The Akwa Ibom ministry of education has commenced an investigation into the nutrition of boarding students at Presbyterian Senior Science College.

A video, which has now gone viral on social media, shows the college students eating meals in sub-human conditions.

The video also showed the deplorable state of the dining area in the school.

Idongesit Etiebet, the state’s commissioner for education, has ordered the suspension of Nse Sunday Umoh, the school’s principal, till the end of the investigation.

In a statement, the commissioner assured that the investigation will be focused on the key facilities of all 26 public schools in the state.

She further emphasised the need for parental support while stating the state’s commitment to the well-being of the students.

“Following from the very disturbing video where students were fed with unpalatable and non-nutritious meals at Presbyterian Senior Science College, Ididep, I paid an unscheduled visit to the school,” the statement reads.

“I have directed a comprehensive investigation into the state of boarding facilities in the school and the other 25 boarding secondary schools across the state.

“This review, which will focus on hostels, dining halls, recreation areas, menu, kitchen, and sanitary facilities, will be jointly overseen by the permanent secretaries of the ministry of education and the state secondary education board.

“Consequently, I have also directed the immediate suspension of the principal of the school, Dr. Nse Sunday Umoh pending the outcome of the investigation.

“Although the free education policy of the state government covers tuition fees only and not boarding fees, the welfare and dignity of all students, especially those in public schools, remain a priority of the Umo Eno-led administration.

“We appeal to parents who have already been greatly relieved of the burden of tuition fees to undertake basic parental responsibilities to support their children in secondary schools.

“The ministry is committed to ensuring that all public school facilities meet irreducible minimum standards that uphold the well-being of both learners and staff.”

[TheCable]

In ??? ?????? ?????? ??? ?????? ?? ??? ???? – ??? ?????? ?? ????, ??? ?? ??? ??? ??? ?????: Essays by Ulli Beier, edited by Wole Ogundele, (2001) Horst Ulrich Beier, famously known as Ulli Beier, had an engaging narrative about the power and powerlessness of dogs. He entitled the narrative, Dog Magic of Yoruba Hunters. In it, Beier related how his dog, which he provocatively named Tańtólóhun, (who can compare with God?)’s weird tantrums, which occurred in Osogbo in the early 1960s, could mirror the insufferable power and limitations of dogs. The motive of telling the story, he said, was to “demonstrate the extraordinary power of hunters over dogs”.

Otherwise very gentle dog, whenever Tańtólóhun saw a particular elderly priest of Oya goddess guest of the Beiers, she suddenly went abrasive. The priest, said the German-Jew literary octopus, had just lost his following and as such, little or no worship activity went on in his shrine. Whenever the priest branched at the Beiers’ home on a visit, Tańtólóhun suddenly went haywire, grew inexplicably aggressive towards the priest, growling and barking. The old priest, too couldn’t explain the oddity. He threatened not to visit the Beiers again unless the weird and wild Tańtólóhun was curtailed. The Beiers’ friends’ explanation for Tańtólóhun’s tantrums was that, “the priest liked to eat dog meat, and because of this, often performed the annual sacrifice for a group of Ogun worshippers in Osogbo… the dog sensed his perverse attitude to dogs and her uncontrollable anger stemmed from that”.

Tańtólóhun’s hatred for the Oya priest intensified. “One day, she even started to tug at his long flowing agbádá with her teeth. Infuriated, the priest shouted that if the dog did it again, he would have to ‘put medicine’ on her. The very next day, the dog rushed out again and this time, the priest turned round, speaking incantations at her.” The second day, as the Oya priest was passing by, Tańtólóhun repeated the same weird bellicosity. “She rushed out again barking and tried to grab the priest’s agbádá. Angrily, the priest turned and spoke his incantations. The dog fled back into the house. But this time, she did not recover. Instead she behaved in the most frightening manner. She rolled her eyes, snarled at everybody and foam appeared in her mouth. We could not be sure that she had not developed rabies. Even if it weren’t so, it was obvious that in her present mood, she would sooner or later attack people. She did not appear to recognise any of us. We quickly evacuated all the people from the house. There were usually a dozen children playing on the ground floor. Then we locked her into the house,” lamented Beier.

Another friend of the Beiers’, the head of hunters in Osogbo, the Olúóde, upon being told of Tańtólóhun’s fate, offered to help. He was promptly ushered into the solitary prison where Tańtólóhun was locked, lest no human be the victim of her madness. Ten minutes after, the Olúóde came out laughing. “The dog followed him, wagging her tail as if nothing had happened. Tańtólóhun had no recurrence of her strange behaviour (again)… The Olúóde said he did not give the dog anything to eat, that all he used was incantations.”

Beier, the man who told that story, was born July 30, 1922, and exited this plane on April 3, 2011. Beier gave Nigerian literature teeth to bite in the twilight of and immediate post-colony (1950 to 1967). His interest in traditional Yoruba culture and arts was almost an obsession. While teaching at the University of Ibadan, the German-Jew veered off to live in Western Region cities of Osogbo and Ede in his quest to conduct anthropological researches on the Yoruba. Inspired by philosopher and French intellectual, Jean Paul Sartre’s essay Orphee Noir, in 1957, Beier founded the magazine, Black Orpheus which became the first African literary journal in English and a leading market for the publication of contemporary Nigerian authors. He also, in 1961, co-founded the Mbari Artists and Writers Club in Ibadan as an ensemble for new writers, dramatists and artists, where they could gather and weave the tapestry of their arts. It is on record that Beier fired the writing zeal of writers like Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, among many others. In 1962, he co-founded the Mbari Mbayo, Osogbo Club with Duro Ladipo and translated his drama, published as Modern Poetry (1963). In 1966, Beier published his own play, The Imprisonment of Obatala, using the pseudonym, Obotunde Ijimere. He was husband to Susanne Wenger, the famous Austrian-turned-Nigerian Osun sacred grove priestess, who, upon dissolution of her marriage to Beier, married the local drummer, Lasisi Ayansola Onilu.

Sorry, I digressed. Last week, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, at the Chinua Achebe Leadership Forum, which held at the Yale University in the United States, threw a mound of earthly pigment Yoruba called ògúlùtu. When you throw ògúlùtu, it scatters in conceived and incidental directions. He threw the ògúlùtu in the direction of Bola Ahmed Tinubu, president of Nigeria. But again, as the Yoruba say, it is a ripe baby orange which invites slingshots of rods and pebbles on its mother (omo osàn níí kó póńpó bá ìyá è). In Yale, Obasanjo took a swipe at not only Tinubu but unnamed Nigerian leaders he called “Baba-go-slow” and “Èmilókàn,” under whom he said Nigeria had become a failed state.

Immediately I read it, I knew Tinubu’s Tańtólóhun dogs like Ulli Beiers’, would relapse into their weirdest bellicosity. Tinubu keeps a kennel of Rottweilers he unleashes on perceived haters. Atiku Abubakar is one of them. While delivering his keynote address entitled “Leadership Failure and State Capture in Nigeria”, Obasanjo outlined Nigeria’s worsening challenges, which included pervasive corruption, mediocrity, immorality, misconduct, mismanagement, perversion, injustice, leading to a state capture. He also alleged that the Nigerian judiciary had been reduced to wriggling maggots which feast on rotten flesh of politicians. He also took a swipe at Tinubu’s wobbly leadership, the concerning state of the economy and the sagging credibility of Nigeria under a government that advertises so much motion but no movement. “More than N700 billion in cash bribes were paid by citizens to public officials in 2023,” he further alleged.

Immediately after this, the Oya priest received one of the vilest attacks from Tańtólóhun. In the narrative of the Beiers’ dog above, it will be recalled that the German-Jew literary octopus’ friends’ explanation for the dog’s weirdness was that the Oya priest might have been suffering for his perverse attitude to dogs, especially his penchant for turning the dog’s kindred into buffet during annual Ogun worshippers’ sacrifices. Ogun worshippers are notorious for not only wickedly beheading dogs during such sacrifices but turning the hapless animal’s meat into delicious barbecue.

So, in the bid to stave off accusation of bad governance that is almost a refrain on the streets of Nigeria, simply re-echoed by Obasanjo, like Beiers’, Tinubu’s Tańtólóhun dogs went berserk, growling and barking for the whole of last week. In a statement titled, ‘Former President Obasanjo was not an ideal leader to emulate,’ Tinubu’s Chief Tańtólóhun leading the pack, accused Obasanjo of hypocrisy. “He presided over the worst election in Nigeria (and now) demands the sack of the leadership of the Independent National Electoral Commission.” He barked ad-nauseam on the Obasanjo third term agenda, how Chinua Achebe, “a universally acclaimed moral, cultural and literary icon” had “scant regard for Obasanjo,” and rejected “the third highest national honour bestowed on him… in 2004,” the unconstitutional impeachment of four PDP governors, the Halliburton bribe scandal, dud investment of $16bn in electricity, “which left the country in utter darkness,” the aluminium smelter company, ALSCON sale, among others. Onanuga growled however that his boss was “diligently (working) to overcome the country’s economic challenges” and advised Obasanjo “to temper his self-righteousness in his public discussions regarding our nation’s temporary difficulties” and spend “his remaining years…reflecting on the missed opportunities during his own time in leadership, both as military head of state and civilian president”.

The Beiers’ Tańtólóhun had every reason to growl at the dog-eating Oya priest. It however didn’t reckon with an eternal Yoruba aphorism which preached caution. In traditional African Yoruba society, cloth dry-cleaning was a craft natives embarked upon. Early in the morning, these alágbàfò stormed homes of their clients to collect stacks of used clothes which they took to streams to wash. After washing them, for the clothes to last longer and give them fascinating smells, alágbàfò garnished them with a blue dye called aró. The aró’s cost is then added to their fees. So, when a bedwetting client haggled the price of the aró, the Yoruba say while the whole world was entitled to so haggle, it ill behoves a bedwetter to do same.This, Yoruba express as, “ó ye gbogbo eni k’ó yo’wó aró, sùgbón kò ye atòólé.” Did the bedwetter take into consideration the unpleasant task of divorcing their clothes from oozing smell of urine and the indignity behind their affliction?

So, even if the whole world could cast off the beam in Obasanjo’s eyes, it is not the governance bedwetters of Aso Rock of today. While Tańtólóhun was entitled to be miffed at the Oya priest for peremptorily turning its kin into gourmet meal, does she think the world, too was blind to how she pounced on reptiles and rodents, devouring them? Moreover, Tańtólóhun should have known, again as Yoruba say, that it is not all leaves that the Babaláwo plucks nor is it every palm tree that the palm wine-tapper climbs. While some leaves are sacred, with all of them taboo to be plucked after the morning dew had ceased its water blessing, if a palm-wine tapper does not carefully select the tree to climb, he could be stung by a deadly puffadder which has made the palm-tree top its place of hibernation. Ayinla Omowura, Yoruba Apala music colossus, expressed this as “gbogbo ewé kó l’òjáwé ńjá, gbogbo òpe kó l’onígbà ńgùn” and warned the climber and leave-plucker to beware.

To start with, I am not aware of any of the allegations made by the Tańtólóhun dogs against the Oya priest that is a lie. In human relations, Obasanjo has been described as the proverbial African witch who seeks the destruction of her benefactors. He makes mincemeat of his benefactors. An example touted in this regard is Chief S. B. Bakare, the Ijesa multi-millionaire of the 1970s/80s who rescued him from the bullets of Colonel Bukar Suka Dimka. Obasanjo is also one of the most hated Nigerian leaders alive, mostly due to his kénimánìí (lest others have) and kénimátóni (lest others attain my status) traits. Both are epistemic analytical standpoints of human relationship used in understanding and interpreting people’s actions and inactions. Obasanjo has always fought his kin to the hilt, beginning with Obafemi Awolowo and MKO Abiola, his secondary school senior. The ostensible reason is for him to be the only Yoruba to attain his national height. He once riled the world when he said that the presidency Awolowo sought unsuccessfully was delivered to him on a platter. Rather than his kin, Obasanjo preferred lifting people of other ethnicities. The few kin of his who were struggling to be at the top, like Mike Adenuga Jr., Obasanjo attempted to destroy them.

Not minding the above, a saying that will readily dissolve Tinubu’s Tańtólóhun dogs’ tantrums against Obasanjo is that even if a hyena develops boil – a painful, pus-filled bump – on its face, it is beyond the remit of the chicken to point it out. A chicken is too miniature in people’s estimation compared to a hyena, just as no one dare peer light into the dilating eyes of the lion. Obasanjo is too elephantine in stature for anybody to demean.

In Nigeria’s 25 years continuous governance, one tree that makes its democratic forest is Obasanjo. It may sound intangible, but we know that Obasanjo has an ancestry that he can point to. I doubt if there is any other leader who is emblematic of this country and who the rest of the world connects than him. I once traveled with Obasanjo to Congo Kinshasa and saw how Felix Tshisekedi and the whole DRC laid red carpet for him. From Nigeria’s first loan of US$13.1 million from the Paris Club of Creditor Nations, taken from the Italian government in 1964 for the building of the Niger Dam, her debt rose to US$36 billion in December 2004. Obasanjo, on June 29, 2005, used his international leverage to have the Paris Club give a US$18 billion debt relief package to the country. No other leader, before and after him, has succeeded in doing this. Many institutions of government which Nigeria enjoys today, the EFCC, ICPC etc – though they are almost comatose now – were all built by him. He brought dignity to Nigeria and his years in government lifted this country’s pride tremendously. More importantly, he didn’t disgrace the Yoruba race.

Yes, Obasanjo’s lust for power, that me-and-only-me (àf’èmi, àf’èmi) spirit, sowed the seed of his third term ambition which he now shamelessly denies. However, none of his several limitations could be as destructive as to have some insolent and abrasive Tańtólóhun dogs compare him with Tinubu. Yes, they are both lucky to have risen this high; Obasanjo, in spite of his perceived wickedness, selfishness and Tinubu, for the mucks that glue to his past and present. The lofty pride that oozed off Obasanjo while in office cannot be said of the government that the Tańtólóhun dogs were last week unleashed to bay blood for and defend. Barking and growling, their teeth tugged at the agbádá of the Oya priest, they were a pitiable sight as they attempted to stave off Obasanjo’s deadly punches. What did Obasanjo say that is untrue about the pestilence that the Tinubu government has brought on Nigerians in the last 18 months? Nigeria today mirrors every definition of a failed state. Is it the excruciating hunger, go-slow, corruption, a felonious judiciary, an INEC that has gone to the dogs and whose chairman needed to be sacked to allow sanity into Nigeria’s electoral system? What?

Let me close this homily by asking the Olúóde, who has the powers to put a leash on his Tańtólóhun dogs, to do so immediately. In doing so, I will borrow two advisory sayings of the Yoruba. In one, they caution that, even if a Tańtólóhun dog is suddenly seized by insanity, it should mind the billowing red-eye of the fire – “t’ájá bá ńsínwín, k’ó má wo’nú iná òyèlà.” In another, Yoruba warn that anyone who assumes that the way an edible vegetable called tètè is grated and made into soup is same way another variant of the vegetable, the wild dáguńró, is eaten will be eating poison!

The Fuji music house of commotion

Like every lover of Yoruba traditional music, language and culture, I have of recent been inundated with requests to lend a voice to the newest raging fire in the Fuji music genre. Since the passage of Alhaji Sikiru Ayinde Balogun, popularly known as Ayinde Barrister or Agbajelola Barusati, there have been longstanding tiffs on whom of the trio of Ayinde Omogbolahan Anifowose, KWAM 1; self-named King Saheed Osupa (K.S.O.) and Wasiu Alabi Pasuma, was the “King.”

These musicians’ recent quest for supremacy is not new. From time immemorial, supremacy battles have been part and parcel of Yoruba music. Apparently now tempered by modernity, in the olden days, the battles were fought with traditional spells, incantations and talisman aimed at deconstructing and liquidating their rivals. Mostly fought on genre basis, I submit that pre and post-independence entertainment scene would have been livelier, far more robust than it was but for the acrimonious liquidating fights of those eras.

In the Sakara music, Abibu Oluwa, a revered early precursor of this Yoruba musical genre, who reigned in the late 1920s and 1930s, had Salami Alabi Balogun, popularly known as Lefty Salami, Baba Mukaila and Yusuff Olatunji as members of his band. Oluwa praise-sang many Lagos elites of his time, especially Herbert Macaulay to whom he sang his praise in the famous track named “Macaulay Macaulay.” In it, he sang the foremost Nigerian nationalist’s alias of Ejonigboro – Snake on the Street and prayed that he would not come to shame.

Sakara also produced the likes of S. Aka Baba Wahidi, Kelani Yesufu (alias Kelly). It was sung with traditional Yoruba instruments like the solemn-sounding goje violin whose history is traced to the north, and the roundish Sakara drum, beaten with stick and whose appearance is like that of a tambourine. Sakara music is often called the Yoruba variant of western blues music because of its brooding rhythm though laced with a high dosage of philosophy.

When Oluwa died in 1964, he literally handed over to Lefty who, born on October 1913, died December 29, 1981. Lefty, a talking drummer under Oluwa, churned out over 35 records before his demise, one of which was a tribute to Lagos monarch, Oba Adele (Adele l’awa nfe – Oba Adele is the king we want) and another to the Elegushi family. I dwelt considerably on Sakara because it is believed to have had considerable influence on other genres of traditional African Yoruba music, especially Apala and Fuji, with the former sometimes indistinguishable from Sakara.

Apala music, whose exponent is said to be Haruna Ishola, originated in the late 1930s Nigeria. Delivered with musical instruments like a rattle (Sekere) thumb piano, (agidigbo) drums called Iya Ilu and Omele, a bell (agogo) and two or three talking drums, Apala and Sakara are the most complex of these genres of traditional Yoruba music, due to their infusion of philosophy, incantations and dense Yoruba language into their mix. Distinct, older and more difficult in mastery than Fuji music which is considered to be comparatively easy to sing, Ayinla Omowura, Ligali Mukaiba, Kasumu Adio, and many others were Apala leading lights of the time. The three genres have very dense Islamic background.

The latest entrant of all the three genres is Fuji. Pioneered by Ayinde Barrister no doubt, for an Apala musician biographer like me, I am confused that Omowura, as far back as early 1970s, asked listeners in need of good Fuji music to come learn from him – “Fuji t’o dara, e wa gbo l’owo egbe wa…” Sorry, I digressed.

While KWAM 1 emerged with his Talazo music from the ashes of his being a music instrument arranger for Barrister’s musical organization in the early 1980s, the feud in the house after Barrister’s death erupted when narratives allegedly oozed unto the musical scene that KWAM 1 referred to himself as the creator of Fuji music. He however promptly denied the claim. For decades, Osupa and Pasuma were locked in horns over supremacy of the Fuji music genre. In August 2023, the two however seemed to have decided to thaw their feud as they shared stage with Wasiu Ayinde, at Ahmad Alawiye Folawiyo, an Islamic singer’s 50th birthday celebration in Lagos. KWAM 1 glibly acted as their senior colleague at the event.

As an indication that they are no bastards of the teething and recurrent supremacy battles that emblemize traditional Yoruba music, the three Fuji music icons seem to have gone into the trenches again. It first started with Taiye Currency, an Ibadan-based alter-ego of Pasuma picking a fight with the musician who self-styled himself Son of Anobi Muhammed’s Wife. In a viral video, Currency had disclaimed reference to Pasuma as his “father” in the music industry. In another video not long after, KWAM 1, like some kind of father figure, was shown asking Currency to go and apologize to Pasuma.

A few days ago, a video of Osupa went viral. Therein, he was chastising a particular hypocrite he called “Onirikimo” and “alabosi”, who is “stingy and is ready to shamelessly collect money from those under him.” Osupa also claimed that this “shameless elder” had strung a ring of corn round his waist and should be ready to be made fun of by hens. Watchers of the endless tiffs among these Fuji icons swear that KWAM 1 was the unnamed Fuji musician Osupa was casting aspersion on.

The trio of Sakara, Apala and Fuji music also witnessed such petty squabbles. While many claim that the fights were promotional gambits aimed at having their fans salivate for their hate-laced musical attacks against one another, some others claim that the rivalries were genuine. In the Apala music scene, Haruna Ishola and Kasumu Adio fought each other to the nadir, with Adio, who sang almost in the same voice and cadence as Ishola, suddenly vamoosing from the musical scene. Rumours and speculations had it then that a mysterious goat bit Adio and rendered him useless. While Ayinla Omowura also fought Fatai Olowonyo, Fatai Ayilara, among others in the Apala genre, the duo of Yusuff Olatunji and S. Aka also feuded till their last days. This is not to mention the interminable fight between Kollington Ayinla and Barrister.

If the tiff between the trio of KWAM 1, Osupa and Pasuma is about age and Yoruba traditional respect for elders, KWAM 1 would easily go away with the trophy of the best of the three. However, if philosophical depth, musical elan, research of lyrics and deployment of Yoruba language are at issue, none of the other two musicians can unbuckle Osupa’s sandals. Osupa began his musical career in 1983 as a teenager and has gone through the mills, his late father being a musician, too and Awurebe music lord, Dauda Epo Akara’s musical contemporary.

Unlike their predecessors, the three Fuji musicians are literate and should thus address their musical issues in more mature manner. Osupa even recently bagged a degree from the department of Political Science, University of Ibadan. One thing they should know is that, whether one is supreme to the other or not, their fans will readily queue behind the brand that delights them.

At 75, TRIBUNE Newspapers remain a Badge of Honour.

I always like to make the point each time I get the opportunity to refer to the Nigerian Tribune as Nigeria’s oldest surviving private newspaper. Just do a quick check, you will not find too many organisations today in Nigeria with that life span. So Tribune has always been a thing of pride right.

from the days of its founding. Many are those who wear the Tribune tag-it was and remains indeed a badge of honour.

Yes, the newspaper organisation has gone through the valleys and the mountain, but it’s pride of place abides. And I am just so delighted to be a part of this inspiring story!

There are few things you don’t forget in life. For me my time at the African Newspapers of Nigeria, ANN, the publishers of the Tribune titles is one.

For instance, it is in Tribune and around our encounters and experiences there at Imalefalafia that I forged some of the best friendships of my life, which today are still soaring. And this is where my recollections ought to start.

Wale Adebanwi, Adeolu Akande, Johnson Otitoyomi, Segun Olatunji, Bode Opeseitan etc represent for me, not just a bulwark for a young man trying to understand the contradictions between an imagination of a great country and people on the one hand, but also make sense of the fact that the nation is led by a rather underwhelming governmental leadership-mainly then the soldiers who forced themselves on us all in this space called Nigeria.

As young people, these friends of mine and myself, we were almost obsessed by the national question and we didn’t only debate the many controversial developments of those days -especially in the early 90s, but we saw ourselves being journalists as well-positioned to create the awareness that can bring change.

This was part of the reason i chose to become a journalist. We all tapped in the vision and example of the Sage Papa Obafemi Awolowo and resultantly formed the audacity to question our leaders if things weren’t going the way we knew it ought to.

I started freelance reporting in 1989

during my final session at the University of Ibadan and did a few articles in Tribune and then The Guardian. In deed by the time I graduated in 1990 and finished my national service I had a letter of employment from Tribune. The editor then, the quintessential journalist and one of our mentors, Mr. Folu Olamiti gave me the offer.

But while my friends were already working there by then, I didn’t quite join as a staff until 1995. Mr. Biodun Oduwole was then the Editor- in- Chief. Mr. Segun Olatunji about that time too had become the Editor of Tribune on Saturday, while Adeolu Akande and Wale Adebanwi were line editors or Bureau Head as the case may be.

Oduwole invoked the image of the debonair director of the stage of life that was Tribune in those years. One thing you would grant him is the ability to pin-point the right man for the job in the newsroom, with limitations though as he still had to revert often to a Managing Director who wasn’t a journalist.

So he gave me the job as Special Projects Editor on the Tribune titles with my friends-particularly Adebanwi, making the pitch for me as they were already there. I worked directly under his editorial guidance and he deployed me to some major news developments including the banishing of the Sultan by Abacha and the eventual passing of the Great Zik.

I can never forget the stunt I pulled when the Sultan, Ibrahim Dasuki, was banished from the throne. Oduwole had enough confidence to deploy me even though I could barely speak Hausa. He said I should go and get the exclusives! Well that was the deal we reached for him to offer me the job in the first instance-to get the exclusives! So i did special news and special reports.

So back to the Sultan Dasuki story. As his banishment was announced I went to his private house in Kaduna and found my way to his living room, where I sat with other dignitaries and sympathisers, like I was one of them. That was where I got all my exclusive stories, sitting down like one of the important dignitaries and there were quite a few, not too much though in the sitting room.

So i heard his relatives and associates speaking to the people often in Hausa but mainly in English since there were many of his non Hausa friends and associates also seated. No one could even go look for him in Sokoto anyway since the banishment was announced, that was how his private residence in Dogondaji area of Kaduna became the default venue for well wishers.

So i heard his family and relatives first hand what they told people about the dynamics, reasons why he was removed and so on. I didn’t know how I found courage to sit down with the people there because I was literally a stranger who gate-crashed into Dasuki’s home called Dogondaji House in Kaduna. Dignitaries were trooping in and out and saying lots of things but nobody challenged me. So, I wrote an exclusive story about it, but asked my editors not to use my byline that could blow my top!

As special projects editor, those were the kind of national stories that i covered.

So I flew around Lagos, Sokoto and Kaduna pursuing different leads. This was in April 1996. The next month that same year, I was sent to Nnewi in Anambra State when the Great Zik, Dr. Nnamdi Azikwe passed on the 11th May.

Then, in January 1997, I became the editor of the Nigerian Tribune on Saturday. I think three of us did the written test and were interviewed for the role. A senior newsroom colleague Mr. Akinjide Akintola came second. I did overall better than him by just one point. I became then one of the

youngest newspaper editors in the country having graduated about 7 years ago. Tribune gave me that rare opportunity!

I remember the Editor in Chief telling me then “Laolu you got it just by the skin of your teeth;” Mr. Oduwole was a top notch master of the English Language.

Now as an editor in charge of a weekly publication, I felt there was now a fairly significant platform to fight for the restoration of democracy and civil rule. So with my formidable team of reporters such as then Mrs. Dupe Olubanjo, Mrs. Omotayo Lewis, Sanya Adejokun, Rotimi Oladunjoye,

Bayo Oladeji, Bode Odeseye and several good others, we balanced my quest with adequate local human angle stories.

We did several stories about how Nigerians abroad were giving the military regime a tough time because of its reputation. I remember there was a time that the United Nations was considering imposing sanctions on Nigeria after the Commonwealth had imposed sanctions over the execution of the Ogoni nine including Ken Saro-Wiwa.

One of such US based prodemocracy copies was when the Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka and then Nigeria’s Ambassador to the United Nations did a face to face oral confrontation before the New York City Council who were considering renaming the street besides the Nigerian House in Manhattan, New York-just a stone throw from the UN headquarters-after late Kudirat Abiola. Gambari opposed it on behalf of the Federal Military Government of Nigeria while Soyinka supported it on behalf of different Nigerian groups abroad including NADECO. It was a front page story on Tribune on Saturday.

But the defining moment was the story we did on then Chief of General Staff and number two to General Sani Abacha-Lt. Gen Oladipo Diya. That was the story responsible for my final decision to leave the country for 17 years!

It was sometime in November of 1997, i think. The advance team of Gen Oladipo Diya, discovered that there was a bomb that was planted in his jet when he was supposed to travel. While he was still on his way from the presidential villa to the airport in Abuja, the bomb detonated, and he cancelled the flight.

So, we did the story, Who Wants Diya Dead, for the Tribune Saturday edition, which I was the editor.

I think either on that day or on the Sunday after my story came out, there was an announcement that Diya had been arrested alongside other people because they planned a coup.

I have since read the Editor in Chief, Mr. Oduwole’s recollections of this unnerving event, how he was caught up in Abuja on the same day!

My brother-in-law was Diya’s chief security officer, Major Seun Fadipe. He knew nothing about the story.

Our reporter in Abuja, Mr. Bisi Abidoye, wrote the story, and as the editor, I fleshed it up and casted the headline myself.

After the story was published, the Editor in Chief told me point blank that I was in trouble with then much dreaded State Security Services (SSS). It was in fact possible they were already trailing me. It was a very dark moment for me because on the family end there was turmoil and fears over the fate of Major Fadipe and the other “coup plotters.” Thank God there lives were spared eventually but by then I took no chances-was already cooling my heels in New York and the rest is history!

So Tribune was indeed a rugged platform for those who believe in the greatest good for the greatest number. I benefited from its largesse in that wise and we used it as a voice for the voiceless and a voice of reason just like Papa Obafemi Awolowo had envisioned. What a badge of honour that we all who had the unique opportunity to serve and work in Tribune wear.

With our dear aunty, Dr. Tokunbo Awolowo-Dosunmu now at the helm, let the banner keep flying! Congratulations to Apa ma ku at 75!

Akande, who is currently the host of INSIDE SOURCES TV show, was presidential spokesperson 2015 to 2023 & editor emeritus, Tribune on Saturday, 1997-1998

There have been divergent opinions about the economic policies adopted by the administration of President Tinubu since it came into power on May 29, 2023. Those opposing the policies can be categorized into two groups: those who are ignorant about the workings of the policies but are genuinely concerned about the short-term hardships they have caused, and opposition parties and their followers who have decided to oppose any policy introduced by this government. The President has repeatedly stated that he was aware of Nigerians were going through.

One striking observation is that many of those opposing the economic reforms of this government are suggesting a return to the status quo—reversing the removal of fuel subsidies and the floating of the naira. This suggestion is absurd, as these policies are the very ones that have destroyed the Nigerian economy over the years. Trillions of naira that could have been used for building infrastructure, improving healthcare and education, enhancing the military capabilities of the Nigerian security agencies, and funding research and development were spent on fuel subsidies and defending the naira.

When President Tinubu assumed office, the country was in dire straits: high levels of insecurity, poor infrastructure development, a debt service-to-revenue ratio as high as 97%, a forex backlog of  $7 billion, and many state governments struggling to pay salaries. The Nigerian economy was in a state of comatose in need of radical reforms. During his national broadcast on the occasion of Nigeria’s 64th Independence Anniversary on October 1, 2024, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu stated that Nigeria must either reform for progress and prosperity or continue business as usual and risk collapse. It is common sense that to achieve different results, things must be done differently.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank have commended the economic policies of this administration and emphasized the need for them to be sustained. The good news is that the reforms have already started yielding results. The Federal Government has commenced the implementation of a national minimum wage, with state governments following suit at varying rates. Insecurity levels have dropped, students are benefiting from a student loan scheme, the inherited forex backlog has been cleared, the debt service-to-revenue ratio has fallen to under 70%, foreign direct investments worth over $30 billion have been recorded in the past year, and the nation’s foreign reserves have risen to $40 billion. These are indicators of progress.

In 2025, with oil production expected to hit 2 million barrels per day and domestic refining capabilities improving, the value of the naira is likely to strengthen, creating a positive multiplier effect on the cost of goods and services. The living standards of Nigerians will improve as their purchasing power increases and inflation drops. Businesses will thrive in 2025, leading to higher employment rates as household consumption rises and the cost of doing business decreases. Additionally, the impact of the current administration’s efforts to diversify the economy, improve infrastructure, and enhance security nationwide will further boost economic activity in 2025. These projections are based on the assumption that there will be no major pandemics or other crises locally or globally.

Few things in life are as inspiring as seeing estranged family members set aside their differences and reconcile. The recent emotional reunion of Kunle and Aremu Afolayan at their late mother’s memorial is a testament to the power of forgiveness, love, and the enduring strength of family bonds. It is a moment that reminds us all of the fleeting nature of life and the importance of unity. This act of reconciliation should serve as an example to others, particularly the iconic Nigerian music duo, P-Square, who remain entangled in a long-standing feud.

Peter and Paul Okoye, better known as P-Square, are legends in their own right. Over two decades, they have produced chart-topping hits, selling out arenas across the globe and cementing their place as one of Africa’s greatest musical acts. Yet, their personal rift has overshadowed their professional achievements, much to the disappointment of their fans. By drawing inspiration from the Afolayan brothers, P-Square could find their way back to harmony, both as brothers and collaborators.

The Afolayan brothers’ story is one marked by personal struggles and public scrutiny. Years of estrangement between Kunle and Aremu stemmed from a social media controversy that brought family matters into the public domain. Aremu’s post, allegedly disparaging their late father, Ade Love, ignited widespread criticism and led to a deep divide within the family. For Kunle, whose career thrives on maintaining a solid reputation, Aremu’s actions seemed to be a betrayal.

However, when their mother, Omoladun Afolayan, passed away at the age of 81, the brothers were forced to confront the fragility of life. At the service of songs in her honor, Aremu publicly apologized to Kunle, acknowledging his faults and expressing gratitude for Kunle’s sacrifices, particularly the home he built for their mother. The emotional moment drew tears from many in attendance and symbolized the power of humility and love. 

While the Afolayan brothers’ issues were deeply personal, they were not insurmountable. Their reconciliation has brought healing to their family and offers a powerful lesson in choosing unity over discord. This same lesson is desperately needed in the story of P-Square.

The Okoye brothers’ journey has been one of incredible highs and heartbreaking lows. As P-Square, they gave the world unforgettable hits like “Do Me," "Beautiful Onyinye," and *"No One Like You." However, their professional collaboration came to an abrupt halt in 2017 when a dispute involving their manager and elder brother, Jude Okoye, escalated into a full-blown feud. Accusations flew back and forth, and the tension soon seeped into their personal relationship, leading to their eventual breakup.

While they made a brief attempt at reconciliation in 2021, the underlying issues remain unresolved. The brothers have continued to operate as solo artists, with Peter going by the name Mr. P and Paul performing as Rudeboy. The division has robbed fans of the magic that only P-Square can create, and more importantly, it has deprived their family of the unity that once defined them.

The Afolayan brothers’ story shows that reconciliation is not just about mending fences; it is about healing wounds and creating a legacy of unity for future generations. For P-Square, making peace would mean more than just repairing their professional brand. It would be a testament to their growth, maturity, and understanding of what truly matters in life.

Life is too short to hold grudges, especially within families. Just as the Afolayans demonstrated at their mother’s memorial, moments of loss can serve as powerful reminders of the things we often take for granted, love, family, and togetherness. The Okoye brothers still have time to reflect and take steps toward reconciliation, not only for themselves but for their fans and loved ones.

One of the most striking aspects of the Afolayan brothers’ reconciliation was Aremu’s public apology. By admitting his faults and expressing gratitude, Aremu displayed a level of vulnerability that is often rare in public figures. This act of humility softened hearts and set the tone for a new chapter in their relationship.

Similarly, a public acknowledgment of mistakes could go a long way for P-Square. Both Peter and Paul have, at different times, aired their grievances on social media, a move that only fueled public speculation and widened the gap between them. By taking responsibility for their actions and choosing to move forward, they can send a powerful message about the importance of family and forgiveness.

The P-Square brothers have already given so much to the world through their music. Imagine the impact of their reconciliation, not just on their careers, but on the millions of fans who look up to them. They have the power to inspire others by demonstrating that even the deepest wounds can heal with time, effort, and love.

Peter and Paul, the time to make peace is now. The world is watching, hoping, and waiting for the day when the Okoye brothers will stand together as one. Your story, like that of the Afolayan brothers, can serve as a beacon of hope for others struggling with familial conflicts.

Kunle and Aremu Afolayan’s reconciliation is a reminder that the bonds of family can withstand even the fiercest storms. Their story is a lesson in humility, forgiveness, and the enduring power of love. For P-Square, this is the perfect moment to take a step back and reflect on what truly matters. Life is too short to let pride and misunderstandings keep loved ones apart.

Just as the Afolayan brothers honored their mother’s memory by choosing unity, the Okoye brothers can honor their legacy and the love that once united them by making peace. The world is waiting for P-Square to remind us all that blood, indeed, is thicker than water. In fact, the question that continues to beg for answer, and which is invariably the headline of this piece is, “Will P-Square follow the Afolayan brothers' example in proving that blood is thicker than water?”

There is a shrinking feeling about it all. With each off -season election that is conducted and results announced, we feel smaller and more unfree as a polity. Our elections bring about more insecurity; unpopular electoral outcomes require goons and thugs to protect illicit incumbents.  And of course a larger number of  election related court cases spring up to create work and money for an army of lawyers and judges. The state of alienation of the majority of the people is palpable. The elation and celebration is mostly among the minority of those who happen to have ‘won’ in this particular election. For the rest, the majority of consequential electorate, it is an overwhelming sense of betrayal, of being hoodwinked and ousted from what was meant to be a general celebration of democracy and collective empowerment.

As we conduct more elections, the size of our voter population seems to be shrinking. In fact, it seems to be running in inverse relation to the longevity of our democracy. The more the number of years we celebrate as a “democracy”, the smaller the voter population seems to be running. After 25 years of unbroken democracy, our sense of democratic participation and involvement seems to be thinning out, shrinking as we conduct more ‘successful’ elections. In short, many more Nigerians now feel excluded from the process of leadership selection than they did in 1999.

It is worse. In order to guarantee more security on election day, the population of policemen, soldiers, State Security Service personnel, civil defense personnel and other paramilitary personnel swamp voters, candidates and election officials. The atmosphere is one of a garrison event. Voting venues sometimes look more like  mini garrisons with uniformed personnel in full battle gear menacingly on patrol in election venues. You wonder who the “enemy” is really as these personnel brandish assault rifles and handguns. These scenes hardly remind you of  a ritual in praise of freedom to choose leaders. People are frightened. Sensible people either stay away to be safe or avoid these scenes of undeclared war. In any case, more often than not, the end results that are declared often run counter to the real expressions of the wishes of the people. Even if peoples’ express  wishes are reflected in the results, those ‘elected’ do whatever they wish, not what the people voted for.

The frightening prospect about Nigerian democracy is that fewer and fewer people are coming out to vote. People register and obtain voters cards for identification purposes, not necessarily for voting. You never know which bank or government office might need a voters card for identification! Otherwise, people register as voters and prefer to stay home  and safe on election days!

Recently, in rapid succession, off-season governorship elections have successfully held in Edo and Ondo states. In spite of charges of rampant vote trading and other minor familiar bad behaviour among political mobs, the elections largely testified to a degree of democratic commitment. The announced results have since formed the basis for a peaceful transfer of power from one gubernatorial dispensation to its successor. The aggrieved have since proceeded to courts and tribunals in a shameful tradition that only castigates the sorry quality of our elections. To that extent, democracy can be said to be alive and well in Nigeria. We hold periodic elections. Elaborate logisitics are laid out. Big money is often wasted. Results are announced. Election officials and political hacks cash out and go home richer from a season of harvest. Some even build new houses.

Yet for all the appearance of democratic progress, Nigeria may be sliding more into minority rule than progressing with democracy as majority rule. The most classic definition of democracy is the rule and triumph of the majority as a result of credible elections. Yes, the majority is a statistical dominance which overwhelms the minority. It presupposes that those qualified to vote participate in the ballot and overwhelm the minority in a triumph of the majority. Majoritarian prevalence is the essence of democratic rule. If however, the reverse obtains, a situation in which the minority prevails over the majority and their electoral verdict comes to determine who rules, then we may have enthroned a curious  minority rule. Something  is wrong when an exercise that was intended to serve majority rule ends up repeatedly enthroning minority rule.

In both Edo and Ondo, the new governors were elected by less than 25% of the registered voters. In Edo, only 24.49% of the 2.6 million registered voters cast their votes. Similarly in Ondo, less than 500, 000 or 25% of the registered 2 million voters cast votes. Other registered voters either stayed away or could not be bothered that something important was taking place in their states on the election days. This trend merely accentuates a trend that had gathered steam in the 2023 presidential election.

In the 2023 presidential elections,  only 26.72% of registered voters cast their votes mostly for the three main candidates with a smattering of votes for the other numerous candidates of the nearly 80 parties. That dismal turnout and the overall result cast a pall over the election and its confusing nature has lingered and tormented the incumbency of Mr. Bola Tinubu as president till date. For good reason, Mr. Tinubu is viewed more as a ”minority” leader on account of being sworn into office on the basis of less than 9 million votes in a population of over 80 million registered voters and a national population of 200 million odd people.

Literally about 24.9 million voted in that presidential election in what is a 44-year low in voter turnout. Tinubu got 8.8 million votes to be sworn to rule over a nation of over 200 million with over 80 million registered voters!

The conventional wisdom in established democracies is to reduce low voter statistics to low voter turnout. Thereafter, all manner of explanations and academic explanations are sought for low voter turnout. What  however is breeding in Nigeria is not just low voter turnout in an established democracy. It is a deepening malaise.  It is a progressive mass apathy, a turning away from democracy. It is a vote of no confidence in democracy and  its serial disappointments over the years.  People have been losing interest over time to elections and their efficacy as instruments for democratic change.

An election may change the personae that drives a democratic government. But elections in Nigeria have failed serially in improving the quality of governance, the quality of live of the people. If we reduce the essence of democratic governance to   the qualitative change in the lives of the people, then elections must mean more than periodic rituals. They must mean the use  of elections to replace  a less effective an ineffective government with a more effective one. In it all, democracy and the elections that power it must be a change mechanism  to empower a more effective governance in the delivery of good governance. If periodic elections fail to empower leadership that brings about positive change in the life of the people, then elections begin to lose their import and meaning.

In recent years, people are more excited by the entertainment value of the ritual of election season.  There are the massive campaigns, mass movements, the garish party -inspired costumes and of course the gifts, cash handouts, items of “stomach infrastructure” and other inducements to drive partisan followership. Outside these fleeting elements, the actual ritual of voting means nothing. Most people have already  concluded that  the elections will not fundamentally change their lives from the perspective of real governance action.

At best, the ritual of democracy and elections becomes a class thing. The elite tend to see elections as the business of the lower classes, those who are gullible, who can be enticed with petty cash inducement, small gifts, and empty promises . These are people who can afford the time and inconvenience to go out and wait endlessly in the elements to cast a vote and justify their petty inducement packages. The elite are too busy with other important things and cannot afford the inconvenience. In any case, their existential conveniences have been guaranteed by their social and occupational entitlements and position. They reduce good governance to material good things. Why queue to vote if you have water, electricity, a car, personal security guards or some left over cash to send junior to a nice school? Active political choice at election time is therefore left to active party members, the few that can be mobilized, induced or bought to vote for chosen candidates.

On election day, the elite wait in the comfort of their cozy homes while their servants, gatemen, divers, cooks, stewards, nannies and other menial and servile dependents troop out to vote and decide on who rules the next dispensation.  When subsequently the governance process goes awry and society fares poorly, the elite leads in the criticism and complaints. This is the contradiction of Nigerian democracy.

The vast majority of people , namely, the elite, the rural and urban majority are alienated from the electoral process. People spend years going through a democratic ritual of elections without seeing any positive changes in their life circumstances. Nothing changes. Therefor, over time, the majority of people see little or no point in subsequent elections. The outcome is a succession of  ‘minority’ governments over time.  This is the underlying logic of the recent results that we have seen in recent times. Our low voter turnout means the prevalence of minority rule, government by the minority over the majority.

Yet, it is the verdict of this  statistical minority that goes to determine the outcome of our elections. This minority elects the next president, the next set of governors, legislators , local government officials etc.  In effect, we have a democracy controlled by a statistical minority left to rule the lives of the majority. The result is a succession of minority governments with the majority of the populace left to grumble and complain for the next four or so years.

A statistical minority government does not exactly fit the conventional definition of  “minority “ rule. We are used to minority rule by minorities defined in terms of ethnicity, race, caste or class. That is usually a political ruse  deliberately foisted by a political elite that wants to dominate power as in Apartheid old South Africa or America before universal suffrage and the end of slavery.

Statistical minority rule such as we are witnessing recently in Nigeria is something else. It is the result of  the disfigurement of  democracy by political and social manipulation and usurpation. In an assumed democracy, if a ruling elite is empowered by a demographic minority to rule over the majority, it is the fault of democracy itself. If democracy fails to deliver good governance, the life of the people worsens over time and democracy itself is endangered. The minority can be manipulated to commandeer the electoral process to produce  results that place minority governments in place.

But these minority governments cannot in themselves guarantee or protect democracy as a value system. It is the delivery  of good governance alone that can ensure majority participation and mass election participation. Democracy can only mean majority rule when governance guarantees good governance for the majority. It becomes the business of the majority to troop out to protect and defend democracy with their votes.

Call her naïve but she spoke the minds of millions. I am talking about the woman interviewed by TVC during the Ondo state governorship election last weekend. Asked how the voting went, the woman, speaking in Yoruba, said: “Everything went peacefully. We have voted and we have collected money. Everything went well.” A lady (probably her daughter) sitting next to her was trying to restrain her from talking about the money part, but she resisted, repeating the same line about the voting and the money. For all you care, she was not naïve: she was just discussing a typical day in a voter’s life. In most parts of Nigeria, voters eagerly look forward to doing this quick business on election day.

Call him paranoid but he was not naïve. In another video from the same election, a man, on seeing some guys at the polling unit, started warning others about a looming danger. He kept telling the people (including a policewoman): “Be at alert… some people have surrounded this place… be at alert…” Before he finished delivering his security advisory, gun shots had started ringing out and, in the words of the legendary Fela, “everybody scatter scatter”. Now running away, the man added frantically: “I told you earlier on…be at alert…” In parts of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, election day is a day for sorrow, tears and blood. What is election without the shooting? Who does that?

Call them sore losers but they know the game. After APC’s Lucky Aiyedatiwa was declared winner, the PDP rejected the result. In a statement issued by Hon Debo Ologunagba, the PDP spokesperson, he said his party, all “lovers of democracy in Nigeria” and “across the world” have just witnessed the “worst election” conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)”. He called it the “height of electoral swindle, deceit and manipulation”, and added that the election “witnessed widespread merchandising, monetisation and barefaced vote buying and voter suppression”. By the way, nobody loses elections in Nigeria: when you don’t win, it is because your opponent rigged.

Democracy is practised in different shapes and sizes across countries and continents but the values of free and fair elections are non-negotiable. But in Nigeria, credible elections are still trying to find a home. Our elections are blood-stained. Votes are freely bought and sold. “One person, one vote” remains largely an aspiration. The judiciary is not reliable on matters of justice and is often an interloper. I acknowledge that the countries we call “democratic” today also went through a similar teething process and became refined along the way. But this is my worry: is Nigeria enjoying this underdeveloped electoral system so much that it is now stuck with it? Or is it still in transition?

I am particularly worried because we have been practising electoral democracy in fits and starts since 1960 but the transgenerational enemies within are refusing to let go. My excuse used to be that the military interventions of 1966 and 1983 stunted our democracy. I also used to say if the military had allowed our politicians to wobble, fumble and rediscover itself over time, Nigeria’s democratic culture would have been much refined and more advanced by now. But we have now enjoyed uninterrupted democracy for 25 years and we are still struggling with holding credible and peaceful elections. Does it mean our elections have plateaued at the wrong point on the learning curve?

Our electoral process has gone through different phases of reform since 1960 but they are always undermined by desperate politicians who will stop at nothing to get into power. There was a time we used wooden ballot boxes and people would vote inside kiosks. This was to guarantee secrecy and avoid voter intimidation. Votes would be collated and results announced at a centre later. In those days, electoral officers could even keep the sensitive electoral materials at home a day to voting. Because of the malpractices that came with the self-regulation, we started to amend the procedures in order to give confidence to the voters and protect electoral integrity. But things did not change.

Experiments performed by Prof Humphrey Nwosu as chairman of the electoral commission in the early 1990s were to refine our practices. He restored the ancient open ballot system whereby voters would openly queue behind the posters of their candidates. This was considered retrogressive; it created so many complications (for families especially) that it had to be abandoned. He then came up with the modified open ballot system: you would vote inside a booth but the ballot box would be outside. This was to prevent ballot-stuffing. To grow “grassroots politics”, he tried “Option A4” by which presidential aspirants had to contest at four levels — ward, council, state and then national.

Chief Sumner Dagogo-Jack, the electoral boss under Gen Sani Abacha, came up with the transparent ballot box that looked like a “puff puff” show glass (a version of which we use till this day, replacing glass with plastic). The intention was to curtail ballot-stuffing. Let everyone see what is in the box. I joked then that what we needed was transparent honesty, not transparent ballot boxes. Ballot stuffing did not stop. Prof Maurice Iwu stopped the manual registration of voters and introduced electronic “capturing” of biometrics. This was to tackle multiple registration. We heard later that politicians were still getting phantom voters registered by using palm kernel as finger prints.

Prof Attahiru Jega introduced card readers for voter accreditation but politicians still sabotaged it. The card readers started failing. The back-up option was hijacked to perpetrate multiple voting in some areas. This was common during the 2015 general election. Prof Yakubu Mahmoud, the current chairman, introduced the BVAS as an improvement on card readers because of its capacity to accredit voters as well as scan result sheets and upload them to a server. He also introduced IReV for the public to view the results uploaded at each polling unit. These innovations were aimed at improving transparency and credibility but Nigerian politicians still devised ways to sabotage them.

My fear then is that we might have settled for electoral malpractices as part of our democratic culture. For one, it seems vote trading has come to stay, and this is often blamed on poverty. Only very few candidates have genuine followers. They, therefore, do not have to induce voters. So far, I know of only two presidential candidates with such clout in the fourth republic. People loved them — although much of that affection was influenced by ethnic and religious sentiments and very well boosted by the support of neutrals who sincerely believed those candidates were messiahs. Otherwise, vote buying is the norm. Millions of poor voters always look forward to the “reward”.

Violence is another terrible aspect of the ingrained culture. It is understood that politicians must have “tough guys” for “security” during elections, although they are used mostly to suppress voting, to intimidate voters, to disrupt polls in “enemy territory” and, in several instances, to kill and maim opponents. These political thugs — many of them labelled as “road transport unionists” — are well known and celebrated as tin gods in their communities. Police know these gangsters but feel helpless because of the influence of their principals. Some gangsters have become billionaires — since they are well treated by their principals. They occupy highly coveted positions. Has this too come to stay?

We have also created a culture of elections by court injunctions. Nigeria has descended into a state that a judge can even grant an injunction to stop the police from providing security for an election simply because an opponent complained that the state budget was not properly passed! Judges now determine who should be party chairman and secretary, who should be the resident electoral commissioner (REC), who should be a party’s candidate and who should be declared the winner. If this trend continues, we may not need to vote again. We will just sit at home and wait for the courts to pick candidates, allocate votes and announce winners. We are inching towards that every day.

We have a culture of blaming the INEC chairman (whoever it is per time) for all the woes that betide the electoral system. Ironically, the INEC chairman is in Abuja while elections are taking place in over 176,000 polling units across Nigeria. Whatever shenanigans occur in Ikot Ekpene, Ngor Okpala, Fiditi, Erin-Ile, Michika and Funtua are attributed to the chairman. I saw a meme after the US election saying the only person who could change the results in favour of Kamala Harris was Mahmoud, the INEC chairman. People easily forget that what the chairman does in a presidential election is to sum up the scores announced by returning officers who come in with the results from all the states.

As the returning officer for presidential elections, the INEC chairman cannot change a single digit in the results already announced by the returning officers in state capitals, but he is held responsible for all the malfeasance in 36 states, 774 LGAs, 109 senatorial distracts, 360 federal constituencies, 8,809 wards and 176,846 polling units. The INEC chairman is held responsible for the shooting, vote trading, ballot snatching, and rigging. He must be a superman! When PDP was in power, APC always called for the sack of INEC chairman anytime they lost an election. They were on Jega’s case until they finally won in 2015 and he became their hero. It is now PDP’s turn to cry — anytime they lose.

For as long as we continue to attribute all the faults in the entire electoral system to the INEC chairman, we will not be able to have a robust diagnosis of the ailments and proffer the right antidotes. The INEC bosses have their faults (we know how openly partisan Iwu was — he did not even pretend) but the electoral system is bigger and wider than the electoral commission. The securities agencies can make rigging impossible if they are not induced to do otherwise. For me, we need a holistic diagnosis so that we can see how many loopholes we can plug decisively. We should not allow our narrow thinking to empower the enemies of democracy to prevail. We deserve better.   

I have to add here that it is not a hopeless situation for us, no matter how complicated. I am encouraged that although our elections might be troubled, we still hold them as and when due. That is progress. We stopped an attempt to elongate presidential tenure via a subterranean constitutional amendment. Progress. Technology has helped us clean up the voter register. Many states that used to churn out millions of votes are now recording realistic figures. Progress. A sitting president lost an election and conceded. Big progress. The biggest challenge today is how to curb the desperation of politicians to win at all costs. That, to me, is responsible for this cancerous culture of electoral fraud.

AND FOUR OTHER THINGS…

OBASANJO VS APC

In 2015, ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo openly collaborated with the APC to dethrone President Goodluck Jonathan and the PDP — a party on whose platform he was twice elected president. Obasanjo launched constant, ferocious attacks on Jonathan in conjunction with then APC Candidate Muhammadu Buhari and Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, even tearing his PDP membership card in front of TV cameras. But speaking at the Chinua Achebe Leadership Forum at Yale University nine years later, Obasanjo lamented that Nigeria has become a “failed state” owing to the policies of “Baba Go-Slow” (referring to Buhari) and “Emilokan” (Tinubu). I can now officially claim that I have seen it all. Wow!

PARASITES AND CO

I find the datasets coming out from the detailed figures on VAT revenue and distribution very interesting. They put a lie to the received wisdom that only a part of the country is benefitting disproportionately from the commonwealth. As I have always argued, many of these assumptions are myths. By the time we see and analyse the raw data, things are not as lopsided in favour of one region as they are often portrayed. So many states across the regions and geo-political zones are parasites on federally collected revenues, but those who have made careers on promoting the myths will never agree. Next: let us exclude oil revenues and calculate how it will affect every state. Busted.

SPOKE IN THE WHEEL

I have still not seen anything to convince me that President Tinubu prepared for decades to lead this country. He cannot even decide what kind of media team he wants, with so many spokesmen answering “special advisers” — unprecedented in both civilian and military eras. Choosing a spokesman is usually one of the earliest and (I dare say) easiest appointments but in 18 months, Tinubu does not seem to know who or what he wants. Appointees being re-designated just days after appointment is the simplest confirmation of the ad-hoc way that Tinubu has adopted as his own governing style. We have now been officially informed there are three spokesmen. Seriously?

NO COMMENT

Dr Eric Odo, the “executive chairman” (our politicians love this “executive” title) of Igbo-Etiti LGA, Enugu state, has given us some food for thought by appointing senior special assistants (SSAs) on garden egg, yam and pepper. He could not believe that people made fun of him, so he had to come out to explain himself.  Odo said the appointments are meant to boost production of these crops in large quantity “to satisfy local demands and for export”. He described his critics as “disgruntled individuals, bad losers and opposition”. Well, I am a lover of the divine “ofe oha”. Fellow Nigerians, don’t I have the right to be disgruntled that he did not appoint an SSA for oha soup? Wonderful.

I was taken aback by the flurry of rejoinders to last week’s former Osun State Governor Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola’s “love letter” to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Believe me, it was far beyond my expectations, even though an eye-opener in its own right. Virtually none of the respondents saw the point I was trying to make: that the message is as important – perhaps more important – than the messenger and that we throw the baby away with the bath water at our own peril. I am certain there are those who should have responded in the direction that I expected – but why did they elect to keep mute? It was another lesson learnt in the political behaviour of our people. One can understand the vitriol poured on the former governor by his political opponents and those at the receiving end of his sojourn in the corridors of power. But what of those who benefitted from him? Why are they not ready to come out in the open now to identify with him? All the defenders of Aregbesola’s policies and programmes while he was in office (“O-This”, “O-That”); all those who sang his praises; all those who clutched and grabbed the limelight with him – where are they now in Aregbesola’s hour of need? If they cannot write simple rejoinders to support or defend him, what else should we expect from them? Could it be because they have nothing to gain from the former governor any more? Or they are afraid to be marked down by the new sheriffs in town?

Or what do you think of the relentless and vitriolic assault hauled at President Tinubu by former President Olusegun Obasanjo? The former president has turned himself into the country’s unofficial Opposition Leader, brushing aside Atiku Abubakar of the PDP and Peter Obi of the Labour Party to the bargain. Presidential aides like Sunday Dare and Bayo Onanuga have responded in kind. Who of the two sides do we accuse of demeaning and diminishing the prestige and status of the office of the President? Is it the white cock that does not recognise itself as leader or the shrimps tugging at a whale? At issue here is the same problem of the messenger and the message. Should we, because of the messenger, discontenance the message? Shouldn’t we dispassionately side-step the messenger and painstakingly consider his message? I agree with Onanuga and Dare that Obasanjo’s temerity and audacity rankle. If there is anyone who has contributed the lion share of the country’s problems, it is Obasanjo. In saner climes, here is a man who should be cooling his heels somewhere. I am sure you know what I mean. Insultingly, he flaunts it in our face, shoves it down our throat and makes the loudest noise, mocking us to the bargain!

I love the way Onanuga, for instance, catalogued the many woes Nigerians suffered during the watch of Obasanjo both as military Head of State and as civilian president. The list of the atrocities were near-endless. Onanuga even forgot to mention Odi and Zaki-Biam or did he intentionally leave those ones out – the mindless, senseless and outrageous wiping out of entire communities for the sins of a few? But having said that, you still need to dispassionately and copiously respond to the accusations made by the messenger. Return and respond to the message even after having taken the messenger to the cleaners. Not doing that, you only answered one question out of two and cannot possibly score anything more than 50 percent of the available marks at the very best. You abused the man because he abused or irritated you – so what? Tell us your achievements. Rekindle our hope in your leadership. Your mantra is Renewed Hope – where is it? Let me stop here before I am accused of trying to prove that I know the job better than the motley crowd of strange bed-fellows already saddled with the responsibility!

Back to Aregbesola. Let’s learn useful lessons from some of the rejoinders to the former governor’s “love letter” to President Tinubu. Those in the corridors of power at the moment, who are carrying themselves as if their tenure will never come to an end, need this more than Aregbesola himself:

“Once beaten, twice shy, so they say! Any message from a person like Aregbe may not carry enough weight with his political benefactors-turned foes. Aregbe, more or less, made the ruling party lose Osun State. How effective was he as the Minister of Interior? Even when he was the Commissioner of Works in Lagos State representing Alimosho local Government, what benefits accrued to Alimosho his constituency? Lagos State money was wasted on him to get his mandate in Osun. How did he pay back the magnanimity of Lagos? Having ruled in Osun for eight years, did he not try to become a senator from Lagos? He succeeded in making Ambode, the person who developed many roads in Alimosho, to lose favour from their benefactor. Ambode eventually lost his bid for a second term and was tagged ‘a good Governor but a bad politician’. Aregbe, to my mind, deserves the cold shoulder he is receiving from Tinubu. – Pa EK Odeleye.

Aregbe should keep shut! He swindled Osun people for eight years, paying salaries on a percentage basis for the first time in our country’s history. He has nothing to offer. Tinubu may not be my hero but Aregbe could possibly have been nobody till today if not for Tinubu. I am surprised you are wasting your time discussing (someone who) held us to ransom for eight years with impunity as if there is no tomorrow. Unfortunately for him, there is tomorrow…and it is here! – David Onilede.

I beg to differ a bit on Aregbesola. I am someone who puts a lot of weight on loyalty and decency. I am not a politician but even in politics, there should be some basic rules of decency. Aregbesola forgot about loyalty and all Tinubu did for him, he threw decency to the winds (the internet is awash with his activities). I believe he never thought Tinubu could win. The seemingly impossible came to pass. Tinubu will be extremely unwise to allow Aregbesola to come anywhere close to him again. That will be like courting disaster. It will be like putting a viper under your robe and covering it  close to your bosom. A snake can shed its skin but it still remains what it is – a snake. His second coming will be like the return of Abija. I am a strong advocate of: when a person shows you who they really are the first time, please believe them! Aregbesola is just seeking attention and relevance, there are routes he could have taken to pass on the message without his ‘signature’. – Prof. Obilade.

Rauf, according to Oyinlola, was the architect of the woes of my generation of retired CPS’s. Jagaban has already become president; of what relevance is Aregbesola to Tinubu? Like you rightly said, it is when they leave office that they become ‘oniwaasi agbaye’! – Oludoye.

If you were in the shoes of Tinubu and faced what Aregbesola did and said to him publicly, would you open your doors for him to come and do the maximum damage? The likes of Aregbesola who knew and benefited well from Tinubu but went back to betray him are worse than Brutus and Judas. They do not deserve any form of reconciliation. Ask Julius Caesar and Jesus Christ and they will tell you that they never had the second chance to learn from their mistakes. – Prof. Kolawole.

Only a foolish man will open his door to his foes. Why invite death when it is not one’s turn yet? Is Aregbesola not one of the few in whose hands the nation’s wealth is concentrated? In other countries, he would be in jail for the number of jail-breaks during his tenure as Minister of Interior. Who is he to talk about worsened insecurity? Under his watch, criminals were let loose in the name of jail-break. While  I am not in support of the Jagaban’s harsh economic policies, I do not think he should embrace a betrayer. – Funmi Jolaoso-Komolafe.

Why is Aregbesola afraid of a revolution? Is it to save his head, having joined the class of the nouveau riche (the oppressors)? Aregbesola used to be a comrade at The Polytechnic, Ibadan those days where he railed against rapacious capitalism as we have it in the country today. Having lost the chummy relationship with Tinubu after a big hug with capitalism, which made him an all-round success and beneficiary of the system, why worry now? Is he afraid of the people now or he wants to worm himself back to relevance and cuddle power once more?  – Dipo Onabanjo.

What advice did Aregbesola give Buhari when he, Aregbesola, was Buhari’s minister? Did he not benefit under this system? Why not say all this then? Surely, he is looking for access at all costs. – Toyin Olakunri.

Are you technically begging for the adoption of Aregbesola into Tinubu’s political family?  You know that will be difficult to achieve as long as Oyetola is still close to Tinubu and the Lagos political mafia is against Ogbeni. I am yet to figure out how Aregbe hit his head against the wall. I guess he was over-ambitious. I really love Aregbe and felt disappointed that he went against Tinubu. You don’t bite the fingers that fed you. His supposed letter is to remind the public that he is still around. Remember his outbursts that offended Tinubu’s political family? How do you forget that? Aregbesola fumbled, period! He should politically rest in peace! – Alhaji Ore Salako.”

Whaaooh! Space constraints will not allow us to print more rejoinders but the lessons are as clear as daylight. One: Be careful what you say or do today. Life is all about twists and turns. Aregbesola is not the only one guilty of this. I wonder how some of our leaders feel when they are reminded today of statements they made yesterday! But it happens also abroad! Days ago, I watched one British minister struggle hard to eat his vomit on Donald Trump! Two: The jesters milling around you in the corridors of power today will not be there to look your way, not to talk of defending or standing by you, tomorrow! When the chips are down, you will be ON YOUR OWN (OYO)!

Importantly, I think former Gov. Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State should reach out to President Tinubu with tips on how to overhaul relationships gone awry and turn adversity into unthinkable opportunities.

I am always fascinated by backstroke swimming. You can’t comprehend the incredible power of propulsion at the command of human limbs until you analyse a race in reverse gear, complete with the athlete’s natural compass which facilitates lane discipline.

Having watched recent developments regarding constitutional amendments and suggestions on changing from the current presidential system of government to the parliamentary mode from whence we came, I think it’s time we weaponised a proverb from our ancestors: If a forward march doesn’t get us to a satisfactory destination, there is no harm in returning to the original place from where we took off.

Parliament

Politically, we practiced the parliamentary system of government during the First Republic. It served us well. – if the developmental attainments of the period are compared to the last 25 years when we literally squandered our national wealth in the service of our newfound greed.

I don’t want this to be another panegyric on that great statesman, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the man who taught us that we were all sent to this world for a purpose and it is our duty to find that purpose and fulfil it instead of living a soulless life like a scavenging homeless pet.

During the First Republic, each region had its own style, its own vision and socio-political tempo. The Western Region tagged itself the pacesetter. Awolowo enforced the free education policy and personally motivated the people to aspire towards producing children the society could be proud of. One of the premier’s favourite quotes was the one in which he hoped that the son of his barber would, someday, by merit, emerge as a parliamentarian or a minister so that the cycle of poverty would not be passed from generation to generation.

To accommodate the increase in school enrolment, the number of primary schools rose from 3,550 in 1952 to 6,670 by the end of 1958. When the scheme was launched in January 1955, the number had increased by 430,432 to an unprecedented high of 811,432 children. Awolowo allocated an average of 35 percent of the total recurrent budget each year to education between 1954 and 1959.

What obtained in other regions was custom-made by their political leaders. Whereas primary education in the Lagos Colony was spread over eight years (Primaries One and Two followed by Standards One to Six), the primary education programme in the North took seven years. In the Eastern Region, it was six years.

Secondary education was a more uniform five-year programme, except that some elite schools made provision for Lower 6 and Upper 6 to pave the way for direct admission to the university. Premier Ahmadu Bello of Northern Nigeria designed a crash programme of mass education to produce the massive number of teachers and other professionals that the region needed. Incredibly, although a devout Muslim himself, he maintained a policy of ‘One North’ and did not encourage discrimination on the basis of ethnicity or religion.

The Western Region had the most advanced apprenticeship/skill acquisition system in which enrolees learnt various skills under a standardised system which culminated in ‘Freedom’, the equivalent of convocation. A tailor, mechanic or electrician upon graduation was regarded as a solid professional ready to face the world’s challenges. There was dignity in labour devoid of any inferiority complex.

Prosperity

In the Eastern Region, the redoubtable Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe was succeeded by Dr. Michael Okpara in 1960. At 39, Okpara was the youngest premier in the entire federation. His political activism was fired, not only by the enthusiasm of youth, but also by ideological adrenalin. He was a proponent of what he called ‘pragmatic socialism’. He triggered an agricultural revolution in the Eastern Region to such an extent that young people were attracted to make a living through cultivating cash and food crops in farm settlements which the government facilitated.

Under his leadership, the Eastern Region was able to export £3 million of rice and other staple food items. He also embarked on a massive industrialisation scheme in Enugu, Port Harcourt, Calabar, Aba and Umuahia. As a medical doctor, he brought his knowledge to bear in the government’s fight to eradicate yaws and leprosy and also built new hospitals. The region had large deposits of coal and other minerals but Okpara ensured that he tapped the agricultural bounties of his region instead of depending only on minerals.

The quality of leadership that the regions had in the First Republic was high. That level of competence, passion, relative honesty and spirit of competition has never been seen in any part of Nigeria since then. No wonder Nigeria prospered. As the Western Region was exporting cocoa through its vibrant marketing boards and producing food in excess of requirement (even though the region had proven deposits of bitumen, gold, talc, lead and zinc, gypsum, bentonite and baryte, rock salt and iron ore); the Eastern Region has Uranium, Iron ore, glass sands, granite, clays, oil and gas, bauxite, lignite, tin and columbite.

In the North, nature has deposited  feldspar, limestone, kaolin, clay, potash, iron-ore, natural salt, uartz, magnetite, diatomite, trona, mica, silica sand, gypsum, granite chips, flutters earth and uranium, gemstones, marble, manganese, molybdenum, lithium, nickel,  industrial minerals, gold, cassiterite, tantalite, tin, wolframite, columbite, laterite, Green and yellow phosphate, etc.

Nigerians, no matter their region of origin, are literally walking on wealth! Of course, it is widely known that the former Midwest Region is sitting on not just petroleum resources but also quartzite, marble, gypsum, lignite, limestone, kaolin, graphite, manganese, Ilmenite, gravel,  industrial clay, silica, lignite, tar sand, decorative rocks, limestone, rubber, etc.

With all these possibilities, we continue to grope for a way forward. What were we doing that gave us so much prosperity, self-confidence and self- satisfaction? The regions are having to ask themselves some very uncomfortable questions.

Advancing Backwards

it is impossible to discuss the way forward for Northern Nigeria in the ongoing debate about the future of Nigeria without evoking the image of Premier Ahmadu Bello. Since his assassination in 1966, the region’s leaders have found it expedient to use his name to advance their causes but none of them has attempted, even remotely, to be an embodiment of the selflessness that the former premier personified. Today’s politicians live apart from their people in stupendous wealth.

No one was prouder of his region than Ahmadu Bello. He was so self-assured that he accepted or rejected ideas from other regions on the basis of their socially compatibility. Recently, an academic who has lived through Nigeria’s trajectory from the 50s to the present day tried to kick up the dust of controversy at a friend’s get-together.

“What would the Sardauna have said about so-called ‘Muslim states’ collecting VAT on alcoholic beverages consumed in other states, which is considered “Haram” (i.e., forbidden) in Islam?” He asked.

The agent provocateur answered his own question: “Sardauna would have said the North can mine its minerals instead of mining proceeds of beer and liquor”.

One of the guests also declared that Awolowo would have disowned all those using his name to literally pick people’s pockets today. Not to be left out, their host asked: “Is there any politician from the Eastern Region or Midwest that one can compare with Okpara or Osadebey? We are all fielding our worst elements”.

To each argumentation its own logic! But there is a lot to be said for a system that made us prosper until we started behaving like spoilt children.

Imagine a 100 metre backstroke dash! Any takers?

The conclusion of the whole livestock matter here is that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu can get better rating without involving media blitz if he can harness the human capital and indeed the intellectual power in Nigeria to address the challenges people are agonising about. And here is the thing, the choice of a disciplined intellectual, Professor Attahiru M. Jega from inception of the Livestock Development Agenda till the present has enhanced credibility and knowledge development that is about to change the narrative about wealth and job creation in Africa’s most significant country, Nigeria.

The paradigm shift in Livestock sector that some public intellectuals and technocrats have revived is what our leaders should learn from at this time. They should not play politics with the power that knowledge can give them in the public space. The Livestock Ministry is lucky to have had a solid database and well-documented blueprint of deliverables. All that is needed now is a discipline of getting things done – execution. There is a framework for that as documented in a public service record during the Obasanjo’s second coming (1999-2007). There is a White Paper on consolidated Shonekan- Edozien reports, which birthed the consolidated salary structure in federal public service in the country. The White Paper approves a “Rare Skill Salary Structure” in the public service. The peculiar salary structure that only very few have used empowers the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (HCSF) to attract experts from the private sector without disrupting the extant salary structure.

What this means is that experts from even the oil and gas industry or blue chips can be headhunted if such skilled workers and technocrats can’t be found in the public service. The takeaway from here is that there is room for the new Ministry of Livestock Development to obtain presidential permission to recruit animal scientists, veterinary doctors, extension services and agricultural economics experts, among other scientists and experts that can solidify the infrastructure of the new ministry of livestock development. That is the only way the superstructure of livestock development can be reliable.

As I was researching this piece, I saw this quote from the President of African Development Bank, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, unarguably one of the best Agriculture Ministers Nigeria has ever had. The quote:
‘…The future millionaires and billionaires of Africa will not be coming from oil and gas sector, they will be coming from the agriculture sector. But I want

African countries to be looking at agriculture as a business, not as a way of life. Nobody smokes gas, nobody drinks oil, but everybody eats food. So food is critical and that is what Africa has a comparative advantage in…’

Dr. Adesina, now emerging as the most successful President of the African Development Bank, (AfDB) now in journals of Development Banking as the most successful Development Bank in global context, isn’t a stranger to the agriculture sector. He was reportedly headhunted for the Jonathan administration as Agriculture Minister by former President Olusegun Obasanjo. Until his appointment as Agriculture Minister in 2011, he was Vice President of Policy and Partnerships for the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, (AGRA). He was elected President of AfDB in 2015 and re-elected a second term in 2020. This is a good example of the quality of human capital required by leaders to drive human progress and development.

Dr. Adesina the 8th President of the African Development Bank Group is a globally renowned development economist and agricultural development expert, with more than 30 years of international experience. A bold reformer, as Minister of Agriculture in Nigeria from 2011-2015, Dr. Adesina turned the agriculture sector of Nigeria around within four years. Under his tenure, Nigeria ended 40 years of corruption in the fertiliser sector. That was the attraction to President Buhari and others in May 2015. A firm believer in private sector-led growth, Adesina, radically changed the perception of agriculture in Nigeria from that of subsistence to a viable business that successfully attracted $5.6 billion in private sector investments.

The Adesina example of public intellectuals in governance is one of the reasons the Livestock Ministry should not be filled with poorly educated anyhow graduates the politicians have always supplied the Nigerian bureaucracies since 1999. The quality of members of the Jega Committee on Livestock Reforms too should reflect in the foundation of the purpose-driven Ministry of Livestock Development that the nation expects to be a difference maker, in this regard. Let’s conclude with just the bio data of some of the public intellectuals and technocrats who are currently shaping the revival of livestock development through the Presidential Committee.

Professor Attahiru M. Jega, current Pro-Chancellor, Usman DanFodiyo, University, Sokoto, was chairman of INEC,. He was Vice-Chancellor, Bayero University, Kano, He was the Chairman of the National Conference on Livestock Reforms and Mitigation of Associated Conflicts in Nigeria, (2023) He is the Co-Chairman of the Presidential Livestock Reforms Implementation Committee (2024); Professor Yahaya Mohammed Kuta, former Secretary to the Government of Niger State, a product of the University of Ibadan, is a Professor of Agricultural Extension and Development Communication, University of Ibadan; a member of the University of Maiduguri Governing Council, coordinated the National Conference on Livestock Reforms and Mitigation of Associated Conflicts in Nigeria (2023) and he is the Secretary of the Presidential Livestock Reforms Implementation Committee; Professor Placid Chike Nwosu, former Deputy Governor of Imo State, an animal scientist of repute, was the first Vice-Chancellor Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, first President, Nigerian Institute of Animal Science; Professor Eustace Ayemere Iyayi, Humboldt, Fulbright and Royal Society Scholar is a Professor of Animal Science; a former Dean, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Ibadan, is the immediate past Registrar/Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Institute of Animal Science.; Professor Demo Kalla, is a Professor of Animal Science at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Bauchi; He is the Focal Lead, Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer Office, Technical Lead on Climate Smart Dairy Value Chains and the ATBU-TET-Fund Centre of Excellence on Food Security; Professor Andrew Babatunde Omojola, a Professor of Animal Science, is the current Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Ibadan; a former two –term Director of UI Teaching and Research Farm; Professor Nkiru Meludu Theresa, President of Agricultural Extension Society of Nigeria is a Professor of Food and Nutrition Security at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka;

Professor Abdullahi Mustapha, Director General/CEO of National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA), is a Professor of Bioinorganic Chemistry. He is a member of Nigerian Institute of Chartered Chemists and Royal Society of Chemistry, U.K; Aishatu Abubakar Baju, who holds a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from ABU, Zaria and another Ph.D from University of Plymouth, U.K is an Assistant Inspector General of Police; Professor Olorunfemi Cornelius Jegede, a Professor of Veterinary Parasitology and Former Dean of Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Abuja is a statutory Member Veterinary Council of Nigeria, Professor Joshua Edet Udoh, a Professor of Agricultural Economics, University of Uyo, has over 23 years of teaching, research and leadership experiences within and outside the University; He is a member of Nigerian Economic Society and Nigerian Association of Agricultural Economics and Agricultural Society of Nigeria; Professor Abdullahi Muhammad Yau, a pastoralist who holds B. Sc; M.Sc; PGDE, P.hD degrees from the University of Sussex, United Kingdom is a Cybersecurity Expert who specialises in AI Algorithms in the Office of National Security Adviser (ONSA); Dr. Mustapha Ayodele Popoola, a seasoned expert in Animal production and biotechnology holds a Ph.D in Reproductive Physiology with specialisation in genetic resources management and another Ph.D in Project Management from the Commonwealth University.

He currently serves as Special Assistant to the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security; Dr. Rabe Isa Mani, who holds B.Sc; M.Sc; Ph.D from New Mexico University U.S; University of Ibadan, and University of Melbourne, Australia, all in Animal Science, retired as a Director at the Federal ministry of Agriculture, served the FAO of the United Nations for 10 years; Dr. Saleh Bashayi Momale who holds a Ph.D in Geography and M.Sc in Land Resources from B.U.K, is currently Executive Vice Chairman, Kano State Peace Commission; he has served as Technical Adviser, Livestock to the Minister of Agriculture (2019-2021) was a senior lecturer at the Centre for Dry-land Agriculture, B.U.K; Dr. Junaid Yakubu Muhammad, a Veterinary Public Health Specialist has academic background and expertise in livestock disease prevention and management.

He has managed several World Bank and ISOB-funded projects and was Kano State Agricultural Authority; Dr. Salim Musa Umar, founder and Chairman of Farmers and Herders Initiative for Peace and Development is an alumnus of Equitas Human Rights Training, University of Montreal, Canada; a former Special Adviser to two former Governors o Plateau State on Community Relations once serves as Nigeria Advisor to the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue on Farmers and Herders in Nigeria; Dr. Aliyu Usman Tilde who hold a Ph.D in Agronomy and a Law degree has been an ardent breeder of livestock and currently among leading milk processors in Nigeria.

Others include Uthman Muhammad, former Nigerian National Representative to OPEC, former GM, and Head NNPC London Office, is an engineer and FNSE. He has served in several capacities as Chairman of Herders Relocation to Existing Grazing Reserves; Jibrin Yunus once served as an Assistant Livestock Superintendent in Borno State Ministry of Animals and Forest Resources (1990-1991), served as an Immigration Officer in Internal Affairs Ministry, a former Secretary Alhayah Cattle Breeders Association (1999-2005, Caretaker Chairman All Farmers Association of Nigeria; Mrs Winifred Ifeoma Lai-Solarin, is a seasoned livestock policy, programme, planning and management expert with 34 years of national and international experience; currently a Director in the Ministry of Livestock Development, she was Director of Animal Husbandry in the old Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security. She is a doctoral student of Animal Science and Malam Aminu Murtala Nyako, is the Managing Director International Farms Limited, Yola, Adamawa State. A first-class graduate of Economics and Finance of the Pennsylvania State University, and M.Sc in public policy from Georgetown University, U.S; Aminu pioneered the Sebore Agro-Industrial Free trade Zone. This is how our leaders should freeze politics and face governance fairly with citizens who have knowledge, integrity and courage to deliver public service to the people.