Religion governs the sacerdotal facet of human life. Religion does not only bring out the divine and the human in us; it also unsheathes the basest and vilest part of us, depending on where the lamp is rubbed. We are all religious beings, but with a divergent pool of beliefs.

Religion is an emotive subject; hence a dangerous and nonpartisan explosive when soused with politics. The flame from the wrong application or deployment of religion consumes all -- the genie, the lamp, and the wielder. It spares neither friend nor foe.

That which is temporal should not impugn that which is holy and spiritual. What is for the dogs should be for the dogs, and what is for God for God.

Religion has always been an undercurrent in Nigeria’s politics. It has always mattered in our elections. And it has always been of significance in our national life.

However, owing to Nigeria’s delicate religious complexion, political actors who are sensitive to the country’s unity, have always been cautionary about making religion the centrepiece of their politics. Understanding that the votes of Nigerians, whether Christian, Muslim or traditionalist, count in deciding the outcome of elections, these political actors walk the tightrope of not pitting one religion against another.

Even when religion is in the mix, it has always been subtle; whispered and operated behind shutters. Never has religion been so abused in our politics in recent history as in the 2023 elections. Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party, exercised religion in his campaigns with an open assault on national unity and cohesion. And he appeared blatant, defiant, and unperturbed about the concomitants and reverberations of his methods on national unity.

To Peter Obi, the election was a ‘’religious war’’ -- perhaps with casualties, victors, vanquished, missing limbs, and torsos. This jaundiced thought process obviously set the stage for the rampaging of his ‘’Obidients’’.

Peter Obi’s politics has scourged the land. It has scorched the umbilical cord holding us together – just as his ‘’Obidients’’ continue to poison our unity dutifully. A dangerous precedent has been set. When political campaigns are driven by prejudices and ethnic contaminants, the corollaries remain long after electioneering. The leadership may find itself on tenterhooks as regards establishing trust and building cohesion with some sections of the country over vicious ethnic and religious obloquy.

It is concerning that some respected Nigerians are endorsing this naked abuse of our electoral process as the Electoral Act 2022 prohibits campaigns with the underpinnings of religion. It is fair, according to them, because Peter Obi is the protagonist today, but what happens when the table turns?

This utter disregard for our laws, all sense of decency and patriotism is precarious for Nigeria as it sets one religion against another. With such a precedent, elections may no longer be about competence and governance, but about religion and about who has the largest following among the religions.

This is a path to doom. It does not bode well for our country. It is regressive, atavistic, and destructive. What Peter Obi has done with his politics should not be rationalised by anyone. In fact, it should be condemned by all well-meaning Nigerians.

We cannot speak of building a united country and endorse what Peter Obi has done with his unfettered struggle for power in any way. It is wrong, and a blight on the national conscience.

If the purpose of seeking power is truly for the good of Nigerians, then the highest level of patriotism is expected of political actors. But why is Peter Obi so desperate for power? Why is he so menacing about the outcome of the election? What is behind this rabid quest for power? Why is he seeking to plunge the nation into crisis over his ambition?

Politics reveals the concealed hue of a familiar face; it awakens forgotten prejudices. In politics, our weaknesses are emboldened, and native fissures foregrounded.

I believe our politics is religiously and ethnically charged because good governance is not at the core of the game. Some politicians and even some citizens see political power as conquest and as a diadem to assert sectional and doctrinaire relevance and pursuits – as Peter Obi’s bent shows. We must do away with this. If it is really about leadership, then religion and ethnicity must remain on the back burner.

To radical ‘’Obidients’’ who are still in campaign mode and slinging prejudices for nuisance advantage, the elections are over, and the rest of Nigeria are now focused on governance and on advancing with Nigeria. Not that patriotism matters to radical ‘’Obidients, as they have shown themselves incapable of logic and reason, Nigeria is still a country of laws for those who may want to manifest their delusions.

Nigerians must begin to wrest the narrative from this horde. We must speak peace and unity for the country.

May Nigeria find healing.

By Fredrick Nwabufo, Nwabufo aka Mr OneNigeria is a media executive.

The Department of State Services (DSS) is an interesting organisation. It is one place the citizens love to hate. The body thrives on reverse psychology and gaslighting, saying one thing and meaning the exact opposite and making the citizens doubt and blame themselves for the failures of their leaders. Inimitable also is their ambivalence and amorphous deception in the line of duty and secrecy. Their operatives do as they like, answerable to none but the president and to the president alone. Their allegiance is therefore not to the country or the constitution. Their patriotism means standing with the president, even when the president is standing against the country.

And the president in our clime is concerned only for his self-preservation. All the talk about the so-called national interest is about the self-preservation of the president and his interest and the interests of the few that hold the reins of power with him. These interests play up the most in elections. The interest of the president and the power donors he represents dominate the succession plan at all levels. Citizens be damned!

From the appointment of the head of the electoral commission and its entire management team, the president, the power holders, and power donors carefully select the most pliable hands who will deliver either as instructed or as they may read from the body language of their appointors.

From the foregoing, one can see that it was an aberration for a certain Dr Goodluck Jonathan to thump his chest and say, “I never knew Atahiru Jega before I appointed him”. Jonathan was simply being naive. Some persons usurped his powers and forced his hands to appoint Jega, who of course did the bidding of those unseen hands and priced power out of the erstwhile president’s hand.

Buhari did not make that mistake. He carefully chose Professor Mahmood Yakubu, a product of the establishment in his capacity as an executive secretary of TETFund. Something emblematic about establishment persons is that they are experts in reading the body language of their principals even when they do not want to speak directly to them.

The great preparations and build-up to the 2023 general election were such as to make the outcome the best election ever in the annals of the nation’s electoral history. To ensure this about N400 billion was committed to ensuring that all aspects and all stones were not left unturned. The enabling law (Electoral Act 2022) was also put in place by the national assembly and the president graciously signed it into law.

Yet, as early as October 2022, facts began to emerge that INEC had abandoned the elaborate plans to ensure the electronic transfer of results in real-time. Professor Yakubu addressed a press conference that November to reassure Nigerians that results would be transmitted in real-time in line with the extant Electoral Act 2022 Section 64(4) and Electoral Guidelines paragraph 38.

Loquacious Festus Okoye issued a press statement reiterating and reechoing Professor Yakubu’s press conference at the same time. Yet, both men led the commission to abandon everything and resorted to manual collation as obtained in the Electoral Act 2010 and shut down INEC’s IReV at the nick of time to cut off real-time monitoring of the results by the stakeholders and political parties. To complete the impunity and subterfuge, Yakubu refused to attend to official complaints and utilise the one-week window created for the commission in the electoral act for that purpose before declaring the winner.

“Go to court,” was all Yakubu and the president had to arrogantly offer to opposition parties and millions of Nigerians who felt deceived and betrayed by INEC. They say this as if the judiciary was not there before INEC was set up to organise and supervise elections in Nigeria. Maybe the next electoral reforms should simply hand over the task of organising elections to the Supreme Court of Nigeria since it’s the judiciary that has been determining outcomes or winners in our elections since 1999 when the country returned to the current democratic dispensation. INEC has since lost its essence and Nigerian democracy is now better off without it. This is no longer the Electoral Commission once led by men of impeccable character like Prof Eme Awa and Prof Humphrey Nwosu.

That is the background that has led to the present quagmire. This has led to unpreceded protests, which have seen some mothers go completely naked and half-naked to drive home their frustration and disgust.

More importantly, there is a rising strident call for an interim national government (ING) to hold fort till the tribunal and the supreme court determine the winner of the February 25th presidential election.

Unfortunately, ING is unknown to the Nigerian laws and the president lacks the power to impose an ING as Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida did as a military head of state in 1993. The 1999 constitution has a clear succession plan and tenure elongation of the incumbent government under extraneous circumstances. The senate president being suggested by some to take over in the interim can only come in if the president and vice resign together or die in office (God forbid) or are impeached. Even this will not produce an interim government because the senate president can only stay for the remainder of the tenure of the president and vice replaced.

In the case of a national emergency, NASS can however declare a state of emergency and elongate the tenure of the government (executive and legislature) for the initial six months. The Doctrine of Necessity invoked by NASS under David Mark as senate president in 2010 to cause the swearing in of Dr Goodluck Jonathan as president during the Yar’Adua health and death saga does also not mirror the dire situation confronting the nation at the moment.

The position of the law, therefore, is that the president-elect Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu will be sworn in as substantive president and will remain so unless otherwise declared by the supreme court. The fear that he would deploy instruments of the state to ensure that he retains power is germane but unfortunately, that is what is legally plausible left for Nigerians.

That is the scenario the DSS is reacting to and confirming the plot for an interim national government by those the Service has angrily described. The Service says the plot, which is being pursued by some entrenched interests, is not only an aberration but a mischievous way to set aside the constitution and undermine civil rule as well as plunge the country into an avoidable crisis.

The Service also claimed that planners have weighed various options, which included sponsoring endless violent mass protests in major cities to warrant a declaration of a state of emergency and obtaining frivolous court injunctions to forestall the inauguration of new executive administrations and legislative houses at the federal and state levels.

Assuming these allegations are true, are these options being pursued not legitimate in a democracy i.e. organising protests and going to court for redress?

Weighed from a reverse psychology perspective, what the DSS is doing is anti-democratic and tantamount to gagging the people and the judiciary. The DSS mandate does not include determining which court orders are frivolous. Any frivolous order will certainly be set aside by the two appellate courts of the land – the court of appeal and the supreme court. After all, both INEC and the president asked those not satisfied with the outcomes of the February 25th election to go to court, and to court, they have gone. So, why the hullabaloo?

More importantly, stopping the people from protesting within the laws of the land is also antithetical to the ethos and tenets of democracy. Or, are the DSS and its principals saying Nigerians must accept Bola Tinubu as their president whether they elected him or not?

Opposition political parties and indeed the Nigerian people need their political space and democratic rights to vent and test the validity of the election of Bola Tinubu. The DSS ought to know that the issue is not whether the election was peaceful in most parts of the country or that Tinubu is the beneficiary of the opaque process. They ought to worry that officially up to 27 fellow Nigerians died and that is hardly a good definition of a peaceful election and the seeming deliberate blindfolding of Nigerians ought to be peacefully challenged to avoid a repeat of such a heist in the future and possible truncation of democracy.

The Service is aware that till today, all the polling units’ results are yet to be uploaded by INEC to the IReV. Yet the uploaded results are a precedent to results’ collation and declaration. Despite this, a president-elect has been declared and is about to be sworn in. In civilised climes, Professor Mahmood and his management team ought to be in the DSS office answering pertinent questions. But unfortunately, it is the victims of their subversive activities that are being hounded by the DSS. This is what is regarded as a means-end inversion in psychology. It is gaslighting – brazenly lying to Nigerians to manipulate, and ultimately control and make them scapegoats using coercion.

The Service is therefore blaming and taking it out on the victims – Nigerians. It ought not to be for the sake of posterity!

Mefor is a senior fellow of The Abuja School of Social and Political Thought. He can be reached via +234- 9056424375 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. He tweets @DrLawMefor1

IN the rascally days of the military, when generals were wedded to coups, a military officer arose in their ranks called Oladipo Donaldson Oyeyinka Diya. He was unknown to the public until January 1984 when the coup plotters led by General Muhammadu Buhari, who had overthrown the Shagari administration, announced him as the Military Governor of Ogun State.

The populace had thought the military seized power to alleviate their suffering, but soon realised that their state had worsened. So in Ogun State, they started referring to Diya, which literally means ‘reduce our suffering’, as Kunya which means: ‘add to our suffering’.

An August 1985 palace coup sent Diya back to military duties while his colleagues continued to mismanage the country. The military shifted the handover to civilian rule thrice before aborting the June 12, 1993 presidential election won by Chief Moshood Kashimawo Abiola just so they would not return to the barracks.

After the annulment of the election, the Generals put in place a contraption called the Interim National Government, ING, headed by one of their civilian ‘boys’, Chief Ernest Shonekan. But it was strange to the country in all ways and the Nigeria body rejected the foreign object. An upcoming Justice Dolapo Akinsanya declared the ING illegal, and that was when Diya became quite active amongst his fellow Generals.

Chief Gani Fawehinmi had some days after the verdict on the ING launched a book on the subject during which the legal icon and advocate of the masses called on the “revolutionaries” in the military to seize power. I got up at the public forum to oppose the call on the basis that we do not know revolutionaries in the highly compromised military which behaves like a lion that had tasted human blood. I insisted that civilians must take over; and on behalf of the Pro-Democracy Movement in Nigeria, declared that we would oppose and fight any new coup plotter on the streets as we had done with the Babangida dictatorship.

The newspapers next morning carried the open disagreement between Chief Fawehinmi and I.

Then, Dr Olu Onagoruwa, a noted lawyer, minority rights activist and pro-democracy leader, asked me for a meeting. He told me he had read the altercation between Chief Fawehnmi and I, but would suggest I make no further public comments against a coup as one was coming in a few weeks.

I told him I was aware that General Diya was coordinating one and had consulted a number of civil society groups, including those in the leading Campaign for Democracy, CD, but assured him that even if it will take hundreds of lives as it did under Babangida, we were going to take on any new military regime.

The coup was staged on November 17, 1993. A reticent, seemingly apolitical General Sani Abacha with a voracious appetite for alcohol, women and public funds, was named Head of State and Diya as his Deputy. Dr Onagoruwa was named Attorney General and Minister of Justice, and my former employer in the GUARDIAN Newspapers, Mr Alex Ibru, became Interior Minister.

The more boisterous Diya, coordinator of the coup who seemed to have control of the new regime and the backing of many Generals, ran the show, while Abacha appeared to have taken a back seat.

The popularised objective of the coup was the de-annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election and swearing-in of Abiola as president. But this was not happening fast and there were worries. The impression was sold that a publicised meeting between Abacha and Abiola with Diya and Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu as witnesses, had ironed out things.

Some five of us leading the pro-democracy movement, including our leader, Dr Beko Ransome-Kuti, Dr Frederick Fasehun and Femi Falana met Chief Abiola the next day. First, we protested his public endorsement of the coup plotters. Secondly, we warned him that the Generals are untrustworthy and thirdly, made him know that we would oppose the new regime.

We were also angry about the elevation of Abacha who had on July 6, 1993 personally led heavily armed soldiers to maul down protesters demanding the restoration of Abiola’s mandate. On that day, Abacha and his murderous soldiers had shot dead 118 pro-democracy protesters in Lagos.

Abiola had characteristically tried to make light our protests. He told us that he met the diminutive Abacha because: “If you want to greet a dwarf, you have to bend down to his level.” Beko had responded that a dwarf can be placed on a pedestal rather than bending down to his level.

As the regime consolidated, it was not certain whether the Diya wing was still “standing on”, “sitting by” or even supporting June 12 mandate restoration.

Since Dr. Onagoruwa appeared quite influential and respected in the regime, was very close to Diya with whom he shared the same Odogbolu homestead, and was a mutual friend, Beko and I decided to have a talk with him. He invited us to his Odogbolu country home for a weekend where he assured us that Diya was in charge of the regime and could, if need be, instruct “the boys” to clear off Abacha who he said was called ‘Baba Go-Slow’ in the Executive.

Diya completely underrated Abacha and was basically incapable of reading the political situation. Even when those of us, outsiders could read changing situation, he could not. By the time Diya realised he was riding on a tiger’s back, he had practically ended up in its stomach.

Abacha had Ibru shot on February 2, 1996; he survived, but lost an eye and two fingers. He got his killer squad on June 4, 1996 to execute Mrs. Kudirat Abiola, Chief Abiola’s wife, on the streets of Lagos. Abacha went after Onagoruwa by killing his son, Oluwatoyin, a lawyer, on December 18, 1996. He then sent Diya to officially commiserate with him. Then, he went after Diya.

After two assassination attempts on Diya, including in December 1997, blowing up the aircraft he was to take on official assignment to Benue State, Abacha manufactured a phantom coup under which Diya in April, 1998, was sentenced to death. It was the second of such coups. The first was in 1995 under which men like retired Generals Olusegun Obasanjo and Shehu Yar’Adua were convicted. The latter was poisoned in Abakali Prisons.

After the sentence, videos emerged of General Diya kneeling down before Abacha, weeping and begging for his life. His life might have been spared only because Abacha lost his own on June 8, 1998. That enabled Diya to live another 25 years in virtual obscurity before he finally bowed out on March 26, 2023. May we never witness such regimes in Nigeria again. Amen!

For the third time in his chequered political career, Atiku Abubakar, failed to win the presidential election as a candidate. He came a distant third in his first attempt in 2007 when he vied on the platform of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) as the departing vice president who fought a battle with his then principal, Olusegun Obasanjo. This time around, he came second but the taste of defeat is perhaps even more bitter because of what might have been.

In that first bid in 2007, many political observers did not give him any chance of winning because of the many hurdles – political and legal – that he had to surmount to even be on the ballot. He had little or no time to campaign and could not have even defeated the then-ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the election if he had, essentially because the ACN was considered a regional party without a national appeal.

The candidate of the PDP, Umaru Yar’Adua, then outgoing governor of Katsina State, was declared the winner of the election by INEC. But the election is still considered one of the worst ever, based on the brazen malpractices which characterised it.

Even the declared winner, Mr Yar’Adua, a former Chemistry teacher from the famous Yar’Adua family of Katsina, acknowledged in a post-election speech that his victory was tainted but he held onto it with a promise to carry out electoral reforms that would help improve the country’s electoral process.

Atiku also tried to contest in 2011 and 2015 but did not go beyond the primary elections of the parties on whose platform he sought to contest.

Fast forward to 2019. The former customs operative and businessman had what in retrospect may now be considered his best chance to win the election because he ran on a formidable opposition platform – the PDP – at a time of raging insecurity and general disillusionment in the country over a poor economy, massive youth unemployment and surging inflation under a President Muhammadu Buhari who was seeking a second term in office.

Unfortunately, those who voted for the continuation of Mr Buhari in office were more than those who wanted Atiku, according to the official returns by INEC. And that was how his 2019 adventure collapsed like a pack of cards.

But before anyone could say Jack Robinson, the signs were there again, at least based on happenings within the PDP, that the serial contestant was going to throw his hat into the ring again in 2023, despite an intense clamour for the presidential ticket of the party to be ceded to the southern part of the country.

And true to the initial signs, Atiku vied for the ticket of the party which was thrown open and became the candidate for the 2023 elections. But this time, his nomination eventually left the PDP divided.

The PDP went into the election heavily divided and this seriously worked against its chances with Atiku being the biggest casualty, though he also contributed to the division in the party and its eventual failure in the election.

The factors

Three major factors contributed to his second-place finish in the election: the demand for power shift to the southern part of Nigeria, the disunity in the PDP and the Peter Obi factor

Power Shift

The outgoing President Buhari is from the north and it was, therefore, expected by many, based on convention, that presidential power should shift back to the south in the interest of fairness, justice and national cohesion.

The need for the successor to come from the south was why some APC governors, especially of northern states, insisted the presidential candidate of the party must come from the south. And true to their commitment, despite moves from some quarters to thwart it and keep the ticket of the party to the north, they kept to it, which helped Bola Tinubu to defeat other aspirants in the party’s primary election held in June.

But unlike the APC, PDP governors were divided on which region of the country should produce the presidential candidate of the party. While some openly campaigned for a southern candidate, some said the contest should be made open, which was what allowed Atiku to win the ticket, beating Rivers Governor Nyesom Wike to the second position.

The quest for power shift within the political parties also manifested in the larger polity with many Nigerians saying it was the turn of the south to produce the president. In a way, that also reflected in the voting pattern of the electorate. Despite two formidable candidates of southern origin running in the election, one of them still emerged as the winner with the other candidate, Peter Obi of the Labour Party, coming third.

Those who belong to the school of thought that power should shift to the south say any attempt to retain the presidency in the north after a northerner’s eight years in the office would threaten the unity of the country, and create disharmony and a state of perpetual north-south mutual distrust which may derail governance.

In retrospect, some analysts believe that had a southerner flown the ticket of the PDP in the presidential election, the candidate might have won because the ruling APC was considered a hard sell on many fronts going into the election: the terrible policies of the Buhari administration, prostate economy, galloping inflation, insecurity, the Muslim-Muslim ticket of the ruling party and the candidate’s personal baggage, among others.

Peter Obi factor

The emergence of Peter Obi on the platform of the Labour Party created a third force which significantly impacted the outcome of the election on 25 February.

Mr Obi, who was the running mate to Atiku in 2019 on the ticket of the PDP, moved to the LP in 2022 after it became clear to him that he stood no chance of winning the PDP’s presidential ticket.

The entry of Mr Obi, a former governor of Anambra State, into the contest significantly altered the dynamics of the election, which, other factors considered, weakened the chances of Atiku in the election. For instance, Mr Obi won with wide margins in the South-east, which was a stronghold of the PDP in previous presidential elections, and also won Lagos State.

The Labour Party candidate’s impressive performance in some parts of the North-central and South-south regions also eroded the support base of the PDP in the election. In the past, PDP used to win convincingly in presidential contests in the South-south but only managed to win Bayelsa and Akwa Ibom in the 25 February election, with the Labour Party winning three of the others and APC winning Rivers State.

It is believed in some quarters that were Mr Obi not in the race, Atiku as the PDP candidate would have done much better in the election, despite the clamour for a power shift to the south, especially with the too many unforced errors of the Buhari administration such as the controversial naira redesign policy which led to a nationwide cash crunch, fuel scarcity and general disillusionment with the APC, among others, just a few weeks before the election.

Acknowledging the huge impact the Obi factor had on his chances in the election, Atiku said in one of his early post-election press conferences that the Labour Party candidate took a large chunk of his votes in the South-east and South-south regions, though he also said the votes from the two regions were not enough to make Mr Obi win the overall contest.

If Atiku had taken those votes instead and won overwhelmingly in the two regions, he would have beaten Mr Tinubu and come first in the election.

The disunity in PDP

The emergence of Atiku as its presidential candidate created a serious disunity in the PDP that the party and flagbearer could not resolve before the election. With the polarization of the party, it was easy to predict that the party would end up a loser, which happened eventually as Atiku came second in the election.

Following the victory of Atiku, a northerner, in the party’s primary election, some governors, later known as the G-5 governors in the party, had insisted that the now suspended national chairman of the party, Iyorchia Ayu, another northerner, should step down from the position to allow for a southerner to head the party.

The G-5 governors led by Governor Wike said they wanted regional balance in the party hence their insistence that Mr Ayu must resign, a position Atiku and some other top guns of the party like former Jigawa governor Sule Lamido did not buy into.

The other members of the G-5 are Samuel Ortom of Benue, Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State, Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State. The presidential candidate of the PDP lost in all the states controlled by the G-5 governors, a development that might not have been if the aggrieved governors were on the same page with Atiku.

The failure of the two factions within the party to reconcile eventually snowballed into a bigger crisis which manifested in almost all the chapters of the party across the 36 States and the FCT.

The pre-election crisis in the party only worsened after the election with some top officials being suspended by its NWC for allegedly working against the interest of the party at the polls. Although the suspension has now been reversed, it nevertheless portends all is definitely not well with the party.

The national chairman of the party, Mr Ayu, now suspended, may also never smell the seat again. He was suspended by his ward in Benue State. The suspension letter dated 24 March was signed by 12 executive members of Igyorov Ward, Gboko LGA. The signatories claimed Mr Ayu worked against the party in the recent elections.

Interestingly, a day after Mr Ayu’s suspension, a high court in Benue State also gave an ex parte order which ordered Mr Ayu to stop parading himself as the national chairperson of the party. Obeying the court order, the PDP NWC has since asked Mr Ayu to step aside and elevated the deputy national chairman (North), Umar Damagum, to acting national chairperson in line with the constitution of the party.

The saying that a house divided against itself will always fall captures the fate that befell the PDP in the presidential contest and its candidate, Atiku, the self-styled unifier, who could not unify his own party before the main election. His inability to reconcile the warring factions in the party impacted his chance in the election. Atiku is, however, challenging the result of the election in court and will hope the courts buy his argument and declare him president-elect.

Unfortunately, however, this may be Atiku’s last bid for the Nigerian presidency.

[Premium Times]

WHEN I was growing up, there was this song that we used to sing to lampoon, mock or deride the big fool, the big-for-nothing, the brute, the uncouth, and the bully. It went thus: Gongoshu, Edidaare/Bi o se gun na l’o go to/Gongoshu, Edidaare. I don’t know the meaning of “Gongoshu” and “Edidaare” but they must be abusive words and or uncomplimentary terms. Translated, it means “As tall as you are, so also are you foolish or stupid. Or, your foolishness and or stupidity are as tall as your height. It must mean, then, that the subject being referred to must be a tall person (like the biblical Goliath of Gath) but, unfortunately, his imposing height or figure bore no relevance to his intellect or intelligence. Replace “height” with“massive frame” and you have something like: Gongoshu, Edidaare/ Bi o se tobi na l’o go to/Gongoshu, Edidaare. Translated, this means: As massive/big/fat as you are, so also is your stupidity and or foolishness. In other words, your massive frame does not ooze out intelligence but is bereft of it; a big-for-nothing fool!

Ordinarily, there is no way Chief (Dr.) Engr. Emmanuel Chukwuemeka Iwuanyanwu should fit into the description or category above; unfortunately, a moment of temporary insanity when he was caught pants down – and on tape – as he made his “political rascals” statement at Gov. Chukwuma Soludo’s one-year-in-office event at Awka, Anambra State on Saturday, 25th March, 2023, has made him the butt of cruel jokes. Since he spoke concerning the General elections and events in Lagos state in particular and other parts of Yoruba land in general, with respect to the spat between the Igbo and Yoruba, who were the “political rascals” that Iwuanyanwu referred to: All Yoruba or those Yoruba who rose up as one man to denounce and vigorously protest the Igbo description of Lagos as “no man’s land”? Or prominent Yoruba political leaders who considered it their bounden and sacred duty to rise up to the Igbo in-your-face challenge – just as Iwuanyanwu, a prominent Igbo leader, considered it his duty to defend Igbo interests, if need be, with the last drop of his blood? Is he, therefore, an Igbo political rascal, seeing that he is (was?) a frontline politician who had once contested to be president of this country?

Whichever way or direction that unfortunate statement is later rationalised, it denigrates the Yoruba and should never have been made –least of all by a personality of Iwuanyanwu’s status and calibre – a holder of three National honours of MFR, OFR and CFR and an octogenarian to boot! He has recanted and we take note. Our elders, I mean Yoruba elders, say someone who abused you behind your back but denies saying so before you is not worthy of your attention. But rather than deny and defend the indefensible, clutching onto straws and grasping the wind, Iwuanyanwu should have plucked up the courage, done the honourable thing and apologized. But we must admit that not everyone has what it takes to do that.

Iwuanyanwu’s insults to the Yoruba apart, what do we make of his threats that they, the Igbo, have contributed so much to Nigeria and are not going anywhere? Nobody will drive them out of Nigeria, they keep saying! But who is driving them, if I may ask? Are they not the ones driving themselves? They are the ones fighting bloody and dirty to have their own Republic of Biafra, with their Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) leader, Nnamdi Kanu, on trial for treason. On the question of “One Nigeria”, the Igbo speak from both sides of the mouth. They want Biafra; yet, they also want to remain in Nigeria and be its president! They will have their cake and eat it! Truth be told, it seemeth to me that what they want is to dominate. They expose their hand every now and then, the recent one being during the just-concluded elections when they celebrated too early in Lagos and their victory turned pyrrhic. Since then, they have had to contend with ashes in the mouth. The Igbo should make up their mind what they want: Nigeria or Biafra. Until they do, Nigeria’s presidency, over which they are crying themselves sore and trying desperately to bring the roof down over everyone’s head, will continue to elude them. You cannot run with the hare and also hunt with the hound and expect to be taken seriously by reasonable men and women. Who will entrust a project as important as Nigeria into the unstable hands and unsettled hearts of rabble rousers?

I always wonder whether some people understand what they say when they boast that they are the ones that developed Port-Harcourt; they are the ones that developed Abuja; they are the ones that developed Lagos; they are the ones that developed everywhere except their own place of origin! This is a fallacy! If you came to Lagos or any other place for that matter with only bathroom slippers, the shirt on your back and a polythene bag and years after you are now a millionaire, it is not you that have developed the place but it is the place that has developed you. Leveraging on the human, material and capital resources available in the place, it is the place that has raised you from grass to grace and not the other way round. When they say “but we pay tax; it is our tax bla-bla-bla”, I wonder if they do not have the simple understanding that tax is just a fraction of what they make in or from the place – and, that is, if they pay tax at all! It is not their tax that is developing the place; rather, it is the abundance of human, capital and material resources in the place that is developing and making them prosper.

If they doubt this, let them relocate to their own place of origin! If it is their business acumen, their industry, bountiful energy and what-have-you that is doing the trick, let them go and exercise all of those in their own place of origin! Why travel over land, waters and seas in search of what you have in your own backyard? When you “japa” from Igbo land to Yoruba land, like out youths ”japa” from Nigeria to foreign countries, it is in search of greener pastures. If the pastures are not greener here, they will not come. In other words, if the pastures are greener in your place, you will stay there.

For some reasons, I will limit my comments on Chief Iwuanyanwu. First, he is one of us, being the Founder, Executive Chairman and Publisher of Champion newspapers. “Dogs don’t eat dogs” is one of our maxims in the media. We must commend him for his foresight and sacrifice in starting the Champion newspapers. One of the doyens of the Nigerian media, Prince Henry Olukayode Odukomaiya, a Yoruba man, helped Iwuanyanwu to start and nurture Champion newspapers to maturity. Many of my colleagues worked and earned a living there. I still remember Feyi Smith, Bisi Olaoye, Bisiriyu Olaoye, and Simon Iro Ibe. Simon and I were classmates at Ife (1982 set); when I became editor of PUNCH newspapers in 1992, I facilitated his employment with The PUNCH as a Correspondent and he worked without airs and without any feeling of inferiority complex. When, in 1994, he had crossed over to the Champion newspapers and was the chairman of its Editorial Board and I, a self-employed person, he requested that I help them source for a worthy candidate as their “Man of the Year”. I got a governor of one of the south-Western states to pick up interest and everyone was happy about the success of the event. The money they made from advertisements and endorsements helped them to tidy up one thing or the other. The Managing Director, a daughter of Chief Iwuanyanwu, had a very pleasant personality. So, I would like to let my subject off the hook lightly today! Dear Sir, go, and sin no more!

Pa Adebanjo: Following tales by the Obidients

If you know why Pa Ayo Adebanjo’s faction of Afenifere is behaving like the recalcitrant fleas that must follow the corpse to the grave, kindly tell me! Why are they crying more than the bereaved, pretending to be more Catholic than the Pope and supplying those desperate to raze down their homestead with the much-needed ammunition? Just to get even with one man? After seeing the gulf between the outrageous figures churned out for Peter Obi in the East during the presidential election and the more believable figures in the governorship election that followed three weeks after, only the jaundiced and those with an evil mission will continue to say that Peter Obi won the presidential election. He wasn’t close at all, even with the outlandish figures awarded him in his home base. And despite all the protest votes against APC and Tinubu; Obi was still nowhere close to the mark. Why a faction of Afenifere, a once-upon-a-time respected and venerated Yoruba socio-cultural and political organization, continues to insist that Obi won the vote beggars belief.

Is it not said that the hunter’s dog destined to get lost in the forest will take no heed of the hunter’s whistle? During the Second Republic when Bola Ige was governor of old Oyo state and Sunday Afolabi was his deputy, disagreement arose between both men and a one-time military head of state reportedly mediated between both men. When Chief Obafemi Awolowo, leader of their party, UPN, heard what happened, he was gutted. He told the two: How can a man who hates your (political) father love you his (political) son? He warned the two to steer clear of the “peace-maker” or they would both come to grief. Both men failed to heed the advice and went to serve in the government of the man in question during the ongoing Fourth Republic and both of them perished there.

From generation to generation, the Igbo have never aligned with the Yoruba politically. Zik did not align with Awo, even when Awo offered to play second fiddle to him. Ojukwu spurned Awo’s advice not to start a civil war when the Yoruba were not equipped and ready for such. He started the war all the same and headed to capture Lagos and the south-West, not the North! He was stopped and routed by the heroic Yoruba soldiers at Ore. O le ku, ija Ore! Continue to call the Yoruba cowards; it shall be to your chagrin when the chips are down! Till today, the Igbo continue to blame the Yoruba for their civil war misfortunes. Yet, it was only in the south-West that their properties were returned to them after the civil war; and not even in neighbouring Port-Harcourt did they receive such benevolence.

The Igbo did not vote Awo. They did not vote for MKO Abiola. They did not vote for Olu Falae. And they did not vote for Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. I am sure you know that the Yoruba ancestry of the other man they voted for is in serious contention! A people whose fathers never loved our fathers, can they ever love us? Which history, then, are Pa Adebanjo and his faction of Afenifere reading and what legacies are they leaving for future generations of Yoruba and posterity? When, ultimately, they meet Awo, how will they look him straight in the eyes now that they are consumed, as William Shakespeare’s Macbeth has said, by “…A tale told by Obi-Idiots/Full of sound and fury/Signifying nothing”?

Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State is the man of the moment. Having emerged winner of the just concluded governorship election conducted on March 18, 2023, his victory celebration is still resonating among the supporters of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the State. Similar to the event of the 2019 general elections, the party witnessed open disloyalty and anti-party activities both from within the allies of the governor and his foes alike. He would eternally be thankful to God for the triumph of the truth over falsehood.

What the eye does not see, they say, the heart does not grieve about. Unsuspecting of their innate wicked disposition, Abiodun reposed trust in some of his supposed close friends to guide his flank while electioneering lasted. But for no other reason other than self-preservation motive, they stabbed him in the back, plotted his defeat, and surreptitiously entered into an alliance with the opposition for them to have a field day. In the end, the wish of the people ultimately prevailed. The Ogun State’s sophisticated electorate smelt the rat but refused to be swayed by the offer of the N10,000 worth of credit cards each used as bait to buy their conscience. Instead, they turned out in their numbers to cast their ballots for Governor Abiodun. With their unflinching support, he secured his second term re-election clean and square despite the treachery of his political adversaries who were masquerading as his friends.

Like the previous one before it, the contest was largely a three-horse race between Prince Abiodun as the incumbent governor and the candidates of the opposition PDP, Oladipupo Adebutu, and his counterpart in the ADC, Biyi Otegbeye. They both fought fiercely to wrest control of power from the APC-led government but only one party and its candidate can win at a time. Abiodun won with a narrow margin of 13, 915 votes, polling a total of 276,298 votes as against 262,383 votes scored by his main challenger, Adebutu.

And that, of course, makes it a sweet victory. Sweet victory because all the plots orchestrated by those of his trusted allies to make him lose the election eventually came to naught. But for the people of a good conscience, who in appreciation of the sterling performance of his administration in less than four years, decided to stand firm on the side of the truth by overwhelmingly voting for continuity, the story would have been different.

In all of this, what the sad experience has taught us is that when those in public office do the right things, they can be rest-assured that they will find a favoured refuge in the ordinary people whom they elected to serve.

Once again, Governor Abiodun has earned the mandate of the good people of Ogun State for his second term to nurture his transformative agenda into fruition. As a trustee of the people, it is now left for him to administer the trust with absolute prudence, probity, and public spiritedness. He would do no less because the spirit behind his inclusive governance style is to ensure transparency, openness, and accountability in managing the affairs of the State.

On Tuesday, precisely, March 21, 2023, Governor Abiodun was received with a heroic welcome when he paid a thank-you visit to his Iperu-Remo country home. For the first time, he voiced out his pains for the betrayal of his supposed allies and thanked them for playing the ostrich.

While speaking at a reception organized in his honour at the garage area of the town, Governor Abiodun attributed the victory at the governorship and state assembly polls to the Almighty God and the people for standing solidly behind him during the election. However, he could not hide his emotion about the betrayal of his friends. He had this to say: “This election has shown that man will always be a man and God will forever remain God. In the course of this election, people we thought were our friends betrayed us, people stabbed us in the back, and many disappointed us.

“I know that even those who called themselves our friends did not vote for us, but that does not matter anymore because the election has come and gone, and God has given us victory.

“But we should not be surprised because even in the Bible, our Lord Jesus Christ was betrayed despite all the good things that he did. We should be grateful to God because, despite all the betrayals and all, God still granted us victory. “

Betrayal is one of the most painful things that we have all experienced at one time or the other in our lives. And as the governor has rightly noted, the saddest thing is that it never comes from your enemies but from your friends. People often say that politics is a dirty game. Politics is not dirty; it is the character of those who play politics without decency and decorum that makes it a dirty game. There are many reasons why people break trust. One thing to note is that a betrayer is not loyal to you and you probably must have given him space to hit you by trusting him. So, instead of blaming him, blame yourself and learn a lesson. If you blame him, there is a possibility of creating more mess in your mind.  Therefore, when it happens, the best way is to learn your lessons and move on. Abiodun has since moved on.

The election has been fairly and keenly contested and the winner has emerged. Now, having secured a renewed mandate, the onus is on him to rally the support of all the stakeholders to achieve the vision of his administration for the greater interest of the greatest number of the people. The starting point is to recognize the right of every citizen who has a genuine desire to render public service and aspire to lead the state and to as well accept the essence of opposition as an integral part of the tenet of a multi-party democracy like ours. It is by so doing that we can grow our democracy and increase the political space to enhance effective participation in politics. It is not only that opposition is necessary for good governance but also offers the electorate a variety of choices among contenders. Anything to the contrary is another road to dictatorship and tyranny of leadership.

There is no gainsaying that the successful outing of Governor Abiodun in this election is a hard-fought victory that is worthy of celebration. But this is not a time to gloat. There is no time for such frivolity because there is so much work to do and time is of the essence. In any case, he doesn’t believe in gloating over victory. In his usual magnanimity, he has said that he has forgiven those who knowingly and unknowingly wronged him in any way.  He has also extended an Olive branch to his co-contenders, seeking their hands in the collective effort to reposition the economy of the state.

In his address to his audience at Iperu Remo, he explicitly stated that the renewal of his mandate was an indication that people appreciated what the administration had been able to achieve in less than four years in office, adding that “it is a call to work even harder for the people”.

In essence, the mandate carries enormous responsibility which if not properly handled can turn the winner to a miserable loser. This is why he decided to extend hands of fellowship to his co-contender, knowing full-well that he alone cannot achieve the vision to build a prosperous state of our collective aspiration.

“I, therefore, use this opportunity to call on all Ogun State people irrespective of their political affiliations or religion, to rally round me to build this state because it belongs to all of us,” he declared. 

He further re-echoed the call while addressing market men and women on the sideline of the reception, thanking them for their individual and collective efforts towards his victory, adding that support and cooperation would be needed for the success of his second term in office.

In response, the Iyaloja General of Ogun State, Alhaja Yemisi Abbas, who spoke on behalf of the market men and women, appreciated God for not putting them to shame from the outcome of the election, noting that the performance of the governor in his first term led to the victory. “You worked very hard, and this victory is the reward for that hard work. I want to assure our governor that we the market men and women of this state will support you, we will stand by you to ensure that you succeed in the second term just as you succeeded in your first term,” she promised.

Now, to those who are crying blue murder, alleging manipulation of the election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and, therefore, trying to instigate violence and social unrest to express their grievances, please tarry a while. Those who are determined to alter the prevailing peaceful atmosphere in the state on the altar of parochial self-interest should know that Ogun State is the only place we can call our own. Violence is alien to us as a people. It is not part of our culture. It is not who we are. An election is not a war. Yes, no one goes into an election to lose. But the truth is that two persons cannot govern at a time. If the desire to serve the people is the primary reason for contesting an election and the people did not to vote for you, don’t pull the roof down. Don’t spill the blood of innocent citizens, for no ambition is worth the blood of any individual.

This election has been fairly conducted and won. Let us join hands with the government to build the state that our children and children’s children can all be proud of. In terms of human capital development, enlightened citizenry, rich cultural heritage, political sophistication, and good leadership orientation, Ogun State remains a leading light in the country. It is the only state in Nigeria with a pleasant coincidence of producing the finest political leadership and foremost crop of intellectuals cutting across all fields of human endeavours. We cannot at this point reinvent the wheel.         

The “Building Our Future Together” mantra of the present administration does not mean that we must all belong to the same political party before we can contribute our quota to the development of the state. We can be in the opposition and hold the government accountable through constructive engagement and criticism. Stoking the ember of disunity or perpetrating violence is both disruptive and destructive; it will not do anyone of us as individuals and as a collective group any good.

Therefore, the agitation by the aggrieved parties calling for the cancellation of the governorship election that has been successfully concluded and won is not only unnecessary and diversionary but also an uncivilized approach to issues. While the Constitution recognizes the freedom of individuals to rightful indignation, the law does not permit self-help options. Doing so will amount to an invitation to chaos and no responsible government will fold its arms watching people take the law into their hands. Those who cannot endure the pain of defeat are not entitled to the joy of victory. Governor Abiodun’s victory is divine, for he has passed through the thick of darkness to reach the thin light of the day.

For the pathological betrayers who rode on the crest of the goodwill of the governor, there is always another day. There is nothing wrong with trusting people but everything is wrong with betraying them. Nothing is politically right which is morally wrong” says Daniel O’Connell. Good or bad, everyone will reap the fruits of his needs, for there is no indulgence in Karma. 

Ogbonnikan wrote from Abeokuta, Ogun State.

The lofty gains which experts say a nation can reap by premising its development on population figures probably leaves some people, especially foreigners, wondering why Nigeria has remained in existence from its origin without an acceptable census figure. Many Nigerian citizens and groups who permanently dispute their country’s figures are neither mad nor foolish; they know that each figure that the population commission has ever declared for Nigeria has always been fictitious. The people also know as of fact that whether a census exercise is credible or not, it would hardly be taken into consideration when national policies on development are being formulated for execution. What then makes the coming census scheduled to hold in Nigeria from May 3-5, 2023 important? Put differently, if demography and feasibility studies are irrelevant to policy makers, why should anyone bother about the 2023 National Population and Housing Census?

Both the government and the public body mandated to conduct a census have always told the people the opposite of how the exercise would be done. If they say they are set to organize a most credible event, it is likely to end with several hitches and manipulations. If the National Population Commission (NPC) affirms that she has all it needs to do a good job, what she actually means is that she has been assured that all the required resources would come-in before D-Day. This time around, she has said the census would be digital, but people may in reality expect failures and deliberate seizures, the way many now feel about the recent general elections in the country. What this suggests is that there is a natural trust deficit in Nigeria’s polity which cannot be filled by mere assurances. In fact, if the feeble assurances of the NPC fail at last, the body would not be as despised as INEC, whose cast-iron assurances are now perceived as self-destroyed.

As the NPC gears forward to May 3rd, it must beware of anything hazy around the time we are in. The government that directed her to conduct the census has 3 weeks remaining of its 8-year tenure. The political environment is charged with bitter laden- election petitions in which some candidates are accusing the electoral body of frustrating their petitions by refusing to grant them access to examine election materials. There is ample doubt if this period can serve as an auspicious time for another national exercise. In 2016, when census was due, it was shelved because as the NPC testified at the time, “the new regime of President Muhammadu Buhari needed to settle down in office before embarking on a huge project such as a national census.” 

Another critical matter is the readiness of the NPC in terms of the human and material resources available to her. The NPC has not received as much support as she needs from government. Unlike INEC which got all it asked for, the NPC has only 46% of what it requires for a successful census in a large territory such as Nigeria. Clem Agba, Nigeria’s Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, revealed this while speaking at a high-level partners’ engagement in Abuja less than one month to the exercise. This is why the assurances of NPC’s central planning committee that it is set to conduct a successful exercise can only be a political statement which no one is obliged to believe. It is in essence a timid assurance which can further place Nigerians far from the NPC. 

In addition, the scope of the assignment is quite large. Indeed, if the NPC believes that counting people in refugee camps is tedious, it may turn out to be far more complicated than the commission may have imagined. Only a few days ago, the federal government released the sum of N15 billion for the repatriation of Internally Displaced Nigerians from three neighbouring countries of Chad, Niger and Cameroun. The displaced persons were those who reportedly fled to neighbouring countries at the height of Boko Haram and other terrorists’ activities in the North-east. Speaking to newsmen in Abuja last Friday, Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno state said the repatriation takes immediate effect.  The implication of this is that the NPC may midway into the census process get to learn of new refugees.   

As we hear, the Commission requires well over 800, 000 officials to take part in the exercise. Have they all been recruited? If so when and what evidence is there that they will not “jump ship” before the start of the exercise? Would the NPC which has less than 50% of its required funding be able to settle the allowances of the recruits or are we likely to see protesters asking for payment midway through the process? These questions are relevant because assurances notwithstanding, failures always occur during elections and even during the recent registration for the National Identity Card, nationwide where what the operating body said and what their personnel and the general public witnessed were different. Even where those recruited are mobilized, there is no guarantee that they would be trained or be capable of assimilating the relevant processes. 

Another assurance which may have been well-intentioned but which many are not likely to believe is the introduction of technology. The NPC has proudly revealed that the 2023 census would be the first digital attempt at compiling population data in the country. It is true that the use of technology for exercises such as census is in line with global reality and best practices, but as we have found from other events, the human dimension in digital events can render the entire exercise fruitless. It is therefore not enough for the NPC to suggest that the census will be hitch-free simply because it was designed to be technically handled. Unlike INEC again, not much is known by the public on what is to be done as well where when and how. The only salutary statement made so far by the NPC in the area of public enlightenment is that she has secured the support of the National Orientation Agency (NOA).

Of course NOA has the required structure to mobilize Nigerians to embrace any public policy because the Agency has offices and operatives in all the 774 local government areas of the country. In truth however, NOA is virtually moribund with no resources for operations. What keeps the Agency alive is that staff salaries are paid monthly as is done in all federal parastatals. NOA has no vehicles for effective movement from one place to another. Ordinarily, the Agency is exceedingly useful especially in grassroots mobilization which it accomplishes by using its capacity to address citizens in the local languages. This separates her from other organs of mass communication which inform but do not educate and which have no feedback mechanism to bridge the gap between government and the people. Can the NPC which has less than it needs raise up NOA from her involuntary slumber? 

There is also the changing political disposition in some states, the best example being Lagos state where the matrilineal principle has suddenly become the most potent tool for categorizing citizens. During the last elections, certain forces successfully and violently silenced a candidate on the basis of the place of origin of his mother. With nothing done to those who perpetuated the abominable act, the NPC may not be able to stop some citizens from travelling away from their places of residence to their places of origin so as to be counted in a safe abode. Although the NPC has given assurances that prescriptive criteria such as religion and ethnicity are not part of the coming census, it will take more than assurances to get some people to buy into the idealistic sermon

In the past, a high level of mutual suspicion and distrust featured prominently in our census exercises. In 2006, for example, some states rejected the census exercise of that year which they claimed was manipulated against them. Lagos in particular said the exercise failed a credibility test and ran a parallel census. Considering that past exercises had been so bedevilled, the NPC, the government and all Nigerians cannot be simplistic about the 2023 census. It requires plenty of resources and time as well as little assurances cannot be vouched for.