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![[OPINION] Pope Francis (1936 – 2025) - Reuben Abati](/media/k2/items/cache/c0395aa98d8919afead20f020215aa2b_L.jpg?t=20250422_133315)
Pope Francis who died yesterday morning, April 21, at the age of 88 was a trailblazer in more than one respect and definitely one of the most influential figures of the 21st century: the first priest of the Jesuit Order (Society of Jesus) to occupy the Throne of St. Peter as sovereign of the Vatican State, Bishop of Rome, and leader of all Catholics worldwide (1.4 billion of them across the world). He was the first Pope from the Americas and the Southern Hemisphere, and the first Pope to have been raised outside Europe since Pope Gregory III in the eighth century. It may be said that Pope Francis’ death was not shocking, but it was unexpected at the time it happened, the suddenness of it was more telling, He was 88, and at that age, it is common opinion that anything could indeed happen, mortality being a fact of existence, and death, a debt that all living things owe.
Besides, the Pope had been ill since February. He spent five weeks in the hospital - the Gemelli Polyclinic Hospital in Rome (February 14 – March 23) where his doctors treated him for a case of double pneumonia, which later resulted in other complications: bronchitis, respiratory issues and aneamia. His doctors discharged him in March, and advised him to take a two months’ rest from duty, to convalesce properly. Since his return, there had been hope that the Pope was on the mend. On Easter Sunday, he greeted crowds at the St. Peter’s Basilica. He was seen without the nasal casula, a breathing aid that his doctors had given him. He wished the about 35, 000 Catholics that had gathered “Happy Easter” and blessed the crowd, including children. His Easter message – Urbi et Orbi (“To the City and the World”) was delivered on his behalf, a message striking the same notes of concern that formed a major plank of his papacy: peace, humanism and love. On Easter Sunday, he also met with the American Vice President who visited him. J.D. Vance is now recorded in the history books as one of the very last world leaders and diplomats to have spent some time with Pope Francis in his last hours on earth, a great privilege, that is. For a man, a once upon a time evangelical Christian, and an atheist, who converted to the Catholic faith in 2019, Vance may well read more than an ordinary meaning into that last encounter.
The Holy Father has now gone to be with the Lord, and the tributes have been pouring in from virtually every part of the world - a testament to the impactful tenure of the 266th Pope of the Catholic Church, and of the force of his character and leadership. The symbolism and the significance of the time of his passing – right at the end of the Holy Week, on Easter Monday, seem imbued with deeper meaning. The Catholic Church is now in mourning as the Church slips into an interregnum, that is the time between the death of one Pope and the emergence of another. The Holy See has already declared the Novendiale, nine days of mourning, and daily prayer services and requiem masses have already begun at Catholic churches worldwide, as the Church prepares for the burial of Pope Francis. Within the next 15 - 20 days, the Sacred College of Cardinals from all over the world (136 of them currently – those under the age of 80 are eligible to vote) will convene at the Sistine Chapel of the Vatican City to choose a new Pope. During that period, marked by secrecy, ritual and tradition, there will be rounds of voting by the Cardinals until a candidate wins two thirds of the vote, and a white smoke emerges from the chapel to herald the emergence of a new Pope to the shouts of “Habemus Papum!” among the faithful. The secrecy and the politics of this process are well dramatized in a movie titled The Conclave (2006), and also in another movie of exactly the same title, that is- The Conclave (2024), (adapted from Robert Dennis Harris’s 2016 novel still of the same title) - winner of the 97th Academy Award for Best Writing and the BAFTA Award for Best Film. The period of the burial and the emergence of a new Pope should be a season of reflection and introspection for the Catholic Church, and an appreciation of the legacy and example of Pope Francis.
When Jorge Mario Bergoglio (real name of Pope Francis) ascended the Throne of St. Peter on March 13, 2013, following the resignation and retirement of Pope Benedict XVI who died later in 2022, the new Pope had chosen the name Francis in honour of St. Francis of Assisi, the Italian mystic and poet who founded the Order of the Franciscans. This gesture was meant to underscore the 266th Pope’s commitment to a life of poverty, chastity and the defence of the interest of the poor, the powerless, and the underprivileged members of the community. Pope Francis was a transformative leader who modernized the Catholic Church, an Outsider with a liberal disposition who dispensed with convention. He inherited a papacy that was mired in controversy, doubt and debate. He provided greater clarity with his humility, kindness, concern for the poor, commitment to inter-religious dialogue and continuous emphasis on the supremacy of God’s mercy. Born on December 17, 1936, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the eldest child of Italian immigrants, Jorge Bergoglio came to the papacy well prepared within the Church and in the world of practical experience. He once had a girlfriend – Amalia Damonte – who did not marry him. He also once worked as a bouncer in a night club! He loved football. But as fate would have it, he joined the Jesuit Order in 1958, and was ordained a priest in 1969, armed with a philosophy degree from the Catholic University of Buenos Aires. He rose through the ranks within the Catholic priesthood in Argentina, becoming coadjutor archbishop of Buenos Aires in 1997, and eventually Archbishop of Buenos Aires in 1998. He was quite a controversial figure in the Catholic Church in Argentina, and in the politics of the country especially during his term as provincial superior in the late 70s, and his fierce criticism of the government of the country, although he was criticized for not doing enough to oppose military dictatorship in Argentina. It is instructive that after becoming Pope, he never went back to that country. He had become famous by 2001 when Pope John Paul II elected him to the College of Cardinals. In 2005, his name had come up at the Conclave as a potential Pope, but it was not until 2013 when Benedict XVI resigned that he became Pope.
His papacy was characterized by the courage with which he stood up to the Conservative wing of the Church who resisted his attempts at reform, and insisted that he was not “a true Pope” having not arrived at the position by way of tradition, rather through the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI. This did not deter Pope Francis. He also boldly confronted his critics including American Cardinal Raymond Burke whom he had to demote twice. The church is probably one of the most political organizations in the world. The Catholic Church is not an exception in this regard. What endures however is Pope Francis’ commitment to service – his projection of the ideal of servant leadership, and the view that the church is for the poor who needed to be saved. He shunned luxury and preferred the common touch. He was willing to walk with the poor, live among them and fight for social and economic justice. He shunned the palatial residence of the Pope, any form of ostentation, and lived instead in humble surroundings of his choice, a small room in a guest house at the Vatican – the Casa Santa Maria. He was interested in service and making an impact, and he proved this again and again in the course of his 12-year papacy. His liberalism and belief in inclusive humanity could be seen for example in his defence of the rights of the LGBTQ+ community. He argued that even gay persons deserved the blessing of the church, because like everyone else they are the children of God. As he put it: “if a person is gay and seeks out the Lord and is willing, who am I to judge that person?” Pope Francis also supported climate change initiatives, and the urgent need to save the Earth. He also defended the plight of migrants and refugees in his support for refugees in Lampedusa, and the Greek island of Lesbos. He had the common touch either when seen identifying with the homeless in Washington DC, or the migrants in Lampedusa or washing and kissing the feet of South Sudanese war mongers. He was an apostle of peace, and unity, on the questions of South Sudan, Iraq, Egypt, Myanmar and every other troubled spot in the world. It was most instructive in his last Easter message this past Sunday, that the Pope condemned the deplorable situation in Gaza, anti-Semitism and the worrisome state of the world. Two years earlier, he apologized for the role played by the church in “cultural genocide” especially in Canada. He was also the first Pope to address a joint session of the US Congress, and on that occasion, Thursday, September 25, 2015, he defended the rights of immigrants “to travel North”. He was in the forefront of the campaign for vaccination during the COVID pandemic in 2021. He initiated reconciliation with the Eastern Orthodox Church, the first time since the schism of 1054. He reached out to Muslims and persons of other faiths as well. He was the “Pope of the peripheries”. He was the “Pope of Peace.”
Pope Francis did his best to reform the Vatican curia, but he did not succeed in every endeavour. His effort for example to promote women in the Church to the diaconate and the Bishopric level was widely questioned by the conservatives. When he tried to change the rules about divorced couples, he caused another threat of schism in the Church. He wanted divorced couples to take the Holy communion without the formal annulment of marriage. He had tried to address the challenge of sexual abuse in the church and among the priesthood – the Dirty Dozen affair- but he did not make any progress with that either, what he got instead was a rebellion within the church. Whatever may have been his omissions, however, Pope Francis was all things considered a traditionalist. He upheld the position of the Church on euthanasia, abortion, death penalty and celibacy. He also projected a positive vison of the Church, and was loud and articulate in defending peace and human progress. He leaves behind a message of hope, humanism and simplicity. Other Popes before him were buried in style, he has left word that he should be buried very simply – in one coffin made of wood and zinc. He wants to be buried as an ordinary pastor not as a powerful figure in the world! That should happen within the next six days according to tradition.
Pope Francis was a moral exemplar about the vanity of all things. He will certainly be remembered kindly and positively for his evangelism, his support for the poor, marginalized populations of the world. He will also be remembered for his projection of the Church as a prophetic church, and for his exhortations and encyclicals which raise fundamental questions about the place of the Church in a modern world as in these writings - “Lumen Fidei” (2013), “Evangelii Gaudium” (2013) “Amoris Laetitia” (2016), “Laudato Si” (2015), “Fratelli Tutti” (2020), “Laudate Deum” (2023) and “Dilexit Nos” (2024). For ordinary folks, there is perhaps an additional lesson here about the importance of health. The same ailment that has now resulted in the death of Pope Francis first showed up in 1957 when he was 21 years old. He had pneumonia then, and he had to undergo surgery. Doctors removed one of his lungs, and throughout his life, he struggled with respiratory illnesses. But with the grace of God, and with spartan self-discipline, paying attention to his health condition, he lived to the ripe age of 88, and has left a remarkable legacy.
It is now up to the Sacred College of Cardinals to elect a new Pope, and this obviously would be a question of whether the Cardinals would choose a liberal Pope who would extend Pope Francis’ modernization of the church or a hardline Conservative whose emergence would be a return to the authoritarianism of the Church, or perhaps a moderate who would unite all sides. There is also the question about age. In 2013, Bergoglio was 76. But despite the fact that the election of a new Pope is shrouded in secrecy until the Cardinals decide, this has not stopped the media and pundits from speculating about likely successors, and the big question has been: are we likely to have a Pope for the first time from Asia or from Africa? A certain Cardinal Adeyemi almost made it to the papacy in the movie, The Conclave (2024), but Africa happened to him. As the Catholic Church prepares for a post-Francis papacy, may the good Lord choose his own Bishop for the Throne of St. Peter. Farewell, Franciscus…Our Heavenly Father, we bow in submission to Thy Will…
![[OPINION] Plateau, Tsiga and Trump - Reuben Abati](/media/k2/items/cache/076f7f795e47e1dc74a28ca93d3c698e_L.jpg?t=20250408_092041)
“My brother, you do not look cheerful at all.”
“I am just overwhelmed by everything”
“Any personal issues? I hope there is no trouble in paradise and that Madam is still tolerating you.”
“Does she have an option? After many years together, where would she go? It is not even that. I am just wondering how we ended up where we are in this country. Who did we offend as a people? We never seem to get anything right.”
“Professor Chinua Achebe said it long ago, in 1984, I think if my memory serves me right, that leadership is the problem with Nigeria.”
“I have been hearing that for decades, I beg. And nobody can find any solution to this same problem. I think the people are a bigger part of the problem.”
“Bad leaders set bad example, the followers will soon start behaving like their leaders and then you have bad followers and all things equal, you get a bad society. What we need is a complete moral re-armament, an ethical revolution from bottom up, a rediscovery of the values of old, and a proper definition of what it means to be a Nigerian”.
“Right now, I don’t even know what it means to be a Nigerian”
“You have a national anthem that talks about who we are.”
“That Nigeria We Hail Thee actually says precisely what Nigeria is not. A banner without stain. Go and say that to all the families who have lost their loved ones just because they happen to be Nigerians. In brotherhood we stand. Which brotherhood. You and who? A nation where no man is oppressed. For where? Go and say that to the people of Rivers State, Southern Kaduna, Benue, or Plateau state, and watch the kind of side eye people will give you.”
“The story from Plateau is particularly sad, unfortunate and regrettable”
“That is the standard line from the Nigerian government. Sad. Unfortunate. Regrettable. But there is no guarantee that more people will not be killed again or that the state will be able to apprehend the criminals. Or that we will not wake up and not hear about another tragedy in any part of Nigeria. Was it not the other day, 16 persons were killed in Uromi, Edo State? Now the killing machine has moved to the Plateau. The Nigerian state is in retreat. It is not serving its purpose. Terrorists and kidnappers do as they wish. People cannot sleep with their two eyes closed.”
“Certainly not in Plateau state. Just imagine what happened. The terrorists attacked villages in Bokko Local Government Area on March 28, set homes ablaze and disrupted communal life. They were so bold they returned on April 2 to wreak more havoc. Between March 28 and the second attack, the state could not anticipate that the terrorists would return. The state did not provide the affected communities with security. The people were left on their own, at the mercy of the terrorists. Now the people are wailing and counting their losses in Ruwi, Hurti, Tadai, Gwande, Manguna and Dafo”
“Are those people even terrorists? I read that they made away with bags of potatoes from the houses that they attacked, and fled on the back of motorcycles. Terrorists who steal bags of potatoes!”
“There is hunger in the land. There are Nigerians who will kill because of a pot of soup. In some local communities, you have to padlock your pot of soup, otherwise it could be stolen overnight! Serious hunger crisis. That is how bad Nigeria has become.”
“And look at how the state has responded. The President has condemned the killings. He has directed the National Security Adviser to visit Plateau. He, the NSA says the perpetrators will be severely punished. The state government has expressed its condolences. Relief materials have been promptly provided for the affected communities. Press statements. Photo op. television cameras. In one week, everyone will move on, until the terrorists strike in another community and state officials make the same statements and we move on. Nigerians are used to tragic melodramas.”
“If I may play the devil’s advocate though, I think it was good optics that the NSA and the Governor empathized with the people”
‘Will that bring back the dead? Will that stop terrorism, banditry and kidnapping? The people of the Plateau have not known peace for more than two decades. What difference will the routine visit of state officials make? In fact, very soon, these government officials would become so overwhelmed, they would not even visit any place where there is an attack, be it in Rivers, Southern Kaduna, Ondo or the Niger Delta.”
“To buttress your point, look at what nearly happened to the Secretary to the Plateau State Government, Samuel Jatau over the weekend, on Sunday. He was on a visit to Bokko, when the same terrorists laid ambush for him around Hurti community and opened fire on his convoy. He had gone to the community on Governor Caleb Mutfwang’s instruction to deliver relief materials.”
“Mark my words, when next Jatau is sent on that kind of assignment, he will find a diplomatic way of advising his boss, the Governor, to send another state official, because he has been having a cocktail of chest pain, food poisoning and diarrhea and his doctor has advised him to go on bed rest! These terrorists and bandits in Nigeria have no respect for anybody.”
“You know they even go to people’s homes and abduct them. Brigadier-General Maharazu Tsiga (rtd) was in his house in his home town in Katsina when kidnappers visited him on February 5, and took him away. He and 18 other victims spent 56 days in the kidnappers’ den. They saw hell and hyena!”
“I have read General Tsiga’s story - an interview that he granted. This is the point. Not even a soldier is considered a man of war by training who could return fire for fire. If kidnappers could pick up a soldier who had served his county just like that, tell me who that ordinary Nigerian is, that criminals can’t pick up.”
‘I have also read that the General and other captives were rescued by Nigerian soldiers of Operation Safe Haven and were handed over to their families personally by NSA Ribadu. But I don’t believe that our soldiers rescued them. The kidnappers for example, placed a ransom of N400 million on General Tsiga’s head. His friends, family, former colleagues, serving and retired Generals had to contribute the N400 million. They even created a WhatsApp group named TSIGA. When he regained his freedom, nobody talked about ransom being paid.”
“The Nigerian Government can never admit publicly that it was involved at any time in the payment of ransom to non-state actors, who have chosen to act as criminals. We have a law: the Terrorism Prevention and Prohibition Act of 2011, for example. Mallam Ribadu says over 2, 000 persons have been prosecuted under that law. I think the state is making an effort. You will recall that when he was in the kidnappers’ den, General Tsiga observed that his abductors did not fear God, but they became apprehensive whenever a military aircraft hovered overhead and they used them as human shield. That should say something about the efforts of the Nigerian security system.”
“That security system must be overhauled. There must be a re-thinking of the country’s security architecture.”
“Should there be the declaration of a state of emergency in Plateau state, then, after all the people of Rivers State are saying that what is good for the goose is also good for the gander. They argue that Rivers is far more peaceful than Plateau, and Benue where criminals, enemies of the people of Agatu, have just rustled over 200 cows. In fact, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has called for a state of emergency in Plateau, Benue and other terror-prone states.”
“No. No. No. What is going on in Rivers state is problematic enough, let us not mouth ideas that could further complicate the situation. Many Nigerians do not even know what a state of emergency means.”
“But do you agree that nobody needs to quote any law in this matter? In simple straightforward language, it is obvious that the challenges of insecurity, hunger and poverty deserve to be treated as national emergencies. Government must invest in social infrastructure, secure lives and property, rebuild public confidence and trust, and restore hope, not by distributing palliatives, but by giving the average Nigerian an opportunity to have every reason to be proud.”
“One thing you can say in favour of the Tinubu administration though is that they have never toyed with that nonsense idea of buying Aso Ebi for terrorists, and giving them pepper soup, jollof rice and ice cream in the name of rehabilitation.”
“The kind of things we have seen in this country. You know that there was a time some state Governors were before our very eyes exchanging diplomatic niceties with terrorists and bandits. No. This President Tinubu will never do that. I may be speculating but I am convinced he is a much more capable and attentive President than his predecessor.”
“Except that he is also going up and down, and he spends too much time in France. Does he have French citizenship? Does he speak French? What Dubai is to some people, France is to Tinubu”
“I don’t know what languages he speaks, but it is just that he comes across as an improvement on the man from Katsina, whatever the skeptics may say.”
“Let him respect our rights as citizens.”
“How?”
“Our right to speak. Our right to assemble and protest, on any subject of our choice.”
“I don’t think that has been a big issue”
“It is for me. Where are you? Yesterday, the police tear-gassed protesters in Rivers and in Abuja. The youths of Rivers State raised their voice against the declaration of a state of emergency, with a retired soldier, acting as sole administrator now controlling the resources of the people. This is supposed to be a temporary appointment. But you and I know this country. When people get a temporary appointment, they will start praying that it shall become permanent! You should know the song: It shall be permanent…it shall be permanent…what the Lord has done… The only thing that can be permanent is the rule of law and democracy, not dictatorship. In Abuja, angry, Take-It-Back youths trooped out too. They were tear-gassed! The police are too fond of telling people not to protest. What is that? Their job is to provide protection for whoever wants to protest, not to stop them. That is a settled matter of law. ANPP v. IGP. ”
“Bros., take it easy. Rule of law. Democracy. This is Nigeria oh. This is not America. You do anyhow, you collect wotowoto.”
“Oh, that reminds me. I am sure you saw the protests in the United States across the country against President Trump and Elon Musk. Millions of pro-democracy protesters trooped out to complain about the Trump administration’s hostile takeover of American democracy, and attack on American rights and freedoms. They want an end to the billionaire take-over of the US. Democracy not oligarchy. Hands off, they told President Trump. There were protests also in London and Paris. Trump has launched an assault against every fundamental thing that America is known for. Freedom. Rights. Free trade.”
“Just be careful. Let the Americans who voted for him be the ones to condemn him. In case you do not know, the Trump administration has been cancelling people’s visas to the US. You talk carelessly, you can even be banned from entering the United States.” .
“America was known as the land of freedom, until Trump’s second coming.”
“Just watch your mouth. Oscar Arias, Nobel Laureate and former President of Costa Rica, has had his visa revoked for daring to call President Trump a Roman Emperor. South African Ambassador to the US, Ebrahim Rasool criticized Trump’s crackdown on diversity and equity programmes. He was declared a persona non grata and advised to leave the United States. All US visas for the South Sudanese have also been revoked because South Sudan tried to reject its nationals who were expelled from the US. You are just an ordinary Nigerian, you talk anyhow, your entire generation may be banned from ever going near the US.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. President Trump has upended the global trade order. Trump tantrums, and his disruptions go beyond the United States. Across the world, investors are selling off stocks to avoid risks. Global markets are roiling. Wall Street is in bear territory. Trade wars have started. Inside America, there is the threat of recession and rise in consumer prices. The tariffs that Trump has imposed, both baseline and reciprocal tariffs will spread the cancer of recession throughout the world. Even Nigeria got 14%, and with oil prices down by more than 3%, we are in trouble with our 2025 budget benchmark, SMEs will suffer, AGOA has been thrown under the table. And you say we should not talk?”
“I am just looking out for you. Let the Nigerian government handle the matter. The Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment has already issued a position paper to say that Nigeria is talking to our valued trade partner, the United States and the WTO to identify what is pragmatic and mutually beneficial. Besides, Trump himself has said this is a necessary medicine that he has applied to global trade.”
“Meaning what? Medicine that is already making the patient worse off. And which counterparts is Nigeria talking about? Is the US ready to negotiate as equals with anybody?”
“I try to look at the positive side of things. One of my financial advisers has told me that this is the best time to buy stocks and crypto. While you are concentrating on crisis and tantrums, I am looking at what can be gained.”
“Nobody has ever won tariff wars. Tariff shock has already wiped out US$5.3 trillion of the S&P 500 Index in just 2 days. Nasdaq Composite is down 5.8%, Dow Jones Industrial Average – 5.5%”
“Stop worrying yourself. Let the Americans speak with their votes during the mid-term elections.”
“That is still far away. November 2026.”
“Their problem, not ours. For all I care, they deserve their Trump, and his Elon Musk. The beauty of democracy is that voters are also free to make mistakes, and either live with their mistakes or correct them.”
![[OPINION] The Uromi 16 And The Problem With Nigeria - Reuben Abati](/media/k2/items/cache/4b585f7414a3fc875b761851d4c5fcd4_M.jpg?t=20250401_101706)
The killing last Friday of 16 Northern travellers along the Uromi-Ubiaja road in Edo state is an event that will live in infamy. Twenty-five travellers from Port Harcourt going home to the North, Kano specifically for the Eid el-fitri celebrations were intercepted by vigilantes along the way on the suspicion that they were kidnappers and they were lynched to death. There were 25 of them travelling together, nine of them managed to survive, but for the majority, it was an encounter with death. Some of the victims are from the Bunkura and Rano Local Government Areas of Kano State, mostly from Garko, Kibiya, Toronkawa and Rano villages. The fallen victims had wives, children and mothers. The men were said to be hunters and they were suspected by the vigilantes because they were reportedly carrying dane guns, and they had dogs with them too. It was a tragic incident. Madam Sadiya Sa’adu, for example, lost her son, her brother and her nephew: “They were not criminals; they were simply out to make an honest living. My son’s blood must not be spilled in vain,” she said.
One of the victims, Abdullahi Harisu, 21, got married only four months ago. In one account, the Edo Vigilante Commander was said to have ordered the killings. He had concluded that the travellers were Boko Haram terrorists and kidnappers. Three of them were reportedly taken to the police station, with the vigilante commander telling the police that they had brought in kidnappers. He then, in spite of the police, instructed that the remaining persons who had been apprehended should be killed by the vigilantes. Now, the people of Bunkura and Rano LGAs are mourning. More orphans and widows have been created. Nigeria happened to the Uromi 16. When Nigeria happens to you, it means literally that the state has turned you into a victim of its many imperfections, and justice may never be done. In some other places in the world, even when a person dies unjustly, the law takes its course, but here in Nigeria, a country of over 230 million persons, when a whole village is razed to the ground due to jungle justice, the media would make righteous noise, the people would oh and ah, and just almost immediately, the country moves on. Everything wrong with Nigeria is written all over the Uromi tragedy. It is such an irony that Uromi in that axis is the home-town of prominent nationalist and statesman Anthony Enahoro, and his brother Peter Enahoro – the inimitable “Peter Pan”, two brothers who championed the ideals of national peace and progress.
The Nigerian 1999 Constitution guarantees the right to life (Section 33), the right to the dignity of the human person (section 34) and the right to be free from discrimination (Section 42), and the right to the freedom of movement (section 41). The rights of the Uromi 25 to all these fundamental human rights were brutally violated. Only a court of law can determine that life be taken after the accused person has gone through the justice system and he or she has been taken through due process, and fair hearing has been allowed, and it is established that a criminal offence, punishable by death, has been committed, as provided for in an existing law of the Federation of Nigeria. But things have gone so bad that vigilante groups of different colours in all parts of the country take the laws into their hands and dispense jungle justice. The vigilante group in Uromi reportedly went to the police station. What did the police do? It was the duty of the police to step in, and not allow the vigilantes to inflict punishment and commit murder. We need to know the exact police station where the complaint was lodged, who the officers on duty were, and what exactly was done or not done. Vigilantes telling the police that they had arrested Boko Haramists and kidnappers should have prompted the police to intervene immediately. They are definitely complicit in the tragedy that followed by their inaction. The least that the police could have done was to establish whether or not the apprehended persons bearing dane guns have the required licenses under the Firearms Act. The Nigerian Constitution further talks about the duty of the government to ensure the safety and welfare of every citizen (Section 14 (2b) and says that every Nigerian can move freely, reside in, and egress in and out of every part of Nigeria.
The dangerous and painful reality that we have seen in Uromi and elsewhere is that this is never the case. It is possible for a Nigerian to leave home in the morning, but the road is forever lying in wait, hungry and ravenous, cruel and unkind, either in form of bad roads, dangerous, unlatched container trucks, tankers bearing toxic and flammable cargo that could fall over at the mere rush of saliva, or armed vigilantes and other criminals inflicting jungle justice and a reign of impunity. This is so because the state is in retreat. This is so also because the state has been captured by unscrupulous elements. The emergence of non-state actors, otherwise called vigilantes or by whatever other appellation, is one of the responses to this failure. We are in a country where the routine loss of lives, and the habitual conflicts that have enveloped our lives, have forced many to resort to self-help. People have also lost faith in the state’s institutions. They don’t trust the police because they believe every policeman can be easily compromised. They doubt the judicial system because they are convinced that the courts no longer dispense justice. They do not trust anyone who does not speak their language. The Uromi 25 were labelled and profiled as terrorists and kidnappers because they are from a certain part of the country – the North, and yet there has been no report that they were engaged in any act of aggression, or violence that could be considered suspicious. They were travelling, they had dane guns, they identified themselves as hunters travelling back to the North. They were citizens moving from one part of the country to the other! They didn’t deserve to die just because they spoke a different language or looked different. The problem with Nigeria is that ethnicity is written into every fabric of social interaction.
It is most unfortunate that this happened, as the Ramadan, the Muslim Holy month was ending, and Christians were still observing the Lenten season. Nigerians are a very religious people, but they are also very hypocritical about their faith. Most of the persons who murdered the Uromi 16 in the early hours of Friday, would have gone to the Mosque later in the day, wearing the garment of piety. Others would have been in church on Sunday singing alleluia and asking their Daddies and Mummies, the entrepreneurs of Christianity, who sell salvation for tithes, to pray for them. Both religions teach self-discipline, comportment, compassion and charity, but such virtues are sorely missing in our land. The leaders set bad examples. The followers are worse. We harvest the collapse of values and ideals in the needless mass graves that we often dig, the cry of orphans and widows, and the agony of parents and communities. There is such a yawning gap between private morality – what we say to God and public morality – what we do as citizens.
The bloodbath in Uromi has been condemned by many including Waziri Adamawa Atiku Abubakar, Senators, members of the House of Representatives, the Northern Elders Forum, the Edo community in Kano, and the Arewa community in Edo State. The Governor of Edo State, Senator Monday Okpebholo has since ordered the suspension of all vigilante groups in Edo State. He has suspended the Commander of the Edo State Security Corps, CP Friday Ibadin (rtd.). The state has also disowned the vigilante group involved in the dastardly act and commenced investigations. Further, Governor Okepbholo has paid a visit to the Governor and the people of Kano State, and the families of the victims to commiserate with them. Fourteen suspects have reportedly been arrested. What this means is that the Governors of both Kano and Edo states and the leaders of the respective communities are trying their level best to de-escalate tensions, and ward off reprisal killings. There is too much shared bloodshed in Nigeria. This is what led to the counter-coup of July 1966, and the eventual blow-out that resulted in the three-year fratricidal civil war, 1967 – 70. Till date, the civil war has not ended. There has been no full reconciliation. The biggest emergency in the land is the spectre of revenge killings: seen, with tragic consequences in Southern Kaduna, Plateau state and the entire Middle Belt, and as seen most recently in the third week of March in Ondo state, with the killing of five farmers by persons described as herdsmen. In Ondo state, two weeks earlier, about 14 persons had been killed in the same Akure North Local Government Area. The killers, it was claimed, infiltrated Ondo State, through Edo State, and if we may stretch the logic, there could be a connection between the incident in Uromi last Friday and the killings in Ondo State two weeks earlier and what could come after in the nearest future in an unending cycle death and violence.
This is the real national emergency that the Tinubu administration must worry about. Insecurity in the country and a growing culture of vengeance and reprisal killings are the real issues that the government of the day must tackle, to stem the tide of imminent anomie, and anarchy resulting in the threat of disintegration. We survived the civil war. No country can afford to have two civil wars – the consequences would be terrible. The interest of individuals or specific groups relying on the advantages of power and position should not supersede that of the nation. There is obviously a need to rethink the country’s security architecture: what we have at the moment is not working. It has failed to work before now. It has no prospect of working tomorrow. With over 200 million people, and just about 300, 000 policemen, the country is grossly under-policed. The police are also under-funded, and there are too many criminals within the security sector. The police are in fact, so overwhelmed and poorly structured, that the military are often called upon to do police work. What would happen in the case of any external aggression? The same soldiers that have been immersed in police habits and culture would be the ones to defend Njgeria’s territorial integrity. The police should be restructured for efficiency and performance. The police force, as it is presently structured, cannot meet the security needs of the country. The emergence of groups like the vigilantes, and regional quasi-police structures like the Amotekun, Hisbah, Agunechemba, and neighbourhood watch groups are attempts to fill the gap and meet the people’s needs. There is now a clear case to be made for the creation of state police, and even a National Guard. The fact that an incident in Uromi or elsewhere would require a convoluted search for clearance and direction from Abuja makes mockery of the urgency of the crisis of insecurity that the country faces.
The most unfortunate part of it all is that Nigerians are quick to forget. There is an evil spirit of selective amnesia upon the land. Nothing shocks the average Nigerian anymore. We have become so numbed by state failure that once a tragedy occurs, our defence mechanism is to move on, carry on actually with life as if nothing happened, as if nobody died; like a people used to disaster, as in Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain, we seem to have developed a sympathy for death. It is a horrible place to be – for a country to be moving backwards, or at best, paralysed, bereft of empathy, when the rest of humanity is struggling to advance. The death of the Uromi 16 must not be treated like other cases before it; the investigations must be carried out to the letter, and the files must not disappear, all the police officers involved must not be transferred out of Edo state until thorough investigations are done and a report written; and the report must not disappear, and due action must be taken in this as in all similar cases. Certain questions beg for answers: what were hunters from Kano State doing in Rivers State? Rivers is a fishing community for the most part. Does anyone fish with dane guns?
Other state governments must learn from the tragedy in Uromi. It is colourful, after a fashion, for Governors to wear fanciful uniforms of auxiliary security outfits in their states, inspect guards of honour set up by untrained, ill-equipped fancy brigades who have neither the powers nor the intelligence to manage the security situation in the state. More Governors have learnt to dance on those occasions, thinking that this is some form of Nollywood entertainment. Meanwhile, Nigerians have found themselves in a situation where security is an issue, and welfare is a nightmare - with more people sliding daily into poverty. From whence then, cometh our help?
![[OPINION] Breakfast With The Soludos - Reuben Abati](/media/k2/items/cache/33b747862875f50d863e709f5955da5d_M.jpg?t=20250325_061920)
I had breakfast Tuesday, March 18, last week, with Governor Chukwuma Charles Soludo, CFR of Anambra state and his wife. I had travelled to the state, on the invitation of the Governor and his team to moderate a media chat on the occasion of his third year in office. He assumed office in March 2022. Three years later, the Governor thought it fit to give an account to the people who elected him. It was not difficult for me to accept the invitation. Three years earlier I had co-anchored the Anambra Gubernatorial Debate, in which Professor Soludo was a participant, organized by Arise News. In previous Anambra elections before that, I was also co-anchor of the Gubernatorial debates and I had been in and out of Anambra for various other programmes, including Kwechiri, over the years. In a word, I could claim some familiarity with Anambra politics and the key actors. The media chat proper took place on Tuesday evening, 7 – 9 pm and was broadcast live on Arise News, Channels TV, Television Continental (TVC) and Anambra State Television Service. I will come to that later, but after the Tuesday event, the Governor had other engagements, the National Working Committee (NWC) of his party, the All Progressives Congress Alliance (APGA) was visiting, and in-between attending to the cast and crew of the media broadcast, the Governor needed to attend to his party members who arrived while we were still with the Governor. He asked us: the four journalists who interviewed him – Babajide Otitoju of TVC, Maupe Ogun-Yusuf of Channels TV, Chris Molokwu of Anambra State TV (ABS TV), and my good self to join him for breakfast the following morning before leaving Awka, the state capital. My wife, Kikelomo Atanda-Owo, herself a journalist – RealTalkwithKike on Silverbird TV and Inspiration FM was with me.
By 9 am the following morning, we were at the Government House, a seemingly make-shift, modest, old building put up 34 years ago, meant originally for the Chief Judge of Anambra State but which ended up as the residence of the Chief Executive over the years. We were ushered to the dining room where the Governor and his wife, Mrs Nonye Soludo were waiting to receive us. The man from Anambra TV could not make it, but there we were- this writer, my wife, Otitoju and Maupe. The Governor ushered us to start eating immediately, giving us plates and his wife directing the kitchen staff who had shown up to make us as comfortable as possible. When it was the turn of the Governor to fill his own plate, the conversation in the room took a different turn. He turned to his wife:
“Madam, please you have to allow me this morning to eat as I like. I have a long day today in Okpoko. I need a lot of energy. I need permission to eat both what is right and what you do not approve of. Please, this oat is made of what? I want to eat well.” I was surprised that a whole Governor, a Professor of Economics, former Central Bank Governor, CFR would have to take permission from his wife to choose what to eat. The Governor was apparently reading my mind.
“Ah, Reuben that is what I go through oh. My wife is an expert in healthy living. She is always preaching that I must watch what I eat. But today I have work to do. When we buy food in this house, the first thing my wife will do is to start reading the label to find out what is in the food or not. Me, I don’t have time to read labels. But my wife is busy with this healthy living thing. She insists that you are what you eat.”
Every other person had filled their plates and taken their seats. The Governor invited us to take tea or coffee.
“You see”, he continued, “what I do in this house is that when Madam and the children are not watching, I go to the kitchen and I eat what I like. One of my daughters knows my habit. Once she goes into the kitchen, she would say I can see that Daddy is back. Where is he? Somehow, I always leave clues behind and my wife has trained her children so well, that they too have bought into this healthy living thing.”
This led to a discussion around the table between Mrs Soludo and the two women.
“You have to let the children know what is healthy and what is not healthy very early and they will just grow with it. Most diseases are caused by lifestyle. Problems such as hypertension, diabetes and many of those other ailments – kidney, liver diseases- they are caused by lifestyle. They are caused by what we eat and our ignorance. That is why I have a programme to encourage Anambra women to farm, have a garden, you can plant certain things that you eat in your household and you will know that it is not something that has been processed. I give out seedlings to encourage our women to farm.” Mrs Soludo and the women spent considerable time discussing what is healthy and what is not, while the Governor, Otitoju and I ate. At a point, Mrs Soludo excused herself and came back with sachets containing seedlings which she handed over to us.
“These are the seedlings I give out. They are very easy to plant. You can even plant them in a bucket and you will be surprised how they will flower and flourish. Basic things like this, when you have them, you can reduce the number of items you go to the market to buy” Each one of us got at least two packs containing okro, carrot, lettuce, tomato, sweet tomatoes, bitter leaf and onions.
“You’d be surprised how quickly these seedlings grow. You can plant them in a container. Or create a small garden in your home. You need sand. Humus soil. And all you need to do is to water them in the morning and in the evening. You will also need manure. I don’t recommend cow dung. It is smelly and it can attract pests that can damage the crops. I prefer poultry manure. Before you know it, if you want to prepare soup for your family, you will just go to your garden and harvest what you need.”
“Do you know why we did not have hunger riots in Anambra?”, the Governor interjected. “It was through this my wife’s programme about the need for everyone to plant something. The logic of it is simple: you won’t have to buy what you have in your garden. That automatically reduces the amount of household spend on feeding. The people selling the same item in the market will be forced to cut prices. I have always talked about Human Capital Development but I didn’t realize the impact of what we were doing until I went to attend an end of the year event by the Civil Service Union. I gave my speech and then I just jokingly said since it was Christmas, I was expecting gifts oh. It was a joke. But then I saw one woman coming towards me. When she spoke to me, I had to give her the microphone so that everybody could hear what she was saying. She was a widower. She said she had been looking for an opportunity to meet me to give me a gift, and that when she heard that I was coming to the Civil service event, she decided to come there. She introduced herself as a cleaner and said she runs a small poultry. She had decided to come and give me a fowl from her poultry to appreciate what I have been doing. I was close to tears. I looked at the woman. How much could she possibly be earning and yet she thought she should give her Governor a fowl for Christmas? I was close to tears. Yet another woman came and brought fruits for her Governor. This is what I find exciting about this job. When I leave here, I am going straight to Okpoko. The people are excited because they say I have transformed their community. There is a place in Onitsha that used to be a refuse dump, very smelly. We have changed all that too. You can make the people’s life better by supporting them.”
I was listening and also doing justice to my plate of boiled plantain and cup of black coffee. The women were still on their thing about healthy living and gardening. I overheard Maupe saying she already has a small garden in her home and she felt inspired by Mrs. Soludo’s encouragement. Kike told her she would start gardening as soon as she returned to Lagos. She has since planted all the seedlings and now goes about saying she is a gardener. What I hear now are lectures about healthy lifestyle and gardening and what Mrs. Soludo advised. I pray I do not end up in Governor Soludo’s trap of having to study food packs and ask Madam for clarifications about what should be eaten and what should be avoided in the name of healthy living! Many of us in Africa actually believe that something must kill a man, whether you eat healthy or not. Mrs. Soludo believes that you don’t have to kill yourself with what goes into your stomach. Hmm.
I was not in Anambra, however, to eat. I was there in my line of duty as a journalist. Before the interview on Tuesday, we had visited a place called The Solution Fun City – a sprawling, multi-purpose entertainment centre sitting on 27 acres of land in the heart of Awka. The builders said the Governor has given them a deadline of month-end, and that they will deliver. The place looks like another version of Disneyland. It has a Country Club for the elite. Behind this is a Games village for parents and their children: three cinemas, games rooms where I saw some of the best that is available elsewhere, and then swimming pools, a roller coaster, and playgrounds. The equipment were already in place to be fixed before the end of March. By the side is a CAF-compliant stadium for football. I had to ask our tour guide: “If Anambra children start coming to this place, when will they have time to study and do their home-work? With what I am seeing here, some students will stay here from morning till night, having fun.” I brought up the question again with the Governor later in the day. His explanation was that he needed to provide a special meeting point for Anambra people at home and in diaspora such that when they come home, they will have a place, that is safe and comfortable where they can relax with friends and family. He wants Anambra to be a destination of choice. “And candidly it is by mixing everything properly that we can attract investments. This state has many billionaires. I want them to see that they can invest in their own state.” He also plans to build a new Awka City.
We also visited the new Government House that the Soludo administration is building. Wow. What a project! The sprawling complex houses the new government house, the state secretariat, governor’s lodge, Deputy Governor’s complex, a Presidential Lodge, State House Hospital, a 1,000-seater Banquet Hall, and a 1,000-seater Amphitheatre, and 28 other buildings. I had asked the Governor if he would risk putting up such a masterpiece for another Governor to come and occupy. The next Gubernatorial election in Anambra is in November 2025. He said he wasn’t thinking of who will occupy the Governor’s Lodge. He simply wanted to leave a legacy of a proper Government zone, similar to the Three Arms Zone in Abuja, something that Ndi Anambra can be proud of. For 34 years, Anambra has not had a proper Governor’s Lodge or an administrative zone. He would change that and what he has done is bold and impressive. Everywhere around Awka, I could not but notice major markers titled “The Solution is here”. Many years ago when Soludo was still Governor of the Central Bank, I recall writing a piece titled “The Soludo Solution”. In his career either as an economist, technocrat or politician, Governor Soludo has always talked about finding solutions to the people’s problems. His fiercest critics accuse him of arrogance, they claim that he thinks he alone knows the solution to every problem. In three years, despite the naysayers, there is clear evidence of what Soludo has been able to do in terms of infrastructure, education (Anambra leads in education, with the lowest out-of-school children rate in Nigeria – 2.9% according to UNESCO), there is free education for all public primary and secondary schools, pensions are being paid, salaries of civil servants too, potable water is now available in Anambra, three brand new cities are springing up, hospitals are being built. Soludo has emplaced a new security architecture, a technology-driven surveillance system.
I was hesitant about going to Anambra. I had asked the Chief Press Secretary, Christian Aburime, if they had an airport in Awka. The last time I was there, I had to get a flight to Asaba airport, from where, under heavy military security, we were piloted to Awka. This time around, I made it clear that we would need security. But trouble began at the Murtala Muhammed Airport. Air Peace on which we had been booked suddenly changed their mind. They would no longer fly to Awka on Monday, and we should postpone our travel till Tuesday. These Nigerian airlines decide when you must travel, they cancel flights at will, and they don’t even think they owe you an explanation! We had to go through United Nigeria Airline which was going to Asaba, not Awka that Monday morning. I was scared. I was even more scared when we got to Asaba and the CPS said he had come to receive us in his own car and one protocol vehicle. I looked around. No security escort! Christian Aburime told me not to worry and that Anambra is safe, and that whereas people in the hinterland may stay at home in the early hours, people still go about, even if they do not open their shops for business. Throughout the journey from Asaba to Awka, I kept looking right and left. We got to Awka in one piece, without any cause for alarm. We even went round the city, a different Awka from what it was when I first visited in the 1990s. On Tuesday, we returned through the Chinua Achebe Airport in Awka. They have an airport in Awka quite alright. But why name it after Achebe? A university would have been the right institution for Achebe’s memorial.
![[OPINION] The Emerging Coalition Against Tinubu/APC - Reuben Abati](/media/k2/items/cache/02972c9f0dee40a6ad85830afbb49758_M.jpg?t=20250318_075326)
It comes as no surprise that the headlines have been dominated in part by the proposed formation of a mega coalition of opposition parties and politicians planning to unseat President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and defeat the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the next general elections in 2027.The whistle was blown last week, and since then there have been more revelations about how most of the would-be members of that coalition are aggrieved members of Tinubu’s own political camp – those who felt left out of the sharing of the spoils of victory after the 2023 elections, members of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), originally, a building bloc of the APC, as well as opposition party members. It is still early in the day to describe the exact shape and character of this proposed coalition in general. What is known for now, is that the emerging group is seeking accommodation in the Social Democratic Party (SDP), possibly a take-over of the party completely, and perhaps, an eventual creation of a new platform as was the case with the emergence of the APC in 2013.
What is also known is that Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, a former two-time Governor of Kaduna State, former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, and one of the original 37 persons that founded the APC, is the arrow-head of the latest political development, even if there are others in the background who are yet to take public ownership of their conspiracy. It is to El-Rufai’s credit that he has by his bold action changed the course of Nigeria’s political narrative ahead of 2027. He has ignited the fire of speculations and provided a meeting ground for all hidden and open anti-Tinubu conspirators. It looks like a scene out of William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar as the plot thickens against the ruler in Aso Rock. More than anything else, El-Rufai has reaffirmed his persona as a man who has fire and salt in his mouth to be deployed as it suits him. With the fire in his mouth, he has done considerable damage already to the reputation of the Tinubu administration. He has also de-marketed the APC. In an interview in the Leadership newspaper, three years ago, Governor Nasir El-Rufai, as he then was, was quoted as saying: “I’ll remain in APC till I die, the moment I leave APC, then I have quit politics altogether.” Now, he no longer wants to die in the APC nor is he retiring from politics. Instead, he has left the party. Nigerian politicians and the promises they make!
It is the same APC that El-Rufai promised to serve till death do them part that he has now dismissed as a “useless party.” He has accused the Tinubu administration of having no clue about how to run the country and its economic reforms as useless too. We have heard from El-Rufai also that most of Tinubu’s appointees lack merit and ability, and do not deserve the positions that they have been given. He has also not minced words in saying that some of the Ministers bought their positions in the Cabinet. That certainly is a serious allegation: who is doing buying and selling with Ministerial appointments? How much was paid? To whom? By who? Where is the money kept? El-Rufai cannot make such a weighty allegation and leave it at the level of innuendo. His statement is defamatory per se. The onus is on him to provide evidence. For example, he had made the additional claim that the grand, anti-Tinubu/APC coalition that he is leading has the blessing of President Muhammadu Buhari: “I consulted Buhari on Friday; I told him my reasons for leaving the APC and the responses of other people I consulted. Buhari responded that he is now a statesman, but he knows my worries and prayed for me.” It didn’t take too long before President Buhari issued a statement to restate his loyalty to the APC and his commitment to continue to popularize the party that gave him an opportunity to be President of Nigeria for two terms (2015 – 2023). There is a touch of irony to it all, and perhaps poetic justice. A month ago, February 16, 2025, President Tinubu had publicly congratulated Mallam Nasir El-Rufai on the occasion of his 65th birthday, describing him as an “administrator, scholar, politician…highly regarded for his resourcefulness and brilliance…his endeavours for democracy; his meritorious service to the nation, and mentorship of the younger generation”. One month later, El-Rufai told the BBC Hausa Service: “We knew about Tinubu’s Chicago issues and still supported him; yet he failed Nigeria”. He was speaking to the Hausa listeners of the BBC, and by extension the entire North and Nigeria. President Tinubu got more than five million of his over eight million votes in the 2023 Presidential election from Northern Nigeria. Apparently, El-Rufai and his co-conspirators are determined to discredit him and expose whatever they know, or at best sow the seeds of doubt in the Tinubu Presidency. By mentioning Buhari’s name, he sought to incite the former President’s power base against Tinubu.
The main reaction from the Tinubu camp and the APC has been to wave off the threat as inconsequential “inordinate ambition”, “political gyration” that should not disturb anybody, “a mistake”. I do not consider these responses robust and convincing enough. El-Rufai has knocked the very foundations of the party and maligned the President and the best that the APC and Tinubu’s spokespersons can come up with are dismissive one-liners? Not good enough. Not good enough. It would be risky to underestimate or downplay the El-Rufai threat. The Tinubu Presidency should not make the mistake that the Jonathan Presidency made in 2013/2014. When disgruntled politicians started gathering to talk about forming a formidable opposition to the incumbent administration at the time, there were persons in the corridors who boasted that they were making a mistake. I was in the corridors of power then, and I heard some commentators saying that the people in the APC were well-known customers (“customer daa da ni”), and that they would be given what would calm them down. In fact, some members of that coalition at the time even recommended persons to be appointed to the Board of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and they were given appointments. By the time, the ruling PDP and the Jonathan camp realized what was going on, the conspirators within and without had perfected their art of treachery. I am aware that there are some people who are of the firm view that Tinubu is not Jonathan or that 2027 is not 2015, whatever they mean by that, but it is precisely that level of over-confidence and arrogance that could give teeth to the anti-Tinubu plotters.
It is wiser not to ever underestimate the opposition, conspirators or fifth columnists. Goliath underestimated David. Lao Tzu, Chinese philosopher, says: There is no greater danger than underestimating your opponent.” George S. Patton, United States Army General, advises, in addition that: “You shouldn’t underestimate an enemy, but it is just as fatal to overestimate him”. The latter part of General Patton’s statement should be carefully underlined and it is possible to extrapolate that the anti-Tinubu coalition faces by its very creation, a number of hurdles. I shall attempt to identify a few.
One, the coalition is bound to be torn apart by the ambition of some of the major partners on the question of which part of the country should their Presidential candidate come from. It stands to reason that some key members of the coalition, from the Northern part of Nigeria would expect to be appointed the flagbearer, which however is likely to be unpopular with the conspirators from the South. The politics of region, geography, religion, and ethnicity is one of the major fault lines in Nigerian democracy. It is never a question of merit but always about where you come from and the type of religion you belong to. This was a major issue in 2010, after the death in office of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, also in 2011, and again in both 2015 and 2023, as it would be most certainly in 2027, and as it has been since the First Republic. After eight years of the Buhari/Northern Presidency, the Southern partners in the emerging coalition would naturally insist that to replace Tinubu who would have spent four years, the remaining four years must naturally, mutatis mutandis, go to a Presidential candidate of Southern extraction.
Two, in determining the identity of that Presidential candidate of Southern extraction, the ethnic fight would also be more intense at the micro-Southern level. Igbo members of the coalition would of course insist that the strongest message that the coalition can convey is to zone the Presidency specifically to the South East, to allay the fears of Igbos about being marginalized out of the highest office in the land. South-South politicians are also likely to play the politics of entitlement. Already, some politicians from that region are pushing the view that if any party wants an alternative to President Tinubu from the South, the best bet would be to allow President Jonathan to return for a second term in office, a clear assurance that after four years of another Jonathan Presidency, power would simply rotate back to the North. Nobody should rule out the interest of South West politicians either. Some of the names that have been mentioned in connection with the emerging coalition, even if they have not personally confirmed their involvement, are also persons who would not hesitate to throw their hats into the ring, should the opportunity present itself. One or two of the names that have been mentioned would most likely insist that the candidate must not be any of Tinubu’s Lagos boys, whether that person has fallen out of favour with Asiwaju or not. Even among those former Tinubu allies who may be tempted to betray him openly, there is a deep-seated resentment of those they regard as Tinubu’s Lagos boys who have been majorly the ones who have benefitted from his administration so far. The foreseeable in-fighting and intrigues within the new coalition would be the biggest threat that it faces.
Three, there will be a problem with the chosen SDP platform. Mr. Adewole Adebayo, the Presidential candidate of the party in the 2023 Presidential election has stated categorically during an interview on The Morning Show (TMS) of Arise News that he will most certainly be the Presidential candidate of the party in 2027. When reminded of the timbre and calibre of some of the names that have been mentioned as moving into the SDP, he retorted that the SDP is “my party” and that no new person joining the party can come and take his party away from him! As it is, except Adebayo changes his mind through negotiations, and guarantees, the SDP may not promise any safe landing. This is meant to be a grouping of the opposition, but the Labour Party, the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) have declared that their own platforms should be the destination, rallying spot for opposition politics.
Four, is history repeating itself? When the now divided bedfellows formed the All Progressives Congress in 2013, it was more or less a special purpose vehicle, and no more than that, to take power back to the North, defeat the PDP, and unseat President Goodluck Jonathan. At the time, there was very little talk about what the APC coalition wanted to do for the Nigerian people. It was all about personal ambitions and less about good governance and promoting the common good.
As it were, however, politics as a wise man once told me is a question of strategy. In Nigeria, the man with the better strategy wins and that means winning by all and any means possible, while the aggrieved party is advised to go to court! Nigerian courts are also not beyond strategy or technicalities. Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe, former Minister of Works, in an interview on TMS/Arise News recently was quite effusive in describing President Tinubu as “a master of the game.” The current onslaught by his political adversaries may yet be the biggest challenge to his political craftsmanship. The anti-Tinubu assailants do not hide the fact that they want to teach him just one lesson: that Nigeria is not Lagos, it is a much bigger deal, with peculiar complexities. It would be interesting to see how the strategies play out and who wins or loses in the end.
What I find amusing is a story in The Guardian newspaper of March 17, 2025 titled: “2027: Wike, others affirm support for Tinubu’s second term amid opposition.” Despite the fact that President Tinubu has publicly praised and endorsed Nyesom Wike, the FCT Minister, and would seem to have taken his side in the “One Day, One Trouble” debacle in Rivers State, I do not consider Wike the right and proper person to lead Tinubu’s defence in the public arena. Wike’s belligerent politics should be seen as a costly embarrassment to President Tinubu. He has every right to affirm his loyalty to the President but he does not have what it takes to “help” him against those who want him out of power. The politics that he plays in Rivers State is precisely one of the reasons the opposition is against Tinubu. They accuse him of a Napoleonic approach to power, and so, they are organizing to confront him with their War of The Coalition. The Bourbons are knocking on Tinubu’s doors. Nyesom Wike who carries on as if he is doing Tinubu’s bidding in Rivers State, imposing himself as a Godfather, issuing threats and having his way, one man proving to be more important than the entire state, holding the people to ransom is the kind of impunity that Nasir El-Rufai deplores. It is all the more scandalous as Wike is a mercenary in the APC, a PDP implant behaving like a co-President in an APC government. Wike even organized a media chat with a crew larger than that of President Tinubu! He has now instructed the 27 pro-Wike lawmakers to serve a notice of impeachment on Governor Simi Fubara, barely a week after he boasted that the impeachment of a Governor does not amount to a criminal offence.
But the worse chink in his armour is how his obstruction of the democratic process could have grave implications for Nigerian democracy. President Tinubu is advised to remember the blow-out in the Western region during the First Republic. The setting then is similar to the Rivers situation today: the conflict of egos, political gladiators, and the reign of impunity. When the Western region eventually exploded, what became known as the “Wild, Wild West”, the fire that was generated led to cracks across the entire Nigerian estate. History repeats itself tragically, and farcically, for those who refuse to learn from it.
![[OPINION] Nasir El-Rufai’s Defections: PDP, CPC, APC, SDP - Reuben Abati](/media/k2/items/cache/61d46cc1859ac5d4f70406214a7d7e4f_M.jpg?t=20250311_072354)
Perhaps the most important political event, this week in Nigeria, so far, nobody knows if there would be a free-for-all fight in Rivers state tomorrow, or some melodrama in Osun state or elsewhere, before the week runs out – is the announced defection of Mallam Nasir El-Rufai from the All Progressives Congress party (APC) to the Social Democratic Party (SDP). In a signed statement dated March 10, 2025, El-Rufai says “at this point in my political journey, I have come to the conclusion that I must seek another political platform for the pursuit of the progressive values I cherish”. In plain terms, he no longer finds the APC useful, the same party which he had thought he would continue “to align (with) up to the time I choose to retire from politics”. He helped to create the party in 2013, and worked to secure the APC’s election victories in 2015, 2019, and we may add – 2023. It was on the platform of the party that he served as Governor of Kaduna state from 2015 to 2023. He says “the party has treated its membership with contempt in the last two years”. By this, he is obviously referring to himself. “I find this no longer acceptable”, he declares. And so now, in effect, El-Rufai has resigned from the APC to join the SDP and “adopt it as the platform for our future political engagements and activities”. His objective is to help form “a unified democratic platform to challenge the APC in all elections and bye-elections between now and 2027 by the Grace of God.” In other words, his goal is to get the APC out of power most certainly and with God as an accomplice!
Nasir El-Rufai joining the SDP is the fourth political platform that he would have been associated with publicly since the return to civilian rule in 1999. His first port of call was the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) when President Olusegun Obasanjo emerged as President, after the June 12 debacle that lasted for six years with grave implications for national unity, progress and stability. In 2011, he became a member of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) after his return from exile. In 2013/14, he aligned with the APC, and now, he has ported as they say in common parlance to the SDP. Nasir El-Rufai according to those who knew him was a smart, resourceful little known Quantity Surveyor and Business Administrator with a First-Class brain, doing his own little thing in his own little corner until he was brought into public service first by the military administration General Abdusalami Abubakar in an advisory capacity. He eventually came into prominence when as is widely believed, he was invited to join the Obasanjo administration by Waziri Adamawa Atiku Abubakar who was then Vice President of Nigeria. He was appointed Director General of the Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE). In that capacity, he proved himself as a competent and knowledgeable technocrat, becoming in the process a key member of the government’s economic team in key areas such as privatization, commercialization, energy security and the oversight of due process within the economy. Nasir El-Rufai was an influential member of an inner group within the Obasanjo team of well-informed, young technocrats and intellectuals – the shining stars of the administration; Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Oby Ezekwesili, Nuhu Ribadu, and Charles Chukwuma Soludo. He had the ears and the eyes of the President.
He was later rewarded with a Ministerial appointment when he was appointed Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in 2003. He was a colourful, bold, outspoken and assertive Minister who insisted on the sanctity of the Abuja Master Plan. He earned a reputation as “Mr. Demolition,” demolishing over 900 buildings including the properties of highly placed members of society. He ended up with not a few enemies, and a community of critics. The Obasanjo administration completed its tenure in 2007. The Yar’Adua administration that followed was practically anointed by President Olusegun Obasanjo but both Obasanjo and his foot-soldiers who wheeled the Yar’Adua Presidency into existence were disappointed. After an initial thank-you visit to Ota, accompanied by members of his family, Yar’Adua soon began to assert himself in power as his own man. He refused to kow-tow to any Godfather. Obasanjo’s former aides fared worse. Whatever sense of entitlement they thought they deserved was given short-shrift treatment by President Yar’Adua. Nasir El-Rufai was one of the lonely victims of the period. President Goodluck Jonathan who had been Yar’Adua’s Vice President and who succeeded his boss after the unfortunate incidents of illness and death, and the doctrine of necessity also did not feel compelled to over-pamper the old Obasanjo brigade. Many members of the group naturally became critics of the Jonathan administration, yesterday’s men and women who fervently believed that they could sabotage the new power elite in Abuja to regain relevance. Those who could find programmes of study abroad did so, those who could find jobs too, some went into exile, while others found a new vocation as public affairs commentators and a censorious, aggrieved band of agitators.
This group found an opportunity for vengeance between 2013 and 2014 when they joined forces with others, notably Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu and other members of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), as well as a faction of the PDP, known as the new PDP (nPDP) led by Senator Bukola Saraki. There was also General Muhammadu Buhari’s CPC, and the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP). These groups came together to form a party known as the APC on February 6, 2013. Coalition politics had been tested with considerable success in other African countries – Democratic Republic of Congo and Tanzania - it was therefore not surprising that Nigerian opposition politicians embraced the same option. Nasir El-Rufai was indeed one of the key architects of the coalition. General Muhammadu Buhari was the candidate, the rallying point. He was re-packaged and sold to the Nigerian people as a soldier turned democrat. The APC was a gathering of strange bedfellows. They had one mission: to take power back to the North and to remove President Jonathan from power. President Jonathan famously had said that his ambition was not worth the blood of any Nigerian. He was committed to the idea of free, fair and peaceful elections. When it became obvious that INEC was going to announce Buhari as winner in 2015, President Jonathan conceded defeat. While President Buhari presided over Nigeria’s affairs at the centre, Nasir El-Rufai was Governor in Kaduna State (2015 – 2023) with considerable influence within the ruling party.
I have given this background to paint a picture of how Mallam Nasir El-Rufai has been part of the making of Nigerian politics since 1999. He has told part of his own story in a book titled The Accidental Public Servant (Safari Books, 2013, 712 pp). In the lead up to the 2023 general elections, he was one of the voices of reason in the APC who defended the principle of Rotational Presidency, in this instance from North to the South and he supported Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu who claimed the credit for bringing Buhari to power as a civilian President in 2015, and insisted that in 2023, it was his turn to become Nigeria’s President. “Emilokan (It is My Turn), he said. Given the fervour with which Mallam El-Rufai championed Tinubu’s cause, it was perfectly reasonable that he would expect to be rewarded for his loyalty and support. The hope that this would be so was in fact raised by Asiwaju Tinubu, himself, who as President-elect publicly announced that El-Rufai would be a member of his team. It was an open invitation with witnesses in attendance, the only person to be so honoured by the in-coming President. Politicians invest. They expect returns on their investment. They may mouth platitudes about serving the people but they are actually in politics to serve their own selfish interests. There may be exceptions to the rule and there are notable ones including Nelson Mandela, Obafemi Awolowo, the Sardauna Ahmadu Bello, Margaret Ekpo, Aminu Kano, Ibrahim Waziri, Tafawa Balewa… El-Rufai, as expected made the list of Ministerial nominees but to everyone’s consternation, he purportedly failed security screening. How? The President had cleared him even before his nomination. His friend, from their days of partnership and comradeship since the Obasanjo years, was the National Security Adviser (NSA). Nuhu Ribadu would not clear Nasir El-Rufai? Which security clearance is that? Well, that was the beginning of Nasir El-Rufai’s troubles or the complication of it. A perfect storm. Trouble in Paradise. He would later be accused of mismanagement of public funds by the Kaduna State House of Assembly. The lawmakers said they were looking for N423 billion! purportedly spent without following “due process”. He denied any wrong-doing during his eight years as Governor of the State.
Some of the officials who worked with him as Governor, including his Chief of Staff and four others were called in for investigation and interrogation. They were later arraigned by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) on charges of money laundering. It did not take too long before El-Rufai, known for his outspokenness, started fighting back. In January, he said he could no longer recognize the APC – a party that he helped to create, which has now been taken over by others and he has been left behind. The party, he affirmed, no longer practices internal democracy, it has since abandoned its founding principles and has been taken over by illiterates and internal mercenaries! “No party organ has met in two years – no caucus, no NEC, nothing. You don’t even know if it is a one-man show; it’s a zero-man show.” By February this year, the matter had degenerated into a face-off between Mallam El-Rufai and NSA Ribadu. The former Governor condemned the President’s economic reforms and the quality of the people implementing the reforms, some of which he considers “wrong.” He frontally accused the President of being the one who rejected him as a Ministerial nominee. Still firing from all cylinders, El-Rufai said his friend, Ribadu is not good enough to be the country’s National Security Adviser. He accused him of working hard to tarnish his reputation, because he thinks he, El Rufai, poses a threat to his 2031 Presidential ambition. The biggest blow came yesterday with him walking away from the APC.
This should not be surprising to students of Nigerian politics though. It is usual practice for Nigerian politicians to move from one political party to another. They are driven not by ideological beliefs, or principles, but convenience, expediency or wherever they think they can easily realize their ambitions. There are Nigerian politicians who since 1999 have been in different political parties. This is Nasir El-Rufai’s fourth. He must be given credit however for the forthrightness of his defection statement: he is calling on opposition politicians to unite and get the APC out of power in 2027. He is not quite mouthing those pretentious cliches about saving Nigeria. He has drawn a line in the sand. His exit from the APC is the equivalent of the declaration of political war.
This was a strategy that worked in 2015. But there is no guarantee that it would work again this time around. Nonetheless, it is clear that El Rufai is not alone. He has been seen visiting and meeting with other politicians who many have an axe to grind with President Tinubu and the APC, and there has been so much talk about a Grand Coalition to unseat President Tinubu in 2027. This is easier said than done. It may not be so easy to intimidate Tinubu out of office, and certainly not by the likes of politicians who were once beneficiaries of his own method of politics. They know him. He knows them too. Those who do not know anybody are the hapless masses in whose name the politicians commit atrocities, and settle their differences when it suits them. Tinubu also does not have a strong opposition challenging his government. Between 2013 – 2015, the then emergent APC had a team of aggressive, hyperactive and hypertensive spokespersons who specialized in abusing and attacking the Jonathan administration. I should know. I was a constant target of their malicious vituperations. President Tinubu does not have that kind of challenge. He has at least one prominent agent within the PDP, at the highest levels, who is also within the corridors of power serving Tinubu. The planned Grand coalition of anti-Tinubu opposition forces may also be dead on arrival as there is no clearly identifiable, symbolic figure to lead the gathering. The ambitions of the key figures are equally dissimilar. Nasir El-Rufai who has now presented himself as a rallying and roving coordinator plays a kind of politics that could alienate many. As Governor in Kaduna State, he was constantly accused of favouring one religion against the other, and within the larger Nigeria space, his critics consider him a polarizing, irredentist. The SDP which he has opted to join had its brightest moment in Nigerian politics way back in 1993, when Chief MKO Abiola won the June 12 Presidential election on its platform, and even that outcome was annulled. That was 32 years ago! By showing his hands and intentions so early, so prematurely, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai may have begun a long journey into political wilderness. As a two-time yesterday man, he should know better, except he is playing the Trumpian game of striking first, to force a negotiation. But even that does not look like a prospect. The Presidency has dismissed El-Rufai’s defection as “inordinate ambition.” His former colleagues in Kaduna APC have simply said: “we are unperturbed… we are not disturbed and we are not going to lose sleep over El-Rufai’s moves.”
![[OPINION] A World Of Godfathers - Reuben Abati](/media/k2/items/cache/6d66582218d28730d47a7b9a32e18004_S.jpg?t=20250304_101226)
“Have you been following the developments at the Lagos State House of Assembly?”
“High wire politics. Power Game. Man pass man. Man pass woman. Two Speakers in 50 days. Perfect material for a Nollywood film”
“Omo… as in …!”
“But I think the state lost the opportunity of having a female Speaker of the House for the first time in history.”
“That has already been established. History has been made It is now on record that Mrs Mojisola Meranda once served, no matter how briefly, as Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly. She has broken the jinx. But the whole drama is not about gender balancing, or gender equity, it is about following due process and respecting the power calculus in the state.”
“The Constitution is very clear. It says in Section 92 (2) that the members of the House shall choose their own Speaker and Deputy Speaker from among themselves. Which also means that they have the right to appoint and remove whoever they put in those two positions. The Speaker in particular is only first among equals, not the Babangida of the Assembly”
“I think we have to leave the Constitution out of this. This is about power and influence. Speaker Mudashiru Obasa has just shown that he is not anybody’s mate in that House.”
“What kind of talk is that? They are all colleagues. Even Obasa himself says the people who removed him as Speaker behind his back are his brothers and sisters”
“And you believe that? Did you not see all the drama? Brothers and sisters who voted against him, held press conferences to condemn him and openly humiliated him at every turn. Is that how a brother treats another brother?”
“It is part of the price anybody in a leadership position has to pay. Obasa has been Speaker for 10 years. I think the whole drama should be a wake-up call for him. He must have learnt some lessons about his environment and more lessons about politics.”
“I understand now that he has been reinstated, he is also expected to resign in the days to come and another person from Lagos West will be chosen as Speaker”
“I don’t think so. Nobody wins a battle and gives away the spoils of victory. I see him sitting firmly on that seat till 2027. He may even return as Speaker after the next House of Assembly elections. The people who have lost out are the people who opposed him.”
“How? They are properly elected representatives of the people. They owe their constituency a responsibility to make laws for the good governance of the state.”
“You are very sure they were elected by the people?”
“Yes, of course”
“In this Lagos state?”
“Elections were held. People trooped out to vote in the various constituencies. Other parties took part in the elections”
“I hear you. But go and write it down, most of those lawmakers who opposed Obasa and refused to listen to the directives of the Godfather, they and their Baba Sope sponsors, will be pushed out before the 2027 general elections.”
“This is a democracy. They have the right to express themselves.”
“Yes. Freedom of speech. But that will not guarantee their re-election. I imagine they will be on all fours now, begging, pleading for mercy.”
“Mercy from whom? I thought you said the Speaker of the House is only first among equals.”
“Yes. But this is a clear case of my Godfather is bigger than yours. What those 36 lawmakers in Lagos State did was to embarrass Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Godfather of Lagos politics, and the President of Nigeria. For a whole month, they portrayed Lagos State as a wild part of Western Nigeria. Very bad optics. All of a sudden, the President looked as if he had lost control of his own state. This is a man who has been called upon to look into the crisis in Rivers and Osun states. With his own political family, the APC in Lagos engaged in street fighting, what moral right does he have to provide leadership in the political crisis in other states?”
“It is democracy, though.”
“It is not part of democracy for you to expose your leader, and the President of Nigeria to ridicule and not expect consequences.”
“Okay. Okay. Obasa is back. Mojisola Meranda has also been returned to her former position as Deputy Speaker. The status quo ante bellum has been restored. Now, going forward, what the people of Lagos State need is peace, not in-fighting by their lawmakers. Obasa must find a way of working with other members of the House, particularly Deputy Speaker Meranda. He is a leader. He cannot afford to isolate himself. He has proved his point and his value. I understand he is the political leader of Alimosho political constituency. Nobody can become Governor of Lagos State without winning that Constituency. It is the largest political constituency in Lagos State, Nigeria and the whole of Africa!”
“Fine. But have you asked yourself why all of this will happen and the Governor of Lagos State did not nip the crisis in the bud? He allowed the crisis to fester.”
“No, I disagree. What do you expect him to do? When it is convenient, we talk about separation of powers. When politics and expediency merge, we abandon principles and blame others. You do me, I do you, God no go vex. When Obasa publicly humiliated Governor Jide Sanwoolu, kept the man waiting for five hours when he went to present the Budget for 2025, and humiliated him further by saying he too could be Governor, that kind of behaviour has consequences too.”
“So, this is all about ego then? Tinubu gets thoroughly embarrassed because of the ego of his own boys? I hope Sanwoolu knows that allowing Tinubu to be embarrassed under his watch could have consequences too. We may just not have seen the end of the tragi-comedy in Lagos state”
“What annoys me, to tell the truth, is that the fight is not about principles. I have read stories indicating that the Lagos lawmakers turned against Obasa because he was not giving them enough money. One of them even said the Speaker refused to pay his hospital bills when he took ill.”
“Well, that is some useful information for the voters in Lagos. Their lawmakers just want to share money. It is about their personal pockets, not democracy. It is shameful. No. It is not shameful. It is worse than shameful. I said ego. You talk about money. In Igbo language, money is actually EGO. You see, we are actually saying the same thing.”
“I just think that President Tinubu should watch it. There is trouble in Lagos State. There is tension in Osun State. Two states in the South West, his own region of the country. In both places, the President’s party, APC, is the problem.”
“APC again?
“Yes. APC. In July 2022, then Governor Gboyega Oyetola, Tinubu’s cousin had conducted elections into Local councils without giving the mandatory one-year notice required by the Electoral Law of the state. He gave a 40-day notice. Adeleke, not yet elected Governor, went to court. The APP too. The Federal High Court, Akure declared the local council elections null and void. The elections held and of course the APC won every single seat. Adeleke, now Governor, refused to recognize that election. The APC local council chairmen who had been elected fought the matter all the way to the Court of Appeal sitting in Akure. The Court of Appeal recently ruled on two grounds (a) notice of election and (b) the time of filing the suit by the PDP, and dismissed all other prayers as academic. The Court gave no consequential orders, no reinstatement order, and did not upturn the judgment of the Federal High Court.”
“I am listening”
“It was a 53-page judgment. On the basis of this, the Adeleke administration organized fresh local council elections on the order of a court. The APC council men claim they are the legitimate council officials. Local council officials are on strike in the state. Tension everywhere.”
“I get it. I get it. The APC officials are misinterpreting the court ruling because they have a Godfather in Abuja “
“I have not said it is Tinubu pulling the strings in Osun oh”
“No. I get it. I read stories showing that the Attorney General of the Federation gave instructions to the Osun State Governor to recognize the APC agitators. The Inspector General of Police also supported the AGF’s directive. AGF plus IGP on one matter equal to Tinubu when you do your calculations. Simple logic.”
“I just know that peace should be allowed to reign in Osun. The APC National Chairman, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje, once boasted after the Ondo state governorship election in 2024, that the APC will take over Oyo and Osun states in the next elections. I hope this is not the sign that we are beginning to see: the grand plan by the APC to create a political homogeneity in the South West.”
“Court rulings must be respected. The rule of law must prevail.”
“I believe you will say the same about Rivers State where the Supreme Court has upheld the defection of the pro-Wike, anti-Fubara 27-man Amaewhule faction in the Rivers State House of Assembly from the PDP to the APC, and has also ruled that the state can no longer get Federal allocations until Governor Simi Fubara re-presents the state’s 2025 budget to the Martins Amaewhule faction. The court also nullified the local government election conducted last year by Fubara. I see Governor Fubara has been putting up a bold face, commissioning one project after the other. The truth is that he has been thoroughly humiliated. Minister Nyesom Wike has won.”
“I am more concerned about the people of Rivers State. It looks like it is the people of Rivers State who have lost out. But I really cannot comment on the judgment of their Lordships until I see the Certified True Copy (CTC) of their submissions. I am confused. What are they saying for example about the precedent in Abegunde v Ondo State House of Assembly which they decided in 2015, and what the Constitution says in Sections 68(2) and 109(1)(g) on the illegality of cross-carpeting? Those are the core issues.”
“Hmm. The jungle has finally matured. Fubara is about to be taught a lesson for standing up to his Godfather. It is the same thing. Do you think he will now be impeached? “
“It depends on how he plays his game. He may just have to respect the unfavourable Supreme Court judgment and find a way to go and beg Wike in Abuja. He has already directed his own local council chairmen to hand over to the heads of administration in their councils, effective March 3. The former pro-Wike local council chairmen whose tenure was extended by six months are on their way back to office.”
“But I hear members of the South-South Elders Forum are advising Fubara not to beg anybody, because they will not. I think those elders should just go and sit down somewhere. They are the same elders who pushed Fubara to this point of humiliation.”
“Not a fair comment. The elders are saying that Wike is no longer Governor of Rivers State and he cannot continue to run riot over the state from Abuja. After the Supreme Court judgment, Wike held a thanksgiving session in his house. Please how can one man constitute himself into such a nuisance? He is a threat to democracy in Rivers.”
“He has a big Godfather. It is President Tinubu who is indulging him. He knows he has the President behind him. The President himself praised him on live television. We all know that. Wike might as well do what he likes with Rivers state.”
“Is that democracy? Godfathers everywhere. Even in the National Assembly.”
“I have not seen the hands of any Godfather in the National Assembly, at least not in the recent salacious case of cuckoldry allegations by Senator Natasha Akpoti”
“That’s another material for Nollywood. Except that it is not funny. We cannot afford to have a National Assembly that spends its time again and again having to deal with a House of Representatives member who beats up a woman at a sex toy shop, a Senate President who gets accused by Joy Nunieh, and now a married female Senator alleging that the Chairman of the National Assembly, the same Senator Godswill Akpabio was making sexual overtures to her and harassing her.”
“I agree with the former Senate President, Senator Bukola Saraki in the matter. We should be more worried about the integrity of the institution. We must rescue that institution. Our National Assembly must not become a comedy house of errors. The matter should be referred to the Ethics Committee of the Senate and both parties must submit themselves to the authority of that Committee. Senator Natasha Akpoti says she has evidence. She who alleges must prove. Simple”
“Nothing will come out of it. You want to bet? This is the point. Senator Akpabio has a Godfather that is bigger.”
“Who is that?”
“Who else? And as for Senator Akpoti, except she brings out that concrete evidence she claims she has, she should begin to prepare for worse humiliation in that Senate. I hear the other Senators are actually making jest of her. They are saying even if a mosquito, the male anopheles, hovers too closely around Senator Akpoti, she will scream that the mosquito is sexually harassing her, and go to court. She alone, Governor Yahaya Bello, then Reno Omokri, and now the Senate President. Next time she uses that trope, nobody will pay attention to her.”
“You are taking sides.”
“No. Just thinking aloud…I also heard that the male lawmakers in the National Assembly have all resolved that if Senator Akpoti smiles at them, they will never smile back!”
“Ha Ha. You kept making this point about Godfathers. It is not only in Nigeria though. Look at the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky. He went to the United States, looking for the Godfather’s support against Russia. For merely expressing an opinion about Putin, he was openly humiliated by President Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance. I have never seen a thing like that. The President of a sovereign nation tongue-lashed like that? Even his dressing was questioned and he was ordered to leave the White House.”
“Godfathers are not always nice. When you stand up to them. They crush you. I thought that was a diplomatic blunder by the way. Why conduct public policy and diplomacy on live television? I pitied Zelensky. He and his country were made to look small. And America first.”
“He was humiliated. He learnt his lesson. Beware of the Godfather.”
![[OPINION] Babangida’s Book - Reuben Abati](/media/k2/items/cache/4452414e756ce827f8bc4b72b9376062_S.jpg)
The most important event in Nigeria in the last week has been the publication and public presentation in Abuja, of a book titled A Journey in Service: An Autobiography of Ibrahim Babangida. In many ways, this should be perfectly understandable. General Babangida was Nigeria’s military ruler (1985-1993), although he styled himself President, to show as he argues in this book, his preference for the Presidential system of government. Since he “stepped aside” as he claimed in 1993, and with rumoured and failed attempts to “step back” in 2007, IBB, as he is known has remained topical and controversial in Nigerian politics. The big things around his neck include the assassination of Newswatch journalist, Dele Giwa in October 1996 and the annulment of the June 12, 1993 Presidential election, which he has now openly admitted was won by Chief MKO Abiola (pp. 390 - 391).
General Babangida argues that “this is not a book about finding blame, inventing excuses or whitewashing known facts.”(p. xv). But that is precisely what the book is all about, for the most part. This is certainly not the first attempt to write General Babangida into the positive side of history, such enterprise has been quite an industry over the years for a number of intellectuals and non-intellectuals alike. The basic references in this regard would include Chidi Amuta’s Prince of the Niger: The Babangida Years, published in 1992 by Dr. Yemi Ogunbiyi’s Tanus Communications. Interestingly, both Drs Amuta and Ogunbiyi are acknowledged in this book as two of Babangida’s friends who encouraged him to write A Journey In Service. The story is even more interesting with the reference to Dr. Chidi Amuta who after the annulment of the June 12 election, had written what sounded like a renunciation of Prince of the Niger in a scathing re-appraisal of Babangida’s Presidency. Dr. Amuta, like the alleluia chorus of praise-singers who attended the presentation of this book in Abuja, have with the benefit of hindsight, rediscovered their “Prince of the Niger.”
This was the same man the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), the Nigerian media, civil society and others described as “Maradona” or “the evil genius. The hypocrisy that we have witnessed, the gutless amnesia on display speaks to the hollowness of the Nigerian character. History is written by the living and if you live long enough, you would find a ready audience for your side of the story. Students of the Babangida story in our national life should also remember the book, Foundations of a New Nigeria by Sam Oyovbaire and Tunji Olagunju, and Transition to Democracy in Nigeria (1985 – 1993) by Tunji Olagunju, Adele Jinadu and Sam Oyovbaire (1993). When Babangida turned 65 on August 17, 2026, two groups – Initiative for Equal Co-Existence and IBB for President Organisation organised a four-day carnival-like event in Abuja to celebrate him. The newspapers were awash with adverts and Professor Bolaji Akinyemi, his first Minister of External Affairs, delivered a friendly lecture.
What is new is that this is the first time, apart from media interviews in the past, that General Babangida is telling his own story in full detail, and the product is a 440-page book in Five Parts and 13 Chapters, with a prologue, an epilogue, acknowledgements and appendices. It is an interesting, intriguing and engaging personal narrative about his life and his “journey through Nigeria’s path to the public.” (p. xviii). Dedicated to his parents: Isha Aishatu and Muhammadu Badamasi, “our fallen heroes, my comrade in arms who fought gallantly to protect the unity of Nigeria” and his wife, Maryam Ndidi Babangida, the foreword is written by General Yakubu Gowon, Nigeria’s military Head of State, 1966 -1975. I consider the book an important and welcome contribution to the extant literature on Nigeria’s political, social and military history, written by a direct participant for more than three decades in that history, and whose perspectives shed more light on not just the general history of Nigeria but also the Nigerian military, the civil war, ethnic politics, coups and coup-making and the challenges of leadership and governance. Babangida enriches our knowledge and public discourse with his boldness to tell his story. This is an example that should be emulated by other Nigerian leaders, for it is from the interplay of narratives that a more robust context of our historical experience can be constructed for public enlightenment. I am however concerned that most of the persons who have been running commentaries on this book in the last few days sound typically Nigerian- commenting on a book they have not read, even when the full text was already in circulation on social media before the public presentation ended. There is more to this book than the civil war and June 12.
It is a sinful act of dishonesty and mental laziness for anyone to run commentaries on the basis of hearsay. Curiously, this is one book, whose open piracy has not attracted complaints about copyright and intellectual property rights. With about N17 billion donated at the book presentation and the launch of a proposed Babangida Presidential Library, the bulk of that donation done on behalf of “all Nigerians”, many think that the retired General is getting more than he deserves. Sometime in 2002, General Yakubu Gowon had publicly apologised to the people of Asaba over the 1967 Asaba massacre; on another occasion he apologised to Professor Wole Soyinka for his incarceration during the civil war. Perhaps, following this cue, Professor Soyinka during a visit to Kaduna prisons had remarked that Babangida owes Nigerians an apology for annulling the June 12, 1993 Presidential election. He does something close to that in this book, with caveats to which I shall return, but what is frightening is that rather than interrogate Babangida’s acceptance of responsibility for what went wrong, most of those who attended his recent Abuja event behaved and spoke as if it is Nigerians who owe Babangida an apology! This looked like they were dancing on Dele Giwa’s grave, and spitting at MKO Abiola’s tombstone.
In the first Three Parts of the book: Early Years, Early Military Career and Governance and Military Rule – The Murtala Muhammed Years - written in lucid and readable prose, the author leads us on a journey through his family background in Wushishi and Minna, how he came about the name Badamasi, and later Babangida, his early school years at the Gwari Native Authority Primary School, the death of his father, and how he ended up at Provincial Secondary School, Bida (founded in 1910), which later became Government Secondary School, Bida. He tells the stories of his teachers and also his classmates, and how his stocky physique and sporting skills earned him the nicknames - “Blockbuster and Kulele”. In November 1962, Babangida and some of his classmates including Garba Duba, Sani Bello, Mohammed Magoro, Gado Nasko and Mamman Vatsa were encouraged to join the military by their teacher, Papa Onimole (later Dr Adeyemi Onimole) and also by Captain Yakubu Gowon, Sir Ahmadu Bello, Alhaji Ibrahim Tanko Galadima and other Northern officials who visited their school. In December 1962, they were admitted into the Nigerian Military Training College (NMTC), founded in 1960, the precursor to the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA). The Northern political elite saw a future in the military for young Northerners and had actively mobilized them to become soldiers.
In Part Two, Babangida offers an insight into the early history of the Nigerian military and the training that he and his colleagues received at the NDA and the early friendships that he forged with others with whom his path crossed at the Academy. He and others received further training in India, at the India Military Academy, Dehradun now in Uttarakhand and returned to Nigeria in January 1964 as 2nd Lieutenant. In this part of the book, General Babangida gives an interesting account of the January 15, 1966 coup and the counter-coup of July 15, 1966, and the ethnic colouration that the events assumed, and this has been perhaps a controversial part of the book resulting in name-calling and abuses, which I find shocking and unnecessary. The author is accused of claiming that the January 15, 1966 was not an Igbo coup. He has been asked at what point did he arrive at that since he participated in the killing and marginalization of Igbos during the civil war and after. My own reading of the author’s submission is that the coup plotters of January 1966 were driven by ideology, rather than ethnic sentiments. They were idealists not ethnic gladiators. Major Kaduna Nzeogwu, who led the coup “was only Igbo in name”. He was born and raised in Kaduna and was “as Hausa as any!” (p.59). He was also the first Nigerian soldier with training in intelligence and in that position he and his colleagues were privy to the excesses of the political elite of the time. There were non-Igbo officers in the coup-making, and part of their plan was to release Chief Obafemi Awolowo and make him “the executive provisional president of Nigeria” (p. 60).
Babangida explains convincingly that the problem was what came after. It was an Igbo man, General Thomas Aguiyi-Ironsi who emerged as Head of State after the January coup. This led to suspicions in the North that Igbos were planning to dominate Nigeria after killing prominent Northern leaders including the Sardauna and his wife and the much-loved Brigadier Zakariya Maimalari. The coup- makers were not punished, instead some of them were promoted. To worsen matters, the Aguiyi-Ironsi-led administration introduced the Unification Decree No. 34 of 1966 which Babangida says was “a significant disadvantage to Northern Nigeria” (p. 62). This infuriated young Northern soldiers who staged a counter-coup on July 28, 1966. There is not much that Babangida has said here that is unknown, either about the coups of 1966 or the Ironsi administration, but it is a measure of how deeply divided Nigeria is along ethnic lines that this has generated so much furore.
Subsequently, Babangida gives an account of the Nigerian civil war, the horrific circumstances that led to it, the blow out in the North and the massacre of Igbos, the Aburi Accord, and the beginning of the war. He was sent to the 1st Infantry Division in the Nsukka sector, under Colonel Muhammed Shuwa as sector commander. I doubt if anyone would disagree with the author’s conclusion about “the futility of war” (p. 66) or that “War is horrifying and painful. All wars erode human dignity in places and sometimes destroy the best in us and remain so for a long time.” (p. 95). Truly, Nigeria is yet to recover from that war that ended on January 15,1970. The scars remain. The country is still at war with itself. Part Three is devoted to the Murtala Muhammed Years. I find particularly useful here, the author’s reflections on “coup d’etats and the Nigerian military” (pp. 104 – 115) especially his submission that military interventions in politics are often prompted by the failure of the civilian leadership and the political class and that the military alone cannot be blamed; the civilian populace often invites and welcomes military interventions.
On August 27, 1985, Babangida emerged as Nigeria’s new Head of State after a bloodless coup that ousted Major General Muhammadu Buhari. In Chapter Six titled “Mounting the Saddle, Defining a Military Presidency” (pp. 137 – 170), he describes the circumstances of his emergence and his priorities in settling down to office. Chapter Seven – “Reforming the Economy: Privatisation, IMF, SAP and other matters” explains the open, free market, liberalization and privatization directions of his administration and the IMF loan debate which led to a home-grown Structural adjustment Programme (SAP). In Chapter Eight, Babangida reflects further on some of the highlights of the new socio-economic order that he introduced – People’s Bank, Community Banks, DFRRI, and MAMSER. Chapter Nine is focused on Foreign Policy – Nigeria’s leadership of ECOMOG, restoration of ties with Israel, Concert of Medium Powers, Hosting the OAU, and the Technical Aid Corps. In the foregoing, Babangida thus deals with the highlights of his stewardship and whereas many persons may pick issues with his economic policies and manipulative political engineering processes, no one could readily doubt the fact that he ran a hardworking, well-meaning, charismatic government. He recruited some of the brightest brains in the land, from every part of the country, creating a cult of pro-Babangida intellectuals and technocrats.
It is in Chapter 10 that the author finally arrives at the controversial issues of his tenure. He calls them “the challenges of leadership.” On each of the issues, he offers “excuses” that are either downright disingenuous or that may be legitimately considered insulting by the affected parties. He tries to rewrite history. On the death of Dele Giwa, he blames the Newswatch team for “playing to the gallery” (p. 226), the media for hysteria, and he plays the victim. Years later, the question is still being asked: Who killed Dele Giwa? He was President of Nigeria. He could not solve the riddle. On “The Vatsa Coup” (pp. 207 - 231), again Babangida plays the victim, relapsing into a schoolboy tirade about how Vatsa had always been envious of his achievements since their secondary school days! Babangida should repeat that to Hajiya Safiya, Vatsa’s widow and her children, and have a second look at a documentary titled “A Widow’s Pains, A General’s Burden” (2006). He also reflects on the Gideon Orkar Coup, the OIC palaver, the 1989 SAP Riots, and the C-130 Air Crash. Other issues are covered in an interview with TELL magazine reproduced as Appendix II (pp. 342-379). Chapter 11 is a well-considered tribute to his wife, Maryam - without doubt an outstanding First Lady, a memorable Juliet to Romeo IBB, and an accomplished citizen in her own right.
In Chapter 12, the book reaches its highest moment titled “Transition to Civil Rule and the June 12 saga.” Here, Babangida tries to whitewash his own story. He says he regrets the annulment of June 12 1993 election. Mistakes were made. And although he accepts responsibility, he wants it known that Abacha-led forces were the ones who suspended the announcement of the results and when the Presidential election was annulled, it was done without his knowledge. He claims he “had a duty to protect the country at all costs” (p. 288). In retrospect, it looks like the General. was so afraid of his own lieutenants, he was more interested in saving his own neck! His June 12 story is a confession of cowardice. Is he aware that many died and Nigeria suffered because of that annulment? Many years after him, a Goodluck Jonathan as President stopped an attempt by a certain Elder Godsday Orubebe to derail the announcement of the results of the 2015 Presidential election. Where a civil war hero turned President ran from his own troops, a civilian President stood firm and defended due process and the rule of law. It is all about character.
![[OPINION] Ayo Adebanjo and Alaperu Basibo: In Requiem - Reuben Abati](/media/k2/items/cache/29f647f2f922ae7f6d08ba2b3025e7df_S.jpg?t=20250218_090618)
There are some people who should not die, because of their goodness, their humanism, the great impact that they make within the community, family and sometimes, the nation at large. The death of good men or women diminishes us, a part of us leaves with them, but what endures ultimately is the lesson of their example. Two of such good men departed one after the other, within the last two weeks in the South West of Nigeria: Oba Adeleke Adelekan Idowu Basibo, the Alaperu of Iperu, on February 5, 2025, and Pa Ayo Adebanjo, journalist, lawyer, nationalist, politician, activist, Afenifere leader, Awoist and patriot on February 14. The respective families have formally announced their transition to the Great Beyond. Both illustrious sons and titans of Ogun State extraction were well known to me. I feel a deep sense of personal loss, and hereby join others in commiserating with their families, the people of Remoland and Ijebuland, the people of Ogun State, the Afenifere, Obidents and everyone in the larger Nigerian community who was privileged to have encountered their person, influence, and benefitted from the grace of uncommon measure which the Almighty bestowed upon both leaders and which they used, at various levels for the benefit of mankind and for the elevation of the human spirit.
There can be no one involved in Nigerian public affairs, politics and society and particularly activism that would not know Chief Ayo Adebanjo. For more than 70 years, he was an active and colossal presence in Nigerian politics, first at the regional level as a disciple of the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, as a chieftain of the Action Group and its successor political parties and at the national level, Adebanjo was one of the strongest advocates for a just, equitable and fair society anchored on the principles of federalism and progressive politics. He shunned elective offices and political appointments, he was however, a loyal party man. He remained loyal to Awoism till the end, and to Awo in life and in death, and the principles that the sage espoused. Such level of loyalty is uncommon in these parts; such single-minded devotion is rare. Pa Adebanjo has told his own story in great detail in an autobiography titled “Telling It As It Is” (Ibadan: Bookcraft, 2018, 257 pp.) which was presented publicly on the occasion of his 90th birthday on April 10, 2018 in his home-town of Isanya-Ogbo in the Ijebu Division of Ogun State. I was the official book reviewer at the occasion. I wrote then, as follows, inter alia:
“Born on April 10, 1928, barely six years after the Clifford Constitution and the first legislative elections in Nigeria, Adebanjo has lived through the finest and ugliest moments of Nigerian history: the constitutional processes, the struggle for independence, party politics leading to independence and after, the civil war, military rule, return to democracy, the struggle for the protection of democracy and civilian rule, and the bigger struggle of ensuring the survival and development of Nigeria. He joined the struggle early in 1943, as a Zikist, as a follower of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe but in 1951, he became a member of the youth wing of the Action Group, and a mentee and political disciple of late Chief Obafemi Awolowo. This became the defining moment of his life and 67 years later, he has remained faithful to the ideals of that political party and the ideology/political philosophy of his mentor - that is Awoism.
“As Adebanjo turns 90, what is to be celebrated is not necessarily his longevity, even if there may be lessons to be learnt from his life habits – he maintains a rigorous exercise regimen, a daily routine we are told which includes aerobic sessions, he neither smokes nor drinks, and for more than 60 years he has remained married to the same woman- but there are no hard and fast rules about longevity perhaps – some alcoholics live up to hundred, and some chronic womanisers outlive their own hubris- longevity, if I may essay a religious tone, is a matter of grace. Adebanjo has lived a true life of blessing and amazing grace.
“In 1962, during the travails of the Action Group and Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s trial for treasonable felony, Adebanjo was charged for felony, along with 30 others. He had to flee to Ghana. He has been detained more than once for his political beliefs, but this has not altered his resolve. Following the annulment of the June 12, 1993 election, which was won by Chief MKO Abiola of the then Social Democratic Party, Adebanjo was one of the chieftains of the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO). He joined protests, stood at the barricades and made his voice heard. Members of the democratic coalition and other groups in civil society were shot at, harassed, humiliated and their family members were intimidated. Used to the dangers of a political life in a dangerous society, Adebanjo’s resolve remains unshaken, even in the winter season of his life.
“When he fled into exile in 1962, his father was arrested, detained and rough-handled by the state. Many of Adebanjo’s colleagues have died in the course of the struggle. Some moved to the other side of the fence. Others adjusted in later life. The very essence of Chief Adebanjo’s politics lies in his consistency, his unwavering commitment to ideas rather than opportunism, his courage in the face of fire and intimidation, the life of sacrifice that he has lived, and his loyalty to Awo and Awoism. On this last score, he may in fact be described as the last of the original Awoists.
“This emphasis on ideology, party politics, and Awoism is important, as an entry point into the interrogation of Chief Ayo Adebanjo’s politics. The kind of post-politics reality that has developed in Nigeria since the early 2000s has been a politics that is not driven by any ideology or principles or core beliefs, but by the desperate search for power by any vehicle possible. For this reason, there are many politicians in Nigeria today who cannot effectively articulate what exactly they believe in or stand for, and there are many of them who in less than a decade have used up to about five political platforms of disconcertingly contradictory impressions. This is probably the reason Chief Ayo Adebanjo has stayed away in the last few years from direct party politics. In 1951, he joined the Action Group, in the Second Republic, he was a member of the Unity Party of Nigeria, in the 90s, he was a member of the progressive democratic coalition; with the return to party politics in 1998, he was a member of the Alliance for Democracy which was more or less an Awoist party. When the AD seemed to have transmuted, or well, to have been compromised and something called the ACN emerged, Adebanjo kept his distance and functioned more as a leader of the Afenifere, the pan-Yoruba socio-cultural group, which till date seems more committed to the Awoist ideology…”
This principled stand, this consistency, was ever more evident during the 2023 general elections in Nigeria, and also in the politics of the Afenifere, the pan-Yoruba socio-political group. Disagreements within the Afenifere led to Chief Ayo Adebanjo leading his own core group within the body, while Pa Reuben Fasoranti led the other group. Chieftains of Afenifere often insist that the body was never factionalised, but it was obvious that Awo’s group had broken up into two different tendencies. Adebanjo never played pack-politics. He was never afraid to stand alone. He was a man of courage and he found many admirers and followers for his convictions. In the lead up to the 2023 elections, for example, he supported the candidacy of Peter Obi, Presidential candidate of the Labour Party. He could not be persuaded to support his own kinsman, Bola Ahmed Tinubu (APC) because he was convinced that it was the turn of Igbos to produce a Nigerian President in the spirit of equity and justice. Tinubu won and emerged as President but that did not stop Adebanjo from remaining an Obidient, as Obi’s supporters are known, till the very end of his life. He could not be intimidated by parochial, ethnic sentiments. Pa Adebanjo was a friend of the media. He was an interviewer’s delight and he was one of our regular go-to resource persons at Arise News. He had many friends among the younger generations. He was everyone’s Papa, always battle-ready to hold robust discussions on national issues, either through phone calls, media appearances or press statements. One of his younger colleagues in politics whom he had criticized frontally in his 2018 autobiography once advised him to go and take a rest from activism. It is to his eternal credit that he remained active on the public stage until his walking stick failed him. It is sad, however, that the Nigeria of his dream did not materialize in his lifetime. His death on February 14, a day devoted to love and loving, is an important message that he has left behind.
Alaperu Idowu Basibo, Apekun-Joye, Odoru V spent nearly 23 years on the throne of his ancestors. By March 30, 2025, he would have spent 23 years as the 21st Alaperu of Iperu Remo in Ogun State. I was his biographer – a book titled “Alaperu: The Crown and The Glory” (Lagos: The Sales Brothers, 2022, 203 pp.). What makes his death even more shocking was that a few days earlier, Kabiyesi and I had spoken on the phone. He wanted me to speak with someone on a particular matter and he had said I was too far away; I should try to keep in touch more often. When I received news of his passing a few days later, I kept asking Prince Bola Basibo, his son, whether this was meant to be a joke, because I had spoken with the monarch recently and he was in very high spirits. It wasn’t a joke. It was true. He was 67. Death is the most treacherous fact of life. Its finality reminds us of the finiteness of our mortality. The late Alaperu was a cosmopolitan man, well-cultured, committed to his people, and progressive. He was a modern monarch who had a Facebook page, and an Instagram page and who most actively supported the younger generation through a group called Iperu Millennials, a network of young men and women of Iperu-Akesan extraction who were encouraged by the town’s royal father to identify with their roots. They include the Sales Brothers, Oyinkan Fawehinmi, Tobi Fletcher (Ofada Boy), Olumide Soyombo, Christina Soname and a host of others. He was also a friend of the elderly members of the community whom he actively encouraged to invest in the town and promote it, notably the Odole Oodua, Sir Kessington A. Adebutu. Prince Dapo Abiodun, Modele Sarafa-Yusuf, and all the friends that the traditional ruler attracted to the community, too many to be counted.
Many Yoruba communities over the years have since added to Ifa consultations, and other considerations, a basic requirement that royal houses can only recommend for the throne, princes that are educated. Oba Basibo was a good example of having a man who can function in a modern setting as a traditional ruler. He was a graduate of The Polytechnic Ibadan, and the University College, London where he studied Marine Economics. He also obtained a Diploma in Shipping and Export Management from the Yaba College of Technology. He had risen through the ranks at the Customs and Excise Department and was an established socialite in Lagos, looking forward to further advancement in his chosen career as a Customs Officer before his family came to drag him to become a traditional ruler. It was an assignment that he eventually accepted with a determination to serve his people. In more than 22 years, Alaperu Basibo transformed the community from a rural settlement into a thriving investment destination, located within 50 miles from Lagos, an intersection between Abeokuta, Shagamu, and other towns such as Ogere, and Ode Remo. Kabiyesi Alaperu leaves behind a legacy of exponential growth and a standard that would be a source of inspiration and a challenge to whoever succeeds him from any of the other ruling houses – Amororo or Agbonmagbe in accordance with the Alaperu of Iperu Chieftaincy Declaration Law of 1958, and Section 20(1) of the Chiefs Law Cap 20 Law of Ogun State of Nigeria, 1978.
The late Alaperu believed that traditional rulers should be given a role to play in the governance process and given their closeness to the people, they can help maintain peace and stability within communities by resolving land disputes or other matters of potential conflict. “The Government may hand over instruments of office to traditional rulers but it is the people who choose their kings”, he said. He did not believe in the idea of traditional rulers getting involved in partisan politics. But he was an apostle of federalism and the restructuring of Nigeria, better still a regional government system as in the 1963 Constitution and a leadership recruitment process that throws up capable and trustworthy persons who can move the country forward. In a society where disco-dancing, oshomo moneybags have found their ways onto traditional stools, and their conduct has become a subject of derision, Alaperu Basibo will be remembered for carrying himself with much dignity and grace. Always well turned out, he had a kind word for every one that came across him. He brought respect to the Alaperu throne. He was a compulsive bridge-builder. He will be greatly missed. It now remains for the kingmakers in council – the Osugbo, Lopere and the Odi - to ensure that succession to the throne is rancour-free, and that the peace and stability that the late Alaperu restored to their “once warring community” and has left behind as part of his legacy is sustained.
Death is a debt that all living things owe, and which they must pay when called to the Celestial Lodge above. We are told in Psalm 89: 48 - “No one can live forever, all will die. No one can escape the power of the grave.” Ecclesiastes 8:8: says “None of us can hold back our spirit from departing. None of us has the power to prevent the day of death. There is no escaping that obligation, that dark battle.” Knowing this to be true about death, the public’s number one enemy, we must as a people of faith accept the fact of our own mortality, “momento mori”, and take solace in the worthy life of impact and illumination that Pa Adebanjo and Alaperu Basibo lived. Both men deserve to be celebrated and remembered. Their example should inspire the living. Thank you, sirs, for your friendship. Goodbye and goodnight…
![[OPINION].The Coming Food Revolution In Lagos - Reuben Abati](/media/k2/items/cache/f0e6dbf155e463f366df4402ca7102d3_S.jpg?t=20250211_104847)
Over the years, a major received wisdom in Nigeria is that agriculture is the mainstay of the economy, its real foundation for creating employment, livelihood and opportunities. Truly, it was the case that Nigeria used to boast of a thriving agricultural economy in crop production, livestock, forestry and fishing, with every part of the country thriving agriculturally. The country has over 34 million hectares of arable land, and a net total area of 79 million hectares that can be cultivated, and an irrigable area of 3.14 million hectares. Between 1961 and the following decade, Nigeria’s economy was significantly propelled by agriculture, the exports from the sector generating over 40% of national revenue. Those were the days when the South West, the Western region as it then was, built cocoa plantations, agricultural extension settlements and commodity boards. In those days, the farmer was considered King - Agbe L’Oba in local parlance.
The tallest building in the Western region then was actually known as Cocoa House, built with agricultural revenue. Farmers were so powerful in the South West they even had an activist group named Agbekoya – meaning “the union of farmers who reject suffering”. It was a peasant revolt, led by ordinary farmers who were so powerful they rejected Federal Government taxation and state regulations of agricultural co-operatives. These farmers were so powerful they thought they should have a say in government policies, particularly taxation. Their wealth had helped to develop the region in terms of Awolowo’s education programmes and the development of infrastructure. In the North, there were groundnut pyramids, pyramid structures built by the likes of Alhassan Dantata, a prominent nut and cotton trader who oversaw exports of groundnuts to the Royal Niger Company. The pyramids were so central to Nigeria they found their way to the country’s postage stamp. In the Mid-West, there were rubber plantations. along a substantial stretch of the road from the West to the Mid-West.
The Middle Belt was known as the food basket of Nigeria, where everything that was edible could be cultivated, from livestock to tomatoes and yams. In the South-South, Nigeria produced a thriving fishing industry. Indeed, the country earned its spurs as one of the best countries in the world in agriculture: the world’s largest producer of cassava, yam, the second largest producer of sorghum, the fifth largest producer of palm oil and cocoa beans, and the third largest producer of peanuts and sweet potatoes. The country was so rich, it had enough food to feed itself and enough for exports. This is the same country today where food inflation is over 50% in some states. This is the same country where ordinary Nigerians complain about the high cost of food and survival. In the South West, they say “Ebi n pa wa” -meaning we are hungry. In this same country where a federal Minister, Alhaji Umaru Dikko, who was in charge of the Federal Government’s Committee on rice distribution in the 80s, once boasted that Nigerians were not eating from the dustbin because the government provided sufficient food, it is now a fact that Nigerians would be happy to eat from the dustbin. Even those dustbins are empty.
The cause of the problem first and foremost is that Nigeria found oil, and the economy moved away from agriculture to oil exploration and the petro-dollar that came with it. The new rulers of Nigeria in military uniform abandoned agriculture, the country’s economic mainstay. Oil brought so much wealth a former Head of State boasted that Nigeria’s problem was not money but how to spend it! The farmers left the rural farms and trooped to the urban centres to gain close access to their own share of the national cake of oil revenue. But Nigeria’s crude oil brought nothing but misery: it divided the country along ethnic and geographical lines, it created a new elite that chose rent collection as a way of life. The entire country became indolent. Agriculture was abandoned because it requires much thinking, preparation and hardwork. There have been efforts in the past to revive agriculture but every effort in that direction has not worked due to lack of commitment, absence of continuity, corruption, waste and poor organization. In 1976, in his first coming as Nigeria’s Head of State, President Olusegun Obasanjo introduced what he called “Operation Feed the Nation” to increase food production, healthy nutrition and promote farming. In 1979/80, the Shagari administration focussed on what was called the “Green Revolution”, to ensure food security. Between 1976 and 1980, there were also fertilizer distribution programmes. All of these initiatives, brilliant as they were on paper failed to achieve their objectives. By 2008, President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua was telling the Food Agricultural Organization (FAO) about his administration’s commitment to the Millenium Development Goals of nutrition security, poverty and hunger reduction, even if budgetary allocation to agriculture then was a mere 7%.
In order not to delay us with history, let us jump to the Jonathan administration, 2010 -2015 under which a blueprint for agricultural development was introduced and led by Dr. Akinwumi Adesina who before his appointment had been the Vice President of Policy and Partnerships for the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). He had also worked as a senior economist at the West African Rice Development Association (WARDA), Ivory Coast. Adesina’s natural inclination as Minister was to revolutionize agriculture, turn it into a business and reinvent it. He was succeeded by Audu Ogbeh who threw away his blueprint and confused agriculture with politics. It is widely believed, in any case, that the Buhari administration was not keen about anything that required any measure of rigour. The agriculture value chain in Nigeria also suffered due to low budgetary allocation, lack of political will, politics, the fixation of the leaders with easy oil wealth. The problem has since been compounded by the effects of climate change, insecurity in the country which makes it difficult for farmers to get to their farms or feed their cattle, oil pollution in the Niger Delta which has destroyed aquatic life and the politicization of agriculture.
This is the setting that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu inherited in 2023. Food inflation is the biggest problem in Nigeria today. Oil exploration has become problematic. There is no money to buy food. It is still the same land, but not enough to eat, and where food is available, it is costly. Tinubu has been talking about food security and the need for the states to work together with the Federal Government to address this national emergency. I find quality response from two states: the Niger State administration of Governor Umar Mohammed Bago, the farmer-Governor and the Chrislam who sings and leads Christian praise worship sessions despite being a Muslim. Besides singing Christian songs as a Muslim, Bago is investing heavily in agriculture. The other Governor is Babajide Sanwoolu of Lagos State, who is about to cause a food revolution in Lagos. The rest of this piece is devoted to the example of Lagos State and my recent eye-witness account of the state’s response to Nigeria’s food dilemma.
In February 2024, I was the moderator of a media chat, the governor’s first tagged “Sanwoolu Speaks” where in the context of the complaints about hunger in the state, the Governor promised among other things to launch what he called “Ounje Eko”- that is Lagos Food Initiative to support households and make food affordable. Within weeks after that media chat, Governor Sanwoolu launched the “Ounje Eko” Initiative, to give 25% food subsidy to Lagos residents in 60 locations across the state in all the local government areas. By July 2024, the Lagos government had chosen to rename the Ministry of Agriculture to become the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Systems. The new emphasis was to create and develop in an efficient manner, a value chain in Lagos State from the farm to the market to achieve supply and price stability. By October 2024, Lagos State launched the Fresh Food Hub Initiative, with the pilot project in Idi-Oro, Mushin. The concept is that of a one stop for very fresh food at affordable and unbeatable prices. It is a public-private partnership project, a good demonstration of how the government can collaborate with entrepreneurs with knowledge and expertise to innovate and elevate.
The other day, I ran into the Chairman of the company -Origin Tech Group that is in partnership with the Lagos State Government on the project. His name is Prince Samuel J. Samuel. He is Chairman of about 22 companies including Sensale, Greener Hope, Landcraft, Rhema Project, Origin Agriculture, Origin Automobile and so on and so forth. His main project and mission is to partner with government to revolutionize agriculture. He believes that agriculture is one area in which Nigeria can make a quick difference in the people’s lives: create jobs, provide food at affordable rates, develop communities, and develop mechanized farming. “Many Nigerians are trained but they are untested”, he told me. Investment in agriculture can build resilient food systems and develop expertise. His company has since worked with the Sanwoolu Government to develop a 5-year Agric Strategic Plan for Lagos State. It is sub-titled “Lagos State Agriculture Development Roadmap – Making Lagos a 21st Century Economy.” Prince Samuel says he has had to suspend every other project he is working on because he is inspired by Governor Sanwoolu’s commitment and determination. His company designed and built the Middle Level Market in Idi Oro, Mushin. But that he said is just the beginning of a carefully thought-out programme for Lagos State.
Last week, he invited me to visit the Food Logistics Hub that is being built in the Epe Division of the state. The plan is to commission the first phase of this Logistics Hub for Agriculture in May, 2025. It is located in Ketu-Ejinrin, a quiet, rural community that is about to be transformed. For over two hours, we inspected the vast farmland and food processing centre that is under construction. The phase one sits on 2.2 million square metres of land, and when the hub is completed, it will occupy 4.2 million square metres. Origin Group and the Lagos Government are constructing a total of 60 kms network of roads within the farm settlement, 18 km is already built with full concrete, of about more than 4 metres in diameter.
Some of the facilities at the location include a weighbridge, an administrative block of five floors, a cold storage on 15, 000 square metres, a large dry store area, 11 dealing areas sitting on 7,000 sq. metres (8 nearing completion), storage silos of 1.5 million tonnes when fully completed, a clinic, and a truck terminal with a processing and parking capacity of 1, 560 trucks per day. When fully completed, this facility will be powered with a 4 MW gas plant, backed up with 27 MW of solar capacity. The Lagos Food System hub is patterned after the Marche d’Interet National de Rungis in Paris, the largest food market in the world. A similar market co-operative is the Royal FloraHolland. The Lagos farm logistics hub is designed to sell wholesale products to traders who then distribute to other networks within the state. The objective, says Samuel, is to ensure market and price stability. I marvelled at the expanse of land, stretching as far as the Lagoon with jetty locations abutting the farm. Five kilometres away is another farm, a ranch for cows. Over 250 million dollars have so far been spent. The workers at the location were all Nigerians including the engineers and security personnel.
“We could not have done this without Governor Sanwoolu”, he said. “If Dangote can build a whole refinery, that in itself is inspiring. Other entrepreneurs can do it. Governor Sanwoolu told me let’s do it. By the time you visit this site in another month, you’d be surprised.”
Would he opt for a Free Zone model? “No”, he retorted. “We don’t want customs disturbing our off-takers. Do you know what killed Tinapa? Brilliant idea. Free Trade Zone killed it.”
How about exports? “That is not our priority. The Governor wants the people of Lagos to get food at stable and affordable prices, that is his primary target.”
When we left Ketu-Ejinrin, our next stop was Abijo, near the Lagos Business School where Lagos State is building another Middle Level Market. “If you look around, you will see that markets in Lagos States developed organically. What Governor Sanwoolu is trying to do is to organize the farm to market value chain in line with world standards,” Prince Samuel said. The Abijo Market is the same as the one in Idi Oro, Mushin. Lagos State plans to build about 60 of such markets across the state. A beautiful structure, with ample parking space. The market is to be operated on a trade-as-you-go-basis. The market like the one in Idi-Oro is also open to all Lagosians. I pointed out that I had seen something similar in Rwanda. Prince Samuel dismissed that quickly. “The Lagos vision is bigger than that!”
From Abijo, we also inspected Origin Group factories in Oregun and Surulere where state of the art mechanized farming equipment has been kept aside, to launch perhaps the most extensive mechanized farming programme that Nigeria has ever seen, when the logistics hub is completed. I was worried though that Governor Sanwoolu has just two more years left in office. Is there any guarantee that this legacy project will be sustained by his successors? Perhaps the private sector partnership is a form of guarantee. Prince Samuel is as committed to the project as the Governor. A former Tomato Puree maker, he sees agriculture as a business and a passion. He believes that with agriculture, Nigeria cannot fail, nor should the country worry about the energy transition, an area where Nigeria is so far behind. Agriculture he says is the future. Prince Samuel is also an author, he believes that research is everything, and that technology has changed the world for good. He has found a good soulmate in the Governor of Lagos State. The Lagos 5-year Agric Plan should be shared with other states of the Federation and the Federal Government. Nigerians must fight the scourge of hunger. No Nigerian male or female, must ever go to bed hungry. President Tinubu and the Governors must feed the nation and encourage local entrepreneurs working in the agric sector and other sectors. Dangote’s example in oil and gas has catalyzed courage and ambition in the country. Let more
Dangotes who dream big (!) emerge across the landscape.
More...
![[OPINION] From Trump to Grammy Blues - Reuben Abati](/media/k2/items/cache/a59719664df1d85791c7a182eca4b6a0_XS.jpg?t=20250204_065126)
“How are you doing?”
“I am good”
“I am now convinced beyond any iota of doubt that this your Republican friend called Donald Trump has something wrong with him.”
“There is nothing wrong with him. Be careful what you say, otherwise we will ban you from ever entering the United States from generation to generation, and even your children who are living in the United States will be deported or sent to Guantanamo Bay, Gitmo, for life. Please try and respect constituted authority. When you mention the name Trump, please do so with respect and reverence. He is the most powerful man in the world today, and you can see he is not joking about it.”
“What is your own in this matter? I am trying to have a decent conversation, you are saying we will, we will. Are you now a member of Trump’s cabinet? Are you an American? You Nigerians are sick. This is how some members of Corporate Nigeria organized events in 2008 to support Obama. In the last election, some of you started rooting for Trump even when you all knew you had no vote in the election. When he won, one fellow in Northern Nigeria organized a victory rally. Too many Nigerians are crazy about American politics but they are so terribly illiterate about politics in their own country. Many of you celebrated when Trump won, now the same Trump is deporting your own people.”
“I don’t care about Nigerian leaders. They only think of themselves. President Trump is thinking about the American people. He wants to make American people great by putting American interest first. Which African leader thinks about us the people? For me, it is a matter of principle. Any leader that says his people’s interest is his primary objective, I will praise him. African leaders must learn from the example of Trump. Learn to think about your people.”
“So, how does that principle justify Trump making enemies over the weekend with America’s major trading partners? Annually, Mexico, Canada and China account for over $1.6 trillion of trade with the US and more than 40% of imports into the US. Canada supplies 61% of American crude oil. And now Trump says he is imposing 25% tariff on all imports from Canada and Mexico and an additional 10% on goods from China. That is an open declaration of a global trade war that will not help anybody”
“So? Trump made a campaign promise about immigration and the importation of drugs into the United States. He is keeping his election promise. He is forcing the world including the European Union to renegotiate with America. This is his second coming. He has a better understanding than he had in his first term. He is standing up for the American people.”
“He is reversing everything that America stood for before his second coming. American exceptionalism should not mean American isolationism nor should it translate into expansionism which has never been a pillar of the American foreign policy process.” .
“Theory. Textbook analysis. We are talking politics, you are parroting some dead authors.”
“But I like the way other countries are standing up to him. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum says Mexico will retaliate with tariff and non-tariff measures and that America is guilty of slander by trying to link Mexico with criminal organizations. She thinks the option on the table should be dialogue not tariff. Now see how immediately Trump has paused the tariffs on Mexico. President Sheinbaum knows exactly how to deal with a bully.”
“Which Mexican President? Who is Sheinbaum compared to Trump? When Gustavo Petro, the President of Colombia started protesting that Colombians should not be treated like criminals, or shipped back to Colombia in a military aircraft, didn’t the same Petro eventually eat his words? America is talking, you are talking.”
“Every country has a sovereign right and I expect every leader to stand up like President Sheinbaum and refuse to be bullied by Donald Trump. Canada for example was also swift and decisive in retaliating. The same day Trump imposed tariffs on Canada, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau responded with a declaration of ad valorem tariffs of $155 billion on US goods, $30 billion to take effect on Tuesday and another $125 billion in 21 days. It is called tit for tat, reciprocity. Nobody has a monopoly of madness in international relations. Even the EU has threatened that if Trump tries anything funny, they too will fight back. China has filed a suit with the World Trade Organization to complain about America’s wrongful practice.”
“Na today? China can go to the WTO. The EU can hem and haw. A Daniel has come to judgment in the United States. Before Trump, every knee shall bow. Are you not aware that he has even threatened that anybody that confronts the US will only have the tariffs expanded or increased in scope?”
“Are you also not aware that the point has been made that there are no winners in a trade war? Trump can increase tariffs which would be a destabilizing moment for world trade from Canada to Asia and Africa, but it will also affect the markets in America, drive up inflation and cause an earthquake in America’s relations with the world. The people in Canada may suffer, but Americans will suffer as well.”
“You are quoting Trudeau. What does he know? When he leaves office, he would also probably end up as an immigrant in the US”
“That is an unfair thing to say”
“Trump is using power. He is forcing the world to negotiate with him and the US.”
“He is a bull in a China shop.”
“Okay, go and challenge him”
“President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa has challenged him over his statement about land policy in his country. I like Ramaphosa. He is also standing up for his country, since you say you like a President who stands up for his people.”
“Ramaphosa. Let me see? South African President? Against Trump? It is even bad enough that South Africa is a member of BRICS. Hey. Hey. Hey. Has anyone told President Ramaphosa what Professor Bola Akinyemi, Nigeria’s former Foreign Affairs Minister and Chairman of Nigeria’s Institute of International Affairs (NIIA) said about how it can be risky to provoke or confront Trump? President Ramaphosa should tread carefully. Trump has threatened to call off all future funding to South Africa, if the country continues to seize white people’s land without compensation”
“African countries do not need aid. What we need is partnership. Vice President Kashim Shettima of Nigeria said that much in January at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos. Besides, Professor Akinyemi was advising President Tinubu of Nigeria, not President Ramaphosa of South Africa.”
“What is the difference? You think Trump cares whether you are from South Africa or Nigeria? But I know President Tinubu. He would not behave like these other Presidents. He will not confront Donald Trump. And if America stops aid to Africa and other parts of the world, or refuses to fund Nigeria’s HIV/AIDS programme, is it our money? It is American taxpayer’s money. Nobody can tell America how to spend its money.”
“America has a responsibility to protect the world.”
“America has a responsibility to protect America and its citizens. How is that so difficult for anyone to understand? “
“I don’t like the Republicans.”
“You don’t have to like them. Americans voted for Trump overwhelmingly. It was a landslide victory in November 2024.”
“We’d see. We’d see where Trump leads the rest of the world. By the way, did you watch the 67th Grammys awards?"
“I did. I did. I am excited by the fact that our own Tems, Temilade Openiyi, won her second Grammy in the Best African Music Performance category, the first Nigerian to win two Grammy awards. History made. I was rooting for Yemi Alade but when Tems won, I was happy for her and her Mum. Sweet reward for hardwork and commitment. It was even her Mum’s birthday the following day and she deservedly dedicated the award to her and her team. Parenting matters. Train your child so she can make you proud.”
“That is really something. Her market value is going to shoot up. With a Grammy Award, she is made, with two, she is up there. In total, she has had eight nominations at the Grammy Awards in her career. She does not need anybody’s validation. So blessed. So young.”
“All the other Nigerians who made it to the nomination are winners too. Asake, Wizkid, Davido, Burna Boy, Lojay, Yemi Alade, just really happy for them all. Wizkid and Bloody Civilian are also contributors to the Best Reggae Album: Wizkid with One Love, Bloody Civilian with Natural Mystic. Brilliant. These are great ambassadors.”
“I loved Tems’ acceptance speech. But I think it was a big oversight on that stage not to have mentioned Seyi Shodimu and Shaffy Bello, who originally sang the winning song Love me Jeje, Love Me Tender, 28 years ago in 1997. Music for Future Generations now remixed by Tems and turned into Grammy Gold.”
“Hmm. You are right. Love me Jeje, Love me Tender. Who would ever have thought that that song will make it to Grammy glory? But the bigger question is: does anybody still make music for future generations anymore? Most of what you hear out there, despite the commercial success and international attention, these days, is just synthetic music, a lot of sound and very little sense.”
“I won’t be so dismissive. I think the younger generation is doing really well. Every generation finds and defines its own path. Public taste in art as in everything changes, new patterns evolve and humanity adapts. There is also the element of luck. Stardom falls upon those that the elements smile upon. There is also a mystery in everything. I am just happy for the young lady. For the first time, I saw her standing straight, not bending to the side like a Tower of Pisa. So that her waist can stand erect?”
“Stop. She is still a child. Act your age. Focus on her talent. Not her waist.”
“I liked her dress.”
“The designer did a good job. But did you see other Grammy Red Carpet looks? What was that Jaden and Willow Smith were wearing? And was Kanye West Ye’s partner Bianca Censori, naked or in a bathing suit or a dress.? I think there must be a dress code for these awards. I support Trump but I don’t support indecency, nudity, or stupidity on the red carpet.”
“That Censori was practically naked. She should have been censored and asked to leave the event. And look at Julia Fox and that see-through whatever that she was wearing. Censori even wore something more scandalous to the after-party.”
“It is the end of times. It is the worst of times.”
“I hope the day will never come when a Nigerian girl, any of our daughters will dress like that and flaunt it in public.”
“I think you don’t know what is going on. You are old school. The truth is that many of our own girls dress worse than that. There is a booming, lucrative, flourishing market in the sale of flesh. They bare it all. They taunt men these days and it is not necessarily because of poverty as you may think. Most of these girls that you see have turned their bodies into pure theatre. If you know, you know. It is part of the code in the entertainment world. They stretch the imagination”
“I don’t want to know. I believe very strongly that society must have a moral core. It is one of the reasons why I have a soft spot for Trump. I do not believe in this new age of amorality.”
“These are Americans though. It probably means nothing to them.”
“I like other aspects of the event though. Beyonce winning her 35th Grammy, Best Country Album and the Album of the Year, and seeing her on stage with Taylor Swift. Really memorable. Kendrick Lamar winning five awards. Wow! President Jimmy Carter, five weeks after his death receiving a posthumous honour for his audiobook. Cynthia Erivo performing Frank Sinatra’s Fly me to the Moon in a tribute to the late Quincy Jones, and the fact that the event was held in Los Angeles, against the background of the recent wildfires and the man versus nature devastation in Southern California. Man’s capacity to defy danger and despair is awesome.”
“Please, let’s leave America alone for a moment. There is going to be trouble in Paradise on Tuesday, February 4, when the Nigeria Labour Congress and its affiliates troop out to protest the proposed 50% hike in telecommunications tariffs.”
“You mean more trouble in Hell, because I don’t know what Paradise you are talking about. It cannot be worse than this. We pay so much for petrol and diesel, we are now being told that we are going to pay 50% more to make phone calls and send messages or use data, and that this will increase gradually, and I hear some people are saying electricity tariff will soon increase by 65% to reflect cost. Hell cannot be worse than this.”
“NLC is going to fight for us. Organized Labour must fight for us.”
“I don’t know which Labour you are talking about. Some NLC affiliates have already said that they will not be part of any protest.”
“The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS). Are those ones part of NLC? Those are students doing aluta. What do they know? I am talking about organized labour, you are referring to singers and placard carriers.”
“Students unionism has a distinguished history. It is just the way things are these days. There is also another group called the Private Telecommunications and Communications Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PTECSSAN). They have also rejected the protest.”
“What do you expect those ones to say? To protest against the same companies where they work and eat? What will shock you is that even NLC leaders will meet with government officials and before you know it, you will hear that after due consultations, the strike has been called off to give room for further negotiations. That is how we will end up paying the tariffs.”
“And is that how they intend to bring down inflation from 35% to 15%?”
“I don’t know. Maybe they expect us to adjust the way we make phone calls, particularly Yoruba people. You people can greet in excess. Instead of saying hello and making your point, you will greet for five minutes. Some of you even prostrate while making a phone call. That attitude has to stop for
pure economic reasons.”
“It is culture”
“Fine. Wait and see. Your pocket will soon define your culture.”
![[OPINION] Tanker Explosions, Avoidable Deaths - Reuben Abati](/media/k2/items/cache/8aaa25cc2241805d2decc75cc3486ec5_XS.jpg?t=20250128_070804)
On Saturday, January 25, tears flowed freely as families mourned the death of 18 persons in a petrol tanker accident along the Ugwuonyema section of the Enugu-Onitsha expressway. The driver of the petrol tanker reportedly had a brake failure, then lost control and crashed into the vehicles in front of him. Petrol poured out and caught fire. The surrounding vehicles and their passengers were incinerated instantly. Eighteen persons were burnt to ashes, many more were severely burnt. Those who could be rescued were taken to the Enugu State University Teaching Hospital (Park Lane) and the National Orthopaedic Hospital for treatment. Both hospitals were overwhelmed. One of the victims was on holiday from his overseas base.
A week earlier, January 18, a fuel tanker carrying about 60, 000 litres of fuel crashed at the Dikko junction near Suleja in Niger State. Residents within the vicinity, including children, immediately rushed to the scene with all kinds of containers: buckets, kegs, bottles, some even carried their generators with them to scoop free fuel. In the hustle and bustle that ensued, there was an explosion! Over 80 lives were lost, 69 persons were critically injured, about 20 nearby shops were burnt down and destroyed. On January 22, 2025, in Jalingo, Taraba state, less than a week after the tragedy in Suleja another petrol tanker overturned, spilling its contents onto the road, and despite the obvious risks, the people again rushed out to collect fuel. They had to be chased away by Civil Defence Officers. In October 2024, a similar incident in Majiya, Jigawa resulted in the death of about 200 people and injured over 120 others. Again, it was reported in that incident that the tanker which was travelling between Kano and Yobe State overturned while trying to avoid a collision with another truck. Its contents spilled and people quickly looked for containers to scoop free fuel. And an explosion occurred. In September 2024, there was yet another case of tanker explosion in Niger State when a petrol tanker ran into a herd of cattle and collided with a truck. Over 50 persons died. Thus, petrol tanker explosions have become so frequent in Nigeria, North to South, East to West, so much that Nigerians are beginning to accept this as a fact of life. The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) to convey the tragic nature of the problem stated that in the year 2020 alone, there were about 1, 531 such accidents, claiming 535 lives. In the last three months, more than 250 persons have died.
Oil was discovered in Nigeria in 1956 by the Royal Shell Company, with exploration beginning in earnest in 1958, and over the years Nigeria became the sixth largest producer of crude oil in the world, with petrodollar accounting for 80% of the country’s total export revenue and foreign exchange earnings. The country also has the finest, in-demand grade of crude: the low sulfur, sweet, Brent crude. Ordinarily, this should be a blessing to the country, but the biggest problem that Nigeria faces is the curse of oil, that is “resource curse”. Either in a crude form or processed form, oil has been the cause of Nigeria’s woes. The mismanagement of this resource, poor leadership, and corruption within the oil and gas industry have since combined to lead to rebellion in the Niger Delta, and a scramble for oil wealth. Nigeria has over 5,000 kilometres of pipelines, but these pipelines are routinely vandalized, resulting in spills and environmental degradation, and tragedy, oil thieves continue to compromise the weak pipelines trying to get their share of the national cake, the oil companies have not done enough to maintain infrastructure in the face of the menace of restiveness in the Niger Delta. Only about 1% of the population benefits from oil revenue. Fuel is transported on the roads, and most of the roads in Nigeria are bad. When fuel tankers overturn, members of the Petrol Tanker Drivers Association of Nigeria are quick to blame the bad state of the roads, but that does tell the full story. The true story is so bad that each time there is an omission in the oil and gas sector, hundreds or thousands die as they did in Jesse, in Delta State on October 18, 1998 pipeline explosion; Atlas Creek Island, Lagos in 2006; Ijegun, 2008; Ejigbo, Lagos in 2018; and gas explosion in Abule Ado area of Amuwo Odofin in Lagos in 2020.
Whether it is pipeline, or gas or fuel explosion, the story line has remained similar and repetitive, and the people who lose their lives and properties are the victims. The responses from the relevant authorities are predictable: prominent Nigerians including Governors and the Presidency would immediately issue statements describing the incident as “worrisome, heartbreaking, unfortunate, regrettable and tragic,” with the usual condolences duly expressed. The Emergency Management Agency in the affected states, the Fire Service and the FRSC would rush to the press to demonstrate that their officials and the “ogas at the top” are on top of the matter. Nobody is actually on top of anything. The Federal Government would announce that it has set up a committee to investigate the matter, and advise the government on pipeline safety and petroleum transport safety protocols. Religious leaders will offer prayers for the souls of the dead, and the community would bury the remains in mass graves. Opposition political leaders would visit the elders of the community and make some very open donations, the pre-planned publicity of which would almost gain greater prominence in the media. As it was in 1998, so it is today. After the rituals of statements and investigations, the results of which may never be released, the country moves on. The road lies in wait. When the next “worrisome, heartbreaking, unfortunate, regrettable and tragic accident” occurs in another part of the country, we go through the same ritual again. It looks like a repetitive cycle of failure. It is right to commiserate with the bereaved families in Niger and Enugu states, but it will, sad to say, happen again. It is certainly tragic that in many of the cases, entire families are wiped out, for no reason other than that they are in a country that suffers from the curse of oil. How about a Nigerian in diaspora who comes home on holiday only to end up dying on the road because a fuel tanker crashes and explodes?
But why do people rush to scoop fuel each time a tanker discharges its contents on the road? Why do people choose to willingly commit suicide knowing that fuel is combustible and death is the only certainty when an explosion occurs? Since May 2023, the pump price of fuel has increased by about 400%, the cost of living as a result of inflation has also increased. Those who own cars can hardly fill their tanks anymore. Generator owners need fuel but the cost is also high, and there is no regular electricity supply in a country of over 200 million people. When there is news of free petrol gouging out of a fallen tanker, or a burst pipeline, the people rush for gold, and they often die in the process. The people live in a blessed country but they are so adrift, so lost, they would rather embrace death with faith and hope. The National Orientation Agency (NOA) has been directed by the President to sensitize the people, and educate them. In other words, Nigerians must be advised not to commit suicide. The current leadership of NOA says it is ready to take on the task. But will the people listen? It is the yawning disconnect between the people and their government that will in part cause the next fuel tanker explosion.
Fuel tanker drivers are quick to blame the state of the roads. Frequent accidents on the Enugu-Onitsha Expressway have been traced to the poor state of the roads, and indeed, this is a major problem nationwide. If the roads are full of potholes and bumps, the drivers knowing that they are transporting dangerous content ought to drive more carefully. No, they don’t. They are forever struggling for space with other motorists. They drive at high speed, and nobody enforces speed limits on highways. The Petrol Tankers Owners Association of Nigeria, National Association of Transport Operators, Container Truck Owners Association of Nigeria and the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) claim that they would enforce safety protocols. But they do not. And they will not. The drivers leave their loading depots, for the most part, fully stoned, or energized by psychotropic drugs. They are also made to travel long distances. Many of them doze off on the steering wheels. Petrol tanker owners want their cargo delivered at the destination. They don’t care much about the accidents that occur on the roads. Many of the tankers are not properly maintained. The brakes often fail. Both the tanker drivers and the tanker owners must be held liable for the havoc that they cause. Until a tanker driver and the tanker owner are tried and convicted, made to pay damages to the government and the families of victims, or banned outrightly from ever running a tanker business, we may never see any improvement. Going forward any truck bearing unlatched containers, which fall over, endangering lives and properties, must be seized, along with the container and its entire contents. The driver and the owner of same must be made to face the full wrath of the law. Setting up committees and issuing statements will never help.
Where are the government agencies on the roads, the security personnel: the police, road safety, fire service who are supposed to ensure safety on the roads? Even when they are on the roads, they are also busy trying to survive. There are not enough fire safety units in the country to start with, certainly not on the highways, making a mockery of every attempt at emergency response. The policemen collect bribes. Road safety officials are overstretched. There are too many bad vehicles on Nigeria’s bad roads, and most of the vehicles violating rules and regulations are owned by Nigeria’s big men: an untouchable class of non-citizens with an elephantine sense of entitlement. We should be tired of the law enforcement agencies playing to the gallery. They need to become professional.
And in any case, why should we transport petrol and other dangerous cargo by road and often during daytime at busy hours, either within the city or the highways. In the past some state governments have had to restrict the movement of tanker drivers to specific times of the day or to designated routes. In 2018, the Lagos state government directed articulated vehicles to obtain road worthiness certificates within 30 days, Anambra state did so too in 2019, directing that tankers and containers could only travel within the state between 1 am to 4 am. Following the accident in Suleja, Niger State, on January 18, the state Governor Mohammed Umar Bago has since banned heavy-duty trucks from plying the Dikko Bridge where the accident occurred. State governments lack the capacity to enforce their own orders. The tankers and containers are owned by very powerful persons and organizations in Nigeria: the same people who donate money and sponsor candidates during elections. Over the years, corporate Nigeria has perfected the art of putting the professional political class in its pocket. The owners of the murderous tankers and containers are the Godfathers of the men in political offices. This combination of capital and social connections stands in the way of any effective policy making and implementation in Nigeria, with the people at the mercy of the conspiracy of the business and political elite.
What is the best practice in other parts of the world, with regard to the transportation of fuel and other cargo? The fact that toxic and inflammable materials are still being transported so carelessly on Nigerian roads is yet another sign of the country’s underdevelopment. Nigeria is a member of OPEC like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Angola, Gabon, Algeria, and the UAE. You may never hear that a petrol tanker on the roads crashed in those countries and people rushed to scoop fuel and got murdered by the state. It is a question of how much value we place on human lives around here.
And when these accidents occur, why is it that the hospitals are not of any significant use? The usual excuse is that we have good doctors and specialists, but most of the hospitals are poorly equipped. It is either there is no electricity or there is no diesel to power the generator. There was a students’ protest recently at the University College Hospital, Ibadan, once a pride of the nation, because there was no electricity. The Ibadan Disco had to cut off power supply to the hospital for months due to unpaid electricity bills! How can such a hospital respond to any medical emergency? The story is the same in other parts of the country where hospitals reject accident and emergency cases due to the lack of basic facilities, including oxygen tanks. And yet many of these hospitals were supposedly built and equipped by the government at double or triple the actual cost. When people get burnt to ashes in Nigeria, in a fuel tanker accident for example, there is virtually no means of identifying them either through biometrics and dental records. The ashes are collected and buried in unmarked and unknown graves. Nigeria is a vast country of undocumented non-citizens, no reliable data, no ready-to-access medical records, and even those that may be documented can only pray that Nigeria does not happen to them. The fact that it is possible for anyone to wake up in the morning and disappear without trace and permanently is what is truly tragic about our Nigerian experience.
![[OPINION] The Second Coming Of Donald Trump - Reuben Abati](/media/k2/items/cache/e0b50b219590b369fb715ce040483314_XS.jpg?t=20250121_070549)
The most important global event yesterday, January 20, 2025, was the inauguration of Donald J. Trump, 45th President of the United States, now as the 47th President of the United States in what has been correctly described as his second coming. Trump’s second coming should be taken in this literal sense, the United States allowing for a possible two terms in office as the limit for any President, in line with the 22nd Amendment (1951) in the United States Constitution. With his landslide victory in the Nov. 5, 2024 election, in which he defeated Democratic late-comer to the race, Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump was assuredly on his way to serving his second and final term as President and that process reached its climax yesterday. The only President that served more than two terms was Franklin D. Roosevelt who ran for the Presidency and won four times (1933-1945), before Americans embraced the wisdom of George Washington (US founding father and first President) that any President serving more than two terms was likely to become a king or an emperor. Trump’s return to the White House is reminiscent of the example of Grover Cleveland who served a term like Trump (1885 -1889) as 22nd President, lost re-election like Trump and then won re-election four years later: (1893 – 1897) to become 24th President.
History turned full circle and repeated itself yesterday more than a century later with Trump being the second President in American history to be elected for two non-consecutive terms. History was also made with Trump at 78 years, 220 days becoming the oldest President ever inaugurated, over 100 days older than President Joe Biden was when he became President in January 2021. By the time he completes his term four years from now, Trump will be 82. He is also the first convicted felon to occupy the White House having been found guilty of 34 counts of felony in the Stormy Daniel, hush money, record-falsification case. Curiously, Grover Cleveland, the first democrat elected after the civil war, was also embroiled in allegations of sexual assault and violence from a woman named Maria Halpin. It would be quite a long shot to assume that Trump is a reincarnate of Grover Cleveland, in the same manner as students of soul evolution have tried to establish similarities and connections between Abraham Lincoln and J.F. Kennedy. Nor can the phrase “the second coming of Trump” be interpreted in a Christian eschatological sense.
With all his right-wing, hardline conservative rhetoric, however, Trump is not the messianic figure who will bring about a new heaven, a new earth and a new Jerusalem that his supporters and fans envision him to be. “Donald Trump’s Disruption is Back…He’s Back” says the Time Magazine, with an illustration showing President Biden’s aviator sunglasses being swiped off the Resolute Desk. Nothing could be more apt, again very much like the official portrait of the 47th President, unsmiling – the smile in the 2016 official portrait has been wiped off and replaced with a gangster-style, fiendish look, with a scowl. The portrait looks like a mug shot and one body language expert has observed that the simple language of the Picture is that Trump is on a revenge mission. He is back to take a pound of flesh. Trump is not the messiah; he is Nietzsche’s change agent: the Super Man who revels in his own sense of importance. Trump has promised that he will “make heads spin on his first day back in office”, and really heads started spinning long before he made his improbable comeback now a reality. Last Sunday, he posted memes on Truth Social including one that says: “Not elected to be nice. Elected to get results.”
This process of getting results began over the weekend with President Trump relocating to Washington DC, in preparation for his inauguration on Monday, January 20. On Saturday, he held a party at his golf club in Sterling, Virginia, featuring an Elvis Presley impersonator and fireworks display. Saturday night, he slept at the Blair House, the President’s official guest residence on Pennsylvania Avenue, across the street from the White House. On Sunday, he held a rally ahead of the inauguration to remind everyone obviously that he was back in town and he was going to plant the Republican and the Trumpian flag in Washington DC, again. Trump was not new to the symbolism nor the imagism but he needed to drive home the point. The glorious moment eventually came yesterday and it was quite an impressive ceremony. The inauguration of the 47th President was held indoors due to freezing temperatures outdoors. The weather yesterday was – 5 Celsius in the same city, on the same grounds. In 1961, President John Kennedy was inaugurated amid -22 Celsius, but the weather can be cruel, and climate change has been the cruellest of all things over the years, after all the poets, not one, not two but about four are of the view that “winter is the cruellest month”. I have no objections to the Trump inauguration being held indoors, with about 750 persons in attendance. It was however most ironic that the ceremony was held in the same high sandstone hall at the Capitol’s Centre where Trump’s supporters broke in and rioted on January 6, 2021 in an attempt to overturn America’s democracy. In 2021, the same Trump supporters held America hostage. Their man, who threatened to hold America by the jugular, returned yesterday. “Oh! America.”
This was much clear when Senator Amy Klobucher (D-Minnesota), chairwoman of the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural ceremonies, in declaring the ceremonies open and welcoming everyone, talked again and again about “peaceful transfer of power at the heart of our democracy”, our enduring democracy, and how the “Capitol is the people’s home”, and the responsibility of citizenship not to seek malice. Yesterday. Americans celebrated 250 years of democracy and the 60th Presidential inauguration ceremony but I could not miss the additional point made by Senator Deb Fisher (R- Nebraska) about “the prominence of a people through change”. Again, it was all about the American people, putting back to power, a man whose supporters in the same space desecrated the people’s yearning for change. Senators Klobuchar and Fisher may have been passing a message or a set of subliminal messages across, but the point is that democracy is what it is: it provides the people an opportunity to make a choice and even if they make a wrong choice, it is up to the people to either defend or reject their own choice, not for anyone to dictate to them. President Trump was applauded again and again after being sworn in as President, and there was a crowd of enthusiastic cheer leaders at the Capitol Arena hailing the new Chief.
It was a symbolic, impressive moment but it was also a prayerful moment as well from the invocations by Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York to Rev. Franklin Graham, President and CEO, Samaritan’s Place who delivered the opening prayers. And the Benedictions by Rabbi Dr. Ari Berman of the Yeshiva University, Rev. Lorenzo Sevell, Senior Pastor of 180 Church, West Detroit, and Rev. Frank Mann of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn, New York. Rev. Sevell from West Detroit made quite an impression. Trump’s inauguration coincided with Martin Luther King’s week. King was a champion of freedom, justice and equality. Brother Sevell understood the assignment. He spoke about freedom and equality and evoked memories of Black America’s struggle for freedom. This was clearly in line with the tone that was further echoed in Donald J. Trump’s second inaugural speech, and perhaps the bigger poignant moment at the main event for me was the rendition of “America, the beautiful”, by Carrie Underwood, after what looked like a brief impasse of awkwardness in an otherwise beautifully organized, well-choreographed event. But of course, the main moment anyway was President Donald Trump’s speech. Well crafted. Well delivered. Good nuance. A fiery speech. It was a combination of sharp, cruel jabs at the outgoing administration and a promise that America will do better under Trump.
He accused the democrats of a horrible betrayal of our people. “All of this will change starting today.”, he bellowed. He threatened to change the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, and take back the Panama Canal which he called “a foolish gift” to Panama. He declared that he would be “a peacemaker and a unifier”, and that under his watch, America will be the most respected nation in the world. He wants to build a society that is colour-blind and merit-based. “There are only two genders – male and female, and that will be US state policy, and those who rejected COVID mandate will be reinstated with full back pay.” He wants to overhaul America’s trade system and impose tariffs and taxes to “enrich our country” by setting up an External Tariff Service. His words as I heard them: Confidence. Effectiveness. Exceptionalism. He wants America to be a manufacturing country again, the largest oil and gas nation, that will build automobiles. He will announce a national emergency to drill. Drug Cartels will be classified as terrorist organizations. All illegal entries will be halted. “And we will begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places from which they came.” Those coming from Mexico must remain in Mexico, as all foreign gangs will immediately be eliminated. On inflation, President Trump said he will “direct all members of my cabinet… to defeat what was record inflation”. He lied in that regard though. US inflation was not record-inflation under President Biden. I watched President Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris’s body language as the delivery progressed. The only time I saw them standing up and applauding was when Trump touched on the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas in the Middle East. In any case, Trump promised what he called “the revolution of common sense”.
In terms of optics, the ceremony did not disappoint. Trump, a friend of rich America did not disappoint in particular as some of the world’s richest persons got the best sitting positions: Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Sundar Pichai and Elon Musk, with the room reeking of capital, wealth, power, and influence. The CEOs of the tech giants had reportedly donated as much as a minimum of a million dollar each to support the inauguration. Musk, the world’s richest man was so excited he told the audience at the Capital One Arena, where there was a more elaborate parade, that Trump’s win is “no ordinary win, this was a fork in the road of human civilization” and that “the future of civilization is assured”. He echoed Trump’s sentiment that now is the time “to plant the Stripes and Stars on the planet Mars.”
Trump’s tone was in turns dark, staid, and aggressive. He insisted in a second speech that he won the election in 2020. As he spoke, members of his far-right Proud Boys group, the J6 gang, paraded around the streets of Washington. They expect him to pardon their members who have been convicted for the January assault on the Capitol. And he has promised he will. He was confident that he would save America. “From this moment on, the decline of America is over… I return to the Presidency confident and optimistic that we are at the start of a thrilling new era of national success. A tide of change is sweeping the country. Sunlight is pouring over the entire world. And America has the chance to seize this opportunity like never before”. WE should ask: is sunlight pouring all over the world with Trump 2.0? While American exceptionalism may sound like good music to the ears of most Americans, particularly fans of Trump’s agenda, it sounds ominous to the rest of the world, as Trump’s speech was underscored by threats of possible and likely American expansionism, casting America’s superior power as a threat to the global order. For Nigerians who think that a public profession of faith means something, President Trump for their information refused to place his hands on any Bible: his mother’s Bible and the 1861 Lincoln Bible, held by his wife, Melania, while he took his oath of office. President Jose Raul Mulino of Panama says he must “comprehensively reject the words of President Donald Trump “because “the canal is and will remain Panama’s.” Beyond Panama, it is the entire world that is panicking, from Greenland to Russia, to Ukraine, to Canada which Trump has boasted will be turned into the 51st state of the United States, to Africa, the European Union and Asia. Trump may be determined to make America great again, but it would be a sad development if the world were to become a smaller place under his influence. America gets a new President; the world is quaking. It is a poor foreboding.
No one is even sure of what the future holds for America within its own borders. In the last moments of his Presidency, Joe Biden had to grant unprecedented, preemptive, pardons to persons that he thinks may be targeted by the second coming of a man on a revenge mission. Those pardoned are essentially prominent critics of Donald Trump including Dr. Anthony Fauci, former Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease for more than a decade who defended COVID protections, former Representative Liz Cheney who condemned Trump, members of Congress who served on the committee that investigated the Jan 6, 2021 insurrection, as well as close members of the Biden family and their spouses that could be targeted by Trump. The mere fact that a group of persons needed to be shielded, even when they have not been held liable for any specific crime, ahead of the inauguration of a new administration in the United States is a loud, sub-textual comment on the status of American democracy and its immediate future.
![[OPINION] Of Wildfires, Los Angeles, Obasa And Other Human Stories - Reuben Abati](/media/k2/items/cache/419b0256c841d7d9b34a61d986a2e894_XS.jpg?t=20250114_062551)
“I hope your daughter is safe”
“We thank God. We are all fine. But which of my daughters do you have in mind?”
“The one in California. When I read about the wildfires that destroyed over six areas in Southern California, it was you and your daughter that came to my mind. I called you but in your usual fashion, you don’t pick your calls and you are very bad at returning calls.”
“Don’t mind me. Sometimes, I just get too busy for myself. But to God be the glory. The fires didn’t reach her own side of California. But you are right. It has been a traumatic week for me. I was permanently on the phone to her, and even when she told me she was in a safe area each time I read that the wildfires were spreading, I died a little. The commentators online didn’t help matters. They would say Apocalyptic. Surreal. Chaotic. Devastating. Uncontrollable. I became a geography expert monitoring the fires in California from Nigeria.”
“I cannot blame you”.
“That girl is my only daughter. She means everything to me. I have told these children, live in Nigeria, but once you send them to school abroad, they don’t want to come home again. You won’t see their tail lights again. She is in California. Her elder brother is in Canada. The other boy is in the UK. I should have married a second wife long ago, to create a second generation of children instead of sitting all alone in this big house. They don’t even call. They are too busy with their own lives. But what can I do? I commiserate with the people of Los Angeles, the government of California, and the United States.”
“Lost Angeles. A lost city”
“Terrible. Entire neighbourhoods were wiped out by fire. Pacific Palisades. Hollywood Hills. Eaton. Hurst. Lidia. Kenneth. Sunset. Woodley. Olivas. Celebrities lost their homes. Paris Hilton. Adam Brody. Leighton Master. Losses running into over $8 billion worth of insurance. Ordinary people running away from their homes had to abandon their vehicles as they were chased by fire and the intense winds. Total incineration. There is certainly something in this world that we do not understand.”
“The fires have been traced to global warming. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the EU Copernicus Climate Change Services Centre (3SC) have both reported that the year 2024 has been the hottest year for a decade, with an average of 1.6C on a daily basis.”
“I thought the Paris Agreement of 2015 puts the recommended limit at 1.5C. And since then we have been having the Conference of Parties (COP) on global climate issues. COP 26 in Glasgow, Scotland, in 2021, COP 27 in Sharm El Sheik, Egypt in 2022, COP 28 in Dubai in 2023, COP 29 in Baku, Azerbaijan in November 2024. I remember those ones very well. World leaders meet and they make commitments, to reduce carbon emissions to zero, finance climate adaptation, and create a better world.”
“Hypocrites! Holding Talks. Leaders of the Global North are quick to talk about climate finance and climate adaptation, but they are not committed to it. We suffer in the Global South far more, even when we contribute less to the crisis. And yet we see the world warming up. Ice glaciers are melting. Sea levels are rising. Earthquakes are more frequent. Floods everywhere. If world temperatures were to rise to 2C, we would all be dead.”
“There are other theories though, especially in the lawless Lost Angeles fires.”
“Tell me”
“Some people are saying that it has to do with the power supply system in the County. Electricity poles collapsing and igniting fires.”
“What I know is the fire chief saying this is about climate change, low humidity and rampaging winds fuelling the fires and that nobody knows when this rage of nature would end or how far the wildfires will travel.”
“Hmm So, what is on your mind? You will ask your daughter to come back home? Return to Nigeria. We don’t have wildfires here.”
“We are part of humanity. We are all in this together. Do you know how many Nigerians live in California? Whatever happens in any part of the world affects others. It is when it touches you that you know. I don’t think my daughter will even agree to come home. She has a good job. She is doing well. I just want her to get married and settle down and run her own life.”
“How is that your business? Let her get a husband and inform you.”
“No. It is my business. I want her to settle down. If she was in her husband’s house, I would not need to worry about wildfires in California. I will know she is not alone. The two of them can look after each other and their own family, and I can sleep better here in Nigeria”
“You are getting old”.
“My daughter should not marry?”
“Leave young people to do their thing. They know how to survive. Stop sounding like a father in-law who wants to do Omugwo. I know your type.”
“What is wrong with Omugwo? I can do it. What is wrong in helping to bring up my own grandchildren.”
“My friend, go and sit down. It is women who do post-partum care not men. Don’t go and disgrace yourself in your daughter’s house. Two of my daughters are married. You know that. Have you ever seen me going to their houses to help baby sit? It is their mother that does that. Don’t let your enthusiasm and lack of experience get the better of you. Getting a husband for your daughter, yes, but don’t go to the ridiculous extent of helping your in-law to change nappies for his own children?”
“You don’t ever get it.”
“Yes. I don’t ever get anything. But I am more experienced than you. Listen to words of wisdom.”
“Obasanjo did well sha”
“What did he do?”
“Last Sunday, he organized a special memorial service in Abeokuta for President Jimmy Carter of the United States who died at 100”
“Oh. That’s a good one. Nice one. President Carter was a good man. He was a global citizen. He made more impact even after his Presidency as a global statesman. This is what we tell our leaders in Africa. Do good. Govern well. Be useful to humanity in and out of office. Stop stealing. Look at the bigger picture ahead. I am sure most Americans don’t even know where Abeokuta is on the map, and yet they have their late President being celebrated, about 5, 000 miles away. These our African leaders, their own people will spit on their graves. It is good to be nice, to leave a legacy of honour and character. This is the message of Jimmy Carter’s legacy.”
“This is also about friendship and loyalty. President Obasanjo found in President Carter a good friend. He has chosen to honour him.”
“A friend must be a friend. I know some people. If their friend dies, their way of showing loyalty would be to take over his wife.”
“Are you alright? I am making an important point, you are talking about wives. Seriously, are you drunk? You must just find a way of turning everything into a joke.”
“Ok. Ok. Sorry. My mind just strayed. You know how it is. You are discussing something and then your mind will just go in another direction, even to a subject that is totally unrelated. These days, my mind just goes this way and that way.”
“Go and see a doctor immediately. Lunacy. Schizophrenia. Hallucination. Seek help.”
“You are the one that is mad. I know what crossed my mind. I am very lucid.”
“Hmm.”
“It is about this woman”
“Which woman? Look, I am not in the mood for gossip today. I have things to attend to.”
“I am talking about this woman who, on January 8, held up a flight from Uyo to Abuja, Ibom Air because according to her she would not leave except her luggage was loaded onto the aircraft and nobody else will travel also. She made sure 89 passengers aboard the aircraft were left stranded. The flight had to be cancelled. And that is supposed to be somebody’s wife oh and the mother of some children. I pity her husband.”
“What I hear is that the same airline had failed to carry her luggage before, citing luggage restrictions. Happening a second time, she could not take it again. I think I know where she is coming from. These Nigerian airlines have very rude staff. They are so discourteous. Someone has to get really angry and teach them a lesson. You will buy expensive tickets and then one airline staff will start treating you as if he or she is doing you a favour. I support the woman. What nonsense! In fact, she should have deflated the tyres of the plane.”
“No. I don’t think you have the right information. What she did was an act of terrorism. No matter the provocation, no air traveller has the right to sabotage the flight. There were other persons on that flight who had things to do in Abuja. They suffered losses, physical and emotional.”
“Somebody has to stand up to these Nigerian airlines. They misbehave a lot. There is no consumer protection. The last time I wanted to go to Abuja, they kept me waiting for hours upon hours. Nobody gave any explanation. The staff were rude and stupid. A flight that was scheduled for 2 pm, I did not get to Abuja until 1 am. One of these days, I will deflate their tyres and damn the consequences.”
“Other lives are involved. You will not do that. Which is precisely the issue in the Ibom Air case. The airline said the woman was carrying excess luggage, and that the aircraft had baggage restrictions. They offered to get the luggage to her on arrival. She insisted on carrying her luggage as hand luggage. Wahala oh. Nigerians are notorious for carrying Town Council luggage. They know us even in Heathrow London, they had to create a special terminal for Nigerians. I don’t think anybody should endanger another person’s life by disregarding safety regulations.”
“Which safety regulations? If the woman had agreed to give the persons at the counter small bribe, they would immediately play ball. This is Nigeria. She just happened to be one of the difficult ones.”
“I will rather just insist that safety is important and those who travel by air must realize that they do not have the right to inconvenience other people. Things got so bad in that January 8 incident other passengers wanted to lynch the woman. But now, I hear the Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA has decided to sue the woman.”
“I think the NCAA, Ibom Air, air travellers and other stakeholders must see this as a wake-up call to do a lot more to defend consumers’ interest. I get your point about safety: baggage restrictions, not holding up other passengers and the fact that the Uyo airport is a sunset airport, but let’s tell ourselves the truth, airlines in Nigeria have a way of bringing out the worst in everybody.”
“We all know that. We should all just try to be civilized about how we manage our frustrations”
“I hear that the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly has been impeached. He was accused of fraud and abuse of office. Serious drama in Lagos, yesterday. Even his supporters who came from Agege to protect and defend him were whisked away by security agents.”
“And they were singing on your mandate we shall stand…on your mandate!”
“We all know who is standing on what mandate.”
“It can only be the Jagaban himself. The Jagaban of Borgu. The Asiwaju of everywhere. The President-General of Nigeria. Whoever does not know will know. If you have ears that still hear, you will hear: Obleee”
“Whatever. Obasa served for three terms as Speaker. Now his detractors in the House say they want to try another person. A woman has emerged. Mojisola Meranda from Apapa 1 Constituency. First female Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly. Congratulations to her.”
“Does that mean the end of Hon. Mudashiru Obasa’s political career?”
“No. No. No. I won’t say that. His tenure as Speaker yes. Immediately he was impeached, his enemies started removing his pictures from the walls. That is life. Today, people praise you. If you slip a little, they will turn their back on you. But Obasa remains a member of the House. He also remains a political leader in his Agege Constituency. I smell 2027 politics. The moment I heard that he was interested in becoming Governor of Lagos State in 2027, I knew something was going to happen to him.”
“I hear it is the matter between him and Governor Babajide Sanwoolu. The Speaker was becoming too proud for the Governor. When the President came home, he tried to sort things out between them. This is the long hand of the Godfather of Lagos politics. Obasa is a victim of power play.”
“Let us hope he gets some clarity. But no man should be sacrificed for having an ambition. It is a legitimate aspiration to want to be Governor. The Speaker of the House cannot be an errand boy of the Governor. The part of the story that needs to be clarified is this talk about fraud and abuse of office. I want to hear more about that. What did he abuse? Tell us. But it is good news that Lagos now has a Female Speaker of the Lagos House of Assembly. I think I like that”.
“Me too. Congratulations to her.”
“By the way, the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has introduced resit exams for students who cannot get five credits at the first sitting. Between January and March, they can resit the exam or some papers to enable them make the next round of college admissions, instead of having to wait and lose a whole year.”
“What is in a WAEC exam that a pupil cannot pass at one sitting? Parents should encourage their children to get more serious and stop getting distracted by social media and music. Sit down, read, pass. Which resit? This is how we encourage indolence among secondary school students.”
“Everyone deserves to be given a second chance in life. I support the idea of the early WAEC resit.”
“You will support anything. I am sure you didn’t pass your own school cert at the first attempt. So what do I expect? Olodo people. Anyway, looks like the Super Eagles now have a new head coach.
“Yes. His name is Eric Sekou Chelle. Malian. We will wait and see.”