“My friend, where are you? I have been calling your line since, you no dey pick” 

“Where else would I be at this time? I am either at work or at home. But to tell you the truth, I didn’t see your calls. I am at this joint that I just discovered. Omo, the pepper-soup is something else. The fish tastes like it was brought to my plate from the very eye of the Atlantic Ocean itself.” 

“One of these days, they will use food to carry you away. Just remember that you are not responsible for yourself alone. You have a family, and very soon, you’d be a grandfather. You can’t be eating all about, looking for where soup is sweet all over town. But that is not why I am calling.”

“So what’s up? Come and join me. I will send you the address and we can talk over some nice delicacies. They even have palmwine. Frothing palmwine. Tastes as if it was tapped by my great grandfather who was famous for being a champion palmwine tapper in his days. I wasn’t there, but I was told the story by my father who heard it from his own father. I come from a long line of distinguished professionals you see.” 

“I am calling you because of you”

“Calling me because of me. What kind of English is that?” 

“It is your wife.”

“What about her? I still spoke with about an hour ago”

“She asked me to talk to you.” 

“I don’t remember getting her upset in any way. When I am done with this pepper soup, and palm wine. I am almost done. I am going straight home to eat her food. I. know if I don’t eat at home, there would be trouble.” 

“She told me you are planning to travel to Port Harcourt and she doesn’t think that is a good idea at this time. There is crisis in that state.”  

“Oh. God. God. This woman and her troubles. Okay, you tell me. What does she say is the problem in Port Harcourt? I am going there for business. You know the nature of my work.” 

“She says the work can wait. It is not just Port Harcourt. The entire Rivers State. She does not want you to go to a place where the Governor and his Godfather in Abuja are fighting. Policemen have turned the state into a police zone. Deposed Council Chairmen are aggrieved. Lawmakers are in court, over who is a genuine or fake member of parliament. Everybody in Rivers State is now a lawyer quoting Section this, Section that of the 1999 Constitution. Angry youths are threatening fire and brimstone.” 

“Oh my. For Heavens’ sake, there are about 10 million people in Rivers State. Why are we behaving like these white people who sit in their own countries, read one or two stories in a part of Africa, and they quickly issue a frightening travel advisory or write a whole book: Nigeria On The Brink, The Coming Death of Democracy in Africa. We exaggerate too much There are people living in Rivers State who have given testimony that there is no crisis in the state. It is just politicians behaving like over-pampered children.” 

“The interim Chairman of APC in Rivers state says the state is at war. APC wants the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency in the state. Chief Tony Okocha should know.” 

“What do you expect him to say? The APC is playing a script in Rivers. They have grabbed 27 members of the House of Assembly who defected from PDP to APC. They want to take the state through the back door and mischief. Wike is helping them. It is all politics. I can’t stop my business transactions in Port Harcourt because of some of the politicians. I have spoken to some of the elders, they say…” 

“I beg, elders, we all know these elders… Well, your wife is concerned and troubled. If there is a blow out in Rivers and you are caught in-between, nobody will know that you are just a greedy Ijesha man, always looking for where to eat.”

“I am a man of courage. Nothing scares me. The logic of making money is that in the midst of crisis, you look for opportunities.” 

“The only thriving business in Rivers State today is to be either pro-Fubara or pro-Wike. I hear that business is becoming more lucrative than crude oil theft.”

“You know me. I am a man who goes to where even angels fear to tread.”

“Your wife said exactly the same thing. She said you are an angel. But she does not want you to join the angels yet.”

“Oh God. Don’t worry. I know her problem. There is this Aso Ebi she wants to buy. Once I give her the money for it, she’d go for her owambe and allow me go to Port Harcourt. How can some characters fighting for their own stomach in Port Harcourt become an issue in my house in Lagos. Tomorrow, now, if I decide I want to go to Kano for business, my wife will again carry placard, and start calling friends and neighbours…”

“No. It won’t be your wife then. I will be the one to carry the placard. You don’t know this country? You want to go to where two brothers are quarrelling over the stool of the Sarkin Kano? Have you seen those tough-looking boys carrying hefty sticks about, each one defending his own Emir? If they hit you twice with those local baseball sticks, all the bones in your body will give way immediately. You know your wife won’t be able to come to Kano to rescue you. Even if anybody asks me to come and rescue you, my wife and children will refuse. You want to go to a state where lawyers and judges are part of the confusion. Let them resolve their matter first before you go and start looking for business in troubled zones. What business are you looking for in Kano? You want to go and buy kolanuts?”

“Lawyers and judges are part of the problem in this country. They are messing things up in Rivers, and in Kano. These days, I don’t even know which court ruling to believe. One judge says one thing, another judge says another thing…creating panic within the community. I thought lawyers always say that the law is meant to help modulate society and ensure order”

“The law is an ass…Have you not heard that? When judges make mistakes, they tell you to go and file an appeal in a higher court. When you get to the Appeal Court and they make a mistake again, your lawyers will advise you to go the Supreme Court. If you fail again at the Supreme Court, the Justices will tell you that it is part of their fundamental human rights to make mistakes because they are human beings and if you are not happy, you can take your matter to God.  You see, this is why we all have to be careful.”

“What a country!” 

“What a people!”

“When will we ever get it right in this country? The people are complaining of hunger and wages. The leaders want new presidential aircraft. University teachers are threatening to go on strike over unpaid wages. Prostitutes are telling their customers that the dollar has gone up against the Naira….” 

“Wait. Wait. I think I am running out of credit. My phone is saying you have one minute left. I think they  do this you have one minute left, just so someone can buy credit and help them make more money. These telcos. Please you will have to call me back…”

“Hello”

“Hello.”

“Can you hear me?” 

“I moved from where I was. Let me change my location… Can you hear me now?” 

Okay, I think it is better. These telcos. Well, let’s thank God. You remember those days when we used to climb on top of a tree or look for a mountain top before we could get a phone signal, or those days when we used to queue for a whole day at P and T to place a call to someone in London or the US.”

“We are in the age of Artificial Intelligence, bros. We need to do better. Let me even run something by you. I met some oyinbos. We are thinking of doing business in Zamfara. Gold mining, especially now that the Nigerian Government is beginning to focus on gold for Central Bank Reserves, Foreign Reserves and for addressing shoring up the value of the Naira. You saw the Minister of Steel Development presenting gold bars to the President the other day, product of artisanal mining of gold. I am trying to think ahead. We can get into that line of business.” 

“Razzmatazz. What did I call it? Razzmatazz. Photo. Is it from artisanal mining and alluvial deposits Nigeria will join the league of gold mining countries? We have been prospecting for gold in this country since 1913. There was something like a small boom in the 1930s. In the 1980s, Nigeria formed the Nigerian Mining Corporation. Section 44(3) of the Nigerian Minerals and Mining law of 1999 vests ownership of mineral resources in the Federal Government. But the big problem in this country is illegal mining.”

“That is precisely what the Tinubu administration is trying to do. Close ranks with artisanal miners, bring them into the fold, provide a framework. It is called a National Gold Purchase Programme that meets the London Gold Market Standard.”  

“There is no framework that they are going to come up with that is new. When Mrs Oby Ezekwesili was Minister of Steel and Mining, she designed a framework for mining development in Nigeria. Dr. Kayode Fayemi as Minister of Steel further fine-tuned the road map. Go to the website of the World Gold Council. This is serious business, not a business for small-time miners. Do we have the technical capacity? Do we have technical partners? What lessons are we learning from the example of Ghana, a country that was originally known as Gold Coast? Before you join the Gold Rush, do your home-work.”

“I try to look at the positive side of things. Nigeria has just sold about 70 kilogrammes of gold to the London Bullion Market, making about N6 billion. We have to start from somewhere. The country has about 600, 000 tonnes of gold reserves. There are possibilities here. Besides, going to and fro Zamfara will become very easy, very soon, now that the state Governor is building an international airport to promote trade and tourism.” 

“Tourism in Zamfara. You want to go and get yourself kidnapped. The bandits of Zamfara are so daring, they can even kidnap aircraft and all passengers.  I don’t think the Governor is serious. Has he paid civil servants and pensioners before embarking on a white elephant project? I think he must have heard that when you try to build an airport, you can award big, big contracts.”   

“I am already talking to my Chinese contacts”

“Just be careful with these Chinese people.  One Chinese investor has just seized Nigerian properties in the UK”

“If you go and check the case, I am sure you would find that our people are the problem. We don’t ever respect terms of contracts. We gamble with everything and when our partners move against us, we would start shouting sovereignty. In any partnership, trust is important.”   

 “Just be careful. By the way, have you heard that the Governor of Sokoto after deposing 15 traditional rulers is also planning to remove the Sultan of Sokoto. I saw a statement by the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) warning Governor Ahmed Aliyu not to try it because the jurisdiction of the Sultan goes beyond Sokoto.  He is the spiritual head of all Nigerian Muslims.” 

“I keep wondering why Governors no longer respect traditional rulers. Tension everywhere. I just hope that one day, one Governor will not wake up on the wrong side of the bed and make an attempt to depose a traditional ruler and cause real mayhem in the country.” 

“Na wa. Are you going for Chivido?”

“What is that”

“The wedding of Chioma and David Adeleke. I hear all the billionaires in town will be there.” 

“So, are you a billionaire? Why do you want to go to a billionaire’s wedding party? You don’t have important things to do with your time?” 

“I have just been following the story, and the gbas gbos between Davido and his baby Mama, Sophia.” 

“Look, let me wash my hand. As old as you are, you go about monitoring society gossip. Go and get busy my friend.” 

“Wash that your hand very well. No carry cholera from pepper soup joint go house oh.”

“Comot my friend. Old man wey sabi gossip.” 

IT was a bit of an emotional period for me when names of people who fought for democracy kept popping up in the Democracy Week. It was quite good hearing from the family of Mr Alao Aka-Bashorun, Father of the Nigerian Pro-Democracy Movement. He led many, including lawyers, against the rapacious regimes of Babangida, Shonekan and Abacha. Aka-Bashorun watched over the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC; the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU; and generations of radicals like a protective mother hen.

Also, hearing from the family of Dr Fredrick Fasehun was quite moving. When elements of the Abacha gang bombed the convoy of then Lagos State Military Governor Buba Marwa behind the Sheraton Hotel, the regime blamed it on Fasehun. For this, he was held in isolation in an underground cell at the Ikoyi Cemetery. He told me that his most traumatic experiences were the three occasions a notorious secret security agent named Abdulrahman carried out his fake executions, rolling bullets in his gun barrel.

One day, I got the good news from Fasehun that he had been moved to the notorious Criminal Investigation Department, Alagbon, Ikoyi. It meant he would be able to interact with other detainees and, we could have access to him.

When I visited, Fasehun wanted me to help nurture a militia, the Oodua Peoples’ Congress, OPC, he had established before his detention. Quite a number of them, including later leader, Chief Gani Adams, were our cadres in the Campaign for Democracy, CD.

I was quite familiar with three of the OPC co-founders, people who today, are virtually unknown. There was Iya Ijebu, a stoic elderly woman and, Baba Oja, an elderly market leader both from the Babalola Market, Mushin. You will imagine these were not their real names. But any day, they helped to hold the Mushin/Isolo axis in any pro-democracy protests or shut down of roads and businesses. The third was Tony Engurube who had vast knowledge in mass mobilisation and underground cell work both in Sweden and Nigeria. He had been detained by the Gowon regime in the mid- 1970s for making public the salaries of the Armed Forces following wage reviews. Engurube who later fell sick and passed on in Dr Fasehun’s Besthope Hospital, Lagos, was the Father of armed militancy in the Niger Delta.

There is Akanni Iromini. In those days before the age of the internet, one of our major ways of communication with the populace was through leaflets, handbills and posters. Any of these found on a person meant instant detention without trial. It could also lead to disappearance. Yet, they were always in circulation nationwide. It required a lot of courage, tact and good luck to move them across the country.

 Unfortunately, the secret services discovered one of our major printers, Mr Akani Iromini. That was the beginning of his spells of detention. His printing press and means of livelihood were destroyed. Despite these, he continued in the struggle against military dictatorship. Today, somewhere in bustling Lagos, Akani Iromini is battling with ill-health and desperately in need of assistance.

Iromini and I also belonged to a group that campaigned for the release of political prisoners, visiting their families and bringing them together for various activities. It was symbolically named after the Campaign for Democracy, CD, President, Dr Beko Ransome-Kuti who had been sentenced to life imprisonment. In those days, belonging to such an organisation was considered treasonable.

In the group were three fantastic lawyers: Nike Ransome-Kuti, Tope Egunjobi and the quite reserved Jide Bello. Also in the organisation was Dr Bosede Afolabi, now Professor of Gynaecology dedicated to drastically reducing childbearing, sickle cell and maternal mortality. There was also Muhtar Bakare then of Citibank, and later, publisher of Farafina Books. There were also Messrs Femi Ojudu and Uba Sani, later Senators. The latter, today, is the Governor of Kaduna State.

We were daring. For instance, we penetrated the Agodi Maximum Prisons to lift up the low spirit of Ben Charles Obi, a journalist who had been sentenced to life imprisonment. Obi’s aged mother was his dependant, the magazine ‘Classique’ he worked for was dead, as was its publisher, Mrs Mee Mofe-Damijo. So he felt virtually alone in the world. As a political prisoner, he had no visiting rights, so Nike had to disguise as an evangelising priest to get to him at the prisons.

Sometimes we were lucky. We once held a reception for the children of political detainees at the Excellence Hotel Ogba. We sent out different venues and time. By the time the regime realised where we were and sent armed contingents of the police to stop the programme, it was over. Sometimes, we faced rejection. For instance, we once organised a birthday programme for incarcerated Chief Moshood Abiola and the family locked us and our guests out. We once visited Mrs Stella Obasanjo whose husband, later President Olusegun Obasanjo, was in prison. Those around her pointedly refused us access. They did not want her to be associated with us.

We felt some urgency when General Shehu Musa Yar’Adua died or was killed in the Abakaliki Prisons on December 8, 1997. The group was particularly worried about the safety of incarcerated CD Vice Chairman, Comrade Shehu Sani, who had been taken to the Abia State University Teaching Hospital, ABSUTH, by prison officials.

So, we organised a publicised special programme and photo exhibition for political prisoners and their families. The Abacha regime was determined that the programme should not hold. It sent armed police men and the security services around the streets adjoining the venue which was Beko’s house on Imaria Street, Anthony Village, Lagos. Also, a helicopter hovered overhead, in intimidating fashion. But in a move that boosted our confidence and ensured the programme held, then United States Ambassador, Walter Carrington, gathered and led a convoy of ambassadors with flags flying. The regime lost its nerve and allowed the convoy through. As the programme wore on, the helicopter noise was disturbing. In the midst of it all, a child was busy, playing with the telephone handset and placing it on her ear as if making a phone call. It was an award-deserving photograph which we widely circulated. That child was Ebube, daughter of incarcerated journalist, George Mbah.

The heroes of democracy in our country are mainly those unnamed or virtually unknown. They include Mrs Suliat Adededeji, murdered on November 14, 1996 in her Iyaganku, Ibadan home; and Ms Rebecca Onyabi Ikpe, sentenced to 25 years imprisonment for exposing the lie that was the claimed 1995 coup attempt. There is also the journalist, Mrs Ladi Olorunyomi, thrice detained at the notorious Directorate of Military Intelligence, and the hundreds killed in pro-Democracy struggles, with many buried in unmarked graves.

The Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) has condemned the Presidency’s decision to purchase new luxury jets for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, describing it as reckless, insensitive, and a clear testament to the government’s detachment from reality. 

Recall that Presidency sources had previously stated that the new jets are intended to enhance the President’s security and comfort during official trips.

However, the purchase has continued to spark outrage among many Nigerians, who view it as an unnecessary expense and a sign of the government’s disconnect from the people.

In a statement released on Monday, signed by Muhammed Ishaq, the party’s Acting National Publicity Secretary, the PRP criticized the government for prioritizing the President’s comfort over the welfare of Nigerians, who are struggling with economic hardship and poverty.

The party questioned the rationale behind the purchase, given the country’s current economic situation, and accused the government of being out of touch with the realities faced by ordinary citizens.

The PRP also noted that the Presidential jet purchased in 2003 is only 19 years old, and questioned why the government is not learning from examples of other countries like China and the US, which have used their presidential jets for 24 and 34 years respectively.

The PRP demanded that the government reconsider this wasteful expenditure and focus on delivering tangible benefits to the Nigerian people.

The party further called on all well-meaning Nigerians to join them in condemning this reckless spending spree and demanding better governance from their leaders.

PRP said, “The government’s decision to purchase new airplanes for the Presidential fleet is a clear testament to their detachment from reality and lack of empathy and accountability.

“They are prioritizing luxury spending over the welfare of the people, despite the country’s crippling economic woes and citizens struggling to make ends meet.

“It is unconscionable that the government is indulging in lavish spending sprees when the economy is in ruins, inflation rates are inching towards 40%, and workers’ wages have not been reviewed.

“They should focus on addressing the pressing issues of poverty, unemployment, and economic stagnation.

“Other countries like China and the US have shown that it is possible to manage with fewer resources. China purchased its Presidential jet from Boeing in 2000 and has been flying it for 24 years, while the US has a Presidential jet manufactured by Boeing that was purchased in 1990 and has been used by six successive American presidents for 34 years.

“We urge the government to remember that they are not serving themselves but the Nigerian people. They should prioritize our needs as a nation and be responsible in spending against dwindling resources.

“We demand that this wasteful expenditure be reconsidered and that the government instead focus on delivering tangible benefits to the Nigerian people.”

As the governor of Sokoto deposed 15 traditional rulers, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has expressed concern over the sour relationship between the governor and the Sultan of Sokoto as well as the rumour of impending dethronement of the Sultan.

According to the human rights organization, Nigerian Muslims reject any thought of deposition of the Sultan.

MURIC’s position was articulated in a press statement issued on Monday, 24th June, 2024 by its Founder and Executive Director, Professor Ishaq Akintola.

He said, “The governor of Sokoto State, Ahmed Aliyu, deposed 15 traditional rulers on 23rd April 2024. That was two months ago.

“However, feelers in circulation indicate that the governor may descend on the Sultan of Sokoto any moment from now using any of the flimsy excuses used to dethrone the 15 traditional rulers whom he removed earlier.

“MURIC advises the governor to look before he leaps. The Sultan’s stool is not only traditional. It is also religious. In the same vein, his jurisdiction goes beyond Sokoto. It covers the whole of Nigeria. He is the spiritual head of all Nigerian Muslims.

“Therefore, any governor who tampers with the stool of the Sultan will have Nigerian Muslims to reckon with because the Sultan combines the office of the Sultan of Sokoto and that of the President General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA).

“Governor Ahmed Aliyu should not force Nigerian Muslims to take a drastically revolutionary measure. Having a traditional ruler as leader has been a condition Nigerian Muslims accepted a long time ago as a necessary weakness in the structure which they have to live with.

“A military governor, Colonel Yakubu Muazu, exposed this soft underbelly when he deposed Sultan Ibrahim Dasuki on 20th April, 1996. Nigerian Muslims will be forced to make a hard decision if Sokoto governors continue to diminish the authority of the Sultan.

“For the avoidance of any doubts, Sultan Muhammad Sa’d Abubakar is not only the Sultan of Sokoto but the Sultan of the Nigerian people. His performance and style of leadership have warmed him into the hearts of Nigerians.

“Nigerian Muslims North and South of the country may be constrained to pick Islamic scholars only as President General of the NSCIA and overall leader of Nigerian Muslims. It will be farewell to the leadership of traditional rulers over the NSCIA and an irreversible departure from Sokoto’s priviledged leadership position. But history will not be kind to Colonel Yakubu Muazu and Ahmed Aliyu for ruining the chances of Sokoto.

“That will make it impossible for any governor to harass or intimidate the leader of Nigerian Muslims. The power and influence of governors over traditional rulers have become absolute and totalitarian in recent time. Nigerian Muslims must be given space to breathe some air of freedom like all other associations.

“Once is happenstance, twice is a coincidence, the third time is enemy action. If the deposition of a Sultan and NSCIA leader happens a second time, Nigerian Muslims will not allow the embarrassment to happen a third time.

“MURIC reiterates its call on the Sokoto State House of Assembly to either repeal or review the state’s chieftaincy laws by adding the phrase ‘except the Sultan of Sokoto’ to Section 6, Cap 26 of the Laws of Northern Nigeria which empowers the state governor to depose the emirs including the Sultan.

“We urge Northern elites and Islamic scholars based in the North to intervene before it is too late. This is the time to lobby the Sokoto State House of Assembly and the governor himself. If the chieftaincy laws of Kano State can be repealed within 24 hours, nothing stops that of Sokoto State from being reviewed in favour of immunity for the office of the Sultan in a single day to save Nigerian Muslims from humongous embarrassment.

“It is arbitrary, irrational and condescending for a state governor to possess the power to dethrone the leader of all Muslims in Nigeria when even an ordinary chairman of a local government cannot sack the president of a campus students union. It is unacceptable. Enough is enough.

“In the same manner, it is tactless, reckless, myopic and senselessly audacious for any governor of Sokoto State who has the power to remove the Sultan of Sokoto and head of all Nigerian Muslims to actually use that power. Well, once bitten, twice shy. Nigerian Muslims travelled this road once, under military rule. We will not ply the same road again.”

As academic and non-academic workers in the university system have threatened to embark on another round of industrial action, students and parents have said they don’t want another closure of universities, calling on the workers and the government to find a way out of their face-off.

According to them, incessant closure of universities is one of the reasons the schools are not faring well in global rankings.

The students spoke under the aegis of the National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS, and the parents under the auspices of the National Parent Teacher Association of Nigeria, NAPTAN.

Speaking in a chat with Vanguard newspaper, the National President of NANS, Comrade Lucky Emonefe, noted that students were always bearing the brunt in cases of industrial actions by university workers.

“Government should listen to the lecturers and university workers generally. Some of the things the lecturers are complaining about are genuine.

“Look at the issue of the composition of Governing Councils for higher institutions in the country, many people who have no job being put into such positions were included. Such sensitive positions should be for technocrats in the education sector and academicians.

“Why would the government not honour an agreement it willingly entered into. Honour an agreement you signed.

“However, I would appeal to ASUU members to also give room for mediation and negotiation because in the long run, all parties would still come to the table to talk. Let the parties give room for negotiation and mediation. Students are always at the receiving end of such fight between the sides and nobody wants to waste his or her precious time,” he said.

Also speaking, the Deputy National President of NAPTAN, Chief Adeolu Ogunbanjo, said government should honour its promise to the workers.

“Government should pay them and fulfil their obligations. When they went on strike the other time, part of what was agreed to making the workers suspend their action was that nobody would be victimized on account of the strike.

“So, if you are not paying them their dues, are you not victimizing the workers? If ASUU goes on strike, SSANU and NASU do so, the university system would collapse. The other time parents had to keep their children at home for about a session, that is not good for the system.

“Look at the recent global ranking of universities, the best ranked university in the country was in about 1,000th position. All these incessant stikes are parts of the poor ranking of our universities. Government should just be alive to its responsibilities and avert another round of industrial disharmony, ” he noted.

The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, is already warming up for another strike, following the inability of the government to meet some of their demands.

The union, last week, started nationwide press briefings and sensitisation on issues it said could disrupt academic activities on campuses.

Top on the list of their demands is the renegotiation of the 2009 Agreement and its implementation.

The agreement is about better welfare packages, funding of the universities, better facilities among others.

Also, ASUU is demanding the payment of four months withheld salaries of members.

Eight months salaries were withheld following the 2022 strike by the union, but only four months have been paid by the Bola Tinubu administration.

On the other hand, non-teaching staff under the umbrella of Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, SSANU, National Association of Academic Technologists,NAAT and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Allied Institutions, NASU, are also demanding the payment of their withheld salaries of between three and a half months and five and a half months.

They are also calling for the implementation of an earlier agreement entered into by their unions and the government.

The academic and non-academic unions have given various timelines as when their demands must be met or they would go on strike.