That Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, is by every standard the exact opposite of what he was while serving as Minister of State of Education is not in doubt.  One of the things that stand him out is that he is never afraid to speak his mind on any issue, though you may or may not agree with him.

While he served as minister, he never saw eye ball to eye ball with his predecessor, Hon. Rotimi Amaechi, whom he served as Chief of Staff as Governor of Rivers State. Little wonder Wike fought Amaechi as the Ex-President’s minister and is still fighting him till date, over irreconcilable differences.

To the Rivers State governor, the immediate past minister of transportation did little or nothing for Rivers State while in that capacity. He even took the battle to the Supreme Court to enable him probe the former governor for crimes allegedly committed against the state.

At the advent of the Buhari administration in 2015, the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which had lost the presidential election, was almost going into oblivion but for Wike. It is to his credit that he gave his all to this party, at a time when some of his colleagues preferred to look the other way. This is the thrust of the disagreement of his camp with the PDP, including its chairman, Senator Iyorchia Ayu, his estranged friend, Aminu Tambuwal and others who allowed former Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar to emerge as the party’s presidential candidate.

That Wike put so much into the party primaries was not in doubt as the outcome of the primaries later showed. It was therefore unsurprising that the governor was angered by the development which was further aggravated by the Atiku camp’s poor sense of humility.

But power is not served a la carte and observers believe that the PDP chieftain ought to have known that politics is full of intrigues as the party primaries later revealed.

For a party that had been fragmented in the last few years, the party leadership has no doubt widened the cracks as it ought to have been in the forefront of events. Not PDP.  While the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu swung into action almost immediately after his party’s primaries, visiting his opponents, Atiku Abubakar was nowhere to be found.

Read Also: PDP, Atiku and the Wike web

Consequently, the media fed on that lacuna which further exposed the PDP’s poor management skills and capacity, especially at a time like this. And when Atiku eventually visited the Rivers State Governor, the exercise opened a floodgate of stupendous and unimaginable crisis in its wake. So angry was Wike that he seized every opportunity to show resentment with the PDP and its presidential candidate.

Worse still, the former Vice President who should have brought his political experience to bear worsened the political inferno with the way and manner he chose his Vice Presidential candidate, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa. Meanwhile, pro-Wike forces had put forward the Rivers State Governor as a major contender for the number two position, but shock waves hit the camp with the announcement of Okowa.

While it is the prerogative of a presidential candidate to name his running mate, Atiku virtually put hot iron in the sore with his reasons for the choice of the Delta State Governor as his Vice Presidential candidate

Hear him: “In these consultations, I made it clear that my running mate would have the potential to succeed me at a moment’s notice. That is a President-in-waiting.

“In other words, the person must have the qualities to be president. The person must have an appreciation of the deep rot which our country has been put into by the rudderless All Progressives Congress’s government; understands the great suffering that most of our people are going through and the urgency of relieving them of that sufferings, understands the critical importance of economic growth and development to provide our young people with jobs, hope and pathway to wealth.”

Atiku also denied insinuations on why he did not pick Governor Wike, adding that he was presented three nominees by Governor Ortomi-led committee and was at liberty to pick any one of them.

Said he: “I didn’t reject Wike, I picked who can deliver. Wike is brilliant and tenacious. Going by history, I picked an Igbo as running mate in 2007, 2019. I still picked an Igbo for 2023.”

Observers believe that naturally, Wike would have been disappointed with his rejection, but Atiku could have been more tactical about the defence of his choice, especially since all hands need to be on deck for him to win the election. In recent elections, Rivers State recorded over one million votes, which is massive for any candidate wishing to win, even as the governor’s influence cannot be underestimated.

Trust Wike, his political experience cannot be waved aside and he is shouting from the rooftop for all who care to listen that he remains a factor in the coming polls. Even Okowa cannot boast of anything yet, as his aspiration, nay that of Atiku may face a very serious threat in Delta, where the governor is currently at loggerheads with his godfather, Chief James Onanefe Ibori over who represents PDP as governorship candidate.

Already, this has polarized the PDP in the state into two camps, just as APC governorship candidate and Deputy Senate president, Ovie Omo-Agege will be praying that the crisis continues. Meanwhile, the Rivers Governor’s camp and that of Atiku may take their fight into the coming election; while the PDP leadership as presently constituted continues to play the ostrich.

Worse still, Wike’s open romance with the top echelon of the APC in recent times would definitely be sending jitters down the spine of the Atiku camp.

Though how he would resolve his differences with Amaechi remains to be seen, it would not be surprising if his support and that of his followers go the way of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

This is because politicians are very crafty, Rivers may experience what we saw in Ogun State in 2019, when the Amosun camp voted Buhari for the presidential election and Allied Peoples Movement (APM) in the governorship election, though the party lost.

From the on-going scenario, the PDP, an already fractured party would definitely be worse for it as 2023 approaches.

This may lead to the Ekiti scenario where Ex-Governor Ayo Fayose led the party to a distant third position, never witnessed in the history of the party.

The same Fayose, like a bull in a China shop practically wrestled the party aground, making many top politicians including Senator Dayo Adeyeye and Ex governor Segun Oni to leave the party, even as the party looked on.

Though the APC has its share of internal squabbles, it looks better prepared to face the task ahead, going by its commitment and preparedness for 2023.

While the main opposition party is still groping in the dark, the APC has appointed a Director-General for its campaign organization and set up a committee to fashion out its manifesto.

This has given the party more than enough mileage in the race towards who occupies the seat of power next year.

Obviously, Nigerians are not desirous of voting for a party which cannot put its house in order, lest it may sink Nigeria before our very eyes.

• Umohinyang, a social commentator and public affairs analyst, wrote in from Abuja

The greatest threat to Nigeria’s national unity is the refusal to shift power to the South next year.

Nothing could be more dangerous to our national cohesion than another eight years of somebody from President Muhammadu Buhari’s ethnic group.

The Northern Governors of the APC themselves made this point and saw this danger and consequently insisted on a power shift to the South. To my utter surprise and consternation, they did not just say no to a Northerner from Northwest but they went further by saying no to ANY Northerner including those that are not from Buhari’s ethnic group.

To them it was a matter of honor because this was the commitment that they had made in 2015 when President Buhari came to power. They said that they would not break their word or renege on that agreement under any circumstances. That gesture alone is the single greatest act of self-denial and sacrifice that any ethnic or regional group has made in our entire history and we should commend them for it.

A Northerner could have easily emerged as the APC presidential candidate at our convention if the Northern Governors had not thrown their collective weight behind a Southerner by the name of Tinubu and opted for him.

If they had chosen to support a Northerner, the consequence would have been that we would have ended up having to make a choice between two Northern candidates from the two major political parties of APC and PDP in next year’s presidential election.

That way power would have ended up remaining in the North whichever of the two candidates ended up winning. The Northerners of the APC could have had it in the bag and gone home smiling, yet they put the interests of the party, the nation and the South first and said NO!

They insisted that power must shift regardless and they displayed maturity and a very high degree of responsible behaviour even though at the time some of us did not fully appreciate their point. Yet today few would dispute the fact that they have been vindicated. Simply put, their decision was selfless, historic, honorable and heroic.

Anyone that does not acknowledge or fully appreciate the implications of what they did does not know or understand politics and cannot comprehend the very real dangers that another eight years of Northern rule would have presented for the unity of our nation.

Yet they were not alone. A few months before the APC Northern Governors took their stand, the Southern Governors had met in Asaba ACROSS party lines and they ALL agreed that power must shift to the South in 2023. This was a bold and audacious move which formed part of the basis and an additional reason and incentive for the Northern APC Governors to make their concession and take their noble stand a few months later.

Apart from the earlier stated reasons, they also did so out of deference and respect to the wishes of their Southern counterparts in the party who, led by Governor Rotimi  Akeredolu of Ondo State, continued to insist that the agreement to shift power to the South must not be breached under any circumstances.

Unlike two or three of the Southern Governors in the PDP who sadly broke ranks and dishonored their word by supporting a Northern candidate at their party convention, the APC Northern and Southern Governors never waivered. They stood to the last man. They stood firm and they delivered. That is how Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu emerged as the flag bearer of our party and the entire nation should reciprocate and reward their gesture by ensuring that Tinubu goes on to win the presidential election next year.

Read Also; Why South east should vote Tinubu, not Okowa

We must stand with him, pray for him, fight for him, mobilise for him and ensure that he wins convincingly and, once victorious, we must be prepared to defend his mandate with all we have got. There will be no repeat of June 12 under ANY circumstances, and contrary to the disinformation being peddled around by our detractors, there is no such plan or conspiracy in the offing by those in power today.

We must also be ready to make difficult and uncomfortable sacrifices and live with the hard choices that the candidate has made, knowing that he made them in good faith, in order to win.

The real patriots and party loyalists are those who may have strong reservations about a Muslim/Muslim ticket but who are prepared to overlook that in the interest of a power shift to the South knowing that this will finally put to rest the notion that Southerners are slaves and second class citizens and the idea that the APC is a party for Northerners only.

This is where yours truly stands together with many others that share my Christian faith. Unlike that of some, our reaction to a Muslim/Muslim ticket is not emotional or hysterical but rather practical, calm, calculating and level headed.

It is clear to me and I can confirm this after a series of meetings with both the candidate and his running mate that it is a position that he has taken as a consequence of political expediency and not out of any misguided or shameless attempt to spite, injure, insult or denigrate the 110 million Christians in our country.

Tinubu’s intention is not to undermine Christians, shame the Church or destroy our faith and neither would he even dare to contemplate or attempt to venture such a reckless undertaking and course knowing that it would fail woefully with calamitous consequences both for him and for Nigeria.

Such a move would be counter-productive and a dangerous and grave exercise in futility and if that had been his intention I would NOT stand with him but rather oppose him with every fibre of my being. Those that know me well can attest to the value I place on my faith will confirm to this. Nothing is more important to me than my religious beliefs and I would not in any way compromise those beliefs or my faith for ANYTHING.

To the skeptics and doubters that believe that a Muslim/Muslim ticket is part of a wider plot and plan to Islamise our nation I say, under Tinubu’s watch, this can never happen and neither can it ever be conceived or attempted.

I urge them to consider the following: Since the Governirship election in Osun state a few weeks ago, every single one of the 17 Governors in Southern Nigeria is a Christian whilst there are 3 Christian Governors in the North. This means that out of the 36 Governors in Nigeria 20 are Christians and 16 are Muslims.

Can anyone still be talking about Islamization under such circumstances? I say, FEAR NOT!

Again consider the following: A Christian/Christian ticket won the governorship election in Osun State a few weeks back and defeated a Muslim/Christian ticket yet no-one alleged that there was a plot to Christianise the state and neither did the heavens fall or the Muslims of Osun cry foul even though they constitute 50% of the population of the state.

Again I ask, can anyone still be talking about Islamization under such circumstances?

Again I say, FEAR NOT!

Not only can Nigeria NOT be Islamised but under a Tinubu APC Presidency I have no doubt that major concessions will be made in terms of key positions for Christians not just in the executive but also across the three arms of Government in order to make up the balance and assuage the feelings of the many Christians that are concerned, aggrieved and even offended by the prospect and fielding of a Muslim/Muslim ticket.

There are other key positions that can and will be given to Christians in the three arms of Government which are even more powerful and relevant than that of a Vice President which, with all due respect to those that occupy that position today, is essentially nothing but a spare tyre.

Tinubu and his running mate, Senator Kashim Shettima, will ensure that the necessary concessions are made to Christians and that everyone, regardless of their faith, has a fair and full portion in their administration. Of this I have no doubt.

Permit me to end this contribution with a few words about the opposition PDP.

How can anyone take seriously a party that refuses to honor its own constitution by rotating power to the South and that insists on putting us on the edge of a dangerous precipice by attempting to enthrone another Northerner for yet another eight years?

Can anyone trust a party who has in its ranks two or three Governors from the South South zone who are prepared to betray their own, sabotage the resolve and aspiration of virtually every Southern Nigerian and throw fairness out of the window by joining hands with a bunch of irresponsible and self-serving Northern Governors and leaders in their party to deny the South the Presidency next year?

Even the majority of their own party members and leaders from the South and Middle Belt, led by Nyesom Wike, have kicked against this shameful outrage and rightly so.

If the PDP can break their own party rules by breaching the rules on zoning, cheat their own party members, scam their own party leaders and deny Wike and the South their presidential ticket what won’t they do to Nigeria if they were to ever win power?

Worst still their presidential candidate, the Chairman of their Board of Trustees AND their National Chairman, who fdespite frantic calls to do so, has refused to resign and has said he will stay in office for the next four years, are all from the North!

And so are ALL the spokesmen for their Presidential Campaign Council.

Is this not madness?

Is it not wickedness?

Is it not a formula for disaster and a statement of intent for the perpetual enslavement of the South?

Is this not an insult on the sensibilities and slap in the faces of every Southerner AND Northerner that believes in fairness and decency?

Does this not present a very potent danger and threat to our hopes and aspirations for national unity and stability given all we have witnessed over the last 7 years?

Is this the way to bring us together as one nation and build bridges of peace, unity, love and CONFIDENCE?

I think not.

All this and the PDP still insist on calling themselves a national party and a party that seeks to protect the national interest.

This is a specious and pernicious lie. The truth is that they are a party with a hidden agenda who present a grave danger to our nation.

They are a party of strife and division and as Chief Bode George, a former Deputy National Chairman of the party and a member of the PDP Board of Trustees, eloquently pronounced on Channels Television the other day, they are a party that “have been taken over by the devil”.

It appears to me that, if given power, they would be more interested in protecting a sectional interest for the next eight years rather than the national one.

May God deliver us from their devils, their notorious shenanigans and their divisive agenda.

The good news is that for the first time in our history the majority of Northerners and Southerners across party lines have come together and insisted on a power shift.

Whether they support Bola Tinubu or the rising star Peter Obi, there is a clear national consensus on this issue and it is very promising.

It brings us joy and gives us hope for a better, more peaceful and more united future.

This is a golden opportunity for a genuine and sincere national rebirth and we must not overlook it or take it for granted. It is indeed a massive breakthrough.

Unity and peace can only be rooted and established where there is fairness and equity.

In my view that fairness and equity can be best served by the election of the APC’s Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the 2023 presidential election.

Yet whoever you opt to vote for from the South is a matter of choice. The point is that, whoever your candidate may be, we must ensure that power comes to the South in order to stop this dangerous cycle of regional and ethnic tension, enhance and entrench national unity and give Nigeria a chance to survive and experience the peace that we seek.

Sadly the PDP and the NNPP, with their insistence on Atiku Abubakar and Rabiu Kwankwaso as their presidential candidates respectively and their desire to prolong and perpetuate Northern rule, offers a very dangerous narrative and volatile cocktail that may ultimately end up leading us down the road to Kigali.

God bless Nigeria.

The nation is bleeding and reeling under pains inflicted by terrorists, bandits, militants, secessionists and kidnappers. Violent crime is now the new norm, as armed groups wreak havoc across the nation, killing, maiming and burning properties. Jail break adds another angle to the security twist and puzzle, as it is unimaginable that security facility could be overrun with ease. We hear and read about prison/jail breaks and prisoner escapes across the world, but not in the dimension of the Kuje prison attack that lasted hours and freed about 1000 inmates including terrorists; thereby unleashing more dare devil criminals on the hapless citizens of Nigeria.

The fundamental truth is that the criminal elements including the foreign breeds live and interact with us. And the fact of the matter is that some of us know our criminal neighbours, fraternise with them, and provide them with vital information to strike their targets; hide and provide them escape routes from security operatives. Those hobnobbing with criminals will be the first to cry foul and accuse the leadership of failure. The leadership (politicians and security officers) continue with the promises of finding lasting solution to the problem, even when it is obvious that some of the leaders are sabotaging the efforts being made. A cursory look at the security architecture of the country shows there are many men and officers of questionable characters. We are gradually losing our moral compass and the escalating violent crime across the country is a moral burden on all Nigerians.

When kids choose a profession, they tend to follow in their parents’ footsteps: Doctors’ children often become doctors, lawyers produce lawyers, and plumbers beget plumbers.  Studies show that crime, too, can run in families. Yet, despite the abundance of evidence showing the role of family in crime, criminologists and policymakers have largely neglected this factor. Instead, researchers have looked at other well-known risk causes like poverty, deviant peers at school, drugs, and gangs. Of course, these are real issues. But, a child’s life begins at home with the family even before the neighbourhood, friends, or classmates can lead them astray. “What you are raised with, you grow to become,” says Tracey Bogle, who served a 16-year prison sentence for kidnapping, armed robbery, assault, car theft, and sexual assault. “There is no escape from our criminal contagion.”

Criminals in Nigeria come from multiple sources, home grown and cross border or trans-border.  Nigeria borders are porous allowing all sorts of cross border or trans-border criminal activities such as human trafficking, smuggling, drug trafficking, arm robbery, money laundry and illicit arms trafficking resulting to proliferation of SALW (small arms and light weapons). All these are possible because of the inefficiency, ineffectiveness and corrupt practices of the officers of the Nigerian Customs and Nigeria Immigration.  The trafficking and wide availability of weapons fuel communal conflict, political instability and pose a threat, not only to security, but also to sustainable development.  The Nigeria Customs and Nigerian Immigration officers should search their souls.

Read Also; Insecurity: Is the problem state police or leadership?

Corruption which crept into the Nigeria Police Force has gradually assumed greater dimension in recent times. Today not only are individual officers involved in corrupt practices, evidence abound of officers’ involvement in organized acts of negligence and collusion with unknown persons to perpetuate heinous crimes including :

escape from lawful custody. Men and officers of the Nigerian Police Force should search their souls.

The criminal activities including terrorism, kidnapping and militancy in some parts of the country came about as a result of failure in intelligence gathering.  For most of us, the intelligence community including the SSS (DSS) and NIA is a shadowy no-go area.  The National Intelligence Agency is Nigeria’s version of the Central Intelligence Agency, while the State Secret Service (SSS) is Nigeria’s version of the FBI.  In addition to the police, Nigeria’s intelligence community, such as the State Security Service (SSS), which is responsible for domestic intelligence; National Intelligence Agency (NIA), which is responsible for foreign intelligence and counterintelligence operations, has failed to stop the violent activities of Boko Haram and other militants across the country.

The main dilemma of the defence and intelligence establishments in responding effectively to security challenge is the absence of mutual confidence amongst them. There is undue rivalry and suspicion among the sister organizations, and a quest for personal glory at the topmost levels of the agencies.

In most of Nigeria’s 36 states, where the largely federally-controlled security structures often fail to monitor or respond to grassroots insecurity, state governments have set up supplementary community police organisations or empowered community-based vigilantes. These forces can play a major role in fending off attacks and provide regular armed forces with critical local knowledge, thereby bolstering the effectiveness of counter-insurgency campaigns. But vigilante groups also can undermine central authority, widen conflict by targeting ethnic or political rivals or threaten longer-term stability by continuing as an autonomous armed force after the original conflict has subsided. To use them is to wield a double-edged sword.

Security is Everybody’s business, is a cliché which reverberates in every forum, advertisement, discussion, conference and organization. However, Nigerians are turning their back on neighbours under attack; while some aid and abate criminals attacking their neighbours. Nonetheless, when these callous people notice their neighbour’s house is on fire, they would call the fire department. They would want to help the neighbour and also ensure that the fire doesn’t spread to other homes including theirs. This convoluted way of thinking and behaving is a moral burden on the entire citizenry. Nobody, no matter how sophisticated and clever, is insulated from crime to humanity. It behoves citizens to be their brother’s keeper.

How effective we are in maintaining the security needs of the country depends to a great

degree upon how well we work together, how well and how clearly we understand and perceive the dangers to our national security, and what steps we need to take to effectively reduce identified risks. A successful security program follows an educated appraisal of the situation, a reasonable approach to a solution, and an open line of communication. There should be no unanswered questions on security matters.

Remember. Security is everybody’s business!

Security is particularly your business!

More important, it is your personal responsibility!

• Onovo wrote in from Lekki, Lagos.

I must confess that I did not embrace Facebook when it was first introduced, dismissing it as nothing more than a fad. A short lived fad which was soon to be discarded as the world moved on to newer and better things. I had not reckoned with human narcissism, that ingrained desire to strike a pose before the rest of the world and in doing so create a flattering profile, attracting approval from people all around the world, like minded people who in turn provide their own competing profile for appreciation. My mindset at the time did not allow me to jump onto the Facebook band wagon. However, I was not allowed to indulge myself in this fancy for very long as shortly after the unveiling of Facebook, friend requests began to drop into my inbox with undeniable regularity. These requests came mainly from those I had taught or was teaching at Obafemi Awolowo University, young men and women who wanted to know my views about all manner of topics or wanted me to know what had become of them since they slipped the leash of the university and were now making waves in the big, bad world. Another group of people who filled my inbox with friend requests were those who did not know me from Adam but had been following my writings which at that time were being published with enough regularity in the Guardian to suggest that I was a Guardian columnist. Although I held out for some time and did not accede to those requests, I had to give in and joined the rest of the world in registering on what has become the largest platform in the world on which you could meet just about anybody. Since then, I have met a few people in the flesh who tell me with a smile that they knew me quite well since I was their friend on Facebook. This, I always receive as a compliment since it suggests that of all the thousands of their phantom friends, I had managed to manoeuvre myself into a position of reality, occupied by me in the same way that some space in their mind was reserved for their real friends, those people with whom they shared a common physical space. For all that however, the Facebook experience is for me, still very strongly coloured by its overall lack of reality.

No matter how intimate your Facebook friends appear to be, the relationships contacted on Facebook carry with them a strong whiff if anonymity which is a form of protection from reality unless of course the so called friends choose to solidify their phantom friendship by arranging to confront each other with their respective physical presence. After all, Facebook was birthed by a group of young men who were more comfortable chatting with disembodied human beings than chatting up and actually engaging with people in the flesh. There is therefore an element of recklessness albeit protected by a form of anonymity in the very act of making a broadcast on Facebook.

In the end when I finally overcame my resistance to the very idea of exposing myself on Facebook, I soon found myself with a couple of thousands of friends most of them as remote as they were before we became friends but with the capacity to talk to each other and to any number of people who could not only eavesdrop on our conversations but could actually barge in and take over whatever it is we are talking about. Of course this is the very essence of Facebook because the quality of your post is judged by the number of people who take the trouble to react to your post or better still to actually take the trouble to make comments which generate other comments some of which agree with the original post or disagree in such a way as to show that they are ignorant, sometimes totally ignorant of the subject under discussion and have nothing to offer but their annoying nuisance value. Unfortunately this happens distressingly frequently and is a discouragement to honest participation. For this reason more than anything else I find that I only make periodic visits to the Facebook, to take a cursory glance at what is trending there. This is why I was on Facbook a few days ago to find that one of those denizens of the virtual world said something to the effect that all what is causing the discomfiture which is assailing all countries in Africa can be traced to the contents of a book written by a Guianese professor of history who died at the age of thirty-eight as long ago as 1980. The book which trended furiously in the seventies had the expressive title of ‘How Europe underdeveloped Africa’ was written by Walter Anthony Rodney a radical historian who pitched camp with the masses that had the multiple misfortune of living in Africa and in the African Diaspora. This book was in the tradition of a long line of radical African, Afro-American and Afro-Caribbean scholars who interrogated the Afrcan experience and came away convinced that the root of African suffering remained planted in the soil of Europe and the European Diaspora all over the world.

Read Also; In search of African avatars

The Europeans collided with Africa with characteristic violence towards the end of the fifteenth century when Portuguese sailors who had received schooling in the school of navigation which had been sponsored by a Henry, distinguished from any number of Henrys of that period by being introduced to the world as Henry the Navigator even though he never set foot outside Europe. It was in this school that the Portuguese learnt to sail down the West coast of Africa and return safely to Europe. On those early journeys they touched many places before they arrived in the kingdom of the Kongo which extended over a vast area and took in many parts of what we now know as Angola and the Congos. The king on the Bakongo throne who welcomed the Portuguese to his kingdom was called Joao 1 but it was his son Afonso 1 who interacted with the Portuguese for close to half a century. Within that period, the Portuguese interfered so much in the affairs of the kingdom that he became nothing more than a vassal to his European visitors, a situation which lasted till the twentieth century and brought all indigenous development to in that area to  a halt. There is no doubt that the Portuguese brought the underdevelopment of Kongo with them as they very early became involved with the transportation of the Bakongo out of their country as slaves and configured the kingdom as a source of slaves for the nascent Trans-Atlantic slave trade which went on for more than three centuries and led to the deportation of more than 12 million Africans across the Atlantic in the largest forced migration the world has ever seen. Not only were so may Africans transported in appalling conditions the whole of the economy of West and Central Africa was skewed in the direction of the slave trade which was responsible for the disruption of trade over the entire region.

People have always tended to think of the slave trade in terms of the bodies which were spirited out of Africa to provide labour for the growing economy of Europe through the cultivation of lands in the New World. But this is a short sighted reading of the situation because of the twelve million people that were forced into a life of unremunerated labour, a considerable number of them were highly skilled people and intellectuals who had their usefulness to their communities curtailed by their sad fate. It is often forgotten that without the unpaid labour of Africans it would not have been possible their masters to understand the intricacies of tropical agriculture, the source of their wealth. Eminent historians have now come to the conclusion that without the wealth created by those millions of enslaved Africans, the foundation for the capitalist exploitation of the world would not have been possible. This observation, controversial when it was first pointed out by the brilliant Eric Williams who went on to become the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, has since been corroborated by other prominent historians including Walter Rodney.

Although capitalism was built on the backs of enslaved Africans, the descendants of those slaves have been carefully and rigorously excluded from the benefits of this cruel but all conquering economic model. Africa has been systematically prevented from owning tbe means of production which has led to the fabulous wealth which transformed Europe and its Diaspora into veritable paradises on earth whilst the children of Africa have been relegated to the status of the wretched of the earth, suffering from all the biting indices of disease, poverty and human degradation . This is why genuine African scholars and leaders  of the quality of Walter Rodney, Nkrumah, Nyerere, Awolowo and others have come to the conclusion that the only way that our sorry condition can be ameliorated is to seek refuge in Socialism which would in any case means a return to what existed in most parts of Africa before the Europeans arrived to turn our world upside down and inside out.

The Europeans arrived in Africa at the beginning of the sixteenth century at a time when several impressive empires were flourishing with uncommon vigour in many parts of Africa. Apart from the famous empires of Ghana, Mali and Songhai which were either waxing or waning there were empires within  the boundaries of modern Nigeria that were not just making progress but were strong enough to resist European predation for centuries. The Oyo empire was flourishing impressively in the derived savannah region of the Yoruba country whilst the Benin empire held sway in the forest region as Ife civilisation as well as the Benin empire were producing stunning works of art which have not been surpassed anywhere in the world for their beauty and sheer artistic appeal. It cannot be just coincidence that those artistic feats have not been replicated since the unfortunate arrival of the Europeans on our shores and their subsequent inland penetration as soon as they had developed the military capacity to safely brush aside whatever resistance that Africans could mount against them. All these are empirical evidence of European conspiracy to under-develop Africa so that they can continue to have unfettered access to our resources both human and natural as the current migration of our best brains to Europe has so clearly demonstrated. All those who have a contrary opinion should present objective and well researched evidence to support their claim instead of making empty noise on Facebook.

This is my fourth essay on Prof. Akin Mabogunje. And it is the only one to be written posthumous. When he became a nonagenarian ten months ago in October 2021, I published the last celebratory article to honor his birthday. After a long trajectory of relating with this larger-than-life personality, this is how I prefigured that birthday celebration: “It is better to celebrate life than death. Life, for me, does not consist in the length of existence but in the depth of the life’s worth measured in other-regarding capacities. In other words, it is better to celebrate the lives of those whose very existence constitutes a symbolic stretch of significant influences that a person has exerted on the collectivity. A hero is one whose life transformed the way we see life itself, and makes indelible contributions to our conceptual, intellectual and national infrastructures. This is the essential way in which I conceive of the fulsome life of Prof. Akinlawon Ladipo Mabogunje, the grandfather of disciplinary geography in Africa, an intellectual, global scholar and patriotic exemplar extraordinaire.”

Now, the man and patriot has joined the ancestors. He lived for nine solid decades, more than seven of which have been spent serving in various capacities, from the personal and the state to the national and international. Now, he has been translated. And contrary to the Yoruba adage that we become deified after death, Mabogunje was revered when he was alive; he was a colossus. And now in death, he has become a monument.

It is ever so difficult to quantify the measure of any life; and definitely not a life that carried a full measure of providential grace, as Mabogunje’s autobiography proclaimed. “The purpose of life,” according to Robert Byrne, “is a life of purpose.” Martin Luther King, Jr. caps it: “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?” Prof. Mabogunje surpassed this question with his devotion not only to others but also to his family. I am one of the few, I think, that straddled family and others. And that long relationship I had with him speaks a lot about the passion that defined his entire life of achievement, from scholarship to public life. My mentor-mentee relationship with Papa began many years ago when, with his late friend, Ojetunji Aboyade, they made a conceptual and practical success of reengineering thoughts about grassroots development with the optimum community – OPTICOM experiment, that exploits the principle of social capital and subsidiarity in the rural areas, especially at Aáwé, my home town. My mentorship at the feet of Prof. Mabogunje had started as shared responsibility with Prof. Ojetunji Aboyade as at late 1993 when the latter passed on. As part of Aboyade’s programme for my induction into policy professionalism which was perhaps the most rigorous mentor-mentee learning arrangement anyone could imagine, I would also consult Prof. Mabogunje on those issues of policies that touched on his expertise. I was animated with his indescribable capacity to unravel the stories behind the stories and their philosophical underpinnings as education to embellish the policy analytics dimensions. So, I developed the practice of approaching him as sounding board cum unofficial source of knowledge and teacher, and he gladly obliged throughout my career years in the Federal service and after. In the process, I got enlisted into some of his networks. This, apart from his introducing me to distinguished statesmen like Chief Olusegun Obasanjo (as president, which grace brought my public administration scholarship to bear on the national public service reform process); Chief Emeka Anyaoku (who delivered the keynote at the inaugural conference of the ISGPP); to dozens of global scholars and personalities around the world, and to many development projects like the Ijebu Development Initiative on Poverty Reduction (IDIPR), championed by the Awujale of Ijebuland, HRM Oba Sikiru Kayode Adetona, to name just a few.

Read Also; Akin Mabogunje (1932-2022)

But my most significant learning experience came with the conceptual and administrative trajectories that led to the establishment of the Ibadan School of Government and Public Policy (ISGPP). Throughout all the brainstorming sessions in that experiment in institution building, Prof. Mabogunje would patiently hear you out. And you will know he is very interested in your most earnest ideas and arguments. And like a modern-day Socrates, when he noticed the gap or limitations, as your knowledge of issues play out, he would stretch the necessity of closing that gap by recommending available materials and authorities. And only then would you begin to enjoy the moments of critical engagement with him. Some of those moments led to the sharpening of the ISGPP. Indeed, over many review meetings and technical sessions, Mummy, Justice Titilola Mabogunje, would call to say, “Akin, it is enough. Do you think you are still a young man?” And then, he would check his wrist watch and exclaim, “Do you mean I have been sitting here for these many hours?” That was how dedicated he was to the matters of the mind.

That unflinching discipline is what led from the providential love for geography to an even more uncanny love for Nigeria. This is not a trajectory that anyone can claim to understand; how Mabogunje came to love Nigeria and dedicated himself to her national development and search for greatness. From transforming the study of an “arid” discipline like geography into a truly developmental one, to making Nigeria the centerpiece of his globally sound and locally relevant scholarship, Akinlawon Mabogunje defines the template of patriotic scholarship and socially relevant intellectualism. So, for Mabogunje, geography was not just a discipline, human or physical. It was essentially national—a theoretical articulation of cartographic manipulation to the understanding of Nigerian spaces and places. This becomes even more cogent within the context of Nigeria’s colonial and postcolonial dynamics. As a colonial creation, Nigeria’s amalgamation was an oddity that required postcolonial unraveling. And Mabogunje was right on hand. From his assignment with the 1962 census to the survey of the Kainji region to the delineation and mapping of Abuja as Nigeria Federal Capital Territory, Prof. Mabogunje’s ingenious understanding of geographical dimensions came to the fore in charting a path of development for Nigeria.

His expertise became especially significant with regard to what he called “realistic urban planning” that could lead to regional and national development, and the land tenure predicament in Nigeria. Land reform was especially constrained by the pre-capitalist elements of primogeniture and kinship. Mabogunje’s understanding of the significance of land speaks immediately to Hernando de Soto’s question of why capitalism has not led to the generation of wealth in third world countries, the same way it did in western society. Soto’s answer is that these developing countries, like Nigeria, hold the crucial factors of production, especially land, in “defective forms”: “houses built on land whose ownership rights are not adequately recorded, unincorporated businesses with undefined liability, industries located where financiers and investors cannot see them.” This tallies with Mabogunje’s belief that true development can only come when access to the factors of production is transformed into modern dynamics, for instance, the security of tenure and the property rights of citizens. Land use in Nigeria demands engaging with the deficiencies in the Land Use Act of 1978.

The land reform assignment eventually and inevitably devolved into a fundamental concern with grassroots and rural development. For a plural country like Nigeria, focus on the grassroots is a significant dimension of the federal imperative. And Mabogunje saw it immediately. His argument, contrary to the efforts at capacitating individuals, is to strengthen the community cooperative structures that transform the entire grassroots on the basis of subsidiarity. The principle insists that the rural areas have the potentials to not only transform its own developmental initiatives, but to also enhance Nigeria’s federal strength. And indeed, he insisted, there are four internal elements that are critical for transforming the rural areas: organization, technological innovations, credit institution and market access. And it should not be difficult to see why I read providential assistance to the choice of geography as the discipline that would make Akinlawon Mabogunje—from mapping to rural infrastructure to national development.

Unfortunately, the genius of Akinlawon Mabogunje was critically restricted by the formidable retrogressive forces in Nigerian politics. The bad politics that the Nigerian political class play has a lot to do with how and why heroic patriotism in Nigeria is essentially crippled. There is a fundamental disjuncture between patriotism and development in Nigeria. Those who have the critical expertise, especially the non-politicians, like Prof. Mabogunje and a host of others, from Wole Soyinka to the Nigerian youths, do not have the means to break into the corridors where the core policies are made to affect Nigeria positively and transformation-ally. Mabogunje served his country to the best of his abilities and capacities. But he simply kept coming short against all the factors that have been restricting Nigeria’s growth and progress since independence. And he never relented, despite his advancing age. Now he had done his bit and has gone to the great beyond. He left his intellectual and scholarly footprints all over Nigeria’s policy mechanisms. He left his ideas and ideals all scattered deeply within the context of making Nigeria a great place; the context within which he maturated, and would want others to also benefit. But most significantly, he left his imprints on the many minds that he mentored in several ways.

Akinlawon Ladipo Mabogunje was not just another Nigerian. In his autobiography, he narrated how he met the late Umaru Yar’Adua who asked that he be a part of his resolve to achieve a land reform. This invitation came at a point when Mabogunje, at 75, was determined to take a muchdeserved rest for his aging body. And yet he accepted to serve. For all his adult life, he could not resist serving and deploying his humongous intellect and capacities to thinking and rethinking possible resolutions of the Nigerian predicament. While still alive, Mabogunje was a deeply entrenched monument that reaches deep into the intellectual, administrative and political sides of Nigerian postcolonial life. And now in death, Professor Mabogunje has now transited into a monument that reminds us all, and the political class, about what is possible when realistic policy ideas and frames of actions meet undaunting and focused political resolve in making Nigeria better. Mabogunje, like so many other patriots, believed in Nigeria. The last chapter of his massive autobiography is dedicated to an alternative set of perspectives of what he called an “emerging vision” of Nigeria. Indeed, his last sentence in the narrative of his life declared that he had lived a most fulfilling life in being allowed to play a “modest part” in the emergence of that vision. Only a patriot, who loved and lived for Nigeria, could say that. And may the soul of this giant Iroko, emeritus professor Akinlawon Ladipo Mabogunje, NNOM, CFR, CON, rest in peace.

You do not have to be a literary mind to realize that power is a special kind of wine. It intoxicates and must be tempered by trials, tests and the keeping of focus. Raw power unmediated by checks and balances disrobes otherwise sane individuals from the commonality of human kindness. In the corridors of power many, forgetting that they are humans whose breath is completely at the mercy of their Creator, behave like the lords of time and circumstances. They look down on others as if they are of no consequence. As the Bard of Avon says through Brutus in Julius Caesar: “The abuse of greatness is when it disjoins remorse from power.”

If you have a friend who has not attained any position of power, that friend isn’t really your friend because you may not know his character. Most people hide their inner character and behavioral patterns while still searching for power. But as soon as they get that power, they become their real self. As John Dalberg-Acton, the 19th century English historian once famously said, “power tends to corrupt but absolute power corrupts absolutely’. Actually, the Bard of Avon provides a neat summation of the various categories of people who traverse the corridors of power: “Some are born great, some achieve greatness while some have greatness thrust upon them.”

The pages of history are replete with people who were never expected to be in the corridors of power and who mismanaged it so blatantly and invidiously, egged on by fawning felons. In our political environment, power and its mismanagement is a common phenomena, and it is in this regard that the macabre dance going on in the Gateway State invites commentary. Created in 1976, the state has seen seasons of power and its wielder. In 1999, there was Governor Olusegun Osoba who was only privileged to spend only a term, but whose legacy still remains till today. There was Governor Gbenga Daniel, a brilliant but brash leader who spent two terms and thereafter contended with the side effects of the arrogance of power: his successor made sure that he was a regular visitor in EFCC office and some of his properties were even confiscated. Humbled and chastised, he is now trying to get his acts together.

Read Also: 2023 poll: Ogun and Amosun’s grandiose delusion

And then there was Ibikunle Amosun, the focus of this piece. He came in peaceably but soon became a warlord, taking the battle to his predecessors and hounding them out of the Ogun political space and even geography: Osoba and Daniel could not move about freely in the state. Towards the end of his term, unable to install a successor through the APC platform on which he was elected, Amosun spurned the authentic primary which brought in Dapo Abiodun and took his structure to the Allied Progressive Movement (APM), fighting against his party. After his government wound down, there were allegations of atrocities, including accumulation of arms and financial recklessness (uncompleted projects fully paid for, etc) but the Ogun Central senator has not been given the kind of treatment he meted out to his predecessors, apparently because of the gentlemanly character of his successor, against whom he (Amosun) has not stopped launching a media war.

The brain behind the negative publicity against his successor, Amosun was accused of coming to Abeokuta, the state capital, inspecting projects as if he was still in government. Abiodun ignored all the shenanigans, including the media war on issues already rested at the Supreme Court. When that would not work, the fake news changed character: the governor was portrayed as an ex-convict, with forged documents to back up the lie.

Instead of seeking rapprochement for him to get a return ticket to the Senate, the ex-governor announced to all and sundry that he would be Nigeria’s next president. Facing certain defeat, he stepped aside from the charade at the last minute. While he was away at the market of presidential buffoonery, the Ogun senatorial primaries were held and candidates emerged. And fully aware of the provisions of the Electoral Act prohibiting participation in two different primaries, the man who claims to be Ogun’s political leader turned full attention to his nemesis. Recently, while receiving an award in Abeokuta, the state capital, that the 2019 governorship election in Ogun State that brought in Governor Dapo Abiodun as the fifth democratically elected governor of the state was rigged in his (Abiodun’s) favour and that the riggers had apologised to him (Amosun).

But that gaffe, if gaffe it really was, has now landed him in legal quagmire, for by his own admission, he had been hobnobbing with election riggers. Civil society predictably rose in dissent, with one, the Centre for Good Governance (CGG), asking the authorities of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) to invite him for questioning. The arguments were unimpeachable: Amosun made his explosive claims knowing full well that election rigging is a felony, and that the quest for the validation of the election he rubbished went as far as the Supreme Court, which declared that the incumbent governor won fair and square. Besides, local and international observers that monitored the election said that it conformed to laid-down rules and reflected the choice of voters, meaning that the Ogun Central senator must tell Nigerians the facts in his possession which INEC, the apex court and local and international observers did not have.

In any case, Abiodun did not have all the paraphernalia of government to swing votes in his favour, relying only on the goodwill of the people of Ogun State. Thus, by claiming that the 2019 governorship election in Ogun State was rigged, Amosun not only cast aspersions on the integrity of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), he also cast aspersions on the integrity of the Supreme Court, and the police and other security agencies who were visibly on ground on the day of the election. The senators has to explain why he refused to report a felony brought to his knowledge, even with the police and DSS at his beck and call.

The spectre of an ex-governor holding political crusades against his successor, making incendiary remarks targeted at stoking crisis and undermining the peace and stability of the land is definitely an ugly one. It amounts to arrogance of power for Amosun to claim that he would remove his successor, whom he did not install in the first place, from office. Arrogating the powers of the Ogun electorate to yourself simply because you once led them is sheer buffoonery. How can a senator who could not even secure his own re-election boast of uninstalling a governor when he could not even install a successor? Power corrupts, but it’s sheer comedy when you claim powers you do not even have.

• Branco contributes this piece through funmibranco@naver.com

Every 12th August, the world celebrates the youths on the International Youth Day (IYD), an awareness day designated by the United Nations (UN) to draw attention to a given set of cultural and legal issues surrounding youths. International Youth Day is celebrated annually on 12 August to bring youth issues to the attention of the international community and celebrate the potential of youths as partners in today’s global society.

The Day gives an opportunity to celebrate and mainstream young peoples’ voices, actions and initiatives, as well as their meaningful, universal and equitable engagement. The first IYD was observed on 12 August, 2000. The theme of this year’s International Youth Day is ‘Intergenerational Solidarity: Creating a world for all Ages’.

While there is no universally accepted definition of the term youth, several organizations and governmental agencies have tried giving different definitions to the term youth. The United Nations (UN) defines youths as ”those persons between the ages of 15 and 24 years”. The African Youth Charter defines youth as ”every person between the ages of 15 and 35″. Many countries also draw a line on youths at the age which a person is given equal treatment under the law, often referred to as the “age of majority”, this age is often 18 in many countries. The Nigerian National Youth Policy (2001) defines youth as ”comprising all young persons between the ages of 18 and 35 years who are citizens of the Federal Republic of Nigeria”. UNESCO understands youth as ”a period of transition from the dependence of childhood to adulthood’s independence and awareness of our interdependence as members of a community”.

The theme of this year’s International Youth Day (IYD), ‘Intergenerational Solidarity: Creating a world for all Ages’, agrees with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Number 10 which targets amongst others;

‘By 2030, empower and promote the social, economic and political inclusion of all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion or economic or other status’; and ‘Ensure equal opportunity and reduce inequalities of outcome, including by eliminating discriminatory laws, policies and practices and promoting appropriate legislation, policies and action in this regard’. Solidarity across generations is imperative for sustainable development in our world.

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines Ageism as “the stereotypes (how we think), prejudice (how we feel) and discrimination (how we act) directed towards others or oneself, based on age”.  Ageism is often seen to overlap with other forms of discrimination and prejudices such as, sexism (an ideology based on the belief that one sex is superior to another. It is discrimination, prejudice, or stereotyping based on gender); racism (prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism against a person or people on the basis of their membership of a particular racial or ethnic group, typically one that is a minority or marginalized); ethnicism (consciousness of or emphasis on ethnic identity or culture).

Read Also: Tackling youth unemployment

The objectives of this year’s International Youth Day theme, ’Intergenerational solidarity: Creating a World for All Ages’ is to amplify the message that action is needed across all generations to achieve the SDGs and leave no one behind. It also seeks to raise awareness on certain barriers to intergenerational solidarity, notably ageism, which impacts young and old persons, while having detrimental effects on the society as a whole.

The current generation of youths are the largest in history and young people often comprise the majority in several countries of the world, therefore considering the needs and aspirations of youths in matters of age-related barriers in spheres of their lives such as employment, political participation, health, justice and denial of access to opportunities is a demographic imperative.

Former Secretary-General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, once asserted that ”Young people should be at the forefront of global change and innovation. Empowered, they can be key agents for development and peace. If, however, they are left on society’s margins, all of us will be impoverished. Let us ensure that all young people have every opportunity to participate fully in the lives of their societies”.

More than ever before, Nigeria and the world at large needs Intergenerational Solidarity and youths are prime determinants of this much needed solidarity. All over Nigeria and across different spheres of lives, there is pronounced tendency to suppress the voice of the youths and generally limit their efforts in political and advocacy movements.

The mainstreaming and inclusion of young people in governance, politics and in the society more broadly, is key to creating a world for all. The process of social inclusion for youth, including participation in decision-making as well as access to quality education, health care and basic services promotes their role as active contributors to society and affords young people with opportunities to reach their potential and achieve their goals. When youths are excluded from political, economic and social spheres and processes, it can be a risk factor for violence and violent forms of conflict. Therefore, identifying and addressing the intergenerational and social exclusion of young people is a precondition for National and global progress.

As Nigeria celebrates the youths on International Youth Day (IYD) 2022, government across all levels must develop and deploy fresh strategies and evolve new ways of bridging intergenerational gaps, engaging youths and making them take the lead in creating a new Nigeria.

To achieve this, I will recommend that government, educational stakeholders and those saddled with the task of handling youth-related issues, take the following strategies;

1. a) Involving youths in planning and policy formulations – youths are better positioned to understand the challenges they go through and the psychology of their peers. Young people feel marginalized and rejected when their voices are not heard or trusted as credible.  Youths must be heard and allowed to express their opinions and most importantly, contribute to the growing discuss of national development.
2. b) Developing the knowledge-base and skills of youths – youths should be provided with practical skills and knowledge on technology, emotional intelligence, conflict resolution and leadership. The mandatory one-year National Youth Service and other youth-related training hubs and centres in the country should be upgraded and their programmes and curriculum re-designed to reflect current realities and develop the knowledge-base of the youths as well as prepare them to be future leaders. It will not be out of place for each state government or educational institution to create a leadership hub in the mould of the International Visitors Leadership Program (IVLP) of the United States.
3. c) Promoting Intergenerational Solidarity – it’s a truism that youths alone do not have the answers and solutions to societal problems, so also do the adults and governments at all levels. When there is chemistry between youths’ vision/dynamism and the experience/support of adults and the government at all levels, there will no doubt be unprecedented progress and development. A mentor-mentee relationship aimed at bridging the intergenerational gap must be promoted.  We must all work to create a world for all ages.
4. d) Encouraging the participation of youths in leadership and politics – governments at all levels must encourage the active participation of youths in leadership and politics. Almost all those who fought for Nigeria’s independence and led in the early years of independence were all youths. One key incentive that can make youths become active in the political space is if they are allowed to take the driver’s seat of leadership. The Not Too Young To Run Bill signed into law by President Mohammadu Buhari on 31st May, 2018 is a step in the right direction but the government must go beyond that to allot slots for the young people and ensure its workability. Nigeria must emulate other African nations and advanced countries where the age-limits for contesting elections are reduced to encourage the full participation of youths in politics. It is only logical that if youths are allowed to vote at the age of 18, they should also be allowed to be voted-for at their young ages. Another incentive is the de-monetization of the entire electoral process.
5. e) Rewarding outstanding young achievers – youths should be motivated and rewarded as this stirs them up to do more. Plain rewarding systems such as certificates, prizes and scholarships can serve as great incentives for youth. It’s important to avoid rewarding “bad behaviour and gangsterism” by incentivizing young people who are positively contributing to their communities and societies. Our recognition and National awards should include not just money-bags or political jobbers, but outstanding youths who have contributed to the positive image of the nation. This makes them serve as role models to others.
6. f) Mainstreaming the IYD – since youths constitute a huge part of the national and global demographics, it is advocated that governments and stakeholders should mainstream and draw more attention to celebrating youths on 12 August each year. Programmes such as youth-related conferences, symposiums, workshops and summer bootcamps can be organized. This will positively engage the youths and make them today’s leaders that they truly are.

• Olamoyegun is a Leadership Coach and Consultant. He can be reached via adewaleolamoyegun2012@gmail.com.

It is said that those who live in glass houses should not throw stones. There is perhaps no better proverb that captures Trump’s most recent legal trouble than the wise sentiments embedded within that axiom. During the 2016 presidential election campaign, Trump would whip the crowd into a frenzy with chants of ‘lock her up’. It was a staple of his campaigns and it clearly delighted his MAGA fans who without fail chorused the same words. Of course, it was his opponent, Hilary Clinton, that he was suggesting should be locked up.

 

Trump and his supporters were convinced that she had violated the law by using a personal email server to conduct sensitive government matters. It did not matter that initial investigations cleared her of any wrong doing or that there was an ongoing FBI investigation being led by the then FBI Director, James Comey (who later recommended that she should not be indicted by the Justice Department). For Trump and his MAGA supporters, the fact that Hilary Clinton was on the campaign trail and not behind bars was another indication that Washington was indeed a cesspool of corruption and a ‘swamp that had to be drained’.

In January 2018, now as president, Donald Trump signed a national security bill into law that further criminalised the mishandling of classified material. The belief that Hilary Clinton had been let off following the James Comey investigation may have played a role in the administration’s decision to make changes to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The bill turned the mishandling of classified material from a misdemeanour into a felony and increased the maximum sentence from one to five years.

Earlier this week, in an unprecedented move, the FBI raided Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence to recover supposed classified material. No former president had ever been subjected to such a humiliating raid. The Attorney General, Merrick Garland, insisted that there was probable cause to believe that the former president had sensitive and classified documents in his possession, including documents relating to nuclear weapons. In a weird twist of fate, the Justice Department could indict Trump. Would Trump be the victim of his own law? For bible scholars, this would be akin to Haman being hung on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai.

Read Also: Between Trump and Duterte: And the beat goes on!

A few days after the raid on his residence, Trump legal woes were compounded in a separate case with the New York attorney general’s office. The Trump Organisation is facing investigations on whether it mislead insurers, tax authorities, and lenders on the value of its assets.  For many years, Trump derided those who had to plead their Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination. He was particularly uncompromising in railing against Hilary Clinton’s aide who invoked his Fifth Amendment rights during the Senate investigations into Benghazi. Trump suggested that it was cowardly and if he had nothing to hide, then he ought not be worried about the risk of self-incrimination. On Wednesday, it was revealed that Trump invoked the Fifth Amendment 440 times during the six-hour deposition with New York’s Attorney General, Letitia James. Again, the irony is startling.

Trump faces multiple criminal investigations and civil lawsuits. Indeed, as one analyst argues, he might be embroiled in many of these lawsuits for the rest of his life. There is the criminal investigation in Georgia for his call to Georgia’s Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, to “find 11,780 votes” to overturn the results in Georgia in his favour. The investigations also cover the nefarious plan to certify fake electors to the electoral college. There are also civil lawsuits filed by capitol policemen against Mr Trump for inciting the January 6 2021 riot that put them in harm’s way. All of these investigations may have enormous consequences for the former president.

So, what consequences can Trump face? With the civil law suits, he might be subjected to significant compensatory damages that may leave him out of pocket. The New York attorney general office has previously shown a willingness to hold Trump accountable. In 2016, the office secured a $25 million settlement against Trump University, and in 2019, $2 million in court-ordered damages for misusing the Trump Foundation’s funds for political purposes.

Some analysts also suggest that he could face imprisonment. Section 2071 of Title 18 of the United States Code criminalises the possession of government documents or records and the wilful and unlawful concealment, removal, mutilation, obliteration, falsification or destruction of such document or record. The law subjects anyone convicted of contravening it to a fine or up to three years in prison. I am, however, of the opinion that even if Trump is indicted and convicted in any of the criminal investigations he is facing, he is unlikely to face imprisonment. As a former president, he is entitled to Secret Service protection for the rest of his life, and even if convicted those privileges remain. It would be logistically impossible to have Secret Service agents incarcerated with him.

There is also the argument that he could be prevented from running in the 2024 election if convicted. For his supporters, all of his current legal woes are an attempt to ensure he is barred from that election cycle. The most practical path towards barring Trump would be if the Congress invokes Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. The section disqualifies enemies of the United States. If the ongoing investigations into the January 6 insurrection significantly implicates Trump as it is expected to do, then the Congress could disqualify him under that provision. I am convinced, however, that this is unlikely. The politically divided nature of the US Congress means that this option has limited chances of succeeding.

One possible consequence from all of these legal troubles could also be that Trump’s path back to the White House in 2024 may have just been made much easier for him. If the Attorney General, Merrick Garland, fails to indict Trump or the case fails in the court, it may validate Trump’s effort to characterise his legal woes as a witch-hunt. As a politician with an incredible capacity to generate momentum and following, and given the uninspiring nature of Biden’s government, Trump could be vaulted back into the White House.

Since leaving office in January 2021, Donald Trump has refused to lead a quiet life. He has generated controversy and stayed in the news in the way only he can. The coming months are unlikely to be different, but they may also be the most difficult he has had until now.

• Dr Adediran is an Assistant professor in International Relations at Liverpool Hope University. He can be contacted on: bolaadediran2020@yahoo.com

In a spirited but unconvincing attempt to justify Nigeria’s recent rather bizarre donation of the sum of N1.4 billion to the neighbouring Republic of Niger for the procurement of 10 Toyota Land Cruiser vehicles purportedly for security purposes, the Minister of Finance, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, insinuated that the gesture was ultimately in our own national interest and, in any case, a decision well within the rights of President Muhammadu Buhari to take. According to the Minister, “This was not the first time the country is providing such interventions to her neighbours. Let me just say that over time, Nigeria has had to support its neighbours, to enhance their capacity to secure their countries as it relates to us. This is not the first time that Nigeria had assisted Niger Republic, Cameroun or Chad. The President makes an assessment as to what is required based on the request of their Presidents. Such requests are approved and interventions are provided. It is to enhance their capacity to protect their security and also to Nigeria”.

It is true that in more prosperous times when a thriving oil boom made Nigeria a veritable medium economic power, the country acted as big brother and a bounteous Father Christmas, not just to her neighbours but far beyond Africa. That was a prodigal era when a former Head of State enthused that Nigeria’s problem was not money but what to do with it. But that boisterous, optimistic era has given way to today’s sobering and harsh economic realities and the kind of perverse altruism exhibited towards Niger in this instance suggests a government living in inexplicable denial.

The Federal Government ought to demonstrate a greater sensitivity to the fact that millions of Nigerians are today confronted by adverse and painful existential conditions. From a projected 82.1 million people living in poverty in 2018/2019, the estimated figure of impoverished Nigerians has risen to 95.1 million in 2022. This is a function of defective and inappropriate fiscal and monetary policies by successive governments, ineffective implementation, even of otherwise sound policies, continuing large-scale corruption and waste as well as external factors beyond our control such as the crash in global oil prices, the Coronavirus pandemic or the ongoing Russian-Ukraine war. But to continue to approve needless expenditures like the one on Niger Republic in these grim times is inexcusable.

Read Also: President Buhari’s controversial charitable act

According to data from the Debt Management Office (DMO), the country’s debt profile increased from N35.556 trillion in December, 2021, to N41 trillion as at March, 2022, and it continues to spiral. Experts estimate that Nigeria spent about N2.8 trillion on debt servicing in the first quarter of this year. During this period, the fiscal performance report showed that N1.94 trillion was expended on debt service, N1.26 trillion for personnel costs and pensions, leaving only N773.63 billion for capital expenditure. What rational basis thus explains this largesse to Niger? In any case, in what concrete way will what are essentially luxury vehicles promote security in that country? Was the input of the relevant security agencies sought in arriving at a decision to incur this expenditure? True, the security of neighbouring countries is integral to that of any sovereign jurisdiction but what we have in Nigeria today is a near descent to anarchy within, and only expenditures that directly address this challenge and help restore normalcy must be our highest priority now.

We agree with the finance minister that the President has the right to assess what is in the best interest of the country and exercise his responsibility to take decisions in that light, albeit without prejudice to the right of Nigerians to subject such decisions to scrutiny. However, it is also assumed in a democracy that due process and constitutionality would be followed in the exercise of the powers of elected leaders at all levels. In that regard, was this expenditure duly appropriated and authorised by the legislature? How come that it became public knowledge not through a direct communication to the public by government but only after the transaction was leaked in the social media? This surely raises questions of propriety and transparency.

It is unfortunate that taking decisions without rigorously weighing what ought to be the country’s right priorities is becoming a pattern with this administration. For instance, the country is currently constructing the 284-km railway line from Kano in Nigeria to Maradi in Niger at a cost of $1.9 billion when scores of perhaps even more critical rail and road infrastructure linking different zones within the country have either been neglected or progressing at a snail’s speed due to paucity of funds. This project has been justified partly on the basis that it will enable landlocked West African countries currently exporting through Benin Republic, Togo, Ghana and Ivory Coast to begin to do so through Nigeria. But ports facilities within Nigeria are grossly underdeveloped and dysfunctional, implying that it would have been more logical to deploy funds to address this problem as the first priority.

Again, earlier in the year, it was only after the Secretary-General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation(OIC), Hussein Brahim, issued a statement commending Nigeria for donating $1 million to the Humanitarian Trust Fund for Afghanistan, that Nigerians knew that their government had made such a commitment. Again, such a gesture, which in itself is quite noble and altruistic, is difficult to understand against the background of millions of displaced persons in different parts of Nigeria in dire need of humanitarian care. As the country’s debt mounts astronomically, it is absurd for the government to continue to indulge in paradoxical generosity of negligible benefit to Nigerians.