On Saturday, April 13, a group of 18 masked persons dressed in army camouflage, armed with rifles, charms and Oodua Nation flags attempted to take over the Oyo State House of Assembly and Government Secretariat to proclaim the emergence of a Yoruba Nation. They caused some commotion as they insisted on hoisting a flag, but the rag-tag team of insurrectionists were soon overpowered and arrested by officers of the Nigerian Police Command. Well, not quite. They resisted the police but when soldiers from the 2 Div. of the Nigerian Army arrived on the scene, the Oodua boys took to their heels.  Cowards! They should have waited and argue with the soldiers over the integrity and sovereignty of Nigeria. But the twist in the tale turned out to be the appearance of a woman on several platforms - Modupe Onitiri Abiola, who endorsed the action of the Oodua 18 and proclaimed that a Democratic Republic of Yoruba had emerged with effect from April 13, 2024. The additional twist in the tale is that the woman introduced herself as a widow of Chief MKO Abiola, the undeclared winner of the June 12, 1993 Presidential election, pillar of sports in Africa, entrepreneur, philanthropist and a martyr of democracy.  

Nigerians are probably used to persons, groups – ethnic and socio-cultural - threatening to leave Nigeria and declare their own separate country, to as they argue correct the mistake of 1914, so-called, or to seek meaning in a new association. Afterall, in February 1966, Isaac Adaka Boro, an Ijaw ethnic minority rights activist, formed a group known as the Niger Delta Volunteer Force and declared the formation of a Niger Delta Republic.  He and his group fought the Nigerian Forces for 12 days before they were overwhelmed, arrested, tried for treason and thrown into jail. This was the first major rebellion against the Nigerian state. The same year, following the Unitary Decree No 34 of the Aguiyi Ironsi military government, the people of Northern Nigeria were so dissatisfied with the turn of events in Nigeria, they openly talked about “Araba” – meaning “let us separate.”  In January 1966, there had been a military coup which resulted in the death of Northern leaders and others, notably Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa, Sir Ahmadu Bello, Northern Region Premier, Chief Ladoke Akintola, Premier of the Western Region, and Festus Okotie-Eboh, Minister of Finance. 

The coup was led by Kaduna Nzeogwu, an Ibo man, and with that collapse of Nigeria’s First Republic, the new leader was also an Ibo man, General Thomas Umunnakwe Aguiyi-Ironsi, the first military Head of State of Nigeria. The North had wanted to separate but eventually there was a counter coup in July 1966, which ousted the Ironsi regime, which further widened the centrifugal ethnic fissures in Nigeria. In July 1967, the Ibos fought back. Led by Lt. Col. Chukwuemeka Odimegwu Ojukwu, they declared the Republic of Biafra, meaning they were determined to secede from Nigeria. The war that ensued lasted three years – 6 July 1967 – 15 January 1970. That was 54 years ago, but there are signs that the civil war in Nigeria has not really ended.  Nigeria took a turn for the worse. The rain began to beat us. 

The separatist spirit would again show up on April 22, 1990 in the coup speech by Major Gideon Orkar whose plan, as announced, included the excision of five Northern states of Bauchi, Borno, Katsina, Kano and Sokoto from Nigeria. The Orkar group was convinced that the people from these five states were the problem with Nigeria and they should just get out and form their own country. Thus, Orkar and 41 of his colleagues wanted to seize government and re-draw the map of Nigeria. They were captured by government troops, charged for treason, convicted and executed by firing squad. However, the fact that treason attracts the punishment of death has not deterred those who think that Nigeria must be dismembered, or that the map must be re-drawn. The year 2012 witnessed the emergence of a separatist, nativist, Igbo nationalism, anti-Fulani, neo-Biafra group called the Indigenous People Of Biafra (IPOB) which aims to restore and actualize the dream of Biafra. IPOB is led by Mazi Nnamdi Kanu who has been facing trial for treasonable felony since 2016. Before IPOB, there was also Radio Biafra established by Mazi Kanu in 2009, there was Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra led by Ralph Uwazurike (1999) and there was the Biafra Zionist Movement (BZM) led by Benjamin Igwe Onwuka (2012). There have also been talks about the possibility of an Arewa Reepublic. 

A common thread in the foregoing is that every attempt at separation in Nigeria has been driven by frustration with the Nigerian arrangement, protests against bad governance, cries of marginalization or victimization, with ethnic identity and questions of federalism, religion and resource control thrown into the mix. For example, in 1993, following the annulment of the June 12, 1993 Presidential election which denied MKO Abiola, a Yoruba man, victory, the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) was formed to defend Yoruba rights and to remind the Babangida military junta that Yoruba people would not be cheated.  OPC was founded and led by Dr. Frederick Fasheun. It was also known as the Oodua Liberation Movement, or the Revolutionary Council of Nigeria. There would later be a more militant faction of the group, a breakaway faction, led by Gani Adams, who is now the Aaare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland, that is the Yoruba Generalissimo, defender of the Yoruba realm. The OPC never really pushed the idea of leaving Nigeria: the group, Fasheun or Gani Adams faction has consistently focused on defending Yorubaland against any form of attack or aggression from other groups and to protect Yorubaland, covering both the South Western states and Itsekiriland in the Delta. The Itsekiri are cousins of the Yoruba. They share cultural, linguistic and political heritage 

What we must note is that the Yoruba who had been maintaining a pacifist, federalist position in the matter soon began to talk about secession too, with the emergence under the Buhari administration (2015 – 2023) of the likes of Professor Banji Akintoye, and the militant Sunday Igboho who announced an Oodua Republic with a group known as Ilana Omo Yoruba in response to what they considered the Fulanization of Nigeria by the Buhari government and the assault on Yoruba territories by Hausa-Fulani herders. Ideologically, their objective was to protect Yoruba territory against Fulani invasion, to avoid a repeat of the seizure of Ilorin, a Yoruba town, in the 19^th century.  The group petitioned the United Nations.  The mainstream Yoruba position however had always been restructuring and federalism, as canvassed by the Awoist group, the OPC and the Afenifere. The idea of an Oodua Republic looked like a fall-back position. 

Sunday Igboho’s activism and militancy telegraphed what happened in Ibadan on Saturday. He is a self-determination activist who went beyond Professor Akintoye’s theoretical disposition to ask for an immediate declaration of an Oodua Republic. Of course, the Nigerian state went after him. He had to spend three years in exile and only recently returned for his mother’s burial. But that is another story.  It would be recalled, however, that in April 2021, more than 100 self-determination groups stormed Ibadan to declare an Oduduwa Republic, and a Yoruba nation. They included the Nigerian Indigenous Nationalities Alliance for Self-Determination (NINAS), the Youth Initiative, Itsekiri National Youth Council, Ilana Omo Oodua and the Homeland Group. They were dispersed by the police. Now in 2024, we have a Mrs Modupe Onitiri-Abiola, leading a relatively unknown Ominira Yoruba group, trying to take over power in Oyo State. Special attention should be paid to the fact that the group has been disowned by both Professor Banji Akintoye and Sunday Igboho whose real name is actually Chief Sunday Adeyemo. Professor Akintoye says the group must be an agent of the Fulanis still desperate to destabilize Yorubaland. Igboho says he does not know the group, and that they are so “low-brained”. Akintoye and Igboho seem convinced that the Ibadan secessionists must be insane. No Yoruba leader has come out to identify with Mrs. Abiola’s group. 

My take however is that the Yoruba elite cannot distance themselves from what has happened. Each and every one of them who has been calling for this or that or else, is guilty. I refer them to Ebrahim Hussein’s Kinjekitile, a 1979 play written by the Tanzanian playwright on the Maji Maji war. The lesson of that play is that a word when spoken develops a life of its own, beyond the author of the word. You can break a community, nation and even the world, by the power of words spoken. Those who ask that the mistake of 1914 must be revisited and that Nigeria must be renegotiated have their point, but let them also think about the effect of their pronouncements. MASSOB created IPOB. Nnamdi Kanu gave birth to Simon Ekpa. Self-determination, the right of a people to decide their own destiny is a fundamental right under the UN Charter (Article 1 sub. 2), and we have seen that in the case of Kosovo, and Abhkazia, and the unresolved, ongoing cases of Kurdistan, Northern Cyprus, Quebec, Scotland, Western Sahara, Tibet and Taiwan. Nonetheless, the April secessionists of Ibadan led by Mrs Onitiri -Abiola and others of their ilk must be reminded that whereas Nigeria is a signatory to international laws and conventions, it remains a country governed by specific domestic laws, and this is where I think Mrs. Abiola and her band of 18 soldiers are in troubled waters. Section 2 of the Nigerian 1999 Constitution states clearly that Nigeria is “one indivisible and indissoluble sovereign state to be known by the name of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.” Section 37 of the Criminal Code prescribes the death penalty for anyone who tries to tamper with Nigeria’s sovereignty. The offence is defined as treason. In Sections 40 – 43 of the same Code, the law refers to treasonable felony which attracts the punishment of a life imprisonment. Mrs Abiola and her gang have definitely ran foul of the law. They must be arrested, investigated, and prosecuted. Mrs. Onitiri-Abiola is said to be abroad; proceedings should be initiated post-haste for her extradition and interception wherever she may be in the world, and made to answer for her sin. 

She reportedly disclosed with her own mouth that she is a widow of Chief MKO Abiola, a man who struggled and died in the process, to rescue this country from sheer hopelessness. In 1993, every section of Nigeria, including the North voted massively for Abiola in what was acknowledged as the freest and fairest election ever conducted in Nigeria. He was both a hero and a martyr of democracy.  And just like that, here comes Mrs. Modupe Onitiri-Abiola, one of Chief’s many wives, suddenly showing up from Alhaji’s harem, many years after, spitting on his grave and legacy.  Is she truly of the MKO stock? I think the Abiola family owes us a duty of issuing a statement to clarify at least one point: that Mrs. Onitiri-Abiola does not speak for the family. MKO Abiola is one of Yorubaland’s major icons of the 20^th and 21^st centuries, and a Nigerian hero.  It is sad that anyone at all, would dare associate his name with less noble causes.   

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu must feel personally embarrassed. He is President of Nigeria from the Yoruba stock and his own people, whoever they are, are trying to take over government? It is either he is terribly disconnected from his own people or he is not paying enough attention to certain details. The other month, he came to Lagos and on his way to the mosque, his own people trooped out to complain about hunger. When he came back home for the Eid-el-Fitri festival, a week ago, he conveniently restricted himself to Ikoyi and worshipped at a place not farther than the Dolphin Estate. Wait a moment. Are Yorubas in a position to even claim that they are marginalized now that they have their own kinsman and half of the tribe of Lagos in government? President Tinubu must address “the peculiar mess” that occurred in Ibadan on April 13. He should find out if there are certain fifth columnists seeking to embarrass his government, using Yorubaland as their play field. He took an oath to defend the Nigerian Constitution. Every Nigerian leader that I have worked or interacted with insists that they are sworn to an oath to protect the indivisibility of Nigeria under their watch. Tinubu must wake up. He must not allow a situation whereby his own people are the ones calling for the dissolution of Nigeria while he is President, whatever all the textbook arguments may be. Mrs. Modupe Onitiri-Abiola must be given the Nnamdi Kanu treatment! 

We had Chief Olabode George on The Morning Show (TMS) of Arise News yesterday and he drew attention to the failure of intelligence in the Ibadan matter. The old man was right. I share his view. How on earth did the Yoruba secessionists plan, organize and move to the Oyo State Government Secretariat without anybody catching a whiff of their intentions. Their spokesperson lives abroad. They must have been in touch with her through phone calls, messages and all that. And nobody picked that up? They even bought and wore military camouflage. And all the spokespersons of the Service Chiefs will come and tell us that they are committed to the defence of the sovereignty of Nigeria? Please how do you and your troops defend this country when you sleep on duty? And where was the station manager of the Department of State Security (DSS) in Oyo State and all the other agencies?  They must all be called in for questioning. Sleeping on duty is not allowed. And one more point, where was the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps?  It is the duty of that agency to protect and defend public infrastructure. Section 3 of the Civil Defence Act as amended (2007) gives the agency broad powers “to assist in the maintenance of peace and order and in the protection and rescuing of the civil population during the period of emergency.” The agency also has powers under section 3 (f) “to arrest with or without warrant, detain, investigate and institute legal proceedings by or in the name of the Attorney General of the Federation in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria…” Where was Civil Defence even if the other agencies failed? 

The bigger issue that we have to deal with perhaps is the increasing, creeping failure of the Nigerian state. Much fewer people today believe in the idea of Nigeria. This is why we have people challenging the state either through secessionist or separatist moves or complete abandonment of the country, the Japa phenomenon, with many believing or thinking that they would be better off in foreign lands. When Nigeria becomes attractive to its own people, we would have managed to create a nation.

Philip Shaibu, the Edo state politician who was Deputy Governor in that state until yesterday afternoon, would seem to have failed woefully to learn certain basic lessons of power. He has said that he is a victim of an act of injustice and that he would fight to the very end. He may have been led by his counsel to believe that he can fight this to the finish and get back his seat. He would be mistaken to be so misled. He had it coming. He has just been taught a few lessons in the dynamics of power play. The 48 Laws of Power is the title of a book written by Robert Greene, an American author in 1998. It was a massive bestseller, selling over 1.2 million copies in the United States and even more world-wide, offering simple commonsensical advice, illustrated with narratives and historical examples to prove the point that power is a dangerous game, and only persons who understand its dynamics can survive in the palace. Greene recommends humility, obscurity and skillful navigation as the best skills of survival.

One of the reasons, Philip Shaibu, Deputy Governor of Edo State got impeached yesterday was due to hubris, defined in the literature as a flaw of character. And to worsen his agony, both the legislature and the Executive further conspired to nominate, approve, and swear in a replacement, within hours after his impeachment, in the person of Omobayo Godwins from Ibilo, Akoko Edo, the oldest local government area in Nigeria, in specifically, Edo North where Philip Shaibu himself hails from. In the power play that we have just witnessed in Edo State, it is clear that the intention of Governor Godwin Obaseki is to crush Philip Shaibu completely. He has publicly humiliated Shaibu, and forced him to know who the master of the game is. Less than a week after Easter, days after the betrayal of our Lord Jesus Christ by Judas Iscariot, Shaibu, a Christian has just been made to remember, forcefully, Acts 1: 20 – “For it is written in the book of Psalms, let his habitation be desolate, and let no man dwell therein and his place let another take”. Yesterday, someone else took Philip Shaibu’s place in Edo State.

How did he get here? Philip Shaibu emerged in 2016 as the running mate to Godwin Obaseki in the gubernatorial election in that state that year. They both won on the platform of the All Progressives’ Congress (APC). Shaibu was the unanimous choice as Obaseki’s running mate. He had behind him, the support of Comrade Governor Adams Oshiomhole who was his political Godfather and who left no one any choice in the matter. Shaibu and Oshiomhole are from the same homestead and Senatorial district. The APC won the election and assumed office in November 2016. To be fair, Shaibu and Obaseki cut the perfect picture of a team. Many were surprised because it was unusual to have a Governor and a Deputy Governor working together so peacefully like brothers. Shaibu was not just powerful, he was visible and influential. Whenever the Governor went on vacation, he handed over the reins of power to his Deputy. In 2020, when ahead of the struggle for a second term, Obaseki fell out with his former mentor, Adams Oshiomhole and had to leave the APC to find a new political abode in the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Shaibu stayed with his principal, the Governor. The big men in the rival PDP did not want him as running mate. They didn’t want him as part of the deal. But Obaseki and Shaibu were so much together, Obaseki insisted that Shaibu was part of the deal. He would not ditch him. He had his way. In 2020, Obaseki and Shaibu began a second term in office.

The Deputy Governor’s high moment came in 2021, when he led the National Sports Festival 2020, hosted by Edo State, as the Chairman of the Organizing Committee. Governor Obaseki was full of accolades for his Deputy. The Federal Government did not provide necessary funding, yet Edo State pulled it off, delivering one of the most memorable sports festivals many Nigerians had seen. Shaibu’s reputation as a go-to, can-do person soared. His political scorecard looked even brighter. At the University of Jos where he obtained a B. Sc degree in Accounting he was President of the Students’ Union from 2000 -2001. In 2003, he was elected into the Edo State House of Assembly. He spent two terms representing Etsako West Constituency. In 2015, he won election into the Federal House of Representatives on the platform of the APC, representing Etsako Federal Constituency. Having served subsequently as Deputy Governor, and having been such a star in that position, Shaibu decided in 2023, that it was his turn to become Governor and succeed his boss. The Edo Governorship election is slated for September 21, 2024.

Shaibu defined his declaration and ambition as a “a call to destiny”. This was the beginning of his problems. He did not have the support of his principal, Obaseki who thought, along with others that Edo North where Shaibu hails from, has had more than enough shot at the Government House position in Edo State. Oshiomhole, an Etsako man, was Governor of the state for eight years. Shaibu, believed to be his relative even, was going to serve for eight years as Deputy Governor. A powerful lobby group in the state believes that the people of Edo Central should be given a chance. Since the return to democracy in 1999, only one person from Edo Central, Professor Oserheimen Osunbor had shown up as Governor but even his tenure was truncated by the courts, paving the way for Adams Oshiomhole from Edo North. Whereas Governor Obaseki has insisted that he has no preferred candidate in the election, it was clear that he did not want his Deputy to succeed him. Thus, the impression that Edo State had shown a better example in terms of the tumultuous relationship between Governors and their Deputies ended up as mere illusion in the end. The fight between Shaibu and Obaseki turned messy and acrimonious, finally fitting into an established pattern with the impeachment of Philip Shaibu yesterday. It is unfortunate because it is so familiar.

The office of the Deputy Governor is a creation of the 1999 Constitution to the extent that Section 187 (1) makes it clear that a candidate for the office of Governor shall not be deemed to have been validly nominated unless he nominates another candidate as his associate for his running for the office, that is a Deputy Governor. The joint ticket nature of the Gubernatorial process has been proved, beyond a scintilla of doubt in PDP and 2 ors v. Biobarakuma Degi-Eremienyo and 3 ors in the November 2019 Bayelsa Governorship Election. David Lyon could not become Governor because of discrepancies in his running mate’s qualifications. Despite this twinning of the ticket, this Siamese-twins, umbilical cord connection between Governors and their Deputies, what has happened, since 1999, is that upon assumption of office, there has been no love lost between the duo. One reason is that the 1999 Constitution does not expressly assign powers to the Deputy Governor. The Governor, like the President at the Federal level, is like a monarch. He controls everything. His word is law, and so everyone from traditional rulers to lawmakers in the State House of Assembly learn very quickly that the man to fear and worship is the Governor, who claims that he is an “Executive” or that he is a “constituted authority.”

This “Kabiyesi” syndrome is the bane of Nigerian politics. The Deputy Governor gets a generous mention in Section 191 of the 1999 Constitution which upholds the principle of jus accrescendi inherent in the joint ticket, to wit a Deputy takes over in the event of death, resignation or incapacitation, but which is interpreted to mean that a Deputy Governor is a spare tyre waiting for the main tyre to develop a fault so it can be replaced and he, the Deputy can become the main driver. In a superstitious country such as ours, a Deputy Governor is treated with suspicion. Any sign of self-expression or assertiveness on his or her part is seen as a sign of disloyalty. Political courters capitalize on this and have always tried to cause problems. When the Deputy and the Governor have different Godfathers, the crisis is assured. It is rare to find any incumbent Governor who openly encourages his Deputy to succeed him. It happened in Zamfara once upon a time, but Alhaji Sani Yerima and his successor, Aliyu Shinkafi soon fell apart. Section 193 further reduces the role of a Deputy Governor to the discretion of the Governor. What is the pattern is conflict in Government Houses in the states and even in the Presidential Villa to varying degrees.

For example, President Bola Tinubu as Governor of Lagos State, 1999 – 2007 had three Deputy Governors. Mrs. Kofo Bucknor-Akerele and Mr. Femi Pedro both have stories to tell. Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje served as Deputy Governor to Dr. Rabiu Kwankwaso (1999 – 2003, 2011-2015) but his former boss did not consider him good enough to succeed him. He got there by his own means. They have remained tough adversaries since then in Kano politics. The late Christopher Alao-Akala, deputy to Governor Rashidi Ladoja became Governor in 2006, only because his principal was impeached. Ladoja was reinstated by the Supreme Court in December 2006. Bala Ngilari became Governor in Adamawa state in 2014 only because Governor Murtala Nyako was impeached. In Ondo State, to cite a recent example, the late Governor Rotimi Akeredolu had issues with his Deputies. In his first term, a certain Agboola Ajayi who was his Deputy fell out of favour because he was eyeing the Governor’s seat. His successor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa would also eventually run into trouble. He is Governor today because his principal died. At state level, only 10 out of 149 Deputy Governors have taken over from their bosses since 1999, across the 36 states of the Federation, and not necessarily because their bosses wanted them there. In Kebbi, Kano, Imo, Niger, Nasarawa, Plateau and Benue states, we have seen incumbent Governors supporting candidates other than their own Deputies who stubbornly sought to succeed them. Engr. David Umahi, now Minister of Works became Governor of Ebonyi State in 2015 in spite of his former principal Governor Martin Elechi who insisted that Umahi was not his choice. At the Federal level, the Obasanjo Presidency became a “Bolekaja Presidency” because then Vice President Atiku Abubakar wanted to unseat his boss before the 2003 general election. Obasanjo’s second term was a divided Presidency because the principal needed to teach his Deputy a lesson. In 2010, it took the invocation of a doctrine of necessity to get then Vice President Goodluck Jonathan to succeed President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua first as Acting President and later as President. Those who did not want Jonathan as President never gave up.

In sum, there is nothing unusual in the latest development in Edo State. What must be noted is the sheer stubbornness with which Shaibu took on the war against his principal. In the process, he was banished from Government House and restricted to a corner of Benin City. His media crew was withdrawn. He was stripped of all responsibilities. He was told in no uncertain terms that he would not be Governor. He went to court to defend his rights. He later withdrew the case. He apologized. But nothing changed. When the PDP held its party primaries, he organized his own event in his own house and declared himself as the chosen candidate. The next thing that came his way was the commencement of impeachment proceedings against him. On the surface of it, the state House of Assembly tried to follow the motions prescribed in Section 188 of the Constitution on the removal of a Governor or Deputy Governor from office. Shaibu and his lawyers claim that the House acted in violation of an ongoing process at a Federal High Court. Abuja. Without prejudice to Section 188 (10), the only remedy available to Shaibu is to prove in court that his removal was unconstitutional and seek to rely perhaps on Rashidi Ladoja’s case – see Muyiwa Inakoju and Ors. vs. Abraham Adeleke, Rashidi Ladoja and ors. (2007). But the times are different. The circumstances have changed. Shaibu’s political future hangs in the balance.

Whatever tricks his lawyers may still think they have in their bags, when Shaibu is alone let him reflect on how he ignored the laws of power. Law One says: “Never Outshine the Master.” Shaibu got so carried away he began to sound as if he was the master of the Governor. He openly boasted that without him Obaseki could never have been Governor and that he in fact funded his ambition and mobilized support for him. Obaseki has just shown him where power lies. He also violated the fourth law: “Always say less than necessary.” Shaibu believes that he can talk his way to the ticket for Osadebey House. Worse, he disobeyed Law 18: “Do not build fortresses to protect yourself. Isolation is dangerous.”. Shaibu isolated himself. He parted ways with Senator Adams Oshiomhole who helped him to build his political career. He quarreled with party big wigs like Dan Orbih. He abused elders and burnt bridges. He lacks the kind of support that propped up Dave Umahi in Ebonyi and Abdullahi Ganduje in Kano State. Isolation is indeed dangerous. Shaibu’s only saving grace would be how he stands in relation to Robert Greene’s Law 26: “Keep your hands clean”. Let us hope that his hands are clean.

Nonetheless, no man should be subjected to the kind of pain that he has had to endure simply because he wants to exercise his fundamental rights under the law. A system that turns Governors into mini-gods who determine other people’s fate is deplorable. The sycophantic breed of commissioners, special advisers, lawmakers and courtiers who would do anything to please the Governor of a state pose a serious threat to the democratic process. In the long run, Nigeria must make up its mind what it wants to do with the position of Deputies: it is either we protect that office constitutionally by assigning specific powers, or we scrap it.

I sympathize with Mohammed Bello Adoke, referred to above simply as Citizen Adoke. Not necessarily because I know him personally, he and I, having served this country during the tenure of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, former President, Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, Adoke from 2010 – 2015, and this writer from 2011 – 2015. I sympathize with him because of what Nigeria has done to him and how he has now become another living example of how many technocrats would rather shun the arena of public service because of how badly Nigeria has treated them, thus making it difficult for the best and the brightest to step forward to contribute to their nation’s development. I recall that many years ago, shortly after the annulment of the June 12, 1993 Presidential election, and the return to civilian rule in 1999, one of the major arguments put forward by civil society was that the military having messed up the country so badly, the return to politics and governance, as the military took their exit, never again to return, should be built on the involvement and participation of distinguished Nigerian technocrats in politics – men and women who have been tested in the field of practice and who could bring their experience to the public field.

This encouraged a significant number of persons – academics, lawyers, Nigerians at home and in diaspora, medical experts, engineers and accountants to elect to serve their country, if only to prove to the soldiers that the civilian populace could govern and that democracy is the best form of government. President Olusegun Obasanjo emerged from the residue of the 1993 – 1999 crisis as Nigerian President. In fairness to him, he bought into this logic and recruited personnel from across the spectrum. There were many Nigerians abroad who were persuaded to pack their luggage and return to serve their country. Other leading professionals at home joined the government, having been called upon to serve, many of them personally by Obasanjo. President Yar’Adua (2007 – 2010) also followed Obasanjo’s example. It soon became normal to have popular persons who had done well in professional practice serving in government, on the executive side and even more so in the legislature at all levels. Under President Goodluck Jonathan, the tradition continued. He had a team of bright technocrats, including some of the very best in their fields.

However, the sad part of the recruitment of the best and the brightest into the governance of Nigeria is that many of these talented persons often end up either being frustrated out of the system, or they end up being set up for infractions, or at worst, as is common, they are left with bruised hearts and egos. I once heard the story of an accomplished engineer who had worked in a top engineering company in the United States who was brought home to re-design some structures for the Nigerian electricity network. He came up with his designs which he thought would be cost-effective and deliver on the objective, but what he proposed would result in the demolition of some houses belonging to very powerful Nigerians. He was promptly advised to change his design to save those houses. He put up a spirited argument about engineering, cost and credibility. He was told that in this country some persons and spaces are untouchable. He quoted engineering expertise. He had to be reminded that Nigeria is not the United States. Out of frustration, the fellow packed his luggage and left. He would rank as one of the luckiest.

Many others who thought that they could join the post-military train and help save Nigeria were not so lucky. There are examples of Nigerians who have tried to save Nigeria but have paid with their lives, or the lives of their relatives, or who remain scarred for life. When they are invited to serve, it is natural for them to see that as a special form of recognition, out of a large population of more than 200 million people. But Nigeria is like a stockfish: when you think you can bend it with bare hands, you may end up bending your hands in the process. Many who tried did so in vain. The stories are many, and I do not want to delve into too many individual tales, because every example has its own peculiar details, true and fictional, real and imagined, since those we identify as the best and the brightest have their own individuality and moral peccadilloes.

I started with Citizen Adoke and it is his story that I want to tell as I know it. He has himself told a better part of his story in his partly biographical book, Burden of Service (Clink Street, 2019) in which he reported that having attained the esteemed rank of an SAN, he dreamt of becoming the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice of the Federation. He shared that dream with his mother, and they both prayed over it. He not only attained the silk, he also became Nigeria’s 21st Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice – a call of destiny for a poor, little boy from Nagazi, who read law by accident, and had to borrow a jacket for his university matriculation, only to be de-robed and humiliated publicly by the owner of the suit, and who in addition had to survive university education with the benevolence of friends who helped him with a 0-1-0 regime. Those who know, know what it means to go through university as an indigent student. After his Law School Education, Adoke even had to attend his Call to Bar ceremony in borrowed robes. He had no family or relative in attendance. But he was one of those who survived the odds. He practised law in Kano, acquired more education in Switzerland, and the UK, struggled to get to the top of the game and he ended up as a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN). His book, Burden of Service basically tells the story of how he got to the very top of his profession, across the ranks and in public service. He gives an account of his dedicated service and the reforms and the innovations that he brought to bear as Nigeria’s 21st Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice. It was an achievement that he loved and that he was proud of. But there were burdens and none was more punitive, like the Cross, than the experience he went through after leaving office.

The Jonathan administration under which he served lost the 2015 Presidential election to an opposition party, the All Progressives- Congress (APC) which has been ruling Nigeria since then till date. As soon as the PDP lost the election, the APC even before assuming office went after the Jonathan officials. Adoke was one of the main targets. In August 2015, he left Nigeria for further studies at the University of Leiden, the Netherlands. In November 2015, he was invited for questioning by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). He was accused of having collected bribe in the implementation of the OPL 245 Settlement Agreement, and that he waived taxes to get some personal settlement and used the proceeds of the same illegal settlement to buy property. He was traced all the way to the Netherlands where his apartment was searched for money laundering and corruption investigation reasons. His house in Abuja and in his home town of Okene, Kogi State were also searched. He received reports that there was a plan afoot to eliminate him, and that the whole matter was not just about allegations of a felony. He offers further clarifications and details in Chapter Eight (The Witch-Hunters) and Chapter Nine (The Mischief) in Burden of Service (2019).

In December 2016, he and eight others were formally charged at the Federal High Court, Abuja in respect of the OPL 245 transaction. His name was mentioned in two out of the nine charges, bordering on conspiracy, aiding and abetting and money laundering. His name was further mentioned in cases in other jurisdictions – Italy and London, involving the Italian oil giant, Agip-Eni, Shell and Malabu Oil and Gas. In 2020, the EFCC again filed another case against Mohammed Bello Adoke in the Federal High Court of Abuja accusing him of collecting N300 million gratification from the OPL 245 Transaction.

In Burden of Service, Adoke has argued that the allegations against him were malicious, because as he put it: “I did the best for my country. I saved my country from a certain liability of a $2 billion claim by Royal Dutch Shell at the International Centre for the Settlement of Disputes (ICSID), an organ of the World Bank. More so, the $210 million signature bonus paid for OPL 245 by Shell and Eni is the highest in the history of Nigeria. I did nothing wrong. I did not take a bribe, not even a cup of water, or a slice of cake. Along the line, the narrative about my role has been severely twisted, but the dust will settle someday and the whole truth will come out as straight as an arrow. Truth is so stubborn it refuses to give up until it triumphs.” Adoke did not fold his arms. He fought every challenge to his integrity in every court and in every jurisdiction. In the Nigerian courts, he and his lawyers made a “no case submission”. In January 2024, the EFCC eventually admitted that it indeed had no evidence against Mohammed Bello Adoke and that it had no objection to his “no case submission”. This was after the EFCC had presented its case for three years and after calling 10 witnesses. Last week, on March 27, the Federal Capital (FCT) High Court ruled definitively in the matter with Justice Abubakar Kutigi chastising the EFCC for filing frivolous charges against Adoke and six others. He commended the prosecution for conceding that it had no credible evidence to oppose the no-case application by Adoke and others but complained that the agency simply wasted four years and that the defendant should not have been charged in the first place. The prosecution failed to prove the essential elements of the offences for which the defendants were charged. His Lordship dismissed the EFCC case, and admonished the EFCC not to file such frivolous charges in the future. In effect, the Nigerian government has lost all the cases it filed or in which it was joined in Italy, the UK and even here in Nigeria with regard to OPL 245. This is scandalous.

It must be noted that in 2016, Adoke sought an order of the Federal High Court, Nigeria declaring that his involvement in the negotiation, execution and implementation of the OPL 245 Resolution Agreements was in line with Section 5 of the 1999 Constitution and that he could not be held liable on personal grounds. The Court, notably, found in his favour. In 2021, the Italian Court in Milan, discharged and acquitted all defendants in the OPL 245 case. Adoke was not on trial in Milan but his name was mentioned - another victory for him nonetheless. In 2022, the Federal Government further lost its case against Adoke and JP Morgan at the Business and Property Courts of England and Wales Commercial Court. At every turn, the Nigerian Government could not establish that any fraud had been committed in the OPL 245 transaction.

This is why this is a major triumph for all the defendants in the case. The full story of OPL 245 is in the public domain. Truth has now prevailed. Justice Kutigi spoke of the waste of four years by the EFCC. This is more than that. The EFCC and the Nigerian Government spent four years on a wild goose chase around the world from Italy, to London and here in Nigeria, on the frivolous pursuit of a case in which they lacked evidence. Even when courts in Italy and London dismissed the OPL 245 case, Nigeria kept at it, looking for every opportunity to nail persons they had condemned before any trial. The justice system should not work like that. This is a very bad commentary on our justice administration system. Our justice system must never be used to settle personal or political scores. In other parts of the world, before a person or an entity is charged to court, there would have been a diligent attempt to find and establish evidence and a prima facie case. Where this does not stand in the court of law, the matter is promptly dispensed with as seen in the handling of the OPL case in Italy and the UK.

In Nigeria, politics is more important than the law. Cases are delayed and you could be on trial for years even when you are innocent. Once you are marked out by the state as an adversary, the evidence does not matter. Mohammed Bello Adoke and others must count themselves lucky indeed. It is now possible to see reason in Adoke’s argument that he considers himself the target of a witch-hunt by the Nigerian government. I have singled him out to praise his resilience to get justice and prove his innocence. He serves as an example of why many Nigerians would rather stay away from public service. Justice Kutigi spoke of the EFCC wasting four years. I think that has to be calculated in real terms: the EFCC wasted the time of the court and wasted all the Nigerian resources spent in pursuit of a case that has now failed from one court to another.

The falsely accused lost more than four years. OPL 245 was such a cause celebre in which members of the public took positions. For more than four years, Adoke could not even return to Nigeria. He was in exile, away from work, family and friends. In December 2019, he was intercepted in Dubai, UAE by Interpol and detained for five weeks before he was brought back to the country. Nigeria had placed the name of its former Attorney General and Minister of Justice on an Interpol list of wanted persons! And now the same country says the same man has no case to answer. Nigeria must learn to be fair and more diligent and professional in the prosecution of allegations of misdeeds. The Federal Government owes Adoke and all others in the OPL 245 case an apology. The FG must also compensate them. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu must personally put a closure to the defamation by giving the necessary directives to address this gross embarrassment and ensure that under his watch, the EFCC and other agencies do not engage in any form of gross misconduct.

On March 7, 2024, we all woke up to the bewildering news that students of LEA Primary School and Government Secondary School, and at least one of their teachers had been abducted in Kuriga, Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna state. The figure was put at 287. About the same period, 16 students had been abducted in Tsangaya, Sokoto State. Still in Kaduna state, just about a week earlier bandits attacked the Gonin-Gora community, a suburb of Kaduna metropolis and abducted 16 residents. We are in a situation in Nigeria today, marked by creeping anarchy and full-blown impunity whereby abductions, banditry, and terrorism no longer constitute any special news. What confounds is the seeming helplessness of the Nigerian state and the audacity of the criminals. The bandits who kidnapped 16 persons in Gonin Gora on February 28 in fact asked for a ransom of N40 trillion. Nigeria’s total budget for 2024 is N28.7 trillion, and yet bandits are bold enough to ask for almost double that as ransom. Those who kidnapped the pupils of Kuriga and their teacher were a bit modest. They asked for N1 billion. The sheer size of the ransom demands points to one thing: that the crime of kidnapping is now a big business in Nigeria. 

There are persons among us who live off the proceeds of kidnapping, banditry and terrorism and they are unapologetic about it. They have become so bold they ply their trade in the open, even in the Holy Month of Ramadan and Lent, something that was thought unthinkable in recent years. The bandits have lost their conscience. They are no longer touched by the spirit or season of Holiness. This is an indication of how bad things have become. It is in fact so bad that one report states that since President Tinubu’s assumption of office in May 2023, a total of 4, 777 persons have been abducted. Tinubu did not invent the crime of kidnapping – remember Chibok (2014), Dapchi (2018), Kankara (2020), Kagara (2021), and Jangebe (2021) before him, but it has since become worse under his watch. Large-scale, unprecedented insecurity stalks the land. Just when Nigerians were grieving over the abductions in the North, it was reported further that 17 soldiers of the Nigerian Army had been killed in Okuama community in Ughelli South Local Government Area of Delta State. The soldiers were butchered. Also in Ohoro Forest, Delta State, six men of the Nigerian Police Force who had been deployed in search of their missing colleagues were ambushed and killed. Six other policemen have also been declared missing. In Okigwe, Imo State, two more policemen were killed in the month of March. Anomie could not have chosen a worse time to manifest. 

It is therefore not surprising that President Bola Tinubu, commander in chief of the armed forces whose 72^nd birthday comes up on Friday, March 29, has now declared that he would rather use the occasion to reflect and rededicate himself to the service of Nigeria. I consider his chosen sobriety in keeping with the spirit of the times. No commander in chief should dance on the graves of his own troops. Indeed, times such as this call for sober reflection, not just on the part of the President alone but all of us. How did we get to this point that nobody is safe anymore, and the people are so opposed to the men in uniform that they even kill them for sport?  President Tinubu has declared that there will be no drinking or dining on Friday. He has directed that nobody should place any adverts in the media to celebrate him. Whoever wants to mark the day should donate whatever they have to charity. I applaud the choice that the President has made. And incidentally, March 29, this week falls on Good Friday, the Friday before Easter, the significance of which is the crucifixion and death of Christ, the Son of God who sacrificed his life, so that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have Everlasting life (John 3: 15-19).  The key symbolism is sacrifice, the ultimate sacrifice of Christ, and the end of the Christian Holy Week. Thursday or Maundy Thursday is the commemoration of the Last Supper of Christ. On Friday, he was crucified, and He ascended to the Heavens. On Sunday, Easter Sunday, He rises, and the brethren break out in joyful celebration.  President Tinubu is well advised to set aside Friday, March 29, as a day of sober reflection even if he made no reference to Christian orthodoxy, or that we are in the Holy Month of Ramadan, as Nigeria has no state religion, so explicitly affirmed in Section 10 of the 1999 Constitution.  

It is however, nonetheless a week of good news, with the rescue of the kidnapped pupils of Kuriga, and the 16 abducted persons of Tsangaya in Sokoto state. The Defence Headquarters of the Nigerian Military had announced that due to the collaboration of the Federal Government and state/local authorities, the latter had been rescued and handed over to the Sokoto State Government and that the former, abducted on March 7 have also been rescued. Even in the face of the tragedy of the murder of 17 of their men in Delta, the Nigerian Army remains faithful in active service to its mandate of protecting the integrity and sovereignty of the Nigerian state. This is noteworthy. The pupils of the LEA school and the Government Secondary School in Kuriga, Kaduna state, were yesterday handed over to the State Governor, Senator Uba Sani and the school authorities and their parents. Kidnapping episodes in Nigeria do not always have happy endings, and even with this, there are unanswered questions. We were told on March 7, that a total of 287 persons were abducted from the morning assembly in the affected schools. But now, nobody seems to know the exact number of the persons that have been rescued, other than that one teacher died, and that 137 pupils have been rescued. 

The state government insists that this is the correct figure. But some other accounts are quoting 168. This is the terrible thing about Nigeria. In a country without correct population figures, and a proper identification system, we don’t know how many we are, we can’t account for goats or sheep, not to talk of human beings! Our schools don’t have a proper register of pupils or teachers. The students do not have identification numbers either. This is one country where human beings including uniformed officials of state can just disappear without trace, and they may never be found. It took the Nigeria Police Force, for example, a whole month to confirm that six of their men had been killed and another six were missing. The most ridiculous thing in Kuriga as of yesterday is that we were counting on parents to confirm if their missing children had returned. Some of the parents reportedly died during the agonizing 17-day wait, like one woman whose four children were abducted. Nigeria failed her.  

This should be a major point of reflection for President Tinubu. He has promised that he understands his responsibility to make this country safe for all and that he will put mechanisms in place to that effect. He must. His opponents have even told him not to wait. I refer to the Waziri Adamawa, Presidential Candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar and Mr. Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP).  Every other group, including the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) and the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has asked that Nigeria must be made safe, for everyone. Tinubu’s big problem is that whereas people were willing to make excuses for President Buhari before him, the story out there is that Tinubu must live up to his election campaign boast that he performed wonders in Lagos, and that he will do it again in Nigeria. Buhari’s odd reputation is that he sleep-walked through the eight years that he was President. Tinubu must avoid a situation whereby before his very eyes, Nigerians would start saying that they are now missing Buhari, and that they were better off during the Buhari years. The sad story is that this is beginning to happen. Somnambulism, better still, playing possum, cannot be a strategy of leadership. 

Under Buhari, people could eat bread, rice, beans, and plantain. In today’s Nigeria, even barbers and tailors are quick to tell you that the dollar has gone up against the Naira. Please what is a tailor or a barber doing with the foreign exchange market?  The kind of thing we are beginning to see is that under Tinubu’s watch, a Binance Holdings Executive, Nadeem Anjarwalla, one of two persons accused of financial crimes against Nigeria, has disappeared from state custody, in broad daylight. The man simply vanished, we were told, from a guest house and fled to the Middle East even when his British passport was in the custody of the Nigerian authorities. We can’t even secure accused persons? Oh, come on. What is this? I have heard some persons saying that one big lesson Tinubu and his team would need to learn is that Abuja is not Lagos. Please, can we all get serious and sit up straight? The President of Nigeria must ensure that whoever had a hand in the killing of uniformed men in the Delta or that helped Anjarwalla (the Binance Ajantala – that is - Yoruba folk phrase for an abnormal creation) is made to answer for it. That Ajantala must be brought back here to answer to the charges against him, and on no account must the other Binance man who is still in our custody disappear. Tinubu must not take any form of nonsense from those who intend to ridicule him and are beginning to show their hands. There is no way Anjarwalla will find his way to the proverbial Aja escape hatch without the help of Nigerian officials. 

Now back to the children of Kuriga that returned yesterday. The Federal Government has been making heavy capital out of the claim that the Federal government did not pay any ransom to get the children back. It is unfortunate that this seems to be more important to them than providing necessary counsel for the affected families and ensuring that this does not happen again in another school. If government officials think they are deceiving us, we are not deceived. The kidnappers asked for N1 billion as ransom. Yes, President Tinubu said the government will not pay ransom, but does anyone expect the sensible people of Nigeria to believe that the kidnappers who asked for N1 trillion just woke up on a good side of the bed and then decided to release the children, most of whom are between the ages of 8 and 15? When government officials feel like telling lies, they must learn to do so in an intelligent manner.  The belief out there is that the real meaning of the collaboration between the Federal Government and state/local authorities is that money exchanged hands, and that the kidnappers made good money. Please stop passing off a dog to us as a monkey. A dog is a dog. A monkey is a monkey. There is so much monkey business going on. Otherwise, the actual story should have been that in the course of the negotiations, Federal authorities arrested and demobilized the kidnappers and bandits, but that never happens. In Nigeria, kidnappers always come across as benevolent spirits who release the hapless victims that they capture. Someday, for sure, we hope that the names of kidnap chieftains will not make the National Honours List, and become a bad comment on the state of values in our land. 

There has been some talk about making our schools safe. A Commander of the National Safe Schools Response Coordination of the National Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) has been quoted as saying that the Federal Government is planning to deploy Civil Defence Officers in the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) as School Safety Protection Squad. We have been on this School Safety Programme for decades. It is just another monkey business. I don’t believe that we are serious about it. I think that government thinks this is a joke. Our schools don’t even have blackboards. Most of them have no roofs. No fence. The teachers don’t get their salaries when due. In many public schools across the country, there are no desks, no windows. In parts of the North, students sit and receive classes under trees. Once upon a time in Kaduna State, the teachers were made to sit for the same examination with the students. The students passed, most of the teachers failed! That is the kind of ridiculous educational system Nigeria is running. Serious-minded and privileged parents have learnt to send their children abroad and to private schools at home. When President Tinubu begins to reflect, soberly on the occasion of his 72^nd birthday, away from the noisome crowd of sycophants and opportunistic aides and family members, let him ponder upon these things and how to help the various afflicted families of Nigeria from the Niger Delta to the North West and elsewhere regain a sense of true citizenship and value…Have a happy birthday sir. Best regards.