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  • Bishop Kukah and ‘the genocide’

    Bishop Kukah and ‘the genocide’

    • By Francis Damina

    Hardly had the Bishop Mathew Hassan Kukah finished his submission at the Augustinianum Hall, Rome, at the launch of ACIN 2025 world report on religious freedom, when his fellow Christians – educated clerics not excepted, started throwing stones at him. His crime:  he had in the submission called on the US not to re-designate Nigeria as a country of particular concern because of the commitment he has so far seen on the part of the Tinubu-led government to ending insecurity in the country.

    The result was the name-calling, bashing, brickbat throwing, and sabre rattling that accompanied the call, even by members of the theocratic class where the Bishop is a revered ancestor. But since Northern Nigeria is the host to the said genocide, or whatever it is called, and we are the supposed victims, then it is natural that we should be allowed to tell our story.

    Bishop Kukah is not the only one who has seen the commitment on the part of the present government to ending the madness. For some time now, at least from where we are standing, we can gauge the difference between the Buhari days and now. While we can now go to our farms with little fear, we have witnessed the arrest and sentencing of some perpetrators of these crimes to a reasonable proportion. We may not be where we are yet, but we are not where we were yesterday. And this is a complete departure from our bloody yesterday when the Buhari-led government gave so much oxygen to extremists via his appointments and inaction. 

    Bishop Kukah may just be saying to the US: ‘This man is not sleeping. You don’t need to re-designate us as if nothing is being done. Yet, you can partner with us so we can end the ongoing madness in our country’.

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    Though there have been pockets of abnormalities against Christians mostly by extremists in Muslim dominated territories, Muslims are equally complaining of same in places where they constitute the minority. For instance, like their Christian counterparts, they often complain of denial of land to build mosques, equal opportunities in schools and in government. In this case, while Christians may complain that Christian Religious Knowledge may not be in the school syllabus in parts of Northern Nigeria, or that there are no spaces provided for the building of chapels in some or most universities, Muslims could also complain of same in the Southeast and elsewhere.  Already, Igbo Muslims are already crying persecution. Yet, apart from these venial crimes, it is important to ask why Northern Nigeria remains the fertile soil where all kinds of violent religious groups have continued to germinate? For me, this is the crux of the matter.

    This is where I think a theological dialogue amongst both Christian and Muslim leaders to sincerely discuss the hopes and the hindrances of this perennial misnomer becomes imperative. A dialogue to be tailored around such themes like the family, inter-faith marriages, education, and respect for one another.

    Of course , scholars have continued to ask why in the southwestern part of the country, adherents of the two religions had become unconscious of their differences unlike the North where it is the first article of engagement. They have also been asking why the Western part has no almajiris in their brand. But also, why they don’t kill their own Deborahs on behalf of God!  This is probably what has led to the coinage of what is today known as ‘Northern Islam’ by way of distinction. 

    But the role and place of religion in the Nigerian society has to be unambiguously clarified. In our constitutionalism, what do we actually mean when we say the constitution is the supreme law of the land? In the event of a clash between the provisions of the constitution and our Holy Books (Bible and Quran), which are we obliged to obey first?  Of course, the constitution. Yet, the reverse has always been the case and the heavens have not fallen! Or, are our daily engagements not replete with stories of how common citizens and groups continue to put axes to the root of the tree thereby ending the lives of their fellow citizens at the slightest provocation? And most times, in the name of what they believe?

    Today, insecurity, whatever name we elect to call it, has become a merchandise. Conflict entrepreneurs are daily making their kills. And the currency required for this transaction is merely the narrative that paints one or members of his constituency as the only victims. The narrative has to be palatable to the willing donors. A narrative that makes the benefactors shed tears. A sort of argumentum ad misericordiam!  Oh God, while your people are dying, others are busy with their corpses as collateral to negotiate for opportunities. Yet, on this, all have sinned – religious and political leaders, ordinary citizens alike!

    What is clear is that, the violence is as complex as it is complicated. It is a tournament of bloodletting that all of us are participants. Though wearing different jerseys, we are all united by a common goal – winning the trophy to our side. The fact that we still lack the capacity to even describe what is happening, says it all. 

    Yes because, on some occasions, violence was unleashed on Christians, priests kidnapped, and the masterminds are from within. Ditto the other divide. As we speak,  just within the Bishop’s native home of Anchuna, less than a kilometre from his house, the Ardon Fulani, one of those Fulanis  he trained up to university level, had been kidnapped. The wakilin (representative) Fulani is also missing. Only two weeks ago, Abun Fulani and her daughter were kidnapped. Also alhajis Tukur and Shede among several others. Who are they to blame?  This is why it is not difficult to explain why Bishop Kukah who has seen it all, an accomplished scholar on the manipulation of religion, has become a sign of contradiction. A sign that has become an embarrassment to even some members of the theocratic class who between brotherhood-in – faith and brotherhood -in- creation, will want him elect the former.

    Finally, my position is that, these anomalies have continued because of the weakness of the state. A state that is unable to use its judiciary to punish criminals irrespective of their creedal or biological make-up. A situation where an individual or group commits murder, ransack communities, kidnap citizens for ransom, they sometimes get arrested and are taken to court. But the day after, they are seen moving freely, is unacceptable. The Nigerian state must develop the sophistication of punishing criminals irrespective of the name or identity they answer to. 

    •Damina, who is SSA Research and Documentation to Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna State, can be reached via francisdamina@gmail.com

  • Delta: Confronting the security challenge

    Delta: Confronting the security challenge

    By Ray Umukoro

    In the spirit of the Renewed Hope agenda, President Bola Tinubu should be upbeat about the recent security development in Delta State. On Wednesday, October 15, Governor Sheriff Oborevwori formally launched the Delta State Security Trust Fund. This launch rings with a note of determination and verve. It has a renewed focus on public-private partnership in the real sense of such arrangement.

    Oborevwori did not mince words. He was serious about the necessity of such Fund and the collaboration with the private sector. Aside fulfilling the constitutional duty of government to protect the lives and property of the citizenry, the focus on security by Delta State government syncs with the ambition of the Tinubu government to grow Nigeria’s economy to a $1 trillion economy by 2030.

    Many Nigerians have questioned the feasibility of the Tinubu’s ambition. But recent developments in the economy typified by improved external reserves, clearance of backlog of forex debts to companies operating in Nigeria, dipping inflation, increasing non-oil export among others, point to a healing national economy. In that mix of turnarounds and stimulants of economic rebound is the iron-cast resolve of the president to ensure a spike in crude oil production at a time when importation of petrol and allied products is being curtailed by resurgent indigenous production of the same products which ultimately frees up the dollar reserve. It is on this premise that whatever happens in Delta should matter to the president and Nigerians at large.

    Delta as one of the topmost oil-producing states in Nigeria holds the ace in this journey to a $1 trillion economy. From 2023 to 2024, Delta was Nigeria’s top producer of crude oil and condensates, maintaining a wide lead over other states.

    Data by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), which covered crude oil and gas production figures from November 2023 to September 2024 placed Delta at the cusp of oil-bearing states as the chief driver of Nigeria’s hydrocarbon economy. In post-independence Nigeria, Delta State has played key roles in the development of Nigeria. As a critical part of the oil-rich Niger Delta region, it has had its fair share of oil-induced violence and crimes, internecine upheavals and in some cases inter-communal crisis. All of this impaired the security of the state with reported cases of shooting, arson, piracy, illegal oil bunkering and other vices. The result was that some oil and gas companies and those in related services shipped out of the state and out of the country. Some declared force majeure and quit. This development stymied oil production. The aftermath was reduced forex earnings from crude oil and loss of jobs due to shuttered oil corporates.

    But Oborevwori has reset the insecurity algorithm of Delta. The communal crises that once rocked the ‘Big Heart’ state have ceased. The restiveness of the youths has stanched by the stroke of youth engagement and undeniable development. It is a development model worth replicating across the nation. A bottom-up approach which minds both the vertical and horizontal pillars of development in a multi-city and multi-ethnic state. He won the confidence of the people by keeping the books open. He did not just make electoral promises for votes amassment. He has been keeping to his words. Upskilling the people, building infrastructure and fostering a conducive environment for both endogenous and exogenous investments. As the investors of Delta origin have ramped up their investments in the state, so has Delta continued to attract multinationals in diverse fields.

    All the socio-economic indicators point to a state on the ascendancy in a season of Renewed Hope. Knowing that only insecurity can burst the bubble of steady advancement, Oborevwori is staking everything in his arsenal to ensure that the state is secured. He believes, like President Tinubu, that the surest path to development is the path of peace and security.

    For sure, Oborevwori recognises the diversity of the state which also reflects the diversity of the needs of the people. On this, he has carefully structured wealth and infrastructure distribution to suit the different needs of the variegated communities, from rural communes to urban centres.

    But the masterstroke is how he has sustained peace in a once febrile state. The recent formal launch of the Security Trust Fund indexes his unflinching determination to maintain and sustain peace in the state with concomitant boost to industrialisation, investments and general atmosphere of peace and security. The recent surge in the influx of Nigerians from other states to Delta with many playing big in hospitality, real estate, merchandise and other productive activities attests to the growing investor confidence in Delta state. The return of active night life complete with buzzing socio-economic activities tells the story of a state at peace with itself.

    Peace is not cheap. Peace is expensive and comes with its peculiar cost. However, the cost of peace pales to zilch when compared to the cost of absence of peace, the Hobbesian state of primitive criminality and paralysis of law and order. While this may still persist in some states across the country, including states contiguous to Delta, it is not so in Delta State. Peace prevails.

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    The Security Fund launch which held in Asaba, was attended by high profile Nigerians including industry captains and top security chiefs. It was a roll call that included Group Chairman of Access Holdings Plc, Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede; Zenith Bank Founder and Chairman, Mr. Jim Ovia; High Chief Government Ekpemupolo (aka Tompolo), who donated a princely N10 billion to the Fund. Tompolo as chairman of Tantita Security Services is a major stakeholder in the Niger Delta security circuit. The Security Trust Fund was originally established by law in 2013. The formal launch in 2025, 12 years later, underscores Oborevwori’s resolve to sustain a framework for resource mobilisation to complement government’s spending on security. Partnering with the private sector will not only help in mobilising fund but will also enhance monitoring of fund’s deployments and outcomes.

    Oborevwori is intentional about the Fund as it would action the acquisition of modern surveillance technology, operational vehicles, communication equipment and allied security-enhancement gadgets while supporting capacity-building for security personnel and community vigilante groups across the 25 local councils in the state.

    Aig-Imoukhuede described the Fund as a “defining moment in the state’s history.” While commending Governor Oborevwori for transforming Delta into one of Nigeria’s most peaceful and investment-friendly states, he branded Oborvwori as “both a driver and an enabler of progress. While others talk, he just gets it done,” he quipped. Aig-Imoukhuede made a personal donation of N100 million on behalf of himself and his wife, Ofure, projecting that the fund could attract up to N100 billion by end of 2025.

    For Jim Ovia, founder of Zenith Bank, the Security Trust Fund is “a bold, forward-looking initiative. Security is the foundation of peace, prosperity, and business growth. This Fund unites stakeholders to build a safer and more stable Delta,” Ovia said, pledging an enduring partnership with the state government to foster confidence among investors and citizens alike.

    Delta is very critical in the realisation of the Tinubu vision. Whatever happens in the state should engage the attention of the president. In the case of the Security Fund with its implications for peace in the state and more money to the national treasury, the president should be patting Oborevwori on the back for coming frontally against the bogey of insecurity in a season of national anomie.

    • Umukoro, policy analyst, writes from Warri, Delta State.

  • The lie called ‘One Nigeria’

    The lie called ‘One Nigeria’

    By Oladoja M.O

    There comes a point in every nation’s existence when it must interrogate the very myths that forged its being, and it appears Nigeria has reached that juncture. “One Nigeria” a slogan as old as our independence, repeated in classrooms, parliaments and pulpits alike has gradually morphed from a patriotic creed into a hollow incantation that adorns speeches, but no convictions; a rhetoric that unites in sound but not in substance. And yet, like an overused balm, it is still generously applied to wounds that have long become septic.

    When the British, in their cartographic arrogance, decided that the roaring rivers of the Niger and Benue could somehow dissolve the ancestral boundaries of a hundred nations into a single name, they planted both a promise and a peril. The promise was the strength of size, the illusion that numerical vastness equals greatness. The peril, however, lay in presuming that different civilizations with their own gods, economies, memories and destinies could be hammered into a coherent polity without a shared philosophy of being. What emerged was less a federation of equals than a fragile patchwork held together by coercion and cliché.

    History is replete with examples of states that mistook enforced coexistence for genuine unity. The Soviet Union once imagined that the subjugation of difference was the same as solidarity until it collapsed under the weight of its own contradictions. Yugoslavia thought nationalism could be suppressed by ideology until ethnic passions burned Sarajevo into ash. Even Sudan, our continental cousin, insisted on an indivisible state until the centre could no longer contain the centrifugal cries for dignity and recognition, and the South tore itself free in a baptism of blood. Each of these polities preached “oneness,” but none could manufacture mutual trust. Unfortunately, Nigeria’s situation, though cloaked in democratic pretensions, bears unnerving resemblance.

    Decades after independence, we continue to stagger under the illusion of unity while exhibiting every symptom of division. Our politics remains a theatre of tribal anxieties. Our economy, a contest of regional grievance. Our institutions, battlegrounds of exclusion and suspicion. Every census, every election, every policy debate collapses into the arithmetic of ethnicity. We have created a federation in name, but a feud in practice. The Nigerian state, like a badly tuned orchestra, plays the anthem of unity while each instrument screams in its own discordant key.

    What has deepened the tragedy is not merely that we are divided, but that we have learned to romanticize our dysfunction. The myth of “One Nigeria” has been elevated to the level of moral blackmail, as though to question it is to commit heresy. Yet, the facts are unflinching. From the coups and counter-coups of the 1960s, to the Biafran war that drenched this soil in youthful blood; from the endless agitations of the Niger Delta, to the violent insurgencies of the North, and the secessionist murmurs of the East, we have been a nation perpetually negotiating its own existence. Even now, in the 21st century, the markers of mistrust remain, only deepened by new forms of betrayal. We have witnessed, time and again, how national security efforts are quietly sabotaged by regional sympathies where the pursuit of peace against terror becomes a political chessboard, and those who menace the state are garlanded as champions in their communities. In some quarters, it has almost become an identity to excuse barbarity in the name of kinship, to embrace those who burn the nation’s fabric as heroes rather than outlaws.

    There are regions where individuals, through their character and conduct, have dragged the nation’s image into global disrepute, staining the diplomatic standing of millions, and forcing the country to spend years rebuilding bridges of trust with the international community. Elsewhere, the spirit of entitlement festers a belief that governance is a turn-by-turn inheritance that “it is our time now,” and so positions of influence must rotate along bloodlines and geography rather than merit. Even the recent rumblings of military adventurism, the whisper of coup sympathies and their architects seem disturbingly traceable to predictable corners of the polity, confirming that our divisions have not merely survived time; they have evolved.

    Thus, we remain a country trapped in its contradictions: differential justice, uneven development, selective outrage, and an ever-widening gulf between the governors and the governed.

    How then do we continue to recite the catechism of unity with straight faces when the “one” in “One Nigeria” has become a question rather than a statement? For unity cannot be decreed by constitutions nor enforced by soldiers; it must be earned by fairness, equity, and mutual respect. When a nation’s prosperity is monopolized by a few, when power circulates within predictable bloodlines, when regions are treated not as partners but as provinces, the rhetoric of unity becomes an insult to intelligence.

    We deceive ourselves with patriotic songs while ignoring the dissonance in our reality. The world is changing; nations are redefining themselves in pursuit of justice and balance. Ethiopia, after decades of internal conflict, restructured its governance to reflect its ethnic federalism. The United Kingdom, once rigidly centralized, conceded autonomy to Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland to preserve its union. Even Belgium, split by language and identity, discovered that devolution was the price of stability. In each case, political maturity triumphed over sentimental unity. Why then should Nigeria, with its far deeper pluralities, cling to a system that has neither delivered prosperity nor peace?

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    It is at this critical juncture that Nigeria must summon the courage to confront itself, not with nostalgia or denial, but with truth and pragmatism. The time has come for an honest national conversation, a sober rethinking of our structure, values, and vision. We must ask: What truly binds us, and on what terms should we continue this union? This is not a call to disintegration, but to redefinition.

    If genuine unity is to be sustained, it must be built on a framework that reflects our peculiarities rather than suppresses them. Perhaps it is time to revisit the foundations of our federalism to decide, through dialogue and consensus, whether the present centralized model still serves our collective good.

    If what we need is a restructured federation that grants greater autonomy to regions, then let us pursue it with sincerity. If what we require is a return to a confederation that allows each region to govern according to its social and economic realities, then let the people decide it freely. And if, after exhaustive dialogue, it becomes clear that coexistence itself has become unsustainable, then perhaps peaceful dissolution negotiated with maturity and justice may be the truest form of unity left to us.

    Whatever the outcome, silence and pretense can no longer suffice. We must choose between a future defined by courage or a decline defined by denial. It is time to stop pretending that unity is sacred when it has become suffocating.

    If we refuse to confront this reckoning, we risk learning, as others have, that when unity becomes a prison, freedom will break the walls. For now, the cracks are visible in our rhetoric, our regions, our republic. Whether they widen into collapse or are sealed with courage depends on our collective honesty. But one thing is certain: the chant of “One Nigeria” will not save us if it continues to mean nothing more than silence in the face of inequality.

    Until we replace illusion with justice and ideology with sincerity, we will remain what we are a country yoked together by history, but not joined by purpose.

    •Oladoja M.O writes from Abuja and can be reached via mayokunmark@gmail.com

  • National intellectual property policy and strategy: Key stakeholders’ involvement and economic gain

    National intellectual property policy and strategy: Key stakeholders’ involvement and economic gain

    By Olalekan O. Akinwumi

    The issue of the Federal Executive Council accepting the National Intellectual Property Policy and Strategy (NIPPS), is a turning point in the quest by Nigeria to become a knowledge based economy. Traditionally, IP in Nigeria has been a legal tool that is mostly used to safeguard creative works, as well as industrial innovation. IP is now being re-packaged with the support of FEC as a strategic economic asset, which will be able to attract investment, open credit doors, expand capital markets, and form the global competitiveness in the creative and digital economy of Nigeria.

    Now that the policy has come to stay, there is a need to begin to analyze its economic implications on one hand, and, the operational role of government agencies, financial institutions, and insurers in the new IP-based economy.

    Intangible assets, software, copyrights, GI, patents, data, and design rights, which are strengthened towards an Intangible Asset Economy, take up more than 80 percent of corporate value in developed economies.

    Nigeria has been functioning below this rate because there are disjointed registries, poor enforcement, low valuation skills, and low use of IP assets by the financial sector. The fact that the FEC has approved it is an indication that the country is willing to streamline this landscape. A single policy framework has given government institutions an obligation to incorporate IP in economic planning, industrial policy, export strategy, and as well as capital formation.

    Economic Implications are immeasurable; growth of access to credit using IP-backed lending. The most direct economic effect is through allowing access to credit by micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) by intangible collateral. Technology, pharmaceuticals, and FMCG, as well as digital services and entertainment, are the main industries where IP is the most valuable asset. The policy: enhances the validation of IP as security; requires the increased effectiveness of registration and verification platforms; offers regulatory guidance to banks, DFIs, and fintech lenders.

    With the incorporation of IP into the National Collateral Registry and the lending policies of CBN, Nigeria can open up new avenues of credit to the businesses that do not qualify as assets in the conventional asset-backed lending. This increases the liquidity, stimulates creativity and increases the survival rates of MSMEs.

    Capital Market Development through IP Securitisation: The policy offers a structural basis of the securitisation of royalty streams, licensing revenues, and other IPR-related cash flows. In developed markets, the IP securitisation is used to finance films, music catalogues, pharmaceutical rights, and software licenses. The capital market of Nigeria will have three advantages it:

    Non-traditional instrumentation of investable assets. 

    These are new monetization methods of creatives, tech founders, and brands. Greater liquidity in the market via specialised SPVs and asset-backed securities. SEC’s control over these instruments will enable them to draw pension funds, private equity, insurance companies, and DFIs that want to have long-term assets with yields.

    Enhanced Foreign Investment and Technology Transfer: Enforcement of IP protection, increases investor confidence, decreases legal risk, and facilitates joint ventures, licensing relationships, and the exchange of technology across borders. With multinational companies, the understanding of the ownership of IP, the enforcement of the same, and commercialisation is a requirement before conducting business in high-risk jurisdictions. The policy puts Nigeria as a more reliable choice of creative and technology based FDI.

    Positive Impact on Employment and Innovation: Better IP governance is the practice that promotes innovation in universities, research institutes, technology hubs, and manufacturing. It encourages the creation of jobs in knowledge in: software engineering, digital media production, branding and marketing, industrial design, legal, and valuation services.

    This grows the non-oil GDP and has a spillover effect on export competitiveness.

    Importance of Major Government Agencies FMITI and NIPO (IP Registries).

    These bodies are mandated with the role of digitising, modernising, and harmonising the Trademarks, Patents and Designs Registry. They are their economic deliverables: the rapid verification of ownership; the enhancement of the quality of data; the automation of the banks and insurers; and the decrease in the time of registration.

    Effective registries lower the transaction costs and raise the bank’s confidence in treating IP as collateral. The IP finance is anchored on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). It has the responsibility of issuing regulatory acknowledgement of IP as qualified collateral; revising prudential principles of risk evaluation of intangible assets, instructing banks to frame IP lending models; and partnering with Direct Foreign Investments (DFI) to finance pilot lending schemes. The presence of CBN will make sure that the policy is translated into the adoption stage in the financial sector.

    Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). To ensure securitisation takes root, the SEC will:

    Implement disclosure, valuation, and investor protection rules; authorize SPV structures of IP-backed securities; facilitate market ready IP instruments.

    This increases IP to the balance sheets of corporations to the mainstream investment portfolios.

    The Ministry of Justice and Judiciary, Enforcement is the main pillar of any IP economy. They are supposed to take the following responsibilities: reinforce IP courts or commercial divisions; speed up the process of dispute resolution; enhance anti-piracy activities in cooperation with other agencies, such as NCC and Customs. Enforcement is more effective and adds value to any IP asset and minimizes risk to investors.

    The financial Institutions, commercial banks, microfinance institutions, DFIs, and fintech lenders role will require: to create IP-based credit scoring models; to implement valuation-based underwriting policies; to work with certified IP valuers and insurers; to provide creative and tech enterprise lending products. The financial sector turns out to be the channel through which IP is transferred into working capital and investment capital.

    Function of the Insurance Sector: Insurance plays an important role in IP transaction de-risking. The policy generates demand for: IP enforcement insurance; infringement liability insurance; royalty-payment default insurance; securitised IP portfolio insurance. NAICOM needs to collaborate with the insurers and international reinsurers to develop local capacity. Well organised insurance products will stabilise IP-backed lending and draw in institutional investors.

    The adoption of the National IP Policy by FEC is a watershed move to the transformation of Nigeria to an intangible-asset economy. 

    The economic consequences of the policy are quite numerous: widens access to credit, a more developed capital market, increases investor confidence, improved innovations, and the appearance of new financial spheres of professional services. Nonetheless, the actual worth will become a reality when government agencies, financial institutions, and insurers are organized to conduct the implementation.

    When it is implemented in a disciplined and systematic manner, Nigeria will have the potential to open up billions of dollars in frozen IP value, improve creative and technological ecosystems, and emerge as a major hub of knowledge in Africa.

    Olalekan O. Akinwumi, Estate Surveyor and Valuer, a specialist in Intellectual Property (IP) Valuation and Securitization,, writes from Lagos.

  • Wike vs. Yerima: The lessons

    Wike vs. Yerima: The lessons

    By Sunny Ikhioya

    Viewing the scenes of the encounter between Nyesom Wike and the young military officer on national television and various social media platforms last week, one was left with no other optics of how low our values have sunken. A young military officer standing up to a minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and refusing to yield ground. What a country! At the height of persistent attacks from some elements of Lagos State government after he left the seat of governor of the state, Babatunde Fashola put up a statement that he will not go to the gutter to wrestle with haters.

    The minister of the federal capital territory had everything to lose in that confrontation, especially as he had the privilege of direct access to the army bosses. That singular lack of discretion in this instance placed him in bad light in the public sphere, one whom a young military officer has put in his place.

    Let it be made clear here that the impact of Wike in the federal capital territory these past two years cannot be disputed. A brother of mine, who resides in Abuja has this to say about the incident: “This Wike vs. Naval officer matter is now looking like APC/opposition parties issue. The usual opposition has jumped in using every opportunity to condemn APC while supporters are defending Wike in spite of the obvious blunder. I have lived in Abuja for almost 20 years, and this is the first time of my feeling any positive effect of government presence in the city. We now see the government construction of roads linking up many areas in the city. Street lights are now working in many areas. Many residents of Abuja are commending his development efforts in the city. But on this occasion, he goofed. A simple phone call should have avoided the embarrassing situation…

    “He didn’t have to leave his office or send his staff to confront the military men. He had the phone numbers of CDS and head of navy. He eventually made the call after the embarrassing incident.

    “The land was allocated to the former chief of naval staff. He cannot go into a plot that was not allocated to him. I am surprised that the man is being blamed as if he is grabbing other people’s land.”

    With the benefit of hindsight, had the principal parties involved in this dispute used discretion to engage in proper communication with each other, things would not have degenerated to this extent. I am not talking about the young officer. He was acting on orders from his boss. I am talking about the boss who sent him on that errand. If he was not privileged to be the boss of an arm of the military, would he have taken recourse to such a measure as a solution?

    There lies our dilemma as a country. The rule of law is being gradually eroded in different facets of government, and people are resorting to impunity. I believe it is a carryover from our long years of governance under military regimes that had little patience for the rule of law procedures. Everyone wants to impose his will on the other as long as it is to his advantage. That is why we cannot agree with one voice on the purpose of the killings going on in the country. It is a result of impunity and the determination of certain groups to impose their will on others. You need to travel through the length and breadth of this country and see what citizens are going through the hands of those paid to protect them, naked oppression and intimidation, the types that were not even witnessed during colonial times.

    One of my bosses once told me that, if you are not in government, don’t have money and don’t have anyone in any of the categories above, you are a finished man in this country.

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    As it is, the haters of Wike will be happy with this development. He has many of them, and he has stepped on many toes, and he brags about it. The president knows this and is also aware that the assignment he gave to Wike will come with a lot of flaks. With this blight, he has just given the enemies some respite. The busybodies have stepped in and all giving their opinions, all according to their individual sentiments on how they see and relate with Wike.

    Wike and his team must learn from this; no human is infallible. They must not carry themselves as gods before whom mere humans must subjugate themselves. Too often, we have seen government officials carry out destructions of people’s properties without recourse to the full course of law. The destructions are usually arbitrarily done and without human compassion. It is becoming common with state governments and in the federal capital territory. Let people see that even though they are being punished, it is being done justifiably. We have seen videos of one day notices and the next is destruction. In Lagos, it is becoming a common occurrence all over the place with claims of building violations.

    You may want to ask the state government what their officials were doing when whole estates are being built and developed to modern standards without government approvals. The rate of impunity from government officials are becoming too rampant, and each time, they come with law enforcement agents to harass innocent citizens without due process. We are 26 years into our new democratic experience; it is a record already, by the country’s standards. The military have collectively sworn to subordinate their powers to civil rule. We should all be seen to be practising that indeed. All citizens of this country are equal under the law and must be subjected to the same treatment of due processes of the law. Those in government should also exercise their rights as far as the law permits and not be unnecessarily overbearing. If we all choose to respect the integrity of the law, at all times, situations such as the Wike and the young officer standoff will be rare in our land.

    •Ikhioya sent this piece from Lagos. 

  • When correctional centres serve as terror bases

    When correctional centres serve as terror bases

    By Hakeem Jamiu

    When you think you have seen it all in our country Nigeria, you will suddenly realise you have not seen anything. Many mind boggling security issues are happening in Nigeria and it is disheartening. Apart from the issue of kidnapping, banditry, insurgency, farmers/ herders clash, there is a new wave of subtle insecurity directed against individuals especially those considered as politically exposed persons, businessmen and very important personalities (VIP). The new method is that a strange mobile number will call a politically exposed person in the middle of night to threaten him or her that he is an assassin sent to kill and wipe out his or her family except such a VIP is ready to pay to avert such.

     What prompted this article was my personal experience and those of my colleagues who received the same threatening phone call between 2am and 3am on Tuesday November 11. On the night of Monday, I slept soundly so, I didn’t hear my phone ring around 2.17am. When I woke up around 6.30am on Tuesday, I was curious to know who called me at that hour of the night. The number, 09129899707 was not on my contact list so I called the number. A man with a gruffy voice picked it and when I asked who was speaking, instead of him to answer, he asked me if he was speaking with Hon. Hakeem Jamiu and I said yes, he introduced himself as General West and that I should not bother to know where he is calling from. Speaking in Yoruba, he claimed to be an assassin who some unknown people have sent to kill me, my wife and children and he, and his gang will carry this out unless I am ready to pay them. I simply cut him off from my phone and blocked him immediately though I was a bit worried.

    I was part of a joint Security and Local Government Committee meeting at the House of Assembly by 10. 00 am same Tuesday to review the security situation in Ekiti State. Listening to briefings from our security agents gave me hope that they are capable of combating insecurity if the right weapons and other logistics are made available. It was at the Committee meeting that I realised that the same number that called me at 2.17am also called about 10 of my colleagues around the same time with the same life threatening message of wiping them and their family off except they pay ransom.

    In fact one of my colleagues told heads of the security agencies present, that when he received the call, the same General West told him that his men had already surrounded his building waiting to force their way in. My colleague told General West he would come and open the door and gate that he should not bother forcing his way in and that he was battle ready for them. When my colleague opened his door and came out to the compound, he didn’t see anybody and General West had dropped the call! Other colleagues relayed the same experience about the phone call from General West and the threat to their lives except they pay ransom. The caller told another colleague that he has been paid to kidnap all members of his family except he is prepared to pay N5 million. When my colleague told him he had no such money, he sent him a WhatsApp video of kidnapped victims who were killed, butchered and dismembered. He asked my friend if he wanted the same fate to befall his family. He is still demanding the ransom as at the time of writing this. I also learnt from the meeting that an old retiree sold her property to pay these criminals so that they would spare the life of her only son.

    The security chiefs present at the meeting namely, the police, Department of State Security (DSS), Amotekun corps, Vigilante and Peace Corps took the number and tracked it. Lo and behold, it was traced to an inmate at Kirikiri Maximum Correctional Centre, Apapa, Lagos.  How can a supposedly correctional centre be a beehive of new wave of criminal activities from the same convicts who are supposed to have been reformed? Is the use of telephone allowed in the Correctional Centres? 

    To the best of my knowledge, the Nigerian Correctional Service Act 2019 prohibits the use of mobile phones by inmates or has this changed?  So who provides inmates with telephones which they now use to threaten unsuspecting politically exposed people and other important personalities in our society? Is General West and his gang acting alone without the active connivance of Kirikiri Correctional Centre officials?  When the unsuspecting victims whose families they have threatened to wipe off or kidnap pay ransom, in which account do the victims pay to? Who gave General West, an inmate in Kirikiri Correctional Centre, my phone number and those of my colleagues in the Ekiti State House of Assembly? Who are his collaborators in Ekiti State? This is not to say that such life-threatening calls only emanates from Correctional Centres but for now, it was traceable to the Kirikiri Correctional Centre and there have been other similar life-threatening calls traceable to other Correctional Centres across the country.

    So many revelations came up at the meeting with the security agents though not entirely new because I have also been aware through research about the unbelievable tales from Nigeria Correctional Centres nationwide. There are so many General West in our Correctional Centres across the country and they operate with the active connivance of prison officials. There are so many stories of exchange of prisoners whereby a rich convict can pay for somebody to serve his prison term for him and such convict would have also paid the prison officials heavily. I didn’t believe all these stories before but with the call of General West, an inmate of Kirikiri Correctional Centre, threatening us in Ekiti, nothing is impossible in our Correctional Centres.

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    One of the security Chiefs present gave a scary experience of a very dangerous criminal he arrested and prosecuted and was sent to prison custody. The security chief was more than embarrassed when the criminal sent a video message of the sumptuous meal he was enjoying in prison and threatened the security chief that he would soon be released and would come after him and his family. Now the question is, who gave such a dangerous criminal the phone and freedom to be threatening the law officer who prosecuted him? Will that not dampen the morale of other courageous officers? It is now glaring that there are VIP criminals who are above the law in our Correctional Centres and a searchlight should be beamed on this centres as another quiet unnoticeable source of insecurity. Our country is actually under siege and this is the kind of reports that give President Trump the impetus to threaten us with military invasion.

    This rot in our Correctional Centres should be urgently addressed by the Minister of Interior and all the officials involved should be seriously reprimanded.  The relevant committees in the National Assembly should also take up this matter.  Correctional Centres are supposed to reform convicts so that they can be reabsorbed into the society but what we have now are Correctional Centres that encouraged convicts to become more hardened and sophisticated in their criminal activities and this is definitely with the covert support of some unscrupulous prison officials. Imagine what would happen to an hypertensive man who received a call at 2.00am that assassins have surrounded his house to wipe off his entire family! What a country?

    •Rt. Hon. Jamiu PhD, former Deputy Speaker of Ekiti State House of Assembly writes from Ado Ekiti

  • Still on the Christian genocide matter

    Still on the Christian genocide matter

    By Mike Kebonkwu

     It is an indisputable fact that there is widespread abductions, kidnappings and killing across country.  It is also incontrovertible that these killings are caused by syndicated criminal cartels; insurgents, bandits, kidnappers, armed herdsmen, “unknown gunmen”, ethnic and tribal agitators. The casualties from the activities of the criminal underworld are Nigerians; Christians and Muslims alike, without discrimination.  

    We may choose to play the ostrich, but the reality is that our land is crimson with blood, and citizens irrespective of status live in real fear.  Incidentally in some instances, a distinct dominant group, population and communities appear clearly targeted, as in the case of Christian minorities in the North.  This defined pattern is also noticeable in the Middle Belt region of Plateau and Benue, and Kaduna State in the North Central.  This is common knowledge and verifiable although there is no accurate statistics on percentage of death in Christians/Muslims population.  We have also had religion instigated crises from time to time which are mostly driven by the elites for political gains.

    The government appears not to be doing just enough in the fight against insecurity.  There is mass poverty and unemployment but that is certainly not the cause of the pervasive insecurity in the land. The security agencies and the police on their part are also caught flat-footed and unable to rein in the criminals not because of lack of capacity, but due also to ethno-religious politics. The security agents are not even spared in these attacks and killings as victims. 

    Convoys of troops on patrol have been attacked and sometimes these criminals carry out audacious attacks right in their bases.  Police officers are also deliberately targeted and their weapons carted away.  When the security agencies go after these criminals and there are collateral damages, some rights groups scream fundamental rights of the criminals and ignore the safety and security of the state and citizens.

    We do not need outsiders to educate us on the pattern of the pervasive insecurity and the casualties throughout the length and breadth of the country. The intelligence communities and security agents know the criminals, sponsors and their harbours. There appears also to be some elements in both government and security who oil the wheel of the criminal cartels providing them covers. This is the reason the government tilt towards pacification and appeasement policy in dealing with the behemoth. Why a fighting force and trained military commanders would endorse negotiation, and provide training and rehabilitation for insurgents and bandits that have killed innocent citizens, troops, and sacked communities beats one’s imagination.  This certainly cannot find answer in strategic military thinking whether we choose to parrot non-kinetic approach to fighting internal security challenges.   

    A military commander should be able to draw a fine line of demarcation between political expediency and military professionalism when engaging with enemies of the state. Providing sanctuary for criminals weakens the fight against insecurity and induces low morale on troops.

    Nigeria is a highly divided country along ethnic and religious dichotomy.  We also operate very fragile constitution that does not favour a good secular state.  This is the reason Nigerians are not going to agree on the way of dealing with insecurity.  We may not have accurate statistics of death and casualties along Christian and Muslim divide.  What is true is that Nigerians are the victims of the insurgency, banditry and sundry other criminalities from South to North.  If there is a concentration of attack on a particular ethnic nationality or religious group or sect, it no doubt qualifies as genocide or pogrom; but one does not believe it is official government policy. 

    The aggregate of views do not seem to see official government endorsement to label the killing in Nigeria as genocide against Christians; it will remain a controversial issue.  Again, such conclusion is difficult without verifiable evidence.  After all, the Nigerian bureaucracy is driven by both Christians and Muslims elites.  Yes, it is true that known and confirmed bigots and supremacists have held strategic appointments in government and may still be there.  The killing in Nigeria is not an endorsed government policy to properly label it genocide in the classical pattern. The government may have been lethargic and complacent, but not manifestly complicit. 

    There are moles and quislings in government, security forces and intelligence community who are rogue elements operating for pecuniary reasons.  You cannot saddle someone with the task of solving a problem that he is fingered to be complicit and expect to get result.  We should stop throwing money at problems; we should confront and deal with insecurity and not seen to pacify criminals; nobody can pacify the grave.  What is troubling is the inability of the security forces to find its rhythm and give these criminals bloody nose.  Soldiers have been captured, tortured and slaughtered in their numbers in different theatres in the North and South East and shared in social media.  Their bodies are never recovered and there are no consequences.  Former Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshall Alex Badeh was murdered by criminals and the killers are not unmasked and brought to book, not even by the military intelligence with all their resources; and someone is telling us that security has improved?  “If gold rust, what will the iron do”; is a saying in my Ika dialect.  If soldiers are killed and probably mutilated without consequences, what will be the fate of the ordinary defenceless citizens!

    Communities that offer sanctuary to criminals, kidnappers, bandits and insurgents are also complicit.  Community leaders have been discovered to be involved in the unwholesome criminal activities fuelling insecurity.  Our weak legal system is made weaker when criminals that are convicted are offered pardon and amnesty.  The battle against insecurity is our fight; it is not going to be won by the United States or any other country for that matter. 

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    Now, Nigerians are jittery and divided because the President of the United States of America,  Donald J. Trump has threatened to designate Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) on account of perceived persecution and genocide against Christians.  If you cannot secure your borders and protect your citizens and someone offers to do it with or without your permission, I think you should swallow your pride and allow it, assuming indeed, the threat is real and practicable. If a man sees a venomous snake and ducks, while a woman kills it, it is ok; the snake has been killed!   

    Some of our elites and scholars want Nigeria to turn to China, Iran and Russia for strategic alliance and reduce the influence and reliance on America.  These are countries with destabilizing influences across the globe, with Iran exporting and promoting variant of religious extremism and terrorism. You want to embrace a leper because you are confronted by a masquerade! 

    One reads that Russia and China are watching or monitoring development following President Trump’s threat; one would ask, for what, and to what end?  Russia and America have their problems.  We are turning our country to a pawn on the chessboard of international hawks.  Any such idea of is a product of  siege  mentality of an oppressed mind that is yet to be liberated; what Fela Anikulapo Kuti of blessed memory would call, “colo-mentality.  The military commanders should own up to the fight against insecurity; it is a professional and constitutional duty. I maintain that we still have a strong military that can bite; let us wake it up. 

    Nigerians should save their breath; the United States of America will not invade Nigeria as they do not stand on any solid ground in fact, law and morality.  Nigerians are dying in their numbers and we should stop the haemorrhage; let us protect Christians, Muslims and secure our country.  No foreign partner can do it for us because our interests do not coincide with theirs.

    •Kebonkwu Esq is an Abuja-based attorney. He writes via mikekebonkwu@yahoo.com

  • Oborevwori’s AFRIFF award, another recognition for an excellent performer

    Oborevwori’s AFRIFF award, another recognition for an excellent performer

    By Jefferson Obruche

    Amid the glitz and glamour of Africa’s premier cinematic celebration, Delta State Governor, Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori, has once again etched his name in the annals of excellence. At the ongoing Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF), Oborevwori was on Sunday bestowed with the prestigious Herbert Wigwe Award For Excellence. This accolade, shared with Vice President Kashim Shettima, underscores outstanding contributions to Nigeria’s creative and entertainment industry.

    Governor Oborevwori, who was represented by his able and loyal Deputy, Sir Monday Onyeme, expressed profound gratitude to the organizers, and  reaffirmed Delta State’s unyielding dedication to fostering the creative sector. This recognition is not merely a personal triumph but a testament to Oborevwori’s visionary leadership, which has propelled Delta State to the forefront of Nigeria’s entertainment landscape.

    The Africa International Film Festival, now in its 14th edition running from November 2 to 8, 2025, under the theme “Rhythms of the Continent: The Afrobeats Film Revolution,” serves as a beacon for African storytelling and innovation. Founded in 2010 by Chioma Ude, AFRIFF has evolved into a dynamic platform that unites filmmakers, actors, producers, and industry stakeholders from across the continent and beyond. It showcases a diverse array of films, workshops, and networking opportunities, aiming to elevate African narratives on the global stage. The festival’s introduction of the Herbert Wigwe Award in recent years adds a layer of prestige, honoring individuals who have made indelible marks in creative fields.

    In 2024, the award celebrated figures in culinary arts and fashion, such as Chef Tolu Eros and Ugo Mozie. For 2025, the award has been expanded or renamed to recognize broader excellence, including governmental leadership in the arts, reflecting the festival’s commitment to holistic industry growth.

    Governor Oborevwori’s receipt of this award aligns seamlessly with his administration’s MORE Agenda—Meaningful Development, Opportunities for All Deltans, Realistic Reforms, and Enhanced Peace and Security—which has prioritized the creative economy as a pillar of sustainable growth. Since assuming office in 2023, Oborevwori has demonstrated exceptional performance through   prudent financial management, infrastructure development, and inclusive governance. In his first two years, he has avoided new borrowings while repaying nearly N300 billion in inherited debts, channeling resources into impactful projects. His administration’s achievements include massive road constructions, healthcare upgrades, and educational reforms, earning accolades for transparency and rapid execution. This AFRIFF honour joins a growing list of recognitions, such as his recent induction into the SWAN-Nigeria Order of Patrons for sports development, highlighting his multifaceted leadership excellence.

    Central to Oborevwori’s vision is deepening Delta State’s footprint in the entertainment industry, a sector where the state has long been a powerhouse. Delta, often dubbed the “Big Heart” of Nigeria, boasts a rich cultural heritage and a thriving creative ecosystem. Asaba, the state capital, was designated a UNESCO Creative City of Film in December 2023, joining an elite network that promotes cinema as a driver of urban development.  This accolade acknowledges Asaba’s role in Nollywood, where it has earned the moniker “Asabawood” for hosting numerous film productions. The state’s peaceful environment and investor-friendly policies have made it a preferred location for shoots, contributing significantly to Nigeria’s film output, which ranks second globally after Bollywood.

    Delta State’s efforts to bolster the entertainment industry are multifaceted and proactive. The previous administration under Governor Ifeanyi Okowa constructed a massive entertainment complex featuring film studios, cinemas, and recreational facilities for children. Building on this foundation, Oborevwori’s government is set to establish a full-fledged film village—a “mini-Hollywood”—where actors, musicians, and professionals can reside, collaborate, and produce contents. This ambitious project aims to create jobs, attract investments, and position Delta as a continental hub for creative entrepreneurship.

    Deputy Governor Onyeme, in his acceptance speech on behalf of his boss, emphasized that Delta remains “peaceful and conducive for investments in entertainment, film production, and other businesses,” underscoring the administration’s commitment to sustaining support for the sector.

    Further amplifying these initiatives is the Delta State Creative & Entertainment Summit, which returned for its second edition in July 2025. Organized by the state government, the summit featured skills acquisition programs, panel discussions, and networking sessions with industry leaders. The maiden event in 2024 created opportunities for local talents, and the 2025 iteration, held in Asaba, focused on empowering creatives through training in filmmaking, music production, and digital media. Stakeholders, including the Delta Entertainment Bodies, have warned against external invasions, insisting on the involvement of local guilds to protect indigenous interests. These efforts align with national trends, as Nigeria’s entertainment sector gains increasing government recognition, signaling a new dawn for musicians, filmmakers, and comedians.

    Delta’s prominence in entertainment is bolstered by its illustrious sons and daughters who have conquered Nollywood, music,   standup comedians and beyond. The state has produced an array of stars, including veteran actor Richard Mofe-Damijo (RMD), known for his commanding screen presence in films like “Out of Bounds” and “Diamond Ring.” Actress and singer Stella Damasus has captivated audiences with roles in “Widow’s Cot” and her musical talents. Omawumi Megbele, a powerhouse vocalist and actress, blends Afrobeat with soul, starring in productions while advocating for women’s rights. Musicians like Don Jazzy, the Mavin Records founder, have revolutionized the Nigerian music industry, producing hits for global stars. Harrysong, Yung6ix, and the late Kefee have also flown the Delta flag high, with Kefee’s gospel tunes inspiring generations. Comedians like Bovi and actors such as Justus Esiri (posthumously) add to this stellar lineup, making Delta a cradle of talent that fuels Nollywood’s annual output of over 2,500 films.

    Oborevwori’s administration recognizes that nurturing these talents requires more than infrastructure; it demands policies that enhance welfare and provide resources. Initiatives like health insurance for creatives, scholarships for film students, and partnerships with international festivals are in the pipeline. By investing in the creative economy, Delta not only boosts GDP—Nigeria’s entertainment sector contributes billions annually—but also promotes cultural diplomacy, showcasing African stories to the world.

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    For the record, Herbert Wigwe, the late visionary banker after whom the award is named, was a towering figure in Nigeria’s financial sector. Born on August 15, 1966, in Ibadan to a family from Isiokpo in Rivers State, Wigwe rose to prominence as the Group Managing Director and CEO of Access Bank Plc. Under his stewardship, Access Bank transformed from a modest institution into a pan-African powerhouse, expanding operations to multiple countries and championing economic development. Wigwe’s untimely death on February 9, 2024, in a helicopter crash shocked the nation, but his legacy endures through initiatives like this award. Known for his energetic and ambitious spirit, he supported various sectors, including the arts, recognizing their potential to drive economic and cultural progress. Pastor Shingle Wigwe, Herbert’s father and a retired Nigerian Television Authority executive, commended AFRIFF during the ceremony for honoring his son, describing the festival as a “marketplace of ideas and creativity” that bolsters Nigeria’s global standing.  

    This AFRIFF award arrives at a pivotal moment, as Nigeria grapples with economic challenges yet sees the creative industry as a resilient growth engine. Oborevwori’s leadership exemplifies how state-level interventions can amplify national progress. His prudent approach, avoiding fiscal pitfalls while delivering tangible results, has earned him praises from all quarters in the state.

    As Delta pushes forward with its film village and summits, the state is poised to deepen its entertainment dominance, creating opportunities for youth and fostering innovation.

    Governor Oborevwori’s Herbert Wigwe Award is more than a plaque; it’s a validation of exceptional performance in harnessing creativity for development. From Asaba’s UNESCO status to the influx of homegrown stars, Delta’s efforts under his watch are transforming the entertainment landscape. As Pastor Wigwe, father of Herbert Wigwe noted, such platforms are “a force that will contribute greatly to Nigeria’s economy and enhance our global recognition.”

    Oborevwori’s trajectory suggests that this is just another milestone in a legacy of progress, inspiring other states to invest in their creative potentials. With visionaries like him at the helm, Africa’s entertainment renaissance is not just a dream—it’s unfolding in real time.

     •Obruche, a Theatre Art graduate and entertainment promoter, writes from Asaba, Delta State.

  • Akinlotan’s pointless beef with NSCIA’s press briefing

    Akinlotan’s pointless beef with NSCIA’s press briefing

    It is a moot point that the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) addressed a press conference on Sunday, November 9, 2025 to refute the claim that there is a ‘Christian genocide’ in Nigeria, as claimed by the stormy petrel, President Donald Trump of the United States of America. The Secretary- General of the Council, Prof. Emeritus Is-haq Oloyede, CON, painstakingly provided legal, factual and data-based evidence to analyse the issue, situate the blackmail in the right context and suggest the way forward.

    While many Nigerians consider the intervention insightful and timely, especially in the light of the information it provides, a few others, based on either one, or a judicious mix, of ignorance, mischief, inferiority complex, hatred and hubris, choose to nitpick and prevaricate on the points made by the Council. Of course, the Council would not have expected everyone to agree with it and definitely, it didn’t intend to pander to the sentiments of self-hating Nigerians, separatists and Islamaphobes who would rather set their household ablaze to incinerate a rat.

    Among those who seek to dismiss the well-reasoned points made by the Council is The Nation newspaper’s columnist, who camouflages under the nom de guerre, Idowu Akinlotan, to drive his drivels. Many public actors from the old Kwara State, who are aware of the origin and antecedents of the real columnist, would not be surprised that he is behaving to type. In his November 16, 2025 column, “Genocide: NSCIA misses the point”, the writer engages in a façade, a sophomoric content analysis, and ends up exposing his religious bias, poor understanding and professional insincerity. And as James Anthony Froude once put it, “Of all the evil spirits abroad at this hour in the world, insincerity is the most dangerous”. It is only that insincerity is not just abroad, which provoked the NSCIA’s intervention, it is equally prevalent at home, as evident in the article under reference.

    Those who listened to, or read, the NSCIA’s briefing would be surprised that Akinlotan conveniently distorts what Prof. Oloyede said and deliberately lies to advance his weak argument.  While he writes that “in paragraph 23 the Council casually and carelessly declares that there is no religious intolerance in Nigeria, it takes dishonest analysis to its acme,” there is no denying religious intolerance whatsoever in the briefing. In the paragraph under question, what the Council affirmed is that “there is no Christian genocide in Nigeria. There is no Muslim genocide in Nigeria. The Nigerian tragedy is that of poverty, climate change, bad governance, and armed criminals who kill indiscriminately…” As can be seen in other parts of the article, it is not the Council that is dishonest, it is the (fifth) columnist.

    It is ironic that while the Council took pains to explain what genocide is, which the writer assumes to be “meaningless”, it is the same point that Akinlotan terribly misses. He, therefore, justifies the need to remove the fog from the eyes of the teachers, who teach what they don’t understand, and their gullible audience.

    There is even nothing remotely suggesting that Nigeria does not have ‘anomalies and paradoxes’. The reverse is the case as the whole text was aimed at highlighting those anomalies and paradoxes, not conflating them as genocide, as bigots and separatists would want their American savior to believe. 

    While some analysts may be impervious to undisguised truth and historical accuracy, it is still important to remind the author and his co-conspirators that the obsession with the Middle Belt and the killings there is part of their evil agenda. The establishment of faith-based and ethnic militias that masterminded the 1992 massacre of thousands of Hausa-Fulani Muslims there predated Boko Haram and banditry. The age-long, vicious but under-reported pogroms against Muslims in Southern Kaduna (beginning with the 1981 Kasuwa Maganimarket crisis that led to the killing of several Muslims), Plateau and Taraba states provided the impetus for the orgy of violence that is blamed on Muslims, the actual victims.

    What incenses Akinlotan is the revelation that the same game played at the international level as epitomized by the persecution, dehumanisation and annihilation of Palestinians is similar to the scenario at hand. Americans themselves confirm that the United States of America funds terrorist organisationsthat commit horrendous crimes and atrocities while labeling them ‘Muslim’. This moral duplicity is at the heart of the insecurity in Nigeria and other parts of the world. It is so glaring to the blind that the “terrorists” of yesterday, hounded and incarcerated, are the presidents of today who are received in the White House. This is the uncomfortable truth that is ignored: non-Muslims sponsor terrorists to defame and demoniseMuslims and provide a pretext to attack Islam.

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    The message that no one can save Nigeria than Nigerians especially when we all put sentiments aside and attack the common enemy of criminality is lost to people bereft of conscience and sincerity. The message of the Council is clear and simple to the open minds but Akinlotan misses it in paragraph 22: “our Christian brothers and sisters, you are not our enemies; you are our compatriots, colleagues and neighbours. We are both, Muslim and Christian, victims of a failed security architecture and a brutal criminal insurgency that targets us all. We have never denied our collective pain. Do not let foreign political gladiators or domestic separatists use our real pain to destroy our shared home…. We, as Muslims, stand with you against all violence, against all criminality, and against all terror.”

    Akinlotan should remove the blinkers that block his view. The Council does not deny the pains of Christians in some parts of the North. Rather, it is bigoted journalists who ignore the attacks on Muslims by anarchists in the South and the North.  I challenge Akinlotan to write on the pains of the voiceless Muslims in the South. Have there been mosque demolitions or not in River state? Haven’t Muslims been denied a place of worship in tertiary institutions there? Was it the adoption ofSharia that made terrorists to murder a pregnant Muslim woman, Harira Jubril, along with her four children in Anambra in May 2022?

    Let Akinlotan be honest to himself for once and allow his column to reflect at least a bit of the Rotarian four-way test on matters concerning Islam and Muslims: “Is it the truth? Is it fair to all concerned? Will it build goodwill and better friendships? And will it be beneficial to all concerned?” It is only then that he will be taken seriously as an independent analyst, not a mere stooge or cheap megaphone of those tellingly used to illustrate a supposed column on NSCIA.

    •Mr Akande is a graduate of the University of Ilorin.

  • Wike, Yerima; clash of values and authority

    Wike, Yerima; clash of values and authority

    • By Oseloka H. Obaze

    Two wrongs never make a right. When two people stridently but wrongly assert their rights over an issue, something is systemically wrong. That was the circumstance surrounding the recent Wike-Yerima standoff that has become the greatest content asset for social media lampooners.  But this is a very serious matter relating to military-civilian relations in Nigeria.  For starters, Wike and Yerima took the already fraught military-civilian relations to a whole new subterranean level.

    One of the greatest ills bedevilling good governance in Nigeria is the use of the military for purely civilian police duties in a democracy.  Soldiers by orientation are not good policemen.  It’s not their orientation. It is not their training.  As such they should not be. Yet, because of the military’s long sojourn in Nigeria’s leadership politics, certain traits imbued on the psyche of Nigerians continue to reflect the negative influence of military anti-politics. 

    The recent shameful public altercation between Nyesom Wike, the Abuja FCT Minister and a young naval officer, Lt. AM Yerima, speaks to and epitomizes the prevailing crises of our national clash of values and lack of respect for constituted authority.  Those, who like Wike, who occupy high public offices, have unwittingly contributed to the crisis, often by their conduct and their utterances.  Some may say minister Wike deserved his comeuppance.  That’s debatable.  But a minister berating a uniformed military officer, as “a fool” and a “small boy,” lends credence to how deep-seated the crisis has become.   It speaks also to the dearth of patriotism in Nigeria.

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    The now viral altercation presented a Catch-22 situation.  Heads both parties lose; tails, both parties lose.  Both Wike and Lt. Yerima, represent by their official positions, constituted authority.   Yet, they both cancelled each other’s prerogative, and shamelessly so.   Today, political leaders take full delight in legitimizing the militarization of our politics.  They have police and military officers guarding them and standing or sitting behind them at public events. Our civilian leaders all covet having ADCs; a purely military culture.  Incidentally, had officer Yerima been assigned as part of the Minister Wike’s security detail, -such assignments which happen frequently-  he would have executed  Wike’s orders the very way he executed the orders of his principal; reportedly a retired three-star military officer.  That’s the irony that was lost on Wike, and his cloistered civilian mind-set.  It’s worth recalling that in July 2020, Governor Wike used his security details to rescue embattled former NDDC managing director Joy Nnuieh from a supposed house confinement. If the truth be told; soldiers are meant to obey the last command.  They follow orders. Moreover, due process in enforcing a purely civic matter, required modalities other than the one deploy routinely by the FCT Minister.

    Here is the sad paradox of that altercation.  In a democracy, the military is statutorily supposed to be subservient to civilian authority. That respect derives operationally, from the commander-in-chief to his alter egos.  It matters little, if the official is elected or appointed.  Then again, in the order of protocol and official precedence, a minister ranks about the same as a military general.   Interestingly, well before Wike became the FCT minister, four of his predecessors as ministers of the FCT, were soldiers; Gen. Mamman Jiya Vatsa, AVM Hamza Abdullahi, Gen. Gado Nasko and Gen. Jeremaih Timbut Useni.   Now, would young Lt. Yerima, have responded the same way to them in a similar circumstance? I think not.   What this says is that our military has this mind-set that every non-military Nigerian, no matter how highly placed, is a “bloody civilian.”   Someone forgot to remind Wike of that reality. 

    Relatedly, an incident that happened in the late 1980s that is worth recalling, illustrates how our values and respect for constituted authority has been egregiously eroded. During President Ibrahim Babangida’s rule, late Ambassador George Dove-Edwin, one of Nigeria’s most astute and highly respected diplomats, was the High Commissioner in London.  Prior to that assignment he had served as Permanent Secretary in the Foreign Ministry.  At that time, late AVM Hamza Abdullahi, an air force general, was the FCT Minister, a member of the ruling military council and as a very close ally of President Babangida, belonged to his close-knit kitchen cabinet. 

    AVM Abdullahi had travelled to Germany and was returning to Nigeria via London.  The High Commission was duly informed of his transit so as to facilitate his transfer after his short layover in London. When High Commissioner Dove Edwin was informed that the FCT Minister would be passing through, he had indicated that he intended to personally go to the airport, and await the Minister’s arrival at the Heathrow Airport protocol lounge. His plan to spend the transit time with the minister was not out of obligation, but as a matter of courtesy and diligence.

    On the appointed day, several hours before Dove-Edwin was to go to the airport, he was summoned to Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) at Whitehall.  Realizing that he might not make it to the airport on time, Dove-Edwin dispatched his Deputy Chief of Protocol to the airport to receive the minister and hold fort until he arrived, just in case he was delayed.  He went a step further.  He sent a personal handwritten note to the FCT Minister explaining his predicament.  The Deputy-Chief of Protocol received Minister Abdullahi, handed over the High Commissioner’s personal note, and reassured him that the High Commissioner would definitely arrive before his departure for Nigeria. AVM Abdullahi was visibly displeased; and made that known in very clear terms. 

    When Dove-Edwin eventually arrived, and was already tendering his apologies as he entered the Protocol Lounge, an irate Minister Abdullahi publicly berated him, using expletives, despite the presence of other high ranking foreign dignitaries in the lounge.  His grouse; he did not understand what was so important at the Foreign Office to warrant the High Commissioner not being on hand to receive him.  His ultimate faux pas was when he said; “We sent you here at great expense to serve us.”   It was not clear if the “us” was Nigeria, or Nigeria’s top military brass.  A totally stunned Dove-Edwin, though a civilian, stood erect, almost at attention, looked straight at the minister, and said, “Honourable Minister, your language is most unbecoming and unacceptable. Have a good afternoon.”  He turned around and left.

    The postscript to that saga is that Amb. Dove-Edwin reported the incidence in a dispatch to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, with copy to the Chief of General Staff (CGS).  One point vehemently made in the demarche, was that traditionally, ambassadors when at post, were only obligated to be present at the airport, when the Head of State, his Deputy or the Foreign Minister visited.  Any such presence, for other senior government officials, was simply, a matter of courtesy- a privilege, not a right.  The upshot is that Dove-Edwin was never queried and never sanctioned, even as some might have deemed his conduct insubordination.  The flip side is that the minister’s conduct reflected a clash of values that also ridiculed constituted authority: his, and that of the High Commissioner.  In Nigeria, military-civilian relations are complex and fraught with imponderables.  Even when soldiers retire from active duty, and don agbada or kaftan mufti, most generally treat civilians with visible disdain, whenever there is a civil disagreement.  Officer Yerima exemplified that mind-set. Also, in Nigeria, soldiers don’t submit to civilian police authority.  That’s a fact.

    The interface between Minister Wike and Lt. Yerima would have ended well, if Wike instead of publicly berating the officer had simply and civilly asked to speak to his principal or commanding officer.  That could have been done, without acrimony. No one appointed the FCT minister a law enforcement police officer or bailiff.  Wike should have also recognized and respected the officer’s obligation to carry out his orders by a constituted authority.  A proper and courteous interface would have also affirmed the minister’s legitimate position and authority as someone, who was also carrying out his statutory duties at the behest of the commander-in-chief, without the engagement becoming vexatious.

    The Wike-Yerima face off, is a daily occurrence in Nigeria. What happens at military checkpoints across Nigeria is even more appalling. The only difference is that this incident involved a well-known public official, whom most Nigerians already consider obtuse and very controversial.   But it was not just Wike that the soldier disrespected; it was the commander-in-chief, who appointed him and the senate that confirmed him. Likewise, it was not only Yerima that Wike called a “small boy” and “a fool”.  Indeed, it was the entire armed forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria that Wike abused.

    Even though it is well and good that Lt. Yerima stood his grounds, some of his military superiors know too well that his conduct, despite being polite to Wike, perceptibly did not enhance military-civilian relations.  Often, perception is worse than reality. The messaging was visibly conflictual and condescending.  If a junior officer can publicly do that to a serving minister, what then, can they do to the common man? And on the flip side, can a junior civil servant do same to a serving or retired military general without agonizing reprisals?  I think not!

    Beyond right and wrong, the Wike-Yerima episode raises more questions than answers. One can only hope that this saga will prompt the urgent rethink and redress of deploying military officers to enforce law and order tasks that are within the statutory remit of the Nigerian police.

    •Obaze is MD/CEO, Selonnes Consult – a policy, governance and management consulting firm in Awka.