Congratulations to the Nigerian government for finally kicking off the Nigerian air operations. A flight which we are told is one of the three flights to be used for the Nigeria air operations landed at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja on Friday but the bigger problem the Ministry of Aviation and by extension the Nigerian government is facing right now is getting a proper website or domain for the Nigeria air where passengers can book and make reservations for their flights. 

As an airline which intends to be used for commercial purposes, the befitting website or domain name should be “Nigeria air dot com or Nigerian air dot com or dot Ng but surprisingly, none of these domain names or anything closely or far related to the above-mentioned domain names are available for use. They have all been reserved and taken by cybersquatters who want to sell the domain name to the Nigerian government. Some are willing to sell the domain name for 20000 USD while others are going for the whooping sum of 50000 USD.

This is not just obtainable with domain names or websites reservation, people do it too with company incorporation and name Trademarking; There are some people that this is their professional hustle, always keeping their ears to the ground to hear of the next big or trendy name; they will quickly register the name with the CAC or trademark it, you the original owner of the name can either be forced to buy it from them at an outrageous price or you will have to use another name.

This act of registering or reserving a domain name with the intention to sell it out is called cybersquatting and it is a crime in Nigeria and most other jurisdictions of the world. In Nigeria, upon conviction, it is punishable with at least 2 years imprisonment term and or a fine of N5,000,000

Cybersquatting, also known as domain squatting, is the practice of registering, trafficking or using an internet domain name with the intent of profiting from the goodwill of a trademark or the popularity of someone else.

Squatting simply means the act of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied space pending when the owner of the space comes to take possession. cybersquatting, therefore, refers to the unauthorized registration and use of Internet domain names that are identical or similar to trademarks, service marks, company names, or personal names.

Cybersquatting became a crime in the USA with the 1999 Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA). The statute made it illegal and criminal for anybody to buy domain names that are identical to or very similar to trademarks or to register a domain name with popular phrases/ words which had come to be identified with a particular person.

It became criminal too in Nigeria with the introduction of the cybercrime act of 2015. This act in section 25 of it specifically prohibits Cybersquatting and provided a punishment of two years term for Cybersquatters.

Tech bros and tech hustlers should get to know that their ever-booming business of cybersquatting is a crime which is highly prohibited by our laws.

Stan Alieke is a legal practitioner based in Abuja.

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One of the most important lessons from the Transmission Company of Nigeria’s unfortunate disconnection of the nascent Aba Power company from the national grid for 10 days starting last April 21 was the need for decision-makers in Federal Government organisations that provide ancillary services in the power sector such as the TCN and the Market Operator ( a unit in the TCN,) as well as the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), to develop a business-oriented consciousness. As the case with Aba Disco in April has indicated, these government agencies seem to perceive private sector operators as rivals who should be clobbered with a sledgehammer of Federal Might, rather than as business and development partners who should be encouraged to thrive and succeed in a mutually beneficial relationship.

In his well-circulated article, Dr Yemi Balogun advised the FG firms to borrow a leaf from Professor Dora Akunyili’s National Agency for Food and Drug Administration (NAFDAC) which, though a regulatory agency or a so-called policeman of the food and drug sector, spent years educating and guiding firms producing and importing medicines and processed foods in the country; instead of using the sledgehammer on these firms anytime they erred, NAFDAC punished them with care and understanding, as a good teacher would do to his or her students. The result was that the businesses supervised by NAFDAC began to post superior profits and became more compliant quickly. On Professor Akunyili’s 50th birthday in July 2014, the food and drug companies held in Lagos an unrivaled birthday celebration in Nigerian history. An appreciative nation paid a deserving homage to a most accomplished public servant and NAFDAC became the most admired and trusted public service organisation.

In a response to Dr Balogun’s thoughtful piece, Dr Fredrick Barde, an international management professor in the United Kingdom, called the attention of Nigerian state-owned enterprises (SoEs), including regulatory agencies, to the need to learn from their Chinese counterparts who have the mindset of businessmen and women. Chinese public officers, including regulators, go out of their way to encourage businesses to succeed. In fact, as Professor Barde has informed Nigerians, one of the major criteria for promoting executives to the next level in China, which has five tiers of government, is the number of domestic and foreign businesses they bring to their territories annually. This practice encourages healthy competition among state and Communist Party officials, resulting in China’s rapid development.

As someone who has been consulting for some power sector firms in the country, I am struck by the enormous wisdom in the articles by Dr Balogun and Professor Barde, who are authentic Nigerian patriots. There is a particular area where government agencies can easily help power firms, especially distribution companies, without losing even a kobo. One is referring to the time of the month when Federal Government organisations cut off feeders of DisCos from the grid to compel them to pay up. They frequently do so from the second part of a new month. In the case of Aba DisCo, the TCN cut off all its 29 feeders on April 21, at the height of revenue collection, and on April 26 descended on three feeders from the Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company to force it to pay N51bn.

DisCos send out their bills to customers in the first two weeks of the month. They start revenue collection in the second part of the month, and this frequently entails disconnecting electricity users who fail to pay for the previous month(s). But the second part of the month is when the Market Operator, TCN, or even electricity suppliers like the Niger Delta Power Holding Company yank off DisCo feeders from the national grid or cut off or reduce supplies, throwing large numbers of customers into darkness. DisCo revenue officials who go out to the field during this period are regularly attacked physically by angry customers who have no electricity supplies. Some have their ladders removed and seized when they are already on the pole; their lives are thus put in great danger.

In other words, when FG agencies in the power that provide ancillary services want to force power distribution firms to pay up and cut off their feeders from the national grid and do so in the second part of the new month when DisCos are collecting revenues, they end making the distribution firms collect less. And when the DisCos have less money, they cannot meet their obligations to electricity suppliers and ancillary service providers. The situation becomes a loss-loss for every stakeholder, including the government, which loses tremendous goodwill from the public as the latter grows increasingly disenchanted.

Electricity and gas suppliers as well as ancilliary service providers can get their money only when DisCos are able to collect reasonable revenues. When the distribution companies pay, generation companies can pay gas suppliers like Shell, ExxonMobil, Chevron, ENI, Seplat, etc. As everyone knows, the electricity business is a value chain. A chain is as strong as the weakest link. Therefore, to encourage DisCos to generate more revenues which will, in turn, benefit all players in the power sector, FG agencies should not cut supplies in the second part of the month, but in the first part when electricity bills are being distributed and customers will be willing to pay to have power restored or not to be disconnected from their meters or poles.

All stakeholders in the power sector need constant meetings to know the challenges facing one another and how they can assist each. The current mindset where FG agencies see themselves as policemen in the streets who display cruelty under the guise of of instilling discipline in the electricity industry is counterproductive. They also are great losers. Nigeria needs people and organisations with a win-win mindset for the country to get it right in the critical power sector. The power sector need not remain the albatross of infrastructure development in Nigeria which has been delaying the country’s economic takeoff.

Engr Mohammed, an electricity consultant, wrote from Abuja.

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-4).

For Nigeria, this is a time to take stock; a time to dispassionately critique where we are coming from and where we are headed. One had refrained from passing a definitive verdict all these days because, as in a soccer match, a last minute goal was still a possibility. Now, the match has ended and chroniclers are at liberty to start laying the building blocks of history.

“The old order changeth, yielding place to new, And God fulfils Himself in many ways, Lest one good custom should corrupt the world”, wrote Alfred Lord Tennyson in his famous poem, Morte d’Arthur. When Muhammadu Buhari mounted the saddle in 2015, a two-term tenure of eight years looked like eternity. Now, the man who ascended the throne in a blaze of glory is crawling back to private life thoroughly demystified.

Shortly after the swearing in ceremony of May 29, 2015, those of us who had covered Major-General Buhari’s first intrusion into governance in 1984 expected that competence, discipline and transparency would be the hallmark of his tenure as a democratically elected president. 

In the first two weeks, motorists noticed that police checkpoints had been dismantled nationwide. Everyone was scared that Buhari’s broom would sweep away all crooked people from public office. But after two weeks and people saw that it was business as usual, checkpoints started rearing their heads again and the people slowly but surely returned to their riotous ways.

It turned out that Buhari was overrated, overhyped and that the expectations of the public from the new ‘messiah’ were, therefore, unrealistic. Once his health problems were sorted out by his foreign doctors, it was thought that he would swing into action and intervene in many areas of national life. But no such thing happened as Buhari was content with reigning as a monarchical president rather than a political leader.

The underside of that monarchical posture was that Nigeria was on auto-pilot. Each minister became a lord unto himself. But for a few times when the office of the secretary to government intervened, there was no central coordination of policy initiatives. As far as the public could see, the president was content with appointing his ministers and leaving them to their own devices.

More than any other president before him, Buhari displayed a lack of cerebral capacity to think through various national problems and proffer solutions. Nowhere was this more pronounced than in the vexed matter of nomadic herdsmen destroying farms. While forward looking people suggested that the federal government assist the herders to set up ranches so that the primitive system of roaming the wilderness in search of pasture for grazing would become a thing of the past, Buhari was more interested in establishing grazing routes from the desert to the ocean so that the herdsmen could roam freely.

In terms of style, Buhari’s limited exposure and narrow circle of friends made it difficult for him to understand how to deploy contemporary tools to effect desired changes. Many people felt that he was arrogant, but I think what they mistake as arrogance is actually a recoil into his shell for, in the immortal words of Abraham Lincoln, “It’s better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than open it and remove all doubt.”

Buhari will be remembered for many infrastructural projects, especially the revamping of the railway sector and the completion of the second Niger bridge. But the jury is still out as to whether the borrowings — highest level of borrowing since Nigeria became independent in 1960 — were judiciously expended.

Nigeria’s total public debt stock as at 2023 is N46. 25 trillion. This excludes another estimated N27. 55 trillion ‘Ways and Means’ loans from the Central Bank and additional debt envisaged in the 2023 annual budgets of States and the Federal Government. There are claims that many of the projects being executed are overvalued when placed side by side with similar projects in other parts of the world. 

Under Buhari, corruption rained like confetti. Public officials used to pilfer millions of Naira; now under Buhari, they stole billions in plain sight. One of the examples of profligacy often cited is the opaque way the Ministry of Aviation has been going about the establishment of Nigerian Air — from the ‘unveiling’ of the logo in London to the opaque partnership with Ethiopian Air (which made local airlines head to the courts). Then came the N1.7 billion consultancy fee for the design of the second runway in Abuja and the N12 billion expended on acquiring 10 fire fighting trucks without competitive bids.

The ownership structure of Nigeria Air is shrouded in secrecy. The minister had disclosed that Ethiopian Air owns 49% equity while Nigeria owns only 5%. So, who are the other shareholders? Indeed, what is the authorised share capital of the airline? What equity did the other unnamed stakeholders contribute? 

Also, the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) has called for the immediate reversal of the concessioning of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja and the Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano. “Why borrow and spend public money to upgrade the airports only to hand them over to private concerns in the name of a concession?” the centre asked.

“It is also disheartening to understand that the total amount of money that this airport is accruing to government is $700m for Abuja and then $97.4m for Kano”, said CISLAC. “Put together, it is about $800m and Nigeria is receiving a concession fees or upfront of less than $10m, that is, only $7m for Abuja and $1.5m to be given for Kano.” Apparently, Sirika has treated the aviation sector like a family inheritance.

The incoming administration will have its hands full with many ghostly projects. Mercifully, the proposed borrowing of additional $800 million to “cushion the effects of the proposed removal of petroleum subsidy on the poorest of the poor has been shelved. Like the COVID palliatives and the feeding of absent school children during the COVID scourge, it would have been another phantom bazaar.

In the eight years of his reign, Buhari cut the picture of a standoffish leader who was doing us a favour. He didn’t brook criticism and seized every opportunity to congratulate himself. Only recently, he proclaimed: “I have run a good race”. 

The way to assess any administration is to weigh the quantum of resources available to it. Dollar for dollar, Naira for Naira, we could have achieved more mileage with the resources available in the last eight years with more prudent management. For the government to give itself a pass mark, its standards must be very low indeed.

The outgoing administration made some gains on the security front but neutralised its gains by employing double standards in dealing with terrorists, bandits, armed herdsmen, tribal warriors , etc. The impression was given that some people could not be prosecuted no matter their crimes. 

The Buhari administration must however be commended for its achievements in the war against narcotics. The NDLEA under Brig-Gen Buba Marwa (Rtd) has rediscovered its mojo. Also, the Nigerians In Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM) under Dr. Abike Dabiri-Erewa has performed creditably as a trusted link between the country and its citizens abroad. 

Unfortunately for the administration, all the lofty economic goals earmarked at the onset of the regime were stultified by a combination of voodoo economics and sheer incompetence, especially with regard to how the central bank has managed the monetary policy and caused untold hardship to the generality of the people through its planlessness. 

The attempt to introduce new colours of Naira notes in the run-up to the last elections must rank as one of the most brainless moves ever made by any government since Independence. 

All in all, Buhari has satiated his longing to serve as a democratically elected president of Nigeria. He shares the distinction of leading Nigeria twice — as a soldier and as a civilian — with General Olusegun Obasanjo. His military adventure had ended on a sour note when he was overthrown in 1984. His return as civilian president was supposed to be a golden opportunity to show what the country missed when he was overthrown. But alas, the verdict over eight years is anything but rosy. He has said he can’t wait to return to his farm in Daura. For once, Nigerians are in agreement with him. They, too, can’t wait!

As we bid President Muhammadu Buhari and the Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, a professor, goodbye till we meet again, it is fitting to ask the outgoing President an update on one not-so-popular but so-significant promise he didn’t fulfil to Nigerians and humanity: release of Ms Leah Sharibu The Guardian, Nigeria had in 2019 tagged her as ‘A goddess of resistance.’

While reflecting the other day on possibilities in a verdict of history, our president had looked into the seeds of time and wondered if history would be kind to him as he was persuaded that he had tried his best. He should leave that to the judgment of history. But there is a sense in which we can claim today that history will be harsh to our outgoing president if he leaves office the morning after May 29 without proclaiming to the nation that he has fulfilled his 2018 promise on Citizen Leah.

And here is the thing, I haven’t been led to do a contextual reporting and analysis of the inauguration lectures and related activities today as there is a time for everything. As I had noted here on January 29, this year shortly before the 5th anniversary of Leah’s cruel abduction that it would be tragic for Buhari to leave Leah in captivity of the wicked. I had noted then that the oracle had nudged me on to raise a flag of appeal to our leader Buhari the Mauritanian authorities just then honoured as a ‘Peace Ambassador, who would leave office at the end of May, 2023.

MY appeal then: “Mr. President, on February 19, it will be five years since that daughter of Zion, Citizen Leah Sharibu was abducted by the wicked ones. Expectedly, on that day (February 19, 2023), there will be another round of activities to mark another dark day in our history of building our strange federation of complex diversity. That will be another day of diverse messages of solidarity and even condemnation for the authorities and indeed your presidency. It is not expedient for me to wait till that day to send this last appeal so that you can get it before the usual noises of February 19.

“What is more urgent, I just read your opinion in the media, in which you stated: ‘I have done my best, I hope history will be kind to me…’ Our dear President, this is very remarkable except to deconstruct it from one of the classics of Williams Shakespeare who notes, ‘the eye sees not itself but by reflection by some other things…’ Yes, you can claim to us that you have done your best within the context of the promises you made to us in 2015 and where we are today as a nation. The verdict of history is inescapable in the end. But one thing you need to do to make history to be kind to you is to work for the release of that daughter of yours, Leah before May 29, 2023. That is barely four months away. Many people believe that her heartless captors will kill her when you leave office. And as our own iconic Chinua Achebe would have written to you, do not allow the wicked ones to claim that you bear a hand in her death despite the fact that that girl regards you as a father, and your administration didn’t reach out to pay the terrorists what they allegedly demanded for her release. Your Excellency, may the good Lord who enabled you to be in the highest office in the land grant you the grace to deepen your understanding of why Citizen Leah should not be left to die in captivity where aid workers and rescued ones have consistently claimed that she (Leah) has been forced to renounce her faith as a Christian and marry a Boko Haram Commander by whom she has had two unwanted children in the wilderness of life.”

It will be recalled that in a 30-second video clip in Hausa, after seven months in captivity in 2018, the 15-year-old then appealed to the president for help and help for her agonising family. In the video, she pleaded: ‘I am Leah Sharibu, the girl that was abducted in GGSS Dapchi. I am calling on the government, particularly, the President to pity me and get me out of this serious situation…I also plead to the members of the public to help my mother, my father, my younger brother and relatives…Kindly help me out of my predicament…I am calling on the government and people of goodwill to intervene to get me out of my current situation. I am begging you to treat me with compassion. Thank you.’

Our outgoing President, recall the last testimony of Leah’s mother who merely responded to a media inquiry about the last time the family heard from you: “…When my daughter was taken away in February 2018, I did not hear from the government; I did not hear from anybody until seven months after. It was then that a video was released of her in a hijab. Boko Haram had released a video to say they had killed one health worker and they said the next person to be killed would be Leah. So, the Leah Foundation organised a world press conference in Jos. We asked the world for help because the next person Boko Haram said they would kill was my daughter. We said we had not heard from the government or anybody as a family and that, as far as we were concerned, we were calling on the international community to plead with the Nigerian government to take action. The night of the press conference, we got the attention of the government and the President called and spoke with me. That was the first time they (the presidency) got in touch with us.

“After speaking to me, he (President) promised that he would do everything possible to bring Leah back. Two weeks after, he sent three ministers led by the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, to us. He came to Dapchi with two female ministers. When they came, they told me the President had sent them with a very large delegation and the media to say that very soon, Leah would be found. In fact, when they came that day, we thought Leah was coming back because we had just spoken with the President two weeks before. But they just came to register their presence with us as Leah’s parents. They took pictures and it was all over the media that the President sent ministers. After that time, we never heard anything from anybody in the government until October 2020 when the Minister of Women Affairs (Paulen Tallen) came to Yola (Adamawa State) to pay us a courtesy visit. She told us that she had brought a message from the President, that the President was still working towards fulfilling the promise that he would rescue Leah. Since then, there has been no contact or communication…”

Our out-going President, as I was saying, intelligence received on the status of Leah indicates that she has delivered a second child in captivity. There has been no rejoinder denying this unpleasant development even as diplomatic and intelligence sources have also confirmed. This is not a good news item of childbirth, in ay case.

‘The Guardian,’ Nigeria, had (on January 1, 2019), named Leah Sharibu as its 2018 ‘‘Person of the Year,’’ aptly describing her as “A goddess of resistance.” Remember this story too? To commemorate the March 21 third anniversary of the release of the Dapchi girls returned by their captors and “abandonment of Leah Sharibu,” a US group in its commemorative statement said, “until she is released, Leah remains a poster child and symbol of a failed state that can’t protect its children…” The group also lamented the “full-scale onslaught on education in Nigeria by Islamist extremists: Boko Haram wars against education; bandits mass kidnap of children in school; and religious violence against Christian mission school owners in Ilorin over hijab controversy.” These too are sad commentaries even as we are not talking about the more than 100 Chibok school children that the same Boko Haram insurgents have wasted since 2014. Our father and leader, I hope it is still clear that Leah’s father who hails from Adamawa State is a policeman, who was posted to Dapchi where his daughter was abducted. But they had transferred him to another beat at the time Leah was kidnapped. Does anyone feel how Leah’s family has been coping?

The words of the mother two years ago are still instructive: “…For us as a family, it is very painful; it is not something that is palatable. It is painful when a child is taken for three years and you don’t know anything regarding the child’s whereabouts. We are not happy as a family. I am not happy, her father is not happy and my son is not happy. We are in pain every day. She has just her younger brother, Donald. He is in school… My son has gone back to school, but every day I’m afraid; my mind is not at ease. But he has to continue with his education and people have supported us. The Leah Foundation has taken up his education. With that, he has to go to school, but every day, I am afraid. We are in deep pains. We are not happy. It is not something to be happy about…”

Mr. President, this is the summary of the reality we are checking: while 104 of Leah’s colleagues were released on March 21, 2018, five of the hapless girls died in captivity. Although, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed announced then that the 104 girls’ release was unconditional, the refusal of the terrorists group to release Leah since 2018 because she refused to convert to Islam questions this view, which buttresses some perception that the Federal Government’s negotiations through a back-channel led to the release of the girls.

So, it is indeed becoming inexcusable that the Federal Government has not been able to negotiate Leah’s release for five years. This may account for the resentments by various individuals and groups within and outside Nigeria as aptly captured in the earlier question posed by ‘The Guardian:’ “Mr. President, Where is Leah Sharibu?”

Mr. President, it can be repeated here that on Wednesday, October 3, 2018, you consoled and assured Leah’s parents that the Federal Government would do its utmost for the safety and security of Leah. You were then quoted as telling Mrs Sharibu: “I convey my emotion, the strong commitment of my administration and the solidarity of all Nigerians to you and your family as we will do our best to bring your daughter home in peace and safety.”

Despite your assurance to Rebecca Sharibu (mother of Leah), the Leah albatross still hangs on the neck of your administration Sir, as the girl is still held in captivity. Till the present, there has been no update on the plight of that unlucky girl and her whereabouts have remained unknown, five years on. Our dear President, as I have been saying here, this is an albatross that you should have removed from your neck before leaving for Daura tomorrow (May 29, 2023). As you fly over all the uncompleted road projects along Abuja-Katsina axis tomorrow, let your conscience be aroused by the Leah Sharibu conundrum as a strategic promise not kept, after all. Certainly, that failure has grave implications on the ticklish national question. Goodbye!

Those who grew up in the old Midwest Region which became Bendel State and now Edo and Delta States, must have heard the story of a particular ethnic group that reportedly loved court cases.

The story was that the importance of a person in that ethnic group was usually determined by the number of cases such a person had in court. In later years, increased litigations in the entire country was attributed to people who were bad losers in an event especially politics and elections. They were described as litigants who never dropped a case until the last court spoke. Unfortunately, no one has put forward the factor of how our justice system oils the trend. If a citizen is unable to attain what he believes is the justice of his case until he gets to the Supreme Court, why should his neighbour not emulate such perseverance?

The greatest achievement that stakeholders in Nigeria’s justice system ought to be proud of is the extent to which they have solved societal problems that usually provoked litigations. Although, it is only a few people that take up the issue of defections from one party to the other after election, many people are aggrieved over the trend. When a governor for personal reasons defects to another party and our judiciary says, defection is not one of the reasons constitutionally provided for removing a governor, the decision does not solve the real problem. Instead, it paves the way for many more governors to defect in future thereby forcefully altering the decision of voters. Defections would have ended long ago in Nigeria if the Supreme Court as a court of policy had nullified any defection and ordered the ‘irremovable’ governor back to the party whose votes he was hijacking; after all, votes in Nigeria legally belong to political parties.

The major factor which accounts for the greatest number of political cases in our courts, is rancorous party primaries. It has been so over the years because among other things, our judiciary prefers to hide under the argument that party matters are internal to the parties as if there are no laws guiding party conduct. During the Babangida years, government decided to build party offices throughout the country to avoid the practice of the rich diverting party matters to their houses where they held sway. Many years later, when the dictatorial powers of party caucuses remained a problem, the judiciary made a persuasive ruling which set guidelines for party behaviour during primaries. One of the guidelines was that for a political party to replace the victorious aspirant in its primary election, the party must provide cogent and verifiable reasons.This helped only for a while.

Today, the Electoral Act 2022 provides that INEC must monitor party primaries; yet in any dispute over party primaries, the judiciary merely upholds the position of the party. This was what happened in Yobe state during the last senatorial primaries of the ruling All Progressives Congress when Ahmad Lawan, the senate president who never featured as an aspirant was affirmed by the judiciary as the candidate of his party. If political parties are to handpick their flagbearers, why do we need party primaries to which we expend ample tax payers’ resources, such as the deployment of thousands of law enforcement agents? What was the intention and purpose of legally requiring INEC to monitor party primaries? That cases concerning this subject were reportedly lost and won because either the wrong person sued or deployed the wrong procedure may have satisfied the judiciary but it has not brought out the truth and more importantly, it has not helped society.

Political cases in court have continued to increase because it is only litigants and their lawyers that are reprimanded or fined. The cases will reduce when INEC officials who collude with politicians to rig elections are jailed. For instance, the victory of the APC in the 2018 governorship election in Osun state was donated by the judiciary because rather than tell us who won the election, the judiciary ended up identifying a tribunal member who was allegedly absent on a few occasions when the relevant tribunal sat. The higher level judiciary discountenanced the finding of facts by the tribunal that “a substantial number of the Certified True Copies of the Forms EC8A were altered and that the alteration in figures and fresh filling of the columns were not on the pink copies of the forms EC8A distributed to the parties polling agents on the day of the election. This shows clearly that the forms which were in INEC’s custody were altered after the election ended.” Has the trend ended?

Leaving the facts of a case or not investigating it at all cannot resolve a case, it neither brings out the truth nor does it help the larger society. Upcoming judges who followed the judgments of the legendary Chukwudifu Oputa of the Supreme Court must have learned several lessons. One of them was that truth must prevail in order to ensure that justice is done because “justice is more than a game of hide and seek; it is an attempt to discover the truth on human imperfections.” For this to happen, Oputa insisted that “the courts and all ministers of the temple, that is, all lawyers and all other stake holders must strive at discovering the truth regardless of legal technicalities.” All those who have refused to listen to Oputa by holding rigidly to the letter and not the spirit of the law are responsible for the tension in our polity today.

Technical justice brings forth several evils. One of such transparent evils in today’s Nigeria, is the abundance of crooked leaders. Too many Nigerian leaders have immense sleazy past which the system continuously helps them to hide. Many of us unfortunately hardly remember that old habits die hard. A fraudster early in life is more likely to use state power to meet his old habits. It is therefore pertinent for us all to stop oiling the safety valves which our system provides to persons with bad traits of character. When a would-be governor is accused of having forged certificates or other documents, it does not help society for the whistle-blower to be shut out with the argument of whether he came with or without originating summons or that indeed he should have waited for the appropriate time for raising his alarm. Getting to the bottom of the case to find the truth is best for society because a certificate forger is more likely to forge bigger matters.

Nothing stops us from getting a statement from the issuing authorities of a suspected forged certificate. The other day, the University of Ibadan did not only write, she came forward to testify that Edo Governor, Godwin Obaseki’s certificates were genuine. Similarly, it was good to hear that an American University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has confirmed that the certificates presented by the last Labour Party governorship candidate in Lagos state, Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour are genuine. The approach is more capable of resting cases beyond legal arguments. It is hoped that the running battle over the authenticity of the NYSC certificate presented by the last PDP governorship candidate in Enugu state, Peter Mbah would be similarly handled. Otherwise, predictability which a good legal system bestows on society, will be lost.

Nigerians expect the same results when similar cases are handled. Two days ago, the case of double nomination brought by the PDP against the then vice presidential candidate of the APC, Senator Kashim Shettima was dismissed. The court described the PDP as a meddlesome interloper because it raised a matter about another party. However, not many know why the same PDP was not similarly described when it raised a case of impropriety against the then APC Deputy governorship candidate during the last governorship election in Bayelsa state. Could it be that in Nigeria, meddlesome interlopers get different judgments? We need not be impatient with those who are confused because the complainant in both cases was the PDP, the party complained against was the APC, the court in both cases was Nigeria’s apex court. Should we just take it that both parties won one and lost one case each?

The squabble between the EFCC chairman, Abdulrasheed Bawa, and the outgoing governor of Zamfara state, Bello Matawalle, is a clear pointer to the difficulty inherent in fighting corruption in the country. The governor has launched virulent attacks against the chairman in apparent retaliation against the commission’s investigations into his administration. It is not uncommon for powerful individuals who are under investigation for corruption to either resist or avoid arrests, but Matawalle is the first governor to publicly claim that the EFCC chairman had asked him for a bribe.

It is particularly disturbing. I have contacted Bawa and he has vehemently denied the allegations. The federal government should launch thorough and independent investigations into the governor’s accusation to determine the truth. Nigerians would be particularly disillusioned and let down if Bawa is not above board.

His appointment as the commission’s fourth executive chairman in February 2021 elicited excitement for many good reasons. He was just 41; the first product of the EFCC Academy and the first non-police officer to assume the position. In a way, he represents the yearnings of young Nigerians who earnestly want to play a role in managing the affairs of their country. I had written an article soon after his appointment was announced entitled ‘’Agenda for the New EFCC Chairman’’, asking him to do a thorough job and not to let his generation and the nation down.

The EFCC is investigating Matawalle over allegations of corruption, award of phantom contracts and diversion of over N70 billion from government’s coffers into personal accounts. The commission avers that the money was sourced as a loan from a bank by the Zamfara state government ostensibly to fund some projects across the state, but was allegedly diverted by the governor through proxies and contractors who received payments for contracts that were not executed.

According to the EFCC, over 100 companies have received payments from the N70 billion loan, with no evidence of service rendered to the state. Some of the contractors have been interrogated by the commission and they have made startling revelations on how they were allegedly compelled by the governor to return the funds received from the state coffers back to him through his aides after converting them into foreign currencies.

EFCC alleges that one of the contractors, a popular Abuja property developer, collected N6 billion on a N10 billion contract without rendering any service to the state. Another contractor collected over N3 billion for a contract for the supply of medical equipment, but the commission traced a transfer of N400 million from the contractor’s account to a Bureau de Change operator. The contractor, the EFCC says, had confessed that the payment was to procure the dollar equivalent allegedly for the governor. The commission has also recovered N300 million from a company that was also involved in the alleged sleaze.

These accusations are grave and mind-boggling. I must commend the commission for doing a thorough forensic investigation. But amazingly, the governor has not denied these allegations, instead, he made counter-allegations, claiming that the EFCC chairman had asked him for a $2 million bribe and that he has evidence to prove it. In an interview with the Hausa Service of BBC last week, the governor criticised the seeming obsession of the commission with governors whereas federal officials are not investigated.

He also accused the commission of not being transparent in the disposal of confiscated assets. I have also seen a video in which Bawa is accused of staying in a $15,000-per-room hotel with many of his extended family members during the hajj in Saudi Arabia. The narrator wonders how the chairman, a civil servant, could afford such expensive hotel accommodation for himself and his family members. Clearly, the accusations are meant to ridicule the EFCC chairman, embarrass and weaken the commission and eventually throw it off track. As I said, Bawa has vehemently denied these allegations.

The governor claims that Bawa met him ‘’in a certain house’’. Of course, they couldn’t have met in a beer parlour or bus stop. Matawalle also made the point that the EFCC is focusing more on the state than the federal government. That is neither here nor there. Are the state governors wrongly accused? Is there any former governor that has been sent to jail for committing no offence?

In any case, I know that former federal officials like FFK; Diezani Allison-Madueke; Ahmed Idris (former accountant-general of the federation) and Sale Mamman (former minister of power) have been in the EFCC net for various alleged crimes. If more former governors are being investigated, it speaks to the fact that states’ chief executives control more resources, yet are less oversighted than the ministers. Who does a governor report to when the house of assembly is in his pocket?

Gov. Bello Matawalle should bring forth whatever evidence he has against the chairman or, he should report the matter to the ICPC or the police. The federal government should also launch an investigation into the allegations made by the governor. If it turns out that the governor’s allegations are baseless and fabricated, the chairman should seek redress in a court of law. The EFCC should conclude its investigations into the affairs of the Zamfara government and prosecute all the culprits.

Matawalle should be prevented from leaving the country after May 29. We have seen many instances in the past in which the commission made loud allegations against some politically exposed persons but eventually failed to prosecute them. Former Governor of Anambra state, Willy Obiano, was arrested soon after he handed over to Prof Charles Soludo, detained for a few days and released. Nothing has been heard of that case again till today. The Matawalle case should not be swept under the carpet. The revelations unearthed by the EFCC are staggering. It should also look into the activities of other governors and public officials who are about to finish their terms.

Which of the following three things do you think should break IBB’s heart most: The opportunity he missed being a national hero and an international statesman with the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election won fair and square by MKO Abiola; the death of his wife Maryam; and his present state of health? Despite the many shenanigans of IBB, his many sins would still have been forgiven had he allowed the June 12, 1993 presidential election to stand, and had he relinquishing power to a democratically-elected government like Olusegun Obasanjo before him and Abubakar Abdulsalami after him both did. The mere fact of handing over to a civilian government is the reprieve Obasanjo and Abdulsalami enjoy to this date, both nationally and internationally. They are today treated as statesmen of repute; not that they did not sin. The same thing goes for former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan who, rather than dig in, in 2015, made his now famous statement that his presidential ambition was not worth the blood of a single Nigerian. Jonathan proceeded to accept defeat, handing over power to Muhammadu Buhari. When IBB sees the trio of Obasanjo, Abdulsalami and Jonathan strut on the global space as colossus, rubbing shoulders with, and being celebrated by world figures, how on earth will his heart not break? Yet, IBB stood on a higher pedestal than these three to win similar acclaim because the 1993 election which he annulled was widely acclaimed, nationally and internationally, as the best this country has ever had. For IBB, it was paradise lost that is hard to regain; an opportunity lost which will never come around again.

I am sure IBB has not forgotten the momentous events of June 12; who can ever forget? He and his media minders have made spirited efforts severally to justify the annulment; to extricate IBB from the unfortunate mess and or rope as many people as possible in the debacle with him. On the occasion of IBB’s 70th birthday, I was in Minna where I had something to do for the government of the self-styled “Chief Servant”, Gov. Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu of Niger State; the day’s job done, my main man in the state, SOJ, drafted me into the train of state correspondents going to the HillTop residence of IBB to felicitate with him. I could not help but notice the decrepit state of some of the facilities in the place. IBB was his boisterous self; though quite evident in him was old age, the wear-and-tear, so to say, of all he has gone through, and his fair or unfair share of life’s vicissitudes. As I introduced myself after many others had done so, he said, “Ah, my enemy!”  I replied: “Your Excellency, I am not your enemy but the enemy of your obnoxious policies, especially the annulment of June 12”. As Editor of The PUNCH at the time, I refused, from beginning to the end, to compromise on June 12 even when I was baited with offers many would regard as mouth-watering: A house in London and one million pounds in a bank account there! I would also not consider the Shonekan government’s offer to support his “fidihe” Interim National Government.

Of all the leaders of Nigeria, it is debatable if there is anyone that has drastically and dramatically altered the fortunes and affected the destiny of this country than IBB. Consider his unending return to democracy rigmarole; the many times he shifted the goalpost in the middle of the match and, finally, the annulment. Noted for the manner in which he dribbled Nigerians, it was not an error that he was nicknamed “Maradona”! No thanks to IBB, Nigerians will never know the stuff of which MKO Abiola was made; whether or not he would have delivered on his “Farewell to Poverty” mantra. IBB’s annulment of Abiola’s election victory killed Hope ’93! But for the annulment, we might never have had Gen. Sani Abacha; we might never have had Olusegun Obasanjo and we even might never have had Muhammadu Buhari! The story of this country would probably have been different from what it is today. With just one stroke of the pen, IBB changed the trajectory of this country forever! When he now looks back on the turn of events, will his heart not break?

Consider also the death, in far-away Los Angeles, California, the United States of America, of IBB’s adorable wife, Maryam, on 27 December, 2009. Without doubt, Maryam was the most flamboyant First Lady Nigeria ever had; she was powerful, too. In fact, many regarded her as the power behind IBB’s throne. Feyi, First Lady of Olabode George when he was the Ondo State military administrator, believed that much, with evidence. As Features Editor of The PUNCH at the time, I had led a team of writers to interview Feyi, in preparation for Maryam’s visit to the state in respect of her pet-project, the Better Life for Rural Women Programme, which Feyi said was a ruse meant to disguise its real purpose of collecting spiritual power from all over the place. She took us to some of the “spiritually powerful” women that the First Lady was slated to visit.  You must not blame Maryam! Is it not said that behind every successful man is a woman? The Yoruba – and I am one – will lionize Maryam as “abiyamo otito”; a courageous, daring, conscientious and worthy wife and mother deserving of accolades. Now, who will lose such a “jewel of inestimable value”, to borrow the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s description of his wife, Dideolu, and not suffer heartbreak?

The last time I saw the photographs of IBB, he was on a wheelchair; whether this is temporary or permanent, I cannot say. All around him were other Nigerian leaders, some of whom, long ago, were rumoured to be in serious ill-health but who, today, are still on their feet bouncing! Fate can be cruel sometimes and life is not a straight course. As we close, let us hear from the philosophers: “As Herodotus tells it (in Book I of his The Histories) the Athenian lawgiver, Solon, travelled to the ancient kingdom of Lydia and visited with the ruling king, Croesus of Sardis. The king was delighted to have such a renowned philosopher and statesman in his presence.  Solon is remembered as a lawmaker from the archaic age of Athens. His laws are often credited with laying the foundation for early Athenian democracy about a century later.

“For several days, the king instructed his servants to take Solon around his palace to demonstrate his enormous power and wealth. Once he felt that his riches had adequately awed Solon, the king asked the Athenian: ‘Stranger of Athens, we have heard much of thy wisdom and of thy travels through many lands, from love of knowledge and a wish to see the world. I am curious therefore to inquire of thee, whom, of all the men that thou hast seen, thou deemest the most happy?’ Croesus already assumes himself to be the happiest man in the world but wishes to hear his name parroted back to him by such a renowned sage.

“Rather than name the king as the happiest man, Solon claims that Tellus of Athens is the happiest of all men. Croesus is shocked! ‘What makes this Tellus guy so special? Why is he the happiest?’ Solon replies: ‘His country was flourishing in his days, and he himself had sons both beautiful and good, and he lived to see children born to each of them, and these children all grew up; and further because, after a life spent in what our people look upon as comfort, his end was surpassingly glorious. In a battle between the Athenians and their neighbours near Eleusis, he came to the assistance of his countrymen, routed the foe, and died upon the field most gallantly. The Athenians gave him a public funeral on the spot where he fell, and paid him the highest honours’

“Croesus was perplexed by such an answer but he pushes on regardless. If he weren’t the happiest man, certainly Solon would name him the second happiest, right? But no! Solon says that the second happiest of mortals were a pair of strapping young Argives: Cleobis and Bito. These lads were renowned for their strength and athleticism. One day, their mother wished to travel to the temple of Hera to attend a festival but there were no oxen to pull the cart. The two brothers, who clearly loved their dear old mom, slung the yoke over their own necks and dragged the cart six miles. They were, in essence, the ideal ‘good sons’ who drove their mother to church on Sundays. When the brother arrived at the temple, the other citizens witnessed their feat and extolled the boys for their strength and dedication. Later, the mother prayed to the goddess to grant her sons the greatest of gifts a mortal could receive. After the festival, the youths fell asleep in the temple and never awoke. They passed from this earth and were forever remembered by their people as the best of men.

“At this point, Croesus is livid with Solon. These dead men are happier than he, a king? Surely, the old codger must have lost his marbles. Solon explains that while Croesus is very wealthy, the wealthy have only two advantages over the poor: The means to bear calamity and satisfy their appetites. However, the rich have no monopoly on the things that the classical Greeks thought constituted a good life: civic service, raising a healthy family, being of sound mind and body, and honouring the gods. Plus, riches do tend to create more issues for their possessors. After all, more money, more problems! The wealthy can be said to be ‘fortunate’ but ‘happiness’ must be reserved for those of us who have already shuffled off this mortal coil. How do we meet our end? Does our good fortune last until our dying breaths? Solon concludes that he cannot tell Croesus if he is happy or not until he knows the manner of his death. Count no man happy until the end is known!

“Croesus sends Solon away with much indifference but he might have done well to listen to him. Soon after, the king’s son is killed in a hunting accident and the king himself is struck blind by the gods for his hubris. Finally, after an ill-advised invasion of the Persian Empire, Cyrus the Great of Persia crushes Croesus’ kingdom and Croesus finds himself on the business end of a funeral pyre while he is still breathing. As the flames licked at his feet, Croesus cried out…‘Oh Solon! Oh Solon! Oh Solon! Count no man happy until the end is known!’ “

This is caveat emptor of sorts to men in power and authority. No one knows tomorrow!

Bye-bye, Muhammadu Buhari!

All things being equal, this is the last of this column that retired Major-General Muhammadu Buhari will read – if ever he reads! – as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Commander-in-Chief of its Armed Forces. In a few days’ time, he, too, joins the ranks of the ex-this and ex-that. Nothing lasts for ever! Other than saying “bye-bye”, I am not ready to waste time and resources on Buhari anymore. I prefer, instead, to keep my powder dry for the in-coming president and commander-in-chief, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. So, maa bayi, maa bayi o, alagba Buhari! E kaabo s’ori aleefa, olori oko titun, alagba Tinubu! Igba re a san wa; asiko re a si tu wa l’ara! Ase Edumare!

AlhajiBello Matawalle, outgoing governor of Zamfara state, recently filed a petition in the Court of Public Opinion regarding his face-off with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and its chairman, Mr Abdulrasheed Bawa. He listed the following issues for determination by the Court: (1) whether the EFCC should be probing only governors and their commissioners whereas federal government officials are also corrupt but the anti-graft agency is looking the other way (2) whether the EFCC should not also show evidence of federal corruption to the world (3) whether the EFCC has a moral right to call him corrupt whereas its boss allegedly demanded a bribe of $2 million from him.

I herein quote Matawalle’s words in his interview with the BBC Hausa Service: “It is not just to always blame governors. It is not only governors who have treasury, the federal government also has. What does the EFCC boss do to them? As he is claiming he has evidence on governors. Let him show to the world evidence of those at the federal level. If he (Bawa) exits office, people will surely know he is not an honest person. I have evidence against him. He requested a bribe of $2 million from me and I have evidence of this. He knows the house we met. He invited me and told me the conditions. He told me governors were going to his office, but I did not. If I don’t have evidence, I won’t say this.”

The EFCC and Bawa, as respondents, have filed a cross-petition and raised the following issues for determination in the Court of Public Opinion: (1) whether the public should not ignore Matawalle’s petition and ask him to answer questions over allegations of money laundering running into N70 billion in a state ravaged by poverty, disease and banditry (2) whether EFCC can be adjudged to be going after only governors when a former minister of power is currently in its custody answering questions on an alleged N22 billion fraud (3) whether Matawalle should not produce and submit to the appropriate authorities evidence of his allegation that its chairman demanded bribe from him.

I proceed to quote the words of Mr Wilson Uwujaren, the EFCC spokesperson: “Matawalle’s recourse to mudslinging is symptomatic of a drowning man clutching at straws. But despite the irritation of his phantom claims, the Commission will not be drawn into a mud fight with a suspect under its investigation for corruption and unconscionable pillage of the resources of his state. If Matawalle will be taken seriously, he should go beyond sabre-rattling by spilling the beans – provide concrete evidence as proof of his allegations. Again, the commission wishes to alert the public about plans by some of the alleged corrupt politically exposed persons to flee the country ahead of May 29.”

In this Honourable Court of Public Opinion holden at my house somewhere in Lagos state, Nigeria, I have carefully read and considered the arguments in the respective briefs on these issues. But there are preliminary comments I want to make before determining the substantive issues. This Court has taken judicial notice of the resuscitation of the campaign that EFCC, being a federal agency, does not have the constitutional power to look into the finances of states. Although this is not part of the grounds listed by Matawalle, this Court has nonetheless found it necessary to make a public policy pronouncement in the interest of all, hoping that our learned friends will stop misleading the public.

The argument that a federal body cannot look into the finances of states is as misleading as it is disingenuous. Item No 6 on the Exclusive Legislative List of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) vests banking regulations in the Federal Government. Pursuant to this constitutional provision, the National Assembly exercised its authority by enacting the EFCC Act, 2004, granting the agency the power under Section 6(b) to investigate all financial crimes including advance fee fraud, money laundering, counterfeiting, illegal charge transfers, futures market fraud, fraudulent encashment of negotiable instruments, computer credit card fraud, and so forth.

Thus, any transaction that passes through the banking system is, by virtue of the provisions of the 1999 Constitution, subject to federal regulation. It is, therefore, illogical to accuse the EFCC of poke-nosing into the finances of states whereas it is able to probe transactions that go through the financial system. If state funds were to be spent in such a way and manner that would not involve the banking system, the EFCC would be legally barred from looking into such transactions. In the real sense, therefore, what the EFCC does is to investigate and prosecute acts of money laundering that went through the financial system, no matter the individual, agency, or tier of government involved.

If the contrary were to hold true, we may as well conclude that if a vehicle belonging to a state government and driven by an employee of the state kills a citizen on the federal highway, the driver could not be prosecuted by the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) since it is a federal body. Insofar as the crime is committed in an area under federal jurisdiction, it does not matter if the offending driver were an employee of a state or the car were the property of the state government. I am, therefore, satisfied by the combined reading of the 1999 Constitution and the EFCC Act, 2004 and hereby declare that any crime that passes through the banking system is a federal offence.

Let me now determine Issue No 1 as raised by Matawalle, viz: whether the EFCC should be probing only governors and their commissioners whereas federal government officials are also corrupt but the anti-graft agency is looking the other way. This raises a basic question: can the EFCC walk and chew gum at the same time? I hold so. It is not a matter of either/or. The EFCC should go after governors, federal officials and whoever violates the money laundering laws. Going after Matawalle should not stop the EFCC from going after federal officials and going after federal officials should not stop the agency from going after Matawalle. I, therefore, order the EFCC to go after all of them.

On Issue No 2, as to whether the EFCC should not also show evidence of federal corruption, I acknowledge that a former minister is currently in custody over money laundering allegations, as confirmed by the EFCC in its response. It is also to my knowledge that a serving accountant-general of the federation was arrested over allegations of N109 billion fraud. I am further aware that many federal officials are being questioned or put on trial over allegations of fraud and money laundering. It would seem Matawalle has specific persons in mind whom he thinks are being treated as sacred cows. The applicant may be well right but that cannot extricate him from the allegations against him.

On Issue No 3, as to whether the EFCC has a moral right to call Matawalle corrupt whereas its boss allegedly demanded a bribe of $2 million from him, this court holds true a maxim: “He that comes to equity must come with clean hands.” But the legitimate and legal way for Matawalle to resolve this claim is to provide the evidence to the appropriate authorities. The EFCC chairman does not enjoy immunity in any form and is subject to accountability procedure by any of the arms of government. In this instance, we hold that Matawalle has the right and duty to present the requisite evidence to the police or any anti-graft agency for necessary action as soon as possible in the national interest.

I hold that Matawalle cannot, in citing the ground of equity, get any comfort from making a counter allegation against the EFCC chairman. In Loughran v. Loughran, the Learned Judge Brandies J.  said that “equity does not demand that its suitors shall have led blameless lives”. There are other maxims this Honourable Court of Public Opinion would like to draw to Matawalle’s attention, namely “equity will not grant relief from a self-created hardship”, “no one is entitled to the aid of a court of equity when that aid has become necessary through his or her own fault”, and “a court of equity will not assist a person in extricating himself or herself from the circumstances that he or she has created”.

In its counter-petition before this Court, the EFCC accused Matawalle of money laundering. It says the real issue is that Matawalle is being investigated by the EFCC over allegations of corruption, award of phantom contracts and diversion of over N70 billion. The agency alleges that Matawalle sourced the funds as a loan from an old generation bank to execute projects across the local government areas of Zamfara state. The agency further avers that over 100 companies received payments but there is no evidence of service rendered to the state. Some of the contractors have allegedly made “startling revelations” to the EFCC on how they diverted the funds to private pockets.

According to the EFCC, the contractors confessed, under interrogation, that they were directed to convert the funds to dollars and pay into the accounts of a commissioner and some aides of the governor. One contractor allegedly collected N6 billion on a N10 billion contract without rendering any service. Another was said to have collected over N3 billion to supply medical equipment but N400 million went to a Bureau de Change. The contractor allegedly said it was to buy dollars for Matawalle. If these allegations are indeed true, it would aid my elementary understanding of one of the many reasons for the demand pressure on dollar and why the exchange rate keeps going up.

Having carefully studied the arguments of both parties, this Honourable Court of Public Opinion hereby orders Matawalle to return to Nigeria from Egypt, where he is currently chilling out, to answer his father’s name. The EFCC has accused him of money laundering. He too has accused the EFCC chairman of demanding a bribe. This Court holds that it is settled in law that he who asserts a fact must prove the existence of that fact. Therefore, justice will be best served if (1) Matawalle urgently returns to prove his case against Bawa and (2) Matawalle exercises his right to defend himself before a Court of Law. Finally, I order both parties to immediately cease their media war.

I make no order as to costs.

AND FOUR OTHER THINGS…

BYE BYE, BUHARI

I know this expression is overused, but it felt like yesterday that President Muhammadu Buhari assumed power. After eight years that looked like an eternity, he will bow out tomorrow. Whatever has a beginning must have an end. A lot has been said on his performance. Some say he failed. Some say he did well under the circumstance. We will never come to a consensus. But I would say he did well in improving infrastructure, reforming critical laws (of particular note being CAMA and Petroleum Industry Act) as well as growing agriculture, but he struggled with economic policy and security, which, for all you care, are the most obvious and paramount to most Nigerians. Mixed.

MAY 29 IS HERE!

The journey to May 29, 2023 effectively started in May 2022 when the parties picked their presidential candidates. The victory of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the February 25 poll is being challenged at the tribunal by his closest rivals, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and Mr Peter Obi, who both claim to have won. In the absence of any law preventing the candidate declared as winner from being inaugurated while the outcome is still being challenged, Tinubu will be sworn in as the president tomorrow. We had the most toxic electioneering in our history, with some wounds looking like they will never heal. But in all the rancour, Nigerians have remained largely peaceful. Miracle.

DANGLING SUBSIDY

Congratulations to Alhaji Aliko Dangote on the inauguration of his mega refinery after several setbacks amid billions of dollars pumped into the project over the years. All is well that ends well. However, I need to sound a note of caution to Nigerians who expect petrol to be cheaper because we are now refining at “home”. There are many things to factor into our enthusiasm. Will crude oil be sold to the refinery in naira or in dollars? Will it be at the international price? If crude is sold to him at a subsidised price, that means there is still subsidy. Local refining won’t bring an automatic end to subsidy but it can address other problems such as product availability, jobs and FX conservation. Oily.

JUSTICE FOR DEBORAH

A year ago, Ms Deborah Emmanuel, a 200 level student of home economics at Shehu Shagari College of Education, Sokoto, was murdered and set ablaze allegedly by religious extremists for “blasphemy” after asking her classmates to stop posting religious materials on their WhatsApp group. A year after, insult has been added to injury with the trial of the suspects, Bilyaminu Aliyu and Aminu Hukunci, terminated for lack of diligent prosecution by the police, who never showed up in court during the hearings. This was like killing Deborah all over again. This is either a manifestation of the crass incompetence typical of the police or a conspiracy to kill justice. Whatever, it is disturbing. Sad.

Dear Readers

Regardless of whatever happens to anyone, today’s epistle will be the last that will be written and shared under the normal and legal tenure of President MuhammaduBuhari.

What will from after this weekend be termed as “Buhari era” in the 4th republic stated on Friday May 29th in 2015 and it is scheduled to finish by Monday 29th May 2023, that is barring any extraordinary occurrence.

It has been eight long years of wonders, pain, hope and disappointments.To each their own, as we await the new administration, there are those hoping and working to ensure it is the person declared by INEC as president elect (Aswiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu) that will take over from Buhari, there are those hoping and working to ensure it is some else that will take over from Buhari.

It must be said that President Buhari himself has shown all possible outwardly signs that he is ready to go.

Such are good signs that should be recognised and praised. Yes, an elected leader that shows he is ready to leave office at the end of his tenure should be an ordinary and automatic event not worthy of news let alone praise.

Alas too many other African leaders tend to struggle with the concept of obeying simple commandments: There appears to be something in the air that leads African leaders into a kind of psychosis that makes them want to remain in power beyond their constitutional or even decency tenure. Thankfully, not so with Buhari, the man even seems eager to leave office and head back to his country home in Dauara.

On his way out though, he has been saying things that makes one believe that he thinks we the people are going to miss him. I think such thoughts come from his idea of how well he has done for the country, maybe he is considering his efforts and intentions.

Some people tend to agree with him.

Let me state very clearly so that all can hear and understand that my prayer, hope and plan for Nigeria is that “May we not miss Buhari”. The wishes and idea of those that say we are going to miss Buhari seem to me like a malediction that needs to be prayed against.

There are two major reasons for my prayer and hope. One is objective and general the other is a subjective and peculiar reason. Objectively and generally speaking, one misses the past when the present is not as good as the past.

For us to miss the Buhari era after May 29th 2023, the days and years that come after the last eight years for the country must be really bad. Just think about it, how bad must things get for one to miss Buhari?

Will it be due to his own performance in office or will it be due to the performance of his ministers? Will it be for the events that happened in world during the Buhari era? Heavens and earth forbid such future.

Let us even for pure hypothesis’s sake assume that Buhari was a great and inspiring president and his era a peaceful and prosperous one, the prayer not to miss Buhari era will still be a valid one because it will mean those coming after him will be worse. For anyone that seeks progress and development, the hope and prayer is for tomorrow to be better than yesterday not vice versa.

On a subjective and peculiar side, there are many things that President Buhari did that one hopes that his successor does not do, there are many things that he did not do that one hopes his successor does.

Let’s face it and tell the whole truth, I personally and strongly hope that the new president is totally different from Buhari.

In my view, being different from President  Buhari is a prerequisite for being a better President in 2023 and onwards.

A good place for the incoming to start from for not being like the outgoing is communication. It would appear the outgoing president, somewhere along the line, developed an allergy for talking directly to the Nigerian press and people and for eight years he never found a cure to that allergy even in his many travels.

May we not have a new president that will find it difficult to speak directly to Nigerian press and people.

Recalling the number of months, the outgoing president spent in office without appointing ministers and other key positions to manage his government and cabinet is an embarrassing experience for some us.

It becomes excruciating when we note that most of the people that made his list were known suspects that worked with him during the merger and political campaign that made him president. The only surprises were some controversial inclusions and some insensitive and inhumane exclusion.

Please note that I say all these without dwelling on the perceived lop-sidedness of all appointments and nomination that was done under this administration.

May we not have a president that will make us miss the Buhari method and content of nominating and appointing.

There are too many social and economic indices that went from bad to worse under the outgoing regime to make anyone that wishes Nigeria well to hope for the incoming administration to make us miss the outgoing one.

Some people made money under this regime, others got fame, I wish them well but I am sure none of them will want the current rate of unemployment or the level of inflation to be worse than the one the outgoing administration is leaving us.

Lest we become guilty of what we accuse others of doing, it is important that we pause to ponder on the fact in all these, President  Buhari was not a sole trader. There were people around him, his court that was made of various people and personalities, some paid and charged to give counsel, some others, without any official role but still very important and influential.

There were also his party members and legislators that in view of their position as representatives of their own people could have raised the alarm and forced the presidency to act before the Naira went from weak to derelict. They could have steeped in and made their voices heard and to help stop some vexatious and unproductive policies. We saw them scramble for offices and photos but not once did we see members of Buhari’s court stand up to the president or step down from office on principle or ideology.

Moving forward may we not have a president, presidential court, parliament, political party and country that will be so weak to make us miss the Buhari.

Join me if you can @anthonykila to continue these conversations.

-Kila is Institute Director at CIAPS. www.ciaps.org.

Sixty years ago, this day, May 25, Africa led the world in creating the first-ever pan-continental political body with the establishment of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU). It was in 1963 when 30 leaders of Africa’s sovereign republics came together in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to sign the founding Charter of the new body. This is where the celebration of May 25 as Africa Day originated.

The OAU had, from its inception, a bold and transformational mission as it was set up to facilitate the attainment of economic development, social transformation, political freedom, and the completion of independence in the African countries still under the yoke of foreign actors while also launching the struggle to dismantle racists regimes in Rhodesia -later Zimbabwe, South Africa and Namibia.

Contemporary evidence shows that the story of Africa, is far from the rosy prospects predicted by some who thought it could claim the 21st century. Africa has fallen far short. The challenge it faces today, with coups, wars, terrorism, decaying social and physical infrastructure, democratic regression and other ills, seems to vindicate those who, not too long ago, depicted the continent as a lost hope, or, to use Tony Blair’s damning condemnation as a “scar on the face of humanity”. Former USA President, Donald Trump even went farther, to define its nations in unprintable words. The stark reality is that, most if not all development indicators, demonstrate that Africa’s fate has gotten far worse than it was in 1963.

Apart from a few encouraging signs from countries like Tanzania, Namibia, Mauritius, Cape Verde, Morocco, the numbers are not good. ‘Africa has a young population that is growing rapidly but 30 million children are out of school. Half of all children reach adolescence without achieving literacy or numeracy.35% of the youth have no access to secondary education or technical skills development. About ‘1 in 14 children in sub-Saharan Africa die before reaching their fifth birthday—15 times higher than the risk for children born in high-income countries and 20 years behind the world average, which achieved a 1 in 14 rate by 2001. On the economic front, the World Bank in Africa reports that ‘Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA’s) economic growth dropped to 3.6% in 2022 from 4.1% in 2021 and is expected to dip to 3.1% in 2023. The economic growth in SSA is not uniform across subregions and countries. The GDP growth of Western and Central Africa is estimated to decline to 3.4% in 2023, from 3.7% in 2022, while that of Eastern and Southern Africa declines to 3.0% in 2023, from 3.5% in 2022. The region’s performance is still dragged down by lower long-term growth in the largest countries on the continent. Economic activity in South Africa is set to weaken further in 2023 (0.5%) as the energy crisis deepens, while the growth recovery in Nigeria for 2023 (2.8%) is still fragile as oil production remains subdued. Among the 10 largest economies in SSA—representing more than three-quarters of the region’s GDP—eight are growing at rates below their long-term average growth, including Sudan, Nigeria, Angola, and Ethiopia.’ On average, African countries’ public sector debt-to-GDP ratio stood at above 60 per cent in 2022. Islamist militant groups in Africa further expanded their territorial reach in 2022, particularly in the western Sahel, where al-Qaeda and Islamic State affiliates compete for influence and continue to make inroads.

What could be the cause of this perennial underperformance?

Many experts have grappled with this question of Africa’s consistent poor economic, social and political performance over the last six decades. In trying to understand this unusual phenomenon and locate the causal factor(s), they have looked at common issues like corruption, poor leadership, poverty, social insecurity, poor human capital infrastructure, faulty policies, religious and ethnic divisions, fratricidal wars, etc. These issues, as plausible as they may seem, are at best, symptoms of a systemic and structural problem in Africa.

However, with the growth of political innovation, particularly since 2000, in African countries, new vistas of understanding of the economic under-performance of African countries are beginning to emerge and gain consensus. The conventional wisdom is that citizens of Africa need to organize and mobilize to compel the political leadership of their countries to urgently reform the continent’s broken political system. This is a key reason that led to the creation of #FixPolitics, whose mission is to elevate the office of the citizen to its rightful place in Africa and develop a political class of servant leaders. A citizens-led research-based movement, #FixPolitics sees broken politics as the root cause of Africa’s poor governance and backward economic development. It is therefore committed to structurally changing and innovating politics in Africa.

Politics is an essential factor in the development of any country, and Africa is no exception. Political leaders are responsible for making decisions that affect their citizens’ economic, social, and political well-being. Africa’s politics is broken and dysfunctional, which is why despite the abundance of natural resources and growth potential, many African countries continue to struggle to achieve sustainable development.

The failure of the continent’s variant of politics and public leadership inherently subverts public good and places personal and narrow interest above the collective well-being of citizens. It distorts and compromises good governance. In the absence of good governance, economic and human development are impeded, and monopoly democracy becomes the toxic oxymoron that is bequeathed to a continent begging for an urgent political reset.

With pervasive corruption and the looting of public funds at the expense of ordinary citizens fast becoming the norm, even the barest minimum expectations of citizens towards their government are now seldom met. The range of unmet citizens’ expectations grows wider year after year in almost every country on the continent. This has led to an erosion of citizens’ trust in democratic institutions, shallow levels of social capital, a stalling institution-building process and, more generally, a slow transitioning process from country to nation, rising levels of extreme poverty and insecurity in the continent.

As Africa celebrates, rightly so, its day, we are convinced that her present and future will only be bright if the challenges encumbering the political climate in which it exists are thoroughly examined and fixed. Failing to do so will mean sustaining the present intolerable status quo. In the same way, panafricanist and independence movements fought hard to win the formal battles of recognition and freedom for its nations, it is obvious that creating a conducive political climate that will nurture and support democracy, good governance, economic and human development and other intangible norms is the pre-requisite for Africa’s renewal.

The urgency of this auspicious time in history calls for strategic action. As it celebrates 60 years of integration attempt, it is time for Africa to re-emerge from the shackles of arrested development and embrace the future with confidence in the possibilities and opportunities for progress and development. The most effective way to start is to make a determined effort to reform its current unproductive political system because politics trumps everything else. This process must begin not with the leaders but with citizens of the continent, fully and actively occupying the office of the citizen. Indeed, given the monopolistic variant of democracy that pervades the continent, it is incumbent on citizens to engage, mobilize and to collectively demand for constitutional, political, electoral and economic reforms that will give currency to democracy, good governance and development.

For far too long African citizens have ignored Politics, waiting for Governments to be formed before a few citizens manage to come forward to demand for Good Governance. This attitude of waiting ‘downstream’ before engaging has and continues to be counterproductive. The #FixPolitics research shows clearly that the quality of Government and by implication the quality of Governance is determined ‘Upstream’ at the Politics stage – the stage where citizens typically abdicate their civic responsibility by failing to engage and participate effectively in the political process. Using the ‘Triangular Pillars of Democracy’ as a framework, citizens across all countries of Africa must now begin to shape the quality of leadership and institutions that will deliver good governance by collectively engaging their political systems to ensure Quality Politics.

Citizens must compel African leaders to institutionalize a politics that supports sound policies, strong institutions, and effective and efficient priority of investment in public goods and services for private sector emergence. Only African citizens working together can compel the governments of their respective countries to respond urgently and stem the continued backward slide of development in the continent. In the immortal words of Margaret Mead, ‘never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world.’ The time is ripe for change and Africa must seize the moment to put its politics in order and march towards a bright and prosperous future.