The Nation Newspaper

Category: Sunday magazine

  • Stars of the election

    Stars of the election

    There were many dimensions to the recently-concluded general elections. Among these were was the emergence of stars who will remain vital parts of the electoral history of this country. In this piece, YUSUF ALLI, MANAGING EDITOR, NORTHERN OPERATION and SANNI ONOGU look at the standout personalities from the general elections.

    The dust over February and March polls is yet to settle with some key actors still threatening fire and brimstone to delegitimise the outcome. Despite the fuss, it turned out to be one of the closest race and best electoral contests in Nigerian history.

    There were thrills and frills but the shape of the poll reflected Nigerians’ increasing faith in democracy, preference for the ballot, a defined march to end electoral malpractice, election of winners based on people’s choices and the emergence of some stars.

    Although there was a smattering resurgence of ethnic and religious politics in some parts of the country, the overall outcome recorded more positives than negatives.

    MAHMOOD YAKUBU

    An unsung hero of the poll is the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, who will go down in history as an umpire who sanitised the electoral process and laid to rest the era of concocted results. In spite of his vilification, Yakubu and his team initiated many reforms and wielded the big stick to prevent fraud. The introduction of Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and INEC Result Viewing Portal (IReV) made the electoral body a unique component of the polls. It is on record that BVAS was solely designed and produced by the ICT unit of the commission. The deployment of technology saved much time both in voting procedures and collation of results, elimination of ghost and underage voters and reduction of rigging significantly in most parts of the country. For the first time, transparency trailed the elections.  Parties and citizens could monitor the uploading of results.

    INEC also oversaw the keenest poll in the country with three leading contestants in neck and neck. Four out of the 18 presidential candidates added colour and competition to the race but three of them had a photo finish. They are the President-Elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu (All Progressives Congress), Atiku Abubakar (Peoples Democratic Party). Peter Obi (Labour Party). Tinubu has been declared winner of the contest. Out of the total registered voters of 93,469,008 million, votes cast were about 24,965,218. The APC candidate polled 8,794,726 votes to Atiku’s 6,984,520; Obi’s 6,10,533 and Kwankwaso earned  1,496,687.

    BOLA TINUBU

    The President-elect is not new to intrigues in politics. He has been in the game for over four decades, having served as a Senator and two-term governor of Lagos State. He has been the issue as a kingmaker. He has raised men from dust to stardom in leadership and management of resources. He earned a major medal during the elections when he took the risk of moving from kingmaker to king. It was a rare feat in Nigerian politics.

    His ambition to be the president of the country was greeted with resistance even before he formally declared it. Both internally in APC and externally across the country and beyond, the odds were against him. But he fought hard to win. His adoption of a Muslim-Muslim ticket with the choice of Sen. Kashim Shettima as his running mate was a risky experiment. Many criticised his choice of a same faith Vice President and vowed not to vote for him. They dismissed his candidacy but not only did Tinubu surmount the same hurdle, he triumphed during the February 25, 2023 presidential poll. More than any candidate, Tinubu won the plurality of votes in the Northwest, North-Central and Southwest.  He was second in votes in the Southeast, South-South and Northeast.

    PETER GREGORY OBI

    Obi was the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP). As a former governor of Anambra State, his record for frugality in office buoyed his image. But the politician who was running mate to Atiku of PDP during the 2019 election, created a sensation with Obidient Movement after his sudden defection.

    He was initially dismissed in many quarters as a lightweight but his performance during the election proved him to be a strong candidate.

    He LP to defeat Tinubu for the first time in his Lagos domain. The jolt made APC to return to the drawing board for a comeback during the governorship and House of Assembly elections.

    People ridiculed him saying he had no structure but he insisted that the people who are yearning for a new political order in the country were his structure. He scored over six million votes during the election just a little less than the votes garnered by Atiku and PDP. Besides, through the Obidient Movement, LP produced a Governor-elect in Abia State, seven senators-elect and several House of Representatives members-elect. He shook the political firmament to its very roots and made LP a party to reckon with in the country. But there were allegations that he capitalised on Christianity and Igbo nationalism to make the impact. Although he has denied leaning on ethno-religious sentiments, the efficacy of the Obidient Movement will be tested at the next elections.

    What made Obi a star was earning the confidence of the young generation of Nigerians and super deployment of social media tools for campaigns. He widened the horizon in a manner that he is dreaming that the Presidential Election Tribunal will declare him the winner from his third place.

    ATIKU ABUBAKAR

    A veteran presidential candidate, Atiku is as constant as the northern star. His miscalculation in dropping Obi for Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa, exposed the weakness in his strategy. If he had retained the LP candidate, he would have fulfilled his 31-year old dream of becoming president. He is a star for his consistent pursuit of his ambition. He hasn’t given up on his aspiration and has a can-do spirit. Twice, he proved bookmakers wrong to clinch the ticket of PDP. This is the third time he will come second in the race.

    RABIU MUSA KWANKWASO, ABBA GIDA-GIDA IN KANO

    It appeared like a joke taken too far when Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, a former governor of Kano State, decided to prop up an obscure party like the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) as a vehicle to realise his dream of becoming president of Nigeria. Though NNPP, with his strong influence overwhelmingly won the presidential election in Kano, he was not so lucky in other states of the federation where the party stills remains little known and unpopular. However, it produced two Senators-elect and the Governor-elect of Kano, Abba Kabir Yusuf aka Abba Gida Gida. The defeat of the APC governorship candidate, Nasiru Gawuna, has changed political calculations in the state for the next dispensation. Both Kwankwaso and his NNPP qualify as stars of the 2023 general election. He created a new record by installing his son-in-law as governor of the state. His campaign template was also unique. He made most of his shuttles across the country by road to feel the pulse of the masses.

    NORTHERN APC GOVS

    The Northern governors of APC stood for democracy, fairness and justice in the power sharing formula of the country when they insisted that it was the turn of the South to produce the next president. They were never swayed by the argument of North-centric party chieftains who did all they could to give the party’s presidential ticket to Senate President, Dr. Ahmad Lawan.  Prominent among them were Mallam Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State, Yahaya Bello (Kogi State), Abdullahi Ganduje (Kano), Atiku Bagudu (Kebbi) and Abubakar Badaru (Jigawa) and others. They delivered Tinubu during the primaries as well as at the presidential election.

    DAVID UMAHI

    Ebonyi State Governor, Dave Umahi, started early when he decamped to APC from PDP. In spite of the avalanche of litigations against his move, he contested the presidential primary with the hope that the party’s zoning formula would favour him. He, however, made a detour to pick a senatorial ticket following his loss. He did not only win his senate seat, he delivered the governorship to APC. He proved bookmakers who thought the Obidient wave in the Southeast would sweep him off his feet. He is one of the heroes of the 2023 general election. His triumph in Ebonyi has been described as fitting reward by the people for his performance.

    NYESOM WIKE

    He is the tormentor-in-chief who fits the bill of a cat with nine lives. He was engaged in many controversial actions and permutations. He undermined his party’s candidate, Atiku, and got away with it.

    Governor Nyesom Wike stood solidly for power shift to the South notwithstanding that his party fielded a candidate from the Northeast. He did not only “deliver” Rivers State to APC in the presidential election, he held his ground by ensuring that PDP won governorship, state and federal legislative elections. He was leader of the G-5 PDP governors who stood their ground that power must shift to the South. He added pep to the poll with his copycat rhythm of as “E dey Sweet us, Na so e dey pain dem.” He is yet to pay for copyright infringement. But for his excellent performance in office Wike earned the confidence of his people. But his traducers claim he deployed massive violence to retain his dominance on the state.

    NASIR EL-RUFAI

    Governor Nasir el-Rufa’i of Kaduna State deserves a special mention as one of the stars of the 2023 general election. He did not only publicly support and work for power shift to the South, he fought against members of APC who attempted to sabotage Tinubu’s presidential drive through chronic Naira and fuel scarcity in the run up to the election. Even though he lost all federal legislative seats and the presidential election to the opposition, he bounced back two weeks later to win the governorship. El-Rufai justified is rating as a nationalist and a man of principle.

    SEYI MAKINDE

    Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State  risked all, including his re-election bid. As a PDP governor the regional political currents of electing a president from the Southwest under the banner of the APC made his chances precarious. However, as a true Omoluabi, he ensured that Oyo joined the train to vote and deliver Tinubu during the presidential election. Yet, he still claimed his seat as governor on the platform of the PDP. He was a prominent member of the G-5 Governors who insisted that power must shift to the South when the PDP did not field a southern presidential candidate.

    AISHATU BINANI

    Senator Binani is one of the stars of the 2023 general elections. She has proved herself to be a true amazon and upset the odds in Adamawa State. As governorship candidate of APC, she has proved her mettle as a philanthropist and grassroots politician by giving the incumbent governor and candidate of the PDP, Ahmadu Fintiri, a run for his money, power and popularity.

    The governorship election in Adamawa is still inconclusive but she has shown that with a level playing ground she will sooner than later emerge the first elected female governor of a state in Nigeria. Her doggedness and resilience as a lone woman in the game of men has continued to attract accolades from far and near – including prayers that her dream would be realised. She is seeking the review of the governorship poll in about 16 local government areas to prove that there was massive rigging by PDP.

    DAUDA LAWAL

    The Zamfara State Governor-elect, Dauda Lawal, has been described as a giant killer for successfully dislodging Governor Bello Matawalle of the APC from Government House in Gusau. His triumph was a lesson on how not to be disloyal in politics. Matawalle who ascended to power on the platform of PDP later dumped the party. Lawal has now reclaimed the position for PDP and therefore, he is fit to be named one of the stars of the 2023 general election. He is also a resilient youthful politician who had his eyes on the ball and worked towards it. He was hounded, persecuted and humiliated but he emerged a hero in the end.

    HYACINTH ALIA

    The Benue State Governor-elect, Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Iormem Alia, on the platform of the APC is equally a star. He succeeded in dislodging the candidate of PDP who was handpicked and backed by Governor Samuel Ortom. His resignation from Catholic priesthood to contest the position has paid off. His election was a vote of confidence in his integrity. With unpaid salary arrears and pensions, the people of Benue State were tired of the status quo.

    ABDULRAHMAN ABDULRAZAQ

    The Governor of Kwara State, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, was one of the heroes of the election for sustaining the ‘O to ge’ revolution which finally demystified the Saraki dynasty. The governor’s political strength was underestimated by PDP. APC, however, had a clean sweep of the state.

    Another feather to his cap was his outstanding devotion to affirmative action for women. He ensured five women were elected into the Kwara House of Assembly, including a 26-year old graduate, Rukayat Shittu, who won election to represent Owode/Onire Constituency in Asa Local Government Area of the state. Rukayat, a Mass Communication graduate, is a social media influencer who had used her tools to advocate for the development of his people. Other female elected lawmakers are Abdulraheem Medinat (Dongari/Eji Constituency); Lawal Fatimoh Arinola (Ilorin South); Babatunde Ayi Alanamu (Ilorin West/North); Yusuf Mariam (Ilorin South).

    BENEDICT AYADE

    Governor Benedict Ayade of Cross River State can be regarded as one of the stars after he bounced back from the blitzkrieg of the Labour Party to win the governorship of the state. He lost his own senatorial bid. His sojourn into APC has not only paid off, but the hold of the party on the state is further being consolidated, in the face of personal loss.

    KASHIM SHETTIMA

    APC’s Vice President-elect, Senator Kashim Shettima, is also one of the stars. He has not only surmounted the hurdle of the same faith ticket with the President-elect, his candidacy added lustre to the ticket in view of the performance of APC in the Northeast – especially Borno State – in the presidential election. Known to be outspoken and cerebral, it is believed he would prove to be a worthy deputy and dependable hand for Tinubu in the onerous task of nation building awaiting them.

  • Polls on the observers’ scale

    Polls on the observers’ scale

    By Vincent Akanmode

    Anyone with the faintest idea of the place of Nigeria in international politics as the most populous black nation in the world would not be surprised at the huge interest the just concluded general election in the country generated from election observers locally and internationally. No fewer than 146,913 observers were accredited by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the presidential and National Assembly elections held on February 25 and the governorship and state house of assembly elections that took place on March 18.

    Their brief as was highlighted by INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, was to submit reports to the commission, highlighting the strength and weaknesses of the electoral process. The progressive improvement in the nation’s electoral culture since 1999, he noted, derived in part from the reports filed in by observers which, this time, included the 40 deployed by US-based political think-tanks, International Republican Institute (IRI) and National Democratic Institute (NDI). The delegation included political leaders, civil society election experts and regional specialists from 20 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and North America.

    There were also others like the Commonwealth Observer Group led by its chairperson and former President of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki; the 90-man African Union delegation led by former Kenyan President, Uhuru Kenyatta, the European Union Election Observation Mission (EU EOM), YIAGA Africa and the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), to mention a few.

    A major feature of the election was the divergence of opinions among the various observer groups that monitored its conduct. While some observers rated it as the best ever in the nation’s electoral history, others were quick to dismiss it as a rape on democracy.

    To the first category of observers, the deployment of BVAS in the conduct of the elections was the master stroke that placed it over and above other elections that had been conducted since the nation returned to democratic rule in 1999. They could not but applaud this piece of technology that made it impossible for voters to break the sacred electoral rule of one man one vote.

    The second category of observers, however, were miffed at what the failure of INEC to upload the results of the elections from the polling units to the IREV in real time as the electoral umpire had promised as well as the pockets of violence that attended the exercise in few places around the country, particularly during the governorship and state house of assembly elections.

    Unfortunately, the incidents of violence were magnified on the social and traditional media by vested interests determined to discredit the election the same way they had sought to discredit the candidacy of the eventual winner of the presidential election, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). Many observers, particularly the foreign ones who depended on reports from the biased sections of the social and traditional media, could not put the election in context and therefore fell victim of the propaganda machine rolled out against the ruling party and its candidates.

    The first point of disagreement occurred during the presidential election when it was observed that voting started late at many polling units around the country. Some observers who blamed INEC for the delay did not put into account the prevailing social and economic conditions like fuel scarcity and the cash crunch occasioned by the failed naira redesigning policy of the Godwin Emefiele-led Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), both of which contributed to the late arrival of voting materials at many polling units.

    Some of the observers who criticised the election also pointed to alleged failure of the electoral umpire to fulfill its pledge before the elections that the results from the polling units would be uploaded on its central server in real time. Hon. Dino Melaye, the querulous spokesperson of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), had latched on to it to reject the result of the election that was won by the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and call for its cancellation.

    His protest would later catch on as a few other aggrieved political parties, including the Labour Party (LP), whose candidate Peter Obi came third in the election, joined in the ensuing protest designed primarily to give the world the impression that the election was compromised by INEC. It would later be revealed that INEC decided against its earlier plan to upload the results when it discovered that numerous attempts had been made to hack into its server.

    In its preliminary statement on the presidential and National Assembly elections, the IRI and NDI Joint Election Observation Mission said the elections “fell well short of Nigerian citizens’ reasonable expectations” while the electoral umpire lacked transparency. The Mission’s leader and former President of Malawi, Dr. Joyce Banda, opined that logistical challenges and multiple incidents of violence overshadowed the electoral process and impeded a substantial number of voters from participating.

    The delegation observed that the late opening of polling locations and logistical failures created tension while the secrecy of the ballot was compromised in some polling units because of overcrowding. Banda also said that after the polls, challenges with the electronic transfer of results and their upload to a public portal in a timely manner undermined citizens’ confidence at a crucial moment of the process.

    The assessment of the election made by the IRI and NDI Joint Election Observation Mission was, however, at variance with the one made by the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), whose President, Yakubu Maikyau, gave INEC an 80 per cent rating after reports from about 1,000 members of the association deployed to monitor the elections nationwide.

    Speaking in an interview on Channels Television after the election, the NBA President said: “I will say that the election went well. Those who came out were happy to express their franchise.

    “There were challenges, definitely. There were some infractions, some of them actually constituted electoral offences. But on the whole, I will score INEC as having performed maybe about 78, 80 per cent in the delivery of these elections.

    “That will be an A for every exam, notwithstanding all the things that happened, which we are not ignoring.”

  • Obinna Iyiegbu: I put my wife first before everything

    Obinna Iyiegbu: I put my wife first before everything

    Obinna Iyiegbu known as Obi Cubana is CEO of Cubana Trading and Investment Company. In this interview with Yetunde Oladeinde, he talks about his passion for hospitality, new exploits in the beverage sector, challenges, opportunities and strong belief in women empowerment.

    You studied Political Science, are you planning to go into politics at some point?

    I have actually said it over and over again. I read political science but I don’t do politics. I am a businessman, I am called to do business , I have excelled in business and I can only do business.

    You are known for empowering people, how is your company giving back to society, especially young people?

    In terms of CSR, we at Cubana trading and Investment group are known to give our best. I am going back to the University of Nsukka in two days as a Speaker for their 50th anniversary. I have a lot of things to motivate them, to have a prize for the best student and to possibly give some scholarships for them. So, we do all this because we believe that empowering them educationally is the best weapon to arm any person who wants to succeed in life.

    They can actually veer off along the line, you can do anything you want to do like go into fashion, music, a professional barber or anything. But the most important thing is to get the basic education. Someone like me, if I didn’t get the basic education, I may not have been able to manage my success the way I have been able to manage it. We do our best to empower our youths in terms of education mostly. We give you something to build you for tomorrow. We need people that would take over by the time we are no more.

    What inspired the name Odogwu?

    The name is known globally. This wasn’t the first name, we toyed with so many others, went to NAFDAC, trademark and then to the quality control.

    Anyone that is a great person, the name Odogwu is attributed to the person. Prior to Odogwu coming on board, you see big men who drink Odogwu wrap it up with serviette. They hide it because they feel it is a drink meant for the poor. But, we are trying to tell them that we are all human beings. You can actually have access to pride while consuming the bitters. It is not expensive; in fact, it is cheaper than most products in the market.

    It has its own benefits; people say it destroys this and that. But you know that anything coming from the stable of Cubana, we are interested in quality and we do the best standard practice in everything we do. What we did was to make sure that the people who consume it don’t have to hide it anymore. You can openly and brazenly take it out, put it in your pocket and say I am drinking bitters. We actually changed the narratives of our bitters.

    What are the milestones recorded?

    We have been able to gather some graduates together to present this product so that people who are educated and well placed can market the product. We have been able to export the product across to places like Canada. I was personally at the Lounge of Odogwu Bitters in Canada, UK, Germany and Paris. The day we landed in Paris Airport, it was like a carnival. The maximum we could fly with all finished, we got to the Tower to take pictures. You can see the joy, making them proudly Nigerian. We are trying to export culture, trying to show them that Nigeria is not just about bad things.

    What inspired the feminine touch and the name Hush?

    The name Odogwu came across as if it is only for men. There are women too. The product was also marketed and consumed by women. So, we said Hush, this for women, end of discussion. It has lower alcohol, just about 6 per cent.

    How long did it take to work on the product?

    From the first day we launched this particular product, we went back to work in the field for marketing. My partner was in the lab trying to get as many products as possible. You have to look at the

    demography of the Nation, not every part of the country consumes alcohol. That is how we came up with this Malay and we want to take every part of the country. So, that it would be all inclusive. Our office is dominated by females and one of our visible ambassadors is a woman.

    Let’s talk about the challenges?

    Of course, we faced many challenges .We have seen diesel rise from where it was to where it is today.  There is also the epileptic power supply. Once diesel actually rises , it affects us, it affects production and everything but we cannot add money at every point because of competition. So, you find a way to navigate it, while also maintaining the quality of the product.

    Right now, you cannot predict or forecast anything or say you would use N100,000 to produce XYZ because you may spend N300,000. So, you find your way to manage it ,so that it does not affect the final cost of production.

    It takes a toll on us but you have to keep at it. Some day the reward will come. We had situations where we could load the product to another destination, the drivers would divert it. Stolen goods, bad roads, accidents but the good thing is that we deal with trucks that are insured so that the distributors or our company do not bear any loss. That is taking the products from one point to another, the other ones are manageable.

    The instability of the naira due to the economy is a challenge but at every point I try to stabilize it, so that it doesn’t go beyond the reach of the people that created it. As luxury as it appears to be, it is still very pocket friendly. It’s a sustainable product, and sustainable brands.

    From day one , the prices of our product have been the same but because of the value we put on the product some people decided to up the prices. It is not coming from us.

    The theme for this year’s International Women’s day is Embrace Equity. What does this mean to you?

    Equity is relative and I believe in Women’s empowerment. I am a very good example of a family man. I put my wife first in everything. As you can see, all our directors came with their wives and if you sit on the board meeting here, you will see that it is dominated by women. So, I believe in Women’s empowerment.

    How have you been able to deal with issues around taxation and import?

    We comply 100 per cent with taxes. We have chartered accountants here who look at our books. We are like the goldfish, we have no hiding place. We are visible in both the social and mainstream media, we don’t hide. We are open to all the agencies of government to come over. We file our tax as at when due. Also, in terms of Effex, we try to get at the parallel market, at the official market because you have to meet up with demand, depending on how much is allocated to you. Life is not smooth; there are ups and downs but we try to navigate to keep the business alive.

    We have a wonderful team that knows the Nigerian market that knows where to go. The most important thing is to know where to place the product in Nigeria. As well as most West African countries. We have visibility and we have an amazing team that can withstand any competition. The Nigeria market is too big and we are only looking for a percentage of it. The most important thing is to have your own presence, announce it, hold down your own and make sure that the quality is consistent, the marketing is consistent and the focus is there and the prices competitive.

  • 2023 Polls Essential Guide (2): Thankless job

    2023 Polls Essential Guide (2): Thankless job

    It would not be out of place to say that the job of election commission chairman is one of the  most thankless jobs in Nigeria. From Chief Michael Ani (1976-1979) to Justice Victor Ovie-Whiskey (1983), Prof Eme Awa (1987-1989), Prof Humphrey Nwosu (1989-1993), Prof Okon Uya (1993-1994), Sumner Dagogo-Jack (1994-1998), Justice Ephraim Akpata (1998-1999), Abel Guobadia (2000-2005), Prof Maurice Iwu (2005-2010), Prof Attahiru Jega (2010-2015), to the incumbent Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) chair,  Prof Mahmood Yakubu (2015- date), the story has almost always been the same: they have largely been accused of favouritism, partisanship and compromise.

    This is despite the fact that the names of the election commission have undergone several metamorphoses; from Federal Electoral Commission (FEDECO) to National Electoral Commission (NECON), to the present Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Government had to add the word ‘independent’ to the commission’s name to give it some semblance of autonomy. Yet, not much has changed.

    In other words, the hood does not make the monk.

    But this does not mean that the umpire has always been guilty as alleged by some of the political actors that have been accusing it of bias. The fact is, many of our politicians are incurably bad losers. They want to win election all the time as if elections would go out of fashion after the one they lost today.

    CHIEF MICHAEL ANI (1976-1979)

    Ani was appointed FEDECO chairman by the General Olusegun Obasanjo regime in 1976. He midwifed the Second Republic general elections in 1979. That year, the presidential election was held on August 11, 1979, with five political parties contesting. These were Alhaji Waziri Ibrahim-led Great Nigeria Peoples Party (GNPP); Alhaji Aminu Kano’s Peoples Redemption Party, (PRP); Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe’s Nigerian Peoples Party, (NPP); Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN); and Alhaji Shehu Shagari’s National Party of Nigeria (NPN).

    While Ani and his team thought they had delivered a credible election, the infamous twelve two-thirds formula surfaced. The problem was, contrary to the stipulation that the winner of the election, apart from winning the popular votes, must also win 25 per cent of votes in two-thirds of the states in the federation. The NPN that would have clinched it scored 19.9 per cent votes in Kano, instead of the 25 per cent it needed to be declared winner. With this stalemate, the two topmost parties, the NPN and UPN, under the decree by the ruling government, were to have a run-off, which was supposed to be conducted by the law makers in the National Assembly and those in the state assemblies that were to elect one of the two candidates as president.

    The stage was set for this process when the then Supreme Military Council headed by Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo hijacked the process. The council preferred Alhaji Shagari to Chief Awolowo and it did not hide it. The council then caused one Mr F.L.O. Menkiti, to announce that the percentage scored by Alhaji Shagari in the 12 states and the 19.9 per cent he scored in Kano was tantamount to his being declared as President. Mind you, there were 19 states in the country then. He, consequently declared Alhaji Shagari as the next President of Nigeria.

    Chief Awolowo naturally challenged this and the Supreme Court’s majority decision upheld that position. Alhaji Shagari was sworn in three days after the apex court’s judgment. It is generally believed that Ani had no hands in the processes that followed the election proper that eventually produced the Shagari presidency. Could he not have resigned in protest? After all, Prof Eme Awa who was chairman of the National Electoral Commission (NEC) between 1987 and 1989 resigned over disagreement with the then head of state, the self-styled General Ibrahim Babangida. Prof Humphrey  Nwosu  who was the chief electoral umpire from 1989-1993 also left the job following the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election by the same Babangida regime.

    JUSTICE VICTOR OVIE-WHISKEY (1980-1983)

    Ovie-Whiskey was selected by President Shehu Shagari during the Nigerian Second Republic to head the FEDECO. He was chief judge  of the old Bendel State (now Edo and Delta states) at the time of his appointment. Ovie-Whiskey conducted the infamous 1983 general elections widely rigged in favour of the ruling NPN. Despite this open secret, he said he was satisfied with the conduct of the elections which gave the NPN its then “landslide victory”, that was however short-lived. The products of that election were sacked by the military who overthrew the government barely three months after their swearing in, more or less a validation of the fact that all was not well with the election. Ovie-Whiskey however admitted that “We did not expect to be perfect.”

    His response to reporters’ enquiries as to whether “water passed under the bridge” in the elections, another way of asking whether bribes changed hands, was that he would faint if he saw N1 million! One million Naira was a lot of money then, though. At today’s exchange rate of N750 to the dollar, we can only imagine how much that would be and how badly the country has been run down.

    Nonetheless, it won’t make many public officials faint these days because the nation has since lost its moral compass. People now steal in billions and we were also told stories of judges who allegedly became billionaires through the election cases that they decided.

    During his time as chief judge, Ovie-Whiskey was known to be upright and non-partisan. That he could be tainted the way he was as electoral commission chairman, was an indication of just how tempting that assignment could be, especially in our kind of society where many politicians want to win at all cost. Possibly due to the allures of political jobs.

    PROF. EME AWA (1987-1989)

    Awa was appointed chairman of NECON by President Ibrahim Babangida in 1987. He was formerly a professor of political science at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. His commission conducted the 1987 local government election that was badly managed. The voter registers were confusing and irregular, even as the polling stations were overcrowded.

    Prof Awa was teacher and mentor of Prof Humphrey Nwosu that succeeded him as FEDECO chair. Awa resigned in 1989 as a result of disagreement with General Babangida.

    PROF. HUMPHREY NWOSU (1989-1993)

    Appointed by General Ibrahim Babangida, Prof Nwosu was chairman of NEC from 1989 – 1993. Nwosu appeared determined to succeed. On assumption of office, he recommended six political parties, open ballot system, Option A4, which did not involve the use of ballot boxes but only required voters to queue behind the posters of their preferred candidates, as well as the co-opting of journalists as guarantors of transparency and integrity and witnesses in the electoral process. The Babangida government rejected the idea of six political parties for fears that they could become ethnic political associations and created two political parties instead, the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and National Republican Convention (NRC). It was the two parties that contested the June 12, 1993 presidential election that was overwhelmingly won by Bashorun Moshood Kashimawo Abiola (MKO) who defeated Bashir Tofa of the NRC. But things were not as easy as they seem.

    Babangida’s transition programme was designed to transit to nowhere because the gap-toothed General was not ready to leave office. He banned and unbanned many career politicians along the line. The highpoint of the shenanigans was the injunction secured by Arthur Nzeribe through his Association for Better Nigeria (ABN) purporting to stop the election on the very eve of the polls. By the decree on which the election was held, the courts were barred from entertaining such matters on the election.

    In the midst of the confusion as to whether the election would hold or not, Nwosu went ahead with the conduct of the election, armed with the provisions of the decree ousting the jurisdiction of the courts.

    By June 14, results had started coming out. Abiola was clearly in the lead in the 19 out of the then 30 states.

    This is commendable courage on the part of Nwosu and his team because everyone knew that though the hands trying to scuttle the electoral process were those of Nzeribe, the voice was clearly that of Babangida and his clique in power who did not want an Abiola presidency; that is, if they must leave the stage at all.

    Nwosu has rightly been described as the man who organised the freest and fairest election in the country. Babangida however annulled the results midway into its announcement. This was after the second injunction by the court ordering discontinuation of the announcement of the result which had Abiola clearly in the lead. The country was in turmoil for long as a result of the annulment, but that is a matter for another day. Nwosu’s attempt in a book he published a few years back tried to exonerate Babangida of blame in the annulment of the election; he was widely criticised for this. Although Nwosu was dismissed for his temerity, he remains an umpire of reference in Nigeria for his unusual courage to defy the then military junta to conduct the 1993 presidential election in spite of the body language of the authorities that they did not want the polls.

    PROF. OKON EDET UYA (1993-1994)

    Prof Uya succeeded Prof Nwosu as NECON boss. Not much could be said of his tenure because it was so brief and, secondly because the new presidential election that he was supposed to conduct after the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election never happened. The election, supposedly to be contested by the SDP and NRC could not hold as a result the confusion and chaos that trailed the annulled election.

    CHIEF SUMNER DAGOGO-JACK (1994-1998)

    Dagogo-Jack had served as a member of the Humphrey Nwosu team between 1989 and 1993. His NECON registered five political parties: Congress for National Consensus (CNC), Democratic Party of Nigeria (DPN), United Nigeria Congress Party (UNCP), National Centre Party of Nigeria (NCPN) and Grassroots Democratic Movement (GDM). None of them was led by a credible candidate for the simple fact that they were tools to be used by the then head of state, General Sani Abacha, to transmute into civilian president. That explained why the Late Chief Bola Ige referred to them as the “five fingers of a leprous hand”.

    The parties were surreptitiously financed by the Abacha government so that at the appropriate time, they would all endorse him as their sole presidential candidate.

    Nonetheless, Dagogo-Jack conducted elections into the local governments and National Assembly. Unfortunately, the elected officers were yet to be sworn in when Gen. Abacha died suddenly in June, 1998.

    JUSTICE EPHRAIM AKPATA (1998-1999)

    It was Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar who succeeded Abacha that appointed Justice Akpata, a Justice of the Supreme Court as Dagogo-Jack’s successor. Akpata was the first chairman of INEC, as we know it today. Although his tenure was short, it was eventful. He gave provisional registration to only nine of the political associations that wanted to contest elections and insisted that associations seeking registration as political parties must win local governments seats in at least 10 states. Eventually, only three of them finally qualified to compete in the state and national elections. The implication of Akpata’s decision was that political associations had to go into coalitions to be relevant. Thus, we had the Group of 34 forming the new PDP while the Alliance for Democracy (AD) and the All People’s Party (APP) presented a joint candidate for the 1999 presidential election. The PDP won and ruled until 2015 when the All Progressives Congress (APC) snatched power from it.

    SIR ABEL GUOBADIA (2000-2005)

    He was appointed the second chairman of INEC, following Akpata’s death in 2000, by President Olusegun Obasanjo. A U.S. trained Solid State Physics expert, it was his lot to conduct the 2003 general election. Although the elections recorded a higher turnout than those of 1998/1999,they were marred with widespread irregularities and violence.

    Anyway, it is on record that Guobadia was the first and only electoral commission chairman to successfully complete his term as at 2005, right from the country’s independence in 1960. The next person to achieve that feat was Prof. Attahiru Jega, INEC chairman from 2010-2015. Guobadia was later to capture his experience as INEC boss in a book, ‘Reflections of a Nigerian Electoral Umpire’.

    PROF. MAURICE IWU (2005-2010)

    Iwu succeeded Guobadia in June, 2005. Upon assumption of office, he said foreign monitors  would no longer be allowed in the country; only foreign observers. This decision angered politicians and civil society groups, who called for his immediate removal. Iwu’s greatest undoing was his 2007 elections. They have been described so far as the worst in the country’s history. The election deteriorated from what some foreign observers described as ‘competitive rigging’ in 2003 to ‘stolen elections’ in 2007. At least 200 persons reportedly died in the run-up to the elections while another 55 died on Election Day proper. Incidentally, the 2003 and 2007 general elections were conducted under the Obasanjo presidency. The latter was particularly depressing because the Late Umaru  Yar’Adua  who succeeded Obasanjo was thoroughly embarrassed by the elections that he, despite being the beneficiary, set up the Mohammed Uwais panel to chart the way forward for credible elections.

    Unfortunately, Yar’adua could not complete his term before he died. Perhaps  he would have been the one to fire Iwu. The lot consequently fell on his successor, the then President Goodluck Jonathan, who, apparently was committed to transparent elections; he sacked Iwu barely two months to the end of Iwu’s tenure.

    Incidentally, it is the same Obasanjo whose government organised this worst election in the country’s history that was condemning the February 25, 2023 presidential election as not credible. This was the same Obasanjo who some years back said that not even Jesus Christ can conduct elections that would not be disputed in Nigeria, a thing which drew the ire of Christian leaders in the country. Perhaps that was why he anticipated that Peter Obi of the Labour Party that he supports would only be defeated if an election that was yet to hold, was rigged.

    PROF. ATTAHIRU JEGA (2010 – 2015)

    He was appointed by President Jonathan as replacement for Iwu, who was fired on April 28, 2010. Jega is the only INEC chairman to oversee two general elections (2011 and 2015). His appointment was less controversial  because President Jonathan consulted widely before selecting him.

    His outing during the 2011 general election was commendable. Jega attributed the success partly to the media as well as the cooperation the commission received from all enlightened citizens in the electoral process.

    Although he later faced severe criticisms from both the ruling party and the opposition APC during the campaign for the 2015 elections, his conduct of the March 28, 2015 election earned him plaudits from virtually all segments of the society, including the foreign observers.

    The elections were generally acclaimed as free, fair and credible such that the then

    President Jonathan conceded defeat to his APC challenger, the incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari, even as results were being announced.

    Jega retired on June 30, 2015 and handed over to Amina Zakari as directed by President Buhari. He formed a political opposition named Rescue Nigeria Project (RNP) alongside other political stakeholders in the course of the 2023 polls.

    PROF. MAHMOOD YAKUBU (2015 TILL DATE)

    Prof Yakubu is the current chairman of INEC. He was appointed by President Buhari on October 21, 2015, succeeding Amina Zakari who served as acting chairman for about four months. Yakubu had conducted some off-cycle elections with some reasonable level of success. His litmus test, however, was the recently concluded general elections held on February 25 for the presidential and National Assembly candidates, and the March 18 governorship and state assembly candidates’ poll.

    Although some elements are trying to portray the elections and the commission in bad light, this is unfair. There was violence during the elections, but this had been on long before the polls, with all manner of hate speeches and threats from politicians and some other elements. The main grouse of INEC’s critics who have taken the commission to court over the presidential election result in particular is that it did not upload the results of the elections in the over 170,000 polling units unto a central server (IReV) as it promised. The commission has however defended its stance and asked those dissatisfied with the process to go to court.

  • Satisfaction in Christ Alone (4)

    Satisfaction in Christ Alone (4)

    • Text: “The woman then left her water pot…..and saith to the men, Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did…” (John 4:28-29)

    By Venerable Henry O. Adelegan

    The Samaritan woman in the passage of our text lived a life which was engrossed in gross dissatisfaction. When she had an encounter with Jesus Christ however, her eyes of understanding were enlightened, she dropped her water pot, went into town proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ and consequently won many souls to Christ – she became a great Evangelist! Beloved, you need to surrender your life, family, ministry and assignments to Jesus Christ today. When you surrender to Him, He would satisfy you with His mercy, as He did for the woman with the water pot and gave her a new beginning. In Psalms 90:14, the Psalmist said that, “O satisfy us early with thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our days”. Unstoppable and everlasting happiness is a mirage without His mercy. When God intervenes for you with His mercy, He cancels whatever judgment that had been placed on your life and eternal happiness shall become your testimony (James 2:13). When God satisfies you, whatever judgment or embargo placed on your family line shall be stopped with your generation and you shall effortlessly get to the zenith of your commission. 

    Besides that, whenever Jesus Christ steps in, He satisfies with His favor. Deuteronomy 33:23 says that, “And of Naphtali he said, O Naphtali, satisfied with favour, and full with the blessing of the Lord: possess thou the west and the south”. When you are satisfied with favour, your capacity for lift up shall be elevated, laws and rules shall be suspended for your lift up, your level of operation and testimonies shall be expanded and you shall be elevated beyond your level of competence. When God satisfies with favour, He reverses status quo as He did with Moses, Esther, Daniel and Joseph. Not only that, He said in Job 38:25-27 that, “God satisfies the desolate and waste ground and causes the bud of the tender herb to spring forth.” In other words, when God satisfies you, He releases greatness on you and the position you never imagined or dreamt about shall be vacated for you. The Prophet Samuels of this world shall be sent to look for you. They will disqualify others to qualify you and shall refuse to sit down until your arrival for anointing.

    In addition to divine favour, God also satisfies with goodness (Jeremiah 31:14). When you are satisfied with His goodness, everything that is good shall locate you and follow you all the days of your life and wherever you turn to (Psalm 23:6 cf Deut. 28:6). The Psalmist while highlighting the goodness of God in Psalm 107:8,9 spoke very eloquently about God’s works of wonders to human creation and that He must be hallowed for His mission of satisfaction and His commission to give as many that came to Him the grace to live their lives to the fullest (John 4:37). The Psalmist said that, “Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness”. From this passage, the Psalmist said that the celebration of His goodness is not predicated only that He satisfied the longing soul but that He is still in the business of satisfying of longing souls. This is sufficient to state that His willingness and capacity to satisfy is the same as it was yesterday, today and forever (Heb. 13:8). It also confirms the fact that all powers belong to Him (Psalm 62:11) and that, He can qualify the unqualified and make a way where there was none.

    By His grace and divine intervention, you shall get a decent job, even in a season of economic recessions such that “when men are chorusing a cast down, you will have a testimony of lifting up” (Job 22:29). God will bless you with a good husband, He will decorate your life with a good wife, build you a house of your own, give you good cars for easy movement and enlarge your family with very good children etc. It doesn’t matter what is going on in the world, if you decide to obey divine instruction, God will position your Joseph at His Goshen (Gen. 47:27) and your Isaac shall be domiciled at His Gerar (Gen. 26:1-13). In Isaiah 58:11, God had promised that, “I shall satisfy your soul in time of famine and make fat your bones: and you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not”. The Psalmist said in Psalms 37:19 that, “They shall not be ashamed in the evil time: and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied.” Joel 2:26 says that, “you shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied”.

    Please return to God today, surrender your life to Him during this Lenten season, drop your water pot of sin and carnality, and ask Him to take full charge of your life and allow Him take over the driving seat of your life while you sit beside Him. As He lives, your life will not be the same again and you shall continue to live in the satisfaction that is only available in Him, in the name of Jesus

    Prayer: Lord, take the water pot of sin and flesh from me. Please take me from where I am to where you had destined for me in the name of Jesus.

  • 2023 polls would have consumed Nigeria but for prayers – OAIC

    2023 polls would have consumed Nigeria but for prayers – OAIC

    The Organisation of African Instituted Churches (OAIC) has attributed the successful conclusion of the 2023 general elections without national disintegration to the prayers of the body of Christ.

    Nigeria, it said, would have disintegrated going by the tension and rancour that greeted the polls if the church didn’t preserve in prayers.

    The body called on Nigerians to put the bitter acrimony that characterized the polls behind them and cooperate to push the nation forward.

    These were the resolutions of the OAIC after its REC meeting at the Cherubim & Seraphim Movement Church, Rumuomasi, Port Harcourt, Rivers State from March 22-23.

    In a communique after the meeting signed by its Regional President His Most Eminence, Elder Israel Akinadewo, PhD FCA and Regional Secretary Victor A. Ivoke, PhD, OAIC said: ‘’We thank God that Nigeria did not burn down as widely speculated in some quarters. It was the prayer of the church and the efforts of well-meaning Nigerians that held this nation from tethering to the brinks.

    ‘’We appreciate all individuals and organizations that helped to douse the tension raised by political activities and we shall continue to pray for a peaceful and a prosperous nation.’’

    It added: ‘’Now that the elections are over, we urge both the winners and losers to forget about the bitter campaigns and work together for peace and prosperity of the nation. Politics is a call to service. We, therefore, call on all politicians and public office holders to uphold the values of integrity, accountability and transparency in their daily dealings with the people of Nigeria when sworn into office.’’

    On rising cost of living and poor economy, the body called on government to address the suffering of the masses so that hunger will be far from the nation.

    On the significance of the church on nation-building, OAIC said: ‘’Whereas other leaders can fail, the church must not fail in condemning all appearances of evil in the land. The pulpit must not be abused or mortgaged on the altar of political gain or greed.

    ‘’We must continue to raise our prophetic voices on matters that affect the nation as leaders in our own rights. We must not fail those that look up to us but must continue to point the nation to the path of righteousness and exemplary conduct.

    ‘’We observed with dismay conflicting prophesies oozing out from pulpits of renowned pastors and prophets in the wake of the general elections and caution that men should not take the mercy of God for granted by speaking in the name of the Almighty God when He (God) has not spoken.

    ‘’Such hastily concocted and politically-induced prophecies tend to bring the church to ridicule and make a mockery of the sacred gift or prophecy that the church is blessed with.’’

  • Satisfaction in Christ Alone (2)

    Satisfaction in Christ Alone (2)

    • Text: “…Whosoever drinks of this water shall thirst again… whosoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst …” John 4:13-14

    By Venerable Henry O. Adelegan

    Satisfaction in Christ alone means that nothing and nobody no matter how highly placed or power wielded can give a longing satisfaction and joy, apart from Jesus Christ (Acts 17:28). The Psalmist said in Psalms 90:2 that, “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God”. He is Jehovah El-Shaddai – the All-Sufficient God and our sufficiency is in Him (2 Corinthians 3:5, 9:8; cf Genesis 17:1; John 15:5). From passage of our text, a Samaritan woman came to fetch water at a well in a town in Samaria called Sychar. Coincidentally, Jesus Christ too was by the well and needed water. He therefore requested the woman to give Him water to drink but she refused because Jesus was a Jew and she was a Samaritan (then there was intense animosity between the Jews and Samaritans which had been since the Old Testament days). Jesus Christ then told the Samaritan woman that life outside of Him for anyone, irrespective of person, power, personality, tribe, color, creed or status is a life that is laden with crass dissatisfaction.

    Prior to the encounter between Jesus Christ and the Samaritan woman, she was struggling with three cardinal areas of dissatisfactions which Jesus Christ put paid to. I therefore declare by reason of divine commissioning that the Almighty God will attend to your areas of dissatisfaction too. As the Lord lives, you shall testify to His mega miracles during this year in the name of Jesus Christ. The first challenge of the woman was with her marriage. In John 4:16, Jesus told her, “Go, call your husband and come back”. The woman replied that she didn’t have a husband. Jesus Christ then told her that, “You have had five husbands, you are with the sixth one now, who is not your husband”. She was an unfortunate serial marital failure! The woman like many in the world must have enjoyed the dating and courtship at different stages of her failed marriages. She must have looked forward to the respective wedding day and honeymoon. She must have entered each marriage with high dreams and expectations. But no sooner after the doors of courtship were closed and the doors of the marriages were opened did she realize that courtship is in most cases more pleasurable than marriage. For this reason, the Samaritan woman went through the processes and rigours of hope raised and hope dashed on five occasions and was about to get into the sixth marital experience before Jesus Christ appeared and set her free.

    Besides her life of marital dissatisfaction, the woman also lived an unsatisfiable life of dependence on physical things such as water in the story of our text, and bread as with the multitudes who were following Jesus Christ in John 6. According to John 4:11-12, the woman told Jesus, “Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from where will you have that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, and his children, and his cattle?” The woman believed quite erroneously that the water of Jacob was sufficient to satisfy her thirst but Jesus pointed it out that whatever you have from this world is temporal while it is only the satisfaction from Him that is eternal (2 Corinthians 4:18).

    Beloved in Christ, please note that Satisfaction in life is not based on physical things, not dependent on the things you have, what money could buy or on money, satisfaction can only come from God. Ecclesiastes 5:10 says that, “He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity.” Money will buy you a bed, but not sleep, it will get you books but not brains, it will get you good food but not appetite, it will get you finery but not beauty, it will buy you medicine but not health, it will buy you luxuries but not culture, it will build for you a mansion but not a home, it will buy you amusements but not happiness and it can get you a passport to everywhere in the world but not to heaven. Money will also get you a talk of the town wedding but not a marriage. Jesus is therefore calling on you today to return to Him during this Lenten season. Please return home to Him like the Prodigal Son, come to Him soberly, ask Him to forgive your sins, surrender your water pot to Him and pray for His intervention. As the Lord lives, the joy of your marriage shall be restored and you shall continue to have reasons to celebrate and be celebrated in the name of Jesus Christ.

    Prayer: Lord, have mercy on me in areas where I have trusted the arm of flesh to satisfy. Come into my life and grant me satisfaction from above in Jesus’ name.

  • Prayer, the link with God in pursuit of your assignment

    Prayer, the link with God in pursuit of your assignment

    By Awowale Ayomide

    God has predetermined a man’s nationality, race, sex, and even the location of one’s birth. You are a wonderful gift for someone, somewhere, sometime, and someday. God has given everybody an assignment on this planet earth and that assignment cannot be fulfilled if you are not constantly communicating with God. Prayer is the only link you have with God. There will be times while working on your assignment when you feel completely cut off from the people you care about. You are the one on a mission and not your family members, and it requires the anointing of God to send you on your way.

    A key component of many spiritual traditions in history has been the practice of prayerful isolation. The concept of prayer isolation involves separation from others, retreating from the outside world to find spiritual nourishment and a closer relationship with God. In Matthew 6: 5-8, Jesus taught his disciples to not be like the hypocrites who stand at the synagogues and the street corner to be seen by men. A believer’s access to an effective channel of communication that provides uninterrupted time with God is isolation prayer. In order to acquire the utmost level of connection with God, it is frequently necessary to withdraw from life’s distractions.

    “And he withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed (Luke 5:16).”

    Dear readers, there is no running away from the Lord. Being in solitude with God is when God reveals His presence, His purpose, His promises and his plans for your life. Christians should pray because it is effective in every situation and stage of life.

    Isolating yourself to seek God’s face can be sometimes difficult because we are out in the sun bustling and hustling for daily bread, but Jesus has shown us that praying is important. Jesus Christ himself spent the night in prayer when he faced a difficult decision in selecting his disciples. In order not to be distracted in your periods of isolation, believers are advised to find a suitable location, set a schedule and use resources that will help focus more in God’s presence.

    Seasons of prayerful isolation are periods of intentional, solitary prayer and reflection that can be a powerful way to deepen one’s relationship with God. On this note, I joyfully declare to you and your loved ones that ‘Isolation is not a death sentence’ but a potent channel of communication with God. While waiting on Him with a heart of faith and lips crying out in prayer, He will reach out and save you, just as He did for Peter.

  • Treat Nigerians fairly, cleric tells President-elect

    Treat Nigerians fairly, cleric tells President-elect

    The Founder, God Miracle Success Ministry Worldwide, Prophetess Oluwayemisi Ajiye has advised the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu to love and treat Nigerians fairly, irrespective of their political affiliations, tribe,  and religion.

    Ajiye gave this advice at Ado Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, after an event organised to mark her 2023 birthday, said that it is imperative that the President-elect brings everybody on board in the quest for sustainable development in the country.

    Maintaining that the President-elect should not say that his administration is only for APC members, “He should extend an olive branch to other party members outside APC and work with them to move the country forward.

    “My advice to the President-elect is that he loves every Nigeria as a citizen, when he loves everyone as his people, God will definitely help and sees him through in his service to the nation”.

    “Secondly, he should move closer to God. Whoever makes God his or her friend is the one that God establishes a relationship with and receives His help. If God works with him, everything will be okay during his time.

    “Whenever things go wrong and he calls on God, He will show him the way out of the problems,” he said.

    Ajiye who identified sins as the major source of problems facing Nigeria said, “I know whatever we see as a challenge in our country is not the making of any state governor or the president, it is just that God is not happy because of our sin.

    “But if we ask God to forgive our sins, turn over a new leaf and move closer to God, I can assure you that the time of refreshing will come to our nation.”

    While appreciating God, every member of the ministry worldwide, and her children for their support and for organizing the event, she said the celebration was special and unique compared to the ones held in the past.

    She charged members of the ministry to move closer to God more than before and not to see their challenges as insurmountable but to know that God is greater than any problem.

    “Always put your mind towards the last day on earth because marking a birthday is to appreciate and showcase God’s faithfulness. There are lessons to be learned on every man’s last day on earth; it shows that nothing lasts forever.”

    During the event, awards of recognition were presented to Presenter, Mr. Babatunde Bamigboye (aka Omo Edema), journalist, Mr. Toyin Anisulowo Daily Post Newspapers, and a leader in the ministry, Mr. Akinlolu Adebowale for their support to the ministry.

  • ‘What new govenment should do diferently’

    ‘What new govenment should do diferently’

    The convener of the ‘Inspiring Change’ conference, Adesumbo Adeoye, in this interview with Adeola Ogunlade speaks on the 10th edition of the Inspiring Change conference, her experience in the past 10 years, the place of the Church in politics and what active participation entails for the Church in Nigeria

    How symbolic is this year’s conference; Evolve?

    This year’s theme is tagged ‘Evolve’. It is a reflection of what God intended for all creation. The Bible says in Proverbs 4:18(AMP): “But the path of the just (Righteous) is like the light of dawn that shines brighter and brighter until it reaches its full strength and glory on the perfect day.”

     God desires that we shine brighter in the midst of thick darkness and through the rough, irregular path that leads to our advancement. He urges us via the word to persevere despite what we face, and learn to overcome obstacles, trials and tribulations till we experience victory. So this year’s conference had with myself, Rev Funke Felix Adejumo, David Adeoye, Tara Durotoye, and other female speakers who have persevered against all odds and have weathered the storm, recorded groundbreaking results and evolved greatly, to come and share with our audience how they lose and how they choose. The steps they have had to take in the midst of the storm and what has helped them on the journey of life to record the several feats. This we believe had helped attendees draw strength and inspiration and develop the guts to face and fulfill their God-given purposes.

    How did you arrive at the theme?

    Apart from the first edition, the theme aligns with the Global International Women’s Day; the other editions have been inspired by divine leading to tackle the present-day needs of our vast growing global audience. We have had themes like: ‘Make it Happen,’  ‘Yes I can,’  ‘Run Forward,’  and  ‘There is More,’ to name a few and one of the most common feedback we have received from participants is the ‘Can do’ effect it has on them to desire to be more, and in turn, propels them to live purposefully as Christ intended.

    What are the indicators of a woman who has evolved or is currently evolving?

    Obvious transformation and disruption of old behavioural patterns and ideologies, socioeconomic development, and active participation in both public and private sectors are some of the key indicators that point to a woman who has evolved in today’s world. A woman who is evolving is however not scared of change; she’s constantly learning new habits and unlearning old ideologies, she prioritizes self-care, believes in herself, and feels very comfortable in her own skill, she seeks no approval from external influence but sees failure as a learning point and takes pride in her God-given abilities to move the world forward.

    What challenges or barriers could there be to evolving?

     When you stop growing, you start dying. One of the many barriers that can hinder one from evolving is the feeling of complacency and the inability to learn or dare new things. Proverbs 19:27 warns us of this… “If you quit listening, dear child, and strike off on your own, you’ll soon be out of your depth.”

    10 years down the line; how has the journey been?

    The journey has been glorious but not without its challenges. Every time I get the opportunity to share the humbling privilege of hosting an event of this magnitude consistently for the past nine years, I am astonished at the faithfulness of God and the courage to dare to try.

    I am glad for the many lives that have been transformed and several women have gained clarity from our many outreaches. From supporting entrepreneurial ideas through mentorship, advisory services and training to mentoring young female secondary school graduand through our Inspiring Change deliberately movement, the initiative has actively impacted lives through our mentor meets mentee and free skill acquisition programmes for young school leavers, the entrepreneurial advancement training of market women and the ongoing inspiring change school tour, it’s such a significant milestone. I’m particularly excited about the 10th edition of the Inspiring Change conference, the experience was mind-blowing as we celebrated our 10 years of Inspiring Change deliberately with a focus on Nation building.

    ‘Inspiring Change’, what did you set out to achieve at the start?

    Having completed my entrepreneurial management training in 2011 as a Goldman Sachs scholar, I had this ceaseless desire to pay it forward by supporting entrepreneurial ideas through mentorship, advisory services and training. So, when the call came from the Enterprise Development Center instructing me to host a #IWD meeting where I could inspire women in commemoration of International Women’s Day, I took a bold step while trusting God and hosted it with all the strength and courage I had in me.

    The aim at inception was to inspire change, and encourage women to dare to take up leadership positions competently in their various industries despite the obvious limiting factors and gender biases. And the conference has surpassed that vision by recording several ground-breaking results of women achieving and blazing the trails in their various industries dominated by men.

    The Church has been directly/indirectly involved in the general elections; do you consider this good for the image of the Church?

    The Church forms a large part of society and so we can’t be quiet about the obvious realities of our day-to-day living. So making known our expectations and demanding good governance is a welcomed development.

    What would you advise the incoming administration to do differently for a new Nigeria?

    An inclusive government that keeps people  (both men and women, young and old) informed, involved, and inspired.

    Who is Adesunmbo Adeoye?

    Adesunmbo Adeoye is an alumna of Lagos business school and a certificate-holding member of the Harvard Class of 2020. I am the host of the weekly virtual talk show tagged, #RiskToRewardSeries where we seek to impact and enhance the knowledge of business people deliberately.

    I am an advisory board member of several companies with global vision and partner with global brands to help foster the growth of women and mothers in business, ministry, and career.

     As a youth ambassador and premium activator of the Transforming Nigerian Youth initiative, I recently partnered with MasterCard Foundation in collaboration with Enterprise Development Centre to empower 40,000 Nigerian youth between the age of 18-35 years to start, launch and grow their businesses. As a mentor to many, and a recipient of numerous awards for dedication and contribution toward progressive initiatives and humanity, in Nigeria. I was recently recognized as one of the 100 most inspiring and trailblazing women in Nigeria, by Leading Ladies Africa for #LLA100WOMEN2020. I am currently the CEO of Esobevents and the founder of Esob Heroes. A Cherie Blair Foundation brand ambassador and a Goldman Sachs scholar.

    I am happily married to David Adeoye, an icon of greatness and the senior Pastor at Royalty Christian Centre where I serve as the First Lady, and together, we are blessed with great and intelligent children.

    Adesunmbo Adeoye has authored several books and annually brings women who have been able to bridge the gender gap in their respective professions together with the women who aspire to be like them. These life-transforming meetings have produced outstanding women with amazing results in business, ministry, and career.

     I run the inspiring change initiative, a movement that deliberately enhances knowledge and educates women folks for an equal and purposeful future with a focus on Nation building. This mandate is expressed via the annual Inspiring Change conference, bi-annual “Mentor meets mentee”, Entrepreneurial Advancement Training for market women, the Inspiring change deliberately movement, and daily #inspiringchangewithSunmbo virtual movement that brings hope for a Fresh start with the aim to rebuild the ruins and be refurbished.

    .