President Bola Tinubu’s one-day visit to the Southeast, his first of 2025, was not just a routine event. It was laden with symbolisms, from the enthusiastic reception to the subsequent positive comments. The import of this visit, with its many remarkable aspects, was not lost on anyone. While many have spoken favourably and commended the visit, it equally throws up some questions.

Is President Tinubu’s January 4, 2025 visit to Enugu, the old capital of the Southeast region, during which he inaugurated Governor Peter Ndubuisi Mbah’s landmark projects and made important pronouncements a new level in his relationship with the Southeast geopolitical zone?

Is the President’s visit across the Niger a game changer and a subtle indicator of what lies ahead between him and the people of the South East? 

The Southeast’s posture towards President Tinubu has not been enthusiastic, just as it was with President Muhammadu Buhari. Of course, the results of the 2015, 2019, and 2023 elections reveal the political aloofness of the zone towards the two leaders. 

The Southeast was particularly lukewarm towards Tinubu’s presidential aspiration following developments in the build-up to the 2023 presidential election and the results that had arisen from it. In the run-up to the election, the Southeast put all its political eggs in the basket of homeboy Peter Obi, former Anambra State governor, who had broken ranks with former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party to emerge as the Labour Party’s Presidential Candidate.

The boisterousness of the Obidients –as Peter Obi’s supporters had christened themselves – had somewhat captured the imagination of the Southeast. Any Igbo who sang a different tune in the 2023 election was, more or less, seen as an outcast.

Peter Obi himself did not allow the kind of amity that should prevail. He campaigned based on his Igbo ethnicity and overtly promoted his Christian faith to reap electoral benefits. When the election came, the Igbo voted en masse for him, signposting a strong correlation between region, religion and elections in Nigeria.

As a geopolitical breakdown of the 2023 presidential election results shows, Obi and his LP polled 1,952, 998 votes from the five states of the Southeast, representing a massive 89.62% of the total votes in the region. President Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress polled 127,370 votes, a paltry 5.85% of the votes from the area while the Peoples Democratic Party candidate, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, got 90, 698 votes, amounting to a meagre 4.16%.

Although Obi recorded impressive results outside the Southeast, like winning Lagos, Nasarawa, Edo, Delta, Plateau, Cross River, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja, his 2023 presidential challenge was essentially a Southeast affair.

After the election, he and his ethnic supporters remained in their cocoons—or the alternate reality they had built. They acted like Obi had won the poll but denied victory. It seemed that the Obidients would rather not hear the name Asiwaju Tinubu, let alone President Tinubu. This trend continued even after Obi’s petition against President Tinubu’s victory in court failed. Any move of the President was criticised and condemned.

On assumption of office, President Tinubu made overtures to the zone in key appointments such as the appointment of Chief of Naval Staff, Rear Admiral Emmanuel Ikechukwu Ogalla, who hails from Enugu, and through key ministerial appointments like those of Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi from Ebonyi State, Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Hon. Uche Nnaji, and the first Minister of Trade and Investment, now Minister of State for Finance, Dr. Doris Uzoka-Anite, among others.

Remarkably, when the President reshuffled his cabinet in October last year, he brought in, among others, Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, wife of the late Ikemba Nnewi, Chief Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu. She got the portfolio of Minister of State for Foreign Affairs. President Tinubu also established the Southeast Development Commission, a significant move to promote and accelerate the region’s development.

A top journalist who is a friend from the Southeast zone and a staunch Obidient who had never masked his dislike for Tinubu said those two appointments were sufficient to forgive President Tinubu’s perceived sins against the Igbo.

It was against that background that President Tinubu accepted Governor Mbah’s invitation to inaugurate some of his projects in the New Year.

At the inauguration of Governor Mbah’s projects and during an interactive session with Southeast leaders, President Tinubu made significant statements that gladdened the hearts of the Igbo.

At the inauguration of the Command and Control Center, the President emphasised the importance of cooperation and collaboration between the Federal Government and the sub-nationals to drive development.

“This (Command and Control Centre) is a profound demonstration of what we can do together. It reassures me that more revenue going to the sub nationals and local governments is not a waste; it is for development.

“We have committed leaders like Peter Mbah taking Enugu on the path of 21st-century development, taking Enugu to greater heights, and building our tomorrow today.

“I cannot forget the sight of those children I just met at the Smart Green School. I have seen the gadgets and vehicles with 21st-century technology. You are indeed working for today, tomorrow and the future.”

The President inaugurated the GTC Smart Green School, New Haven/Bisalla Road, the International Conference Center, the Command and Control Center, and 150 patrol vehicles with surveillance cameras. He also inaugurated other notable projects virtually at the Enugu State Government House.

Later, at an interactive session with Southeast leaders, President Tinubu promised that his administration would complete the Eastern Rail line connecting Port Harcourt to Maiduguri and support the development of the Anambra Basin as a significant energy reserve estimated to hold up to 1 billion barrels of oil and 30 billion cubic feet of gas. He made the commitment while responding to the requests made by former Minister of Power Professor Chinedu Nebo and an Enugu State indigene, Chris Ugoh, at the interactive session.

After commending the Tinubu administration for completing the Port Harcourt to Aba section of the Eastern rail line, Nebo had appealed to the President to prioritise the completion of the remaining portions of the rail link to facilitate exports of non-oil products and catalyse development in the region.

Dignitaries who attended the session included governors, traditional rulers, captains of industry, and serving and former presiding officers of the National Assembly from the zone, including former Senate President Ken Nnamani.

With the Enugu visit and the importance he attached to the invitation by PDP Governor Mbah, President Tinubu demonstrated political maturity and his commitment to supporting developmental strides from any part of the country and by any governor or stakeholder. The visit was a bold testament to his nonpartisan inclination and willingness to put the country first. He was full of commendation for Governor Mbah for demonstrating “an irrevocable commitment to human development.”

In the same vein, sighting Abia State Governor Alex Otti at the Enugu event, President Tinubu said: “I don’t care which party you come from; you are my friend. Alex Otti of Abia State is also doing very well. It is not about the differences in languages and place of birth.

“None of us has control of the mother tongue. God created us, and you can find yourself in Enugu, Onitsha or Lagos. We are all members of one huge family called Nigeria, but we live in different rooms in the same house. We must build this house to satisfy our immediate and future needs.”

Speaking before the inauguration of his projects, Governor Mbah had described President Tinubu as a true federalist committed to Nigeria’s development.

“Your Excellency, your credential as a true federalist stands out brightly, and the legacies thereof will long earn you resounding accolades.

“In signing the Electricity Act (Amendment) Bill, you liberalised electricity generation, transmission, and distribution. That singular act will consistently rank as an enduring legacy,” he said, adding: “It is noteworthy that Enugu State was the first sub-national to which the NERC ceded regulatory oversight of the local electricity market. That reflects how swiftly we are pursuing our goals.”

On the Southeast Development Commission, the governor said the commission would address infrastructure and ecological challenges in the region while complementing the many development strides unfolding across the state.

Development and governance may have been the overarching themes of the visit. Still, analysts reckon that given all that transpired during the visit, a new chapter in the relationship between President Tinubu and the Southeast geopolitical zone may have been unwittingly opened. This rapprochement, they observe, may signpost other important things to come for President Tinubu from the zone, particularly going into the next election in 2027.

President Bola Tinubu’s one-day visit to the Southeast, his first of 2025, was not just a routine event. It was laden with symbolisms, from the enthusiastic reception to the subsequent positive comments. The import of this visit, with its many remarkable aspects, was not lost on anyone. While many have spoken favourably and commended the visit, it equally throws up some questions.

Is President Tinubu’s January 4, 2025 visit to Enugu, the old capital of the Southeast region, during which he inaugurated Governor Peter Ndubuisi Mbah’s landmark projects and made important pronouncements a new level in his relationship with the Southeast geopolitical zone?

Is the President’s visit across the Niger a game changer and a subtle indicator of what lies ahead between him and the people of the South East? 

The Southeast’s posture towards President Tinubu has not been enthusiastic, just as it was with President Muhammadu Buhari. Of course, the results of the 2015, 2019, and 2023 elections reveal the political aloofness of the zone towards the two leaders. 

The Southeast was particularly lukewarm towards Tinubu’s presidential aspiration following developments in the build-up to the 2023 presidential election and the results that had arisen from it. In the run-up to the election, the Southeast put all its political eggs in the basket of homeboy Peter Obi, former Anambra State governor, who had broken ranks with former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party to emerge as the Labour Party’s Presidential Candidate.

The boisterousness of the Obidients –as Peter Obi’s supporters had christened themselves – had somewhat captured the imagination of the Southeast. Any Igbo who sang a different tune in the 2023 election was, more or less, seen as an outcast.

Peter Obi himself did not allow the kind of amity that should prevail. He campaigned based on his Igbo ethnicity and overtly promoted his Christian faith to reap electoral benefits. When the election came, the Igbo voted en masse for him, signposting a strong correlation between region, religion and elections in Nigeria.

As a geopolitical breakdown of the 2023 presidential election results shows, Obi and his LP polled 1,952, 998 votes from the five states of the Southeast, representing a massive 89.62% of the total votes in the region. President Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress polled 127,370 votes, a paltry 5.85% of the votes from the area while the Peoples Democratic Party candidate, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, got 90, 698 votes, amounting to a meagre 4.16%.

Although Obi recorded impressive results outside the Southeast, like winning Lagos, Nasarawa, Edo, Delta, Plateau, Cross River, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja, his 2023 presidential challenge was essentially a Southeast affair.

After the election, he and his ethnic supporters remained in their cocoons—or the alternate reality they had built. They acted like Obi had won the poll but denied victory. It seemed that the Obidients would rather not hear the name Asiwaju Tinubu, let alone President Tinubu. This trend continued even after Obi’s petition against President Tinubu’s victory in court failed. Any move of the President was criticised and condemned.

On assumption of office, President Tinubu made overtures to the zone in key appointments such as the appointment of Chief of Naval Staff, Rear Admiral Emmanuel Ikechukwu Ogalla, who hails from Enugu, and through key ministerial appointments like those of Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi from Ebonyi State, Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology, Hon. Uche Nnaji, and the first Minister of Trade and Investment, now Minister of State for Finance, Dr. Doris Uzoka-Anite, among others.

Remarkably, when the President reshuffled his cabinet in October last year, he brought in, among others, Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, wife of the late Ikemba Nnewi, Chief Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu. She got the portfolio of Minister of State for Foreign Affairs. President Tinubu also established the Southeast Development Commission, a significant move to promote and accelerate the region’s development.

A top journalist who is a friend from the Southeast zone and a staunch Obidient who had never masked his dislike for Tinubu said those two appointments were sufficient to forgive President Tinubu’s perceived sins against the Igbo.

It was against that background that President Tinubu accepted Governor Mbah’s invitation to inaugurate some of his projects in the New Year.

At the inauguration of Governor Mbah’s projects and during an interactive session with Southeast leaders, President Tinubu made significant statements that gladdened the hearts of the Igbo.

At the inauguration of the Command and Control Center, the President emphasised the importance of cooperation and collaboration between the Federal Government and the sub-nationals to drive development.

“This (Command and Control Centre) is a profound demonstration of what we can do together. It reassures me that more revenue going to the sub nationals and local governments is not a waste; it is for development.

“We have committed leaders like Peter Mbah taking Enugu on the path of 21st-century development, taking Enugu to greater heights, and building our tomorrow today.

“I cannot forget the sight of those children I just met at the Smart Green School. I have seen the gadgets and vehicles with 21st-century technology. You are indeed working for today, tomorrow and the future.”

The President inaugurated the GTC Smart Green School, New Haven/Bisalla Road, the International Conference Center, the Command and Control Center, and 150 patrol vehicles with surveillance cameras. He also inaugurated other notable projects virtually at the Enugu State Government House.

Later, at an interactive session with Southeast leaders, President Tinubu promised that his administration would complete the Eastern Rail line connecting Port Harcourt to Maiduguri and support the development of the Anambra Basin as a significant energy reserve estimated to hold up to 1 billion barrels of oil and 30 billion cubic feet of gas. He made the commitment while responding to the requests made by former Minister of Power Professor Chinedu Nebo and an Enugu State indigene, Chris Ugoh, at the interactive session.

After commending the Tinubu administration for completing the Port Harcourt to Aba section of the Eastern rail line, Nebo had appealed to the President to prioritise the completion of the remaining portions of the rail link to facilitate exports of non-oil products and catalyse development in the region.

Dignitaries who attended the session included governors, traditional rulers, captains of industry, and serving and former presiding officers of the National Assembly from the zone, including former Senate President Ken Nnamani.

With the Enugu visit and the importance he attached to the invitation by PDP Governor Mbah, President Tinubu demonstrated political maturity and his commitment to supporting developmental strides from any part of the country and by any governor or stakeholder. The visit was a bold testament to his nonpartisan inclination and willingness to put the country first. He was full of commendation for Governor Mbah for demonstrating “an irrevocable commitment to human development.”

In the same vein, sighting Abia State Governor Alex Otti at the Enugu event, President Tinubu said: “I don’t care which party you come from; you are my friend. Alex Otti of Abia State is also doing very well. It is not about the differences in languages and place of birth.

“None of us has control of the mother tongue. God created us, and you can find yourself in Enugu, Onitsha or Lagos. We are all members of one huge family called Nigeria, but we live in different rooms in the same house. We must build this house to satisfy our immediate and future needs.”

Speaking before the inauguration of his projects, Governor Mbah had described President Tinubu as a true federalist committed to Nigeria’s development.

“Your Excellency, your credential as a true federalist stands out brightly, and the legacies thereof will long earn you resounding accolades.

“In signing the Electricity Act (Amendment) Bill, you liberalised electricity generation, transmission, and distribution. That singular act will consistently rank as an enduring legacy,” he said, adding: “It is noteworthy that Enugu State was the first sub-national to which the NERC ceded regulatory oversight of the local electricity market. That reflects how swiftly we are pursuing our goals.”

On the Southeast Development Commission, the governor said the commission would address infrastructure and ecological challenges in the region while complementing the many development strides unfolding across the state.

Development and governance may have been the overarching themes of the visit. Still, analysts reckon that given all that transpired during the visit, a new chapter in the relationship between President Tinubu and the Southeast geopolitical zone may have been unwittingly opened. This rapprochement, they observe, may signpost other important things to come for President Tinubu from the zone, particularly going into the next election in 2027.

Rahman is a Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media Matters.

My December 21, 2024, column titled “Kemi Badenoch’s Yoruba Identity Meets Inconvenient Truths,” where I set out to show that contrary to Kemi Badenoch’s claim, the Yoruba and the “North” have had and still have a lot in common, hurt the ethnic susceptibilities of many Yoruba nationalists who misunderstood me as creating a hierarchy of historical and cultural dominance in which the Yoruba are inferior.

That was not what my column was about. If it comes across that way, it’s because people are gazing at the past with the lenses of the present. Historians call that presentism. Presentism animates the sort of defensive, ahistorical, knee-jerk, decontextualized, and emotive reactions that some people gave to my column.

Notions of collective identity with definite ethnographic boundaries are relatively new all over the world. I made this clear to Dr. Lasisi Olagunju who wrote a 3,526-word response to my column last Monday in which he cherry-picked evidence from the self-comforting presentist fantasies of certain Yoruba historians to countermine my arguments. Here’s my response to his response.

Dr. Olagunju took issue with my restating of a well-known, uncontested socio-historical fact: that “Yoruba,” the collective name for the people of western Nigeria, is an exonym that traces etymological provenance from what is now called northern Nigeria and that it originally referred only to people from Oyo and not other subgroups such as Ijebu, Ondo, Ijesa, Egba, etc.

It explains why  Oba Sikiru Adetona, the Awujale of Ijebuland, still says the Ijebu are not Yoruba and are not even descendants of Oduduwa. It also explains why, as I pointed out in my October 26, 2019 column titled “Fulani and Origin of the Names ‘Yoruba’ and ‘Yamuri’,” Nigeria’s first modern newspaper, called Iwe Irohin fun awon Egba ati Yoruba (Yoruba for “newspaper for the Egba and Yoruba people”) indicated from its name that the Egba and the Yoruba were different ethnic groups who nonetheless belonged to the same linguistic group.

In other words, as of 1859 when the newspaper was set up, the Egba didn’t call themselves “Yoruba.”

That the name Yoruba is an exonym from the North of Nigeria for the people of Oyo is so settled in the literature that I am befuddled that anyone would contest it with mere implausible conjectures and self-created oral histories.

For example, in his 1984 article titled “Yoruba Ethnic Groups or a Yoruba Ethnic Group? A Review of the Problem of Ethnic Identification” published in África: Revista do Centro de Estudos Africanos, Professor Biodun Adediran argued that the term Yoruba wasn’t native to Yoruba and was, in fact, a word first used for Oyo people by northerners.

He said, “the term first appeared in Arabic sources and in European accounts based on information from the Hausa country,” arguing “It was probably the Hausa who first gave the name ‘Yarribah’ to their Yoruba-speaking neighbours. Since the Oyo were the sub-group the Hausa came most frequently in contact with, the name easily became synonymous with ‘Oyo’” (p. 62).

Adeniran also argued that the term “Yoruba” initially remained confined to “the dictionary of those who invented it” (p. 63) and gained broader use only in the early 19th century due to increased interactions between the Yoruba and their northern neighbors. During this period, local wars fostered sub-group pride, leading many non-Oyo groups to reject “Yoruba” as a foreign name.

It was only toward the end of the century, when Europeans insisted on its use and referred to the Alaafin as the King of the Yoruba, that even the Oyo (to whom the name originally referred) began to embrace the term (p. 63).

In his 2019 book, Partitioned Borgu: State, Society and Politics in a West African Border Region, Dr. Hussaini Abdu investigated it further and found that the Hausa themselves borrowed the term Yariba (or versions of it) from the Baatonu people of Borgu, known to the Yoruba as Bariba, Baruba, or Ibariba, who are Oyo’s northwestern neighbors. The Baatonu, as I argued before, refer to the Oyo people as “Yoru” (singular) and “Yorubu” (plural), with “Yoruba” used in third-person references.

Abdu traces the name’s spread to Songhai-Borgu interactions, later reinforced by interviews with Baatonu slaves in Sierra Leone and popularized through European travelers and missionary records, such as Samuel Johnson’s 19th-century writings. This theory aligns with the historical and cultural links between Songhai, Borgu, and Oyo, including the spread of Islam to both Borgu and Yoruba land by Songhai-speaking Mande from ancient Mali, reflected in the Yoruba term for Islam, “imale.”

This is consistent with collective naming practices all over the world. Immediate neighbors typically name each other, which others then adopt. Olagunju cited the examples of “Hausa” (which came from the Songhai) and “Fulani,” which came from the Hausa.

The older Hausa name for Yoruba people was Ayagi (see my August 19, 2022, article titled “‘Ayagi’”: Earliest Nupe-Influenced Hausa Name for Yoruba People” based on my review of Professor Rasheed Olaniyi’s work), not Yariba, which strengthens Abdu’s research about the Borgu origins of the name Yoruba.

Of course, Katanga, the name of the old capital of the Oyo Empire was, according to Professor Stefan Reichmuth, the “Hausa name for Old Qyo,” adding “This term which might even be originally a stranger’s name of northern origin was in the late nineteenth century coming to be accepted as an overall ‘national’ name not only by the Oyo themselves but by other related groups as well.” (p.157).

However, in his 1934 book titled A Hausa-English Dictionary and English-Hausa Vocabulary, G.P. Bargery defined Katanga as the Hausa word for a “wall of a house or compound” (p. 583).

Well, in their 2015 article titled “‘Lucumi, ‘Terranova’, and The Origins of the Yoruba Nation,” published in The Journal of African History, Henry B. Lovejoy and  Olatunji Ojo point out that all the collective names by which the Yoruba people were known are exonyms. They also agree that “Yoruba” came from the North.

Most importantly, they found that the term “Yoruba” does not appear in European slave records, slave-owner documents, or early self-references by the Yoruba people themselves before the 19th century. So, Olagunju’s argument that the Baatonu people might have imitated the name from Oyo people whose Alaafin sought refuge in their land seems highly unlikely.

Yoruba isn’t the only exonym by which the “Yoruba” people were known. A common name in slave records that historians have found is “Lucumi” (or Lukumi). Lovejoy and Ojo found that while the term could mean “my friend” in Yoruba, or “female lover” or “concubine” in the Owo dialect, it was the name Bini people called people in eastern Yorubaland.

They said it originated as a pejorative Edo term for foreigners, likely slaves, who spoke unintelligible languages, including Yoruba. In Edo, they pointed out, oluku means “young animal,” while mi or mie translates as “that” or “to have.” The term’s dual meanings in Yoruba and Edo, they said, suggest an ironic basis for its later identity formation.

“Nagô,” a self-appellation of the Anago subgroup of Yoruba, became the dominant term in Brazil for enslaved Yoruba speakers. Fon-speaking Dahomeans adapted this term as “Anagonu” to refer broadly to Yoruba-speaking groups (p. 355)​

“Aku,” derived from the Yoruba greeting “eku,” was also used to identify Yoruba-speaking recaptives in Sierra Leone following British anti-slavery efforts in the early 19th century.

Nonetheless, as I pointed out in my 2019 column, which Lovejoy and Ojo supported with more scholarly evidence, the people of Western Nigeria aren’t called “Yoruba” today because the Borgu people called them so, or because they were identified by a version of that name by Songhai, Hausa, and Fulani people. They self-identify as “Yoruba” precisely because returnee slaves of Yoruba descent chose the name, popularized it, and encouraged people in the region to embrace it. More significantly, though, it was because colonialists insisted on it even when other subgroups protested its imposition.

To put it cheekily for Kemi Badenoch, the same Europeans who stitched the North and South together to form Nigeria were the ones who insisted on calling her Ondo and Ijebu kin “Yoruba,” a northern label originally meant for the Oyo, a group her people weren’t even part of. Oh, the irony!

Dr. Olagunju reproduced passages from his favorite Yoruba nationalist historians to dispute specific claims about Borgu’s immersion in Oyo’s history but dismissed the claims of the well-regarded Akinwumi Ogundiran’s well-received book, The Yoruba: A New History, which supported some of my claims, as suspect because he “did not cite any authority to back this claim.”

Never mind Dr. Olagunju’s unsupported claim that I. A. Akinjogbin said Borgu was under Oyo “until 1783.” Well, he made no such statement. What he actually wrote was that Oyo’s “tributaries included at least parts of the Nupe and the Bariba countries” (p. 450). How “parts of” a territory paying tribute translates to the entire country being under Oyo’s rule is beyond me.

Nonetheless, later Yoruba historians have challenged the exaggerated narratives of Oyo’s rule and reach and undermined claims such as Akinjogbi’s and the predecessors that inspired him. For example, Professor Olayemi Duro Akinwumi, in a 1992 article titled “The Oyo-Borgu Military Alliance of 1835: A Case Study in the Pre-Colonial Military History published in Transafrican Journal of History wrote:

“The extent of the Old Oyo Kingdom had been a subject of debate among the professional and non-professional historians. Crowder, for example, had given the impression that Oyo at its peak of glory extended far and wide to cover north, south, west and east of the kingdom…. Among the states incorporated into the Kingdom was Benin on the east, and Dahomey on the west. Samuel Johnson (1960:179) went further by including a portion of Nupe, Borgu and Dahomey. It is now certain that the Kingdom did not embrace all the Yoruba and the non-Yoruba states as claimed by many authors” (p. 160).

Dr. Olagunju doubted that the Bashoruns of the Oyo empire were of Borgu origins even when Professor Ogundiran pointed it out in his book. Well, they were more than bashoruns. According to Professor Babatunded Agiri, whom Dr. Olagunju quoted in his response to me, “This process, by which the earliest Yoruba dynasties lost their political power to an invading Borgawa group, is also found in the Save area (now in Dahomey). Here the invasion probably took place sometime in the seventeenth century or slightly earlier. That the ruling dynasty in Old Oyo was non-Yoruba is also supported by the existence of a relic of an extinct (and probably Yoruba) dynasty in the lineage of the Basorun” (see “Early Oyo History Reconsidered” by Babatunde Agiri (1975) History in Africa, 1975, p.7).

Agiri also pointed out that, “The Oranyan dynasty was from Borgu and the traditions of its origin in Old Oyo emphasize this link. The conquest of Old Oyo by the Borgawa dynasty must have occurred well before the fifteenth century” and that Borgu “established satellite dynasties in the Yoruba towns in the area, including Oyo, replacing the former Nupe influence there” (p. 10).

He said Alaafin Abipa owed his success in reestablishing his dynasty at Old Oyo to the large following of warriors from Borgu who accompanied him and that some of these warriors were rewarded for their services by being permitted to replace the rulers of some former Yoruba settlements such as Kishi, Igboho, and Igbetti.

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has rejected N40b earmarked for it as 2025 budget estimates.

It tacitly got approval for the N126b it proposed to the National Assembly through its joint committee on INEC and Electoral Matters.

Rejection of the N40b yearly budget envelope for the electoral body was made by its Chairman, Professor Mahmood Yakubu to the joint committee during budget defence session.

The INEC boss in his presentation before the joint committee chaired by Senator Sarafadeen Alli (APC Oyo South) said elections in Nigeria have become huge burden requiring adequate funding.

“Our proposal for the 2025 budget, the provision requires the sum of over N126 billion.

“We have the document that has provided details line by line on how we intended to spend the 126 billion.

“We would like the support of the National Assembly to enable us to achieve our responsibilities in the first line charge and most of these responsibilities are constitutional.

“In a nutshell, the N40billion budget envelope given us for 2025 will not cover 1/3 of projected expenses which totally amounts to over N126billion.

“Aside the off-cycle elections for 21 constituencies to be filled through bye-elections and the Anambra Governorship election this year, personnel cost alone on account of the new minimum wage will eat up the N40billion budgetary envelope”, he said.

He added that the inadequacy of the N40billion budget envelope made the electoral body to get intervention funds of N10.5billion for Edo and Ondo elections in 2024 and another N500million for bye-elections on affected constituencies in 2024.

Apparently convinced by the proposal of INEC, members of the joint committee one after the other assured the electoral body that the proposed sum shall be appropriated for in the 2025 budget.

Specifically, Senator Ireti Kingibe (LP FCT) said “the situation at hand is not about looking for the N126billion for INEC in 2025 fiscal year but providing it”.

The joint committee thereafter went into closed door session with the INEC Chairman and the Federal Commissioners on how to source for the fund and appropriate it in the 2025 budget.

[DailyPost]

After reading Peter Obi’s thoughtful New Year’s Day statement, Felix Morka, the National Publicity Secretary of the ruling APC, accused him of being an extreme pessimist and doomsayer who “has crossed the line of truth so many times” and “deserves whatever comes his way”.

Like many other onlookers, I am appalled by the obvious threat, deeply puzzled by Morka’s allegation and wondering what Obi said that was false.

It is Morka – a gaslighter and propagandist extraordinaire – who has problems with truth and I challenge him to properly explain his reasons for dismissing Obi’s honest observations and well-intentioned advice. 

Here are excerpts from Obi commonsense-filled statement:

“The political, economic and security situation of our country is worsening daily, despite contrary claims by the government of improvement in different spheres of human endeavour…Our national indices tell a disconcerting story.

•Nigeria remains one of the poverty capitals of the world, with over 100 million people living in extreme poverty and more than 150 million in multidimensional poverty. The situation has deteriorated significantly over the past 18 months under the current administration.    

•Nigeria remains one of the most insecure and least peaceful nations in the world, with countless communities and families displaced from their homes and now living in IDP camps. According to the Global Peace Index, GPI, Nigeria ranks 143rd out of 163 countries in terms of peacefulness – an indication of a high level of distress.

•Food insecurity has become our new national norm, making Nigeria one of the hungriest countries in the world. Gainfully employed and middle-income Nigerians now spend nearly their entire incomes on feeding, with some even resorting to borrowing just to eat. For those living on the margins – low-income earners and the unemployed – the situation is even more dire. The newly approved minimum wage of N70,000 cannot afford a bag of rice or even half a bag of beans. As a result, many Nigerians go to bed hungry, while a significant number now rely on palliatives and charitable support. Tragically, this has recently led to several avoidable deaths.    

•We have earned the dubious distinction of being one of the countries with the largest number of people without access to electricity. In 2024, despite abysmal and unacceptable power generation and distribution, the frequency of National Grid collapse increased significantly, with the Grid failing 12 times in 12 months.    

•Corruption, official malfeasance, fiscal profligacy, and the mismanagement of public resources continue to rise astronomically in our country, spreading across all spheres of government. Similarly, nepotism and disregard for the Constitution, the rule of law, and due process have become the norm.

•Our national debt has risen astronomically, from approximately N15 trillion in 2015 to N100 trillion today. This sharp increase has occurred within the past 18 months under the current administration.    

•Inflation remains at an all-time high, businesses are collapsing, and manufacturing companies are barely surviving, further contributing to the already high unemployment rate.

•We hold periodic elections that are no longer genuine. Our electoral processes are visibly flawed, lacking transparency and credibility.    

Peter Obi

Suggestions on the way forward

From all indications, Nigeria urgently needs selfless and exemplary leadership across the three arms and tiers of government. However, this much-needed exemplary leadership must begin at the very top. Since the ultimate responsibility lies with Mr. President, I will direct my attention to him.

Mr. President, present-day Nigeria aligns closely with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s powerful words: “We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. This is no time for apathy or complacency. This is a time for vigorous and positive actions.”  …It is time to confront our national problems boldly, decisively, and with a sense of urgency. My suggestions are as follows:

Commence a visible and verifiable reduction in the cost of governance to allocate much-needed resources to critical areas of development, such as security, health, education, and poverty alleviation.

Aggressive and visible attention should be given to combating corruption. The focus should be on eliminating current and future official malfeasance through increased transparency and accountability in public procurement and contract award and execution processes.

All future borrowing must be tied to regenerative investments and visible, productive assets that benefit the nation…rather than continuing the current practice of accumulating massive debt with no tangible returns.

Mr. President, out of the approximately 580 days you have been in office, it is reported that you have spent over 30%, or around 180 days, on more than 30 publicly recorded overseas trips. My appeal is that you dedicate at least 20% of 2025 – roughly 72 days – to visit each of Nigeria’s 36 states for two days each. As President, such visits would give you the opportunity to better understand the dire economic and security situations across the country.

Furthermore, it is time for you to visit our national hospitals (and undergo a medical check up in one of them). This will allow you to assess the state of healthcare facilities… and make informed decisions on how to upgrade them.

Endeavour to travel by road to observe the condition of most highways.    

Make both impromptu and planned visits to our tertiary institutions…I recall President Shagari visiting the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, when I was a student there and telling us, ‘I have seen the facilities myself, and I assure you of my intervention.’ Facilities improved significantly thereafter.

As Commander-in-Chief, visit our military formations and security agencies, especially during their field operations, and provide them with morale-boosting assurances and support for operational efficiency. Reiterate that they and their families will always be taken care of.

Visit various IDP camps and assure these Nigerians that they will soon return to their communities, and that you are working hard to restore peace.

As President, you are no longer the Governor of Lagos State; therefore, consider spending your holidays in different parts of the country.    

The single most challenging test you face is ensuring that future elections are credible and truly reflect the will of the people.

Finally, Mr. President, Nigerians need to hear directly from you, not through your proxies. Quarterly updates on what you are doing to improve the situation in Nigeria are crucial.”

Ghanaian President Nana Akuffo-Addo’s last day in office was January 6, 2025. His country’s economy had crumbled at his feet. Even when newly sworn-in President John Dramani Mahama had not been adjudged an effective leader, Ghanaians see him as a sort of saviour. For them, anybody or group but Akufo-Addo and his cronies, was good enough for Ghana.

In a valedictory speech in parliament to signal the end of Akuffo-Addo’s disastrous tenure, a parliamentarian after cataloguing some of the woes Ghanaians went through under him, told the disgraced President: “It is finished!” So the parliamentarian thought. He did not suspect that for the larger African people, Akufo-Addo had a parting shot to deliver on behalf of his Western ‘partners’ who virtually ran Ghana with him as a figure-head and a spy.

In 2022 on the side-lines of the US-African Leaders Summit, Akufo-Addo snitched on neigbouring Burkina Faso to US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken. He reported that Burkina Faso and Mali had brought in the Russian Wagner mercenary forces to fight Islamic terrorists. He informed that the Burkinabe Prime Minister had been in Moscow for ten days and that a mine has been given the Russians as payment. He told Blinken that he was uncomfortable with the Russian presence in a neigbouring country because Ghana supports Ukraine in the Russo-Ukrainian War.

I found it demeaning that an African President would stoop so low as to openly act as spy for a foreign country. Secondly, that an African Head of State would be reporting not to a fellow President or Vice President, but to the Foreign Minister of another country. Thirdly, I am not sure Akufo-Addo knew he was being filmed or that the video would be leaked.

It was quite tragic that rather than dialogue with his brothers across the border, the Ghanaian President flew all the way to Washington to go report to foreigners. This is also despite the fact that Burkina Faso and Ghana have the same Mossi nationality on both sides of their colonial borders. Akufo-Addo claimed that all he was doing was bring the issue of Russian presence in the region to the notice of the US. But was he so daft as to think that the Americans were unaware that the Burkinabes expelled the French and invited the Russians?

Perhaps the most nauseating part of the report was Akufo-Addo claiming that his country’s concern was that it did not want the military of the big powers to operate in West Africa. He made this claim while being conscious that his government had permitted the US to operate a military base in Ghana.

Akufo-Addo is like a sex worker who shouts in public that she is a virgin and insists her customers accept this as the truth. Even after allowing the US Military base, he told a blatant lie in April 2018 that Ghana had not offered and will not offer a military base to the US. A lawyer who is clever by half, he assumed that the African people are stupid; that since the US military base in Ghana has been baptised as the West African Logistics Network, WALN, it meant the base did not exist.

When opposition parliamentarian, Brogya Genfi sued the government for eroding the country’s sovereignty by agreeing to the slavish Ghana-US Military Base Agreement, the Ghanaian Supreme Court on Tuesday, May 5, 2020 ruled that the suit was unmeritorious.

When on August 12, 2022, I wrote against the US Military Base in Ghana in my column titled: “How Ghana surrendered its independence to the US”, I got protest phone calls from the Ghana High Commission in Abuja. The embassy claimed I was unfair to President Akufo-Addo and that I had misrepresented facts. I was invited to a meeting on Monday, August 15, 2022 with the High Commissioner in his office on Diplomatic Drive, Abuja. I agreed to the meeting but insisted the venue should be a public place like an hotel lobby. The High Commission picked Rockview Hotel, Wuse II, Abuja. The High Commissioner sent a representative to the meeting who tried to put the blame for the US Military Base on the previous administration. I pointed out that the parliament that approved the base was not under the past government and that in any case, if it is true that the Akufo-Addo government was opposed to the base, what has it done for the over four years it has been in power to repeal the Agreement, more so when it provides that it can be terminated by a one-year written notice by either side. The Ghanaian diplomat rambled and called for a second meeting which expectedly, never took place.

The Akufo-Addo culture of betraying the African dream and selling Ghana for cheap, is a family tradition. His father, Edward Akufo-Addo, and his uncle, Joseph William Ofori-Attah, were part of the Group of Four Ghanaian elites who facilitated the February 24, 1966 American Central Intelligence Agency, CIA, coup against the principled Pan Africanist, Kwame Nkrumah. After that coup, the senior Akufo-Addo became the Attorney General of the new military junta. Four years into the coup, he was appointed President of Ghana.

When 50 years later, Akufo-Addo, like his father, became President of Ghana, I knew the country was heading for disaster. Hence, I titled my December 16, 2016 column, “Ghana: An African Dream Deferred.”

This Monday, the eve of his departure as Ghanaian President, Akufo-Addo tried to defer another African dream by purportedly suspending diplomatic relations with the sister African country, the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic, SADR, better known as Western Sahara.

It is yet unclear why Akufo-Addo decided to severe diplomatic relations with Western Sahara in favour of the illegal occupation of parts of that country by monarchical Morocco. There are two possible reasons I can discern: either he acted at the behest of his Western masters, or due to the largess Morocco is sharing amongst African countries. Who knows, given his retirement, Akufo-Addo may be enticed by the Moroccan subversive generosity.

We Africans in our tens of millions, expect President Mahama to reverse this Akufo-Addo attempt to disunite our continent. We expect him to be on the same page as African leaders like Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu and South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa who, in a joint communiqué on December 3, 2024, reiterated their unwavering support for the inalienable right of our Saharawi brothers and sisters to freedom, self-determination and justice. This is in accordance with the October 16, 1975 decision of the International Court of Justice, the rulings of European Court of Justice, ECJ and the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights and, the Charters of the African Union and the United Nations.

Everyone is expecting my comment on the recent engagement of a foreign coach for the country’s national football team, the Super Eagles. I am sorry that I am going to disappoint those expecting me to criticize or praise the appointment. I am numb!

Like every other Nigerian, I knew a search was on for a foreign coach for the national team. I assumed the search would be quick, thorough and limited to Europe where most of the best coaches in the world are found. That should be expected considering that Nigerians have lofty ambitions – to play against all the odds and still qualify for the 2026 World Cup; to do better than the last time and win the African Cup of Nations this year in Morocco; and to leave a major mark on the 2026 World Cup as an authentic outside contender.

Those are the goals that would satisfy Nigerian football fans after sacking the last two European coaches, both disasters; after rejecting their own indigenous coaches that could not deliver expected results; and not even considering other qualified Nigerians as an option.

It was clear that the NFF was not inclined to anyone but the best White-skinned coach from Europe as good enough for the Super Eagles. Hence, the long search and long wait.

Meanwhile, tired of singing my hollow minority song of support for any one of several Nigerian ex-international players with good reputation as players, good paper qualifications after retiring, and varied experiences limited only because of the general practice of discrimination against African coaches in Europe, I decided to join the wait for the NFF’s messianic coach from Europe that many of my colleagues insisted must be the only way.

So, whilst waiting for the NFF to do their job and to announce the name of one of several known, qualified and experienced European ‘World-Class’ coaches being touted as best for Nigeria and must be hired otherwise the world will end, I turned to other pursuits in life.

The waiting has been long, and the people, impatient.

Early this week, the NFF finally pulled the chest nut out of the fire. Since then, even amongst some of the most virulent critics of the NFF have been stunned into the silence of disbelief.

What did the NFF see that the rest of the world did not see in this unusual choice of a coach? It was expected that he would be the product of a meticulous and thorough scrutiny of criteria needed to identify a ‘World Class’ coach with often-padded wages well-secured against previous shenanigans.

This time, a wiser NFF was expected to avoid, by all means, even the slightest whiff of a scandal.

Those were the thoughts of Nigerians when the lingering dragged on for a long time. With all eyes trained on the process, expectations were high that there would be no dubiousness in ascertaining the records, credentials, experiences, qualifications and reputation of anyone chosen since no excuses would be acceptable, given the precarious position of the Super Eagles on the Group Table.

In short, the NFF must hire a coach whose choice can be easily justified.

Suddenly, from the quiet of the graveyard came the announcement that has now left a large chunk of the country’s football eggheads in a state of stupor, unable to understand the rationale and the motivation for such a bizarre choice of a coach.

Even I did not accept as true the initial reports. I half-expected to wake up from a bad dream.

Eric Chelle is such an audacious choice that the NFF must have seen what the rest of the country did not.

I reason that the NFF must have chosen to follow the road less travelled in order to depart from the failed processes of the past, destroy the norm, and chart a completely new route to the future with a classic ‘shock and awe’ strategy.

If that was their plan, the NFF may have succeeded. The country is in animated suspense, everyone unsure of what to make of this seeming period of ‘madness’.

I have been listening to various reactions to it and, like me, many people have been silenced by the audacity of the process and the eventual choice.

In football, realistically and by all known parameters, Eric Chelle, almost does not ‘exist’. His career as a player was ordinary, played in France only, and was mostly in the obscurity of the lower leagues. His international experience can be counted on the fingers of one hand – 5 international caps for Mali, an African country that has never won anything in football, and never even qualified for the World Cup.

Eric finished his playing career and embarked on a coaching regimen that is so lean that everything and the best of what he did can be summed up in one item – leading Mali to the quarter-finals of the last AFCON about a year ago. That’s it. That’s all. That’s who Nigeria finally settles for as the ‘world class’ coach that will take the country and the country’s football to El Dorado? That’s who ‘the Giant of Africa’ chooses ahead of its legion of retired ex-internationals with experiences and qualifications that make Eric’s look like kindergarten stuff.

Forgive me, but I am still trying to stop myself from thinking this is the greatest disrespect of a Nigerian in any field of endeavour. I am struggling to take it all in and see the side I may not be seeing through my pained eyes.

I initially told myself it must be some ‘deep fake’ news. I have since called up one of the bosses in the NFF and he confirmed it as true. I asked him what the process of selection was and the motivation to make such a hard-to-justify choice. He advised me to call and ask Victor Ikpeba, one time Africa’s Best Player, a great football analyst on television, my good friend and a member of the Technical Committee that recommended the Malian coach to the NFF board.

I respect the ‘Prince of Monaco’, so I chose not call to ask him, give the NFF every benefit of doubt and then, ‘Siddon-look’ the drama that will unfold.

Meanwhile, I am thinking and wondering at the sheer audacity of the NFF in choosing to take this difficult route to success. There must be something I am missing and failing to see and appreciate in this their choice.

So, I am NOT going to comment on it at all. I shall wait and watch and learn. There may be something to take away from this.

After all, in 1990, when a coach was to be hired for the Nigerian national team at the time, the NFA hired a man, whose qualifications have been the least in Nigeria’s football history.

Yes, Clemens Westerhof, may be the most successful coach to date in Nigeria’s football history, but going through his credentials at the time he was hired, he has also been the least qualified coach in Nigeria’s football history.

Eric Chelles qualifications are even a notch higher statistically than Westerhof’s in 1990. So, is the NFF drinking from the Westerhof model? Can that be what the NFF sees and thinks will repeat itself again in 2025?

That is a question only time and the next few months will tell.

So, it makes sense for me to sit and observe the drama, either way. Nigerians should be prepared to cry or to laugh. The choice of Eric Chelle presents the stage for an epic drama. It will turn out to be the product of either ‘Wickedness’ or ‘Genius’.

Actor Yul Edochie and his second wife, Judy Austin continue to face criticism, but their love for each other remains strong. Despite the backlash, they have remained inseparable. The couple’s chemistry and commitment to each other have been evident in their public displays of affection and heartfelt messages.

Recently, Judy Austin paid a touching tribute to Yul Edochie on his birthday, praising him as her “king” and “soulmate.” The actor marked his birthday on January 7, while Austin’s birthday comes a week after her husband’s special day.

Edochie had earlier expressed his love and gratitude for Judy Austin in a post on Instagram.

Paying tribute to her husband, Austin said “Our compatibility is out of this world and that’s our biggest strength.” According to her, it’s not a coincidence that their birthdays are exactly one week apart.

She emphasized in her heartfelt message their distinctive connection, love, and mutual respect, thanking her husband for making her a better version of herself.

“You’re dependable,.You’re the strongest man I know. You’re fearless. One man squad. Your destiny will shock the world. Your greatness will be studied in generations to come!!! You’re a rare diamond that can never be replaced. I’m the luckiest woman alive to have you as my King.”

Meanwhile, fans continue to criticize Judy Austin, labeling her a “husband snatcher” and accusing her of ruining Yul Edochie’s destiny. The couple’s love has been met with intense scrutiny and criticism, since last April after the actor announced Judy Austin as his second wife. But despite the odds, they remain committed to each other.

[Vanguard]

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has invited Subomi and Wahab, the sons of Razaq Okoya, the billionaire industrialist, for interrogation over alleged abuse of the naira. 

In the invite signed by Michael Wetkas, acting director of the Lagos directorate of the EFCC, the anti-graft agency directed the duo to report to the head, special operations team at the 15A Awolowo Road office of the commission by 10am on Monday, January 13, 2025.

The Okoya brothers have been in the news for “abusing the naira” in a promotional video for a new song.

The video — which featured a police officer holding wads of N1,000 notes as the boys encircled to a tune — had elicited outrage on social media.

On January 10, Muyiwa Adejobi, spokesperson of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), announced that the officer seen in the video had been arrested and detained.

He said the officer’s actions were unethical, adding that he would face disciplinary action.

“The policeman captured in the recent viral video shared by the sons of the Lagos businessman, Chief Okoya, where they were abusing the naira, has been identified and detained for disciplinary action,” Adejobi wrote on X.

“The involvement of the policeman has been condemned, as it’s unethical. We will always strive hard to uphold the sanctity, credibility, and core values of the police.”

In 2024, the EFCC ramped up its enforcement of naira abuse by celebritries, citing Section 21 of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Act.

On April 4, Bobrisky, the social media celebrity, was arrested by the commission in Lagos for defacing naira notes.

The crossdresser was arraigned on a six-count charge by the EFCC.

On April 16, the EFCC filed a three-count charge against Cubana Chief Priest, the socialite and social media influencer, over alleged naira abuse.

[TheCable]