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Programme: CITY TALKS WITH REUBEN ABATI

Time: 12:00pm

Topic: Political Developments In Lagos State

Date: Saturday, April 30, 2022

Guest: Hon. Wale Oluwo ( Fmr. Commissioner for Energy & Min. Resources Lagos State)

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The Lagos State Government following reports of an alleged “rape incident”  involving an 11-year old female student of Chrisland Schools Lagos, and male pupils of the school, during a trip to the World School Games in Dubai (March 10 -13, 2022), promptly shut down the school, to investigate exactly what happened. A video was put into circulation showing the girl, in a dominant cowboy position, riding a young male student like a horse in an amorous fashion, with one of the students watching and recording the bedroom scene. Some other people said the girl was also shown in a reverse osmosis position, whatever that means. The public was shocked. These are primary school children for Heaven’s sake engaging in activities straight from the pages of Kama Sutra, the iconic text on sex and dalliance that their mothers, fathers and grandparents may never have ever heard of or experienced. Raw sex in a primary school!, photographed and videoed and put into circulation. It was like a screen shot of Sodom and Gomorrah. Matters got worse when the mother of the girl involved raised an alarm and made statements to the effect that the school, Chrisland, had failed in its duty to take care of her daughter while on a trip to Dubai, under its auspices;  on the return of the students, her daughter was taken for a pregnancy test without her consent, and that when the video became public, every attempt to engage with the school failed, and that the school had told her daughter not to say a word to anybody about her experience. Her daughter, she claimed, went to Dubai as a virgin, and returned as the protagonist in a sex video, traumatized, afraid to return to school. 

I followed the story closely. The Lagos State Government having shut down the school and its various branches warned the public to desist from sharing the video. Long before the state government reminded everyone that the circulation of pornography would attract a penalty of 14 years imprisonment, the video was already in circulation in any case, and many social media sites used it as click-bait. But what would any parent gain from a group of minors exploring adult experience? Many must have been motivated by sheer curiousity and the native belief that seeing is believing. The Lagos State Government has now re-opened the Chrisland Schools, and the students are on their way back to the classroom in all the locations where the school has branches: Victoria Garden City where the incident occurred, Idimu, Ikeja, Festac, Lekki and elsewhere.

Chrisland is one of those well-appointed schools with a strong reputation and record of achievements dating back to 40 years. The Awosikas, owners of the school, have through their educational system produced generations of students who have become established in many fields of human endeavour at home and abroad. In the absence of a functional public system, many parents patronize schools like Chrisland which aspire to and maintain higher standards of instruction. Nigeria is a country where education is still valued in terms of the acquisition of certificates, observing the routine and the process to the letter. Even if a child is still going to end up as an internet fraudster or as a Boko Haram soldier, parents believe that a starting point is to give their child, good education. This is more the case among the troubled Nigerian middle class, especially in the Southern parts of the country. Elsewhere, in other parts, the story is different. The North, for example, has the largest collection of out-of-school children. In parts of the East, the enrolment of the boy-child in trade apprenticeship schemes, by the way a global business model, continues to compete with enrolment in the formal school system.

This then makes it all the more surprising when it is reported one case after another that there are serious issues with the same schools that middle class parents and their wannabe colleagues patronize. In the same Chrisland School in question, there was a report around 2019 about a male teacher who was said to have defiled a 2-year-old. The man was convicted. In Abuja, there was also the case of a victim of sexual abuse, 14-year old Keren-Happuch Akpagher who died in one of the elite secondary schools – Premiere Academy, Lugbe. Before the latest incident in Chrisland, there was also the matter of Dowen College in Lekki, Lagos, in which 12-year old Sylvester Oromoni died. The Dowen College matter, still unresolved, with the family still protesting an attempt to sweep the matter under the carpet, was a big scandal. These are three of the reported cases of similar incidents in schools across Nigeria and in Lagos State. Many more of such incidents would go unreported, given the culture of silence that governs the Nigerian cultural and social space. Now, after the temporary closure of Chrisland Schools and police investigations, Chrisland has now been reopened by the Lagos authorities. The Police and the Lagos state government probably acted swiftly in order to prevent the ugliness of the Dowen College affair from re-occurring. To start with, I think, a review is necessary. In this country, we forget too soon, too easily. Things happen at such a frenetic pace, that we hardly have the time to reflect on what may have happened, before we move on to the next incident. Our present-mindedness, that is temporocentrism, is the biggest affliction that holds this country down.  

I was struck by three major reactions to the pre-teenage sex scandal of the Chrisland students. Tonto Dikeh, the star actress was the first to raise the alarm, having watched the video she said she did not think this was a case of rape or sexual violence, and that from the way the child was riding the male horse beneath her, it was obvious to her that this was not the child’s first sexual encounter. She actually calculated the rhythm of the motions, it would seem, and surmised that the girl must have had sex at least five times and that there must be an adult somewhere who exposed her quite early. I am tempted to believe Tonto Dikeh. She is a mature, experienced, woman of multiple talents. I am therefore not in a position to doubt her ability to read bedroom, erotic movements and put a date and a stamp to same.  But her more cogent point is that parents need to pay more attention to their children. The second reaction came from Shola Ogudu, the mother of Ayo Balogun’s first son, Boluwatife. Ayo Balogun is the superstar musician known popularly known as “Whizkid or Star Boy.” Ms Ogudu in a statement disclosed that her son attends the school in question and that she accompanied her son to Dubai for the World School Games – 76 students from Chrisland and incidentally, the school won about 34 medals which no one has bothered to talk about!

Ms Ogudu indicated that there was no way she could have allowed her son to travel alone to a foreign country, in the midst of 76 children and others! She advised parents to be more attentive, and devote more time to their children. Unlike the aggrieved mother in the story, Ms. Ogudu was full of praise and support for Chrisland Schools. The third reaction that caught my attention was the statement by more than one psychologist that both the girl in the video and her parents need psychological counseling. And I ask: how about the boys too? What kind of 11-year old male child starts having sex so early? What kind of homes are these characters from? I have heard some people arguing that parents do not have time. Schools and teachers are expected to act in loco-parentis. This is where the problem lies.

In our time, growing up, our parents were hands-on guardians, coaches and advisers. They drummed values into our ears at every turn. Each time you tried to venture out of the house, to attend an event or return to school, you would be told: “Remember the child of whom you are.” This had nothing to do with money but everything about values, character, dignity and integrity. But in the new society in which we have found ourselves, many parents have abdicated their responsibilities. They claim that they are busy looking for money to meet everyone’s needs. In the course of that pursuit, a child is handed over straight from the maternity ward to a retinue of nannies, home assistants and aides. In our new society, we throw money at everything including our children. Daddy has no time. Mummy is too busy trying to compete with the Joneses. The children are given all the toys that they want - from TV, to Play station to 24-hour electricity supply. These uptown babies of the new society do not cry. As Max Romeo and the Upsetters put it: “They don’t know what hungry is like/Uptown babies don’t cry/They don’t know what suffering is like/They have Mummy and Daddy/Lots of toys to play with/Nanny and Granny/Lot of friends to stay with…”

As soon as they are old enough to press numbers, they get a sleek, smart phone – usually the costliest in the market, with unrestricted access to social media. Some parents even open instagram and TikTok accounts for their children as soon they start crawling. This Gen Z group is soon introduced to all the negative stuff that social media can offer. Even outside that space, they are exposed to the dissolute lives of their parents: twerking moms, violent, 12 o’clock Dads and a community of sick uncles and aunties who set very bad examples. There are many households out there in which parents and their children are strangers to one another. When the children then fail in school, morally and academically, the same parents blame the teachers. They claim that they have paid so much money so that their children can get the best training possible. The truth of the matter is that money cannot buy everything. There are just certain things money can’t buy. Many parents themselves are in need of parenting! What do you make, for example, of those overgrown babies who wake up in the morning, eat spaghetti and spend the rest of the day playing games in front of the TV. They don’t have to work: their own parents have made enough money to feed the next five generations of idle sons and daughters! These idlers father children and the cycle continues.

It seems to me that all cases of reported misdemeanor in our schools should trigger introspection in every right-thinking, concerned stakeholder. The problem is not that of Chrisland Schools. It is an indication of the deepening moral turpitude in our land. Everything that can go wrong is wrong with the younger generation: juvenile delinquency, drug abuse, value system, cultism, the kind of music they listen to- there is even a gang called the Naira Marley Gang – you don’t want me to describe the sociology of that. Adolescent sexuality is on the rise, with promiscuity now the order of the day. Aristotle told us that “a child learns by imitation” Nigeria has taught its children bad imitation, and that is why the children replicate the bad behaviour of their parents. It is beyond the schools. After all, one Christian university in this same country once decided that it would conduct compulsory virginity tests on its new female students. Many of us complained at the time that this was discriminatory and gender insensitive. The school authorities stood their ground. After two sessions, they didn’t need to be persuaded to abandon the practice without any argument, when they discovered that among the teenage female university entrants, a virginity test was no more than a futile search for a virgin in a maternity ward!

When incidents such as the one under review occur, processes are important. I hope that the Lagos State Government and the Police would make their findings public. By deciding to re-open Chrisland Schools, both authorities must have made some findings and reached a conclusion that the school has no case to answer. Many parents are relieved. But the public has a right to know more. Parents in particular, need to know. There are also lessons to be learnt from how Chrisland Schools management has controlled the crisis and managed the communication process. They have done much better than the managers of Dowen College who practically slept off in the face of a crisis until things went out of hand. The team of crisis managers at Chrisland stayed on the matter and bombarded the public with their own version of the story before the alternative could gain ground. They had the support of other stakeholders who helped to intensify other aspects of the narrative, including detailed revelations about how the girl in question is an indulgent, over-pampered child with a reputation for sexual displays on social media and a wayward, bad-girl-attitude for which she is reportedly unapologetic! 

Chrisland School has done a good job of rescuing and protecting its brand all through the storm. In a statement signed on behalf of the school by Akin Fadeyi, a member of the school’s Advisory Board, the school has in place a strong child protection mechanism. Going forward, the school must see the need to invest more in that mechanism, and constantly engage with parents to provide the best possible arrangements for students. Besides, Mrs Winifred Awosika needs to take a second look at the Victoria Garden City (VGC) branch of the School. It was in this same school three years ago, that a teacher was eventually sentenced to a prison term of 60 years for sexually abusing a 2-year old. Is there something amiss in that school that needs to be addressed? Could it be the celebrity environment on the Island? Lagos State has more than 20 thousand schools – public and private, from the primary to the tertiary level. The Government should strengthen the Inspectorate Division of its Ministry of Education to make it more efficient, vigilant, and productive for the good of all. To parents, a simple message: wake up!      

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Programme: CITY TALKS WITH REUBEN ABATI

Time: 12:00pm

Topic: Parenting and Child Education

Date: Saturday, April 23, 2022

Guest: Akinola Akinropo (consultant & child rights Ambassador)

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Pursuant to the powers to exercise the prerogative of mercy vested in the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in Section 175  (1—6) of the  1999 Constitution the Federal Government last week granted state pardon to two former state Governors, Rev Jolly Nyame of Taraba State and Senator Joshua Dariye of Plateau State, along with 157 others. The effect of pardon amounts to the nullification of punishment or consequences of a crime and conviction. The person is fully restored as if he never committed the offence in the first place. It is perhaps for this reason that Justice John Marshall in US v. Wilson (1833) describes a state pardon “as an act of grace”. The President of Nigeria grants pardon as a prerogative or an act of discretion to correct perceived injustice, wrongful punishment or judicial excesses and this could be a tricky point given the salience of the doctrine of separation of powers. The easiest defence however is for the government to hide under the cover of public policy, or the fact that no law is broken when state pardon is granted since it is a constitutional function. The only caveat is found in Section 175 (5) which requires the President to seek the advice of the Council of State and Section 175 (6) which asks the President to act “in accordance with the advice of the Council of State.” In Nigeria, the power to grant pardon is vested in the President with regard to federal offences (section 175) and in State Governors in respect of state offences (Section 212). A pardon is not the same as amnesty which is granted before prosecution, as seen under the Presidency of late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua when he granted amnesty to Niger Delta militants nor is state pardon a form of judicial review as defined for now under Nigerian law.     

Nigeria has a fairly long history of state pardon. In 1966, before the civil war, the Yakubu Gowon regime pardoned Chief Obafemi Awolowo, leader of the Action Group, and former Premier of the defunct Western region, and Chief Anthony Enahoro, journalist and politician, who first moved the motion for Nigeria’s Independence in 1953, both of whom had been convicted of treasonable felony in 1963. President Shehu Shagari pardoned General Yakubu Gowon to nullify the accusation that he was involved in the 1975 Bukar Dimka coup that led to the assassination of General Murtala Muhammed. The same Shagari administration pardoned the Biafran leader, Odimegwu Ojukwu, for leading the Biafran secession between 1967 and 1971. General Babangida granted pardon to Nduka Irabor and Tunde Thompson, two journalists with the Nigerian Guardian newspapers who were jailed under the draconian Decree 4 imposed by the Muhammadu Buhari regime. General Abdusalami Abubakar pardoned then General Olusegun Obasanjo who was convicted of involvement in a coup plot by the Abacha regime.  President Obasanjo pardoned a former Speaker of the House of Representatives. In 1999, Salisu Buhari was convicted for forging his certificate- the famous Toronto scandal. His sins were later officially forgiven. In March 2013, President Goodluck Jonathan granted pardon to former Governor of Bayelsa State, Chief Diepreye S. Alamieyeseigha along with Lt. General Oladipo Diya (rtd.), Major-General Abdulkarim Adisa (rtd), former Managing Director of Bank of the North, Shettima Bulama, In April 2020, the Buhari administration granted pardon to former Governor of old Bendel State, Prof. Ambrose Alli, Chief Anthony Enahoro, Col. Moses Effiong, Major E.J. Olanrewaju, Babalola Ajayi and 44 others. 

Presidential pardons have been controversial in Nigeria. The general public often subjects the pardoned persons list to rigorous scrutiny, with questions usually raised about the criteria for determining who gets pardoned and who does not. This stems from the concern that it is often the privileged and well-connected members of society who have run foul of the law that are often ever so lucky. Even if this may not be completely true, the point is well made that a President with monarchical powers or a state Governor seeking political patronage may exercise the powers of pardon without restraint, resulting in abuse. There are also moral and emotional concerns. In this regard, perhaps the most controversial pardon granted so far in contemporary Nigerian history would be that of Chief DSP Alamieyeseigha who escaped from the arms of the law in the United Kingdom, only to return to a hero’s welcome in Nigeria and the subsequent nullification of all the sins he was alleged to have committed against the people of Bayelsa state. The pardon that was granted him by the Jonathan administration in 2013 was seen as an act of affront by both local and foreign analysts. Alams, as he was known, was accused of having corruptly enriched himself with the resources of Bayelsa state. What was overlooked in this particular case was that the pardon for Alamieyesiegha, initiated by President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and later effected by President Jonathan was conditional. President Yar’Adua had involved Alams in the amnesty process in the Niger Delta with a promise that in appreciation of his contributions to the cause of peace and stability in that troubled part of Nigeria, he would be granted pardon. Sometimes the trigger of controversy may simply be blatant error on the part of the authorities as in the case of the April 2020 pardon of Chief Anthony Enahoro. Enahoro was convicted and sentenced in September 1963. He was pardoned by the Gowon regime in August 1966. He went on to become a Federal Commissioner for Information and Labour in 1967. To pardon him a second time was a loud demonstration of absent-mindedness, and to think the pardon was duly gazette. Some government officials failed to check the records!

Controversial pardons are not limited to Nigeria. However, in the United States where the pardoning process is as in Nigeria, vested in the President, the history of pardons has been more acrimonious. Just to cite a few examples: On September 8, 1974, President Gerald Ford granted full and unconditional pardon to former President Richard Nixon over his involvement in the Watergate scandal that led to his unceremonious resignation from office and any crime that he may have committed as President. Many Americans felt that the pardon was undeserved. It was a controversial decision but Ford stood his ground. He paid a heavy price for that. His popularity rating dropped. Similarly, in 1983, President Bill Clinton’s pardon of millionaire Marc Rich was generally considered too oily a bargain. On his last day in office on January 20, 2001, President Clinton announced more controversial pardons including left-wing Patty Hearst, Susan Rosenberg and Linda Evans. He also pardoned his own half-brother, Roger Clinton who was convicted for drug trafficking! His last day in office has been described as “pardongate” – a total of 140 pardons! Clinton was known for inciting public outrage with his pardons as was the case when he chose to commute the sentences of 16 FALN terrorists in 1999. His own wife, Hillary Clinton voted against the decision when it was tabled before the Senate but the President could not be stopped because he held power of discretion to grant pardons. The whole idea of presidential pardon in the American system, a hold-over from the British system was first proposed at the 1787 Constitutional Convention by Alexander Hamilton but over the years, there have been fears about how such absolute power, resting on the discretion of one man could be abused, and indeed in his last days in Office, it was thought that President Donald Trump could grant himself a pardon in advance to protect himself legally from the fall-outs of the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the US Capitol. President Trump tried to meet Clinton’s record, if he did not surpass it. In the final hours of his Presidency, Trump granted 70 pardons to mostly financiers and lobbyists, and executive clemency/commutations to 73 others.          

Back to Nigeria, it should in fact not be surprising that so much outrage has greeted the announcement of pardon to two former Governors – Dariye and Nyame. Those who have commented on the list are not necessarily bothered about the 157 others, but the two former Governors. The sentiments expressed so far are similar to the reactions that attended the pardon of Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha in 2013. Like him, Nyame and Dariye were accused of corruptly enriching themselves at public expense. Dariye, Plateau State Governor (1999 -2007) was charged for money laundering (N1.16 billion). His matter went from the High Court all the way to the Supreme Court, at the end of which he was sentenced to 14 years imprisonment by the High Court; this was later reduced to 10 years by the Court of Appeal, and his conviction was finally upheld by the Supreme Court. Rev Jolly Nyame, Governor of Taraba State (1999-2007) was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment. And now both men have been freed, completely without conditions. A pardon may be with or without conditions. Theirs is without any. Femi Falana SAN, Jubrin Sam Okutepa, SAN, Governor Nyesom Wike, Reno Omokri and a host of others have argued that this is a form of endorsement of corruption coming from a government that says one of its cardinal tasks was to fight corruption. In his Easter homily on April 17, Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto says there are many innocent people languishing inside Nigeria’s “broken system” who should also be freed. His words: “I thank the President for accepting the report of the Committee on the Prerogative of Mercy and granting pardon to over 150 Nigerians serving various terms of imprisonment. The more serious challenge is to immediately free all innocent Nigerians who are held captive and whose only crime is that they are living in Nigeria.”  Mike Ozekhome, SAN in an informed commentary on the matter argues that the crux of the matter is that “granting pardon to people convicted of corrupt practices, whether still serving or having served, may be construed as tacit approval of such corrupt practices.”

 He argues further that the Council of State arrived at the endorsement of the pardon in error because the two former Governors committed the offences for which they were convicted under state law, the Penal Code Act and not under a Federal legislation, and to that extent, the appropriate person to grant them pardon would seem to be the Governors of their respective states under Section 212 of the 1999 Constitution. He asks: “where lies the justice for the impoverished people of Plateau and Taraba States who will now watch their tormentors stroll out with red carpet treatment?” Incidentally, it is not only lawyers and civil society activists that have expressed shock. It has been reported that even the officials of the anti-corruption agency, the EFCC and their lawyers are alarmed and demoralized. The agency reportedly spent 11 years and millions of Naira on investigation and prosecution of the two former Governors, and now both men are free. They have been cleansed of their sins. Rivers Governor, Nyesom Wike says the judges who convicted both men have been exposed to ridicule, and that the pardon is politically motivated - Nyame and Dariye are members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).  

The strongest objection that has been put up is the impression that has now been created that the state protects the rich and that the poor in Nigeria have nothing to regret more than their powerlessness and lack of connections. Hence, Femi Falana SAN observes: “A Nigerian was jailed for stealing noodles in Abuja, he was not granted state pardon. If you want to pardon your friends, you must extend that pardon to other people in the spirit of equity and fairness.” Falana wants all thieves in prison to be pardoned – in other words, what is good for the big thief should be good also for smaller thieves.        

The reality check in all of this is that the deed is done and the President is unlikely to reverse himself. Ozekhome raises a cogent question about the people of Plateau and Taraba. I am surprised he overlooks the fact that some people in both states, including incumbent Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau, even Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State have been thanking President Buhari for pardoning their kinsmen. The same people will organize a hero’s welcome for the two former Governors. The effect of their unconditional pardon, after all, is that they have become new men - novus homo! As the political parties prepare for their presidential primaries, it is not impossible that these same men could show up as political candidates – for Senate or Vice-President or even President!  The other point made by Ozekhome, with due respect, is to be seen as part of the crisis of federalism in the country.  It is true that the two Governors committed offences under state law, but the affected states never investigated or prosecuted them. It was the Federal Government as an interloper that did, and so, the Council of State acted according to the process in place.  

Beyond the moral anger that has been displayed, we should be more concerned about how to prevent the abuse of presidential pardon to ensure that the main beneficiaries are not the rich and mighty and that the near-absolute powers exercised by the President are curtailed to prevent a situation whereby pardons go more to friends of the ruling party or kinsmen and political associates. The Council of State, created by Section 153 (1)(b) of the 1999 Constitution, and which is referred to in an obligatory sense in Section 175 (5) and (6) is more of a ceremonial or advisory body. Its members have no powers to overrule the President in respect of state pardon, in the same manner in which the Legislature can challenge the President or the judiciary can question Executive powers by defining what the law is. The power of a President to grant pardon, while an act of benevolence, is rather slippery. He is, in any case, the Chairman of the Council of State. In order to develop our Constitutional framework further, the judiciary should be involved in the pardoning process to check arbitrariness, reduce the scope of discretion, and to ensure that there is a judicial review of the pardon list to bring it more in conformity with the laws of the land and the end of justice. But should this appear as if the judiciary is being brought into the fray to become a judge in its own case, then the Council of State should be given more powers to be part of the process of determining the pardon list, instead of being brought in at the last minute to rubber stamp an Executive decision.  

Last week, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), a government agency under the Ministry of Communications, currently led by Minister Isa Pantami, took the decision and made same public that any user of a GSM phone who is yet to link his or her National Identification Number (NIN) to a Subscriber Identification Module that is SIM cards, would be barred from making any further calls on the country’s telecommunication network. The telecommunication operators were so ordered to effect the directive and so by April 4, over 48 million phones had been barred from making any GSM calls. The idea of having mobile telephone lines in Nigeria linked to NIN was first mooted in 2020. Ten times so far, the Ministry of Communications and its subsidiary agency, have extended the deadline for compliance ten times. In December 2020, over 72 million lines were barred from making calls. Following appeals to government, the deadline was again extended the tenth time.

The original reason given for the registration of SIM cards was national security. Too many persons, the government observed, commit crime through mobile telephony, from the use of the lines to kidnap persons collect ransom, lure persons into ritual killings, rape, murder, extortion advance fee fraud and all kinds of criminal activities. In a country of over 200 million people, it made sense to use mobile telephony penetration to track the people and gather data. The linkage between the Nigerian Communications Commission and the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) in this regard made sense. Data is the biggest problem in Nigeria. Nigeria plans without data. Nigerians do no respect data. They are more likely to operate on the basis of faith and superstition. Nigerians don’t even know how many they are. With the increasing penetration of mobile telephony, a veritable tool of inclusion and democratization, there is no doubting the quality of data that can be mined from such a strategic and accessible public and open resource foe development planning and national security reasons.  It is in this regard that I think the NCC/NIMC intervention was useful and advisable, absolutely in principle. Indeed at a point, the Nigerian regulator fined MTN, the biggest telecommunications company in the country, $3.9 billion for failing to disconnect unregistered SIM cards.  

But where are we at this moment and why? In the last week, many Nigerians whose phones are not yet linked to the NIN, are busy agonizing. They cannot make direct calls. They can only receive calls through their WhatsApp applications. Over 48 million Nigerians have been shut down. I can no longer count on my finger tips or the strands of hair on my head, the number of Nigerians who are literally weeping and gnashing their teeth that living without their mobile phones is like a trip to purgatory. Businesses have been affected. Love lives and relationships as well. this reminds me of an essay I once wrote wondering how we used to live before the advent of mobile telephony. I recall those days when every Femi, Chuka and Musa used to go to NITEL offices to make phone calls, only to get lucky or unlucky after many hours on the queue. Few persons had phones at home at the time, and those who were privileged what kind of phones did they have? - early 20^tth Century grandfather phones that left your fingers bruised after every call and after a usually annoying encounter with the disrespectful staff at the telephone exchange who could be heard often times eavesdropping on your conversation and giggling at your expense.

The revolution in the telecommunication industry in Africa put an end to all that.  It brought the people more than anything else, freedom.  It shattered one aspect of the illusion of elite privilege and superiority.  Telephone exchange staff became irrelevant – nobody needed them any longer and the gossip that they enjoyed ended. For a hwile there was something called Thuraya Satellite phones!  All those women who got carried away by men who wielded those bulky phones, just before the democratization of telephony must be wondering why they got carried away so easily by something that became nothing within such a short space of technological advancement and innovation. Today, Femi, Musa and Chuka can hold a phone, and call anywhere in the world without anyone’s assistance. 

The only problem I see here are those Nigerians, the annoying ones who don’t load credit on their own phones, that is the “Oga, Oga, I don’t have credit, please call me back” crowd. When you call back,, the same person who has no credit on his or her phone wants to beg for money from you, but he or she would never think of borrowing credit to even borrow from you.  This is why my favourite feature on mobile telephony is True Caller. Once you can memorize the list of time wasters and the greedy crowd, it is easy to just ignore their calls, except they are willing of course to make the call, before that usual line: “Brother mi,, please I need your help oh.” The danger is that every request is a matter of life and death, and the response is expected immediately. Nobody cares about your own circumstances. When you tell them you don’t do this thing they call bank transfer, they would even offer to travel down to set it up for you, so that any time they need a handout from you, there will be no delay - Nigerians and their terrible sense of entitlements and the discontents of mobile telephony!  

If people suffer this much in the hands of extended family stalkers, extortionists and abusers, I have no problem with the state qua state saying that it needs to have a record of everyone who makes a call, or owns a phone. A mobile phone looks good. It is a tool of communication. It is also a status symbol. Indeed, when some Nigerians step out of their homes in the morning, they do not hold one phone, they carry about three, and in terms of cost, those three phones are more than enough to buy a plot of land and start the foundation of a building. Some people are so vain, despite the poverty in the land, that when you move beyond the value of their many phones and assess the cost of their jewelry, and apparel, the total combo would be enough to build a house! With such display of insensitivity and the crime level in the country, the Nigerian government is right to seek to know what people do with their phones. And who owns which phone? These small gadgets that people hold in their hands and call mobile phones can be used for good and ill. It is the same instrument that is used to announce good news, that terrorists use to deliver messages of evil. Freedom is a good concept in human societies, but it is not an absolute proposition.

But why would Nigerians refuse to obtain the NIN and link their phones after ten postponements by the National Communications Commission (NCC), over a period of two years. The first thing is that the people do not trust their governments. We have reached a sad point in this country whereby the people consider government their Number One Enemy. They doubt anything that is related to government. Whatever government proposes, the people are likely to think that the primary interest is not theirs but the selfish interests of government officials. Without any deep reflection, they reject any government initiative almost instinctively: The fact that religion, ethnicity and ego are often thrown into the mix makes everything worse.  Nigerians are also the most superstitious human beings in the world. They read meanings into everything. When this whole drama about NIN/SIM started, Nigerians were naturally suspicious. Nobody allayed their fears and so the conspiracy theories grew wings. Do they want to monitor our phone calls? What do they need NIN for? Do they want to use this as an excuse to bring in people from Niger and Chad to manipulate 2023 General elections?  Even if we take the numbers, who will protect privacy and guarantee integrity?

As is typically Nigerian, nobody could offer any clarifications. The approach adopted by government was to bully the people and issue threats. That worked. People trooped to the registration centres. The centres were chaotic. Long queues; abusive staff. There were reports of extortion to get just a number. NCC addressed that by getting the telecommunication companies involved and setting up new centres at some point. It was at that point that I got involved. I had to get to the service centre at 6 am, alongside Ms. Ijeoma Nwogwugwu and Mr. Adibua Okwesa. Still, we met a queue. It is so strange that in Nigeria, you cannot get certain things, including visas to foreign countries, or a National Identification Number, (NIN) except you go through a night vigil or its equivalent. The Federal Government of Nigeria may insist on its policy choices in this context, but the point is that it was a terribly managed process. The repeated extensions were also in part due to failures on the part of government and its agents. The NCC and the Federal Ministry of Communications jumped into the process without any clear thinking, completely without preparation and without enough public enlightenment.    

The second thing is that the people don’t really care. Why should NIN/SIM card alignment be a priority when Nigerian borders are so porous and there is so much poverty in the land?   

What I cannot understand is the chaos and confusion that people have been subjected to in the last few days. Suddenly and after a fashion, many NIN registration points are no longer working in parts of the country. Persons who had even obtained the NIN and who may have forgotten to link the NIN to their phone lines are being told to wait. They are asked to wait either because their numbers cannot be traced or that the electronic system in these places is down. People are desperate. They have learnt to rely on their mobile phones. Losing a phone is like being castrated; holding a phone and not being able to make a regular call with it is like mental torture. People around me have been screaming. They are losing it because they can’t make calls without their phones. They shout on top of their voices when I tell them that we once lived in this same country where a certain military chief, a Minister of Communications, who later became a prominent politician and Chairman of the country’s legislature, boasted, one of those days, that telephones are not meant for the poor! They think I am talking fiction, but it is the truth, even if the man’s media handlers have tried to water down the statement over the years. These days the poor own the phones and they are very assertive about their right to also make phone calls. 

I want to appeal to the Federal Ministry of Communications and the National Communications Commission to take a second look at the latest deadline. When the queues built up and the people complained, the government was helpless. I commend the agencies, however, for the decision to extend the deadline further until now. 

I also admit that the Federal Government had given so many earlier warnings. But that is Nigeria for you. The people do not obey directives by government until they are convinced that it is something deserving of their concern. But by now, it must be clear to Nigerians that government means business with the registration of NIN and SIM cards. Their reluctance to comply is more of a comment on people-government relations than the people themselves, or perhaps both to be fair.   

I recommend a more cautious approach. Even those who had their NIN cannot link up. The NCC must look at their back-end operations. It is either the operating system is overwhelmed or there is a need to look at whatever is happening at that back-end. Phone users have been told to go quickly and sort out their NIN/SIM registration and many are out there in compliance but the confusion is enormous. It would be wrong to project the typical Nigerian attitude that the people deserve to be punished. No. Many are actually innocent offenders. It seems to me that the alignment of the NIN and SIM cards should be a permanent, on-going process. There must be more creative ways of making sure that the people comply. What are those other options? Candidly, I have no technical ideas, beyond common sense, but I think mounting additional pressure on a population that is already under the weather as a result of existential uncertainties is most unkind: a national currency that is heavily devalued, the cost of diesel going up so badly even the rich now ration electricity supply, no jobs, no water, no electricity and yet in the midst of it all, some people are beginning to show up talking about 2023 general elections and promises that they do not intend to keep. 

The barred GSM lines should be opened up for another reason: the cost to the economy and the effect on the mental health of the people. I suggest that the government should meet the people half-way, encourage them, and show a little more empathy. The people should also meet the government half-way by simply obeying the directive that every barred SIM card should be registered and thereby get unbarred.    

City FM is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Programme: CITY TALKS WITH REUBEN ABATI

Time: 12:00pm

Guest: Omoyele Sowore (Presidential Aspirant)

Topic: 2023 Presidential Race

Date: Saturday, April 9, 2022

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City FM is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Programme: CITY TALKS WITH REUBEN ABATI

Time: 12:00pm

Guests: Kabiru Adamu (Security & Risk Intelligence Analyst)

Topic: Kaduna-Abuja Train Attack

Date: Saturday, April 2, 2022

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 “Omo, shine your eyes oh, all of una wey say APC no go fit do Convention, una don see am, abi una no see am? No be say we just do Convention we do better one sef.. Orrr bih. APC on top!” 

“Are you okay?”

“I am okay. My party is doing well. We will win this election in 2023 and we will rule this country forever.”

“APC is not forever. Be realistic. You call what you guys did a Convention? Was that a democratic process?”

“Yes it was. I don’t expect any member of the opposition to say we did well. As the new Chairman of the party, Senator Abdullahi Adamu said, you people are full of tears and sadness.  And as the President said, he does not expect the PDP to be happy. All of you predicting that the APC will collapse, or that the Convention will end up as a Third World War, please listen to this Breaking News. On Saturday, the APC, Nigeria’s ruling party organized a successful Convention. The party respected all the rules. INEC kept a watching brief. Everything went smoothly. On Sunday, a new National Working Committee of the party was inaugurated. Oya, come on with your hate message”

“The whole thing was illegal and unconstitutional.”

“Hate speech,”

“Your new Chairman has EFCC cases all over his head. Many unresolved cases.”

“Hate speech. Nobody has ever convicted Senator Abdullahi Adamu. Be careful. You can be sued for defamation.”

“Is the man going to keep his seat as Senator representing Nasarawa West? You people don’t know the law.”

“That’s none of your business. When we get to that bridge we will cross it.”

“What was all that drama about unity list? Governors behaving like Zombie. The President gave them a list and everybody just complied. The whole APC Convention was a violation of the principles of internal party democracy.”

“In your head”

“One aspirant from Lagos even wept. One woman refused to step down. Another one protested that he had been a founding member of the party, only for someone to come from nowhere and parading himself as a consensus candidate.”

“That is democracy. We are a party of many sides. We accommodate everybody including people who think it is good to weep in public.”    

“Is that how to run a party? Make people weep?”

“It is supremely human for people to weep, shout and disagree. Tell me something else that I don’t know.”

“I hope you know that the PDP has a case in court about that your APC Convention”

“PDP should go and worry about its own problems. That case is dead on arrival. It has become completely academic. Is it PDP that will determine what we do in APC? I keep telling you, una no well” 

“We want to take power from you people? We will grab it.”

“Come and grab it and let’s see. Who will give you power?”

“No. Governor Wike has made the point. We will grab it.”

“Who is Wike?”

“Wike is the Governor of Rivers State. The Indaboski of PDP politics….  exponent of the mad man hypothesis in Nigerian politics”  

“I beg. You see that your Indaboski, go and advise him, because the day he leaves office as Governor and his immunity expires, he won’t even be allowed to enter his car. We will grab him.. You saw Willie Obiano wearing boxer shorts. Wike will not even be allowed to wear common singlet.”

“Are you people okay?” 

“Try us. You people go about threatening madness. We will show you the meaning of madness. You think we are joking?

“So that is why you people run a Convention of coercion. You intimidate people and you think you can intimidate all Nigerians?”

“Our party is a party of disciplined people. Our leaders took a decision and we all complied. Those who did not comply were allowed to have their way. In the end, there was peace, progress, and solidarity.”

 “In your mind, hen?”

“No. In your face!”

“I can tell you for free, that your party the APC is about to implode. Not everybody is happy. I see some of your party chieftains leaving the party and forming a Third Force.”

“You know what I think? Honestly? I really think the time has come for President Buhari to declare the fight against drug addiction a national emergency.”

“What are you trying to say?”

“Just what I have said, because I don’t understand why an adult like you will stand before me, in this hot sun, and be hallucinating, jabbering and jam-talking. It doesn’t look normal.”

“I am very normal. Don’t insult me because of politics.”

“You are raising your voice.”

“Don’t tell me I am raising my voice? Because of APC politics?”

“Can you calm down?”

“Don’t tell me to calm down! Diesel is about N800 per litre. Where I live, they always put off light. We are told, the facility managers cannot afford to give us electricity. Fuel is expensive. Even prostitutes have raised their rates. They have become very arrogant. When you argue, they will tell you that the Dollar-Naira Exchange rate has gone up. What has FOREX got to do with monkey business?”

“Everything, actually, because - you have no shame. I think you know that. We are having a conversation and you are talking about prostitutes. Am I expected to have an opinion on what prostitutes want or what they charge?”

“Prostitutes are human beings. They are an important part of this Nigerian economy. I can talk about them if I so wish. In fact, I can write a whole book on that sub-economy.”

“Sorry oh, the spokesman of the Prostitutes Association of Nigeria. I get that. Yes, I get it.” 

“You cannot say that. In fact, your party is a party of prostitutes. Are you not even ashamed that all your major newly elected officers came originally from the Peoples Democratic party? The same people you pushed out of power in 2015, they are now the ones leading your party.”

“We like it like that. Leave us alone. It is called democracy”

“So, who is going to be your Presidential candidate?”

“How is that your problem?”

“I am just asking as a stakeholder. Are you people going to have a Consensus Presidential Candidate? A CPC!”

“Go and hold stakes in your own party”

“I am a citizen, an eligible member of the electorate. Who is that CPC candidate going to be? Will the choice be Asiwaju Bola Tinubu or someone else? I want to know who I may vote for.”

“You can keep your vote. Go and give it to PDP and waste it.”

“Arrogant”

“Yes, for a purpose. We are the ruling party.”

“Nonsense. In another two months, President Muhammadu Buhari would be lame duck. Nobody will listen to him again.”

“And so? And what if nobody listens to him?”

“And so”

“Okay you wait and see. When that duck is ready, we will serve you for breakfast.”

 “But jokes apart, I hope you know that your party is still going to have problems.”

“We are a unified party. Stop spreading fake news.”

“There will be political war in 2023.”

“If you start any violence, you people will end up in prison. We will not tolerate any nonsense!”

“Are you God?” Are you people God?”

“You want power. Come and take it now.”

“Nigeria is in trouble. God help us.”

“Please. I hope you know all your Pastors are with us.  You too should come and join us, join the winning train.”

“All your trains are always breaking down between Abuja and Kaduna and Ibadan and Lagos. Even airports are no longer safe.”

“It could have been worse. It could have been worse.”

“The philosophy of the defeated”

“The mantra of the triumphant.”

“Just let us get to power in 2023 and you people will see.”

“The more reason we will fight and die on top this matter. We will not  allow agents of hatred to take over this nation.”

“I just hope that the people know what they are doing.”

“Which people?”

“The Nigerian people and their PVCs.”

“PVCs?”\

“Yes”

“Like seriously”

“Yes”

“You must have been watching too much television. Please I have some other things to attend to.”

“No. I have not finished. I have a point to make.” \

“Unfortunately, I am done. There is no point.”

“I want to say something about the power of the PVC and the electorate.”

“That’s fine, but please, can I take this phone call? Na God I take beg you…”      

The Super Eagles of Nigeria, the country’s national team would file out today to play against the Black Stars of Ghana in the return leg of the final qualifying match for the World Cup in Qatar, November 2022. Africa has five slots in the tournament. Four days ago, the Eagles and the Black Stars in the first leg of their final encounter ended the match 0-0. That was a very disappointing match. A winner must emerge today. The winner will go to Qatar 2022. The Ghanaians have been boasting that they would stop Nigeria. They must not be allowed to do so. The matter between Nigeria and Ghana goes beyond football. It is all about national pride, brand and identity, from football, to jollof rice, women, men, culture and fashion.

Austin Eguavoen and his team must be told very clearly, that they cannot and they must not disgrace us. We are Nigerians. Our political leaders may not mean well. Our institutions may not work. The national currency may be sliding. The country’s unemployment rate may be high. But we, as a people, are diamonds. We do not like to be disgraced. We do not enjoy humiliation. We love to win.

Last week, the Super Eagles against Ghana at the Baba Yara, Kumasi Stadium played as if Ogbono soup had been splattered all over the football field. The only man who could stand firm was the goalkeeper, Francis Uzoho. Nobody must fall down anyhow today as if they are wearing banana peel boots. Nobody must put us to shame. Eguavoen and his team must not disgrace us.

Play whatever pattern you want: 4-2-3-1, 3-5-2. Just score the goals and shut up the likes of John Dumelo, a Ghanaian actor who thinks he can run his mouth all over Nigeria’s reputation. Wake up Eagles, do something good!  The best gift anyone can give Nigerians at this moment is  a 2022 World Cup ticket.

We may all be so busy watching the World Cup, the 2023 general election may end up as just another event.

Let’s show the Ghanaians that our football, like our jollof, is better than theirs. As they say on the streets, today na today!

The Leader of APC Progressive Youth Movement (PYM), Prince Mustapha Audu, has ruled out participation by youths of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2023 Presidential election.

According to him, all they want is to be carried along.

He said the PYM wants a President that will appoint people below the age of 50 as ministers.

Audu, who is the son of the former governor of Kogi State, the late Prince Abubakar Audu, made this known on Saturday while featuring as guest on a zoom meeting on CityFM programme, “City Talks with Reuben Abati”.

Speaking on the topic: “APC National Convention”, the PYM leader said they are ready to work hand in hand with any president the party is going to produce, that is ready to carry young people along.

He said APC is the only party with with young people that are active, agile and ready to stand up and challenge the system to get what is right.

“Once younger people with fresh ideas, energy, drive, and motivation come into the system, they will be able to make a difference and change things.

“This is why the PYM has been insisting that no convention can occur without young people being an essential part of it.

“Majority of the demographics in Nigeria are youths. 70 percent of the over 200 million people in Nigeria are young people; that is over 160 million people are young in Nigeria.

“So for any party to succeed, you must show a huge representation of these demographics, and this is what the APC has realized,”  Audu explained.

On the profile of the APC candidates showing interest in the Presidential seat, the PYM leader said: “What I believe is that you cannot do away with experience.

” As young people, our clamor is not to be president but to be chairman of the party. There should be a mix of older people with experience and younger ones with energy, ingenuity and passion.”

[persecondnews]