Latest News
OTHERS' VIEWS
Sunday 4th February was as usual, a miserable, depressed and wretched day for His Excellency, Chief James Onanefe Ibori. But this year’s 4th of February was a particularly gloomy one; it marked the 20th year of that murder most foul, the assassination of Chief Aminasoari Kala (A.K) Dikibo.
For the past twenty years Ibori has tried all in his power to remind Nigerians of Dikibo, who was the Deputy National Chairman, South-South geopolitical zone, of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) when he was assassinated in broad daylight on a Nigerian motor road. Year in, year out, Ibori has had full page newspaper advertisements published in memory of Dikibo.
That he has been the only Nigerian, among the numerous movers and shakers of the Nigerian political class who remembers Dikibo does not appear to bother him. That his efforts have not moved the Nigeria Police Force or the Department of State Security (DSS) to appear to be still interested in solving that murder, does not in any way bother Ibori. He appears to be doing what he has taken to be his personal duty; as though living the saying – “if you can’t change the world for the better, don’t let the world change you”.
Dikibo was lion-hearted. He was a politician with strong convictions.
He was not a double-crossing weasel that would change positions like the weather vane. He often stood his ground like a high tower – there for all to see. Yes, he was the veritable Dede Ukwu – the Big Brother, as he was called in his Okirika locality of Rivers state where he was the Chief of a well-respected Canoe War House.
And Ibori continues to mourn him because Dikibo fully identified with Ibori’s project of trying to unite the South-South politicians so that the could speak with one voice in matters concerning that geopolitical zone. Also, Dikibo was working in the service of that cause when assassins cut him down.
An audacious and forward-looking Ibori had convened a summit of South-South politicians in Asaba, the Delta state capital for the first weekend in the February of 2004 – exactly 20 years ago. Burning in Ibori’s mind was a flint hard idea, novel and bold; that the South-South should begin to work towards having a son or daughter as the occupant of the choicest piece of real estate in Nigeria; the Aso Rock presidential residence.
As the PDP had zoned the presidency to the North after Chief Olusegun Obasanjo’s 2003 – 2007 second term, it meant that the push was actually to ensnare the vice-presidential position for the South-South in 2007. Then the Vice-President would ease into the main presidential office afterwards. And that was exactly what happened – as President Goodluck Jonathan became Vice President to the late President Umaru Yar’Adua, a friend Ibori remembers and publishes a memorial advertisement for on his death day, annually. Also, the summit was to discuss how to work to have the amount of oil revenue accruing to the oil producing states increased. But the story jumps!
Dikibo, in line with the PDP zoning formula, was already campaigning to be the party National Chairman, which meant that the next President, come 2007, would come from the North. For some reasons, some highly placed politicians in Abuja opposed that Asaba summit. And it is on record that some of their South -South lackeys by then, supported Abuja. Not only that, a particular Governor had asked all invitees from his state to keep away from Ibori and his Asaba summit. Yes, a state Governor had requested Dikibo to stay away from that meeting. But the South-South champion, Dikibo, disdaining that stay away call, was well on his way to the summit when some people ensured he was unable to disobey that Governor’s orders. He had flown into Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, hopped into a car to make it to Asaba by road. His trip ended around Isiagwu village, close to Ogwashi-Uku, Aniocha South LGA, Delta state.
He was killed execution style from close range. A gun was poked under the right hand side of his jaw. As the trigger was pulled and the shot rang out, the bullet escaped from the roof of the Jeep, splattering Dikibo’s brain everywhere. The assassins killed more than Dikibo that day; they killed the last real push of the peoples of the Niger Delta region to peacefully speak with one voice in seeking for increased monies that accrue to the area as a percentage of the oil royalty.
A day or two after Dikibo was assassinated, Obasanjo announced in Lagos that Dikibo was felled by armed robbers. That may have been the case…but the man was shot execution style; the bullet entered from beneath the right hand side of his jaw, escaped from his head and hit the roof of his car. It is curious how armed robbers could have so shot a man who refused to stop for them on the highway. They should have shot straight and hit his face.
In a letter to Obasanjo, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, now a Senator, recalled: “I am further worried because the late A.K. Dikibo complained to Governor DSP Alamieyeseigha of Bayelsa State and myself at the Port Harcourt Airport three days before his brutal assassination that some powerful persons in the Presidency and a governor from one of the South- South states of the country were planning to kill him. Though he looked ruffled and agitated, we never knew his death was imminent”. Kalu wrote to inform him that some people were also after his own life. No wonder Audu Ogbeh, when he was PDP National Chairman wrote to Obasanjo that a nest of killers existed in the polity.
Unfortunately, Nigeria appears determined to deny Dikibo and his family justice. No matter; Ibori continues to mourn that courageous man, a true lion, the Dede Ukwu, the Aminisabo of Okirika, Rivers state.
The biting hunger and unnaturally rising price spiral in Nigeria instigated primarily by the removal of petrol subsidies and the floating of the naira are threatening to spark off seismic social vibrations across the country.
The spontaneous, hunger-induced eruption of seething communal anger in Minna over hunger in the land a few days ago, which inspired a massive protest by market women in Lokoja and smaller but nonetheless consequential protests by distraught citizens in Suleja, Kano, Osogbo—and counting— is a warning sign.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s swift order for the release of “102,000 metric tons of various grain types from the National Food Reserve and the Rice Millers Association of Nigeria” to bring down the cost of food in the aftermath of these strings of protests suggests that he is aware of the danger that lies in the offing for him.
Had the current president been Muhammadu Buhari and not Bola Ahmed Tinubu, chances are that the worst that would happen amid the adversity people are going through now would be suppressed, barely audible murmurs. It’s because Buhari is a political cult leader with a firm grip on his followers who worship him and surrender responsibility for their lives over to him. Tinubu has no such appeal.
A psychologist by the name of Steve Taylor came up with a concept he called “abdication syndrome,” which he said disposes people to invest total, child-like trust in a political figure, a cult leader, an opinion molder, etc. in ways that mimic how children idealize and idolize their parents as unblemished paragons of perfection.
According to Taylor, “abdication syndrome stems from the unconscious desire of some people to return to a state of early childhood, when their parents were infallible, omnipotent figures who controlled their lives and protected them from the world. They’re trying to rekindle that childhood state of unconditional devotion and irresponsibility.”
Buhari is lucky to benefit from abdication syndrome in Muslim northern Nigeria, broadly conceived, which explains why he got away with murder for eight years. When he increased petrol prices by a steep margin in 2016, for instance, there were protests in Kano, Bauchi, and other places in SUPPORT of the increase and AGAINST people who planned to protest the increase. Nigeria had never seen anything like that before.
Even protests against the unabating descent of northern Nigeria into a theater of bloodshed and abduction on Buhari’s watch provoked counter protests from people who have abdicated the use of their brains in the service of Buhari.
Tinubu not only does not have the benefit of abdication syndrome anywhere in Nigeria, but he also has the misfortune of having to contend with a peculiar character of Muslim northern Nigeria: we feel the pain of, and react violently to, bad policies only when the policies are hatched and executed by people who have no filiation with our natal region.
It’s no surprise that the hunger protests against the Tinubu administration started from and spread in the North.
A powerful indication of Tinubu’s lack of firm emotional support base emerged when Osun, his state of birth where he lost the last presidential election to PDP’s Atiku Abubakar, became the first southern state to join the hunger protests. Should the resistance to his punishingly heartless neoliberal economic policies ignite a nationwide convulsion, the Southwest is unlikely to constitute itself as his bulwark.
In fact, I hazard a guess that should Tinubu’s unfeeling policies activate the sort of destabilizing national upheaval that we saw in 2012 during Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, the Southwest won’t be aloof. It is likely to join in.
And, of course, Tinubu is deeply unpopular in the Southeast, the South-south, and Christian northern Nigeria. In other words, Tinubu is essentially floundering into the most treacherous of social quicksands.
His only fortification against danger is not just good governance but compassionate governance. The release of thousands of metric tons of grains is a good first step, but it’s not nearly enough to stem the tide of mass rebellion that is brewing in the country. At best, it will only delay the inevitable.
The truth is that Nigeria can’t survive a total withdrawal of petroleum subsidies without an adequate, systematic, well-planned public transportation system. To do away with petrol subsidies, the government must first create conditions where car ownership and patronage of commercial transportation are a luxury.
Let’s take Canada as an example. Although Canada is an oil-producing country, it doesn’t subsidize the petrol consumption of its citizens. And it’s precisely because it has great public transportation that meets the transportational needs of its people.
I met a Canadian here in Atlanta last year who, like most Canadians, doesn’t know how to drive because government-subsidized public transportation is the primary means of moving from point to point. Car ownership is a luxury, and people who choose to shun public transportation deserve the high price they pay for petrol to fuel their cars.
It’s the same situation in most of Europe. The availability of government subsidized public transportation insulates citizens from the effects of high petrol prices and obviates the need for petrol subsidies.
It is not so in the United States. Here, as I pointed out in many past columns, petrol is subsidized because most Americans have their own cars and resent public transportation except in such big cities as New York.
Without first building an efficient, government-subsidized public transportation infrastructure within cities and towns and between cities, towns and states, removing petrol subsidies will always result in the kind of mass affliction that Nigerians are going through now.
That is why countries like Kazakhstan, Ecuador, Bolivia, Indonesia, and Brazil, which the World Bank and the IMF had forced to remove petrol subsidies, have backtracked and re-instituted subsidies. That is inevitable in Nigeria if the government wants to survive.
Is Olayemi Cardoso Nigeria’s Worst CBN Governor?
I know awfully little about current CBN governor Olayemi Cardoso. I’d just assumed that to deserve being appointed the governor of the CBN, he must at least be minimally competent and conversant with economic policies.
But he is shaping up to be the most inept and least intellectually prepared for his job. It isn’t just that he is supervising the free fall of the naira through inconsistent policies, he also doesn’t seem to be able to explain to anyone what exactly he is doing, indicating he doesn’t know what he is doing.
On Friday, I watched Cardoso’s meeting with the senate where he couldn’t answer questions from senators without reading from a prepared script. "I object to this!” a senator yelled in response to Cardoso’s lifeless regurgitation of a prepared speech he obviously didn’t understand. “Let him go back and answer the question!"
Anyone who can’t respond to a question without reading a prepared text obviously has no understanding of what he is talking about. Albert Einstein famously said, “if you can't explain it simply then you don't understand it well enough." Cardoso’s case is even worse. He can’t explain it at all. It explains why the economy is in a mess and the naira is in a worse shape than it has ever been.
Cardoso’s most important qualification for the job appears to be that he was Economic Planning and Budget commissioner in Lagos when Tinubu was governor, but the job seems to be above his intellectual and experiential paygrade.
I know of no CBN governor in my lifetime (until Cardoso) who couldn’t articulate economic policies effortlessly. Even Godwin Emefiele had no difficulty defending his policies. You may question his competence or disagree with his policies, but he could at least clearly formulate thoughts about what he was doing. Cardoso gives me the jitters. Nigeria is in way worse trouble than it realizes with an airhead like that as CBN governor.
At last, the Dangote Petroleum Refinery has begun production with the receipt of about six million barrels of crude oil. What a pivotal moment for Nigeria! It’s the triumph of the resilience of one man, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, whose audacity to dream big, coupled with his unparalleled determination and unrelenting doggedness in bringing those dreams to fruition, has seen him climb every mountain and cross every ocean on his path to achieve the seemingly impossible.
It is only a man with a steely determination that will not break under the strain of massive cost overruns, an unforgiving, hostile business climate, policy inconsistencies, serial currency devaluations and currently the worst performing currency in Africa, forex scarcity, multiple taxation, high cost of capital, etc. that could pull this off. Nigeria will defeat you, if you are not made of steel.
That Dangote was able to complete his petroleum refinery is a testament to his superman capacity to ride the waves no matter how high they may be. Many of us continue to marvel at this prodigious project, no matter what a few naysayers have to say.
You see, this country would not have been in this precarious state if we had more of such projects driven by supermen like Aliko Dangote. Again, Nigeria would have been the pride of Africa, living up to its potential and promise as the beacon of hope and the powerhouse of the black race if such men were in political leadership.
Our incompetent and inept leaders have failed Africa. All they know how to do is loot the commonwealth and display it in our faces. They have become the biggest obstacle to the continent’s progress, the ones underdeveloping Africa from within its borders. So, for the richest man in Africa and a few others to pick up the gauntlet, doing what Nigeria as a country has failed to do for Africa, then the black race deserves to be applauded. And the world is taking notice.
At the last count, the Dangote refinery located in Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos, covering a land area of approximately 2,635 hectares, had gulped over $19.5billion. You would agree with me that, that is a prodigious figure. Not often do we hear of such figures ploughed into projects even in the Western world, let alone in Africa. At best, it is the type of project that multi-national consortia come together to undertake. But in this instance, an individual from one of the most challenged countries in the world, conceived and executed it, in spite of the very hostile business environment that is squeezing investors out of business. This, to me, is a feat worth celebrating.
It is the world’s largest single-train petroleum refinery, with a capacity to process 650,000 barrels per day with a 900 KTPA Polypropylene Plant. It is a thing of pride that a project of this magnitude is located in Nigeria. But even more enthralling is that it was conceived and built by an individual in a country where bad government policies by inept leaders remain the bane of doing business. Policies that are more often than not driven by malice. At full production capacity, the refinery can meet 100% of the Nigerian requirements of all refined products and also have surplus for export. How many of us truly understand what that means? Moving from being a net import-dependent country for all our petroleum needs to exporting locally refined products? Can you imagine the foreign exchange this will save for Nigeria?
This surely is a game changer for our bleeding national economy long crippled by forex shortages and organised oil theft with all the imprimatur of officialdom.
The country’s four refineries have been grounded for several years and may remain so, not because they cannot be fixed in a realistic sense but because those in charge of making them work are the ones sabotaging all efforts to fix them. The state-owned refineries have become a cesspool of corruption and organised crime. Where hundreds of millions of dollars regularly voted for Turnaround Maintenance, TAM, have only served to enrich a few fat cats in the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited and their collaborators in government. That is the sad situation Nigeria finds itself in.
And for those who may not know, crude oil export is the source of well over 80% of Nigeria’s foreign exchange earnings. Now, if we can’t protect our production volume from organised syndicates who have perfected the art of stealing the crude from the pipelines before it gets to the terminals for export, how would we earn enough forex for the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to make available to importers of other goods and services? The bigger questions are: how do these syndicates get the stolen products to the international market ahead of Nigeria? Who exactly are the members of these syndicates? Why has no one been named publicly? Who is covering up for them in government? Surely, someone or some people who are high up in the government know/s something.
Two years ago, the country spent 40% of the foreign exchange it earned from the little it was able to generate from export earnings on the importation of petroleum products as well as petrochemicals which put a lot of pressure on the exchange rate, according to the former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele who did everything he could to help the Dangote refinery come to fruition. Yes, you heard me clearly, he had said 40% of all forex earnings went into the importation of petroleum products. This has created a vicious circle of perennial shortages of forex for other import-dependent sectors.
In the land of my fathers, there is a saying: “A nation that cannot feed itself is not free.”
So, one can begin to understand the relief the Dangote refinery is set to bring to Nigeria. Officially going into production of refined petroleum products is an incredibly important milestone that should be celebrated. It is the last chapter of a checkered journey that began with the acquisition of the Port Harcourt and Kaduna refineries in 2007. I think a brief history will suffice here if for nothing but to refresh peoples’ memories.
In May 2007, the then outgoing Olusegun Obasanjo administration took the bold decision to sell the government’s majority stake in the Port Harcourt and Kaduna refineries to Bluestar Consortium promoted by Aliko Dangote, Femi Otedola and Transnational Corporation of Nigeria, Transcorp for a whopping $750 million with the Port Harcourt refinery selling for $561 million. It was Nigeria’s largest refinery, a 210,000-barrels-per-day (bpd) facility, while the Kaduna refinery had an installed capacity of 110,000bpd.
That transaction triggered an avalanche of wild criticisms from many ignorant Nigerians and labour unions who sprang into action, doing their utmost, to frustrate the sale. And they did. But today where are we on the matter? Is the country better off than it was then before the sale and subsequent revocation? Where are those who opposed the sale then purely on emotional grounds than the economics of the transaction? They have all been put to shame. And the country is the loser for it. I don’t need to remind anyone of the fights at filling stations, the endless hours wasted in queues, sometimes overnight at petrol stations just to get fuel for our cars.
The two main oil unions in the sector – the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) were up in arms, claiming that the two refineries were wrongly sold by the Bureau of Public Enterprises, alleging that “the sale of the two firms was completely lacking in transparency”. They also stated that no due diligence was carried out and that the Port Harcourt refinery was worth close to US$5 billion, about nine times the amount it was actually sold for. For those who still remember, the sale of the refineries to Bluestar was one of the reasons for the general strike that paralysed the Nigerian economy for four days in June, 2007 during the government of the late Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.
The then NNPC and the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) joined the clamour for the transaction to be revoked, claiming that they were capable of running the refineries in contrast to Bluestar, which had no actual experience of operating refineries. Really? The surprising thing was that so many Nigerians were sold on the NNPC narrative. Following Bluestar’s eventual pull out of the transaction, the then Group Executive Director of the Refineries & Petrochemicals Department at NNPC, Abubakar Lawal Yar’Adua, was reported by THISDAY to have stated that if given the necessary support, the NNPC had the capability to run the refineries efficiently. He forgot to mention that it was years of inefficiency and corruption by NNPC’s management that forced the Obasanjo government to sell the government’s majority equity stake in the refineries in the first place.
Not done, he argued that the solution to the nation’s petroleum shortages would not be found in the sale of the refineries, but in conducting proper turnaround maintenance on them as well as building new ones. The then DPR director, Tony Chukwueke, on his part, said that the nation had not exploited all the models that could ensure that the refineries worked optimally and that Nigeria could invite foreign technical partners to run the refineries, or conduct repairs whenever the need arose. Where is he now? He did not tell us the model that was better than outright sale of the refineries. He just went into a long rigmarole to deceive the nation.
Well, where are we today? Nearly 14 years after Bluestar Consortium pulled out of the transaction and the refineries reverted to NNPC’s (now NNPCL) control, they have become as good as dead wood. They have not produced anything of value to this country, not a pint of petrol, despite the huge sums pumped into their maintenance and associated costs. Who are the gainers and losers in this unholy alliance of individuals against Nigeria? The same entrenched interests at NNPC or NNPCL as it is now known. And of course, the labour unions who prefer their workers earn wages for doing nothing.
Just last December, the Senate signalled its intention to open an investigation into what senators perceived as a sabotage of the federal government’s effort to revive the nation’s refineries, in spite of N11.35 trillion, excluding costs in other currencies, which include $592,976,050.00 dollars, 4,877,068.47 euros, and 3,455,656.93 pounds sterling spent on the renovation of the refineries from 2010 till date, yet they remain unproductive.
Don’t forget that just recently, the federal government awarded another contract worth a mind-blowing $1.5billion for the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt refinery to an Italian Company, Tocnimont SPA, spanning three phases of over 18, 24 and 44 months. Let me ask the frequently asked question on the streets: who did this to our country? Only in Nigeria will you find bizarre rationale for doing stupid things like this. I can bet an arm and a leg that more than half of that $1.5billion will end up in private pockets. Our penchant for inflated cost of contracts will make allegations of corruption in other climes look like petty pick-pockets.
I challenge anyone to do the maths. In 2007, the Port Harcourt and Kaduna refineries were sold for $750 million. In March 2021, nearly 14 years after the sale fell through due to the organised public outcry, the federal government after wasting billions of dollars on several maintenance programmes, awarded a contract for the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt refinery alone for $1.5 billion.
Fellow Nigerians, may I ask again: who are the losers in all of these? And who are the gainers? Nigeria is a country that gives and keeps on giving. Everyone is milking her but no one wants to feed her. Knowing how these people have consistently scammed this country, I am not enthusiastic that the $1.5 billion for the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt refinery will bring about the expected results. It is a complete waste of taxpayers’ money, part of which will be repaid to Afrexim which partly financed the rehabilitation.
Now, with the rehabilitation purportedly nearing completion, NNPCL announced it had begun the search for third-party managers to run the refinery. Instead of spending $1.5 billion on rehabilitating the refinery and now looking for third-party managers to run the place, why didn’t the government just sell the scrap and the buyer or buyers can turn it around with their money, thereby saving that $1.5 billion taxpayers’ money expended on the rehabilitation and deploying it in other urgent infrastructure needs? No, because those who profit from Nigeria’s failure to function optimally only ask: “What is in it for us.”
It is not a surprise therefore that Dangote decided to build his refinery from scratch. However, the Eureka moment for Nigeria following the commencement of production by the company is tempered by NNPCL’s inability to meet its crude feedstock required to enable uninterrupted production. Interestingly, the visionary Dangote saw it coming and prepared for any eventuality. The factsheet about the refinery is very impressive. It was designed for 100% Nigerian crude, with a flexibility to be able to also process a large variety of crudes, including many of the African crude grades, some of the Middle Eastern crude grades and U.S. Light Tight Oil.
So I was not surprised when news filtered in that Dangote had purchased two million barrels of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) Midland from the United States-based oil trader, Trafigura Group, for delivery at the end of February. You see, the irony and contradictions of our situation are not for the lily-livered. And again, I asked, who did this to us?
Here is a nation blessed with enormous crude oil resources, once a major producer of crude oil, but imports all its refined petroleum needs because it pays some corrupt officials for the country to export jobs overseas rather than add value by exporting refined petroleum products. And here is a country where an individual just built the largest single-train refinery in the world of 650,000 barrels per day capacity, now having to import feedstock from the United States of America or elsewhere because of NNPCL’s inability to supply it with enough crude for refining.
As I have been made to understand, only a minute fraction (if any) of Nigeria’s current crude oil output is unencumbered by one loan facility or the other. The repayment of the recent $3.3 billion loan taken by NNPCL from Afrexim on behalf of the federal government to stabilise the failing naira is guaranteed with 90,000bpd for five years.Then there’s the forward sale agreement entered into by NNPCL with the Lekki Refinery Funding Limited (Project Bison) in September 2021 to supply 300,000bpd of crude oil for the settlement of the balance US$1.036 billion funding received for the financing of the US$2.76 billion investment in the Dangote refinery.
All these, mind you, preclude the fantastically corrupt domestic crude allocation regime operated by NNPCL under its Direct Sale-Direct Purchase (DSDP) arrangement with international oil traders, not to mention the modified carry agreements that the state-run oil firm has with the IOCs, which have all eclipsed Nigeria’s oil exports and shrunk the country’s oil forex flows.
Indeed, a recent review by Dr Jekwe Ozoemene, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria, of NNPCL’s 2022 audited accounts showed that the Group has total contract liabilities on forward sale agreements – Projects Falcon, Santolina, Panther and Bison, and NLNG SPDC, NLNG TEPNG and DSDP customers – of N2.615 trillion. Forward sales – implying crude oil commitments for which NNPCL has received value but is yet to deliver crude oil. Is it any wonder that NNPCL, a minority shareholder in the Dangote refinery, cannot supply the crude feedstock needed by the plant?
Meanwhile, can anyone point to what the last administration did with the massive borrowing it embarked on? This administration has now begun its borrowing to save the naira.
Just recently, the operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), raided the Lagos Head office of the Dangote Group of Companies in search of documents relating to their purchase of dollars in the last 10 years. Please can anyone tell me what this was about? What did they need such documents for? Why didn’t EFCC just ask the CBN for the documents since they were so critical to its investigation? I find it curious and laughable that any serious crime-fighting body would ask the person they are investigating to come with the evidence of their guilt. Where in the world do you ask someone you are investigating to give you evidence to nail him? Does it make any sense?
Before that raid, there had been whispers that this government was not well disposed to Dangote for whatever reason. Then it found a nebulous pretext to launch its harassment of his companies.
Strangely, after storming the companies’ headquarters and disrupting workflow for hours, the operatives left without taking any document.
But this same government did not see the need to launch an investigation into all those who got forex at concessionary rates to perform Muslim hajj or Christian pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
As I have already stated, it was all about intimidation and harassment, to settle old scores. Nothing more, nothing less.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s EFCC must be condemned for the gangster-like manner it raided the Dangote head office. For sure, Dangote or his companies are not above the law, so if there is any need to launch an inquiry into any suspicious activity, please, do so. But it must be done in accordance with due process and civilised standards.
The manner by which EFCC’s operatives stormed the Dangote head office sends the wrong signals and lends credence to the word on the streets that the president has an axe to grind with Dangote. As far as 1 am concerned, it did grave damage to the elusive quest for foreign investors. Those investors this government is looking for all over the world would pause and think twice before venturing here. If the country’s biggest investor, the largest employer of labour in the private sector, owning one of the largest listed companies on the Nigerian Exchange group and one of the highest taxpayers in the country and major contributor to its GDP, can be so harassed by people in government positions who have never earned anything by enterprise, then it makes sense for other investors to keep away.
In other climes, where leaders have sense, they would do everything to protect and support Dangote’s massive investments in the economy, rather than hound him. Maybe, I should state here without mincing words: It has got to the point where the Dangote Group of Companies can be classified as a national security asset with business presence in cement, fertilizer, sugar, salt, petroleum refinery, rice production, construction, port operations, automotive, real estate, mining, transportation, logistics, agriculture, etc. Indeed, what TATA is to India is what Dangote has become to Nigeria. It is Nigeria’s own answer to India’s TATA. It projects Nigeria and Africa to the world positively regardless of our bad leaders.
The late Lebanese-American poet and philosopher, Kahlil Gibran captured the Nigerian tragedy so succinctly in his poem, The Garden of The Prophet:
“Pity the nation that is full of beliefs and empty of religion.
Pity the nation that wears a cloth it does not weave
and eats a bread it does not harvest.
Pity the nation that acclaims the bully as hero, and that deems the glittering conqueror bountiful.
Pity a nation that despises a passion in its dream, yet submits in its awakening.
Pity the nation that raises not its voice save when it walks in a funeral, boasts not except among its ruins, and will rebel not save when its neck is laid between the sword and the block.
Pity the nation whose statesman is a fox, whose philosopher is a juggler, and whose art is the art of patching and mimicking
Pity the nation that welcomes its new ruler with trumpeting,
and farewells him with hooting, only to welcome another with trumpeting again.
Pity the nation whose sages are dumb with years and whose strongmen are yet in the cradle.
Pity the nation divided into fragments each fragment deeming itself a nation.”
Indeed, this country deserves to be pitied.
THERE are civilian or constitutional coups in Guinea Bissau and Senegal, yet the regional body, the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, is pretending otherwise. It appears interested only in military coups, not those carried out by its bosses in the Heads of State Summit.
Yet, the ingredients of a coup are present in both countries where the constitution is subverted, the President assumes dictatorial powers, parliament is illegally banned as is the case in Guinea Bissau or emasculated as in Senegal, and the judiciary is under siege to do the bidding of the President.
Guinea Bissau, when it was one country with Cape Verde, produced Amilcar Cabral, one of the greatest Pan Africanists in history. Tragically for Africa, on January 20, 1973, Cabral at 48, was assassinated in Conakry, Guinea in a conspiracy linked with the PIDE, the secret service of then colonial master, Portugal.
However, the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde, PAIGC, which he led, survived, and led the country to independence. But the country has been plagued by violence and coups leading to Cape Verde breaking away on January 20, 1981.
On December 20, 2019, retired General Umaro Sissoco Embalo, a former Prime Minister, defeated the PAIGC candidate , Domingos Simoes in a disputed presidential election.
In May, 2022, President Embalo carried out a constitutional coup by dissolving parliament citing “persistent and unresolvable differences” with the parliament. Rather than ECOWAS sanctioning him, it elected Embalo, two months later, as the Chair of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of ECOWAS!
On June 4, 2023, the opposition coalition, the PAI Terra Ranka, led by the PAIGC, swept the parliamentary elections. But President Embalo refused to allow it function.
On December 4, 2023 Embalo again dissolved the parliament, claiming the Speaker, Domingos Simoes, wants to overthrow him. He also put the Supreme Court and its president under armed siege, forcing the latter to “resign”.
Despite these civilian coups by a man who was the sitting Chairman of ECOWAS, the regional body has kept mute in cold complicity. But ECOWAS will yell, if there is a military coup.
Senegal is the only West African country fortunate to have escaped a military coup. A 2012 attempt by President Abdoulaye Wade to run for an unconstitutional Third Term, was resisted, and Macky Sall was elected. In turn, Sall decided to run for an unconstitutional Third Term which in June 2023 led to street protests with 16 killed. Sall backed down, but got opposition leader Ousmane Sanko out of the race by getting him convicted.
However, as the February 25, 2024 presidential election approached, Sall decided on February 3, to extend his stay in power by indefinitely postponing the election on the basis that there is a dispute over the candidates list,
But the issue of the presidential candidates of political parties is the business of the party, electoral body and the courts, not the President of the country.
Unfortunately, ECOWAS, which has a reputation of chasing shadows, would not tell Sall the truth or defend constitutional rule. Rather, it same day, sanctioned Sall’s illegality by accepting the postponement . In its Saturday, February 3, 2024 statement, ECOWAS accepted the postponement and tamely appealed to the Sall Gang to “expedite the various processes in order to set a new date for the elections”.
Then it praised Sall: “The ECOWAS Commission salutes President Macky Sall for upholding his earlier decision not to run for another term and encourages him to continue to defend and protect Senegal’s long-standing democratic tradition.” Incredible! First, it was not in Sall’s place to decide not to run for a Third Term; it is a constitutional limit.
Also, Sall actually shed the blood of Senegalese who protested against his initial attempt to run in violation of the constitution. So, a serious ECOWAS, rather than praise him, ought to demand that he answers for the murder of pro-democracy Senegalese on the streets.
This ECOWAS statement which “…encourages him (Sall) to continue to defend and protect Senegal’s long-standing democratic tradition”, unfortunately presents Africans as idiots . This is because Sall, rather than defending and protecting the democratic tradition, is actually, endangering it. In fact, Sall is the greatest danger to democracy in Senegal.
Then after renewed street protests, the Senegalese Parliament met on Monday, February 5, 2024 on the indefinite postponement. During sitting, security forces removed by force, parliamentarians opposed to the postponement. Then rather than restore the electoral calendar, what is left of that parliament, endorsed Sall’s decision to illegally extend his tenure, by postponing the presidential election by ten months. This, of course, might be an initial date as it can always be postponed.
Rather than be concerned about the non-democratic postponement and its implications for democratic governance, ECOWAS, the next day, issued another of its pathetic statements.
Where even the United States which is not known to be a Sall antagonist, declared that the Senegalese National Assembly vote “…cannot be considered legitimate given the conditions under which it took place”, ECOWAS chose to be silent on the undemocratic process. Rather, it took refuge in bland sermons, reminding “…the population and the political class of their responsibility to maintain peace and stability in the country”.
To show the ECOWAS mindset and its lack of principles, it ended its second statement with a pledge to “…take all necessary steps to support the government and people of Senegal in their efforts to sustain the country’s democratic tradition”. How can ECOWAS pledge to support the subversive Sall government in Senegal that has no regard for democratic cultures, the will of the people and their human rights?
So, if tomorrow, such a government is overthrown, ECOWAS will be shouting about democracy and the sanctity of the constitution when it is actually in connivance with the Sall regime to subvert the constitution and democracy in that country.
In 2016, following Gambian presidential election, there was a dispute between incumbent President Yahya Jammeh and opposition leader, Adama Barrow. ECOWAS on January 19, 2017 sent a regional military force, the ECOWAS Mission in Gambia, ECOMIG, to force Jammeh out. It was tagged ‘Operation Restore Democracy’. When the over 4,000 ECOWAS troops, mainly from Senegal reached Banjul, Jammeh stepped down and left the country. The ECOWAS then installed Barrow who had been sworn in as President, not in the country, but in the Gambian embassy in Dakar, Senegal.
The Gambian situation is way better than what is going on today in Senegal. At least in the case of the former, presidential election held, while in that of the latter, presidential election is being prevented from holding. Yet, ECOWAS is engaged in double speak and ambivalence.
A vibrant former member of the House of Representatives, he stood strong,
A voice of reason, in the chaotic throng.
His path and I intertwined with Chief E. K. Clark,
Fate's hand at play, a connection from the dark.
Passionate and pragmatic, his heart ablaze,
For Nigeria's progress, in myriad ways.
From the halls of power, to healing hands,
He served his nation, with unwavering stance.
A football match, a moment of delight,
Yet destiny's twist, cast shadows in the night.
While patriotically watching Nigeria and South Africa contend,
His earthly journey met a sudden end.
But let us not mourn, for his spirit shall remain,
In the hearts he touched, where memories sustain.
For Dr. Cairo Ojougho, a legacy profound,
An epic tale of a life that will resound.
I raise my voices in a nostalgic song,
To honor his life, vibrant and strong.
May he find eternal peace in realms above,
Embraced by love, surrounded by divine love.
Farewell, dear Dr. Cairo, your race is run,
Your flame may have dimmed, but your legacy's begun.
In the annals of greatness, your name shall thrive,
A cherished soul, we'll remember as we strive.
-Dr Olukayode Ajulo, OON, SAN
As the troubled Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) convenes its Ministerial Council meeting in Abuja on February 8 to discuss the quit notice served by three of its members – Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger – the situation in Senegal might well be the elephant in the room.
Three weeks to the presidential election earlier scheduled to hold in that country on February 25, President Macky Sall announced that the election had been postponed, without immediately giving a new date or any believable reasons. After a wave of protests, he instigated the Senegalese Parliament to announce December 15 as a possible new date.
It’s not the postponement that will worry ECOWAS leaders as ministers meet in Nigeria, where presidential elections have been postponed twice in the last 10 years even on the eve of voting; it’s Sall’s recent shifty habit – first eying a third-term and then denying it, followed by his government’s crackdown on opposition candidates.
The problem in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger — three delinquent countries that have accused the community of complicity and negligence in its obligations and signalled an intention to quit — is bad enough.
That threat alone has not only put trade in the community estimated at $208.1 billion at risk, minus informal trade amongst citizens which constitutes about 30 percent of the transactions; it also threatens to complicate the security situation in the subregion that is already facing serious problems from violent extremism and banditry.
Hypocritical oath
A politically unstable Senegal is the last thing that the community needs at this time. Of course, it’s unlikely that the situation in Senegal will feature at the ECOWAS meeting, where an allegiance of hypocrisy, elegantly called the principle of “non-interference”, forbids members from telling one another the truth.
The point, however, is that the resurgence of military rule in a number of African countries today, particularly in Mali and Burkina Faso, is partly traceable to blatant disregard for constitutionalism, the rule of law, and rigged transitions – the sort of bad habit that Sall is showing in his old age.
Sall looked like the most unlikely candidate for this nonsense. In some ways, he reminded me of Senegal’s founding president, Leopold Senghor – urbane, intellectual and sensible. A geologist and widely travelled man, Sall built his way up from the bottom of the political ladder. Although he started his journey as a minister under former president Abdoulaye Wade, he soon returned to his base where he took up position as mayor of his hometown.
He took up other ministerial positions later on and also became the president of the country’s parliament. He fell out with his mentor, Wade, after he dragged Wade’s son to parliament to answer corruption charges. But his quarrel was not personal.
Sall seduced
Senegal was drifting, the cost of living was rising and infrastructure collapsing. Wade’s answer, if he had any, was to attempt to bend the constitution to extend his rule. Sall rallied the opposition. At a stage, the Parti Democratique Senegalais (PDS), where Sall had risen to become prime minister, could no longer contain Wade and Sall. He broke off to form his own Hope Alliance on which platform he challenged Wade in the 2012 presidential election and defeated him, with the assistance of a coalition, after a run-off.
This same Sall, who is losing his way and dragging his country along with him, set a high mark when he assumed office. He cut the size of his cabinet as he had promised, ploughed funds into the renewal of infrastructure and even made a proposal to parliament that would have reduced his term from seven to five-year two-term limit!
Strong arm tactics
All of that now appears to have been in the former life of a fairytale. As Sall’s reset two terms of 12 years neared its end, he slowly became the worst possible version of Wade, toying with an extended tenure and hounding the opposition with a number of his strongest opponents, including Ousmane Sonkoh, who has now been bumped off the trail on contrived charges. Sall, in short, has been seduced by what he hates.
ECOWAS will not be bothered if Sall changed his mind by December and sought an illegal third term. In the last four years, two regional leaders wangled illegal tenure extensions – Alpha Conde of Guinea and Alassane Ouattara of Cote d’Ivoire. The first didn’t quite get away with it after soldiers struck and removed him from office, setting off the region’s coup spiral; while the second is the current host of the African Cup of Nations (AFCON).
Perhaps if there’s one person left in the community on whom the burden falls to whisper to Sall that this is not the Senegal that we used to know, it’s Nigeria’s President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. As surely as a stumble imitates a fall, the signs from Dakar are those that presage what could become a full-blown political crisis for the region if left unattended.
Tinubu, who promised to promote a coup-free region when he assumed office as chair of ECOWAS last year, cannot afford another country added to the regional coup belt. The same way he requested regional leaders at a meeting in Abuja to give George Weah a standing applause for the exemplary transition in that country, he needs to pull Sall’s ear, behind closed doors, and ask him to stop playing games.
For ECOWAS to achieve the African Union (AU) objective to Silence the Guns in Africa by 2030, the community must pay attention to the underlying factors that breed resort to guns violence, a few of the obvious ones being rigged elections, suppression of dissent, and the rule of strongmen. When regional leaders like those in the delinquent states complain that the community is insensitive to problems caused by Western or foreign meddling, it’s the elite, like Sall, that open the door enabling such meddling.
Oasis in jeopardy
An oasis of stability and a shining light in a highly politically volatile region, Senegal was one of the few countries on the continent that others looked up to. According to Martin Meredith in his book entitled, The Fortunes of Africa, “Over the course of 150 elections held in 29 countries between 1960 and 1989, opposition parties were never allowed a single seat. Only three countries – Senegal, Botswana and the tiny state of the Gambia – sustained multi-party politics, holding elections on a regular basis that were considered reasonably free and fair.”
That’s the reputation that Sall threatens to drag in the mud. Tinubu needs to remind Sall that it was he, Sall, and Nigeria’s former President, Muhammadu Buhari, who led the regional response to flush out Yahaya Jammeh in neigbouring The Gambia when Jammeh was on the verge of disrupting the outcome of the elections there because they did not favour him.
By railroading a 10-month postponement of elections through Parliament, Sall is obviously hoping to succeed where Wade and Jammeh failed. And he doesn’t care the cost. But ECOWAS should. The community cannot afford to wait until Senegal becomes another basket case before weighing in.
The mismanagement of crisis of nation building in most post-colonial African states created without rhyme or objective criteria by self-serving imperialist powers has always been the source of disintegration of many of these states. The owners of these new states created to satisfy the greed of their colonial owners had no illusion. In deed many of their local public officials including Oliver Stanley, predicted their departure will result in a descent into turmoil of warring groups, outright civil wars and underdevelopment.
Attempts to delegitimize Tinubu’s hard-earned victory in the last February election by aggrieved southeast political elite and a segment of northern political elite who openly canvassed for military takeover or institutionalization of an Interim National Government because they lost out in what is often a zero-sum struggle for power, was one of the fallouts of our own unresolved national question.
Unfortunately, those who have the historic opportunity to change the narrative including Yakubu Gowon, Olusegun Obasanjo and Muhammadu Buhari did everything except revisiting the unresolved national question. But because of President Tinubu’s many years of preparation for his current job, Nigerians had expected him to take the first step towards a national rebirth by ensuring distributive justice through resettlement of those condemned to IDP camps by terrorist that have been identified as immigrant Fulani herdsmen back to their ancestral homes.
Unfortunately, as if it were possible to do the same thing over and over again and expect a different result, Tinubu like his predecessors, chose to focus exclusively on the ‘economies of the national question’. The result is that even with the new Sheriff in town, mindless killings, banditry and kidnapping for ransom continued in Plateau and other parts of besieged northeast and northwest. With last week’s killings of three Obas and kidnapping school children from his otherwise safe Yoruba nation that had hitherto provided succour for those fleeing violence from other troubled areas of the north, the battle has finally been brought home to him.
With what now appears to be an open challenge to his legitimacy, it is hoped the president understands it is time to stop playing the ostrich especially as regards immigrant Fulani terrorists and behave like an elected sovereign with a license to breach the constitution, if necessary, to protect the nation from those holding her hostage.
On the unresolved national question, the president has so far aligned himself with those who believe attainment of economic justice i.e. “Ensuring equitable allocation of resources and effective and sustainable production and distribution of appropriate goods and services is the ultimate solution to the national question”. The promoters of this approach led by Professor Dupe Olatubosun, formerly of NISER and a United Nations Consultant for many years and his fellow school of thought had argued that “promoting efficiency within existing structure will usher in all round prosperity and life abundant for all the people of Nigeria which will in turn lead to peaceful and equitable cohabitation of the various communities in Nigeria”. (The economies of the national question in Dupe Olatunbosun: An Autobiography (2005) pg. 175.
Unfortunately, today 24 years into the fourth republic, we are more divided than we were in 1999. Instead of ‘life abundant for everyone’, Nigeria has become world poverty capital. The problem with proponents of this approach is the assumption that every nationality wants life abundant for its people. Although, while they admitted we are a multicultural and a heterogeneous society, they however ignored the fact that it is the level of cultural development that determines if the ruling political elites create an egalitarian society or seek power to preside over an empire of slaves.
There is a competitive spirit in every Igbo man which makes him believe he could, with hard work, become a Coscharis (Cosmas Maduka, Kalu Uzor Kalu or Rocha Okorocha, Igbo multibillionaires who started by hawking on the streets. For the average Igbo man therefore, it is self, first.
The north remains the poorest part of Nigeria despite monopoly of power for the greater part of our history. The north harbours more than two-third of Nigeria estimated 15million of out school children while their political elites send their children to the best schools in the world. Rather than a crusade for ‘life more abundant’ for the impoverished people of the north, the goal of the northern ruling elite is presiding over an empire of slaves.
The South-south political elites especially the Ijaw, the fourth largest ethnic group in the country, share the same world view with the north they had aligned with since independence. Their leading light include the likes of Alfred Diete Spiff, governor of Rivers in his twenties and remembered more for shaving with a broken bottle, the head of a reporter who ran a story about the governor’s inability to pay salaries of teachers on the occasion of the governor’ birthday. It turned out that was at a time he was cruising around the Atlantic Ocean in his private ship according to Murtala Muhammed regime that demoted and retrieved a number of properties from him. We remember Peter Odili who secured a perpetual injunction against probe for financial malfeasance against his state by EFCC. There was the late Diepreye Alamieyeseigha who escaped arrest and prosecution in Britain for defrauding his state by disguising as woman while on a flight to Nigeria. We can add James Ibori who served a jail term in Britain for defrauding his Delta people as a governor.
And if Tinubu needed additional reasons to know the answer to our crisis of nation-building is politics, the ongoing conspiracy of dubious bank owners to derail his government through foreign exchange manipulation provides just that. The time to placate them is over.
Professor Bolaji Akinyemi, our former foreign affairs minister once said that most Nigerian billionaires made their money through government. From the revelations from the ongoing probe of Emefiele’s leadership of the CBN, isn’t it time we beam light at the source of wealth of those who without inheriting industrial empire from their parents’ bought banks and today leave like film stars?
Yemi Cardoso, the current CBN governor last Monday told the nation that the Tinubu government met $7 billion in unpaid obligations and that the results of Deloitte forensic audit of what is valid or not, revealed that: $2.4 billion had issues including not having valid import documents; that entities that did not exist got allocation; entities who asked for forex got more than they asked; and that entities that did not ask got allocations. All these went through the banks that are currently engaged in foreign exchange speculation that has moved the exchange rate from about N750 to N1,400.
Do we need further explanation as to why some of these banks are declaring such huge profits that will make bankers in Europe and America green with envy?
It is on record that two-third of staff of the banks declaring profit in trillions pay slave wages of about N75,000 to their workers. President Tinubu, as an elected sovereign can borrow a leave from Niccolo Machiavelli, the apostle of politics of ‘the end justifies the means to charge the forex speculators trying to sabotage his economic policies for defrauding their workers.
The president’s other political battle over the national question is restructuring or devolution of power. There is no known multi-ethnic nation in the world that has survived by operating a federal constitution where close to 70% of the items are on the exclusive list. With about 23 states already managing one form of security outfit or the other, the time for state police is now. Local people are best at providing security for themselves even if elder statesman Theophilus Danjuma did not accuse the military and federal police of betrayal.
At a recent function in Abuja, Vice President Kashim Shettima expressed his disappointment that some Nigerians would rather be amused by the free fall of Naira value than pour ashes on their heads. According to him, “It is not only disheartening and disenchanting but also heartbreaking that yesterday when the Naira culminated to N1,500 to the dollar, instead of us to coagulate into a single force and salvage our nation economy, sadly, some clowns are celebrating on Twitter of an impending implosion of the Nigerian economy.” Look, if any clown here badly needs help recognising what he truly is, it is Shettima himself.
When insecurity was rife in Nigeria under the Goodluck Jonathan administration, Shettima did not think it was necessary to “coagulate into a single force” to save the country. He, and a set of fellow governors, took off for Washington D.C., to “report” their president to foreign agents. Now that he faces a similar bad situation as vice president, he expects to reap the understanding he never sowed. Who exactly does he expect to bunch up and help him solve the problem of Naira depreciation? This time last year, the same Shettima was all over the place campaigning for votes and—with an admixture of outlandish promises and insults to opponents—swore they would turn our earth to heaven. Now you finally have the chance to live up to your promises, you are sourcing the wisdom you need to lead from those you defeated? Yeye man!
Shettima is not the only joker looking for those who will help them do their job. Another one of that tribe is their party spokesman, Felix Morka, who asked opposition parties to go beyond condemning the APC administrative impotence and share solutions to Nigeria’s problems with them. In a Tuesday interview on Channels, Morka said, “One of the concerns we have is that opposition is not about condemning. So, it is not enough to just condemn. These leaders should be able to – assuming they have that silver bullet that they say the government is not deploying – point it out.”
If a plaque is to be handed out for halfwit clowns with poor memory, Morka should be the uncontested winner. He seems to have forgotten—and so quickly too—that the whole of his party’s opposition before they made it to Aso Rock has never consisted of anything but condemnation. Nothing—I repeat, nothing—the PDP and the LP are doing today comes close to the acerbic and vituperative activities of the APC when they were the opposition party. In fact, the PDP and LP cojoined are relatively tame—and lame—compared to the toxicity of just Morka’s predecessor Lai Mohammed alone.
So now Morka expects the opposition parties who want to take their place to give the APC the very ideas the APC needs to stay in power forever? Clown! In case he has never pondered on their party’s antecedents, he should be reminded that the APC itself has never offered Nigeria a model of political opposition that is composed of either solution-finding or even respectful conveyance of an ideological position to authority. Every intellectual agenda and moral vision the APC ideologues and “Lagos boys” ever offered were all cash-and-carry projects funded by their leader who needed to sell himself as Chief Obafemi Awolowo reincarnate. That is why, on the occasions they have won national elections, the first thing they abandoned were those very ideas on which they built the APC’s so-called “progressive” character.
Eight years under Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) stripped some of the biggest names in their party of all mystique, revealing them to be mere blowhards. While some were able to dodge some criticism by claiming they were sidelined under the Buhari administration, nothing has changed now that they are the chief occupiers of Aso Rock. In virtually every sphere, people are groaning under the weight of oppression. The government has not officially admitted it, but they too seem perplexed by the Nigerian situation.
Things are getting out of hand, and there is palpable fear everywhere that when people get pushed to a point where they have exhausted their options, they will resort to the language of the unheard: violence. On Monday, hundreds of residents of Minna, Niger State, and Kano, Kano State, publicly demonstrated the unbearable cost of living occasioned by the Naira devaluation. The surprise is not even that some people protested, but that everyone is not yet on the streets doing the same.
Nigerians have endured a series of hardships for far too long. Look at the past year alone. From the unfortunate Naira redesign policy that brought untold—and entirely needless—hardship on the populace, we have stumbled into fueled crises engendered by the removal of subsidies on petrol and forex. There was no space for recovery before people were plunged into another round of economic crisis.
With Nigerians exposed to the harsh vicissitudes of global economics, the cost of living has spiralled out of control with barely any mitigating measures. The minimum wage remains N30,000 (about $20) and people can barely afford basics such as food, healthcare, energy, medicine, transport costs, energy, etc., let alone the little things that make life pleasant. Families everywhere are watching their purchasing power tanking and the quality of their lives depreciating. These are tough times, and they have been indefinitely extended.
Speaking of tough times, Tinubu’s New Year speech already enjoined Nigerians to maintain a steel resolve in the face of adversity. He said, Dear Compatriots, take this from me: the time may be rough and tough, however, our spirit must remain unbowed because tough times never last. We are made for this period, never to flinch, never to falter. The socio-economic challenges of today should energise and rekindle our love and faith in the promise of Nigeria….
In the history of presidential speeches given during a national crisis, this one must rank very high among the most tone-deaf. Trite and out of touch with reality, it came out insensitive. It is not that hard for a man ensconced in the lush surroundings of Aso Rock and who will never know the pain of hunger, deprivation, and frustration to say “we” (and please note the use of corporate pronoun by someone who lives—and has always lived—on public resources) are made for tough times, never to flinch and never to falter. He—or the speechwriter who composed the uninspiring prose—must assume that our Nigerian skins are overlaid with leather hides and can therefore indeterminately endure the lash of hardship.
Imagine a president who still takes a “private visit” to France amidst the grinding poverty in his country telling us that desperate situations should enhance patriotism. When it comes to suffering, they will expect Nigerians to demonstrate patriotism and unity. When it is time for pleasure, they experience that alone. The dissonance between his speech and executive action reminds you of every charlatan cleric living off the sweat and blood of his congregation while telling them that their “suffer suffer for world” will lead to “enjoyment for heaven.”
Even his own ardent supporters, some of whom resorted to name-calling the Yoruba people who did not support Tinubu’s presidential ambition, are now regretting their support for him. Things are that bad, yes. It is easy—cheap, actually—for a man who does not have to look at the faces of his children and tell them why he cannot live up to his responsibilities because he does not have money to tell other men that their descent into poverty should enhance their patriotism. If not because we are supposed to respect our leaders, the mindset that people should swallow the pill of tough times with patriotism alone qualifies Tinubu to be called another APC “clown.”
Fuji musician, King Wasiu Ayinde Marshall, aka KWAM 1, has been the official ‘palace entertainer’ for almost a decade. Evidently through the instrumentality of then All Progressives Congress (APC) National Leader, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, his ‘Nigeria, Sai Baba, Sai Buhari’ song that preceded the 2015 general election was a campaign anthem that also elicited an uncommon dance step from the man who would go on to defeat an incumbent president. Early in 2021, when it became obvious that APC bigwigs were plotting to edge Tinubu out of the race for the party’s presidential ticket, it was KWAM 1 who released a song of defiance, ‘On your mandate we shall stand, Bola…’ which has turned out to be prophetic. So, when the avid supporter begins to sound like a ‘wailing wailer’, there is fire on the mountain.
In a video posted on his Instagram page titled ‘A Special Message to Mr President,’ last weekend, KWAM 1 lamented the suffering Nigerians have had to endure since Tinubu assumed office. “Akanbi (Tinubu), my boss, please don’t turn a deaf ear to people’s outcry,” KWAM 1 sang in a mournful tone that speaks to the economic and security challenges in the country today. “Nigerians are angry. The Naira is becoming worthless. People are weeping and without electricity. How did we get to the point where Nigerians are now being kidnapped every day?”
The two sectors most critical to the survival of any nation (and their people) are economy and security. Nigeria is currently challenged on both. The security situation is so bad that kidnappers now enter palaces to kill traditional rulers and take away their wives while innocent school children have become game for these dare-devil criminals who operate across the country, including on street corners and major highways. The situation is worse on the economic front. Prices of even basic foodstuffs are now beyond the reach of most Nigerians. And things can only get worse, given rising inflationary pressure. Last November, the exchange rate for cargo clearance by the Nigeria Customs Service (NSC) was raised from N757/$ to N783/$, representing a 3.4 per cent increase. By December, it was raised from N783/$ to N952/$. That was a 22 percent increase within a period of just 30 days. By last weekend, the rate had been further jacked up from N952/$ to N1356/$! That represents a 43 percent increment within another month!
In his column, ‘Urgent Need to Halt Soaring Food Prices’ last Sunday, Waziri Adio painted a dreary picture of the current situation. He urged action lest we have a crisis on our hands. “In a country where 26.5 million people are officially classified as food insecure, where citizens spend 59% of their incomes on food and where 104 million people are classified as income poor, nothing can be more existential and more dangerous than sky-high food prices,” Waziri wrote. “The negative impacts on social stability, economic growth, human development and national security are simply too grave for the government not to swing into crisis mode.” And just yesterday, the gravity of our situation was brought home by the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Temitope Fadeshemi. “The level of poverty in Nigeria is alarming. An estimated population of 88.4 million people in Nigeria is living in extreme poverty,” he said in Kaduna. “Overall, 12.9 per cent of the global population in extreme poverty was found in Nigeria as of 2022.”
Yes, it is difficult to fault the explanation of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Olayemi Cardoso on the forex situation. Especially given the abuse to which a regime of multiple exchange rates had been subjected by the last administration. Nor can we argue against the removal of subsidy in the downstream sector of the petroleum industry that has further pauperised Nigerians. But the cavalier way these decisions were taken without considering the consequences is what has led us to where we are now. The dire situation in the power sector was on Monday aptly captured, ironically by Tinubu’s own newspaper, The Nation: “Zero Megawatt to Discos cripples homes, businesses.” To worsen matters, public officials continue to live in opulence and recklessly spend scarce resources, including to purchase exotic vehicles for themselves at outrageous prices.
Following his return from a ‘private’ visit to France on Monday, the president would have seen media highlights and must have listened to the full rendition of KWAM 1’s ‘special message’. Considering that the president also started badly in Lagos before he turned things around, I want to share the optimism with which KWAM 1 ended his dirge. That is why I am recommending that the president again watch Saworoide, the 1999 Mainframe (Tunde Kelani) movie that was sponsored by the Tinubu Inauguration Committee for his swearing-in as Lagos State Governor 25 years ago.
The movie was weaved around Saworoide, a brass bell talking drum. Written by the late Professor Akinwunmi Isola, a world acclaimed authority on Yoruba tradition and culture, Saworoide is the story of a fictional community called Jogbo which, like Nigeria, has enough to meet the needs of people in terms of resources but not enough to satisfy the greed of a few powerful individuals. Principal actors include the late Isola himself, Adebayo Faleti (also now of blessed memory), Kola Oyewo, Bukky Wright, Lere Paimo, Kunle Bantefa, Kunle Afolayan, Peter Fatomilola, Ayantunji Amoo, Kabirat Kafidipe, and the late Larinde Akinleye.
In ancient Jogbo, the king and his subjects had a binding social contract that engendered prosperity for all but with dire consequences for deviants. “For the fictional Yoruba land of Jogbo, a ritual with the Saworoide had been established for rulers about to ascend the throne. Lapite (Oyewo) who becomes the King early in the story rejects the ritual as he intends to use his new position to enrich himself and escape accountability,” a Mr Tishe wrote on the enduring lessons of the movie depicted through metaphors and allegories with a powerful message on good leadership. “Although fictional, the events in the land of Jogbo call for reflection and action on the part of leaders and citizens for positive change.”
For 16 years (since he left office as Governor), Tinubu had been plotting to be president of Nigeria. So, now that he has realized what he publicly admitted as a ‘lifelong ambition’, he cannot be described as an accidental leader. Therefore, in moments of introspection, Tinubu must ask himself whether his presidency is simply about the trappings of power or whether he is interested in leaving a worthy legacy for posterity. It would be a shame if it were all about the former. Meanwhile, I understand that the Tinubu administration is undertaking important and necessary reforms which hopefully will yield gains in the future. But you don’t preach sermons to hungry people. Immediate measures are required to relieve the pains of Nigerians. And there is also an urgent need to tell Nigerians what his medium to long term economic and security plans are beyond this ‘kick-and-follow’ approach that is not helped by mixed messages from some of his palpably incompetent ministers.
Here is the point. The ‘Emilokan’ philosophy, which is about entitlement, may have helped Tinubu wrest the presidential ticket of APC—which to be fair is no more than a party carefully constructed by him as a special purpose vehicle to power—from conspirators. But such disposition is of no use to him in presiding over the affairs of Nigeria. When leaders place more importance on what they believe they are entitled to rather than what they offer society, they are setting themselves up for big time failure. The only thing that can untangle the multitude of problems we face in the country today is for Tinubu to humble himself and admit that Nigeria has given him so much and use his stewardship to pay back.
That explains why I recommend that the president should go back to watch Saworoide and the sequel, ‘Agogo Eewo’ (the gong of taboo). In a 2020 review, ‘Saworoide, An Allegory of Present Day Nigeria’, Tobi Oduselu concluded his treatise on a sombre note. “While this cinematic masterpiece shows a semblance to Nigeria’s current realities, it also serves as a predictive imagination of how the future will turn out if the current mishandling of our resources persists,” Oduselu wrote. “It is not enough to promise change; it is imperative to deliver on those promises and take care of the people.”
As the Yoruba would say, a half-hint (this time, of impending doom) is sufficient for any ‘Omoluabi’ to get the full message!
Lagos Traffic and the Water Option
Inside the Control Room of the Monitoring and Data Management Centre of the Lagos Waterways Authority (LASWA) at the sprawling Falomo Jetty last Friday afternoon, I watched activities in real time on the entire stretch of the Lagos lagoon, from Ikorodu to Badagry. The General Manager, Damilola Emmanuel, was on hand to take me through what I was seeing live on the big screens. But what was I doing at the Falomo Jetty?
In Lagos last weekend for a burial ceremony, I visited Bode Makanjuola, CEO of Caverton Offshore Support Group, who also oversees Caverton Marine, a critical subsidiary. He offered to take me on a boat ride from their Jetty in Ozumba Mbadiwe through the lagoon to showcase their latest venture. The diversification into boat building, according to Bode, began with the construction of a 40-passenger Glass Reinforced Plastic (GRP) ferry. And the ferry on which we rode was constructed right in Nigeria, specifically at their Badore, Lagos Jetty. It features 20 USB charging points, radio channels and a space left for television. Although not yet operational, I found the ferry service more luxurious than the ones I experienced in Zanzibar a decade ago and Sierra Leone last year. “Now, we have ten of such ferry each of which, as you can see, is built for the luxury of passengers and very safe,” Bode assured me.
To beat the Victoria Island traffic after the visit (and boat ride), I asked to be dropped at the Falomo Jetty (to access Ikoyi) and then I had the chance encounter with the LASWA boss, Damilola. Surprisingly, the lounge at the jetty is better than what you find in some airports in the country. Established in 2008 by the government of Babatunde Fashola, the agency can serve as a catalyst for decongesting Lagos roads. But it needs to encourage private capital which Caverton Marine and other players are tapping into.
Bode has bold ambitions. “In addition to passenger ferries, we are also actively building security and cargo boats. We have plans to expand our fleet to include fishing and leisure boats, ensuring that we meet diverse industry demands and contribute to the growth of Nigeria’s maritime sector,” Bode told me before we parted at Falomo last Friday. “In line with international marine vessel classification agency guidelines, our boats are designed and built with precision, utilizing cutting-edge technology and with the expertise of our dedicated team, we intend to exceed the most stringent industry standards.”
From what I saw last Friday, water transportation can be a viable option for those who want to avoid the impossible Lagos Road traffic. But it will require considerable investment, especially from the private sector in partnership with the Lagos State government. Bode Makanjuola is already positioning himself with an investment that is already in millions of dollars. Under the prevailing business environment in Nigeria, such daring comes with enormous risk. And enormous reward!
The Yoruba set a huge store by character, which they insist is more precious than rubies and gold. “E hu iwa Omoluwabi'' is a refrain that so unambiguously states what the Yoruba expect from every true-born son or daughter. Those who deviate are referred to as bastards – “omo ale”. Proper or good behaviour is non-negotiable. There are certain characters or behaviours that must not be mentioned, not even once, among Omoluwabis.
One of such is stealing/cheating. Another is laziness or slothfulness. Liars and unreliable people, those who are not bound by their words, are loathed among the Yoruba. They are to be avoided like a plague. Wealth does not define the Yoruba; character does. Good character, not wealth, is what the Yoruba believe a person should flaunt and which every other person should acknowledge, respect and emulate.
A number of songs, proverbs, and words of wisdom of our elders are drummed into the ears of every Yoruba child. One such song, which I learnt in elementary school and which remains ingrained in my soul, is: “Kini n f’ole se l’aiye ti mo wa? (2ce) L’aiye ti mo wa ewon ko sunwon/Ewon ko sunwon f’Omoluwabi/Kini n f’ole se l’aiye ti mo wa” Thieves and vagrants are ostracized; murderers are excommunicated and anyone related to such fellows are enveloped in shame.
Unable to live with such shame, many have been known to commit suicide, considering death a more honourable outcome - “Iku ya j’esin”. Begging was alien to Yoruba land and culture. It used to be considered a shameful thing. The Yoruba taught the virtues of hard and diligent work - “Ise l’oogun ise/Mura s’ise ore mi/Ise la fi n d’eni giga…” Students were taught to study hard – “Bata re a dun ko-ko-ka/Ti o ba ka’we e/ Bata re a dun ko-ko-ka”
I first noticed it in Lagos – “Eko gb’ole, o gb’ole” - but street begging has since enveloped the entire Yoruba landscape. Beggars of Yoruba extraction compete favourably with those who were seen as the traditional beggars. These days, there are no vices that were loathed in Yoruba land that have not now seized the entire Yoruba landscape. Look around you, the “twale” and “alright sir” boys and girls, the area boys and area girls, are mostly Yoruba youths.
While their Igbo counterparts are busy learning trade and their Hausa counterparts are riding Okada and pushing carts to eke out a living, the Yoruba youths are useless to themselves and to the society. Yet, they insist on living life to the hilt, and on the fast lane, to boot. They are the enforcers. They are the political thugs. They are the “agberos” They are the petty thieves waylaying and stripping the hapless of their phones and other valuables at street corners.
Cultism has run riots among Yoruba youths. It is no longer the exclusive preserve of students in the institutions of higher learning. Primary schools, secondary schools, any gathering of youths in Yoruba land these days is infested with cultism. They kill, they maim. Rival groups waste one another with relish.
Evil – all manner of evil – walks naked on our roads, wasting our future before our very eyes. Now, our youths are said to have graduated into the ranks of kidnappers, bandits and terrorists! All eyes used to be on the Fulani but the kidnappers of the Ekiti school children are said to be of Yoruba extraction.
Governance in Yoruba land progressively took a dip the very moment Chief Obafemi Awolowo, in pursuit of his ambition to rule Nigeria, left the office of premier of the Western Region for the position of Leader of Opposition in the Federal parliament. Cracks soon set in between him and his successor, SLA Akintola, with other Action Group leaders siding with this or with that. The Fulani-led government at the Centre cashed in on that, aided by Nnamdi Azikiwe and his Eastern Region, to set the Western Region on fire and send Awo to jail.
From that moment, things fell apart in Yoruba land. Akintola, Fani-Kayode and others betrayed Awo. Fani-Kayode in turn betrayed Akintola. In the Second Republic, the core opponents of Awo were big-time Yoruba politicians and business moguls, the likes of Meredith Adisa Akinloye, Richard Akinjide, Omololu Olunloyo, FRA Williams, Bashorun MKO Abiola, among others.
Dogs began to eat dogs. Bola Ige dumped Alayande out of the Oyo governorship race. Cornelius Adebayo did similarly to Chief Josiah Olawoyin in Kwara state. Both disrespected the counsel of Awo. Ige got his due recompense at D’Rovans, Ibadan years later as his peers ditched him for Chief Olu Falae.
Against Awo’s advice, both Ige and Sunday Afolabi served in President Olusegun Obasanjo’s government in the Fourth Republic. A man who hates your father cannot love you, the son, Awo was reported to have told his two political sons gone errant. Both Ige and Afolabi perished in Obasanjo’s government. Those who did not perish serving Sani Abacha lost relevance and the reputation that had taken them decades to build – the likes of Ebenezer Babatope, Alhaj Lateef Jakande and Olu Onagoruwa, who also lost his first son to the bargain.
The Fourth Republic started well for the mainstream Yoruba political leadership in 1999 but wily Obasanjo unhinged it four years later in 2003. Only Bola Ahmed Tinubu as Lagos governor survived the Obasanjo tsunami. A new king was born!
Whatever aileth the Yoruba nation today must be placed squarely at the door mouth of the Asiwaju of Yorubaland and Jagaban Borgu. Tinubu uprooted the Awo political dynasty and created a new political empire of his own. The Yoruba nation today is cast, for better or for worse, in the image of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. If all is well, give the credit to Tinubu. If all is well the other way round, as our elders would say, hang it as well around Tinubu’s neck!
The creation, nurturing and blossoming of the Yoruba area boys and girls coincided, if I can put it that mildly, with the ascendancy of Tinubu as the master of South-west politics. Coping with the influx of Hausa/Fulani criminals into Yoruba land is difficult enough, especially with the obstacles deliberately put in the way of containing the criminals by Federal power. To now have to contend with the sad spectacle of our own children themselves swelling the ranks of the criminals is distressing, to say the least.
But what do we expect from jobless youths? What do we expect from generations whose destiny has been wasted by our political leaders who have no plan for them other than use them as thugs and then dump them? Why are our youths not being helped to learn a trade like their Igbo counterparts? Whatever you may say, the Fulani are smart; they buy carts and okada for thousands of their youths and then unleash them on us down South. Who will do similarly for our own youths?
Yesterday (Tuesday, 6 February, 2024), I was invited to join the Afenifere team to commiserate with Ekiti State’s Gov. Biodun Oyebanji over the tragedy that befell the state recently. Two traditional rulers were felled by suspected Fulani terrorists and some school children were kidnapped on their way to/from school. God have mercy! Ekiti suddenly became Chibok and Dapchi!
The Afenifere delegation was led by Chief Korede Duyile, who described the disasters as unfortunate. Duyile proffered the following solutions: that the governors of the south-west cooperate more than ever before to confront the security threats facing the sub-region; and that Amotekun, the security outfit of the South-west, be given appropriate arms and ammunition. “We want Amotekun to be fully armed. It is not easy to work with bare hands or with incantations”, he said. He also faulted the country’s structure: “If governors are in control of security, it will be easier to tackle these problems” he said, adding that the need to restructure the country has become more urgent than ever.
Responding, Gov. Oyebanji described the killing of the Obas as “sacrilege and an affront to the Yoruba race”, which he said his government would not take lightly. The culprits would be brought to book, he vowed. Despite party differences, the South-west governors are cooperating on security and had measures in the pipeline before the unfortunate death of their chairman, Gov. Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo state. After giving Akeredolu a befitting burial later this month, the South-west governors will unfurl their plans.
Oyebanji praised President Tinubu for providing leadership and encouragement to Ekiti in its trying moments. Despite being out of the country, he said the president called him on a daily basis and also gave directives that have been of immense benefit to the state. “I want Afenifere to thank him for me” he said before passionately pleading with the Afenifere to forge a common front and work together “because it is only in unity that we can confront and defeat this menace. Your voice carries weight”
Nigeria needs urgent restructuring. And the South-west itself needs urgent repositioning. Governance must be elevated to a higher level. Hope renewed, which Tinubu promised, must not remain a cliché. Blood and flesh must be infused into it. Time to act is now!
More...
As the plane made its way into the Abuja skies, weeks back, I made a quick count of the luxury birds sunbathing to the right of the runway. This was a Saturday, the private jets were there in the tens, waiting to ferry Nigeria's luxury class to the next stop in their ever-busy schedules. I wondered about the cost of acquiring one of those toys, maintenance costs and all that. Then settled on what the Aviation authorities could be charging for licensing and parking fees. I couldn't get reliable information on that from my contacts in the Sector.
A few hours after, I was at Ikoyi. I pulled apart the curtains to take in the sight from the neighbouring lagoon. Seated majestically before me are the twins. They have been my neighbours for almost three months. I cannot recollect them moving, at any point, from the spot in which they are moored in the last 3 months. These are Yachts or possibly Superyachts said to belong to two of Nigeria's richest men - Aliko Dangote and Femi Otedola.
Streettalk estimates each of the boats at @$40 million. I wondered if and what they pay to have the yachts moored (parked) on our waterway all these months. I wondered how much was paid as tax on the yachts at the time of acquisition. I wondered about how much Nigeria might be indulging or subsidising luxury.
Nigeria, though faced with an acute revenue problem, has been struggling for almost 10 years now with implementing or executing luxury tax. The Jonathan administration had in 2014 unveiled plans for the introduction of tax on a number of Luxury goods. Targeted were private jets, yachts, luxury cars, first class tickets on airlines, champagnes, wines and spirits.
For some reason, the implementation process has never been able to find wings. The three Finance Ministers who have served since 2014 have offered us reasons this has yet to take off, even with the national treasury in dire straits. Over the years, there is no record of implementation or collection.
Whereas the 2019 Budget had a projection of N2.5 billion, there is no record that even One Kobo was collected. I do not know if the Budgets for subsequent years carried this budget hole. But from what I have seen, there is still no record of implementation.
It is the way it is. We are overwhelmed in our sea of contradictions. We are not willing to let go of our indulgences and luxuries, but ever generous with tears over the fruits from our plantation of contradictions. We are chasing Dollars with our Naira, to stockpile and speculate, with politicians buying up to fund elections, then wondering why Naira is on a freefall. We are in a rat race to buy dollars to fund our foreign travels, education for the children, health check and holiday abroad, yet wondering how come Naira is not holding firm.
We buy up PTA to offload. We are bingeing on all forms of foreign goods and services, without improving on local productivity, yet we want an exchange of One Naira to Dollar. In fact, we want One Naira to a Dollar so that we can travel the world and import all sorts of dregs, growing other economies while destroying ours.
As with politics and leadership, so is it with the economy, it is difficult to figure out what the Elite Consensus is. We are too impatient to grow from the bottom? As we must eat foreign rice, we flood neighbouring ports, and find ways to smuggle them in, putting local production in jeopardy. We cannot even agree on what exactly to do with whatever.
Experts argue for Naira devaluation, then complain that there is a freefall. Oh, they want the CBN to let its hands off the official window to do away with the arbitrage window. But is that all that there is to it? Would that not lead to a further free fall of the Naira even beyond the level people are already complaining of? How will manufacturers who need foreign equipment and inputs cope? Contradictions. People want a total removal of 'subsidy' on Petrol, yet complaining about the cost of Diesel! Contradictions.
The dots around our desires, wants, indulgences, luxuries, contradictions and lack of consensus on where to go, what to do, and how to do it are not that difficult to connect. We have an acute revenue problem, but cutting on our luxuries and excesses and growing the revenue basket, with the luxury tax being a low-hanging pick, is not a pill we are ready to swallow. We must reconcile with the contradictions in our choices to get ourselves out of the mess we have put ourselves.
Religious intolerance has bred extremism and resulted in thousands of deaths in Nigeria, divisions, and terrorism as a bad omen and example of a nation at war with itself. Meanwhile, the twin evils of extremism and terrorism are the core reasons for a decaying society and our present predicament as a troubled nation. As it were, all religions involve specific intellectual beliefs. Each has several literatures held especially scared which contain historical materials with which the validity of the doctrines are connected as well as their modes of propagation.
Unarguably, Africa is a melting pot of different religions. To some outside observers, this is a volatile religious fault line—as exemplified by the ethnic and sectarian bloodshed in Nigeria, where hundreds of Muslims and Christians have been killed. To others, religion is not so much a source of conflict as a source of hope in sub-Saharan Africa, where religious leaders and movements are a major force in civil society and a key provider of relief and development for the needy, particularly given the widespread reality of failed states and collapsing government services.
From my personal experience and observation; the more religious a person is, the more dangerous he is. Because religion carries with it deep-rooted prejudices that cause conflict, mistrust, and oppression. When you use religious faith to determine what is true, then you open yourself up to delusion. The more religious or “faith-full” someone is, the more likely it is that they will hold destructive, delusional beliefs as truth. The thing about a delusion is that it is often very difficult to crack from the outside, and intelligence is no defense from the inside against delusion.
Additionally, as commentator Charles Ellicott, a distinguished English Christian theologian, academic and churchman. Ellicott profoundly posited: "These, by claiming the title of Christians, wearing in before men the uniform of Christ, but by their lives dishonoring His name, did the gravest injury to the holy Christian cause” (Ellicott’s Bible Commentary for English Readers, entry for 2 Timothy 3:5). Ironically, those who have a form of godliness are those who make an outward display of religion. They present themselves as godly, but it is all for show.
There is no power behind their religion, as evidenced by the fact that their lives are unchanged. They speak of God and live in sin, and they are fine with that arrangement. Otherwise, how else does one explain a situation in which we find ourselves and the overrated system full of RELIGIOSITY without corresponding results? Therefore, we argued that religious extremism, as distinct from religion, motivates wide-scale acts of terrorism, justifies individual acts of violence, and promotes hatred of the “other.” To prove its point, the article looks at the secular-religious debate in Turkey, the use of fatwas by Muslim extremists as part of the dangerous elements in religious extremism as exemplified by a couple of unfortunate incidents in Nigeria for example with Deborah Samuel and many others on my mind.
Furthermore, fatwas are a central feature of the Islamic legal tradition. A fatwa is a religious opinion or ruling (hukm) issued by a qualified jurisconsult known as a mufti or mujtahid. Within the Sunni tradition, fatwas are non-binding religious decrees, whereas in the Shi’a tradition, they can be binding depending on the jurist’s authority. Firstly, the dictates of a fatwa play an important role in advising Muslims about their daily practices under the shari’a (Islamic law). Secondly, adherence to juristic rulings, however, is purely voluntary and a matter of conscience between a believer and God.
Essentially, one of the many examples is on the 12th of May 2022, a 200-level student of Shehu Shagari College of Education, Sokoto, Deborah Samuel was gruesomely killed by her fellow students who accused her of blaspheming Prophet Mohammed. The mob that lynched Deborah Samuel was composed of students and some "foreigners" hired by the extremists to carry out the attack.
Analytically, the role of religious extremism in the Capitol Hill insurrection can easily be identified. In January 2021, a rally organized to protest the results of the 2020 presidential election escalated into the violent takeover of the United States Capitol building. While rioters utilized a wide variety of symbols and slogans in the planning and execution of those attacks, religious motives were a regular fixture of what one reporter labeled “a Christian insurrection.”
Firstly, religion’s appearance that afternoon was not unexpected, as prominent religious supporters of the Trump Administration framed electoral defeat as an anti-religious conspiracy even before the November election. Secondly, in the days before the Capitol violence, supporters launched a “Jericho March” against alleged electoral fraud, intended to imitate the biblical siege of Jericho by Israelite force.
Following from the above, one prominent definition of extremism as a motivation for terrorism is that extremism comprises ideological beliefs about an obligation to bring back the political system to a form suggested by religious norms through violence. Therefore, the label of extremist is attributed to groups fighting for their political agendas against mainstream systems accepted by the majority of people (e.g., Boko Haram tendencies and Separatists elements in Nigeria, ISIS against the government of Syria, or MILF or Moro Islamic Liberation Front against the government of the Philippines). Such a definition of extremism associated with political violence is related to broad collective responses against perceived oppression or injustice, and it may be fueled by extreme religious dogma or not.
In conclusion, I like to use this article that focuses on "The Link Between Religious Extremism And Terrorism" - as we briefly review the different interpretations and understandings of extremism and terrorism within the context of religion and propose an alternative MODEL that allows for a more accurate and complete understanding of various dimensions of religion.
Finally, permit me to share with you an excerpt from Martin Luther King’s speech “Where Do We Go From Here?” delivered at the 11th Annual SCLC Convention, Atlanta, Georgia, on August 16, 1967. MLK Jr profoundly posited "I’m concerned about a better World. I’m concerned about justice; I’m concerned about brotherhood and sisterhood; I’m concerned about truth. And when one is concerned about that, he can never advocate violence. For through violence, you may murder a murderer, but you can’t murder murder. Through violence, you may murder a liar, but you can’t establish the truth. Through violence, you may murder a hater, but you can’t murder hate through violence. Darkness cannot put out darkness; only light can do that."
Richard Odusanya
[OPINION] Edo 2024: PDP stakeholders’ ‘selective amnesia’ on waiver for Ighodalo - Ehichioya Ezomon
AdminPreviously unknown groups and talking heads have emerged in the lead-up to the primaries for the September 21, 2024, off-cycle governorship election in Edo State. Most of the groups and individuals come out openly and forcefully to promote and defend the interests of certain aspirants as “the best qualified” for the journey to the Osadebey Avenue Government House in Benin City, the capital city of the “Heart Beat of the Nation.”
But others simply throw dirt, and engage in diatribe and campaign of calumny to discredit, malign and sully the public and private image and reputation of aspirants they consider as threats to the ones they obscurely and obliquely advance their political interests.
Such’s the antic of a so-called “Concerned Edo PDP Patriots” in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who came out swinging at Dr Asue Ighodalo, a leading aspirant on the party platform. For all intents and purposes, the group appeared to have woken up to the “evil” of unfairly granting waivers to new or returning members to contest for any political offices.
This, they said, contravenes provisions of the PDP constitution, and shouldn’t be extended to Mr Ighodalo, a Lagos-based businessman reportedly backed by Governor Godwin Obaseki, who’s also a Lagos businessman brought in and “installed” by Governor Adams Oshiomhole in 2016.
Despite the group’s protestation, the Governor Caleb Mutfwang-led PDP Governorship Screening Committee for Edo State cleared Ighodalo and nine other aspirants, who appeared before it on January 29 – with eight of them receiving their clearance certificates the next day.
The aspirants cleared are: Hon. Omosede Igbinedion, Anslem U. Ojezua Esq., Hon. Felix E. Akhabue, Dr Asuerinme Ighodalo, Hon. Comrade Philip Shaibu, Arthur Esene, Hon. Omoregie Ogbeide-Ihama, Amb. (Prof.) Martin Uhomoibhi, Osaro Osaze Onaiwu, and Umoru Adizetu Hadizat.
If the PDP granted Ighodalo a waiver, would it be the first time to a non-party or core member? Did the stakeholders forget, unaware or ignorant of the blatant breach of the party constitution majorly to make “new or returning members” eligible for elective offices?
Were the “worried” members out of the political space since 1999, when PDP powerbrokers – and chieftains of political parties across the board – routinely disregard provisions of the party constitution, and give waivers to those who can afford the “asking price” and possess the warchest to prosecute campaigns?
Little or no thoughts are given to such candidates’ sources of wealth nor to their capability, capacity, competence, and the ground game to winning elections! All the party “elders” care about is how to “get their share” of the booty before the elections are confirmed or tossed by the courts.
Going by the PDP constitution, new members are required to sustain a continued membership for a minimum of two years, to be eligible to contest for elections, while returning members will remain on probation for at least one year, during which they won’t be eligible to vote or be voted for “except if granted waivers.”
Waivers have been contentious because many new or returning members want to contest for elective offices before they serve out the mandatory periods of probation. And the executive committees of the PDP at all levels have exploited the “loopholes” in the party constitution to grant or refuse waivers, for which the National Executive Committee (NEC) has the final say.
A few examples of waivers granted by the PDP in recent times will suffice in this discourse! In 2010, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who ran for president in 2007 under the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), returned to the PDP, and was granted a waiver to participate in the primaries for the 2011 presidential poll, with a PDP chieftain in Adamawa State, Alhaji Sadiq Aliyu Jada, taking the party to court for “illegal waiver” for Atiku.
On Aug 29, 2014, after defecting from the APC, the PDP – amid protests from other governorship aspirants in Adamawa – granted waivers to former Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Malam Nuhu Ribadu, former Lagos Military Governor, Brig.-Gen. Buba Marwa (retd), and former governorship candidate Marcus Gundiri, to contest for the primaries for the 2015 General Election.
In October 2017, the PDP granted waivers to former Governor Rashidi Ladoja, Engr Seyi Makinde and other returnees to the party. While Ladoja – then gunning for the post of national chairman – joined from Accord Party, Makinde moved from the Social Democratic Party (SDP).
In 2018, Mr Oseloka Obaze, a protégé of former Anambra State governor and presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Mr Peter Obi, was granted a waiver to contest in the 2018 stand-alone governorship. Likewise on June 25, 2020, the PDP waived membership for embattled Deputy Governor Agboola Ajayi of Ondo State for the governorship election for that November.
The most glaring of the Edo PDP stakeholders’ “selective amnesia” are the waivers the party granted to Governor Obaseki, and Deputy Governor Philip Shaibu to run for re-election in 2020 – after the APC denied Obaseki the ticket, and he defected to the PDP days to its primaries. While it weighed the waivers, the PDP postponed its primary poll in Edo from June 19-20, to June 23, 2020. According to Comrade Shaibu, he and Obaseki spent “naira and dollars” for the waivers and ticket for the governorship, which they won.
It’s like the “PDP Patriots” were saying, “Those are past cases; let’s turn a new page and deny Ighodalo a waiver because he’s not a bona-fide member of the PDP. And in any case, Governor Obaseki can’t grant him a waiver.” And one may ask: Is it Obaseki’s duty to grant a waiver or the leadership of the party?
The screening is over, but it’s crucial to understand the context of the petitioners’ complaint in a preemptive statement – as the waiver for Ighodalo was speculative as of the time of the petition on January 28. Meaning that the undersigned – Musa Aliyu (Owan East), Suleiman Braimoh (Etsako West), Victor Ikponwonsa (Egor), Osadolor Ogie (Oredo) and Ebosele Odion (Esan Central) – were intent on disqualifying Ighodalo at the screening in 24 hours, to prevent him from the primaries, and scuttle his governorship ambition!
Besides directing the petition to the Mutfwang committee, the PDP group copied the PDP Acting National Chairman; members of its National Working Committee (NWC); Zonal Vice Chairman (South-South); Chairman, PDP Governors’ Forum; Chairman, PDP Board of Trustees (BoT); and Edo State Working Committee.
Thus, the tone of their petition was unambiguous! It reads in part: “We, the undersigned, wish to bring to your attention a matter of critical importance regarding the purported waiver planned for the aspirant of the incumbent Governor, Asuen ighodalo, in the upcoming Edo State Gubernatorial election of 2024.
“It has come to our notice that the planned waiver directly contravenes the party’s constitution, as amended, in Section 9, Paragraph 3, of Page 68, which unequivocally states that there shall be a minimum of two years membership span for a member to be eligible to stand for election into any public office.
“It is evident that the anointed candidate of the governor does not meet this requirement as stipulated in the party’s constitution. Granting a waiver that overlooks this vital membership requirement not only undermines the integrity of the democratic process, but also goes against the fundamental tenets of our party’s constitution.
“With this in mind, we respectfully urge the screening committee to consider this petition and to refrain from making any erroneous decisions that could potentially jeopardize the party’s chances of retaining the state.”
Without a doubt, the complainants were fighting the political interest of a certain aspirant(s) they weren’t bold enough to reveal, and cleverly “choose and pick” from the PDP constitution the provisions that align with their objective to halt the aspiration of Ighodalo that’s gained widespread acceptance.
Since entering for the race – and informing his ward members in Ewohimi community of Esan South East local government area of Edo State, officially declaring interest at the state headquarters in Benin City, and obtaining the Expression of Interest and Nomination forms at the PDP national secretariat in Abuja – Ighodalo’s received support and solidarity from PDP members and the electorate in Edo State.
He lately got an enthusiastic reception from PDP members in Uhumwode, Orhionmwon and Ikpoba-Okha local government areas of Edo South, when he visited the areas as part of his consultations across the 18 local government areas of Edo State. As first reported by News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on January 26, Ighodalo received a unanimous endorsement of the party faithful as their “consensus aspirant” for the PDP primaries.
Amid applause, the party stalwarts and members said that Ighodalo’s endorsement – moved and seconded by elderstatesman, former Sen. Roland Owie and Mr Charles Egbe – “was informed by his track record of excellence in the various capacities he had served outside politics.”
In a speech, Ighodalo, who appreciated the people’s approval, and appealed to them to nominate him as the PDP flagbearer for the September 21 poll, said the governorship election isn’t about tribe, religion, family connections, “but about the man with the capacity and capability to develop Edo State,” adding that, “Edo has no reason not to be developed if the right leaders are chosen to lead the state.”
Touting his “track records” in the business world, Ighodalo said he’s “the best aspirant for the election,” and declared: “I am the leader that will take the state beyond the next level, hence my appeal for your nomination and support. Let us choose who can help us know the developmental road to lead Edo, and in doing so, we will have good roads and other basic amenities.
“So, I am appealing to you all to give me the opportunity to help our people in Edo, and I promise you all that I will help the people and remove them from poverty. We are going to govern Edo together, as one man cannot do it alone. So, together, we will create a better state and Nigeria.”
Some PDP members, who voluntarily stepped down their governorship aspirations, accompanied Ighodalo during his official declaration in Benin City, and obtaining of the nomination forms in Abuja, to drum support and cooperation for his inspirational bid for Governor that Esan people of Edo Central have clamoured for since 1999.
Yet, Ighodalo isn’t beating the drum for an Esan Governor, but a Governor of Esan extraction. So, as he moves round selling himself and his vision and mission to Edolites, his simple message is that he’s the wherewithal to turnaround the fortunes of Edo State, like the big and viable businesses under his direct or nominal belt within and outside Nigeria.
This message of good governance to redeem Edo State, and provide the dividend of democracy to ameliorate the people’s suffering, has resonated everywhere Ighodalo goes for consultations ahead of the primaries, and the September poll.
Perhaps, the “Concerned Edo PDP Patriots” don’t like to hear the message, and wanted to shut him out of the political contest. But the Mutfwang screening committee, and God didn’t sanction their entreaties! And Dr Asue Ighodalo’s still standing, his political fate in the hands of PDP voters at the governorship primaries!
Mr Ezomon, Journalist and Media Consultant, writes from Lagos, Nigeria .
On Sunday, August 15, 1971, the United States economy was literally facing a firing squad. The Dollar was in a mess. Price gougers were everywhere and foreign exchange was cruel to the Dollar. The newspaper headlines were of scorn and ridicule but President Richard Nixon did one thing. He faced the issue squarely.
“The strength of a nation’s currency is based on the strength of that nation’s economy,” he said. Nixon nipped the problem in the bud. Everything changed. He rescued his country from financial and social crises. Today, Nigeria is in a similar situation, albeit slightly dissimilar, given that the American economy is by far the strongest in the world. Thus, President Bola Tinubu needs to act in a manner that moves the nation from “Renewed Hope” to “Renewed Confidence”.
The loss of hope was what triggered the Arab Spring and other springs. In December 2010 in the town of Sidi Bouzid, Tunisia, Tarek El-Tayeb Bouazizi, a trader who had lost hope in the economy of his country set himself on fire. That act became a catalyst for countrywide protests. The protests included several men who emulated Bouazizi’s act of self-sacrifice. Hope is good. However, hope is not edible.
In Nigeria, there are reported and unreported suicide cases due to economic hardship in the country. A few weeks back, a woman who worked at a bank locked herself in the convenience of her company and swallowed poison, leaving behind a suicide note which points at her giving up on Nigeria.
With the free fall in the value of our currency, we are beginning to see more public expression of frustration. In the coming months, the unrelenting fall of the Naira could lead to an increased risk of suicide and even social unrest. In Kano State, where social unrest forms quickly, a group of local bakers warned the government about things to come. They protested the high cost of flour with a bag that sold N10,000 a few years ago now selling at N41,000. The Kano bakers cannot afford the price spiral and social unrest arising therefrom could pose additional risks to economic recovery and create setbacks with lasting impact on general economic performance.
For a government looking for an economic spark plug through Foreign Direct Investment, FDI, and business startups, the fall of the Naira and global jokes about it are downright depressing. The fall of Naira indeed poses grave dangers to the viability of businesses in Nigeria. Last August, Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, a young Nigerian celebrated all over the world for creating two unicorns and a general partner at early-stage venture capital firm, Future Africa, told Rest of World, an America-based publication, that his firm is advising its portfolio companies to explore business abroad to avoid Naira-related challenges.
Jokes about the Naira
Over the past two weeks, social media have been awash with hilarious jokes about the Naira. This is not restricted to Nigerians. First, a Toronto-based television station announced that Nigeria’s currency was now worth 0.0011 American Dollars. This was followed closely by a South African Prokerala showing that one Zimbabwean Dollar equals N2.77. In its February 2, 2024 edition, Bloomberg described the Naira as the worst-performing currency in the world. In their cartoon section, two US newspapers taunted Nigeria over the Naira. This is infinitesimal compared to the number of local jokes about the Naira in our media. Besides, social media has amplified the crash of the Naira to such an extent that Nigeria has literally and metaphorically become a laughing stock. Nigerians are either losing faith in the country or have lost a sense of patriotism.
These hilarious jokes and caricatures are a metaphor for a bigger problem.
There are genuine concerns that Nigeria may follow a similar trajectory to Zimbabwe and Venezuela. This concern is well-founded. The echoes of Zimbabwe ring eerily and loudly in Nigeria today. There are many reasons why history students could look back on the crash of the Naira and its impact on our reputation, global stature and the living standard of our people. This concern is heightened for many reasons. However, I will highlight only a few.
Concerns over the Naira
The first is poor policy articulation and implementation. Recall that the policy origin of the current Naira tumble can be traced to the simultaneous removal of subsidies and years’ long currency pegs last year by the current administration. This was done without considering other factors that need to be in place to make the economy function optimally. Nigerians are worried that our economy handlers are not doing enough to stem the decline.
The second is the damaged reputation of the country occasioned by the Naira crash and the ongoing economic and security instability. Local and foreign investors are losing confidence in the Nigerian economy because of high-level financial, economic and political instability.
The next is that the cost-of-living crisis escalates and inflation ravages the country. Prices of essential goods and services are going off the roof and people are perplexed at the rate of degeneration.
The fourth is that microeconomic indices are unfavourable given the reduction in demand for goods and services due to high prices and reduced supply. The latter itself is due to lack of production or high cost of importation.
Also, there are unfavourable macroeconomic indices such as escalation of unemployment. This correlates with a high crime rate, high inflation occasioned by a fall in the value of the Naira, banks’ inability to grant medium to long-term loans and general perception of impending economic catastrophe hovering over Nigeria like an ominous overcast.
The fifth is that wealthy Nigerians and other average citizens worried about the erosion of the value of their money and assets are converting them into Dollars or are moving their assets to dollar-denominated investments abroad to hedge for further loss.
Finally, the volatility of the Naira implies that fresh capital investments in infrastructure and power, mainly dependent on imported plants and machinery, shall be negatively impacted, leading to projects being put on hold.
How did we tumble in such a short time from a respectable nation to a butt of jokes? Not only amongst us but within the global community?
A brief historical odyssey on Naira volatility suffices. The tragic history dates back to 1983 when the Naira began its nosedive and successive governments have failed to ameliorate the plunge. In 1983, $1 was exchanged for about 72 Kobo. But the Naira fell to trade at about N9 to $1 by 1990. In 2000, $1 was exchanged for about N85 at the official window. In 2010, $1 was officially exchanged for about N150, but more at the notorious black market. By 2020, $1 was exchanged for about N360 at the official window. In recent years, the Naira has faced challenges related to external factors. These include fluctuations in oil prices, the global economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and serial mismanagement.
A cursory look at this administration’s response to the Naira crisis shows an attitude of calm amidst the panic at the early stages of the free-floating of the Naira, as policymakers expected the fall in Naira. However, there were more panic reactions to this problem as the President and his economic team worked to stem the tidal wave blowing the Naira. Recently, we have seen monetary, fiscal and tax policy adjustments, and currency interventions to boost the Naira. Structural reforms by taking steps to diversify the economy to reduce dependency on a single sector and improving the business environment to attract foreign investment are ongoing. Unfortunately, these policies and actions have not stabilised the Naira in the short run. More needs to be done and quickly too. There is no one-size-fits-all solution, and a combination of strategies may be necessary.
Additionally, the success of these measures depends on practical implementation and the cooperation of various stakeholders. Investor confidence remains our greatest challenge. It is advisable for this administration to carefully analyse the specific economic conditions and consult with experts to tailor appropriate solutions for the country. Every good head, home and abroad must be brought into the room to stop us from remaining a butt of jokes. Saving the Naira is most important now and all stakeholders must work together to end this comedy show.