On the eve of last Saturday’s gubernatorial election in Ondo State, Tokunbo Ajasin, son of Second Republic Governor of the old Ondo State (now Ondo and Ekiti States), predicted what would happen. “I believe the incumbent will win. There is no strong opposition, and the APC (All Progressives Congress) candidate is the incumbent,” the 75-year-old scion of the late Michael Adekunle Ajasin told PUNCH newspaper. He then summed up the factor that would determine the outcome: “Ordinarily, the performance of the APC at the national level could have some effect but you know the way things are, nobody looks at performance. It is about whether you can take care of stomach infrastructure. That is the state we are in. If you are not able to take care of stomach infrastructure, I don’t know how you will win. The APC being in power will be able to do that sufficiently.”

That was exactly what transpired last Saturday in a contest in which votes were openly traded between operatives of leading parties and the Ondo electorate. A viral video from the election shows a female voter saying the process was free, fair and devoid of violence but that they all collected money for their ballot. Indeed, tales abound of how political undertakers invaded the polling stations with cash (and mobile phones for online bank transfers) to negotiate the price of a vote that went from between N3,000 and N20,000 depending on the location.

But for those expressing indignation, this is just a mere replay of an old game. A research paper is on the website of the National Institute for Legislative and Democratic Studies (NILDS) titled, ‘Vote Buying and its Implication on Democratic Governance: A Case Study of Ondo State 2020 Governorship Election.’ According to the researcher, Adebayo Zaka Jimoh, while Ondo electorates “are aware of the damage electoral corruption can do on democracy, they continue to accept bribes during elections as witnessed in the case study.”

As I stated earlier, there is nothing new in what happened last weekend in the state or in 2020. Eight years ago, after the election that brought the late Governor Rotimi Akeredolu to power, I wrote, ‘Pot of Soup Democracy’. Below are excerpts from that column, first published on 1st December 2016. Readers can then draw their own conclusions before I get to mine.

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The Ondo State gubernatorial election has come and gone and by most objective accounts, the votes were properly cast, they were counted, and they count—at least to the extent that majority carried the day. We must commend the outgoing Governor Olusegun Mimiko for his maturity in congratulating the winner and all the contenders for displaying sportsmanship. Of course, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has promised to go to court, but if the party leaders are honest with themselves, they will accept responsibility for their woes and begin to put their house in order.

Notwithstanding, there was something about the election that should worry us, and this has been highlighted also in many reports: the transparent buying and selling of votes by agents of the parties, with the main culprit being the PDP that currently controls the state and the APC that is in power at the centre. According to reports, at most of the polling units, agents of the APC and PDP engaged one another in what my brother, Ferdinand Agu (now of blessed memory), once described as a game of “financial shootout” in which victory is almost always to the highest bidders.

The apostle of ‘stomach infrastructure,’ Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti State has alleged that the Ondo election was fought on the basis of “Dibo ko se ‘be” (vote for our candidate guarantee for yourself a pot of soup). While vote buying may not be a new phenomenon in Nigeria, most reports indicate that it was taken to a new level last weekend in Ondo State. Meanwhile, it is interesting that ‘pot of soup’ is fast becoming the defining metaphor for this season. When examined critically, there is only one conclusion to draw from the unfortunate Ondo spectacle: those buying the votes and the ballot sellers were united by the quest for a ‘pot of soup.’

While the voters were desperate to satisfy their immediate hunger, those buying the votes were thinking more of a lifetime of feeding frenzy at public expense. As things stand, most of the people elected to public offices at various levels are not thinking about the welfare of the people, they are only concerned about their own ‘pot of soup.’ And because of that, they bait voters with what could only satiate for a day while plotting for themselves a lifetime of opulence. That is the real essence of “Dibo ko se ‘be”.

In addressing the poser, “why do politicians buy votes?”, Razvan Vlaicu, a senior research economist at the Inter-American Development Bank’s Research Department, argues that it happens in countries where political parties fail to build brands capable of convincing voters that their electoral promises can be trusted. “Citizens, especially the poorest and most marginalized, can come to see the disbursement of cash before elections as the one and only thing they get from an ineffectual government,” Vlaicu wrote. “They can come to depend on it. As a result, a vicious circle emerges. Those who suffer most from corruption become paradoxically those least likely to oppose it.”

The idea of the social contract theory on which government is founded, according to Jean Jacques Rousseau, “may be stated simply: Each of us places his person and authority under the supreme direction of the general will”. But what happens in Nigeria today is a situation where most elected public officials believe they are in no way accountable to the people. However, by helping unscrupulous politicians to power, those who accept gratification for their votes are also putting their future and that of their children in jeopardy…

ENDNOTE: I wrote the foregoing eight years ago but except we want to deceive ourselves, the malaise of vote buying is not restricted to Ondo State, it is a national challenge. That’s why it’s rather simplistic to put the blame for all our electoral woes on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Ordinarily, off-season elections (arising from court rulings that overturn previous elections or death of elected officials) should be easy to conduct. But they are not, essentially because desperate politicians in the leading parties have turned them into a cash-and-carry affair. Besides, it’s only in Nigeria that elections are conducted every other day. It doesn’t happen in other countries.

In their book, ‘How Democracies Die’, Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt argue that the greatest danger to democracy are elected leaders who work to subvert the very process that brought them to power. I subscribe to their thesis. In societies where leaders appropriate to themselves and their immediate families the collective ‘pot of soup’, it is easy to understand why elections are increasingly being reduced to mere bazaar for the highest bidders. Yet, if the underpinning philosophy of a political system is to trade votes for money, then it is not only democracy that is in danger, but also the very survival of such a society.

Who Will Tell the President?

On 2 September 2023, President Bola Tinubu recalled all the 42 career and 41 non-career ambassadors appointed by former President Muhammadu Buhari. These were men and women serving in many of our 109 diplomatic missions worldwide, comprising 76 embassies, 22 high commissions and 11 consulates. More than a year after these envoys returned home, they are yet to be replaced. Earlier in the year, Foreign Affairs Minister, Yusuf Tuggar, attributed the development to financial constraints. “We met a situation where Foreign Affairs was not being funded like the way it should be. It is a money problem,” Tuggar explained in May this year. “There is no point sending out ambassadors if you do not have the funds for them to even travel to their designated country and to run the missions effectively, one needs funding.”

While I felt it didn’t speak well that our country would advertise to the world that Nigeria cannot appoint ambassadors because there is no money to fund them, I still concluded it might not be a big deal. Until I encountered a retired Nigerian ambassador in Washington DC, United States, last weekend. “Hi Segun, why have you not written about the fact that President Tinubu has not appointed ambassadors for any of our missions? Or you think it is not important?”

I really did not know how to respond to his questions. But I didn’t have to. The retired diplomat went on a long lecture on the role of an ambassador before he shared insider information about what is going on in Abuja. He said a few career diplomats were appointed as Consul Generals to New York and Atlanta (USA) and Shanghai (China) among others “but this is not the same thing as appointing substantive ambassadors”. Right now, according to him, “we have no ambassador in Washington DC, none in Beijing, none in London, none in Paris, none in Moscow and no Permanent Representative at the UN headquarters in New York, or Geneva and Vienna. Yet, Nigeria is supposed to be gunning for a permanent seat at a reformed UN Security Council. What a joke!”

The retired diplomat asked, “So, who follows up on those agreements being signed by President Tinubu everywhere he goes in search of some imaginary foreign investment? You think a CDA (Chargé D’affaires) can do that? Diplomacy is a rank conscious affair. In most countries, a CDA would only be referred to some desk officers in their Ministry of Foreign Affairs. I served as CDA in an important country before I became an ambassador. So, I know how these things work.”

After asking whether I had time to visit the Nigerian embassy in Washington DC to buttress his point and I said such was not within my plan, he continued, “an officer of our foreign ministry who strangely was posted to act as CDA here (Washington DC) was also asked to oversee the UN Permanent Mission during that period. It is not only bizarre but totally unacceptable. Nigeria should not be in such a position.” He told me several other things about the situation in many of our embassies, high commissions and consulates abroad before he concluded the monologue: “What I fail to understand is why a president who has so many people managing his personal image at home cannot see the importance of appointing those who should manage the image of our country abroad.”

I agree with the diplomat. The same president who will not appoint ambassadors has 12 people (three special advisers, six senior special assistants and three special assistants) managing his media. So, it is a question of what President Tinubu considers a priority between his personal image and that of the country. I hope someone will impress it upon him that Nigeria needs ambassadors abroad.

  • You can follow me on my X (formerly Twitter) handle, @Olusegunverdict and on www.olusegunadeniyi.com 

Logan Paul, a popular American YouTuber and brother to Jake Paul, the boxer who just defeated Mike Tyson has been accused of using his massive audience to profit off shady crypto deals.

According to a BBC report, Logan Paul who has a staggering 23 million YouTube subscribers promoted certain investments while hiding his stake in them. He reportedly influenced investment prices and allegedly sold tokens to collect profit.

New Evidence reveals Logan Paul made $120,000 from Elongate Memecoin  

The BBC said it has uncovered new evidence that Logan Paul benefited from promoting a meme coin which rugged. BBC findings fingered a wallet linked to the Known Logan Paul wallet which acquired $160,000 of Elongate memecoin an hour before Logan Paul promoted the memecoin via a tweet.

After Logan Paul’s promotional tweet, New buyers rushed in driving the price of the token only for the fingered wallet to sell all its tokens after 12 hours making a profit of $120,000.

A Time magazine report collaborated with the BBC report spotting a similar pattern with another cryptocurrency and wallet.

Logan Paul increased the suspicion around his involvement with a statement to his online community. The YouTuber exclaimed that Elongate the memecoin made him rich in a video shared with his closed Maverick club fan community.

“Elongate made me rich. Elon baby let’s go!” Logan exclaimed

Efforts to hold Logan Paul accountable for the alleged crime have proved abortive with the Youtuber avoiding the BBC for months.

The internet sensation finally agreed to an interview in Puerto Rico but a Look alike showed up instead and the BBC team was harassed at the scene.

A legal notice from Logan Paul’s attorney was later forwarded to the BBC warning them against publishing their findings.

Celebrity Memecoin Scams

Logan Paul’s stint with Elongate memecoin joins a long list of celebrity-related memecoin scams which often take the same pattern. A celebrity promotes a memecoin he or she secretly has a stake in only to sell all his tokens as soon as the price of the memecoin surges following new buyers responding to the promotion by the Celebrity.

Davido and Sabinus mid-year launched their memecoins which have gone on to lose virtually 90% of their value a few days after launch. Davido has been accused of shilling shitcoins repeatedly exploiting his audience for quick profits.

On the foreign scene, celebrities like Iggy Azalea, Caitlyn Jenner, and Andrew Tate all launched memecoins that have lost significant value. The credibility of celebrity-backed memecoins is at an all-time low following the unpleasant experience of traders who backed the above tokens.

What to Know  

• A rug pull refers to a scam where a cryptocurrency or NFT developer promotes a project to attract investor funding, only to shut down or disappear, taking investor assets with them.
• Logan Paul also has a rug pull case hanging over his head following his failed NFT project CryptoZoo.

[Nairamtrics]

Elder statesman and legal icon, Aare Afe Babalola has declared that Nigerians must fear and respect the Police the way they regard the military, in order to guarantee order and security in the country.

Alternatively, he said Nigeria’s laws should be amended so that the military would be saddled with the enforcement of law and order in the country.

Babalola spoke on Wednesday in Ado-Ekiti, at the 4th edition of the Aare Afe Babalola Distinguished Personality Lecture Series, entitled, ‘Insecurity, leadership and peace building in Nigeria: Dynamics and challenges’.

The event took place at the Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD).

“For me, the military today, is the most disciplined institution in this country. The problem we have today in Nigeria is nothing other than lack of discipline. And this is right from leadership, to the followership.

“How can there be security, leadership and peace when there is no order?,” he queried.

Continuing, he said, “There is even a Biblical saying to wit, that order is the first law in heaven. As a person, I appreciate, and also enforce it.

“If an offender sees a policeman on an Okada, he does not accord any of them any iota of respect.

“However, when a man sees a soldier, he quickly comports himself. That is the quantum of respect often accorded the military.

“The time has therefore come for all of us to unite, ensure order, because orderliness and and discipline in our society is the only and the surest way forward.”

Babalola, who commended the type of uncommon discipline in the military, said he was surprised in 2016, when he was conferred with the honorary Doctor of Letters, (D. Lit) by the Nigerian Defence Academy.

He noted that the hall where the event held was not only perfectly quiet, but also nobody attempted to leave his or her seat throughout the duration.

“To me, that was the peak of orderliness and discipline. Before that day, I had believed that my university was the epitome of order, orderliness and discipline, such that some are even saying ABUAD is more of a military institution.

“But with what I saw that day at NDA, I gave, and still give kudos for the military for its discipline,” Babalola added.

Earlier in his lecture, the Commandant, Nigerian Defence Academy, NDA, Major Gen. John Ochai, said the Nigerian military is doing its possible best to protect the territorial integrity of the country.

But he remarked that citizens should not expect 100 percent scorecard in that regard.

[Dailypost]

A Federal High Court sitting in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital, has adjourned till January 21, 2025, to rule on applications in a suit filed by the Labour Party seeking to declare vacant the seats of 27 members of the Rivers State House of Assembly who defected from the Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress.

The LP, in suit number FHC/PH/25/2024, is also praying the court to determine whether the defection of the 27 lawmakers said to be loyal to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, was proper.

The suit also asked the Independent National Electoral Commission to conduct a by-election to fill in the vacant seats of the lawmakers to enable the LP and other interested parties to participate.

When the matter came up for hearing on Wednesday in the court presided over by Justice Emmanuel Obele, our reporter observed the presence of the claimant, who is the LP’s Caretaker Committee Chairman in the state, Hilda Dokubo.

Meanwhile, during the sitting, Ferdinand Orbih — counsel for the second to 28th defendants in the matter including the embattled Speaker of the state legislature, Martin Amaewhule, the PDP, among others, told the court that the 29 defendants in the case planned to consolidate their applications.

Orbih informed the court that the application deals with the same subject matter which is praying the court to direct parties in the matter to file and exchange pleadings and call for evidence in proof of their respective cases.

He stated, “We respectively pray for your order consolidating the three applications.”

Orbih further presented their motions, insisting that the applications be backed up with paragraphs of affidavits and urged the court to grant the applications.

In his argument, counsel for the claimant, Clifford Chukwu, did not object to the consolidation of the applications but opposed the applications submitted by the defence counsel.

Chukwu urged the court to dismiss the motion by the first, second to 28th, and 29th defendants.

After listening to the submissions by the parties in the matter, the trial judge, Justice Obele adjourned the matter till January 21, 2025, for ruling on applications by the parties.

[Punch]

Chidimma Adetshina, the first runner-up at the recent Miss Universe pageant, has revealed her next steps, focusing on personal growth and career development.

In an interview with BBC Pidgin, Adetshina revealed she plans to take a break from pageantry to concentrate on her education and burgeoning careers in modeling and acting.

“I want to put pageantry aside for now and focus more on my education and establishing who Chidimma is,” she said.

“I want to delve more into runway modeling, acting, and explore many other areas. There are so many things I would like to try and see where my potential can take me.”

Adetshina’s journey to the Miss Universe stage was not without challenges.

Born to a Nigerian father and Mozambican mother, she faced backlash over her nationality during her participation in the Miss South Africa pageant, ultimately leading to her withdrawal.

Addressing the controversy, Chidimma Adetshina assured her supporters that she would share details once she had a full understanding of the situation.

“People are really interested in the story. And like I said, I haven’t gone home yet, I haven’t heard anything, and I haven’t sat down with a lawyer or anything. So I can’t just talk about things,” she said.

“Once I get everything sorted out, I will definitely open up and give people clarity on the matter.”

Vanguard News

He reincarnated in the form of a cream-coloured, two-storey building in the bosom of the boulder-braided, writers’ commune, in the rocky delight of Abuja’s Mpape district. His happy host, like him an erstwhile member of the tribe of wordmongers was despatched over a phantom putsch one decade before him. But he rolled out a carpet of dry laterite with the steady onset of northerly harmattan, to receive his new guest and kindred spirit. The air was sedate, the biosphere alluring and serene as his name echoed from the signage hoisted in front of the structure. This, henceforth, will be the haven of scribblers from across the globe desiring genuine solitude to commune with their muses in the very intricate venture of creative expression. Not too many of the young writers who enthusiastically witnessed the recent commissioning of the Ken Saro-Wiwa International Writers Residency in Abuja, however, knew enough about the martyr who was so canonised, nor the nexus between Ken Saro-Wiwa and his figurative “host,” Mamman Jiya Vatsa.

As part of the activities commemorating the 43rd International Convention of the Association of Nigerian Authors, (ANA), which was held between Thursday, October 31 and Saturday, November 2, 2024, a newly built edifice christened after Saro-Wiwa was scheduled for inauguration. Ken Saro-Wiwa remains one of Nigeria’s most multitasking and most productive writers of all time. He lived for only 54 years but left behind an authorial legacy which continues to challenge the prolificity of successor writers. Saro-Wiwa was a compelling novelist, an engaging essayist, a consummate poet, an arresting dramatist, and a fearless public scholar.

Regarded as Africa’s very first purpose-built writers village, the expansive hilltop project in Mpape, Abuja, was named after Vatsa, an army general who was a minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) under the regime of Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida. Less than seven months into the Babangida milieu on March 5, 1986, Vatsa was executed by firing squad for alleged “treason associated with an abortive coup”. He was 45 at the time.

Importantly, Vatsa was a writer who reportedly published about 20 poetry anthologies, including: Verses for Nigerian State Capitals, (1972); Back Again at Wargate, (1982); Reach for the Skies, (1984), and Tori for Geti Bow leg and other Pidgin Poems, (1985). Vatsa as FCT helmsman, it was, who allocated the generous swathes of hitherto pristine land with scenic views upon which the writers village is sited today. The complex is deservedly named after him in eternal gratitude by the writers fraternity.

Ken Saro-Wiwa was the fourth president of ANA. He succeeded the renowned dramatist and emeritus professor of theatre arts, Femi Osofisan, in 1990, and was a very energetic personality, famous for the tobacco pipe which was permanently seated on his lip, drawing parity with that of Ousmane Sembene, the famous Senegalese frontline African novelist and filmmaker. Saro-Wiwa had a multitasking career which saw him as a university lecturer in his earlier years; an administrator and public servant, and an environmental activist, at various times. He was the leader of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People, (MOSOP) which prosecuted a nonviolent campaign for the protection of Ogoni land and water resources from devastation by oil multinationals.

He backed up this enterprise with regular interventions in the public space as a writer and columnist for a number of authoritative newspapers. He consistently drew attention to the despoliation of the natural resources of his people and wrote regularly for Vanguard and Sunday Times, among other publications. He was a regular, long-staying guest of the gulags of successive military governments, through the administrations of Ibrahim Babangida and Sani Abacha.

In 1994, he was arrested and charged with instigating the murders of four Ogoni leaders, on May 4, 1994, on a day he was indeed barred from accessing Ogoniland. Saro-Wiwa and his eight “accomplices” were executed by hanging at the Port Harcourt prison where they were held and convicted, on November 10, 1995, exactly one month after his 54th birthday on October 10, 1995.

By some uncanny calendrical coincidence, the Ken Saro-Wiwa International Writers Residency was inaugurated in early November 2024, the very same month he was despatched 29 years ago in 1995. Global outrage trailed the killing of Saro-Wiwa and his compatriots, with the Commonwealth suspending Nigeria for three years, among other sanctions. The death of Sani Abacha in June 1998, the subsequent acceleration of processes which returned Nigeria to civilian rule by Abacha’s successor, Abdulsalami Abubakar, and the enthronement of the Fourth Republic in 1999, gradually tempered the world’s coldness towards Nigeria.

At least three dozen book titles are credited to Ken Saro-Wiwa’s name. These include novels, novellas, anthologies of poetry, plays for radio and television, memoirs and diaries, and so on. His works have received requisite international attention such that they have been translated into German, Dutch and French. His authorial oeuvre includes: Tambari, (a novel, 1973); Tambari in Dukana, (a sequel to Tambari, 1986); A Bride for Mr B, (a novella, 1983), and Songs in a Time of War, (poetry, 1985). Ken Saro-Wiwa also wrote Sozaboy: A Novel in Rotten English, (1985); A Forest of Flowers, (1986, short stories); Prisoners of Jebs, (a novel, 1988) and Pita Dumbrok’s Prison, (1991), which like the former is very biting political satire.

On a Darkling Plain: An Account of the Nigerian Civil War, (memoirs, 1989), a war which he witnessed firsthand, is also one of his very gripping works of prose. Saro-Wiwa’s public engagements are aggregated in several volumes of essays notably Nigeria: The Brink of Disaster, (1991); Similia: Essays on Anomic Nigeria, (1991) and Genocide in Nigeria: The Ogoni Tragedy, (1992). Even in his final days, weeks and months of his sojourn on this side of the divide, Saro-Wiwa “remained incredibly productive.”

Posthumously, his family, foreign concerns and nongovernmental organisations continued to call up manuscripts from his personal library to publish new works by him. A personal diary he kept while he was in incarceration before his eventual annihilation was published with the title A Month and a Day: A Detention Diary, in 1995. Over 20 years after his demise, some of his essays were assembled as Silence Would be Treason: Last Writings of Ken Saro-Wiwa, and published by Daraja Press in Ottawa, Canada, in 2018.

The Ken Saro-Wiwa International Writers Residency is one of the first major physical projects delivered by the leadership of Usman Oladipo Akanbi. Fortuitously, Akanbi’s deputy, Obari Gomba, winner of the 2023 NLNG Prize for Drama, is from Saro-Wiwa’s Ogoni country. He must have felt gratified by the honour done his countryman, whose trajectory he followed as a much younger writer. The eventual breaking of the ice, the decisive commencement of the physical development of the hitherto forlorn and controversial expansive hectarage of ANA property was consummated under the leadership of Denja Abdullahi in 2017. Obi Asika, director-general of the National Council for Arts and Culture, (NCAC), commissioned the Ken Saro-Wiwa International Writers Residency.

The ceremony was witnessed by an impressive array of writers, headlined by Emeritus Professors Osofisan and Olu Obafemi, both former presidents of ANA, as well as Nuhu Yaqub, OFR. Yaqub holds the distinction of being the only Nigerian scholar thus far to have served as vice-chancellor in two federal universities, those of Abuja and Sokoto. Other literary greats at the event and the main convention included: Professors Shamshudeen Amali, OFR, former Vice Chancellor, University of Ilorin; Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo; May Ifeoma Nwoye and Sunnie Ododo, all Fellows of the Nigerian Academy of Letters, (FNAL) and the Association of Nigerian Authors, (FANA).

There were also Professors Joe Ushie, a member of the ANA Board of Trustees; Emeka Aniagolu; Udenta Udenta; Maria Ajima; Al Bishak; Mabel Evwierhoma; Razinat Mohammed; Vicky Sylvester Molemodile and Mahfouz Adedimeji. Immediate past ANA President, Camillus Ukah, Emeritus diplomat and writer Ambassador Albert Omotayo, featured at the Convention. Canada-based writer, scholar and Professor, Nduka Otiono who served as general secretary of the association under the leadership of Olu Obafemi, was admitted into the College of Fellows of the body. Chairman of the Abuja Chapter of ANA, Arc Chukwudi Eze, was the resident host with a compelling responsibility to stay through all events.

Olusunle, PhD, fellow of the Association of Nigerian Authors, (FANA), teaches creative writing at the University of Abuja

• Theme: “CHANGE: Imaginings Alternatives”

SUNDAY November 17, as the curtain fell on the 26th Lagos Book & Art Festival (LABAF) in the plenary room of the week-long festival, the Committee for Relevant Art, CORA, promoter of the festival announced the date and theme for the 27th edition. 

This is in keeping to tradition of the festival since it was born in 1999 in the cusp of Nigeria’s transition from military rule to civilian governance. The date and theme for next year’s festival is always unveiled in the closing glee - usually a poetry concert - of the outgoing edition.

Toyin Akinosho, CORA Secretary-general, in making the announcement on Sunday, stated that LABAF 27.0 will hold November 10-16, 2025 on the theme: is “CHANGE: Imaginings Alternatives.”

Before the full room audience which included Chairman CORA Board of Trustees, Chief Kayode Aderinokun, members of the CORA Volunteers Corps, CVC, and other guests, Akinosho revealed why the theme was chosen. He reminded that the past few editions had been critical of the systems that run affairs of Nigeria, and the continent; thus, the next edition would be making vital contribution to national discourse by offering a platform for people to explore possible alternatives to what currently operates. 

According to Akinosho, LABAF 26.0’s theme "BREAKOUT: Hope Is a Stubborn Thing" examined the grievances and deterioration in major sectors in Nigeria; “aside from the issues of ethnicity and bad governance, hope becomes a coping mechanism and survival technique for everyone.” Akinosho also revisited the themes of LABAF 24.0 and 25.0, relating how such addressed the worrisome developments in  the social and political fabrics of Nigeria, and by extension, Africa.

Explaining further the theme for 2025 LABAF, Akinosho stated: “While the just concluded festival is on Hope as a stubborn thing, we’re wondering whether the way the world is going, the eruptions that are happening all over the place and the state of things do not make people to begin to think about the idea of change. The idea of change is not just “change” as it is but “imagining alternatives”, whether at a personal level, or at the national level, or at the global level. For instance, whether the present government will be thinking in terms of how to change its own narrative of governance or whether the Democratic Party in America could begin to respond to aspirations or imagining alternatives.”

The CORA Secretary-general added that “The books that speak to imagination about alternatives will be major books of the festival.”

As the audience celebrated the unveiling of LABAF 27.0, and it’s even more controversial theme, with loud screams, lavish photo sessions and generous congratulations, Chairman of CORA’s Board of Trustees, Chief Aderinokun was ushered to stage by the anchor, Samuel Oriakhi Osaze, LABAF’s associate producer, to formally bring the festival to an end. Aderinokun, a father figure to CORA, and staunch supporter to  LABAF, appreciated all participants at the festival, the CORA Board and most especially, the volunteers, who he referred to as “my young friends.”

Speaking in the plenary room, 1st floor of Kongi’s Harvest Art Gallery, Aderinokun reiterated that CORA is passionate about the future of the country and the progress of the continent, “that is why we gather intellectuals in diverse fields of human endeavours, creatives  and other well-meaning  Nigerians to contribute ideas on how to effect change and impact positively on the life of our beloved country and, welfare of its people.”

Paying special tributes to the 27-members of the CORA Volunteer Corps (CVC), Aderinokun stated that “we are unofficially handing over to the younger generation. We are so impressed by what you did in this past exercise and I hope that you keep it up.”

Jubilation erupted amongst the CVC and the audience, and with this, the curtain fell on LABAF 26.0.

LABAF 2025’s theme was also unveiled via a giant screen on the Main-Stage of the Festival venue, Freedom Park, which hosted the very last act of the week-long 73-events festival, Freedom Vibes, staged by CORA partner-organisation, Unchained Vibes Africa, UVA.  

Program chair of CORA, and Director of LABAF, Jahman Anikulapo, was called onto the big shimmering stage, and urged the full house of mostly youth guests, to “lock down the date in your calendar, and don’t make the error of putting your own culture project in same week – as it happened this year.”  

Anikulapo also asked the full house of enthusiastic guests to spend time ruminating on the theme, and be free to suggest “ideas about books, visual arts, theatrical, film and other contents that could lead to the full exploration of the theme: CHANGE: Imagining alternatives.”

About LABAF:

 Started in 1999, the Festival, though a literary feast of ideas and life in outlook, has over the years, metamorphosed to being a Campaign for LITERACY devoted to heightening interest of the populace to be active participants in the knowledge economy that currently rules transactions in global political, economic and cultural affairs. The Festival is focused on three thematic elements: EDUCATION. ENLIGHTENMENT. EMPOWERMENT.

Specifically for young people, the Festival also stages

• Green Festival - devoted to students in Junior and Senior Secondary schools
• CORA Youth Creative Club -- which yearly congregate youths and young adults from different parts of the countries for mentoring and training in their natural talents and acquired skills

The Festival’s main programme iterations include:

• Book Readings & Reviews
• Conversation around ideas contained in the books of the festival – relevant to the theme of the festival
• Book & Visual Arts Exhibitions
• Workshops and Mentoring Sessions for young people
• Performances in Poetry, Drama, Music, Dance etc
• Arthouse celebrations of eminent artistes and culture workers who have registered their names and footprints in the cause of nation building – the idea is to set them up as role models for both old and young people – to inspire hope, motivate them for to aspire to greater accomplishments in their chosen careers or vocation

About CORA

The Committee for Relevant Art, CORA, is a not-for-profit advocate for the arts, culture and creative sector of the economy. We believe that we can stimulate the increase of the Human Capital resources of the country through emphasis on metal capacitation via programming ideas that spotlight: Education. Enlightenment. Empowerment. To realise this objective, we rely solely on the support of eminent institution, organisations and missions such as the diplomatic office of countries that have invested in, and produced great intellectuals and philosophers such as yours.

Sgd: Mercy Timilehin Kelani

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That Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission and Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, scion of stormy petrel of Ibadan’s 1950s politics, Adegoke “Penkelemesi” Adelabu, could conspire to place University College Hospital, or “Oritamefa,’ in financially suffocating Band A premium electricity market segment is a wicked act against the minister’s fellow Ibadan citizens.

It shows that NERC, the minister, and the government they serve have no human feelings. Anyone who puts “Oritamefa” in disgraceful and dire straits and compromises its services to the Ibadan community has done the same grade of psychological damage that those who rested Kingsway Stores did to the Baby Boomer generation of Nigeria.

UCH, to those who may not know, is a folksy rock star institution to the Ibadan, nay, the old Western Nigeria, of a period spanning the closing years of the colonial era, the First Republic, the Second Republic, and the first of the misguided military regimes in Nigeria’s chequered political history.

UCH, the oldest university teaching hospital in Nigeria, established in 1952, was initially quartered at the Eleyele fort of the West Africa Frontier Force that fought in Burma during the Second World War. Construction of its current site, started in 1953, was completed on November 20, 1957.

With hospital beds estimated at 1,000 and nearly 7,000 workers, UCH, host of the older University of Ibadan College of Medicine that was established in 1948, is reputed to have been the preferred hospital of Saudi Arabia’s ruling house in the 1960s and 1970s. Now that the old landmarks have collapsed, the Saudi royals will never subject their health to the care of UCH.

It must be stated, as many times as it is necessary, that the failure of Nigeria’s electricity sector is largely from the national grid, owned and operated 100 per cent by the Transmission Company of Nigeria, which is, in turn, owned 100 per cent by the Federal Government of Nigeria on behalf of the mythical public interest.

Reports indicate that the damn thing has broken down more than 10 times in 2024 alone and more than 100 times, from the days of the government of President Muhammadu Buhari, Sai Gaskiya, and Seriki Integrity, that was swept into office in 2015 through the auspices of a special-purpose political vehicle called the All Progressives Congress.

The problem of the national grid doesn’t look as if it is going to go away very soon when you consider the bumbling and rambling that Coach Fanny Amun would have described as “wobbling and fumbling” of the managers of Nigeria’s electricity sector.

A viral amateur video shows some UCH patients, after enduring seventeen days without electricity, protesting, from their wards to the offices of the staff, to demand, in Yoruba, “E tan ina fun wa. Ee fun wa ni ina, ee fun wa l’omi. UCH, e ma pa wa. E lo san owo ina. Aa kii se eranko.”

If roughly translated into English, it would be: “Give us light. You didn’t give us light; you didn’t even give us water. UCH (management), do not kill us. Go and pay your outstanding electricity bill. We are not animals!

An overwhelmed, but unidentified, officer tried to assuage the protesting patients who switched off the lights (probably provided by generators) in his office, apparently to “democratise” the absence of electricity. He lapsed into a mix of Yoruba and English.

He went: “Now, nwon a lo wa solution sii. But, oro ina, o ti koja agbara ibi yi. Ki NEPA maa mu bill N88, N99 million! Ki awa na ba ara wa so ooto oro. Eni to ye ka pariwo si, oun ni awon Abuja ti nwon so pe nwon maa fun wa ni 50 per cent, ti nwon de se. Se o ti ye nyin bayi? So, e lo calm down.”

Translation: “They’ll go find a solution. But the matter is beyond this place. Imagine NEPA (the name of the government-owned electricity company before partial privatisation of the electricity sector), bringing N88, N99 million monthly electricity bill.

“Let’s also tell ourselves the truth. The one that deserves a protest is Abuja (the Federal Government), which undertook to pay 50 per cent of our electricity bill but failed to do so. Do you understand my explanation? Now, go and calm down.”

After the kerfuffle, Oladayo Olabampe, Chairman, Joint Action Committee of UCH trade unions, gave a Television Continental anchor person a more elaborate explanation of what led to the protest by the “sick” patients, if you will permit the redundancy.

It is just a way of borrowing the double superlative literary device of William Shakespeare, who coined the expression “the most unkindest cut,” to drive home the point that even so-called loyalist and closest friend, Brutus, plunged his dagger into the chest of Julius Caesar.

Olabampe explained: “The reason we find ourselves in this situation is… when you manufacture a product that (the elite) don’t consume… The problem we have with the sector is that… our governments do not patronise our hospital… and so we are left in the hands of manipulators (like Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company) who bring power bills that they like.

“Imagine power (bill) running into… N99 million… Where are we going to get such money from? When they were bringing N40, N50 (million) before they started the upgraded power bills, we were not able to sustain it.

“While we were battling with that, they said they put us in Band A, and that made the bill skyrocket. From N50, N40 million, we come to N80, N88, N99 million (monthly electricity bill). There is no way we can cope.”

If relatives of Minister Adelabu, who still remain in his native Ibadan hometown for the obvious reason that not every one of them will be able to live the luxurious life of a minister with him in Abuja, were among the wailing patients of the UCH, one wonders if he would not have been overwhelmed by the pathos and found an immediate solution to the problem.

He probably has no way to empathise with these poor patients and their scared relatives because his Abuja residence and office, the premises of his NERC and that of IBEDC, and the Aso Rock Villa residence of his principal, the President, and ministries, departments, and agencies of government have generators, euphemistically referred to as “off-grid sources of electricity!”

Well, if you have not noticed, “Oritamefa,” which means a crossroad of six roads, is an apt metaphor for the choices that must be made for Nigeria’s comatose healthcare delivery system. As it is with “oritamefa,” so it is with Nigeria’s healthcare delivery system.

By the way, what and who is responsible for the appearance of allocations for construction and equipping of intensive care units and amenity centres in Ijero Ekiti, Efon Alaye, and Aramoko, all in Ekiti State Central Senatorial Zone of Senate Majority Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele, in the budgetary provisions of University College Hospital, Ibadan?

If medical doctors, Prof. Ali Pate, Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, and Dr. Tunji Alausa, Minister of Education, can find a common ground to “resuscitate” “Oritamefa,” they could find a solution that runs through both the healthcare and the education sectors of Nigeria.

And the three attributes of Nigerian workers—energy, skills, and time—would have been further enhanced.

As Nigerians woke up today, November 20, 2024, the airwaves and social media are abuzz with warm tributes and fond memories of a man whose name has become synonymous with a calm demeanor and democratic tolerance, former President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. On this special day, this writer and all his readers and well-wishers across the globe celebrate a leader whose prophecy about his presidency and its significance resonates even louder today.  

Goodluck Jonathan once famously remarked: “You will miss me when I leave office.” At the time, many dismissed this as a self-serving statement. However, nearly a decade since he left office, his words now seem almost prophetic. For many Nigerians grappling with the socio-economic realities of today, his tenure increasingly feels like a bygone era of relative economic stability, freedom of expression, and national unity.  

Today, as Dr. Jonathan celebrates his 66th birthday, the fondness for his time in office is palpable. Nigerians remember a president who, despite his imperfections, prioritized the welfare of the people and made difficult decisions to preserve the country’s fragile unity.  

Jonathan’s tenure (2010–2015) was not without challenges, but it was marked by strides in key areas of national development. Among his administration’s most notable accomplishments were education reform, agricultural transformation, and infrastructural development, freedom of expression, and concession of power.    

In fact, the establishment of 12 new federal universities remains one of Jonathan’s lasting legacies. By increasing access to higher education, he expanded opportunities for young Nigerians and reduced the pressure on existing institutions.  

In a similar vein, under Jonathan’s leadership, Nigeria witnessed significant improvements in agriculture through the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA). The initiative reduced the country’s reliance on food imports and empowered farmers with better resources.  

His administration made notable investments in power generation and infrastructure. Projects like the reconstruction of major roads and airports symbolized progress in addressing Nigeria’s infrastructure deficit.  

Besides, Jonathan’s tolerance for dissent was remarkable. Despite criticisms from opposition parties, media outlets, and even ordinary Nigerians, he upheld democratic principles, allowing freedom of speech to thrive.  

Without a doubt, his legacy that deeply resonated in this writer’s subconscious is that of his concession of power particularly as it engendered a smooth and peaceful transition of government. In fact, the hallmark of Jonathan’s leadership was his decision to concede defeat in the 2015 presidential election. This singular act not only averted potential chaos but also cemented Nigeria’s democracy in the eyes of the global community. His words, “My ambition is not worth the blood of any Nigerian, “remain etched in the country’s political history.  

The nostalgia for Jonathan’s presidency grows stronger against the backdrop of Nigeria’s current economic and political challenges. Spiraling inflation, insecurity, and a general sense of disillusionment have left many Nigerians yearning for the leadership style of the man they once took for granted.  

His ability to unify the country, even during trying times, stands in stark contrast to the divisions and tensions that characterize contemporary politics. As Nigerians reflect on the state of the nation today, many cannot help but compare it to the relative stability of Jonathan’s era.  

Beyond politics, Jonathan has continued to embody the qualities of a statesman. As an envoy and mediator for the African Union and ECOWAS, he has worked tirelessly to promote peace and democracy across the continent. His interventions in crises in Mali, Gambia, and other countries underscore his commitment to fostering harmony in Africa.  

Jonathan’s quiet but impactful post-presidency life serves as an example to current and aspiring leaders. He demonstrates that leadership does not end with the expiration of a term in office, it is a lifelong commitment to service and nation-building.  

On this occasion of your 66th birthday, I say: Happy Birthday, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan! Nigerians remember you fondly, not only for what you accomplished but for the grace and humility with which you led. Your tenure taught us the importance of dialogue over division, compassion over conflict, and nationhood over narrow interests.  

As you celebrate another year of life, we want you to know that your legacy endures. Many Nigerians now see the wisdom in your words: “You will miss me when I leave office.” Today, more than ever, we understand the weight of that statement and the truth it carries.  

For this writer, and not a few Nigerians, Jonathan’s birthday is not just a time to celebrate; it is also a moment for introspection. It is an opportunity to ask critical questions about the kind of leadership we need to navigate our current challenges and build a better future.  

Goodluck Jonathan may no longer be in office, but his legacy reminds us that leadership is ultimately about service, sacrifice, and an unwavering commitment to the people.  

Once again, I say: Happy Birthday, Dr. Jonathan. You are missed, appreciated, and celebrated. May your new year be filled with good health, joy, and continued impact as a global Statesman.

A few weeks ago, President Bola Tinubu ordered the immediate termination of the treason charge against 119 protesters standing trial for treason arising from the August 1-8, 2024 protests against bad governance and hardship in the country. Consequently, the Attorney-general of the Federation, Mr. Lateef Fagbemi SAN applied for the withdrawal of the charges. Since there was no objection from the defence counsel, the case was struck out by Justice Obioma Egwatu. It is pertinent to review the attempted criminalization of peaceful protests in Nigeria by a governments that is completely intolerant of criticism in a democratic society.

Right of citizens to protest

The fundamental rights of Nigerian citizens to assemble and protest against unpopular policies of governments are guaranteed by Section 39 and 40 of the Constitution as well as Articles 9 and 10 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act, 2004. In the case of the Inspector General of Police v All Nigeria Peoples Party (2008) 22 WRN 65, the Court of Appeal declared police permit for rallies illegal and unconstitutional and directed the National Assembly to amend the Public Order Act to facilitate the enjoyment of the fundamental right to peaceful protests by aggrieved citizens.

While the National Assembly ignored the directive of the Court of Appeal, the police and other security forces intensified the infringement of the right of Nigerians to protest against governments and other public authorities. However, the right to protest by Nigerians was statutorily protected in the 2015 Amendment of the Electoral Act 2010. Furthermore, section 83(4) of the Police Establishment Act 2020 has imposed a duty on the Nigeria Police Force to provide adequate security for protesters during rallies, meetings and protests.

Breach of the right to protest against bad governance

In a brazen violation of the right of Nigerians to assemble and freely voice out their views on bad governance and rising cost of living in the country, the Federal Government and several state governments embarked on a campaign of calumny against the organisers of the August 2024 protests. When the vicious campaign did not achieve its dubious objective, the Federal Government threatened to deal ruthlessly with the organisers of the protest. Out of sheer desperation, the Lagos and Ogun states governments as well as the federal capital territory administration surreptitiously secured ex parte orders to stop the protest.

For having the temerity to participate in the protest, the police and the armed forces shot at many unarmed protesters. At the end of the protest, not less than 22 protesters were killed. Thus, the deliberate refusal of the police to provide adequate security for the protesters and the unwarranted killing of some of the protesters led to the violence that marred the peaceful protests in some states.

However, before the protest was called off, President Bola Tinubu said that the Federal Government had heard the protesters loud and clear and would enter into dialogue with the leaders. Notwithstanding the presidential declaration, the police turned round to commence the prosecution of the over 2,000 protesters that were arrested in several states.

Criminalization of protest

Even though charges were filed against a number of protesters in some state capitals, the Nigeria Police Force decided to arraign 130 protesters including 29 minors on 10 counts, including treason, incitement to mutiny by urging the military to remove President Bola Tinubu and other related charges before the Abuja judicial division of the Federal High Court. Notwithstanding that section 2(4) of the Terrorism Prevention Act 2022 states that a protest, demonstration or stoppage of work is not a terrorist act, the police sought and obtained an ex parte order to detain the suspects for 60 days for the purpose of investigating them for alleged involvement in terrorism.

Alhough the police had secured an order to detain the suspects for 60 days, they were held for 92 days before they were arraigned in the Federal High Court. Among the suspects were 29 children who were malnourished and dehydrated during their arraignment. Owing to hunger and exhaustion in the congested court room, four minor defendants collapsed and they were rushed to a hospital.  

Illegal arraignment of children in the Federal High Court

In 2001, Nigeria ratified the United Nations Child’s Rights Convention and enacted the Child’s Rights Act in 2003. We have confirmed that the 36 states of the federation have adopted and enacted the legislation. Thus, under the Child’s Rights Law applicable in each State, child offenders under the age of 18 years cannot be charged in the Federal High Court or State High Court but in the Family Court.

The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Lateef Fagbemi SAN, was reported to have said that the minors were properly charged before the Federal High Court because the Constitution makes it clear that the Federal High Court has jurisdiction in matters related to treason and related offenses. With respect,  the Federal High Court does not have exclusive jurisdiction to try  treason and related offences.

Even if there was a reasonable suspicion that the minors committed treason they ought to have been  arraigned  in a Family Court pursuant to section 149 of the Child’s Rights Act. But contrary to the Child’s Rights Act applicable in the Federal Capital Territory, the minors were charged with treason at the Federal High Court after they had been detained in the midst of hardened criminal suspects in the anti robbery detention facility in Abuja. Even though they pleaded not guilty to the charge, the arraignment of the minors is illegal in every material particular.

Phoney evidence to prove treason charge

It is trite that under the Penal Code and Criminal Code, treason is committed by anyone who levies war against the state to intimidate the President or a State Governor or who conspires to levy war against the state. The charge of treason filed by the police did not allege that the suspects raised any war or conspired to levy war against the President and State Governors.  The main offence allegedly committed by the suspects arrested is that they displayed the Russian flag during the protest. A tailor who was sewing the flag was arrested by the police.

The police Prosecutor ought to have known that it is not a criminal offence to waive a foreign flag in Nigeria. Hence, the flags of the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany and other European countries are hoisted by the majority of hotels in Nigeria while churches hoist the flag of Israel based on the erroneous belief that it is a Christian country.

Seven Polish students were arrested for taking photographs during the protest. They were going to be charged with espionage to give the impression that the protests were instigated by foreign interest groups. The students have since been released when it was confirmed that they are taking part in an exchange programme at the Bayero University, Kano.  

As if such embarrassment was not enough, Comrade Michael Adaramoye was charged with treason because he answers to the sobriquet “Lenin”. Comrades Elejo Opaluwa and Mosiu Abolaji were equally charged with treason for belonging to a socialist organisation that supported the protest. Povey was charged with treason because he sells socialist books in a bookshop at the Secretariat of the Nigerian Labour Congress.

In a total abuse of prosecutorial powers the police had wanted to prove the grave charge of treason evidence with two fire extinguishers, two prepaid meters, 76 Russian flags and the statements of the defendants. During the investigation the police claimed that it had evidence of

the billions of Naira with which a  British national, Andrew Wynne (a.k.a. Andrew Povich) had funded the protest. Even though Mr. Whyne was declared wanted and charged for treason in absentia, the proof of evidence does not refer to the billions of Naira allegedly spent by him on the protest.

Trivialisation of treason in Nigeria

It is often forgotten that after the military conquest of Nigeria, the British colonial regime imposed the Criminal Code and Penal Code on the southern and northern protectorates respectively.  The offences of treason and treasonable felony were set out in both Codes. But the imperial regime never charged any of the “natives” with treason or treasonable felony for calling for an end to colonialism. Even when  the Zikists called for a revolution in the course of a 1948 lecture they were only charged with sedition, tried, convicted and sentenced to three  years imprisonment.

But the first civilian regime charged J.S. Tarka and his political lieutenants with treason.  They were discharged and acquited. Chief Obafemi Awolowo and his political associates were charged with treasonable felony, convicted and sentenced to various terms of imprisonment. Since then, the country has witnessed a complete trivialisation of treason in the hands of civilian and military wings of the Nigerian ruling class.

The Ibrahim Babangida military junta went to the ridiculous extent of charging five of us with treasonable felony for calling for an end to military rule. Of course, the late Chief Gani Fawehinmi SAN and I, turned the case into the trial of General Babangida and his armed colleagues who had sacked the elected Shehu Shagari administration on  December 31,  1983. The junta had no choice but to abandon the frivolous charge.

Babangida’s comrade-in-arms, General Sani Abacha, made a complete mockery of the law by charging every imaginary enemy with treason. For declaring himself President on the basis of the June 12, 1993 presidential election won by him, Bashorun M.K.O Abiola was charged with treasonable felony. Shortly thereafter, General Abacha authorised that Senator Ahmed Bola Tinubu (now President and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces) and 5 other Senators be charged with treasonable felony for demanding  the validation of the results of the June 12, 1993 Presidential election. 4 journalists who exposed the 1995 phantom coup were charged with being “accessories after the fact of treason.”

Ironically, President Bola Tinubu who had fled the country to escape the death penalty under a murderous dictator has allowed the police to charge protesters including minors with treason for challenging the untold economic hardship arising from the religious implementation of neoliberal economic policies dictated by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. But for the abrupt termination of the treason charge because of the global condemnation of the trial of child protesters for treason, the regime would have prayed the Federal High Court to convict and sentence 130 Nigerians for exercising their fundamental rights to assemble peacefully and express themselves via the August 2024 protest.

Conclusion

From the foregoing, it is crystal clear that the Federal Government set out to use the case of the 130 protesters to discourage Nigerian people from protesting against the harsh living conditions. Since the plan has since boomeranged the Federal Government should be advised to appreciate that charging protesters with terrorism, treason, treasonable felony and allied offences will not cow Nigerians to submission.  

Instead of exposing the country to avoidable shame by charging protesters with a crime punishable by death, the police should  be directed to comply with the law by providing adequate security for protesters. That is the only means of ensuring that protests are conducted in a peaceful and civilised manner within the ambit of the law.