Widespread violent protests in Kenya last week, instigated by attempts by the government to pass a new finance bill that would entail tax increases on some basic items illustrate vividly the delicate relationship among democratic governance, economic crisis, perceived corruption, deepening poverty and political stability in several African countries. The government of President William Ruto had won general elections in Kenya in 2022 and assumed power with a promise to uplift the lives of the poor and improve existential conditions for millions of the people. As is often the case, however, when actual performance of newly elected governments does not match the rhetoric of election campaigns, the Ruto administration was confronted with the grim realities of severe fiscal constraints, huge debts and the resultant incapacity to immediately begin to deliver on its mandate.

Indeed, the grim economic realities forced the government, last year, to utilise the financial bill to introduce a housing tax while also raising top personal income tax rate to the displeasure of large segments of the populace who resorted to open expression of anger, street protests and even in some instances, to court challenges of the government policies.

An attempt by the government to utilise the 2024 finance bill, which is usually presented to parliament before the commencement of a new fiscal year that spans from July to June, to expand the scope of new taxes, was responsible for the descent to chaos in no less than 35 of the 47 counties in the country where violence erupted. The public was responding to the passage by parliament of the financial bill, which raised taxes on items such as bread, vegetable oil, sugar as well as a new motor vehicle circulation tax fixed at 2.5 per cent of the value of a car to be paid annually. Also included in the new law was an “eco levy” on specified manufactured goods including sanitary towels and diapers, in addition to an increase in existing taxes on financial transactions.

Initial reactions of anger at these policies perceived as most likely to compound the already dire economic circumstances of millions of Kenyans were expressed on social media but soon exploded into violent protests on the streets. The angry citizens were apparently not persuaded by the government’s rationalisation that it had to raise $2.7 billion in additional taxes to reduce the budget deficit and state borrowing. Moreover, confronted with liquidity challenges and difficulties in raising funds from financial markets, the Kenyan government had sought for help from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), with the latter insisting that the government raise more revenue through taxes before it could offer more funding.

The international financial institutions are urging the government to cut deficits, to obtain more funding while long-suffering citizens are protesting against economic difficulties. These technicalities understandably made little sense to large numbers of protesters, who forced their way into the parliamentary assembly complex after breaking the fence, harassed the legislators, tore up flags and made away with the ceremonial mace.

Later, other groups of demonstrations dressed in black T-shirts and reflectors attacked a night club, called Timba XO in Eldoret, reportedly owned by a member of parliament who is a close ally of President Ruto, destroying the property and looting alcohol. In a similar vein, another group of youths was reported to have overpowered security agents and invaded Chieni Supermarket in Nyeri town, which is linked to another member of parliament, Njoroge Wainana. These obviously targeted attacks against the properties of members of the legislature held responsible for what is seen as ‘punitive’ new taxes indicate that the people are sensitive to the perceived wide gulf between the standard of living of most members of the political class and the majority of the poor citizenry. Unfortunately, this is a scenario that is not limited to Kenya but is replicated in many African countries.

A 2023 report by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), indicates that about 30 per cent of the country’s citizens are unable to meet their food needs, with more rural than urban citizens living in hunger. It is estimated that one in every 17 Kenyans lives in abject poverty and a population of 2,879,000 classified as living in “hardcore/extreme poverty”. No less disturbing is the report on the situation of inequality in Kenya with less than 0.1 per cent of the population (8,300 people) owning more wealth than 99.9 per cent (44 million people). These statistics on poverty and inequality are generally reflective of what prevails across Africa, which makes the opulence in which members of the political class on the continent live even more scandalous and unjustifiable.

It is unfortunate that no less than 23 persons were reportedly killed and several others wounded in the confrontation between the police and the protesters. Even as we condemn the resort to violence by the protesters, law enforcement agencies, again not only in Kenya but across Africa, must learn to be more even-handed in handling such situations, to ameliorate both loss of lives and injuries.

Exhibiting commendable sensitivity to the feelings of the public on the contentious finance bill, President Ruto in a nationwide broadcast said he would not sign the controversial legislation into law. According to him, “Listening keenly to the people of Kenya who have said that they want nothing to do with the finance bill 2024, I concede. And therefore, I will not sign the 2024 finance bill, and it shall subsequently be withdrawn”.

Beyond this, the President promised that he would start a dialogue with Kenyan youths and work on austerity measures, beginning with cuts to the budget of the presidency to help tackle the fiscal deficit. This surely is the way to go. If people in various African countries see their leaders and public officers showing the example in prudent, austere and disciplined lifestyles, it will be easier to convince them to tighten their belts and make sacrifices for the public good.

It has been reported that, despite President Ruto’s concession to the protesters, some of the latter are adamant and want the demonstrations to continue until the government collapses. This would be a most unwise course of action. For one, it may most probably engender a more than proportionate use of responsive force by government that could escalate tensions and cause further fatalities. Again, the protesters must be wary of not creating an environment for anti-democratic elements to derail the democratic system that gives the citizens the rights and opportunities to demonstrate against government policies in the first instance. Democratic governance provides for limited tenures for incumbents in power, and those who desire political change can always express their will through the ballot box in the next elections.

[TheNation]

A new data of comparative analysis of Nigeria’s three biggest music stars, Burna Boy, Davido and Wizkid has surfaced online with Wizkid edging both Davido and Burna Boy.

Instructively,  the estimates and figures used in the analysis are based on publicly available data and may not be entirely accurate.

Based on the numbers, Wizkid appears to have a slight edge over Davido and Burna Boy in terms of streaming numbers, concert revenue, and endorsement deals. However, Davido’s album sales and social media following are impressive.

Burna Boy’s Grammy win and critical acclaim for his albums suggest a strong artistic reputation. Ultimately, determining who is the “bigger” celebrity depends on individual criteria for success.

Here’s a comprehensive comparative analysis of Davido, Wizkid, and Burna Boy’s numbers:

Streaming Numbers:

– Davido: 4.5 billion streams on Spotify, 2.5 billion views on YouTube

– Wizkid: 6.5 billion streams on Spotify, 3.5 billion views on YouTube

– Burna Boy: 2.5 billion streams on Spotify, 1.5 billion views on YouTube

Concert Revenue:

– Davido: Sold out shows at O2 Arena (London), Accor Arena (Paris), and Barclays Center (New York) with average ticket prices ranging from $50-$100

– Wizkid: Sold out shows at O2 Arena (London), Rogers Arena (Vancouver), and Brooklyn Steel (New York) with average ticket prices ranging from $60-$120

– Burna Boy: Sold out shows at O2 Academy (London), Fillmore (Miami), and Terminal 5 (New York) with average ticket prices ranging from $30-$70

Earnings from Endorsement Deals:

– Davido: Estimated $1 million – $2 million per deal (MTN, Guinness, Pepsi)

– Wizkid: Estimated $2 million – $3 million per deal (Pepsi, Nike, Cîroc)

– Burna Boy: Estimated $500,000 – $1 million per deal (Star Lager, Glo, Pepsi)

Album Sales:

– Davido: “A Better Time” (2020) – 100,000+ units sold in the US, certified gold by RIAA

– Wizkid: “Made in Lagos” (2020) – 200,000+ units sold in the US, certified platinum by RIAA

– Burna Boy: “Twice As Tall” (2020) – 50,000+ units sold in the US, certified silver by RIAA

Awards and Recognition:

– Davido: 2 BET Awards, 2 MTV Africa Music Awards, 1 MOBO Award

– Wizkid: 1 Grammy Award, 3 BET Awards, 4 MTV Africa Music Awards

– Burna Boy: 1 Grammy Award, 2 BET Awards, 3 MTV Africa Music Awards

Social Media:

– Davido: 20 million followers on Instagram, 5 million on Twitter

– Wizkid: 25 million followers on Instagram, 6 million on Twitter

– Burna Boy: 10 million followers on Instagram, 2 million on Twitter

– Davido: Estimated $20 million – $30 million

Wizkid: Estimated $30 million – $40 million

Burna Boy: Estimated $10 million – $20 million.

[Vanguard]

The death toll in the suicide bombings in Gwoza LGA of Borno state has risen to 18.

Barkindo Saidu, director-general of Borno State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), confirmed the figure to NAN on Sunday.

Saidu said the victims comprise adult males, females and children.

TheCable had reported that the victims were returning from a wedding ceremony on Saturday when the first suicide bomber detonated an explosive near a motor park.

Another bomber, disguised as a mourner, also detonated an explosive as residents were preparing for the burial of those killed in the first attack.

Saidu said “19 people” were seriously injured in the attacks while 23 others are waiting for military escort in the Medical Regimental Services (MRS) clinic.

“I am now coordinating for a chopper tonight. I have mobilised emergency drugs to complement the shortage of drugs in Gwoza,” NAN quoted him as saying.

“The degree of injuries range from abdominal raptures, skull and limb fractures.

“I have also received a report that there is a suspected suicide bomber in Pulka,” Saidu said.

The military has imposed a curfew in Gwoza LGA in the wake of the attacks.

[TheCable]

Nigeria of the 1950s and early 1960s had very many interesting personalities. Western Region had its fair share of such. One of them was a man named Suara Sobo Akande (Sobo is pronounced as Sorbor). He was a prominent transporter who held the transportation industry of the time by its jugular. An Ibadan man of the Opo Yeosa clan who lived in an area now known as Ring Road, Suara Sobo was wealthy and had a fleet of lorries in his pool. As a trade logo, Suara Sobo’s lorries always had monkeys chained to their entrance which excited and attracted passengers to them. However, his lorries soon acquired a notorious typecast. 

Any passenger who boarded them was literally embarking on a journey that had no certain time or terminal point of disembarkation. They could be arrested for having no particulars by the police. The inappropriate conduct of the drivers and conductors which led to road accidents were equally legendary. The otherwise pleasurable ride, with a monkey on board to marvel at its close resemblance to man, could turn awry for the passenger. It thus became a peculiar refrain in the Western Region to say a man had entered Suara Sobo’s lorry, equivalent to today’s One Chancelingo among youths.

Odolaye Aremu, then Ibadan-based Ilorin-born Dadakuadamusician, in his Ayé Omo Ayé(Oh, this Wicked World!) Vol 2 album, did a dirge for the untimely passage of Suara Sobo, years after. At a loud celebration in his house in the 1970s, said Odolaye, Suara Sobo had hosted the crème de la crème of Ibadan where roast mutton and turkey flesh were feasted upon. People were shocked when, six days later, Suara Sobo’s sudden death was announced. Odolaye seemed to attribute his death to the wild celebration in his house and the machination of a jealous world. In his dirge for Suara in Volume 18 entitled Ikú l’òpin Ènìyàn (Death is the end of man) Sakara music genre lord, Yusuf Olatunji, sang that, with the death of his friend, Suara Sobo, when he remembered the audacity of death in killing the rich and the poor, he got discomforted. I will connect this presently.

Grammy Award nominee, David Adeleke, famously known as Davido, provided Nigerians a veritable escape from themselves last Tuesday. The social media imploded with beautiful photographs of him and Chioma. It was a day to see wealth, plenty and joy in a Nigeria where poverty, lack and anger line our sky. Ash-tagged Chivido2024, the songster and his wife painted the sky red with fascinating ribbons of many colours. No one would know that the wedding was held in the same Nigeria ravaged by the water-borne disease of cholera. The nuptial, decorated with such a lavish show of wealth, was reminiscent of the July 29, 1981, wedding between then Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer.

For a moment in the same week, Nigeria provided both counterpoise and semblance to Kenya, its East African Safari destination brother. Whilst Kenyan youths were up in arms against their government for making life miserable for them, Nigerian government runners and youths were enveloped in a Davido wedding that erased class differentials and wiped away hunger optics. You would be pardoned if you thought our bellies were full. A-list guests like Olusegun Obasanjo, the hedonistic king of Ife, governors and the crème-de-la-crème of the Nigerian society were gathered at the wedding’s Victoria Island Harbour Point venue. But the class unity didn’t take too long to evaporate. Immediately its curtains were drawn, the crème-de-la-crème guests left into their wealth, Davido and his wife jetted abroad and the ordinary Nigerians celebrating the nuptials were left sharing Chivido2024 photographs on social media. They have since been contending with their bellyful wahalaof cholera, tomato, pepper scarcity and pestilential bad governance.

The wedding evoked some symbolisms in Ghanaian Efua T. Sutherland’s 1975 famous play, Marriage of Anansewa. It also put a final imprint on the transition of music and musicians from their perception by traditional Africa as beggars (alágbe). Today, musicians like Davido and Wizkid are mega-millionaires in dollars and mascots. So many Davidos, with greater grits and talent, never saw the light of the day. They were pushed into obscurity by societal stigmatisation. They were typecast as talented scroungers and never-do-wells. For my book, Ayinla Omowura: Life and Times of an Apala Legend(2020), I interviewed the son of Fatai Baiyewumi, the man who murdered Omowura in a bar-room fight in Abeokuta in 1980. He told me that when Omowura began singing in Abeokuta in the 1960s, his father, one of the famous (sànmònrí) of Abeokuta of the time, used to have Ayinla’s ragtag musical ensemble serenade him and his friends while they drank beer in the evenings. He claimed that Ayinla was so poor that the clothes he adorned on the front sleeve of his first musical album were a dash from his father. Late Uncle Charles Ariyibi of Ibadan also told me how, in the 1960s, Ilorin bard, Odolaye Aremu, serenaded his father, in company with his friends, in their Lagos compound. Excited, Ariyibi said, his father dashed the Dadakuada crooner clothes. In many of Odolaye’s songs, he sang of how wealthy fans gifted him clothes.

Ethnomusicology, the study of music of different cultures, revealed that this beggarly perception of musicians was prevalent in several African cultures. Nigeria’s was massive. Musicians in pre and immediate post-colony’s talents were enjoyed but not respected as persons. They were mostly recruited from the world of the rejects of society. Borrowing from aviation lingo, they were the flotsam, jetsam and lagan of society. The musicians themselves acted on this script very handsomely. They were weed smokers and community nuisances, Omo-ita. Yoruba also derogatively labelled them as drummers who sang and got compensated with rivulets of water removed from the top of cornmeal, (alù’lù gb’omi èko). A today musician who represents what they were then is Habeeb Okikiola, a.k.a. Portable. He was just like Omowura, a busboy who engaged in street brawls and other malfeasances. One of Omowura’s band boys was nicknamed Orífó’gò because singing into the night and the band itching to honour another musical engagement, the folk would break bottles on their heads, causing chaos so that the band could escape in the melee.

Haruna Ishola, a big father of the Apala music genre, on the 30th anniversary of his music in the 1970s, sang that, at the beginning of his musical career, most of his colleagues, dissuaded by musicians’ profiling as lazy and who didn’t know it could bring wealth, ran away from the microphone. “Nígbà tí a bèrè l’áyé ojósí, àwon tí ‘ò mò pé isé olà ni nínú wa, ńse ni wón ye’ra ; ìgbà yen ni wón ńp’onílù l’óle…” he sang. Odolaye, in his Ayé Omo Ayé album also pleaded that musicians should not be looked down upon, “e món f’ojú tí ò dáa wò wá mó o!” In later years, Omowura and colleagues tried to stave off their scavenger perception by advertising their turnaround wealth and fame. In one of his live musical engagements, Omowura wore his material accomplishment on his lapel and sang, “You are the same society that calls us musicians beggars wedded to poverty. Our musical craft has however brought us wealth” – “Èyin l’e ńso’pé alágbe kìí l’ówó l’ówó… isé òle l’òle ńje, k’á lù’lù, k’á ko’rin, l’Haádjì Àyìnlá fi l’ówó l’ówó.”

This is why Adedeji Adeleke, Davido’s father, should be the hero of the mascot his son has turned out to be today. A Nigerian businessman and billionaire, Adeleke gave a fillip to his son’s musical talent, regardless of the ancient unflattering typecast of musicians. Other big society barons have also followed suit. Legal czar, Femi Falana’s son, Folarin, known by the stage name Falz, and Florence, a.k.a. DJ Cuppy, daughter of boardroom billionaire Otedola, rank in this regard. In a world that belittles musical talents, one can imagine the initial shame and social pushback these musical talents’ parents must have faced in allowing them to walk the route hitherto trodden by never-do-wells. Today, but for Davido, the mention of Adeleke’s name would have attracted “Adeleke who?” Davido seems to have successfully swallowed whatever name and wealth he owned.

A romantic comedy written in 1975 by Sutherland, a Ghanaian lady playwright who was born in 1924, The Marriage Of Anansewa says a lot, even if nothing, about last week’s Davido marriage. The book is a rehash of the conventional Akan tribe of Ghana’s story-telling. With it, Sutherland successfully wove youthful romance, and humour into greed and cunning to tell the story of a poor and ambitious widower called Ananse who used his beautiful daughter Anansewa as a pawn. A student of Secretarial Studies, Ananse secures rich suitors – Chief-Who-ls-Chief, Chief of Sapaase, Chief of Akate (Togbe Klu IV) and Chief of the Mines – for his daughter, without any of them knowing the other. He then enters a “photograph engagement” between Anansewa and her suitors. Sutherland then showcases how marriage is deployed as a tool for financial exploitation and money-making in African societies.

In Ananse persuading Anansewa to pretend to have died, leading to each chief’s response to her death, Sutherland demonstrates how love conquers mischief, cunning and privations. The suitors’ messengers then came with funeral gifts and condolence messages that spoke to the depth and colour of their love for Anansewa. While the Chief of the Mines regretted that her death forecloses her from bringing up his children, the Chief of Sapa regretted that she could have taken the place of his ‘bitchy, ugly’ wife and Togbe Klu’s happiness would have been for her to deploy her secretarial skills in his business. However, Chief-Who-Is-Chief, who Ananse eventually gives Anansewa to in marriage, bearing heavy gifts for Anansewa through his messengers, regretted that though she was already his wife, he would foot all the finances of her funeral.

Sutherland’s 49-year-old play has a collage of themes that mesh with the Davido wedding. The first theme was that of love. Despite Davido’s highly-talked-about leashless libido, his choice of Chioma among many baby mamas seems to have reigned supreme like the pick of Chief-Who-is-Who among Anansewa’s suitors. Davido, you will recall, has the notorious renown of picking his confetti of baby mamas by the sidewalks like a squirrel picks groundnuts on a plantation. Similarly in Sutherland’s play, before being helped to settle for Chief-Who-is-Who, Anansewa, like Davido, also had multiple liaisons, though she hadn’t met them. The huge material showers the various suitors rained on Anansewa are akin to the benumbing millions of dollars Davido showered at the Lagos wedding.

The Davido wedding and Sutherland’s Marriage of Anansewa, apart from depicting life as drama, also had the theme of African traditional marriage as a tool for financial exploitation and money-making. This has led to, especially Igbo marriages, being a huge burden for every aspiring young man. Only God knows how much material demands Chioma’s Imo State family must have wrung off the well-heeled Adeleke family. While Anansewa’s wedding to Chief-Who-Is-Who was probably held in Ananse’s village, the Davido Igba Nkwu wedding rites violated the traditional wedding code in Igbo society. Such weddings are held in the village of the bride but Chioma’s was held in a ‘No Man’s Land’ of Lagos. The irritant Joe Igbokwe was to later claim it was for fear of ESN and IPOB which afflict Imo State like a pestilence. The unrivalled display of wealth by the Adelekes, at a time when hunger and anger have become stubborn guests that refuse to leave the Nigerian table, draws attention to the postcolonial vice of how we crown wealth as Emperor. It further reveals how materialism is a viper’s poison stinging the marriage institution in Africa.

Sutherland’s craft is an allegory, a symbolism that speaks to the mis-policy of non-alignment adopted by Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah. It also mocks Nkrumah’s money-centric relations with other countries after independence. While Ananse represents Ghana, the deceptive suitor with the cunning of the notorious trickster Spider in various Ashante folklores, (Spider is represented on the cover of the book) the suitor chiefs symbolise the international community which is a sucker for what it wanted. Notwithstanding that the Davido wedding was a private person’s way of expressing personal joy, accomplishment and social strides, the Harbour Point lavish wedding, like Sutherland’s play, may as well represent the present cunning and Janus faces of leaders of Nigeria and Kenya.

William Ruto clambered to the top of global disdain last week. He had earlier been at the zenith of attention when he became the guest of the American president, Joe Biden in May. In a letter penned to him on May 21, famous literary giant, Ngugi wa Thiongo, labeled Ruto’s diplomatic shuttle to America as cringing for crumbs and lickspittling. Ngugi also asked Ruto if he knew that, while he was enjoying the White House’s hospitality, “Haitians were in the streets demonstrating, calling you a slave.” Literally calling Ruto a betrayer, Ngugi asked him if he knew that he had “chosen to sell your country cheap.”

Like Ruto, Bola Tinubu also came to the presidential palace on the cusp of appealing to the common people. At campaign hustings, Ruto described himself as a “hustler”. He promised to relieve his people of their economic pain. The true test came last week. The tax hike bill waiting for his signature was bound to make life more painful for the offspring of Mau Mau warriors. So they embarked on a protest which, from Nairobi, spread like bushfire in harmattan. The protesters then stormed the parliament and set it on fire. Auma, Barack Obama’s step-sister, and her daughter were tear-gassed in the process. In response, a visibly angry Ruto dispatched soldiers who then littered the streets with bodies of about 20 dead Kenyans. He also initially called the protesters “treasonous” criminals, but, seeing the slant into anarchy and a probable takeover of power from him by the youths, Ruto reversed himself.

Ruto and Tinubu, who are stupendously and fabulously wealthy, subscribe to the obtuse belief that to bail their countries out of economic doldrums, taxation holds the ace. Kenyans mock Ruto in the butt of jokes as “Zakayo,” a word taken out of the biblical tax collector, Zacchaeus’ name. They also believe that his aggressive tax evangelism is a mini-dictatorship. Some even drew parallels between him and Arap Moi, the country’s dictatorial one-party state ruler. While Ruto was campaigning for the Kenyan presidency, just like Tinubu, who promised to make “corn, agbado, casafa” (pun intended) available to the people, Ruto also promised policies that would drop money in Kenyans’ pockets. Not long after being in office, the man who called himself an “anti-establishment” president and a “hustler” removed crucial fuel and maize flour subsidies. He was a Tinubu in the mirror.

As both Ruto and Tinubu, at every drop of a hat, preach belt-tightening, they and their families live in majestic splendour. On his recent visit to Biden, Ruto commuted to and fro in a chartered luxury private jet, abandoning the “old,” presidential jet. It is as though he and Tinubu compare notes in mindless spendthrift-ing. In Nigeria, the chartered jet Tinubu flew to South Africa recently was said to belong to his business friend, Chagoury, the Sani Abacha crony, to who he recently awarded a ₦1.5 trillion highway contract. In Kenya, Ruto also claimed the jet he flew to the US was paid for by his unnamed friends. A few days ago, we were told that, damming the pang and poverty in the land and most likely shouting, “Let Sango, the god of thunder, strike the Bata drum and the jarring metals surrounding it!,” the Lagos Boy began bidding to buy two presidential jets so that he does not get killed in the air, a la Bayo Onanuga. One of the jets is a $600 million (almost a trillion Naira) Airbus A330 aircraft seized from an unnamed Arab prince and businessman. I told you a while ago that Lagos Boys are heartlessly bold and daring. With Ruto and Tinubu, Kenyans and Nigerians may have entered the proverbial Suara Sobo lorry.

Anyway, we must congratulate Davido and Chioma for the joy they exuded on their wedding day. I am however surprised that the older Adeleke family didn’t apprise the talented musician of the eternal essence in a famous Yoruba counsel that teaches circumspection. Yoruba tell merrymakers desirous of flinging cymbals in celebration of achievements to be circumspect like a farmer whose yam plantation yields bountiful. Such a farmer envelopes the heaps from prying eyes with his hands. No matter the glitz of modernity, the Earth, indeed the World, has an eye, apologies to Niyi Osundare. And those eyes are mostly wicked. Like every great achiever, Davido is no doubt surrounded by a grumpy world beefing his supersonic strides.

Odolaye, in the same Aye Omo Aye album, conceptualised the destructive inclination of the world even better. Borne out of the inexplicable tiff that suddenly brewed between him and poet, Oladapo Olatubosun, his record label owner, Odolaye lamented a destructive world he gave the cognomen “Ayé omo ayé, èèyàn abiìdí yàńyàń.”

Of a truth, having gone through marital valleys and spousal challenges, it was Davido’s time to fling the cymbals. However, was an African’s, with its peculiar contours. It wasn’t that of Diana and Charles’ which had over 750 million people around the world watch how Diana, a former nursery school teacher, wore a dress that was said to have 10,000 pearls on it and a 25-foot train. Nor was it that of John and Jackie Kennedy which took place in 1953 in Newport, Rhode Island, with over 800 guests of politicians and diplomats. Nor even that of Kim Kardashian and Kanye West held in 2014 in Florence, Italy, star-studded with guests like Chrissy Teigen, John Legend, Steve McQueen, and Serena Williams in attendance. Most of those weddings ended badly anyway. Davido should have listened to Odolaye’s advice: “This world is wicked. Don’t underrate the wickedness of this world!” (Ayé yìí sòro o, ayé yìí sòro, k’é máse f’ènìyàn se’ré!).

Olajumoke at 80

Tomorrow, one of Providence’s priceless gifts to Ondo State and Nigeria, Bode Olajumoke, will be 80 years old. Born on Saturday, July 1, 1944, Olajumoke was the senator representing Ondo North from 2007 to 2011 and hails from Ose Local Government of the state. In 1999, he aspired to be Nigeria’s president. If Nigerians, especially the people of the Southwest, forget everything about Olajumoke, they will certainly remember the grey-bearded man who birthed the idea of Yoruba unity under the umbrella of the Imeri Unity Group.

Recognising how fractious the Yoruba had been since the demise of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Olajumoke began a yeoman fence-mending effort which reconciled feuding groups and individuals in Yorubaland. He also redrew the map of his Imeri hometown, a town hitherto mis-contiguously placed under Mid-West and Bendel state, which he fought to bring back to its Ondo kith and kin on September 19, 1991.

The credentials above are almost insignificant when placed side by side with Olajumoke’s philanthropy, unassuming nature and staunch religiosity. All these and far much more are contained in an autobiography he entitled, A Life of Grace: Courage, Vicissitudes and Legacies in the Journey of Bode Olajumokewhich will be unveiled in a birthday ceremony tomorrow at Yoruba Tennis Club, Onikan, Lagos.

It was like magic. In 2006, my wife enrolled for a post-graduate programme in the UK. After getting accommodation, she was informed by the landlady that as a student, she was entitled to exemption from council tax. All she needed was to notify the authorities on her status. My wife and I went to the council office and were attended to as soon as we arrived. We explained what we wanted and we were asked to submit a copy of her admission letter. Two days later, we got a mail approving the exemption. There was nothing like “oga is not on seat” or “we can’t locate your file”. I understand the process is now automated — you submit the application online and get a response within 48 hours.

Mrs Folasade Yemi-Esan, the head of the civil service of the Nigerian federation, has just declared that Nigeria has the “world’s best civil service”. Please raise your hand if this statement sums up your experience of our civil service. I can’t see any hands. Maybe I am not communicating. Let me reframe: if your experience of our civil service — local, state, federal — has been as smooth as the UK instance I just shared, kindly raise your hand. If you’ve ever gone to a government office to apply for building approval or renew a vehicle licence and you were treated with respect and never had to pay above the official fee, please let me see your hand. No hands up yet? Well, I give up at this stage.

Yemi-Esan, after being a civil servant for decades, had this to say about the dire situation towards the end of her career: “You know I am always proud of civil and public servants because Nigeria has the best civil service in the world and I can say that confidently anywhere.” To be fair to her, she was speaking during a sporting event organised for civil/public servants as part of activities marking the 2024 Civil Service Week, so I assume she was displaying sportsmanship — or, rather, sportswomanship. She has to be kind to her colleagues, sure. She cannot look them in the eye and say “most of you are lazy, greedy, incompetent, truants and criminals”. That would not be nice.

But what is life without ironies? The same Yemi-Esan had this to say about the “world’s best civil service” thereafter: “Recently, a circular went out to all ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) stating that they should do a physical headcount (of staff). That means everybody on the nominal roll that is receiving salaries should appear physically, and the names of those who did not show up for the exercise should be forwarded. In the circular, I cautioned that permanent secretaries and CEOs that give wrong information will be held liable if anything is discovered outside of the information that was given.” Can you see? Even the most senior civil servants had to be forewarned!

Yemi-Esan said it was discovered after the exercise that many workers in the “world’s best civil service” who had been receiving salaries all along had actually relocated abroad. The system ensured they were still being paid for doing nothing. Let me quote her properly: “I actually called one of the heads of the agencies and queried why there is such a large number of people earning salaries and are not on their desks. I asked how the agency came about such a huge number of the purported workers.” She said the head an agency told her she ain’t seen nothing yet — that some of the ghost workers flew in from the UK for the verification exercise. Welcome to the world’s best civil service.

There is so much to unpack about the Nigerian tragedy from Yemi-Esan’s narration. I don’t know where to start from. But given that she has been head of service for over four years, I should start from her. How did she arrive at the conclusion that we have the world’s best civil service, not even one of the best, which means every other country is below us? Can she show us her workings? Can we see her marking scheme? What are the service standards by which she did her appraisal and reached her conclusion? This is very important so that we can be on the same page with her. Her standards must be so low and warped. That is something to worry about. I will return to this shortly.

Also, she was gleefully telling us the unflattering story of the stinking rot in the civil service under her watch — without flinching. Imagine that in the “world’s best civil service”, people are living abroad and collecting salaries in Nigeria and the head of the civil service was not aware. The heads of agencies were even regaling her with more scintillating stories for effect. There is no hint that they were queried for negligence. If it was their personal companies, would they be paying workers who had relocated abroad? The truants had superiors they were reporting to and we need to know what they did about the truancy. We are yet to be told anyone has been held responsible for the fraud.

I would really like to know what Yemi-Esan has contributed to the making of the “world’s best civil service” as she prepares to bow out. She spoke about building a wellness centre to enhance productivity — and I don’t have anything against that. But has it really enhanced their productivity? That is where I would like to see the results of monitoring and evaluation (M&E). My biggest concern about the Nigerian civil service is productivity which I measure mainly in terms of efficiency. Can Yemi-Esan put her hand on her chest and say that the Nigerian civil service is more efficient today than it was when she took over as acting head in September 2019? That would be something.

To be clear, I am not blaming Yemi-Esan for all that is wrong with the civil service. That would be very unfair. Civil service in states and local governments is not any better. I am only questioning her judgment. When you have interacted with the civil service in advanced societies, you have to question our understanding of standards. We do not appear to know the kind of civil service we want. That is why Yemi-Esan thinks this is the best in the world. Civil service is the engine, or brainbox, of government. This is where policies are designed and implemented. This is where service delivery connects the state and the society. If we don’t get it right, we are going nowhere.

In serious countries, the civil service is probably the most respected institution. When we talk about “state capacity”, it is the civil service we are referring to — in the main. Recruitment and promotion standards are tough because of the high barriers. In countries like the UK, India and Japan, it is first-class brains that populate the civil service. Professionalism and high ethical standards are an article of faith. In Nigeria, recruitment into the civil service is more of welfare scheme where we dump those who cannot find their preferred choice of employment. Slots are sold to hustlers or allocated to politicians, so we usually end up with many civil servants who don’t give a hoot about their jobs.

Let me apply caution here. I am sounding like I do not have any regard for our civil service. Far from it. I have interacted with many decent civil servants who are passionate about their job. The problem is that they are so few they are insignificant. The civil service is dominated by buccaneers who will not lift a finger if they are not going to get pecuniary gains. They are the ones who enable politicians and political appointees to loot the system — and they do this mainly to help themselves, not that they love the politicians that much. Many political office holders will tell you that it is civil servants that show them how to cheat the system. How can Nigeria be great if they don’t change their ways?

Finally, when Yemi-Esan spoke about the truants collecting salaries for doing nothing, I was listening intently for two things: one, that all involved in the cover-up have been identified and punished; two, that she has introduced fool-proof measures to make sure this will not happen again. On the first one, she was completely silent. She gets on very well with the negligent MDAs heads, apparently. On the second one, it would appear the strategy is to be doing physical verification every four years and, thereafter, regaling the public with the tales of the truants. That is not good enough. If a problem has been identified, the logical next step should be to design a clear strategy to reduce or eliminate it.

Meanwhile, when we discuss the problems of Nigeria and lament that we are stuck in underdevelopment, the same cheating and negligent civil servants will open their mouths. To them, collecting salaries for doing nothing is not a crime. Aiding and abetting fraudulent payment of salaries is not a big deal. Fraud is not corruption. Stealing is not corruption. It is smartness. “After all, our Ogas are stealing billions,” they will say. Until we recognise our individual roles in the underdevelopment of Nigeria, we cannot begin to have a useful conversation on how to end this rot and move towards greatness. We will keep talking down on Nigeria as if we are blameless.

President Bola Tinubu spat fire on the development. “We must ensure those responsible are held accountable and restitution is made. The culprits must be made to refund the money they have fraudulently collected. Their supervisors and department heads must also be punished for aiding and abetting the fraud under their watch.” Music to my ears. Unfortunately, the story ends there. It is just the way we are wired in Nigeria. Our instinct is to show initial outrage and normal service resumes shortly after. Do we still remember the drama of Mr Kemebradikumo Pondei, then acting MD of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), “passing out” at a senate hearing in July 2020?

Remarkably, checkmating truancy in civil service is not as complicated as making banga soup. A simple electronic clock-in and clock-out system can help. Improving efficiency will be easier under a system that has a working M&E mechanism — implemented with deliverables clearly written on paper. Introducing timelines to process documents and time stamps on the documents as they move from desk to desk will help monitor efficiency to a large extent. But, most importantly, how and who do we recruit into service? The rot starts from there. The world’s best civil services recruit the best brains. In Nigeria, recruitment is a welfare scheme. You can’t build the best civil service that way.

AND FOUR OTHER THINGS…

RIVERS TO CROSS

The war between Governor Simi Fubara of Rivers state and Chief Nyesom Wike, his godfather-turned-archenemy, has reached a stage that should worry us all. It is easy to treat it as a Rivers problem and look away or watch it like a Netflix series, but — as we saw with Niger Delta militancy and Boko Haram insurgency — sociopolitical instability in any part of Nigeria is a threat to not just the national economy but also the overall security health of the country. I think violent godfather vs godfather face-offs started with the Dr Olusola Saraki vs Alhaji Adamu Attah bout-up in Kwara in 1983 but it is now commonplace. All good people must step in and stem the slide in Rivers. Ominous.

SUDDEN DEATHS

Mr Essien Etop Andrew, deputy comptroller in charge of revenue at the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), slumped and died while fielding questions from the house of reps committee on public account on Tuesday. This is yet another death of a uniformed public officer that made the news — not just because of his position but it also happened in the public glare. While I pray that Andrew’s family be comforted, I know that the tendency is to blame sudden deaths on supernatural forces. Nigerians, irrespective of status, are slumping to their death so often. Doctors will say most sudden deaths are avoidable, just that we ignore the warning signals. We really need to watch and act. Sad.

RECKLESS RUTO

In an attempt to cut the country’s debt-to-revenue burden, President William Ruto of Kenya recently proposed tax rises. Ruto initially wanted to tax bread — perhaps the daftest thing any president has ever tried in human history. For crying out loud, who taxes bread? Is that not a case of “village people” having the upper hand over Ruto? Despite a climbdown — the legislators passed a modified bill — the initial version had generated so much bad blood amid economic hardship that it created a momentum that led to riots and 22 deaths. There is a science about resistance to reform and reading the room that leaders must understand. Hope President Bola Tinubu got the memo? Combustible.

NO COMMENT

Are you following the row between the Police Service Commission (PSC) and the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) over the recruitment of 10,000 constables? The war over who has the statutory power to recruit between PSC and NPF started under President Muhammadu Buhari and even ended up in the Supreme Court, which ruled in favour of the commission. But that has not solved the problem. Comedy and tragedy had a get-together recently when the police rejected the final list, alleging the disappearance of the names of some successful candidates, claiming — now, you won’t believe this — that the exercise was fraught with “corruption”. Pot and kettle easily come to mind. Wonderful.

Antelopes do not fly. That’s why I often wondered why Rangers International Football Club of Enugu are nicknamed ‘the Flying Antelopes’.

I know the genesis of the name ‘Rangers’. It is a deadly and destructive cannon used by Biafran soldiers during the bloody Nigerian Civil War.

They were only halted in their march to the top only by the heroics of Amusa Adisa, the goalkeeper of WNDC FC, the team that later became IICC Shooting Stars International FC.

Adisa had dramatically caught a last-minute penalty kick taken by Godwin Achebe, Captain of the Green Eagles (before and immediately after the War) and of Rangers FC, that would have possibly helped the team to go on and win a match they were dominating up till that point in the dramatic match. That’s how Rangers lost their first major final match by 2-1 to a team that would become their greatest rival in Nigerian football through the decades since then.

That same year, 1971, in a competition that was referred to as an ‘emergency league’, Rangers FC emerged the league champions for the first time. 

But it was in 1974 that their 3-year dominance of Nigerian football truly began. From that year, they went on to win the FA Cup 3 times and the league cup twice, back-to-back.
These achievements were unprecedented in Nigeria’s football history and have not been matched fifty years after.

Remarkably, it was not only the victories that made Rangers International FC famous and a great team. It was inthe manner of their performances on the field of play. They played with uncommon passion and determination.  They had very skillful, very strong and very fast players in all departments on the field, with a goalkeeper who,at about 6 ft 5 inches tall, was a real giant between the posts. Emmanuel Okala went on to become the most celebrated goalkeeper with his award of Africa’s Best Player in 1978 by the African Sports Journalists Union.

Rangers International FC always and everywhere played as if possessed, contesting for every ball on the field as if their lives depended on it, physically intimidating and dominating teams with their physicality, power and speed, leaving a physical or mental ‘scar’ on every opposing team. 

These achievements were unprecedented in Nigeria’s football history and have not been matched fifty years after.

Remarkably, it was not only the victories that made Rangers International FC famous and a great team. It was in the manner of their performances on the field of play. They played with uncommon passion and determination.  They had very skillful, very strong and very fast players in all departments on the field, with a goalkeeper who,at about 6 ft 5 inches tall, was a real giant between the posts. Emmanuel Okala went on to become the most celebrated goalkeeper with his award of Africa’s Best Player in 1978 by the African Sports Journalists Union.

Rangers International FC always and everywhere played as if possessed, contesting for every ball on the field as if their lives depended on it, physically intimidating and dominating teams with their physicality, power and speed, leaving a physical or mental ‘scar’ on every opposing team.  

In 1977, Rangers FC added the appellation ‘International’ to its name when it won the Africa Cup-winners Cup, only the second Nigerian club side to win the same continental trophy. One year earlier, in 1976, IICC Shooting Stars International FC had blazed the international success trail. 

That achievement meant a great deal in  Nigerian football and to the global followers of the great club based inEnugu. To mark the 40th anniversary of winning the continental trophy, in 2017, the clubs patrons and supporters organised and held the biggest celebration in the history of the team in Houston, Texas, USA. 

Why USA?

Most of the surviving players of the 1970s and 1980s had moved to the USA for studies or in pursuit of a better life. It was, therefore, a great opportunity to re-unite and celebrate them in an audience of members of the Igbo community in the USA with a surprise-guest to embellish the historic event. 

… a Ranger that never played for Rangers International! 

When I received a phone call from the Patron of the Rangers FC Supporters Club in the USA, Chief Benson Ejindu,  inviting me to the celebration, it was a confirmation of my deepest love. I had always loved members of the Rangers International football players in the national team. They infected every one of us from different clubs with their positive attitude and fighting spirit. They inspired and drove us to new heights in the national teams of the 1970s. A few of the players became my best friends beyond the football field, a relationship we have sustained till this day. 

Despite this mutual admiration and respect between us, I was a tormentor-in-chief of Rangers International FC during the years of their rivalry with my team, Shooting Stars FC.  There were 6 players from Rangers FC and 5 from Shooting Stars in the 1980 AFCON-winning Green Eagles. We should have been ‘enemies’, but were not. The friendship between us sustained beyond our times as members of the national team. 

The epic semi-final matches of the Africa Cup-Winners Cup in 1977, pitched Rangers International with their fiercest domestic rivals, Shooting Stars FC. Those two matches are still considered amongst the greatest and most memorable football matches in Nigeria’s football history. Although Rangers eventually won via penalty kicks after the second match that was played on neutral ground in Kaduna, the story of what actually transpired could only be recalled and told by one deeply involved in the unprecedented football drama. 

That’s why I was invited. To grace the event with my presence and to recall the period for the benefit of the audience of over 400 Nigerians packed into a hall in downtown Houston in 2017. 

It was apparent from my unscripted story that my love for Rangers International FC is deep. It was a team I would have loved to play for in those days of our rivalry, but for the fact that I was Yoruba, and Rangers were a team that wore the banner of a team with a mission after the Civil war between ‘brothers’. 

That’s why, I refer to myself a Ranger that never played for Rangers International FC.

That’s why, last week, I celebrated Rangers International’s return to the top of Nigerian football in their achievement as professional Football League winners.  

I am hoping that this will spur other teams in the category of Movements of the people, to make a comeback and be in the fore front of football development as business in the country. 

That’s why the return of Rangers International FC as champions of the Nigerian Professional Football league is huge! I add my humble voice to the celebrations

“We will continue the work of the current administration in reforming the civil service to fight corruption, reduce bureaucracy, streamline agencies and decrease inefficiency and waste” – RENEWED HOPE DOCUMENT pg. 17

We can protect our exchange rate, guard against inflation and preserve foreign currency reserves by limiting our exposure to large debt obligations denominated in foreign currency….Our policy will be such that new foreign currency debt obligations will be linked to projects that generate cash flows from which the debt can be repaid” (pg 21). 

“What we can do and what we shall do is to build on the foundation laid by President Buhari’s Presidential Power Initiative… (pg 30).

Mr President, first an introduction is required. UniJankara was founded in 1999; just as the government of former President Obasanjo was stepping into office. Our Motto: We pay nothing to staff, but we work all the time. Our major focus is Nigeria and its governments – Federal and States; with priority always given to the FG which largely determines the fate of our nation. It might be of interest to you to know that we were the first group to condemn the OBJ regime by publishing a book in 2008 titled: PDP: CORRUPTION INCORPORATED. 

The Yar’Adua administration was also roundly carpeted for its failures. And, as far as we were concerned, the Jonathan government was the second major opportunity lost after the oil boom of the 1970s. Consequently, we threw our support behind candidate Buhari from 2011 until the All Progressives Congress, APC, made him the presidential candidate. We were well aware of his limitations – low educational qualifications, mental laziness and ethnic and religious bigotry. But, we assumed, quite wrongly as it turned out, that with the coalition of political forces which came together to form APC, those tendencies would be dealt with. 

We honestly believed that people like you would assist Buhari to govern better. Above all, we actually believed that Buhari was the man to curb pervasive corruption in government. That alone would have saved Nigeria about N12 trillion in eight years. We were wrong. Buhari proved to us that a far worse President than Jonathan could rule Nigeria. Two weeks ago, your Special Adviser, Bayo Onanuga, confirmed our assessment of eight years of Buharism. In his mostly emotional and hardly factual, rejoinder to the New York Times Editorial, critical of Nigeria under your administration, Onanuga declared that “the Tinubu administration inherited a totally ruined economy”. That is exactly what we, at UniJankara, have been telling Nigerians since Buhari started on May 29, 2015. But, you, being more partisan than factual, never believed us. Now you should know better; but, apparently you don’t. Let me explain.

RENEWED HOPE DOCUMENT INDUCES FEAR

“Leadership is the ability to define issues without aggravating the problems” – Warren Benis, VANGUARD BOOK OF QUOTATIONS, VBQ, pg 125. We went to great lengths to obtain a copy of the RENEWED HOPE document. Instinct told my colleagues and I that it might turn out to be an important historical document. We were never self- deluded to expect that all, or even most, of the politician’s promises in it would be kept. For politicians, breaking promises is as natural as lions feasting on their prey. Generally, though, we were open-minded. We wanted to know what Tinubu/Shettima had in store for us. In less than three days, we went page-by- page, line-by-line of the document; undertook analysis of data, fact-checked every statement and figure provided. Then, we became alarmed for the reasons noted above in the excerpts from the document. Permit me to discuss them one- by-one.

“Nigeria loses N636bn as oil production dips” – Report, June 23, 2024.

The story went on to inform that “the repeated slump in Nigeria’s monthly outputs since January has resulted in revenue loss of about N636bn…Oil production data obtained from a Federal Government agency indicated that Nigeria produced 1.43

million barrels of crude…in January this year, but this nosedived to 1.25mbpd in May.”

Indisputably, the Federal Minister of Petroleum Resources (and you know who that is), like the football captain who scores own goals against his team, is not only letting the team down, he is letting down the nation as well. Ironically, the only promise your government seems to be redeeming is exactly the one to discard: Promising to continue Buhari’s reforms amount to a pledge to drive the nation into economic disaster. To begin with, Buhari carried out no reforms, did not fight corruption or streamline the bureaucracy as you claimed in RENEWED HOPE document. Buharinomics stood for the opposite of what you credited his government for doing. It is easy to see why your government is failing to make any impact as we finish the thirteenth month.

Among other errors of judgment committed by Buhari and Obasanjo, you seized the Ministry of Petroleum; and like them, you are failing at the task. As far back as 1967, in my third year in the university, I learnt that an annual budget, in the public and private sectors, represents a sacred commitment by the Chief Executive Officer, CEO, – President, Governor, Managing Director – to the stakeholders; which must be discharged. Invariably, the total revenue or turnover is the first line of the budget. That announces to all concerned how much the CEO and his vast team of workers promise to earn. Later, the sources of the funds are provided in the explanatory notes. In the 2024 Budget presented to the National Assembly, NASS, the promise by the Minister of Petroleum was to produce and export 1.7mbpd of crude every single day. Instead, the negative variances started right from January 1, 2024.

Everybody knows that crude oil revenue constitutes (or should constitute) the largest source of funds for the FG. Having placed most of our national “eggs” in one basket, the least we should expect of any responsible FG is to safeguard that basket seriously. Yet, in no single month since June 2015 had the FG been able to achieve shipment of 1.7mbpd till today. In that respect, Buhari was a woeful failure; and it beats the imagination why Tinubu would promise continuity of a disaster. It is even more baffling why he wants to follow that precedent. The consequences of adopting a failed policy are there for all, but self- blinded admirers and errand boys and girls of Tinubu to see.

“External debt stood at N121.67 trillion as at March 31, 2024” – Report.

Granted, not all the external loans were incurred by the FG. But, the lion’s share was. In just the first three months of this year, Nigeria’s debt increased by N24 trillion. That is about 26 per cent more than Tinubu inherited from Buhari after eight years in office and far more than any other Head of State ever accumulated during their entire tenure. That was only in the tenth month of his 48 months in office for first term. Already, plans are being made to borrow more. In addition to crude oil, virtually all the other sources of revenue are once again delivering far less than expected. That takes us back to the promise on page 21 of what is increasingly becoming like abandoned hope by the authors of RENEWED HOPE. There is no evidence that the external debt obligations now undertaken are linked to any projects which would generate revenue to repay the loans. Obviously, this administration, like Buhari’s who “totally ruined” the Nigerian economy, according to Bayo Onanuga, is travelling down the same destructive route by borrowing to fund consumption; to pay salaries of unproductive federal

public servants – including Ministers. We have searched in vain, at UniJankara, for a precedent in history in which a nation developed its economy rapidly and reduced poverty by getting deeper into debt without real investments. The loan sourced from the World Bank to partly fund the promised palliatives is a case in point. Declaration of subsidy removal before a cabinet was formed and adequate preparations made for dealing with the repercussions was a massive blunder – totally un- presidential. The panic reactions in response to the consequences have proved to be an absolute waste of funds – mostly borrowed. Nigerians experience worse food scarcity and higher prices because what Tinubu and the governors did was counter- productive. They induced unusually large purchase of food items during harvest period; allocated them mostly to party members and presumed to have solved the food scarcity problem. Any Agricultural Economist worth his salt could have told the President that the cure prescribed would be worse than the disease. Now food prices have continued climbing; and nobody appears to have a clue regarding how to proceed.

Meanwhile, the vital issue of Minimum Wage has been turned into a joke. When the FG announces a figure, it will be treated with the disdain it deserves. The governors have already made up their minds not to pay N60,000. The President of Nigeria would eventually speak in vain. Chaos is not far behind.

WHAT IS TO BE DONE?

Since it is clear that the major problem we have stems from the failures in the Petroleum and Energy Ministry, it would appear that the best thing you can do for Nigeria, Mr President, is to sack the Minister of Petroleum. Just a suggestion.

After twenty-five years of unbroken civilian governments in Nigeria, one can easily imagine that the country is getting settled as a democracy. But whereas a civilian government rather than a military regime is more likely to be democratic, civilian rule in Nigeria and indeed in several parts of Africa are far from adhering to democratic practices. In truth, what obtains in many African countries is authoritarian democracy. The causative factors are many. Poorly organized political parties, prevalent poverty, commercialized politics, election rigging and the tendency for those in power to decimate op- ponents so as to remain in pow- er perpetually.

However, Nigeria has several societal institutions and pres- sure groups that can check the trend; but one after the other, the groups are fast withering away. First, the volatile university teachers’ union that always led in protesting any poor government policy is now overwhelmed with the fight for its own survival following its emasculation by government. Other civil society groups that occasionally draw attention to the failures of government to remain democratic do not have what it takes to popularize their observations. What they say hardly sticks. The media which has organs of mass communication for effective public enlightenment are virtually hounded. Each time any media professional raises a critical post, the law enforcement agencies are used to silence the critic. This happens more often at state government level notwithstanding that Section 22 of the Nigerian Constitution explicitly mandates the media to hold government accountable to the people.

The entire landscape for checking the excesses of government is therefore left to the opposition political parties. Unfortunately, such parties are never more than one or two as all others exist only on paper. Since the 2023 general elections in Nigeria, the Peoples Democratic Party PDP and the Labour Party LP have remained the only major opposition parties. One simple mistake of both parties has been an undue focus on the next presidential election in 2027. Only Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi who were the candidates of both parties respectively have been the ones speaking or making any move that provides some evidence that they may contest again; thereby turning opposition politics into a personality affair. Not much is done in what should have been a daily robust evaluation and analysis of government policies item by item that can push office-holders into retracing some of their steps or be cautious of their next move.

The off-season elections which would have been used to further shore-up the opposition parties are handled casually. The governorship election holding shortly in Edo state confirms the point. Although the PDP is the ruling party in the state, there are still two rival groups within the PDP in the state since 2020. This should have by now made Atiku and the national working committee of the party to pause a bit on the national mirror and move to Benin City to resolve all intra-party grievances that would strengthen the party for the coming election. It is as if the saying that a house divided against itself cannot stand makes little sense to politicians. Otherwise, how come the series of crises that the LP has been going through are yet to fizzle out even if it is for the sake of the Edo election that is just two months away?

At the national level, there is no evidence of cohesion by any of the two opposition political parties. Although the several reforms of the Tinubu-led APC government have hit many Nigerians to a position of dissatisfaction with the government, the opposition parties have remained docile. Many of their members are practically lost over current political happenings in the country. A few of them who appear occasionally on television programmes to make some negative comments about public policies are hardly understood as holding government in check. Instead, most of them present a picture of individual articulation with no coordination by their parties to use their presentations as a basis for projecting the failings of government. Indeed, many of such public commentators leave one with a posture of publicity seeking individuals.

The opposition political par- ties have thus failed to follow the methodology of the APC when it was in the opposition. It would be recalled that the APC first spent ample time to emerge as a merger of some parties to present a formidable opposition for the purpose of ousting the then ruling PDP. Thereafter, the party designed a powerful propaganda machinery which on a daily basis sought to establish what they called the cluelessness of the Goodluck Jonathan’s government. During those periods, Lai Mohammed the publicity secretary of the group was so effective that it was difficult to take away from him the position of minister of information when the party was declared winner of the 2015 election.

The then APC did not only speak, their members including the aged led street protests to underscore their point against government policies thereby mobilizing Nigerians into an anti-government frenzy. Today, what the PDP which is now the main opposition party is busy doing is not holding government accountable but explaining that there are no factions within its own party but mere disagreements that the party is working assiduously to resolve. For more than one year, all the said plans of uniting the party have changed nothing about the status of the party on ground. In the case of the LP, what the nation is told often is that there is a difference between the party and the ‘obedients’ as if the latter has a legal status for sponsoring candidates for an election. One would have thought that as an emerging major party, the focus of the LP would have been on how to grow beyond a party led by a charismatic leader to that which in addition has viable structures and processes.

From the zero-sum nature of the game of politics in Nigeria, it is obvious that career politicians who have been displaced from government into the opposition stand a little chance of participating in the task of holding government in check. One reason for this is that Nigerian politicians are not re- ally bothered about whatever parties they find themselves. Instead, their preoccupation is political office or positions for getting wealthy. This explains the indiscriminate defections from one party to the other at the slightest opportunity. The ease with which even legislators who are constitutionally disallowed from defecting still do so suggests that material benefits is what matters most to politicians – a trend that has long been so.

A good example of the inherent lack of faith in any political party by its members is best exemplified by the case of Muhammadu Buhari, the candidate of the All Nigeria Peoples Party ANPP, for the presidential election of 2007.

As soon the results were declared, Buhari promptly went to court to seek redress hav- ing found so much wrong with the election. While he was still in court, the chairman and executive members of his party including his running mate, without his knowledge and consent reached a working agreement with the ruling party which made some of them ministers. Buhari only got to know after the tribunal dismissed his petition. The bitter experience made him to remain alone in his politics of principles in a party whose members would readily sell their party for personal gains. Who says the current ruling party may not also adopt the strategy of weakening any opposition party when necessary?

The luck the opposition parties have for now is that the ruling party is still busy con- solidating itself nationwide. If the opposition parties remain lukewarm over unpopular public policies, their first shock in the new year – less than six months away, would be the concerted effort of the ruling party to use its incumbency to frustrate their opponents as the 2027 general elections get closer. One simple strategy of the party would be to use its majority in the National Assembly to retain the loopholes in the Electoral Act and in fact introduce many bogus reforms that would make the 2027 election a one- party affair. That can easily happen in an atmosphere where in exchange for more welfare, government bills can be passed before they are read. It is probably at that point that Nigerians would realize the threat to democracy which weak opposition political parties portend.

TWO strange fires struck in two far-flung areas of Lagos last week; one at the headquarters of Pastor Chris Oyakhilome’s Christ Embassy church at Oregun and the other at the fledgling refinery of Africa’s touted richest man, Aliko Dangote. Who dunnit? If the fire at Christ Embassy can be described as an act of God or the carelessness of one person or the other, that at Dangote’s refinery was really suspicious, coming, as it were, a few days after a top official of the refinery had cried out that they were being frustrated by oil cabals bent on perpetuating the country’s profligacy of importation of refined petroleum products with the concomitant payment of fuel subsidy that has run the country’s balance sheet jaded.

Let us discuss the Christ Embassy fire first. A news medium reported it thus: “Worshipers and members of Love World International, commonly known as Christ Embassy, are recounting their ordeals, following yesterday’s mysterious fire that razed both the administrative block and the main auditorium of the church headquarters, in Oregun, Lagos State. The cause of the fire, which completely razed the ground floor of the church, leaving it in ruins, remained unknown at the time of this report.

However, unconfirmed reports blamed the incident on a power surge from the electrical appliances.

Church workers and other members of the church who were preparing for the Sunday service were said to have scampered for safety. The fire started around 7 a.m. and was put off around 3:10 p.m. (thus) preventing worshipers from holding service at the church auditorium. They were taken to Asese, the Crusade Ground along Lagos/Ibadan expressway, Ogun State to hold service.

On his part, the President of Love World International also known as Christ Embassy, Reverend Chris Oyakhilome, urged members of the church not to worry over the incident, saying “We built that with what we knew, imagine what we are going to do with what we know now. When things like this happen do not be moved.

When something like this happens, God gives us an opportunity to build a better one and a more beautiful one.

“We must look at life from the spiritual, this is not an accident. We are going to do something better”

Thank God no life was lost! Thank God firefighters were able to, first, contain the fire from spreading to other properties before finally putting it out. My concern here is not whether or not the fire was a spiritual attack. In Africa, Nigeria especially, there is hardly any occurrence that is not attributed to spiritual attack. Satan or Devil and its legion of demons are the easily available fall guys in these climes. Every misfortune is the work of the devil. A thief who gets caught blames the devil. A 70-year-old who defiles a toddler attributes it to the devil. But when the criminal goes free, it is a miracle or God’s blessing!

I understand that the Christ Embassy people will rebuild their church; that is to be expected, but I want to caution moderation here. Pastor Oyakhilome’s boast that the king’s palace that gets burnt only invites a more befitting edifice worries me. What is the cost implication of such an exercise at this point in time when cries of “We are hungry” have seized the land? How many billions will the pastor commit to building a better edifice? Where will the funds come from? From the same “We are hungry” congregants? Much of the bricks, mortars, iron and steel, fittings, furniture and equipment that will make the new Basilica the envy of all will be imported, meaning more stress on the Naira and worsening our forex situation. More inflation. More exorbitant costs of foodstuffs, goods and services. More poverty and more impoverishment of an already traumatized populace. These are no times for show off and extravagance. What is needed now are factories and industries to create jobs for the teeming army of jobless Nigerians. Rather than build cathedrals, till the land and send our youths to feed the nation. Don’t pile more misery on the Naira! Your ego is not what our hungry people will eat. I wouldn’t know if you understand what I mean? If you do, fine! Otherwise, when push becomes shoving, we shall all be here to reap what we sow. Have you noticed the competition between places of worship, especially churches, to build the best cathedrals? Ostentation, opulence and extravagance in the midst of grinding poverty! You cannot but wonder if these people are still followers of Christ!

The fire at Dangote refinery was said to have occurred at the effluent treatment plant. Mercifully, that, too, was contained and there were no casualties or serious damage to the plant. But because a witch had cried a day earlier, before the child now dies a day after, eyebrows were raised. Sabotage was suspected. Forces that do not want the government refineries to work are also trying to prevent the private refineries from working. Where do we go from here? Nigeria has become a huge crime scene. There are cabals everywhere gradually but assuredly snuffing life out of Nigeria. Political cabals will not allow honest Nigerians to smell power. Generator cabals will not allow PHCN work! Cabals in the education sector will not allow appropriate funding of education by the government. Cabals benefiting from insecurity will not allow the trillions being pumped into the sector to bear fruits. Cabals everywhere. Saboteurs everywhere. Importers will not allow local production of as little as toothpicks! Forex racketeers will not allow the Naira to appreciate against other currencies. In all of these, the government is helpless or complicit.

Nothing is working. The public sector is not working. Now, again, the private sector is also not working. Those feeding fat on Nigeria, sector by sector, are bent on sucking the country unto death. What they have failed to realize is that their own survival is impossible outside of the survival of Nigeria!