“It is totally false to suggest, as we are apt to do, that Nigerians are fundamentally different from any other people in the world. Nigerians are corrupt because the system under which they live today makes corruption easy and profitable; they will cease to be corrupt when corruption is made difficult and inconvenient….The trouble with Nigeria is simply and squarely is a failure of leadership. There is nothing basically wrong with the Nigerian character. There is nothing wrong with the Nigerian land or climate or water or air or anything else. The Nigerian problem is the unwillingness or inability of its leaders to rise to the responsibility, to the challenge of personal example which are the hallmarks of true leadership… I am saying that Nigeria can change today if she discovers leaders who have the will, ability and the vision”, Chinua Achebe, in his book, The Trouble With Nigeria.

“Nigeria could, however, follow another path. Its potential is huge. Its tremendous wealth, if properly channelled, holds out the hope that a stable government could unleash the unquestioned energy and talent that pulsates through the rich ethnic mosaic. The human capital is there. Thousands of Nigerian professionals are well-educated and skilled enough to drive the country forward. Anyone who visited Nigeria’s markets and witnessed its people endures the constraints of bad government and the sinking economy can testify to the country’s resilience”.

“Nigerians spend a good part of their lives trying to get the better of the government for their benefit or that of their family, their village, or their region. Rare is the head of state who acts on behalf of the entire nation. The people are not so much governed as ruled. It is as if they live in a criminally mismanaged corporation where the bosses are armed and have barricaded themselves inside the company safe. Nigeria’s leaders, like the colonialists before them, have sucked out billions of dollars and stashed them in Western banks”, Karl Maier wrote in his book, This House Has Fallen—Nigeria in Crisis”.

In the last couple of years, Nigeria has been confronted with an enormous national crisis that could only be compared with the crisis of the 1960s, which eventually led to civil war. If one reflects on what the country went through from after the annulment of the June 12, 1993, presidential election up to the demise of General Sani Abacha, one must thank God that Nigeria still survives as one united nation.
Nigeria’s problem is not just economic. Indeed, it is largely political. Nigeria is still undergoing the crisis of nation-building.

It is important that Nigerian policymakers appreciate the enormity of the crisis of nation-building still staring at us as a nation. I don’t like to sound alarmist or pessimistic but some of the unresolved conflicts in our country have the potential of escalating into unimaginable proportions at any given time.

The events leading to the return to democracy in Nigeria could only be understood as a divine intervention. Before then the fate of Nigeria, as a country, was precariously hanging in the balance. The country was a pariah nation among the international community. The economy was in the doldrums.

The Obasanjo’s presidency experienced chaos on many fronts. These included communal violence, notable cases include, Ife-Modakeke, Umeleri-Agulri, Huasa-Zango-Kantaf, Kuteb-Jukun clashes, etc. There was also the Bakassi issue, the Niger Delta crisis and ethnic separatism.

The second major crisis of Obasanjo’s presidency was the issue of oil subsidy which was triggered by the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), then led by Comrade Adams Oshiomhole. The strike action paralysed the country for days if not weeks. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo was forced to set up a special committee on the review of Petroleum Products supply and distribution. The committee was inaugurated on August 14, 2000, by the then Secretary to the government of the Federation, Chief Ufot Ekaette. The committee was headed by my friend, Chief Rasheed Gbadamosi while the secretary of the committee was Chief Segun Ogunkua from Akure in Ondo state, who retired later as the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Finance. The other members of the committee were Adams Oshiomhole, Sylvester Ejiofor, Issa Aremu, Lucas Damulak, Joseph Akinlaja, Umaru Ndanusa, Chief Rufus Giwa, Imo Itsueli, Pat Utomi, Alhaji Abba Gana, Chief Nkem A. Ekwechi, S.O. Luwoye, Professor Emmanuel Edozien, Professor Dotun Phillips, Alhaji Ahmed Chanchangi, Chief D.K.O. George Taylor, Chief (Dr.) E.O. Ilodibe, Pastor E.O. Ogun, Mrs Emily Aig-Imokhuede, Chief Richard Uche, Mr. Ray Ekpu, Chief M.O. Onoja (M.M. Jir), Mr. A.S. Okoye, Dr. Samaila M. Kewa, Mr. Funso Kupolokun, Mallam M.S. Bashar, Dr. Titus Adeboye, Mr. C.O. Iwuozor, Mallam Wada Maida, Alhaji A. Umaru, Mr. G.D. Loma, Dr. S. Usman, G.M. Anyanwu and Alhaji G.Hamman.

The following recommendations were made—there is a concentration on the importation of premium motor spirit (PMS) to the detriment of kerosene and diesel, which are equally critical. All sectors and people should be satisfied; there is a need for major maintenance of industry infrastructure to stem the tide of low-capacity utilisation and output. Non-availability of needed fuel to power the machines was identified as one of the biggest problems; bureaucracy and politics could be a hindrance to running an efficient and profitable oil sector. Government’s overbearing influence on the sector should be reduced.

Persistent sabotage of the pipelines, though a new phenomenon, has overwhelmed and tasked the ingenuity of the leadership of the nation’s petroleum agencies. Unless a quick solution is found to this problem, it would be extremely difficult to truck fuel to all parts of the country; the government’s involvement in the downstream sector of the oil industry requires a new and more pragmatic approach that gives more opportunities to the private sector. In other words, the sector should be deregulated just as we have seen in the Nigerian Airways and the upstream sector of the oil industry.

Dislocation in the production, supply and distribution of petroleum will continue for as long as the government takes the commanding heights in the economy. Prices should find their level based on supply and demand; If and when a decision is taken on the issue of the inevitability of deregulating the oil sector, timing and adequate public enlightenment would be the key to success; Repair of the Nigerian four refineries is very essential as continued massive importation is merely a way of keeping the foreign refineries working. If they are brought back on stream, they will put many Nigerians back to work with the added advantage of better-quality fuel; the government agencies concerned with the petroleum sector, the Department of Petroleum Resources in particular and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to a lesser degree requires greater autonomy to perform their jobs creditably.

Government should explore the possibility of using more foreign crude and selling more of Nigeria’s high-quality crude to bring down the price; to curb the problem of vandalisation, the principal actors in the oil sector would need to intensify their community relations programmes such that it creates employment, quality life and sustainable development in their operational areas; if and when the oil sector is deregulated, there would be need for a price monitoring agency that would be saddled with making public the movement in the prices of fuel just as obtains in the money market today.

The three tiers of government stand to gain immensely from a deregulated oil sector as they can introduce taxes that would help the economy grow; the availability of petroleum products in the right quantum and time are the only determinants of the performance of the major and independent marketers; the government should develop a comprehensive energy policy to guide the oil sector and also to provide a basis for evaluation; the private sector is not necessarily the panacea of the problems bedevilling the oil sector. Both the public and private sectors would complement each other for a better and well-integrated economy; the government should restrict itself to providing the necessary infrastructure and enabling environment for good business in the downstream and upstream sectors of the oil industry.

If the recommendations by the committee had been fully implemented, I am sure the petroleum crisis would have been resolved by now. As is customary, we have a government in Nigeria that does not listen to itself.

The earlier crisis was the Shari’a issue which was regarded as purely political. The then governor of Zamfara state, Ahmed Sani, was the first to introduce Shari’a for criminal law, within a year of the 1999 elections which brought President Olusegun Obasanjo and new state governors to power. The Shari’a Establishment Law was introduced in Zamfara state on October 27, 1999, and came into force on January 27, 2000. The introduction of Shari’a in Zamfara state attracted a huge amount of attention, and Ahmed Sani became the self-appointed champion of Shari’a in Nigeria.

The Zamfara state governor had accurately judged the mood of the population. The introduction of Shari’a was initially very popular, for several reasons. Foremost among these was public disenchantment with a government and a legal system which were failing people in many respects. There is widespread poverty across Nigeria, and the north is especially underdeveloped. There was the expectation among the general public that Shari’a, with its emphasis on welfare and the state’s responsibility to provide for the basic needs of the population, would go some way towards alleviating their plight.

People also felt frustrated with the law enforcement agencies and the judiciary: crime was increasing, yet the police and the courts were paralysed by inefficiency and corruption. Shari’a was seen as an alternative to these problems, offering a system which promised to be faster, less cumbersome, and less corrupt. Finally, the introduction of Shari’a was no doubt attractive to many as a reaffirmation of their religious identity, especially in the context of recurring tensions between Muslims and Christians.

Capitalising on the mood in Zamfara state, other state governors soon introduced their own Shari’a legislation. By 2002, 12 states had adopted some form of Shari’a into their criminal legislation: Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Niger, Sokoto, Yobe, and Zamfara. These twelve states were so far the only states in Nigeria where Shari’a courts have the jurisdiction to try criminal cases.

However, some Muslims in other parts of the country, particularly in central and western states, such as Nasarawa and Kwara, where there are large Muslim populations, have been agitating for Shari’a to be introduced there; to date, these state governors have resisted the pressure. However, in the southwestern state of Oyo, it was reported that on October 31, 2002, a man was sentenced to flogging for extra-marital sex and the punishment carried out, even though Shari’a is not in force in the state. He was sentenced not by a Shari’a court, but by an Independent Shari’a Panel.

In all these twelve states, Shari’a applied only to Muslims. State governments have not attempted to coerce non-Muslims into being tried by Shari’a courts. However, non-Muslims are not prevented from accessing the Shari’a jurisdictions and may choose to take cases through the Shari’a courts if they wish. Some have done so in the belief that their cases would be treated faster, but overall, such cases are rare. Normally, non-Muslims accused of criminal offenses continue to be tried under the common law system by magistrates’ or High Courts, which operate in parallel with the Shari’a courts. A third type of court, customary courts, also deal with cases of non-Muslims in the south, as well as in Kaduna State. At the level of state governments, the state attorney general is responsible for the operation of both the common law and Shari’a systems in the state; there is also a Shari’a section in each state ministry of justice.

Most of the twelve northern states have adopted a Shari’a penal code and a Shari’a code of criminal procedure, based, in most cases, on that of Zamfara State. Some, such as Niger State, have opted to amend existing legislation to make it comply with Shari’a and have not introduced a separate Shari’a penal code or code of criminal procedure. There is still considerable confusion about which legislation is in force in the northern states, even among judges, academics, and other people described as Shari’a “experts.” In any event, there is an overlap between the Penal Code for Northern Nigeria and the Shari’a laws, as the Penal Code includes elements of Islamic law and provided the basis for whole sections of the Shari’a penal codes. However, there are some critical differences. In particular, the Shari’a codes contain provisions for death by stoning and amputations which were not included in the Penal Code.

These issues forced Obasanjo’s Presidency to be jittery at that time. It was then suggested within government that a central figure must be brought in to defend the Presidency. The lot fell, on Dr. Ibrahim Alkali Ayagi (1940-2020), who later served as the chairman of National Economic Intelligence Committee.

Between 1975 and 1978, Dr. Ayagi served in the cabinet of Colonel Sani Bello, then governor of Kano state, as Commissioner of Economic Development and later that of Education. In his tenure at the education ministry, two science high schools were built. His interest in education continued after his retirement, when he co-founded Hassan Ibrahim Gwarzo Secondary School, Kano.
In 1984, Dr. Ayagi was appointed acting director of Continental Merchant bank, formerly Chase Merchant Bank of Nigeria. As Managing Director, he was critical of the adoption of the IMF approved Structural Adjustment Programme by the Babangida administration. The same government owned majority equity in the bank, and after, a lawsuit filed by Continental Merchant Bank against the central bank, he was relieved of his position.

He returned to Kano and was appointed Director of the Kano State Foundation. The foundation built two schools, and traded in farms supplies but his tenure ended in controversy due to a confrontational style in his dealing with the state government.

Dr. Ayagi took the challenge and defended President Obasanjo’s government. He appeared on television, radio, seminars and workshops. He held numerous press conferences.
In January 2003, he published a 14-page pamphlet “OBASANJO HAS NOT MARGINALISED THE NORTH”.

Apart from the Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, the National Security Adviser, Mr. Bayo Onanuga, Presidential spokesman and the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mallam Mohammed Idris Malagi, we don’t hear of prominent voices defending the Bola Tinubu’s Presidency these days.

Shortly after his appointment, Dr. Ayagi was in the office of the Secretary of the Government of the Federation, to collect data on appointments made by President Obasanjo and other policy decisions. My immediate boss, Prince Dosu Oyelude and all of us gave him the necessary assistance for which he expressed his gratitude.
Let’s go back to his 14-page pamphlet.

Dr Ayagi asserted in the phamplet “these are days of “Politics”. Politics in Nigeria is the profession of politicians who earn their living and/ or who thrive on practicing the art of the possible. The art of the possible is the skill to make people believe in the possibility of the possible. Many Nigerian politicians have that skill in ample supply.
These are days of “Politicians” who profess their own feelings, beliefs and understandings as dogmatic and unquestionable truths and who go about castigating those who do not believe in those “truths” of theirs as enemies of their people and even as enemies of higher revered authorities.

These are days of the “politics” of resuscitation and the realignment of sentiments. The “politics” of resuscitating old conjectures and sentiments and using them to antagonize and to secure a lost political glory and privileges.

The Nigerian nation is full of such politicians. They exist and thrive in all parts of the country. They say what they want to say whenever they want to say it. They talk about how bad the Nigerian economy has been; the “collapse” of the naira; how people have been suffering, with no employment and no income; how the rate of crimes has risen: armed robberies, communal, religious and ethnic/tribal clashes in all parts of the country; market fires, bomb blasts; and especially for the part of Nigeria where the writer lives, “the marginalization of the north.”. All these ills and evils have been happening, according to them, because of the Federal Government—the government that came to power through a popular election in 1999 under the leadership of President Olusegun Obasanjo.

If these accusations have been properly analysed and found to be justified by unbiased and professionally competent minds, one could argue that the responsibility could be heaped on the Federal Government and its leader. That might be a legitimate leadership price to pay. The led have the privilege to blame their leaders for the wrongs of society.

However, the accusations have not been proved. Of course, the communal, religious, ethnic/tribal conflicts and large-scale killings and destruction of property took place in many parts of Nigeria during this period. But this is not the first time such atrocities took place in Nigeria.

Disregarding the periods of the military regimes (which can be explained away by those with the art or skill of the possible), one could trace, through sheer memory, the upheavals and calamities that took place between 1963 and January 1966 and between October 1979 and December 1983. None of the proponents of marginalization could argue that those calamities took place because of the incumbent prime minister or president in the two periods respectively. And if they even dare to do so, they could not say it was because of the incumbent’s “betrayal” or “marginalization” of a section of the country. These are new forms of accusation invented by members of the newly formed elite group of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF).

The most favoured and used words from the lips of many members of the elite group in the part of the country of the writer are: “The North”, “betrayal” and “marginalization” mostly expressed in Hausa.
One hears these words virtually every day, especially from the Hausa section of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and the Voice of America (VOA) whose correspondents in Nigeria interview these politicians of “marginalization”, and what they tell them as if they were established truths. It is very common to hear from these broadcast organizations such things as: “To, ganin cewa mafi yawancin Yan Arewa suna ganin wannan Gwamnatin bata son su, ko bata yi musu kaza-da-kaza, ko ta yaudare su domin su suka zabe ta, amma ita kuma ta fi taimakawa ‘yan kabilar su da basu zabe su ba, yaya kaza da kaza?”

Meaning something like this: In view of the fact that most Northerners believe that this government is anti-north, or has betrayed the Northerners (who actually elected them) or has marginalized them, and so forth, what would you think about?”

These foreign Hausa broadcasting services do not even have the semblance of neutrality for which their English language broadcasts are known. They report, for instance, that “the North” has decided to do this or that or has decided not to support or vote for such and such candidate in the 2003 elections. Such sweeping conclusions from spurious and non-existent findings/decisions of imagined “Northerners” are not so common on the local radio stations. However, many a friend in “politics” would talk to one as a matter-of-factly as follows:

“Tun da yanzu mu Yan Arewa mun zama saniyar tatse- a tatse mu, a yar”. “As we Northerners have been exploited and discarded”.

In one’s presence they talk about “we, Northerners”, which, of course, one identifies with tokens, but then they complete those phrases with statements that one could agree or identify with. This is embarrassing and one tries to immediately find an unobvious way to cover the embarrassment. This makes one start to wonder about the meaning of “Northerners” and who they are. It gives one the feeling that perhaps one is no longer a “Northerner”. But they use the Hausa word “mu” which means the talker and the one being talked to. So it means I am regarded as a “Northerner” and I am shown to share the same views. In that case, what is being said is a misrepresentation of my views and the views of a great number of “Northerners”.

The ‘North’ is a generalised geographical location in Nigeria. However, this geographical location does not exist as a government unit, a political system, a religious denomination, a tribal unit, or, in fact as any unit of anything at all. It is the conceptualised idea of the elite special interest groups who must protect their influence and relevance and who must regain their lost glory. It was only after the coming to power of this new democratic government that the elite groups in the North started to come together to form their special interest groups as a countervailing force to the Afenifere in the South-West zone and to the Ohanaeze in the South-East. The Arewa Consultative (ACF) is the name of the elite groups that selected themselves to form what they see as the vanguard for the “North”.

Maybe groups of this nature had a function during the military administration. It is difficult to see what legitimate functions such groups could play in a democratic setting with multiple political parties. There are 19 states in the “North” and each is headed by an executive governor elected by a majority of the people in the state. These governors, despite their party political differences, meet regularly to discuss issues of common interest to the “North” and to decide on what line of uniform action to take. This is a more suitable democratic group of functionaries to discuss issues of common interest to the “the North” than a gathering of an extremely elitist group, of self-appointed people who carry no mandate whatsoever from the people of “the North”.

Only the (ex-) military elite, the traditional ruling elite and the monied/rich merchant/trading elite groups constitute the ACF, which has no representation from the generality of the people in the “North”. They are friends and associates of one another and selected themselves to form the ACF. They do not relate in any practical way with the majority of the people of the “North”.

Yet these are the people who led the campaign to portray all the actions and activities of the federal government under President Obasanjo as either ill-motivated or against the interest of “the North” They created the image of “marginalization” to portray the present Federal Government as Government of the Yorubas”. I must confess the same scenario is being played out in Nigeria today. The picture Dr Ayagi painted at that time is the same picture we are seeing today. But does the Presidency need a defence at all? Who remembers what Alhaji Wada Nas (1938-2005) said about the regime of General Sani Abacha GCFR or what Chief Michael Kaase Andooka SAN (61) said about President Umaru Musa Yar’adua GCFR?

In football what counts are the goals scored not the defence tactics, home support or corner kicks. At the end of the day, what will count is performance. The enduring legacy is nothing but performance.

A few days to Christmas of last year, 2023, I had a great time with Mr. Ken Calebs Olumese in his beautiful home in Lekki, Lagos. It was on a cool Sunday evening.

Although I had not seen him in a while, we had kept in touch via phone calls and WhatsApp messages.

Because I didn’t want to wait till his 80th birthday bash before seeing him, and I needed to apologise to him in person for neglecting to invite him to my last book presentation in May 2023, so I rang him up and informed him I would be coming to see him.

He deserved such reverence, for there are only elected 36 State governors in Nigeria. But there are three other governors as well.

The Governor of Central Bank, who is also constitutionally recognised by virtue of his role in fiscal matters. There is also is my friend, the prolific Nollywood director and kinsman (by state) to Mr. Olumese, Lancelot Odua-Imasuen, who enjoys the sobriquet of ‘The Governor’ among his motion picture industry peers.

The third and only legitimate, albeit unofficial, “Guv’nor” of Entertainment and Night Club Economy in Nigeria is Olumese, this great man from Edo State, who redefined the concept and business of night clubbing in Nigeria.

And so last December when he ushered me into his cozy living room, I had no other way of addressing him than how he has always been saluted by all and sundry – The Guvnor, Mr. Ken Calebs Olumese; with emphasis on THE GUV’NOR!

It was a happy moment and a reunion of sort as I had not seen him in person since about 2018 when he last visited me in office while I served Lagos State as Commissioner for Tourism Arts & Culture.

Although he had stopped drinking spirits, he had a wide array of choice liquor at his private bar. And knowing him, there was no need trying to decline his offer. He would hardly take no for an answer. I presented him with an autographed copy of my book, ’30: Three Decades Of The New Nigerian Cinena – A Bystander’s Verdict’. Expectedly, we spoke about many things, including his 80th birthday which officially came up on May 27th, 2024, although the main celebration and a book launch are scheduled for this Saturday July 27th, 2024.

For a man born on Children’s Day, this Guv’nor is a story teller. His power of recollection is impressive. He is unpretentious with facts and there is so much to learn from him. I listened with rapt attention as he narrated the story of his comfortable abode and how life is treating him in retirement, at old age.

I nodded in appreciation to how he deeply appreciates the importance of networking, friendship and goodwill and how he connected those attributes to many of his life’s successes. My visit was a friendly one. It was no interview session. And so we chatted freely, no holds barred.

It was the voice of a happy, fulfilled and contented man that I heard all through the few hours I shared with him. I felt something refreshing in hearing an almost 80-year-old man confessing to being very comfortable and at peace with soul and his Creator.

In his car, he drove me round some areas in his neighbourhood where illegal constructions had led to some demolitions of many structures. The Guv’nor was always well informed about his surroundings and development in the news. He understands and appreciates the importance of propriety and staying on the right side of the law at all times. And he was thankful for the foresight to plan ahead.

One name stood out among several that this enigmatic man of the arts & entertainment holds in high esteem; that of Dr. Bode Olajumoke, through whom he seized the opportunity of owning a parcel of land, abd ultimately a befitting home, in the heart of Lekki in Lagos. Talking about true friendship and brotherhood between those two.

When I see men age gracefully, I’m genuinely happy for, and perhaps, envious of them.

Ours, like many in this part of the world, is a society marred with various socio-economic challenges that can be very telling on health and finances. Survival is a battle with several hurdles. And so for men who scale through with minimal scratches, the need to celebrate with them becomes doubly necessary.

And this is why, for me, my heart joins that of the Guv’nor in shouting PEOPLE!!!! (pronounced as piipuu!) IT IS TIME TO CELEBRATE THE NIGHT SHIFT COLOSSUS!!!

For the initiated, ‘People’!!! of course was one of Guv’nor Olumese’s favourite ways of drawing the attention of club patrons. It was a lend-me-your-ears call. A customised way of saying the party was about to get started.

For more than 30 years, the Guv’nor bestrode the night club scene in Lagos as the undisputed generalisimo.

He chose to stay in Opebi, on the Mainland part of Lagos, thereby debunking the myth that it had to be located on the more affluent Lagos Island of Ikoyi, Victoria Island and much later, Lekki, before a classy night club could thrive.

Like the talented Masked Man, Lagbaja, who in the 90s and 2000s with his last Friday of the month shows at the Motherlan’ venue, also in Opebi, and the great Fela Anikukapo-Kuti (with his African Shrine) before him, Guvnor’s Nite Shift club was the go-to hang-out place for executive night crawlers on the Lagos Mainland for many years.

With his background in advertising, Guvnor Olumese knew how to attract quality crowd. And more importantly, he knew how to keep them coming. No young entertainment-inclined journalist of my generation in the 1990s could stay away from Guvnor’s LED lights except you couldn’t keep up with the rules that demanded respectable presence.

And the rules got stricter when the Guvnor left the rented apartment of Night Shift for the more expansive, classy and permanent multi-purpose edifice in 1999, within the same Opebi axis.

That was where the business got transformed and The Night Shift Colisem was born; and with it The Glamour Boys of Nigeria (GBN), a select group of young and upwardly mobile professionals who considered Niteshift Coliseum and Guvnor Olumese as their 5 & 6. It was at the Coliseum that I would soon have the privilege of hosting my Bachelor’s Eve in December 2001, courtesy of the Guvnor’s generosity.

I hope that the larger story of Nite Shift Coliseum would be told some day, except many of the dramatis personae would prefer to plead the ‘Fifth Amendment’, and submit that what happens at the Coliseum, as a night shift activity, must stay and buried at The Coliseum.

It was one hell of a place. A joy giver, fun provider, entertainment merchant, a meeting place and a business enterprise of note.

Spouses of regular patrons of the Coliseum were conversant with its unique offerings too, especially when their hubbies won’t return home sometimes till about 8am or 9am, because they had been ‘detained’ by the Guv’nor.

Detention at the Coliseum meant that you were one of the favourites of the Guv’nor, chosen to keep his company after the club session would have ended. That sleep-depriving session could last anytime between 5am and 9am – 10am …with more booze, coffee and sometimes breakfast served, on the House.

On a good day, the Guv’nor would personally call one’s wife on phone to inform her of one’s detention status and then announce to her the monetary sum he would send to her through you the detainee.

Even if a wife was angry, the Guvnor’s ‘sorry, don’t be annoyed package’ was always a good compensation to assuage the most hardened hearts. So much so that many wives sometimes looked forward to their husbands being detained once in a while at The Coliseum.

I was a proud detainee on several occasions!

For 30 years, the Guv’nor was part of my adult, professional life and we maintained a near father-son relationship in nearly all of those three decades. He was present at my bachelor’s eve; at the naming ceremony of my son, ObaWanle, in 2009, and at least at two of my book presentations, among other engagements.

When I had the privilege of serving as the Director of Communications for the Akinwunmi Ambode Campaign Organisation in 2014/2015 and Guv’nor Olumese had received several requests from different cells of the campaign to have a Grand House Reception organised in H.E Akinwunmi Ambode’s honour, he needed and waited for my direction before that glorious red-carpet event could proceed.

It is on record that no civilian Governor of Lagos State since democracy returned in 1999, either as a candidate or Governor elect; or even as a sitting governor, has ever missed The Coliseum’s GHR.

All Their Excellencies, from Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, to Babatunde Fashola, SAN; Akinwunmi Ambode, FCA and the current governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, have all had the Coliseum honours bestowed on them through the GHR.

Perhaps, it will be a thing of prophetic honour that it is under the administrqtion of President Tinubu, in whose Lagos the Niteshift Coliseum birthed and blossomed, that the man who contributed in no small measure into making Lagos an entertainment haven and West Africa’s biggest creative hub will finally be deemed worthy of a national honour.

What a fitting tribute it would be for this people’s Guv’nor who was not just delighted in singing ‘Night Shift’ but actually made the 1985 monster hit by The Commodores his club’s signature tune.

Happy birthday to a man of great fun and kindred spirit, big boss Ken Calebs Olumese.

Ayorinde, CEO of Patrons Media Ltd, author and television anchor, is a one-time Commissioner for Information & Strategy in Lagos State.

Lateef Fagbemi, the nation’s attorney-general, became born again after having previously supported the Nigerian governors in their quest to deny local governments (LGs) financial autonomy. Insofar as the brief is good, lawyers, you know, can represent anybody, even terrorists, bandits, rapists, and killers. By the way, local government autonomy is the freedom given to local governments to exercise authority within the confines of the law or constitution. This is to enable them to discharge legally or constitutionally assigned responsibilities satisfactorily but without undue interference or restraint from within or higher authority.

This time, the minister of justice and learned silk has a different view of the subject of local government autonomy. Or, to put it another way, he now works for the Nigerian president who appointed him as the No. 1 legal officer. He went to the supreme court to request an interpretation of certain sections of the 1999 Constitution, which deal with local government autonomy.

The supreme court granted all of the attorney-general’s requested reliefs, which have overarching implications for both the express letters of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and the fundamental federalist principles that place the governors in charge of overseeing and caring for the local governments. With little to no thought for the landmark ruling’s implications for Nigeria as a federation, the majority of Nigerians appear to concur and commend the Supreme Court on it.

The supreme court knew it could not overturn the constitution; it could only interpret it, so it made a political and policy decision with the judgement under review because the same supreme court in 2022 quashed President Muhammadu Buhari’s Executive Order 10 that sought to empower the accountant-general of the federation to bypass state governments and disburse federal allocations directly to local governments based on violating the principle of federalism.

Today, the supreme court is clinging to a perspective that no one can disprove. As a policy court, the supreme court renders decisions on constitutional interpretation as a court of first and last instance. In the end, the supreme court’s interpretation of the law determines its meaning. Any appeal would be to God and posterity. Put another way, the supreme court seems to have the authority to veer off course and create the appropriate legal consequences to fill the gaps and cure contradictions in the Constitution. The 1999 constitution, which has made Nigeria a unitary system and government, is the problem, not the Supreme Court.

It is the 1999 Constitution, which established a joint account between the states and local governments. Although inelegant, Local Government autonomy can be maintained as is, even without amending the constitution to smooth out any rough edges. However, in reality, the governors will be waiting for the Local Government councils and their chairmen to whip them into line.

The 1999 constitution, which established local governments as a layer of government to further solidify unitary federalism, is arguably the worst Nigerian constitution ever operated. The states are the only federating units in any organic federation. Nigeria, however, is not one. Following Nigeria’s unification or amalgamation in 1914, the country began as a unitary system and began to devolve powers by creating states, from 12 to 36 states as of right now and counting.

Weakening the states as federating units is a deliberate policy which includes the inclusion of local governments in the constitution. It was a calculated move to solidify the unitary system. This provides context for understanding the supreme court’s decision. Therefore, support or opposition to the supreme court judgement depends on one’s wish for the nation – unitary, or federal system.

By seizing the cash meant for the local governments, the governors attempted to regain the status of states as federating units. It was a bad idea that the supreme court just declared invalid. Under Section 162(6) of the 1999 Constitution, which created a joint state/local government account, state governors spend money due to the local government on their behalf. Although the governors had depended on the joint account, they will no longer be able to handle local government funds directly, according to this supreme court’s decision. Every local government would receive its money straight from the federation account and use it for its purposes without accepting any orders or allowing the state governors to meddle.

That’s where the issue is: state governors now have worthy challengers in their backyards in the local government chairmen. There is nothing a governor can do to stop the federal government from dealing directly with any local government chairman on any political or economic matter, and that is interference in the states’ affairs as federating units. For this reason, some commentators have claimed that the Tinubu administration is planning to seize control of local governments to circumvent the governors’ overarching influence, particularly when it comes to elections.

Even if this accusation was not the goal of the Tinubu administration, it will eventually turn out to be an unexpected consequence by default, and it may manifest itself to its fullest extent in 2027 when the incumbent president will be running for reelection.

If the governors haven’t seen this coming since 1999, it’s their entire fault. Since local government autonomy would need 24-state concurrent affirmations to pass as a constitutional amendment, the governors’ only action whenever it was introduced as a constitutional amendment was to block it in their states.

The complete handover of the local governments via their removal from the constitution is what the governors should have fought for the entire time. However, since the local governments serve as the foundation for revenue sharing, the states that unfairly benefit from the military’s favouritism—when they unfairly and unequally created the local governments—never gave that much thought because it would mean having less money to play with.

Currently, about 21 states with local government caretaker committees have three months to hold local government elections, or else their local government allocations will be withheld. Governors appoint caretaker committees despite Section 7(1) of the 1999 Constitution stating, “The system of local government by democratically elected local government councils is guaranteed under this constitution; and accordingly, the government of every state shall, subject to Section 8 of the constitution, ensure their existence under a law that provides for the establishment, structure, composition, finance, and functions of such councils.” When such occurs, since the supreme court has already made a decision, the governors will be unable to file an appeal with the apex court, as President Tinubu did while serving as the governor of Lagos state during the Olusegun Obasanjo presidency.

What is more, Section 162(4) of the constitution allows the president to withhold funds from the federation account if a state or local government fails to comply with the provisions of the constitution or any law enacted by the national assembly. This section can be invoked by President Bola Tinubu as well.

An electoral agency for local government elections is now being considered by the national assembly. Let it then be mentioned that, as desired as this step may be, it may be the last straw that breaks the nation’s federalism since it will annex the local governments to the centre and finally castrate the states as federating units. Supporters of democracy and federalism should recognise the risk of delegitimising states, or splitting their powers as federating units by elevating local governments to the status of federating units. Naming local governments in the constitution as a tier is an aberration and anomaly that has to be fixed by removing them from the constitution and granting state governments the authority to create and manage them as they see fit. That is the situation in the other twenty-five federalist nations.

That is the neglected perspective and a risky one at that. Nigeria is either a unitary state or a federation. The judgement has, rather, dealt a severe setback to the principle of federalism as set out in Section 162(3) of the 1999 Constitution. Many informed Nigerians have also stated this.

D. Law Mefor, an Abuja-based forensic and social psychologist, is a fellow of The Abuja School of Social and Political Thought. He can be contacted via This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.; Twitter: @Drlawsonmefor.

Supporters of the Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, and those of the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, clashed on Wednesday during a medical outreach in the Eliozu community in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of the state.

It was gathered that trouble started when the state Ministry of Health officials were carrying out a medical outreach for women at the Eliozu Health Centre.

It was further gathered that no sooner had the programme started than some supporters allegedly loyal to a factional Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Martin Amaewhule, arrived at the venue to find out the reason for the gathering.

The venue is said to be near the residence of Amaewhule, who is the leader of the 27 lawmakers loyal to Wike.

But supporters of the Caretaker Committee Chairman of Obio/Akpor Local Government Area in the state, Chijioke Ihunwo, loyal to Fubara, who were at the venue allegedly stopped them from assessing the venue, leading to a heated argument and subsequent clash.

Following the fisticuff, stones were pelted from several directions, as the medical outreach was disrupted abruptly.

A few minutes later, a team of riot policemen arrived at the scene, firing teargas to disperse the opposing groups and quell the situation from getting out of hand.

It was, however, gathered that a child who was said to have inhaled the substance from the teargas was rushed into the facility and later regained consciousness.

It was also gathered that the outreach was later moved to a state-owned medical facility at the Waterlines axis of Port Harcourt, the state capital where the programme was launched.

Reacting to the incident, Ihunwo accused Amaewhule of leading policemen to disrupt the outreach.

Ihunwo stated, “This morning, there was an incident at the Eliozu Health Centre where the former Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Martin Amaewhule, led some security men to disrupt a programme by the Ministry of Health.

“A few minutes later, some policemen came and started beating up our women, shooting teargas at pregnant women who were at the health centre.

“We want to say that Obio/Akpor Local Government Area will not be under siege. We want to call on the President, Bola Tinubu that the Inspector General of Police and the Minister of the FCT are tarnishing the image of your government.

“We are calling on you to call them to order so that Rivers State can have peace. Let the FCT Minister concentrate on his job in Abuja and leave our dear Governor alone.”

When contacted, Martins Wachukwu, media aide to Amaewhule, said he would speak to our correspondent on Thursday morning.

Wachukwu stated tersely, “Please I will speak to you tomorrow morning.”

The spokesperson for the state Police Command, Grace Iringe-Koko, confirmed the incident.

Iringe-Koko, in a short message to our correspondent, said the police responded to a distress call over the scenario, adding that the investigation was ongoing.

She stated, “A distress call was received from the health centre in the Eliozu community today, July 24, 2024, where supporters of two separate political factions were engaged in a fight.

“The police responded by sending operatives to the scene to restore law and order.

“The police deployed anti-riot tactics, including the use of canisters, to disperse the crowds. An investigation into the matter has been initiated.”

Credit: Punch

Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, is not a stranger to adversity or its more sinister cousin, sabotage.

One of the bitterest battles he has fought in the last 25 years – the cement war – was against his kinsman and founder of BUA Group, Abdulsamad Rabiu. Folks close to both men have tried to patch them up, but the embers are still smouldering.

Dangote’s face-off with the Kogi State Government under former Governor Yahaya Bello over rights and royalties from Dangote Cement, Obajana, for the local community, was a skirmish compared to the cement war with Rabiu.

Wealth and comfort can be strange bedfellows, often mutually exclusive in the quest to conquer one mountain after the other. Dangote knows this only too well. And nowhere has the lesson been more evident than his pursuit to own a refinery.

Just like that?

I told this story before in an article in May 2023. In the twilight of the Obasanjo administration, the government sold off two of Nigeria’s moribund refineries – Port Harcourt and Kaduna – to Blue Star, a Dangote-led consortium. Blue Star paid $670 million for the plants and walked away, thinking the deal was done. It wasn’t.

In 2007, the government of Umaru Musa Yar’Adua capitulated. It refunded Dangote under pressure from labour unions and vested interests in the refineries on the excuse that the assets were “national patrimony” that should not be sold, “just like that!” It didn’t matter that at the time of sale, both refineries produced less than 20 percent of capacity without hope or promise of improvement.

Dangote took his money and walked away, bruised but unbowed. Six years later, he announced plans to build a private refinery, first in Ogun State, and later, he moved it to Lagos with a capacity of 650,000 bpd – over 200,000 more than the installed capacity of Nigeria’s four refineries combined.

Single train revenge

Dangote’s single-train refinery, originally estimated to cost $12 billion but finished at around $20 billion, is now at the centre of another storm. It’s not about International Oil Companies (IOCs) he accused of trying to undermine him. It’s the more deadly variety of wars: the one from within.

The regulators, particularly the head of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), Farouk Ahmed, said in a television interview in the State House with the NNPC Group CEO, Mele Kyari, present, that Dangote Refinery was making products with unsafe Sulphur levels, and also trying to monopolise the industry.

Ahmed can raise valid safety concerns as a regulator and call out a monopoly. The Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) provides safety standards and a price reflexive framework to prevent a monopoly. Under the Act, the regulator is empowered to act in the interest of consumers and fair play.

Sulfurous things and backstory

Ahmed didn’t say precisely what the tolerable Sulphur level was or provide evidence that Dangote was trying to become a monopoly. Instead, he contradicted himself by mentioning at least two other refineries, Waltersmith and Aradel, operating at different capacities. If this were a chat in a beer parlour, it would be pardonable.

But to think that the head of a regulatory agency will levy an accusation of unsafe Sulphur levels and offer no response when he was told that neither his agency nor the NNPC had a laboratory is scary. I’m not sure why Kyari stood beside him, grinning. Or why the State House posted the video on its official handle.

But the whole show leaves a bitter, corrosive aftertaste of sulfurous proportions.

Dangote has been accused of many things. He has been accused of feeding off government indulgences, from waivers to tax breaks and preferential forex allocations, even though he was not the only beneficiary. Even the 20 percent stake in the Dangote Refinery, which we are now told the government paid only 7.2 percent, left many questions about that transaction needing to be answered.

On another front, some have accused Dangote of hedging his bet poorly in the 2023 election that brought President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to power, unlike his adversary, Rabiu, who appears to have hit the bull’s eye.

Unkindest cut

But none of these charges is as unkind as those of Ahmed, who, if shame still means anything, should not have uttered the first letter of the “S-word,” never mind the phrase “Sulphur levels.” I’m not sure he can find his way to a viable lab owned by NMDPRA or NNPC because there isn’t one. The regulators rely on third-party labs in Lagos, such as GMO, Sewort, SGS, and others, to vet its imported petroleum products.

Yet, Ahmed chooses to publicly discredit, without proof, products that we are told have been repeatedly ordered by TotalEnergies and BP, among others.

In response to a question from a LEADERSHIP reporter on Tuesday about whether NNPC has a lab, the corporation said, “NNPC conducts rigorous testing on all its products to ensure they meet global safety and quality standards,” adding that NMDPRA can provide verified data through regular official reports. What does that mean in English?

A regulator’s record

And Kyari seemed pleased with this scandalous drama even though NNPC, which he superintends, has spent about $25 billion in turnaround maintenance of moribund refineries in the last 25 years, plus the recent $1.5 billion spent on his watch for more turnaround. One of the subsidiaries, PHRC, employed 487 new staff four years ago and paid N23 billion in salaries without producing one litre of petrol.

All that consumers are asking for, after losing a significant part of the battle for price, is the availability of petroleum products. God knows what they are getting under the current monopolistic system, which permits NNPC to play around with import licences, are long queues, contaminated products, and a regulator mockingly claiming to be a public company.

Suppose Dangote Refinery is in breach of any regulations; what steps have the regulators taken to call the refinery to order or help them overcome, except if they claim there was evidence of a malicious default? Our officials spend hundreds of thousands of dollars touring the world for foreign investors only to chew local investors with a microphone in a fit of what? Rage, sabotage, indiscretion or stupidity?

Feuding parties

The closed-door meeting among the feuding parties, which Tinubu ordered on Monday, may keep them on a leash for a while, but it hardly addresses the underlying issues. If products from the Dangote Refinery currently exceed the Sulphur levels – as Dangote had also said on a different occasion – why can’t the regulator work with the refinery to fix it without a scandalous press conference?

And is the talk about monopoly a fear-induced trope? How can Ahmed even speak of a monopoly when supply is hardly available, and the current distortionist-in-chief is NNPC, the sole importer of petrol and sole awarder of import licences for diesel?

It doesn’t smell good. Dangote Refinery is only 45 percent complete – the entire plant? Yet, Kyari and Ahmed joined former President Muhammadu Buhari in commissioning the plant last year? Seriously?

After years of working with petrol importers in his former life as the chief executive of PPMC, Ahmed is struggling with his new role as a regulator. He deserves public sympathy and can get it without being a retailer of beer parlour gossip or a bagman for vested interests.

Azu Ishiekwene is Editor-In-Chief of LEADERSHIP

Senate President, Godswill Akpabio is renown for his arrogance and hubris. So, when he tendered a public apology to Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan on the floor of the senate Tuesday, the stakes must have been very high. With a faceless but popular blogger running a vicious campaign against his family and threatening not to stop until Akpabio apologised to a female colleague he needlessly demeaned, it was obvious something would have to give. And the public statement, issued by a group of powerful women on the same issue, must have persuaded even a man like Akpabio that he had carried his offering beyond the sacred place.

The controversy began when Akpoti-Uduaghan attempted to speak before being recognised, an action that drew sharp reprimand from Akpabio. Despite her apologetic tone, Akpabio would not let it pass. He retorted with the biting remark that the Senate is not a “nightclub”. But commonsense has prevailed. On Tuesday, Akpabio said he would “not intentionally denigrate any woman and I always pray that God will uplift women.” He then added: “Distinguished Senator Natasha, I want to apologise to you…I do not mean any harm. People should concentrate on things that will move this country forward. Social media handlers should practice with decorum. We won’t out of anger regulate social media.”

I am impressed by how Akpabio handled this situation and I commend him for it. He hasn’t always displayed such wisdom when dealing with matters of alleged indiscretion. Many Nigerians still recall his altercation with Dr Joy Nunieh in the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) during his stewardship as Niger Delta Minister. But it is unfortunate to hear that Akpabio’s wife was dragged into what does not in any way concern her. Those who purportedly called to denigrate her exhibited the same traits they accuse Akpabio of. They obviously have no respect for women. No matter how we feel about issues, certain lines should not be crossed. I hope Akpabio has also learnt sufficient lessons from the experience.

On Monday, 24 hours before his apologies, a group of respected female professionals in the country under the aegis of Voices for Inclusion and Equity for Women (VIEW), released a public statement on what they described as a “disheartening display of disrespect and gender bias” by Akpabio. Signatories included Aisha Muhammed-Oyebode, Aisha Waziri, Amina Salihu, Asmau Joda, Ene Ede, Ene Orgah, Fatima Akilu, Ier Jonathan-Ichaver, Kadaria Ahmed, Larai Ocheja Amusan, Mairo Mandara, Maryam Lemu, Maryam Uwais, Nguyan Feese, Rekiya Abaji, Sa’ida Sa’ad, Saudatu Mahdi, Ummahani Amin, Zainab Salihijo and Zaynab Musa. Other women coalitions, ‘WOMANIFESTO’ led by Abiola Akiyode-Afolabi and FLEADERS, led by Bridget Obi and Nana Kazaure, had also made strong statements decrying what they described as the intimidating tactics of Akpabio.

Although the VIEW statement was anchored on how the senate president compared Akpoti-Uduaghan’s conduct to behaviour suited to ‘a nightclub’, they added that “This is not the first instance of such behaviour from Senator Akpabio; he recently silenced Senator Ireti Kingibe in a similarly dismissive manner, underscoring a troubling pattern.” After highlighting the hurdles Akpoti-Uduaghan overcame to get to the Senate (she defeated the political machine of the ‘White Lion’ of Kogi State now on the run), the group then addressed the fundamental issue in this controversy: “The exclusion or undermining of voices like hers can lead to governance that overlooks the needs and experiences of at least 50% of the population, reducing the overall quality and responsiveness of political decision-making. The contribution of the female voice in governance is not just a matter of fairness; it is a democratic imperative. Senator Akpabio’s censure of Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan must be addressed seriously. This is a call to action for the Senate to uphold norms of respect and equity and to hold itself accountable.” 

Before I address what has become an institutional problem, let me state clearly that I do not subscribe to the erroneous notion that the leadership of a National Assembly controlled by the ruling party should be acrimonious in their relationship with the executive. In the United States from where we borrowed the presidential system of government, lawmakers from the ruling party collaborate with their president in the interest of the country without compromising their own integrity as an independent arm of government. But the leadership of an institution with the power of oversight on issues of transparency and accountability cannot be slavish in its dealings with the president. That is the challenge of the moment in Nigeria. I dealt sufficiently with that in my February column, ‘Akpabio: A Man for Every New Season,’ after he dissed President Muhammadu Buhari whom he served as Minister simply because the incumbent President Bola Tinubu facilitated his elevation to the office of Senate President.

While Akpabio may have apologised to Akpoti-Uduaghan, it is increasingly becoming a fad, especially in the Senate, that those who make laws for the rest of us can only find relevance in denigrating Nigerian women. It did not start with Akpabio. In presenting a motion to mark the International Women’s Day 2016 eight years ago, then Senator (now First Lady) Oluremi Tinubu argued, “We represent courage and resilience; without us (Nigerian women) I don’t think this country will move forward.” But the significance of the motion was lost on most of her male colleagues who trivialised the issue. Making his contribution, then Senate Leader, Ali Ndume (who is now facing persecution from his own party for being critical of the president), said: “I urge men to marry more than one wife. The first care of a woman is marriage. Men should take care of women by not just befriending them, but by going further to marry them. I know there is nowhere in the Bible that prohibits marrying more than one wife. Starting with the senate president (Dr Bukola Saraki) I ask him to consider marrying more than one wife.”

On a day the United Nations invested the theme, ‘Planet 50-50 by 2030: Step It Up for Gender Equality’, Ndume made a formal request in plenary: “As a sign of respect for women, let’s urge men to marry more than one wife.” His prayer was seconded by Senator Suleiman Nazif. But Senator Binta Masi Garba did not allow the insult to go unchallenged: “We are not sex objects. Bible is in support of one man, one woman. We want gender parity where women and men can work side by side,” she said.

When those responsible for making our laws do not consider women as equal but rather mere consorts, we have a huge problem. A week earlier, in his contribution to the motion by Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, advocating the need to patronise products made in Nigeria, Senator Dino Melaye said most memorably: “We must reduce the allocation for made-in-Nigeria goods and services to the basics. What are those factors limiting the production of these goods? We must tackle them. We must also begin to look at our legislation, then, we will begin to talk about made-in-Nigeria goods. We will also move to encourage made-in-Nigeria products and begin to talk about made-in-Nigeria women…”

The foregoing illustrates that the issue of disrespect for women goes beyond the person of Akpabio. It is institutional; even though the House of Representatives has shown more decency on the issue. On 15th March 2015, the Senate voted to dismiss the Gender and Equal Opportunities Bill, 2016, sponsored by Senator Biodun Olujimi who was then Minority Whip. The bill sought to accord women rights equal to those of men in various spheres of life and to prohibit certain discriminatory practices. Interestingly, those who opposed the bill used religion as cover. While Senator Ahmad Rufa’i Sani cited the Quran to oppose it, Senator Emmanuel Bwalcha found his own justification in the Bible. The bill has been tabled at different times since then and has met not only rejection but ridicule by Senators. It therefore came as no surprise that not a single male senator thought it fit to censor Akpabio when he made the disparaging remark about Akpoti-Uduaghan in plenary.

I once referenced a 2013 piece ‘How Nigeria legalizes discrimination against women’ by Dr Aminu Hassan Gamawa, currently Chief of Staff to Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State. Then pursuing his doctorate at Harvard Law School, Aminu had argued that the language used by the Nigerian constitution “is not gender neutral, perhaps because it was written by men.” For example, according to Aminu, “the pronoun ‘He’ appears in the 1999 constitution about 235 times.” Again, under our criminal law, he further pointed out, a man cannot be deemed to have raped his wife because, “Section 182 of the Penal Code provides that ‘sexual intercourse by a man with his OWN (emphasis mine) wife is not rape if she has attained puberty’”. Section 55 (1) (d) even recommends that a man should keep in the house what my wife called ‘Dr Do-Good’ (when our children were growing up) “for the purpose of correcting his wife”. 

Therefore, before we reduce this serious conversation to the banality of whether a ‘side chick’ (whatever it means) is part of the ‘constituency projects’ of our distinguished senators, we must call out the chauvinism and prejudice that drive public engagement in Nigeria. I concede that a patriarchal society such as ours revolves around the ‘man of the house’. But for us to develop as a nation, we must begin to cede to our womenfolk the rights and respect they are due. And these are rights and respect they have earned. In both the private and public sectors, Nigerian women have proven to be as good, if not better, than their male counterparts. We see that in many areas, notwithstanding the fact that the system is skewed against them.

It is a paradox that within Nigerian culture, as well as both Christianity and Islam, the mother is elevated to a distinct place of honour and respect. Yet, our elected legislators as influential policymakers, professing to be patriotic Nigerians and devout faithfuls, continue to denigrate and trivialize the voice of the female gender. It is therefore time to intentionally embrace our rich diversity, if only to create a fairer, more formidable, and resilient society. We must expose the misogyny that pervades in our public engagements and ensure that no voice is silenced. This shameful misconduct must stop, if we truly want a more meaningful, productive and inclusive Nigeria.

2024 Teens Conference: The Power of Music

In his ‘Introduction to the Book of Psalms’ published in 2002 as part of a series of little literary paperbacks to some books in the Bible, Paul David Hewson, popularly known as Bono, spoke to the power of music. The globally renowned activist and leader of the rock band, U2, had been invited to write the introduction by the publishing house that presented individual books from the King James Version of the Bible as separate volumes. “Explaining faith is impossible…Vision over visibility…instinct over intellect…A songwriter plays a chord with the faith that he will hear the next one in his head,” Bono wrote. “One of the writers of the psalms was a musician, a harp-player whose talents were required at ‘the palace’ as the only medicine that would still the demons of the moody and insecure King Saul of Israel; a thought that still inspires, if not quite explaining Marilyn singing for Kennedy, or the Spice Girls in the court of Prince Charles…”

Bono then went on to expand on the uplifting powers of music: “Psalms and hymns were my first taste of inspirational music. I liked the words, but I wasn’t sure about the tunes–with the exception of Psalm 23, ‘The Lord is my shepherd.’ I remember them as droned and chanted rather than sung. Still, in an odd way, they prepared me for the honesty of John Lennon, the baroque language of Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen, the open throat of Al Green and Stevie Wonder–when I hear these singers, I am reconnected to a part of me I have no explanation for…my ‘soul’ I guess.”

I doubt if Pastor Evaristus Azodoh, a consultant urologist and ‘old Soja’, is a fan of Bono. But in choosing ‘The Power of Music’ as the theme for the 2024 edition of The Annual Teens Career Conference of The Everlasting Arms Parish (TEAP) of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) Abuja, he argues that “Music is more than just melodies and lyrics; it has the power to uplift, inspire, and transform.” For this year, former Cross River State Governor, Mr Donald Duke, a lawyer and saxophonist of high repute, is a special guest among other confirmed speakers, including Dare Art Alade, an award-winning singer, songwriter, record producer and entrepreneur and Mrs Bukola Bekes, a respected gospel artiste and music minister at the RCCG, City of David Parish, Lagos.

Specifically, the objectives of the Teens Career Conference are to: Teach the teenagers to take responsibility for their future; Have their imagination fired through interaction with accomplished professionals in the society; Make them realize that no matter the odds, they can reach their goals, and get them to understand that God still intervenes in the affairs of men. Although a Christian programme, physical participation at the Conference is open to teens and youth of all religious backgrounds from Abuja and the environs.

Speakers at previous editions of the Conference include UBA Chairman, Mr Tony Elumelu, CFR, wife of the former Vice President, Mrs Dolapo Osinbajo, Executive Vice Chairman of Famfa Oil, Mrs Folorunsho Alakija, ace comedian, Mr Atunyota Alleluya Akpobome, popularly known as Ali Baba, former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Deputy Governor, Mrs Serah Alade, former Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) Chair, Mrs Ifueko Omoigui-Okauru, former PENCOM Director General, Ms Chinelo Anohu, Nollywood actor, Richard Mofe Damijo (RMD), Nollywood actress, Linda Ejiofor (who was joined by her husband, Ibrahim) and wife of the late former Kaduna State Deputy Governor, Mrs Charity Shekari. Others are former House of Representatives Speaker, Hon Yakubu Dogara, former Deputy European Union Representative to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Ambassador Robert Young, former Ekiti State Governor, Dr Kayode Fayemi as well as Ms Dorota Oakley Matuszyk, Ms Juliet Lamin (now of blessed memory), Dr Helen Paul, Messrs Samson Itodo, Seun Onigbinde, Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, Chinedu Azodoh, J.J. Omojuwa and Mrs Omowale David-Ashiru.

Participation at this hybrid event is strictly by online registration. Interested teenagers and young adults who seek to attend can register at the Conference website: www.rccgteapteens.ng

No patriotic Nigerian should be delighted at the grave challenges facing the 650 barrels per day Dangote Refinery in Lagos. The challenges make efficient operations very difficult. Though Nigeria is a major oil exporter, the refinery commissioned early last year is now compelled to import crude from Brazil. The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority ( NMDPRA) has accused it of producing substandard automative gas oil (AGO), and, worse, of having no licence for operation.

Frustrated at the turn of events, Aliko Dangote, founder and chairman of the $19 billion industrial complex in Lekki comprising a refinery, a petrochemical company and a fertilizer plant, has been reported to ask the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) to purchase the refinery so as to end the widely held belief that he wants a monopoly of the petroleum downstream market in Nigeria.

Dangote need not give up on the refinery. He should rather learn from Bart Nnaji, the erstwhile Minister of Power who waited for 20 years till February 26, 2024, to commission the 188 megawatt Aba Independent Power Project, Abia State. If Nnaji could wait for two decades because of the obstacles by highly placed Federal Government officials between 2012 and 2015 to get the project on stream, Dangote, who has so far lost only one year, should brace up for more challenges.

Both the Aba Independent Power Project and the Dangote Refinery are what Jim Collins and Jerry I. Porras, two American globally renowned organizational leadership scholars, would describe as having big hairy audacious goals (BHAGs). A business with a BHAG is designed to make a dent in history, to paraphrase Steve Jobs, the late Apple co-founder and chairman. Considered unrealistic, if not an outrageous thought, at the beginning by most people, such a business frequently solves a problem in a significant and innovative way to the applause and admiration of the same initial sceptics. This is what Jack Welch and his team at General Electric came to call in the 1990s stretch, a term that has since become famous in both the business literature and management schools worldwide.

By the time Nnaji started the Aba project, there was no private sector involvement in the electric power sector in the country. Power was on the exclusive list. Not even state governments were permitted by the extant law to get involved in electricity generation, transmission, or distribution. It was not until 2005 that the President Olusegun Obasanjo administration enacted the Electric Power Sector Reform Act that ended Federal Government’s monopoly. Still, Nnaji accepted the challenge from then-World Bank President James Wolfonsohn and then-Nigeria’s Minister of Finance Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to build a gas-fired power plant in Aba to provide electricity to industries in the commercial city who were in desperate need of constant and quality power supply. The main challenge was not raising the funds from local and international sources or the bricks and mortars of building a power plant but upending the status quo in the power sector. The first mover disadvantage can be paralyzing.

The Dangote Refinery is a BHAG in its own right. By the time it was initiated, the biggest refinery in  Nigeria was the 150,000BPD New Port Harcourt Refinery, followed by the 125,000BPD Warri Refinery, and then the Kaduna 110BPD Refinery. The Old Port Harcourt Refinery, built in the 1960s,  could process only 60,000 barrels per day. All are Federal Government owned, and have for decades been in a mess due to official incompetence and corruption. Nigerians keen on setting up refineries have always gone for modular ones, that is, small or mid size refineries to produce a few petroleum products like petrol, aviation fuel, AGO, and low pour fuel oil, in contrast to the standard refineries owned by the Federal Government that can produce a wide range of products and on a large scale. So, for Dangote to opt for a 650,000BPD refinery is truly audacious. It is a quintessential BHAG.

The refinery is creating employment for thousands of Nigerian workers, suppliers, distributors, consultants and even street food vendors, in addition to generating money for the Federal Government and the Lagos State Government as well through tax revenue. Lands and properties around the location have been appreciating significantly in value. Therefore, it is in the public interest that the Dangote Refinery survives. The idea of selling it to the NNPCL should be perished immediately because there is no assurance that it won’t go the way of the state-owned refineries.

If Nnaji could endure all manner of things and still triumph, Dangote should be inspired by his example. In fact, all BHAGs face severe challenges. In their famous book, Built to Last, Collins and Porras recall how the building of the wide-body 747 plane forced Boeing to downsize its workforce by 60%, among other challenges. Yet, it persevered, and Boeing 747 aircraft became a game changer in global aviation in every sense. There are many other examples of grave challenges which were overcome by different businesses  cited in the book.

In Nigeria, challenges in the path of BHAGs can be both ridiculous and personal, hurting the public good. At the combined 7^th and 8^th graduation of Alex Ekwueme Federal University in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, last June, Nnaji told the stunned audience how in an attempt to get at him the government abandoned the 760KV Supergrid network the government approved when he was the power minister. The project was meant to provide energy security, apart from creating another transmission network for a nation of 200m and radically boosting power availability throughout our large nation. The country is today still stuck with the sole transmission network which is old, poorly maintained, fragile, and collapses once it is loaded with up to 5,000MW, resulting in nationwide blackouts.

Once Nnaji left office, the government announced the cancellation of the management contract between the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) and Manitoba Hydro Power of Canada on suspicion that Nnaji owned this firm that was set up by the Canadian province of Manitoba in 1961 when he was only five years old. A person was dispatched to Manitoba to provide documentary evidence to nail him! The Presidential Task Force on Power, of which Nnaji was the founding chairman, was abolisged no sooner than he resigned without an alternative provided. The Roadmap for Pwer Sector Reform, a document for the development of the electricity sector for the next 10 years that would see Nigeria produce 20,000MW from 5,000MW, was dumped shortly after he left office without an alternative provided. The nation is worse for it today. You can now imagine the frustration he was subjected to at the Aba power project. Still, he survived all this. Dangote has to learn resilience from the former power minister.

Despite his denial that he is a monopoly freak, the BUA Group, with which the Dangote Group has been in a fierce business fight,  has in the last few days been asking Aliko Dangote to become more tolerant. A few years ago when I was carrying out a research on the cross-cultural challenges facing Nigerian internationalizing firms and wanted to use the United Bank for Africa and Dangote Cement as a case study, I was surprised to learn that I had been blacklisted by the Dangote consortium for pointing out in 2013 the incorrectness of the claim by Dangote Cement agents that the major cause of building collapses in Nigeria was the cement brands used. Yet, when a senior professor at Howard University, the most respected historically Black university in the United States, inquired from me in 2019 if Aliko Dangote was deserving of an honorary doctorate from the institution, I not only supported it but provided a vital contact to the businessman. 

The Dangote Refinery needs support this time. 

Adinuba, Anambra State Commissioner for Information & Public Enlightenment (2018-2022),  is a management researcher in Lagos.   

Let's begin with the profound words of Pan-Africanist scholar PLO Lumumba, PLO, profoundly posited: "Religion has been used to manipulate Africans into poverty"

From my personal experience and observation; the more religious a person is, the more dangerous he is. Because religion carries with it deep-rooted prejudices that cause conflict, mistrust, and oppression. When you use religious faith to determine what is true, then you open yourself up to delusion. The more religious or “faith-full” someone is, the more likely it is that they will hold destructive, delusional beliefs as truth.

Here is a good example of the challenge: for example, the thing about a delusion is that it is often very difficult to crack from the outside, and intelligence is no defense from the inside against delusion. So, it is this herd mentality, that I think has gotten perverted into religions. Ultimately, religious differences increasingly, cause mistrust, animosity, misunderstanding, and conflict.

More than any other factor, religion divides us mostly when it tells us that it alone codifies true rules for determining what is right or wrong. We are then led to believe that the actions, thoughts, feelings, and beliefs of others are inconsequential when they appear to contradict our understanding of the proper religion of our choice.

We become less empathetic, less tolerant, less merciful, less gracious, less generous, and less humble when we believe that our religion's morals, cosmology, or manner of thinking are more correct and righteous. We become less connected to the people, animals, environment, and even ourselves when we believe that religious influence renders the influence of those things less important.

Although this might sound idealistic, human beings, if united, could overcome enormous obstacles. Yet, here in the 21st century, religious differences are still dividing us, holding us back from reaching our full potential. Human unity and peace are made unattainable because religion segregates people into clusters of believers and "nonbelievers". 

Religion instills in people the idea that those who differ with their religious beliefs are evil and undeserving of association, or even of their humanity. I was raised in Christianity; I am no longer comfortable with the resultant realities of religiosity because religion instilled certain values into me that it never intended to, through its examples of superstition, irrationality, and dishonesty.

Religion, especially such as the Wahhabism and Pentecostal brands of Islam and Christianity respectively, have continually demonstrated a potency of reducing the masses to illogical complacency.

Consequently, I have learned not to equate belief with knowledge. Belief starts where knowledge stops. They do not shade into each other; no matter how fervently you believe something, you cannot claim to ‘know’ it, unless you can demonstrate it in a way that can be ‘known’ by those who do not believe it. I have learned that it is dangerous to accept irrational claims at face value and that implausible claims, especially relating to the supernatural, would require particularly plausible evidence.

Asked about his thoughts on the future of religion in our growing civilization, Stephen Hawkings responded even in his state of paralysis which is ironically assisted by technology, he posited: "Religion was an early attempt to answer the questions we all ask: Why are we here, where did we come from? Nowadays, Science provides better and more consistent answers but people will always cling to religion because it gives comfort and they do not trust or understand science"

Additionally, faith is impossible to deal with logic. The tragedy of our time is that we seem to rely more heavily on faith than logic and this is perhaps the catalyst for majority of the word in our society and country today. The Government and leaders seem to take the masses for granted knowing the masses can always be manipulated for them by the religious leaders. As such, it is the process of distribution of patronage to the religious leaders that often instigates the many religious tension in our society and country.

In conclusion therefore, this is a clarion call to our revered faith leaders across the different religious bodies in Nigeria to come together and advance interfaith collaboration for peace-building and peaceful coexistence amongst people of divergent creeds. Particularly at a time like this when we are at a crossroads and difficult period given the relationship that exists between politics and religion cannot be over-emphasized in Nigeria's polity since the evolution of a sustainable democracy has heightened the relevance of religion in our society. Religion has been identified as one of the factors that have divided the people of Nigeria who are divided already.

Finally, while reflecting on questions asked some four decades ago by the Ozzidi king Sonny Okosun "Which way Nigeria is heading to? I love my fatherland. I want to know which way Nigeria is heading to.?" The questions asked in that song are still relevant. 

Last week, Lagos State Parking Authority (LASPA) stirred the hornets’ nest when a letter addressed to the Lagos State branch of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria hit the newsstand. Dated Friday, July 19, 2024 and signed by its Head of Operations, Ayokunle Akinrinmisi, LASPA's letter intimated the PFN that vehicles parked on designated streets by PFN and its members would be charged certain fees on a hourly basis while indiscriminately parked vehicles would be enforced upon; meaning, they would be clamped and or towed. Bedlam! 

Why single out only churches and its members? Quickly, LASPA recanted and retraced its footsteps “to clarify the matter” in what appeared as an explanation of its true intentions or the actual information it meant to convey in its first letter, which was so unprofessionally couched. Or was LASPA's second letter an afterthought or bowing to pressure? Before we take a look at how a news medium reported the matter, let us quickly discuss two important events on the international scene.

The first was the decision of President Joe Biden of the United States of America not to seek re-election, thus paving the way for Vice-President Kamala Harris to have a shot at the presidency. Destiny can be uncanny! The daughter of an Indian mother and Jamaican father could as well become the first woman to be elected president of the US. Who saw this coming? Many had thought Hillary Clinton was it but, as they say, man proposes but God disposes. Kamala’s candidacy has immediately thrown confusion into Donald Trumps’ camp; not minding the bold face statement that Kamala would be easier to defeat than Biden!

The second event was the election of Paul Kigame for another seven-year term. Kigame has been in power since 2000, meaning he has already spent 24 years in office! How many of us are aware of that? All we hear is how he has turned Rwanda to paradise one earth. Originally, the Rwandan constitution prescribed a two-term limit for the president but in 2015, Kigame engineered a constitutional referendum that allowed him a third seven-year term and the ability to run for further two five-year terms thereafter! How many years in all? Kindly do the arithmetic!

 If this man is not a budding dictator or a full-blown one already, then, I don’t know who is! The earlier we begin to interrogate Kigame's media hype and orchestrated international acclaim, the better for all of us. Josip Broz Tito was, for decades, successful in papering over Yugoslavia's cracks; he was charistamic as well as authoritarian and even championed and led the non-aligned movement or the Third Force, as some called it, which is now dead. But after Tito's long reign, what fate befell Yugoslavia? After Kigame, what fate awaits Rwanda and its people?

Back to LASPA. The report in a news medium ran thus: “Lagos State Government has denied media reports that worshipers will be charged for parking around churches. According to an earlier report, in a 19 July letter by the Head of Operations of Lagos State Parking Authority (LASPA), Ayokunle Akinrimisi, which was directed to the state branch of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, the government informed the body that vehicles parked by the church and members on designated streets would be charged hourly while indiscriminately-parked vehicles would be enforced accordingly.

Akinrimisi reportedly wrote : ‘I am directed to inform your revered organization that LASPA will be commencing its on-street parking scheme at designated streets within the Lagos State metropolis. In view of this, I am using this medium to inform your eminence that vehicles parked on designated streets by the church and its members will be charged hourly and indiscriminately-parked vehicles will be enforced upon accordingly. Consequently, we advise that this piece of information be adhered to as a law-abiding organization’.

But, in a statement on Sunday (21st July), LASPA’s General Manager, Mrs. Adebisi Adelabu, said the state’s parking policy would affect all motorists who intend to utilize the agency’s newly-created 1,800 parking slots. According to her, the parking policy is designed to mitigate parking-induced traffic congestion across the state.

Adelabu further said: ‘To clarify the matter, LASPA wishes to emphasize that (the earlier) information is inaccurate and does not reflect the true intent of our communication. The Lagos State Government is not imposing parking fees on churches or worshipers for parking on streets around religious institutions. Rather, LASPA is implementing the Lagos State Parking Policy to mitigate parking-induced traffic congestion across the state. Like many other major cities worldwide facing similar challenges, Lagos is experiencing a high demand for parking space that exceeds the available supply. Therefore, we are adopting a regulated on-street parking model to better manage parking resources efficiently.

'Earlier this year, the governor approved the introduction of regulated on-street parking, which was announced during a stakeholder’s forum held on 14 February, 2024 at the Lagos Marriott Hotel, Ikeja.

‘As part of our efforts to inform stakeholders, including religious organizations who were adequately represented at the forum, about the upcoming implementation in October, LASPA communicated with umbrella bodies representing these groups. One of such correspondences was referenced in a news release making the rounds. 

'It is important to clarify that no specific religious group is being singled out by this policy. Our aim is to ensure all stakeholders are informed and prepared for the implementation of the regulated on-street parking scheme. Additionally, Lagos State Government has designated and lane-marked suitable roads for on-street parking across major zones such as Ikeja, Surulere, Victoria Island, Ikoyi, and Lekki, creating approximately 1,800 additional parking slots. 

'The communication sent to religious institutions serves to notify them of their respective roles and the financial aspects of utilizing these designated parking lots. The management of these facilities will be overseen by concessionaires under the regulation of the Lagos State Parking Authority' ”.

No apologies for sending out “inaccurate” information that did not "reflect the true intent" of their communication! We can all see what harm or damage can be caused when proper communication is lacking. Anyone not at the so-called stakeholders’ meeting at the Lagos Marriott Hotel, Ikeja and who never chanced upon the information on on-street packing would be at sea understanding LASPA’s first letter. 

Background information on the new policy would have helped to clarify matters. Also, the letter should not have been personalized the way it was done. There was no other interpretation to give to the first letter the way it was couched and addressed than the one widely and wildly circulated. LASPA should send those writing its press statements for refresher courses. A stitch in time…

That said, I do not think LASPA has apologies to offer to those who indiscriminately park their vehicles in the wrong places. In fact, such people and organizations should be penalized - and they include churches and mosques but are not limited to those. Our people travel abroad and see how orderly those places are; they go there to enjoy the facilities and orderliness but would not obey rules and regulations that would make our own place look like those overseas countries. 

Churches and their members are guilty of parking indiscriminately right on the road. This should not be so. When building your structure, provisions should be made for parking space right within your premises, not outside of it where you obstruct traffic and cause inconveniences and untold hardship to other road users. Because there is no consequence for bad behaviour, impunity, lawlessness and disorderliness reign supreme here. The law on orderliness must be enforced without minding whose ox is gored.

The mosques are even worse than the churches in some respects. On Fridays, they spread their mats and rugs right in the middle of the road to observe their Jumaat prayer. They have absolute disregard for road users. Their own comfort is what matters to them and nothing more. Worse, they get angry, even violent, if you dare demand your right of way. I read a post recently of a woman who ran into a crowd of such worshipers in Lagos and was not only ordered to detour, she was also forced to cover her head before being allowed to take another route out of the place. Such madness! 

Events centres are another group of lawless people whose customers park their vehicles indiscriminately. Who approved and why approve such places in the first instance? Are the agents and officers of the Lagos State Government not the culprits? The rot in those agencies stinks to high heavens! Along the streets where I have my church at Owo-ade and Bakare street, Off Ori-ola street, Alapere, Ketu, houses newly constructed have no parking space within their premises. They park right in the streets! Who gave them approval? Is it not the Lagos State Government?

Not all buildings in Lagos comply with building regulations: How do they cut the corners? The depth of corruption in the Lagos building sector cannot be washed away by the sea! The jungle and urban slum that Lagos has become is due to the lawlessness of the citizens as well as the corruption embedded in the Lagos State government machinery. Lagos State Government itself builds roads without making adequate provisions - or none at all - for bus stops and parks. So, motorists park indiscriminately everywhere!

Most of the time, the lawlessness of the “Danfo” drivers, the Kurupes and Keke Marwas, not to talk of the Okadas, can be excused because you ask yourself, “Where are the bus stops and parks designated for them by the Lagos State Government"? The new bridge at Pen Cinema, Agege, where I live, has become an eyesore and a den of robbers. The situation there is worse than Fela’s Ojuelegba where confusion breaks bones! No provisions for bus stops and parks.

 Lagos state Government, then, must first remove the log in its own eyes before it can point at the speck in the eyes of others.