On Sunday, March 25, the Church celebrated this year’s mothering Sunday. The event which traditionally follows the Feast of Annunciation, honours the grace – filled life of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Standing on the dignity the BVM brought to womanhood, the Feast by extension honours the vocation of motherhood. The BVM unites the two and stands out as the epitome of this face of creation. But because the mother of Christ was invested with supernatural graces, some have a feeling that she is so set apart from the rest of us that she cannot seriously be emulated. Notwithstanding that Mary led a normal human life on earth, except for the inclination to sin, her projection as model of womanhood and motherhood, is sometimes accepted as only the ideal but a mission impossible for the mass of humanity. This suspension or anaesthetic perception of Mary’s humanity takes place, somehow forgetting her seven sorrows. The flight to Egypt with Joseph, shortly after childbirth, in harrowing conditions of winter and desert dust, is a sobering reminder of the hardship she contended with. The three day search for the boy Jesus who had stayed back at the temple in Jerusalem is a trial no mother, let alone mother of an only child, would wish another parent. But, then, if Mary’s qualities are deemed too daunting, are there no other women of heroic virtues we can find to spice the subject?

Although motherhood is often seen from the prism of family, there is no reason why it should not include a role in the larger society. The fixation with running of the home may well be an unconscious acceptance of the limitations placed on women by society for centuries. While the importance of the family as basic unit of society, with implications for proper socialising cannot be overemphasized, the demands of citizenship are no less imperative. A woman, mother or not, is a citizen and has a role to play in the life of her society. Early, primitive communities and much of successive societies got it wrong with their patriarchal bent. The creator made woman as a helper, companion, not slave, not servant to the man. The human potential for greatness is not a function of gender. Womanhood is beyond motherhood just as motherhood is beyond the home. As the celebration of mothering Sunday echoes on, two Biblical women call our attention with their strength of character. With the Lenten season drawing to climax, their testaments of life, hewn from the redemptive work of Christ, cannot be ignored.

Mary Magdalene is an interesting character. This woman, who was sprung from the jaws of death at the very last minute, teaches us the pricelessness of a second chance. She was not just mindful of her escape from the torture of stoning; she valued the opportunity to live; to live again. The intervention that staved off the mob was touching. It was so quietly, yet, so powerfully done. A man, just one man, with his gentle but earnest ways, holding off and then dispersing that mob baying for her blood, with great calm and confidence. She sensed the personal attention to her life by this miracle worker. Was this not a life – restoring mission? In the days that followed, Mary spotted the consistency about the preacher. The waves of merciful love that radiated from the man the day he saved her also flowed in his ministering at neighbourhoods, villages and towns. Mary perceived the light because she was attentive and disposed. Valuing life, she cherished even more, the source of her new enlightenment, both in adoration and gratitude. And the once notorious prostitute swore to a revolution of the new life. In this response, there could be no demarcating between the morning rays of the good news and the loving charm of the man the Jews called rabbi. Her faithfulness to the Redeemer, all through the frightening drama of crucifixion, up to the lonely graveside, is an epic of moral reinvention, faith and love. Mary Magdalene’s odyssey speaks to the permissive lifestyle of our age that celebrates adultery and idolatry. One of the principal causes of divorce is infidelity, with psychology attributing a significant measure of deviant behaviour and crime to broken homes. Mary Magdalene shows us that both individual and society can make amends and renew themselves.

Veronica, the woman mentioned at the sixth Stations of the Cross is another wonderful being. I have often pondered at the depth of her soul, wondering what beautiful thoughts animated her spirit. One apocryphal commentary was of the view that Veronica had been practicing kindness and compassion in her everyday life before that fateful day. The import of this suggestion is that the gesture she extended to Christ was possible because it came naturally from her. Perhaps so. Yet, another commentary suggested that she had dipped the cloth in water before stepping forward to soothe the sting of blood and hot sweat on Christ’s face. However, the central message for us cannot be lost. It was not just her courage. She practically put her life on the line by her action. In the patriarchal Jewish society of the time, in an assembly of soldiers and a mob blind with rage, what she did was out of this world. Her unconcern about her personal safety might appear reckless but she listened to her conscience. Veronica voted for humanity. Her intervention was a rebuke to the maddening crowd. You don’t treat anyone this way. No one, regardless of the offence, deserves to be brutalised so cruelly. This is sickening, her powerful gesture proclaimed. She was said to be a bystander, but it’s possible she had heard about the man of Galilee who went about doing good. Perhaps, she was thinking, could he really be the messiah? It would seem that the imprint of Christ’s image on her veil was not just a thank you response but also a message of revelation. If there’s nothing else our society will take away from Veronica’s compassion, it’s to put a stop to jungle justice, to the inhuman lynching of suspects.

In recent times, the example of Rosa Parks has shown us that resignation is not the answer to injustice. Returning from work on December 1, 1995, in Montgomery, Parks alongside three other blacks were directed to move to the back of a bus to make room for white passengers at the front. The driver’s demand, to which the other three blacks complied, was backed by law. Nonetheless, Rosa Parks refused to budge. Upon James Blake, the driver’s report, she was arrested and fined in court. The sanction triggered a chain of boycotts, protests, marches and lawsuits against racial inequality in the United States. Parks herself was in the forefront of this civil rights campaign. A year later, in November 1956, Alabama’s segregation law was voided by the Supreme Court. The movement had ripple effects, sweeping away racial segregation practices in other affected states. Tributes to Mrs Rosa Parks capture the salient points of her activism. Wikipedia writes of the wide impression of her as a “quiet, dignified heroine whose singular act inspired change.” At www.ushistory.org, she “quietly incited a revolution – by just sitting down.”

Finally, there’s our own emerging voice for responsibility in government. Recently, Senator Natasha Akpoti – Uduaghan served notice of a campaign against the arrogance of power in Nigerian government and politics. Many of us are not in a position to comment on the merits or otherwise of her sexual harassment allegations against the Senate’s presiding officer. But the leadership’s response to the complaint was unsettling. It was one of how dare you! The punitive sanctions visited on the complainant were scandalous for their overreach, pettiness as well as abuse of officialdom. Many are alarmed at the vicious attempt to crush dissent, to impose a climate of intimidation and fear in the legislature. By Jove, what remains of democracy when elected legislators have to cringe at the weapon of suspension dangling over them? How do elected representatives of the people push the interests of their constituents where the system coerces them into “yes men” and women? Senator Natasha’s challenge of power corruption, her refusal to be bullied into silence and submission is remarkable. The battles she is fighting are well beyond private spheres. They are in the interest of good governance. And that’s why she has strong public support. Her constituency empowerment programmes are reportedly first class, further enhancing her profile. Her focused activism, which has so far brushed aside distractions, is a ventilation of motherhood.

While millions of Nigerians celebrated the successful primary election for the Anambra November 2025 gubernatorial election that produced Governor Chukwuma Soludo as the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) candidate, many well-meaning citizens have expressed serious concern about the undemocratic tendencies portrayed by the opposition parties in Anambra.

The disarray in the opposition parties in Anambra shows two things: (a) the opposition parties are not deeply rooted in the State as the people of Anambra have taken the current party in power – APGA – as a religion and a movement; (b) the elements in the opposition have no leadership, genuine membership and structure. And this is why many commentators who have analyzed Governor Soludo’s impressive performance in the last 3 years and happenings in the opposition parties in Anambra have argued that there is no real opposition in Anambra.

Last Thursday, the internal crisis in the Labor Party in Anambra escalated as two competing factions nominated candidates for the upcoming November gubernatorial election in Anambra. One faction, chaired by Sunday Okereke, announced Jude Umennajiego – a sitting member of the Anambra State House of Assembly representing Onitsha South II – as the elected gubernatorial candidate, another declared George Moghalu as its elected candidate a few days earlier. While thanking the delegates that elected him, Jude Umennajiego nominated another assembly member representing Awka South I, Henry Mbachu, as his running mate.

Earlier, George Moghalu, who recently decamped to the Labour Party from the APC, had received a certificated of return from INEC after he was announced winner in the primary election of April 5.  The only contestant of this April 5 primary election, Mr. John Nwosu, had withdrawn from the election that produced George Moghalu a few hours before the elections. John Nwosu had alleged irregularities in the delegates’ list, ‘’which included alterations and falsification of names, and the list was only submitted hours to the primary election’’, as the reason for his withdrawal. Mr. Nwosu went on to argue that since Nigeria’s apex court sacked Julius Abure as the national chairman of the Labour Party on April 4, the primary that was conducted by Abure’s leadership team on April 5 cannot stand ‘’judicial scrutiny.’’ John Nwosu even participated in the parallel primary election that produced Jude Umennajiego.

The disarray at the national level in the Labour Party is even worse than that in its affiliate in Anambra. Political parties with this kind of disarray do not offer any meaningful opposition in elections. (Currently, at the national level, Lamidi Apapa has said he is supposed to be the party’s chairman after Julius Abure was sacked by the country’s apex court. Mr. Lamidi Apapa is all out to fight the Nenadi Usman Caretaker Committee, backed by Governor Alex Otti and Labour Party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 election, Peter Obi).

The case of the APC in Anambra is even worse and happenings in the party in Anambra is against what Nigeria’s President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu – a great leader who has sacrificed for democracy – stands for.

Valentine Ozigbo, who recently decamped from the Labour Party to the APC and was a candidate in the APC Anambra gubernatorial primaries, has rejected the outcome of the APC’s April 5 gubernatorial primary that produced Nicholas Ukachukwu. Valentine Ozigbo described the primaries as a “charade” and “a theft against Ndi Anambra.” He has since filed a formal petition. Before the APC’s primary election, a number of contestants withdrew few hours before the elections, citing undemocratic tendencies. One of the candidates that withdrew from the Anambra APC primary a few hours to the event, Paul Chukwuma, has now been reported to be YPP’s gubernatorial candidate. (Paul Chukwuma, Chukwuma Umeoji and Obiora Okonkwo withdrew from the primaries leaving only Ukachukwu, Ozigbo, Johnbosco Onunkwo, and Edozie Madu).

But Valentine Ozigbo’s report of the just concluded APC primary election in Anambra calls for concern. Here is Mr. Ozigbo’s report of the election: “The facts are now public: non-party members populated the delegate list; genuine party faithful were locked out or violently barred from voting; accreditation was either skipped or manipulated; and votes were counted without transparency.”

Mr. Ozigbo’s comments show that what happened in Anambra APC primary seemed highly undemocratic and might not be able to stand scrutiny.

The PDP, which is virtually non-existent in Anambra State, produced Jude Ezenwafor as its candidate. Mr. Jude Ezenwafor bought the party’s N40m nomination form at the eleventh hour and was the only candidate for the party’s primary election.

Up till this moment, most of the aspirants – in the opposition of course – in the last primaries have not congratulated the purported winners. But the most worrisome issue is that the opposition parties in Anambra have all been accused by their purported members of undemocratic tendencies. They are extremely weak at the moment.

The good news is that Governor Chukwuma Soludo’s eyes are on the ball. He is focused on providing the people of Anambra State the dividends of democracy. Millions of Ndi Anambra – in and outside the State – are queuing behind him and the Governor has promised to continue to work very hard.

A simple birthday celebration of one of the organic “Daily Times” icons who arrived on the 7th floor this week, Mr. Ndubuisi James Ugbede and the Minister of Information Alhaji Idris Mohammed Malagi’s remark in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States, where he is attending the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Show 2025, provoked a revisit of two old commentaries on this column in 2018 and 2023.

On Thursday this week, (April 10, 2025) at the Lagos Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Iyalla Street, Alausa Ikeja, a remarkable colleague Mr Lekan Otufodunrin and I were guest speakers at a symposium organised in honour of a former Director of Times Journalism Institute (TJI) under the aegis of their Times Journalism Institute’s Alumni Association (TJAA) now headed by Mr Clifford Agugoesi. In a preface to my discussion I had recalled some touchy but significant issues about the iconic “Daily Times” as a strategic national asset and indeed a paradise we lost to curious privatisation of public institutions and agencies that the IBB regime initiated and the Obasanjo civilian administration controversially concluded. Some excerpts from my opening remarks:
‘…I decided to honour the invitation because ‘Journalism’, the World Bank Institute describes as “the best profession in the world” is involved. I am always anxious any time the organic “Daily Times” Group is mentioned. I always remember that monument as one of Nigeria’s national security assets that the ‘militricians’ and politicians destroyed, which has actually diminished the stature of journalism in the most populous black nation on earth. I didn’t mean to haul any missile in the direction of those who curiously sold “Daily Times” anyhow during the Obasanjo administration (1999-2007).
I mean that if the legacy of the iconic Adeyemo Alakija who bought it over from Cecil Kings had not been destroyed by that ill-fated decision to sell the company to those who have reduced it to an online newspaper, even the digital library as a resource alone would have been a money spinner, a veritable stream of income at this time when all the institutions of higher learning and indeed the nation still don’t have any reliable library for institutional memories.

I hope most of us here are aware that even the National Library in Abuja hasn’t been completed about 50 years after Murtala Muhammed proclaimed Abuja as Nigeria’s capital. The capital of the federation will be fifty years old in February 2006 (1976-2006). The library project is still conspicuously neglected near the beautiful National Mosque, overlooking the equally exquisite National Christian Centre. Doubtless, the country would have had recourse to the “Daily Times” Library as our own Congressional Library still generally regarded as the most reliable library in global context. It is one of the critical national assets that have enhanced the powers and the glory of the United States Congress. There is virtually nothing on earth you can’t research at the remarkable Library of Congress. They make a lot of money daily from researchers. That is where you can still get all the copies of the authentic “Daily Times” publications when there was a country…’

It isn’t my pleasure to invoke sad memories of “Daily Times” one of the most influential and indeed most profitable newspapers in the world then. I am quite wary of calling the DTN, a defunct newspaper. I know the consequences in today’s Nigeria where the court (of law) is no longer regarded as ‘the last hope of the common man’. ‘Do not say I told you’ as a corner gossip piece indicated in those days of the best-selling “Lagos Weekend”. Most of the ‘old soldiers’ in the print media, indeed members of the TJAA are aware of the time even the “The New York Times” visited the “Daily Times of Nigeria” for research and orientation. The historic visit is still in NYT’s library. My dear “Daily Times” veterans, this isn’t intended to be a day to read from a piece on the day “Common Sense” died in Africa’s most populous country. I mean this is not a day to read from the book of lamentation on “Daily Times” but a day to celebrate with one of the blessed ‘survivors’ of the organic “Daily Times”, Mr. Ndubuisi Ugbede who just clocked 70. Comrade Ugbede, congratulations on your birthday. It isn’t easy to reach that milestone in this “country of anything is possible” as a former army chief once described our blessed country…It is the Lord’s doing as it is written and so it is marvelous in our eyes. May the good Lord who has blessed you to reach the 7th Floor continue to keep you strong and healthy in His pavilion…!

In a related and relevant development, a report from Las Vegas early in the week indicated that the Federal Government ”Begins Technical Upgrade for Media Organisations, Says Information Minister”. According to the report filed by the ministry from Nevada, “The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, has stated that the Federal Government has begun investing in cutting-edge technologies and acquiring state-of-the-art equipment for federal media organisations to ensure effective service delivery. Idris made this statement in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States during discussions with leading broadcast and information companies at the ongoing National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Show 2025”.

The Minister was quoted as saying that such investments would lead to the upgrade and replacement of obsolete infrastructure across radio and television stations owned by the Federal Government. To actualise this, he said, his ministry “is forging partnerships with broadcast equipment manufacturers to avail local broadcasters the opportunity to benefit from emerging technologies and industry-specific training”. The Nigeria’s delegation led by Idris malagi consisted senior officials, including Salihu Abdulhamid Dembos (Director-General/CEO Nigeria Television Authority), Ali Muhammed Ali (Managing Director/CEO of News Agency of Nigeria), Charles Ebuebu (Director-General/CEO of National Broadcasting Commission), Dr. Lekan Fadolapo (Director-General, Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria), and Jibrin Baba Ndace (Director-General/CEO, Voice of Nigeria). The NAB Show, running from April 5 to 9, 2025, with the theme “The Technology, The Trend, The Future,” provides valuable insights into industry trends, covering topics such as Artificial Intelligence, cloud visualisation, the creator economy, and sports production and streaming.

This is therefore a time to remind the powerful delegation in Las Vegas that the mission the minister has pledged in Nevada is a strategic one but he should not fall into the danger of assumption that investment in digital equipment alone can transform the Nigeria’s public information management system.

It is a fact that the public information management infrastructure has been quite weak and so the superstructure hasn’t been reliable enough to serve the public good expected from them in 21st century where the information ecosystem doesn’t support a ministry of information to drive efficiency of public information in the age of the giants of digital journalism and communications. Although I once suggested here in 2023 that even the federal information ministry should be scrapped to give room for restoration of Nigerian Broadcasting Service (NBS), this piece isn’t about the quality of the Information Minister and his team. Doubtless, Mallam Idris, a media entrepreneur before joining the federal cabinet, has been generally regarded as one of the most resourceful information ministers since 1999. He doesn’t scream to respond to publications and telecasts that the government doesn’t like. He likes to engage media organisations quietly in resolving even conflicts and controversies.
That is also why we can also suggest a few things to him at this time to look beyond equipment of the public broadcasters he calls “federal government-owned organisations”. They are not federal government-owned, after all. They are public broadcasters that should serve public interest just as the BBC and SABC, Africa, which only the parliaments can ‘regulate’.

As I had noted in 2018 and 2023, again, I would like to suggest restructuring of one of Nigeria’s most significant institutions that successive governments have been competing to ruin: the public broadcasters known as the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) and Voice of Nigeria (VON).

My interest in these public broadcasters as they should be called, was renewed then (2018) through two related issues involving two Nigerian significant female journalists, Ms Kadaria Ahmed formerly of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and Ms Toyosi Ogunseye former Sunday Punch Editor who then joined the same BBC, a very successful public broadcaster. The first was Kadaria’s when she marked her 50th birthday in December 2017 with a colloquium on the state of the media and a book presentation in Lagos. Read the details of the Kadaria story through the links below: https://guardian.ng/sunday-magazine/a-time-to-restructure-nta-frcn-and-von/

The two striking stories of Kadaria, Toyosi and the BBC had then set me thinking about the expediency of discussing the rise and fall of institutions in Nigeria. Which was why I am was persuaded then that instead of reading regularly from the book of lamentation on how the military juntas in Nigeria tactlessly seized the then Western Nigeria Broadcasting Service (WNBS) and changed it to NTA now in focus, we should think of how to rebrand the public broadcasters (NTA, FRCN and VON) now from the ruinous clutch of the federal government. There has been no credit to give to any government since the takeover: no government has added value to the NTA, FRCN and VON. We only pretend that all is well.
And here is the thing, why is it that Toyosi could join the BBC, a public broadcaster instead of a Nigerian Broadcasting Service (NBS)? How is it that the only reference point is that the FRCN and NTA too made John and Sola Momoh, for instance? And sadly, why can’t Channels television get some values from the FRCN and the NTA that trained its owners some years ago?

The same sad commentary can be extended to the Daily Times and the New Nigerian, among other once prosperous state-owned newspapers such as Daily Sketch, Herald, The Observer, Chronicles, The Tide, The Triumph, The Standard, The Voice, etc, the Nigerian system has destroyed too.

The point really is that all these once fruitful newspapers that have been killed by the Nigerian leaders once made the Dele Giwas, the Doyin Abiolas, the Segun Osobas, the Nduka Obaigbenas, the Doyin Mahmuds, the Ray Ekpus, the Yakubu Mohammeds, the Dan Agbeses, the Garba Shehus of this world. Most Nigerian elders would remember this recent aspect of our history.

In other words, I used to think that the idea of prosperous state-owned newspapers was an idea whose time was long gone until I travelled to Liberia the other day and stopped over in Ghana where I got a copy of the state-owned newspaper the Daily Graphic. As a newspaperman, I didn’t need to ask any question about the quality of the content and production. The newspaper is generally regarded as the most influential and the most commercially successful newspaper in Ghana today.

But note this paradox of history: the well produced daily newspaper in Ghana has some striking similarity in history with our own Daily Times that the military regime seized, ruined before a civilian government sold it in January 2004 to what now looks like an ‘undertaker’ of a national monument.

To be continued…

It is difficult to pinpoint when the political gusts turned against the one time political impresario of the All Progressives Congress, APC in Delta State, Senator Victor Omo-Agege.

The contradiction in the circumstances facing Omo-Agege is the fact that he is being subjected to a social media trial in the hands of those he not too long ago had at his beck and call.

The petition to the state chairman of the APC, Elder Omeni Sobotie accuses Omo-Agege of among others infidelity to the party and betrayal of fellow party candidates in the 2023 General Election.

The accused has yet to give his plea, but many prosecution witnesses who allegedly signed the petition against Omo-Agege have told the social media court that their signatures were forged.

Indeed, Omo-Agege’s political ascendancy in Delta State was crystallised when he emerged as the first senator from Delta Central to win re-election. His feat came following the death of Senator Pius Ewherido, arguably the greatest political disruptor in Delta State who turned the political dynamics against the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in Delta Central in the 2011 elections.

It is remarkable that since Ewherido’s popular victory in 2011, achieved on the platform of the Democratic Peoples Party, DPP, that the PDP has been at sea on how to reinvent itself in that senatorial district. While Senator Emmanuel Aguariavwodo finished Ewherido’s impactful term, albeit on the platform of the PDP, the party has since then continuously failed in winning the Delta Central seat.

Omo-Agege’s two terms on the platform of Labour Party and then on the platform of the APC are about the longest stretch an individual has held on to political ascendancy in Delta Central. His emergence as Deputy President of the Senate, the first Delta senator to hold such a position, only strengthened his political confidence or brashness as some critics alleged.

Given his role in undermining the Bukola Saraki Senate during the 8th Senate, it was not surprising that Muhammadu Buhari’s political enforcers not only positioned Omo-Agege for the position of DSP, but also showed him favours that enabled him to swagger with bravado across the political space in Delta.

The constitution of APC structures across Delta State in 2021 by most accounts, was done in Omo-Agege’s bedroom. Given the natural proclivity of many Delta people to speak truth to power it was no surprise that a number of political actors  in the APC refused to be taken in by the lordship of Omo-Agege over the party.

Two of those who swore to that effect were Chief Great Ogboru, popularly known as the Peoples General, but who as Omo-Agege consolidated was almost turned to a recruit in the APC.

Another was the former civil rights lawyer, Mr Festus Keyamo who went to the extent of terming those who emerged as party officials in 2021 across the state as Omo-Agege’s houseboys and house girls.

Given the acrimony that trailed Omo-Agege’s emergence as Numero-uno in the APC, it was not surprising that a number of party officials who despised the fact that he also took the gubernatorial ticket for himself worked against him in the governorship election of 2023.

Among those who openly came out to confess that fact was the late Dr Cairo Ojougboh who claimed being part of the conspiracy of APC leaders who worked against him. Even more, Ogboru who has the national record of contesting gubernatorial elections, despite his abysmal performance in 2023, surfaced for once to congratulate the PDP candidate, Sheriff Oborevwori, for defeating Omo-Agege.

The prediction of Omo-Agege’s difficult straits was, however, very visible just before the 2023 election. Days to the governorship election and while still serving as the Deputy President of the Senate, he was shell-shocked when one of his most prominent houseboys, Nick Ovuakporie, who he had promoted the state secretary of the party, surfaced at the PDP governorship rally to denounce him. Ovuakporie’s defection was a masterstroke on the part of the PDP, given that he was allegedly the pointsman used by the Omo-Agege camp to wrest control of the APC from his former rivals.

But the problem for Omo-Agege was compounded by perceived actions he took in the days leading to the election. The charges drawn up against him for which party members have commenced a social media trial of the former DSP include the claim that he hobnobbed with the opposition to betray the party in the presidential election. It is a charge that President Tinubu may not have taken seriously given that Tinubu received the former DSP on his own after party leaders conspired to squeeze him out during the controversial visit to Aso Villa last February.

Whatever, the principal reason antagonists in the APC struck the four point charges against Omo-Agege is their determination not to have him represent the party in the 2027 governorship election. This is well manifested in their charge sheet against the erstwhile DSP.

Whatever, the prospects for Omo-Agege in browbeating his former houseboys are not easy. How he positions himself as the governorship candidate with the prospects of running two terms in Delta State will be a tough nut to crack. That is, given the zoning tradition that has governed the state since 1999.