David Ricardo framed it as the law of diminishing returns. There is always a point of saturation. There comes a juncture where, to adapt the thesis of one of the most influential English economists of the nineteenth century, human productivity begins to decline on account of task overload.

The breed the English nobleman has in mind could, however, not be said to include Yemi Olatunji-Bello, a professor of Physiology and the ninth vice chancellor of Lagos State University. With uncommon dexterity, she juggles not a few Herculean tasks simultaneously and has managed to make a success of all.

One, her prodigious scholarly output in the field of Physiology has not in any way constrained her civic engagements as a tireless mobilizer and generous host of causes geared towards women empowerment. Nor distracted her from obligations as a virtuous wife, doting mother, committed mentor and an anointed pastor in God’s vineyard.

As she clocks the Diamond jubilee (on April 23), hers is indeed a compelling story that should, therefore, inspire those still detained by the common assumption that the dizzying pace of the post-modernist world limits the career lady in other spheres.

One writes with the insights of someone who has known and related closely with Professor Olatunji-Bello for more than thirty years. While her appointment as LASU vice chancellor in 2021 might have thrust her into national limelight, she had long made her mark in academic research with name recognition in learned journals with over 55 seminal publications, becoming a professor in 2007 and the first Professor of Physiology in Lagos State University College of Medicine (LASUCOM).

Two years later, it was inevitable that she would gain national recognition after delivering the 40th Inaugural Lecture of LASU entitled, “PHYSIOLOGY: Influence of Environmental Factors, Diet and Herbs”. Judging from the rave reviews it immediately elicited in the academic circuits, that singular outing undoubtedly affirmed her impeccable originality as a scholar.

Henceforth, there was no more hiding place for the proverbial golden fish. International celebrities in her field like the Professor Russel Reiter Melatonin Research Team at Department of Cellular and Structural Biology at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, United States engaged her in collaborative work.

The highly regarded Physiological Society of United Kingdom inducted her as a fellow. Ditto the Physiological Society of Nigeria (PSN). Followed by the Society for Environmental Toxicology and Pollution mitigation (SEPTPOM).

Following her assumption of the reins at LASU, it is a measure of her knack for industry, tenacity and excellence that the institution was able to scale rigorous hurdles to pass resource assessment by
the Nigerian University Commission (NUC) in whopping twenty-one courses within two years. A feat unparalleled in the university’s 41 years of existence.

But while the prodigious Professor may now bask in the glory of her success, not many would know that she almost quit early on. Given her brilliant resume, she was tempted many times with a mouth-watering offer outside the academia in the 90s. But her dad, Pa Meshack Ibidapo, constantly counseled her against seeking gratification in immediate material gain. The perceptive sage from Owo apparently saw what many didn’t see then. He lived to see his precocious daughter become Professor in 2007, but sadly not as LASU vice chancellor as he transited in 2018, few months before his 90th birthday.

Comfortingly, her mum — Mama Jadesola, the jewel of the Onigbanjo family of Lagos Island — witnessed her inauguration in 2021 and also saw her being bestowed with the coveted National Productivity award a year before she too passed on at age 90.

Overall, the energy Professor Olatunji-Bello exerts in scholarly pursuits is only equalled by a fierce devotion to family. She is never shy to openly acknowledge that whatever success she might have recorded in her professional life is due substantially to the unqualified support from the soulmate she met way back at University of Ibadan.

Indeed, the story of how her path and that of her husband’s crossed in early 80s is the stuff of romance blockbuster. Dashing Tunji Bello (TB) was gunning for the Presidency of the UI Students Union Government (SUG) and took his campaign to the female hostel. Amid a stirring peroration during one such visit to the female dormitory, there was an eye-contact, then a chemistry and eventually marriage in 1989.

With a smile, Professor Tunji-Bello never tires to recall how she helped improvise TB’s campaign song from a hit entitled, “Let’s Go Dancing …. Hoola-la-la”, by pop rave then named “Kool & the Gang”. The line was adapted to “Tunji Bello … Hoola-la-la”.

Being married to a journalist surely comes with peculiar challenges, especially at a trying period when the country chaffed under military despotism and writing a critical piece could mean gulag or letter-bomb. Regardless, she always supported her husband.

In the heat of the struggle against the annulment of June 12 in 1993, her husband became a target being one of MKO’s media strategists and Concord editors. For several weeks between June 23 and August 26, 1993 when IBB was “disgraced” out of power, TB had to constantly be on the move, sleeping in different hotels to beat security goons detailed to hunt down opposition.

While journalism means constant travels and TB’s latter engagement in public service to Lagos State translated to returning home at odd hours often, the heavy burden of raising their children according to Godly values fell largely on the Professor.

It is to her credit that they have all turned out to be successful, adorable and well-behaved today. The first, Temitope, is today a registered cardiologist in the United States. The second, Deji, is a young engineer with a Master’s degree. While the “baby of the house”, Lamide, is a lawyer based in the United Kingdom, having bagged her Master’s from London School of Economics.

Daughters always inherit something from their mothers. Prof’s, inherited from her late mum, is a passion for evangelism. She did a programme in theology, to prepare her as the Zonal Pastor in charge of zone 9 of Lagos Province 1 of the Redeemed Christian Church of God. Apart from officiating the weekly service somewhere in Lekki, she runs a care clinic in the church to support the needy, counsel the traumatized and mentor the young ones.

Again, it is a measure of her spirit of tolerance that after preaching the scriptures, she returns home to be with her Muslim husband. Her Christian faith will not stop her from ensuring that provisions are made for her husband’s fasting during Ramadan and the celebration of Sallah.

By way of special appreciation, let it also be acknowledged now that her demonstrable policy of “peaceful co-existence” also benefited “OPEC” immensely over the decades, being the very fore-bearing spouse of its Life President, with KK (Comrade Kayode Komolafe) as Vice President.

At the height of its corporate glory, not once did she ever obstruct the summits nor disrupt the smooth operations of “OPEC”. As the Secretary General of that restricted club, yours sincerely can affirm that her attitude has always been pacifist when such summits held to her knowledge or within her purview.

Rather, she would intensify “prayers” to render OPEC’s oil blocks completely extinct, sooner than later. (Those still in the dark concerning “OPEC” are respectfully directed to consult those who know.)

Here is wishing Prof happy birthday and many happy returns of the day in robust health and fine spirit.

What did Modupe Onitiri Abiola smoke on the morning of Saturday, April 13, 2024, when she made a recorded broadcast declaring the secession of the Yoruba people of southwestern Nigeria from the Nigerian federation? What demon possessed all those who participated in the farcical drama which did not even measure up to even the most amateur of the celebrated dramaturgy of the indigenous Yoruba folk? Those are the questions being asked by befuddled Nigerians.

An array of charms and amulets, one English pump-action gun, two locally-made guns, two security jackets, 30 pieces of torch lights, five African horse tails, 49 bells and seven pieces of walkie talkies and accessories, Yoruba Nation flags, 405 live cartridges, 72 pairs of camouflage uniforms, 199 pairs of plain green uniform and hundreds of machetes — made up the arsenal of the deluded freedom fighters. The police later found an additional stash of weapons in the premises of the University College Hospital, UCH.
Their invasion of the Oyo State Secretariat where they briefly hoisted their flag —before a combined force of the police, Amotekun Corps, Civil Defence, and ultimately the Nigerian Army smoked them out and publicly humiliated them— caught the nation unawares.

Delusional
The fake nationalists were exhibiting traces of the mental disease called delusion of grandeur, a mental illness characterised by a great divergence from reality.

Their leader, Modupe Onitiri Abiola, apparently has a history of name dropping and attention seeking. She claims to be one of the widows of the late martyr of democracy, Chief MKO Abiola; but a section of the Abiola family has disputed this. She contested the 2015 gubernatorial elections in Lagos State and performed dismally. The Yoruba Nation invasion was supposed to catapult her to the pinnacle of leadership of one of the most sophisticated ethnic nationalities in Africa, the Yoruba (hehehe…)

Their voodoo charms failed them, making commentators wonder if they had forgotten to seek the support of Esu, the Yoruba god of mischief known for his ability to upend the expectations of presumptuous people. He is the god of surprises and change, for good or bad. He revels in creating disorder and confusion. For him, the world is a playground and he loves to stir things up just for the fun of it. Except that what happened in Ibadan wasn’t funny at all.

One elder who claims mastery in esoteric matters thought that, since they were so delusional, they ought to have given Esu his dues before setting out by intoning the panegyrics:

“Divine emissary of Transformation… Landlord of the crossroads, dance to the drum. Tickle the toe of the Drum. Move beyond strife. We shall use your sword to touch the earth. Esu, don’t confuse me. Don’t perplex me. Don’t confound me. Let disorientation be the lot of someone else.”

By the time the little skirmish was over, the pseudo-revolutionaries looked like a throwback to the spectacle of ancient prisoners of war on parade by the famed Ibadan war general, Basorun Ogunmola.

Yoruba people, on whose behalf the whole farcical drama was alleged to have been staged, are embarrassed because they don’t fight their wars in such a puerile— even demented— manner. Historically, in the geographical space called Nigeria today, there is no other ethnic nationality with a history of many civil wars like the Yoruba. They don’t take war lightly. They don’t start what they can’t finish.

Three days after the invasion, the Araba Oluawo (Chief Priest) of Ibadanland, Chief Odegbola Ifalere and other Babalawos performed some rituals, chanting incantations and cursing those behind the invasion of the state secretariat.

Condemnation
Although Afenifere, the foremost Yoruba socio-political group, has condemned the development along with prominent traditional rulers and leaders of thought, online analysts have been examining the contemporary fad where every motley disgruntled group threatens to take their people out of the Nigerian union. The ease with which negative ideas are widely disseminated through the social media coupled with socio-economic factors that have rendered many people recruitable into virtually any harebrained scheme, are twin factors that have been highlighted.

In its statement, Afenifere stated that there is no such thing as Democratic Republic of the Yoruba and demanded the arrest and prosecution of the perpetrators and their sponsors. “Yoruba is an important component of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. And as is well-known, there cannot be a sovereign republic within an extant sovereign republic… Afenifere is of the strong view that President Bola Tinubu administration is taking steps to rejig Nigeria in a manner that would make the country become one that every citizen would be proud of soonest”, said the organisation.

It added: “Restructuring the country is a sure way of accelerating this. Afenifere strongly believes that when restructuring is effected with constituent entities allowed to be in control of their own affairs, Nigeria will become beneficial to everyone. This is why we are relentless in our agitation for restructuring…”

If the misguided invaders were not on drugs, they certainly were under some form of hypnosis. Even in the heat of their humiliation, they still threatened to cause more havoc if security agents refused to release them.

Not a few people were surprised by the age range and gender mix of the wannabe secessionists later arraigned on a seven-count charge bordering on treasonable felony, unlawful society, illegal possession of a firearm, going armed and conduct likely to cause breach of peace.
The list included the following women: 25-year-old Ayanwale Rofiat; 65-year-old Dosunmu Toyin; 78-year-old Abiona Esther; 64-year-old Omoyalowo Funsho; 60-year-old Tola Olufemi and 58-year-old Taiwo Titilayo.

The men arraigned along with the women are: Ismaila Adepoju, 45 years; Ayanwale Saburi, 28years; Adeola Elegbede, 27years; Fatoki Anthony, 34years; Olalere Mathew, 54years; Isaac Friday, 27 years and Ismaila Malomo Peter, 65 years.

Others are Farumbi Wasiu, 30; Muritala Abefe, 40; Adeyemo Joseph, 29; Adeyemo Peter, 75; Adesokan Hameed, 37; Adejumo Lateef, 60; Ogundeji Alabi, 55; Ayoola David, 40; Ojo Olufemi, 52; Ajani Ezekiel, 42; and Amos Oluwaseyi Ogundeji, 45; Ademola Adeniyi, 29; Salaudeen Wahab, 56; Oritola Alabi, 44; Kayode Fakeye, 45; and Yusuf Adebayo, 67 years old.
In a rambling chat with newsmen, Ogundeji who is a lecturer at the Federal College of Education (Special),

Oyo, justified his participation: “Yoruba as an indigenous nation…Our leadership went to all Yoruba-speaking states to serve official letters written by our leaders and we were given our copy. After that is the proclamation, followed by the declaration, occupation and notification to the world that Yoruba is an indigenous nation. We were at the Secretariat, Agodi in Ibadan to celebrate and rejoice because of the new nation that was birthed…”
Surely, somebody needs the attention of a shrink?

Not Funny
We must resist the temptation of dismissing the farcical breakaway as a mere comic relief. Secession is not a laughing matter. The challenge before us is to recognise that there are active centrifugal forces maliciously gyrating in real life and on social media. In the latter case, strange philosophies are propagated to justify hate vending and reinforce ancient prejudices to separate man from fellow man and lionise ethnic idiocy. That is how the phenomenon of ‘Unknown Gunmen’ is born.

As we have seen, high educational attainment is not a foolproof inoculation against this disease. While the Yoruba Nation secessionists are made to face justice and the mentally debilitated among them sent for medical evaluation and treatment, the greater challenge is for the authorities to tackle warmongers wherever they are found, on the cyber superhighway or in real life. Never should we forget Bertrand Russel’s admonition that war does not determine who is right — only who is left.
The minimum agreement we, the people and government of Nigeria, can reach on this matter is that secessionists must be called out for the anarchists that they are, and legally removed from circulation.

I am not from Kogi State, but I have strong opinions on former Kogi State governor Yahaya Bello—as most Nigerians do. There is no doubt that few politicians in Nigeria are as universally reviled and despised as Yahaya Bello because of how he turned governance into a violent infant play, denuded it of even the faintest pretense to sanity and respectability, and developed an uncanny capacity to incite raw rage in people.

That’s why there is mass excitement in Nigeria over his current travails with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. Most people see his fate as a richly deserved karmic retribution for his eight years of incompetent, anger-arousing, profligate, and terroristic governance in Kogi State, the consequences of which transcended the bounds of Kogi State.

He began his tenure as governor as the symbol of hope for youth inclusion in governance. But he soon became a byword for recklessness, malfeasance, ineptitude, incivility, violence, and the greatest betrayer of the youth constituency. He shouldn’t have been governor—or, for that matter, anything in politics.

He had no guardrails on his tongue. Like a spoiled, over-indulged, ill-bred, and uninhibited child, he blabbered whatever inanities caught his febrile fantasies with no care for consequences. He insulted elders at will, humiliated traditional rulers who dared to show some independence, ridiculed civil servants, and terrorized opponents with full-strength viciousness— as if he would remain the governor of his state forever.

He even nicknamed himself—or was nicknamed by his flunkies—as the “white lion.” But when the EFCC came calling, the “white lion” transmogrified into a pitifully frightened, yellow-bellied chicken. Now the white-lion-turned-chicken is fluttering and hiding like he has gone insane. 

A wanted notice has been issued for him by the EFCC, the Inspector General of Police has withdrawn all police officers assigned to guard him, and the Nigerian Immigration Service has placed him on its watchlist. I can’t wait to see him brought to justice for all the crimes he committed while he held sway as the governor of Kogi State.

In a 2022 article, I described him as an ignorant, incorrigibly petulant child who was trapped in an adult’s body, who was destroying the littlest semblance of decency left in government in Kogi State, and who thought he could democratize his infantilism nationwide by seeking to be president. 

According to several Kogi State civil servants, Bello didn’t pay full salaries for most civil servants for most of his tenure as governor, yet he is being hunted by the EFCC for allegedly laundering up to 80.2 billion naira, presumably the money he should have used to pay the salaries of workers.

Bello signaled from the inchoate stages of governorship that he wasn’t in it for anything other than personal enrichment and aggrandizement. In less than one week after he was sworn in as Kogi State governor on January 27, 2016, according to a May 13, 2016, Premium Times’ investigation, Bello approved N250 million naira for himself as “security vote” and another N148 million to “furnish” and “renovate” his office. At that time, Kogi State workers hadn’t been paid their salaries for months.

Bello’s spokesman at the time by the name of Kingley Fanwo said the raiding of the state’s treasury in the name of security was justified because Kogi had become the seedbed of crime as a result of its location.

“It is public knowledge that Kogi State has been contending with serious security breach for the past 10 years,” Mr. Fanwo said. “As a result of the location of the state as gateway to many states of the federation, the state drifted into a criminal hotbed. Also, years of gross maladministration and blinding embezzlement has left the youth bare, exposing them to all sorts of criminal activities to survive. Kogi became a haven of robbers and kidnappers.”

That was the start, which most people ignored. Everything went downhill from there. The man didn’t even pretend to govern. He presided over a stealing bazaar.

 In 2020 when COVID-19 raged and most people were caught in a complex web of uncertainties and anxieties about the new infectious disease, Bello chose to become a abhorrent, ignorant conspiracist and the conduit for all sorts of wild, crazed, dangerous, fringe chatter about the disease. 

Yet, although he openly questioned the existence of COVID-19, he fed fat on it like the vampire that he is. The Premium Times of March 26, 2021, reported that Bello spent 90 million naira in 2020 to purchase COVID-19-tracking software that cost only 30 million naira. 

“The software, approved by a COVID-19 sceptic, Governor Yahaya Bello, was for tracking coronavirus cases in the state,” Premium Times reported. “However, the software is no longer functioning as the developers said they had a contract to host it for only one year.”

It’s impossible to chronicle Bello’s in-your-face financial malfeasance in a newspaper column. Not even a book-length narrative is sufficient to do justice to how much Bello financially bled and sucked the blood of Kogi State.

The man’s daring electoral terrorism is another issue that has earned him well-deserved loathing in Nigeria. This is a man who commanded his toadies to dig deep ditches on roads (that were built with billions of naira) just to stop voters from a part of the state he knew won’t vote for his candidate from being able to cast their votes. 

According to Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, at the time the senatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for Kogi central, “We woke up this morning to the news that Yahaya Bello has instructed the excavation of all access roads to my hometown. My hometown is cut off from Obangede community; it is also cut off from Eika. And right now, I am in front of another road which was just excavated, thereby cutting me out of travelling out of my hometown.

“What this means is INEC would not be able to [access] certain communities, especially my hometown. What this also means is if Yahaya Bello and his APC goons decide to attack me and the good people of Kogi central in Ihima community, it will be impossible for the DPO to get across to this place. That means I, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, my fellow candidates, and supporters are trapped. We have no way out because Yahaya Bello has dug gullies.”

This is a vile and detestable vermin who should never have been allowed to get anywhere close to governance, much less be a governor. He is an excellent specimen of how not to be a governor—or, in fact, a human. I have not the littlest drop of sympathy for him.

 Given the peculiarities of the Nigerian political environment, it seems likely that he is in trouble with the EFCC only because he has fallen out of favor with the president or his henchmen. I honestly don’t care. 

More than anything, though, Bello’s troubles exemplify the transience of power and the imperative for humility when you wield it. 

The late Nollywood actor, popularly known as Junior Pope, was someone’s loving son, brother, husband, father, brother-in-law, friend, neighbour and much more. All those who meant one thing of the other to him, or to whom he meant something, now stand confounded, sad and unable to make much sense of the emerging narratives. This is one death that must be investigated to the very last decimal. It must be used by the Federal Government and all industry stakeholders as anchorage for a nationwide initiative that would explore the many dysfunctionalities and challenges facing the movie industry in Nigeria; in order to remedy same.

As an Igbo proverb sayd: “No one should carry on after the death of another human being as if I was a stray chicken that got run over in a stampede”.

The sad reality before us today is that a vibrant young man’s life had to end when, in all probability, it didn’t have to. This unfortunate incident, especially also considering that other industry hands and professionals also passed away with him in the benumbing tragedy, must be taken as a wakeup call for a well thought plan towards strengthening the pillars of professionalism, industry knowledge, practitioners’ welfare and meaningful insurance policies around the Nigerian movie industry. But, more importantly, this incident should not be swept under the mat, but should drive detailed investigations into the remote and immediate causative factors.

But let us look at some details in the whirling narrative, before concluding with some thoughts on institutional and policy measure, as well as the appropriate legislations that could create a holistic template for industry stakeholders.

The first item in the plethora of now-trending media content is an online video clip, presumably recorded by Junior Pope while on the ill-fated boat on his way to the location for their production activities. The recording is also seen to have been capture by the actor himself, as he cruised alongside other colleagues a day before the incident. These were some of the self-recorded words of the now-late actor in the trending video, which he reeled off with some laughter and good humour: “See me lamenting! The risks we take to entertain you! Crossing River Niger Yesterday with no life jacket! Na wah o! Who does that”? The actor even tagged the producer, Adanma Luke, in the video.

The other fact to consider in the tumbling narratives everywhere today is the fact that the operating transport equipment, in this case a boat of questionable dependability in high waters, was not considered an issue at any point before the accident. The “speedboat” in question is the type with the hand-maneuvered engine at its rear end; and which also has limited passenger and load bearing capacity.

I had personally experienced the danger of riding in this type of boat. That was some forty years ago, during my Youth Service year in the then Bendel State. Notwithstanding the fact that such boats we rode in back then was designed ideally for five passengers, the well-made fiber glass thing would usually having a standard payload of thirteen passengers arbitrarily inflicted on it anytime we rode on it across the NPA Port Warri; towards Ode Itesekiri off Warri mainland. When fully loaded in this way, the boat barely stood nine to ten inches above the water on which it was sailing. But we are digressing.

The other fact in the details of the Junior Pope sorry tale is that the collision with another boat was clearly avoidable.  On the one hand, one of the co-travelers is being blamed in some video clips for blocking the view of the boat driver and causing distraction by his words and the continuous ringing of a big bell. On the other hand, the boat driver is being blamed for general inattention to his primary task of conveying his passengers safely to their destination. 

Then came the rescue effort after the collision. The rescue team, made up of persons alerted by what had happened and who thus went out of their way to help, is reported to have first rescued some two victims of the boat mishap, whom they could easily see above the water. It was also reported that it was these initially rescued persons who alerted their rescuers about their volley who were still under water; before they went back for those others, including Junior Pope.

Now, think of how long it must have taken for this return trip. Think of how many minutes it takes for someone who is deprived of oxygen to be pronounced brain dead. From video clips online showing Junior Pope as his prostrate body was being carried out of the water, one could see that he was laid face up. He could have been laid sideways, to enable some water exit from his obviously water-clogged lungs; but that is neither here nor there. If the young man had any chances of survival at all, this position diminished that chance very significantly. 

Matters were also not helped by the fact that the rescuers and bystanders either did not know about emergency revival measures for victims of drowning, or saw no need to perform CPR on the unconscious Junior Pope. The fact that the inert body of the actor was allegedly taken straight from the river bank to a morgue, am initial claim that is now open to question in some quarters, as well as the morgue attendant’s refusal to attend to the body for some professional reasons, are issue on their own. And, then, the matter involving an herbalist.

It is one thing to object to an action in full day consciousness in the serenity of your sitting room. It is quite another matter to be confronted with a decision when, in addition to being at your wits end, the situation before you presents the type of emotional ambush that you would never have contemplated in your wildest imagination. That, I believe was the likely condition of the bewildered groups that had come for one thing and met danger, drowning and death instead.

I recall a story in the media, over two decades ago, of how a bereaved family had to get involved in elaborate rituals and sacrifices by the herbalist, high priest or witch doctor, in this same river for the dead body of the woman who drowned in the river to eventually float to the surface in order to be taken away by the relatives of the deceased for burial. The body was said not to have come afloat untill three full days after the said woman drowned and died in the river. So, these are matters about which the jury is still decidedly out.

Going back to the Junior Pope saga, it was reported, complete with video clips, of how those who were present at the herbalist’s shrine started jubilating after the hitherto unconscious actor made some physical movement. The first conclusion to draw from this is that the entire episode involving the herbalist was not a case of mass hallucination.

Also, if the herbalist actually subsequently advised the people to quickly take Junior Pope to a conventional hospital after his intervention, in order to fully revive the body of the still unconscious actor, it must follow that the most critical, and determining, variables at the point they left with Junior Popes body were (1) How quickly it would take them to get the unconscious actor to a hospital, as directed; (2) How long it would take the hospital authorities to determine what measures to take, towards reviving the patient; (3) How long it would take the hospital team to assemble the required equipment and personnel to do the needful regarding the patient.

The question for us here now concerns what was done, or not done, by whom and within what timeframe. And let us not forget this: there was no mention of any efforts to expel the massive volume of water that must have accumulated in the actor’s lungs while he as underwater; and which must have led to his loss of consciousness due to oxygen deprivation. 

Contextually speaking, therefore, there are many issues here that suggest an unacceptable level of ineptitude, in terms of basic scientific knowledge of the everyday type. How, for instance, could the bulk of a fishing community be bystanders and wailing watchers after a “recently drowned” person is brought out of water?

 And this brings us back to the core matter of concern, all underpinned by the need for the Presidency to show special interest in this matter. The Federal Government should use the instrumentalities of the sector’s supervising ministry, the Department of State Service (DSS, the Police and the Nigeran Inland Water ways Authority (NIWA) and industry stakeholders to: (1) Investigate this incident in every detail, (2) Redefine overall industry safety measures; Take a clear and enforceable position on personnel insurance; and (3) work out new Standard Operating procedures (SOPs) for the training of boat riders,

Proper risk analysis, risk assessment, risk mitigation measures are needed here, to help this industry. The producer’s duty in this entire drama must also be viewed with great tact and discretion, because I believe the lady is as scandalized and traumatized as everyone else. I also see no need to bring up, dramatize or speculate on the possibility of some family issues being connected with this unfortunate mishap.

As I said at the beginning of this article: “This is one death that must be investigated to the very last decimal. It must be used by the Federal Government and all industry stakeholders as anchorage for a nationwide initiative that would explore the many dysfunctionalities and challenges facing the movie industry in Nigeria; in order to and remedy same”.

Quote

The Federal Government should use the instrumentalities of the sector’s supervising ministry, the Department of State Service (DSS, the Police and the Nigeran Inland Water Ways Authority (NIWA) and industry stakeholders to: (1) Investigate this incident in every detail, (2) Redefine overall industry safety measures; Take a clear and enforceable position on personnel insurance; and (3) work out new Standard Operating procedures (SOPs) for the training of boat riders,

At the end of AFCON 2023 in February, Jose Paseiro, the Portuguese Manager that took the Super Eagles to Cote D’Ivoire became history. His contract was not renewed by the Nigeria Football Federation despite getting to the final of the championship and putting up a credible performance through most of the championship. The majority of Nigerian football fans insist that he is not good enough for Nigeria’s ambitions into the future.

Since then, some 6 weeks later, the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, have been unable to announce a new gaffer for the senior national team. There appears to be a ‘go slow’ at the bottleneck of selecting the right manager for what would be a new national team.

Two friendly matches were played under a temporary arrangement with the Nigerian assistant coach to Paseiro, Finidi George, in charge. The team won the first friendly against Ghana, but lost the second. The loss to Mali may have sealed Finidi’s fate as the new coach. Despite the team’s unpreparedness for the insignificant friendly match, Finidi working alone on the bench without any other member of the technical crew, and several players not available or reluctant to play, those that don’t like the face of a Nigerian as head, have been unrelenting in condemning Finidi’s seemingly poor technical performance in that match.

Since then, with 6/7 weeks to the next very important World Cup qualifying match to play, the debates and controversy have dominated the media space over who should lead the team. Should it be another foreigner, or a Nigerian for a change? There have been 200 million opinions. Every Nigerian has become an expert. In the midst of these discordant voices, the NFF must make an announcement soon.

One thing is clear, except amongst some academic hard-line critics of Nigerian coaches, there appears to be little appetite for another half-baked foreign coach in Nigeria. The rackets attached to the hiring of foreign coaches may not find accommodation in a beleaguered government trying to reduce corruption in the system. The NFF does not have the funds, and the federal government will not accommodate the humongous fees of foreign coaches in the present dispensation.

So, it will be a Nigerian as next manager of the Super Eagles.

Why has the NFF not identified the most suitable amongst those that have indicated an interest, or that the body has identified and appointed a new national coach?

There is a lot of politicking ongoing. Nigerian coaches appear not to tick all the boxes of requirements, not eliciting the confidence of several officials of the NFF with vested interest in particular aspirants.

As things stand, however, a decision has to be taken now.

Most fingers point in the direction of a former international player.

He appears to be the preferred choice of most Nigerians in the media, particularly the social media.

I will not be surprised if Emmanuel Amuneke gets the final nod to lead the team. It will become a huge task to dispel the serious reservations about his choice by those familiar with his antecedents when he was in one of the junior teams.

PARIS 2024 Olympics – My Olympics story!

I have just made up my mind to attend the Paris Olympic Games this summer.

It will be my first time at the Olympics and not as an athlete.

In 1976, at the Montreal Olympics in Canada, I attended as an athlete but did not participate. Along with the rest of the world, I tasted the incursion of politics into sport and the first deployment of sports diplomacy in international affairs. the names of all the athletes from 30 countries that were involved in the boycott of the games were not recorded in the International Directory of Olympians at the International Olympic Committee, IOC.

In 1980, without officially qualifying for the Moscow Games, but benefitting from the crisis that followed Russia’s invasion of Afghanistan, leading to the boycott by several Western countries led by the USA, the Green Eagles were invited to the Moscow Olympics. I led the Nigerian national football team and doubled as co-captain (with Ahmeed Adio) of the overall contingent to become a registered member of the exclusive club of Olympians.

I would have attended the 1996 Games in Atlanta, USA, as manager of Chioma Ajunwa and Charity Opara. Unfortunately, when I applied for a visa to the Games from my base in the UK at the time, the interview date given at the American embassy was weeks after the Games would have ended. That’s how I sat at home in London, and missed the opportunity of attending the Olympics as a manager of athletes. My two wards won a Gold and a Silver medal.

At the 2010 Games in London. I was at ‘home’. I watched the Games as a tourist, attending a few events LIVE from the stands, but most from the giant screens at the Nigerian village set up for the huge Nigerian population in the UK.

During the last Olympic Games in Tokyo, I became inventive. I did the seemingly impossible. I became an invisible ‘fly on the wall’ reporting from Nigeria everything about the Nigerian contingent at the games with the deployment of technology and the collaboration of athletes and officials at the games.

Now, Paris 2024 Games are here.

I have a strong feeling Nigeria will come away with several medals. The feeling is strong. There are some obvious athletes in the winning zone already.

Having said that, the spirit of the Olympics is more in participating than in winning. That’s why as many athletes as have achieved the qualifying times and distances should be given the opportunity to experience the Olympics. I hope Nigeria will take all the athletes that attain the qualifying standards to Paris 2024.

Winning’ is not only about coming ‘first’.

From AFCON 2023, Nigeria gave a new and interesting definition to ‘winning’.

The country’s national team, the Super Eagles, for 4 weeks, provided the glue that united the country at a time when the country was going through difficult times in perennial economic, political and social challenges. As the Super Eagles, a team that was not given a chance to win by fanatical Nigerian football fans on the even of the championship, started to play well and to win matches in dramatic fashion, the spirit of nationalism took over the country. Temporarily, for a few weeks, Nigerians set aside their hardship, divisions and differences, and focused attention on the feel-good success of the Eagles on the football field. Even President Bola Tinubu became a part of the championship, following the Super Eagles on television all the way to the final match. With hopes sky-high, the entire country rallied around the team and supported their bid to win the most prestigious sports trophy in Africa, only for the hopes to be dashed at the last hurdle.

Despite the disappointment of that defeat, the country demonstrated uncommon appreciation of what the team had done for the psyche of the citizens during the period, a reminder of positive possibilities beyond AFCON, by spreading out the Red Carpet to welcome back the football heroes, compensating the team that came second with rewards unheard of in sports history. It was a beautiful confirmation of that Olympic truism that to be a ‘winner’ you do not have to come ‘first’.

God willing, I shall be at the Paris 2024 Olympics to report Nigeria’s success, first hand!

This was the question a friend of mine in his late 20s asked me when we woke up on April 14 to the news that Iran had launched over 300 drones and missiles towards Israel.

Apart from video war games, the young man has not seen any wars. Nigeria’s civil war ended nearly two and a half decades before he was born. Of course, you don’t have to experience war to feel it. There’s a sense, for example, in which the more recent wars in the West African subregion or the more distant ones in Northeastern Africa or Europe tend to reach us, wherever we are. 

Our televisions and phones bring the horrors of war right into our living rooms. A generation for which these smart devices have become a playground is right to be concerned that the flare-up in the Middle East could lead to something more serious. 

Apart from the war in Ukraine and the underreported conflicts in South Sudan and Central Africa, no other war in recent times has riveted the world like the one in Gaza. For all the talk about the potential escalation into a wider regional conflict, it didn’t seem likely that the Israeli-Palestinian war would spread beyond shadow attacks by Hezbollah and other Iranian proxies, until Israeli air strike killed seven Iranians in the Iranian Embassy in Damascus and six Syrians.

An unusual response

That was when the threat of escalation became real. Not even during the Yom Kippur War in 1973, did Iran, a regional power, take a direct aim at Israel the way it did in its revenge attack on April 14. If half the drones and missiles aimed at Israel had hit their target, Israel would be reeling from a devastation worse than anything that happened on October 7. The world might have been a different place today.

It may be convenient to dismiss concerns about a possible outbreak of a Third World War as far-fetched, and perhaps even childish. Yet, remembering a few of the things that led to two world wars might help us not to take too much for granted. 

The immediate cause of WW1, for example, was the murder in Sarajevo of Archduke Franz Ferdinand by a Serbian nationalist, prompting the Austro-Hungarian empire, supported by Germany, to declare war on Serbia. Russia, Serbia’s ally, joined. It wasn’t long before Germany declared war on Russia and invaded France, drawing Britain into the war.

Of course, the murder of the Archduke may have been the tipping point, but a web of other factors also contributed, from the competition for territories and economic rivalries to militarism, and from the unstable alliances to the crisis in the Balkans. The Sarajevo murder was only the last straw. 

Rules-based system

God knows just how many more straws before we reach another breaking point. We like to think that we have a rules-based system; that the world is wiser today, restrained as much by competing interests as it is by the assurance of mutual destruction. 

The two world wars claimed the lives of a population nearly the size of Ethiopia’s 120m and left millions more ruined forever. And yet, since the last two years we have seen, starting from the Russia-Ukraine war, traces that the world is going mad again.  

If by the death of one man – the Archduke – the world descended into chaos, was it irrational to fear that Israel’s killing of 13 people, including seven Iranians in Iran’s embassy in Damascus and the destruction of the embassy was sufficient to spark a wider regional conflict? Has anything really changed or the world learnt anything new 110 years after WWI?

Fewer warmongers?

Some studies suggest so. One interesting study, for example, points to demographics as a good predictor of civil conflicts. The study, famously called the “youth bulge” suggests a strong correlation between countries prone to civil conflicts and those with fast-growing youth populations. So, the older the population, the theory goes, the less likely its appetite for a hot war.

It suggests that in spite of the sabre-rattling in the world’s former war-mongering capitals – Washington, Berlin, London, Paris, Tokyo and Moscow – the dominance of older, wealthier populations in these countries combined with concerns about managing their ageing populations have reduced their appetite for war. 

A few like the US, Britain and France, may press the world to the edge of a frenzy with the sort of disgraceful complicity seen in the Middle East. But just before madness finally takes over, the theory argues that the leadership in countries with older, wiser populations would dial back and make the kind of last-minute call to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that saves the world for another day.

There have also been those, like foreign affairs columnist, Jonathan Power, who argue that in spite of the Russia-Ukraine war, the war in Gaza, and the under-reported deadly conflicts in South Sudan and Yemen, the world has never been at greater peace with itself than it is. 

Although Ukraine is not too far from becoming a meat grinder and the death toll in Gaza has topped 32,000 (minus hundreds unaccounted for) studies suggest that, thanks to the better angels of our nature, there has been a reduction in battle deaths per 100,000 in state-based conflicts since the Second World War.  

Spells of peace

War historians say that outside the Pax Romana, and the Golden Age of Islam, the post-World War II era is probably the most peaceful time in world history. 

A number of other reasons have also been given why a Third World War is improbable. It’s believed that the end of colonialism, the prioritisation of human rights, the general rise in global prosperity/literacy, and particularly the establishment of the United Nations, have accounted for the longest spell of peace in human history and might yet keep the world from descending into another catastrophic war.

Maybe – and that’s a big maybe. The safeguards of our sanity are already fraying at the edges and we may just have entered a violent new era. 

If after 77 years, Israel would still not accept the UN’s two-state solution to the problem in Palestine, preferring instead to kill over 30,000 Palestinians in pursuit of the last Hamas; if recourse to the International Criminal Court (ICC) cannot restrain Israel from the widespread carnage in Gaza; if the US, Britain and France will veto the UN’s condemnation of the attack on the Iranian Embassy in spite of the significant casualties – a crime they would not accept if it had been done to them; if the US keeps showing by its conduct that might is right, then the world is not too far from another world war.

Global institutions expected to keep the fragile balance for peace have almost all broken down, and all five veto-wielding members of the UN have gone rogue: Russia in Ukraine; China in Taiwan; and the US, Britain and France in the Middle East, and indeed anywhere else they please in pursuit of their strategic interests.

To continue to ignore the impotence of and disdain for the global institutions supposed to preserve peace and still believe that nothing would happen, is foolish and dangerous.

Today, the Federal High Court, Abuja, Coram Inyang Ekwo, J upheld the No case Submission I made to the spurious charges levied against me by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for the official role I played in the implementation of the 2006 Settlement Agreement entered into by the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) and Malabu Oil & Gas Limited (Malabu) over the disputed ownership of OPL 245.

It will be recalled that the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Coram Abubakar Kutigi, J, had on Thursday, 28th March 2024, similarly upheld the No case submission I made to the charges filed against me. The EFCC had, in their wisdom and in the exercise of their prosecutorial powers, filed charges on the same facts in different courts to annoy and cause me maximum discomfort and expense.

Nigerians will recall that I served the country in the exalted position of Honourable Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice from April 2010 to May 29, 2015. During that period, I received Presidential Approval/Directive to implement the subsisting 2006 Settlement Agreement between the FGN and Malabu, which at the material time had been reduced into a consent judgment of the Federal High Court, Abuja. When the EFCC, at the instigation of some powerful persons in the country, ostensibly because of the enabling political environment, began their shenanigans sometime in 2015, I took out an Originating Summons against the FGN praying the Federal High Court, Abuja, to determine whether I, acting as the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice in the Government of the Federation could be held personally liable for carrying out or implementing the Presidential Approvals/Directives of the President in exercise his powers under section 5 and 148 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999. The Federal High Court, Abuja, Coram, Binta Nyako, J declared in essence that I did no wrong by carrying out the President's lawful directives and that I could, therefore, not be held personally liable for discharging my responsibilities.

Nigerians will also recall that when the OPL 245 Settlement Agreement came under the searchlight of the EFCC in 2017, the Honourable Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, CON, had in his reasoned legal opinion to the EFCC confirmed that he had reviewed the Settlement Agreement and could not find any illegality in the transaction. The Honourable Minister of State Petroleum Resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, also wrote an opinion to the President through the Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari, where he opined in essence that the transaction was for the benefit of the country as it would enable the Oil block to be developed for the benefit of the country.

Despite these exonerating opinions and the subsisting judgment of the FHC, Abuja, the EFCC proceeded to charge me and other entities for corruption, money laundering and other sundry offences. I had no option but to submit myself to the legal process. It has been a harrowing experience that has lasted for over nine years due mainly to the antics of the Prosecution, which hurriedly filed charges against me to satisfy some narrow political interests but became reluctant to prove their case for want of evidence. The trial became an object of a political witch hunt and scapegoatism, as the EFCC needed to hang corruption charges on my neck as a way of sustaining FGN’s claims against the implementation of the Settlement Agreement in foreign jurisdictions such as Milan- Italy, the United States of America and the United Kingdom.

Predictably, these foreign jurisdictions examined the OPL 245 transaction and my role in implementing the Settlement Agreement and, in their reasoned judgments, held that there were no infractions of a criminal nature. Consequently, the charges in Milan-Italy were quashed, the United States Department of Justice found no criminality in the transaction, and the United Kingdom Commercial Court, which interestingly in affirming the legality of the transaction, commended the role I played in the implementation of the Agreement.

I am delighted to observe that despite the campaign of calumny launched against me by the EFCC domestically and internationally, which essentially deprived me of my livelihood as a Lawyer and Arbitrator since 2016, and loss of family life and reputation, I survived. God was kind to me by granting me good health and friends who came to my aid in several ways. Now that the trial is over, I have the option of suing the Nigerian State and all those who contributed to my ordeal. While contemplating the next steps, I leave all my traducers to their conscience and the judgment of posterity. I am grateful to the Almighty Allah for divine mercies and blessings, my family for standing by me and enduring the public odium associated with trials of this nature, my friends for living up to the name and my lawyers for their forbearance and industry.

Despite my ordeal, my faith in the Nigeria Project is not misplaced or shaken. I will continue to contribute my quota to the progress and development of our great country.

MOHAMMED BELLO ADOKE, CFR, SAN, FCI arb (UK), DSSRS

President Bola Tinubu congratulates Mr. Tunde Onakoya on setting a new world chess record and sounding the gong of Nigeria's resilience, self-belief, and ingenuity at the square of global acclaim.

Mr. Onakoya broke the Guinness World Record for the longest chess marathon on Saturday, after playing for over 58 hours and winning every match in tow.

President Tinubu celebrates the Nigerian Chess Champion and founder of Chess in Slums Africa for the rare feat, but especially for the reason driving this compelling demonstration of character, which is raising funds for African children to learn and find opportunity through chess.

The President states Mr. Onakoya has shown a streak customary among Nigeria's youth population, the audacity to make good change happen; to baffle impossibility, and propel innovations and solutions to the nation’s challenges, even from corners of disadvantage.

The President affirms that Nigeria's youths have demonstrated in all fields, including Afrobeats, Nollywood, the pulsating skit-making enterprise, education, science, and technology, that great exploits can truly come from small quarters.

President Tinubu commends the inclination of Nigerians - across artificial partitions - for unity, once again exemplified through their undiluted support for this epoch-making endeavour.

The President assures all citizens that his administration remains strongly committed to creating and expanding opportunities for the youth to explore and exercise their abilities and become the symbols of greatness our nation represents into the future.

Chief Ajuri Ngelale 

Special Adviser to the President 

(Media & Publicity)

April 20, 2024

Umar Damagum, acting national chair of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has survived attempts to remove him from office — at least for now.

Briefing journalists after the PDP national caucus meeting early Thursday morning, Debo Ologunagba, the party’s spokesperson, said the issue of whether Damagum should remain or be removed from office has been deferred.

He said Damagum will continue as acting national chair of the party till the next national executive committee (NEC) meeting. 

The party’s constitution mandates that NEC meeting be convened once in three months.

“The caucus did not deliberate on this matter because there are numerous complexities regarding leadership at this time,” he said when asked about the caucus decision on Damagum.

“Therefore, this matter was deferred to the upcoming NEC meeting. The issues presented by the NWC were discussed by the caucus. Umar Damagum will remain the acting national chairman of the party until the subsequent NEC meeting following tomorrow’s (today’s) session.

“The party has recognised the importance of conducting further consultations on that matter. Our priority is maintaining party unity, as we navigate through these issues without causing division.

“We are committed to following our constitution and any succession plan that aligns with our current circumstances, including ongoing court processes. Our aim is to take actions that promote unity and are by our constitution.”

The resolution of the national caucus is subject to the ratification of NEC.

The NEC meeting is scheduled to hold today.

The PDP national caucus is a vital organ of the party. Members usually meet a day before the NEC meeting.

Majority of decisions made at the NEC meeting are typically deliberated upon during the national caucus gathering.

There have been calls from different quarters for Damagum to step down as the PDP acting chairman.

Damagum became acting chairman following the suspension of Iyorchia Ayu in March 2023.

Those demanding Damagum’s resignation based their argument on the need for someone from the north-central to take over and complete Ayu’s tenure.

Ayu hails from Benue state.

On Tuesday, the national working committee (NWC) of the PDP passed a vote of confidence in Damagum, amid calls for him to step aside.

WHAT NATIONAL CAUCUS DISCUSSED

The PDP spokesperson said the caucus discussed several issues, including the unity of the party.

“At the meeting, the national caucus deliberated on the forthcoming local government, ward, and state congresses, scheduled for between June and August 2024,” he said.

“The caucus endorsed the NWC’s reconstitution of the party’s disciplinary and reconciliation committees. These are standing committees tasked with addressing internal party matters.

“Fourthly, the caucus extended the tenure of the party’s Constitution Review Committee to incorporate new suggestions for amending the party’s constitution.

“Additionally, the caucus also discussed various methods of fundraising for the party, including membership drives, investment initiatives, and other matters that the NWC will address and subsequently present to the NEC for approval.”

[TheCable]