Jesus wept three times in the Bible. One was at the death of Lazarus. Jesus showed his displeasure with death as a heritage that came from the failure of Adam and Eve on their mission on Earth. Jesus also wept at the inability of us, His creation, to believe Him and avoid dying in sin. Poor Jesus. He must have overestimated what we could do. The third time Jesus wept was when He pictured the destruction that would befall Jerusalem on judgment day for again failing to live up to Jesus’ expectations.

Since then, Jesus has not wept again despite humanity’s continuing misbehaviour since He left. Jesus has not wept since because of His hope in scientists’ work in opening up the heavens one layer after another.

On October 14, 2024, while you were sleeping, NASA launched the Europa Clipper mission from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It is going to land on one of Jupiter’s moons called Europa. This moon has an ocean on it. The spacecraft will travel 1.8 billion miles for six years and arrive in 2030. The implications will be momentous if the spacecraft finds life on Jupiter’s moon, Europa. You might as well say, “It’s finished.”

For those who may not know it, Jupiter is one of the planets in our solar system. Galileo Galilei spotted Europa as a dot in 1609 with his ancient telescope. Together with seven others around our sun, they orbit the Milky Way galaxy’s center once every 210 million years. And they travel at the speed of 240km/second. We don’t feel it move because it travels at the same constant velocity. It is the same thing with the aircraft. Even though an aircraft travels about 460 to 575 miles per hour, those inside mostly do not feel it is moving.

This $5.2 billion mission to Jupiter to check out its ice-encrusted moon is at the heart of a renewed search for life outside the Earth. The ocean on Europa holds more water than all the oceans on Earth combined. Scientists hope to find biological ingredients inside the ocean that have existed for billions of years.

When scientists work hard to go to our moon or Mars, we think of visiting a place inhabited by some life forms billions of years ago. However, visiting Europa might take us to a spot currently occupied by life.

Meanwhile, scientists have uncovered lava tubes under the surface of our moon. It is now being studied as a place to build infrastructure where astronauts can live.

On Mars, scientists have used seismic data collected from many Mars probes to determine that underground water exists inside rocks found 7–13 miles below Mars’ surface. While it may be challenging to drill that far on Mars, it gives hope that one day, we may travel to Mars and make a home on the red planet.

As you read this, a 2020 rover called Perseverance that landed on the surface of Mars has collected over two dozen rock samples in an airtight titanium tube. According to NPR, NASA is working with the European Space Agency to retrieve the rock samples and bring them to Earth for more studies. An earlier plan would cost over $11 billion and not happen until the 2040s. NASA is considering two new and cheaper plans to return the samples before 2039.

Scientists are salivating about possible geological and biological treasures these rocks from Mars will have. They can explain the history of Mars that we do not know and evolving life on the planet. Unlike Martian meteorites, which sometimes land on Earth, these rocks will be pristine, unaltered by their long space journey and atmospheric entry.

Besides the technical challenge of retrieving the rocks and bringing them to Earth, there are concerns the rocks could bring in particles that may contaminate the Earth.

If NASA and their European allies delay, China is pursuing its mission to retrieve rocks from Mars.

The race is on. But that is not the only race going on.

In 2005, Mike E. Brown “killed” Pluto. I hope you heard the news.

Based on the studies by Brown, an astronomer and a professor of planetary astronomy at the California Institute of Technology, the International Astronomical Union in 2006 demoted Pluto from planet status to dwarf planet. Pluto failed to meet one of three criteria that make an object a planet. While it is orbiting the sun and is spherical, it is not large enough to ensure that other objects of a similar size are not in its orbit.

Since then, scientists have been searching for a replacement for Pluto. They suspect one orbiting at the edge of our solar system. They believe this because something is distorting the paths of smaller objects somewhere there. It is something that planets do. They have determined that whatever is doing it is about five to ten times the mass of the Earth, but smaller than Neptune. A new telescope to be launched soon is promising to find this planet. It is called the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile. The telescope’s strength is unmatched, capable of discovering countless new objects, potentially including the elusive 9th planet.

Mike Brown, the man who “killed” Pluto, is hoping to be the person who finds it.

In biological studies, scientists recently discovered a 520-million-year-old worm lava with its brain and guts intact. Evolutionary biologists are celebrating because of all the possibilities they can deduce from this rare ancient find. They are already drawing evolutionary connections between the ancient insect and the ones we have scurrying around today. This advanced study will enhance our knowledge of evolution.

These are hopes, not hypes. These are not pipe dreams.

Talking of dreams, scientists are working hard to engineer dreams. They hope to use it to treat nightmares and PTSD. It is as fascinating as what they wish to do with the vagus nerve, the brain’s most interconnected nerve. Some scientists believe that stimulating the vagus nerve (also known as the tenth cranial nerve) in specific ways can cure various illnesses.

Even physical scientists will tell you that the universe as we know it today is not how it will be one thousand years from now. As of today, we know four fundamental forces govern the universe. Physicists called them the strong nuclear force, the weak nuclear force, electromagnetism, and gravity. They believe that in the early days of the universe, electromagnetism and the weak nuclear force existed as one force called the electro-weak interaction. This force existed only in the first trillionths of a second of the universe. Later, the Higgs mechanism separated the two forces.

We can currently observe and measure this force at the CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (CHC) in Switzerland. As China builds its Circular Electron-Positron Collider and Japan builds its International Linear Collider, with Switzerland’s new Future Circular Collider and the Compact Linear Collider, we hope scientists will arrive at the long sought-after Grand Unified Field Theory. And if you add gravity, we will get the complete “Theory of Everything.”

Make sure you don’t die soon. The best in the world is yet to come. When we get to the “Theory of Everything,” the news media will scream on the front pages, And Jesus wept, for the fourth time.

When Jesus weeps for the fourth time, it will be for joy because humanity has overcome sin and gravity and soared to the heavens.

Rudolf Ogoo Okonkwo teaches Post-Colonial African History, Afrodiasporic Literature, and African Folktales at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. He is also the host of Dr. Damages Show. His books include “This American Life Sef” and “Children of a Retired God.” among others. His upcoming book is called “Why I’m Disappointed in Jesus.”

On Friday December 19, 2008, Prince Vincent Eze Ogbulafor (24 May 1949-6 October 2022) from Olokoro, Umuahia South local government of Abia State declared that his party the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) would rule Nigeria for the next sixty years. At the time he made the declaration, he was the fifth National Chairman of the party. Before him, the past Chairmen of the party were Chief Solomon Lar (1998-1999), Chief Barnabas Gemade (1999-2001), Chief Audu Ogbeh (2001-2005) and Colonel Ahmadu Ali (2005-2008).

Before his appointment as the Chairman of PDP, Chief Ogbulafor was the Minister of State on Economic Matters in the PRESIDENCY. The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) was then under him. His responsibilities as Minister of State were to formulate and issue economic intelligence guidelines for government projects, ensure monitoring of projects and progress relating to plan implementation and supervise the National Economic Intelligence Committee (NEIC).

In 1999, President Olusegun Obasanjo GCFR appointed other Ministers of State and placed them under THE PRESIDENCY. They include Mr. Abayomi Edu (79) and Dr. Abimbola Ogunkelu, a consultant Physician and Cardiologist, from Ibowon, Epe in Lagos state, who is also a member of the Amala group, a group of eminent journalists who meets monthly at Bunmi Sofola’s place in Surulere, Lagos.

The schedules of these Ministers of State at that time were prepared by the then Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Chief Ufot Ekaette (1939- 25 September 2019), assisted by the then Director of Special Duties in the office of the Secretary of the Government of the Federation, Dr. Goke Adegoroye and approved by the President, Olusegun Obasanjo GCFR.

There were Ministers of State Economic Matters, Minister of State Special Project, Minister of State for Inter-Governmental Affairs, Minister of State, Cooperation and Integration in Africa, Minister of State, Civil Service matters and also Minister of State, Special Duties. Mr. Abayomi Edu was Minister of State, Special Duties. He is the son of the Billionaire Politician from Epe, Alhaji Shafi Lawal Edu (7 January 1911 – 8 January 2002) who was elected into the Western State House of Assembly in 1951. Mr. Abayomi Edu who now lives in America is expected home to celebrate his 80th birthday.

Mr. Abayomi Edu’s schedule and responsibilities at that time were to coordinate for the President: award of Titles; National Honours and Decorations (ii) Liaise on behalf of the President, with committee on the Prerogative of Mercy (iii) carry out any special duties assigned by the President.

Alhaji Ibrahim Umar Kida was the Minister of State, Inter-Governmental Affairs in THE PRESIDENCY. His schedule and responsibilities were to (i) formulate and implement policies and programmes geared towards enhancement of inter-governmental relations (ii) Liaison between the Federal, State and Local Governments (iii) Conduct desirable studies and collect intelligence information on Federal/State/Local Government relations and process to the Vice President (iv) initiate follow-up actions to ensure that State and Local Government fulfil their respective statutory obligations (v)

Advise the Vice President on Boundary Commission Matters.
Chief Abimbola Ogunkelu was Minister of State in THE PRESIDENCY for Cooperation and Integration in Africa. His schedule and responsibilities were to (i) formulate policies and programmes on regional cooperation and integration in Africa (ii) Strengthening of Intra-African economic cooperation (iii) Foster relations with and coordinate ECOWAS matters (iv) Coordination of matters relating to the Economic and Social Commission of the OAU (v) Coordination and strengthening of matters relating to Joint Economic Commissions in Africa e.g. the African Common Market, the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA).

The emergence of Prince Vincent Ogbulafor as the National Chairman of PDP was dramatic. He was brought to the PDP headquarters in 2001 after serving as Minister of State.

President Umaru Musa Yar’adua GCFR (16 August 1951- 5 May 2010) was eventually declared the winner of the 2007 general elections, held on April 21, and was sworn in on May 29, 2007, amid widespread allegations of electoral fraud. In the Nigerian National Assembly election, the party won 260 out of 360 seats in the House of Representatives and 85 out of 109 seats in the Senate.

At the PDP’s 2008 National Convention, the party chose Prince Vincent Ogbulafor as its National Chairman on March 8, 2008 held in Abuja. Chief Ogbulafor, who was the PDP’s National Secretary from 2001 to 2005, was the party’s consensus choice for the position of National Chairman, selected as an alternative to the rival candidate’s former Governor Sam Egwu and Senator Anyim Pius Anyim. All 26 candidates, including Dr Sam Egwu (70) from Ezzamgbo and Senator Pius Anyim GCON (63) from Ishiagu, both in Ebonyi state, withdrew in favour of Ogbulafor. Meanwhile, Alhaji Abubakar Kawu Baraje was elected as National Secretary.

When Prince Ogbulafor made that declaration in 2008 people believed that his boast could come true. He was on a solid ground at that time.

Let’s look at the situation now. In the Senate, All Progressive Congress (APC) has 58 seats, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has 37 seats, Labour Party has 7 seats, New Nigeria People’s Party has 2 seats, Social Democratic Party—2 seats, All Progressive Grand Alliance—1 seat and Action Democratic Party—1 seat. In the House of Representative, All Progressive Congress has 175 seats, People’s Democratic Party has 118 seats, Labour Party has 35 seats, New Nigeria People’s Party—-19 seats, All Progressive Grand Alliance—-5 seats, African Democratic Congress—2 seats, Social Democartic Party— 2 seats and Young Progressive Party—1 seat.

The PDP governors in 2008 when Prince Ogbulafor made that prediction were Thoedore Orji (Abia State), Murtala Nyako (Adamawa), Godswill Akpabio (Akwa Ibom), Timipre Sylvia (Bayelsa), Gabriel Suswam (Benue), Ali Modu Sheriff (Borno), Liyel Moke (Cross River), Emmanuel Uduaghan (Delta), Martin Elechi (Ebonyi), Olusegun Oni (Ekiti), Sullivan Chime (Enugu), Mohammed Danjuma Goje (Gombe), Ikedi Ohakim (Imo), Sule Lamido (Jigawa) and Namadi Sambo (Kaduna), Others were Ibrahim Shema (Katsina), Usman Saidu Nasamu Dakingari (Kebbi), Ibrahim Idris (Kogi), Bukola Saraki (Kwara), Aliyu Doma (Nasarawa), Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu (Niger), Gbenga Daniel (Ogun), Olusegun Agagu (Ondo), Olagunsoye Oyinlola (Osun), Christopher Alao-Akala (Oyo), Jonah David Jang (Plateau), Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers), Aliyu Magatakarda Wamako (Sokoto), Danbaba Suntai (Taraba) and Mahmud Shinkafi (Zamfara).

At that time the AD governors were Babatunde Raji Fashola (Lagos), Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti), Rauf Aregbesola (Osun) and Adams Aliyu Oshiomhole (Edo). Peter Obi was governor of Anambra (APGA), Isa Yuguda(ANPP)—Bauchi, Ali Modu Sheriff (ANPP)—Bornu, Ibrahim Shekarau (ANPP)—Kano, Ibrahim Gaidam (ANPP)—Yobe, Olusegun Mimiko(Labour Party)—Ondo state.

As of today, there are twenty-two states with APC governors, twelve states with PDP governors, one each with APGA, Labour and NNPP. The APC is yet to equal the feat achieved by the PDP in 2008.

At present the governors are Alex Otti(Abia State)—Labour Party, Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri(Adamawa)—PDP, Umo Eno(Akwa Ibom)—PDP, Charles Soludo (Anambra)—APGA, Bala Muhammed (Bauchi)—PDP, Douye Diri (Bayelsa)—PDP, Hyacinth Alia (Benue)—APC, Babagana Zulum (Borno)—APC, Bassey Otu(Cross River)—APC, Sheriff Oborevwori (Delta)—PDP, Francis Nwifuru (Ebonyi) APC, Monday Okpebholo(Edo), Biodun Oyebanji(Ekiti)—APC, Peter Mbah(Enugu)—PDP, Muhammad Inuwa Yahaya(Gombe)—APC, Hope Uzodinma(Imo)—APC, Umar Namadi (Jigawa)—APC and Uba Sani(Kaduna)—APC.

Others are Abba Kabir Yusuf (Kano)— New Nigeria Peoples Party, Dikko Umaru Radda(Katsina)—APC, Nasir Idris(Kebbi)—APC, Ahmed Usman Ododo (Kogi)—APC,AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq(Kwara)—APC, Babajide Sanwo-Olu(Lagos)—APC, Abdullahi Sule(Nasarawa)—APC, Mohammed Umar Bago(Niger)—APC, Dapo Abiodun(Ogun)—APC, Lucky Aiyedatiwa(Ondo)—APC, Ademola Adeleke(Osun)—PDP, Seyi Makinde(Oyo)—PDP, Caleb Mutfwang(Plateau)—PDP, Siminalayi Fubara(Rivers)—PDP, Ahmad Aliyu(Sokoto)—APC, Agbu Kefas(Taraba)—PDP, Mai Mala Buni(Yobe)—APC, Dauda Lawal(Zamfara)—PDP
The above may change when the gubernatorial election takes place in Anambra on November 6, 2025 this year, while that of Ekiti and Osun state will hold on July 14 and September 22 next year respectively.

As of now most of the parties are in crisis, serious crisis including APC. The worst hit is the PDP. I hope the PDP will not go the way of AD, ACN, ANPP and APP. The death of All People’s Party is tragic. It was the second most powerful party in 1999.

In the 20 February, 1999 legislature elections, the APP won 20 out of the 109 Senate seats and 68 of the 360 seats in the House of Representatives. The presidential election, held on 29 February, 1999, was won by PDP candidate Olusegun Obasanjo. He received 62.78% of the vote compared to 37.22% for the Olu Falae/Umaru Shinkafi ticket. The last functioning leader of the party was my close friend, Senator Mahmoud Waziri. Till he died we disagreed on how he ran the APP. Although he was compensated with position of special adviser by President Olusegun Obasanjo GCFR. He felt uncomfortable. I cherished his friendship. Great soul from Yola.

The party elected nine governors at that time. They were Mala Kachalla(Borno), Abubakar Abu Hasheed (Gombe), Ibrahin Samiru Turaki (Jigawa), Adamu Aliero (Kebbi), Abubakar Audu (Kogi), Muhammed Lawal (Kwara), Attahiru Bafarwa (Sokoto), Buka Abba Ibrahim (Yobe) and Ahmed Sani (Zamfara).

Tragically, the APP suffered factional split and contested the next round of elections in 2003 as the as the All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP).

The crisis of the PDP now is similar to that of APP. The possibility of PDP recapturing the PRESIDENCY which they lost almost ten years ago is remote. What can emerge is that a faction of the PDP and disgruntled elements in the APC and other parties may form a coalition to challenge the Presidential candidate of the APC in 2027. Definitely there will be a new alliance. That is the Nigerian way. The APC is not invincible, just as PDP was not ten years ago with its failing policies.

Now there is a rush to enlist in the ruling party, the APC. At the second or third year of any Presidential tenure, this is a common occurrence. It is nothing new, we are used to it. It happened in 1981 during the tenure of President Usman Aliyu Shehu Shagari GCFR. I remember Alhaji Umaru Abdulrahman Dikko (31 December 1936 – 1 July 2014) from Wamba village near Zaria, the then Minister of Transport, boasting then that the NPN would rule forever. He told Chief Moshood Kashimawo Abiola GCFR (24 August 1937 – 7 July 1998) that there was no vacancy in the Presidency and that the Presidency was not for sale.

The possibility of a single party structure or a dominant single party structure has threatened the democratic structure of this great country from time to time. And somehow it never becomes possible. The country survived that threat in 1965, it did in 1983 and also in 2008.

In 1965, the dominant party was Northern People’s Congress (NPC). It was formerly a cultural organization known as Jamiyaar Mutanen Arewa. It was a party that never pretended. It was formed on the basis of Northern interest as the name explains.

Before he was assassinated on January 14, 1966, the leader of the party, Sir Ahmadu Bello (12 June 1910- 15 January 1966), the Sardauna of Sokoto, Premier of Northern Nigeria, was the most powerful politician in the land.

In his book titled “MY LIFE”, the Sardauna of Sokoto, Sir Ahmadu Bello, wrote on page 85 “The Northern People’s Congress grew out of purely cultural society of that name. This had been started in Zaria by Dr. Dikko, who is now an important figure in the Ministry of Health. After the 1951 elections—-the electoral college ones—Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, who had been a member of the original House of Assembly from the start and who always had a keen political sense, asked me to join this cultural party, later to become our own political party with the same name. Curiously enough, this is how the Action Group also started, for it is in origin the ‘Action Group’ of the Egbe Omo Oduduwa, a Yoruba cultural society. And they started at much the same time.

I agreed to do this and so later became President of the political Northern People’s Congress, with Abubakar as Vice President, and Ibrahim Imam, who since then has had a number of different political allegiances, as Secretary General. We called it Northern because we wanted to unite the Northern people and at that time we were not looking much beyond our own borders. It had an immediate success and most of the members of the Northern House joined it. Since then, it has remained unshaken, though other parties have blossomed and faded.

Our aims were very simple. To develop the country to the fullest extent in the shortest term; to preserve the peace, good order, and friendly relations between all our different peoples; to conduct an efficient and impartial administration; to ensure for all, freedom of thought and religion, to do good to all men. You will see that we were never militant ‘nationalists’ as some were. We were sure that in God’s good time we would get the power. The British had promised this frequently and we were content to rest on these promises; there was plenty of work ready at our hands for us to do”.

The Principal officers of the Northern People’s Congress of the first Republic were: President-General—Alhaji Sir Ahmadu Bello, Sardauna of Sokoto, first Vice-President-General—Alhaji Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, second Vice-President General—Alhaji Muhammadu Ribadu, acting Secretary General Secretary—Alhaji Ahmadu Galadima Pategi, acting assistant Secretary General —Alhaji Ibrahim Biu, National Treasurer—Alhaji Aliyu Makama Bida ad Financial Secretary Alhaji Isa Kaita Waziri Katsina.

The Staff of the National Headquarters were Party Manager—Alhaji Habib Raji Abdullahi, Chief Operating Officer—Mallam Muhammadu King, Chief Publicity Officer—Mallam Yusuf Dantsoho, Research Officer—Mallam Abubakar Tugga, Local Government Officer—Mallam Abba El Anasari, Officer in charge Youth Wing—Mallam Ahmadu Kwanbo, North Regional President—Alhaji Ibrahim Musa Gashash and North Regional Secretary—Mr. Michael Audu Buba.

Executive committee members (unofficial) were Mallam Mu’azu Lamido, Alhaji Shehu Usman, Galadima Maska, Zanna Bukar Dipcharima, Alhaji Ahmadu Sarkin Fadan Zazzau, Alhaji Ndagi Farouq, Tafidan Bida, Mallam Sule Gaya, Mallam Mu’azu Gambo, Mallam Tanko Yusuf, Alhaji Ibrahim Biu, Alhaji Muhammadu Bashar, Wamban Daura, Alhaji Dalhatu Bida, Mr. S.A. Ajayi, Mallam Idrisu, Tafidan Adamawa, Alhaji Ari, Alhaji Sanda Na Alhaji, Alhaji Zakari Isa, Mr. J.C. Obande, Mr. M.A.O. Olanrewaju and Alhaji Sani Okin.

Others were Mallam Usman Sarkin Musawa, Alhaji Ladan Barki, Mallam Maitama Sule, Alhaji Shehu Ahmed, Madawakin, Kano, Mallam Baba Nahannun Dama, Alhaji Audu Anace, Mallam Ibrahim Mukun, Bida, Mallam Hassan Makaman Abuja, Mallam Usman Son Gari Wukari, Alhaji Usman Sarki, Alhaji Shehu Shagari, Alhaji Tijani Hashim, Mallam Bello Malabu, Madakin Adamawa, Alhaji Aliyu Magajin Garin Sokoto, Mallam Mamman Tela, Alhaji Chief Sule Enugu, Alhaji Isa Haruna, Alhaji Abubakar Madawakin Sokoto, Mallam Sani Dingyadi Makadamn Sokoto, Alhaji Baban Gire, Chiroma Suberu, Bukar Batulbe Maiduguri, and Alhaji Audu Bida.

Members of the working committee were Zanna Umara Bensheikh, Alhaji Mustafa Monguno, Mallam Mu’azu Lamido, Alhaji Muhammadu Bashir, Wamban Daura, Alhaji Isa Kiata, Waziri Katsina, Alhaji Umaru Babura, S. Fulani, Alhaji Ahman, Galadima Pategi, Alhai Ibrahim Biu, Alhaji Muhammadu Kabir Ciroma Katagum, Mallam Muhammadu Nasir, Alhaji Ibrahim Musa Gashash and Alhaji Sule Gaya.

Others were Mr. Michael Audu Buba, Alhaji Shehu Usman, Galadima Maska, Habib Raji Abdullahi, Alhaji Mu’azu Gambo, Alhaji Sani Okin, Mallam Hassan Ahmed, Alhaji Audu Anance, Alhaji Dalhatu Bida, Mallam Gwani Jatau, Mallam J. Tanko Yusuf, Alhaji Muhammadu Kokori Abdul, Alhaji Tijani Hashim, Mallam Muhammadu Sokoto, Mallam Abba Masta, Alhaji Usman Sulayman, Mallam Haliru Zarma Hong, Mr. Edmond B. Mamiso, Alhaji Ndagi Farouq and Mallam Muhammadu King.

From the above, one could see the direction of the party. Fortunately, Section 173 of the 1978 electoral decree has made it entirely impossible for a political party to represent regional interest.
There have been several attempts to force this country to have a one-party structure or a two-party structure, but the boldest attempt was made by General Ibrahim Babangida GCFR (83).

On January 10, 1986, he established a 17-member political bureau to oversee and co-ordinate the debate on the political future of the country. Three days later, that is on January 13, 1986, he inaugurated the bureau. The bureau was headed by Professor Sylvanus John Sodienye Cookey, an historian from Opobo in Rivers state. Professor Cookey was born on April 9, 1934. In 1982, he became the second Vice Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife. He is the first President of the Council of Knights of the Niger Delta Dioceses and first President-General of the Joint Council of Knights of Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion).

As a Philanthropist, he has endowed a professional Chair in Malaria Studies at the University of Port Harcourt while the Sylvanus Cookey Foundation, established by him, is helping to transform the lives of youths in his home town, Opobo.

During the Civil War, he served as Commissioner for Special Duties in Ojukwu’s Cabinet and was awarded the Biafra Silver Medal (BSM). He has since received many honours including Officer of the Federal Republic (OFR), Honourary Doctor of Science (D.Sc) and Doctor of Letters (D.Litt) from the University of Port Harcourt and Anambra State University respectively as well as Chieftaincy titles from Upata Kingdom in Rivers State and Ogbor in Mbaise. He is a member of the Institute of Doctors of Nigeria. He holds the unique title of Arusibidabo (Inspirational Leader) in Opobo Kingdom.
Other members of the bureau were E. O. Awa, A.D. Yahaya, Haroun Adamu, Ibrahim Halilu, Pascal Bafyau, Oye Oyediran, Tunde Adeniran, Sam E. Oyovbaire, Bala Takaya, O.E. Uya, Sani Zaharadden, Mrs Hilda Aderarasin, Mrs R. Abdullahi, Ola Balogun, Edwin Madunagu and Abdullahi Augie (Executive Secretary).

On June 27, 1986, different categories of politicians were banned from participating in politics until after the transition programme.

On March 26, 1987, the Political Bureau submitted its report. It recommended that any Nigerian who hadn’t been previously convicted of a criminal offence be allowed to participate in politics in the 1990s as well as the gradual replacement of the military administration by civilians.

On July 11, 1987, the White Paper on the Political Bureau report was released. A new date of 1992 was given for the army’s handover. Other items in the White Paper included the retention of Presidentialism and the rejection of any religion as state religion.

On September 1, 1987, a 46-member review panel was named to review the 1979 constitution. It was headed by Justice Mohammed Buba Ardo.

On September 4, 1987, local government election time-table was released. It was scheduled for 12 December. Registration was to hold between 12 October and 1 November.

On April 22, 1988, elections were held into the Constituent Assembly while on April 25, 1988, government’s nominees to the Assembly (117 of them) were announced. To head the Assembly was Justice Anthony Aniagolu. The Assembly was saddled with the job of fashioning a new Constitution for the country.

On April 1, 1989, the Constituent Assembly concluded sitting in Abuja while General Ibrahim Babangida received the draft on April 5, 1989. On May 3, 1989, General Babangida lifted ban on political activities while the National Electoral Commission headed by Professor Eme Awa (15 December, 1921- 11 March 2000) recommended six political associations to the Armed Forces Ruling Council (AFRC) for registration on September 26, 1989. The political associations were the People’s Solidarity Party, Nigerian National Congress, Peoples’ Front of Nigeria, Liberal Convention, Nigerian Labour Party and the Republican Party.

On October 7, 1989, General Babangida in a broadcast to the nation dissolved the political parties claiming that they had been hijacked by some individuals as their personal property. He then created two political parties by decree—the Social Democratic Party and the National Republican Convention. He also created the Centre for Democratic Studies.

In creating the two parties, General Babangida declared “by this decision, the AFRC has declared its acceptance of the principles of a grassroots democratic two-party system. It is our belief that the system shall: provide a grassroots basis for the emergence of political parties, establish a grassroots or mass platforms for the emergence of new leadership, give equal rights and opportunities to all Nigerians to participate in the political process irrespective of their wealth, religion, geo-political backgrounds and professional endeavours, de-emphasise the role of money in politics and reduce to a minimum level, the element of violence in our electoral process.

“Preclude the emergence of political alliances along the same lines as in the First Republics and therefore, give Nigerians a new political structure within which to operate, ensure the emergence of a new, more dedicated and more genuine leadership cadre, which will not be a mere proxy for old political warlords, chart a new patter of political recruitment and participation which will enhance Nigeria’s stability, establish strong instructional structures which not sustain future governments, but also be strong enough to stand the test of time and establish a political system that will be operated according to the spirit and letter of the Constitution of the Federal Republic”.

Between July 21 and 25, 1990, the National Republican Convention held its convention in Port Harcourt, Chief Tom Ikimi was elected as the Chairman. At its own convention in Abuja, the SDP elected Ambassador Baba-Gana Kingibe as the chairman. On December 2, 1991, General Babangida arrested and detained eleven banned politicians. They were Abubakar Rimi, Maitama Yusuff, Lateef Jakande and Lamidi Adedibu. Others were C.C. Onoh, Chief Bola Ige, Chief Arthur Nzeribe, Dr. Olusola Saraki, Mr. Solomon Lar, and Major General (rtd.) Musa Shehu Yar’adua.

On September 23, 1992, ten Presidential aspirants of the SDP, withdrew from the contest scheduled for Saturday, September 26, 1992, claiming that the party was bent on imposing Major General (rtd.) Musa Shehu Yar’adua on the party. The aspirants were Chief Olu Falae, Olabiyi Durojaiye, Arthur Nzeribe, Alhaji Datti Ahmed, Mahmud Waziri, Lateef Jakande, Drs Olusola Saraki, Patrick Dele Cole, Layi Balogun, and Professor Jerry Gana.

A few weeks later, the same General Babangida banned 21 Presidential aspirants, leaving only Chief M.K.O. Abiola of the SDP and Alhaji Bashir Tofa of the NRC to contest the June 12, 1993 Presidential election. The election was annulled later by General Babandiga while General Sani Abacha GCFR (20 September 1943 – 8 June 1998) sacked the elected governors, the Interim Government of Chief Ernest Adegunle Oladeinde Shonekan GCFR (9 May 1936 – 11 January 2022) and also the two political parties.

Joining the ruling party is only a partial solution to the country’s problems. Apart from personal consideration, there must be enough justification for joining the ruling party in terms of performance. To me, the destination must be good governance which we are still expecting from the APC because, we in bad shape at the moment.

Each time we hear or read outsiders say they are fighting for Yoruba Muslims, some of us (Yoruba Muslims) laugh. Who told them that we cannot fight our war ourselves – if there is a war? A statement signed by an Imam Haroun Muhammad Eze on behalf of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA) led by the Sultan of Sokoto alleged last week that Yoruba Muslims were suffering marginalization in Yorubaland. The statement headlined ‘Live and Let Live’ complained about what it called “calculated attempts to prevent Muslims in the (South -West) region from practising their faith.” I read it and asked myself if that truly was the case. I asked some of my Muslim friends also. We compared notes and laughed.

The statement from the NSCIA wanted Sharia law in Yoruba states. Eighteen years ago, Kano-based Islamic scholar, Sheikh Adam Koki, was quoted as telling the New York Times that “politicians (have) started seeing Sharia as a gateway to political power.” They saw right and used it very well in pocketing Kano and its two million votes. They still annex and harness that gateway to arrive at power and wealth. With the piety of Sharia, a partnership in governance has evolved with northern Nigeria’s highbinders. And, because some persons pestled a tiger to death yesterday, some club-wielding people without muscles are on the prowl in 2025 Yoruba forest, hunting tigers and leopards. They do not know that it is not every leopard that is fated to fall to clubs.

The present cries are very unnecessary. Sharia never left Yorubaland. Our fathers called it seria. It has evolved adopting adept procedures in deft accommodation of its environmental and social realities. Yoruba Muslim families, who desire it, still conduct their private affairs in accordance with Sharia without disturbing their neighbours.

A quiet Sharia panel has been sitting for decades at Oja’ba, Ibadan. There is another one in Osogbo. I suspect that other major Yoruba towns have them. They adjudicate on marriage and marital issues; they arbitrate on disputes among Muslims. They do their thing without noise and drama and excesses. Every willing Muslim who goes there loves what the panels do and how they do it. The respective state governments are aware of their existence but they do not disturb them. At the compound and family levels, check out what we do with Muslim weddings, burials, administration of estates and inheritance matters etc. Those who want more than this should be bold to say what exactly they want. They want hisbah, moral police on the streets of Ibadan, Abeokuta and Akure? They want a Yoruba Bello Buba Jangebe who would be amputated for stealing a goat while big men who steal roads and bridges hold court? Anyone who wants the Kano, Zamfara kind of Sharia in 2025 Western Nigeria needs counseling. They can have that only in an Islamic Republic of Yorubaland. And, to have that, they will need more than mere words and farty threats. The Nigerian state is a multi-religious reality; it exists to enforce its laws – your creed and my credo notwithstanding.

The case for officially sanctioned Sharia in Yorubaland will be easy to argue and win if its solicitors can show how its introduction in the North has helped the North. They should just exhibit how 22 years of ‘Sharia’ has turned Kano to Dubai or Riyadh or Doha; how more religious, more pious, more equitable, more peaceful and more prosperous the Muslim North has become since ‘Sharia’ became their guiding moral and political philosophy. That is all they need to prove to the Yoruba that Western Nigeria is missing something cool and good for their physical and spiritual growth.

The claim that Yoruba Muslims suffer persecution at the hands of Yoruba leaders and principalities is absurd. The most powerful human being in Nigeria today is the president; he is a Yoruba Muslim. He possibly read that NSCIA’s press statement and laughed as I did. Am I, a Yoruba Muslim, marginalised in Yorubaland? Who is marginalising whom and who is complaining or should complain?

I come from a state (Osun State) that has had six elected governors since it was created in 1991. Five of those six governors are/were Muslims. And, I will identify them: Alhaji Isiaka Adeleke was the first elected governor of the state. He was in power from 1992 to November 1993 when General Abacha sacked everyone everywhere. With democracy in 1999 came Chief Abdulkarim Adebisi Akande, a Muslim. After Akande came Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, a Christian. Then came Alhaji Rauf Aregbesola, a Muslim who spent eight years in power and was succeeded by a Muslim, Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola. Alhaji Oyetola’s successor, Senator Nurudeen Ademola Adeleke, flaunts his Muslim heritage and pedigree for all to see. No one has ever complained about the religious identity of these leaders – and no one will. Indeed, there is a governorship election next year; virtually all contenders that have shown their faces so far in the two principal parties are Muslims.

No one’s religion has ever truly been an issue in Osun State. On May 29, 2003, a Muslim Chief Judge swore in a Christian governor (Oyinlola) and a Christian deputy governor (Erelu Olusola Obada). The Christian-Christian ticket of Oyinlola/Obada was elected by an electorate from three senatorial districts, two of which are predominantly Muslim. There was not a single word of complaint from anywhere. The Muslim incumbent who lost that election did not bother to contest his loss in court.

I work in a state (Oyo State) that has produced five governors from 1999 to date. Three of the five are/were Muslims. Again, I will identify them: Alhaji Lam Adesina (Muslim) was the first to take the baton in 1999. He was succeeded by Senator Rashidi Ladoja, a Muslim. Otunba Adebayo Alao Akala, a Christian, succeeded Ladoja. Alao-Akala spent a term and handed over to Alhaji Isiaka Abiola Ajimobi, a Muslim, who spent two terms. The incumbent is Mr Seyi Makinde, a Christian. He will be succeeded by a Muslim or a Christian in two years’ time – no one cares.

If Sharia as it exists in the North is truly a priority of the Yoruba, would those Muslim governors have ignored doing it? Or are those gentlemen not Muslim enough? Indeed, as recently as 2011 to 2015, the governors of Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, and Osun States were all Muslim. We are talking of four out of six states being ruled by Muslim governors at the same time. I am referring to the years when Raji Fashola (Lagos); Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun); Abiola Ajimobi (Oyo) and Rauf Aregbesola (Osun) were governors. The four states operated under Muslims – leaving Ekiti and Ondo states for Christians. And there was peace. There will always be peace because what throws in governors and what kicks them out in Western Nigeria is the sobriety that comes with good behavior and good governance –not praise and worship.

Where I come from, we were taught to learn how to state our case before learning how to fight. The statement from the NSCIA said sharia was a constitutional issue. If it was, shouldn’t it be properly handled in a constitutional way? If we, Yoruba Muslims, truly want codified Sharia law and Sharia Courts, there are Muslim legislators in virtually all the state Houses of Assembly. Sharia proponents should ask these Muslim legislators to sponsor bills on the matter and lobby their colleagues to pass them into law. Or, if they think it is already in the constitution, and it is their right, let them go to court for enforcement of that right. If I were they and I could not do this, I would keep quiet forever. Extra-legal, unilateral, self-help declarations cannot help them in a democracy.

I once wrote against some Yoruba Pentecostal Christians who said (and still say) my sallah meat is sin. We look at such here and say they’ve packed unwellness with their faith. Yoruba Muslims who jog to the North in search of pity and support are exactly like those ones. They are as misguided as the misguided Pentecostal Christians. They are both working hard to rip open the belly of amity in Yoruba land with their fundamentalism. And they cannot succeed.

Now, what do I think of Imam Eze signing a Live-and-Let-Live statement on Sharia in Yorubaland? An Eze, I assume and presume, is from the South-East. If that signatory is from the South-East, then it was a ghastly error on the part of those who procured him to sign that statement. It was also an insult to the Yoruba, a people with a robust history of engagement with Islam dating back to more than seven hundred years. Procuring outsiders to speak for the Yoruba Muslim is a misnomer. They have leaders; their leaders are the Imams; they listen to the Imams, the Imams listen to them. Channeling the Yoruba spring to flow desert-wards for rejuvenation is an effort that hurts.

The Imam Eze statement will make me draw an analogy: We all know that Ilorin has no physical and spiritual space for Sango, the Yoruba god of thunder. Now, imagine an Ilorin man donning the costume of the Mogba, priest of Sango, and marketing the god of thunder to Oyo Alaafin, Sango’s hometown. Or who does not know that Mùsùlùmí Ìgbò gégé bi OníSàngó Ilorin ni? I will neither interpret nor translate that question. The Eze man should have first launched Sharia for his own home region before looking the Yoruba way. My people say if you think velvet is good and you would clothe me with it, I must first see on you velvet or something superior to velvet. How can the unclad clothe the clothed?

A group of eminent Yoruba Muslim scholars, seven years ago, published a book entitled: ‘Islam in Yorubaland: History, Education and Culture’. The editors were kind enough to give me a copy. Those who are seeking to fetishize Sharia today will learn from those scholars that what they seek to import has actually been part of their heritage before the white man created Nigeria with all its contradictions. Persons who are begging for external help on Sharia should read what the scholars say in that book. They will read the story of a Timi of Ede, Oba Abibu Lagunju (1817-1900), his court and the existence of Ilé Bàbá Kóòtù (compound of baba who holds court) in Ede. They will read also of Oluwo of Iwo, Momodu Lamuye, who became Oluwo of Iwo in 1858 and died in 1906. They will read of why a compound is named Ile Alikali (Alkali’s compound) in Iwo. They will read more of Islam, Sharia and the Yoruba society before colonialism.

Provocation excites and tickles us in this country. In 2016, a bill for a Christian court was sponsored by Hon. Gyang Dung (PDP) from Plateau State and eight other members of the House of Representatives. It scaled the second reading and that was the last we heard of it. The bill was an act of provocation and it was so treated and trashed. The statement from Imam Eze and its associated noise fall in the same category.

The difference between the past and the present is change. We live in a world that shifts with time. The World Bank in 2020 ranked Saudi Arabia as the fastest-reforming country in the world. That country has gone far doing that, redefining the concepts of right and wrong and striking a balance between Islamic law on the one hand; local politics and global economic realities on the other. Today, even rude Donald Trump lowers his voice when the subject is Saudi. Those who have knowledge tell us that the reforms that burnish and refurbish Saudi Arabia do not make that country less Muslim.

It should be the same here. Reform and innovation are at the core of Yoruba’s cultural resilience. That is possibly what the Muslim North has not sat down to study and understand about Western Nigeria.

Let me say finally that making Sharia a hot-button topic in 2025 Nigeria is suspect and very unnecessary. Elections are coming, especially presidential and governorship elections. Flightless birds need the winds of religion to fly their political planes. They will use all magic and talismans to conjure those winds. The sudden interest in Sharia is one talisman that worked wonders in other climes at other desperate times of polls. It cannot work in today’s and tomorrow’s Yorubaland. So, I appeal to the Sultan and other well-meaning Muslim leaders to back off on agitations that seek to use their respected and respectable anvil to forge this idle tool. Adding their weight to weightless claims does no one any good.

The crisis that has plagued the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in recent months, finally blew into the open last Wednesday as the party’s 79th Board of Trustees meeting turned into a ring for a physical fight. The bitter contest for the position of the party’s national secretary between Senator Samuel Anyanwu and former Youth Leader, Sunday Ude-Okoye had turned into fisticuffs as loyalists of both men engaged in a free for all. The forceful removal of Ude-Okoye from the BOT meeting, which had Anyanwu in attendance, had incensed his supporters who engaged Anyanwu’s loyalists in a fruitless effort to return him into the hall.

The video clip of the encounter shown on major television outlets, may have amused leaders of the ruling All Progressives Congress, but it is yet one of the most disgusting displays by a political party in Nigeria. It is simply the symptom of a deeper decay caused by the festering internal crisis in the main opposition party, a situation that underscores the challenges the PDP faces in fulfilling its role in Nigeria’s democratic process.

There are reasons to believe that the crisis in the PDP, like similar ones in the Labour Party and the NNPP, are hatched by the ruling party of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. The manner in which he has consolidated power since becoming President in May, 2023, continues to raise concerns about the health of Nigeria’s democracy and the PDP, with the connivance of its conscienceless leadership, has been used as the experimental guinea pig. The contestation for the office of national secretary has been an opportunity to foster internal divisions and manipulate its political structures.

The controversy started when Senator Samuel Anyanwu vacated the National Secretary role to contest as the PDP’s candidate in the November 2023 Imo State governorship election. Following his departure, the PDP’s South-East zonal executive committee nominated Sunday Udeh-Okoye as his successor. However, since after an unsuccessful gubernatorial bid, Anyanwu – a close ally of former Governor Nyesom Wike who now works for the ruling party’s federal administration as Minister of the FCT- has sought to reclaim his former position. His assertion that his four-year tenure remains valid until December 9, 2025, led to legal challenges, culminating in a ruling by the Enugu Division of the Court of Appeal that recognized Udeh-Okoye as the legitimate National Secretary. Though Anyanwu contested this decision, resulting in a subsequent judgment by the Federal High Court in Abuja affirming him as the rightful officeholder, this has raised competing legal interpretations and another legal hurdle at the nation’s apex court.

Beyond Wednesday’s shameful display lies a deeper concern that some unseen hands are working very hard to ensure that the party never recovers to mount a reasonable challenge to Tinubu and the APC in the 2027 general elections. A significant point of contention is the belief among some party leaders that Acting National Chairman Umar Damagum and National Secretary Samuel Anyanwu are acting as proxies for Nyesom Wike. This perceived allegiance has led to a factional split within the PDP, with some governors and party members supporting Wike, Damagum and Anyanwu, while others vehemently propose a new direction for the party. Though Wike continues to refer to himself as a card-carrying member of the PDP, he does not matter to him that the internal strife he helped engender in the party has diverted attention from its primary role as an opposition force.

If the failure of PDP to mount the opposition against the ruling All Progressives Congress has become obvious, the likelihood that the Labour Party (LP) and the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) will pick the gauntlet is far-fetched. Like the PDP, both parties have since been plagued by internal crises, factional disputes, and leadership struggles, making them ineffective in challenging the ruling APC. The Labour Party, which posed a significant challenge to Tinubu in the 2023 elections through Peter Obi’s candidacy, has been riddled with infighting since the election ended. Many observers believe that elements linked to the ruling APC have played a role in exacerbating these conflicts. Similarly, the NNPP, which made remarkable inroads in the North, has suffered from internal discord. The party’s leadership crisis, which saw Kwankwaso suspended and then reinstated, has been linked to political interference as many believe that the APC has fueled these divisions, recognizing NNPP’s potential to erode its influence in northern Nigeria.

By systematically weakening opposition parties and meddling in their internal affairs, the ruling party has created an environment where it dominates without meaningful resistance. And since a strong democracy thrives on vibrant opposition that holds the government accountable, the ruling party’s actions surely reduce democratic competition and limit alternative voices. If this trend continues, like several prominent figures have warned, Nigeria risks sliding further into a one-party system where opposition is rendered ineffective. Surely, that will be a sad commentary on our march in the democratic journey.