Category: Editorial

I t is only natural that in recent times President Muhammadu Buhari has expressed his desire to bequeath a worthy and enduring legacy to the next administration after him and the nation. The administration’s eight-year tenure comes to an end in May, next year, and the drumbeats of the forthcoming electioneering campaign season are already beating loudly. A critical factor for the realisation of the administration’s hopes of completing many of the ongoing legacy projects, starting new ones and handing over a healthier economy to its successor is the efficient and effective implementation of the 2022 budget. And a heartwarming development in this respect is the speedy consideration and action by all stakeholders resulting in timely passage of the budget into law.

While the 2022 appropriation bill was laid before the joint session of the National Assembly on October 7, 2021, the approved budget of N17.13 trillion was signed into law by the President on December 31, last year.

Indeed, a central feature of the relationship between the 9th National Assembly and the executive since 2019 has been a more harmonious working collaboration compared to what the situation was during the life of the 8th assembly. That dispensation was characterised by protracted delays in the passage of the annual budgets engendered largely by partisan quibbling between the two arms of government. The casualties were inevitably the wellbeing of the economy and by extension, the welfare of the people. It is thus a welcome development that there is now a greater sense of urgency and common purpose on the part of both the executive and legislature in conceptualising and implementing the budget.

An indication of this new spirit of concord was that President Buhari signed the bill into law despite the reservations of the executive as regards what was described as “worrisome changes” by the National Assembly to the executive budget proposal. While the legislature reportedly reduced the provision for a number of strategic projects, it inserted 6,576 new schemes worth about N37billion into the budget. Overall, the National Assembly increased the budget spending plan from the N16.391 billion proposed by the executive to N17.13 trillion, an increase of N735.8 billion.

Read Also: X-raying 2022 Budget

Explaining why the President approved the bill rather than send it back to the legislature over his objections for the process to start afresh, presidential spokesman, Mallam Shehu Garba, said, “Given Mr President’s commitment to improving the lot of the common man, it was felt that it would not be wise to throw away the baby with the bath water. Ongoing capital projects, critical recurrent votes, priority new projects – all feature in the 2022 budget and Mr President’s forbearance in assenting to the budget will save these provisions from implementation delays and other challenges”. Throwing further light on this, the President himself stressed that he signed the bill into law to enable the commencement of its implementation from January 1, 2022, stating however that “I will revert to the National Assembly with a request for amendment and/or virement as soon as the assembly resumes to ensure that critical ongoing projects that are cardinal to this administration and those nearing completion do not suffer a setback due to reduced funding”.

The wisdom of the President’s action is beyond dispute. Since the National Assembly is not expected to be a rubber stamp to the executive, these kinds of differences over the budget and other legislations are natural and even welcome. What is important is that in their actions, all parties must be motivated by the public good rather than selfish considerations. Perhaps the significant upgrading of the budgetary office of the National Assembly both in terms of funding and quality of personnel will also enhance the quality of the legislature’s contribution to the budgetary process.

Demonstrating his administration’s commitment to a smooth fiscal transition to its successor, President Buhari indicated that since the 2023 budget will be a transitory one, work will commence immediately towards the submission of the 2023-2025 medium term expenditure framework and fiscal strategy paper as well as the 2023 appropriation bill to the National Assembly. This is commendable.

It is also important that the heads of ministries, departments and agencies heed the President’s directive to work hard to meet budgetary targets. This is particularly critical with regard to improved revenue generation so as to reduce the necessity to resort to foreign loans. For, the administration must also be concerned that one of its legacies is not to plunge the nation and future generations into debt peonage.

It is reassuring that the Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu waded into the crisis that almost engulfed the high-brow Magodo area of the state, over the mode of execution of a  judgment of the Supreme Court. While it is a truism that judgments of the court should be obeyed; as the head of a responsible government, it behoves on the governor to take necessary steps to maintain peace and tranquillity amongst contending interests in the state.

But many Nigerians are concerned that the Attorney-General of the Federation Abubakar Malami, SAN, and the Inspector-General of Police, Alkali Usman, who mobilised policemen from Abuja, without the knowledge of the governor, usurped the powers of court sheriffs, as provided by the Sheriff and Civil Process Act. While by their action they undermined our federal system of government, it is however reassuring that the governor and his team are mediating in the crisis.

After the peace meeting, the governor said: “I am happy to inform gentlemen of the press that the issues had been well laid out. We are not in any disagreement or misconception about the fact that there is a Supreme Court judgment or a judgment that says Lagos State should give 549 plots to the Shangisha Landlords Association, and all of that had been taken into context and resolved that the committee set up before now should get to work immediately.”

The governor went further: “This means that … they will be working with the stakeholders, identifying available plots of land around Shangisha areas, drone will be flown, surveys will be made and available plots will be identified. In the event that available plots are identified, allocations will be made timely and additional plots, if we don’t have the right numbers, we’ll work on mutually agreeable locations with the other stakeholders.”

Furthermore, he assured: ‘’The government will also review the list of all the allottees, 549 of them, and we will ensure that the injustice the Shangisha Landlords’ Association had suffered for 38 years, is restituted.” On the part of the police, he said: “We also agreed that there should be a de-escalation of police movement in Magodo because we have all agreed that we can resolve these things on the table among ourselves.”

No doubt, the landlord’s association has a case, as affirmed by the governor. But if the AGF and the IGP feel justified to act on behalf of the judgment creditors, they owe a responsibility to Lagos State, which is a federating unit, to inform the governor of the state, who is the chief security officer of the state, about the movement of the police brought into the state. That was the point excellently made by the governors of the south-west, through their chairman, Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, SAN.

After all, the same AGF had, when it suited him, argued strenuously that where the peace of the federation is threatened, the human rights of the citizens takes the back stage. If we may ask, what is more threatening than an invasion of an estate by police officers who are not empowered by law to execute judgments by themselves, in a manner that could threaten the lives and property of citizens in a state, without the knowledge of the state chief security officer?

Except of course, the AGF is saying that the provision of section 2(2) of the 1999 constitution which states: “Nigeria shall be a Federation consisting of states and a Federal Capital Territory” is a farce. If Nigeria is truly a federation, then as stated by the Lagos State governor: “there is no need for men of the police to come from either Abuja or wherever into Magodo again.”

It is no news that 2023 is the year of the next general elections, when most of the states of the federation will be electing new governors, members of the national and state assemblies. A new President will be elected as well. It could bring the country a new lease of life or compound its problems. The turn of events depends on the credibility of the polls. And, going by experience, the bedrock of fair elections is the integrity of the electoral register.

Over the years, it has always been said that the register is padded by unscrupulous politicians looking forward to thwarting the people’s will. The process is fraught with registration of underaged voters, multiple registration, manipulation of the system to ensure that the people are not registered in areas where opposition parties are strong, and getting many to register at the behest of political godfathers who then seize the voter cards.

Of major concern here is an alarm raised by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that the register is still riddled with names of dead people who had been previously registered. Ideally, the names should have been expunged in order to know the accurate number of would-be voters. But, explaining why it cannot remove names of the dead from the register, INEC has blamed it on the unavailability of an up-to-date register of deaths and births in the country. The electoral commission has been unable to receive such a register from the Chairman of the National Population Commission (NPC) who is the registrar of births and deaths in the country. Many births are not recorded as the number of those born in the hospitals is very low. But, even lower is the number of those who die in the medical centres. As such, Nigerians see no reason to officially report or register the deaths.

This has implication for planning. At a time like this when the country is planning to have free, fair and credible elections, the revelation that only 10 per cent of the dead are registered and could therefore be expunged from the electoral roll is unfortunate. It is bad enough that the last time we had a national census was 2006, but the inability to know how many Nigerians have since passed on or have been born since then is alarming. We agree with INEC that it cannot on its own arbitrarily expunge names from the register, neither is there an authentic list from NPC that is constitutionally saddled with the responsibility, but there must be a way out.

One is to educate the people on the importance of voluntarily registering births and deaths as it would affect planning for national development and, in this case, ensure we have a credible register of voters. The NPC officials should not just sit in the office shrugging off the non-cooperation of Nigerians in this respect. Hospitals, however remotely located, traditional rulers, religious leaders and local government officials should be enlisted to make the people warm up to the constitutional imperative.

Good governance would remain elusive until we get the electoral system right. Only then would the electorate take responsibility for the government, with the elected officials realising that they are responsible to those who elected them. We are already lagging behind many countries, even in Africa. This cannot be allowed to continue. It is good that the electoral commission has said it now has a software to eliminate multiple registration in the process of cleaning up the register, and with the introduction of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), it is expected that future elections would be an improvement on the previous ones, but INEC should be assisted to perfect the system.

It may be said that destiny played a major role in his ascension to the throne.  Not only did he rise from a lowly status, he became king at the time he did because of a rearrangement prompted by circumstances beyond human control.

The deaths of two high-ranking chiefs who were above him on the hierarchical ladder that determined who became king positioned him to succeed the incumbent ruler.

Oba Saliu Adetunji became the Olubadan of Ibadan, in present-day Oyo State, in March 2016. He was 88 at the time. His advanced age was not unusual because the prominent ancient Yoruba city, and state capital, is known for a system of traditional rulership that conventionally produces old men.  The system is unapologetically gerontocratic.

He reigned for about six years. Notably, he was mainly distracted by an unprecedented challenge to Ibadan’s traditional rulership system, following moves in 2017 by the Oyo State government under then Governor Abiola Ajimobi to reinvent the age-old traditional structure.

The governor had installed new kings, thus creating multiple kings in Ibadan, which hitherto had been under one king. Ironically, he said: “We are not changing history, we are not changing tradition, and we are not changing the culture of Ibadan land.”

Not surprisingly, Oba Adetunji, inspired by a strong sense of tradition, opposed the new arrangement, and his supporters took the matter to court. Significantly, the Oyo State High Court, in 2018, nullified the creation of new kings in Ibadan. The judge described the installation as “unconstitutional, illegal, null, void and of no effect.”

In another judgement in 2019, the state high court “revoked” the crowning of the new kings. Also, the new governor, Seyi Makinde, withdrew their crowns, and parties in the conflict reached an agreement to pursue an out-of-court settlement to restore peace.

Oba Adetunji’s death on January 2, at the age of 93, did not end the crisis. The Olubadan succession system, which was predictable and seamless, has been affected by the controversial coronation of multiple kings in the land. In the aftermath of the controversy, the selection of his successor is not uncomplicated.

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Under the long-standing system, particular families produced candidates for the throne who had passed through a chain of chieftaincy stages.  The hierarchy was clear and the successor to a departed Olubadan was clear.

That was how Oba Adetunji became the 41st Olubadan. Born in the Adetunji Compound, Popoyemoja, Ibadan, he was a tailor in Lagos before he became a music promoter, and then, king.  He started his journey to the throne when he became the Mogaji of the Adetunji family in 1976. He was Balogun of Ibadan before his ultimate elevation to kingship.

“Since 1976,” he said during his inauguration, “I have continued to progress steadily on the Balogun chieftaincy line, climbing the 23 steps according to the tradition of Ibadan chieftaincy, till Allah granted me the grace to become Olubadan.”

His glorious attainment was remarkable, considering his disadvantaged background.  “I have no educational certificate and I never attended any school. My job experience with some white men gave me the opportunity to learn their language by relationship,” he said.

He switched from tailoring to marketing music, and founded his first record label, Baba Laje Records, in 1960. His business expanded, placing him at the top of a group of music marketing companies, including Omo Aje Sound Studio and Adetunji Label. It was a mark of his success that he discovered and promoted music stars, including Wasiu Ayinde Marshall, Dauda Epo Akara and Saka Olayigbade.

Oba Adetunji’s position as Olubadan made him an influential traditional ruler, not only in the country’s Southwest, but also nationally. In separate posthumous tributes, President Muhammadu Buhari and Governor Makinde emphasised his rich experience, deep wisdom and commitment to social development.

Importantly, his passionate and successful defence of the traditional system of rulership he inherited showed his courage and positive consistency. He will be remembered for consequential services to tradition and culture.

For the better part of last year, just like the preceding ones in recent times, the dominant news from Kaduna and practically all the northern states have been gory tales of banditry, kidnapping, communal upheavals, ethnic crises and terrorism, among other sundry acts of violence. Kaduna has also been one of those states in which religious intolerance and extremism played key roles in compounding the problems of disunity, instability and disharmony.
No better news could thus have emerged from the North West state than when over 500 Muslims from seven states in the region reportedly joined their Christian fellow citizens at the Christ Evangelical and Life Intervention Ministry in attending the last Christmas service traditionally observed on December 25, to celebrate the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Remarkably, this incidentally was not the first time that Muslims would be participating in the Christmas festivities in Kaduna State alongside their Christian counterparts. According to the General Overseer of the Christ Evangelical and Life Intervention Ministry, Pastor Yohanna Buru, “this is the 10th year the church has been hosting Muslims from various states for Christmas celebrations. Last year, the number of Muslims that attended the church services outnumbered the Christians and this year also, many Muslims attended the church services. Over 500 Muslims from Kaduna, Kano, Zamfara, Katsina, Abuja and Niger states joined us at the service to promote peace and unity”. This year’s event obviously made news against the background of the deterioration in inter-ethnic and religious relations in Kaduna State and beyond in recent times.
Equally noteworthy is the fact that the Muslims who attended the Christmas church services cut across various sects, including the Tijjaniya, Shiiat, Kadriya and Sunni. Stressing the need for Muslims and Christians to live together in peace and harmony, the District Head of Kurmin Mashi, Kaduna, Alhaji Rabo Abdullahi, expressed happiness at the number of Muslim youths and Imams that participated in the Christmas service. A Muslim woman who was at the service, Hajiya Sumaya Gabi, gave an interesting insight into why Muslims attended the Christmas service which she said was because Pastor Buru had in the past brought some of his church members to celebrate the Islamic festival of Maulud with them. This is a striking indication of the power of leadership and the force of personal example to influence positive and harmonious relationship among the followership.
Explaining the rationale for his laudable initiative, Pastor Buru said “We must remember that we are created by one God, and we are the children of Adam and Eve, and we both have our holy scriptures (Bible and Quran) from one God which guided us on how to live in peace and harmony with each other”. Most of those who hate, harm and kill other people in the name of religion presume that they are acting on behalf of an Almighty God whose interest they are defending. They do not see the absurdity and illogicality of religious intolerance and extremism when the God they claim to believe in has the power to allow the existence of only one religion were that to be his desire. Rather, the religious diversity that exists in the world enriches human experience, reflects the sheer magnitude of the divine and illustrates the futility of trying to box the infinite creator into narrow human compartmentalisations.
In April last year, the Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammed Sa’ad Abubakar III, when inaugurating a 1,800-seat capacity Central Mosque in Anyigba, Kogi State, commended the overwhelming presence of Christian clergymen at the event as unprecedented. Incidentally, the Sultan has collaborated with such other religious leaders like Bishop Hassan Kukah and Cardinal John Onaiyekan of the Catholic Church, for instance, to promote inter-religious harmony in the country. The Nigerian Inter-Religious Council (NIREC) was formed in 1999 as a permanent and independent body to afford traditional rulers and religious leaders a platform to preempt and prevent ethno-religious crises from spiralling out of control whenever they occur. The Kaduna example should spur this body to intensify initiatives to continuously strengthen ties and relationships across religious divides in the country.
It will certainly not be out of place for the Kaduna State government to consider instituting an annual inter-religious thanksgiving service at which adherents of the different religious groups in the state can gather to worship God and further solidify religious harmony in the state. What has started as a private initiative can be given the legal and moral imprimatur of the state, given the multi-religious character of the society, notwithstanding the secularity of the Nigerian state. The show of unity by Muslims and Christians in Kaduna State last Christmas is a beam of light for the rest of us to find the path to greater, peaceful religious co-existence in Nigeria.

When he won the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize in 1984, it was a significant endorsement of his non-violent approach to anti-apartheid activism. It was a measure of his stature that he had previously been nominated for the award in 1981, 1982, and 1983.  He received the award for his “role as a unifying leader figure in the campaign to resolve the problem of apartheid in South Africa.”

Desmond Tutu, who died on December 26, 2021, aged 90, was Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town, and widely regarded as “South Africa’s moral conscience.” His campaign against the policy of racial segregation in his country was an important part of the fight against apartheid that led to the eventual collapse of the obnoxious system in the 1990s.

The personal energy and passion that fuelled his anti-apartheid campaign were further demonstrated during his three-month sabbatical in New York, USA, in 1984.  He addressed the United Nations Security Council, and held meetings with the Congressional Black Caucus as well as the sub-committees on Africa in the US House of Representatives and the Senate. He also met with then US President Ronald Reagan.  He further campaigned against apartheid in the US in 1985 and 1986.

He was convinced that the intervention of the international community was necessary to stop apartheid in South Africa, and called for pressure and sanctions against the country’s government. He addressed the political committee of the United Nations General Assembly in 1985, and visited the United Kingdom where he met with then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.  In 1986, he visited Japan, China, and Jamaica to encourage punitive actions against the apartheid government.

Tutu’s international campaign helped to keep the apartheid problem on the front burner, particularly when most of the leading anti-apartheid activists were in jail.

Read Also: ARCHBISHOP DESMOND TUTU: Nobody’s Messenger

He dreamt of a new South Africa, “non-racial, democratic, participatory and just,” where “We can live together as one people, one family, black and white together.” This was the concept of a “Rainbow Nation,” which he helped to popularise.

In 1988, he told the South African government, which was based on apartheid and white minority rule:  ”Your cause is unjust. You are defending what is fundamentally indefensible, because it is evil. It is evil without question. It is immoral. It is immoral without question. It is unchristian. Therefore, you will bite the dust! And you will bite the dust comprehensively.”

There is no doubt about his immense contribution to the fall of apartheid in South Africa. It is striking that he used his position as a priest to attack the evil system, showing that religion should be used to fight for social good. He initially trained as a teacher. He was ordained as an Anglican priest in 1960, and moved to the UK two years later to study theology at King’s College, London.

He served as the general secretary of the South African Council of Churches from 1978 to 1985. By the 1980s, he was a well-known champion of human rights, racial equality and universal suffrage in South Africa.

He was the first black to become Bishop of Johannesburg from 1985 to 1986, and also Archbishop of Cape Town, the most senior position in southern Africa’s Anglican hierarchy, from 1986 to 1996. A new title, “archbishop emeritus,” was created to honour him when he retired as archbishop. He also received the Order for Meritorious Service, South Africa’s highest honour.

After the fall of apartheid, and the 1994 general election that resulted in a coalition government in South Africa headed by the legendary Nelson Mandela, Tutu was picked to chair the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to investigate past human rights abuses committed by both pro and anti-apartheid groups. This significant appointment underlined his moral reputation.

He received numerous awards and honorary degrees, particularly in South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States. He had about 100 honorary degrees by 2003. May 13 was declared ‘Desmond Tutu Day’ in Illinois State, USA, in 2008.

Acclaimed for advancing spiritual principles, he demonstrated his belief that “human beings are made for goodness,” and should be committed to making the world a better place.

Armed robbers who attacked banks and security formations in Egbe and Odo-Ere communities in Yagba West Local Government Area of Kogi State on December 14, apparently got more than they bargained for. During the operation which began around 3.20 pm and lasted about an hour, residents scampered to safety as the criminals fired gunshots and grenades to scare people away and smoothen the way for their operation. Soon, the local government literally became a ghost city, as residents ran helter-skelter while the incident lasted. Although the robbers succeeded in killing at least five civilians, a police officer and a bank guard, they could not escape with their loot. What more? Some of them got killed while the others were eventually arrested. Reports say about 27 robbers participated in the operation.

Signs that the operation was indeed a ‘bad market’ started manifesting soon after the robbers had attacked the police formations and the banks, as well as other commercial enterprises in the area, maiming and killing in the process. The local security architecture responded swiftly by blocking the likely escape routes the robbers could explore.

If most other robbery operations could be handled the way the Egbe incident was handled, perhaps more of those who had chosen to rob would think twice before venturing into armed robbery. The hot chase against the criminals by the local vigilantes, the police and soldiers, including the deployment of helicopter to locate the criminals in the forests culminated in the latter losing coordination. And when coordination is lost in this kind of engagement, it is only a matter of time for the game to be up.

There are several lessons to learn from the Kogi robbery. First was the resilience of all the actors that participated in the processes leading to the killing or arrest of the robbers. For over 10 days, they laid siege on the criminals until the criminals ran out of food, water and ideas. Obviously they never envisaged such a chase from the locals and the security operatives. Most of the credit for the robbers’ failed adventure goes to this determination to sniff them out of their hideouts.

Read Also: ‘Lady gang leader mastermind of Kogi bank robbery’

The resilience paid off as the gang was eventually tracked after all their tactics to escape from the forests failed. At a point in their utter confusion, they fired grenades to scare those chasing them away, only for this to end up a misadventure of monumental proportions, as it only succeeded in exposing their hideouts.

One after the other, those of them who were not killed in the forests were forced by hunger and thirst to come out, some pleading for food to be sold to them. Two of them who boarded a commercial vehicle in Isanlu were driven to a nearby police station instead of their preferred destination. Some of them were found with N2million cash, wrapped in the emblem of one of the commercial banks that they robbed.

It is regrettable that three lives were needlessly lost at Odo-Ere when an angry mob descended on the Divisional Police Station in the town, demanding that two of the suspected robbers who had been apprehended by local hunters and kept in the police cell be released to them. This was a request no professional policeman would grant. The refusal of the police to release the suspects for instant justice led to a melee and a policeman allegedly mistakenly fired gunshots that killed two people. The crowd retaliated by killing the erring policeman and torched part of the police station. This singular incident was a minus for the cooperation that had existed among all those involved in foiling the robbery attacks, including the police. We understand the angst of the mob, but the point must be made that such situations call for restraint.

Perhaps the most profound lesson in this matter is the place of community policing in the security architecture that foiled the robbery. The contribution of the local hunters, vigilantes, Odua Peoples Congress (OPC), Agbekoya and other locals, in this regard is unquantifiable. They understand the terrain and indeed demonstrated that by leading the way to the forest where the robbers were hiding as well as ensured that all their likely escape routes were blocked. This was what the police and soldiers eventually took advantage of, and, with the aid of modern security gadgets, including deployment of air surveillance, they were able to dislodge the remnants of the criminals by putting the heat on them. But for the involvement of the locals, the robbery could have ended the way of many other robberies, with the police arriving long after the criminals would have bolted.

We commend the tenacity of purpose of all those involved in making sure that the robbers did not reap where they did not sow. The spirit of cooperation which existed among them is also commendable. In the same vein, we commend Governor Yahaya Bello for swiftly responding to the occasion and also for appreciating the efforts of the locals who gallantly confronted the invaders that had come to trouble the peace of their otherwise peaceful community.

We commend the Kogi robbery response spirit to other parts of the country.