The lead pastor of Streams of Joy International, Pastor Jerry Eze has shared the driving force behind his passion for evangelism, saying his ministry is out of genuine calling rather than a professional pursuit.

He made this known while speaking in a recent interview with Chude Jideonwo.

The prominent cleric noted that contrary to what many might think, he is not a pastor for personal or financial gains.

He said “I’m not a professional pastor, the day I become a professional pastor let God kill me.“

“The day it ceases to be about God and be about Jerry let God close down everything.”

He expressed humility about his unexpected rise to prominence.

The firebrand man of God claimed he never planned to get to the point where he is now, noting that true success lies in staying focused on God’s purpose rather than personal recognition.

He said in the interview, “I didn’t plan to be here, this is not something you plan that at some point youre going to be big and the world will hear of you.

“I know what my assignment is, I know what God has called me to do and it has consumed me.”

Jerry Eze also noted in his interview that he is motivated by the smiles and testimonies from his congregation.

He said,“I don’t care what anybody thinks or feels but the encouragement is when I see those smiles and hear those testimonies.”

[DailyPost]

The Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) has has disclosed that Inmates in the country now have their National Identity Numbers, (NIN) captured in the National Identity Management Commission, NIMC, database due to on-going registration.

The Service said 74 percent of the inmates, representing 59,786 of the 80,879 inmates have been captured in the database of NIMC.

The Public Relations Officer of the Correctional Service, Deputy Comptroller of Corrections, Umar Abubakar, said this was made possible by the collaboration between NIMC and the Service.

Abubakar dismissed reports that the National Identity Number (NIN) registration exercise was yet to commence in all custodial centres across the country.

” This report is misleading, inaccurate, and does not reflect the current state of affairs within our custodial facilities,” Abubakar said in a statement.

He noted that the NIN registration of inmates in custodial centres was not only ongoing but has recorded significant progress.

He said:” A majority of inmates across various custodial centres nationwide have already been successfully enrolled into the National Identity Database through the collaborative efforts of the Service and the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC).

“Available data show that as at 7thJune, 2025, out of the total of 80, 879 inmates’ population, 59,786 inmates approximately 74% have been captured into the NIMC platform.

“The registration of the remaining inmates is actively in progress, and mechanisms have been put in place to ensure its seamless completion. 

“The claim that the registration has “yet to commence” in custodial centres is factually incorrect and fails to acknowledge the substantial work already done.

” The Service remains committed to the full integration of inmates into national data systems, including the NIN, as part of broader efforts to promote rehabilitation, reintegration, and the digital inclusion of all persons in custody.

“The Service therefore urges members of the media to verify information with relevant authorities before publication, in order to avoid spreading misinformation that may mislead the public and undermine ongoing institutional efforts”

[TheNation]

President Bola Tinubu will address a joint session of the national assembly on June 12 to commemorate Democracy Day.

A statement issued by Akin Rotimi on Sunday said the event was conveyed to the lawmakers via an internal memorandum issued by Yahaya Danzaria, clerk of the house of representatives.

Rotimi said the president will confer national honours on selected legislators during the event.

“The special joint sitting is scheduled to hold at the House of Representatives Chamber, National Assembly Complex, commencing at 11:00 AM, with preliminary proceedings ahead of the arrival of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, at 12:00 noon,” the statement reads.

“The theme for this year’s celebration is:
“26 Years of Democracy: Renewing Our Commitment to National Development.”

“President Tinubu is expected to attend the occasion as Special Guest of Honour and will deliver a presidential address to the joint sitting.

“The programme will also feature goodwill messages from former presiding officers of the national assembly and the conferment of national honours on select legislators by Mr. President.

“This joint sitting represents a significant moment in Nigeria’s democratic journey.

“It underscores the pivotal role of the national assembly in safeguarding democratic values, fostering accountability, and advancing national development over the past 26 years of uninterrupted civil rule.”

From 1999, when civil rule returned, the country celebrated Democracy Day on May 29, until it was changed in 2018.

In June 2018, former President Muhammadu Buhari declared June 12 as the new date for the celebration of Nigeria’s democracy.

The decision was to posthumously honour MKO Abiola, presumed winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election.

[TheCable]

World heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk has offered Donald Trump the chance to live in his house in a bid to help the United States president understand the war in Ukraine.

Trump had vowed to resolve the conflict between Russia and Ukraine “in 24 hours” if he were elected president.

But there has been no end to Russia’s invasion since Trump returned to the White House in 2024.

Ukrainian boxer Usyk, who has been a tireless campaigner for peace in his homeland, believes Trump needs to have a clearer view of the dire situation if he is to find a solution to the crisis.

The 38-year-old has urged the president to join him at his house in Ukraine to see for himself the damage done by the war.

“I advise American President Donald Trump to come to Ukraine and live in my house for one week,” Usyk told BBC Sport on Sunday.

“Only one week. I will give him my house. Live please in Ukraine and watch what is going on every night.

“Every night, there are bombs and flights above my house. Bombs, rockets. Every night. It’s enough.”

Trump clashed with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky during a contentious summit meeting in the Oval Office in February.

Trump warned Zelensky to show more gratitude for America’s help in peace talks before telling him to leave the White House.

Asked if Trump could be convinced to change his opinion, Usyk said: “I don’t know. Maybe he’ll understand, maybe he won’t.”

Usyk, who has won all 23 of his professional bouts, is currently in a training camp to prepare for a rematch with IBF champion Daniel Dubois on July 19 at Wembley.

But the WBC, WBA, and WBO heavyweight champion said the war is never far from his mind.

“I worry about what happens in my country. It’s very bad because Ukrainian people have died,” he said.

“It’s not just military people, children, women, grandmothers and grandfathers, too.”

AFP

The Federal Roads Main tenance Agency (FERMA), Nigeria’s first institutional mechanism for monitoring and maintaining all federal roads in the country has been in operation for at least two decades since it was set up by former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration. Its establishment was no doubt as expedient then as it is to day as an intervention to perhaps the most common challenge to the nation’s development framework. 

Although the number of Nigerian roads that has ever had any type of construction is quite scanty, poor maintenance is probably a bigger problem because each time a road has a hitch, it increases the number of bad roads along with their adverse effects on the people and the economy. 

Between 2003 and 2015, FERMA functioned in a manner that its name became known across the nation. At the approach of any major festivity, the government would issue a directive to FERMA to ease all major roads for travellers going to unite with their families in their country homes. As the popularity of the organization grew, young unemployed Nigerians evolved their own branch of FERMA patching potholes and helping to make passage easy. They were quickly classified as local ‘ferma’ and are still operating till today as some of them do get some gratification from road users. But the real FERMA itself is no longer able to function as it used to be or even as visibly as its unofficial local affiliates. Why?

It is honestly simplistic to imagine that the decline in the activities of FERMA is attributable to the posture of its knowledgeable technical operatives. What Nigerians know about road works is about one Minister of Works always inspecting works and briefing the media on government’s preparedness to provide good roads. In reality however, what Nigerians desire is good roads put together by a team of diligent workers and not necessarily a strong works leader even though it is difficult not to acknowledge the strength of character of Dave Umahi, the current Minister of Works. Indeed, he is not just a fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers; his carriage easily portrays engineering expertise. However, what Nigeria needs today is not strong men, but strong institutions that would survive over time.

Nigeria needs a Ministry of Works, whose Minister is at the head of policy making along with a strong management team superintending over a viable work force. With or without the Minister or any other particular official, the institution ought to function effectively from generation to generation. Nigeria cannot get close to any developed nation if it continues with its strong-man posture. Whether it is Umahi in Works, Keyamo in Aviation, Tunji Ojo in Interior, Alausa in Education, Pate in health, Idris in Information etc, a system works best with units whose mandates are related to the professed expertiseof its work force in which functions are not personalized and in which there is established uniformity in operating procedures routed in a unity of direction that is properly oiled by institutional memory.

Today, our people have a perception that our road contractsare usually never well-thought out. Just a job for some expatriates with no details such as maintenance. Quite often, nothing is said about culverts, sidewalks, drainages etc. If contracts pass through the appropriate processes, such omissions can be minimized. Besides, announcing huge contracts for road construction every week does not produce good roads; yet, we continue to do that without end while expecting different results. Many years back, Senator Seye Ogunlewe, who had served as Minister of Works was forced to reveal why our road projects don’t end. According to Ogunlewe who should know, road contracts are politicised as we dissipate scare resources while purporting to approve many new roads that don’t get built.

Each time a contractor is mobilized to return to phase 2 of a road project, the original phase 1 supposedly completed earlier would have gone into disuse. Here, it is wasteful to enumerate factors responsible for why our roads go bad so quickly. The obvious reason of concern today is that Nigeria lacks maintenance culture. This is not only about roads but about all facets of life in the country. For example, Nigeria has always been a one-stadium nation because as soon as a new one is built, the existing ones are abandoned.Many years ago, we all knew of the famous Liberty Stadium, Ibadan. It coexisted with a few others in the days of strong regionsbut they all gave way to the magnificent National Stadium Surulere, Lagos built in 1972.

At the time, it was a national monument with an Olympic-size swimming arena and a multipurpose arena used for football, rugby, athletics, boxing etc.It was the nation’s main sporting facility used for the 1973 African Games (AAG), the 1980 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) as well as one of the venues of the 1999 FIFA U-20 World Cup and later the 2000 AFCON, co-hosted by Ghana and Nigeria. The Abuja National Stadium now renamed MKO Abiola Stadium which was built in 2003 is likely to face the same fate due to lack of maintenance of facilities in the location.For the same reason, no one talks anymore about the Ahmadu Bello Stadium, Kaduna and the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium, Enugu.

Bearing in mind that Nigeria no longer has resources to erect huge structures, one would have expected those in power to have since developed the idea of never allowing what exists to die. But instead, we have continued to follow the old idiom of‘penny wise, pound foolish’ – an approach which explains why Nigeria’s huge structures; be they buildings or roads are destroyed because of failure to spend a small amount to maintain them.If those who set up FERMA had this in mind, it would appear that we are sliding backwards because not much has been done to ensure that such a maintenance tool is empowered to rescue us from bad roads that can be maintained rather than waiting to raise enough funds to rebuild and upgrade. 

In July 2024, FERMA’s Managing Director Engr. Chukwuemeka Agbasi told the media that the Agency was set to commence ‘operation free our roads’ initiative nationwide. Those of us who had followed the performance of the Agency in the past looked forward to interventionist projects such as patching of potholes, pavement strengthening, repairs of failed sections, bridge/culverts construction and general maintenance.Their effort didn’t yield much. On closer inquiries, we now know that the invaluable work of the Agency is yet to be prioritized. Only last week, federal legislators at an investigative hearing were told that government needs approximately N880 billion each year to maintain the federal road network nationwide. 

The Minister of State for Works, Mohammed Goroyo who disclosed the figure at the hearing highlighted the persistent shortfall in FERMA’s budgetary allocations forcing the agency to adopt reactive rather than preventive maintenance strategies.Goroyo emphasized that with only N168.9bn budgeted for 2025 there would be lack of adequate funding which would in turn result in deteriorating road conditions, increased repair costs, and disruptions to commuters and businesses. The impact of poor roads on an overstretched economy such as we have now cannot be overstressed. It is therefore time to call on well-meaning patriots to appeal to our leaders to recognize that projects such as ‘free our roads’ are more useful to our people than some of the contrived items in our budgets.

Budget padding everywhere is condemnable but its Nigerian focus is grossly irritating. Why are the extra provisions not deployed to matters of general public interest like roads maintenance? To make matters worse, legislators who should have insisted on ensuring that law is enforced are now the ones shedding crocodile tears over the non-implementation of votes for roads maintenance.Last week, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, openly decried the non-implementation and non-remittance of five per cent of the petrol pump price to the FERMA.Abbas who stated the parliament’s position noted that certain relevant authorities were still flouting the law, despite the efforts of the lawmakers.

It will be recalled that Section 14(1)(h) of the FERMA Amendment Act 2007,provides for five per cent of the pump price of petrol and diesel to be allocated to FERMA and the state maintenance agencies.Who are the relevant defaulting authorities that the Speaker is referring to? One is tempted to imagine that the failure to name names suggests that those involved are untouchables, otherwiseby now there would have been noisy threats of summons and warrants of arrests! We can only appeal here to all that empowering FERMA would benefit us all.

The Senior Pastor of House on the Rock Church, Paul Adefarasin, has broken his silence over a viral video falsely claiming he brandished a firearm, describing the incident as hurtful and maliciously driven by “clickbaiters just looking for money.”

Speaking during his sermon on Sunday, which was streamed live on the church’s YouTube channel and monitored by Vanguard, Adefarasin said he was deeply shaken by the accusation and the reaction that followed.

“Several persons called me. I was shocked. I was hurt. I’m human,” he said. “What we have had to witness was clickbaiters just looking for money. I probably wasn’t even their target; their target was to make more money.”

He categorically denied owning or using a firearm: “I was falsely accused of pointing a firearm at an aggressive content creator who came within personal distance. I do not have a pistol license. I do not carry a firearm. And I pointed no firearm at anybody.”

Adefarasin explained that the alleged incident occurred on a Saturday while he was observing the Sabbath. “It happened on Saturday when I observed Sabbath. I believe in the principle of Sabbath,” he said.

He further stated that his ministry would not lend weight to misinformation and online attacks. “It’s our policy not to dignify hate speech and false accusations. We believe God is bigger than that.”

Quoting scripture, he added: “We believe in what He said in Romans 12:19 — ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’”

Reflecting on the emotional toll, Adefarasin said, “God is touched with the feelings of our infirmities, and He’s able to first give us succour. And what the enemy means for evil, He works it for good.”

He concluded, “On that note, I will lay that matter to rest.”

[Vanguard]

Veteran journalist and Arise News TV anchor, Dr. Reuben Abati, has broken his silence following scathing remarks by Lere Olayinka, a media aide to FCT Minister Nyesom Wike, during a controversial appearance on The Morning Show last Friday that included claims that he begged Wike for money.

Olayinka, speaking live on the Arise News flagship programme, had, besides claiming that Abati begged Wike for money, also accused the TV anchor of partisanship, claiming he had become the unofficial spokesperson of former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi.

He also questioned Abati’s absence from the studio that day, implying it was a calculated move to avoid accountability.

“I wasn’t expecting him to be here. He has taken the position of special assistant on media to Rotimi Amaechi.

The fiery exchange stems from a recent comment made by Amaechi during his 60th birthday celebration, where he declared himself “hungry” — a statement widely seen as a veiled criticism of the current administration. Wike, his political rival, dismissed the remarks and questioned the credibility of a man who had held multiple top political roles to claim hunger.

Abati, reacting on Arise News, criticized Wike’s response as “rude and disrespectful,” especially coming from someone whose political rise was closely tied to Amaechi. This opinion apparently struck a nerve with Olayinka, prompting his Friday outburst.

In a swift and pointed response issued over the weekend, Abati, according to GWG, Dr. Abati dismissed Olayinka’s claims as baseless and defamatory.

He categorically denied ever aligning with Amaechi or seeking favours from Minister Wike.

“I am not Rotimi Amaechi’s spokesperson, nor do I have his phone number. That’s a fabrication.”

He further explained that his absence from Friday’s show was due to a prior intellectual engagement — a book review for “Oprah Benson – Live and Legend,” authored by Dr. Udu Yakubu — and not an attempt to dodge any confrontation

Abati also clarified a claim Olayinka made regarding an alleged probe by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). According to the broadcaster, his interaction with the EFCC was a routine and procedural invitation — not a criminal investigation. He added that the agency under its former chairman, Ibrahim Magu, later issued a formal apology to him.

Taking a swipe at Olayinka’s use of the word “hubris” during the interview, Abati suggested the media aide had misused the term and lacked the intellectual depth to warrant further engagement.

Despite the attacks, Abati stood firmly by his earlier criticism of Minister Wike, arguing that public officials must always be subject to public scrutiny.

Abati besides dismissing Olayinka’s claims that he begged Wike for money also addressed the media aide’s attempt to resurrect old allegations against the late Senator Buruji Kashamu, insisting that no court ever convicted the deceased, either in Nigeria or abroad.

Closing his statement, Abati expressed deep gratitude to his co-hosts, especially Rufai Oseni and Vimbai, for their professionalism during the episode. He also thanked his wife, Kikelomo Atanda-Owo Abati, for her unwavering support.

“Your strength remains my anchor,” he wrote.

ON Thursday this week, it will be 32 years of that June 12 phenomenon. On July 9, 1998, the lifeless body of a young man adorned the front page of the Nigerian Tribune. The tear-jerking, bloodied body decorated the front pages of many other Nigerian newspapers like manacles in the hands of a convict. He had been shot dead by the police in Abeokuta, Ogun State. It was during a Southwest-wide protest against the perceived murder in detention of Chief MKO Abiola, winner of the June 12, 1993 election. The lifeless young man was one of the countless lives Nigeria propitiated at the grove of military despotism. It was the sacrifice to have the freedom of today.

According to Nigerian newspapers’ edition of that day, students, workers, apprentices, bystanders were felled by police bullets. It was like the June 1976 protest by black school children in Soweto, South Africa which led to minimum of 176 dead and estimated 700 felled, with over a thousand people injured. The report said, in Lagos, about 40 lives were lost. Fourteen in Idi-Araba, 4 at Oshodi, 3 at Oworonshoki, and 2 at Ojodu. Unconfirmed sources told reporters that ten lives were lost at Mushin and ten at multi-million Naira Lagos abattoir area at Oko-Oba. In Ibadan, police dispatched five persons to their untimely graves at the Bodija estate area and three at the Bodija market. Perceived military apologist, Arisekola Alao’s Bodija building was in turn damaged by the protesters, leading to the death of two of them. In Abeokuta, the palace of the Alake of Egbaland was looted and torched. The monarch’s staff of office, beaded crown and royal umbrella were looted as well. A tyre warehouse belonging to one Alhaji Fatai Gbemisola was set ablaze with vehicles vandalized in their hundreds.

The above should remind one that life usually comes in binaries – good/bad; poor/rich; live/die and so on. Orlando Owoh, Yoruba Kennery music singer, perhaps had this binary in mind when he sang that beneath the sweet apple of the pineapple lies its lacerating pine. “Opon oyinbo fi dundun se’wa, oro inu e t’o egbeje” he sang. Owoh could as well have been talking about Nigeria’s binary, of yesterday’s June 12 struggle and today’s civil rule.  

The repercussion of the election annulment by General Ibrahim Babangida was colossal. Hundreds of Nigerians were murdered while uncountable suffered collateral deaths. Many got imprisoned; livelihoods were lost, destinies got truncated and many never recovered their well-being, even till today. Many children and dependant of the dead had their destinies stymied by the crisis. On July 7, 1998, with General Sani Abacha obdurately soldiering on, in spite of widespread calls on him to release Abiola from prison and honour the people’s electoral wish, Abiola’s death was announced.

The casualties of June 12 were legion. Business colossus, Alfred Ogbeyiwa Rewane, was one of them. Nicknamed Osibakoro by Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Rewane was a staunch member of the Action Group political party and chairman of the AG-controlled Western Region Development Company. In the 1990s, as the military bared their fangs, Rewane was the refuge and sponsor of politicians and activists who desired what we eventually have today. His Lagos home was NADECO’s meeting venue. At Rewane’s memorial in 2000, late Chief Bola Ige recalibrated an earlier funeral oration he delivered in Warri at Osibakoro’s burial when he said, “The freedom we actually enjoy in Nigeria today must be credited, in good measure, to the self sacrificing disposition that (Rewane) displayed consistently…Osibakoro provided the progressive Nigerian politics with the sinews to fight the good fight…he stood up as a comforter of the family of the detained, those under house arrest, those in jail or those forced into exile…he never missed a chance to support all who were on the barricades. He had unwritten pact for instance with the guerrilla press.” On October 6, 1995, shortly after celebrating his 79th birthday, Osibakoro was brutally assassinated by agents of General Abacha at his residence in Ikeja, Lagos. They were never found.

In 1994, armed gunmen stormed activist and human rights lawyer, Gani Fawehinmi’s Lagos law chambers at Anthony Village. Two of his guards were defaced with bullets but unbeknown to the messengers of death, Fawehinmi was away. Beko Ransom-Kuti was also about this time programmed to be eliminated. His 8, Imaria Close home was torched when he could not be found. Same fate befell Ayo Opadokun. His Yaba home was raided and burnt. But for providence, NADECO chairman, Air Commodore Dan Suleiman would have been dead. His Chevrolet car was sprayed with a hail of bullets which shattered its windscreen but he miraculously escaped unhurt. In February 1996, affable publisher of The Guardian newspaper, Alex Ibru, was shot and lost an eye in the process. Earlier, his newspaper house had been burnt by yet unknown arsonists.

Either self-imposed or providence’s grim retribution, on January 17, 1996, a plane carrying Abacha’s son and 13 others developed engine fault and crashed in Dausayi village in Kano. Thereafter, bomb blasts began to boom in Nigeria like rockets. On January 29, 1996, NTA news alleged that Wole Soyinka was the mastermind of terror activities in Nigeria with Today, Kaduna-based newspaper, accusing NADECO activists of being behind the terror. Many got killed by the coldblooded military regime of Abacha. The list is exhaustive and includes Rear Admiral Babatunde Elegbede, Dr. Sola Omatsola, Toyin Onagoruwa, Alhaja Suliat Adedeji and Mrs. Bisoye Tejuosho. Chief Abraham Adesanya escaped death by the whiskers when his car was sprayed with bullets while the likes of Chiefs Olu Falae, Olabiyi Durojaiye were detained.

Earlier, on October 25, 1993, a Nigeria Airways Flight WT470 was hijacked by four Nigerian boys who were riled by the annulment of the June 12 election. They were Richard Ogunderu (19), Kabir Adenuga (22) Razaq Lawal (23) and Benneth Oluwadaisi (24). They called themselves members of the Movement for the Advancement of Democracy (MAD). Three members of Ernest Shonekan’s Interim National Government (ING) were on that flight. They were Brigadier-General Hafiz Momoh, Prof Jubril Aminu and Rong Yiren, the vice president of China. They initially planned to divert the plane to Frankfurt, Germany but shortage of fuel made them to detour to Diori Hamani International Airport in Niamey, Niger after the planned landing at N’Djamena, Chad and Gabon was disallowed. In Niamey, they made their demands: de-annulment of the June 12 election, re-investigation of the murder of Dele Giwa and the mysterious crash of a Lockheed C-130 Hercules that claimed 160 lives. It was believed to be a deliberate killing of the soldiers by the Babangida government.   

Nigerian journalism also suffered casualties of the June 12 war. Apart from millions lost to shutting down of newspaper houses’ operations for months, many journalists were detained and jailed by the Abacha regime. They fell victim of the Detention of Persons Decree No 2 which allowed for indefinite, incommunicado detention of citizens; the Offensive Publications Decree No 35 of 1993 which gave the military government latitude to seize any publication it deemed likely to “disturb the peace and public order of Nigeria” and the Treason and Treasonable Offenses Decree No 29 of 1993 which was later used in 1995 by a special military tribunal to convict Kunle Ajibade, Chris Anyanwu, George Mbah and Ben Charles Obi as “accessories after the fact of treason”. Their crime was reporting an alleged coup plot. Niran Malaolu, Deputy Editor of The Diet newspaper, was also imprisoned on December 28, 1997 after being convicted in July 1998 to 15 years in prison, alongside 95 others, for participating in a coup to topple the Abacha government.  

Chief Frank Kokori, former General Secretary of The Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) was also a major force in the June 12 election struggle. But for him, Abacha would have possibly succeeded in his life presidency ambition. Kokori locked down Nigeria during the crisis by deploying his NUPENG in pursuit of democratic struggles. He was detained by Abacha and died miserably and dejected in Warri on December 7, 2023. There are a thousand and one other casualties of the June 12 crisis that this piece cannot possibly capture. I went into the above chronology to remind Nigerians, especially the youths of today, that the civilian government we have enjoyed in the last 26 years came with weeping, wailing, deaths and gnashing of the teeth.

The sacrifices of June 12 remind me of John Pepper Clark-Bekederemo’s The Casualties. It was a poem written about the Nigerian civil war that raged between 1967 and 1970. Record has it that an estimated 100,000 military casualties and between 500,000 and 2 million Biafran civilians died. It was a period of tragedy and atrocity. Clark began this famous poem with the lines, “The casualties are not only those who are dead./They are well out of  it;” nor are casualties “only those who lost/Persons or property, hard as it is.” Rather, he said, the casualties are the “emissaries of rift/So smug in smoke-rooms they haunt abroad/They do not see the funeral piles/At home eating up the forests/They are wandering minstrels who, beating on/The drums of the human heart, draw the world/Into a dance with rites it does not know.”

The casualties, as Clark lyricized in that poem, are not those who died in the June 12 war, either as ancillary or intended victims. They are the hidden and multifaceted victims of the war who extend beyond the frontiers of those directly affected. The casualties today are the Nigerian people. They include Nigerians who are unlucky (yes!) not to have died from the war but are today grappling with the castles they built in their minds about a democratic rule which, 26 years after, has turned into myths.

Fast-forward to 32 years after. Last week, Nigerian president, Bola Tinubu, responded to sons, brothers, sisters, kinsmen and countrymen of those casualties of the June 12 war who voted him into office. They had asked for accountability on the trillions of Naira of their money being spent on construction of the Lagos-Calabar highway. In a tone similar to Babangida’s “we’re not only in office but in power,” at the heat of criticism of his inhuman rule, Tinubu also said last week: «Don›t listen to those critics. They don›t know what they›re talking about. If they don›t like the road or if it›s too expensive for tolling for them, they could go to Idumota.” While Abacha and Babangida scoffed at us, victims of June 12, with guns, Tinubu does with Nebuchadnezzar arrogance.

The question all of us, the casualties, should ask is, is what we have today all our fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers and contemporaries fought and died for? Did Rewane die to have a government that would spend N15.6 trillion “to tame the Atlantic” for a road project which did not go through any competitive bidding, and the contract awarded on a single-source basis, thus contravening the Public Procurement Act and Environmental Impact Assessment Act? Did he die to have a beneficiary of his death speak glowingly about Sani Abacha’s business partners, the Gilbert Chagourys and their Hitech Construction company, as a “symbol of courage and commitment” and openly acknowledge them as “my partner in daring”? Did those young boys risk their lives to hijack a plane for a democratic Nigeria, only to have Nigerians, 32 years after, have a government that carries on as if hunger, anger, starvation, hopelessness that rule the airwaves are not unusual?

More importantly, a very apposite question to ask is, 26 years after we got civil rule, is Nigeria a democracy? Leading scholar in democratic studies, Prof Larry Diamond, in a keynote at the conference “20 years of democracy in Nigeria: 1999-2019,” held at the St. Antony College, University of Oxford, on December 6, 2019, said Nigeria, as it is today, is a semi-democracy. Or anocracy. Prof Wale Adebanwi, in his Introduction to the book, Democracy and Nigeria’s Fourth Republic ( 2023) which he edited, described semi-democracy and anocracy as “a form of government that mixes democratic and autocratic attributes.” Robert Mattes has also described semi-democracy as a “hybrid regime” while some scholars call it “flawed democracy/regime”. The description of such government by the Economic Intelligence Unit is that, it is a “poorly functioning government, often with corrupt elected officials and officials otherwise unaccountable to the citizenry”.   

Following in the saying that the one on whose head a coconut pod is smashed to access its milky fruit often doesn’t partake of its eating, how many of the children of Rewane, Ige, Opadokun, Ransom-Kuti, Ndubuisi-Kanu, Elegbede, Omatsola, Onagoruwa, Suliat Adedeji, Tejuosho, Abraham Adesanya, Falae, Durojaiye and many more who gallantly fought the military to a standstill in the June 12 war, are beneficiaries of this government? Rather, the toads of the war fought by those Nigerians above 32 years ago are Nigerians’ tormentors of today in power. Are the lives of children of these June 12 warriors even better?  If the dead can see, will the casualties be happy with Nigeria where they are now? If there is another June 12 war to be fought today, will anyone stick their necks in a fight against establishment?

Anyway, happy June 12, Nigerians. Like the boring refrain of a dirge, government will again declare a public holiday on Thursday and we will be fooled with voodoo statistics showing us as a happy people. But, are we really happy?

WHAT kind of English Language is the “ignore” that I used here – Queen’s, King’s or Nigeria’s English? There is history behind it, which goes back many decades – to those periods when men of principles and ideology, who shunned money, position, and principles and dared the powers-that-be, were still plentiful in the Legal profession (both Bar and Bench). As the story goes, Kanmi Ishola-Osoba, who contested, as it were, the alias of “The people’s lawyer” with his more illustrious senior, Comrade Alao Aka-Bashorun, and the sobriquet of ”Fela’s lawyer” with debonair Tunji Braithwaite, got pissed off by the antics of a judge and, characteristically, minced no words in giving it back wholesale to “Me Lord”, as they are addressed, male or female. Wanting to make up on a later occasion, His Lordship’s warming up to Kanmi was rebuffed by the radical lawyer. Reporting the incident to other lawyers and friends, Kanmi reportedly said: “I gave him the ignore!”

Tinubu snubs Sanwo-Olu

Can that be the kind of “ignore” that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu gave the Lagos State governor, Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu, penultimate Saturday at the commissioning of the first phase of the Lagos-Calabar expressway in Lagos? Tinubu reportedly shook hands with other dignitaries but passed Sanwo-Olu over. To tell you that it was not an accident or mistake, Dr. Reuben Abati, in “Mid-term, coastal road and other stories”, described what happened as snobbery and open humiliation of Sanwo-Olu by Tinubu. I didn’t make much of that incident until later events made me dig deeper. Politicians are usually not your ordinary type of normal or okay people. They quarrel this moment and make up the next – except in rare cases like that of the erstwhile “Baba Kekere” to Tinubu who now appears, unfortunately, to have turned the corner in his estrangement with Tinubu. Just as the Second Republic Lagos state Gov. Lateef Jakande aka “Baba Kekere” was deemed the natural successor to the late sage and leader of the Yoruba, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, so also was Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola deemed the alter ego of Tinubu – the unannounced yet widely-known and respected Prime Minister of Tinubu’s political dynasty – until both men missed it! Isasi abi edi?

 After the (deliberate?) public ridicule in Lagos penultimate Saturday, godfather and godson might have made up. I understand many peace-makers immediately swung into action to mend fences. My sister, Funke Egbemode, must have been one of them! In her “Lagos: Mr. Governor, this sacrifice must get to Olodumare”, she counselled Sanwo-Olu to offer a sacrifice of atonement to Tinubu while at the same time she pleaded with the Jagaban to accept the sacrifice. Those who claim to know, however, say the open display of the parting of ways two Saturdays ago appears cast in iron, similar to Aregbesola’s, which, they say, is worse than that of the “Eleyi of Ogun State” in the rundown to the 2023 presidential primary of the APC, leading to the earthshaking “ayajo” (invocation) of “Emilokan” by an obviously desperate and go-for-broke Tinubu! “Eleyi”, however, was able to quickly make amends, fall in line and secure a second term in office. Incidentally, the same “Eleyi” was the one Tinubu commanded to step in and perform the assignment that, appropriately, was Sanwo-Olu’s as the host governor at the road commissioning.       

Controversy trails Lagos-Calabar expressway commissioning

 Before continuing with the “ignore” story, let us quickly return to the controversy generated by the commissioning of the first phase of the Lagos-Calabar expressway. Brickbats were traded on Kosofe Post, a platform to which I belong, over the appropriateness or otherwise of Tinubu’s action. Said one: How can he commission a 30km section of a 750km project? What’s the rush for? To celebrate two years in office? He should have waited for his third year in office. – Engr. Olusola Emmanuel Adedayo.

  “The People’s Democratic Party could not commission a 30km part of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway in 16 years! Also, the second Niger Bridge was completed and commissioned on the page of newspapers (by them) before APC/President Muhammadu Buhari came to the rescue and practically completed (the) project.” – Oloye Salami Oluwaseun.

 “We should appreciate the fact that the President initiated this project for national growth and development. Meanwhile, a project can be commissioned at the beginning or a phased commissioning (can be done). The 30km (that was commissioned) is a phase of the project (and it is) to confirm the continuity of the project. Has the project stopped? No!” – Fatoki Ayobode Kehinde, Special Adviser on Environment, Ikosi Isheri LCDA.

 “If not for political optics, why would you even contemplate commissioning a project that is just at 4% completion stage?  The bane of our society over the years is that we reduce leadership to an act of noise-making, rather than actually fixing things and doing things right”. – Hon. Okufuwa Samad Oluwatoyin.

 “I see no issue with Tinubu’s action. Jonathan did the same thing when he flagged off the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway…” – Francis Adebayo.

 “Should President Tinubu proceed by commissioning every 30km project as if there are no other important things to focus on in the nation? Nigerians love to celebrate mediocrity!” -Hon. Okufuwa Samad Oluwatoyin.

 “To commission means to put something/someone into active service. Thus, can the commissioned road be put to (active) use? Citing other irregularities or improper socio-political actions of past governments represents the level of negative values or misplaced priorities of Nigerians.” -Taiwo Lasisi, President, Ta’awun Political Forum, Lagos.

 A respected lawyer, an SAN to boot, also forwarded to me criticisms from Network for the Actualization of Social Growth and Viable Development, which reportedly described the commissioning as “premature and misleading”, following which it cautioned “against the politicization of infrastructure delivery”, adding that “project commissioning should reflect substantive completion and usability of the project in its entirety or at least a major functional section”. Another critic said, “The so-called commissioning… just cannot be right…”

Tinubu: Balancing act or what?

 My response: Was the 30km actually completed? And was it properly done? As the Chinese would say, the journey of a thousand miles starts with the first step taken… Let’s encourage Tinubu and Umahi to forge ahead with the project. When we see the quantum of federal projects that were taken to the North during Buhari’s tenure – with funds sourced from the South or borrowed (which all of us will have to pay back), I want to support every meaningful project that the South can benefit from the Tinubu administration as compensation and balancing act.

 I wouldn’t have reasoned like this in the past, but time and experience reshape a man! Count the number of federal projects that Buhari attracted to his home state of Katsina alone, not to talk of the entire North! The North has more federal institutions than the South. It has virtually all the significant military institutions. It has more states, more local governments, and more (though questionable) allotted population figures. All these attract more federal resources to it. The North produced most of the country’s military leaders, and those ones leveraged the position to favour the North with all the above advantages. Northerners reportedly control more of the country’s oil wells, despite that not a drop of crude oil is mined in their region. They parade the country’s richest men. To crown it all, they hijacked the federal capital from Lagos and took it to the North! That people in the South cannot see all of these – or simply choose to ignore it, thinking it does not matter, baffles me.

 In Acts 26: 24 as the apostle Paul spoke in his own defence, mesmerising everyone with his much learning, Festus, one of the rulers who would determine his fate, exclaimed: “Paul, thou art beside thyself: much learning doth make thee mad!” Sometimes, much learning is a chain! Let the South take heed!

Sanwo-Olu: Guilty as charged?

I now return to Sanwo-Olu. Tinubu could have pretended that all was well. An enemy who pretends to be a friend is more deadly than one that shows his true colour. That way, you are better informed whether to mend fences – where possible – or keep a safe distance if making peace becomes impossible.

 Sanwo-Olu has pleaded his innocence against the many allegations levelled against him: That he was lukewarm to Tinubu’s plight during the #ENDSARSNOW protest. That he flirted with Atiku Abubakar in the run-down to the 2023 presidential election, thinking that Tinubu would not surmount all the obstacles hewn his way, first, to the APC flag, and then to the presidency itself. That he deliberately neglected to do the needful during the Lagos presidential election, which Tinubu embarrassingly lost to Peter Obi/Labour Party. To make matters worse, he allegedly thereafter swung into action and handsomely won his own second term election three weeks later.

 As if behaving like a man they wanted to roast for dinner who soaked himself in oil and stood by the fireplace, Sanwo-Olu was said to have been fingered in the Obasa impeachment saga that rocked Lagos politics to its very foundations. The embarrassment apart, note that Tinubu, the godfather of Lagos politics since 1999, reportedly described the event as a “coup”. And what is the penalty for coup plotters, especially failed coups?

 Sanwo-Olu, they alleged, wanted to snatch the Lagos political structure from Tinubu. What is the crux of the fight-to-finish between Nyesom Wike and suspended Gov. Siminilaye Fubara? Is it not about who controls the political structure in Rivers State? So, in the recently conducted Lagos local council polls, those familiar with the matter said not a single councillor position was conceded to the governor. 

Beware the ides of politicians!

As journalists, we say, from vantaged professional training and experience, that there is no smoke without a fire; which is why we pursue every lead. But in politics, there are smokes without a fire! Some kitchen cabinet members of a South-west governor conspired one day to arrest the rising profile of another politician who did not belong in their camp. What they did was to inform His Excellency that someone sighted the politician in question at Bourdillon. His Excellency screamed!

 In our political parlance, any reference to “Bourdillon” is Tinubu. The governor in question and Tinubu were light and darkness at the time. The accused was summoned! He swore with everything that he never went near Bourdillon, but the harm had been done. His accusers withstood him to his face – even though they knew they were telling lies! The man fell. Whether he recovered, I cannot tell.

 In Nigerian politics, it is not all smoke that fire ignites! 

FORMER Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon, has described the Civil War period as the most difficult period of his life.

Gowon made this known on Saturday in Abuja after being honoured with a LifeTime Integrity and Achievement Award at the 5th Convention of the Christian Men’s Fellowship, Abuja Anglican Diocese.

Gowon explained that his decisions during the Civil War were never driven by hatred, but by a difficult necessity to preserve national unity.

He urged people to always stand for the truth, and stressed the need for forgiveness, reconciliation, and unity across faiths and ethnicities.

“I always remember the Civil War. It was the most difficult period of my life. It was not my choice, but I had to be there, and had to do what I did in order to keep this country together.

“It was never a hatred against any people, I can assure you,” he stated.

Reflecting on life after that period, the former Head of State stressed that his decisions had often been guided by prayers and a desire to act with integrity and compassion.

“As far as this heart is concerned, everything that I do, it is through prayers. I ask God to help me to do the right thing the way He thinks it should be done, with love and respect for all the people.

“That is why, at the end, what do we have to say? As they say: no victor, no vanquished,” he added.

Gowon also lauded the progress Nigeria has made since the Civil War.

He called on all citizens to support the government’s efforts to uphold peace, love, and mutual respect.

Chairman of the occasion, former President Goodluck Jonathan, represented by John-Kennedy Opara, former Executive Secretary, Nigerian Christian Pilgrims Commission, congratulated the honourees on their consistency in living with integrity.

[Nigerian Tribune]

He said, “These men have touched lives, and God has used them in different ways to touch the nation.

“The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him, and He will show them His covenant.”

Quoting Psalm 25:14, he called on men to live right and stand for integrity, regardless of the situation.

The Primate of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), Most Reverend Henry Ndukuba, who presided over the convention, commended the honourees and urged Christians to uphold truth, integrity, and courage.

According to him, the theme for the programme is apt because there is a need to encourage Christians to stand for the Lord right from their homes.

He also encouraged Christians to stand strong in the society, in their workplaces and in their businesses.