I recently visited the site of the birth of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in Addis Ababa. The legendary “Africa Hall” located within the United Nations (UN) Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) secretariat, is now under reconstruction. A Tower of Babel, it is a massive building site with giant iron scaffoldings reaching to the sky: an apt metaphor for the unfinished efforts to build African unity 60 years after the historic meeting at which the OAU was born in May 1963. As Africa commemorates the diamond jubilee of the institutionalisation of African unity, it is worth recalling the “Grand Debate” at its creation to assess whether its lofty aspirations for unity have been fulfilled.

Not since the notorious Berlin Conference of 1884/1885 at which European imperial powers set the rules to carve up Africa, had a gathering on the continent been more significant than the 1963 summit in Addis at which the competing Brazzaville, Monrovia, and Casablanca groups were dissolved, and the OAU was born. 32 African leaders met for four gruelling days in the imperial capital of Addis Ababa to craft the organisation’s Charter. The contributions of six important “Founding Fathers” – Ethiopia’s Haile Selassie, Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah, Senegal’s Léopold Sédar Senghor, Tanzania’s Julius Nyerere, Egypt’s Gamal Abdel Nasser, and Algeria’s Ahmed Ben Bella – essentially encapsulated these fierce debates. These six “Wise Men” – an Emperor, a visionary, a poet, a sage, and two revolutionaries - were mostly charismatic Philosopher-Kings, and, among their ranks, were some of the continent’s leading intellectuals.

The Emperor: Haile Selassie

The opening speech by Ethiopian Emperor, Haile Selassie, called for the unity of Africa’s then 250 million people, noting that: “An awareness of our past is essential to the establishment of our personality and our identity as Africans.” The Ethiopian monarch reflected the euphoria of the epoch, rousingly calling on the continent with the stirring words: “Our Armageddon is past. Africa has been reborn as a free continent and Africans have been reborn as free men. The blood that was shed and the sufferings that were endured are today Africa’s advocates of freedom and unity.” Echoing Kwame Nkrumah’s famous injunction about Ghana’s independence, Selassie exhorted that “Our liberty is meaningless unless all Africans are free.”

Appropriately, but without naming them, the Emperor acknowledged the struggles of heroes in the Diaspora – Edward Blyden, W.E.B. du Bois, Marcus and Amy Garvey, and George Padmore – who had contributed to African liberation. Selassie himself had belatedly embraced a Pan-African identity, with Ethiopia having been largely independent and suffering only a five-year Italian colonization (1936-1941). But, even before South Africa’s great reconciliatory Prophet, Nelson Mandela, the Emperor noted:”Memories of past injustice should not divert us from the more pressing business at hand. We must live in peace with our former colonizers, shunning recrimination and bitterness and forswearing the luxury of vengeance and retaliation, lest the acid of hatred erode our souls and poison our hearts.”   

Selassie then urged his fellow African leaders that: “It is our duty and privilege to rouse the slumbering giant of Africa, not to the nationalism of Europe of the Nineteenth Century, not to regional consciousness, but to the vision of a single African brotherhood.” The monarch used the ongoing Congo civil war as an example of the type of ethnic-fuelled crises to avoid. As the host, Selassie tried to steer a careful path between radical Casablanca “federalists” such as Ghana, Algeria, Egypt, Guinea, Libya, Mali, and Morocco and the more gradualist Monrovia Group to which most African states belonged. While speaking of Nkrumah’s political union as the final destination of African unity, the Emperor eventually embraced the gradualism of the majority Monrovia bloc of first removing the enormous political, economic, and socio-cultural obstacles from the path of continental integration.   

Selassie, like Nkrumah, regarded the United States and Soviet Union as models of continental integration to which Africa should aspire. This was ironic given that both superpowers were, at the time, already conducting proxy wars in Africa that were fuelling conflicts such as that in the Congo. The monarch, however, reminded Africa about how long it had taken America and Russia to consolidate their unions, noting that: “When a solid foundation is laid, if the mason is able and his materials good, a strong house can be built.” He thus called on conferees in Addis to build a common African home by ending divisions and creating a single continental organisation with its own Charter, secretariat, specialised organisations, a development bank, and a defence system that would enable the continent’s armies to protect members from external aggression. With Ethiopia having been a founding member of the League of Nations in 1920, many of these ideas were based on four solid decades of multilateral diplomatic practice. The monarch thus urged the OAU to embrace the ideals of the Charter of the League’s successor – the United Nations – which he regarded as a protector of Africa’s sovereignty, urging Africans also to complement the UN’s efforts. The Emperor ended his speech by calling on African states to embrace the non-alignment principles of the 1955 Bandung Conference, including ensuring a nuclear-free continent.  

The Visionary: Kwame Nkrumah

No figure is more intimately associated with Pan-African unity and a federalist vision of a “Union of African States” than Kwame Nkrumah. The Ghanaian leader was a widely-read and genuine intellectual, and not just a statesman. He was thus more grounded in theory than many of his contemporaries, and was impatient to fulfil his federalist vision. His speech in Addis Ababa did not disappoint. As he noted: “In the task which is before us of unifying our continent we must fall in with that pace or be left behind…. A whole continent has imposed a mandate upon us to lay the foundations of our Union at this Conference, it is our responsibility to execute this mandate by creating here and now the formula upon which the requisite superstructure may be erected.”

Nkrumah enthusiastically called for independence to serve as the prelude to constructing new societies and vanquishing neo-colonialism. He particularly singled out France, Portugal, and apartheid South Africa for criticism, while highlighting the Congo as a classic case of neo-colonialism. In support of non-alignment, the Ghanaian leader was particularly critical of unnamed francophone countries whom he accused of furnishing military assistance to their former colonial master - France - through military bases. He cautioned his fellow African leaders about avoiding the experience of Latin American states which, though independent for 150 years, had fallen prey to US imperialism as a result of a failure to create a strong Union. He then reiterated his consistent belief that Africans must seek first the political kingdom, and the economic and social kingdoms would subsequently follow. He thus called for a borderless Africa, a Common Market, and a Union Government with common Pan-African institutions in defence (an African High Command), foreign policy, common citizenship, a common communications system and currency, an African Monetary Zone, and a continental Central Bank. Nkrumah further argued for joint institutions in the areas of industries, agriculture, and hydro-electric power, insisting that a united Africa would not only attract greater foreign investment, but also create more of its own capital to facilitate industrialisation. For the Ghanaian dreamer, delaying the continental government would lead to fragmentation and strengthen the forces of neo-colonialism: words that would prove prophetic.

The Poet: Léopold Senghor

Senegalese poet-president, Léopold Senghor, was an intellectual Prophet of the concept of Negritude which sought to restore African dignity through glorifying its cultural past. As a politician, Senghor was the very anti-thesis of Nkrumah’s federalism, instead championing African cooperation in the economic, financial, cultural, technical and scientific spheres, while pursuing minimalist political cooperation in which African states harmonised their foreign policies. In Addis, the Senegalese poet lyrically pushed his ideas on cultural decolonization, arguing: “The consciousness of our community of culture, our African-ness, is a necessary preliminary to any progress along the road to unity….it is on spiritual energy that we must call. We must forge together a common soul.” Senghor directly challenged Nkrumah’s federation as a recipe for disaster, instead arguing the case for gradualist integration, using subregional organisations as building blocs for eventual continental unity. He criticised the Ghanaian leader’s idea of a Common Market as a limited customs union, pushing instead for an Economic Community that harmonised planning and promoted the free movement of goods and persons. Senghor ended by stressing the need to acknowledge that a Common Market would result in the loss of customs duties which helped protect infant industries and were vital to government revenues in every African country.

The Sage: Julius Nyerere

Tanzanian (then Tanganyika) president, Julius Nyerere, was a Philosopher-King who had translated Shakespeare’s play, Julius Caesar, into Swahili in 1963. He often sought to steer a middle path between Nkrumah’s federalist Union and Senghor’s functional cooperation. Nevertheless, Nyerere often sounded as radical as Nkrumah in denouncing imperialism – “the slave raids organised all over Africa by those powers whose prestige was built upon the humiliation of Africa” - and in advocating for a “United States of Africa.” However, his vision recognised the realities of recently independent African states that were not yet prepared to cede their newly-won sovereignty to a supranational Union Government.

In Addis, Nyerere urged African leaders to find a “common denominator” that would enable the continent to speak with one voice. Arguing that since “none of us is prepared in the name of unity to invite a Napoleon to come and bring about such unity by conquest,” the only option was to build consensus through consent. In a subtle dig at Nkrumah, he praised Senghor as embodying his “common denominator”, while noting that the OAU Charter could not be revolutionary, as African integration had to be a gradual process based on what the political traffic could bear. Indirectly chiding Nkrumah, the Tanzanian Sage noted: “A true revolutionary is one who analyses any given situation with scientific objectivity and acts accordingly.” Nyerere concluded his contribution by backing Guinean leader, Sékou Touré’s idea that African states should contribute 1% of their national budgets to the liberation of Africa.

 The Revolutionaries: Gamal Abdel Nasser and Ahmed Ben Bella

Two North African revolutionaries round out our survey of the 1963 Addis summit: Egypt’s Abdel Nasser and Algeria’s Ben Bella. Nasser strongly supported Algeria in the savage war of independence waged by imperial France in which one million Algerians perished. In Addis, he cautioned that “the continent faces the most dangerous stage of its struggle and following the miracle of birth it faces responsibility of life, growth and strong survival.“ As one of the foremost Prophets of non-alignment, the Egyptian revolutionary criticised foreign military bases in Africa. He condemned the UN as an imperialist tool for US-led Western powers, citing the case of the Congo and the martyrdom of Patrice Lumumba. Nasser was also critical of the declining terms of trade of African raw materials compared to the ever-rising prices for Western manufactured goods, consistently urging that Africa employ an “organising mind and dynamic nerves” to take initiatives such as creating a Common Market to tackle the ravages of under-development.

Ben Bella’s Algeria had gained independence barely a year before the Addis Ababa summit. His speech thus reflected the revolutionary fervour of a blood-soaked birth following eight years of selfless struggle against unspeakable French colonial crimes. For Ben Bella, the main task of conferees drafting the OAU Charter in Addis was clear: ”this Charter will remain a dead letter unless we take concrete decisions, unless we lend unconditional support to the peoples of Angola, of South Africa, of Mozambique and others.” Instead of a development bank, the Algerian leader called for a blood bank to support the revolutionary martyrs engaged in Africa’s liberation struggles. He then closed with his famous paradoxically immortal words: “So, let us agree to die a little, or even completely, so that the peoples still under colonial domination may be freed and African unity may not be a vain word.”

The Diamond Jubilee: Feast or Funeral?

Emperor Selassie ended his speech in Addis Ababa by asking whether history would remember the conference as a bold one at which African leaders had “bent events to their will and shaped the future destinies of the African peoples,” or be “recalled for its failures, for the inability of African leaders to transcend local prejudices and individual differences, for the disappointment and disillusionment which followed in its train?” Nkrumah’s hopes of continental government suffered a crushing defeat in Addis with the emergence of an OAU Charter that entrenched the gradualism of the majority of African states. The Ghanaian leader cut a lonely and distraught figure in Africa Hall, as he sat slumped with his hands in his face at the realisation that his lofty ambitions had been soundly defeated by pragmatic reality. Diallo Telli, the Guinean first OAU Secretary-General, would soon eloquently capture the atmosphere into which the continental body had been born, as one of “complete alienation, physical exploitation and spiritual torment.”

Six decades later, as the African Union (AU) struggles to fulfil the ambitions of its predecessor’s “Founding Fathers” for a united Africa, the jury is still out on the Ethiopian Emperor’s fundamental question on how history will judge the Addis Ababa summit. Both hope and disappointment continue to characterise Africa’s continuing quest for unity. It is appropriate to end this journey back to the painful birth of African unity, with a 1999 quote by then South African president, Thabo Mbeki, a key architect and host of the creation of the AU, and a Philosopher-King heir to Nkrumah: “We were mere schoolboys when we saw the black star rise on our firmament, as the colonial Gold Coast crowned itself with the ancient African name of Ghana. We knew then that the promise we had inherited would be honoured. The African giant was awakening! But it came to pass that the march of African time snatched away that promise. Very little seemed to remain along its path except the footprints of despair.”

Professor Adekeye Adebajo is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Pretoria’s Centre for the Advancement of Scholarship in South Africa.

The National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPPS) has said the removal of fuel subsidy may cause its members to increase tuition in order to mitigate some of the effects of the policy.

The President of NAPPS, Chief Yomi Otubela, during a webinar titled: “Government Policies and Resultant Effects on Private School Administration: A Case Study on the Removal of Fuel Subsidy”, said any alteration in fuel price inevitably affected their financial sustainability and ability to deliver quality education.

He stressed that the decision to remove fuel subsidy had undeniable repercussions not only for private schools, but for the education sector as a whole.

While calling on the government to provide palliatives for private schools, it called on stakeholders to adopt innovative approaches to minimise the impact of the fuel subsidy on private school administrations in the country.

Isaac Fayose, the younger brother to former Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has applauded President Bola Tinubu’s activeness in office barely a month after inauguration.

Naija News reports that Isaac in a video shared online said the numerous gaffes and speculations about Tinubu’s health are all lies.

Like many others commending Tinubu’s achievement so far, Isaac Fayose said many who didn’t vote for him in the last election are currently regretting it.

He added that the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, will not secure up to 2 million votes if the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) decides to conduct another election.

He said, “If they conduct another election in Nigeria tomorrow, Peter Obi will not get 2 million votes. All the things they were using to deceive us about Tinubu’s gaffes, hand dey shake, leg, head dey shake are all nothing.

“In 13 days the guy don perform, the state can generate electricity. No more blockage as God dey do good, some people think to say na bad, Many people are regretting not voting Tinubu, including me.”

Nigeria’s dollar debt surged after the surprise weekend ouster of the Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele, as fresh comments on merging multiple exchange rates added to signs that President Bola Tinubu is resetting policies blamed for crippling Africa’s biggest economy.

Investors have welcomed the change because it signals a move away from unorthodoxy under the former bank chief.

Emefiele’s policies – including allowing a complex regime of multiple exchange rates – had long been criticised by investors, economists and institutions like the World Bank.

Under his tenure, the central bank also loaned the government of former President Muhammadu Buhari 22.7 trillion naira ($49 billion), helping push public debt to a record 77 trillion naira.

The notes maturing in 2051 rose more than 3 cents on the dollar to as high as 73.74, the biggest gain this year.

The premium investors demand to hold Nigerian debt over US Treasuries fell 46 basis points to 710, the biggest drop this year, according to a JPMorgan index.

‘Naira may weaken to 700 to dollar’

The current naira exchange rate of 471.92 naira to the dollar may likely need to be adjusted to about N700 to N750, closer to the current black market rate, JPMorgan said in an investment note on May 31.

The naira has closed lower for three consecutive days, its longest streak of losses since May 12. Analysts expect that the currency could trade anywhere between 650 and 750 to the dollar as Nigeria allows it to trade more freely.

A naira at that level, combined with President Bola Tinubu’s decision to remove fuel subsidy “means the government does not have (to) borrow as much, just to pay interest on debt,” Head of strategy at FIM Partners, Charlie Robertson, said in a series of posts on Twitter.

Unified rates

Wale Edun, an influential member of Tinubu’s advisory board, told Bloomberg by phone on Monday that the unification of exchange rates was “imminent”.

He noted that, “I would say it would have to be done within a quarter rather than within a year.”

Under Emefiele, Nigeria’s central bank offered the dollar through several windows at tightly controlled rates, with little liquidity to businesses and individuals. This forced many to the black market, where the dollar traded more freely but at about a 60 per cent premium to the official rate.

Emefiele was widely seen as acting in lockstep with the administration of Tinubu’s predecessor, Buhari. That government was perceived to be more statist and socialist in its approach, said Yemi Kale, chief economist for Nigeria at KPMG LLP and the nation’s former statistician general.

“The markets will respond positively to an administration it believes to be more market-oriented,” Kale said.

“To be credible, the implementation of policy changes would most likely need a new team,” Ayo Salami, chief investment officer at Emerging Markets Investment Management Ltd in London, said via email, explaining the market reaction to Emefiele’s ouster.

The International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, Intersociety, yesterday, called for the arrest of the immediate past Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir el-Rufai, over alleged audio tape statement in support of “full Islamic rule” in Nigeria.

The Intersociety led by Emeka Umeagbalasi, spoke with newsmen in Owerri, about El-Rufai’s alleged audio clip, among others. Intersociety linked it to what they called a crime against humanity, genocide and incitement.

According to the group, “The International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law has fully earned the enviable and unrivalled position as Nigeria’s “Nostradamus.” This is to the extent that we have, again, been vindicated by recent revelations by Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, immediate past governor of Kaduna State.

“The former Kaduna governor had a video/audio clip of his boastful “successful transformation of Nigeria into Islamic State by successful replication of full Islamic rule in Kaduna State since 2015 at the federal level,” culminating into the emergence of Muslim-Muslim presidency in Nigeria.

The group alleged: “Intersociety had severally and consistently disclosed in its several reports that the Southern Kaduna anti-Christian butcheries and those of Benue, Plateau, Nasarawa, Kogi, Niger, Taraba, Adamawa and South-West, South-East and the rest are carefully planned, systematically executed and well funded state Jihadism Project; modelled after the ‘Sudanese Janjaweed’ of the Omar Hassan al-Bashir’s atrocious era (1989-2019).

“Intersociety had also categorically stated that its findings showed that the killings had nothing whatsoever to do with the so-called “farmers-herders clashes.

“It must be remembered that Gov El-Rufai had in 2015 abolished the “Kaduna Charter of Equity” by scrapping ‘power sharing between Muslims and Christians. He not only scrapped positions reserved for Christians including the seat of deputy governor of the state but also deployed state machinery, including coercive instruments to unleash unchecked and ceaseless attacks and persecution of Christian leaders in the state.”

“How was your Democracy Day?”

“I woke up early, listened to President Bola Tinubu’s nationwide address, and I went about my daily affairs.” 

“Yesterday was a public holiday. You were expected to stay at home and have a good rest.”

“I can understand if some people enjoyed the holiday, after all it is now more expensive to buy litres of fuel for your vehicle. As things are right now, Nigerians would jump at any opportunity to save fuel costs. Those days of going about like small-pox are gone. People now calculate how they move about. But people like us who always have one thing or the other to do, we have no option. We have to keep the hustle alive. The hustle is real, men.”

“Some people don’t know how to relax in this country, and you are one of them. By the time the high cost of fuel drills holes in your pocket, you will adjust.” 

“How does one relax? How can anyone in this pressure cooker of a society in which we have found ourselves relax? What has democracy brought us?”

“A lot. We are no longer under the shackles of military rule.”

“Democratic rule is better measured in terms of its dividends. Where are the dividends?” 

“I can point to a few. Democracy has given the people the power to choose their own leaders. It has created a new set of leaders. We are in the seventh transition within the Fourth Republic. In 1993, the military may have annulled the Presidential election won by Chief MKO Abiola and denied the people the Hope that he promised them, but here we are in 2023, President Tinubu says he is determined to restore Hope.”

“I saw the same connection that you are trying to draw in President Tinubu’s speech yesterday. I have also heard some people saying that Tinubu and MKO share common traits. You know, I have this gut feeling that the comparison may be overstretched.”

“Tinubu was part of the pro-democracy struggle. He stood at the barricades. When he talks about Democracy Day, he has the requisite credentials to do so.” 

“I sort of like the speech though. The only part I find funny is the reference to Arnold Toynbee. Has Tinubu ever read Toynbee? His speech writers should make him sound natural. They should maintain a consistent tone that projects his ownership of the thoughts. One of these days, they would even make him quote Noam Chomsky. Ha Ha. Ha. But in terms of sentiments, the speech was on point”

“My brother, don’t worry about quotations. Leaders are allowed to show knowledge. Tinubu can even quote Socrates if he wishes. My own take-away is that the President paid tribute to MKO Abiola, as hero and martyr of democracy, the man who stood for democracy, and whose sacrifice became the catalyst for Nigeria’s return to civilian rule in 1999. The President has asked us to embrace the idea of sacrifice and emulate Abiola and that his government will reward us all with infrastructure, and welfare programmes. He also paid tribute to the heroes of democracy.” 

“We are all used to that rhetoric. That is the same rhetoric that has been drummed into our ears since states of the South West began to celebrate Democracy Day on May 29, until the Federal Government separated May 29, the day of presidential inauguration from June 12, which the Buhari administration set aside as Democracy Day and National Holiday. That is one good thing President Buhari did. He also gave MKO, a post-humous GCFR award. But who has sacrifice helped in this country? What has been the gain of the MKO Abiola family? What has anybody done for them? What has anybody done for the families of all the other heroes and heroines who led the struggle for Nigeria’s “second independence” as Tinubu calls it. Joe Igbokwe has written a useful book titled Heroes of Democracy (1999) in which he provides a comprehensive list of persons who participated in the June 12 struggle, and those who died. Remember the founding General Secretary of the Campaign for Democracy (CD), Chima Ubani.  Remember Bagauda Kaltho. Remember those four young men who hijacked a Nigeria Airways Airbus A310, in October 1993 in protest against the annulment of the June 12 Presidential election. They were teenage students of Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA).” 

 “What are you driving at? Neither MKO Abiola nor his supporters resisted military tyranny because they wanted to die so that their families could benefit.”

“Have you ever heard of any revolutionary, change-agent or defender of progressive causes who sets out to die as an ambition? Such persons are often consumed by the contradictions of their societies and their times. But they leave lessons behind. They alter the course of history for good. Please, tell me: have we learnt any lessons from Nigeria’s debacle between 1993 and 1999, and after?” 

“Societies evolve”

“And in what direction is Nigeria evolving?”

“We have hope”

“Hope. What hope? In 1993, Abiola’s slogan was “Hope 93”. In 2023, 30 years later, Tinubu is still looking for that hope. He wants to capture and restore it. In 1993, Abiola preached a message of “farewell to poverty”. In 2023, that same poverty has developed such roots and metastasized so badly like a cancerous organ, we are now told it has a new identity: multidimensional poverty. I guess 30 years is long enough for anything to become multidimensional.”

“You should learn to look at the positive side of things”.

“I am trying. In 1993, before the Babangida administration stopped the announcement of results, the then National Electoral Commission (NEC) had reported that Abiola was leading in 19 out of 30 states and the Federal Capital Territory: all the states in the South West, 5 of the 9 Northern states including Kano; 3 out of the 7 states in the South East, and 4 out of the seven states in the Middle Belt. Abiola ran on the platform of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) on a Muslim-Muslim ticket. Ethnicity did not matter. Religion was not an issue. It is a crying shame that 30 years later, Nigeria has gone back in history. Today, the politics of ethnicity and religion has divided the country. We have gone from bad to worse.” 

“1993 is not 2023, my friend. The times have changed. Our democracy continues to grow.”

“Tell me how”

“Today for example, on the 13^th day of June, in the year of our Lord 2023, President Tinubu shall proclaim the inauguration of Nigeria’s 10^th National Assembly and the lawmakers shall choose their own leaders”

“Very good. A major event immediately after President Tinubu’s first Democracy Day in office. Have you been reading the news?” 

“What about the news? Journalists are always spinning the news to suit their own biases and the expectations of their sponsors.” 

“Don’t say that. Journalists hold a mirror up to society. The leadership race in the National Assembly has been dogged by so-called party supremacy, the hypocrisy of the political elite, rancour, corruption, division and manipulations. Quite typical.”

“Nothing will happen. It shall be well. The APC has spoken. Tinubu has spoken.”

“Spoken what? Are you not aware that there are aggrieved parties who are ready to assert the independence of the legislative arm of government? In fact, are you not aware that the Chairman of the ruling APC advised the anointed persons for positions of presiding officers to arrive early at the Assembly or camp out there overnight to prevent what happened in 2015 under similar circumstances?”

“What happened in 2015?”

“Go and find out. You see why this country needs to teach History at all levels? A grown-up man like you does not know the contemporary political history of his own country.”

“Don’t insult me. Please leave history alone. Am I looking for a job in the civil service?  Am I going for a Quiz competition? As we speak, do you know how much would have been distributed overnight to all the aggrieved lawmakers? Money talks, my brother. As money speaks, the numbers will add up. I am hungry, please. Where can we find something to eat?” 

“Go to Oye-Ekiti where Damilola Adeparusi, aka Chef Dammy is trying to break Hilda Baci’s 100-hour cook-a-thon. I hear she has been cooking for more than 80 hours and that her target is to beat Tata Tandon and Hilda Baci. In Oye-Ekiti, food is ready.” 

“Nigeria is a wonderful place. We haven’t even heard from the Guinness Book of World Records on Hilda Basi’s marathon effort, now someone else is trying to compete with her for the record.”

“I don’t think Dammy is competing with Hilda. Imitation, they say, is the best form of flattery. You better start heading towards Oye-Ekiti. I am sure there would be piping hot amala and pounded yam on offer.” 

“There is a difference between a cook and a chef. Hilda looks to me like a chef. I would say Dammy is a cook.” 

“There is no such difference. Both prepare food for human consumption”

“Flavour is important. You want to compare food that is prepared in Oye-Ekiti, to food that is prepared in Lagos? You want to compare Maybach to Toyota Corolla?” 

“Come off it, my friend. Both ladies deserve to be encouraged.”

“Okay, if you can’t go to Oye-Ekiti, maybe you can make it to Ibadan where I hear one Temitope Adebayo, has also announced plans to cook for 140 hours to beat both Hilda Baci and Dammy. At this rate, they will turn this whole country into a kitchen oh. It has even been reported that Woli Arole is also looking for a place in the Guinness World Record. He is looking at a 5000-hour prayer marathon. He says he will announce a commencement date very soon.”

“Lobatan ooh. Nigeria, we hail thee! As some people are cooking, others want to pray. Do you think all this cook-a-thon, pray-a-thon has anything to do with the removal of fuel subsidy? Is there money attached to the Guinness World Record? Are Nigerians depressed?”

“I don’t know. But in case you change your mind, just make sure you don’t eat ponmo anywhere, no matter how well prepared”

“Ponmo ke? You can’t be serious. I like my ponmo, especially when it is soft, well-peppered, subsumed inside vegetable sauce, and combined with snails, both exciting the palate in a manner that makes you forget all the troubles of the world. Then give me palm wine or a chilled bottle of Shine Shine Bobo, Star Lager to push it down the gut...” 

“Ole! Just don’t go and kill yourself. The Federal Ministry of Agriculture has advised that people should stop eating hides, smoked meat and bush meat because of an outbreak of anthrax disease in the West African sub-region. You will just fall sick by eating what you are not supposed to eat.” 

“Na lie. I have been eating ponmo since I was a child. The Federal Government guys think they can lie to us to save animal hides and skins for leather production. They lie too much. The leather and tannery industry in Nigeria is practically dead. They want to stop our delicacy so they can get more materials for export. I am sure somebody in the Ministry is looking out for his or her own interest.” 

“Just be careful. You may not trust government. But it is not every time that they tell lies for selfish reasons.” 

“Don’t worry yourself. I can’t travel to Ibadan or Oye-Ekiti just to go and eat ponmo. The food won’t be free, anyway. And it is expensive getting petrol these days.” 

“Nigerians are not protesting. We all seem to have adjusted. The beauty of this country lies in the people’s resilience. No matter what hardship life throws at us, we all manage to survive. We are under a special kind of spell.” 

“We are just people of hope, that’s all. Which is why it bothers me to no end that some motorcyclists in, as far away as Cameroon are already protesting over the removal of fuel subsidy in Nigeria.  I saw a video in which they were purportedly abusing President Tinubu for removing fuel subsidy. What is their own in the matter?”

“There you have it, a strong justification for the fuel subsidy removal. Nigeria practically subsidizes fuel consumption in other West African countries. We are the Father Christmas of the region in everything because our leaders have not implemented the right policies over the years. If we get things right, we would be fine. Cameroonians are fighting over fuel subsidy removal in Nigeria. Can you imagine that, when state governments in Nigeria are beginning to ask people to work three days a week, because of fuel subsidy?”  

“Which states are those?”

“Edo and Kwara. But it looks like other states will soon join the bandwagon. Edo has added N10, 000 to the minimum wage in the state but what is N10, 000 when organized labour is asking for a minimum wage of N200, 000.” 

“Increasing the minimum wage won’t solve the problem. There are far more fundamental issues that must be addressed, and they have made the mistake of putting the cart before the horse.” 

“They?”

“Tinubu and his people. You know I have always said I don’t understand why anybody would want to be President of Nigeria at this time. The trouble for this country too much. As you are trying to solve one, another one is rearing its head.” 

“But we all need more money at this time. In fact, the private sector should be asked to increase the minimum pay too.” 

“It is a double-edged sword. If businesses are compelled to increase wages, they may have no option but to sack workers. There will be massive lay-offs. Government itself may not be able to pay. Chaos. Wahala.”

“There is money. President Tinubu has just approved students’ loans. He made that promise. He has kept it. He did not just hit the ground running. Omo, he is beginning to fly!” 

“Why are we like this in this country?”

“Just watch. Tinubu may turn out to be the magician we have been looking for.” 

“I have no opinion on that, until the matter before the tribunal is resolved.” 

“Dey there oh. Keep waiting. No be Nigeria?” 

The Lamidi Apapa-led faction of the Labour Party (LP) has slammed the Julius Abure-led faction of the party for condemning President Bola Ahmed Tinubu over the suspension of controversial Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele.

Naija News reports that in a statement issued by the spokesman of the faction, Dr Abayomi Arabambi, the party congratulated the President for sustaining June 12 as Democracy Day in honour of the democratic sacrifice of late Chief MKO Abiola.

It called on Nigerians to continue to support the good intentions of the Tinubu-led Federal Government and also give condemnation where necessary.

Arabambi said, “We congratulate Nigerians for witnessing the first democracy day under the present administration of President Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. We salute your excellency’s doggedness and commitment to ensuring that our democracy is sustained along the religious, economic and political lines. Labour Party identifies with various reforms going on in the country, the declaration of June 12 as a National Holiday and so many other reforms ongoing.

“Chief MKO ABIOLA’s slogan was Hope 93, and Now we have ‘A renewed Hope 2023’ Even though both were on the platform of Muslim-Muslim tickets but the variation precedent was the zeal and commitment of both MKO and PBAT to a new Nigeria which is not a symptom of religion. We called on the people to continue to support the good intentions of the government, while also condemning rightly when necessary.”

Emefiele

Arabambi stated that Abure’s factions decision to condemn the sack and arrest of Emefiele means the rumours that the suspended CBN governor was part of those that sponsored the Presidential bid of Peter Obi may be true after all.

The LP faction stated that any government official who abuses his office as Emefiele did by running for the seat of the president and inflicting hardship on Nigeria through his ill-timed new Naira redesign policy should be made to face the full wrath of the law.

He said: “Our attention has been drawn to a statement credited to the Peter Obi-Abure-led faction of the Labour Party Spokesperson, Obiorah Ifoh where he irresponsibly claimed that the suspension approved by the president is unconstitutional, vindictive and not in good taste. Peter Obi’s faction out of deliberate falsehood and ignorance even accused the new Chief of Staff to the President Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila of complicity for not speaking up since he is now with the Government.

“We were all living witnesses to the travails of Nigerians to the different anti-masses policies rolled out to Nigerians by the embattled CBN Governor, and as a responsible Party, we will not just sit down and condemn a lawful inquiry into the years of the inglorious and corrupt reign of Emefiele, but rather called on the relevant security agencies to properly look into the action and deeds of the ex-governor. It is on records that Peter Obi and Julius Abure criminally appropriated to themselves an illegal labour party campaign fund to the tune of N12b and $15m the fund they had access to during the inglorious days of the grossly incompetent stints of the suspended CBN Governor Mr Godwin Emefiele through the deliberate affliction of pain and agony on the generality of Nigerians.

“The Obiorah statements are laced with tribalism, egocentrism and nepotism, and what this tells us is that all the rumours that Emefiele was part of those that sponsored the Presidential bid of Peter Obi may be true after all. How do we explain that people with sane minds will be supporting somebody that kept millions of Nigerians on their knees for almost nine years with records of impunity, poorly-executed fiscal and monetary policies? For the first time in Nigeria’s history, a sitting Central Bank Governor was seen dabbling into politics, yet Obiorah never sees the reason why he must be investigated and prosecuted if found guilty.

“Also during his tenure, we were informed how DSS accused Emefiele of terrorism financing. He was accused of funding the activities of the proscribed pro-Biafra group, IPOB and others. As a party, we will not support any acts of witch hunting, nor support any move to suppress good moves at getting to the root of Nigeria’s economic crisis under Emefiele. We, therefore, called on DSS and other security agencies to distinctly carry out their investigation workout any hindrance and inform the public of their findings as Nigerians are waiting patiently to know why they were so impoverished under the policy reel out by Emefiele.”

When contacted for a reaction by The PUNCH, LP National Publicity, Obiora Ifoh, declined to speak much on the matter.

“We don’t want to be reacting to anything today. The moment we speak, we are giving them undue publicity. Virtually everybody knows they are impostors by now based on what they keep saying. We are interested in speaking on issues of national importance and not reacting to these miscreants.

“But in this case, it is like giving them oxygen,” Ifoh said.

Concerned Parents of Chibok Girls have written to President Bola Tinubu to help facilitate the release of 92 abducted girls still in Boko Haram’s captivity.

This was just as the affected parents congratulated Asiwaju Tinubu and Senator Kashim Shettima on their assumption of office as president and vice president of Nigeria respectively.

The appeal was made in a letter issued on behalf of Concerned Parents by Yana Galang (mother to Rifkatu Galang still in captivity) and Zanna Lawan (father to Aisha Lawan still in captivity).

The parents, in the letter, begged President Tinubu to help them in releasing the remaining girls still in captivity, pointing his attention to the predicament they had been in since “2014 when 276 of our daughters from Chibok Government Secondary School were abducted.”

“It has been years of pain and agony for us and we are disheartened that nine years later and a few months before the end of the immediate past administration, 92 of these girls remain in Boko Haram captivity, subjected to unimaginable ordeal and abuse at the hands of their captors,” they said.

They said in Tinubu’s inaugural speech, despite not making a direct pledge, particularly regarding their plight in Chibok, the president pledged to make security a top priority.

“It is on this premise, therefore, we the concerned parents of Chibok humbly seek Your Excellency’s attention to once again beam a searchlight to the recovery of the remaining 92 of our kidnapped daughters,” the parents said.

The parents, while making the appeal, noted that former President Muhammadu Buhari in his own inaugural speech on May 29, 2015, said his administration could not claim to have defeated Boko Haram without rescuing Chibok girls, recalling that a statement dated April 14, 2021, titled: “Chibok Girls Still on Our Minds” was also released and further reminded them of the former president’s promise and reassured them that all their girls would be rescued and reintegrated back into their communities.

“With the baton changing under the same political party now in 2023, history will no doubt be kind to you, your family, your government and your party if these statements from your predecessor are achieved under you, more so, with our son, Vice President Shettima.

“Mr President, we seek you to be the light that will illuminate our darkness, end our writhing pains, dry our tears, and free us from the shackles of sadness, sorrow, and anguish this trajectory has brought into our existence.

“When we marked the ninth year’s remembrance of the abduction this year, we didn’t think we would hold any more commemoration, and the truth is that we don’t want to, but, regrettably, so it seems, except you come to our rescue and give us succour, another sober commemoration knocks. We wait patiently for this succour as our acceptable alternative,” the parents stated.

The new Board Chairman of the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), Abdulhakeem Abdullateef, has condemned the passage of the NDIC Act, 2023.

Naija News recalls that the immediate past President, Muhammadu Buhari signed the NDIC (Repeal and Reenactment) Bill of 2023 into law on May 26, 2023, and repealed the NDIC Act, of 2006.

In a Facebook Live session on Monday, Abdullateef accused the suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, and his cohorts of misleading Buhari to sign the bill into law.

The NDIC chairman alleged that the bill assented to by the former president had certain sections that were not included in the version passed by the National Assembly.

The former Lagos State Commissioner for Home Affairs stated that the NDIC should be a fully independent agency, not under the thumb of the CBN Governor who has the responsibility to appoint the NDIC Managing Director.

Abdullateef, who wept during the session, said the president is not allowed to appoint a managing director for the agency under the new law, and asked President Bola Tinubu to probe the passage of the NDIC Act, 2023.

He said: “NDIC stinks. There is a lot of rot going on. They say ‘When you fight corruption, corruption fights you’. This is the purported new act of the NDIC and I tell you for nothing that this is ‘Emefiele’s act’. Here, they have taken away the powers of Mr President in respect of the NDIC. This document that was signed is materially different from the vote and proceedings of the National Assembly that passed it.”

“I want Mr President not to act on this law until it is probed. Probe the passage of this law. Probe the inclusion of section 7 which takes away the right of the Ministry of Finance, which takes away the responsibility of the Ministry of Finance and replaced it with two directors from CBN.

“Probe why what is passed is fundamentally different from what was assented to. Probe what happened between the time the Senate passed it and the House of Representatives passed it and there was no divergence.

“Under the law, do you know the status of this new act? It is null and void. Anytime Mr President assents to a bill that is materially different from what was passed by the Senate and the House of reps, it means there was a material omission and the law was not matured for assent.

“There is a need for the new administration to return this act to the National Assembly when it is proclaimed. They should investigate it and allow National Assembly members to debate. Mr President, don’t act on the new NDIC Act.”