The National Working Committee (NWC) of the factional National Chairman of the Labour Party ( LP), Lamidi Apapa, has felicitated with the party’s flag bearer, Peter Obi, on his 62nd birthday.

The Apapa-led NWC of the party, as much as they jubilate with Obi, said they regret fielding him as the party’s presidential candidate for the 2023 presidential election, Naija News gathered.

According to the faction, Obi, rather than representing varied interests in the party, chose the interest of a faction.

The faction, in a statement issued on Wednesday night by Suspended National Publicity Secretary of the Labour Party, Comrade Abayomi Arabambi, said as he celebrates his 62 birthday, he should reflect on being a statesman rather than a regional bigot.

Arabambi said, “The National Working Committee (NWC) of the Labour Party (LP) felicitates with its popular presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Gregory Obi, on his 62nd anniversary.

“The Party wishes that the occasion should provide the celebrant a period of deep reflection and ponder on the citizens-conferred status of a statesman who represents interests beyond his ethnic leaning

“The Lamidi Apapa-led National Working Committee of the Party hereby charges the celebrant to, on this occasion of thanksgiving to God, to be reflective of the Nigerian interest, which he seeks to serve.

“While we in the Labour party join him to thank God and wish him a good health and prosperity we want to also remind him that his popularity emanates from the love of the people for the Labour party and galvanized by his representation of the people.

“In wishing him well, we want him to state that we regret fielding him on the platform of the party, in the light of recent development particularly actions that undermined the discipline the Labour party has been known for.

“It is indeed worrisome that even though he went to the Presidential Electoral Tribunal as a non-member of the Labour Party and lied severally that there was a time they issued subpoena to INEC for all those document and maintained that they, they were unable to pay all the documents they seek to tender, kicks regret in our party stakeholders.

“We are further disturbed that our presidential candidate would rely on a “non party agent’ who came to court to defend the alleged stolen mandate,” this is regrettable as it is laughable.

“We wish him well for his 62nd year birthday. We made a mistake to have fielded him to, which we will never repeat again.

“We had thought that this birthday will offer him an opportunity to have a reflection that would make him a better Nigerian and not an Ethnic bigot.”

There’s a trending video from nine years ago. If you watched it casually, you might in fact think that it was done yesterday. It was a clip of Ugandan President, Yoweri Museveni, narrating what happened in 2014 when a delegation of African heads of state was asked by AU to mediate the Libyan crisis at the time.

Museveni’s account of the outcome of the assignment, which has so far not been denied by NATO, was a scandal – an African shame – on steroids. It’s surprising how the incident remained largely unreported until this video resurfaced again recently.

It wasn’t the usual anti-Western trope about colonialism, neo-colonialism or imperialism that caught my attention. It was what appeared, if Museveni were to be believed, to be the brazen, daylight interference of NATO in the peace mission of the African leaders and how they responded to it.

Museveni told a meeting of the Pan-African parliament in Midrand, South Africa, that a plane conveying six African heads of state to Tripoli, including his own minister who represented him, was asked not to proceed by NATO as the aircraft approached the Libyan airspace on its mission. 

“How can African leaders nominated by an African continental body, on African soil, be stopped by NATO from doing their duty,” he asked the parliament, pointing out that even the Mauritanian President, Mohammed Abdul Aziz, who was chair of that session of the parliament, was also on the trip. 

The Ugandan leader described the incident as a classic case of African elite betrayal. As the camera panned the helpless, forlorn look on the faces of the leaders present in the hall, you could almost hear a pin drop. 

I don’t know what Museveni might have done if he was on the plane on that day, and he didn’t say either. It however appears improbable to me that a man who had been in bed with the West for decades would have done anything other than what the delegation on that Tripoli mission did: meekly accepted his fate, like the rest, while the plane returned to base. How could Museveni not see that he was a part of the African elite betrayal story?

Helen Epstein wrote in her book, Another Fine Mess: America, Uganda And the War on Terror, that Museveni owes his longevity in power to billions of American dollars that have been used to train and buy equipment for his army and prop his government. Western aid to Uganda accounts for over 10 percent of that country’s GDP, and was, in fact, up to 42 percent of the budget in 2006. To put it politely, western pipers have always called Uganda’s tune.

Things only began to fall apart between Museveni and his sponsors after the homosexual rights wars broke out, worsened by his strong-arm tactics against the opposition in that country’s last general election. Not that he suddenly discovered the despicable history of western colonialism and exploitation in Africa or the treachery of the elite.

Since watching that video of Museveni’s blood boiling over what was apparently a latter-day moment of African epiphany, made after he had been in power for 28 years, I’ve been asking myself if NATO might have asked a plane conveying Nelson Mandela, Robert Mugabe and Olusegun Obasanjo on that kind of mission to make a mid-air return. Very unlikely. 

If the current crop of African leaders had not eaten the sour grapes of betrayal, it is improbable that NATO would treat them with such contempt. So, what would NATO have done if the airplane defied the return-to-base order? Shot down an aircraft carrying six African leaders on an AU peace mission in Africa? Sadly, the mission is a metaphor for the current state of leadership on the continent; they love life too much to dare. 

Interestingly, there was not even a word of protest from the AU after the aborted mission, allegedly directed by NATO in name only. The mastermind, obviously, was Barack Obama, the first Black American president, who would later unleash perhaps one of the most consequential destabilising forces on the Sahel after the brutal elimination of Moummar Ghaddafi. I’m not sure it was a moment that Obama would look back on with pride. Yet, for the AU, too busy with the politics of subservience to care, it was business as usual.

Another African leader has been talking lately, making statements that re-echo memories of Museveni’s bluster. William Ruto, Kenya’s president while addressing the Djibouti parliament in June, said something fairly radical. Why, he asked Djibouti, should that country or any other African country for that matter, conduct bilateral trade amongst themselves in US dollars?

Although Ruto said he was not opposed to settling accounts for trade with the US in dollars, his statement was the diplomatic equivalent of what should have been the appropriate response of that AU-Libya mission to NATO’s meddling: that the alliance had no business stopping the AU delegation from landing on the soil of an African country which, in any case, was not a member of NATO.

On the face of it, there’s really no reason intra-African trade should be settled in dollars. The EU, perhaps the largest single currency union, conducts intra-European trade in euros. So, why can’t AU, especially if the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), the continent’s financial provider, set up a payment and settlement mechanism to facilitate intra-African trade? As tempting as this option may be and in spite of the obvious advantages including reduction of transaction costs among others, the devil is in the detail. Ruto knows.

With 54 countries in Africa, it would be interesting to test a continental payment clearing house that is not even contemplating optimum currency area – a slightly different system that would have allowed trading in one or more frequently used regional currencies – but is instead thinking of dealing with 42 different currencies on the continent simultaneously. 

Given the current disastrously low volume of intra-African trade, which is about 18.2 percent or $169.7 billion in 2021, a common clearing house is hardly as important as removing the barriers to trade that have stunted the impact of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA).

Unnecessary restrictions and obstacles to the movement of people and goods, shambolic customs regulations and border policing — not to mention poor infrastructure and protectionist policies by countries that fear, not always irrationally, that their neighbours are conduits for cheap foreign products — have severely limited trade among African countries and denied citizens prosperity. 

These are not problems that can be solved by settling bank notes or making sound bites. Until African countries develop the capacity to go beyond being just primary commodity markets, always looking outside the continent to consume, in excess, what they cannot produce, Ruto’s wishes would remain what they are – wishes. 

Does Ruto know, for example, that a number of Francophone countries in West and Central Africa which are part of the CFA franc zone still maintain 50 percent of their reserves in the French Treasury in Paris? It isn’t a big secret that France torpedoed the attempt by ECOWAS to introduce the ‘ECO’ as a subregional currency three years ago. How will an African payment settlement system extricate Francophone West Africa from decades of French namby-pamby?

Also, when Britain announced recently, for example, that it was adding Nigeria’s naira to its list of pre-approved currencies, allowing it to provide financing for transactions with Nigerian businesses in the local currency, it was hardly an act of charity. It was, instead, that country’s calculated response to the new reality of its post-Brexit misery. 

African leaders may chew the microphone all they want in Midrand, South Africa or in Djibouti. Ruto and his colleagues would soon find, as the six African leaders on that aborted AU mission to Libya found many years ago, that the strong have the weak for lunch. 

When vested interests push back against the fancy idea of an African payment and settlement system, as they will, would the mission return to base?

Azu Ishiekwene is Editor-In-Chief of LEADERSHIP  

The ICC International Maritime Bureau (IMB) recently released its January to June 2023 IMB Piracy and Armed Robbery Report Summary Sheet, which indicates a resurgence of piracy around the Gulf of Guinea waters. In this report, TOLA ADENUBI looks at the reasons the scourge is returning.

The launch of the Integrated National Security and Waterways Protection Infrastructure, otherwise known as Deep Blue project by the Federal Government in 2021 and the collaborative efforts of international navies patrolling the Gulf of Guinea (GoG) waters brought succour to the waters off Nigerian coastline, leading to a drastic drop in the rate of piracy attacks on vessels between late 2021 and most part of 2022.

With a drop in piracy incidents, Nigeria recorded zero attacks on ships calling at its  ports and this necessitated the removal of the most populous black nation from the list of countries designated as risk maritime nations by the International Bargaining Forum (IBF) in the first quarter of 2022.

The IBF, which is a body that brings together the International Transport Federation (ITF) and the international maritime employers that make up the Joint Negotiating Group (JNG), had listed five designated risk areas and applicable benefits in the event of attacks leading to deaths and disability, mentioning the Gulf of Guinea as second extended war risk zone covering Liberia/Ivory Coast border to 00°N 005°E, to the Angola/Namibia border.

However, events in the first and second quarter of 2023, according to the 2023 January to June IMB Piracy and Armed Robbery Report Summary Sheet of the International Maritime Bureau (IMB), has shown a return of insecurity in the GoG waters.

According to the IMB, 65 incidents of piracy and armed robbery against ships were recorded in the first half of 2023 in the GoG, an increase from 58 incidents for the same period in 2022.

Of the 65 incidents reported, 57 vessels were boarded, four had attempted attacks, two were hijacked and two were fired upon. Perpetrators successfully boarded 90 percent of targeted vessels. Violence towards crew continues with 36 taken hostage, 14 kidnapped, three threatened, two injured and one assaulted.

The IMB mid-year report further stated that “The Gulf of Guinea witnessed a concerning surge in maritime incidents between Q1 and Q2 of 2023, with five incidents in the first quarter and nine in the second quarter. Out of these, 12 were classified as armed robberies and two as piracy, predominantly targeting anchored vessels in the region.

“Fourteen crew were kidnapped, of which eight crew members were taken from vessels anchored within territorial waters. Additionally, in two separate hijackings, 31 crew members were held hostage, communication and navigation equipment destroyed and partial cargoes stolen. One of these incidents also involved the abduction of six crew members.”

Appealing to governments in the GoG waters to redouble efforts in tackling maritime crimes, IMB Director, Michael Howlett, said, “The resurgence in reported incidents including hostage situations and crew kidnappings in the Gulf of Guinea waters is concerning. The IMB calls for continued, robust regional and international naval presence as a deterrent to address these crimes.

“We once again call on the Gulf of Guinea regional authorities and the international community to refocus their attention on the region, to establish long-term, sustainable solutions that effectively address these crimes and protect the seafaring and fishing communities.”

Why resurgence of piracy?

Findings by the Nigerian Tribune have revealed that due to the ongoing onslaught against oil thieves on Nigerian waters, most of the people siphoning the nation’s crude oil are gradually returning to their first job – piracy.

Disclosing this to the Nigerian Tribune exclusively, a top official of Tantita Security Services, a private security firm contracted by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) to tackle oil theft, explained that most of the people perpetrating oil theft were also involved in kidnapping-for-ransom attacks on ships before.

The Tantita Security Services official, who wouldn’t want his name in print as he has not been authorised to speak on the matter, said “I am not surprised piracy is gradually on the rise again.

“The pirates never left before; they only switched trade due to the pressure on them from international navies and the Nigerian Navy. They switched to oil theft after some of them were killed by foreign navies patrolling the GoG.

“If you observed, as piracy declined, oil theft increased. These guys never left in the first place; they only switched trade. These guys are used to making money in foreign currency through illicit activities on Nigeria’s waterways.

“So, as piracy went down, activities in oil theft increased. Nigeria was losing huge revenue due to its crude oil being stolen to neighbouring African countries. That was why Nigeria witnessed a drastic drop in piracy attacks on ships.

“But since the NNPCL contracted Tantita Security Services to help in tackling oil theft, the pressure is now on these guys to switch trade again. You know that anywhere Tompolo puts his hands, the place always becomes hot for whoever is competing with him (Tompolo) for such space.

“Tompolo is fully focused on the war against oil theft and, as such, there cannot be room for people who indulge in such illegal activities. They are moving back to piracy because stealing crude oil now is a no-go area for them.

“Some of them have lost ships. We just destroyed a ship, MT TURA II, some days ago for trying to steal Nigeria’s crude oil to Cameroon. The vessel was burnt to serve as deterrent for other would-be-oil-thieves.

“So, they are going back to piracy. I saw the IMB report. It is important that our security operatives are on top of their game because the statistics of attacks on commercial ships may rise if unchecked.”

Recall that the vessel, MT TURA II (IMO number: 6620462), owned by a Nigerian registered company, Holab Maritime Services Limited, with registration Nnumber RC813311, was heading to Cameroon with stolen crude on board when it was apprehended at an offshore location (Latitude: 5.8197194477543235°, Longitude: 4.789002723991871°), with the captain and crew members on board.

[Tribune]

The First Lady, Oluremi Tinubu, on Wednesday in Abuja, urged female lawmakers in the 10th National Assembly to work together and remain teachable as they discharge their duties for the next four years.

“As a former lawmaker, I advise you to please work together, irrespective of party affiliation, because the success of the nation depends on this. My advice is that, be teachable. Stay that way. Learn new things. Try it. You can’t say you are all-knowing,” Mrs Tinubu said when she received female senators and members of the House of Representatives at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

The Special Adviser to the First Lady, Busola Kukoyi, disclosed this in a statement she signed on Wednesday titled, ‘The First Lady Oluremi Tinubu encourages female National Assembly members to remain committed to constituents.’

The statement quoted her as saying, “You are the women here at the National Assembly for the masses, and you should not take this for granted”.

“As a former lawmaker, I advise you to please work together, irrespective of party affiliation, because the success of the nation depends on this.”

She urged the women not to lose their femininity in the execution of their duties.

[Punch]

The federal government says the country targets to earn $5 billion from exporting jobs in the outsourcing industry in 2024.

Dr Ezra Yakusak, the Executive Director of the Nigerian Export Promotion Council, NEPC, disclosed this at the National Conference on International Trade-in-Service organized by the council on Wednesday in Abuja.

He emphasized the significance of outsourcing to the Nigerian economy.

Yakusak explained that some outsourced services include financial, advertising, courier, customer support, and logistics.

According to him, Nigeria is moving gradually and focusing more on the export of services because it is an area that has been neglected for a long time.

He added that the Country’s high population, less expensive labour cost, and English proficiency make it appealing to companies and businesses worldwide.

“It has so much potential, but if our services sector is well harnessed, we can earn more than the $4 .8 billion we earn from our products.

“We are looking at five billion dollars in 2024,” he said.

[DailyPost]

Peter Obi, Labour Party’s (LP) presidential candidate in the 2023 general election, on Wednesday in Jos, the Plateau State capital, stressed that Ni­gerians cannot continue to be killed incessantly without gov­ernment’s intervention.

Speaking at the Rayfield Government House in Jos while addressing the Plateau State governor, Caleb Mutf­wang, the former governor of Anambra State decried the inability of authorities to stop the perpetrators.

Obi’s remarks, which were made on his 62nd birthday, was a reference to recent carnage in parts of the state where about 300 persons were killed, and properties worth millions of naira destroyed by gunmen.

He disclosed that his deci­sion to visit Plateau, and to the internally displaced persons in Mangu Local Government Area, on the occasion of his birthday, was to show support to the people and also com­miserate with them over the needless killings in parts of the state.

“I would like to commend the governor for his relentless efforts to see that these killings stop. For us as Nigerians, it is time to be with our people es­pecially in this trying period. Nigerians cannot continue to get killed in their homes un­provoked and we fold our arms. We cannot compensate for a life lost, we can only show support. We must do everything within our means to bring this barbar­ic killings to an end.

“We must go back to the Plateau we used to know. A Plateau where people from various parts of life come to organise events and enjoy the beauty of Plateau. I call on se­curity agencies to collaborate and bring these perpetrators to justice,” the LP presidential flag bearer added.

This is as he told the people of Plateau of his unwavering support to end the killings, adding that Plateau was known to be the most peace­ful state in Nigeria with a beautiful weather and serene environment.

Governor Mutfwang on his part wished the LP presidential candidate a happy birthday and thanked him for his visit to his state, noting that “Man­gu has been in the news a lot because it was one of the most peaceful areas of the state.”

He pointed out that “loos­ing over 300 lives in the space of two months is a national disaster that must stop and so we are determined to fight to the end to ensure Plateau State remains the home of peace and tourism.

“You have changed the po­litical landscape in Nigeria. We share a similar vision of a Ni­geria that works where the chil­dren of the poor can also be rec­ognised, where every Nigerian can sleep without fear of being killed. We as a government are committed to this task and we promise to do our best.”

Obi moved from the Govern­ment House to the paramount traditional ruler of Mangu where he donated 100 bags of rice and N5 million to the vic­tims of Mangu attacks.

[DailyIndependent]

France often likes to pride itself as the heir of progressive regicidal revolutionaries, as enshrined in its national motto: liberté, égalité, and fraternité (liberty, equality, and fraternity). The recent riots in the country have, however, exposed the profound socio-economic fault-lines and dyed-in-the-wool racism of a country in deep denial. France historically used a perverse mission civilisatrice to engage in three centuries of brutal slavery in the Caribbean and the Americas, followed by a century of an often savage colonialism in Africa which culminated in one million Algerian deaths and a massacre in Madagascar. It has failed to offer a full apology, let alone pay reparations, for these atrocities. The last six decades have also witnessed an obstinate and often abusive neo-colonial political, military, and economic relationship with Africa, that is now fraying at the edges, as the Gallic Emperor’s nakedness is increasingly exposed.

Following the emergence of the video of the execution-style killing of a 17-year old Algerian-Moroccan-French youth, Nahel Merzouk, in broad daylight, by a French policeman at a traffic stop in a Parisian suburb, six nights of rioting erupted across Paris, Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Dijon, Toulouse, and Strasbourg. These attacks resulted in 3,700.arrests; 5,000 burned cars; 11,000 lit fires; 2,000 looted shops; and attacks on police stations, town halls, tax offices, and post offices: all seen as symbols of state oppression. The damages from these attacks reached an estimated €1 billion.

The officer who killed Nahel was charged with homicide. This occurred only because of video evidence of the motorist driving away from the policeman who had pointed a gun to Nahel’s head and threatened to shoot him. Before the video emerged, the French police had publicly lied that Nahel had driven straight at the policeman whom it alleged had acted in self-defence.

Marginalised Maghrebis, Brutalised Blacks
These events once again highlight the pent-up anger of brutalised and marginalised black and brown populations in France’s destitute banlieues (suburbs) which lack basic social services and decent schools, hospitals, and housing, despite half-hearted efforts at urban renewal and failed entrepreneurial projects. Also pertinent is the institutional racism of the French police and constant harassment of Maghrebi and black African youths living in impoverished housing estates. A culture of impunity is widespread among the French police in these communities, fanned by mainstream politicians, led by President Emmanuel Macron.

The anger of the rioters is so raw because black and brown youths know that, like Nahel, they could easily have been the one shot dead by the police. So many African and Maghrebi youths have died at the hands of French police under suspicious circumstances: Lamine Dieng (2007); Hakim Ajimi (2008); Amine Bentoussi (2012); Amadou Koumé (2015); Adama Traoré (2016); and Jean-Paul Benjamin (2022), are just a few in recent years. Nahel’s death was thus not unusual, which helps to contextualize the rage of the rioters. Since 2020, French police have killed 21 people in similar traffic stops as Nahel’s.  Most of them have been black and brown citizens who are 20 times more likely to be stopped by police than their white compatriots. The trigger-happy French police are thus seen in these communities as a dangerous source of insecurity and terror, and not as public protectors. They serve the state, not local communities.

The Jupiterean Emperor
Rather than show sympathy and solidarity with the victim of this ghastly killing, France’s self-styled Jupiterean president, Emmanuel Macron, instead publicly embraced police chiefs, noting in a meeting: “We are with you,“ while praising the police’s apparent “professionalism”. Though at first describing Nahel’s shooting as “inexcusable”, Macron soon resorted to his reflexive machoism, deploying 45,000 police to deal with a situation that was being treated like a war against citizens wielding stones and fireworks. The French president has been tone-deaf to demands to call off his “mad dogs” unleashed against angry citizens in poor ghettos. Following the riots, fast-track judges in “kangaroo courts” were encouraged to dish out rapid jail sentences in sham trials in which the most basic tenets of the rule of law did not seem to have been observed. Over 380 people were jailed in the first two days of the riots: one 28-year old man was imprisoned for 10 months for stealing a can of Red Bull from a looted supermarket. This “expedited justice” has been contrasted with the 5-10 years  it can take to achieve any prosecution of policemen who have killed unarmed black and brown citizens.

Rather than addressing the root causes of the genuine grievances that have triggered this violence, Macron has instead tried to distract attention away from the real issues. Playing the populist politician, he inanely suggested – similar to American right-wing conservatives who attack Hollywood for being the source of all youth delinquency – that video games and social media among youths had catalyzed these events. Acting like a tin-pot dictator, he then threatened to cut off social media which he accused of spreading hate. He patronizingly put the responsibility on Maghrebi and black parents to keep their children at home, using the dog whistle to reinforce the widely held stereotypical beliefs among the majority, of cultures that lack good morals, in a society that already widely considers brown and black people to be “backward” and not representative of “enlightened” French values.

Racist Politicians, Police, and People
In 2005, French police had chased three Maghrebi and black teenagers walking home after playing football into an electric substation, where two of them – Zyed Benna and Bouna Traoré – were electrocuted, triggering three weeks of riots. The breathtakingly insensitive interior minister, Nicolas Sarkozy – recently sentenced to three years in prison for corruption and influence-peddling – had implied that the teenagers were thieves, as they were running from the police. He also described rioting Maghrebi and black youths as “scum.”

After the recent riots, French politicians again fell over themselves to put out a tough “law and order” message. Interior minister, Gérald Darmanin, noted that: “It’s the republic that will win, not the rioters”: language, dripping with vulgar jingoism, that was clearly intended as a coded message of a “civilized” republic under threat from foreign “barbarians”. Darmanin later made the extraordinary statement: “police violence doesn’t exist.” The right-wing head of the French Senate, Bruno Retailleau, also condemned second and third generation French migrants’ behavior, in racist terms, as “regression towards their ethnic roots.”   
Not to be outdone, two of France’s police unions described rioters as ‘vermin’ and ‘savage hordes’ with whom they were ‘at war’.

The ill-disciplined French police appear to have inherited the colonial policing culture of the savage Algerian war (1954-1962) when torture and wanton murder of innocent civilians was widespread. The highly militarized police – long cited for human rights abuses and discriminatory behavior by the European Court of Human Rights, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Council of Europe, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and a plethora of domestic civil rights organisations – responded characteristically to the rioters with armoured personnel carriers, helicopters, stun grenades, and projectiles. A 2017 law making it easier for the police to use their weapons without necessarily having to justify it on the basis of self-defence, has virtually given the French police a sense it has a licence to kill. The country’s police has also been criticized for using excessive force against gilet jaunes (yellow vest) and anti-pension reform protesters.

Furthermore, it is important to note that 41% of the French population – a staggering 13 million people – voted for the openly racist, anti-immigration far-right Marine Le Pen in last year’s presidential election. An astonishing €1.6 million has been raised to support the murderous policeman’s legal defence fund, compared to the less than €200,000 for the family of his victim. Parts of the mainstream French media are also guilty of criminalizing black and brown people in their reporting. Many supposedly progressive French academics often condone police brutality against foreigners.

Of Leftists and Resisters
In stark contrast to the prejudiced narratives of many Gallic politicians and police, scores of French civic groups and left-wing politicians have demonstrated more understanding and sympathy for the plight of oppressed communities. Almost 100 trade unions, associations, and left-wing parties – including the Greens, and Unbowed France – marched in solidarity to demand police reforms after Nahel’s killing. Civil society groups such as SOS Racisme, the Defender of Rights, Mother’s Front, and Community House for Solidarity Development have gallantly fought for the voices of the marginalised to be heard, and for institutionalized racism within the police to be addressed through concrete reforms such as establishing an independent investigative body and conducting an independent audit of police racism. Their marches, letters, and petitions have, however, often gone unheeded.    

Some French politicians have also resisted the populist urge, and spoken out against injustices. Nanterre Mayor, Patrick Jarry, noted the role that the lack of jobs, housing, and schooling play in fueling the rage in marginalised minority suburbs. The leader of Unbowed France, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, also accused the government of being scared of the police, and effectively backing its excesses.  

Adieu to the Assimilationist Myth?
The fundamental problem of the French social model is that it insists on the myth of imaginary “universalist” values in which it bans the collecting of any race-based data, while pretending that racism does not exist. This is despite voluminous research showing the ever-widening gulf between down-trodden Maghrebi and black populations, and the rest of society. France insists on a “colour blind” society and derides Anglo-Saxon “multiculturalism,” but has ended up entrenching institutional racism and turning politically invisible and culturally marginalized black and brown minorities into second-class citizens. Its assimilationist policies have clearly proved counter-productive, as many minority communities continue to reject a mainstream culture that many feel have criminalized them and stripped them of their dignity and humanity. These events clearly demonstrate that the French model of citizenship is completely broken.
Professor Adebajo is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Pretoria’s Centre for the Advancement of Scholarship in South Africa.

Former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele, took a very big gamble last year by seeking the presidential ticket of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) while still in office. He raised the stakes even higher with a Naira redesign policy that was either not well thought-out or done with malicious intent. Incidentally, a certain AbdulRasheed Bawa was an enabler in what became a Naira confiscation policy. The suspended Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Chairman told Nigerians at the time that “with this redesigning, dollar may massively fall, who knows, probably to N200.”

At the end, the Naira redesign exercise will go down as one of the most atrocious policies ever implemented in the country. The dollar did not fall as predicted by Bawa. Instead, the colossal cost in human suffering resulted in countless lives lost to hunger and deprivation. Such was the level of desperation by Nigerians that many were forced into trade by barter as a medium of exchange. The Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise (CPPE) estimated that the economy lost about N20 trillion to the scarcity of Naira. This despite warnings about potential pitfalls, including by the World Bank.

Risks are acceptable in policy decisions. But gambling can be dangerous. Borrowing from the thesis of the great German General Erwin Rommel, Robert Greene made a distinction between a gamble and a risk in his book ‘The 33 Strategies of War’. The difference, he wrote “is that with risk, if you lose, you can recover” while with a gamble, “defeat can lead to a slew of problems that are likely to spiral out of control”. Yet, as Greene also explained, “people are drawn into gambles by their emotions: they see only the glittering prospects if they win and ignore the ominous consequences if they lose. Taking risks is essential, gambling is foolhardy. It can be years before you recover from a gamble if you ever recover at all…”

That both Emefiele and Bawa took a gamble with the Naira redesign policy is beyond doubt. And my take on that was well documented on 16^th March, in my column, ‘Nigeria: From Top to Bottom…’ President Muhammadu Buhari (always looking for ‘thieves’ to catch, even when they may be sitting close to him) owned the policy from the outset. He made a national broadcast in its defence and offered no attempt to hold anybody accountable. But Emefiele would have been wise to fall on his own sword the moment the Supreme Court declared the entire exercise illegal. Especially considering his earlier presidential misadventure. Notwithstanding, there is no reason to arrest and detain him without trial.

I am aware of the sundry allegations of unwholesome practices against Emefiele and Bawa. But until evidence is provided, we don’t have to dignify such tales. Meanwhile, unresolved issues regarding their fate remain. The first is whether President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has the power to remove them given provisions of the EFCC Act 2004 and the CBN Act 2007. Before I make my point, let me state that in 2014, during the controversy that trailed a similar suspension of Emefiele’s predecessor, Khalifa Muhammadu Sanusi II, I sided with President Goodluck Jonathan. Though I saw no justification for the suspension, I argued for the powers of a president, which Sanusi challenged at the time. And my position has not changed.

In the United States, from where we borrowed the presidential system of government, the Federal Reserve Chair (equivalent of our CBN Governor) is also insulated from presidential interference. The office holder reports to Congress. But in the campaign leading to the American 2012 presidential election, the stewardship of Mr. Ben Bernanke became an issue, especially among Republicans. Newt Gingrich and Herman Kane said they would fire the Fed Chair if elected president while Mitt Romney said he ‘wouldn’t keep Ben Bernanke in office,’ and would rather ‘choose someone of my own.’

I cited two US cases to buttress my position that they knew what they were saying, even when no Fed Chair had ever been removed before by an American President. One, suspension of Edwin M. Stanton as Secretary of War in 1865 by President Andrew Johnson after succeeding the assassinated President Abraham Lincoln (to whom he was VP) without recourse to Congress. At that time, the ‘Tenure of Office Act’ had restricted an American president from sacking any member of cabinet without the express approval of the Senate. I also cited the 1926 Supreme Court ruling in the Myers v. United States which affirmed the power of President Woodrow Wilson to remove Mr Frank S. Myers, a First-Class Postmaster in Portland, Oregon from office without congressional approval. Despite a federal law that expressly stated: “Postmasters of the first, second, and third classes shall be appointed and may be removed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate.”

In concluding one of the columns that I wrote on the Sanusi saga nine years ago, I referenced ‘The Second Treatise of Government: And A Letter Concerning Toleration’, where 17^th century English philosopher, John Locke argued that the people sometimes allow “their rulers to do several things of their own free choice, where the law is silent…and their acquiescing in it when so done.” Whatever the law cannot provide for, according to Locke, “must necessarily be left to the discretion of him that has the executive power in his hands, to be ordered by him as the public good and advantage shall require…”

Given the foregoing, I have no problem with the suspension of Emefiele “sequel to the ongoing investigation of his office and the planned reforms in the financial sector of the economy.” But arresting and keeping him and Bawa incarcerated indefinitely is the hallmark of military dictatorship. Under democracy and the rule of law, accused persons are presumed innocent until evidence is adduced in a court of law to secure conviction. Whatever the allegations against Emefiele, detaining him and subjecting him to street gossip and media trial without the ability to defend himself is unfair and illegal. The same goes for Bawa.

It must be stated that the Emefiele saga did not begin under the current administration. It started during the dysfunctional government of President Buhari. In an exclusive story in February this year, PREMIUM TIMES blew the lid on why the Directorate of State Security (DSS) was after Emefiele. The report referenced an affidavit deposed to before the Federal High Court last December, by Mr Umar Salihu, an official of the DSS. According to the affidavit, “there is reasonable suspicion that the respondent (Emefiele) was involved in terrorism financing, aiding and abetting acts of terrorism, economic crimes of national security dimension and undermining the security of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.” Salihu said the DSS made the application so that Emefiele could be detained for 60 days, “pending the conclusion of ongoing investigation …”

Although no details were provided, the main kernel of the allegations surrounded Emefiele’s presidential ambition for which he was said to have procured vehicles and disbursed funds. These resources, the DSS alleged, were “being channelled into funding of Unknown Gunmen, Eastern Security Network (ESN) and elements of IPOB, a proscribed organisation.”

It is interesting that the DSS made these damaging allegations against Emefiele as a sitting CBN Governor whose access to President Buhari was never at any point denied. That fact was not lost on the court. In throwing out the DSS’ application on 9^th December 2022, Justice John Tsoho said the request being sought ought to have been preceded by arrest. “This is not the situation here, as Godwin Emefiele, the CBN governor was shown on television, even last night, having an audience with the President of Nigeria,” the judge said. “It therefore seems that the applicant (DSS) intends to use the court as a cover for an irregular procedure which is unacceptable.”

Like Emefiele, Bawa was suspended more than a month ago by President Tinubu “to allow for proper investigation into his conduct while in office”, following “weighty allegations of abuse of office levelled against him.” Bawa was subsequently arrested and has since been detained by the DSS. Till today, Nigerians do not know what those “weighty allegations” are. But let’s come back to Emefiele. Following a court order that he be properly charged or released, DSS has come up with the accusation of possessing a gun and 23 rounds of live ammunition, apparently just to fulfill all righteousness. Pray, how do these relate to terrorism and financial crimes on which the entire drama was initially premised?

Given the needless hardship to which Nigerians were subjected during the Naira redesign fiasco, it is understandable that there is little sympathy for Emefiele. But this issue is not about his person. At stake are fundamental freedoms of a citizen and abuse of power. Tuesday’s Twitter post from the DSS official handle mocking one of the lawyers defending Emefiele with incendiary comments can be described as nothing but bad faith. And it is unfortunate. One of the major tragedies of Nigeria is that officials and institutions that are ordinarily supposed to uphold the law most often see themselves being above the law. Yet, the rule of law is founded on the principle that every citizen, no matter highly placed and regardless of the position they hold, is subject to the law. The same goes for public institutions.

No matter the offence for which a citizen may be charged, revenge is not the same thing as justice and state institutions should not be seen to be promoting such perversion. President Tinubu has spent the better part of his political career mouthing defence of fundamental freedoms for citizens. It would be tragic for the government he now heads to exhibit traits antithetical to those ideals. “He (Tinubu) was at the forefront as a NADECO man to chastise military governments for disobeying court orders. Now that power is in his hand, we will see whether he, himself will obey court orders,” a former Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) President, Joseph Daudu, SAN said last Thursday. I share his point of view.

President Tinubu’s disruptive policy measures may ultimately be for the good of the country, but his government needs all the support it can get at this most vulnerable period. Nigerians are going through a very difficult period. The inflation rate jumped from 22.4 percent in May to 22.8 in June, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Monday. By Tuesday, the pump price of petrol had gone haywire with a litre selling for between N617 and N630 thus increasing the woes of the ordinary people. Any suggestion of dictatorship will be most unhelpful under the present circumstance. In the public arena, as Senate President Godswill Akpabio reminded the new Governor of Akwa Ibom recently, “100 friends, not enough; one enemy, too many.” I hope presidential handlers can appreciate that.

Emefiele may deserve a comeuppance for the choices he made as CBN Governor and for getting so caried away as to imagine he could use his office to secure Nigeria’s presidency through the backdoor. But those are issues for another day. What we are dealing with in this unfortunate saga is the abuse of due process of the law, an affront on the fundamental rights of citizens, and authoritarian impulses by a critical state institution. No matter how ‘weighty’ the allegations against them, and regardless of how we view their stewardship, Emefiele and Bawa deserve their day in court. Or be released from detention!

Chidi Amuta at 70 

Come Monday, I intend joining the family of Dr Chidi Amuta and a few friends in Lagos at the dinner to mark his 70^th birthday. We had to convince him before he agreed to the ceremony. Teacher, writer, journalist, and public intellectual, Amuta has been one of my most invaluable professional mentors from whom I have learnt a lot. He is also a member of THISDAY editorial board and a national asset.

Amuta started his career as a lecturer at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, in 1979 (he graduated from the University with a First Class) before moving to the University of Port-Harcourt in 1981 as a Senior Lecturer in the Department of English. He was at various times a Visiting Fellow, Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy, Boston USA; founding editorial board member, The Guardian newspaper; Director, Imo State Directorate for Rural Development (DIFRI); Group Editorial Adviser and Chairman Editorial Board, Daily Times; Managing Director, Post Express Newspapers and Executive Director, Tanus Communications. He has also authored several books, including ‘Towards A Sociology of African Literature’, ‘The Theory of African Literature: Implications for Practical Criticism’, ‘Prince of the Niger: The Babangida Years’ and ‘Writing the Wrong: A Collection of Articles’. Incidentally, at the public presentation of ‘Writing the Wrongs’ nine years ago, I was the reviewer. In that review, I spoke about Amuta’s attention to detail, his curiousity and sense of humour.

I can recall some of his columns that distinguish him as a writer. ‘Give Us the Mad Cows’ for instance dramatizes the vexation in some countries about the mental state of some cows that were bound for the pots of soup anyway. And here is the opener: “…a veteran of the ‘tombo bar’ accosted me the other day. He had just heard about these mad cows from somebody who heard it from somebody who happens to know somebody else who has the unhealthy habit of reading newspapers. The Nigerian chain of information control and command, for your information, is a mixture of oral tradition and enlightened rumour in print. The subject was infuriating to him: that any group of rational adults should allow their public discourse and political energies to be hijacked by, of all subjects, mad cows…”

As Dr Amuta joins the elite septuagenarian club on Monday, I can only wish him happy birthday, long life and good health.

2023 Teens Conference

Online registration for the 2023 edition of the teens career conference of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, The Everlasting Arms Parish (TEAP) continues. With the theme, ‘Wake Up and Take Responsibility’, Chairman of both UBA and Heirs Holdings, Mr Tony Elumelu, CFR, is being joined on 19^th August by two British women, Ms Dorota Oakley Matuszyk and Ms Juliet Lamin as speakers. Like previous editions, this year’s conference will bring together teenagers from Abuja and its environs, to listen to expert advice on career choices in today’s dynamic and challenging world.

Specifically, the objectives of the conference are to: Teach teenagers to take responsibility for their future; have their imagination fired through interaction with accomplished professionals in the society; make them realize that no matter the odds, they can reach their goals, and get them to understand that God still intervenes in the affairs of men. It is usually a day of fun with music, food, and drinks while attendance is completely free of charge.  But intending participants must register online by visiting www.rccgteapteens.ng

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

There were indications yesterday that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the governors on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) may have endorsed immediate past Kano State governor, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, as replacement for the erstwhile national chairman of the party, Abdullahi Adamu.

With the development, it is likely that the defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) bloc which produced former President Muhammadu Buhari may have again taken a back seat in the scheme of things in the party’s leadership.

LEADERSHIP had reported on Tuesday that former governor of Nasarawa State, Senator Umaru Tanko Al-Makura, who is an ardent member of the CPC bloc, and Senator Sani Musa from Niger State were being considered as possible replacements for Adamu.

However, it was learnt last night that despite pressure on President Tinubu to retain the chairmanship position in the North Central, he settled for Ganduje, apparently to pacify the North West zone which had insisted on producing the Senate President of the 10th Assembly.

It was also gathered that four APC governors, including chairman of the Progressive Governors Forum (PGF) and Imo State governor, Hope Uzodimma; his Kwara State counterpart and two others led to meet with Tinubu at the presidential villa yesterday.

At the meeting, the president was said to have briefed the former Kano governor of the plan to make him APC national chairman, instead of minister as earlier planned.

According to reports, Ganduje who had made Tinubu’s ministerial list was asked to nominate someone as his replacement from Kano State.

The news of Adamu and Omisore’s resignation broke on Sunday night but was not confirmed until Monday after the National Working Committee (NWC) meeting of the party.

A source within the party who confirmed the development said the choice of Ganduje as the new chairman would be unveiled at the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting which was postponed indefinitely on Monday.

It was also learnt that a former Senate spokesman in the 9th Assembly, Senator Ajibola Basiru, from Osun State has been tipped to replace the erstwhile party’s national secretary, Iyiola Omisore, who tendered his resignation letter alongside Adamu.

On the choice of Ganduje as the next APC chairman, an online paper quoted a source as saying: “President Tinubu has settled for the former Kano state governor Ganduje to replace Senator Abdullahi Adamu as the party’s national chairman.

“The President had listed Ganduje as one of the nominees for ministerial appointment but because of his trust and confidence in the former governor, President Tinubu has to change his mind and asked two governors (Governor Hope Uzodimma and the Kwara state governor) to persuade Ganduje into another assignment.

“The president also asked him (Ganduje) to nominate another person from Kano for the ministerial job. I can confirm to you that four serving governors of APC, including Imo and Kwara governors led the former governor Ganduje to a meeting with the President on Wednesday afternoon. The purpose of that meeting was for President Tinubu to brief Ganduje directly about the new assignment.”

But speaking after a meeting of the APC governors at Imo Goverors Lodge last night, chairman of the PGF, Governor Uzodimma refused to comment on the development.

Addressing journalists after the meeting, Uzodimma neither confirmed nor denied that Ganduje had been contacted to become the next national chairman of the party.

When confronted with the question he simply ended the interview with journalists and joined his colleagues as they left the Lodge.

Deputy national chairman of the party, Senator Abubakar Kyari, had on Monday announced Adamu’s exit as chairman after a meeting of the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) at the party’s national secretariat, Abuja.

He said, “We are here to address the happenings and recent developments regarding the party. The NWC wishes to inform you about the resignation of the National Chairman Senator Abdullahi Adamu and that of the National Secretary, Senator Iyiola Omisore.

“My humble self as the deputy national chairman (North) to assume the office of the acting national chairman, consequently too, the deputy national secretary, Barrister Festus Fuanter, will now assume the office of acting national secretary of the All Progressives Congress.”

He also said the proposed national caucus and NEC meetings slated for today and tomorrow have been postponed.

He said, “With the recent development, we implore everybody here that the proposed National Caucus and National Executive Committee meetings slated for July 18 and 19, 2023 are hereby postponed. This postponement is not indefinite. A new date will be communicated in the nearest future”.

He also refuted reports suggesting that the presidency and the party may have deployed operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission to arrest Adamu and Omisore.

He stated: “There are no allegations against them. Both of them resigned voluntarily and that is what is available at this moment. The details of their resignation will be made known to you in the nearest future”.

Adamu reportedly tendered his resignation letter on Sunday on the orders of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

It became clear that Adamu had resigned his position as national chairman when Kyari, who arrived at the party’s national secretariat at about 10:35am, led a team of seven other members of the NWC to a meeting in his office.

Kyari’s official car was also parked in the space reserved for the national chairman.

The former national secretary, Omisore, who arrived at the national secretariat at about 11:20am was said to have been barred from the ongoing NWC meeting.

Omisore, who left the secretariat as soon as he came in, said he was going to meet Adamu, noting that he did not know why the former Nasarawa governor was not at the secretariat.