Last week, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa, the former governor of Delta State was arrested by EFCC over an alleged N1.3tn fraud. If you asked me, I will say this, once again, is another evidence of war of attrition by Nigerian state against Niger Delta whose leadership has come under intense scrutiny since the birth of the 4th republic. EFCC’s periodic attempt at dragging leaders of the region to court over corruption charges, when we, the assumed victims, never asked outsiders for help, is seen as an attempt to cause disaffection between the people and their leaders.

A people, as it is often said deserve the leadership they get. I am sure the leaders of the Niger Delta who are about the most educated, most sophisticated, professionally accomplished, leaders in the banking, entrepreneurship and the media where they maintain a complete monopoly cannot be said not to know what is best for their impoverished people. In any case, the poor but proud people of the Niger Delta whose leaders often say “Warri no dey carry last’ have not sought for help.

The problem with our successive leaders who are ill-trained in the art of governance since the collapse of the first republic has been their failure to appreciate the fact that as a multi-cultural society with groups at different level of cultural development, no one group can impose its own value system on the other. It was for this reason, Sir Ahmadu Belo in the run-up to independence warned Zik that rather than forget our differences for the sake of independence, they, the founding fathers  must first try to understand them.

Awolowo unfortunately learnt this lesson too late.

He had gone to the Middle Belt and north-eastern regions of Nigeria to preach egalitarianism and free education. Ahmadu Bello at their last meeting held in the house of a common friend in Ikorodu insisted those Awo wanted to liberate were his great grandfather’s slaves. And this became very clear after Tarka’s death when successive leadership of the Middle Belt chose to align with northern conservative parties from NPN to PDP rather than Awo’s progressive UPN.

And as if to prove Ahmadu Bello right, the Middle Belt that had always provided soldiers of fortune for the northern jihadists, had Yakubu Gowon, Theophilus Danjuma and other Middle Belt officers. leading  the war which at the beginning was essentially between the north and the east until it became ‘war to keep Nigeria one”’ when the attack on the West and Midwest by the secessionist convinced the two regions that sitting on the fence would only turn their regions to theatre of war.

It is the same story with the Ibibio, Efiks and the minorities in the East whose battle Awo carried on his head to the London Constitutional Conference. The people of the area after independence probably realized their best safeguard against their more aggressive Igbo neighbours was an alignment with the north and that has been the trend till today.

Nearer home, except for the Benins that are culturally related to the Yoruba, the Urhobos, Ijaws and the Isokos have since independence aligned with the northern conservatives. In fact Pa Edwin Clark while trying to play politics of identity not too long ago, was reminded by a prominent northern leader that, he, Clark must remember he was always at the head of Ijaw group seeking coalition with the north.

What history has taught us therefore is that no individual or groups can impose their values on others who are not ready for change. Change can only be effected from inside when the people are ready for it. This universal truth is no less true of the people of Niger Delta, a microcosm of Nigeria. And this explains why EFCC’s periodic indictment of Niger Delta leaders for corruption has led to no uprising or even condemnation of their leaders.

Instead, the people remain unequivocal on their demand for a revenue sharing formula, based on derivation as was the case in the first republic and in the worst scenario, a sharing formula that provides succour for farmers, fishermen and youths who no more have access to land, rivers and employment opportunities.

In any case, corruption, for the people of Niger Delta according to President Jonathan is not a big deal. “What many Nigerians refer to as corruption is actually stealing.  Stealing is not the same thing as corruption”. And even if you ignore Jonathan’s Freudian, slip, the impoverished people of Niger Delta have demonstrated to our anti-corruption crusaders from Obasanjo to Buhari who like the proverbial undertakers cry louder than the bereaved, that the more the billions of their monies converted to personal use, the more the honours such vilified leaders get.

Let us start with Alfred Diette-Spiff. He was at 25, the first governor of Rivers under the administration of Gowon. Following Murtala Mohammed’s coup against Gowon, the governor was missing for three days. When he was eventually located, it was on the high seas where he was cruising with his friends in his private ship. Although he was demoted by Murtala Mohammed regime and a number of houses seized from him in Port Harcourt, Alfred Papapreye Diette-Spiff has gone on to become the Amayanabo (king) Twon Brass and remains one of the most powerful voices from Balyelsa.

The case of Chief Diepreye Alameyeseigha, Governor- General of the Ijaws and the brain behind rampaging Niger Delta militants in the Creeks was more intriguing. In fact, he was being groomed by his people as Obasanjo’s potential successor. But that was before his successful contest for the PDP presidential primaries after which Obasanjo declared him morally bankrupt to aspire to lead Nigeria. He was chased from Germany to France and to Britain from where he escaped to Nigeria dressed like a woman.

Following mobilization of Britain, USA, South Africa, Bahamas and Seychelles and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes and the World Bank under the stolen Assets Recovery by President Obasanjo, we were told of his accumulated properties , bank accounts, investments in cash of up to 10 million pounds in five banks in the UK, Cyprus, Denmark and the US;  his four London properties acquired for a total of four million pounds; a Cape town Harbour penthouse acquired for one million pounds, houses in the US and  about one million pounds stored in one of his London properties.

Living a lavish ostentatious life style at the expense the people, as it turned out, only endeared the Ijaw governor general to his impoverished people. Then Ribadu committed an affront by securing his conviction. An attempt was not only made on Ribadu’s life, he was demoted and forced to flee the country. And his judicial victory was a pyrrhic one as President Jonathan who declared “when God gives us power, we must use it for the glory of his name” wasted no time in granting his ‘Ijaw Governor General and former boss, presidential amnesty.

James Ibori was another Niger Delta governor widely celebrated by his impoverished people for converting their commonwealth to private use. He was dragged before an Asaba High Court over financial malfeasance against his people by EFCC. The case was thrown out for lack of substance. But the same case, with the same evidence, the Metropolitan Police in London secured James Ibori indictment and jailed him for 13 years.

But the ancient Asaba town and its environs were literally paralyzed in jubilation, when the news of his release from London prison where he had served 10-year jail term for money laundering and other offences filtered into Asaba and its environs.  The event was described by one newspapers as follows: “Thousands of supporters, admirers and friends of the ex-convict, James Onanefe Ibori, converged Sunday morning for the thanksgiving service at First Baptist Church”. “Various Quarters’ residents, especially Asaba youths, rolled out their drums to celebrate the man they described as “Odidigborigbo.”

The youths sang Asaba-Ibo songs along Nnebisi Road, Summit Junction; they danced freely to drumbeats, causing serious traffic gridlock. Popular Ogbeogonogo Market Women were not left out in the jubilation. Chief Ibori who wore Urhobo traditional attire, a gold-coloured lace top with blue wrapper to match, arrived at the church in an unmarked Lexus SUV at exactly 10.20 am, amidst cheers from his admirers”.

Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta who many believed was single-handedly installed by Ibori, as “a way to show gratitude to Chief Ibori” allegedly bankrolled the elaborate church thanksgiving service and reception to the tune of N350m.

Uche Secondus, the then national chairman of PDP confirmed Okowa’s indebtedness to Ibori when he spoke in March 2018 at a thanksgiving and grand reception organised by Olorogun John Oguma, in honour of Ibori at the Ibru Unity Square, Ovwor-Olomu, Ughelli South Local Government According to him, “Before the 2015 elections, I received a call from our leader (Ibori), and I asked him the direction. He (Ibori) told me Okowa should be supported.”

We don’t need a soothsayer to know that with the support of his impoverished but proud people who detest outsiders reminding them of the inhumanity of their leaders, Okowa corruption case will end like those of his predecessors.

Let us all hail Niger Delta leaders for keeping faith with their people.

The November 5, 2024 Presidential election in the USA has come and gone. Americans have spoken. Donald Trump is returning to the White House as the country’s 47th President with a convincing win, poling 312 electoral votes to Kamala Harris’ 226.

There are several observations on how Trump’s second term in office could possibly impact on Africa:

A major fear of many African leaders is not just that Trump, widely regarded as a racist, might cut America’s humanitarian aid to Africa. The belief is that Africa will be a lower priority for him than it is for other world leaders, and that he will prioritise transactional relationship in which aids and grants would be drastically cut. In August 2024 for instance, during a visit to Dakar, Senegal, Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, Julieta Valls Noyes, announced more than $64 million in humanitarian assistance for Sub-Saharan Africa, which reportedly brought the total “U.S. humanitarian assistance in Sub-Saharan Africa to more than $3.8 billion so far in Fiscal Year 2024.

The United States is proud to be the largest single humanitarian donor to Africa/Sub-Saharan Africa globally”, a briefing from the Office of the Spokesperson to the US Department of State, claimed on August 24, 2024. While we do not know the nature of the humanitarian assistance the money is meant for, we do know that aids, whether tied or untied, are tools of foreign policy and there is an unresolved debate on whether aid facilitates or hinders economic development. Following from this, a Trump presidency cutting aid to Africa could help to wean African leaders of their ‘begging bowl syndrome”, and bring some respect to the continent.

There are also legitimate concerns that a Trump presidency may lead to massive deportation of ‘illegal immigrants’ and a tightening of immigration rules for Africans and others from developing countries. True, this may affect the remittance in-flows from African migrants who have not regularized their stay in the country. However, American institutions are so strong that there will be serious legal challenges if the Trump government takes extreme measures against illegal immigrants or on immigration rules.  The tightening of immigration rules in America, and even the likely deportation of some Africans, as bad as it may be for Africa in the short term, however could also lead to a greater push to make the continent better, which would eventually curtail the desire by some to vote with their feet.

What would be Trump’s trade policy towards Africa?  Trump ran his campaign under the moniker, MAGA – Make America Great Again. He is certainly not a multilateralist – meaning he is not likely to depend on multilateral institutions like the United Nations and its agencies in efforts to solve America’s problems.  Trump had declared during his first term that he would not renew the African Growth and Opportunity Act, which is due for renewal in 2025. Created in 2000 and renewed in 2015, AGOA gives countries in sub-Saharan Africa preferential access to U.S. markets, allowing them to export products to the United States tariff-free. The truth however is that the benefits from AGOA are exaggerated. For instance under AGOA, eligible sub-Saharan African countries (35 countries as of May 2023) stand to benefit from the U.S. trade programme, but AGOA utilization rates and results vary widely. Kenya and Lesotho have some of the highest AGOA utilization rates – 88% of Kenyan exports and 99% of Lesotho’s exports – mostly apparel products for both countries.

Remarkably, almost half of all beneficiary countries under AGOA have a utilization rate of 2% or lower, meaning  that about 98% of U.S. imports from those eligible countries were subject to U.S. tariffs. During his 2024 campaign, Trump pledged to implement a universal 10% income tariff on all foreign-made goods. Trump could paradoxically be a wake-up call to those African leaders manacled by the neo-liberal brand of economics pushed down Africa’s throat by the Bretton Woods institutions and which never worked anywhere.

Even if Trump wants to, can he in reality be able to make America pursue purely isolationist foreign and economic policies? I doubt it. The truth is that a dominant world power which still wants to retain its global hegemony in the face of overt economic competition from China and efforts by a resurgent Russia to create a multipolar world that will whittle down, if not overthrow its Western security, economic and governance systems, cannot afford to be fully isolationist. With groups like BRICS+ expanding to create alternatives to the Bretton Woods institutions and the SWIFT system, the USA can only go fully isolationist at its peril.

There is also the Truman Doctrine, a policy enunciated by President Harry Truman in 1947 which made it an article of faith for the US to contain Soviet expansionism wherever it reared its head. With Russia, which succeeded the Soviet Union trying to reclaim the glory of the old Soviet Union by projecting power onto the global space, there are already visible signs of the activation of the Truman Doctrine. Despite the supposed personal relationship between Trump and Putin, it is unlikely that the US would remain content for Russia to continue expanding its influence in Africa and Asia without trying to contain it.

Despite his unflattering reputation, we may also pose the question of what we have really gained from former US Presidents we cozied up to, contra those we had very dim views of. Good examples here are Barrack Obama, the 44th President and George W Bush, the 43rd US President. In the run-up to the election of Barrack Obama as the first Black President of the USA in 2012, Africans were literally falling over themselves to offer him support as our ‘cousin’. With an African father from Kenya, we appropriated him as a fellow African who can understand Africa’s problem. True, he organized the US-Africa summit in 2014 and started the Africa Power initiative, but these were more of gesture politics than anything substantial. In contrast, there was angst in Africa and African American community when George W Bush was campaigning to be US president in 2000.

He was thought to be a spoilt child, a C-average student and a bit aloof, if not racist. His Democratic rival, Al Gore, was overwhelmingly preferred by Africans and African Americans. Yet, under George W Bush, African Americans were given choice positions in government. George W Bush also set up the President’s Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR/Emergency Plan) to address the global HIV/AIDS epidemic and help save the lives of those suffering from the disease, primarily in Africa. PEPFAR is said to be the largest health initiative ever initiated by one country to address a disease. Remarkably Obama cut funding for PEPFAR. Also Obama refused repeatedly to sell weapons to the country to fight Boko Haram on human rights concern.

Ironically it was Donald Trump who sold 12-high tech aircraft to Nigeria in the fight against Boko Haram despite a damning 2017 Human Rights Report.  Similarly the Obama’s regime’s role in NATO’s attacks on Libya in 2011 is said to be one of the reasons for the upsurge in terrorist activities especially in Mali. President Obama was also accused of talking down on Africans and African Americans during his presidency. Yes, Trump is racist and profiles Africans but so are some of our own leaders, and we routinely profile and demonize one another.

While Trump could be unpredictable, he appears consistently fascinated by ‘deals’, and   during his first term, constantly talked of offering countries ‘deals’ – a term commonly used by business people but rarely by politicians or Presidents. Trump usually imagines himself as the ultimate dealmaker so he may be offering deals to even countries he famously regarded as ‘shithole’ countries depending on the leverages those countries could bring to the table or what he wants to use them to achieve.

A quote from Trump’s book, The Art of the Deal (1987) could probably provide an insight on how to deal with the 47th President of the USA: “I never get too attached to one deal or one approach. For starters, I keep a lot of balls in the air, because most deals fall out, no matter how promising they seem at first.”

Jideofor Adibe is a Professor of Political Science and International Relations at Nasarawa State University and founder of Adonis & Abbey Publishers (www.adonis-abbey.com). He can be reached at: 0705 807 8841 (WhatsApp and Text messages only).

Last week, President Bola Tinubu ordered the immediate termination of the treason charge against 119 protesters standing trial for treason arising from the August 1-8, 2024 protests against bad governance and hardship in the country. Consequently, the Attorney-general of the Federation, Mr. Lateef Fagbemi SAN applied for the withdrawal of the charges. Since there was no objection from the defence counsel, the case was struck out by Justice Obioma Egwatu. It is pertinent to review the attempted criminalization of peaceful protests in Nigeria by a governments that is completely intolerant of criticism in a democratic society.

Right of citizens to protest

The fundamental rights of Nigerian citizens to assemble and protest against unpopular policies of governments are guaranteed by Section 39 and 40 of the Constitution as well as Articles 9 and 10 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act, 2004. In the case of the Inspector General of Police v All Nigeria Peoples Party (2008) 22 WRN 65, the Court of Appeal declared police permit for rallies illegal and unconstitutional and directed the National Assembly to amend the Public Order Act to facilitate the enjoyment of the fundamental right to peaceful protests by aggrieved citizens.

While the National Assembly ignored the directive of the Court of Appeal, the police and other security forces intensified the infringement of the right of Nigerians to protest against governments and other public authorities. However, the right to protest by Nigerians was statutorily protected in the 2015 Amendment of the Electoral Act 2010. Furthermore, section 83(4) of the Police Establishment Act 2020 has imposed a duty on the Nigeria Police Force to provide adequate security for protesters during rallies, meetings and protests.

Breach of the right to protest against bad governance

In a brazen violation of the right of Nigerians to assemble and freely voice out their views on bad governance and rising cost of living in the country, the Federal Government and several state governments embarked on a campaign of calumny against the organisers of the August 2024 protests. When the vicious campaign did not achieve its dubious objective, the Federal Government threatened to deal ruthlessly with the organisers of the protest. Out of sheer desperation, the Lagos and Ogun states governments as well as the federal capital territory administration surreptitiously secured ex parte orders to stop the protest.

For having the temerity to participate in the protest, the police and the armed forces shot at many unarmed protesters. At the end of the protest, not less than 22 protesters were killed. Thus, the deliberate refusal of the police to provide adequate security for the protesters and the unwarranted killing of some of the protesters led to the violence that marred the peaceful protests in some states.

However, before the protest was called off, President Bola Tinubu said that the Federal Government had heard the protesters loud and clear and would enter into dialogue with the leaders. Notwithstanding the presidential declaration, the police turned round to commence the prosecution of the over 2,000 protesters that were arrested in several states.

Criminalization of protest

Even though charges were filed against a number of protesters in some state capitals, the Nigeria Police Force decided to arraign 130 protesters including 29 minors on 10 counts, including treason, incitement to mutiny by urging the military to remove President Bola Tinubu and other related charges before the Abuja judicial division of the Federal High Court. Notwithstanding that section 2(4) of the Terrorism Prevention Act 2022 states that a protest, demonstration or stoppage of work is not a terrorist act, the police sought and obtained an ex parte order to detain the suspects for 60 days for the purpose of investigating them for alleged involvement in terrorism.

Alhough the police had secured an order to detain the suspects for 60 days, they were held for 92 days before they were arraigned in the Federal High Court. Among the suspects were 29 children who were malnourished and dehydrated during their arraignment. Owing to hunger and exhaustion in the congested court room, four minor defendants collapsed and they were rushed to a hospital.

Illegal arraignment of children in the Federal High Court

In 2001, Nigeria ratified the United Nations Child’s Rights Convention and enacted the Child’s Rights Act in 2003. We have confirmed that the 36 states of the federation have adopted and enacted the legislation. Thus, under the Child’s Rights Law applicable in each State, child offenders under the age of 18 years cannot be charged in the Federal High Court or State High Court but in the Family Court.

The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Lateef Fagbemi SAN, was reported to have said that the minors were properly charged before the Federal High Court because the Constitution makes it clear that the Federal High Court has jurisdiction in matters related to treason and related offenses. With respect, the Federal High Court does not have exclusive jurisdiction to try treason and related offences.

Even if there was a reasonable suspicion that the minors committed treason they ought to have been arraigned in a Family Court pursuant to section 149 of the Child's Rights Act. But contrary to the Child's Rights Act applicable in the Federal Capital Territory, the minors were charged with treason at the Federal High Court after they had been detained in the midst of hardened criminal suspects in the anti robbery detention facility in Abuja. Even though they pleaded not guilty to the charge, the arraignment of the minors is illegal in every material particular.

Phoney evidence to prove treason charge

It is trite that under the Penal Code and Criminal Code, treason is committed by anyone who levies war against the state to intimidate the President or a State Governor or who conspires to levy war against the state. The charge of treason filed by the police did not allege that the suspects raised any war or conspired to levy war against the President and State Governors. The main offence allegedly committed by the suspects arrested is that they displayed the Russian flag during the protest. A tailor who was sewing the flag was arrested by the police.

The police Prosecutor ought to have known that it is not a criminal offence to waive a foreign flag in Nigeria. Hence, the flags of the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany and other European countries are hoisted by the majority of hotels in Nigeria while churches hoist the flag of Israel based on the erroneous belief that it is a Christian country.

Seven Polish students were arrested for taking photographs during the protest. They were going to be charged with espionage to give the impression that the protests were instigated by foreign interest groups. The students have since been released when it was confirmed that they are taking part in an exchange programme at the Bayero University, Kano.

As if such embarrassment was not enough, Comrade Michael Adaramoye was charged with treason because he answers to the sobriquet “Lenin”. Comrades Elejo Opaluwa and Mosiu Abolaji were equally charged with treason for belonging to a socialist organisation that supported the protest. Povey was charged with treason because he sells socialist books in a bookshop at the Secretariat of the Nigerian Labour Congress.

In a total abuse of prosecutorial powers the police had wanted to prove the grave charge of treason evidence with two fire extinguishers, two prepaid meters, 76 Russian flags and the statements of the defendants. During the investigation the police claimed that it had evidence of
the billions of Naira with which a British national, Andrew Wynne (a.k.a. Andrew Povich) had funded the protest. Even though Mr. Whyne was declared wanted and charged for treason in absentia, the proof of evidence does not refer to the billions of Naira allegedly spent by him on the protest.

Trivialisation of treason in Nigeria

It is often forgotten that after the military conquest of Nigeria, the British colonial regime imposed the Criminal Code and Penal Code on the southern and northern protectorates respectively. The offences of treason and treasonable felony were set out in both Codes. But the imperial regime never charged any of the "natives" with treason or treasonable felony for calling for an end to colonialism. Even when the Zikists called for a revolution in the course of a 1948 lecture they were only charged with sedition, tried, convicted and sentenced to three years imprisonment.

But the first civilian regime charged J.S. Tarka and his political lieutenants with treason. They were discharged and acquited. Chief Obafemi Awolowo and his political associates were charged with treasonable felony, convicted and sentenced to various terms of imprisonment. Since then, the country has witnessed a complete trivialisation of treason in the hands of civilian and military wings of the Nigerian ruling class.

The Ibrahim Babangida military junta went to the ridiculous extent of charging five of us with treasonable felony for calling for an end to military rule. Of course, the late Chief Gani Fawehinmi SAN and I, turned the case into the trial of General Babangida and his armed colleagues who had sacked the elected Shehu Shagari administration on December 31, 1983. The junta had no choice but to abandon the frivolous charge.

Babangida's comrade-in-arms, General Sani Abacha, made a complete mockery of the law by charging every imaginary enemy with treason. For declaring himself President on the basis of the June 12, 1993 presidential election won by him, Bashorun M.K.O Abiola was charged with treasonable felony. Shortly thereafter, General Abacha authorised that Senator Ahmed Bola Tinubu (now President and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces) and 5 other Senators be charged with treasonable felony for demanding the validation of the results of the June 12, 1993 Presidential election. 4 journalists who exposed the 1995 phantom coup were charged with being "accessories after the fact of treason."

Ironically, President Bola Tinubu who had fled the country to escape the death penalty under a murderous dictator has allowed the police to charge protesters including minors with treason for challenging the untold economic hardship arising from the religious implementation of neoliberal economic policies dictated by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. But for the abrupt termination of the treason charge because of the global condemnation of the trial of child protesters for treason, the regime would have prayed the Federal High Court to convict and sentence 130 Nigerians for exercising their fundamental rights to assemble peacefully and express themselves via the August 2024 protest.

Conclusion

From the foregoing, it is crystal clear that the Federal Government set out to use the case of the 130 protesters to discourage Nigerian people from protesting against the harsh living conditions. Since the plan has since boomeranged the Federal Government should be advised to appreciate that charging protesters with terrorism, treason, treasonable felony and allied offences will not cow Nigerians to submission.

Instead of exposing the country to avoidable shame by charging protesters with a crime punishable by death, the police should be directed to comply with the law by providing adequate security for protesters. That is the only means of ensuring that protests are conducted in a peaceful and civilised manner within the ambit of the law.

SCRIPTURES say heaven and earth may pass away but not one jot of the word of God will go without fulfilling the purpose for which it was sent (Matthew 24:25). So also did the Preacher say there is nothing new under the sun (Ecclesiastes 1; 9). What is happening today has happened before and there is nothing new regarding the decision of the electorate in the United States to reject Kamala Harris while electing former President Donald Trump. That decision has biblical antecedents. Read the whole story in the Gospel according to St. Matthew chapter 27: despite the spirited efforts of Pilate to set Jesus Christ free, an innocent man wrongly accused by the Jews, the mob insisted that he be crucified but that Barabbas, whom the bible describes as “a notable prisoner”, a robber known as such to everyone, be set free. All attempts made by Pilate to let them see reason fell on deaf ears. In the end, Barabbas the thief was released while Jesus the innocent man was crucified. Does this sound familiar with the unhappy ending, to many, of the just-concluded United States election? What bricks and mortars did they not throw at Donald Trump, the eventual winner of the election! How many criminal convictions did he not suffer! I do not think there has been any American candidate so hunted, so rend apart as Trump; yet, he came out tops.

It looks like our own 2023 presidential election. Few people thought Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu would surmount the obstacles stacked on his way, first to the party primaries and then to the election proper. His entire life history and political career were turned inside out. What crime was he not accused of? Where did his detractors not contact to seek damaging evidence against him? Exactly, the same thing was suffered by Trump. I think on the weight of probability, the incriminating documents mounted against Trump made a child’s play of those that Tinubu had to contend with. What lessons do we learn from this? If we say a man with the weight of baggage that Tinubu was alleged to carry sailed through because we are a Third World country where democracy and civil education are yet to take firm roots and where corruption is rife, what do we say of the United States of America, the so-called bastion of democracy and civil rights movement? And my mind went back to those polemics during our Philosophy and Political Science classes at the then University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University), Ile-Ife of the distinction/dichotomy between politics and morality, politics and religion, religion and morality, etc. Nicollo Machiavelli is very popular with his statement: the end justifies the means. Politics, as we say here, is a dirty game not suited for bishops and popes! And it is not only in politics that this holds true. Neither is it only political leaders that throw moral scruples to the dogs.

The US election demonstrated quite clearly what we know here: that every politics is local. The issues that determined the winner were local issues. Gone are the days when foreign affairs dominated the politics and elections of the US; now, stomach infrastructure, as we call it here, does! In the US, they call it the economy. Trump campaigned principally on the twin issues of the economy and immigration, both of which dovetailed into each other. The economy was deemed by most Americans to have performed better under the former president’s four-year rule than under Joe Biden/Kamala Harris. It is very instructive to note that the economic downturn that we complain bitterly about here in Nigeria is not limited to us alone. If you have people in the Diaspora, ask them; they will tell you they now spend three or four times more on goods and services than they did four years ago. Where people feel the impact of the government most is their pockets and pot of soup! Trump is deemed to have performed better here than Biden/Harris. Talks by the Democrats about protecting democracy sounds highfalutin to a hungry stomach. It is the living that protects democracy, not the dead.

When an economy begins to bite hard, the first scapegoats are immigrants and Trump made this drum beat louder than any excuse the Democrats could make about protecting fundamental rights. This is not limited to the US alone. It happens all over the place. We have recently seen such backlash against immigrants in Britain and France. Years back, we saw it rear its ugly head against Nigerians and east Africans in South Africa. This is not to forget that when we first had our own economic downturn in the early 1980s during the Shehu Shagari administration, an estimated over two million undocumented migrants were sent packing in what came to be (in)famously called “Ghana Must Go” perhaps because majority of the immigrants so sent packing were Ghanaians. This is a natural phenomenon which everyone involved in the “Japa” syndrome, be it locally and be it across borders, must take into consideration. If you abandon your own territory and run to another person’s, one day you will be asked to leave, regardless of the law and regardless of the number of years you have spent there or of the investments you might have made there. The Yoruba have a saying, to wit, ultimately, the houseboy will leave!

Many are already apprehensive that Trump will come down heavily on immigrants; he said repeatedly during the campaign that he will. He has also said so in his acceptance speech. He said, though, that only illegal immigrants have cause to fear but many people believe every immigrant has cause to worry. White Americans want to take “their” country back. They are alarmed at the rate immigrants are overwhelming their own White population. So, if nothing is done, they will become a minority in their own country and will have nowhere to go. They are both wrong and right! Wrong because they stole the country in the first place from its rightful and original owners and developed it with the sweat and labour of others, especially Africans shipped there as slaves. So, the descendants of those people have a stake in the US. We are also aware that the “Shitholes” that the immigrants are running away from have been made and kept so by the policies, wars and exploitation of successive United States governments. The reparation they have refused to pay to the continents they pillaged is what the peoples of those places are trying to take back in the form of “Japa”. A lesson for us here in Nigeria is that there is no “no man’s land” anywhere. If you pour your population there today, no matter how huge, the owners of the land will always remain the silent majority. The day they stir is the day they will show you the door. The votes of Blacks, Latinos, Jews and others were overwhelmed by those of silent White Americans who keyed into Trump’s battle cry of “Take our Country Back” and “Make America Great Again”!  Harris and the Democrats had no answer to Trump’s battle cry which resonated well with White Americans and those impoverished by Biden’s economic policies.

The war in Ukraine, into which Biden has poured billions of US dollars, must partly account for the Democrats’ failure. So is the war in Gaza. The Democrats’ effort to rally Arabs and Muslims failed spectacularly. It is believed that Trump has a better plan and bigger heart to stop the senseless wars and save the US the billions it is pouring into the war efforts in those two places. The Russia/Ukraine war especially has affected food chain supply across the globe. It is one reason why some food items like wheat and dairy products have become scarce and expensive in a place like Nigeria, for instance. Stomach infrastructure apart, what role did gender and ethnicity play in the results of the election? Trump must be accounted as a giant female-killer! He defeated Hilary Clinton to win his first slot as president and has now defeated another woman to make his come-back. Na only women you fit fight? Male chauvinism is still alive and well in the US while gender equality is still light years away. While they might not have been the dominant factors in the election, they, nonetheless, played a part. Racism is yet to be completely erased from the United States’ day-to-day existence. Combining both minuses – gender and race – did not do Harris any good. The fact that she carried the baggage of Biden – like Tinubu carries Buhari’s – made her case worse. Had Biden heeded calls for him to exit the race earlier and had the Democrats the opportunity to throw their net farther afield in search of a replacement, maybe the outcome of the race would have been different.

We have many lessons to learn from the US election: Stop wasting time on the opponent; sell yourself instead. In the last election here, the other presidential candidates focused all their attention and attack on Tinubu and had little or no time to sell themselves. They failed. In the US, the Democrats did similarly with Trump. They failed. Morality and politics may not be bedmates. Rather than focus undue attention on the baggage of a candidate, focus attention on issues that affect the populace. In Nigeria today, the biting economy is one such issue. Can anyone tell me what the opposition leaders have told us they will do differently if they get into office or if they were the ones there right now? I don’t know of any, other than their saying blandly that they would have acted differently from what Tinubu is doing? How? In what areas? Incessant power outages, weak currency, skyrocketing food and fuel prices are scourges that seem to defy solutions. What are the plans of the opposition and where do they differ from what the government is pursuing? Let them learn from Trump who left no one in doubt concerning what he would do. He clearly outlined his policies regardless of whose ox is gored. Not the kind of unserious politics that we play here with serious issues. You know Trump is coming for you; so, get ready for him. He did not have a word for everyone on everything simply to win an election.

Trump’s second coming will be action-packed on the foreign scene as well. To repair the United States’ damaged economy, he must cut costs on the foreign scene. Europe will not have it easy with him as they will be required to cough out more for their own security. China must sit up as Trump will fight to re-establish America’s hegemony. He will most likely also call the bluff of Israel’s Netanyahu. Ukraine should be imagining what hit it right now: Negotiate with Russia to end the senseless war or carry the can on your own. For African countries, you know what he thinks of you: Trump’s America has no time – and no milk – for whining babies!