You must have followed the Kemi Badenoch controversy: the wily Nigerian politicians’ penchant to ride on people’s back suffered a ghastly diplomatic accident! Thinking they could use her to shine and claim undeserved credit, Mrs. Kemi Badenoch, the newly-elected British Leader of Opposition/Shadow Prime Minister, Britain’s budding “Iron Lady” cast in the mould of Margaret Thatcher, gave a top Nigerian government official “the ignore”, to quote the inimitable Fela’s lawyer, the late Kanmi Ishola-Osobu! What a bloodied nose without as much as throwing a punch!

Here, in “Tan’fe’ani and Kemi Badenoch”, Professor Babafemi A. Badejo not only lay bare the crass illiteracy of an egocentric government official and a loquacious politician seeking relevance but also analysed the gaffe that may return to haunt this and succeeding Nigerian governments for some time to come. Read on:

“Any Yoruba speaker of a certain age would easily link Tan’fe’ani with Ebenezer Obey’s philosophical lyrics: “Tan’fe’ani, tan’fe’ani: Eniyan o fe ni fo’ro, tan’fe’ani”. Literally, Obey’s lyrics suggest that human beings resent the success of others and would rather prefer their demise or downfall.

“This came to my mind with respect to a good number of commentaries made by Nigerians on the result of the leadership election of the British Conservative Party, which saw Mrs. Olukemi (Kemi) Badenoch breaking the ceiling to become the first black person to lead a major party in the United Kingdom, in the combined sense of being the leader of His Majesty’s Opposition, a potential Head of Government or Shadow Prime Minister, so to say.

"Mrs. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, the CEO of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NIDCOM), felt it was her duty to congratulate and celebrate Badenoch in the regular Nigerian style of identifying with the successful. However, Dabiri-Erewa claimed that her gesture towards Badenoch was met with rejection. Rather than keep quiet as a diplomat/consular official would do, Dabiri-Erewa thought it newsworthy to take to Channels TV to question the “Nigerianess” of Kemi.

"In a display of limited understanding of international dynamics, Mrs. Dabiri-Erewa made an ill-conceived comparison by highlighting her support for Ms. Chidimma Adetshina, the first runners-up at the recently-concluded Miss Universe competition, while implying that Mrs. Badenoch might one day return to seek her assistance. But this is not a Nollywood storyline, for goodness sake! 

"I wish Kemi the occupation of 10 Downing Street but even if she does not become the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom for whatever reason, what would she have lost from the history she has just made? In such a situation where ill-action contributes to Kemi not attaining the top seat, what can Nigeria (or any of its over-rated citizens like Dabiri-Erewa) do you influence British politics?

"It was not only Mrs. Abike Dabiri-Erewa who over-valued her worth and relevance at the international level. Femi Fani-Kayode (FFK), as usual, blasted on all cylinders, casting aspersion on Mrs. Badenoch for “snubbing” the Nigerian government. To think that Mrs. Dabiri-Erewa represented the Nigerian government vis-à-vis the British leader of opposition shows the novice that FFK is (in such matters) in spite of his claim to knowledge. NIDCOM is unknown to the Vienna Conventions on Diplomatic/Consular relations.

"Nigeria’s High Commission in the United Kingdom serves as the legitimate representative of the Nigerian government and, in that capacity, could appropriately extend fraternal greetings to the Leader of the Opposition. Prof. Bola Akinterinwa, despite his complex but well-argued “thesis, antithesis, and synthesis” on this issue, got it right: Mrs. Dabiri-Erewa could have reached out to Mrs. Badenoch privately as a well-meaning Yoruba elder. In my view, her decision to go public on Channels TV, resembling the fiery rhetoric of FFK, only cast them both in the light of “tan’fe’ani”.  

"It is important that Mrs. Kemi Badenoch has ignored all the noise, focusing instead on her duties towards building a viable Shadow Cabinet and leading her party as His Majesty’s Leader of Government Opposition. Mrs. Badenoch exercised her associational right by emphasizing her being British. She is exercising a fundamental right known to Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution in section 29. She is not Nigeria’s Ambassador to the UK - and she does not want to be! Too bad for the Nigerians who want to appropriate her!

"Mrs. Badenoch stated publicly that the circumstances of her upbringing drove her out of Nigeria. She has spoken of some of the hardship she endured growing up - like fetching water from a mile away and carrying chairs. She forgot to mention the ubiquitous NEPA that made those of my age depend on lanterns to study! However, I have read many who refute this, arguing that Kemi attended the same school as their children and did not endure the hardship she described. 

"Some have, however, overly romanticised the life of the Nigerian academic of the 1990s. My children and I can attest to the hardship we faced when I could not afford basic things as a struggling lecturer who had to care for my immediate relations during a time when public servants were expressly banned from supplementing their income through any form of additional work, whether mental or physical, beyond what the government paid them.

"From all accounts, the late Dr. Femi Adegoke, a.k.a 'Fariga' (meaning someone who will not kow-tow or be cowered), Mrs. Badenoch’s father, fought injustice around him, from when he was at Ibadan Grammar School to his time at the College of Medicine, Idiaraba where, as Prof. Oladapo Ashiru informed us, Femi Adegoke’s original 'Fariga' was changed to 'Farigo', both symbolising a fighting spirit against injustice. Are those examining Kemi considering her early politicisation against corruption, injustice, and military rule, which set her apart from her contemporaries?

"Were the issues Kemi cited as driving her away from Nigeria unique to her time? As an undergraduate, I carried chairs from one classroom to another—something children in public schools of my children’s generation still do. In some parts of Nigeria today, students continue to carry their chairs from home to school. As a child, I fetched water from a stream about five miles away and many children in Nigeria still do due to the normalisation of corruption, perpetuated by critics of Mrs. Badenoch and stemming from leaders who, in a just society, should be in jail for embezzling resources meant for infrastructural development.

"I salute Mrs. Badenoch and appreciate her work. She has more than associated with her primordial roots by not changing or 'Englifying' her name. Her appearance remains Yoruba, which is not the same as the associational 'Nigerianess' that Mrs. Dabiri-Erewa was searching for. If, against all odds, Mrs. Badenoch’s critical stance resonates with those in political power and leads to a meaningful reduction in the grand theft of our national resources, it would be cause for celebration. Such a shift would represent a significant victory for the vast majority of Nigerians.

"I agree with Mrs. Badenoch that Nigeria is a corrupt country as shown on a daily basis. Some would say that the UK is also corrupt. Fair enough. But there are fundamental differences. Corruption in the UK is not as widespread as it is in Nigeria. Furthermore, British politicians do not boast about corruption as normal, unlike in Nigeria where anti-corruption institutions choose who to prosecute on the basis of the offender’s political party, in the shifting alliances of thieves that we call political parties. Unlike in Nigeria, if you are caught in the UK, you are prosecuted and not given a higher national office as well as national honours!

"David Cameron as British Prime Minister referred to Nigeria and Afghanistan as being 'fantastically corrupt'. What was President Muhammadu Buhari’s response? He did not walk out of the anti-corruption summit that the UK had called. Instead, he reportedly said he was shocked and embarrassed. His spokesman added that the UK Prime Minister was probably speaking of governments before Buhari’s. We later knew that corruption grew under Buhari, just as many accounts are showing about the current administration of Bola Tinubu. 

"Badenoch has rightly added corruption and its debilitating impact on Nigeria as part of her focus. Given the impact of corruption in Nigeria driving immigrants who would have loved to remain in Nigeria to the UK, I hope she does not drop this focus!

"Those who consider themselves more patriotic by criticising Kemi for speaking basic truths should channel their energy into pressuring government at all levels to act responsibly. This will ensure that Kemi and others like her would have no reason to 'denigrate' Nigeria, sparing us the need to hang our heads in shame on the international stage.

"I agree with Dr. Sola Oni, the leader of the Yoruba Party in the UK, who differed with Mrs. Badenoch on reparations for slavery, colonialism, and today’s neo-colonialism. As the British leader of opposition, it is understandable that her views are different from ours. It is for us to carry out a principled campaign to change the views of Mrs. Badenoch’s voters. 

"A lot is available from sound pan-Africanist positions to try and persuade Mrs. Badenoch to think otherwise. Since the wealth created from the past of short-changing Africa is still being held on to, the British of today cannot reject responsibilities for that past. On our part, we should address the nagging governance problems of leadership deficit and corruption still driving many other Kemis away from here in the 'Japa' syndrome that our government appears helpless against”.

Need we say more?  

Former Ondo State Military Governor, Navy Commodore Olabode George (retd), is reported to be asking serial presidential candidate and former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, to symbolically fall on his sword by taking himself out of the 2027 presidential race of the opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party.

Governor George told Vice President Abubakar: “My advice is this. You will be 81 years old in 2027, and you have been contesting since 1993. This is the time for you to calm down and act like an elder. I appeal to you, in the name of the Almighty Allah that you serve, to take it easy and leave everything for posterity.”

Vice President Abubakar, who turned 78 two days ago, lost the presidential slot of the Social Democratic Party, one of the “political parastatals” contrived for the tortuous transmission programme of the government of military President Ibrahim Babangida, to Bashorun MKO Abiola, presumed winner of Nigeria’s freest and fairest presidential election.

Since 2007, Vice President Abubakar has variously been a presidential candidate or presidential aspirant of the Action Congress of Nigeria and the People’s Democratic Party in 2007, 2011, 2015, 2019, and 2023, and has famously lost each attempt.

Also, Governor George is concerned that the People’s Democratic Party is crumbling under the weight of members who placed their personal interests above country, sometimes by flirting with the ruling All Progressives Congress while yet remaining in the People’s Democratic Party.

“Falling on the sword” is an old Roman practice whereby a disgraced or defeated soldier falls on the point of his sword or stabs himself in the stomach. In pre-colonial days, Yoruba kings who fell out of favour “opened the calabash” and drank the poisonous potion therein to death.

In modern days, falling on the sword or opening the calabash have become metaphors for individuals to resign high political or corporate offices or accept responsibilities for mistakes by themselves or on behalf of the group they lead.

That is why Kimberly Cheatle resigned as Director of the US Secret Service after President Trump was shot by Thomas Mathew Crooks at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Though she was not physically at the rally, she was obliged to accept responsibility for the security lapses.

While Governor George may have spoken out whispered sentiments within the ranks of the People’s Democratic Party for Vice President Abubakar to yield the ground to younger aspirants, that may not be an exactly democratic move; it looks like a subtle ploy to make way for some preferred aspirants.

Well, of course, Governor George can buttress his argument with the example of America’s Democratic Party that got President Joe Biden to drop out of the 2024 presidential race for Vice President Kamala Harris to take the ticket, which she eventually lost to former President Donald Trump.

President Biden, 82, was persuaded to yield the presidential slot to Vice President Harris because of his poor showing, which was attributed to ageing, during the presidential debate against President Trump. Age is the argument that Governor George, who turned 79 last week Thursday, is advancing for Vice President Abubakar, who will be 81 in 2027, to recuse himself from the 2027 presidential race.

But really, that call should be the responsibility of the People’s Democratic Party primaries. Section 84 of Nigeria’s Electoral Act spells out the elaborate statutory steps that political parties must follow to elect candidates for political positions through direct, indirect, or consensus procedures.

And according to Section 131 of Nigeria’s Constitution, “A person shall be qualified for election to the office of the President if (a) he is a citizen of Nigeria by birth; (b) he has attained the age of forty years; (c) he is a member of a political party and he is sponsored by that political party and (d) he has been educated to be educated up to at least School Certificate level or its equivalent.”

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Maybe Governor George and his cohorts within the People’s Democratic Party should hinge their strategy on Section 131(c), which gives political parties the authority to choose to present a candidate for election through their primaries that must be supervised or witnessed by the Independent National Electoral Commission as required by the Constitution.

As a former National Vice President (Southwest Zone) and, later, Deputy National Chairman (South), Governor George should have enough clout within the People’s Democratic Party to rally votes for or against Vice President Abubakar ahead of the party’s 2027 primaries.

Maybe Governor George should allow Vice President Abubakar’s doctors to speak to the state of his health before asking him to recuse himself on account of age. Indeed, all presidential aspirants of the People’s Democratic Party may be required to submit themselves to a medical board for medical examination.

One good advantage of a medical board is that Nigeria would have avoided the type of constitutional crisis that occurred when President Umaru Yar’Adua finally succumbed to the illness that was pointed out to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who adamantly anointed and made him his successor.

Reports say that Governor George had once called for the resignation of Vice President Abubakar from the People’s Democratic Party for defecting to the Action Congress party in 2027. If he carries his battle and manoeuvres into the treacherous trenches of the People’s Democratic Party, he would have been acting within his constitutional rights as a citizen and participant in the democratic process of Nigeria.

Some of the negatives he could present against the presidential ambition of Vice President Abubakar may include the $16.5 billion that Abubakar himself admitted that the Obasanjo government that he served threw at contractors who never performed electricity contracts awarded to them.

Another negative against Vice President Abubakar could be the gaffe that he committed when he thought that he was playfully telling a female interviewer that he would sell Nigeria’s assets to his friends if he became president.

He could also accuse Vice President Abubakar of living in the United Arab Emirates from where he comes in just ahead of elections to see if he could somehow snag the presidency of Nigeria as if it were there for the picking.

It indeed looks as if his presence in Nigeria has largely been through the auspices of his exceedingly competent media handlers, who have been faithful in performing their duties to keep his name in the minds of the Nigerian electorate, who are probably unaware that he almost does not live in the country.

And while Governor George and his group are at it, they must also be aware of CREEVP—the Committee for the Re-election of the Vice President—made up of admirers and cronies, some of whom may have profited from the days of Abubakar as Vice President of Nigeria.

It should not be a surprise to anyone that such individuals will surely want those happy days to be here again. No one likes the motion of their gravy train to stop. And they would do everything they consider necessary to keep it going.

Governor George must acknowledge that some members of the People’s Democratic Party think the world of Vice President Abubakar and are still convinced that he can bring the presidential oyster to the party, and they must have their say.

Even if you do not like his face, you cannot deny Vice President Abubakar his right to his presidential ambition. But you can work for your preferred candidate to defeat him.

Lekan Sote

The coming on stream, or, rather the resurrection of the Port Harcourt Refinery is exceedingly good news at a time at which good news has become a very scarce commodity in our nation.

It was, to say the least, a great and most embarrassing national shame that we have not had functioning refineries in a major oil producing country for decades and this long awaited breakthrough is most heartwarming to put it mildly.

How we keep allowing national assets to rot and go to waste right under our noses is still a mystery to me because corruption and ineptitude aside, I still cannot fathom how a nation could be so clumsy as to keep serially inflicting grotesque harm upon itself.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited, NNPCL, is our one and only national oil company - Dangote Refinery, massive as it is, is still just another private company and cannot pretend to be our collective asset or try to displace our true and authentic IOC which was, is and shall remain the NNPCL.

We must all commend and encourage the NNPCL team as they reposition the oil and gas sector towards better days ahead for all Nigerians.

I hope those with an axe to grind with the NNPCL's Group Managing Director, Mele Kyari, and have been angling to take his job for themselves can be forthright enough to hide their faces in shame and leave him alone to fix the oil and gas sector for all of us.

Under Mele's watch we have seen record restoration of our oil and gas production, drastic reduction in oil theft and now local refining of crude by our national oil company.

We should all be proud of him and his team at NNPCL.

Lastly and most importantly, I would urge all and sundry, regardless of their political leanings or inclinations to, at least, acknowledge President Bola Tinubu for this great milestone and incontestable achievement.

I have many differences with my President as many are well aware but I will not fail to acknowledge, commend and celebrate him for what he does right and the resurrection of petroleum refining in Nigeria is something good he will always be remembered for.

Onokpasa, a lawyer, is Chairman, Tinubu Media Support Group and writes from Abuja.

When I set out to do a commentary on the Unizik vice chancellorship tussle last week Tuesday, November 19, 2024, it was clear to me that the piece would be indictful.  My mental conclusion after assessing accounts of the crisis was that the VC contraption engineered by the Greg Mbadiwe led Governing Council had to be dismantled. I also realised that the essay would be fairly long. And while the newspaper audience do not generally mind long but informed essay, I could not say the same for social media. I therefore decided to break the work into two components. I eventually finished the Part 1 the following day Wednesday. Thirty minutes later, before I could send it out for publication, a friend sent me the Federal Ministry of Education statement nullifying Professor Bernard Odoh's appointment and also dissolving the Greg Mbadiwe chaired Governing Council. The cheering news however could create the misleading impression that my article was prompted by the development. After weighing the various implications, I chose to publish the script without any adjustment - even at the risk of blunting the prophetic tip of my essay. 

On that note of the federal government's intervention, I salute the President, Bola Tinubu and the Minister of Education,   Dr Tunji Alausa

for the prompt and decisive arrest of the disorder at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka. The sack of Associate Professor Bernard Odoh and R.I. Nwokike from the positions of Vice Chancellor and Registrar respectively is unassailable. The conditions precedent for attainment of the positions were not fulfilled. Abuja rose to the responsibilities of leadership and administration by her action. Government's intervention was necessary to avert further caricature of the offices; and towards restoring public confidence in the system. Other players, notably local and national leadership of ASUU, professional associations, individuals, who stood up for requisite standards deserve to be complimented. The corrective measures also announced for the University of Illorin suggest a firm resolve to deal with the excesses in the system.

 Media reports of Dr Bernard Odoh's rejection of the reversal of his VC appointment - which reports have not been refuted - flashed another shade of recalcitrance. Who could be so defiant to constituted authority? Although the angry threat of resuming at the VC's office the following day was not lived up to, the outburst suggested  disorientation with the norm of public service. It was a reflection of disconnect with  responsibility of position which even Mbadiwe, the daring enforcer was not infected with. The ambitious Imo State - born politician promptly understood the game was over and ducked out of sight without a word. It later emerged that amidst the turbulence generated by the capture of the vice chancellorship, Odoh had set up a disciplinary panel for  containment of the opposition. In the face of escalating tension on campus, the panel, with the speed of sound, had gotten busy issuing summons! The loss of the sense of scandal is a pointer to how things have deteriorated in our system; how the academic values cum  environment are increasingly being devalued. Associate Professor Odoh and Greg Mbadiwe were not alone. The caricature made of the system could not have gone this far without the collaboration of some other academics at Unizik. For how long will this devaluation of the university system go on? 

 It was only ten years ago that Unizik emerged hurt from the muddled hot water of another VC appointment. Like the 2024 episode, the 2014 selection process was marred by the intrusion of extraneous factors. What was supposed to be a transparent run of merit - and had actually started as such - got caught in a web of other interests. In Daily Sun feature of June 17, 2014, captioned "Unizik and Universities' Rusting Gold", I cautioned that  that the violence to the system from compromised selection exercises would linger into the future. I followed up that intervention with another engagement in ThisDay of Sunday, July 27, 2014 titled: "Unizik VC: A Flawed Selection". The crux of the matter was that at the expiration of Prof Boniface Egboka's term of office in 2014, Prof Greg Nwakoby who came tops in the three man shortlist made by the Selection Board was voted down by the Governing Council in preference for Prof Joseph Ahaneku.

Defending it's reinvention of the selection wheel, the Governing Council held that it was not bound by the performance order of the shortlist as it was not the final stage. The Council (and Ahaneku's supporters) emphasised that in vetting of the shortlist, the scale tipped in favour of Ahaneku, hence his appointment as Vice Chancellor. The Council's argument was superfluous, merely serving to deflect from the games being played. The provisions of  Universities (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1993 as well as Amendment Act of 2007 do not contemplate the Governing Council as another selection panel. The role of the Governing Council is to confirm the Selection Board's nomination for appointment except in the event of serious allegation against the candidate. Professor Nwakoby who would later become Vice Chancellor of Anambra State University then defined the problem. He pointedly accused a member of the Governing Council from the southeast of having demanded sixty million naira from him as condition for becoming VC. The allegation was repeated at intervals during the appointment standoff. Not a word was heard from the identified member of Council. It later emerged that Nwakoby, a professor of law, had recorded the bribe demand. Regrettably, things went from the bad of 2014 to worse of 2024. Who knows what it takes to catapult an associate Professor to vice chancellor over and above experienced professors!

There's a theory that the stampeded appointments at Unizik, in this case, the vice chancellorship, was about the next Anambra State governorship election scheduled for November 2025. It is speculated that a group in the APC was pulling the strings of appointment towards softening the ground for their choice candidate. By convention, the role of state returning officer is often assigned to a vice chancellor. By the same token, a pliable VC could compile a list of loyalists to serve as local government area returning officers. While this view may only be considered as conjecture, established grounds of deep political exposure on the part of academics would lend probability to this theory. If this was the conceived game of some groups in the APC, it doubly makes acknowledgement of the federal government's response necessary. If it will take complimenting the positive steps of an underperforming government to achieve greater results, so be it.

In past and current cases of leadership succession in public universities, the Governing Councils have proved to be part of the problem. They have acted in such a manner as to constitute one of the parties to the dispute. Their extent of involvement in affairs of the institutions appears to be growing by the day. The increased interest in internal operations creates room for partisanship on the part of some members. At another level, the might - is - right - conditioning of the political class comes into play. Very often, politicians outnumber other categories in both the headship and general membership of the Councils. It would be naive to dismiss the gradual importation of political culture into the ivory tower by Council member - politicians. Succession processes in academic institutions are not designed as tests of political competency. And they are not intended to measure popularity of candidates either. But this is what politicians are introducing by making the Governing Councils a kind of electoral college.  Governments should consider replacing politicians in the Councils with retired  lecturers and former vice chancellors. What better way to talk about square pegs in square holes?

Nigerians may want to use this opportunity to take a second look at the office of vice chancellor. It would appear that the office has been impacted by the Nigerian environment in such a way that learning pursuits is no longer it's mainstay. It's not just about the declining serenity in the campuses. The concern here is  about the seeming shift from the centre of academic industry to pyramid of power. In recent times, the office has shed it's traditional, staid outlook for an unapologetic, bold flamboyance. The feeling of fraternity between the VC and fellow professors has dwindled. In the new era of establishment rule, it's a matter of boss - staff relationship. 

Nigeria's power configuration has reached the shores of our higher educational institutions. 

Positions of Vice Chancellors, Provosts, Rectors are evolving into executive authorities with their own power of patronage. Some vice chancellors are for all practical purposes, mini Governors, in the nature of their undertakings and style of operation. It is now fashionable to run an administrative machinery of special advisers, special assistants and personal assistants to the head of institution. Recall that a Personal Assistant on Media & Publicity, Charles Otu issued a combative statement that disregarded the sack of Bernard Odoh as Unizik VC. While some of these aides are recruited on contract from outside, lecturers who are paid to teach and research, are drafted to take up the other slots. And in tune with their executive clout, heads of institutions move around in convoy of vehicles trailed by security officers! Blaring sirens may not be too far, too long in coming. In the light of the commendable surgical operation at Unizik, the Minister of Education is invited to commission a study on reforms for refocused leadership in academic institutions.