A young man was led into my office as the editor of The PUNCH one day decades ago; his name is Ibe Eresia-Eke (where is he now?), Executive Chairman (as title-crazy Nigerians often over-burden the title “Chairman” as if, standing alone, it is not “executive” enough!) of Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area of Rivers State. He should be happy but he was not because fire was on his rooftop. His advert, which moved me to cause him to be interviewed, is as captured below titled “Don’t break IBB’s heart” Please read:

“The temptation has been strong to write to the President, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, about the blatant and disgraceful use of State power to crush and annihilate opposition party governments in Rivers State. But knowing how much effort he has personally and gracefully invested in the democratic process, it may just be too heart-breaking if he knows that some powerful people in my state are now practically spreading petrol over his carefully-constructed edifice of democracy, ready to strike the match. The cases are legion now. Some of them have already been profusely reported especially in the Sunday magazine (TSM). And certainly, many more, even much more shocking, will be published by the fearless media outfits around, given the manner the power drunkards are carrying on.

In the interest of our nation, however, it has become almost imperative to corroborate much of what the press is doing to fight the wild anti-democratic trends in our dear state. I will attempt to do this by recounting some experience that one has had lately as Chairman of Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area, one of the LGA s controlled by the opposition party in Rivers State, but where can I start from; what do I state; what do I leave out, in this short piece? Anyway, let’s just take a case and be brief.

During the councillors bye-elections of Saturday, 19th July, 1992, state force literally over-ran the LGA beating, intimidating indigenes of the area, and destroying properties. Naturally, people reached for the recesses of their houses to hide. Voters had to face the concern of escaping with life, a fortiori standing on the queue to vote. Of course, this sounds so much like fiction. It is almost incredible. But we can list even the numbers of vehicles employed in the operation, namely: RV 8119 DA, RV 8075 DA (both belonging to the Rivers State Transport Corporation). And to clear any stubborn doubts about the source of the vehicles, there was also a Toyota Jeep with registration number 25 RSVG 9. The vehicles, loaded with uniformed policemen and thugs, fired with the zeal of men on a State mission and armed to the teeth to do havoc to persons and property.

As you may have guessed, many indigenes, including those standing in the election on the platform of the opposition party, were bundled to far-away Port Harcourt, the seat of power, to be locked away and (to be)thoroughly tortured. The private house of Dr. Kingdom Ogbangba, Deputy Minority Leader in the State House of Assembly, was verily vandalised and damaged. Let us leave out things too obscene to be published in a respectable medium like this! Of course, you may already have guessed this: At the end of the day, “election results” were announced and landslide victories were recorded. It may be reasonable to ask: What did the police in the area do when all this was being perpetrated? But what does a conscientious and upright police DPO and his men do in the face of “superior onslaught”, knowing the command structure of our police system? Indeed, as if to add salt to injury, shortly after an earlier DPO was transferred out of the area, probably for being uncooperative, his successor faces the same fate already. A local paper has, in fact, reported that the DPO has been threatened by kulaks with the right party connections with “immediate transfer” from the LGA. Of course, much of all this only goes to corroborate and confirm reports of intention to destabilise; annihilate the local government controlled by the “opposition party” and impeach its Chairman by “all means possible”. Part of the strategy has been to spread all manner of calumny against the local government and its Chairman to cause disaffection in the local community, hoping to garner a major unrest within the area and then nullify the government and appoint a sole administrator. Given the grassroots support of the government, however, and the grace of Almighty God, none of their wishes have materialised.

But the fight is being intensified through all means as promised. Already police have reported that at least three of their most influential agents… have made very desperate efforts to use our councillors by offering them huge sums of money to sign a document containing cooked-up allegations against my person (the LG chairman). The reports have, in fact, pleaded with the police to “commence thorough investigations to find out their financiers. I will not relent until their allegations against the Deputy Governor are proved” The outcome of the investigation has not reached my office but what is evident is that four formally loyal councillors have resigned. Many believe they fell for the huge financial inducements offered them. The whole game-plan is to weaken the numerical strength of the loyal councillors, inject their own men and, finally, impeach or turn me into a stooge taking instructions from Government House. Whether this works or not remains to be seen.

For good measure, let me add that given the devilish desperation with which they are purchasing  their fancy “by all means”, whatever happens to me should be traced to them. To be sure, this tendency to deal with the LGA governments of the opposite parties all over the State is the same. But the import of all this comes once one extrapolates what is happening in Rivers State to all the states in the federation. Viewed from that perspective, it comes out clearly that the gravitation is towards annihilating the opposite parties even at the Local government level. Gradually, this tendency may infect the entire nation and two consequences are possible: That all should acquiesce and join one party or resist and fight back. Whichever way the reaction comes, it spells the end of democracy once again.

This is why I had thought that, maybe, IBB should not see this because given the investment in time, men and resources that have gone into erecting the democratic edifice this time; these trends may break his heart. But one thing is very certain, the security forces must do something fast to arrest the “hoodlums against democracy” in whatever guise they may appear, be they deputy (or despotic) governors!”

How did events eventually play out? That was during the unending transition to civil rue rigmarole of IBB beginning in the 1980s, which eventually climaxed in the June 12, 1993 elections which MKO Abiola won fair and square but which was annulled by the IBB junta, throwing the country into a political logjam or impasse that was not resolved until after five despotic years of the vilest dictator of them all, Gen. Sani Abacha, and the benevolent dictatorship of Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, stained, however, with the death in detention of Abiola. With the benefit of hindsight today, can we not say that the confidence reposed by Eresia-Ike in IBB as the defender of democracy was misplaced, given that the self-same IBB annulled the freest and fairest election in the land, thereby wasting the huge resources expended on the process and truncating democracy? The shenanigans that caused Eresia-Ike to run from pillar to post took place some four decades ago: Can we say we have made appreciable progress or are we still trapped in the woods? Do opposition parties fare better today? I leave everyone to judge!

If he looks back today at his illustrious but chequered career, I think I can guess a few things that must have broken IBB’s heart.  One is the parcel bomb that killed the celebrated journalist, Dele Giwa, on 19 October, 1986 during IBB’s watch. The unresolved nature of the dastardly murder must be giving the former military president sleepless nights. More so if the reported last words of Giwa: “This must be from Mr. President” continues to ring in IBB’s ears. The Major Gideon Gwaza Orkar coup of 22 April, 1990 is another incident that may give IBB heartbreak. IBB escaped by the whiskers but not before the coupists had taken him and his government to the cleaners. The terrible things said about IBB, if they continue to ring in his ears, may trouble his heart. The outgoing government of Gov. Samuel Ortom of Benue State must have opened old wounds and pointedly directed an arrow at IBB’s heart when, last week, he announced a decision to honour Orkar by not only naming a street after him but by also justifying some of his allegations against IBB and his administration.

The “SAP with a human face” letter written by former President Olusegun Obasanjo to IBB was said to have unsettled and rattled the gap-toothed self-styled military president. Not given to pulling punches, Obasanjo pummeled IBB and his government hard, accusing both of putting Nigerians through unthinkable suffering and unmitigated misery. Whenever IBB thinks of a man who hits you hard but you dare not hit him back, his heart may break. Next is the IMF debate during which Nigerians rejected the IMF loan and its conditions but IBB and Chief Olu Falae, at first IBB’s Secretary to the Federal Government and later Minister of Finance; went ahead against popular opinion to accept the loan. That decision laid the foundation for the decimation of the Naira. If the national currency has lost a huge percentage of its old value today, the blame rests with IBB and Falae, aka Mr. SAP. Which conscionable leader will remember that and not suffer heartbreak?

I can go on and on! The execution, on 5 March, 1986, of Gen. Mamman Jiya Vasta, said to be a childhood and bosom friend of IBB, by the same IBB, cannot but give anyone a heartbreak, especially when, years later, Gen. Domkat Bali, who had announced to a bewildered nation the execution of the alleged coupists “about an hour ago” was quoted as saying he was not sure they were right in the decision they took! Who will hear that and his heart will not break, especially each time the media decides to conduct interviews with Vatsa’s widow and children that opened old wounds? IBB’s decision to step aside on 27 August, 1993 was not an easy one. Reports had it that his wife and glamorous First Lady, Maryam, never brooked that. As editor of The PUNCH, we published a daily “Countdown to Democracy… so and so days to go” which impeccable sources said enraged Maryam. “Who told them we are going!” she was quoted as saying! But go, they did and could that not have broken IBB’s heart? IBB stepped aside and has not been able to step back in ever since. Seeing Obasanjo and, next, Muhammadu Buhari achieve the feat of military Head of State and, later, civilian President, is that not enough to break IBB’s heart?

TO BE CONTINUED.

When news broke that Seun Kuti, the Afrobeat artist, allegedly slapped a policeman and had been declared wanted, my instinctive response was: under no circumstances should anyone assault a law enforcement officer. Sadly, this is becoming a game for some Nigerians. They brag about hitting a police officer or kidnapping a policewoman who is heard shouting: “Help me, help me, help me… he dey carry me dey go where I no know.” They even post the videos on social media to celebrate their adventures. It is fun to them. Somehow, the dangers — and repercussions — do not seem to dawn on the perpetrators. We can as well dissolve the police if we think they are not worth some respect.

According to a version of the Seun story that I read online, the police officers were driving carelessly, hit his car and sped off. Seun, who said he feared his family was in danger, caught up with them and appeared to, in a fit of rage, slap one officer. It was captured on video. The policeman did not respond, which was quite unusual. Perhaps, he recognised Seun as a celebrity — son of the legendary Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, who himself was not a friend of the police having suffered brutality in their hands all his adult life. Previous videos soon surfaced showing Seun appearing to brag that he had an established tradition of slapping police officers and that Nigerians should not fear them.

A lot has been said and written about the incident and why Seun was right or wrong to, literally, take the law into his own hand. I have two arguments to make herein. One, under no circumstance should any citizen lay a hand on a police officer, or any law enforcement agent for that matter. Two, while the case is in court and we hope that justice will be done, I want to draw some lessons from the Seun saga, most importantly the need to improve police-citizen relations to address the mutual disdain and distrust. The process will involve working on both the police and the populace. While police impunity has no place in a civilised society, so also is any form of attack on an agent of the state.

For starters, attacking a police officer is a no-no any day, anywhere, anytime. Nowhere in the world is that acceptable. It is not just an attack on an agent of the state, it is an affront on the state itself. You are actually undermining the state. The US has some of the most brutal and racist police forces in the world, but God help you if you attack a cop. We all know the story of Eric Garner, the unarmed black man who was choked to death in 2014 by a New York City police officer. Garner’s dying words of “I can’t breathe” remain haunting and traumatic till today. People watched helplessly. Of course, police misconduct also undermines the state and that is why there is a process to discipline erring officers.

But, as in Seun’s case, what is the remedy available to citizens whose rights are being violated by law enforcement officers? If indeed the police hit his car, shouldn’t there be a process for redress? And I am not talking about the case of Seun the celebrity alone, but Seun the ordinary Nigerian who suffers from police excesses daily. Most incidents go unreported. While nothing on earth justifies the alleged violent conduct of the artist, we also have to design and implement a public complaints process to help treat police excesses and misdemeanours. If there is such a process, it must be reliable and citizens must be assured that it is safe to make use of it. Citizens shouldn’t feel helpless.

Some years ago, a commercial bus driver I had become acquainted with (he was a friend to my driver, so he too had become family) called me frantically on the phone. He was panting at the other end. What happened? He said he was at the Lagos state police task force yard at Alausa, Lagos, and if I did not come to his rescue immediately, he was going to be transferred to Kirikiri prisons. What happened? He said he was driving somewhere in Maryland and wanted to pick a passenger at an illegal stop. But when he saw the van of the task force behind him, he quickly took off, only for them to give him a chase and drive across him to force the bus to stop so that he could be arrested.

“Unfortunately,” he said, “it was so sudden I could not stop completely and I brushed their van.” I went into panic mode instantly. I knew what was going to happen next. He said they beat him so much he thought he was going to die. This was somebody’s husband and father. But his ego was not the issue. He said they stole all the money they found on him, then arrested him and his bus, and took both of them to their Alausa yard, asking him to repair the van. He said he saw many motorists at the yard in the same trauma. He became agitated when he saw an elderly woman begging for the release of her son who had been transferred to Kirikiri because he could not pay his way out.

I made arrangements to pay for the repair of the van. I also secured the release of his bus so that he could continue to earn his daily 2k and feed his family. The last I heard from him was that he was no longer driving a commercial bus because he was tired of “police trouble”. This is the lot of many Nigerians. If police are going to arrest any citizen for any infractions, physically assaulting the suspected offender should never be part of the formalities. There should be a process available to ordinary citizens to address these issues which are so commonplace. The notion that you can assault a police officer as a way of exacting a revenge is completely wrong and should never be an option.

In my opinion, the Seun incident offers a good prompt for the incoming president, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to pursue a comprehensive and wholesome reform of the police, chief of which must be rebuilding relations between the force and the public. It is a matter of urgent national importance. Although we have spent a lot of energy debating the necessity of state police and whatnot, my concern here is more about police conduct rather than who controls what. We need a holistic approach to police professionalism and operations. In a democracy, police are the most visible law enforcers. We do not need to exaggerate the importance of mutual trust and respect.

I know the police have their own internal disciplinary process and I testify that they punish errant officers, perhaps more than any other law enforcement agency in Nigeria. But I also know that there may be more cases of cover-up and undue esprit de corps than we know. The instinct of the police is to defend their own against outsiders, even if it means making up stories. The police reportedly said the officer allegedly slapped by Seun is now in coma. Since this has not been denied, I would say this is the kind of tales that rile Nigerians about the force. It is difficult to build trust when the police, as an institution, are perceived to be deceitful by the citizens. This erodes the vital confidence.

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) is supposed to address human rights abuses committed by the police but I am not sure Nigerians can feel the commission. I also know that the Police Service Commission (PSC) is empowered by law to dismiss and exercise disciplinary control over persons (except the inspector-general of police) in the force, but it seems they only deal with what the police officially present to them. In the UK, complaints against the police are handled by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), which is not headed by a police officer, either serving or retired. IOPC handles public complaints. Maybe NHRC can be more active in this area.

Another message from the Seun incident is the importance of digitising police operations. One, they are overdue for body cameras, which can be useful in disciplinary hearings, among other purposes. But for the viral video, Nigerians would have found it hard to believe the slapping incident. Two, policing should be more sophisticated. Criminal investigations can be helped in no little way through a digitised system such as CCTVs and computerised internal communication. Three, why should police be asking for your driving and vehicle licences if they can search the database on a hand-held device? Four, police stations should be upgraded and modernised. They mostly look like pit latrines.

I further propose that the welfare, training and retraining of policemen and women should be a core objective of any reform that is intended to be revolutionary. They are frustrated and they inevitably become dangerous and vicious. Moreover, their operations need to be well funded because the neglect is part of their frustration. We created the conditions that make them vulnerable to corruption. When we give them patrol vehicles with no fuel, they will extort motorists to keep going. There is hardly any budget for investigations, or maybe the budget is mismanaged. A complainant is often asked to foot the bill. Pray, what the hell is that? Where in the world does that happen?

Finally, the society needs a reorientation as well. If we treat police officers as human beings worthy of respect, perhaps we will get respect from them in return. If we treat them as scumbags, they will reciprocate. No matter our frustrations, we should never attack a law enforcement officer. As bad as we think they are, I would never be comfortable without seeing them on the road. When they went on strike in 2002, the banks refused to open for fear of robbery. In the end, these are the guys roasting under the sun or getting drenched in the rain to keep us safe and maintain law and order. They are awake while we are sleeping. For whatever it is worth, they deserve some appreciation.

No matter their excesses, we can only keep campaigning to make the police get better. I think police reform should be a big item on the agenda of the new administration. While we are at it, we must get rid of this habit of glorifying attacks on security agents. Ice-T, the American rapper, had to recall his ‘Cop Killer’ album in 1992 after a negative public reaction to what he called a “protest record”. No, you cannot be glamorising killing a cop! People also need to remember that attacking a security agent has consequences. There is a price to pay. In his 1973 mega hit, ‘I Shot the Sheriff’, Bob Marley said he did it in “self-defence” — but wisely added a one-verse bridge: “If I am guilty I will pay.”

AND FOUR OTHER THINGS…

MATA FIRE

Governor Bello Matawalle of Zamfara state has been very outspoken since he lost his re-election bid. He said “presidency” sent soldiers to ensure his loss because of his opposition to the naira recolouring policy. Last week, Matawalle fired more shots, saying the EFCC should not focus its investigations on governors alone but also on “presidency” officials. But as it turned out, the EFCC said Matawalle is being probed over allegations of money laundering. About N70 billion was mentioned. He too has accused Mr Abdulrasheed Bawa, the EFCC chair, of demanding a $2 million bribe from him, an allegation Bawa has denied. I am eager to see how this will pan out. Drama.

ATIKU BLINKS

Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the PDP presidential candidate in the 2023 general election, was unhappy that Mr Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, called Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, president-elect, ahead of the May 29 inauguration. Atiku said he was in disbelief because it was a contradiction to the “publicly stated position” of the US. I don’t understand. The only “publicly stated position” of the US government was its congratulatory message to Tinubu after the election, which so infuriated Chimamanda Adichie, Peter Obi’s supporter, that she wrote an open letter to President Joe Biden. Obi too has weighed in, saying the US should have waited for the outcome of litigation. Really?

FLOOD OF BLOOD

The attack on the convoy of US consulate staff and police officers in Anambra state on Tuesday was absolutely disheartening. Their trip to Ogbaru LGA was in respect of a US-funded flood-control project in a state perennially at the mercy of erosion and flooding. Seven persons were killed, including four policemen, with their bodies burnt. The police have blamed the separatist Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and its twin, the Eastern Security Network (ESN), for the attack. When you think things are getting calmer and better, then a sudden destruction. How long shall citizens live in fear? I hope this will be a turning point in the war against insecurity in the south-east. Disturbing.

MENU CARD

Hilda Effiong Bassey “Baci” has cooked her way into the Guinness World Record for marathon cooking, pending ratification. She cooked non-stop for 87 hours and 50 minutes. The record was held by Lata Tondon, the Indian chef who did 87 hours and 45 minutes in September 2019. Guinness records are not what they used to be — people now stage-manage feats — but I was delighted to be a Nigerian yet again with the national solidarity Hilda got. It feeds into my theory that when you take politicking out of the plate, Nigerians do not really hate one another. There is a Naija spirit that binds us together. If only the politicians would take patriotic advantage of this melting pot! Delicious.

Curses are unseen and unidentifiable forces speaking against one's well-being, progress or existence. It can be an instrument for punishment or persecution. You see the effects manifesting physically, but the cause or source remains unseen. It can come from man, from Satan or even from God. You call that from God divine curses. Now, all of them can turn generational if not properly dealt with. That is, they can be transferred from parents to their children, children's children and it goes on. From one generation to another. For example, if the generation curse (punishment) is poverty, every generation that comes up from that lineage will be poor; living in terrible financial, economic struggle. If it is sickness, you find out that their generations will always come with the same type of ailment or even worse than those before them. And generational curses tend to grow worse by generations. True.

   Now, what are the things that can bring about curses that can turn generational? Idolatry, immorality, stealing, treachery, murder, mockery, disobedience, etc, all these can bring terrible generational curses to a family or a place. Yes, individuals, families, cities, nations and environments can be cursed. You can find all these in the bible. And you can get all these from my book Breaking Generational Curses: Claiming Your Freedom by Gabriel Agbo, because space and time will not allow us to exhaust them here. Check it out on Amazon. Now can we take them one after the other?

Idolatry/Occultism 
  One of the things that attract divine curses that will always run generational is idolatry. Idolatry is simply giving God's place or worship to other things. It means leaving the creator to worship the created. This worship could be to Satan, spirits, demons, angels, humans, animals, etc. Or to their inanimate representation in rocks, stones woods, images, objects, etc. Any form of diversion of God's place and worship to any created being or object is idolatry. Those that their parents practiced occultism, idolatry, witchcraft will always have a heavy generational price to pay and the deeper the practice the harder the curses. Curses that follow idolatry and occultism are often terrible. And this is what many families are going through – untimely deaths, madness, lack of progress, violent crimes, etc, True.

   The only worship that God accepts is the one that is coming to him through his only begotten son Jesus Christ. Anything short of this will definitely attract God's punishment (curses). God hates idolatry with passion. No wonder he has always said that it is distasteful and abominable to him. He calls it spiritual adultery, spiritual harlotry and union with demons. And the Bible has always identified Satan as the Devil; who is the head of all idolatry and occultism. If you are into any form of these occult practices, just know that you are inviting curses upon yourself and your next generations. You and your next generations will battle with unseen hindrances. We have read it before and I beg to repeat it here. Again, listen to God in Exodus 20:2-6: He said that he will punish the children of idolaters and occult people for the sins of their parents to the third and fourth generations. My God! This is terribly fearful! So many people, families are going through this right now. We will continue next week. God bless!

When I was growing up in the village in the 60s and 70s, my dear mother always told me, “you will bury me”. I could not then process the meaning. Why would my mother who was still alive, hale and hearty, tell me I will bury her? I can now understand. Indeed, I did bury her in a most befitting manner when she transited in 1997. May our children not kill us. May they bury us instead. Amen. Itsee. This is thus the usual prayer of parents. This has not quite worked out for the Ekweremadus. The genesis and revelation of their ordeal leading to their conviction and jail in faraway cold London arose wholly from their child's kidney malfunction and their perseverance as parents to save her life. Sonia, the recurring decimal in their travails, puts it most eloquently when she moaned, "I feel guilty, I feel like all this has happened because of me". She is right. Her health condition called Nephrotic syndrome, a condition where the kidney does not function properly, ignited the entire brouhaha.

Sonia’s survival depends on continuous dialysis for the rest of her life; or a kidney transplant. Senator Ekweremadu’s desire to save his daughter’s life has now put him away in cold London for nearly 10 years. He was first arrested with Beatrice, his wife, on June 23, 2022, by the London Metropolitan Police. They were charged with conspiracy to facilitate the travel for another person with the intention of exploitation – specifically for organ harvesting. At the Uxbridge Magistrate Court where they were arraigned the next day, they pleaded not guilty. They were ordered to be remanded in custody by Magistrate Lois Sheard, pending hearing, because of the severity of the charge. God, may our children bury, not kill us.

THE HOLY BOOKS TO OUR RESCUE

The Bible in Ecclesiastes 6:3 (King James Bible version), tells us:

"If a man beget an hundred children, and live many years, so that the days of his years be many, and his soul be not filled with good, and also that he have no burial; I say, that an untimely birth is better than he."

The Holy Quran, Surah Al-Anam (the cattle) in 6:151 states, "Say (O Prophet to the infidels), “Come, and I shall recite what your Lord has prohibited for you: Do not associate anything with Him (as His partner); and be good to parents, and do not kill your children because of poverty - We will give provision to you, and to them as well - and do not go near shameful acts, whether they are open or secret; and do not kill a person whom Allah has given sanctity, except rightfully. This He has enjoined upon you, so that you may understand”.

The Ekweremadus’ nasty experience makes me really sad and sober. I can only at juncture find no consolation than the poem of Adly Guigris, in loving memory of Jackson Antonio Clark, titled: "No Parent should have to bury their child." May our children bury, not kill us.

ORIGIN OF THE PRAYER

“May our children bury but not kill us” is a cheeky twist on the traditional notion of the abhorrence of parents burying their own children. It is a reminder that we should strive to create a future where our children outlive and bury us, rather than they inheriting a world where we dig their own graves. It is also the twist of a degenerate phrase by which we are made to pay for the sins of our children. This ancient belief encapsulates the essence of inter-generational responsibility and the urgency to take action. It is a gentle nudge, reminding us that our decisions today do ultimately shape the world our children will inherit tomorrow.

"Let our children bury, but not kill us" therefore serves as a witty call to duty, inviting us to consider the consequences of our today’s actions and the legacy we intend to leave behind. It challenges us to think beyond our immediate needs and desires. It urges us to prioritize the well-being of future generations. The proverb also serves as a whimsical reminder that our children deserve a better world where they can flourish, rather than being burdened with the consequences of our own mistakes. In its clever twist, it encourages us to embrace responsible decision-making and sustainable practices as we navigate the complex challenges of our time. This is to ensure we leave behind for our children, a world brimming with opportunities and hope.

This proverb wholly encapsulates the challenges of parenthood and the profound sacrifices we make to ensure the continuation of our lineage, even as we journey inexorably to the mythical realm of our ancestors. So, may our children bury, not kill us.

MY HEART BLEEDS FOR THE EKWEREMADUS

This captivating and surreal story of the Ekweremadus has garnered national and global interest of monumental proportions, not solely due to his celebrity status or political notoriety, but primarily because it provokes the question “what would you have done in his peculiar situation?” Readers, answer this question very honestly. Leave out fixations, stereotypes, anger, disappointment, vengeance, revenge, sentiments, emotions, clannishness, nepotism, sectionalism, etc. what would you have done finding yourself in Senator Ekweremadu’s shoes? Tell me. May our children bury, not kill us.

THE CONVICTIONS AND JAIL TERMS

The tale of Senator Ike Ekweremadu’s conviction and 9 years and 6 months jail sentence in a judgement passed on him by Judge Jeremy Johnson at London’s Old Bailey Criminal Court on Friday 5^th May, 2023, is for me personally, heart-rending and most traumatic. To compound the travails of the 60-year-old brilliant Prince of Mpu, Aninri LGA, Enugu State, a 4 time Senator; a brilliant Lawyer and tested Politician, his 50 years old beautiful wife, Beatrice, was also convicted and jailed for 4 years and 6 months. One Dr Obinna Obeta, 50, the very medical doctor (himself a kidney transplant survivor), who was found to have acted as the middleman in the kidney organ harvesting odyssey (which started in May, 2023), was jailed for 10 years. Only Ekweremadu’s daughter, 25 years old Sonia, whose ailment ignited the Ekweremadus’ agony was set free. I personally feel both sympathy and empathy for this great Nigerian, who before his “substantial fall from grace” (to use the words of Judge Jeremy Johnson), loomed larger than life in the political and legislative firmaments of Nigeria. Yes, sympathy and empathy are not contradictory or mutually exclusive. I have sympathy because I feel pity and sorrow for him over his misfortune. Empathy for him because I can understand and feel Ekweremadu’s agony, trauma, tears, pains and pangs, from my own little corner, rather than his. Dr Brene Brown’s TED talk narrated through RSA Animate, explains the difference. Sympathy is when you see someone in a deep hole, but you remain on higher ground and speak to him from above. You may even decide to put a silver lining in his pitiable situation, instead of merely acknowledging his pains.

Conversely, empathy is when you feel for the person and climb down the hole to sit beside him and make yourself vulnerable so as to sincerely connect with the person in pains. In this case, you recognize the person’s struggles and pains, but cannot minimize them. My deep inner feelings for Ekweremadu combine both sympathy and empathy. For those who do not like this my thesis, may our children not kill, but bury us.

THE RICH ALSO CRIES

I have heard and read some people who gloat and jubilate over Ekweremadu's travails. They anchor this mostly on deep-seated anger and sentiments on the usual class "war" between the rich and the poor; the Aristocrats and the peasants. The poor are happy. Yes, happy that the rich for once also cries - courtesy, Amaechi Nzekwe's novel, "The Rich Also Cry: Stories for Young Readers". Even the Holy Bible agrees with this, when it admonishes us in Luke 12:13-11,thus: "Then, give thanks and don't be an ingrate such as the rich fool who thought it was all about his wealth, forgetting that the rich could also cry". The proverb demonstrates that even the rich people have their own painful times when life proves very tough, difficult, even empty and vacuous. A time they want to let go and end it all. Have you, rich readers, ever experienced such a low moment? A state of nadir! Don’t divulge please. But such people basking in a sense of triumphalism easily forget the immortal post-war confessional prose by the anti-nazi regime German theologian and Lutheran pastor, Martin Niemoller, when he said, "First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out - because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I did not speak out – because I was not a Catholic. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out - because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out - because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me - and there was no one left to speak for me”. I do not therefore join the orchestra of those "gotcha" chorus fellows. When you point only one finger at others, the remaining four are pointing at you. When you throw a stone into the market, you do not know whom it may hit. It could be your parents, siblings, children or loved ones. So, may our children bury, not kill us.

THE SENTIMENTS, THE EMOTIONS

IS ORGAN HARVESTING A FORM OF SLAVERY?

In a matter as sensitive as this and which is of international interest, facts and fiction are bound to clash and rival for space. It evokes emotive feelings of the over 2,000 years old slave trade where over 12.5million Africans were enslaved. It took many years of fierce intervention and intercession by the Abolitionists such as William Wilberforce, Thomas Clarkson, William Cowper, Olaudah Equiano (an Igbo man), Alexander Falconbridge, Elizabeth Heyrick, Toussant Louverture, John Newton, Mary Prince and Abraham Lincoln to abolish this man’s inhumanity to man. So, mentioning slavery in modern times evokes emotive feelings of rejection. May our children bury, not kill us. May our children bury, not kill us.

THE MODERN SLAVERY ACT, 2015

 After the British Slave Abolition Act of 1833, the Modern Slavery Act of 2015 was enacted. This Act encompasses human trafficking and all forms of exploitation. These include the act of recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring and receipt of persons.

THE MEANS OF MODERN SLAVERY

The means of modern slavery include coercion, ritual oaths, financial control, debt bondage, abduction, blackmail, abuse of power, over vulnerability, deception, “Stockholm’s syndrome”, grooming, restriction of movement, threats to friends or family, social stigma.

THE PURPOSE OF MODERN SLAVERY

The purpose of modern day slavery includes sexual, labour and criminal exploitation, organ harvesting, bonded labour, domestic servitude, forced fraud, forced marriage, etc.

When I read section 2(1), 2(2), 2(3) and 2(7) of the Modern Slavery Act, 2015, I shook my head. I immediately knew Senator Ekweremadu was in deep trouble. The sections provide as follows:

“(1) A person commits an offence if the person arranges or facilitates the travel of another person (“V”) with a view to V being exploited.

(2) It is irrelevant whether V consents to the travel (whether V is an adult or a child).

(3) A person may in particular arrange or facilitate V's travel by recruiting V, transporting or transferring V, harbouring or receiving V, or transferring or exchanging control over V.

 (7) A person who is not a UK national commits an offence under this section if—(a) any part of the arranging or facilitating takes place in the United Kingdom, or (b) the travel consists of arrival in or entry into, departure from, or travel within, the United Kingdom.”

FACTS AND FICTION

Let us see if we can carefully separate the facts from the fiction; the truth from the falsehood.

ONE NARRATIVE AGAINST DAVID, THE KIDNEY DONOR

David Ukpo Nwamini, the organ victim, was said to have claimed to be 15 and underaged. But the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) disputed this and revealed his true age as 21. The Comptroller General of NIS, Mr Isah Idris, released a statement on June 27, 2022, clarifying that there was no age falsification on the passport issued by the Immigration agency, contrary to David’s claims. He emphasized that the NIS followed proper procedures in issuing the passport. Some people therefore believed that David, the alleged victim actually exploited the couple to seek asylum in the UK. Such people wonder what he was given in return for simply being picked from the streets of Lagos to go to London. Just like that! Why did he receive the sum of N270, 000 he confessed receiving at all? Were the Ekweremadus simply walking on the street and doling out money to whoever cared to receive? Just why?

Ekweremadu's daughter had been diagnosed with a kidney disease and required a transplant. Embracing the South African Proverb: 'Motho ke motho ka batho'—A person's essence is connected to others, Ike Ekweremadu's resolved to aid his ailing child. This was how David came into the picture. May our children bury, not kill us.

WHAT WORKED AGAINST EKWEREMADU

David, the potential donor had been identified and sent to the UK for assessment with the intention of providing the much needed kidney. He was paid. However, it was discovered that David Nwamini’s (the donor) kidney did not match that of Ekweremadu's daughter, Sonia. His ineloquent English also raised suspicion among the doctors as to whether he actually understood what he was about to do. Consequently, David the donor was scheduled to return to Nigeria. However, this source claims, David having seen the beauty of London (away from his dreary life on Lagos streets), reneged and refused to return to Nigeria. Instead, he bolted and sought asylum with the UK Police, after wandering the street for three days. He claimed hunger and attempt by the Ekweremadus to harvest his kidney. His story was moving. Even believable. May our children bury, not kill us.

DAVID, THE VICTIM, STATES HIS OWN CASE

However, David Nwamini, the individual at the centre of this case, denied this. He sais he had always longed for life in the United Kingdom, away from his wheelbarrow business of selling recharge cards, purewater and mobile phone accessories on the streets of Lagos. He claimed that he was enticed to move to the UK with the lure of job opportunities. Nwamini stated this in his impact statement, which was presented in court. Nwamini shared details about his heart-rending humble upbringing in a Lagos village, where he was the eldest among seven siblings living in a dingy household without access to electricity or running water. Of course, this is the typical life of most Nigerians in the ghettos, I can hear many murmur.

David added that due to his father's sudden illness with a heart problem, he was compelled to become a full-time street trader in the city of Lagos to support his family. He therefore resorted to the wheelbarrow business; earning a maximum of £7 per day, and sometimes as little as 50 pennies.

David recounted how an opportunity to work in the UK (a long-held but seemingly unattainable dream), was thus presented to him. However, he was taken aback when he discovered the real purpose of the trip: his organs were to be harvested and given to Ekweremadu's daughter, Sonia.

Hear him: “He [Dr Obinna Obeta, the Medical Doctor middleman], did not tell me he brought me here for this reason, he did not tell me anything about this. I would have not agreed to any of this, my body is not for sale”.

David pleaded that he would not want to return to Nigeria because he is worried for his safety. The victim claimed someone visited his father in Nigeria and asked him to get the victim, his son, to drop the case.

“I worry for my safety in Nigeria; those people can do anything. I think they could arrest me or kill me in Nigeria,” he added. He told the Police he did not want to claim compensation from the “bad people” as it would be “cursed and bad luck”.

Judge Jeremy Johnson was obviously swayed by David’s own touching side of the story. He saw David as the victim who did not deliberately come out to entrap the Ekweremadus. In a very measured (I don’t want to say the usual firm coldness of the British) tone, he convicted Ike Ekweremadu, whom he regarded as “the driving force throughout”.

In this first UK case of its kind, the Judge convicted Ike Ekweremadu for his role in a “despicable trade” that took advantage of the “poverty, misery and desperation” of vulnerable people.

“People-trafficking across international borders for harvesting of human organs is a form of slavery”, the Judge at Old Bailey Criminal Court said as he handed down the jail term.

“It treats human beings and their body parts as commodities to be bought and sold”, he added, noting that the sentence represented a “substantial fall from grace” for Ekweremadu. May our children bury, not kill us.

THE LAW IS CLEAR

Lynette Woodtow, Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor and National Modern Slavery lead at the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), enthused it had been “our first conviction for trafficking for the purposes of organ removal in England and Wales.”

She said it highlighted an important legal principle which made it irrelevant whether the trafficking victim knew he was coming to the UK to provide a kidney.

“With all trafficking offences,” Ms Woodrow said, “the consent of the person trafficked is no defence. The law is clear; you cannot consent to your own exploitation”. It is thus a strict liability offence.

HOW THE TWISTS FAVOURED DAVID

The story in David’s favour suggests that the doctors who had examined David did not know whether a crime had been committed. But, they were obviously not comfortable with the yawning discrepancies in David’s dozier. Was David sure he wanted to donate his kidney? Everything appeared smooth. The bubble however burst when Ekweremadu and Dr. Obinna attempted to dispatch David back to Nigeria. David who had neither been given a job, nor sent to school as he said he was promised, was not prepared to return to Nigeria. So, he bolted from his kernel and ran to a Police Station to save himself from starvation. He lied he was only 15 to curry sympathy. He was asked if he was paid money, and he said he was paid only N270, 000. But, the Police upon scrutiny of the Whatsapp chats between Ekweremadu and Dr. Obeta discovered that Ekweremadu had actually given N4.5 Million to Obeta to be delivered to David. But, a greedy Obeta only gave David a miserly N270, 000 and pocketed the balance. The shame of a merchantilistic medical doctor who may never practise medicine again!

Because Ekweremadu kept away from dealing directly with David, it was easy for Obeta (the middle man) to fleece him. This was why he was unaware and kept in the dark of Obeta’s so glaring a scam. But, Judge Jeremy saw through this façade and simulation. He pierced it. He believed Ekweremadu’s indirect involvement with David highlighted the well-worn style of Aristocrats, who play fast and smart by keeping far away from crime scenes, so as to avoid direct involvement in the crime. They usually maintain some cold distance between themselves and the crime, so as to plead alibi. May our children bury, not kill us.

WHAT MULTIPLIED EKWEREMADU’S WOES

One major factor that was highly detrimental to Ekweremadu’s greatest undoing was Obeta’s lying on Oath. Three official documents he signed stated that David was Sonia’s cousin (thus, Ekweremadu’s nephew). However, all the WhatsApp chats between Dr Obeta and his own brother clearly showed Ekweremadu constantly referring to David as “that guy”. Indeed Obeta was to admit in open court that he had lied. He apologized profusely. The sentiments obviously played out against a “big man” (Ekweremadu) who was ready to pluck out a peasant’s kidney to save his own daughter, by paying £7000 to the donor; and further ready to pay for the surgery with a whopping £80, 000 at the Royal Free Hospital, London. This is one of the most expensive in the UK. May our children bury, not kill us.

No doubt, Ekweremadu’s ignoble fate reminds me of Lord Denning, who was once stated in the case of Gouriet v. Union of Post Office Workers & Ors (1977) 3 All ER 70; (1978) AC 435: “Be you ever so high, yet the law is above you.” Ekweremadu was lucky even escaping life imprisonment, as the Judge reckoned with the 51 page pleas for allocutus by World leaders, civil societies, parliamentarians, International Human Rights Commission (IHRC), ECOWAS, ethnic Nationalities, Nigeria’s own highly lettered former Head of State and President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, GCFR, Ph.D. That was why he got a term less than the life imprisonment provided for by section 5(1) of the Modern Slavery Act, 2015. The offence is more of strict liability. Although it is legal to donate kidney, but such donations must not be paid for. However, evidence showed that Ekweremadu had doled out a whopping £7000 through Dr Obeta, with a new life in Britain promised David. This was the crux of the matter. Judge Jeremy noted all the pleas. But, he was obviously not impressed. He appeared to have seen the pleas as aggravating, rather than extenuating. They demonstrated oppression of the poor by the rich.

Prosecution Counsel Hugh Davies KC, had argued that the behavior of Ekweremadu showed entitlement, dishonesty and hypocrisy. Ekweremedu on the other hand said he was a victim of a scam. Doctor Obeta said the boy was not offered any reward; rather, he acted altruistically. Lies! Ekweremadu’s wife was not privy to the conspiracy hence the lesser service.

Many have wondered aloud (and I tend to agree), how come the English was so quick to enforce the Modern Slave Act, when they never punished those English men who enslaved Africans and Nigerians for centuries. May our children bury, but not kill us.

WAS JUDGE JEREMY JOHNSON TOO HARSH?

In arriving at his decision, Judge Johnson gave reasons and made copious references to sentencing guidelines, mitigating and aggravating factors, including the very real impact on the victim’s life and his well considered rejection of any compensation in respect of which an order could have been made. David had said he did not want money from the bad people. Judge Johnson repeatedly referred to David’s age and ethnicity as factors that put him at greater risk if the donation had gone ahead successfully.

Although Ekweremadu’s sentence was 9 years, 6 months, he is to serve 2/3 before he can be released on licence. His wife was given 4 years 6 months out of which she must serve half before she can be released on licence. The doctor got full 10 years the mitigating and aggravating factors were considered to be at par. May our children bury, not kill us.

THE SOCIETY AND IMPACT OF ORGAN TRAFICKING ON THE VICTIMS

An alarming scarcity of human organs available for transplantation has reached a critical level in our new world. This is marked by a stark contrast between the ever-increasing demand for organ transplants and the severely limited supply. This has led to a very disturbing trend of the escalation of abuses within the organ transplant system. Notably, as noted by WHO-ONT (Global Observation on Donation And Transplantation), one of the most egregious consequences of this scarcity is the illicit practice of trafficking in persons for the unlawful acquisition of organs. There is an acute global shortage of human organs for transplantation. To accurately determine the extent of trafficking for organ removal has remained a difficult task. The Global Reports on Trafficking in Persons by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) indicates that between 2010 and 2018, approximately 300 cases of individuals being trafficked for organ removal were identified across various countries. Unlike other types of human trafficking, this particular phenomenon is relatively uncommon.

This is attributed primarily to the exceptional level of medical expertise which necessary to carry out organ removal procedures. It is crucial to acknowledge that the official statistics on the prevalence of this phenomenon do not fully capture its true scale. The complexities involved in detecting and prosecuting this crime contribute to the under representation of its magnitude. One notable challenge is the occurrence of organ trafficking within legitimate medical facilities, making it difficult to identify and expose. The failure to detect and report such cases, along with the geographical dispersion of trafficking in persons for organ removal, are increasingly worrisome for the global community.

Public discourse often confuses organ trafficking with trafficking in persons for organ removal. This leads to their interchangeable use in the media and even within the medical field. But, they are distinct crimes governed by separate, yet complementary legal frameworks.

Despite the legal distinctions, as noted by Human Rights Council, (Report of the Special Rapporteur on sale and sexual Exploitation of children, including Child prostitution, pornography and other child sexual Abuse Material), complications may arise in correctly adjudicating cases where an organ is illicitly obtained from a living organ donor, as both legal frameworks can potentially apply. Such challenges in proper legal handling could have grave consequences for the victims involved.

Furthermore, it is worth noting that discussions surrounding trafficking in persons for organ removal extend beyond organs alone. Related topics such as surrogacy and trafficking in tissues and cells, have also been part of this larger discourse. May our children bury, not kill us.

THE LEGAL FRAMEWORKS TO ADDRESS TRAFFICKING FOR ORGAN REMOVAL

The UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children (Trafficking in Persons Protocol) criminalizes the act of trafficking individuals for the purpose of organ removal. Article 3 of the protocol explicitly identifies "organ removal" as a form of exploitation that should be prohibited by national laws. The offence, as defined by the Trafficking in Persons Protocol, involves:

• Recruiting, transporting, transferring, harboring, or receiving individuals;
• Using threats, force, coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of power or vulnerability, or providing/receiving payments or benefits to obtain consent from a person in control of another person.

At the regional level, Article 4(a) of the Council of Europe (CoE) Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings, the European Union (EU) Directive 36/2011 of the European Parliament, and of the Council on Preventing and Combating Trafficking in Human Beings and Protecting its Victims, and the ASEAN Convention Against Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children acknowledge the significance of organ removal as a form of exploitation related to trafficking.

WHAT EKWEREMADU WAS PROSECUTED FOR

In the case of Ekweremadu, he was prosecuted for organ trafficking under the domestic legislation of the United Kingdom's Modern Slavery Act of 2015. This legislation, which is relatively recent, is believed to have been applied for the first time to the Ekweremadus, in a case of this nature.

The UK’s Modern Slavery Act 2015, frowns at human trafficking under which organ harvesting falls and is punishable with maximum sentence of life imprisonment upon conviction. May our children bury, not kill us.

CHARTING THE WAY FORWARD: SOME RECOMMENDATIONS

The following recommendations should be taken as general guidance; and not necessary specific to the Ekweremadus case.

Preventing organ trafficking is a complex and sensitive issue that requires a multi-faceted approach. It involves various stakeholders, including governments, international organizations, healthcare professionals, law enforcement agencies, faith-based organizations and civil society organizations. Because I do not wail and moan over spilled milk, or dwell in damage assessment alone, I always write and proffer solutions. So, here are some recommendations on the way forward, to prevent organ trafficking, and save others from the fate of the Ekweremadus.

1. Strengthen Legislative Frameworks: Governments should enact and enforce comprehensive legislation that specifically addresses organ trafficking. These laws should criminalize all aspects of organ trafficking, including recruitment, transportation, transplantation, and the involvement of medical and health professionals. Penalties should be severe enough to act as a deterrence.
2. International Cooperation:Encourage international cooperation and collaboration among countries to combat organ trafficking. This includes sharing information, intelligence, and best practices, as well as coordinating efforts to investigate and prosecute offenders across borders.
3. Raising Public Awareness:Conducting public awareness campaigns to educate people about the dangers and ethical implications of organ trafficking. Focus on informing potential organ donors and recipients about legal and ethical alternatives, emphasizing the importance of voluntary, altruistic donation.
4. Ethical Organ Transplantation Practices:Promote ethical practices in organ transplantation; ensuring transparency, accountability, and adherence to established guidelines and protocols. Encourage healthcare professionals and transplant centre to adopt stringent standards and regularly evaluate their practices.
5. Donor Protection:Establish mechanisms to protect living organ donors, such as ensuring informed consent, providing comprehensive pre and post operative care, and prohibiting the coercion or exploitation of vulnerable individuals.
6. Strengthen Regulation and Oversight:Strengthen oversight and regulation of organ transplantation by establishing independent regulatory bodies. These bodies should monitor transplant activities, enforce compliance, and investigate any suspected cases of organ trafficking.
7. International Organ Exchange Programs:Encourage the development of international organ exchange programs to facilitate legal and ethical organ transplantation across borders. These programs should operate within a transparent and regulated framework to prevent abuse and exploitation.
8. Collaboration with Law Enforcement agencies:Foster collaboration between healthcare professionals and law enforcement agencies to identify and investigate cases of organ trafficking. Enhance training programs for law enforcement personnel to enable them to effectively detect and combat organ trafficking networks.
9. Support for Victim Rehabilitation:Provide support and rehabilitation services for victims of organ trafficking, including medical care, psychological counseling, and social reintegration programs. Collaborate with NGOs and support organizations to ensure comprehensive care for victims.
10. Research and Data Collection:Promote research and data collection on organ trafficking to better understand its scope, trends, and underlying causes. This information can help policymakers develop evidence-based strategies and interventions.
11. May our children bury, not kill us.

CONCLUSION

The Ekweremadu organ trafficking saga serves as a harrowing reminder of the cruel and exploitative trade in human organs.

The sacrifice of a parent in the Ekweremadu case highlights the immense pressures and vulnerabilities that can be exploited by those involved in illicit organ trade. It emphasizes the need for comprehensive efforts to alleviate poverty, improve healthcare systems, and create opportunities for socio-economic advancement, ultimately reducing the vulnerability of individuals and families to exploitation.

Ultimately, the Ekweremadu case should serve as a catalyst for addressing the underlying socio-economic factors that drive individuals to engage in organ trafficking. It calls for strengthened legal frameworks and international cooperation to combat organ trafficking effectively, advocating for the protection of human rights, and supporting initiatives that combat organ trafficking. It is only through concerted international efforts that we can hope to put an end to the horrific practice of organ trafficking and provide justice for the victims involved. May our children bury, not kill us.

WHAT NEXT?

Some Nigerians had taken to the media, asking President Buhari to beg for pardon from King Charles III, during his attendance at the coronation of the king.

I was surprised. Would you have seriously thought Buhari would ask for clemency for the Ekweremadus? Would ethnic and political considerations not have stopped this, with Ekweremadu being an Igbo?, Or, was it really expected that nepotic Buhari, who had granted clemency to convicts of more grievous offences in Nigeria, would ask for same for Ekweremadu?, I do not know. Or, do you? May our children bury, not kill us.

Modern Slavery is a heinous international crime, it is treated with seriousness considering its negative effect and far-reaching impact on human rights and the brutal history of slavery. The Ekweremadus only tried to save their daughter's life. But, that may not have necessarily been done in the most desperate manner he did, resulting in public disgrace. While the law has taken its course, there remains a window for the Ekweremadus to appeal, get royal pardon; or make a plea bargain. The entire adventure tells us this: ignorantia juris non excusat (ignorance of the law is not an excuse). We must, as parents, always try to consider the pros and cons of any intended action before embarking on same on behalf of our children. Considering the influence and reach of Ike Ekweremadu, many wondered whether if he publicly asked, he would not have got over 20 Nigerians stepping forward to donate kidney to his daughter. I do not know. Or, do you? Finally, may our children bury, not kill us.

Plenty of authors have written about how they believe a possible robot apocalypse would happen and how our chances would be. Usually, it has to do with a new advancement in robotics that led to it getting sentience. Or sometimes a rogue A.I. Despite this, we continue to further our knowledge and dependence on artificial intelligence. While I’m not here to say whether it’s right or wrong for us to continue along this path, I am a mere messenger and informer to our current accomplishments in the field of Artificial intelligence this year.

In the past year, natural language processing has experienced one of AI’s most significant advancements (NLP). For example, the language model GPT-3 created by OpenAI has demonstrated impressive talents in producing text that resembles that of humans. GPT-3 is capable of understanding and producing language at a level previously thought to be unattainable thanks to its 175 billion parameters. In a recent study, GPT-3 was found to perform at the cutting edge in numerous NLP tasks, including translation, summarisation, and question-answering (Brown et al., 2020).

Computer vision is another field where AI has made considerable strides in the last year. Very impressive powers in producing realistic images have been demonstrated by GANs (Generative Adversarial Networks). In a recent study, GANs were found to perform at the cutting edge in several computer vision tasks, such as image synthesis and picture in-painting (Karras et al., 2020). In layman’s terms, they can generate images from a prompt.

Throughout the past year, AI has also advanced significantly in the healthcare sector. The use of AI to gauge the severity of COVID-19 is one example. An AI-based model has demonstrated good results in predicting the severity of COVID-19 in patients, according to a study (Jiang et al., 2021).  Another illustration is the application of AI to foretell the risk of developing heart disease. Another study found that AI-based models outperformed conventional risk calculators in terms of accuracy when estimating the risk of heart disease (Khera et al., 2021).

Lastly, over the past year, AI has made major advancements in the realm of autonomous vehicles.  Very impressive abilities in traversing challenging environments have been demonstrated by self-driving cars. A study found that self-driving cars have made substantial advancements in terms of performance and safety, with some businesses claiming to have attained level 4 autonomy (Gopalan, 2021). This means that A.I will be able to take you anywhere that has a location without needing to request you to take over at any given period.

To be honest at the rate that A.I is experiencing growth, we humans will most likely not have to lift a finger to do anything. We will be able to sit down on our chairs, and just watch silently as all our needs and responsibilities are cared for by artificial intelligence. That could sound like a dream or a nightmare.

THE United States of America, US, this Monday placed visa restrictions on some Nigerians who allegedly undermined the February and March 2023 general elections. The US in a statement by its Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, said it took the decision as part of its commitment to supporting and advancing democracy in Nigeria and around the world.

The restrictions, he said, affect those “believed to be responsible for, or complicit in, undermining democracy. These individuals have been involved in intimidation of voters through threats and physical violence, the manipulation of vote results, and other activity that undermines Nigeria’s democratic process”.

A number of issues arise from this decision. When the US claimed that those affected were involved in “the manipulation of vote results”, how did it know when the election petition tribunals and courts are still sitting and have not reached or given verdicts in any of the cases? Did the Americans constitute their own secret courts and found the said persons guilty? Were those the Americans want to ban, taken to any court? Were they given any hearing; whether fair or not before being found guilty?

Is the ban a result of a conclusive American investigation? If results were manipulated as the Americans claim, then they must have the true results. If they do, why have they not published it? Can the Americans usurp the powers of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, which is empowered to conduct and announce election results? Do they have the powers to sit over election petitions and deliver judgement?

If the American conclusion is based on its opinion, can it oblige us how it came to such conclusion? Was it its security agents that compiled the ‘authentic’ results, reported back to the American government on which basis such opinion was formed? Can justice be served based on opinions or perceptions rather than verifiable facts? Will those affected be told the reason why their visa application is rejected? If not, how do they seek a review, including applying for a judicial reappraisal to determine if the restriction is lawful, rational or legal?

I am not saying the US or any country for that matter does not have a right to give or deny visa. If anything, every sovereign state, except on humanitarian grounds, has the right to stop any non-citizen stepping foot on its territory if it thinks the presence of such a person can be injurious to its interests. However, such action should be based on verifiable facts not assumptions or opinions which may end up punishing the innocent.

Also, the American decision is supposed to serve as a warning to other people who may want to short-circuit the democratic process; but how can these ends be served when there are no names released and the process is likely to be secret? Yes, the Americans may want to avoid stigmatising people, but if it has verifiable facts, why not?

In past elections in Nigeria such as the 2019 ones, there were claims in the media that particular persons were under visa ban by the US which turned out to be untrue.

We may never know whether the American visa restriction is a reality or a farce; whatever it is, the US has to be careful not to strut the universe as the self-appointed policeman of democracy.

Yet a second matter we may never know is why the Generals in Sudan are at war. A war which, by May 16, had claimed over 1,000 lives, with 4,500 injured.

It is virtually impossible to have a country where the armed forces and the militia seem equally matched on the battle field without foreign assistance. My conclusion is that both sides in the Sudanese war have foreign backers.

The reports that the Rapid Support Forces, RSF, sent 40,000 of its members as Saudi Arabia mercenaries to fight in the Yemeni civil war, has not been denied. Also not refuted is the European Union’s conscious but indirect funding of the RSF. It is estimated that the EU paid between 200 -600 million Euro to the Sudanese government to detain and prevent migrants from reaching Europe. The Sudanese leader, Hassan al-Bashir, outsourced this job to the RSF and paid it using the EU funds. Far back in 2017, the ‘Enough Project’ wrote a report warning that with such payments, the EU was strengthening the RSF militia which was notorious for massacres and crimes against humanity in the Darfur region. It is this militia, known as the Janjaweed, that was re-branded as the RSF.

 Both the Sudan Armed Forces, SAF, and the RSF were under the joint command of President al-Bashir. They accepted his leadership. But when the civil populace in 2019 rose and were on the verge of removing him, both the SAF and the RSF conspired to overthrow al-Bashir and subvert the mass revolution. In doing so, both forces might not have realised that they were snapping the rope that bonded them. At first, they remained united in their plans to subvert the popular revolt. In the interim government, SAF’s General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan was Head of State and RSF’s General Mohamed Hamdan ‘Hemetti’ Dagalo, was Deputy.

While the former was meeting foreign leaders and sourcing for funds, the latter remained in Sudan massacring the Sudanese masses who insisted that both forces hand over power to the civil populace and subject themselves to civil control. Both forces again conspired in 2021 to remove the interim civilian administration. However, after a transition programme was sketched out in 2022, the SAF and RSF were required to merge. The question of who leads between the two Generals cropped up. This blew into open combat on April 17.

It is not known if all there is to the conflict is who leads, or the fact that both forces control the resources of the country with the RSF being in charge of the minerals. There is also the ethnic issue, with al-Burhan being Arab and Hemetti from the Mahariya Rizengat herders tribe in Darfur. There is also the issue of al-Burhan supporting the Russians building a military base in the area and the West rejecting it. We may never know the real reasons for the fall-out but what is clear is that both the SAF and RSF are a danger to Sudan and Africa.

Any defeated side will spill into other African countries, bringing trained men and arms. This was what happened in Libya and countries like Mali, Burkina Faso and Nigeria were saturated with defeated fighters who turned into ethnic militia and bandits. It is better for Africa to bring these rogue forces together and let them hand over power to the pro-democracy forces in Sudan, than allow one army to take out the other.

TWO presidents in the last 24 years provide interesting examples of how to relate with the National Assembly. And between the two, the President-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, can decide how to model his relationship with the 10th National Assembly. The first example is President Olusegun Obasanjo.

He was not only head of the executive branch, he was leader of his party, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and the de facto head of its Board of Trustees. But it didn’t end there. Obasanjo was also, in a manner of speaking, head of the legislature. That may sound like a misnomer in a presidential system of government. But that misnomer was the norm. 

Among his lesser misdemeanours, Obasanjo orchestrated the removal of three Senate presidents in four years and used five in his eight-year tenure. In the famous case of the rather fiercely independent Chuba Okadigbo in 2000, for example, the former president executed his removal, in typical Tom-and-Jerry fashion, by literally swallowing Okadigbo whole the day after he ate a meal of pounded yam at the opening of the new Abuja home of the former Senate president.

Whether it was the Senate or the House of Representatives, Obasanjo kept real or potential adversaries on a leash by lining their path with banana peels, the euphemism for a web of corrupt enticements which they often overcame by yielding to. A decade and a half after he left office as president, the hallways of the National Assembly still echo with the voices of Obasanjo’s fallen political adversaries. A number of them retaliated by pocketing bribes and still denying the former president his third term ambition.

Buhari’s Path 

The second example, President Muhammadu Buhari, is on the other extreme of Executive-Legislature relationship. As soon as he assumed office, Buhari barricaded himself in the Villa. He assured those who had worked for his electoral success that he was for everyone and for no one, leaving them feeling duped.

The consequence of his curious ambivalence was a National Assembly where the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, got in bed with the defeated PDP and became both the ruling party and the opposition party at the same time. The question of which option worked better is hardly meaningful without considering the context of each dispensation.

The dominant party in the Obasanjo years was the PDP, which controlled 21 states in the first four years, with 59 of 109 seats in the Senate and 206 of 360 in the House of Representatives, closely followed by the All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP, and the Alliance for Democracy, AD. Also, after decades of military rule, the system was still evolving and largely in its experimental phase. Politicians were relatively new and inexperienced. There was no liaison between the executive and legislative arms.

Obasanjo, a former military head of state with a pretty long list of enemies after his imprisonment, could not resist the temptation of behaving like a petty village headmaster. A desire to avenge and vindicate himself believing that it was his patriotic duty to do so, made him wield powers for which he would be bitterly criticised as lacking in democratic temperament. 

Iron Hand 

But Obasanjo being Obasanjo, he did not mind imitating a low-grade version of Otto von Bismarck’s philosophy, that the business of Nigeria’s redemption at the time – restructuring, corruption and a pariah economy – required bloody noses and a hand of iron. By the time Buhari was elected eight years later, the landscape had changed somewhat.

Yet, Buhari’s hands-off approach was dictated just as much by the relatively mature political landscape as by his complicatedly insular, almost abdicatory political style. Tinubu is a different matter altogether. A former senator and state governor, he would be the only president in four since 1999 that combines legislative and executive experiences. His deputy, Kashim Shettima, also has the same credentials, as does party chairman Abdullahi Adamu.

On paper, therefore, a decision about how to define the incoming government’s relationship with the legislature shouldn’t be too difficult. But as we have seen in the last few weeks, it is easier said than done. The conflicting statements between Shettima on the one hand, and Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo, along with Adamu and the rank-and-file on the other, show that the ruling party is split right down the middle on how to fill the positions of presiding officers.

Divided House 

The highly fragmented composition of the legislature which does not give the ruling party a comfortable majority, feeding off the bitterly contested elections, has put Tinubu in a tight spot. But an even bigger headache for him is that the problem is being fomented from close quarters inside his own party. Both arms of the National Assembly – the Senate and House of Representatives – are engulfed in leadership crisis, but the lower house is in the eye of the storm.

The real battle is not only being fought here, it’s here, also, that the trade-offs could be made. Tinubu confidant and outgoing Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila, does not want his deputy, Idris Wase, to succeed him. On the other side is another Tinubu confidant and three-time Rep, Abiodun James Faleke, who is not only pro-Wase but also locked in a battle with Gbajabiamila to become chief of staff.

The pro-Wase group, which also includes Akeredolu, argue that it is unfair and unjust to give nothing to the North Central, which accounted for the third largest block vote, while handing the North-West two presiding posts in the National Assembly. 

If the current arrangement stands – and it’s improbable – then it would be the first time in 24 years when one zone would have two presiding officers. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal defied his party to emerge Speaker in 2011, upsetting the PDP’s zoning arrangement. In the wider zoning of party offices, the same tardiness dogged the APC with the current Speaker, and the Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, coming from the same zone.

Yet, neither VP Namadi Sambo (who is from the same zone with Tambuwal) nor Osinbajo (from the same zone as Gbajabiamila) was a presiding officer of the National Assembly. It’s a danger that a party which has barely recovered from the Muslim-Muslim ticket controversy can barely afford: the prospects of two presiding officers from the same zone sitting over a joint session of the National Assembly. 

Who bells the cat?

But who will bell the cat? Party chairman Adamu is in a weak position, further weakened by his love of his own position. His cautious response that his party didn’t consult widely enough before the NWC’s announcement was a token of self-preservation. He spoke through zipped lips. The truth, which he lacked the courage to say, regardless of the fact that he is also from the North- Central, was that the lopsidedness was ill-advised and ought to be reviewed.

Saying it as it is might have once again brought him in the firing line of North-West hawks in his party who want him removed. But after a successful election, what else does he have to lose? The North-West which played a significant role in the emergence of a Southern presidential candidate in the APC because it was the fair and right thing to do, cannot hold the same party at gunpoint for a reward that is both unfair and wrong.  

It doesn’t make sense and certainly can’t be on the basis that it gave the president-elect the highest vote, when the region has remained the country’s largest vote bank in the last six major electoral cycles, irrespective of who was elected president. With seven states, unlike other zones with an average of six states each, the North-West enjoys numerical advantage.

It does seem like after overcoming multiple and multi-faceted ambushes to emerge president-elect, the trap by members of Tinubu’s inner circle – often the most problematic – may yet again require careful and considered attention. As it was with Obasanjo and Buhari, how he handles this moment could significantly define his years in office.