There are growing concerns over the activities of some criminal elements who are reportedly on the prowl in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT Abuja and other states of the federation stealing male genital organs.

In recent times, there has been an increase in reported cases of disappearance of genital organs in some states in the North Central, particularly in Kogi, Nasarawa, Kaduna and the nation’s capital.

DAILY POST reports that while it is yet unclear how the miscreants carry out such acts, residents of the FCT have, for over a month now, been living in fear following reported cases of ‘stealing’ of manhoods.

The ugly trend has led to the murder of some persons by irate youths who descended on suspects for allegedly causing the mysterious disappearance of manhoods.

There are different accounts of how the heinous crime is being perpetrated in the city. While some said a mere conversation with the alleged manhood thief can cause disappearance of the victim’s penis, others said it happens after a physical contact, including handshake.

DAILY POST recalls that on August 23, the Nasarawa State Police Command, while cautioning residents against jungle justice being meted out to the alleged organ thieves in the state, revealed that some persons were attacked over same allegations in Nasarawa Eggon, Obi, Lafia and Keffi Local Government Areas of the state.

The State’s Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Ramhan Nansel, however, said a medical examination conducted on the alleged victims, “gave all of them a clean bill of health”, saying there was no basis for the allegations.

On September 20, some irate youths in phase 2, Gwagwalada area of the FCT, lynched a yet-to-be-identified young man for allegedly stealing a resident’s manhood.

Three days after the incident, another resident, Lucky Josiah was accused of causing the disappearance of one Rokeeb Saheed’s manhood.

The Police Public Relations Officer, SP Josephine Adeh, while confirming the ugly development, told DAILY POST that officers of the command quickly responded to a distress call that a victim was being lynched.

Unlike the Gwagwalada incident, Lucky was saved by the police operatives from being killed by the angry mob.

The PPRO revealed that after medical examinations were conducted on Saheed, his male organ was “confirmed to be fine, and Lucky’s injuries were treated”.

Residents of the city have continued to record similar incidents almost on a daily basis in both the city centre and satellite towns.

On Friday, a disturbing motion picture which captured an alleged manhood thief being subjected to torture and dehumanization by mob, including some security operatives surfaced online.

In the video, the alleged thief who was accused of stealing two manhoods, was heard saying he is innocent of the allegations.

False alarm

There are indications that some of the allegations by the victims of manhood theft are false and may have sinister motives.

A security operative in the FCT, who does not want to be mentioned in the news, told DAILY POST that most of the alerts raised by the alleged victims were orchestrated.

According to him, some criminal elements who are on a rampage in the city, deliberately create scenes in a public gathering to enable them to steal from unsuspecting citizens.

He said that some miscreants in the nation’s capital are taking advantage of the trend to perpetrate other heinous crimes.

“About 80 percent of the alarms raised by these people that claim that their manhood is missing are fake. It is a new strategy to steal people’s belongings.

“Most times, what happens is that these people go to places that are crowded and then one or two of them raise the alarm that their penises are stolen. They do it just to capture attention.

“Normally, when such things occur, people tend to forget themselves and focus on what is happening, it is at that moment that other members of the gang will start stealing phones, bags, and even cars.

“By the time the alleged victims notice that the jobs have been done, you will start hearing something like, ‘my manhood is back’, back from where exactly?

“The only way out of this is that when any person raises such an alarm and it is discovered whether in the hospital or anywhere that he lied, such person should be arrested and prosecuted for raising false alarm. If the police do this to at least three persons, the trend will reduce,” he said.

However, a video clip cited by DAILY POST revealed how one alleged manhood thief confessed to have committed the crime in Nasarawa State. According to him, “if I just talk to you and you reply to me, your manhood is gone”.

He claimed to be working for one native doctor.

But the Nasarawa State PPRO told DAILY POST that the confession may have been made under duress.

“The condition he was in at that moment may determine why he made such a confession”, he said.

Manhood theft scientifically impossible

The allegations, according to experts, are only hinged on diabolism as it has no bearing on science.

Residents have blamed the trend on ritualists, particularly internet fraudsters who may have sent boys into the city to diabolically harvest people’s manhoods for sacrifices to woo their prospective victims.

Speaking on the matter, former federal lawmaker, Senator Shehu Sani lamented how the claim of manhood theft was becoming rampant in the Federal Capital.

In a post on his official X handle, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, chieftain expressed worry over how the accused thieves are being lynched by mobs, saying they may be innocent.

He wrote, “The claim of manhood stealing is becoming rampant in Abuja and the lawlessness is when the accused or wrongly accused are lynched by a mob. There is no scientific basis behind such claims. It’s simply magicians at work”.

According to a health expert, Dr Kaleb Ugo, who spoke with DAILY POST on Saturday, it is medically impossible for a man’s organ to just disappear without a cut.

He said the allegations are “based on African magic and not facts.”

Ugo, however, said there are medical conditions that may lead to a shrinking of manhood but not a total disappearance as being peddled by alleged victims.

He said peyronie’s disease and erectile dysfunction can lead to the reduction in the size of penis.

The doctor explained that peyronie’s disease condition is when a body begins to form a condition called plague, which is the forming of scar tissue in the lining surrounding the corpora cavernosa, known as the tunica albuginea.

According to him, the condition can lead to the shortness of the penis.

He said patients suffering from the disease will always notice that their organs are shorter than they were.

On erectile dysfunction, Ugo explained that when a man stops experiencing an erection for a long time, there are possibilities that the manhood would shrink.

“Just like every other thing, for instance, when your car packs up and you stop using it for six months, you don’t expect it to remain like it was.

“Somehow, when our body stops having regular erections, the elastic tissue that stretches the penis from the flaccid state into the erect state can transform in a way that the penis loses its elasticity.

“And when the penis is no longer elastic, it won’t stretch when you get an erection, and you will notice you lost length”, he said.

DAILY POST reports that the FCT Commissioner of Police, CP Haruna Garba had warned against spreading false information regarding alleged organ disappearance.

According to the CP, such rumours had led to public anxiety and disruption of peace across the territory.

[DailyPost]

My draft for the third edition of my serial on _Time To Serve The God of
Big Things _was ready when three significant readers posted my 2017 article titled, ‘_Truth In A Grave’_ to me. All of them urged me to
republish the article for this season when all manner of writers, opinion leaders, editorialists, commentators, are debating the same
facts from a certain University in Chicago. As one of the readers puts it to me, people are helping to speak in tongues with clear statistic
even in this age of the big data…’ Another one noted to me: as you noted in 2017 and 2020 on different issues of our time, again, many of
our political people and their dependent writers and commentators are hiding truth in a grave’ again… Here is the riginal article: ‘In the complex logistics of everyday life as a journalist reporting, writing and analysing issues in the news that feeds our fragile democracy, it is quite clear to me that there has been too much deception in most of our affairs.

As one encounters fellow citizens of all classes, high and low, rich and poor, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find good people who will tell you the truth about anythingfrom the mundane to the serious issues of life. The artisans, the mechanics, the petty traders in your estate, all are artful dodgers in the business of people deceiving people. They deceive you about current trends and pricing and the nexus between it and transportation. They deceive about the effect of weak Naira on the prices of even kola-nuts, pepper, tomatoes and sundry food items. It is worrisome that even church elders and leaders deceive their congregation that cannot “study to show themselves approved” these days. The dubious pastors quote scriptures out of context to deceive miracle (not Christ’s) seekers.

It is obvious that clerics of some other faiths to deceive their followers with scriptures that they know the illiterate and the poor in their adherents cannot read. They hypnotise malleable and naïve millions with elements that appeal to the flesh and base sentiments.

Gripped by the arms of flesh that will always weaken the physical man, these ignorant ones are told that they will get to sleep with hundreds of virgins in paradise if they can carry out certain deadly operations against some unbelievers. They are never told the truth about how to make heaven.

It is clear to me that the spirit of deception is now very strong in our midst and it has become a potent weapon that drives our governance system and, in fact, part of the news items and impuritiesthat feed our democracy. It is also sad that most of us as citizens have given up on pursuit of truths. It is also saddening that our leaders now daily exploit our culture of low expectation and indeed laziness nurtured by the newspeak now dressed as political correctness to tell us lies and damned lies. They now lie with statistics even in this age of the big data. Our leaders have been lying to us since democracy returned in 1999 why they cannot give this blessed nation electricity, for instance. Since 1999, they have been hovering around 4000 megawatts of electricity. I now understand from Bill Muehlenberg’s commentary that deception is actually one of the most powerful – albeit negative –forces in the universe.

According to the public commentator on CultureWatch, it is risky to discount the enormous power of deception. All forms of deception can be immensely powerful and controlling, and self-deception is certainly one of the most worrisome among them. The ability of people to deceive themselves, or be deceived, seems almost limitless. And I think that is where we have been since 1966 when the ‘militicians’ struck and toppled democracy and federalism.

And once someone is in the throes of deception, it can be very hard indeed to break people out of that. It is like some great force has
taken over and they become almost unreachable. It is as if they are now under the control of someone else. And they are.

Research has shown that there are different types of deception. Mass deception is another sort that is frightening to behold. The power that demagogues and charismatic leaders can have over the masses is all too familiar. Whether it be a Hitler, or a Jim Jones, or some other cult leader or political personality, masses can be easily led – and deceived – by these leaders.

Even those who claim to be followers of the Lord Jesus Christ can have their heads and hearts turn to mush as they hold some men of God and leaders up to be some messiah figure. They are quite happy to jettison core biblical values such as humility, righteousness, godliness, integrity, honesty and decency as they shill for their man of God as if he were God of man.

According to Bill, That is mass deception of a high order, and it is one of the most shocking things we have had to deal with in recent times in this country. But individuals can and do become deceived quite easily as well. But the good news is that there is yet another powerful force that can neutralise the power of deception. The name of that powerful force is truth. It is written that it (truth) is the most powerful force on earth. I had never been conscious of the power of this ancient word until 2013 when a Muslim friend and a colleague who is a member of the Guild of Editors, sent me a stunningly deep Easter greeting: “Martins, this season means just one inescapable fact: that you can actually keep truth in a grave but it won’t stay there.” I was shocked to receive this message from a Muslim. I have been sharing the import of the message actually credited to Clarence W. Hall who originally noted that:

“Easter says you can put truth in a grave, but it won’t stay there.”
The original Easter quote: “If Easter says anything to us today, it says this: You can put truth
in a grave, but it won’t stay there. You can nail it to a cross, wrap it in winding sheets and shut it up in a tomb, but it will rise!

Even before Hall was a synoptic preface to this: Some 2500 years ago, the three guardsmen of Persian king Darius held a contest as to what was the strongest thing in the world. The first wrote, ‘wine is the strongest”. The second wrote, “the king is strongest.” The third
wrote, “women are strong but above all things, truth is strongest”

(1 Esdras 3:10-12) And as Carlo Beenakker was quoted as saying on this at the Phoenix Institute Symposium on Responsibility in decision making” (Bruge Belgium, 2000), what message could a scientist have, at
the gathering of young professionals focused on “responsibility in decision making”? I have one message: Truth is strongest. Which is
what may have inspired Mike Murdock who is credited with saying that “Truth is the most powerful force on earth because it cannot be
changed.”

The point I have been trying to make today is that there is a need for national value reorientation for all of us as citizens, leaders and
followers to imbibe a culture of telling the truth at all times.

Specifically, those who have a responsibility to lead us at any levels, should note the subtext of Clarence W. Hall that “you can put truth in a grave, it won’t stay there…”. I mean here that our leaders at all levels need to know that no one teaches anymore Joseph Goebbels Principles of Propaganda in today’s world of the big data, except for the purpose of historical references. In today’s world being daily driven by the forces of “citizen journalism” powered at the speed of thought by the big data dynamics being leaked to the cyber space by the powerful “office of the citizens” every minute, no one teaches “principles of propaganda” for the purpose of driving operational efficiency in marketing management or public communications or reputation management. Deception, yes, deception management is a hard sell now in dealing with issues that are either customer-centric or people-oriented.

That is why we need to tell reputation managers, political managers and those who manage their lies and lying liars that tell them (apology to Senator Al Franken, U.S) that they need to imbibe a culture of telling the people, their customers nothing but the truth at all times. They do not need to deceive the people about medical conditions of their principals.

They do not need to hide any truth of their net-worth even in dollars anymore. Our leaders yesterday and today need to tell us
pointblank that the parlous state of the hospitals in the country has compelled them to seek medical advice or check-up in the West. They
should not allow the Falana’s of this world to tell us that hospitals in Nigeria are mortuaries. They should not create a diary of confusion
in the system when it comes to managing presidential movements. Has the truth they put in a grave about presidential vacation not come out after three weeks? Is anyone in doubt now about a public relations tragedy that a simple statement of medical vacation would have averted? Most of the president’s ignorant men who have kept the spokesmen of the president out of the picture of the state of health of the president would have realised by now that indeed the most powerful force on earth is truth and deception of any hue has not been helpful in all generations. It won’t help in this age of “citizen journalism” when information rips out of a grave at the speed of thought (not of light anymore).

The lesson of how to prevent public relations disaster should not be lost on all our leaders: they should tell us everything about themselves. They should tell us how much they earn, their net-worth including constituency and other sundry allowances from the public
purse. The reasons are not far to seek. The truth is the same for every one. It is not relative, not bound to a certain culture or ideology. There is only one truth, not a scientific truth on the one hand, and a religious or political truth on the other hand. The conclusion of the whole matter is that we should at all times remember that as leaders and managers, we can keep or even hide truth in a grave, it won’t stay
there. Just as it happened more than two thousand years ago when they kept Him in a grave: a fter just three days, truth resurrected. That is
why truth is the most powerful force on earth: Tell it, it will set you free, after all.

Nigerian corruption is aeroamphibious. It permeates air, land and sea.

The other day, when it was reported that an aircraft was— mercifully— grounded because its tank was laden with a mixture of aviation fuel and water, nobody laughed. I can swear to that because the usual “happiest people on earth” who cobble online jokes out of every disaster were, for once, dumbfounded. They didn’t want to imagine what could have happened if that plane had taken to the skies. There are some things you can’t joke about.

Contrast that with the hilarity that attended the posting of a photograph of an Aero Contractors  Boeing 737 aircraft disembarking passengers in Bauchi in December 2015 with the aid of a LADDER because the motorised staircase was reportedly ‘unserviceable’. Yes, the same good old ladder defined by Britannica Dictionary as “a device used for climbing that has two long pieces of wood, metal, or rope with a series of steps or rungs between them”.

I am still trying to verify if the Guinness Book of World Records has anything close to that feat. The authorities threatened hail and brimstone, but as usual, the issue was overtaken by more urgent existential tragedies elsewhere, and we simply moved on. Someday soon, one of my compatriots is going to climb a ladder to heaven!

Our aviation sector has its fair share of carcasses in the netherworld, starting from Nigeria Airways and scores of private airlines that have bitten the dust. We have made a tourism spectacle of so many disused aero-carcasses littering sections of our airports which ought, really, to be redesignated as ‘air cemeteries’. One word that is a recurring decimal in any serious diagnosis of the problem of the aviation sector: corruption.

Having said that, however, air travel is still the safest mode of journeying in Nigeria. Many of the major interstate highways have regressed to the state of nature and road travel has become a high risk expedition. If the craters, gullies and muddy lava don’t do you in, the wide assortment of terrorists, ‘ungun knownmen’, bandits and kidnappers who are looking out to have a good day in the office, will.

I did listen to Works Minister Dave Umahi the other day lamenting the humongous cost of projects he inherited. He insisted that he would not append his signature to any deal which appeared to have shortchanged Nigeria. The minister is rightly reiterating the same thing Nigerians have been saying on social media for a long time. If we have truly spent trillions of Naira on road construction in the last eight years, where are the roads? The same question can be asked of state and local governments.

As corruption had dogged both the aviation and road sectors, the hope of Nigerians when the immediate past administration pursued the rail programme started by the Jonathan government was that, for once, the rejuvenated service would be run professionally so that there could at least be one means of transport that was reliable and safe. Alas, corruption has, again, attached its own coaches to the engine, and is sharing the takings at the till with the government.

I witnessed the scam going on at the railway sector last year on a trip between Abuja and Kaduna. To begin with, a racketeering group controlled the (especially first class) tickets. The cartel warehoused the tickets and sold the premium seats at 300% profit. It was plain sight robbery. And the surprise of the scandalous situation was that even senior government officials and legislators patronised the touts while commoners queued at the ticket booths to buy their economy tickets.

Having experienced the shameful situation, I advocated for online ticketing and the removal of touts from the railway stations. As always, no one in authority could be bothered. Considering that the rail infrastructure was procured with huge loans from the Chinese government which had to be paid back, I wondered how the government could ever hope to break even, talk less of making a profit, if the open thieving going on at the stations was allowed to continue.

Just last week, an outraged passenger who was witnessing the sleaze going on at the railways took to social media to give a detailed account of the organised thievery he witnessed at the Obafemi Awolowo Train Station, Ibadan . Her video narrative went so viral that it was sent to me 17 times via various sources.

Travelling in a party of five, she was accosted by a uniformed railway official who chaperoned her group to the screening point, ignoring her protestations that she needed to buy tickets first. The crook told them that the tickets would be available before boarding but that they should go through the security check first.  He then handed them over to a lady accomplice who took them to Coach 7.

The crooks played hide and seek with our narrator for long enough to eat up the whole time until the train left the station. Then, an official showed up to announce that the passengers were to pay cash. In all, the lady estimated that there were more than 60 people in her coach and each paid N3,000 cash to the official rogues.

The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) has since suspended some of the workers it identified. The organisation issued a press statement:

“Following a viral video that has been trending on various social media platforms, vividly showing Railway workers negotiating with our esteemed passengers onboard Lagos-Ibadan Train Service (LITS) to pay without obtaining official boarding tickets, the general public is invited to note that the NRC seriously condemns such acts of misconduct which is a flagrant disobedience to laid down rules and utter betrayal of the confidence reposed on such workers, especially at this time that the Federal Government is making all efforts to revitalise and modernising the Corporation.

“This misconduct is regrettable and unacceptable as it negates the tenets and norms of the Corporation. The Corporation has therefore placed the identified erring officers on immediate suspension pending the outcome of the in-depth investigation already ongoing by the management committee set up to look into the issue.”

We’ve heard such ‘official lingo’ before! It is usually done to buy time. Corruption is so intricately woven into the fabric of many government agencies that the best way to solve the problem is to limit the government’s role to regulation, not commercial operations. NRC ought to simply be the regulator of the rail sector while the service is concessioned to private entities who can run it  efficiently and profitably in such a way as to enable repayment of the Chinese loan.

If history is any guide, there is no magic wand that the management of NRC can wield to run the rail service efficiently and transparently. When we took our sleaze to the skies, we grounded Nigeria Airways; now the private sector fully runs the show while the government regulates. Also, I hear that some major highways in the country are to be concessioned soon so that professional outfits can handle them on a Build, Operate and Transfer basis and collect tolls over a stipulated tenure. That is the way to go.

And that is what we should do to arrest the entrenched sleaze in the railways.

Over one million Nigerians have lost their jobs under the N-Power programme of the Federal Government following the indefinite suspension of the scheme by the government.

The N-Power programme was established by the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari to address youth unemployment as beneficiaries were paid N30,000 monthly stipend.

It is a component of the National Social Investment Programme put in place by the previous administration through the on-boarding of 1.5 million unemployed Nigerian youths (mostly graduates), providing capacity building, targeted tenured employment and structured of-boarding unto various career paths.

In February this year, figures obtained from the Humanitarian ministry in Abuja indicated that the programme had enrolled 200,000 youths in Batch A; 300,000 in Batch B; 510,000 in Batch C1; and 490,000 in Batch C2.

Although the number of beneficiaries who had exited the scheme could not be confirmed at the time of filing this report, it was gathered that virtually all enrolees in batches C1 and C2 were still enrolled in the scheme, representing about one million persons.

Many N-Power beneficiaries teach in primary schools across the country.

But on Saturday, the Federal Government announced the indefinite suspension of the programme and vowed to investigate the funds spent on the scheme.

The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu, announced the indefinite suspension of the programme during a live interview on TVC News.

Edu said the programme had been marred by irregularities, adding that the government had launched an investigation into the utilisation of funds since the inception of the scheme.

She added that some of the beneficiaries of the programme were not found in their places of assignment, yet they were receiving monthly stipends.

Edu also stated that some of the N-Power beneficiaries ought to have exited the programme in 2022, but were still on the payroll.

She said, “We must go back to look into N-Power and understand what the problems are; so we will basically suspend the programme for now until we are done with proper investigation into the utilisation of funds by the N-Power programme.

“We want to know how many people are basically on the programme right now; how many people are owed and the amount they are owed. We are totally restructuring N-Power and expanding it.

“There are lots going on. We met people who were supposed to have exited the programme since last year and they are still claiming that they are teaching.

“Sometimes, we contact the schools or the places where they are working and they are not there. They are not working, yet they keep claiming that they are being owed eight or nine months’ stipends. About 80 per cent of them are not working, yet they are claiming salaries.”

Previous investigations

The N-Power scheme has been marred by irregularities as the humanitarian ministry had in a response to an enquiry by The PUNCH in December 2022 detailed how some of its officials were being investigated.

In the response, which was signed by the immediate past Permanent Secretary, Nasir Sani-Gwarzo, the ministry said it was aware of publications regarding ongoing investigations in relation to fraud allegations in the programme.

It said, “We wish to state as follows: the ministry has deployed a well-rounded mechanism for the selection of eligible beneficiaries from across the country and this has been in place since the inception of the programme.

“Working with our service provider, programme beneficiaries are on-boarded, trained and deployed to pre-selected places of primary assignment.

“When it came to our notice that there might have been sharp practices by some personnel of the payment service provider involved in the payment processes of the beneficiaries, the matter was immediately referred to the ICPC for a thorough investigation.

“We are aware that certain persons have consequently been invited for interrogation as part of the ongoing investigations.”

The former permanent secretary said the ministry had carried out thorough reinforcement of its systems to eliminate all anomalies and prevent similar occurrences in the future.

He added, “To this end, we are in close collaboration with the ICPC to support the successful determination of the investigation.

“The public may wish to note that in a bid to ensure transparency and accountability in the implementation of the N-Power and other National Social Investment Programmes, namely the National Home Grown School Feeding Programme, Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme and the Conditional Cash Transfer, the ministry has over time involved other government MDAs, security agencies and Civil Society Organisations in monitoring and compliance checks across the 36 states of the country and the Federal Capital Territory.

“We want to assure all N-Power beneficiaries of the Federal Government’s continued commitment to the programme and the subsequent exit/of-boarding channels activated.”

The ministry had also urged all programme beneficiaries to continue to apply themselves to their utmost at their places of primary assignment.

“All monthly stipends will continue to be paid in line with programme expectations,” the ministry had stated.

It also called “on members of the public to come forward with information on any irregularities noticed in the implementation of the National Social Investment programme” through some email channels and phone numbers at the time.

[Punch]

In October 2022, the Edo State University, Uzairue invited me to speak at its 4th Convocation ceremony on the topic: “Fake News: Rethinking the role of the Mainstream & Social Media in National Development.” I had a feeling that I was so chosen because of the general understanding that fake news was a media creation. Indeed, the government of the day as represented by its spokesperson, Lai Mohammed imagined that “the twin evil of fake news and misinformation” was responsible for Nigeria’s pervasive and intractable insecurity.

Unfortunately, the government was misled into believing that the best way to control the social media was to harass media professionals. The truth however remains that the greatest problem of the social media lies in the fact that it is managed by ordinary people who have no media training. Anyone with any android phone could upload any information, real or imagined, safe or dangerous to the world at large thereby turning every subject into an unending controversy.

An overview of the current controversy concerning the validity of the certificate presented to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the 2023 presidential election by President Bola Tinubu would reveal that because of social media, no one seems to understand the issue at all. Those in support or against the president have used every opportunity to concoct and misinterpret available narrative and in the process forced confusion and apprehension into the public space thereby creating doubt and cynicism within and outside Nigeria. These social media minders are incidentally not illiterate or exuberant youths, instead they are politicians and their supporters who are ceaselessly seeking to be declared winners of an election held as far back as February. They are greatly aided by societal institutions who have over the years failed the integrity test of handling issues which informed their existence.

Consequently, we can only now ask questions. First, why should a university that is convinced of the brilliant performance of its former student prevaricate on any enquiry about the same student? Second, considering that the only genuine method of replacing a diploma from CSU is clearly advertised on its website, why should CSU give the impression that it can be gotten from whatever source? 

On September 19, 2023, a US judge, Magistrate Jeffrey Gilbert had ordered CSU to release President Tinubu’s results to the main opposition candidate Atiku Abubakar. Our politicians who always eulogise America’s judiciary did not ponder on why Gilbert so acted when his power is limited to making only a recommendation to a higher court. The case eventually went to a senior judge Nancy Maldonado. Some Nigerian politicians started publicising Maldonado’s judgement even before she sat forgetting the time difference between Nigeria and the US and thus making it difficult for the rest of us to differentiate fake from genuine information.

When Tinubu’s documents were eventually released some prying eyes identified other issues of interest. The admission of Tinubu to CSU was traced by them to a school certificate allegedly issued by Government College, Lagos in 1970. While one group sought to point at the irregularity of a school issuing a certificate four years before it was established, the other group argued that the issue was not Government College Lagos but CSU.  Those who can understand this must be only a select group.

Some interpreters have told us that it is really not necessary to bother the CSU on the issue of certificate which they say was issued by a third party vendor. Those who disagree with this version say no such vendor-actor was identified by the CSU. Again, many people believe that a case of forgery was not established, yet a report published by many media organs stated that a former president of the CSU, Elnara Daniels had concluded arrangements to sue President Tinubu at a US criminal court for allegedly forging her signature. Elnara, according to the report said she never signed the controversial certificate adding that all she was waiting was for the school to officially release the results so she could promptly move to clear her name. If this report is correct, how come no one has heard anything from Elnara several days after the results were officially released? Hope Elnara, is not a Nigerian creation? 

Anyway, we are back from the US to Nigeria where the latest controversy concerns the admissibility of the Chicago evidence by the Supreme Court. One of the prominent consequences of the emergence of the social media is the uncontrollable rise of media trial. The minders of the social media in this segment are lawyers many of them senior advocates. Atiku did say earlier that he would present his Chicago findings to the Supreme Court. Whether he has done so or has probably changed his mind these lawyers armed with legal provisions are busy at work now telling us what the real courts must do.

Whereas one group says no new evidence can be presented, we are told by others that there is a supreme court rule which gives conditions for how new evidence can be received. In which case, the argument that no new evidence can be received is half-truth. We are also told that election cases are special matters and that accepting new evidence is not allowed by the Electoral Act which governs elections. If so, did the case of Uzodinma V Izunaso 2017 where how new evidence may be received was decided not concern elections? 

If we listen to a new report that Atiku Abubakar may have been abandoned by the big wigs of his party, the PDP, the case may end earlier than we imagine. Last Thursday, when Atiku addressed a world press conference on the Chicago saga, not even one of his party’s 13 governors was in attendance. His vice presidential candidate was also visibly absent. The unconfirmed story is that the PDP flagbearer is now on his own as the big wigs of the party have since reportedly admonished him to drop the election petition against the president. There is nothing new about this if it is true. Nigerian politicians are generally unreliable, what they can gain is usually their sole motivator. During the Obasanjo administration, top officials of the main opposition party, the ANPP abandoned their presidential candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari at the election tribunal while he was seeking to retrieve his mandate. At the end of the tribunal, Buhari found that the leaders of his party had initiated an alliance with the ruling PDP to get a few ministerial slots for themselves in what was described as the emerging government of national unity GNU.

The lesson here is that the heat and apprehension in our society do not interest our politicians, to them everything is up for bargain. There are perhaps two main groups that the heat may affect. Let’s start with the more distant victim- the CSU which presented a rather care-free attitude to the Chicago saga. The University was unable to find a passport, social security card, driver’s licence or any other form of identification in her record that matches the face of its former student. Its registrar unwittingly told the international community that whether the school’s diploma is genuine or fake is irrelevant, the student’s transcript is the King.  It means that from now on, any CSU certificate is suspect. The second but main victim of the saga is the ordinary Nigerian whose welfare has remained constant for longer than makes sense. It is hoped that the West will not because of the Chicago saga employ transferred malice to handle every Nigeria as a criminal at first sight. 

The violent conflict that broke out between Israel and Palestine after a Palestinian Islamist group, Hamas attacked Israel on Saturday with a barrage of rockets fired from the Gaza Strip has left hundreds of people dead and thousands injured.

The number of people killed in Israel since the Hamas militant attack began early had risen to at least 250, with 1,452, according to Israeli media report.

The health ministry said another 1,452 people have been taken to hospital, with 18 in a critical condition and another 267 described as severe.

Similarly, Palestinian health officials said 232 people have died in Gaza and another 1,790 are wounded, after Israel’s retaliation to early morning attack by Hamas.

Also, dozens of Israelis had been reportedly captured by Palestinian militants in an unprecedented assault into Israeli territory.

Israel said the Iran-backed group had declared war as its army confirmed fighting with militants in several Israeli towns and military bases near Gaza and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to retaliate.

Netanyahu said Israel is at war, stressing that: “Our enemy will pay a price the type of which it has never known. We are in a war and we will win it.

“This morning Hamas launched a murderous surprise attack against the state of Israel and its citizens,” he said in a video address.

Report said this is one of the most serious escalations in the Israel-Palestinian conflict in years.

Israel Defense Forces said the country will use ‘heavy ground means’ against militants.

“Our goals are that all the terrorists will be killed, that all the communities will be rid of terrorists,” the IDF statement continues.

It also warned people living in Israel near the Gaza Strip to stay sheltering inside until then.

The statement continues that the IDF is carrying out air strikes in Gaza and will later continue with “heavy ground means”

The Palestinian health ministry had earlier said, 198 people were killed in Israeli strikes and another 1,610 have been wounded.

Israel’s health ministry has given updated numbers of the victims of Hamas’s attack with death toll reported to be about 100 and the number of people taken to hospital at 985.

Residents had said they do not remember a situation like this for a long time, while streets in the capital Tel Aviv have been locked down and are empty.

“Citizens of Israel, we are at war, not in an operation or in rounds, but at war,” Prime Minister Netanyahu said in a statement.

“I convened the heads of the security establishment and ordered – first of all – to clear out the communities that have been infiltrated by terrorists. This currently is being carried out.

“At the same time, I have ordered an extensive mobilisation of reserves and that we return fire of a magnitude that the enemy has not known,” he added.

A senior Hamas military commander who announced the start of the operation in a broadcast on Hamas media, called on Palestinians everywhere to fight.

“This is the day of the greatest battle to end the last occupation on Earth,” Mohammed Deif said.

Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas who is a political rival of Hamas however, defended the right of the Palestinian people to defend themselves against the “terror of settlers and occupation troops”.

There is strong international condemnation to the Hamas attacks, with the United Kingdom Foreign Secretary, James Cleverly saying the UK “unequivocally condemns the horrific attacks by Hamas on Israeli civilians” and “the UK will always support Israel’s right to defend itself”.

Also, the European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen described the attacks as “terrorism in its most despicable form”, while the United States said it “will work to ensure Israel has what it needs to defend itself”.

“The United States unequivocally condemns this appalling assault against Israel by Hamas terrorists from Gaza,” statement by US President Joe Biden on his phone call with Israeli PM Netanyahu said.

“Terrorism is never justified. Israel has a right to defend itself and its people. The United States warns against any other party hostile to Israel seeking advantage in this situation. My Administration’s support for Israel’s security is rock solid and unwavering,” Biden added in the statement.

However, Iran has backed the Palestinian attack, saying it congratulated the fighters for launching the biggest attack on Israel in years, according to an adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei.

“We congratulate the Palestinian fighters,” it quoted Yahya Rahim Safavi as saying. “We will stand by the Palestinian fighters until the liberation of Palestine and Jerusalem.”

Qatar’s foreign ministry issued a statement saying that Israel alone was responsible for the ongoing escalation of violence with the Palestinian people.

It said Qatar called on both sides to exercise utmost restraint and asked the international community to prevent Israel from using these events as an excuse to launch a disproportionate war against Palestinian civilians in Gaza.

The statement called on the international community and international parties to “intervene immediately to stop the ongoing escalation and resort to the rules of international law”.

Meanwhile, the Federal Government of Nigeria has expressed deep concern over the outbreak of hostilities between Israel and Islamic Palestinian Islamist group, Hamas in the early hours of Saturday.

The violent conflict that broke out

after Hamas attacked Israel with a barrage of rockets fired from the Gaza Strip has left hundreds of people dead and thousands injured

The Nigerian Federal Government in a statement signed by Minister of Foreign Affairs, Amb. Yusuf Tuggar called for de-escalation and ceasefire between the waring countries.

Tuggar said, the cycle of violence and retaliation that the current escalation has assumed, only serves to perpetuate an unending cycle of pain and suffering for the civilian population, that bears the brunt of every conflict.

“The Federal Government of Nigeria, therefore, calls on both sides to exercise restraint, prioritize the safety of civilians and give room for humanitarian considerations.

“We are therefore calling for a peaceful resolution of the conflict through dialogue,” he said in the statement.

[Leadership]

The last few weeks have been taken over by the controversy over President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his certificates. Did he or did he not attend school? If so, which schools, when, where and how? Did he or did he not have certificates? If so, what certificate, when and which school or schools? How did he attend school: As a man or as a woman? Did he pose as a hermaphrodite to gain admission into college in the United States of America? Did he gain admission to college with “ori olori” and “ese elese”, as they say? Were his certificates forged? By him or by who? Did he submit a forged certificate to the INEC to contest the February 25, 2023 presidential election? The questions were endless but the most embarrassing aspect of the whole controversy was that Nigeria’s dirty linen was not only washed in the public, it was also spread out in the open for the whole world to see. And to think that the whole controversy raged in the United States of America courts at the same time that President Tinubu had to make his first appearance at the United Nations General Assembly as Nigeria’s numero uno! Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar spared no efforts to strip the President naked for the whole world to behold not just the nakedness of Tinubu as a person but of Nigeria as a country! While it lies within the legal rights of Atiku to take the tussle to the wires – and no one should grudge him that – can he please learn a thing or two from the apostle Paul when he says in 1 Corinthians 10:23 that “all things are lawful for me but not all things are expedient: all things are lawful for me but all things edify not” I dare to say that Atiku’s Chicago pursuit, though lawful, edifies not!

The end result of Atiku’s US court adventure left me more confused than when it all started. Who won – Atiku or Tinubu? With both parties claiming victory, I am confused! Our elders say two people cannot be oblivious when a lie is being told: If the person being conned is oblivious of it, the con man sure knows he is conning someone! But in this case, Atiku claims victory; Tinubu also claims victory. Reading the deposition by the university left me perplexed. There was something in it for Atiku; there was also something in it for Tinubu. Atiku’s voyage to Chicago was a wild goose chase; it was akin to a man leaving Lagos and heading for Sokoto in search of what is in his “sokoto” pockets! Prove that you scored more votes than everyone else in the presidential election; prove that you won at least twelve two-thirds of the 37 states (Abuja being the 37th); not that someone is not morally upright. Are the challengers themselves morally upright? Are they not confirmed tax evaders, artful dodgers and treasury looters? Are they not the pot calling the kettle black? And is it not said that he that comes to equity must come with clean hands? Are their own hands clean? Some of the interesting, even intriguing, courses we took in the university are: morality and politics; morality and law; morality and religion, etc. Assuming but not conceding that Tinubu is disqualified, can Atiku or Obi be declared the outright winner of the February 25, 2023 presidential election? They cannot because they did not measure up! The best – or worst – that can be done – but again not conceding – is to disqualify Tinubu and order a rerun between Atiku and Obi! Are you laughing! It surely calls for laughter! How will Tinubu’s supporters react? Will the country survive the tsunami that will ensue? It’s best to let sleeping dogs lie! Smart Atiku is already ahead of the other challengers in his preparation for 2027. That is what his Chicago adventure is all about. He is running ahead of Obi and Kwankwaso already. Shine your eyes!

We fight over certificates when the same colonialists that introduced certificates to us have since moved away from its stranglehold. What matters to them these days is your capacity and capabilities – what you can do and not the lorry-load of certificates that you have on display. If certificates equate to competence, why did Goodluck Jonathan, a PH. D. holder, mess up so spectacularly? Colonialism has yielded its place to a more vicious neo-colonialism. We have been brain-washed. We have been colonized in our thoughts and processes – in our education, religion, tastes (for all things foreign); culture, system of government; name it! We also beg a foreign country to play the joker in our presidential contest!
Cocoa prices are surging…

West African countries should seize the moment to negotiate a better deal for farmers

“The cocoa-producing belt of west Africa is responsible for generating over 80% of the total global output. The global price of cocoa is spiking, a direct response to dwindling cocoa output in west Africa. In September, cocoa futures reached a 44-year price peak due to mounting concerns over reduced supplies from the region. The price surge could prove to be a critical moment for cocoa farming and policy in west Africa. The cocoa-producing belt of west Africa is responsible for generating over 80% of the total global output. Between them, Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire contribute more than 60% to the global output. Ghana is the second-biggest producer in the world and cocoa is a vital component of the country’s economy.

The global price spike has led west African governments to increase the guaranteed producer prices to farmers. Ghana recently raised the state-guaranteed cocoa price paid to farmers by two thirds. The announcement means that Ghana’s cocoa farmers will be paid 20,943 cedis (US$1,837) per ton for the upcoming 2023-2024 season, up from 12,800 cedis. Cameroon, the world’s fourth-largest cocoa producer, raised the price cocoa farmers get to 1,500 CFA francs (US$2.50) per kilogram, a 25% jump from the previous rate of 1,200 CFA francs. This increase is even more significant than Ghana’s when factoring in Cameroon’s single-digit inflation. Additionally, the Cote d’Ivoire government has announced a rise in the producer price… Recent shortages can be harnessed to strengthen the position of cocoa producers. This will enable them to address the structural challenges ingrained in the cocoa production value chain. Rising production costs have not been recognized in the value of cocoa beans. Farmers therefore haven’t been able to earn enough income and this has led to unsustainable farming practices.

West African countries should use the cocoa shortage as negotiating leverage against multinational corporations to address these structural issues. Both Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire must recognize this pivotal moment. They must take the lead, and frame the current production challenges as deep-seated structural problems requiring solutions, rather than as short-term issues. What is driving the change? Ghana’s cocoa regulator recently indicated that its farmers might not be able to meet some cocoa contract obligations for another season. Ghana’s projected cocoa yield for the 2022/23 planting season was the lowest in 13 years, falling 24% short of the initial estimates of 850,000 metric tons. This trend has been repeated across the region, with production falling in Côte d’Ivoire and Cameroon. Reduced output means demand can’t be met and global prices rise.

The reduction in cocoa output is attributed to short-term and long-term factors. Commentators typically emphasize the short-term factors as poor weather conditions; black pod disease, which causes cocoa pods to rot; the decline in the number of cocoa farmers, some of them selling their land to illegal miners; a shortage of fertilizers and pesticides, especially since the conflict in Ukraine has curtailed Russia’s export of potash and other fertilizers.

A number of long-term structural issues have beset cocoa farming in west Africa for decades. They shouldn’t be overshadowed by concerns with short-term problems. The first is the declining availability of forest land and its connection to increasing production costs. Over the last two decades, depletion of forest land has led farmers to turn to grasslands for replanting cocoa plants. This requires extensive land preparation, regular weeding around the cocoa trees, pruning, and the application of fertilizers and pesticides. What’s more, the plants are highly susceptible to disease. All these things result in increased labour costs.

None of these additional burdens have been incorporated into the pricing for sustainable cocoa production. In light of the new cost structure, cocoa beans have been undervalued for decades. Farmers have become poorer and are exploring alternative sources of livelihood. The cost of sustainably cultivating cocoa in grasslands must be reflected in the price that farmers receive. Relying solely on market forces will not achieve this. For instance, every year, typically in September, the Ghana Cocoa Board announces the official producer price for cocoa beans for the upcoming cocoa season on behalf of the government. This official price is based on the anticipated export market price, with an understanding in Ghana that farmers should receive approximately 70% of it. However, the resulting market price, and consequently the producer price derived from it, often falls short of covering the costs of sustainable cocoa cultivation.

A path forward: What would it cost for cocoa farmers to cultivate cocoa beans sustainably, and ensure a living income, without contributing to deforestation or resorting to child labour? If the market price falls below this cost (which isn’t static), then the farmers face exploitation, giving rise to many of the problems that plague the industry. A few years ago, Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire pioneered the introduction of the “living income differential” – a premium that cocoa buyers would pay on top of the market price to ensure that farmers earned a sustainable income from their produce. Despite its noble intent, the initiative faltered. It was not well thought through. And it came at a time when these countries had diminished bargaining clout in a saturated market. Now is a favourable moment.

The crisis in the sector puts cocoa producers in a stronger negotiating position. Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire could collaborate with other regional countries, such as Nigeria and Cameroon, to negotiate a better position for their cocoa farmers, ensuring sustainable cultivation. There are many strategies these countries can explore, including supply management (such as buffer stocks, export controls, or quotas), price premiums and value addition”

I came across the above piece on the internet and felt I should bring it to the attention of both the Federal Government and the state governments where cocoa is cultivated in Nigeria. If the billions of Naira wasted on the (political) cultivation of rice had been spent on cocoa, cotton, coffee, groundnuts, and palm produce, we would have had more value for money. Let us re-direct our focus and taste buds from everything foreign. We used to eat rice only on festive periods. Eating bread was even seen as profligacy. Whatever we do not have a local name for (such as iresi, buredi, tea, miliki) are foreign and should be discarded or consumed sparingly.

May I, at this point, humbly retract certain claims I made in my article, ‘Tinubu and Atiku: Birds of a Feather’ (THISDAY, June 12, 2022), months before the 2023 presidential election. In it, I claimed that Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar “are friends, associates and two peas in a pod”. I traced their bond to the annulled third republic. I said they had been there for each other during political upheavals. As simple as it was, I didn’t remember that there are no permanent friends or foes in politics. Just permanent interests. All gloves are off now. Atiku is on an all-out war with Tinubu whom he wants disqualified and removed as president for alleged certificate forgery.

On Thursday, Atiku revealed that he had parted ways with Tinubu as far back as 2007. I hereby confess that I did not know this. In separate private conversations I had with both men before 2007, they came across as David and Jonathan. What we have today is nothing but Cain and Abel, although I’m not sure who is the Cain and who is the Abel. As Atiku has now told us, they cut political ties when he refused to make Tinubu his presidential running mate in 2007 because of the Muslim-Muslim ticket complications. I recall Tinubu opposing Atiku’s election petition against President Umaru Musa Yar’Adau in 2007 on the ground that all of them were from the same political family.  

To be sure, this is not the first time Atiku is seeking a judicial decision on the basis of certificate in a presidential election. In 2019, he fought President Muhammadu Buhari all the way to the Supreme Court, maintaining that he did not have the requisite educational qualification to be president. Buhari had listed secondary school education on his INEC form but did not attach the West African School Certificate, which he claimed was with the military authorities. He eventually received a replacement from Cambridge, which used to conduct the WASC exams, and presented it to the tribunal. Atiku’s petition was dismissed. He also lost in the Supreme Court — but Buhari was hurt.

This time around, Atiku is seeking to prove that the Chicago State University (CSU) certificate presented to INEC by Tinubu is a forgery and, therefore, he was not qualified to run in the first place. Many people did not really give serious attention to this allegation in Atiku’s petition until he went to file for “discovery” at a US court on August 2, 2023, seeking an order to compel CSU to release Tinubu’s academic records. This was a day after the presidential election petition court (PEPC) had announced that it was adjourning to deliver judgment after all the petitioners, Atiku inclusive, and respondents had concluded their submissions. The US case, thus, basically went under the radar.

The PEPC actually prevented Atiku from arguing the forgery allegation on a technical ground. Atiku’s lawyers introduced the triple allegations of Tinubu’s conviction in the US, forgery of documents and dual citizenship long after they had filed the petition. The certificate was notably not on their list of proof of evidence. However, as the proceedings went, they introduced the issues. Tinubu’s lawyers said the time for filing new facts was over. Atiku’s lawyers said they were only providing further details. The PEPC, in its judgment, held that the electoral law provides that all evidence must be frontloaded and since this was not contained in the petition itself, Atiku had missed the timeframe.

In truth, Atiku did not have what he could present as evidence as at the time the PEPC sat and gave judgment. Maybe the lack of evidence contributed to the little attention paid to Atiku’s moves in the US. With the PEPC judgment going against Atiku on September 6, he decided to head to the Supreme Court — this time hoping that he could file a new evidence on the authenticity of Tinubu’s CSU certificate, known as “diploma” in the US. Still, many did not give much attention to this case until September 19 when the US court ordered CSU to release the academic records in time for Atiku’s appeal at the Supreme Court. It was at this stage that the internet caught fire as interest ballooned.

What did Atiku want to prove by demanding all these records? From all that I have read so far, I would summarise his intentions as follows: (1) to prove that the certificate Tinubu presented to INEC was forged (2) to argue that this is not the real Bola Tinubu (3) to create a moral crisis for Tinubu home and abroad. When Tinubu’s lawyers protested against the release of his records claiming it could hurt their client, even his own supporters began to panic. Many of them asked: “What is Tinubu trying to hide?” My first reaction was that his lawyers were trying to be dramatic. I had always believed Tinubu attended and graduated from CSU but that the devil is in the details.

Tinubu’s records were finally released. The CSU registrar, Caleb Westberg, made a deposition as a witness and representative of the university. He had previously sworn to an affidavit as well. If you lie under deposition, it is called “perjury” and you will have no option than to go to jail. So, it is not a joke. We all looked forward to the deposition as the final stage of the US leg in the post-election litigation. Atiku’s lawyers questioned Westberg extensively on the affidavit and the records. Westberg said so many things that, at a stage, my head was steaming from information overload. At the end of the deposition, the camps of Atiku and Tinubu both claimed to have won. It got more interesting.

I will try to summarise the testimonies as I understand them. Westberg swore to an affidavit that Tinubu graduated and was awarded a degree with honours from CSU on June 22, 1979. He said CSU awarded him a diploma and subsequently provided a certified (that is, official) copy of that diploma. He said both are “valid and authentic” diplomas from the university. He said there are differences in font, seal and signatories on the diplomas because many things had changed over the decades from 1979, when Tinubu graduated, to the 1990s, when he got a replacement. He said the discrepancies in the dates on the documents were possibly human since they were entered manually.

In the affidavit that accompanied the academic records, Westberg said the format of Tinubu’s replacement diploma dated June 27, 1997 matches the format of diplomas produced in the 1990s and 2000s. From the deposition, it appears there are two different CSU diplomas. There is the CSU diploma issued in 1979 when Tinubu graduated and there is the replacement dated 1997. Meanwhile, a diploma was released to Mike Enahoro-Ebah, an Atiku supporter, based on a court order. It is either Enahoro-Ebah was given the original 1979 version (which Tinubu presumably did not pick up then) or Enahoro-Ebah was given a replacement Tinubu ordered and didn’t pick up.

The one presented to INEC by Tinubu was dated 1997. The date was declared an error by the university. Michael Hayes, who also testified for CSU, took personal responsibility for the error and said he meant to type 1979, not 1997. I recall that in my journalism school days when typewriters were a thing, we called this “error of transposition” — when you mistakenly hit the second key before the first, meaning “9” would come before “7” in 79. It appears that the certificate Tinubu presented to INEC was another version entirely — produced in the 1990s or 2000s. Westberg, in his deposition, said he did not see what was presented to INEC and could, therefore, not comment on it.

So, why did the university certify the documents? He said the university does not usually certify documents but this was at the insistence of Tinubu’s lawyer. “It seems to be a Nigerian thing,” he said. (By the time this got into social media, the registrar was reported to have said: “Forgery is a Nigerian thing.”) Westberg  also addressed why they had copies of diplomas for 1979 but didn’t have one for Tinubu. He said some students don’t pick up their diplomas — tying it back to the fact that it is the transcripts, not the diplomas, that really matter in the US. It is copies of unclaimed diplomas that he released to Atiku’s lawyers with the names of the students redacted for privacy reasons.

What else? Westberg said Tinubu attended Southwest College (now known as Richard Daley College), a feeder school for CSU. He said the Tinubu that attended Southwest College and transferred to CSU had the same social security number (like the NIN in Nigeria), and that it is the same person that is now president of Nigeria. On why the gender of the student that attended Southwest was written as “F” (female), he said it was possibly a clerical error as he himself did not know whether Bola Tinubu is the name of a male or female. But he pointed out that Tinubu filled “male” in his application form and was addressed as “Mr” in the letter offering him admission.

Overall, I think Atiku’s team conclusively proved at the deposition that the diploma presented to INEC by Tinubu was not the one issued in 1979 — as Enahoro-Ebah had obviously collected it or whatever version was in the file. And I think this is why Atiku’s supporters believe they won the tug-of-war. On the other hand, what Tinubu presented to INEC was not the 1979 diploma but a replacement. Westberg did not answer questions on the “INEC diploma” on the ground that it is not in the school’s possession. But he said Tinubu indeed applied for a replacement and if a 1979 diploma was to be replaced, there would be changes in format, font, seal and signatories as seen in the “INEC diploma”.

All eyes are now on the Supreme Court. Atiku’s lawyers will hope to use the academic records and the deposition to make a compelling case against Tinubu. There are still obstacles. One, they have to convince the court that a new evidence can be filed at this stage. If the Supreme Court exercises discretion and decides to allow new evidence, that will be a major hurdle scaled. The next hurdle will be the evidential weight the court attaches to it and if it is convinced beyond reasonable doubt that Tinubu actually committed forgery. These are the matters to be pursued and argued by the lawyers before the court. I can’t wait for all this to be over so we can face the core business of governance.

Whatever the case may be, this is a fight to the finish. No retreat, no surrender. I am, however, astonished at how Atiku has overtaken Peter Obi, the LP candidate, in the election petition race. Obidients had clearly dominated the airwaves in claiming Obi won the election and that Tinubu stole his mandate. Atiku, who officially came second, was always playing catch-up. But with a single burst of pace in September, Atiku has — like a seasoned marathoner — surged to the front in the race to upstage Tinubu. All the Obidients that I know are now rooting for Atiku. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Remember: there are no permanent friends or foes in politics. Just permanent interests.

AND FOUR OTHER THINGS…

ONE CHANCE

The death of Greatness Olorunfemi appears to be attracting needed attention to the notorious “one chance” robbers. They usually lure their victims into a bus claiming only one seat was left, whereas other occupants are criminals. They would rob the victims and dump them in the middle of nowhere. In Olorunfemi’s case, she was pushed out on a highway and was fatally injured. Social media claims that she was denied treatment at a general hospital are being disputed. I am hoping that this tragic incident will make the authorities pay more attention to passenger safety and emergency medical care on highways. I feel so sad. I sympathise with Olorunfemi’s friends and family. Heartbreaking.

BAD VIBES

Ilerioluwa Oladimeji Aloba, the rap artiste known as Mohbad, reportedly died from an injection administered by an unqualified nurse. There are documented cases of nurses (qualified and unqualified) and chemists prescribing medication — something that is clearly above their paygrade. Some ailments go from bad to worse in the process. It is an open secret. It is also an open secret that Mohbad had been complaining about being bullied by Naira Marley, the CEO of Marlian Records, his former label. Bullying is one thing we are yet to understand in Nigeria. It can cause serious mental health issues. It can kill. Mohbad’s cheap death offers us much to chew on in this country. Pathetic.

ALL-PURPOSE DSS

Am I the only one noticing that the Department of State Services (DSS), alternatively known as the secret police, has been involved in investigating virtually everything? Not sure how it started, but I remember when they raided the homes of judges some years back looking for evidence of bribery and corruption. Today, if there is allegation of rape, they are involved. If it is CBN, they are there. If it is local government chairman asking a governor to account for allocations, they are in the mix. Some of these things may be legally justifiable, but in a country facing serious internal security threats from terrorists and bandits, extending the DSS mandate so far and wide may hurt us badly. Distraction.

AND FINALLY…

My attention has been drawn to a tantalising rumour on social media that I have been paid N500 million to support President Tinubu in his fight with Alhaji Atiku Abubakar. I would have ignored the exciting gossip if not that more people are now making heavy financial demands on me, including those asking me to buy private jets for them. Up till now, I have not seen any Ghana Must Go or received one kobo. Could it be that it is another Simon Kolawole and that fella decided to eat alone? Is it fair to all concerned? Using social media mathematical formula, I can give N1 million each to 200 million Nigerians from the N500 million and still have N300 million left. Yes, let’s all be mad. Clowns.

On behalf of all of the co-authors of our national anthem, both the living and the departed, I offer our sincere gratitude to Dr Garba Abari, the Director General of the National Orientation Agency and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, for the Citizenship and Patriots awards given to us today. I regret that I am unable to be present in person for the award because of the very short notice given.

It has been 45 yrs since we wrote the national anthem in 1978, and this is the first national recognition that we have received. In 1976, as a teenager, in secondary school, I responded to a call for entries into a competition organized by the Federal Ministry of Information to replace the Nigerian national anthem. The words and phrases of the five winning entries were combined to form the anthem. The words were put to music by Deputy Commissioner of Police Ben Odiase, the then director Nigerian Police Band. The new anthem was officially adopted in 1978. We were all supposed to receive a prize but none of us got it.

My thoughts this day are with our co-authors who have shed their mortal garbs, slipped the surly bonds of earth and transcended into immortality, including Prof Babatunde Ogunnaike and John Ilechukwu as well as the music composer and director of the Nigerian Police Band Ben Odiase. They waited long for this day but never lived to see it.

I remember on this day particularly my co-author Prof Babatunde Ogunnaike whom I got to speak with a few times in the last several years before his passing. He was a prodigy in his field of Chemical Engineering and rose to become Professor and Dean of Engineering at Delaware University. He was a member of the National Academy of Engineering and authored books, including the 1280-page “Process Dynamics, Modeling, and Control” globally acclaimed textbook which he co-wrote with Professor Harmon Ray. He held the William L. Friend chair of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. His research both at DuPont and the University of Delaware in systems dynamics, mathematical modeling, and process control had profound implications in fields as diverse as biology, bioengineering, medicine, applied mathematics, statistics, and chemical engineering, solving many difficult issues in these fields as well as in industrial processes. He authored four books and over a hundred publications in major academic journals and held a patent and a vast array of awards and honors. Among these awards were the University of Delaware’s Medal of Distinction, his election to the US Academy of Engineering, the Nigerian Academy of Engineering, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, and the National Academy of Inventors. Outside the world of academia he was a talented guitarist and the drummer. In his younger days, he played field hockey and was a member of the 1977 national Nigerian hockey team. He emigrated and was lost to the diaspora by the time the anthem came out in 1978 and lost to immortality on February, 20th, 2022. In a 2012 interview, he said he feels both pride and sadness whenever he hears the anthem. “It reminds me of unfulfilled promises,” he says. “Nigeria has so much potential, and the words of the anthem were meant to reflect this.” On the anonymity given to writers of the anthem, he had this to say; “everyone knows that Francis Scott Key wrote the lyrics to the American national anthem (even I, a recent immigrant, know this). At the very least, the people of Nigeria should be told who wrote their anthem.”

I have listed Prof. Ogunnaike’s achievements above to show just one example of the talent and skills lost to the diaspora from a Nigeria that continues to fail its citizens. The disapora community all over the world is full of hundreds of thousands of talented Nigerians who have left the country to help build other nations.

I celebrate my co-authors, Segun Aderibigbe amd Dame Eme Akpan who together with myself have lived to see this first national recognition of the writers of our national anthem.

I wish to mention and express my gratitude to all those journalists whose publications kept alive the history and story of our national anthem. These include Alex Marshall, a reporter with The Independent, newspaper in the U.K, C’tiana Bibish Elad of Afrifamu, Los Angeles, California, Lekan Otufodunrin of The Nationonline, Nigeria and Dr ‘Deyemi Akande PhD, an Art and Architectural History Lecturer at the University of Lagos, Nigeria.

Like Professor Babatunde Ogunnaike, I also feel pride and sadness when I hear the anthem.

When I wrote my words for the anthem, it was my dream for the country to move forward and take its place among the great nations of the world. But all that potential has been hijacked and degraded by a political leadership that constitutes a criminal enterprise. Many of our people now wonder if we were ready for independence.

Our leaders have failed us. They have failed to serve the fatherland with love and strength and faith. They have failed to create one nation bound in freedom, peace and unity. They have failed to be guided by God, and are unable to teach our youth in love and honesty to grow as they neither have love nor do they have honesty. They live corruptly and have failed to live just and true.

Our nation is awash with corruption, with impunity and no one accountable for their actions. Political offices are purchased by the highest bidders who pay using the spoils of their pillage and plunder. The resources of our nation have been hijacked by political elites who like vampires have sunk their fangs into the jugular of the country slowly draining the life out of it. Unchecked corruption is a corrosive destroyer of nations. The amount lost by corruption in the oil sector alone exceeds $15 billion annually. That money is enough to revamp the dilapidated infrastructure nationwide and create jobs and employment opportunities. Our people groan under the yoke of this corruption that does not allow them to breathe. They suffer in poverty with a currency that has undergone a 1000% devaluation since we wrote the national anthem. There is both food insecurity and personal insecurity with kidnappings of our school children and killings of our citizens. When food prices exceed the salary of a worker, men sell their dignity and women their honor.

The November 2022 National Bureau of Statistics Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) survey by the Federal Government of Nigeria revealed that almost 133 million Nigerians, or 63% of the population, are “multi-dimensionally poor,” meaning they suffer simultaneously from multiple disadvantages, including a lack of access to clean energy, housing, health care, water and sanitation, according to the survey of nearly 57,000 households. That’s up from 54% in 2018, and more than any other country, including India, which has seven times more people. Meanwhile the political elites steal and embezzle hundreds of millions of dollars from the nation’s commonwealth with no consequence. In fact they are rewarded with more plum political positions and the opportunity to steal more.

Our youth have become hopeless and helpless, and are dying in the sea and the desert trying to escape the country for a better life elsewhere. Those left behind see the greed, looting and pillaging by their leaders, have no opportunities for economic empowerment and resort in internet scams, and fraud, prostitution, banditry and kidnapping to make ends meet. Thus innocent people both inside the country and globally are made to pay the price for the corruption of our leaders.

The Nigeria of our youth that we knew of in 1978 sadly no longer exists. It has been replaced by a rapacious system of governance that is unsustainable and if unchecked, spells doom for the country.

We must turn this country away from the precipice of disaster. And we need to do it now. Our population increases by 7.2 million a year and we are projected by the United Nations Population Division to be the third most populous country on earth, with a population of 730 million, – right behind China – by the year 2100.

The Way Forward

Corruption occurs at the intersection of temptation and opportunity. You must separate the man /woman from the money. We must empower our civil service, provide them a living wage and hold them accountable for any collusion in the diversion of funds by political leaders. Those who commit such crimes must be prosecuted and jailed. Transparency and Accountability must be the order of the day. The era of running government and public institutions like a secret society must be over. The budget as well as all allocations and disbursement of funds must be published on the Internet in real time. All monies received must be accounted for.

There is a need for a civilian Office of the Inspector General (OIG) manned by honest men and women, to have an oversight function and root out waste and fraud at all federal, state and local government institutions, departments and agencies. Officials of the OIG will have the powers of the police to arrest and prosecute all those persons found to be aiding and abetting fraud and waste.

There should be an immediate audit of all assets of all public, judicial and institutional office holders in the last 30 years. Assets that cannot be accounted for by their salaries will be seized and they should be prosecuted and sent to jail. All corruption that rises to the level of economic sabotage should be punished by the death penalty. Those who steal from the people’s commonwealth with such rapacious impunity destroy lives far more than the murderers and armed robbers like the notorious Ishola Oyenusi that we executed in Bar Beach on September 8th, 1971, in the Nigeria of my youth.

Infrastructure

We must declare a national emergency for power generation to provide electricity to all citizens within the next six months. Reputable international contractors should be brought in to implement new power generators including, coal, hydroelectric, natural gas, solar, geothermal and wind, within six months. The unemployment rate in the country in 2022, was a record high at 33.3 %. That means one third of our working age citizens are unemployed. The unemployment rate of our youths is 53%. This should be addressed as a national emergency. It is an absolute requirement that we provide power generation for economic empowerment. Small businesses cannot be viable if they have to provide and pay for generators and diesel to conduct their business. Our youths and our people are hard working creative and full of entrepreneurial spirit. We must provide an enabling environment for all Nigerians to succeed. We must prioritize and decentralize provision of electricity, roads, pipe borne water, and social amenities. A government that has failed to provide a viable economy for its citizens should immediately cease to be an obstacle to the economic empowerment of those same citizens. Again when the poor cannot eat, the rich will not sleep.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, you are at a fork in the road. You can choose the wrong side and continue the corrupt and decadent practices of your predecessor President Muhammadu Buhari, and ensconce yourself with the crooked and the indicted. I take the indulgence to remind you that there is no plan that you can have, no minimum wage, no palliative, no refinery project, no road construction, no electrical power plant, no schools or hospital projects, no white paper or yellow paper that can succeed in the corrosive environment of corruption and lack of accountability. As they say, insanity is when you repeat the same thing over and over again and expect different results.

Your wrong decision would make you go down in history as one of our worst presidents, leading Nigeria on a one way down hill trip to perdition, and presiding over the dismemberment of a country that used to be called Nigeria.

Or you can choose the right side and be the greatest president of all, by making a u-turn, getting rid of the corrupt and indicted men in your administration, implementing the road map to good governance described here and confounding your critics.

History will thus be kind to you and remember you as the savior of the nation. The choice is yours to make.

Conclusion

To save Nigeria now, is a task that must be done. We have no other country. To my fellow country men and women, you are never too small or too big, too young or too old, to stand up for a Nigeria, where there is opportunity for all . For a Nigeria where your grades in school are based upon honest work and not on favors done for lecturers or teachers. For a Nigeria, where you can get a job on the strength of your achievements and not based upon who you know or where you are from. For a Nigeria where there is 24 hour electricity, pipe borne water, good roads and good schools, great hospitals and high speed internet. For a Nigeria where quality education and medical care are available to all irrespective of ability to pay. For a Nigeria, that has one factory in every town and not one church or mosque on every street. For a Nigeria where your achievements are limited only by your dreams and your hard work. For a Nigeria where life and limb are secure, wherever you go. For a Nigeria where you get justice based upon the merit of your case and not based on the bribe you give. For a Nigeria where you can trust the police to do their job without fear or favour. For a Nigeria where resources are for all and not for a chosen few with their families. And for a Nigeria that can take its rightful place amongst the great nations of the world. So my fellow countrymen and women, do not lose hope, we had a Nigeria like that once and we must and will bring that Nigeria back. Psalm 30:5 says, “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.

God bless Nigeria

Arise O Compatriots!!! Nigeria’s call obey!!!

Big Brother Naija is a live-in-house reality TV show featuring a group of housemates who compete over a coveted star prize and other brand sponsored consolation wins. The star prize for the 2023 season tagged all-star season was N120 million. BBNaija has a huge number of following especially among the youths. The show is sustained by viewers and those who constantly vote to keep their favourite housemates in the house till the end. Biggie’s Diary Session with housemates illuminates the hidden intentions, interactions, actions, expectations and behaviours in the house. 

It is a game of intrigues governed by strict rules. Friday Night Party is strategic for retaining the youthful audience. It features whatever is almost obtainable in clubs and gigs on a normal weekend. Therefore, the youth always look forwards to it. One major highlight of the show is the routine “sunday eviction exercises.” It is always a moment of uncertainty and intense suspense. The aggregate vote of viewers supporting a housemate determines who to evict or not. Contestants are also permitted to nominate each other for possible eviction. This is in addition to the decision of the newly introduced 'Eviction Jury' made up of  ex-housemates. At the end, those who could not garner the required percentage of votes are evicted. The eviction process is simply democratic. 

The first Big Brother Nigeria was aired from March, 5-June 4, 2006. There was a long break untill the second season in 2017 when it became an annual show. The show auditions thousands of youths all over Nigeria who are keen on taking their interest in entertainment business a step further. The eight and latest edition of the show which commenced from July, 23–October, 1 has just ended with Ilebaye Odiniya beating 19 others to win the coveted price of N120 million in addition to a Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) donated by Innoson Vehicles Manufacturing. It is yet to be ascertained how much other housemates get at the end as consolation prizes. 

There is no doubt some housemates have emerged stars and subsequently grew their popularity through the platform. Mutual friendships and enduring networks are built from the interwoven culture and diversity of housemates. The show is a game which offers participants unlimited latitude to employ all manners of subterfuge, erotic and emotional intelligence to lure viewers into voting for them. Sex related content, scenes, and alcoholism are dominant features. The organisers are aware of the level of influence sex and alcohol have on the generality of the youths, thus, both were deployed as unique selling point to retain and sustain viewership. In between the show, Nigerian cultures and traditions are promoted in attires and in aesthetic backgrounds. A number of tasks sponsored by popular brands are undertaken to test the intelligent quotients of housemates individually or as a group and at the end prices are won. Some of the housemates end up as ambassadors of those brands and sign deals with others at the end of the show. The media, telecom industries, entertainment, fashion, tourism and hospitality businesses have gained more visibility by identifying with the housemates in either their programmes and events or signing them on a deal. 

What is the impact of BBNaija reality show on the lives of Nigerians? It was reported that brand equity, increase in subscriber or user acquisition and revenue growth are major motivating factors for the BBNaija organisers. Most Nigerians will tell you that BBNaija is entertaining. Other than entertainment and the sexualisation of the show, it does not seem to deliver much in skills acquisition, enterprenuership, education, morality and societal rebirth. This is a show majorly characterised by lewd, obscene and morally bankrupt scenes. A reality show which promotes free-for-all alcohol consumption leading to many messing up themselves afterwards is depraved. Media reports places the value of sponsorship of BBNaija at “around N10 billion.” According to Busola Tejumola, the Executive Head of Content and West Africa Channels, MultiChoice Nigeria, the All Star Season costs N5.5billion in investment. She disclosed that the season raked in 1.5billion votes across all voting channels. 

Plaqad, a marketing, public relations and technology company in 2018 carried out a research on Big Brother Naija, with available data derived from the 2018 “Double Wahala” season. The study was primarily focused on identifying the “value of the show, and its impact on Nigeria.” Both qualitative and quantitative research methods were applied and also using data derived from primary and secondary sources. Other sources of data collection included those got from Interviews, Focus Group Discussions, Online Research, and Surveys. Sources of both primary and secondary data were drawn from the organizers, ex-housemates, auditionees, sponsors, journalists and bloggers; critics,  fans of various housemates and the general viewing public. Key findings of the study revealed that: “70% of viewers love BBNaija for its entertainment value. 6% believe it contains educational value. 80% of viewers believe BBNaija provides youth with the opportunity to succeed. When asked which option between “Yahoo-Yahoo,” a “University Degree” or contesting in BBNaija is the fastest and most reliable route to success for young Nigerians, the overwhelming response was BBNaija. More than 53% of respondents voted in favour of BBNaija while 43.6% said a university degree was a surer path to success. Only 2% opted for “Yahoo-Yahoo”. 61% of respondents believe BBNaija influences pop culture. Some described its impacts as “revolutionary.” 100% of the current auditionees surveyed think BBNaija is a faster route to financial success than a 9-5 job while 50% say the show impacts youth culture in Nigeria. Even though BBNaija is rated 18, more than 30% of those surveyed still said they find sex and nudity among housemates quite offensive. 6.4% think there is apparent favouritism in the show while 2.6% said lack of consolation prizes on the show was their biggest issue with the organizers of the show. 1% of respondents say BBNaija has helped improve Nigeria’s image on the International Scene.” The responses above have clearly shown significant areas of interest and the mindset of the youths in terms of fulfilling their life dreams. Unfortunately, education came second behind the BBNaija as the most reliable means to succeed amongst the youths. Moreover, 100% of the youths think BBNaija is a faster means to financial success. 

A piece found in Daily Sun Newspaper described BBNaija in glamorous prose, “in its essence, is a journey into Nigeria’s rich cultural tapestry. With participants from various backgrounds, it reveals a tableau of traditions, stories, and identities, narrating the Nigerian tale in its entirety. BBNaija captivates with its undiluted depiction of life. It’s a stage where relationships blossom, friendships solidify, and differences clash, all unfolding organically, creating an emotional bond with its audience.” Every reality show has its pros and cons. Aside the monetary rewards and other material gains, the cons of the BBNaija far outweighs the pros. Nations flourish in line with what it regards as its core values. What are the core values of Nigeria as a nation? Making money is great. What the society frowns at is the way and manner it is acquired. Is it legit? Therefore, keeping the moral fibre of the society intact and sustaining it is a task that must be done. Nigerians were irked when some of the housemates failed what many considered elementary questions in one of their tasks. Effort should be made to improve more on decency and knowledge based show. Subsequent BBNaija shows deserves the attention of the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission to ensure adherence to general rules.