The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Nigerian politics

  • Asiwaju Tinubu: The Lagos factor in Nigerian politics

    Asiwaju Tinubu: The Lagos factor in Nigerian politics

    Any study of Nigerian politics without special attention paid to the political economy of Lagos within the Nigerian political complex will be missing the key role of Lagos metropolis in the history and politics of Nigeria. Just as in the past, Lagos for the foreseeable future remains a formidable factor in Nigerian economy and politics controlling about 60% of the economy of the country and its major entrepôt. Historically, Lagos was the entry point of Britain into Nigeria. When a naval squadron bombarded the city in 1851, ostensibly to stop the slave trade, the people of Lagos realised that the wider world was interested in what went on in Lagos. This naval promenade was repeated in 1861 and Lagos was permanently annexed to the British Empire and run sometimes from the Spanish Island of Fernando Po, (now Bioko) and later from the Gold Coast where the British had had an older settlement. By the middle of the 1860s, Lagos then had its own administration but still subordinated to the Gold Coast administration.  Up on till 1875, the British were not really sure of what to make of its West African colonies. The West African Coast was regarded as the “white man’s grave” because of the malaria fever which killed off the white man within weeks of mosquitoes bite. Even when quinine was used in the 1820s as prophylactic against malaria, its effectiveness was still debated but was widely used by black liberated slaves on the West African coast especially from the settlements of liberated slaves in Saint Louis, Dakar, Freetown and Monrovia. Eventually white men began to tolerate the inhospitable climate and what was considered unhealthy environment of the coast for white people.

    In the meantime, black people at least in the immediate hinterland of Lagos kept moving in droves to Lagos. Lagos had existed as a small fishing village established by the Awori people circa 1200AD. Over the years, they had witnessed Egba, Ijebu, Egun people coming to join them. The dramatic movement of some Edo warriors in the mid-15th century to the place did not quite change the demography of Lagos but its government which from then on was patterned after the monarchical institution of Benin which it too had inherited from Ile Ife. This was the settlement the British took over in 1861. The population of Lagos increased exponentially from the 1820s onwards from the considerable influx of liberated slaves from Brazil and Sierra Leone. These were Yoruba ex-slaves who knew the area of their birth. This population increased from 1876 onwards because of the century of warfare in Yorubaland which began with the Owu war in 1796 and was terminated by the British conquest of Ilorin in 1896.  The period of war in Yorubaland facilitated the exodus of people into Lagos.

    It is a surprising coincidence that just as warfare in Yorubaland intensified in 1876, the British a year before had stated through its Secretary of State for the Colonies, Joseph Chamberlain, the Tory businessman from Birmingham, that Britain was then determined to acquire tropical colonies as “undeveloped estate of the realm”. This meant a forward policy in West Africa and in the Yorubaland hinterland of Lagos.  By the time the British were effectively in the control of Nigeria  in the 1890s, Lagos population had grown from the original Awori settlement to what can be called a cosmopolitan city without losing its Yoruba essence with cultural contributions from the various people who had made the city their home particularly the Anglophone Creole  from Freetown and their counterparts, the Brazilians with their strong attachment to Catholicism while the  indigenous Muslim elements were concentrated in the centre of the city with accretions from  sizeable Nupe elements.

    Lagos has always been a province of opportunity and freedom not only for Nigerians but also for West Africans.

    Read Also: Delta community issues ultimatum to NEPL for construction of Abura flow station

    Lagos was also the city which saw the emergence of virile newspapers with healthy dose of anti-colonial sentiments. With the press grew the sentiment of freedom and demand that Africa should be ruled by Africans and not by imperialists whose civilization was found to be exotic and different from acceptable African culture. The so-called educated elite in Lagos did not abhor everything British; what they were opposed to was the discriminatory practice which elevated the pigmentation of the skin over the character of the person. It is remarkable to note how advanced the political sociology of the Lagos elite was when compared with modern views of a racially neutral world. When the early Lagos nationalists like Drs J.K Randle and Obasa and Herbert Macaulay organised the very first political movements in Nigeria, they concentrated on the amelioration of social and political situation of the people of Lagos with the intention that a secure Lagos will be an attractive beacon to the rest of Nigeria. They have largely been proved right because over the years, Lagos has nurtured the political destinies of people like Herbert Macaulay, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, and now Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu. Other politicians have bestrode the Lagos firmament but on lesser scale than those of these three. It is remarkable that the three of them can trace their ancestry to places outside Lagos. Lagos has been a welcoming city and anybody who is prepared to work hard and struggle can make it in business and politics in Lagos. It is true that Lagos belongs to Lagosians. Lagos has never been a no man’s land. It was never a terra incognita. It was always an abode of people. People have always migrated to Lagos and have been absorbed by the people and their culture. People who come to Lagos and want to be Lagosians must embrace the people and their culture. This was what Yoruba speaking Herbert Macaulay from Sierra Leone and Nnamdi Azikiwe from Onitsha and what several Lagosians from diverse ancestry have done. Those who say Tinubu is not a Lagosian and that Alhaji Lateef Jakande was not a Lagosian do not know the history of modern Lagos. There are also those who say Atiku Abubakar is a Cameroonian and that the Baba Ahmeds are from Mauritania. Such people forget that we are all ancestrally from somewhere from where we are today.  Besides, migration is a common factor in African history and that is why many of our northern Nigerians became Nigerians.

    My ancestors came from Ajase Ipo  in present day Kwara and I am very proud of it. This does not mean I am not an Ekiti, a place where my great grandfather, Dada “Agbo dumogun bere uja, taku taku a bija pe” fought for and was ready to die for. Unfortunately the assimilationist tendencies now seem frozen because of electoral democracy where every vote counts.

    These preambular statements are designed to establish the point I want to make that is, we are from where we have fought and were ready to die for. I don’t know anybody who is more Lagosian than Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. Tinubu withstood the federal political hurricane unleashed on Lagos during the Olusegun Obasanjo presidency and used the period of adversity to look inwards and develop Lagos into the fifth largest economy in Africa.  He was prepared to die in the process for his belief. He definitely has paid his due.

    Now to the kernel of my piece. People have said Tinubu is not physically fit and the man said appropriately that the presidency is not a boxing arena. Buhari despite his health challenge held fort there for eight years. Although Asiwaju does not intend to follow the Buhari trajectory because he has better business and economic ideas far superior to that of Buhari. He has also proved beyond debate that he is an organiser of men and material to achieve designed targets. He proved this in Lagos and his successors have followed the same trajectory.  While governor of Lagos, he built a formidable civil service and teaching service open to all residents of Lagos marrying in good proportion the interests of “Omo Eko” and “Ara Eko”. Tinubu would never ignore the interests of Lagos indigenes and subordinate them to those of residents who have claims in other states apart from Lagos but at the same time, he believes in careers open to talents and would use the talents of outsiders to develop his favourite Lagos and now his country Nigeria. Tinubu’s reach globally is very long and wide.  I remember when he developed his policy of land use, he tapped the knowledge of Canadians and I can testify to this verity because I was then the chairman of Nigerian-Canada Chamber of Commerce.  As long as we continue to embrace the capitalist model of development, Tinubu has the golden touch to deliver even if he is not as robust as when he was much younger. Tinubu is now president of Nigeria and he has a wider canvass on which to paint and he still possesses the organising ability to assemble a winning team and perhaps he is one of the few people who can turn the economy around. But in doing this he needs the understanding of the people and their support, tolerance and the readiness to do whatever it takes and suffer the pain to see the country through the economic doldrums to which his predecessors have driven Nigeria into.

    For those who know a little bit of history, the most successful president of America in modern times was Fredrick Delano Roosevelt who engineered from his wheelchair the most radical social and political transformation of that country.

  • Possibilities in Nigerian politics

    Possibilities in Nigerian politics

    Probably more than any other social phenomenon and entity, politics and politicians have had an unimaginable level of bad press. For example, in a Borepanda.com set of political jokes, one says: “Politics is the most accurate word in the English language. Poly = many. Ticks = blood sucking parasites.” Another one claims: “Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it, misdiagnosing it and then misapplying the wrong remedies.” Moreover, a sarcastic jocular conversation between a father and his child goes thus: “Kid: Dad, I want to be in politics when I grow up. Dad [replied]: Are you insane? Have you completely lost your mind? Are you a moron? Kid [responds]: Forget it. There seems to be too many requirements.” In addition, an insulting political riddle is: Question: “What’s the difference between a politician and a snail?” Answer: “One is slimy, a pest, and leaves a trail everywhere and the other is a snail.” But the ultimate political insult, from Laughfactory.com, is: “Politicians and diapers have one thing in common: they should both be changed regularly … and for the same reason.”

    This kind of negative stereotypes or prejudices seem to be the reason why many people who have moral scruples steer clear of politics. However, they are rightly admonished as follows in this Plato quote: “One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.” In fact, as Charles de Gaulle said, “Politics is too serious a matter to be left to the politicians.” This is profound, because politics affects virtually every aspect of our lives. This made the European Parliament President Roberta Metsola to exhort Europeans as follows in relation to the Parliament’s elections from 6-9 June, 2024: “Go to vote. Otherwise, others will decide for you.” This is important, because as Otto von Bismarck puts it, “Politics is the art of the possible, the attainable – the art of the next best.” It may therefore be difficult to predict the creative extent to which politicians can go in achieving victory or exercising the electoral mandate with which they have been conferred.

    This is not to say that politics doesn’t come with bruises even for politicians. In a 20 February, 2018 news item in The Cable titled “Remi Tinubu: I was hurt by how my husband was trashed after 2015 elections,” the future First Lady, Senator Remi Tinubu, was reported to have said: “I was hurt [by] what they did to my husband after the campaign. He didn’t say a thing. We were running three campaigns in my house, and for him to be trashed like that…”  She was further reported to have noted regarding Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s reaction to his shabby treatment by his erstwhile beneficiaries: “I said ‘you are still helping out? Why are you helping out? He said, ‘this country matters to me more.’”

    Read Also: FG recognises outstanding young achievers

    Politicians everywhere are unbridled optimists. For example, Mandela says: “I am fundamentally an optimist. Part of being optimistic is keeping one’s head pointed toward the sun, one’s feet moving forward. There were many dark moments when my faith in humanity was sorely tested, but I would not and could not give myself up to despair. That way lays defeat and death.” This kind of unbridled optimism was manifested in the electoral destiny of then presidential aspirant Muhammadu Buhari. As narrated by Asiwaju in his famous Emilokan speech, Buhari had lost presidential elections there times and had decided that he would not contest again. In the never-say-die spirit of dyed-in-the wool politicians, Asiwaju said he told Buhari: “You will run again. We will back you, and you will win.”

    Providentially, Buhari won the 2015 presidential election and served for two terms. This development is consistent with the following assertions of Daniel Kahneman: “Optimistic people play a disproportionate role in shaping our lives. Their decisions make a difference; they are inventors, entrepreneurs, political and military leaders – not average people. They got to where they are by seeking challenges and taking risks.”

    It’s about one and a half years now since the current President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, was sworn into office. But the losers in that election or those who did not want him to contest or want him to win are agonising still. The result of the election that presaged the swearing-in belied pundit projections. Media pundits who previewed the 2023 elections predicted that because he was a Muslim from Southwest Nigeria, he had no chance of winning the primary election of the All Progressives Party (APC) or the presidential election.   Religious pundits predicted that the Muslim-Muslim ticket would fail, because 2023 was not 1983. Ethnic pundits, especially the vocal elements in the Pa Ayo Adebanjo faction of Afenifere, predicted that true to type, the Northern elite would betray Tinubu and make him lose the elections. Political pundits identified some powerful individuals as the ones who determined who would become President, and that since he didn’t have their support, he would lose the election. In spite of all these pundit predictions, Asiwaju won the election, signaling the possibilities in Nigerian politics.

    Such possibilities have also been manifested in the camp of his opponents. In spite of the continuing claim that Mr. Peter Obi won the election, his new outreach efforts, going beyond his ethnic and religious comfort zones, indicate that in his heart of hearts, he knows what his true performance in that election was. If he really believed that he won, but was rigged out, his preoccupation should have been with preventing the ‘riggers’ from being able to rig him out again in the next presidential elections. However, he has embarked on courting blocks he ignored or actively denigrated in the run-up to the 2023 elections. The apostle of the 2023 elections as “religious war”, the exponent of “Yes, daddy”, and the patent holder for “Church, take back your country” is now visiting mosques, taking part in joint iftar – fast-breaking sessions with Muslims – and building boreholes in parts of Northern Nigeria, among other activities. It’s thus possible, after all, to teach old dogs new tricks in Nigerian politics.

    Another opposition-related demonstration of possibilities in Nigerian politics is in Alhaji Atiku Abubakar’s letter to the Deputy Senate President Jibrin Barau, who is the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Constitution Review, in which he proposed as follows regarding the ongoing constitution review process: “The office of the President shall rotate among the six geopolitical zones of the Federation on a single term of six years flowing between the North and South on the single term of six years respectively.” This proposal is ironical, because one of the reasons for the weakening of his party, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), ahead of the 2023 elections was his refusal to concede the candidacy of the party to a southerner, after President Muhammadu Buhari, who is a northerner, had spent eight straight years in office. Moreover, underscoring the possibilities for self-realisation in Nigerian politics, Atiku Abubakar noted, in his 64th Independence Anniversary message on 1 October, 2024: “opposition parties languish in weakness.”

    The 21 September, 2024 Edo State governorship elections have come and gone, but they have thrown up all sort of issues which have serious implications for political consciousness and political behaviour. First is the issue of candidate selection, especially in the PDP. Internal democracy seemed to have been undermined through the imposition of a candidate largely alienated from the masses and could not address the electorate directly in their language without the assistance of an interpreter.

    Second is the issue of political harmony. In this regard, possibly due to the arrogance of power, the incumbent Governor Godwin Obaseki had fought his benefactors such as former Governor Adams Oshiomhole of the APC and prominent members of the PDP who accommodated him in the party when he had problems within his former party, APC; he had virtually ‘decapitated’ some legislators politically by making it impossible for them to effectively represent their constituencies; he had set out to politically annihilate his Deputy Governor Philip Shaibu; and he engaged the Benin traditional leadership in a running battle. The aggregate hostility of the aggrieved forces made possible the defeat of Obaseki’s preferred candidate in the governorship election, Mr. Asue Ighodalo.

    Third, the Edo election showed how far political hard-work and sustainable legacies could go in endearing a politician to their constituents. This was most remarkably demonstrated in the case of a septuagenarian, female voter who made the notable sacrifice of going to vote at that election in spite of her ill-health. The Nation report on the woman goes thus: “A septuagenarian, Fatima Jimoh, has said that she left her sick bed to vote in the Edo governorship election because of her love for former Governor Adams Oshiomhole. Jimoh, who was aided by her daughter, said she wanted to make Oshiomhole happy by ensuring his party won the polls. After voting at Unit three, Ward 10, Iyamho Primary School, Jimoh said, “I am not feeling well. I like Oshiomhole. I come out of illness to vote.” This is significant when it is noted that elderly persons like her, among millions of other citizens, were making sacrifices to validate democracy, at a time when some prominent Nigerians had been trying to undermine liberal democracy.

    Those who, like the Edo septuagenarian, are so committed to and can make so much sacrifice to sustain democracy should be given optimum opportunities to take part in key aspects of the electoral process. One of such aspects concerns the question of deciding who represents the different constituencies. It is in this light that the issue of the direct primaries mode of candidate selection should be revisited. In November, 2021, the National Assembly passed a bill requiring that the candidates for the different elections should be selected through direct primaries. This decision was widely applauded. However, it required the assent of the President at the time, who would not sign the bill into law until the options of selecting candidates by indirect primaries or consensus were included in the bill. Due to the exigencies of the time, the National Assembly complied with the dictates of the President.

    When the members of a constituency take part in the selection of a candidate, through direct primaries as happened in 1983, the chances of making the politician more committed and more responsive to the constituents are higher. The prospects of bringing to book more effectively erring politicians who get to office through the votes of such constituents are also higher, given the fact that constituents know their leaders more closely.

    All in all, as participation in the Edo governorship election underscores, very many Nigerians believe in the country, appreciate good governance and hope for good times.   

  • Beyond farce and fury

    Beyond farce and fury

    It is an ideal of dubious clerisy to make the tragic sense of things the touchstone of Nigerian politics. This desire to daub life dire has for a long while, defined the tide of political partisanship and the transience of hope as a national ideal.

    In the fracas of faith and fury, the negligible attains significance while the essential gets consigned to the fringes of awareness. Thus the primordial fascination of presumed intelligentsia and thought leaders with trifles at the expense of issues pivotal to national progress.

    The moral and ethical issues of misgovernance, predatory corporatism, treasury looting, self-serving legislation by lawmakers, anti-growth economic policies, insecurity and sky-rocketing inflation appear to be irrelevant in the arena of public discourse post-2023 elections.

    Every critic is obsessed with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s academic credentials. Demagogues have, once again, set the agenda for media coverage and public discourse. And the media characteristically fulfil its role as a junkyard dog, drooling all over the bone of contention.

    Media platforms have become a sounding board for all shades of bigotry and suspicious clerisy. The latter, by their antics, loom as marketers of illusion, skittish shamans channelling deceit to profit from confusion. Even while faced with incontrovertible truth, they see what they have been paid to see or what they have trained their minds to believe.

    All is fair in pursuit of power thus at their victory or defeat, politicians recruit all shades of characters to condemn their defeat or celebrate their victory.

    To such end, a few privileged idealists assume the role of courtiers; to validate power in unworthy hands, they create a pseudo-reality plausible enough to redefine truth and distort facts. It is instructive, for instance, that a good many of them are still egging on Labour Party’s ‘Obidients’ that Peter Obi is set to grab power through the trapdoor of the Supreme Court after failing to do this at the elections tribunal, even though he came a distant third to the winner of the February 25 election, President-elect Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

    Read Also: APC to Obi: Nigerians know their President

    Outside the corridors of power, they plot pseudo-events and pretend to speak for the people. They claim to work for the country’s good but they are performers whose chief intent is to make money. Conflict is their treasure trove. Call them political profiteers or merchants of misery.

    In the corridors of power, they shamelessly parrot official propaganda, polluting public discourse with sycophancy, and doublespeak, among other behavioural toxins. 

    Government and corporations allow courtiers into their inner circles imbuing them with instant celebrity but as Saul points out, no class of courtiers, from the eunuchs behind Manchus in the 19th century to the Baghdad caliphs of the Abbasid caliphate, has ever transformed into a responsible and socially productive class.

    Courtiers are, ultimately, political degenerates. They are intellectual hooligans committing the violence of pretence against Nigeria and her people. When they claim to be pro-citizenry, they carry on like “political hobbyists,” often lending their ‘voices’ to front-burner issues, and sponsoring hashtags to attain clout.

    There is little difference between them and the proverbial fawning page, who plays smooth flatterer and thug to both the government and citizenry-herd, twisting and turning with changing circumstances.

    They are deucedly reactive, a spectacle of submission and ideological sodomy, their words and deeds boom as a cloying mime of irate mobs, corrupt politicians, and corporations’ reprobate wiles.

    Eitan Hersh, Associate professor of political science at Tufts University identifies courtiers as “political hobbyists,” and highlights their perfect contrast in the person and politics of Querys Martias. The Dominican immigrant in Haverhill, United States, presents a rare exemplar of supposedly educated eggheads.

    For Matias, politics isn’t just a hobby. In her day job, she is a bus monitor for a special-needs school. In her evenings, she amasses power. By leading a group called the Latino Coalition (LC) in Haverhill, she unites the Dominicans, Puerto Ricans, and Central Americans who together make up about 20 per cent of Haverhill. The coalition gets out the vote during elections, but it does much more than that, notes Hersh.

    The coalition once met with the Haverhill representative in Congress and asked for regular, Spanish-speaking office hours for its community. It advocates for immigration reform and federal assistance in affordable housing. The coalition has also met with the mayor, the school superintendent, and the police department requesting more Latinos in city jobs and on city boards.

    Matias’ political participation is strategic; the 65-year-old influences governance to the benefit of her community. Under her leadership, the coalition operates with discipline, combining electoral strategies with policy advocacy under her leadership.

    Unlike Matias, Nigeria’s college-educated intellectuals personify Hersh’s political hobbyist stereotype. They are disproportionately educated, flaunting several awards, titles, and postgraduate degrees.

    They espouse politics of the soapbox; a wanton game in which they debate Nigeria’s big issues on abstract merits – often mouthing off their “superior” logic or sounding off for clout in social space, at events sponsored by meddlesome foreign consulates or on government-sponsored think tanks.

    Their assemblage thrives on pseudo-realism, their ability to propound and market spurious experiences. In reality, they are toxic to politics and harmful to the country. 

    Nigeria would do better if her eggheads redirected political energy to serve the people. For instance, they could start at the grassroots, where government presence is non-existent. 

    To re-establish relevance and repair integrity, Nigeria’s idealists, revolutionary heroes, youth leaders, or whatever other labels they answer to, must detach from ideological voyeurism and fault-finding – a tactic of assault and defence that eventually becomes their nemesis and tomb.

    They must seek to empower people. For so long, they have united to market cunning and rhetoric, for and against selfish segments of the political class; it’s about time they united in the electorate’s interest.

    Grassroots politics thrives on empowerment; helping imperilled peasant farming communities defeat desert encroachment, insecurity, and flooding; improving fringe communities’ access to health care, electricity, and good roads, and provision of soft loans to unemployed youths, SMEs, and agricultural start-ups.

    These could be achieved by influencing real political power. The political intelligentsia seeks collaboration in modest and large organisations to meet the immediate and long-term needs of the people. Then, when an election dawns, the community would show up. Call it dividends of their investment in the people’s emotional bank account.

    Some would call it strategic citizenship. It’s pragmatic, humane, and real politics. It’s the kind of engagement that public intellectuals must perform to give substance to their professed clout.

    And it’s precisely the kind of politicking that helps the electorate shun the tokens and humiliating food packs, often handed out by the political class in exchange for their votes, at election time.

    If we humanely engage with the people, we might attain noble repute with the grassroots and the grudging respect of the political class. We might assume a prideful place in the pantheon of Nigeria’s finest patriots and statesmen.

    True, fancy repute and ghostly online clout may earn us money in the short run but we shall lose it all in the long run to the same system that taught us to be soulless hobbyists.

    We have used fiery intellect and the soapbox as mirrors to reflect society’s hypocrisy, moral corruption, and injustice.

    It’s about time we walked our talk in the interest of Nigeria and the populace

  • Alaafin of Oyo in contemporary Nigerian politics – 4

    The Alaafin must have paid a fortune to lawyers over the various cases he had had to take to court if not on political supremacy with the Ooni but also on who owns the land of Oyo with Asipa of Oyo who claimed his family owns the entire new Oyo settled by Atiba in 1830. He also went to legal battle with the Soun of Ogbomosho over their territorial boundary as well as who had consenting authority over such towns as Ifon, Iresaadu and Ikoyi in the territorial jurisdiction of the Soun even though history links them with the Alaafin throne.  In most of the legal battles he waged against his opponents, he sometimes went to the national archives in Ibadan to search for documents to validate his position. The Alaafin may not have a string of degrees but he possesses deep knowledge to make appear as a “philosopher king “. The Alaafin has been known to quote in certain public speeches from the holy Bible, the Koran and Ifa odu demonstrating intellectual eclecticism.

    When Osun State was carved out of Oyo and the Ooni then became permanent chairman of the Osun State Council of Obas, the Alaafin was then faced with competition with the Soun of Ogbomosho and the Olubadan of Ibadan. In Yoruba tradition, the Olubadan and the Soun of Ogbomosho were not the equal of the Alaafin. But today both Ogbomosho and Ibadan are much bigger than Oyo and by the size of their population they deserve recognition, but by culture and tradition of the Yoruba, they must follow the Alaafin and not lead him. An analogous situation to this is the prickly relations between highly populous and wealthy Kano and small Sokoto, the seat of the Caliphate, yet Kano defers to Sokoto. When a regime of rotational chairmanship was put in place to accommodate the Soun and the Olubadan, the Alaafin refused to participate in what he considered infra digitatem and hence the shut down of Oyo State Council of chiefs and Obas for years. It will remain shut down until there is a policy based on historical facts and legacy to guide whoever wields political power of the moment. There was even an attempt by a civilian governor to raise the status of Asipa to that of a king. This muddling of history did not fly. Many of the questions the Alaafin has had to contend with have not been settled and laid down to rest and perhaps will not be settled soon until we go back to find acceptable solutions based on our history and culture. The Abacha dictatorship tried unsuccessfully to humiliate the Alaafin to force him to support his regime against the interest of the Yoruba people by impugning the integrity of the Alaafin. This was a testy period especially when the same Abacha had no qualms in engineering the removal of Ibrahim Dasuki as Sultan of Sokoto.

    The last 48 years in Oyo has seen tremendous progress and achievements. The education front has witnessed remarkable progress. Many secondary schools have been built. There is a federal girls’ school and college of special education as well as the Oladipo Alayande College of Education. There is a private Atiba University at an embryonic state and there is Bishop Ajayi Crowther University in full bloom. Oyo is linked to Ibadan by an expressway which will soon reach Ilorin. There are other roads linking Oyo with the upper Ogun area thus making Oyo the centre of a thriving agricultural area. There is need to invest in the hospitality business and to build excellent hotels which are still few and far between.

    The present Alaafin has been well recognized by the federal government which at one time made him the Amir-ul – hajj of the annual pilgrimage by Nigerian Muslims to Mecca. This is the first time a Yoruba leader or Oba has been so recognized. The Alaafin was also at one time chancellor of the University of Sokoto. The status of the Alaafin remains formidable and the present young Ooni of Ife Oba Ogunwusi in visiting the revered ruler and breaking whatever historical taboo against such an act of camaraderie has ensured that a new beginning has begun in the Alaafin of Oyo’s relation with Ife and thereby laying the basis of unity in Yorubaland. One fact that remains is the dichotomy in the politics of Yorubaland namely the divergent Awolowo and Akintola traditions. For good or ill, the Alaafin has found himself pulled to the side of the Akintola tendency perhaps willy-nilly because the Awolowo tradition has pigeonholed him into that tendency.  He has had to tread softly in order to avoid falling into the trap of enemies made by him and those inherited by the son of whom he is and the position he holds. His political allies have always been those on the conservative tradition of Yoruba politics. Among these were Chief M. K. O Abiola whom he made the Are ona Kakanfo and the likes of the late Arisekola Alao and Adedibu. His recent elevation of the relatively young Ganiyu Adams as Are ona Kakanfo has not gone down well with the Yoruba elite who feel the title is demeaned by the fact that Ganiyu Adams has not proved himself even though he is able to mobilize the youth for action if needs be. The Alaafin will argue that it is because of that ability to mobilize the youth that makes his appointment right for these times. Surprisingly, the Alaafin has remained aloof to the demand for the creation of either a new Oyo State or Oke Ogun State perhaps not being sure such a state will have Oyo town as its capital. It is usually said that traditional rulers should stay away from politics but it is however difficult for a person holding the position of the Alaafin to avoid politics completely when by the nature of the history of Yorubaland, politics remains an essential part of any Alaafin’s DNA.

     

    • Concluded.

  • Alaafin of Oyo in contemporary Nigerian politics – 2

    The rulership in Oyo alternated between the Ladigbolu house and that of Adeyemi . In actual fact one refers to the ruling houses as two when they both descended from the same person. Alaafin AdeniranAdeyemi had come to the throne of his ancestors just when the Second World War was coming to an end in 1945 with pomp and pageantry hoping to enjoy the wealth and power of his position. Then came the constitutional reforms of 1951 which led to regional governments being set up in Ibadan, Kaduna and Enugu leading to the transfer of power in domestic administration to Nigerian elected officials. The Alaafins under the British had enjoyed enormous influence and power. They were allowed to adjudicate in criminal and civil cases and to fix and collect taxes and to maintain law and order. The new reforms after 1951 led to reforms in local government administration and the setting up of customary courts and other courts manned by legally trained personnel. Oyo Division was divided into north and south and people of Oyo ancestry like AbiodunAkerele and Bode Thomas both of who were lawyers resident in Lagos moved to Oyo to take control of local administration. Bode Thomas before this time found favour wth the Alaafin who in 1950 made him the Balogun of Oyo. But by 1951, relations between Bode Thomas and the Alaafin had broken down irretrievably. What was at the root of the altercation was the way the Alaafin was treated as if he was a minor oba in Yorubaland. Seeing that modern politics had become the only avenue to power, the Alaafin decided to exploit the division between the nationalist parties struggling for the control of Yorubaland. He pitched his tent with the Nnamdi Azikiwe-led NCNC (National Council of Nigeria and The Cameroons) against the forces of the Obafemi Awolowo-led Action Group. When the Action Group won in 1951, it formed the government in the Western Region and appointed Bode Thomas who was the deputy leader of the Action Group and central minister representing the Action Group in all Nigerian government in Lagos. At 31, Bode Thomas had too much power that he could not have been expected to use it wisely because of his lack of earthly experience. He was born with silver spoon in his mouth. His father was a rich Lagos merchant rich enough to send his son to England for higher education. He was born and grew up in the mercantile city of Lagos which though had a monarchy was heavily exposed to the republicanism associated with commerce. He had graduated in his early 20s and was a successful lawyer who once successfully defended Ahmadu Bello against the Sultan of Sokoto, Sir Abubakar who was determined to jail him for embezzlement. When the campaign for the election into the Western House began in 1951, the Alaafin to checkmate Bode Thomas and publicly supported the NCNC of Azikiwe against the AG of Awolowo. It should however be borne in mind that the NCNC had as its first leader, Herbert Macaulay, a Lagos engineer-turned politician and the grandson of the first African Bishop of the Anglican Communion,  Bishop Ajayi  Crowther . In 1951, it was disputable if the Action Group was more acceptable to the Yoruba educated elite than the NCNC. This is made clear by the sweeping victory of all the NCNC candidates to the Western House from Lagos. However, the Action Group was in power in the West and it was determined not to brook any opposition. Efforts to reconcile the Alaafin to the political leaders  of the West failed because of the arrogance of power which led them to reduce salaries and perquisites of  office of not only the Alaafin but even of members of the Oyomesi (the Alaafin’s privy counsellors). Bode Thomas was the arrow head of the struggle with the Alaafin. Pitched battles were fought in Oyo and environs between supporters of each side and the government in Ibadan capitalized on this. While the struggle was going on, Chief Bode Thomas suddenly died in 1954 at the age of 34. In the Nigeria of those days, it was easy to say Bode Thomas was somehow bewitched by the Alaafin  and as a retribution, the Alaafin was removed and banished first to Lagos and finally to Ilesha.

    This was a sad situation of conflict between the old and new purveyors of power in Nigeria. Interestingly, the same struggle for power led in northern Nigeria in 1961 to the removal of the Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Ardo Sanusi. The coincidence of the two most powerful dynasties one in the north and another in the South coming to this denouement is very interesting and this history was to repeat itself in other places in modern Nigerian history.

    After a short interregnum, Alaafin GbadegesinLadigbolu came to the throne. By the time of his reign, the position of the Alaafin had been diminished in relation to that of the Ooni of Ife. The Action Group government Of Obafemi Awolowo was determined to permanently elevate the Ooni over the Alaafin. It is of course widely accepted by Yoruba people that Ile Ife is the ancestral home of all Yorubas including the Alaafin. Alaafin Oranmiyan, who founded old Oyo around 1200 A.D after an unsuccessful attempt to reign in Benin but subsequently, sired a child Eweka who later founded an Oranmiyan / Oduduwa dynasty in Benin. The two sisterly states, Benin and Oyo, developed into empires between the 16th and the 18th centuries while  Ile Ife remained a puny kingdom protected by the almighty power of Oyo. The power relationship between Ife and Oyo was like that of the pope and the emperor in the medieval Holy Roman Empire in Europe. The story is told about the pope criticizing the Nazi ruler of Germany, Adolph Hitler during the Second World War. Hitler was alleged to have asked how many army divisions did the pope have? This was the situation and none of the Alaafins accepted any diminution in their status vis-à-vis the Ooni of Ife. When a new Alaafin in the person of GbadegesinLadigbolu was installed, the nostalgia of the power surrounding the Alaafin of the past was ever in  his heart. This was partly assuaged when from 1955 to the collapse of the first republic, the position of the presidency of the House of Chiefs remained the preserve of the Alaafin. When  Chief Obafemi Awolowo left the premiership of the West in the hands of  Chief S.L Akintola and went to Lagos with the hope of becoming federal prime minister in 1959, the relationship of the Alaafin to the premier became more cordial. Chief Akintola came from neighbouring  Ogbomosho and was  a thoroughly adroit politician who made everybody comfortable in his presence. In spite of his high position, he was a strong believer in Yoruba culture and was not averse to paying homage in the traditional way to the Alaafin. This was in spite of the struggle over land that tended to cause disaffection between the Ogbomosho throne and the various Alaafin of Oyo.This mutual love and affection between Akintola and the Alaafin was to prove useful in the turbulent years after the independence of Nigeria from Great Britain in 1960.

  • Alaafin of Oyo in contemporary Nigerian politics – 1

    The title Alaafin, meaning “owner of the palace” indicates the importance of the Alaafin in Yoruba history. It signifies the fact that there may be existence of other palaces but the real and the supreme palace is the one in Oyo. The British have a saying at the demise of their monarchs – “The king is dead, long live the king”; in other words they try to separate the personality of the ruler from the institution. This eternity of the monarchical institution is captured by the saying in Yoruba “Baba ku baba ku”, meaning “father is dead but father lives “. Nevertheless, the Alaafin as an institution is no doubt affected by the personality and persona of whoever occupies the position. He remains “Iku baba yeye” a man with supreme power of life and death over his subjects. But this awesome power can rise or fall on the strength of character of the man on the throne.

    The history of the Alaafin over time has shown the changing vagaries of Yoruba politics. The institution has remained relevant even though in diminished but not degraded in importance. The supremacy of the Alaafin  Of Oyo was further enhanced from the 1600s when a dynastic religion, the deification and worship of a once powerful Alaafin Shango became the official religion of the people following the well-established tradition in other climes that the religion of the ruler is the religion of the people. One of the factors, among others, that facilitated the collapse of Old Oyo was the coming of Islam from the north and Christianity from the south. In fact, there is incontrovertible evidence that the coming of Islam not only to Ilorin but to Oyo itself facilitated the rebellion of Are Ona Kakanfo aided by Alimi and his son Abdulsalaami. Most of the leaders of the Afonja rebellion were not Fulani but Yoruba Muslims. This interpretation is supported by Abdullahi Smith, the English historian of the Sokoto Caliphate. There is evidence that Alaafin Awole on whose head the empire collapsed in the late 1820s was himself a Muslim convert. The point being made is the role of religion in building loyalty to the throne and surrounding the person of the ruler with some transcendence and mystery which only religion can provide. When this religious glue and mystery are removed, the ruler becomes an ordinary person. This is the dilemma the Alaafin and other Muslim and Christian rulers in Yoruba land face today.

    Modern Nigerian politicians whether civilian or military have always found traditional rulers useful in the political mobilization of the people. It is doubtful if any politician in Nigeria will seriously advocate the abolition of the traditional kingly institutions as was done in India after independence. In fact, what we have seen in Nigerian history is that politicians want to become honorific chiefs and the only people who can confer on commoners the titles are traditional rulers. These days, distinguished and highly educated people including retired army generals are finding their ways to the thrones. These institutions have therefore come to stay because the people identify with them simply because modern governmental institutions and officials appear remote and sometimes irrelevant to the people. A position like that of the Alaafin has become part of the embodiment of the people’s culture and whether the Alaafin still continues to wield untrammelled power is irrelevant; it is the symbolism that attracts people to the institution. But there is no doubt that in the time and tide of history, the Alaafin has seen better times than today. But the strength of an institution is the ability to adapt to changing times. The Alaafin is not unique in this. Most monarchies including even powerful ones like those of Japan, Great Britain and Spain have become constitutional monarchies in one form or shape. What is important to stress is that the Alaafin institution has survived almost a thousand years and rulership has remained within one extended family in-spite of the fact that Oyo has over time moved its capital to three different places because of external and internal pressures before finally settling in its present location. The vitality of the institution has however remained. The constitutional contribution of the Alaafin institution to African politics is in  the checks and balances it embodies which in distant past, guarded against tyranny and dictatorship characteristic of most monarchies in Africa and elsewhere.

    Modern Nigerian politics can be said to have begun at the creation of the Lugardian state of Nigeria following the amalgamation of the southern and northern protectorates and the colony of Lagos and the removal of the awkward independence of Egbaland at the outbreak of the First World War in 1914. Right from that time, the pre-eminent position of the Alaafin in Nigeria was recognized when Alaafin Ladigbolu and Sarkin Abbas, emir of Kano were made members of the Nigerian Council – the highest organ for the administration of the newly created Nigeria. This council was of course a rubber stamp for the decisions of Sir Fredrick Lugard, the Governor General, yet the fact that the Poobah then ruling Nigeria felt it necessary to seek and enlist the support of the two most important rulers in Nigeria in his scheme of administration is significant. It was an attestation to the level of political development and sophistication of Oyo and Kano. It was also meant to signify that as much as possible, native rulers would play significant roles in the administration of their domains and finally the two rulers fitted tightly the indirect rule programme of the Governor General. This was because the two rulers were supported and recognized by their people and they controlled significant expanse of territory and were prepared to rule with the British colonial government providing military and police backing to ensure continued loyalty to the native rulers and their British overlords.

    Read also: Calls for Yoruba unity resonate at Alaafin’s 80th birthday

    Right from the time when Alaafin Adeyemi 1 signed the protocol with the British to end the Yoruba civil war in 1886, the position of the descendants of Alaafin Atiba who founded the New Oyo in 1830 after the withdrawal of the Alaafin from Old Oyo following the collapse of central authority, had become useful to the British and was accountable for Alaafin Ladigbolu’s membership of the Nigerian Council. When Lugard decided to replicate the indirect rule system in Yoruba land, he decided to use the Alaafin as the pyramid of political hierarchy in Yoruba land. He was so successful in this regard that the late Professor AderemiAtanda insinuated that the British created a new Oyo empire. What he meant was that the Alaafin under the British enjoyed too much and sometimes illegitimate power. The Alaafin’s position was supreme in most of what later became the Yoruba part of western Nigeria under the British. With the exception of Ijebu land and some adjoining coastal areas, every part of Yoruba land felt the influence if not the power of the Alaafin.  The relationship of the Alaafin and the Ooni of Ife was guided by an unwritten but understood norm of behaviour of Oyo’s protection and guardianship of Ile Ife. Even the British understood the spirit behind Oyo’s relations with Ife and sometimes consulted the Ooni whenever there was dispute on succession to the throne in other parts of Yoruba land outside the influence or power of the Alaafin. This power stretched into present day Benin Republic and the Republic of Togo. The weight and burden of this imperium sometimes led to revolts which were brutally suppressed with the suppression fuelling future anger and rebellion. Ruling conquered territories were to prove to be Oyo’s Achilles heels. Be that as it may, the position of the Alaafin as consenting authority in the choice of obas in the Oyo-speaking areas of Yoruba land remained until the dusk of British rule in Nigeria. This was to change finally in 1955 following the deposition and banishment of Alaafin AdeniranAdeyemi, son of Alaafin AdeyemiAlowolodu who signed the treaty putting an end to the civil war in Yoruba land that began at the beginning of the 19th century following the glorious reign of Alaafin Abiodun which ended in 1789. The civil war in Yoruba land continued till 1896 when the British finally imposed a pax Britannia on the whole of Yoruba land after the conquest of Ilorin.

  •  Defection and deception in Nigerian politics

    According to Collins English Dictionary, politics are the actions or activities concerned with achieving and using power in a country or society. This definition makes many political thinkers to suggest that politics in a nutshell, if properly used, is the greatest instrument for service to mankind because politics give organized control over a human community particularly the state. In an organized society, the vehicle for utilizing this instrument of politics for the service of mankind is usually through political parties. A political party according to Wikipedia is an organized group of people often with common views, who come together to contest elections and hold power in government. The party agrees on some proposed policies and programmes with a view of promoting the collective good or furthering their supporters interests.

    The number of political parties varies from one country to another. In most liberal democracies, there is no restriction to the number of parties that can seek power. However, in Britain there are two major parties, the Conservative party and the Labour party. There is a third part the Liberal party which is a minor party but which consistently garner up to 10% of the votes at any general election. In the United States of America, two major parties, the Democratic party and the Republican party dominate the political landscape although some mushroom parties, some of them formed for a specific cause, surface during presidential and gubernatorial elections in that country. In totalitarian regimes such as the one in China, the state allows only one party which is the party perpetually in power to flourish. Many African countries immediately after independence practiced this totalitarian system which resulted in the stifling of the democratic dispensation left by the departing colonial powers. In the present dispensation, there are 91 registered political parties in Nigeria. Many people consider this situation absurd and a mockery of democratic system.

    Despite the fact that a political party is an association of people with common  interests,  political beliefs and ideologies, a person can leave such a party for another one if he feels that the political party to which he belongs deviates from his perceived interest or belief. Such a situation is known as carpet-crossing especially if the person concerned is a member of a  legislative house. It originated in the British House of Commons where the House is made up of Government and Opposition parties. A notable carpet-crosser was the British political icon, Sir Winston Churchill who crossed the floor from the Conservative party to the Liberal party in 1904 before later crossing back to the Conservative in 1924. He countered his detractors by saying that his cross-carpeting actions was for national interest. In Nigerian political development also, change of party affiliations by politicians had always featured prominently.  For example, as far back as 1941, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, the dogged nationalist with many Easterners in those days resigned from the Nigerian Youth Movement when he disagreed with the movement’s choice for the then legislative council election.

    A contentious issue in the pre-independence politics of Nigeria was the role played by carpet crossing in deciding who formed the government of the then Western Region after the regional election of 1951. Different interpretations had been given to the event that took place of the floor of Western Nigeria House of Assembly on January 7, 1952 when the elected Town Union representatives identified with the Action Group under Chief Obafemi Awolowo instead of the NCNC under Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe. Many supporters of Dr. Azikiwe like the late Professor Kalu Ezera, the renowned political scientist and the late Chinua Achebe, the literary guru, felt that the representatives were NCNC supporters lured at the last minute to support the Action  Group of Chief Awolowo, thus preventing  Dr. Azikiwe from becoming the first premier of Western Region. This assertion was robustly debunked by the late Chief Bola Ige, Odia Ofeimun and the late Alhaji Ganiyu Dawodu  who wrote a very detailed book on the issue titled ‘Awo or Zik: Who won the 1951 Western Nigeria Election’. In this book, Alhaji Dawodu who was an Organising Secretary of Action Group, gave an unimpeachable facts about the political antecedents and affiliations of each of the members of the House and it was very clear that these members did not cross the carpet to deprive Dr. Azikiwe the premiership of the then Western Region. Even Dr. Azikiwe in his book titled “ My Odyssey” published in 1970 did not say that those who pitched their tent with the Action Group at that time were bona fide members of his party.

    Since the above episode in the Western Region, carpet-crossing which in the present political parlance is known as defection has unfortunately been raised to an obscene political art which our politicians  relish with unmistaken stench of deception. Although there is a provision in our constitution that discourages  unbridled change of political affiliations or defections by our lawmakers, it is unfortunate that our self-seeking politicians in a devious way find a way to subvert the constitutional provision.

    Since none of the political parties in Nigeria is rooted in any ideology or ethics, our politicians join political parties for their personal interests and when they found out that the parties are not taking care of their interests especially financial and parochial ones, they jump out of the parties without caring for any integrity. In the present dispensation , it is difficult to see any prominent politician even among those vying for the presidency, the highest office in the land who has not changed political parties. A few examples will be given to back up this assertion.

    Atiku Abubakar, the former vice president and an otherwise personable and amiable personality has at one time or the other in his perennial quest to be president been a member of PDP (1999- 2006), Action Congress (2006-2009), PDP(2011-2013), APC (2013-2017) and PDP(2017- ). This must be a record in the political history of this country. Bukola Saraki, the  present  senate president and a  presidential  aspirant started his political life in the present dispensation in the PDP in 1999. He was two term governor of his native Kwara state from 1999- 2014 with this party and in 2014 he jumped ship to join APC which he again dumped for PDP in 2018.  Senator Godswill Akpabio, “the uncommon defector “ who until recently was the power house of PDP and who contributed immensely to the present bad image of PDP, defected recently from PDP to APC with all the pomp and pageantry. Our president too is not immune to this bug of changing political parties. He started his foray into politics as a member of ANPP which he later dumped for CPC, a party  he formed in 2014. He is now in the the ruling APC which gave him the platform to be the president at the fourth attempt.

    The gales of defection and deception exhibited in recent times by our politicians, starting from 2014, no doubt stunt our democracy and they are debilitating  to our body politics. It is unusual to have unbridled cherry picking of political parties in the political landscape of the established democracies in Europe and in the Americas. I am not saying that politicians do not  change their political affiliations in these places but this is a very rare occurrence and when this happens it is usually based on principles. For example, in the Labour Party of Britain at the present moment, two prominent members of the party, Frank Field and Tom Harris, resigned from the Labour party because they felt that the  leader of the Labour party, Jeremy Corbyn was not doing enough to curb the wave of anti-semitism going on in the party. In the same Labour party, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, two former British prime ministers, and who were protagonists of the winning New Labour doctrine that propelled the party to power for 10 years are  being sidelined by the present leadership of the party but these  two able politicians  are still in the party. They did not tear their membership cards publicly as  President Obasanjo did to his PDP membership card. Instead, they still remain in the party to fight for the supremacy of their  own political ideology within their beloved Labour party.

    Although our political development was stunted by years of unproductive and sterile military intervention, this is not enough reason for our present very low  political standard which is riddled with  obscene monetary gains referred to by the late Chief Adeniran Ogunsanya as “jeun jeun” politics. There was a case during the first republic when a parliamentarian who was enticed to the government party with a promise of an allocation of choice two plots of land to him and his wife left this government  party again six months later when the promise was not fulfilled. Our politicians should stop changing political parties in the same way with which they change their pants. Our democracy can only grow if they do this and put an end to their obscene game of political defection and deception.

     

    • Professor Lucas writes from Old Bodija, Ibadan.

  • NIGERIAN POLITICS: More than entertainment

    LATE Fela Anikulapo-Kuti’s description of the daily life of an average Nigerian as ‘Suffering and Smiling’ has remained the lot of the masses in the seeming entertaining series of brouhahas that have engulfed of Nigerian political space.

    Although the current episodes called ‘defections’ is more of a game of ego than of principles – a power play that involves severance of alliance, collective migration of politicians from one party to another for majority stake in some States and the Federal Houses of Assembly, especially between the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), we had witnessed cases of messy fisticuffs in the past.

    Not that it matters that the politicians, most of who have long sold their conscience to the devil and have no pact with dignity, is the issue; the worry is the brainwashed common man, who continues to applaud their shameful act.

    All over the social media, friends have turned foes over their preference for one politician over another. One needs to follow these fanatics to see the bitterness, hatred, and abuses they have poured one another – even people who have never met themselves physically.

    There have been so much entertainment around the political gladiators that somehow, the essence of real governance is lost in the mix; so much nepotism at the expense of communal interest; every passing day with headlines of treachery and perceived smart political moves. The last FIFA World Cup was a mere interval of the political upheavals. Yes, upheavals; those are more pronounced that efforts on good roads, electricity, health, education and industry. We are back to the long prologues towards 2019, and the masses, the most affected by the woes, have continued to sing the supporters’ club songs; cheering the shameful acts across the divide.

    I picture the various shameful scenarios and I ask, if Nigeria were a movie; it would be a fusion of all the genres such that the more the viewer sees, the less they would understand. Did you just say ‘abracadabra’? It would be a serious comedy and a laughable thriller; there would be tragic hiccup in place of comic relief. The entire roforofo appeals to me like a disjointed drama with plot running from cacophony to pandemonium. But I blame the masses for giving the players the verve to turn their sham into a series film.

  • Good people will always find it difficult to survive in NIGERIAN POLITICS – APC National Woman Leader Ramatu Tijjani Aliyu

    APC National Woman Leader, Dr. Ramatu Tijani Aliyu, is an embodiment of beauty and brain. A stylish personality, Dr Tijani Aliyu believes a woman has a special place and role to play in the society. She also believes that no matter how beautiful and highly placed a woman may be, her duties at home are very important. In this interview with PAUL UKPABIO, she shares with us values and attributes that took her to the top, the things that have kept her at the top and how women can improve their lots in politics and at the home front.

    How did your early life influence the person that you are today? I think my early life has influenced me in more ways than one. I grew up in a home where discipline and handwork were the order of the day. My father (May his blessed soul rest in peace) was an astute educationist who did not compromise on the values of hard work, honesty, decency and patriotism. While My mom was a business woman who embodied enterprise and independence; instead of always waiting for her husband to provide. All of these values by the grace of the Almighty have shaped the woman I have become today. Your educational background? I attended Dawaki Primary School in Niger State following which I gained admission into the Federal Government College Minna. Subsequently I secured admission into the prestigious Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, where I graduated with a degree in Urban and Regional Planning.

    I have since acquired a master’s degree in Public Administration and I am currently doing my Ph.D in Security and Strategic Studies from the same institution. What do you think influenced the choice of your being the APC woman Leader? Well, it’s not a choice per se but the will of the APC delegates from across the country.

    They saw a woman who represented a clean break from the era of women leaders who were merely appendages and could not take a stand for the interest of the women. Our party leaders also saw in me a product worth buying and gave me their unconditional support and I thank everybody for the faith reposed in me. For the benefit of those who do not know, can you tell us some of the roles that you play in the party? As the National Woman Leader of the APC, I primarily represent the interest of all women, particularly APC women. As a leading female voice I am continually liaising with my male colleagues to ensure that gender mainstreaming takes a foothold within our party; from the policies and actions of the party to constitutional amendments whenever the party embarks on any. By virtue of my office, I am a member of the party’s caucus as well as the National Executive Council (NEC). As the focal person of the APC women wing, I am also responsible for the coordination and mobilization of women towards victory at the polls. Just last week, you had a NEC meeting at the State House. Were you pleased with the outcome? It doesn’t matter whether I am or not.

    What matters is the overall interest of the party. Being a member of the APC NEC, I should ordinarily be for the elongation of our tenure in order to avoid the problems associated with the conduct of such conventions. However, the President and other leaders of the party have sought legal counsel and deemed it wise to reconsider the elongation in order to forestall avoidable violations of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. I will always stand for the interest of party. Your party is in government. So now that you are in the corridors of power, and seeing it all, in what ways would you say that women can be relevant in today’s political situation? If by being in the corridors of power you mean the unprecedented power some women used to wield in the previous administrations, then you are mistaken. That can never happen under President Muhammadu Buhari.

    Nonetheless, women have played and will continue to play a vital role in our politics. A good proportion of the electorate with whom sovereignty lies are women. I think the next step is to have more women as card-carrying members of the major political parties in the country. This will then make it easier to have more women contest and win elections both as party officials (not just as women leaders) and as public officers. There is a clamour for more female appointments in government, are you okay with the male/female ratio in present day public offices? Progress has been made in terms of women appointments but a lot more improvement can still be made in that regard. We are not saying overnight we want a 50/50 arrangement. But significant progress in terms of identifying and recognizing women who have distinguished themselves and contributed positively to the formation of the government at all levels can still be made.

    You only need to look at other African countries who have taken the issue of gender inclusion very seriously to appreciate how much progress we’ll make as a nation if we do not deprive women of their dues What influenced you to join politics? I know it may sound like a cliche but it’s simply the passion to serve my country and make a difference whenever and wherever I can. How did your husband or family feel when they heard about your election? Well they felt proud and happy, but certainly not surprised (Laughs). Can you describe yourself? I’d like to think I am a very down to earth, courageous, hardworking, selfless, patriotic and God-fearing woman. I’m also a tastefully fashionable person and in the political circle, I’m unflinchingly loyal.

    In line with the aspirations of your party, do you foresee a better tomorrow for women? Without a shadow of a doubt I do. But like I highlighted earlier, we must get more women actively participating in the internal workings of the APC. Let’s put our strongest 11 forward and make it difficult for anybody to sideline us on the basis of incompetence or a lack of know how.

    The truth is, nothing will be given to us on a platter; let’s therefore demonstrate that we have earned the right to be taken seriously all the time (and not just for campaigns) As a busy, hardworking woman, do you still find time to go to the kitchen to cook? Every now and then, yes. My family understands the nature of my job and thankfully, I have people around me who have picked up valuable tips from me on how to prepare various delicacies. Nonetheless, I like to go back and take charge from time to time in order to show them I am still the boss (Laughs). What is your view about fashion and how do you describe fashion? For me, fashion is simplicity and elegance. It is not how expensive but how receptive your persona is to a particular style or apparel. I like to play around with simple fabrics to create something elegant. Often times I recycle my old fabrics and yet come up with something that is unique and modest. What is important is that you must be comfortable and satisfied with your sense of fashion.

    What determines the clothes you wear in a day? Usually the occasion or function I am attending will largely influence my choice of dressing on a given day. I’ll generally ask myself the following questions: Who am I meeting or who are the audience? Where (their religion or culture), when (dry or harmattan season) and what (my purpose of visit). In all instances, certain themes run through, that is, simplicity, elegance and modesty. What fashion accessories like necklaces and so on, will you not do without? There’s actually no fashion item I can’t do without. But I usually have my earrings on, no matter how simple they are. How do you describe success? Essentially, when I think success I think fulfillment. Not just materially but emotionally and spiritually. Once these other components are missing then it becomes momentary success which for me is not worth the trouble. What do you value most? I keep my values. I’ve grown up all my life holding unto them and I will not trade them for anything in the world. My values keep me in touch with my conscience and my faith.

    Nothing is more important. When you met your husband, was it love at first sight? If what we felt at the time was also love then yes. But I think what fortified it was the effort, patience and trust we had in each other. Because for sure, it kept growing day after day until it became an open secret that we were destined to spend the rest of our lives together. How are you coping with office pressure and challenges? For me, pressure and challenges come with the territory and I am not too bothered by it. My real challenge, and one which I relish, is the need to build coalition and consensus amongst our women. This is borne out of my fervent belief that together we are stronger and can achieve more. We must put aside petty issues and face the real obstacles to our progress. As a woman, do you think politics is a dirty game? Yes. But I also believe that the fact that politics is dirty does not mean good people cannot come in and try to make a difference by doing things differently.

    Of course good people will always find it more difficult to survive in the murky waters of Nigerian politics, but if that is the price we have to pay to make things better, then so be it. Having worked with women from different parts of the country, what will you say that Nigerian women really want, first from the government and then from their husbands? From the government, I would say a level playing field. Too often we seem to be competing with men in the same field but on different parameters. We often have to do twice as much to be recognized and this needs to change. If a woman can do a job, give it to her regardless that she’s a woman. On the other hand, all we require from our spouse is support and understanding. Simple If you were not what you are today, what else would you have loved to be? I would definitely have been an entrepreneur. From fashion to estate development, my passion and interest still remains very strong.

    Are you fulfilled? Not fully. There is so much more I can do for my community and my country. The problems facing our women are also a sour point for me. Along with people of like minds, I am convinced we can improve the fortunes of our people. When should we expect the first female president in Nigeria? Let’s be honest, that’s not likely to happen in 2019. But we must first build a critical mass of competent and influential women and then push on from there. We have met a lady who had over 200 shoes in her kitty; how many shoes do you recommend that a lady should have? I am not sure there can be a definite answer to your question. It generally depends on her job description and preferences. While a fashion model may have up to 100, a teacher may not need more than 20. So it really depends.

    Tell us about a normal day with you. What do you do, and then on weekends too? First I wake up early for my prayers; I ensure the kids are in good shape to go to school. After breakfast with the family, I face my official duties for the day. This usually includes meetings, attending to files, memos, dignitaries and ancillary functions. It doesn’t change much during the weekends, except that I have a little more time for my family. How do you catch your fun, hobbies, and sports? Funny enough, my hobby is fashion/interior designing. I like to give new life to seemingly mundane things. Do you find time for the family, considering the demands and nature of politics? Of course I do. Like I said earlier, every morning I find time to attend to their needs, especially during the weekends. It is something every working woman must consciously find time for. What do you consider the secret of marriage success? Trust and understanding! Love is also important but once there is no trust and understanding, it will not stand the test of time.

  • Media under-developing Nigerian politics?

    Remember Walter Rodney’s How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, that seminal work first published in 1972, which audacious thinking set the academia on fire?

    In the Nigerian university campus of the 1980s, you didn’t belong if you hadn’t read the book; and pressed, into service, its enchanting quotes.

    Given the current media temper, marked by slanted stories, unfazed finger-pointing and pseudo-analyses, perhaps a Rodney follow-up is due: How the Nigerian media underdevelop Nigerian politics!  Is any media scholar game?

    Were you to transpose media fare today back to the 1980s, the unceasing stream of jeremiads, on the alleged  hopelessness of the Nigerian situation, would probably have inspired another band of military pseudo-saviours to storm the Bastille.

    But maybe the media had always misled the polity with sensational reactions, when a reflective, introspective and well-reasoned option would do.

    Maybe that had always helped to derail the state, and feed it to a military train, clanging and chugging to nowhere.

    And maybe, present media howling aren’t producing past follies simply because the media, in its fatal hubris, is blissfully shackled to the past — far behind the society it has thrust itself to lead!

    That’s why its havoc on politics — and the polity — would appear humongous indeed; but which the fourth estate, in its holy rage, appears to least appreciate.

    Ringing renunciation from within?  Perhaps!  But maybe ringing media naivety, always passing the routine as the novel, explains why.

    Take the hysteria over the so-called “cabal”.

    The word cabal crept into pubic consciousness, during the Goodluck Jonathan presidential cause of 2009-2010, when a Katsina power bloc tried to stonewall the then Vice President, in the name of fatally ill President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.

    It was a battle well fought and won, in the best tradition of Nigerian media crusading; dating back to the era of the old masters: John Payne Jackson and his son, Horatio (Lagos Weekly Record), George Alfred Williams (Lagos Standard), James Bright Davies (Times of Nigeria) and Herbert Macaulay (Lagos Daily News) to mention just a few Titans in the early Nigerian press.

    Since then, however, no thanks to analytical naivety, if not outright analytical corruption, “cabal” has seized a section of the southern media.

    From Yar’Adua’s “Katsina cabal” to Muhammadu Buhari’s so-called “Daura cabal”, you would think a governmental inner caucus was novel.  It isn’t.

    Indeed, between 1967 and 1983, approximating early military rule and President Shehu Shagari’s 2nd Republic, the southern media was fixated with the so-called “Kaduna mafia”.  That was at the apex of the northern power hegemony.

    Even if “Kaduna mafia” was justifiable southern angst against blatant northern political domination, a “mafia” or “cabal” is a harsh power reality.

    Indeed, where two or three are gathered to form a ruling bloc — over an association, town’s union, government or even churches and mosques — there probably is a cabal.

    Why, even President Jonathan, of the minority of minorities, had his “Ijaw cabal”! So did the all-powerful Afenifere of old.  Or why did some peeved Oyo-speaking partisans back then rail at the so-called “Ijebu mafia”?

    But make no mistake: a cabal or mafia that skews public policy, in favour of its narrow clan, deserves ringing condemnation.  Thus, the Yar’Adua era “Katsina cabal” deserved all its knocks.  So does the Buhari “Daura cabal”, if charges are proved.

    What is not right is freezing extant cases — proven or speculative — hold them up as novel but eternal and proceed to approach every matter, no matter how harmless, from that skewed prism.

    That is the cul-de-sac much of the southern media have run themselves into. At best, it is analytical mischief.  At worst, it is analytical fraud, which full wages may yet, in future, plague a southern president.

    After all,  no section of the country boasts a monopoly of terrorism — media or otherwise.

    Take the needless controversy over the reported Buhari instruction to the World Bank to concentrate developmental efforts in the “North”.  In a media driven by good faith, that should sound asinine to anybody.

    For one, Nigeria’s North East, scene of Boko Haram’s humongous destruction and grave human misery, couldn’t have been in the “South”, whether by Nigeria’s politics or geography.  Are fellow Nigerians up there not entitled to some quick relief?

    For another, the statement clearly issued from the naivety of the World Bank president,  Jim Yong Kim, whose honest statement was wilfully slanted to suit Nigeria’s explosive political geography.

    The controversy raged nonetheless, with full venom, based on the faulty premise — but sweet emotions — that  a northern cabal, with full presidential charter, was there, at the ready, to do in the “South”!

    A fierce, anti-south northern cabal must also have driven the sensational report, by a business newspaper, that President Buhari’s “appointments” were skewed eight-to-two, in North’s favour.

    It was a scandalous stacking of cards, toward a preconceived direction, to suck in the unwary.  Brandishing a “fact-check”, its skewed “facts” indeed “proved” Buhari’s presidential appointments were 81 per cent “northern”.  But arrayed against fairer parameters, one-sided cynicism never barged so loud!

    Incidentally, the report excluded — cleverly? — ministerial appointees, perhaps because that did not paint the one-sided picture it was pushing.  Yet, that opened a more even vista into the subject.

    From the breakdown later given by presidential sources, the South West got the highest (40, after delivering 15.7% of presidential votes), even above the president’s native North West (30, which nevertheless gave him 46% of the votes).

    The newspaper’s mischief, if not outright malice, was even more manifest from the South East tally.  For 1.3% of the vote, that region got 22 ministerial appointments, only two less than North East’s 24 (18.5% of the vote), but one more than North Central’s 21 (for 14.7% of the vote) and a clear two above the South-South’s 20 (for an equally lowly 2.7% of the vote.)

    So long for reportorial fiction from a southern media, unfazed about cutting its nose to spite its face!

    Still, the ever ready riposte — where are the “juicy” portfolios?  Simple: if you want “juicy” portfolios (whatever that means) deliver juicy votes.

    Frankly, it is dishonourable and unconscionable to deliver minuscule vote but insist on ministerial juice!  The juice is no manna from heaven. Some citizens put it there by their votes.

    Still, this is no ringing endorsement of the Buhari presidency.  For its blunders, it must take adequate knocks, if only to show that the people are the masters in a democracy; and that the media is their chief agent to assert that right.

    But in seeking to chase a northern cabal, the southern media has itself developed a cabalistic mindset, which spews nothing but hate, malice and bigotry.

    That is a self-imposed tragedy — which shows how it might be under-developing Nigerian politics — and polity.