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Tag: politics

  • Politics of recall in Pleateau South

    Politics of recall in Pleateau South

    • By Mark Longyen

    Plateau State has been thrown into  panic, following a subterranean move by Plateau South constituents to recall former Gov Simon Lalong (APC-Plateau South) from the Senate.

    Also penciled down  for recall by the aggrieved constituents are Lalong’s former Chief of Staff, John Dafaan (APC-Shendam, Quaan-Pan, Mikang) and Vincent Venman (APC-Langtang North/South) federal constituencies.

    Sources disclosed that within the past week, over 500,000 constituents had already appended their signatures to initiate the recall of the trio from the National Assembly.

    It was learned that about a fortnight ago, the forms for the recall of the three lawmakers were distributed across the six local governments that constitute the senatorial zone, which have now been signed by the constituents.

    People familiar with the prevailing political intrigues said that any time this week, the signed forms by constituents from all the polling units will be collated and forwarded by the petitioners’ lawyers alongside their petitions to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

    Thereafter, INEC is expected to send a team of its officials to the senatorial zone and the two federal constituencies for verification of the signatures.

    Once the signatures are verified and confirmed in the various polling units that 50 per cent, plus one, of the total registered voters actually signed the recall forms, then INEC will within a statutory time frame, arrange for a referendum to be conducted to recall the lawmakers.

    The referendum simply entails a “yes or no” voting by the constituents on whether to recall the lawmakers or not, which outcome is to be determined by a simple majority to declare a lawmaker automatically recalled or to retain his seat.

    The sacking of Sen. Napoleon Bali (PDP-Plateau South, June 2023 to October 2023) by the Court of Appeal had paved the way for Lalong to subsequently resign as minister of labour and productivity, to occupy the seat.

    A source said supporters of Bali are championing the recall move, although Bali himself could not confirm the latest development.

    Last year, Bali had told newsmen that although as of then, he had not gone back to the senatorial zone after the judgement, he had it on good authority that his aggrieved constituents were already collecting signatures to initiate the recall process.

    He had also disclosed that his legal team was weighing various options, including going back to the court to explore any window to review or remedy the injustice done to him and other fellow lawmakers.

    According to him, he had the constitutional option of initiating a recall process against those who were brought to office by the Appeal Court judgment, or to live with it for the next three years.

    The latest move seems to align with the earlier vow of Bali  to unseat Lalong.

    Sources say plans have reached advanced stage by constituents to recall the embattled lawmakers.

    “What the people of Plateau South senatorial district are saying is that they will not allow them.

    “I don’t know what they want to do, but I was told reliably that people are already gathering signatures that they must recall them.

    “This time around, we are going to test INEC and the judiciary that installed them because that is the option we are sure of.

    “Like I said, our lawyers are making all efforts to see whether there is a window. I’m not a lawyer; I don’t know how they are going to do it.

    “But the one I’m very sure of is that all those who the Appeal Court  collected our mandates and gave to them wrongfully, as concluded by the learned justices of the Supreme Court in Gov Mutfang’s case, we are definitely going to recall them.

    “When? I will not tell you because it will just come to them as a rude shock.

    “For the specifics, I can tell you that in Plateau South, I know that they have gathered over 300,000 signatures to recall Lalong already.

    “That is already in the public domain. He is aware, his party, the APC is aware.

    “By the time we get the required number of signatures, which is 50 per cent of the total registered voters, it’ll be a done deal, we’ll do it.

    “We have the INEC current register; I will not tell you more than this because we keep that one close to our chest.

    “As soon as we get the 50 per cent, we are going to write a petition, and our lawyers will follow it up from there to tell INEC to verify.

    “Once that is done, INEC will have no option but to conduct a referendum and we take it up from there,” Bali, a retired Air Vice Marshal and fighter pilot, said

    Lalong, Dafaan and Venman were defeated by Bali and Isaac Kwallu and Rep Beni Lar, who won the Plateau South, Shendam, Quaan-Pan, Mikang and Langtang North/South House of Reps seats, respectively, during the 2023  National Assembly polls.

    Reacting to the bid by constituents to recall Lalong and co, the Plateau State chapter of the APC described the action as a wasted effort that was informed by PDP’s “desperation and frustration to remove the lawmakers from their legitimate seats.”

    Confirming the recall initiative, the state chapter of the APC in a statement by its acting Publicity Secretary, Shittu Bamaiyi, described the recall effort as merely a “PDP orchestrated recall campaign, a wild goose chase, and mission impossible.”

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    “For quite some time now the PDP in the southern part of Plateau State, has embarked on a wild goose chase, in the name of recall campaign against these members of the National Assembly.

    “The party has unrelentingly and agonizingly, been cajoling unsuspecting eligible voters to append their signatures on  worthless sheet of papers, as a means of recalling Senator Simon Lalong and Chief John Dafaan from the Red and Green Chambers, respectively.

    “The desperation and frustration of the PDP seem to know no bounds, to the extent that the party is so blinded to the constitutional requirements of initiating, as well as embarking on such a herculean exercise,” the APC stated.

    According to the party, the PDP has thrown caution and decorum to the winds by embarking on the recall process against the lawmakers.

    “By using all sorts of shenanigans and deceits to cow people into appending their names on papers, under the pretext of making them enjoy some palliatives and loans from the federal government as well as the state governments.

    “Though the unsuspecting electorate have been suspicious of the promises, and taking them with the pinch of salt, the hirelings assigned the responsibility of the misadventure, have unblushingly continued to move round all the nooks and cranny of the Southern zone to collect signatures for the futile exercise.

    “It is unfortunate that the PDP could condescend to that level of desperation, when viewed from the prism of civility and propriety, as well as considering the fact that, the  legislators in question have hardly spent one year in their respective chambers,” the APC further said.

    “Unarguably, a recall exercise is an electoral and constitutional process which can be initiated against wanting or incompetent legislators as the case may be, there must always be overwhelming justification for such a cause.

    “Undoubtedly, the narcissistic attitude of the PDP will certainly come to naught, sooner than later, because from all indications, the  legislators are at the moment, enjoying the support of their constituents not withstanding their short stay in the National Assembly.

    “In addition, the APC as a  party, and other interest groups, are closely monitoring events as they unfold, with a view to checkmating the misadventure.

    “Without any fear of the unknown, the campaign is surely going to be a mission impossible and a disgrace at the end of it all,” Bamaiyi added.

    When contacted for comments on the development, Rep. Kwallu, one of the lawmakers sacked by the Court of Appeal and Dafaan’s predecessor, confirmed that the recall move by the constituents was true.

    He explained that the recall process is provided for in the Nigerian constitution, which empowers constituents to recall their elected representative at any time, stressing that there is no cause for alarm.

    Jimmy Lar, a political gladiator from the senatorial zone, while commenting on the APC’s statement describing the recall process as a desperate move by PDP, justified the ground for the initiative.

    He asked rhetorically: “Who is the desperate one between someone who stole what doesn’t belong to him or her and the one who is making all lawful efforts to recover his or her stolen item?

    “It’s the right of an owner to go to any length to recover his stolen property.

    “When you are robbed, you tell people, approach the lawful authorities and take all necessary measures to recover your stolen items from the robber(s).

    “Whether or not you are able to bring the thief to justice is not for the thief to decide, it’s for time to decide,” he said.

    Simon Shindai, a lawyer, constituent, and APC member, while confirming that he was fully aware of the recall bid, alleged that some stakeholders, mostly from the state’s ruling PDP, were behind the recall move.

    According to him, some PDP chieftains are strategizing, working round the clock, and leaving no stone unturned to ensure that the recall agenda is carried out seamlessly to achieve the desired result within the next six to twelve months, and warned the APC not to treat the issue with kid gloves.

    “It is not a joke because it is a serious constitutional matter that is outlined in the 1999 Constitution, so once these processes are met, then INEC will definitely go ahead and conduct a referendum, which outcome could be a big shocker for the lawmakers in question,” he said.

    Also commenting on the issue, Alhassan Barde, an APC supporter, said that APC as a political party that knows and has tasted power, and is still in power at the centre and elsewhere, should do more than just mere press statements.

    “The party should be strategic in handling critical matters that are pending and have been left unadressed, matters that have emerged and those at the horizon with the potential to affect its present structure, and the chances that lie ahead for greater fortunes.

    “Remember, your opponent in whatever contest, would employ and deploy all manner of tactics to rattle and weaken your immune system and then launch attacks on your defence mechanisms.

    “All that we are doing is a clarion call to APC to wake up now, and do something about it,” he said.

    Lalong, while reacting to the recall move by his constituents, through his Legislative aide, Exodus Pyennap, acknowledged being aware of it, but described the initiative as an effort in futility that is baseless and dead on arrival.

    He said that the first requirement for a recall process to be considered by INEC is for the constituent petitioners to have a solid ground for the recall, such as failure, misconduct, corruption, non-performance or some sort of official misdemeanor against their representative, which are all unfounded  in the instant case.

    •Longyen wrote from Jos, capital of Plateau State

  • Of politics and Nigeria’s survival

    Of politics and Nigeria’s survival

    • By Oluwole Ogundele

    Politics and political philosophies are intricately intertwined global phenomena traceable to the latest phase of the stone age period. This period is characterised by the commencement of the culture of food production and elementary forms of urbanisation otherwise known as the origins of socio-spatial complexities. This phase of human history started about 12,000 years ago in parts of Nigeria. The above two exercises (politics and political philosophies) are anchored to the crafting and enforcement of rules and regulations needed to engender peace and progress among a heterogeneous population, living in a   geo-political space. During this period, the need for some division of labour arose. Indeed, the emergence of political class was traceable to this existential reality.

    Suffice it to say, that every urban or semi-urban community, has always been, a melting pot of several values and value systems that necessarily makes it (community) prone to conflicts and other challenges. Politics and political philosophies are broadly synonymous with wisdom and skills for managing human settlements/affairs.  Complex settlements were/are not the exclusive preserve of ancient Rome and Greece. In this connection, seeking for power in a given country or system is a noble engagement.  A political class must necessarily emerge to ensure human survival and progress. Political leaders are supposed to be men/women of proven integrity. They are eminent servants of the citizens of a country. This is the reason they enjoy certain privileges.  This has a cushioning effect. Therefore, politicians are duty-bound to work for justice, fairness, and equity.  The riffraff should be kept out. Politics should be for some of the finest minds in our society. It is too easily forgotten that ideas down the ages, rule the world. 

    However, politics, in terms of the morphology and content of its grammar, is not fixed once and for all. It is dynamic in nature. This is largely because the sensitivities, challenges, and aspirations of the citizens are always changing.

    But despite the fine underpinnings of the ontology of politics, corruption which is an integral component of man remains a devil to wrestle with. Leaders are more prone to corruption largely because they are in charge of the distribution of the wealth of a system or country. The scenario has been with us since October 1960, when Nigeria got its political independence from Britain. However, the ugly situation has been going from bad to worse, understandably because the looters of our commonwealth were/are hardly brought to justice. An average Nigerian leader, even in the academia, is too arrogant/self-conceited to learn from the led. This militates against good governance/administration and by extension, progress in all its ramifications.  

    Again, the citizens remain victims of hypocritical leaders who break the law with considerable, unimaginable impunity. Every former leader sees himself as a saint, as if Nigeria was messed up by some creatures from an unknown planet.  President Bola Ahmed Tinubu (PBAT) must be ready to step on toes in order to take Nigeria to the promised land. Even an imbecile knows that democracy as if people matter, is still light years away in this country. In practical terms, the concept of separation of powers entailing the legislature (for making laws), executive for enforcing laws, and judiciary for interpreting these laws, is yet to be thoroughly respected. Ours is a caricatured democracy! 

    Unbridled pretence and complacency define our political leadership terrain. This has been the pattern since 1999. More and more Nigerians are being impoverished in a blatant manner by the political class. Members of the political class have unashamedly graduated from looting millions to billions of naira, due to their insane greed anchored to the evilly ideology called hedonism. 

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    We have a bloated/overlarge parliament (made up of 109 senators and 360 members of the House of Representatives), which has failed to identify with the aspirations and problems of the masses. There are too many special assistants and advisers for each of these key political office holders. Honestly, they are a mere economic drainpipe. To an average Nigerian, democracy is tantamount to aggravated material poverty and hopelessness. A member of the National Assembly goes home every month, with millions of naira, as a salary laced with lousy allowances. Most of our roads have collapsed as if Nigeria is rudderless.  Food shortages are on the increase in the face of unfettered insecurity. More and more farmers are fleeing their villages as pampered bandits and kidnappers are having a field day. Even Ukraine that is at war with Russia donated grains to Nigeria last year. Nigeria has become a refugee country.  But despite this, our leaders across the board do not care a hoot.

    This is the reality of the Nigeria inherited by President Bola Tinubu. Thumbs up for Tinubu for his indefatigable and indomitable spirit, in the face destructive criticisms and provocative comments by his political rivals and their unthinking followers.   However, the president has to appreciate more than hitherto, the fact that the ordinary citizens must be allowed to breathe.  The political class members must be prudent. Looters have to return the monies, and these must not be re-stolen.  Any senior public officer who is too flamboyant and incorrigible to understand, appreciate, and appropriate this common sense theory, should resign immediately. The age-long trust deficit in the country can be corrected by PBAT. Nothing is wrong with our genes!

    The situation is complex, largely because some Nigerians are above the law.  The immediate past president of the US, Donald Trump is being prosecuted for some alleged criminal cases embedded in economic/financial improprieties. Such a practice has no place in the Nigerian leadership culture. Consequently, Nigeria is stuck in the mud of backwardness.  Crimes and criminality go on unabated. Most political leaders and kings have failed the country and by extension, the youth, largely because of their stone age religious/ethnic bigotry and monumental corruption as well as bribery. They must stop their frivolous complaints. The only honourable option for them is to join PBAT in re-engineering our socio-economically beleaguered geo-polity. What is their moral compass? Nigerians are not a bunch of imbeciles.

    It is time for Nigeria to say goodbye to unhealthy, competing legitimacies and/or hegemonies, which are an encumbrance to sustainable peace and progress. We cannot have our cake and eat it. Nigeria does not need ethnic politics! Cooperation and inclusiveness are critical. This method of approach has a constructive role to play in the reform agenda.

    Our attention should be on how to liberate the country from the shackles of internal and external machinations and/or manoeuvring.

    Nigerians have to appreciate the fact, that ethnic grouping is an unending exercise. It is evolutionary in nature. For instance, the Yoruba ethnicity with several sub-groups such as the Ekiti, Ijesa, Ijebu, Egba, and Ikale are already gradually separating to become distinct socio-cultural groups. The same thing applies to the Igbo among others. Therefore, why do we need to be making a fuss of leadership positions? Good leadership is not about ethnic origins. It is time to begin the transformation of our hearts and minds in order to draw nearer to national unity and sustainable progress.

    • Prof Ogundele is of Dept. of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Ibadan.
  • Seek ye first the kingdom of politics

    Seek ye first the kingdom of politics

    With foreign exchange earnings  from future fuel sales mortgaged by Buhari’s government; with government spending close to 95% of our earnings to service our $40b debt, with the alleged mismanagement of close to 50% of N23trillion that CBN printed for government through ‘ways and means’, with Emefiele the immediate past CBN governor doing father Christmas with the nation’s limited forex earnings and with Chukwuma Soludo’s ill-advised mega banks declaring profit made from forex round tripping in trillions while the nation’s economy remains prostrate, there is every temptation to assume our problem is economics.

    The truth of the matter however, is that our crisis of nation-building has nothing to do with economics but everything to do with politics. Like corruption, poverty, terrorism/ banditry and economic crisis arising from fuel subsidy scam and foreign currency speculators, are all but symptoms of our failure to first seek the kingdom of politics, as advised by the great Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana.

    By embarking on economic crusade, President Tinubu like his predecessors is engaged in a wild goose chase. It is however hoped the response to his government’s efforts beginning with the removal of fuel subsidy scam responsible for $800m monthly haemorrhage by ethnic irredentists who in an effort to foreclose distributive justice unleashed immigrant Fulani terrorists on their fellow  compatriots and economic saboteurs  responsible for flooding Nigeria with foreign manufactured substandard goods, and killer drugs in order to drive local manufacturers out of market, will convince him he is putting the cart before the horse. Politics and professional politicians are the greatest threat to the nation.

    Unfortunately, the Fulani and the Igbo, both political rivals that regard every part of Nigeria as “a no man’s land’ have held the nation to ransom since the 1957 London Independence Constitutional conference when they first betrayed the country because the former wanted a Nigerian state that would be home to stateless Fulani from all over West Africa,  while the latter, a  landlocked  group with hostile environment wanted their members to operate freely from any part of Nigeria without challenge of citizenship.

    After the 1957 betrayal, fortune-seeking Igbo political elite and their power-seeking Fulani also betrayed the nation in 1962 when they illegally interfered in the affairs of the West against the letter and the spirit of the independence constitution.

    Their dispute over the 1962/63 census outcome led to the 1964 constitutional crisis which snowballed to January 1966 mindless assassination of northern military and political leaders and the July 1966 Hausa Fulani vengeance killings of Igbo military officers. In 1967, the two rivals plunged the country into a three years civil war only to regroup between 1979 and 1983 to form the NPN/NPP coalition which again collapsed over sharing of spoils of office. They jointly imposed Obasanjo on Nigeria in 1999 and for 16 years behaved like an army of occupation by stealing the country blind.

    Both the Fulani suitors and their Igbo ever alluring willing brides are opportunists ever ready to put their personal interest before that of Nigeria. At the Lancaster House Conference, while the North wanted a loose federation and the East, a unitary system, their compromise over non-creation of states for minorities paved the way for coalition of NPC and NCNC. Ahmadu Bello was reported by the Sunday Express of December 20, 1959 at page 2 as saying “I shall divide Nigeria into two and hand them over to my lieutenants just as Dan Fodio divided the conquered north among his two sons.” After the election, Balewa got the Holy Quran as Sardauna’s lieutenant in the north and Zik, a horse as the one that held sway for the Sardauna in the south.

    Buhari with the help of Yoruba took over in 2015. For him and those hiding under his government to implement an ethnic agenda, it was a winner takes all.  While armed Fulani immigrants from other parts of West Africa were unleashed on the reserved forests notably in the middle belt and southwest regions by Buhari’s loyal gatekeepers headed by Abubakar Malami, the Attorney General and Minister of justice, the Igbo indirectly supported IPOB as balance of terror in their five states of the east while maintaining their control of urban centres across the nation.

     The mainstream Yoruba political tendency, led by Bola Ahmed Tinubu, with the support of some 11 northern governors, for the first time in the nation’s history, won the presidential election in May 2023. If, however, there is anything that has drawn closer the two rivals for the soul of the country since the 2023 presidential election won round and square by Tinubu and confirmed by sound pronouncement of the highest court in the land, it is their opposition to Tinubu’s presidency.

     While Igbo political leaders have continued to insist Obi who came a distant third was the winner just to delegitimize Tinubu’s presidency, in less than seven months NLC tele-guided by Obi’s Labour Party (apology to Olumide Apata) and infiltrated by the “obidients” who have openly called for military take-over, have under Joe Ajaero who was exposed by events in his native Imo State to be openly partisan, has embarked on four major strikes. On their path, ethnic irredentists who but for the revolt of 11 northern governors opposed Tinubu’s candidacy are blaming the impoverishment of their compatriots they have always treated as mere tools for winning elections on Tinubu’s eight months administration.

    President Tinubu must be reminded that our problem is politics and that the way forward after almost 80 years in the wilderness is to retrace our way back to where the rain started to beat us.

    First, the reasons that led to the development of federalism as an innovative approach to governance at specific moments in history has been well articulated. From the experiences of other multi-ethnic nations, we now know that the federal arrangement as a coherent set of mechanisms, procedures and institutions are best at managing key public policy issues in contemporary democracies.

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     We also now know that those shouting “banish tribes” while riding to power on the backs of tribesmen are playing the ostrich since tribes remain the building block for modern society. Europe, after two devastating tribal wars ‘formally recognized groups’ identities as legitimate and autonomous participants in the political process.’ In Spain, we have the Basque, Galician, Castilian and Catalan. British 25 tribes coalesce into Northern Ireland, Wales, England and Scotland. Elsewhere in the world, Japan, China, and India celebrate their various tribes.

    This was why the British vision for Nigeria, according to Oliver Stanley in 1920, was a “national self-government that secures to each separate people, the right to maintain its identity, its individuality and its nationality, its own chosen form of government, which had been evolved for it by the wisdom and accumulated experiences of generation of its forbearers.”

    In line with this British vision, regionalism was put in place by Richards 1947 constitution while the 1954 Lyttleton ensured each tribe or group of tribes had powers over law and order, education, economic development etc. while Macpherson 1957 constitution consolidated everything.

    If Nigerians who now know that nationalism is not often driven by altruism have to choose between the colonial masters, our military adventurers and their new breed politicians, Nigeria will choose in reverse order.  But President Tinubu has an historic opportunity to change the narrative.

  • Politics and governance

    Politics and governance

    In the middle of March of 2021, Nyesom Wike, as Rivers State governor and presidential hopeful on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), described the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) as fourth-stage cancer. He likened the PDP to malaria and said he preferred to deal with malaria than being afflicted with cancer. Not long after he made this viral statement, Atiku Abubakar, who had a running battle with former President Olusegun Obasanjo when he served as his deputy, beat Wike to the PDP presidential ticket. And the heaven came down. Wike jettisoned ‘malaria’ and embraced ‘cancer’. Though he has not defected to the APC, his soul is in the APC in whose government he now serves as the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, a position ethnic politics is dragging with him.

    That was typical politics, where all that matters is interest. For politics, a son can battle his father. Cousins badmouth each other. Friendship of decades goes up in flames and associates see nothing to bond about anymore.

    In playing politics, it is not wrong to see red and call it green. It is fair to know that a particular policy, say deregulation or subsidy removal, is good for the economy but, in order to gain political advantage, paint a gory picture about it.

    It is not just about politics in Nigeria; even in advanced democracies such as the United States of America, politics is all about interest. Republican lawmakers will deliberately shoot down policy proposals from Democrats not because they are bad for the country but because supporting such will be electoral disadvantage for them. The politics of diplomacy is even worse. America and the UK have been known to take contradictory positions on similar issues depending on their interests in the parties involved.

    The way of international politics, better known as diplomacy, is painted well by the number of wounded American soldiers at the Water Reed Army Medical Centre, and the Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland, United States. These soldiers have been involved in America’s military operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and others. These operations, including other acts outside and within its territory, are often dressed as efforts to save the world. But, even by President Barack Obama’s admission, it is far from this noble garb. They are largely meant to make it have access to overseas economies, fossil fuels, mineral resources and the blue economy. Through all manners of treaties and deals, it has ensured easy markets for its goods abroad. You’ll be exhibiting naivety if you see the World Bank and such America-promoted financial institutions as Father Christmases out for global good because beneath this global good lies the need to champion what is in America’s interest.

    As much as possible, America has tried to play its international politics within the rule of law but, a lot of the time, it has fallen short of standard. Iraq is one of those. Its premise for invading this nation has proven to be a blatant lie, and that country is yet to recover from this. There are coups in Africa and elsewhere that bear its prints. What becomes Al-Qaeda today is not without American connection. Osama Bin-Laden, that it eventually killed during the Obama era, was once an ally. Osama and his likes are evidence of the disastrous outcomes of America’s international politics where all is fair in war.

    With institutions such as the World Bank, America regularly coerces developing countries to prioritise austerity measures, which earn these countries improved credit rating but drive down their people more into the cesspool of poverty.

    Back to Nigeria: When it was in the opposition, the APC gave the PDP a bloody nose, so bloody it eventually made it lose power. Lai Mohammed, who was APC spokesperson, never saw anything good in the policies, actions and decisions of the PDP government. He was skillful in discovering smoke where there was none. Subsidy removal, which the APC government has now implemented, was described in warped terms. But as ex-Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi recently confessed, it was all politics, politics to decimate the enemy and take over from it. Now, we are told without subsidy removal, Nigeria’s ship will capsize.

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    Politics is simply a vehicle to governance, the system and processes by which societies establish rules to guide decision-making and ensure responsible conduct. Politicians intent on governing throw caution to the wind but when they eventually get power, reality dawns and they begin to tell us they are not magicians, that things are so bad they require time and that we must all sacrifice. These are things they rarely tell us when they are trying to supplant those in power. They just spend time painting those in power as nincompoops, as people unfit to govern. And when they get there, we hardly see much difference. They all are just playing politics at our expense.

    Governance is not a walk in the park. Over the years, Nigeria hasn’t got its priorities right. Electricity generation and distribution have been on the backbench, infrastructural development has been abysmal, and human development is nothing to cheer about. This general failure has forced some of the country’s best brains to leave; it didn’t start with the japa syndrome. It started way, way back– a development which decades ago forced the government to commission the famous ‘Andrew-make-you-no-check- out’ campaign. This failure that has promoted seeking of better opportunities elsewhere has given birth to an economy christened the japa economy. This economy is playing a vital role in blocking the failure of governance.

    A new World Bank data shows $20.5 billion was sent to Nigeria last year, which represents about 38 percent of total remittance inflows to sub-Saharan Africa. The new data indicates that inflows have steadily increased because the 2022 figure was $20.1 billion. This happened at a time foreign investors took out $186.8 million more from Nigeria’s economy than they invested in it. Remittance flows to Africa’s biggest economy have dwarfed foreign direct investment in recent years.

    My final take: Opposition politics is easy but governance is a different kettle of fish; governance is the real world while opposition politics is theatre with actors delivering lines from texts. The transition from opposition to governance is thus a rude awakening for the actors who now have to deal with real-life situations.  

  • As curtain falls on 2023: Rejuvenation not politics

    As curtain falls on 2023: Rejuvenation not politics

    January 2023 like every New Year came with all the enthusiasm, dreams and hopes expressed by humans across the globe. In Nigeria, it was an election year. The general elections was held between February and March. That meant that the political parties in the previous years had finished with their congresses and primaries and were going to the voters with their manifestoes.  Nigerian democracy despite its flaws recorded some improvements.

    The two dominant political parties in the last eight years, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had to contend with two new power blocs, the Rabiu Kwankwanso led New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) and the Peter obi led Labour party (LP). The election campaigns were as divisive as they were intriguing.

    In the usual political environment of a developing country like Nigeria, the issues tilted more towards the mundane like tribal and religious issues than core issues of competence, track record and readiness to handle the socio-economic problems confronting the country. First the PDP as a party was confused about their constitution and the unwritten agreement about zoning. Hitherto, the party’s style was for the presidency to move between the Northern and Southern parts of the country. Precedents had been set since 1999 with a South Westerner, former President Olusegun Obasanjo who handed over in 2007 to the Northern late Umaru Ya’Adua who unfortunately died in office.

    The debate and political intrigues about his then Vice President,  Goodluck Jonathan replacing him was as intriguing as it was epic. He ended up serving as president but lost the 2015 election to former President Mohammadu Buhari who served out his eight-year tenure. The elections of 2023 saw former Vice President Atiku Abubakar getting elected at the PDP primaries as the presidential candidate.

    A Peter Obi, a former governor of Anambra state and one who had in 2019 contested with Atiku Abubakar as his Vice Presidential candidate under the PDP had in sensing that the party might not stick to the North-South rotation of the presidency left the party and joined the Labour party where he got the presidential ticket. The LP had been in existence but somehow had failed to attract enough national attention substantially.

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    For the PDP, the dye was cast after the primaries as former governor of Rivers state, Nyesom Wike then felt that the emergence of an Atiku through a last minute seeming ‘treacherous’ stepping down of former governor, now Senator Aminu Tambuwal of  Sokoto for fellow Northerner, Atiku  Abubakar signaled a sort of ‘betrayal’ of the Southern candidates.

    Again a Wike not being picked as even a Vice Presidential candidate eloquently spoke volumes. The party is still reeling from the post-primary trauma if their loss of the presidency and the seeming political  ‘royal rumble’ in Rivers politics between governor Sim Fubara and his erstwhile godfather, Nyesom Wike post the governorship elections is anything to go by. 

    On the part of the ruling APC, the primaries seemed less rancorous even though the entrance of former Vice President  Yemi Osibanjo  into the race earlier seemed to have stirred some controversy given his political history in relation to now President Bola Tinubu. Former transport minister Rotimi Amaechi  also lost his bid to fly the APC presidential flag.

    The political nuances and economic realities pre and post the APC primaries were as interesting as they were intriguing too. The Buhari administration and their weird monetary policies that almost brought a covid-19-like economic hardship capped with the tackily handled ‘naira re-design’ were seen as a subtle sabotage of the candidacy of President Tinubu. He was however determined that it was his turn to be president and his famous ‘e mi lokan’ phrase was birthed.  At some point he assured his supporters during his campaigns that whether there was fuel or lack of same, whether there was money or no money for the campaigns, success would be his at the end of it all. His stoic stand to push ahead despite all odds was remarkable. He even was faced with the Muslim-Muslim ticket controversy which many analysts criticized as not good enough for a multi-religious country that has since 1999 sought to balance the Presidency and the Vice Presidential seats between Muslims and Christians. As in 1993 with an MKO Abiola and Babagana Kingibe’s   Social Democratic Party (SDP) Muslim/Muslim ticket, the APC Tinubu/Shettima Muslim/Muslim ticket went into the election explaining that what mattered was not the religion but the commitment to work for the country.

    Rabiu Kwankwaso’s NNPP could not make serious inroads beyond winning Kano state governorship seat which even then is now at the Supreme Court for final adjudication. But Kano is a very significant part of the Nigerian electoral map. The country awaits the apex court’s verdict. It is interesting to see how the political pendulum of the state swings going forward.  The APC chairman, former governor Ganduje being a former ally of Rabiu Kwankwaso and other political realities would take time to unravel.

    The Labour Party surprisingly had against all odds changed the dynamics of electoral participation in the country. The fans of the Peter Obi candidacy some of who refer to themselves as Obidients have seemingly re-awakened the civic duty responsibility especially amongst the young Nigerians who hitherto had shown apathy for political engagements. The party made significant inroads in the political space as they now have seats at both the House of Representatives and the Senate. They now have a governor Alex Otti in Abia state and some seats at some state houses of assembly.

    The 10th Assembly has a former governor Godswill Akpabio as the Senate President and chairman of the national assembly.  He comes with a wealth of executive and legislative experiences and expectations are high that he would lead the legislative arm with diligence, responsibility and patriotism and refrain from toying the line of the senator Lawan-led 9th assembly that is popularly regarded as a ‘rubber stamp’ assembly given their proclivity to accent to almost all bills and requests from the executive without questioning or some critical evaluation.

    The Roundtable Conversation has tried to recall history here because most times humans tend to forget history but like legendary Chinua Achebe said in his iconic Things Fall Apart, “a people must understand where the rain started to beat them”.  Nigerian politicians of every political hue are some of the least trusted leaders on earth. There is chronic trust deficit between the people and the political leaders. This is not out of place because it does seem the political elite do not feel the pains of the people. There is a serious disconnect between the people and the leaderships.

    The level of poverty in the country is evidence that since 1999, Nigeria does not seem to have made significant progress. It is sad but the reality is that Nigeria seems to have retrogressed despite the huge natural and human resources in the country. To have 133million citizens living in multi-dimensional poverty and more than 20million children out of school, the global highest is a very disturbing issue that the political elite must seek ways to remedy.

    If democracy is government of the people for the people and by the people, the Nigerian situation seems to somewhat negate that definition. What it means is that there must be introspection as the country moves into 2024, a new year. The people must be given enough reasons to believe in the democracy being practiced. All the three arms of government must understand that the country is what they make it through their actions or inactions.

    The New Year must be one that the welfare of the people must be prioritized. Understandably, the global economic hardships that resulted from the Covid-19 pandemic is still an issue  but must not be given as the perennial excuse for lethargy in governance at all levels. Other countries have managed to navigate their economies to recovery through deliberate choices and determination to put the country first. Nigerians see insecurity, infrastructural decay, weak currency, unemployment, inflation, food insecurity etc. as huge problems that leaders at all levels of leadership, local state and federal levels should prioritize in the new year. State governors must stop feeling insulated from the scrutiny of the people and making it feel like the presidency is a magic office that solves all problems.

    State governors must see themselves less as emperors but more as the servants of the people. The political parties must be restructured to ease the stranglehold of certain individuals and groups on the structure that does not benefit the people. The restructuring of political party functions must be a priority so that Nigerian political parties can be based on real ideological convictions without which no democracy can function optimally as we have seen with the Nigerian experience.

    Nigerian political parties must be based on real political ideology and run in line with the American standards Nigeria seems to have copied. It is not enough to just copy some aspects that benefit individuals in the parties and jettison those ideals that grow and develop viable democracies. The legacies of each politician must matter but the collective political direction must be propelled by a collective decision that has the people at the center. Nigerian politicians must move away from the monotonous cycle of elections-campaigns-elections. There must be an urgent re-orientation that can bring development.

    Happy New Year dear readers.

    The dialogue continues…  

  • ‘I joined politics to liberate the poor’

    ‘I joined politics to liberate the poor’

    The lawmaker representing Awka North-South Federal Constituency in Anambra State, Prof. Oby Orogbu, has said she left the academics to join politics to help the vulnerable and the needy, as Senator Uche Ekwunife has done.

    Orogbu, who was a lecturer at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka said she had empowered over 200 households in her constituency within six months in office.

    She spoke during Christmas Festival of Songs of Nine Lessons and Carol tagged: ‘Awka North-South Unity Carol’, held at Emmaus House, Awka.

    She said the empowerment was part of her responsibilities to liberate the people of Awka North and South from hunger and other challenges in the society.

    The event was attended by Labour Party (LP) bigwigs in the state, including Senator Victor Umeh, the lawmaker representing Awka 1 Constituency in the House of Assembly; Henry Mbachu, former governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP); Mr Valentine Ozigbo, among others.

    Read Also: Politics, leadership and democratic transition 

    Addressing LP supporters from Awka North-South Local Government, Prof. Orogbu, who is also the chairman, House Committee on Corporate Social Responsibility, said she joined politics to assist Senator Ekwunufe to liberate vulnerable people, especially women in Anambra State.

    She said: “I join politics to assist my sister, Senator Ekwunufe, to liberate our people from hunger and other challenges in the society. 

    “Within my six months in office, I have helped over 200 households in my constituency. As it stands now, I have submitted 2,000 names of people from the constituency that will receive N25,000 monthly stipend each from the Federal Government Cash Transfer programme.

    “The beneficiaries cut across political, ethnic and religious affiliations –the Yoruba, the Hausa, the Efik, APGA, APC, PDP and other political party members living in the constituency.”

    She appealed to LP supporters to begin mobilisation of members in their wards ahead of the 2025 governorship election in the state.

  • Politics, leadership and democratic transition 

    Politics, leadership and democratic transition 

    Third Republic Chief Whip of the House of Representatives Olawale Oshun spoke on the import of politics, leadership and democratic transition in Abuja at the presentation of a book titled:”APC and transition politics” written by Salihu Lukman.

    I was flipping through The Guardian on Sunday, December 10, 2023, and a phrase caught my attention, viz “Start Thinking 5G”. I thought of it, and it occurred to me 5G is the fifth generation of mobile network and the most current generation of cell network technology, which commenced serially from 1G in Tokyo in 1979, and spread nationwide in Japan in 1984.

    5G is however not my interest here even as it can deliver on up to 20Gbps as against Wi-Fi 6 which may deliver only up to 9.6Gbps. My interest is 3G which could deliver a paltry 42Mbps but was the first network fast enough to deliver on smart-phones as we know them and was first introduced in 2001.

    Yinka Odumakin, May the Almighty God rest his blessed soul, was Afenifere Renewal Group (ARG) and later Save Nigeria Group’s (SNG) purveyor of similarly orientated groups to associate with. And it was he who first brought 3G to our attention in ARG. Just that the 3G this time is not about Mbps, its not about the wonderful telephony inventions but about full blooded human beings. Here, I am talking about a group that is known by name and reputation as 3G.  It comprised of a triad, two of whom their diminutive sizes strongly belie their kinetic energy. The third only taller, but in my inner mind, couldn’t really see how he was different from the other two in terms of energy and commitment to social goods.

    Incidentally, they called their Group 3G, but had at the time we related, were already displaying the multiple characteristics of 5G, dare I say operating at a speed more than 20Gbps? They were hi-wired. I am sure that amongst themselves one would have been spearheading their Group but all through our interaction with 3G, perhaps due to their bonding; we could not say if they had a leader.

    I speak of Nasir El-Rufai, who at that point of contact was former Minister and dare I call him a refugee in then far away Dubai, Nuhu Ribadu, former Police Commissioner, and founding Chairman of EFCC who then was a refugee in the United States and Salihu Lukman, our host of today, but then as Yinka Odumakin used to describe him, tireless Labour Unionist, Human Rights activist and politician. He was and still is, resident in Nigeria and was the ever present face of 3G at home. That is not to say that we didn’t have as many contacts with the other two, for 3G, by itself and many times in collaboration with Save Nigeria Group, SNG; hosted many out of shore pro-democracy meetings in Dubai as well as in Accra.

    The presentation of this book, titled APC And Politics of Transition and being hosted today by Salihu Lukman has really provided me with an opportunity to come to terms as to who each of these three power laden individuals are. Of course today is wholly about Lukman, but I need to crave your indulgence to digress as I have always been bewildered by the significance of the members of 3G.

    Who is a politician

    A politician, says a Classical Greek definition, “is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking office in government”. I will be right therefore in asserting that each of the three persons mentioned above is a politician. Before returning to examine who a politician could also be, may I also assert that each of the three persons is a Statesman? A Statesman is according to one definition, “ one that does everything for the common good of the people he or she represents”. This is aside from other accolades as being respected, and bristling, with traits of knowledge, wisdom and experience. 

    Nasir El-Rufai, sought for the office of governor of Kaduna state, was duly elected, and there is abundant evidence he did “everything for the common good of the people of Kaduna state. Nuhu Ribadu sought for the office of President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Nuhu Ribadu stoically went through that election even on realization that the Northern voters had turned, General Muhammadu Buhari into a Messiah and even as we, Ribadu supporters in Action Congress trudged along with him, we knew, and he also knew that the man to beat was not even President Jonathan but Muhammadu Buhari. Buhari scored on the average 64% of the votes in the six states of Adamawa, Bauchi, Gombe, Jigawa, Katsina and Niger as against Ribadu’s average of 1.43%. Even if Ribadu saw this coming, he carried himself States manly all through the campaigns. Not a word of heat or hate against anyone, not even against the ‘talakawas’ who misplaced their votes in that election. I will return to the host later on.

    Campaign for democracy

    In one of Salihu Lukman’s many write ups he stated, “I have spent the best part of my life campaigning for democracy. I have made sacrifices and I am still making sacrifices…” In the same piece he further explained, “I became an activist not because I wanted a job”. I have been anxious earlier on as to how to describe Salihu Lukman. I said he is a politician, but it occurred to me he is much more of a “political activist” than being a politician. I will explain.

    In 1998, can I contend that pro-democracy activists were influenced by the surrealism of the cocktail of the deadly Abacha political potion and the bitter sweet Abdul-salaam Abubakar variety, that they were split down the line as to whether to participate in the 1999 political transition. I say this because, it is indeed news to me ( learnt from a Lukman’s write up) that there was a Nelson Mandela mission to Lagos to convince the Lagos pro democracy activists to participate in the Abubakar transition, a request that was politely turned down by Lukman and the group he belonged to. I have written extensively in a previous book on NADECO that Chief Anthony Enahoro, supported by many key members of the NADECO Abroad including myself, insisted the Abubakar transition was rather not the way to go unless it was preceded by full restructuring of Nigeria and its military Constitution. Pro-democracy activists or political activists as against the politicians agreed not to participate or have a taste of the poisoned chalice that was on offer by the Abubakar transition. 

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    If it was not a poisoned chalice, why for instance would the subject of Nigeria’s survival as a great and vibrant Nation  still be predicated till today on the essence of Restructuring Nigeria and her Constitution?

    I am almost allowing my thoughts on who a political activist or a pro-democracy activist is to be driven by some writings of Lukman. Activism in my interpretation of his writings “imposes an obligation (on him) to keep his eyes open and always be ready to move on” when a given task has been completed. Hear him however, “Moving on necessarily challenges one to find new tasks and responsibilities” asserting however that it does not oblige one to cutting the umbilical cord (from the originating institutions) as he remains till date “committed to their values’ which are about justice and equitable distribution of resources in the society”.

    My very concise thoughts of 2013, when APC was being established out of the merger of the many associating legacy parties, was that all the merging parties one way or the other were muzzling in their points of strength. The Buhari CPC was very strong on firmly putting its Northern support base and strength on the table, and the Conservative ethos of the Group manifested all through the Buhari years at the Presidency. Another strong merging element was the defunct ACN who aside from its relatively safe South -West base portrayed its progressive ideological ethos and pushed for, not even feebly, for a complete reform of Nigeria’s political process. Whether some described it as Restructuring and some in the same ACN described it as Constitutional devolution of power, what matters and should matter is the essence of that nation-wide demand. I believe the Nasir el-rufa’i APC led committee attested to this being the outcome of the nation-wide introspection of Nigeria’s readiness and willingness to change her many political characters!.  

    Thinking aloud therefore, because, we are all, I mean all Nigerians, complicit in evolving a home grown democracy that beclouds ideological processes and evolutions, we may not now see the fault line in the political evolution currently unraveling in Rivers state. But I suggest we spare a thought for the many lucid ideas of Lukman.

    Lukman speaks quite passionately about APC, and any other institution he has related with. If I read him well, I dare suggest his most important wish for APC is to see the party wear the garb of progressiveness, and also act it. I believe he would then, first have shaken his head on learning that twenty three members of PDP, the ruling party in Rivers state have crossed to his dear party, the APC.

    He would have reflected on party democracy, what campaign tenets he had advocated in the past. And would have shuddered if he shouldn’t have been happy to have the opposition party paralyzed for the benefit of his own Party. He would have thought however that would Democracy thrive or go under with the new development. And in my assessment of him, which I believe you are more likely to share with me; What would he have regarded as the alternate of military rule if not the ‘madness whereby politicians reduce democracy to a game of manipulation’!

    Is it not contestable whether what happened can or cannot grow democracy, and that what is haunting party A today may come to haunt party B tomorrow?. If PDP at its height, when it thought it would rule Nigeria for sixty years, failed to see into the future, APC holds all Nigerians an obligation of nurturing democracy, and must not encourage the rascality that ultimately saw PDP out of power and turned it into a permanently imploding theatre.

    APC and transition politics

    Nigeria returned to democratic governance in 1999, and quarter of a century on, our democratic architecture should be adding blocks on blocks. But that is if we deliberately work at it. If however, all we continuously engage ourselves in is on how to attain power, then we would have commenced with the wrong track. Have all Nigerians not suddenly veered from the hard working peasants and the supporting middle class we have always known to all becoming politicians? I ask this question and there is a need to provide a genuine answer. Have we not all become professional or is it occupational politicians. To my mind one cynical definition of a politician, is one that ascribes to a “people who will say or do anything to get elected or get to power”. There was a time, Nigerians are known by their occupation or a means to their livelihood.

    All occupations have a common denominator, the reward system. Now to the real issue; What occupation in Nigeria today yields a better reward system than being a politician? Was it ever like this? Has there been any time a preponderance of the people would not describe themselves as anything except being a politician? Even when you discount those elected and or appointed into political offices, what other occupation exists with a better reward system than getting engaged with a political process? A consequence of which, if I dare suggest, an abandonment of the real occupations. 

    Back to the issue of APC and Transition Politics. In many words, the author would like to see the party return to becoming a truly progressive party with all that it entails. Added to this is what I almost decipher as a bunch of pledges by him, never “to abandon the campaign for Democracy in Nigeria”, and not to “degrade (ourselves) to becoming antagonists of our party and President Asiwaju Tinubu” Taken together, that is, the vision and the pledges, I also note the impatience of a political activist wondering if what the APC should still be doing is transiting.. Transiting from where to where?

    Will I be out of sync if I suggest that the Nigerian politician may possibly not share the author’s Impatience at Nigeria permanently transiting?. He as a political activist however recalls that even at pre-independence the three regional political parties and governments headquartered respectively in Kaduna, Enugu and Ibadan were as ideologically and fundamentally different from one another as they could be. Yet, they strongly shared a common bond;  they competed strenuously in doing “everything for the common good of the people” they represented. It mattered little that the government was feudal, welfarist or libertarian, the development of their respective people was the focus Ahmadu Bello, Obafemi Awolowo and Nnamidi Azikiwe harboured all through the first Republic. 

    I contend that Nigerian political office holders  (or leaders) whether in 1999, in 2015 and or 2023 have had series of precedents to learn from. Should we ever again consider them as transiting? Transiting from where to where. I contend that Nnamidi Azikiwe, Ahmadu Bello, and Obafemi Awolowo took governance as serious business and remained simply who they were before office. We, the modern day successors May have been too trapped in an ‘aggrandized persona  cocoon’ easily beloved by office holders but deliberately created for them by their security and protocol operatives.

    Hundred flowers blooming

    Blooming is often “associated with growth, beauty and vitality. China closed its economy and politics  in the mid fifties, but still found the heart to challenge her intellectuals to contend on competing ideologies and development issues. The proverb was, “ let a thousand flowers bloom” but China under Mao Tse-tung engaged in the policy of ‘allowing a hundred flowers bloom and a hundred schools of thought contend”.. As its most unlikely that any good concept and or idea can be monopolized, Nigeria may need to borrow a leaf from the thousand and or hundred flowers blooming or blossoming. Let as many flowers bloom in our political sphere and this is where political activists like Lukman has a compelling role to play.

    Not just Lukman, but all political activists in Nigeria who should establish a network of ‘human towers’ to transmit the appropriate ‘thousand flower blooming’ signals. I contend that ‘campaigning for democracy’ needs not be a permanent responsibility. If the Lukmans of this world perpetually campaign for democracy, when does campaign for good governance commence.  I want to be disproved that you may have democracy and still be trapped in bad governance. The revolving chair that democracy offers to change governments does not necessarily imply that the incoming one can enable better governance.

    The Campaign for ‘hundred or thousand flowers blooming’ should to my mind build democracy through the building of political institutions. A cursory assessment of all political parties in Nigeria will reveal a fundamental flaw. I contend that each party is built around individuals. The first test of this assertion; is there any one of the parties built on the subscriptions of members? It will be good to name that party. Not even the party with the longest shelf-life the PDP can beat its chest in that respect. Funding of parties is a cloak and dagger issue. Too strong words? Perhaps! Should there be a doubt, when reputable Nigerian newspapers reported Court proceedings acknowledging the air lifting of tranches of money by two aircrafts to the gubernatorial candidate of a political party? Wouldn’t the logistics of movement of the fund be different were the money to originate from an account of the party? Would anyone challenge the contention that only a few big individuals now fund the parties and is the popular saying ‘he who pays the piper dictates the tune’ not applicable? Particularly when  one a few amongst the funders combines fiduciary and executive authority?

    Allow me to conclude by applying only the funding precept. That is what builds the “structure” too. Hope you know what structure is all about. The political party structure is not the property of the institution or the political party. Haven’t you heard the phrase ’my structure “ before? It is not a new political vocabulary. It’s a post 1999 Nigerian terminology. 

    Not even the 1992 no founder , no funder precepts of General Ibrahim Babangida could deliver ‘my structure’ or a political party structure to an individual. Without be-laboring this fundamental issue, our democracy should evolve such that it is the political party as an institution that should ever be in a position to determine succession  commencing  from the lowest strata of governance to the highest strata. Sayings like I don’t know who will succeed me but I know who will not should never again hold sway in our country for it is as good as knowing who you want to succeed you. Why can’t Nigerian rulers or elected leaders play their part, and leave office believing that the political party that threw them up will also throw up another good material. Why must anyone no matter how powerful be the one to determine his successor?

    I plead with Salihu Lukman, don’t tire, please don’t tire. Your political activism, and your pledges on attaining progressiveness and a righteous path for our party, should develop new antennae.

  • How people, politics and power can sustain peace

    How people, politics and power can sustain peace

    •  By Udom Emmanuel

    In his address to the United Nations in September 2011, President Barack Obama stated, “Peace is hard, but we know that it is possible.” I wholeheartedly believe in his statement. Achieving peace is challenging, but it is also attainable. Sustainable peace is within reach.

     It is widely acknowledged that charity should begin at home, and since we view the world through our own perspectives, it’s fitting to commence this discourse with my homeland. 

    The story of Nigeria embodies the essence of the topic – how people, politics, and power can sustain peace. It raises important issues for contemplation. Nigeria’s diverse landscape, comprising 371 ethnic groups and tribes, each with a unique set of languages, religions, and cultures, creates a fertile ground for conflict. These conflicts range from trade and tribal disputes to religious tensions. Nigeria has experienced a tumultuous history, marked by colonial rule, insurgencies, tribal and religious divisions, competition for state resources, and political upheaval.

    Despite these challenges, Nigeria has consistently displayed resilience and determination to overcome them. Our journey towards peace has been arduous, but it has imparted valuable lessons. 

    In May 2015, I assumed the role of governor of Akwa Ibom State. At that time, insecurity loomed large. Militant groups held sway, instilling fear in the population, and nightlife was non-existent. It was a tough situation, but I shared President Obama’s belief that despite the difficulties, peace was attainable. We initiated dialogues, engaging with various segments of society – militants, students, youth, women, professionals, from grassroots to the diaspora. It was a gradual process, but inclusivity became our guiding principle. Everyone felt a sense of ownership over the state and its resources. Equitable distribution of resources, prioritizing education and affordable healthcare, rendered the conditions that previously fuelled militancy obsolete. Peace prevailed. Since then, Akwa Ibom State has been recognized as one of the safest regions in Nigeria. 

    The Akwa Ibom State experience is a testament to the success of politics that empowers the people and fosters sustainable peace. However, not all peace projects have been as successful, and I believe that peace, like any project, goes through initiation, incubation, and manifestation phases. 

    To achieve sustainable peace, empowering the people is paramount. Ensuring the welfare and inclusive participation of all citizens, regardless of their tribe, gender, or religious affiliation, as demonstrated in Akwa Ibom State, is crucial.

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     On April 27, 2016, the United Nations General Assembly and the Security Council adopted resolutions aimed at achieving sustainable peace, which underpinned the 2015 review of the UN Peacebuilding Architecture. These resolutions represent a comprehensive commitment to global peace. Seven years later, how have we fared?

     At present, various countries, including Afghanistan, the Central African Republic, Ethiopia, Libya, Mali, Somalia, South Sudan, and Syria, grapple with civil wars. Approximately 34 countries are in conflict, and more teeter on the brink, including Israel and Palestine. This is in addition to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, proxy wars, and localized insurrections and tensions worldwide. These conflicts, varying in severity and duration, significantly impact populations, often beyond the immediate areas, leading to devastating physical and humanitarian consequences.

     Beyond traditional causes of war and unrest, the 21st century has introduced new challenges that threaten peace. These include environmental degradation, food insecurity, climate catastrophes, escalating poverty and inequality, socioeconomic exclusion, and democratic misrepresentation. These challenges necessitate the active involvement of people, the influence of politics, and the responsible use of power.

     The wealth and well-being of a nation, as well as the happiness of its citizens, fall under the purview of politics and power and serve as the foundational elements for sustainable peace. It is undeniable that achieving sustainable peace hinges on how power and politics are structured, the extent to which state power is applied, and how inclusive or alienating the political system is.

     Power and politics determine resource allocation, the decision to go to war or prioritize peace, tax rates, funding for various programs, and much more. They shape the distribution and size of the societal “pie” and influence what is subsidized or heavily taxed. In the realm of government and governance, where decisions are made, power and politics play a pivotal role as principal determinants of sustainable peace.

     Power comes in various forms, but fundamentally, it denotes the ability to persuade people to act in ways that benefit society as a whole. It grants authority to decide what is discussed, who gets what, why, and how. It is in this process of distribution and redistribution that sustainable peace is either nurtured or jeopardized.

     Politics, with its profound influence, plays a crucial role in fostering and maintaining peace. Therefore, it is essential that the “right people” are elected to positions of power. While politics may be daunting for many, it is a vital responsibility that, when mishandled, can quickly erode existing peace. Power should be entrusted to individuals who understand the importance of inclusivity and equitable distribution of state resources. Misuse or abuse of power has the potential to undermine peace and stability. Power must be exercised with the utmost responsibility, transparency, and accountability.

     Power and politics are expected to create conditions that provide people with an acceptable standard of living, a prerequisite for peace and fulfilment. Regardless of its form, power must be rooted in the people to survive. Legitimacy, earned through a government’s commitment to its citizens, safety, fairness, and people-centric policies, is crucial for sustaining peace. Governments must demonstrate fairness; otherwise, people’s dissatisfaction with power and politics can threaten peace.

     Achieving peace takes time and effort and may face setbacks, opposition, and challenging days. Just like any project, peace goes through initiation, incubation, and manifestation phases. To attain and sustain peace, politics and power must intentionally transition to a system that is inclusive of the people, guided by participation, engagement with government and governance, and grounded in international human rights laws and standards. 

     •Excerpts from keynote address delivered by former governor of Akwa Ibom State, Mr. Emmanuel, at the 8th London political summit held at the House of Parliament, Westminster Palace.

  • Politicians urged to de-emphasize politics, amplify governance

    Politicians urged to de-emphasize politics, amplify governance

    Public office holders have been urged to use their respective offices to serve the people by de-emphasizing politics and amplify governance and collaboration irrespective of party towards attracting dividends of democracy to their constituents. Rev Fr Linus Edet who made the charge while delivering a homily at Christ the King Parish, Odoro Ikot, Essien Udim LGA, at the special thanksgiving mas to mark 100 days in office by the Member representing Essien Udim State Constituency and Chairman, House Committee on Rules, Business, Ethics and Privileges, Prince Ukpong Akpabio II said, once election is over, policy formulation and implementation should be for constituents and not only those who voted for or against any elected officials.

    He commended the lawmaker for keeping to his promise, stating that the significance of the first 100 days in office which has its origin from the United States of America, is one that provides a benchmark upon which the speed, focus, policy direction and philosophy of a new administration is guaged and evaluated.

    “Your commitment to your pledges and responsibility to your people is commendable”, he stated.

    Also speaking, the Parish Priest, Very Rev Dr Cletus Okon, thanked Prince Akpabio for remembering his constituents especially the poor and vulnerable and urged him to sustain the tempo. “Your good works is already spreading like a wildlife in the communities. Keep the flame burning and sustain the tempo”, he admonished.

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    Presenting his scorecard, Prince Akpabio who thanked God for His grace, mercy and enablement, told the gathering that in just 100 days in office, he has sponsored 4 Bills, Co-sponsored 6 and presented 2 Motions on the floor of the House, both of which have received the prompt attention and intervention of His Excellency, Governor Umo Eno, an act he noted is a demonstration and proof of the love and passion the Governor has for Essien Udim people and the State.

    He intimated Essien Udim people of the intention of the Umo Eno led administration to commence the flag-off of the Made-In-Akwa Ibom Trade Fair and the One Project Per Local Government Area Initiative, the aim he noted is to afford Akwa Ibom entrepreneurs a marketing opportunity to showcase their skills and products.

    Prince Akpabio urged Essien Udim entrepreneurs to organize themselves together so as to fully participate in the exercise and benefit maximally from the initiative as part of Governor Umo Eno’s Arise Agenda for the state. The day also witnessed the presentation of Business Support Grant of #100,000 each to 20 constituents from Odoro Ikot Ward 1 at the country home of the Political Leader of Essien Udim, Obong Micheal Afangideh, bringing the total number of beneficiaries of his Business Support Grant Scheme to 75 in the last 100 days.

  • The politics of modern African Literary Aesthetics

    Title: Remapping African Literature
    Author: Olabode Ibironke
    Genre: Literary Criticism/Theory
    Pagination: 333 pages
    Publication: Palgrave Macmillan
    Book Reviewer: Chris Anyokwu

    Remapping African Literature is simply a work of literary critical re-evaluation based on the use of archival material, a methodology influenced in the main by established processes and procedures of scholarly historiography and the monumentalization of scribal culture understood in the holistic sense of both manuscript and print culture.

    Accordingly, the critic avails himself of hitherto unpublished private correspondence in the form of letters, scrawled marginalia, galley-proof material, inter alia transmitted between author and publisher. Thus, the prefix ‘Re –’ in the title Remapping embosses a hermeneutical strategy of revisionism, a reinterpretation of the canon of modern African literature and, hence, a radical reassessment of the corpus of endogenous gnosis authorized through archival criticism. Olabode Ibironke draws upon the archival work done by such pioneer figures as Bernth Lindfors, etc whose indefatigable quarrying of the material conditions as well as the beginnings of modern African literature has proven inspirational for other literary archivists.

    As a matter of fact, Ibironke reconstructs quite evocatively the high drama that was staged between Nigerian (African) writers and critics such as Yemi Ogunbiyi, Wole Soyinka, Achebe and Lindfors, the Texas-based American archivist over the location (i.e., depositories/repositories) of the manuscripts of Amos Tutuola’s work, notably The Palmwine Drinkard. The short of this brouhaha was, presumably, feelings of eurocentrism, racism, the North-South power relations as they relate specifically to the ideo-aesthetic trajectory of African letters.

    Ibironke, thereupon, under the chapter entitled ‘The Commonwealth Impresarios’ examines the role of British publishers, specifically, the Heinemann Educational Books, Ltd., under whose aegis we have the African Writers Series (AWS), midwifed by figures such as Alan Hill, Sambrook and, most influential of them all, James Currey, Ibironke explores in detail the politics of the book industry, interrogates points of intersection between editorial criticism and literary criticism; excavates how boardroom decisions taken in London determined the collective fate of African literature. The point is that, it is not enough for an African novelist to come up with an idea, mull over it and eventually put it in writing, expecting it to be published wholesale. The publishing ‘impresarios’, as Ibironke calls them, resident in the West had the final say on what finally got published: they picked and chose, expunged and calibrated, assessed and rejected as they deemed fit, depending crucially on how what was written mirrored the West vis-à-vis the African world in a positive light.

    Under the chapter entitled ‘The Literary Scramble for Africa: Selection and the Practice of Hierarchies’, the critic references troubling reservations expressed by the likes of Wole Soyinka, Chinua Achebe and Ngugi regarding what they perceived as the questionable, misleading and, ultimately wrong-headed midwifery role of Western editors, critics and publishers of African literature. In this regard, Ibironke queries and questions the deployment of the political map of Africa by western publishers in trying to furnish the literary cartographies of African literary production and African cultural production as a whole. To be sure, Soyinka in a previously unpublished Preface to Poems of Black Africa, edited by him, remarks:

    Let me just add that a number of foreign ‘African experts’ have seized on this silliness with glee. It legitimizes their ignorance, their parlous knowledge enables them to circumscribe, then adopt a patronizing approach to African literatures and creativity. Backed by centuries of their own recorded literary history, they assume the condescending posture of midwiving an infant entity. It is all rather depressing (qtd. in Ibironke 56)

    Thus the invocation of the infamous Scramble and Partitioning of Africa in 1884/85 in Berlin, Germany in the context of the production of African literature uncovers the deep-seated fears and anxieties of the subaltern over metropolitan overreach. It is pertinent to then ask: (a) what does the African novelist write about; i.e. his/her subject matter? (b) how does he or she organize his or her plot? (c) what should he or she include, develop, minimize, hint at or completely expunge or leave out of his storyline? (d) How should the white person be portrayed vis-à-vis the person of colour? (e) How should the past, history, reality, and/or modernity be conveyed: realistically or otherwise? Put differently, what are the ideological and aesthetic implications of the varying degrees of stylization of form? (f) And, ultimately, what constitutes a masterpiece, and, what, additionally, are the criteria for inclusion into the canon?

    Olabode Ibironke proceeds to set forth the pioneering role of Achebe’s Things Fall Apart as well as his role as the Editorial Adviser to African Writers Series and how two hundred novels were published under his editorship. Interestingly, the book explores how the British gurus and their African collaborators, working from London, Lagos and Nairobi assessed and evaluated manuscripts, determining whether these manuscripts measured up to Things Fall Apart as the gold standard. Given Achebe’s declared pedagogical orientation enunciated in the well-known essay, ‘The Novelist as Teacher’, the Heinemann Educational Books authorities saw fit to legislate that ALL African novels must be tailored along these heuristic and hortatory lines. This criterion had far-reaching implications for subject matter and form, including setting and authorial ideology of what Ibironke calls “Author Function”.

    The effante terrible of African Literature, Wole Soyinka, in the mid-1960s published The Interpreters, a modernist tour de force, shot through with pejorism, satire, avant-gardism. It stormed the literary scene, displacing Achebe and his fetishization of pellucid simplicity. This ungainly cortege of realism heralded the momentous advent of aesthetic modernism which emblematized post-colonial dystopia, an unsavory scenario described by Soyinka as “the recurrent cycle of human stupidity” and “the total collapse of humanity”. This Hobbesian Inferno exacerbated by the visionlessness of the power elite finds eloquent expression in many an African novel, for instance the novels of Nuruddin Farah, Ayi Kwei Armah and Bessie Head, among others.

    The impression that the foregoing excursus might have created, albeit, erroneously is that African literature simply oscillated between Soyinka and Achebe with the rest playing epigones to them. Small wonder, under the chapter captioned “Ngugi: Language, Publics, and Production”, Ibironke discusses Ngugi’s role in shaping the politics and aesthetics of African literature, delving as he does into the history of his decision, alongside his professional colleagues at Nairobi University, to abrogate the then Department of English and establish in its place the Department of African Literatures, an endogenous orally-informed unit.

    Ibironke also tells the story of how Ngugi wrote the popular text of postcolonial theory, Decolonizing the Mind, and, finally, his epoch-making decision to stop writing in English and start writing in his mother tongue, Gikuyu. It is equally important to note here that Remapping African Literature reveals Ngugi’s latest postcolonial theory of Globalectics. This is “a theory of global reflexivity in which we no longer view the postcolonial text as inert or as an object in nature. The praxis of writing renders reading an interactive act: we are reading a text that may be reading us, just as a performer reads their audience”. (239).

    Further, the critic adds that: “Globalectic reading assumes the prophetic vision of the text in the mode of the classic first encounter between Christ and his disciple, who expressed surprise when Christ called him by name: “Nathaniel said unto him, where do you know me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you”. The emphasis of globalectic reading is on the exigencies of the textual moment as the original moment of recognition” (239-40). Olabode Ibironke argues perceptively that Ngugi’s globalectics is principally informed by a sympathetic internalization of cognate notions and ideational categories excavated and distilled from the theoretic exertions of the likes of Edward Said (Orientatlism, 1978), Homi K. Bhabha (The Location of Culture 1994), Simon Gikandi (Maps of Englishness 1996) as well as the work of Fanon, W.E.B. Du Bois, Langston Hughes and Claude Mckay.

    The book under review goes on to examine determinacy versus autonomy in the context of African literary production. In this regard, the writer assesses the relationship between author function and publisher’s reader, with the implication that the latter’s opinion trumps the former’s autonomy, i.e., the author’s original vision. Impliedly, therefore, Remapping African Literature appears to be fighting a rearguard battle for the soul of African Gnosis, attempting to disentangle it from the octopus – like constraints of metropolitan episteme and debunking the myth of derivationism and revalorizing endogenous or autochthonous knowledge production processes and protocols.

    In doing this, Ibironke opposes Mudimbe and Irele regarding their divergent stances on the vexed question of the theory of derivation and, all things considered, concludes that: “the premise that international publishers and colonial culture laid the unbreachable foundations of postcolonial knowledge must no to carry an emphatic question mark” (292). Olabode Ibironke concludes the book with the chapter entitled: ‘The Auto-Heteronomy of African Literature’. The theory of “Auto-Heteronomy”, based in part on the methodological and ideological postulations of Mudimbe and Gikandi, is a nuanced rethinking of the major theoretic planks of these theoreticians, a reasoned compromise authorized by pragmatism and common-sensical interfusion of internal and external “conditions of literary production” (307). Ibironke’s Kantian notions coincide with T.S. Eliot’s “Tradition and the Individual Talent” in locating the originary founts of afflatus and agency.

    Remapping African Literature evidently exemplifies the methodological and theoretical cornucopia of the western academy as amply demonstrated by Olabode Ibironke’s incredibly adroit mobilization and marshalling of its archives and libraries. With a B.A. and M.A. taken at Ife and a PhD earned at a U.S. University, Ibironle, now an Assistant Professor of English at Rutgers University, U.S.A., has become a poster-boy of the metropolitan academe. His critical magnum opus, by virtue of its staggering achievement, can very easily sit side by side with the very best literary-critical works anywhere in the world and, of course, Olabode Ibironke can take his place in the revered company of such canonical personages as Soyinka, Achebe, Ngugi, Jeyifo, Irele, Bayo Williams, Harold Bloom and Terry Eagleton.

    One aporetic moment in this work, however, is the critic’s insistence on the imperialistic colonization of Africa as a cultural space and epistemic site through the utilization of the political map devised in Berlin in 1884/85 to rout the African silence. However, he surmises that: “The real consequence of international publishing in African may not, after all, even be the impact of the location of the publishers or the paths of circulation on literary expression. The  more consequential practice in the publication of African texts may well be the selection of publisher’s readers, who ultimately served as the gatekeepers for what constituted African literature, and good writing’ (293). The worry is that, if, as Ibironke claims, western publishers dominated African literary products, how come he concludes as he does above, namely: publisher’s readers are “the gatekeepers” of taste?

    Such niggling incidental mud aside, Ibironke’s scholarship, evidently immersed in literature and philosophy, is enriched by a sustained apprenticeship in the western centres of knowledge production. He has also shown that he thoroughly digested the writings of the best western philosophers, like Marx, Brecht, Walter Benjamin, Raymond Williams, Scott, Faucault, Freud, Kant, Sartre, Hegel, Hannah Arendt, and Derrida. In many places in the book, Ibironke constructs his arguments around the thematic insights and postulations of these philosophers. He utilizes, for instance, Derrida’s ‘Thesis’, Kant’s ‘Thema’, Sartre’s ‘objective spirit’ as well as Hegelian ‘spirit’, conjoining these suitably with Foucauldian ‘discourse’.

    By the same token, he invokes Stephen Greenblatt’s notions of New Historicism as well as T.S. Eliot’s theories of Tradition. However, given the fact that Mapping African Literature is about archivalization of African literature, the critic has mobilized the Marxist concept of materialist criticism as he sets about investigating the whys and wherefores surrounding the historical and the material conditions/relations of literary (cultural) re/production in post/colonial Africa. And given the astounding amount of intellectual labour expended and the remarkable historiographic and archival nous displayed in the book, Remapping African Literature recommends itself to both the expert and the neophyte in the burgeoning field of African literature, both in its creative and critical spheres.