obaigbena’s media enclave that virtually every columnist on This Day stable is now immersed in amplifying rhetoric, distorted and concocted narratives meant to obstruct the soaring popularity of the former governor of Lagos State. Perhaps it is safe to say that to earn your month’s pay as of and when due, the new rule is that you must write an article per week to soil the reputation of Tinubu otherwise you won’t get paid as the man is notorious for allegedly owing his employees several months salaries without paying them, among other underhand and unethical dealings.

The broadcast arm of the evil media enclave – Arise TV-  is no exception as it continues to harangue and blackmail the presidential candidate of the APC to participate in its cash-for-filthy hand-teleguided town hall engagements disguised as presidential debates. The most notorious staffer on the stable of the TV station in this regard is some shallow and unprofessional guy named Rufai Oseni, who does not know the distinction between opinion journalism and impartial, balanced objective journalism.

Were the TV station a media platform that places a high premium on ethics, excellence, and professionalism, Oseni would have long been cashiered off the platform, dismissed without payment or at the very least, to help his destiny, send him back to journalism school to go and learn the very basic tenets of the noble profession that is as old as humanity. It’s not a crime that Oseni trained as an animal scientist but it’s intolerable and unconscionable to allow a man steeped in the ways and whys of animals to speak on issues completely beyond his ken without any relevant training. Little wonder he demonstrates a mediocre and inchoate knowledge of the issues he speaks on. And he does this with some magisterial candour. For Oseni, ignorance is bliss. Yet, ignorance is no excuse in law!

For its penchant for purveying damaging falsehood against the person of Asiwaju Tinubu, the National Broadcasting Commission recently slammed a fine on the TV station for breaching some provisions of the national broadcasting policy. One would have expected that the station would learn a lesson or two from the unfortunate development by now but it has continued to double down on its sinister agenda to bring Tinubu down at all costs against the rules of fair play and ethical journalism.

It’s pertinent to say that no provision of the country’s Constitution or the Electoral Act(as amended) compels a presidential candidate to participate in an election debate organised by any TV station let alone a station that’s the satellite campus of the PDP.  The ownership of the station and simple profiling of its editorial crew show without ambiguity that the station is PDP and for the PDP.  One of its marquee signings and the most recognisable face and voice on the station was the PDP deputy governorship candidate in Ogun State in the 2019 elections! There’s no record as of the moment that he has relinquished his membership in the PDP. It’s a no-brainer that the candidate of the ruling party will not appear on a compromised station with PDP apologists as its interviewers!

 In any case, Asiwaju Tinubu has not broken any law nor run afoul of any convention that pertains to electioneering and election conduct in Nigeria by not appearing in a town-hall meeting remotely controlled by the PDP. He is way smarter than their plot. He was one of the first presidential candidates to release his manifesto entitled Renewed Hope 23. He has participated in numerous campaign engagements, meeting critical stakeholders, and talking to the Nigerian masses using various communication channels at his beck and call. He has also taken his campaign beyond the shores of the country to speak to the international community as well as engage Nigerians abroad on the need to elect him as the next President of the country.

There’s also no iota of doubt that he is the most engaged and engaging presidential candidate in this campaign cycle. He has been touring the country, meeting stakeholders – women, youth, business leaders, religious leaders and many more – to sell his policies and agenda to them. In political communication, there are formal and informal methods of reaching out to the electorate and other allied stakeholders. The most strategic candidate will always blend the two methods by deploying the tools associated with each of them for his political advantage. And that’s exactly what Asiwaju has been doing to the perpetual chagrin of Obaigbena and his media goons who desperately want Asiwaju to appear on their TV station to shore up their ratings.

 • Adedotun Ajulo, Esq. is a Lagos-based Legal Practitioner and the Convener of Lawyers Network for Bola Ahmed Tinubu (LANBAT).