There is nothing new about elections in Nigeria. Except for the annulled June 12 election, we have never had a free, fair and credible process because our politicians know that voters don’t believe in them. It is worse that it is the ruling party which uses all organs of government to ensure the right candidate does not win.

The new system in which voting is open but collation is manipulated dates back to 1999 when former American President Jimmy Carter led the international election monitoring group. Carter told reporters that the number of voters on the voting queue was different from the results that were announced. In other words, the mischief that needs to be cured in Nigerian elections is the collation process. Everything is usually changed during the process to overturn the correct results with the strong telling the weak to go to court. 

Our courts are not allowed to interfere in the election process hence the law that courts should never stop an electoral commission from doing its work. Many young people were probably too young to be aware of this while those who are old enough to know about the law think that the law can be experimented upon. All that one needs to do is to have enough funds to hire big lawyers that can intimidate a judge. But whether we hire a long list of lawyers or not, the basic truth is that no court is allowed to stop an electoral body from doing its work. Although one legislator said the other day that it was for this reason that they put in the law to make it impossible for courts to stop electoral commission, it is good for Nigerians to know that even the military had the same law.  

In 1993, Senator Athur Nzeribe’s Association for Better Nigeria ABN attempted to stop the June 12 presidential election, but the electoral body ignored the court and went ahead with the election. The decision of the then electoral body was informed by Section 19 (1) of the Presidential Election Decree No. 13 of 1993 which barred any court from interfering in its work.  So, there is nothing new with what the courts are doing today; they are following the old order whereby Judges are materially influenced to give wrong judgments. How can a court bar police and other security agencies from securing an electoral process and argue that it didn’t bar the electoral commission from doing its work? If courts are to positively contribute to national development, they must tackle the unending failed elections in the country.

Our judges are very different these days; gone were the days of Justice George Oguntade, then a judge of the court of appeal who dealt with the subject substantively. According to Oguntade, “where a court makes an order in contravention of a statutory provision which forbids it from making such orders, the order so made is null and void and no appeal need be filed against the order.” What this confirms is that we have always had stomach infrastructure judges and lawyers including senior advocates who are always pretending that there is nothing a court cannot do. We say here today that a judge who attempts to stop an election is an unpatriotic citizen who is not bothered about our toga of a country whose elections always fail integrity tests. Oguntade’s ruling remains the latest and only law on the subject. 

Of course, we are not saying that courts are irrelevant in our electoral process.  There is time for courts to work, so they need not work before their time. For example, all the wrongs which the federal high court found with the rivers state electoral commission could be used to nullify the election; they cannot be used to stop the election from holding because that would be against the law. If courts start to break the law, then we are heading towards destruction. Even if the military keeps to its promise of allowing democracy to grow, we should not tempt them to change their mind. Besides, let us not remind politicians that they can revert to the old order where strong candidates were murdered just before voting day because people have lost faith in the judicial process. Our nation needs to listen now.

As far as ‘go to court’ is concerned, it is getting obvious that those who mouth it know the exact courts where the case would eventually be heard. To start with, it is usually the federal high court which on its own has a limited jurisdiction. The court has become so popular that it can alter state matters into federal matters. In Kano for example, although chieftaincy matters are purely state matters, the federal high court in the city successfully created another emir. Could this idea of further compounding every controversy be the nation’s expectation of the judiciary? Chief Justice Kekere-Ekun must in her moments of deep thoughts begin to see how some judges can be stopped from getting involved in ousted matters.

She also needs to take a closer look at the way unlimited state high courts are made to lose their jurisdiction to the federal high court which ordinarily only has limited jurisdiction.  We are not unaware that despite several warnings, court are still intransigent on those rules which were made to keep them in line. Perhaps it is time to resurrect the old law which stopped the judiciary from determining winners of elections. Instead, they should examine an election and see whether the process was followed or not. If it was followed, no problem but if it was not followed the court should nullify the election and give room for a repeat election. That may help to retrieve the integrity of the judiciary which is right now spoiling her image through the determination of elections in which there are more votes than voters.

Another thing that the heads of court can do is to stop forum shopping. Whereas it is true that all federal high courts have the same jurisdiction, it is suspicious that people leave the federal high court in the state where they live and where the case arose to the federal high court in Abuja to file their cases. What is special about the federal high court in Abuja that it is so well patronized? Could it be that judges of the federal high court in that city are secret members of a political party? If the situation is not reversed, the judiciary would someday be like police that always cancels check points only for another Inspector General to assume office only to cancel it again because it was never obeyed. What this means is that whatever takes away food from the corrupt hands of officials will really never stop. Instead, they will design new strategies for continuing with the mischief.  

Except we take such stringent action, we might soon get to a situation in which a common thief can be freed if in his defence, he cites the police. It would then be argued that since the case has police involvement, it has to be moved to the federal high court because states cannot deal with the police. In other words, we have successfully turned the object of a case to its subject. In Kano, it was only a chieftaincy case but as soon as police and other security agencies were added to it for implementation of judgment it became a federal high court case.Obviously, those who are benefiting from the roles the federal high courts are being made to play now are enjoying it but it is only fair that we are all reminded thatsomeday those in government now may not be there again. 

When the APC was the opposition party, it went to court, to stop the involvement of the army in Nigeria’s election. The party won the case and it was decided that the army should be far away from election centres. Today, the APC is in government and probably now sees the “usefulness” of the army in elections. If it saw this earlier it may not have gone to court to secure a victory against what it’s now doing. Nigeria’s elections would be better handled if every organ is allowed to play its assigned role. There is no need to display voting and declaration of result segments while collation of votes is done in secret. Our Federal High Court should please give us some breathing space.

Hadiza El-Rufai, the former First Lady of Kaduna State, has engaged in a public exchange with Senator Shehu Sani on X (formerly Twitter).

The former senator, who represented Kaduna Central in the 8th Assembly, had posted a comment on the platform about President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, which caught El-Rufai’s attention.

In his post, Sani humorously suggested that President Tinubu’s international travels have an impact on the economy, particularly taxes and commodity prices.

He wrote, “New law of economics; When the President travels out, Taxes and Prices goes up.”

El-Rufai, well-known for correcting grammar on social media, pointed out the error in Sani’s post.

She noted that the phrase should be “go up” rather than “goes up.”

In response, Shehu Sani, referring to her as “mummy,” urged her to leave him alone.

He pointed out that despite both of them having unfollowed each other, she still continues to linger around him.

He wrote, “I unfollowed you and you unfollowed me.And you still de hang around me.Mummy,leave me alone abeg.”

Her correction sparked reactions from Nigerians in the comment section, with users sharing their views on the exchange between the former First Lady and the senator.

@Balatic wrote, “If you converted this grammatical energy into moral energy and channeled it on your husband, Southern Kaduna population for no reduce significantly during his 8 horrible years in charge.”

@AustinINstate said, “Madam, Uncle senator was right do your research no sentiments please my little understanding :The correct phrase is “price goes up.” Since “price” is a singular noun, it requires the singular verb “goes.”

@Wasser_02 noted: For 8 yrs as governor wife and chief grammar corrector, Kaduna state didnt improve or come first in any external English examination. So ma, this Twitter correction is a waste. You can go ahead to correct mine.

@davidoj_10 said, “If you both advised the government or effected changes in such capacities, we’d be way better than where we are right now but here you’m are correcting grammatical errors.”

Well, well, well… what an eventful week! So eventful I was unsure of what topic to write about. I started out wanting to do a follow-up to my last article, ‘On States, Regions and Federalism’. I also wanted to make an important clarification on the Unification Decree of 1966, having forgotten to add that it was repealed a year later. And while I was still thinking, violence broke out in Rivers state after the LG election as the war between Chief Nyesom Wike and Governor Siminalayi Fubara advanced to the next stage. I was still trying to catch my breath when the NNPC Ltd announced another increase in the price of petrol. I became confused on the choice of topic. Can you see my predicament?

When I started writing, I wanted to explain that while one military government announced the end of federalism and adopted a unitary system in 1966 (typical of the way military runs things), another military government reversed it in 1967 but it still turned out to be a pseudo-federalism — in the sense that the military high command, represented by the National Military Government (NMG) headed by the supreme commander of the armed forces, still called the shots. Military governors were appointed by the supreme commander. They were his subordinates. There were many ripples from the new arrangement as the civil war eventually broke out, but that is a topic for another day.

I also wanted to write, for the benefit of those who may not know, that “republic” does not mean unitary system. I saw a bit of confusion over that. A republic simply means a country is ruled by those elected into power by the citizens — compared to a monarchy where the king or queen has absolute powers. Although Nigeria became independent in 1960, it was not officially considered a republic because the Queen of England was still the head of state and was represented in that position by the governor-general of Nigeria, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, in a role conferred on him by a special arrangement with his northern allies. Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, as prime minister, was the head of government.

In 1963, Nigeria officially became a republic and the role of governor-general was abolished. Azikiwe became president and head of state but the executive powers were with the prime minister as head of government. A parliamentary system separates the positions of head of state and head of government — unlike in a presidential system where the president is both the head of state and head of government. Countries such as the UK, Australia, Canada, Jamaica and New Zealand are officially not republics as the King of England is their head of state. However, for practical purposes, they are republics since they have elected representatives. The king is only a ceremonial leader.

I was still piecing my thoughts together when the Rivers state crisis progressed to another phase. I decided to abandon the federalism topic and write about Wike and Fubara as they fight over who should be Rivers’ head of “state” and head of government. In the first republic, we had premiers and governors under the parliamentary system. They shared duties. Premiers were the chief executives of their regions and ran government business, while governors were the ceremonial heads, performing such functions as making consequential announcements and declaring parliaments open. In a presidential system, governors hold executive powers and do not report to an individual.

In Rivers state, there is clearly a battle between Fubara, the elected governor, and Wike, his benefactor who handpicked him as his successor. The war started as soon as Fubara took office, with Wike complaining openly that his successor was destroying his political structure in the state. To be sure, this is not the first fight between godfathers and godsons in our political history. This war happens all the time. We saw it in Kwara in 1983 and 2003, Anambra in 2003, Oyo in 2006, Lagos in 2019, Edo in 2020 and even in Delta in 2023. However, the Rivers state crisis is getting out of hand and the risks are too high for us to ignore. Sadly, this is a country where we never learn our lessons.

I worry about Rivers in many ways. First: the threat to national security. When oil-based kidnappings and pipeline sabotage began in the state in 2005 or thereabouts, we thought there was really nothing to worry about. Today, we have territories run by militants and ex-militants. Second: the threat to the national economy. As I have argued here many times, the economic challenges we are facing today are fundamentally because we are not earning enough petrodollars, and this can be traced to many factors, including the negative impact of the unrest in the Niger Delta on investments in the petroleum sector over the years. We can do with some peace in the oil-producing region.

My worry has now moved another level: the disturbing role of the judiciary in the desecration of our democracy. How can a court rule that the police should not provide security during an election? What is that? The constitutional role of the police is to secure life and property. Every Nigerian deserves to be protected no matter his or her political choices. It is fundamental. How on earth can a court rule that police should not provide security? At this rate, bandits and oil thieves, operating through lawyers, will soon procure court injunctions banning the police, the army and other agencies from providing security at certain locations in the country. We are gradually getting to that stage.

The police actually withdrew from council headquarters in Rivers state on Monday and hell was let loose shortly after, with at least three buildings vandalised and set on fire by political thugs. That is the story of Nigeria in 2024 — sadly on the 64th anniversary of our independence and 110th year of amalgamation. Are we going forward or backward? President Bola Tinubu must, as a matter of urgency, call the warring factions to order before bigger and irreversible damage is done to this country. Politics cannot be everything and everything cannot be politics. People must know how to win and how to lose, how to advance and how to retreat. No individual is bigger than the society.

I decided not to write on Rivers but I would still want to remind the National Judicial Council (NJC) of its responsibility. These funny injunctions might be doing the bidding of politicians, but the judiciary has become a laughing stock. It looks like the judiciary has totally taken over our democracy, determining who should be party chairman, who should be deputy governor, who should be governor and when the police should provide security or when not to. This is downright dangerous. The lawyers who help to ridicule the judiciary with frivolous applications must also come under scrutiny if we want to run a decent society. Things are getting out of hand. There must be a limit.

Compare this to Italy, where a court jailed two prosecutors, Fabio De Pasquale and Sergio Spadaro, on Tuesday for professional misconduct. They hid vital evidence that would have exonerated Shell and Eni in the OPL 245 trial. A Brescia court, chaired by Roberto Spanò, ruled that the prosecutors were obligated to present every document — even if it favoured the other side. But in a similar trial in Nigeria, Mr. Mohammed Bello Adoke, former attorney-general of the federation, was falsely accused of buying a N300 million property from the OPL 245 “bribe” — even when all the evidence points to the fact that the house in question is owned by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

In fact, documents showed that Adoke had taken a bank loan of N300 million in 2012 to buy the property valued at N500 million. But on failing to pay up his N200 million equity contribution after a year, he lost the offer. The vendor returned the N300 million to the bank, retrieved the land papers and sold the property to the CBN. I saw the transaction documents. But the prosecutors still went ahead to tell a federal high court that it was a bribe from OPL 245 resolution. Yet, in another case before the FCT high court, the same prosecutors admitted that the N300 million was a bank loan. Contradiction. The courts discharged and acquitted Adoke, but the prosecutors went unpunished.

In any case, I was not planning to write on the OPL 245 saga. It is in the past. The current troubles in Nigeria are sufficient for the day thereof. We have enough crises in our hands, which are now further fuelled by another upward adjustment in the price of petrol. NNPC says it is market forces at play, but Nigerians are crying that the pains of Tinubu’s reforms are getting out of hand. Tariffs are rising. Prices are rising. Inflation is biting hard. Incomes are losing value. I am old enough to say this is one of the toughest times in the history of Nigeria. I would only rate 1983/84 a little tougher because we were queuing up to buy essential commodities as a result of their unavailability in the open market.

I still decided not to write about the new petrol price. It is now clear that Tinubu is determined to free the pricing of petrol. No matter the pains and complaints, he will not change his mind. While this will align with what obtains in most countries, I now hope our leaders will also align with the demands of good governance. I hope Nigerians will organise themselves to demand accountability,  to look into every kobo being saved from subsidy removal, and to demand that the money is spent on making life better through improved healthcare, education and critical infrastructure. Otherwise, we will just suffer reform pains for nothing. Our latter end will be worse than the former.

AND FOUR OTHER THINGS…

CELEBRATING MACARTHUR

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation commemorated its 30th anniversary of development work in Nigeria on Wednesday, while Dr Kole Shettima, the Africa director, marked his 25th year as director of Nigeria office. MacArthur’s contributions to key sectors in Nigeria — ranging from health and education to human rights and media — have been huge and impactful. The Cable Foundation, which I head, is a beneficiary of MacArthur’s support for investigative and solutions journalism. Shettima has been an exemplary leader, mentor and motivator, supported by the extraordinary Dr Amina Salihu and other colleagues. Congratulations are definitely in order. Legacy.

CART AND MOUSE

With the unending hikes in the price of petrol, there is a campaign for Nigerians to adopt vehicles powered by compressed natural gas (CNG) as the antidote. CNG is cleaner and far cheaper. It has become very popular in countries like Iran, Argentina, Brazil and China. The downsides, though, are also there: cost of conversion and the mammoth space required for the cylinder. My opinion has been that mass transportation vehicles powered by CNG should have been sufficiently incentivised to be on the ground long before now. It would have made it much easier to manage the impact of high petrol prices on the masses. But, trust us, we prefer to put the cart before the horse. Typical.

POWER OF VISION

Those who have been following the trajectory of the Covenant University (CU) are not that surprised that the privately run institution has been scoring high marks. It is the vision of the founder, Bishop David Oyedepo. CU has just been named the best university in Nigeria by THE Rankings, a comprehensive global ranking of universities. CU has been ranked Nigeria’s No 1 four times since 2019, exchanging places with only the University of Ibadan, Nigeria’s premier university funded by the federal government. The CU story confirms what I have always believed: that every ingredient to make Nigeria great is here with us. When we get the leadership right, we will go places. Vision.

NO COMMENT

Did you hear this? On October 5, the Akwa Ibom State Independent Electoral Commission (AKISIEC) conducted election in the 31 LGAs of the state. Prof Inyang Ating, the returning officer for Essien Udim LGA — home of Senate President Godswill Akpabio (APC) —  declared PDP’s Enobong Patrick Friday winner with 55,612 votes, while APC’s Usoro Ntiedo got 686 votes. The following day, though, AKISIEC announced APC as the winner of Akpabio’s LGA. We know elections in Nigeria are full of wonders without numbers, but I must pay special homage to AKISIEC for the miracle that happened between Saturday and Sunday that transformed the scores and handed victory to APC. Wonderful.

In 1982, on the foothills of the road to Nigeria’s 1983 general elections, it was quite clear that the ruling National Party of Nigeria (NPN) had no plans to declare a vacancy in any significant political office around the country. Instead, they seemed bent on consolidating power in order to avoid a remake of the judicial nail-biter that yielded the presidency to Shehu Shagari in 1979.

The essential party positions featured a stellar cast. Adisa Akinloye, the party chairman, was a veteran lawyer with political experience predating Nigeria’s independence. The energetic Suleiman Takuma ran the party secretariat and Trade Minister, Umaru Dikko, was the ruthless campaign strategist. The job of guaranteeing the outcome that the party sought to engineer, however, fell on Sunday Adewusi, the then inspector-general of police (IGP). The son of parents from Ogbomoso, Adewusi grew up around Keffi in what later became Nasarawa state. He graduated at the top of his cadet set in 1958 and, at 45 in 1981, he was appointed Nigeria’s youngest ever IGP.

As inspector-general, Sunday Adewusi headed the armed and uniformed wing of the NPN. For the elections, his genius lay in his ability to depute just the right kind of officers to the places where the party needed to manufacture results. Then, as now, the ruling party felt called upon to claim the politically prodigal south-east of Nigeria as part of its realm, irrespective of the will of its people. For this purpose in 1983, the NPN desired to capture old Anambra state which happened also to be the home state of Nnamdi Azikiwe, Nigeria’s first post-colonial head of state and at the time leader of the NPN’s estranged political partners, the Nigerian Peoples’ Party (NPP). 

For the job of softening up Anambra state, Adewusi found just the right man in Bishop Eyitene. The “Bishop” in Eyitene’s name was not an ecclesiastical office nor was it a Pentecostal title. Bishop’s tenure as the commissioner of police in Anambra state was an extended bout of political Jiu Jitsu with then-state governor, Jim Nwobodo. Their politically irreconcilable co-habitation became the subject of bitter litigation, all designed, it seemed, to open the political flanks of the governor and his party. It worked a treat. 

On behalf of Adewusi, Eyitene won litigation before the court of appeal asserting the autonomy of the police on questions of personnel postings. For accomplishing his political task with aplomb, Adewusi rewarded Bishop with redeployment to Lagos ahead of the 1983 election. The new team he sent to Anambra state routed Jim Nwobodo and his NPP in the governorship election. It was left to the Supreme Court to certify the beauty of Adewusi’s handiwork and they duly obliged in December 1983 before the military sacked the lot of them.

Thirty-seven years later, the Supreme Court relied on numbers confectioned by a rogue Commissioner of Police to declare in January 2020 that the man who came fourth in the governorship election in Imo state the previous year was in fact the winner. Today, the judge who rendered that judgment leads Nigeria’s judiciary.

This past week has offered up a rich advertisement of the convenient partnership between judges, the police, and politicians. 

In Rivers state, the inspector-general of police clearly took sides in the political contest between the incumbent governor and his immediate predecessor, who is now the minister of the federal capital territory and who also desires to be known as the godfather-general of Rivers state. First, he sought to arrest scheduled local government elections in the state on the artifice of obeying a court order.

The problem is that there were two court orders, not one, from what lawyers would call courts of co-ordinate jurisdiction. The high court of Rivers state in Port Harcourt had mandated that elections occur on October 5. In requiring the police to withdraw from providing security cover for the vote, the federal high court in Abuja effectively ordered that they should not. 

Thwarted by what appeared to be a spontaneous civic revolt, election day witnessed uniformed police officers under the command of the IGP going from station to polling unit to cart away ballot boxes and tear down the displayed rolls of voters. The day after voting, supposed winners having been sworn in, the IGP announced the withdrawal of his officers and men from the state. As if on cue, practised arsonists descended on local government secretariats, burning and destroying them one after the other. 

In neighbouring Edo state, meanwhile, the IGP’s situational commitment to obeying court orders failed him. Lawyers for the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP), Asue Ighodalo, armed with the duly served order of a competent court to inspect election materials found their way into the state headquarters of INEC in Benin first blocked by a wall of uniformed police officers. When the police requested reinforcement, they were joined not by units of more police assets but by thugs of the ruling party. 

The Nigeria Police Force is the oldest institution in the country and also the largest single employer of labour. Its personnel just happen also to be both uniformed and armed. Under the constitution, the president appoints the man who heads the police and that appointee is also obliged to take operational orders from the president. Historically, therefore, the position of the IGP has always been fraught and successive incumbents have mostly been prepared – with a few exceptions – to manage this delicate relationship with skill and professionalism acquired through exposure to their predecessors and to high-level leadership training. 

Much of this training was missed by the current incumbent, Kayode Egbetokun, while he spent much of his time in the force as long-term aide-de-camp (ADC) to the current president. His claim to the job therefore lies in personal fealty to his benefactor. For this, he has been handsomely rewarded, first with expedited preferment to a role for which his preparation falls short and, second, with a targeted amendment of the law to extend his tenure in order that he will be around to pre-determine the 2027 elections.

In November 2009, Kayode Fayemi, then an opposition candidate, took a temporary leave from the protracted legal tussle over the outcome of the governorship election in Ekiti state in south-west Nigeria two years earlier in which he was involved to travel to New Orleans in Louisiana, in the United States of America, to address the annual conference of the African Studies Association on “Electoral Politics and the Future of Electoral Reform in Nigeria.” 

In a deeply thoughtful delivery, Fayemi feared that “the quest for consolidating our democracy is now in retreat and risks encountering outright reversals.” He explained that there are “five ‘minigods’ that one must pay significant attention to in any attempt to understand the nature of electoral politics in Nigeria”. These include the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), “which often acts like a Siamese twin of the ruling party….”; the security agencies – particularly the Nigerian Police Force; “thugs and bandits”; the judiciary; the money god. 

Twenty years ago, the late Innocent Chukwuma and I met with Tafa Balogun inside the office now occupied by Egbetokun to discuss a document he had commissioned from us. After reviewing our recommendations, Tafa looked at us with the full majesty of his corpulent authority and told us that he was inclined not to proceed with our suggestions. Almost wistfully, he added that when it was someone else’s turn, the person could do what they wanted. It is now Egbetokun’s turn and, as inspector-general, he has turned Fayemi’s predictions of electoral dystopia supervised by the troika of the police, bandits, and crooked judges into a manual of policing. It just remains for police officers to be required to sing: “On your mandate we shall stand….!”

A lawyer and a teacher, Odinkalu can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

Umar Namadi, governor of Jigawa, has suspended Bashir Ado, his special adviser on salary and pensions, over a “premature statement” on implementation of the N70,000 new minimum wage.

Bala Ibrahim, secretary to the state government, disclosed this on Saturday in a statement.

Ibrahim said the government “viewed with serious concern, a statement circulating in various sections of the media alleging that the governor has approved N70,000 as new minimum wage for workers in the state”.

“This sounds embarrassing and pre-mature as the committee headed by Head of the State Civil Service, set up by the Government to advise on the appropriate wage is yet to complete its assignment and submit a report,” the statement reads.

He added that as a consequence, the governor has approved the immediate suspension of Ado, pending findings of a committee chaired by Bello Abdulkadir, attorney-general of the state and commissioner for justice.

Ibrahim added that the committee, which was given two weeks to submit its report, will investigate the source, actual content of the alleged statement and the motive behind it.

Ibrahim named Sagir Musa, commissioner for information, youth, sports and culture; Abdullahi Muhammmad, commissioner for health; and Muhammad Yahaya, permanent secretary of establishment and service matters, office of the SSG; as members of the committee.

On July 29, 2024, President Bola Tinubu signed the minimum wage bill into law.

The legislation increased the country’s minimum wage from N30,000 to N70,000.

In September 2024, the federal government approved the upward review of the consolidated public service salary structure (CONPSS).

[TheCable]

I have never made a secret of my admiration for Col. Abubakar Dangiwa Umar (rtd). Right from the time he broke into public consciousness with his brief stint as chief executive officer of the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) to the time he came unto his own as governor of old Kaduna State (including the present Katsina State), he has stood out as an officer and gentleman with an eye on history.

Drop-dead handsome and affable, there were stories about him being one of the three junior officers who played critical roles in the putsch that brought General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida to power. I often felt that officers like Umar were good marketing tools for the military in attracting brilliant young graduates to join the armed forces because they were the very antithesis of the traditional stereotype of a soldier being a little better than a zombie.

Background

The apple usually doesn’t fall far from the tree. His father, Alhaji Umaru Nassarawa, was a school teacher and administrator with the traditional title of Waziri of Gwandu. He became a member of the Federal House of Representatives between 1954 and 1964, and commissioner for works in the North-Western State from 1968 to 1975.

But having a distinguished pedigree is no guarantee for success in life. The young man put his hands on the grind right from Government College, Sokoto (1964 – 1968), Nigeria Defence Academy (NDA), Kaduna, (1967 – 1972); Nigerian Army Armoured School, Ibadan, (1972); US Army Administration School, Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana, USA (1976); Royal Armour School, Kentucky, USA (1977 – 1978); Command and Staff College, Jaji (1978 – 1979 and 1982 – 1983); Bayero University, Kano (1979 – 1981); and Harvard University, USA (1988 – 1989).

He had a distinguished career in the armoured corps of the Nigerian Army and earned the respect of his seniors as a brilliant junior officer before he was entrusted with higher state duties. He came to his own as governor of old Kaduna State where he faced the challenges of religious extremism frontally to the chagrin of many of the gladiators.

It was when Umar was governor of Kaduna that I had a taste of the kind of leader he was. I was the editor-in-chief of MONTHLY LIFE at the time. The Newspaper Proprietors’ Association of Nigeria (NPAN) had scheduled its meeting for Kaduna to discuss the problems facing the industry and intervene in a matter involving one of our colleagues.

New Nigerian

The knotty matter involved Innocent Okparadike, then Editor of New Nigerian newspapers. The grouse was that some editorials, written by faceless and narrow-minded persons, passed over his head, straight to production. Okparadike, it was claimed, still had to sign off on the paper as if he had seen and endorsed every item therein. When the matter was tabled, we all felt that our colleague shouldn’t be disrespected in that manner and that NPAN should take up the issue with Governor Umar later in the day. A committee of veteran publishers was immediately constituted.

If the committee thought that Governor Umar was going to use military fiat to resolve the problem, they were in for a surprise. The governor asked them who were the outsiders ghosting the editorials in question. Then he asked what Okparadike had done about it. When he was told that the editor did not want to ruffle feathers with notable members of the northern establishment, the governor replied that any editor who would sign off on a newspaper whose contents did not pass through his vetting was a coward. He advised that our colleague should refuse to sign off on the paper so that the ensuing crisis could teach all concerned a lesson. “Tell your colleague to be a man and challenge those intruders. It is only then that he can earn their respect”, he reportedly said.

I do not now recall how the matter eventually played out, but I remember that our colleague felt relieved that the governor was not part of the plot and that indeed the amiable colonel was ready to support him if he stood up for himself first.

Role Model

What eventually transported Umar to the pantheon of authentic role models, instructively, wasn’t his soldiering heroics or administrative ingenuity but his loyalty to principles and devil-may-care courage in confronting his bosses at a time when such a posture could have led to a kangaroo court marshal and, possibly, summary execution.

He was the last soldier standing when General Babangida annulled the freest and fairest election ever held in Nigeria. For the first time, a southern candidate beat his northern counterpart in the North and repeated the feat nationwide. The election that would have ushered in a truly national government not based on parochial provincialism was cruelly annulled following which General Babangida retired to his hilltop castle in Minna, Niger State.

Having failed to persuade his bosses to release the remaining results of the election and hand over power to the winner, Umar submitted his letter of resignation. It is unusual to do so in these climes. In a rare interview with TELL magazine, he made some startling revelations regarding his valiant attempts to save his bosses from their greed:

“I went and saw IBB in Abuja again from Bauchi. I told him there are stories (about pressures on him to stop the election results), He said, “I don’t know what is going on.” I said like what? He said, so much pressure is coming from some of your colleagues that they think there is a rumbling within the military. I said it is not true. I said the military is 85 percent and above for the installation of the winner of this election. And already, about 14 states (results) had been released and Abiola had won even in Kano. So, I said, ‘Sir, write your name in gold. If you hand power over to the winner, you will be hailed as the Ataturk (Turkish statesman) of Nigeria’. I said, ‘don’t do anything that will endanger the unity of this country…’”

Kangaroo Plot

Of course, in speaking truth to power, he stepped on many sensitive toes and stratagems were designed to eliminate him:

“Truly, they wrote a memo which Gwarzo took to Abacha that I was visiting places – Minna and Kontagora – and plotting a coup against Abacha’s government. That (memo) is real. And plans were done to eliminate me. Why I was not eliminated, God knows. But I know it’s the prayer of all those good persons that believe in the just cause I have been fighting. It is the invisible hand of God that protected me. It is the same God that protects people that stand by the truth. “

In the midst of all the sacrifice and personal risk, there were people who still thought that Umar’s steadfastness was too good to be true and that he had other hidden motives. He reminisces:

“Sadly enough, people keep wondering how, for goodness sake, can a Fulani man from the Sokoto royal family really fight for the interest of a Yoruba man (over the June 12 issue). There are people that are skeptical because of my geographical extraction, because of who I am, my personality. They cannot believe that I could support the cause of June 12 if that means swearing in a Yoruba man. What they don’t understand, the point they miss, is that one is not fighting purely for a Yoruba man. One is fighting for justice. One is fighting for truth and truth really has a universal language.”

At 75, Col. Abubakar Umar Dangiwa is the kind of personality we should show up as a role model to our children. Here is a man who has lived for something – a man who put his career and his life on the line in defence of truth and justice. I had expected to see his name among national award honourees in the last couple of decades. I wager that President Tinubu wouldn’t need any lobbying to confer the appropriate national award on this authentic hero who turned 75 last month. Ad multos annos, colonel!

Watching a football game live at the stadium provides a different set of thrills and fun. The shouts, drumming, cheers, boos and the side comments and commentaries from the fans create an exciting atmosphere that you don’t have watching it on TV. This is part of the reasons I flew into Uyo last week to see the Super Eagles do justice to the Mediterranean Knights of Libya last Friday. It would be my second time in the stadium to watch a match, the first being in 2016. I can’t remember what game that was. I went with my two children and their mathematics teacher then. But last week, I invited my friend, Emmanuel, a staff of Ibom Air, to join me. We were seated around 4pm – one hour to kickoff - at the VIP section of the stadium. The ticket cost N3,000, while the popular stand cost as low as N1,000. A short while later, a familiar face took the seat next to me. I took a long gaze at him, trying to remember him. ‘’Ah, Pastor Harry’’, I called out when it clicked. My pastor at RCCG, Uyo. What a pleasant surprise. Soon, my younger brother showed up. I had spoken with him the previous day, but we did not discuss football. Another surprise. This is indeed a veritable rendezvous for friends and family. The 30,000-capacity stadium, completed and commissioned ten years ago, is neat and well maintained. It is the best football stadium in West Africa, and the reason CAF has directed Ghana’s national team to play its remaining home matches in Uyo due to the deplorable state of Baba Yara Sports Stadium in Accra. I commend the Akwa Ibom State government for keeping this facility so well. Hip hop music was blaring from huge loud speakers while the supporters club were drumming, singing and dancing on the other side of the stadium.

 At 4.15 pm, the two teams came out for their warm-ups. Super Eagles received a huge applause from the fans. I easily recognized Ekong, Lookman, Stanley Nwabali and a few others. In fact, the goalkeeper was the first to come out for the warmup. The Libyans looked taller, big and fit. I felt anxious. Suffering an injury, Victor Osimhen paced up and down the sideline, filming his teammates. He’s always determined, energetic and passionate to score. His absence was obvious throughout the 90 minutes. Fans quickly grew disappointed that the Eagles could not pull off an early goal as they expected. With four points from their first two games, the Super Eagles were expected to dominate, but the Knights’ strong defence and the Eagles’ lack of a strong strike force made that difficult. Spectators turned themselves into the technical crew, telling the coach what to do. They were furious that our boys were not proving their mettle. ‘’I don’t’ know what Iwobi is doing in this team. I don’t like his game’’, someone said, joining the cacophony of voices that were complaining about our uninspiring performance. For much of the first half and until he was replaced in the second half, Alex Iwobi, the 28-year-old Fulham midfielder, was the subject of taunts and insults from the fans.

Almost everybody was shouting out to the coach to change Iwobi. But the young man looked unperturbed, putting in more efforts to impress the crowd. His efforts eventually paid off as he registered Nigeria’s first attempt at target, forcing Libyan goalkeeper, Murad Al Wuheeshi to make a quick save. But fans were still not happy. They wanted goals or at least one. The grumblings grew louder and louder as each person took turns to analyze the game and proffer solutions. Coach Augustine Eguavon was on his feet, giving out instructions. He knew that the stakes were high.

 Early in the second half, Wilfred Ndidi sent a pass to Bruno Onyemachi, who converted it to a cross into the box for Iwobi, but the Fulham midfielder couldn’t hit the target. That’s when the whole stadium nearly collapsed from shouts and curses. I couldn’t contain my frustration either. Someone suggested that Iwobi’s only qualification for playing for Nigeria is because ‘’he is Jay Jay Okocha’s nephew’’. That was beyond pale, but we all laughed. The young man has actually played for Arsenal, Everton and is now playing for Fulham, all premier leagues teams. If he were not that good, he would not have come this far. It then dawned on me that it must really be very daunting to play in front of home fans.

This was not the first time Alex Iwobi would be singled out for excoriation for our lacklustre outing. When we lost woefully to Benin Republic, a small country that borders Nigeria to the west earlier this this year, Iwobi was the scapegoat. Eventually, the message got to the coach and three new players were brought in and Iwobi was replaced. But the goals did not come immediately and the frustration continued to mount, especially as the Libyans resorted to time-wasting tactics. They just wanted a goalless draw. I had by now lost hope for a goal, but Emmanuel, my friend, kept assuring that ‘’goals will come’’. Finally, in the 87th minute, a substitute, Dele Bashiru, who replaced Iwobi, netted in the lone goal, finishing off a pass from Moses Simon. Before then, Ademola Lookman’s goal had been ruled out as offside. Some fans, of course, disagreed with the referee. ‘’Oh! My God, there is no VAR’’, someone exclaimed. ‘’We are the VAR’’, another retorted.

With this victory, Nigeria tops Group D, and it strengthens our chances of going to Morocco for AFCON 2025. But if we defeat the Knights in their country on Tuesday, it’s a done deaI. I left the stadium with two things on my mind. How do the players concentrate on their game with all the noises from the stand? Two, it is notable that the Akwa Ibom State government has broken with its tradition of opening the stadium for fans to watch football matches free. In an article titled ‘’Who needs free football tickets?’’ published in June, I had made the point that offering free tickets to fans is an ill-advised policy because watching ‘’football game or any other game at the stadium is a luxury pastime’’ which the government should not subsidize. Those who want to watch football should be able to save for it.

The first item that caught my attention on Facebook penultimate Wednesday was Mr. Nsikak Essien’s page. It reads: “Christianity is not a primitive accumulation of wealth, an obscene display of opulence”. The photograph of the Catholic Church’s Pope Francis blessing a white car followed. A horde of executives clad in black (business) suits stood behind him. Nsikak’s narrative continued: “This latest Lamborghini car, which costs $200,000.00, was donated to Pope Francis by the car company. After blessing (the car), His Holiness (that is, Pope Francis) donated it (the car) to be auctioned and the proceeds donated to four charity organizations in his (Pope Francis’s) name. How many men of God would do that?”

Before I continue, let me introduce Mr. Nsikak Essien to those who may not know him. Nsikak was the editor of the National Concord during those turbulent June 12, 1993 years when I was the editor of The PUNCH and Saturday PUNCH. He also was - and still is - one of the finest writers this country has produced. The National Concord was the flagship of numerous publications owned and bankrolled by Chief MKO Abiola. The PUNCH and CONCORD newspapers led the way in the battle against the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election that was won free and square by Abiola. That election remains the most credible in the history of elections in this country, judged so by both local and international observers and commentators, private and governmental.

Back to Nsikak’s post. We now know that the cost of a (brand new) Lamborghini car is about $200,000.00. At an exchange rate of N1,700.00 to a dollar, that translates to N340,000,000.00 (Three Hundred and Forty Million Naira) only! Since the car was said to have been donated by the “car company”, which I understand to mean the company that made the Lamborghini, we should presume that it is a brand new car, not a “Tokunboh” or refurbished car. It is also sure to be a delectable, state-of-the-art car, possibly with special made-for-maximum-pleasure fittings and accessories.

 Despite this, the pope, obviously, was not blown out of this world because of this gift. He did not see, describe or exclaim it as a miracle from God or as evidence of answered prayers. There was no nexus or connection between the car gift and the anointing of God upon the head, life or ministry of the pope. The pope didn’t need the car in the real sense of the word. He must have had other cars that he had been riding before this gift came. So, it most likely did not solve any car needs for him. 6. 

Possibly as a result, he had no problems giving it away. Possibly, too, it is a function of his state of mind and philosophy of life not to engage in what Nsikak described as “primitive accumulation of wealth (and) obscene display of opulence”. Marxists define it as “primitive capitalist accumulation” because, in Marxian theory, capitalism and capitalists thrive on primitive accumulation, whether or not they have a need for that which is being accumulated.

 Rather than bask in the glory of a new Lamborghini as an addition to what may be an intimidating array of all manner, make and class of cars in his garage that may be bursting at the seams, and show it off to his congregation who would scream and yell and shout hallelujah as they struggle to touch the exotic car as a “point of contact” for their own miracle to tumble down from heaven swiftly, the pope gave his Lamborghini away to charity. He asked that the car be auctioned and the proceeds given to four charity organisations in his (the pope’s) name.

What must have gone through the pope’s mind, informing him to make that decision? Is it the bible passage that says what shall it profit a man if he inherits this world but loses his soul? (Mark 8:36 - 37). Or is it the other one that commands us to lay up our treasures in heaven and not here on earth? (Matthew 6: 19-21). Can it be the story of the young rich ruler who, thinking he could flaunt his own righteousness, came to Jesus and asked him what he must do to inherit the kingdom of God? He scaled all the hurdles listed by Jesus except one: sell what you have and give the proceeds to the poor (Mark 10: 17 - 31).

 Could this have been what informed the pope’s decision? Luke 12: 15 admonishes us to “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possessions” Not in the abundance of Lamborghini and Rolls Royce; private jets; palatial homes and exquisite wardrobes; and out-of-this-world riches that make the possessors some of the richest pastors on planet earth!

Pope Francis directed that his Lamborghini be auctioned and the proceeds shared among four charity organisations. Lucky organisations! If auctions are what we know them to be, that car, on auction, will attract far more than its factory price. The fact that it has had the pope’s name attached to it - he even blessed it - would certainly raise its value and make it a collectors' item. There are wealthy people who love to pluck up such items. Four charity organisations will be blessed by the pope’s large-heartedness. They are the ones who have received a miracle. They are the ones whose prayers have been answered.

If you are not current, Nsikak’s post will appear innocuous; you can simply read it, wonder what it is all about and move on. But for those who are current, it is pregnant with meaning. It is loaded. As our people will say: The witch cried yesterday and the child died today; who does not know that it is the witch that cried yesterday who killed the child that died today! A Nigerian man of God celebrated a landmark birthday a few days earlier and he reportedly got the gift of how many Rolls Royce cars! 

A Rolls Royce Cullinan, the type this man of God reportedly received, costs around $391,750.00, which is about N665, 975,000.000 (Six Hundred and Sixty-Five, Nine Hundred and Seventy-Five Million Naira, far more expensive than (almost double the price of) Lamborghini. And he got not just one but two - that is double portion and (evidence of?) double anointing! I am not aware if he took or will take the same steps as Pope Francis. Has he or will he auction his own Rolls Royces and give the proceeds to the poor? At no time other than now do the Nigerian poor need a helping hand and a large heart as Pope Francis’s!

My guess is that Nsikak was not just interested in criticising but wanted to draw attention to, and recommend, the example of the pope to his Nigerian counterpart. After all, a man of God is a man of God, be he black, be he white; and whether in Europe or Africa, God’s standard is the same. It is not impossible that the Nigerian man of God might not have seen the pope’s laudable example; that being the case, Nsikak’s post will be of immense help. Our elaborating it here should also be icing on the cake. Maybe the Nigerian man of God will chance upon this. Maybe someone will chance upon it and bring it to his attention. Maybe he will read Nsikak or this piece and be grateful that he did. Maybe not! Maybe he will read it, take umbrage and fly into a rage. What insolence! How dare they teach me what to do with my Rolls Royce? What audacity! Why try to ruin my birthday bash?

If he reacts like that, it could be real trouble! In 1973, the Port-Harcourt-based correspondent of the Bendel State Government-owned OBSERVER newspaper, Minere Amakiri, wrote a story deemed unpalatable by the then military governor, Alfred Diete-Spiff, simply because the story, which detailed the plight of teachers in the state, coincided with the governor’s birthday (30th July, 1973). The governor ordered that Amakairi be arrested and his head shaved with broken bottles! Decades later, after he had retired and was now a traditional ruler in the same Rivers State, I had the opportunity of interviewing Diete-Spiff. There was nothing really aghast in Amakiri’s story; the young and irascible governor’s hubris and uncontrollable anger were the issues.

And such elements are everywhere, churches and mosques inclusive. Some 12 or so years ago, I counselled a man of God and leader of the church against his incessant visit to the Presidential villa of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. Reduce your frequency there, I told him in one of my columns. Rather than take heed, he took advantage of his position and reported me. I was summoned. I explained myself and was discharged and acquitted. Months later, this same man of God’s private aircraft got entangled in the cash-for-arms fiasco in South Africa. Do you remember that scandal? His vibrant voice became muted. He is yet to recover and regain his swagger!

 Those that have ears, let them hear!

FEEDBACK

 You have thoroughly researched your discourse on the nation's politics and elections. The 1993 presidential election turned out to be what it was: Fair, free, credible, and successful because of the quality of the main contestant, Chief MKO Abiola. He knew what he wanted and prepared adequately for it. It was MKO's long-term project . He knew that he had a lot of work to do and was prepared for it. Contestants since the 1993 elections just want power for the sake of power to satisfy their selfish interests and greed, with no intention to serve. That is why they buy votes and force themselves on the people. There can never be another 1993 presidential election, never again in this country! Modern-day contestants have no interest in the people who vote for them. But with people like you consistently pontificating, maybe our politicians will have a change of heart! Don't get discouraged! Maybe, someday, there will be sanity! - Wale Ojo.

The solution to our myriad problems is a return to the collective destiny begun under the Western Regional Government, by which every Yoruba was conscious of his/her existence. The atomization engendered by the creation of states under the neutralization of the autonomy of regional governance must be reversed; otherwise; we shall suffer a continuous lamentation of our plight. This is why the Yoruba Referendum Committee is advocating a "Yoruba Referendum" to legitimize our aspiration, which will address these issues. The Western Region did not wait for the rest of the country before pursuing self-government. There is no reason, therefore, for us to wait for countrywide restructuring before taking steps towards self-government. Other parts of the country so interested can emulate our example. A Bill to that effect has been sent to the Houses of Assembly in the South-west and the state governors. There is no point having a "Yoruba National Anthem" if we cannot determine our own destiny. -Femi.

 Former Editor of PUNCH newspapers, Chairman of its Editorial Board and Deputy Editor-in-chief, BOLAWOLE was also the Managing Director/ Editor-in-chief of The WESTERNER newsmagazine. He writes the ON THE LORD'S DAY column in the Sunday TRIBUNE and TREASURES column in NEW TELEGRAPH newspaper on Wednesdays. He is also a public affairs analyst on radio and television.

"Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan who say they are Jews and are not but do lie — behold, I will make them to come and worship at thy feet and to know that I have loved thee" - Revelations 3:9.

There can be no doubt that the scripture above is referring to the Zionists and fake Jews who currently make up the State of Israel.

Worse still in John 8:44 Jesus actually referred to these fake Jews as "the children of the devil".

The Book of Revelations says that they are of "the Synagogue of Satan" and that "they claim to be Jews but are not".

Jeremiah 23:3-8 compounds the point by telling us that when Jesus returns He Himself will gather the real Israelites back to Israel.

Despite what people believe this great event has not yet taken place and the so-called establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 was not the one sanctioned or envisaged by God and the Holy Bible. 

This begs the question, if the Israel of today is not the one envisioned and promised by the Holy Bible then who and what exactly is it and for whose purpose was it established, God's or satan's?

Who and what is this boastful, vain, calamitous and fatherless monstrosity that boastfully flies the Star of David and that has brought so much havoc to the world?

Who and what is this strange, arrogant, cantankerous, overbearing and belligerent entity that falsely lays claim to being a divine resurrection of the Biblical Promise Land but is instead a torment to its neighbours and an ugly scar to the world? 

These are questions for another day but what can be said for now and hardly disputed is the following. 

In view of its racist laws and disposition and the monumental carnage and horror that it has visited on the innocent and defenceless women and children of Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon over the last one year and given the heinous crimes that it has subjected the Palestinians to over the last 76 years, the Israel of today can best be described as a vicious, bestial and callous ethno-supremacist, fascist, apartheid state that has no right to exist.

It is also a citadel of religious bigotry and extremism and a repugnant and repulsive repository and sewer of the most insidious and vicious form of Zionist propaganda and Jewish proselysation. 

It is an evil and genocidal entity whose intention is to eliminate and eradicate every single Arab man, woman and child in the Arab Gulf and all the nations and territories that exist between Egypt and Iran and forcefully occupy their land.

If Nazi Germany forfeited the right to exist as a consequence of the Holocaust perpetuated against the Jews before and during World War 11 why should Israel not forfeit the same right for doing precisely the same thing to the Palestinians 80 years later?

For those who dispute the fact that apartheid is alive and well in Israel I urge them to consider the words of Gideon Levi, a highly celebrated and respected Israeli journalist, who said the following at the Oxford Union a few years ago. 

"I am an Israeli. I was born in Israel. I am even perceived to be an Israeli patriot. I care about Israel. I belong to Israel and I am attached to Israel. Don’t speak about symmetry because there is no symmetry.

I would even suggest there is no conflict. Was there a French-Algerian conflict? 

There was a brutal French occupation in Algeria which came to its end. There is no Israeli-Palestinian conflict. There is a brutal Israeli occupation which must come to an end one way or the other. In our dark backyard there is a regime that today is by far one of the most cruel brutal, tyrannies on earth. Not less than this. I know what I say because I covered it for 40 years and this regime cannot but be defined as apartheid. Two peoples live in one piece of land and one people has all the rights in the world and I am talking only of the occupied territories. Two people share one piece of land there. One people has all the rights in the world, the other people has no rights whatsoever. It looks like apartheid, it talks like apartheid and it is apartheid. Nobody can contradict it: nobody who has been there and nobody who is fair enough to look. 

Go to the Jordan valley, see their prosperity in the settlements and then go and see the Palestinians who live there with no electricity, without water, without any rights and then tell me if it’s apartheid or you might invent it another title. When I steal your car I am not in a position to put conditions in returning the car. First of all return the car and the only way to return the car is by giving EQUAL RIGHTS TO THE PALESTINIANS".

If there are still any righteous and God-fearing men left in Israel, Gideon Levy, who is a regular contributor on the Israeli/Palestinian conflict on CNN, BBC and Al Jazeera, is one of them. It takes courage to swim against the tide and speak truth to power when you are a Jew that still lives in Tel Aviv. Kudos to him.

Many talk about the frightful and horrific events of October 7th when the Al Qassam Brigade, the armed wing of the Palestinian resistance movement known as Hamas, struck a devastating retaliatory blow against their oppressors, killed over 1000 Jews including women and children and abducted over 200 others yet they conveniently forget that Israel struck the first blow in 1948 by killing over 700,000 innocent and defenceless Palestinians, including women and children, and displacing over one million and taking over their homes during the infamous Nakba! 

Worst still ever since that time and for the last 76 years hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in both Gaza and the West Bank have been murdered by Israeli security forces and armed right wing militant settlers, tens of thousands of Palestinian men, women and children have been illegally detained in Israeli prisons whilst Gaza, a tiny strip of land of over 2.5 million Palestinians sandwiched between Israel and the sea was turned into the world's largest and most degrading concentration camp second only to Auschwitz by the Zionists! 

As if that were not harrowing enough let us consider the fact that well over 60,000 civilians, most of whom are still buried below the rubble and three quarters of whom are women and children, have been killed in Gaza by the Israeli Defence Force in the last one year alone!

85,000 tons of explosives have been dropped on Gaza by the Israeli Defence Force in the same period and 75% of buildings and infrastructures have been blown up and flattened.

In addition to that ALL of the universities and 95% of schools have been destroyed together with all but one of the thirteen hospitals. Simply put there is no Gaza left! 

Women, children, infants, babies, students, aid workers, refugees, nurses, doctors, teachers, lecturers, UN officials, hospitals, university campuses, churches, mosques, refugee camps and virtually every other structure and living thing in the strip have not been spared.

A few days ago CNN reported the following: 

“According to the Committee to Protect Journalists and Reporters Without Borders at least 128 journalists have been killed since the beginning of the war, nearly all of them Palestinian media workers in Gaza killed as a result of Israeli airstrikes. Some of the journalists died while wearing protective gear identifying them as members of the press. Multiple news organizations and free press groups have accused the Israeli military of deliberately targeting journalists.”

One would have thought that the mass slaughter of their colleagues alone if nothing else would have moved the Western media agencies to report the events in Gaza and now Lebanon in a more factual, balanced and objective manner but they have refused to do so and instead continue to cover up the heinous war crimes and crimes against humanity that Israel is indulging in with such impunity. 

Those that applaud the barbaric, inhuman and callous actions of the Zionists in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iran forget that after the Zionists have finished killing everyone in the Middle East and establishing their 'Greater Israel' at the expense of Arab, Muslim and Christian lives, they will seek to subjugate, destroy and bend the rest of the global South to their will.

This is a challenge that we must prepare for and now is the time to build the necessary global, military and regional alliances to resist and thwart it whenever it comes. 

Yet the establishment of a 'Greater Israel' is not enough for the Zionists: what they really aspire to achieve is the total and complete capitulation and domination of the entire world, the eradication of all of the great faiths including Islam and Christianity and the enthronement of world Jewry. 

For them this quest borders on an obsession. It is their ultimate and long term objective and those that doubt it should read the Talmud and the Torah.

They should also read a major literary work known as the Protocols of the Elders of Zion which, contrary to the lie that many Jewish and Western historical revisionists have been peddling and propagating for years in an attempt to cover up what is clearly an evil intent, was NOT a fake document. 

Quite apart from that the unspeakable atrocities that have been committed by the rogue Zionist state over the last one year confirms the assertion that the greatest mistake that the world ever made was to allow the State of Israel to be re-established in 1948.

What was essentially an act of charity and kindness borne out of pity and guilt on the part of the Allied Powers after World War 11 may well be the catalyst to World War 111 today and could lead to the utter destruction of humanity.

This is indeed food for thought. 

Going forward many are beginning to question the right of Israel to exist let alone defend herself.

Does an alien invader, an occupier of other people's land, an ethnic cleanser and a murderous hegemon have the right to continue to rob, subjugate, oppress, butcher and slaughter the indegenous landowners? 

Does having white skin and European origins confer on the Ashkazi Jews the right to wreak havoc on the Palestinians, the Arabs and the entire Middle East? 

Are the Jews really a master race that are above all others, that are above international law and that can do no wrong?

Was President Emmanuel Macron of France not right when he said that the West should stop supplying arms and lethal weapons to Israel? 

Is it not time for the United States of America, who are clearly complicit in Israel's genocide, to regain its sovereignty and independence from AIPAC, the State of Israel and the Jewish lobby in their country?

Is it not time for them to review their rabidly pro-Israel policy and join the rest of the civilised world?

These are pertinent questions which must be answered at the soonest.

This is especially so given the fact that 80% of Israelis have rejected the idea of a two state solution and believe that the Palestinians are sub-human creatures that deserve to continue to live in subjugation and bondage. 

In case we are in any doubt about just how perverse, depraved and out of touch with reality most Americans are when it comes to Israel we should consider the words of Gov. Tim Walz who is the running mate to Vice President Kamala Harris in the upcoming American presidential election. 

During the Vice Presidential debate with Senator J. D. Vance last week he said,

""The expansion of Israel is an absolute necessity for the United States".

Whilst the civilised world is calling for restraint, a ceasefire, a cessation of hostilities and a peaceful resolution of the crisis many in America are calling for an expansion of Israel's borders and the establishment of Netanyahu's dream of a Greater Israel! That can hardly be the way forward.

Those that still doubt the Zionist quest for a Greater Israel would do well to consider the words of Bezalel Smoritch, the Israeli Finance Minister, who said the following.

"I openly declare that we want a Jewish state that includes Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon".

They should also consider the words of Israeli Heritage Minister Amichi Eliyahu who suggested that a nuclear bomb be dropped on Gaza and that the few Palestinians that may survive it should be driven into the Sinai desert!

Again they should reflect on the words of Israeli Minister of National Security, Itamer Ben Givr, who has been convicted by the Israeli courts on terrorism charges on several occasions and who said,

"My right, my wife's, my children's, to roam the roads of Judea and Samaria (meaning the West Bank) are more important than the right of movement of the Arabs. This is the reality and that's the truth. My right for life comes before their right to movement."

On other occasions Ben Givr has said even more outrageous things like calling for the storming and destruction of the Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem which happens to be Islam's second most sacred and most famous mosque in order to make way for the building of a Jewish temple on the same spot and he has also called for the summary execution of all Palestinian prisoners and detainees in Israeli prisons in order to make space for others! 

On Gaza he said the following, "We cannot withdraw from the Gaza Strip. Not only do I not rule out Jewish settlement there, I believe it is also an important thing. The war presents an opportunity to concentrate on encouraging the migration of the residents of Gaza. In my view such a policy is correct, just, moral and humane solution”. 

He went on to say that of the 2.5 million Palestinians that live in Gaza, 25,000 each should be dispersed and deported to 100 different countries all over the world and any that are left should be thrown into the sea! 

One wonders what type of heartless creature this individual is.

Finally the skeptics and naysayers should also ponder on the fact that Israeli military snipers openly and consistently target Palestinian children and babies for elimination in Gaza and they should consider the words of Meirav Ben-Ari, a female Member of the Israeli Knesset (Parliament) who said "the children of Gaza brought this upon themselves" and asserted that they "deserve what they were getting".

I could list many more examples of the mindless and callous words and disposition of the Zionist leaders which clearly illustrate their desire to wipe out not just the Palestinians but all the Arabs in order to make way for the Greater Israel but for the purposes of this contribution the few that I have cited will suffice. 

Needless to say, given their collective mindset, I have no doubt that Oliver Stone, the great American film producer, was absolutely right when he said that having met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on one occassion he had come to the conclusion that he was totally and completely insane.

I have little doubt that we can safely arrive at the same conclusion when we consider the mental and psychological disposition of Smotrich, Ben Givr, Eliyahu, Ben-Ari and virtually every other member of Netanyahu's cabinet and leading military commanders.

They are all blood-crazed, blood- thirsty psychopaths who are as mad as a hatter and who deserve to be confined to a mental institution! 

At this juncture permit me to express my complete and utter disgust at the way in which Israel has conducted itself over the last one year and I make bold to proclaim that a nation of ethnic cleansers, child killers and genocidal maniacs cannot possibly be victorious in any conflict.

It is only a matter of time before they are brought to their knees.

In this respect the words of a BBC reporter reporting from Tel Aviv just a few days ago are instructive. He said, "No one has hope for the future here. Many professionals are leaving Israel and many residents are going bankrupt. The war is expanding every day and its continuation increases the despair of the Israelis day by day."

Equally enlightening are the words of leading Israeli political commentators and media houses themselves who have evidently seen the handwriting on the wall and who are living in trepidation of the future and the consequences of the horrendous blood-drenched path that their Prime Minister has chosen to tread. 

Three examples will suffice.

A few days ago Sher Hever, a leading political economist who grew up in Israel, said the following.

"Israel's genocide in Gaza also threatens its own survival. Any regime that commits genocide also commits suicide.There is no coming back from it and this is what Israelis are seeing for themselves".

His insight is commendable and second to none.

On their part, Haarezt, which is one of the leading and most influential newspaper houses in Israel wrote the following in its editorial.

"Netanyahu led Israel into the worst year and the worst war in its history. And it's not even over. History will not judge Benjamin Netanyahu as a righteous crusader leading the West in a holy war against Islamofascism, as he sees himself. Instead it will regard him as the inept politician who blindly led Israel to October 7th and all the debacles that folllowed". 

Finally, in an article titled 'Israel Takes Its Last Breath' written a few days ago for Haarezt by Ari Shavit, a famous Zionist columnist, the author penned the following:

“It seems we have passed the point of no return and Israel may no longer be able to end the occupation, stop the colonization, and achieve peace. It seems that it is no longer possible to reform Zionism, save democracy, or unite the people in this country".

He goes on, "There’s no point in living in this country anymore. There’s no point in writing in Haarezt. There’s no point in reading Haarezt. We must do what Rogel Alpher suggested two years ago which is to leave the country. If ‘Israelism’ and Judaism are no longer vital parts of one’s identity and if every Israeli citizen holds a foreign passport not only in a technical sense but also psychologically, it’s over. It’s time to say goodbye to friends and move to San Francisco, Berlin, or Paris".

He goes further by saying, "We must step back and watch the democratic Jewish state sink. Maybe the issue hasn’t been resolved yet. Maybe we haven’t yet passed the point of no return. Maybe there’s still a chance to end the occupation, stop colonization, reform Zionism, save democracy, and divide the land".

He concludes by saying,

"It appears that we are dealing with one of the toughest people in history and the only solution is to give them their rights and end the occupation". 

Sher Hever, the Editorial Board of Haarezt and Ari Shavid reflect the thinking and share the fears of millions in Israel today and have said it all.

With sentiments like this being voiced in the apartheid state there may well be hope after all and the darkness that Benjamin Netanyahu represents may well be swept away from power from within.

Let us hope that this is the case because the alternative is a grave one for the State of Israel and may result in her being wiped off the face of the earth. 

The truth is that if anyone represents an existential threat to Israel it is not Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, the Arabs, Iran or the Palestinians but rather it is Benjamin Netanyahu and his cabinet of delusional and psychotic right wing fanatics who are hell bent on provoking a regional war which their nation cannot possibly survive let alone win.

Permit me to conclude with the following.

Giorgus Mitralias, a Greek journalist, a founding member of the Greek Committee Against Debt and a member of the CADTM network wrote the following in an essay titled 'When Israel's accomplices accustoms us to a monstrous, heartless and inhuman world'.

He said,

"Almost a year ago we wrote that one of the aims of Netanyahu and his acolytes was to accustom us to a world that increasingly resembles a jungle where only the law of the strongest reigns and where the worst atrocities against the weakest are permitted! Today, after twelve months of atrocities and crimes that often surpass the imagination, we can say that the Zionist state is accustoming us to something much more serious: perversity, mass sadism and indiscriminate, unrestrained violence against civilians, which are tolerated, recognized and even accepted as “normal” behavior by those above! This bestialises not only those who commit these unspeakable crimes but also all those who tolerate and encourage them, pretending not to see!"

Giorgus has spoken the bitter truth: the world has indeed lost its compassion and humanity.

May God deliver us all. 

(Chief Femi Fani-Kayode is the Sadaukin Shinkafi, a former Minister of Aviation and a former Minister of Culture and Tourism)

Programme: CITY TALKS WITH REUBEN ABATI

Time: 12:00pm

Guest: Mascot Ogunjemiyo 

(A Stockbroker and Oil & Gas Expert)

Topic: Fuel Price Crisis and Economic Hardship

Date: 12th October, 2024                         

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