OTHERS' VIEWS
![[OPINION] EFCC politicisation and criminality started with Obasanjo - Dele Sobowale](/media/k2/items/cache/b4b41bc0d557cad4cbcc3ebda69dbfed_L.jpg)
“Revolutions end up in the hands of mad men. Besides, if the power is great enough, it will make its own mad men by its own pressure” – Saul Bellow, 1915-2005, VANGUARD BOOK OF QUOTATIONS, VBQ, p 217
When a national newspaper thundered on its front page that EFCC BATTLES INTERNAL SCANDALS AS OPERATIVES LOOT RECOVERED ASSETS, it was obvious to me that the creation of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, in 2004, which, for Nigeria, was a revolutionary measure aimed at taming corruption had ended up in wrong hands. I am not talking about the current Chairman, who has actually inherited a bad situation. No.
The rot started much earlier; as early in fact as the administration of President Obasanjo who passed the law to create it. The story, which appeared on January 25, 2025, mentioned only recovered assets. But, in reality, some hooded EFCC agents actually rob, at gun point, people, whose premises, homes, hotels and offices, they invade in the middle of the night without court order. They cart away assets without taking inventory and deliver what they choose, if they choose, to the office.
Deliberately and inadvertently, we have allowed the EFCC to become like a bunch of cats engaged to manage a fish shop. I expect the EFCC spokesman or somebody to write a rejoinder, stating that only a few criminally-minded officers are giving the commission a bad name. I agree and disagree. Yes, it is possible that only a few people are engaged in such nefarious activities. But, the silence of others, have rendered them as accomplices. Furthermore, most people, worldwide, who hold Nigerians in low esteem, have met only a handful out of 230 million. Thus, I am treated with disdain and suspicion at every airport globally.
Whether the EFCC likes it or not, its image is being battered by the actions of corrupt officials, high-handedness, lack of professionalism – even when carrying out routine official duties. We frequently receive news of courts dismissing EFCC for media publicity even before accused persons have been served with court orders. Recently, the commission asked a court to issue warrant of arrest for Oba Otudeko on account of allegations made against him. The court turned down the request while pointing out that Otudeko was not properly served notice of the hearing. This is not the first time EFCC would be admonished by the courts for clearly unprofessional conduct. The question is: why does the EFCC continue to fall into the same manhole?
IT STARTED EARLY
“Morning [sometimes] shows the day.”
Politicisation of the EFCC started very early; almost as soon as the law creating it was signed by Obasanjo. Malam Nuhu Ribadu, who was the first Chairman, did not fully meet the requirements stipulated by the law. But, the all-powerful President pushed the appointment through all the same.
Ribadu started like a whirlwind; very soon, several Governors were being investigated; and prosecution started. Nigerians, imbued with the Machiavellian spirit, cheered the new national hero without looking closely at the discriminatory and sometimes unconstitutional methods adopted.
Ribadu was the Man of the Year award winner according to several newspapers and the darling of young Editors. But some of the things he did were questionable. The EFCC went after Governor Festus Dariye of Plateau State because the man had a small disagreement with Obasanjo. Because Governors have immunity from prosecution, EFCC could not directly touch him.
So, Ribadu went after eighteen State legislators; accused them of corruption; invaded the State House of Assemble with armed policemen; and then got the remaining six lawmakers to impeach the eighteen who had not been tried in any court. The six went further to impeach the Governor. Meanwhile, N100 million of the funds Dariye allegedly embezzled was given to the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to finance its 2003 elections. Dariye was eventually convicted; but it took a courageous Justice of the Federal Court to declare EFCC’s actions illegal.
The same trick was played on Bayelsa State with Alamieyeseigha in order to get him convicted and Jonathan elevated as Governor; and to some extent Ibori. An attempt was also made to get Attah into EFCC net which failed woefully because Attah took the unusual step of dragging the EFCC to court and defeated the commission. I was in court with Attah throughout his ordeal until vindication. What many Nigerians did not know was the fact that Alamieyeseigha, Ibori and Attah were the ‘Three Musketeers’ of RESOURCE CONTROL – the struggle which eventually resulted in 13 per cent derivation which the Niger Delta States have been enjoying since. Attah wrote the book, to which I wrote the foreword.
But, the credit for 13 per cent derivation belongs to the three former Governors.
Meanwhile, Obasanjo was totally opposed to RESOURCE CONTROL; he wanted the oil-producing states to receive only 1.5 per cent derivation but only for onshore production and nothing for offshore production. Only the tenacity of the three Governors saved the Niger Delta from the sad fate Obasanjo had in mind for the people. Out of vindictiveness, Obasanjo made sure that the three Governors paid heavy prices for their defiance. He sent the EFCC after them.
Only truth and honesty saved Attah. By contrast, the EFCC also charged to court former Governor Odili, an ally of Obasanjo, who stood aloof from the RESOURCE CONTROL effort. Odili got a perpetual court injunction from another court against investigation and prosecution of himself and members of his administration. The EFCC had the option of getting that perpetual injunction vacated; but till today has not exercised that option.
WAR ON VICE PRESIDENT ATIKU
“A truth that’s told with bad intent/ Beats all the lies you can invent” – William Blake, 1757-1827, VBQ p 254
When former Vice President Atiku announced his intention to run for president in early 2006, he inadvertently started a war with Obasanjo – who was determined that Atiku would not be his successor. Among the weapons unleashed upon Atiku was the EFCC which probed the VP’s management of the Petroleum Development Trust Fund, PDTF. Ribadu, predictably, “indicted” Atiku and provided Obasanjo with the excuse needed to illegally take over the PDTF.
Later, however, a Senate Ad Hoc Committee, headed by Senator Danjuma, investigating the affairs of the PDTF, had this to say about PDTF and other matters involving Obasanjo: “I was shocked, disturbed at the extent of gross abuse of office, privileges, and misapplications of public funds by both the President and Vice President…Page 45 [of the Ad Hoc Committee’s Report] says PDTF was paying for services outside its mandate and this was a regular feature…” That was after Ribadu had issued a report exonerating Obasanjo of all blame on mismanaging PDTF funds.
When another Senator suggested that another probe be conducted, Mrs Danjuma replied: “I do not see any need for another investigation [especially] if it was to be conducted by Ribadu’s EFCC which has disgraced itself] because this is enough; it speaks for itself that funds were misplaced against the Constitution and against the people of Nigeria.”
PDP: CORRUPTION INCORPORATION. P 198)
The Senate Ad Hoc Committee was able to discover several instances of illegal and fraudulent misapplications of public funds by Obasanjo (including payment of N250 million to a famous lawyer) from PDTF funds; which the EFCC failed to see…
FEMI FANI-KAYODE: TELLING LIES AS HISTORY
I read Femi Fani-Kayode’s piece published in several newspapers and ordinarily would not have bothered to join issues with him; until I got to the point where he described his father Remi Fani-Kayode as “an innocent man”. That was not how I would describe the man who drove a Land Rover Jeep to Inalende Street in 1963 where our family house was directly opposite that of Honourable Lanlehin. I was tossed over the fence by my stepmother with money stuffed in my pocket to go to Ogunpa Motor Park to board a bus for Lagos. Half the people in our house have not been seen till today after the invasion. Innocent man? Many of us wonder why the soldiers left him alive.
To be continued
![[OPINION] Who says atomistic PDP cannot die? - Tonnie Iredia](/media/k2/items/cache/bcb1ae49626cc3fef05682d8bd581d7a_L.jpg)
Some years back, it was common practice among members of Nigeria’s former ruling party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to describe their political party as the largest in Africa. None of us outside the party bothered to authenticate the claim. Perhaps some people just believed it because the party was Nigeria’s biggest, judging by the overwhelming number of elected political office holders it produced from the level of a local council to the presidency.
Indeed, the PDP won the Presidential elections of 1999, 2003, 2007 and 2011. At a point, its party chieftains boasted that their party would rule Nigeria for a minimum of 50 years. But the PDP which is visibly an atomistic entity – one that is permanently at war with itself, would incur huge challenges.
In the last 6 years, the PDP, now in the opposition, has been embroiled in one crisis or another which it has been unable to resolve. To start with, the party behaves as if it relishes being a headless body as it always rubbishes every chairman it has had. Although some members imagined their founding chairman, Solomon Lar to be too charismatic to be rubbished out of office, his tenure was not hitch free. The harassments of his successors spoke volumes. Barnabas Gemade, Audu Ogbeh, Okwesilieze Nwodo, Vincent Ogbulafor, Adamu Muazu, Uche Secondus together with the indomitable Ahmadu Ali (the Garrison Commander) were all virtually rubbished. Thus, PDP members do not appear conscious of the adverse effects of a headless body; otherwise with what does such a body think?
Whereas some PDP members often greatly disagreed with critics such as this columnist for calling them out, each time they displayed political immaturity, intolerance and avoidable tension, we have since been proven correct by the unending crises in the party. The case of chairman Bamanga Tukur was particularly annoying as party executives gave him sleepless nights for attempting to reform their palpably corrupt national secretariat. In 2015, the late media icon, Raymond Dokpesi was appointed to chair a committee to rebrand the party ahead of its national conference. Dokpesi’s speech at the conference which was well attended by many was titled “PDP is not dying and certainly will not die.” If Dokpesi’s team successfully allayed public fears of a one-party state, this column projected other observations.
First, as large as the forum was, it was different from the usual flamboyance of the PDP. The normal bright colours of the party were not there; Abuja was not brought to a standstill as the party was used to doing whenever it organized any activity in the past. The paucity of media coverage was also observed as only Dokpesi’s Africa Independent Television gave the event partial LIVE transmission which was interrupted at a point and replaced by the coverage of another event – the 7th Anniversary of Edo governor Adams Oshiomhole. Could it be that the PDP did not have the financial muscle to sustain a LIVE coverage? Again, I didn’t see party leaders such as former President Goodluck Jonathan, his former Vice, Namadi Sambo, Alex Ekwueme, Ken Nnamani, David Mark and the popular leader Anthony Anenih who had been advertised as confirmed participants at the conference.
The national executive of the party later distanced itself from Dokpesi’s earlier apology for what he called the party’s past mistakes. The then national publicity secretary, Olisa Metuh, later told the media that Dokpesi’s apology was his personal opinion. Unfortunately, Dokpesi’s posture was more realistic as Nigerians often showed that they deprecated PDP’s attitude of self-denial. The party being a human organization that is not infallible made so many mistakes in its 16-year rule; a notable example being its constant effort of sweeping issues of public interest under the carpet. Allegations concerning the inappropriate purchase of armoured vehicles and the daily hiring of private aircraft against two influential female ministers were similarly discountenanced by the then PDP government.
A party that lacks unity of direction would always have crisis and PDP has since had too many. At different times, it lost powerful chieftains. One reason the party lost the 2015 general election was a sudden defection of its governors in 5 states namely: Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers), Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano) Aliyu Wammako (Sokoto), Abdulfatah Ahmed (Kwara) and Murtala Nyako (Adamawa). The then Jigawa governor, Sule Lamido managed to remain but the way his own presidential ambition was thwarted particularly, the coincidence of the pursuit of his children for corruption charges as soon as he announced his presidential bid was irritating. A dramatic example of all PDP losses was that of former President Olusegun Obasanjo who publicly tore his PDP membership card in the presence of his party ward chairman and over 300 other members at a gathering in Abeokuta.
The 5 governors that left the PDP during Goodluck Jonathan’s administration were not the last to do so. Two others, Dave Umahi (Ebonyi) and Ben Ayade (Cross River) left PDP to join former President Muhammadu Buhari’s government. Speculations that some incumbent PDP governors and other political office holders are working towards joining President Bola Tinubu’s administration may not be far-fetched. Researchers who may be interested in searching for what is repulsive in the PDP may begin by examining the high degree of self interest in the party. The general impression that Nigerian politicians often defect from their parties because such parties have no ideology needs to be further illuminated. Political office-holders defect to only the ruling parties while those who defect from the ruling parties are only searching for another platform that can guarantee their candidacy in future primaries
It is self-interest that explains the current controversies surrounding the office of the national secretary of the PDP. In other climes, political party executives would resign from office as soon as it becomes clear that they no longer enjoy the confidence of their members. But here, the PDP national secretary cannot see his lack of popularity. He would rather wait for a court order and if what comes is not favourable, he would disobey and then embark on a long litigation process through the hierarchy of courts notwithstanding the turmoil in his party. His predecessor, Iyorcha Ayu did not leave office even though he had promised to do so if a northerner emerged from party primaries as presidential candidate. When will the current acting national chairman in the interest of party unity and progress, allow the appropriate zone to fill the position?
The PDP has continued to engage in circumlocution choosing different chieftains to resolve grievances of certain party members as if the main cause of the grievances is unknown. Everybody is blaming FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike as the cause of PDP’s problem but no one has the courage to suspend him. We hear Wike ought not to have accepted to serve in the APC government, but none of the reconciliation committees says anything about Wike’s defence that the party executive approved for him to take the post. Another offence of Wike is that he spent huge sums of money building the party. What did other governors of the party do with their own money? A state governor is the official leader of the PDP in a state, why is the party unable to sanction all those disputing Governor Sim Fubara’s position in Rivers state?
PDP is the party that introduced zoning to Nigerian politics, but it is the only party that thinks it is in order to continue to support the emergence of only a Northern presidential candidate. By the time this happens again in 2027, PDP will give birth to many more reconciliation committees. After that, it will tell the nation that APC officials are the ones luring PDP members to the ruling party. In Edo state, Nigerians are being told that it is the APC that lured elected PDP councillors to disown their own chairmen and vice chairmen with whom they were jointly elected. Well, with continuing implosion, PDP leaders will not have to waste time claiming to be the largest in Africa; they will instead find out if anyone is still with them.
I am not a political prophet but history tells me that if Senator Monday Okpebholo, the new Edo governor is confirmed by the judiciary, PDP legislators in the state will also be immediately ‘lured’ into the APC. At that point, the PDP should humbly consider the suggestion to refuse to die by changing its name to SIP (Self Interest Party); and stop misleading Nigerians that it is an opposition party that is supposed to keep the ruling party on its toes.
![[OPINION] Making Sense of Amaechi’s Confessions - Simon Kolawole](/media/k2/items/cache/23dd40f0618da7020a78e5a90fa42511_M.jpg)
You can say whatever you like about Rt Hon Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, but you can never accuse the former governor of Rivers state of denying the media premium content anytime he speaks. He talks so plainly and pungently you cannot but hunger and thirst for more. He is a journalist’s delight. Those in the business of politics will not find his pronouncements funny, though. He does not speak like a typical politician who will couch the facts in a way that gaslights us, making us wonder if the problem is us and not them. He says it as it is, although I smile at some of his claims — like when he said, without flinching, that he doesn’t like money. Even the famously gullible marines shook their heads.
At a conference in Abuja last week, Amaechi spoke briefly – precisely for three minutes and seven seconds — but it was so loaded I could write a whole book exploring the nature and culture of Nigerian politics based on his confessions. I instantly distilled five angles. One, the reason for political violence. Two, the attributes of opposition politicians. Three, the role of vote protection in forestalling rigging. Four, the economic motive for joining politics. Five, the economic incentive for the masses at election times. By the way, the conference was a gathering of opposition politicians and some APC members who feel sidelined by President Bola Tinubu and are strategising for 2027.
Amaechi said: “The politician is there in Nigeria to steal, maim, and kill to remain in power.” Alhaji Bello Matawalle, minister of state for defence, has quickly countered him, describing the statement as reckless, inflammatory and dangerous, warning that the security agencies were on high alert against those planning to use violence to win elections. Initially, I was wondering what Matawalle was saying, but the undertone of Amaechi’s statement was that Nigerians should be ready to die if they are to unseat an incumbent. He cited an example from the 2003 governorship election in Kano, claiming 500,000 people were on the streets ready to die if it was called in favour of the ruling party.
However, Amaechi spoke the truth when he said the Nigerian politician is ready to steal, maim, and kill to remain in power. I would add: to gain power as well. There should be a caveat though: not all Nigerian politicians choose violence as route to power. Many are decent. A major problem is that politicians who fail to play the game of violence are often muscled out. Many decent people stay off politics because of this culture of violence. Since the 1950s and 1960s, violence, in varying degrees, has been part of our political culture. No need to deny or deodorise that. Politicians do it to intimidate opponents, to rig the votes and to entrench themselves as the kings and queens of terror.
It is a common practice for politicians to have youths and transport unionists in their corner. Conventional wisdom is: if you control the streets, you control the thugs; if you control the thugs, you control the ballot; if you control the ballot, you control power. The recruitment pool for terrorists and bandits in the north is traced to politicians using youths at election times and dumping them thereafter. In the Niger Delta, militancy mutated from organised political violence. In the south-west, transport unions breed the Rottweiler thugs for elections. Generally, many political thugs end up as billionaires and get celebrated as freedom fighters out to liberate their people from oppression.
My second take from Amaechi’s remarks is on the nature of opposition politics in Nigeria. He stylishly upbraided those clapping over the rousing statements being made by the speakers and discussants. “All we are hearing here is typical Nigeria and you are clapping,” he said. I understood his comment to mean the opposition must do its homework and organise itself to gain power — beyond talking a good game. This is interesting. Many of us made a similar point for years until the opposition parties finally came together in 2015 to unseat the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) which had been threatening to rule Nigeria for 60 uninterrupted years. The PDP fell to a much stronger opposition.
This really makes sense. I have looked at the 2023 presidential election results like one million times and my conclusion has always been that if the opposition had not been balkanised, the APC would have been torn to pieces. While APC’s Tinubu garnered 8.79 million votes, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and the ex-PDP duo of Mr Peter Obi and Dr Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso polled 14.58 million in total. Tinubu would not have won if the opposition was united, but his rivals chose to blame iReV, Chicago and everyone apart from themselves. Not one contender produced evidence at the tribunal to prove they won. If they really want to unseat APC in 2027, they must change tact and up their game.
My third take is on the role of vote protection in fostering credible elections. Amaechi gave the example of the 2003 election in Kano between Kwankwaso (then of the PDP) and Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau (then of the All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP). Amaechi claimed that then-President Olusegun Obasanjo (PDP) wanted INEC to declare Kwankwaso as the winner but when he realised that Kano people were ready to “defend” their votes, he retreated. I remember Obasanjo eventually appointed Kwankwaso as minister of defence obviously as compensation for losing the election. Shekarau went on to do two terms and Kwankwaso returned in 2011 to do a final, second term.
I have been hearing this “defend your votes” campaign for decades. Some call it “rig and roast”. That was what led to the violence in the Western Region in 1965 and, many would argue, the end of the first republic. This hits me in two ways. The first is that yes, let the riggers know that people are watching them in order to put them in check and pre-empt their ploy. This is fine. The other part, though, is that there is the danger that someone who loses an election can mobilise mobsters to wreak violence under the guise of defending their votes. I find it this particular possibility disturbing. It takes only a few mobsters to set a town on fire even if their candidate truly lost the election.
My fourth take is on Amaechi’s confession on poverty and politics. “Poverty has made me part of the political system since I left university in 1987, and I’ve been part of the process till today,” he said, bluntly. How many politicians, political appointees and other public officers can sincerely admit in public that they are in government for economic reasons? They will normally give us soundbites like “I’m here to serve my people”. The late Godwin Agbroko once wrote that some politicians and political appointees stay so long in government that if you ask them their state of origin, they will instinctively reply: “Government House.” The only business they have ever done in life is politics.
Also, there are people who did other businesses before joining politics but get stuck with it for life. When they compare efforts and rewards in the public and private sectors, they know where to pitch their tent — especially in a society where there are hardly any consequences for poor performance and unexplained wealth. I have nothing against career politicians but it is an easier choice in Nigeria because it fosters wealth without work. There is so much access to public resources with little or no accountability. Who can afford the choicest things of life? Dig deep and you will discover that it is disproportionately those who treat politics as business. But most of them will not admit this openly.
My fifth and final take on Amaechi’s confession is directly related to the fourth: just like many politicians, there are ordinary Nigerians who participate in politics just to address hunger. They do not care about free or fair elections. Amaechi narrated how he released money for protesters to be mobilised for the APC ahead of the 2015 general election only for marchers to come to the protest ground in pro-PDP attires. For all you care, they might not even know the difference between APC and PDP. They might even know but did not care. They were only interested in making their “daily 2k” to eat before going to bed. Many voters do not have allegiance to any party or politician.
Atiku, in buttressing Amaechi’s point, gave the example of when he went for a rally in Rivers state when Dr Peter Odili was governor. He said after two hours, the ground became empty. What happened? “We paid them for only two hours,” Atiku quoted Odili as saying. This elicited laughter in the hall. Nigerians know that politicians are the ones with the free money and are ready to splash it to get people to attend their rallies. If they don’t go, somebody else will attend and collect the 2k. Thus, voters eagerly look forward to the election season: that is when they can get their own “dividends” from politicians, many of whom have amassed colossal wealth “serving my people”.
Always, the masses get blamed for selling their votes. We make it look like they are in a position to make rational decisions, but poverty damages both the body and the soul. Someone struggling to get a decent meal is expected to turn down 2k and a mini bag of rice. May our stomachs not be tested. It is easy to blame the victims of misgovernance for selling their birthright. Some are actually clear-headed and calculative: they know politicians are stealing and don’t care about the people. They take election period as the only time the politicians will come to them. It is their only opportunity to get something from the politicians. It is a cynical view of politics but it is certainly not a baseless view.
To be clear, I do not support or seek to justify vote trading. Actually, I condemn it. However, you cannot solve a problem through condemnation alone. You have to understand the root causes, the factors that sustain it as well as its dynamics before you can think up a solution. The dynamics are more nuanced than simply blaming the voters for exchanging their birthright for a mess of pottage. We say they get the kind of leader they deserve because they sell their votes. Of course, we often assume that politicians who don’t share 2k will perform well in office. There is no such evidence yet. You can be an honest, tight-fisted politician and still be an incompetent leader. Examples abound.
We should dissect Amaechi’s confessions thoroughly. As an insider, he gave us important leads. One, we have a political class that kills and maims to gain and retain power. Thugs don’t recruit themselves for elections. Somebody does. Two, we have opposition politicians who are more into media war than mobilising voters. There is a place for issuing press statements on everything that happens and jumping to tweet all sorts at the slightest opportunity, but that cannot substitute for a solid election-winning strategy. Three, we have politicians whose interest is to address their own poverty while the masses feast on crumbs. How can we fix Nigeria if we don’t fix our politicians?
AND FOUR OTHER THINGS…
MIND SHIFT
I have undertaken quite a number of leadership training home and abroad, but I am still excited about the upcoming SHIFT conference to be hosted by Dr Sam Adeyemi on February 8 at Eko Hotel, Lagos, Nigeria. Many people know Adeyemi more as a cleric, but he actually has a PhD in strategic leadership from the Regent University, Virginia, USA, and regularly serves actionable strategies for personal and professional growth. For entrepreneurs like me, I want to be equipped with tools and insights to thrive, to reset my mindset, to align my vision with action and drive impactful change. We cannot take impactful actions if we don’t have a proper understanding of the dynamics. Instructive.
OBASA DRAMA
As I was saying, Rt Hon Mudashiru Obasa, the ousted speaker of the Lagos state house of assembly, is so full of himself. After being removed from his high horse by 32 of the 40 members while he was in the US, he returned to the country boasting that he remained speaker. He resorted to semantics on the difference between impeachment and removal (the constitution actually uses the word “remove”; “impeach” is reserved for governors, presidents and their deputies). Obasa said: “I believe strongly that I’m still the speaker until the right thing has been done.” It’s like common sense eventually prevailed. If he thinks he is too big to be an ordinary member, he can go home. Conceited.
TAME TRUMP
Many Nigerians who, out of bigotry, supported the election of President Donald Trump must be questioning their choice now, assuming they care. Trump has been on the rampage. He even ordered a freeze on grants — a decision that would have terrible impact on the war against malaria, HPV vaccines and HIV treatment in Nigeria. A judge has temporarily blocked the order because of a lawsuit brought by grant recipients. However, this applies to only grants that have been approved. If the recipients win the case, Trump can still decide to scrap the grants from 2026. The man is trying so hard to please his excited fanbase but something tells me he will soon overreach himself. Unhinged.
NO COMMENT
You must have read the report of a magistrate court in Ilesa, Osun state, that ordered one Rhoda Adu to pay her boyfriend N150,000 as damages for failing to show up at his place after collecting N3,000 for transport. The report went viral. The name of the magistrate was given as Akogun Oludare. It was such an enjoyable story. The only problem is that it was fake news. The first red flag for me was that a similar story had been circulated in March 2024 but it was attributed to an Enugu magistrate. In any case, the Osun state judiciary has issued a statement denying both the judgment and the imaginary judge. How can you be asked to repay N3,000 with N150,000? In this Tinubu economy? Wonderful.
![[OPINION] Early Outline of the Permutations for 2027 - Waziri Adio](/media/k2/items/cache/3b34f8fbdb6c6d5eb12b90aeac8447d7_M.jpg)
There was an unusual spike in the tempo of political skirmishes last week, with pointed accusations by leading opposition figures and prompt rebuttals by those speaking for the ruling party. It was not accidental, nor is it meant to be episodic. It is safe to expect a higher and more sustained tempo from now on. Beyond the conference and the arrests that served as a platform and the trigger for the exchanges, there has been a fervent quest, barely beneath the radar, by key opposition and displaced politicians to form or inhabit a formidable electoral machine ahead of the next presidential election. Those on the other side are aware of the open and subterranean moves, and seem ready. Both sides know what they are doing. For all intents and purposes, the battle for 2027 has started.
The quest for an early realignment of political forces ahead of 2027 is driven by a number of factors.
One, the incumbent, President Bola Tinubu, is perceived as electorally vulnerable. He came to power with the slimmest electoral margin in the Fourth Republic; and in office, he has not done much to broaden his base or appeal. His signature policies, necessary as they are, have translated to the worst cost-of-living crisis in decades, with most average Nigerians struggling to feed themselves and meet other basic needs. He has alienated some of the key politicians who helped him to secure significant votes outside of his zone or who worked to take votes away from his opponents, and who thus swung the electoral calculus in his favour. His key appointments have been unabashedly sectional and his government is straining to escape the provincial tag. This combination—of afflicted populace and disaffected politicians—suggests that if presidential election were to hold today, the incumbent president might struggle to hold on to more than the South West, his home base.
Two, the consensus is that even the most vulnerable incumbent president in a democracy such as ours can only be effectively challenged by a strong and united opposition party (not just by a strong individual). At the moment, the opposition is anything but strong or united. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is in disarray. Despite remaining the main opposition party on account of its size and spread, PDP is a sorry shadow of the dominant party that ruled for 16 years. PDP has not really got used to how to survive without power, and most serious politicians within its fold are just marking time. Labour Party (LP) and the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) are either going through it too or lack the heft required.
Candidate Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) defeated the candidates of the three leading opposition parties when he was not an incumbent and when some within his own party, including in the presidency, reportedly worked actively to prevent his emergence as a candidate, then as the president. Of course, the fractured opposition also helped him with their divided votes that ensured that Tinubu clinched the presidency with just 36.61% of the total votes cast, the lowest winning margin since 1999. Tinubu’s share of votes in 2023 was only comparable to the 33.77% that Alhaji Shehu Shagari polled to win the 1979 presidential election, Nigeria’s first presidential poll and the most competitive till date.
Incumbent Tinubu, even with his evident vulnerabilities, is in a stronger position than Candidate Tinubu of 2023. Yes, his time in office has taken away from his mystique. But incumbency has also enhanced his electoral sinew. He remains the leading political strategist of his generation and he is unlikely to be shy in leveraging available apparatuses of the state to his advantage. Those banding to take him on are not naïve enough to think this is a task they can undertake successfully without serious preparation.
Three, adequate time is needed to form a new political party or get a critical mass of politicians to migrate to a chosen platform, to jump all the hoops that the ruling party and state institutions will definitely put on the paths of such a party, and to become a viable and credible alternative to Nigerian voters and public. There is enough lesson in the history APC to support the three factors identified. PDP became electorally vulnerable as early 2003 but it wobbled and fumbled through three electoral cycles. Candidate Muhammadu Buhari posed a great challenge to PDP in 2003, 2007 and 2011 but despite his wide following among the commoners of the core north, his appeal did not cross over to the south until 2015 when he became the candidate of APC, a coalition of three legacy parties and factions from two others. Also, APC was formed in February 2013, and thus had enough time to position itself as a robust counterweight to the ruling PDP.
In power, APC itself has been vulnerable since 2019, but it has managed to hang on largely because of incumbency and because of the state and the contradictions of the opposition. The reckoning now is that for the opposition to stand a chance in 2027, it has to do to APC what APC did to PDP between 2013 and 2015. To be sure, there might be other paths to opposition victory, including the possibility of an individual with broad electoral appeal standing and running alone. But given the sectional nature of Nigerian politics and the arithmetic of our elections (including the spread requirement), it seems assembling a cross-sectional coalition is still the surest bet to unseat an incumbent president.
However, the quest for a mega and viable opposition party will not be a cakewalk. The first stumbling block will be competing ambitions. The easiest part is to assemble a coalition. The fact that there are no permanent enemies but permanent interests will make that possible. The hard part is getting everyone in the coalition, including presidential hopefuls, to line up behind and work for the eventual presidential candidate. While there are enough positions to go round, there is only spot at the top, and there are many eyeing the top ticket. It is clear that both Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and Mr. Peter Obi will run for presidency in 2027. It is not unlikely that Dr. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso will run too. There are others thinking seriously of running too.
Will any of these potential candidates step down for the others? Will Atiku step down for, say, Obi? Or will Obi agree to step down or be Atiku’s running mate again like he was in 2019? With Obi’s record-breaking showing in 2023, what will be his incentive not to run or to be a running mate? Will Kwankwaso align with either of the two or agree to be Obi’s running mate? There is a strong suspicion that the quest for a mega party is actually the project of one of these politicians. If this is what it turns out to be, will the others remain loyal party people or will they seek their fortunes elsewhere or stay in and do antiparty? And if just one of them moves to contest elsewhere, how electorally potent can the mega party be?
A second hurdle will be how the eventual candidate fits the bill of the unwritten but salient code on power rotation between the north and the south. Will the politicians be comfortable with and able to sell power returning to the north after one term in the south? Or can the politicians and the populace set aside the north-south arrangement, even if temporarily?
Will the coalition be able to find a southern candidate who will agree to do, or can do, only one term? And can any politician that is not term-barred as president be held to such agreement? One name that is making the round in this respect is former President Goodluck Jonathan since he can’t do only more than a term. With the outcome of the 2024 elections in Ghana and the US, he is likely to fancy his chances. But will he run? And if he does, can he stop Obi from contesting? If both Jonathan and Obi run, what does that do to the bloc votes from the South-East and the South-South?
The third hurdle will be capacity of the mega opposition to sell itself to Nigerians as a credible alternative. As I mentioned at the conference last week, Nigerians are not likely to take seriously a band of politicians asking for power just because they have lost out or because they have become internally displaced politicians (IDPs). I listened with profound amazement to people who were in government at the highest levels till 18 months ago criticising the same state institutions they supervised, waxing poetic about Nigeria’s abysmal governance and development deficits and calling on Nigerians to save their democracy. The planned mega party cannot be viable and credible if it is just a grievance platform designed for some politicians to return to reckoning. What alternative vision of society, of politics, and of governance are the same-old, same-old politicians offering? What lessons have they learned from their well-rewarded involvement in public life in the past 25 years and how do they plan to make amends?
APC’s mandarins are definitely keeping a close eye on all the moves in the opposition camp. And it is conceivable that some of the key opposition figures are APC’s moles. It is the way of politics. The ruling party will remain hopeful, even confident, that the mega party plan will fall apart. The odds that it will not work are high. But politics is the art of the possible. And politicians, including our politicians, can put aside their differences and ambitions, even if temporarily, to advance a common goal or to face a common enemy. This was what the folks that formed APC did in 2013 to 2015. If APC could do it, others can too.
Does it mean that it is over for Tinubu in 2027 if such a coalition is formed? Not necessarily. And does it also mean that if no such coalition is formed, then Tinubu automatically returns in 2027? Not necessarily too. We are still at least two years away from the next election. Needless to say, a day is a long time in politics. A lot will depend on what happens at different levels on both sides and in the larger society between now and then.
With or without a coalition, an incumbent can be defeated in Nigeria if we get to a situation where a critical mass of Nigerians is ready to vote for anyone else but the incumbent. That was what happened in 2015. If the cost-of-living crisis continues, irrespective of improvement in macro-economic indicators, we may get to that situation. If Nigerians continue to struggle with high costs of food and other essentials, they are likely to want out, would probably overlook the primordial sentiments that mostly define our elections and likely defy attempts to buy or intimidate them.
But if prices stabilise this year and next, and Nigerians begin to see tangible improvement in their material conditions (even if not back to pre-2023 levels), they may be hesitant in taking a gamble with someone else. A sizeable number of Nigerians may be persuaded that the present shocks are part of the pains of reforms and may be open to giving the president the chance to see his reforms to a logical end. Tinubu may also be favoured by the inability of the opposition to pick a credible or acceptable alternative. For example, the northern elites and voters may just reconcile themselves with another four years of Tinubu than with a probable eight years for another southerner. Political calculations are sometimes made at such margins.
Tinubu is not without agency in this matter. He has ample time to make course correction: become less sectional in his appointments, accommodate individuals and zones that he has alienated, drop the dead-weights in his cabinet, and act more promptly and decisively in areas that affect the generality of Nigerians. He also has enough time to undermine the opposition, sow discord in their ranks and poach some of their leading lights.
Naturally, it is way too early to say how things will pan out for the incumbent and the probable challengers. Ordinarily too, we shouldn’t be talking about next election until at least 2026 in the lead up to party primaries. But here we are, and it is what it is. It is going to be a long electioneering period this time around, with plenty of twists and turns. There will be distractions, unfortunately. And there will be an abundance of opportunistic moves on both sides of the divide. Welcome, unofficially, to the 2027 election cycle.
![[OPINION] Why Have Standards Fallen So Badly? - Wole Olaoye](/media/k2/items/cache/5a0ddf50fa07fa03d19cbe175ec2d16d_M.jpg)
“And now, ladies and gentlemen, please rise and give a standing ovation to welcome the re-inventor of our state, our far-sighted, God-ordained leader, the father of our civilisational aspirations, the father of infrastructural wonders, the most outstanding governor in the whole of Nigeria, His Excellency, the Executive Governor of Nwamkpi State, Architect Doctor Sir Chikeson Tesibiayetesi Ibrahim, OFR, CFR, Knight of the Order of River Tiber….”
A choreographed session of applause follows while the governor “humbly” makes his way to the podium, bowing severally in a rehearsed show of meekness and at the same time acknowledging cheers from his hired thugs who have formed an invisible protective ring around the perimeter of the venue…
By the time the governor makes it to the microphone, the audience has been whipped up to a frenzy with the live band singing provocative political tunes, the type that can make political opponents jump off a cliff or, to quote their favourite refrain, “Hug a transformer!”
Ego Trip
The governor clears his throat and informs the gathering that he was going to be very brief because other state matters needed his attention. He speaks for 45 minutes. Half of the time, he is engaged in self-adulation although he gives the glory to God because, “He saw it fit to persuade me to leave a very lucrative private practice to come down here and serve my people as their executive governor…” Hear, hear… Applause.
He then invites the commissioner for works to come and explain the significance of the project he was about to commission. The commissioner is accompanied by the bespectacled contractor, a rotund hulk whose role is to agree with everything the commissioner says with an agama-lizard-type series of nods.
Time up for the climax: a young student presents a ribboned pair of scissors on a tray to His Excellency and he invites the traditional rulers, commissioners, honourable members of parliament and other dignitaries to join him in the Photo-Op: the commissioning of the 750-metre link road between Main Avenue and Broad Street.
“You mean all these people were invited just to witness the commissioning of a 750-metre road?” A bystander asked his neighbour.
“Yes, and what’s wrong with that?” replies the neighbour.
“It looks cheap to me. Shouldn’t the governor be busy with more important things?”
“What could be more important than dramatising the provision of the dividends of democracy?”
“I wish the governor was commissioning an expressway. But 750 metres ought to be beneath the dignity of a governor in a proper democracy.”
“That’s your problem. Some governors in some other places have been known to commission culverts for channelling waste water.”
“Chai! Standards have fallen! I can’t recall one instance of this kind of charade in the First Republic. Only landmark projects attracted such publicity, like the commissioning of WNTV/WNBS, the first TV station in Africa; or the first skyscraper in Western Region, the Cocoa House; or the Ibadan-Ijebu-Ode Highway etc”
Fallen Standards
As a chronicler, I am worried. I don’t know if it bothers you too, but I’m perturbed that we seem to be producing substandard humans in public office compared to their counterparts decades ago. Standards have fallen so badly, especially in relation to the quality, quantity and relevance of projects. Public expectation has also nosedived. People don’t seem to expect much from their political leaders anymore.
Perhaps we could trace the fall in standards of our political leaders to a fall in the quality of their education. Indeed, a researcher, Chinelo Ogoamaka Duze, had reached this conclusion earlier in her study, “Falling Standards of Education in Nigeria: An Empirical Evidence in Delta State of Nigeria”, and I’m only parroting her findings here:
“We believe that the falling standard in education in Nigeria could be linked also to the lost glories of traditional education which inculcates among other things the very important values of hard-work, diligence, integrity, and high productivity. When these are lacking in any production system, education inclusive, the results are often devastating leading especially to poor quality output and wastage which in themselves undermine capacity building and sustainable development. The tertiary level produces the much desired human capital that propels nations from backwardness to modernisation. But it has to be fed from the lower levels.
A “mal-nourished” primary level would breed a “kwashiokored” secondary level that culminates into a “masrasmused” tertiary level. A survey of the opinions of 5,507 stakeholders was therefore carried out to determine whether educational standards were actually falling in Nigeria and at what level it was most grievous. It was found that standards have fallen at all levels of education, with the tertiary level being most hit, followed by secondary, and least, primary level. Three major reasons found were poor funding of education, poor implementation of educational policies and programmes and poor attitude to school-work.
Televised Idiocy
I don’t want to make this discussion academic. In plain language, what I am saying is that we are producing a horde of unserious political leaders at various levels of government. They are unprepared for the leadership roles we thrust upon them. Their standards are low. Their horizon is short. They are never visionary but always transactional. You task them too much if you suggest that they should plan for future generations. For them, tomorrow ought to take care of itself.
It is vexatious that even when you try to avoid the provocation of watching a 419 commissioning on live television and you tune to another station, it is as if the politrician is ubiquitous because he’s waiting for you at the next station. You are condemned to watching him and listening to his savage lingo and demonstration of megalomania as he has bought prime time on four major national TV stations. Perhaps the National Broadcasting Commission or the Federal Competition & Consumer Protection Commission ought to protect the helpless viewer from this broadcast terrorism of forced viewership.
It is bad enough that the system allows a political appointee to waste public funds advertising himself and commissioning a project broken into several stages in such a way that the various stages are commissioned separately and beamed live on prime time TV because all the major television stations had been “bought” by the minister or governor or CEO.
Looking back at the great men and women of the First Republic, it is inconceivable that many of those who call the shots today would have qualified to carry the office files of those gentlemen of yore. Where are the equivalents of the great Awo or Zik, Sardauna, Balewa, Okpara, Osadebey, Adelabu, Tarka,
Funmilayo Ransome-Kuit, Margaret Ekpo, Gambo Sawaba et al.
Compare how we have been carrying on in the last 10 years to India’s giant strides within the same period. In the past decade, Indian Railways has laid 31,000+ km of tracks, facilitating better connectivity and travel across the nation. The construction of 11,900 Road Over Bridges (ROB) and Road Under Bridges (RUB) has improved infrastructure and safety for passengers. Over 12,600 million tonnes (MT) of freight loading was achieved, while 44,000 route kilometres (rkm) were electrified, contributing to a greener and more sustainable railway network.
Yet, it is our peculiar brand of televised idiocy, our cash-and-carry “democracy” that we hope to pass on to the next generation? I can’t help asking why.
![[OPINION] Ganusi and the fire this time - Festus Adedayo](/media/k2/items/cache/dbdf45bce961e0bcfebb55fda37433c9_M.jpg)
ALL over the world, musicians are reputed to have patented argots, slang and jargon that signposted global conversations. In the tiny Island of Jamaica, the unkempt, locked-hair, weed-smoking, reggae music singer, Peter Tosh pioneered the word ‘Rasta’ as prefix for devotees of a new religion that began to reign in the West Indies. That religion believed that His Imperial Majesty, Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia, formerly Abyssinia, and the last Emperor of the Empire, was “King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah and Elect of God”. In a musical track titled “Rasta Shook Dem Up” released in 1966, Tosh patented the usage of the word for worshipers of Selassie named “Rastafari.” It was derived from Selassie’s pre-monarch name, “Ras Tafari Makonnen,” “Ras” having come from an Ethiopian Semitic word meaning “Duke” or “Prince”.
In the early 1980s, when Yoruba Awurebe music icon, Alhaji Dauda Adeeyo, alias Epo Akara, was accused of couriering Indian hemp to Abidjan, Cote d’voire, his traducers had an upper hand in spreading the news. He had to denounce it in a track he called O wa l’Abidjan. In it, he sang that he was engaged in legitimate sale of Ankara clothes which was a major trade in the French-speaking country. A new kind of cloth style became known as L’Abidjan in the Southwest of Nigeria then.
About two weeks ago, Yoruba Fuji icon, Wasiu Ayinde, unwittingly added to the lexicography of the Southwest. His mother, Animotu Sadia, had passed and among a beehive of people who flooded his Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State home for the burial were Islamic clerics. In Yorubaland, clerics at such occasions, whether Christian or Muslim, have come to be synonyms with scavenging for perks and food. Islamic clerics are the most notorious. I remember that while growing up, a very unflattering but predominant phrase that was bandied about was, “If an Alfa goes to an occasion, how to know that the event was fruitful and he ate to his fill was that the Alfa’s elbow would be soaked in oil” (B’Afa ba lo ode, t’ode ba dun, igbunwo laa ti mo, tori yio mu epo dede ni!).
An apparently clandestinely recorded video had Ayinde complaining that the flood of clerics to his house in the guise of condolences, was stomach-driven. This was not the novelty Ayinde pioneered. The lexicographic enrichment came from the musician’s usage of a barroom, society’s lowlife slang to describe the scavenging. He said the clerics had chosen his house, rather than his father’s house at Fidipote area of Ijebu-Ode, to “Ganusi.” Ganusi can be used either as a noun or verb and has literally shut down the social media in the various mutations it has suffered.
Many people have done a syntactic and lexical examination of “Ganusi” since then, many times without fruition. It is most probably a weave of two words “Ga enu” (prized open like a trap) and “si” (to) to arrive at a word which conveys the meaning of a deliberate ploy to fill the tummy. Such act of prizing open the mouth is deliberate, purposive and tendentious, while not being real as it is concealed. Ayinde was obviously communicating a tendency that is getting worse in society where everyone has become a scavenger of the other person.
Though uttered at the height of frustration with nectar-sucking propensity of virtually everyone in Nigeria today, an Islamic cleric who angrily replied the musician reminded him that Ayinde, being a beggar (alagbe) – as musicians are known from time immemorial – was equally a scavenger.
“Ganusi” has become a social commentary on how virtually everyone in Nigeria is scavenging for survival, either legitimately or illegitimately. Whether Ganusi is done by designer suites-wearing contractors in Abuja, babanriga, Isiagu or agbada, or by touts at motor-parks who demand to be given a piece of the pie who rudely demand, “Big man, let me also Ganusi your wealth” (Baba Alaye, e je ki n ganusi), it is a reflection of our country’s current economic meltdown, of the rapacity of greed for sweet nectar, or survival-of-the-fittest and elimination of the weakest in Nigeria today.
![[OPINION] Implications of the rumblings in the South-West (I) - Bolanle Bolawole](/media/k2/items/cache/5df44ec026565d169cbffe1c2a0b4ffb_S.jpg)
What is left when honour is lost? —Publilius Syrus
WHEN negative things continue to happen one after the other, be careful! The signs are ominous! A Yoruba first-class Oba was caught on camera, in broad daylight, stooping or cringing before the Emir of Ilorin of all persons! Recall the history of how the Fulani usurped Ilorin from the Yoruba and the Emir in question is a descendant of the usurpers, still holding tightly to their prize – though the Yoruba have neither forgotten nor forgiven, and history, being a very long rope with bends and knots, will revisit the treachery of both Afonja and Alimi at some point down the road. The excuse given by the Yoruba Oba in question was jejune, to say the least. “Jejune” is a term I first learnt from Femi Falana, SAN during our days at Great Ife. Another one was “lacuna”. Comrade FF, as we fondly call him, was fond of using those words in those days, just like my friend, Prof. Tope Ogunbodede, immediate past VC of OAU, once alerted me that I, too, was fond of using the word “shenanigans”, and I have since consciously moved away from it! But I digress!
Kabiyesi must be told in plain language that he defecated on his own throne and desecrated the Yoruba traditional institution. In the traditional Yoruba setting of yore, he would have had no choice but to do the needful for, as the saying of our people goes, death is preferred to shame and disgrace. When you disgrace not only yourself but the traditional institution that you represent, what is left? For, as Publilius Syrus quoted above opines, nothing is left when honour is lost. If Kabiyesi failed to realise what to do, the Kingmakers of that era would ask him to open the calabash (a euphemism for him to quickly join his ancestors). But just like Professor Okot p’Bitek argued in his Songs of Lawino and Songs of Ochol, the Yoruba traditional institution, like many other African traditions and culture, has since fallen on bad times. Birds no longer chirp as birds… That is Number one.
Number Two: At first, I didn’t know what they were complaining about; I mean about Ayinde Wasiu aka KWAM 1. I am not a lover of Fuji. The only song or outing of his that ever fascinated me was where he appealed to people eager to take to the dance floor at an occasion: Ijo maa kan yin/Nwon o ti pe yin/Nwon maa pe yin/Ijo o ti kan yin. Quite poetic! Therefore, I wasn’t keen on finding out what was the matter with the musician – until I stumbled on the ko-ko of the matter, as they say! The musician was on the phone to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who had called to commiserate with Wasiu on the death of his mother, and, suddenly, the musician began to record and put the president on the speaker for everyone to hear the president’s trademark voice. Wasiu gallivanted about the room, with a few other fellows there watching and listening. As if that was not bad enough, the episode became public consumption. Try that with some presidents, like Idi Amin Dada of Uganda, and see whether the culprit will not bake his eba on earth but travel to heaven to collect the ila a-se-po to eat it with!
In olden times, that was how it was even here! I will tell you a story. A very powerful chief in my town of Owo in Ondo State married a new wife and being his aghayo (the preferred), he insisted that she would be the one to help him scrub his back every morning as he had his bath. One fateful day, only the devil knew what entered into this woman as she performed her wife-ly duty; she said: En-hen; are you more than this? See how skinny you are! Yet, the whole community shivers at the mere mention of your name!” The chief responded: Don’t mind them! I am not more than this o!” As soon as he left the bathroom, he sent his men to go and bring him the heads of both the father and mother of the errant wife – which was promptly done. He then called the wife and said to her, “Because I enjoyed the way you helped me scrub my back a while ago, I decided to give you a special present” And he handed the grinning and thankful wife a covered calabash. She hurried into her room, with the other jealous wives in tow, to savor the special gift from Kabiyesi. When she opened the calabash, lo and behold, the heads of Daddy and Mummy stared at her. Back in the presence of Kabiyesi, he told her: Just a sample of how powerful this skinny little me is!
Hence the saying to this day in Yoruba land: Ori yeye ni m’Ogun, t’aise lo po” or the add-on from the juju musician, Orlando Owoh: Ori yeye ni m’Ogun t’aise yeye. Oh yes, many innocent (but unfortunate) persons end up being sacrificed to the gods. In those days, it was usually the guilty, prisoners of war, strangers who strayed into town on forbidden days, and criminals that get sacrificed to appease the gods. It is not for fun that our people say Eni ba f’oju d’Oba, awowo a wo! He who disrespects an Oba will be grinded in the dust! Or “Eni ba f’oju ana w’oku, ebora a bo l’aso. Once a person changes mortality for immortality, he is no longer the ordinary person you used to play around with. Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu that Wasiu used to know and play around with is no longer the same as Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. If he commands you to miss now, you will miss – except by God’s grace. What will happen thereafter is what I cannot say!
Number Three: When I heard that the Ooni of Ife led a team of illustrious Yoruba elders to Aare Afe Babalola to get the legal luminary to discontinue his legal action against Dele Farotimi over his book that the Aare said defamed him, and the Aare reportedly stepped down on the matter, I heaved a sigh of relief. It would have been disastrous had the Aare said ‘No”. Who then shall we send? Who will go for us (Isaiah 6: 8). That would have been a sad day for the Yoruba nation. Thank God, the Aare realised that what was at stake was far heavier than defamation or his prestige or the truculence of Farotimi and those edging him on, many of them non-Yoruba who saw in this another opportunity to continue their destroy-them mission against the Yoruba. I, therefore, reckoned that this larger picture motivated the Ooni to embark on the peace, nay, face-saving mission. Imagine the Aare and Farotimi tugging at each other in the witness box; like it happened decades back between Chief Gani Fawehinmi and Chief Rotimi Williams! Things were even better then because the Yoruba were not in the eye of the storm then – but now, they are.
I expected one of two responses from Farotimi: appreciation or disdain. When it turned out to be disdain, I was not surprised. Some people must have been disappointed by the turn of events. The Yoruba’s masquerades will no longer dance naked in the village square! Before then, however, politicians have made a quick profit from it; one such being the appointment of the same Farotimi as the Organising Secretary of a faction of Afenifere (the one in the corner of Labour Party’s Peter Obi). Another Afenifere faction quickly responded by saying that they were the authentic Afenifere. And my mind went straight to Professor PLO Lumumba when he said: In an argument between two dwarfs, what sense does it make for one dwarf to say he is taller than the other, seeing that, in any case, both of them still remain dwarfs?
Number Four: Afenifere’s problem is not about who is authentic or not but of what relevance, today, is the once flaming Yoruba leadership organisation in the affairs of the Yoruba? Sadly, neither of the factions has come to this realization. Human organizations, empires, and kingdoms rise and fall. They get to their apogee (greatest height possible) and stagnate for a while for a variety of reasons before beginning to wane, deteriorate, regress and eventually collapse, giving way to others to take its place. “His place let another take” (Psalm 109:8, Acts 1:20). Where are the erstwhile empires that ruled the world? Why is Donald Trump insistent on Make America Great Again? It is because America, having got to the pinnacle of its power, like the empires and great powers before it, has, in the recent past, been on its way down. Others are already on their way up the ladder to catch up with it, oust and eventually replace it. Such is the natural order of things. Afenifere, too, is on its way out! This truth may be bitter. And the reason is simple: Changing situations and circumstances, which the Afenifere leaders were not quick to take into cognizance. They acted too little, too late. They operated a closed-shop system like the Guilds of old; it worked when information could still be warehoused but not any more in this Digital Age and with this Gen Z generation. And they should have known that! The Yoruba themselves say the god that the elders worship, but which the children are not introduced to early, will soon expire. Afenifere has served its purpose. The older generations have paid their due and deserve a 21-gun salute. Now is the time for them to understand that Afenifere, having surpassed its apogee, is far past its usefulness. Struggling to still insist on its relevance in present circumstances is like flogging a dead horse. What will take the place of Afenifere is what we should all be concerned with – and not the contest between two dwarfs!
Number Five: After all efforts to worm his way back into the Tinubu fold fell flat on its face, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola took the plunge, bit the bullet and pulled his “Omoluabi” political group out of the ruling APC in Osun state. Some have questioned the appropriateness of the “Omoluabi” tag adopted by Aregbe and his group – but that is a topic for another day. Where are they heading – PDP? They are yet to categorically declare. So we keep our fingers crossed. But we cannot but link this issue with the rumblings in Lagos over the speakership of the House of Assembly, where the erstwhile speaker was booted out of office. What surprised many was Obasa’s audacity to make a stand and fight back. Many had thought he would be picked up by the EFCC and that would be it. But the politics of it is more complicated than many could fathom. Aregbesola used to fix Alimoso, one of the largest local governments bringing in the votes for the Tinubu political machine. Though he has fallen out of favour, Aregbe still has his die-hard loyalists in Alimosho. Note that the unimaginable happened and Tinubu lost that local government in the 2023 presidential election. Obasa is the new fixer in Alimosho and Agege. Party strategists reckon that the “coup” that eased Obasa out should have been left till after the 2027 elections. Such are the ways of politics!
LAST WORDS: The three-pronged attack seeking to unhing the southwest before 2027, if care is not taken, are religion; the influx of bandits and terrorists; and cultism-related activities and violence. To unseat the sitting president in 2027, his opponents must first make his home base the theatre of war, setting brother against brother, and sister against sister! The spade work has started!
![[OPINION] Why would Fr. Maximus be so unfair to me? - Valentine Obienyem](/media/k2/items/cache/3b6f367a31f95d629e6948a85f73e39c_S.jpg)
On our way to church, my wife asked if I planned to write anything after the Mass. I replied no, mentioning that I had written enough about the Church in the past week and needed a little break. Psychologically, if people constantly hear from one perspective, it might create unintended biases. However, she encouraged me to keep writing, especially to address those who aim for a knockout blow to Catholic Church; the reckless fringe determined to see its utter destruction.
During the sermon, Fr. Maximus Okonkwo was in his element. But how could this be perceived as being unfair to me? We shall revisit that later. As he began, I realized that starting well does not always mean ending well, but he managed to do both beautifully.
He introduced the Third Sunday of Ordinary Time as the Sunday of the Word of God, explaining its origin: “The Sunday of the Word of God, observed annually on the third Sunday of Ordinary Time, was established by Pope Francis in 2019 through the Apostolic Letter “Aperuit Illis”. The Pope purposely established that in 2019 during the 1600th anniversary of St. Jerome’s death. Jerome, who died in 420 AD, translated the Bible into Latin known as the Vulgate. The Church thereby wants to emphasize the importance of Scripture and the legacy of St. Jerome, his role in promoting the Word of God. It influenced the King James Version, translated 1,206 years after the Vulgate. I state this for some reasons. This day is devoted to honouring, reflecting on, and emphasizing the significance of Sacred Scripture in the lives of the Church and its faithful. He related this to 2008, when Pope Benedict XIV urged Catholics to renew their devotion to the Scriptures and integrate them more deeply into their lives.
Fr. Maximus skillfully connected this celebration to the readings of the day. He described the first reading, Nehemiah 8:2-10, as a moment when the Israelites, recently returned from exile, experienced a spiritual revival. They had suffered a decline in faith and neglect of God’s Word during their exile. This passage served as a reminder of the consequences of abandoning God’s Word and the blessings of rediscovering it. Fr. Maximus urged us to consistently read, meditate on, and apply Scripture to our lives, in order to cultivate a deeper relationship with God.
In the Gospel reading, Luke 1:1-21, we see Jesus in a synagogue in Nazareth, reading from the book of Isaiah. Fr. Maximus delved into the historical and religious context, explaining the distinction between temples and synagogues in ancient Israel. The temple only in Jerusalem was reserved for sacrificial worship, pilgrimage and festivals like Passover, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles. Synagogues, scattered throughout Israel, were centres for prayer, Torah study, and teaching, but sacrifices were not performed there. To bring the message home, he correlated the Temple to the Cathedral in the diocese and the synagogues to other parishes scattered around the diocese. Fr. Maximus emphasized that Jesus’ act of reading from Scripture is a powerful reminder that engaging with God’s Word is central to our lives as Christians, especially as Catholics.
Fr. Maximus explained that Luke’s Gospel was addressed to Theophilus, a name that could be interpreted in three ways. However, he leaned toward the symbolic interpretation: “Theophilus represents all lovers of God who seek to know the truth about Christ.” He linked this idea to the Sunday of the Word of God, reminding us that we, too, can discover and know God through Scripture.
Fr. Maximus skillfully referenced other parts of Scripture to underscore the significance of the Word of God. He cited 1 Peter 1:24-25: “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the Word of the Lord abides forever” highlighting the temporary nature of worldly things compared to the eternal reliability of God’s Word. He also referenced John 1:1: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God”, using this verse to affirm the importance of venerating Scripture as the presence of God in another form. He warned us against treating the Bible as ordinary literature. Referencing Hebrews 4:12, he described the Word of God as a “two-edged sword,” living and active, able to discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
Fr. Maximus emphasized that Scripture was divinely inspired, as stated in 2 Peter 1:21: “Men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” He also cited 2 Timothy 3:16-17, which declares that all Scripture is profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness. Scripture equips believers to atone their lives with God’s will. He pointed to the sanctuary to illustrate the central place of God’s Word in the Church’s life, explaining the two tables of the sanctuary: the table of the Eucharist and the table of the Word (the pulpit). He also referenced the story of the disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35). He said the apostles, after Jesus had explained the Scriptures to them, said: “Mane Nobiscum, Domine” (stay with us, Lord). The joy of the Gospel made them long for Christ not to leave them, and Christ indeed stayed with them to the point of breaking the bread, whereupon they recognized Him. For Fr. Maximus, reading the Bible will make us long for Christ, and He will surely want to stay with us.
Fr. Maximus left us with these key lessons from the Sunday of the Word of God. The Word of God is central to the life of every Christian and must be read, meditated upon, and applied in daily living. Scripture is living, active, and transformative, capable of guiding believers toward righteousness. Engaging with the Bible helps us rediscover our faith, much like the Israelites in Nehemiah’s time. The use of Scripture to tackle heresies and refute errors also came to mind, as I remembered how Fr. Chineye Oluma used the Bible to teach the ignorant Damina about the real presence.
The sermon of today reminded us of so many things. Reading the Bible and spiritual books are good in Christian life. It was actually Luis de la Palma’s book, “The Life of Christ,” that helped in the spiritual transformation of St. Ignatius of Loyola. In his “Confessions,” St. Augustine of Hippo talked about how his conversion is linked to Romans 13:13-14. Before then, he embraced philosophy after reading Cicero’s “Hortensius.” St. Francis of Assisi had a profound conversion experience after hearing a sermon on Matthew 10:9-10. St. Teresa of Avila experienced conversion after reading the Bible and the works of Church fathers, especially St. Augustine.
Reflecting on the words of God reminds us that the Bible, as it exists today, is largely the work of inspired Catholic theologians. They endured numerous challenges to preserve the purity of the canon, including opposition from figures like Marcion of Sinope. Marcion’s heretical views threatened the integrity of the Christian Scriptures, prompting the Church to define and defend the canon more clearly.
Yet, despite the Church’s efforts to safeguard the Scriptures, some individuals continue to use the very Bible that the Church preserved to criticize and attack it. This paradox highlights the Church’s resilience and dedication to truth, even when faced with such unfairness.
Amidst all this, the question arises: would Fr. Maximus have delivered such a quality sermon had he not been thoroughly prepared? Hopefully, other churches have ensured that their congregations fully understand the significance of the Sunday of the Word of God. When the congregation is well-fed by the Word, their faith is strengthened to withstand many challenges posed by individuals like Damina and even my friend Mr. Ugo who seek to lead others astray.
As we near the end, remember I said I was determined not to write today. However, Fr. Maximus's compelling sermon changed my perspective, forcing me to write, which I see as fr. being unfair to me.
![[OPINION] The gang-up against first wives - Funke Egbemode](/media/k2/items/cache/5df44cdec55056301acf18658b849232_S.jpg)
It all started with Kunle pretending to be thinking aloud.
"I wish we can all go back to the Garden of Eden."
1 was shocked. Though we call him Apostle but he is certainly not one of those Jesus Christ left to spread the gospel. And he hadn't had any major drink that morning, at least nothing stronger than a can of energy drink. So, where did the 'inspiration' come trom?
"Why would you of all people want to go back to the Garden of Eden, assuming it is possible to turn back the hands of the clock?”
Kunle had a wicked glint in his eyes and I needed no psychologist to tell me his thoughts were absolutely unholy. He proved me right.
"So we can all go about naked again."
He was leering and smacking his lips as if his naughty wish had already been granted. Walk about naked indeed! I told him to add the moon to his wish list while he was at it.
Somehow, the discussion drifted towards first wives. Most of my colleagues are married men and they all have all kinds of crazy ideas. For instance, Shola did not see why women are always fretting over their husbands' extra-marital affairs.
"There is no big deal about one little girl outside. I don't understand why you women won't let us be. Having a girlfriend does not translate to not loving one's wife any more. It's just a short-term refresher course. And anyway, why should a wife who has served faithfully and meritoriously not be retired? With full benefits too? I mean, if you have been married to the same woman for 25 or 30 years, she should offer to retire. It is only fair that she should be rewarded."
Kunle thinks all first wives deserve long service awards
"Long service award is standard practice and all good husbands should give it to their long suf-fering wives." That was Lanre. He knows all about standard best practice. He is the craziest and most creative man I have met yet. If movie producers know what his mind is capable of, they will abduct forever.
"We all know international labour laws frowns at casualisation and once you have employed a woman for 20 years, you can retire her with full benefits. The job is a pensionable one." Lanre has all kinds of tricky plots on his fertile mind.
Steve believes he is the only fair one, why retire a first wife when you can promote her?
"We should be able to have senior wife and senior senior wife. That would create a vacancy for a young wife. Just like you have junior clerks
and senior clerks in the ministries.” You see, Steve's logic has nothing to do with fairness and everything to do with installing a second wife.There
was also talk of sending a first
wife on vacation after working so hard. I love that part and I told them so. But they were pre-pared. Yes, a first wife can go on vacation but it has to be in her village with her parents. Can you beat that selfish angle? Why can't a woman choose where she wants to spend her holidays? Why does it have to be in her village and not in South of France or Barbados with a friend of her choice? My friends almost had a group cardiac arrest.
"What friend?" They all chorused.
See? They want to move on to the next girl while still holding on to the old one. Why must they get suspicious of the friend madam is spending her vacation with? Are they not retiring the first wife because she's old and spent? Why not leave her to enjoy her retirement and pension? Greedy old selfish blokes still want to supervise someone in retirement. Is that standard practice? You have no jurisdiction, no right over how a retired worker lives after she has taken her long service award. And anyway, where did men get this idea that it is their exclusive preserve to try new dishes? Wives also get bored with eating the same meal every day for two decades, you know. It won't hurt if a first wife also tries rice or eba after a 'lifetime' of only 'fufu'. Is someone aiming a slap at my face? Truth is bitter.
Selfish husbands don’t think we deserve to relax, it’s absolutely undemocratic to deny women what men are enjoying.
First wives are long suffering creatures, believe me. Most of the hanky panky husbands play are absorbed by them. They shrug off so many things that would put any man in a designer casket. Yet, they think wives know nothing. If only they know how much of their secrets is topic of girls' roundtable, they will be shocked to their bone marrows.But because smart housewives don't throw tantrums over every issue, husbands actually think their wives are deaf and dumb. Let them live on in their blissful igno rance.
We are more worried about the grand plot , the grand conspiracy against first wives. Maybe you have not noticed until now but the gang-up is real. They want to retire us or promote us into irrelevance. We are game if they are because it is a game two can play. They should just let us use the same set of rules. If it is okay to try variety, let all parties feel the spice. If first wives must go on vacation, let them decide where they want to go and who they want to go with. If they must retire first wives, let them leave them to enjoy their pension. That is standard practice. Abi?
![[OPINION] Politicians and Media Awards: A study in vanity - Ugoji Egbujo](/media/k2/items/cache/782c5317d68bb0011b0b598677cbe1d6_S.jpg)
The Media Awards are not altogether useless. A cinematic caricature of a country that has integrated clowning into the core of its political culture. They are trash, but they tell a bit of our story. I have been to a few of them. The expensive venues are part of the hype. An intricate ritual in overflowing self-deceit.
The politicians come in Christmas clothes with friends and family. All seemingly ignorant of the irony of the sham. Squirrels are being celebrated as lions. Because all of them get it, it should be worth nothing. And most times, in those halls, behind the first rows, where the TV cameras feast, the ceremony is disorderly and aloof
The Media Awards tell a pathetic national story. The watchdogs’ insidious metamorphosis into lapdogs. All crooked politicians in the country have tens of these supposedly prestigious awards. Every emerging dumb politician who has the capacity to rig elections or use the judiciary will win as many of these awards as he wants. He will be honoured by the noblest of media houses, by those entrusted by the public to dig deep, name, and shame him. This naked bastardisation should make the awards repulsive to everyone. Yet every year, the media houses will manufacture new awards for old and new corrupt and indolent politicians. The same old politicians who have run and ruined the country
The cunning politicians know the elaborate choreography is dubious. After all, everyone knows unearned praise. Even children are often not fooled by unclothed flattery. But the politicians also know that the masses are credulous and impressionable. So, the politicians don’t mind the shady validation from some of these ambivalent and unscrupulous media houses. Some media houses sell their awards. Some use them as libation poured to the gods. By these counterfeit awards, the politicians procure the wool to hoodwink the naive electorate. A paint to whitewash the sepulchre. Politics is dirty, and in Nigeria, some media houses and banks are the principal laundrymen
The other day, a minister was named the Best Minister at one of these awards. Even if all governors and ministers perform abysmally, one must be selected to be honoured. Sometimes, a multiplicity of award categories is created to accommodate all interested ministers and governors. This minister came first for borrowing loads of money to build a few roads in a territory that has many wretched public schools and no functional public transport system. He filled the podium with his family and friends.
There, he said that he would have deemed the award panel dishonest and petty if he had not been chosen. That was how much respect the supercilious man showed for his cabinet colleagues in public. It had to be him. He won the award despite widespread allegations of casual land grabbing, allegations of highhandedness in dealing with poor masses, and allegations of attempting to capture and transform his state into a personal empire.
Many say the promiscuity of straddling two parties can be forgiven. But this minister’s uncouth utterances, alleged ordination of instability in his state and orchestration of crises in one of the national parties make him an unworthy candidate for any award that measures morality. A respected newspaper house ought to engage in some investigative journalism, look below the surface and reach profound moral conclusions in order to promote probity, decency and decent politics and governance. But this is Nigeria.
Every day, media houses rue lousy governance. Every day, media houses manufacture awards to launder the very filthy and greedy politicians who have set the country on the path of near inexorable economic and moral collapse. Every year, the media houses arrange laughable ceremonies to wash politicians, abetting and perpetuating the embezzlement of public treasury, election rigging and political decadence indirectly.
Does the Nigerian media suffer from a compulsive obsession to give out awards? Every day in the print and electronic media, it’s all stories of institutional rot and moral destitution in public office. Every arm of government, from the local councils to the federal government, is implicated. The enormity of misgovernance and its calamitous impact on the citizenry are captured fairly sufficiently by the media in daily reportage. So why don’t these media houses allow their daily reporting to affect their obscene determination to glorify these politicians at these award ceremonies? The dissonance is curious.
But that’s the national story. Charlatanism and opportunism rule. Media houses are now endangered. They see all the filth up close. Media houses thrive in publishing them. But they need to survive. So when done of them repudiate professional ethics and relegate commonsense to dwell in putting lipstick on pigs, they should be pitied. It’s a tragedy. Even politicians who have become so inept that the grossness of their misconduct no longer shocks the public. Even people whose scandals are now so mundane they are not worthy of public opprobrium. Even politicians whose routine atrocities now feed the streets with humour rather than disgust. They all get these awards. Who can save this country? Some say only one or two media houses have integrity. Who is sure?
MO Ibrahim has a five-million-dollar prize for exemplary leadership in Africa. No Nigerian leader has ever won it since it was instituted in 2007. Do you know why? The award is not cheap. Not because a Nigerian politician cannot buy the five million dollar prize with fifty million dollars. Nigerian politicians have the requisite lust. However, the organisers have a superior moral objective. They are not going to gift a crooked or mediocre politician honour and five million dollars.
They are not pouring any libations to any gods. They have nothing to expect in return. They are not in any childish rivalry with anyone. They don’t need anyone to sustain them with advert placements. The association with any politician cannot enhance them. They cannot be intimidated or emasculated by any vindictive politician. These are the differences. When the Ibrahim Award organisers don’t find a suitable candidate, they wait till the following year. They haven’t handed out an award since 2020.
In Nigeria, awards are sometimes Hawked. Some media houses call up government officials to sound them out. Like a man buying a fake Rolex watch in a traffic jam in Lagos, the procuring politician probably knows the media house is a hungry Esau. But he buys it directly or indirectly. A counterfeit Rolex like cheap award is ordinarily useless. The buyer isn’t interested in its ability to keep it. But if the buyer of the Rolex watch has impressionable people in his neighbourhood, he might win their adulation before sweat washes away the shininess. The minister who won the recent award said the masses were happy he won the big prize.
Who will save this country?
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![[OPINION] Juan Sell: A long goodbye to Spain’s matchless ambassador - Owei Lakemfa](/media/k2/items/cache/73ef9503b193fd809f62a8a52957b80b_XS.jpg)
The unforgettable Clara Margarita Pulido-Escandell, the then Cuban Ambassador to Nigeria, on Friday June 10, 2022 held a welcome lunch for the new Mexican Ambassador Alfredo Miranda. It was not surprising for she was like a mother hen watching over fellow ambassadors.
At the occasion, I had an animated discussion with Pulido’s Deputy, Pavel Bauza and another diplomat. Later, it occurred to me I had not asked who this diplomat was. I turned to Pavel, and he said that was the Spanish Ambassador. I was a bit surprised because our discussions which covered a number of contemporary international issues had been quite frank and we had agreed on most issues. I had not expected that the ambassador of a leading Western country could be so open and, in my opinion, fair minded. He had not tried to put up excuses, but rather, seemed interested in a fair and equitable world where humans could live in peace. I later learnt his name, Juan Ignacio Sell Sanz. At that time I was running a weekly radio programme called “Diplomatic Hour with Owei Lakemfa” on Citizen FM, Abuja. I thought he would be a perfect guest at the programme. I turned to Pulido who assured me that Sell was an easy-going diplomat who was not only clear-headed, but always ready to assist people.
He was like most ambassadors, widely travelled and had served in power houses like the United States and Russia, was Chief of Staff to three Spanish Foreign Ministers and, had been ambassador to South Africa with concurrent accreditation to Madagascar, Mauritius, Lesotho and Comoros before being appointed ambassador to Nigeria. In Nigeria, he had concurrent accreditation to Benin Republic and ECOWAS. However, I was more interested in my audience understanding the totality of his country and its place in world history. I wanted us to discuss Spain which along with Portugal, were the first global super powers. Spain, the home of Real Madrid, Athletico Madrid and Barcelona. Spain, the centre of festivals (La Fiesta) and home of bullfights. Spain which arrived in the United States before the WASP pilgrims. Spain that gave humanity Pablo Picaso and the first modern novel, ‘Don Quixote’
On July 29, 2022, I was able to get Sell into the studio for a live interview. I told him he was at liberty to decide which questions to answer and which to ignore. But things did not quite work out that way, as there were things he seemed reluctant to talk about but which I pressed. He argued that globalisation must work for all humans. Many parts of the world including Nigeria and Spain, he said, are blessed with diversity and that diversity should be looked at through positive eyes. Sell acknowledged that Spain was ruled for over seven hundred years by Muslims and that it was a history of cultural brilliance. Part of that inheritance, he said, is that over a thousand words in Spanish are of Arabic origins. On the 1936-39 Spanish Civil War that was a dress rehearsal for the Second World War, Sell said: “There is nothing as cruel as a civil war, nothing. Families fighting their own people…”
The ambassador said although Spain is a giant in football but that football is a leveller in which lesser teams can beat the big power houses and, that anyone can dream of becoming a Lionel Messi. On migration, he explained why the borders of Morocco and Spanish territories record high incidences of what is called illegal migration. Sell said both countries are in the middle of two continents with income disparity as high as 10-1. He said migration is a natural phenomenon that would always occur but that there is the need to fight illegal migration especially the mafia that he says, plays with the life of people for profit. He however submitted that broad issues like legal migration, integration, addressing the root causes of migration and, always respecting the rights of migrants, must be addressed. It was a relaxed interview and, from the reactions of the audience, it was well received. After the interview, he said I was one of the toughest journalists he had ever encountered. I replied that it was a testimonial he should put in writing and I will hang it on my wall. That was the beginning of our friendship.
For the next two and half years, we bonded so much that we communicated often and he made it known to his staff that we were friends. He read my columns regularly and sometimes when we meet, he would he say he may not agree with my views, but that they are well informed and sincere. On April 25, 2024 at the ‘Day of Spanish Language’ he introduced me to an ambassador in what I considered superlative terms. The ambassador became quite curious, so I told him that Sell introduced me that way because, we are friends. Sell replied: “No Owei, we are not friends, we are cousins!” Indeed, he looked out for me. One day at a reception in an embassy, I had not seen him come in. I was sipping some soft drink. He tapped my shoulder from the back and said: “Cousin, what are you doing? You are taking soda. Sugar is not good for you. We need you alive and well!”
On my birthday in 2024, I had an appointment at the Spanish Embassy. I was with my wife. As soon as I opened the door to the reception, Sell emerged singing the ‘Happy Birthday’ song. I was stunned and, it was some spectacle for his staff and security personnel. I asked: “Cousin, how did you know today is my birthday?” He smiled and said when my wife and I finished our business at the embassy, we should come to his office for a birthday breakfast. The turnout at his events were always large as he was seen by many as a bridge between European Ambassadors, other diplomats and highly placed Nigerians. It was no different on Thursday, January 23, 2025 when a farewell reception was held for him at his official residence. Guests included former United Nations super envoy and ex-Foreign Minister, Professor Ibrahim Gambari, His Eminence, John Cardinal Onaiyekan, CON, Archbishop Emeritus of Abuja, Former Information Minister, Alhaji Lai Mohammed and, Commandant, National Defence College, Rear Admiral Olumuyiwa Morakinyo Olotu.
Two days later, at an informal gathering, I watched him play a scrabble-like game with three other ambassadors.
One of the latter appeared to be winning, so I went over to poke fun at Sell. I asked: “Cousin, who is winning?” He replied: “We are winning.” Indeed, with ambassadors like Juan Ignacio Sell Sanz, collectively, humanity cannot but win.
![[OPINION] A Letter to Mallam El Rufai - Ugoji Egbujo](/media/k2/items/cache/1a70353e47331556a047f58eb67aa318_XS.jpg)
Mallam, the stormy petrel. Your political opponents always mischaracterise you. They think you are an integrity-challenged diminutive charlatan. They say you are a cunning opportunist who is so unscrupulous you can misuse religion for personal political gains while mouthing ‘global best practices’. Perhaps a venomous chameleon.
But despite your warts and gaffes and their enthusiastic animosity, I think you possess an intelligence that can be used positively for national planning. The only challenge, Mallam, is whether you can find sufficient selflessness to assume true and circumspect statesmanship. To live what you preach and have an underbelly that the public can scrutinise day and night.
Mallam, many admire you. And that love is not accidental like your sojourn in the civil service. You have a meticulous brain. You are bold. You were ruthless in sanitising Abuja. You didn’t allow it to become Lekki. You once came to Lagos and spoke truth to power and warned us about godfatherism as Wike did. You didn’t seem envious of Tinubu’s political dynasty. You said godfatherism and the concomitant erosion of internal party democracy were ruinous.
You spoke out loud. But those who call you a slimy hypocrite point out that once you got the opportunity in Kaduna, you tried to install your own brand of righteous godfatherism. To all, you come across as a serious man. But sometimes, you act in ways that make people call you a blooming Pharisee. I don’t like people throwing these innuendos, suggesting that you are short in many aspects: integrity, temper, humility, etc
Shehu Sani was your senator. Once he started demanding accountability, he became your enemy. You literally retired him from politics. Many think you are intelligent but intolerant and vindictive. Your critics are many. They say you are a religious bigot who abdicated leadership, took sides, and worsened the ethnic conflict in Kaduna. I don’t believe them. Perhaps they have not forgotten the Mary Magdalene joke. Others now say when you tried to pull down Tinubu out of envy and failing, you shamelessly joined him.
They say Tinubu saw through your manipulative obsequiousness, which was why he teased you with a ministerial appointment before shamelessly messing you up. They say it was you, a religious chauvinist, who even taught Tinubu Muslim-Muslim pairing to upset a settled convention. They say they are happy that karma, the lousy bitch, has settled on you, using your godson to portray you as a gluttonous clown while the other man enjoys his Lagos like a lollipop.
Mallam, I don’t know if I should tell you this. I know you kneel for elder statesmen as a mark of respect. But your opponents say it’s fake self-serving humility contrived to fool these men whose political blessings you crave and the public. These fault finders are a menace. They say you grovel and bootlick to service your ambition, but you don’t kneel to speak to other poor old folks like your party chairman, Ganduje.
Mallam, seriously, how did you choose that Uba Sani? Please don’t tell me a Governor’s Advisory Committee did. You are more honest than that. The other Sani might have been uncontrollable, but seeing how he prostrates before Tinubu and writes deodorising poetry for him, he might have been better than Uba. How could you, with your foresight, not have foreseen what we are seeing? I hope you didn’t treat him contemptuously as Wike did to Fubara, whom he treated worse than a houseboy. I hope your arrogance didn’t impinge on his scrotum.
He has left your reputation in tatters. The House of Assembly had the temerity to probe the loans you collected. You know, our people say any finger that goes into the anus must find shit. However, remain courageous. God will not allow them to shame you. But how could a brilliant man like you commit such a cheap mistake? Or were you misled by marabouts? Look at ordinary Yahaya Bello. How couldn’t you find your own Ododo?
This Uba Sani man was the same man for whom you deviated from civility and mobilised some clerics to help use religion to win the elections after it was declared inconclusive, not so? How ungrateful. You literally messed in your pants while pushing this man across the finish line in an election many believe the PDP indeed won. You soiled your integrity for him. You lost some claim to sanctimoniousness, too. Mallam, how couldn’t you find a simple Ododo? Anyway, no shaking. Let the EFCC and ICPC do their worst. Fortunately, they no longer have any balls.
Mallam, you stole the show at that conference. You rattled Tinubu and the federal government big time. You hit the nail on the head. And you didn’t even mention how the president is yorubanizing the country. I know you are keeping that for later. You will tell your people how they voted for him and how he has pushed the North aside and fixed the Yoruba in all critical positions. Shettima can’t dare defend that. I know you will come to that one day and scatter the shaky Emilokan table.
I like how you reminded them that the APC you helped found has forgotten that it came to Change the country and kill corruption. In your words, the party has lost its soul and become unrecognisable. And that’s the hard truth. The APC came to the Nigerian street like a preacher but it’s now running a bar and brothel at one end of the street. It’s absolutely unrecognisable. Now, it casually frolics with corruption, and its government boldly awards multi-trillion naira contracts without due process.
But Mallam, the reason many neutrals no longer take you as seriously as they used to do is that you saw the castration of the EFCC under Buhari. And you didn’t say a thing. You saw bandits overrun the country with Buhari as commander-in-chief. You saw them. You might not have seen the coming of Tinubu but you did adjust your position swiftly to benefit from him. Then, you went to court to fight the currency thing. Before then, you were at Chatham House.
You saw the elections and justified all the shenanigans. You were there at the 2023 ministerial confirmation hearing, feeling blessed and oblivious to the ambush. Mallam, many neutrals think your earnestness at the recent conference was contrived. If Tinubu and company hadn’t deemed you a security threat, you would have been in this bloated cabinet, which you now think is filled with junk. But I like that you didn’t storm out of the country to pursue the PhD. The opposition needs who can bark and bite. The opposition needs sanctimonious people who can pretend to be righteous. The opposition needs people who can match the wiles of religious fundamentalists of all hues.
It’s good you spoke about the destruction of the opposition parties. You didn’t mince words. This disingenuous method of planting moles to undermine multi-party democracy didn’t start today. It has put many African democracies in a coma. It’s good you pointed out that it could lead to mass apathy. You gave them the figures. It’s not important whether you did it because you want to use this new coalition to return to political relevance. The selfish motives are not important. They already know you are a cunning man. The important thing is that the country needs a new virile opposition party. The existing opposition parties have been infected. A broad electable platform that can steer the country towards rectitude is badly needed
To that extent, you and your Compatriots must seek repentance publicly. You might not name and number your sins and their consequences publicly. But you all must do it privately and collectively. After that, you must collectively declare a departure from the old ways. This country requires a new political culture, not a new set of selfish and Prebendal leaders. As you stood for power shift to the south, you must insist that your group chooses the most inspiring and electable leader. The country needs transformative leadership. The reformed opposition’s new leader must lead by personal examples and with an eye for big ideas.
Mallam El Rufai, some have said Tinubu might offer you a juicy carrot. Others have said you are so arrogant you can’t appreciate your shortcomings. The coming months will tell. Many believe you are one of the smart few. Time will tell if you are now jockeying for yourself or your country.
![[OPINION] The national values charter: A new Nigeria begins with me - Fredrick Nwabufo](/media/k2/items/cache/ab8a639e203e42a103f94639334671a0_XS.jpg)
What is a new Nigeria? What should it connote? And how can the old become new? The thought-picker, new Nigeria, may come off as a philosophical trope as it has been noised threadbare over time. But beyond the philosophism of the motif; there is a reality, a possibility, and a need for us all as Nigerians to steer our nation to a new and better place, not necessarily an eldorado, but a place where tribes and tongues differ, but unity, peace, harmony, discipline, and strong values endure. This is the nation President Bola Tinubu is mobilising diverse consciences to build.
By my estimation, a new Nigeria is a nation where tongues do not divide, but unite; where faith does not poison the cauldron, but heals the broken and gives hope to the weak; where leaders are accountable to the people and followers live up to their civic responsibilities, and where old cherished values of respect for elders and national symbols, of hard work, discipline, honesty, modesty, and good neighbourliness live supreme in the national consciousness.
A new Nigeria begins with me. It begins with you.
In one of my treatises years ago titled, ‘We need the Nigerian dream and identity’, I philosophised the whys and wherefores of the Nigerian identity. I suggested surrendering to the Nigerian identity, which does not imply abandoning our roots, culture, and traditions but embracing an expansive identity for the survival of our country.
I said: ‘’It means putting the interest of the nation first; it means acting on the philosophy of the monolithic whole as against a group agenda; it means eschewing divisive utterances and actions; it means accenting our strengthens and areas of convergence, rather than promoting discord and points of divergence; it means embracing our common identity as Nigerians. It means being Nigerian.’’
To reprise the treatise, to build the Nigerian identity and dream, there is a place for leadership and a place for followership. Building Nigeria will involve Nigerians from all strata. The place of leadership in nation-building is the place of personal example. Leadership by deed, not just by words. The leadership must inspire hope and confidence. The leadership must gain the trust of sections of the country and work to keep it.
The place of leadership in forging bonds of communality is the place of purpose and deliberateness. The leadership must be deliberate in managing diversity and in fostering kinship among variegated people. Nation-building cannot be left to chance or to a whim. There must be purposive plans and actions towards this end.
The Tinubu administration has been deliberate about reviving our cherished values, protecting our national icons, healing wounds, promoting peace and development, and building a consensus of action on unity.
The deliberateness of the administration in inspiring patriotism and national pride and ensuring peace and development is evident in its many groundbreaking policies, initiatives, and programmes, one of which is the National Values Charter.
The National Values Charter is a set of ideals and principles in the social contract governing the relationship between the leadership and citizens. For the leadership, it includes the promise of equality, democracy, entrepreneurship, peace, inclusivity, freedom, and meritocracy, and for citizens, the ideals/obligations include, discipline, duty of care, tolerance, leadership, accountability, environmental awareness, and resilience.
The social contract is a two-way traffic — one for the leadership, which must do its statutory duties and fulfil its promises, and the other for the citizens who must live up to their civic and natural responsibilities.
The National Values Charter was approved by the Federal Executive Council in October 2024, and President Tinubu is expected to unveil the charter in the first quarter of this year. It is a conscious effort at preserving that which is pristine – our values – and reawakening the true Nigerian in the Nigerian.
A new Nigeria begins with me. It begins with you.
Nwabufo is senior special assistant to the president on public engagement
![[OPINION] Envelope Budgeting System and Its Discontents - Obinna Chima](/media/k2/items/cache/571a06433d078d0cb37005eb64a1b3bd_XS.jpg)
One issue that has continued to resonate since the commencement of the defense of the 2025 federal government’s appropriation bill by Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) is the criticism of the country’s envelope budgeting system.
Almost all heads of MDAs that have appeared before the lawmakers have voiced their opposition to this budgeting system which most of them have described as an opaque system that results in the capping of funds notwithstanding the needs of the MDA.
Interestingly, some National Assembly members also share the same sentiment.
The envelope budgeting system started in Nigeria in 2006 and has not been reviewed since then. It is a system that focuses on the allocation of the amount of money available for a specific purpose in a given financial year. It replaced the Zero-budgeting method which was being used previously.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu last December presented a N49.7 trillion budget proposal for the 2025 fiscal year before a joint session of the National Assembly in Abuja, with defense and security sectors getting the highest allocation of N4.91 trillion. In the proposed fiscal plan, the Defence and Security were closely followed by infrastructure with the sum of N4.06 trillion, while the sum of N2.48 trillion was allocated for the health sector and N3.52 trillion budgeted for the education sector.
According to the President, the 2025 budget proposal again reinforced his administration’s roadmap to secure peace, prosperity, and hope for a greater future for our beloved nation.
Tinubu, in the budget presentation noted that the budget christened, “Budget of Restoration: Securing Peace, Rebuilding Prosperity,” was at the very core of his Renewed Hope Agenda and demonstrated his government’s commitment to stabilising the economy, improving lives, and repositioning the country for greater performance.
A national budget is a key instrument for the execution of the government’s economic policies. It is an important tool for the allocation of resources, as well as for influencing economic activities in the country.
In Nigeria, the budget defense is seen as an annual ritual and a fun-fair whose outcome has little or no impact on the majority of the citizens as poor budget implementation remains one of the major issues that have plagued Nigeria over the years. The country ranks low in terms of budget transparency because it provides its citizens with insufficient budget information making it difficult for taxpayers to understand how public resources are utilised.
In addition, the country’s budget process takes very little feedback from the public, and the final budget document does not reveal how the meagre feedbacks are used. The delays in the release of essential budget documents is also a major challenge with public sector budget in the country.
Some of these defects have been partly attributed to the envelope budgeting system with most MDAs seeking to opt out of the system.
Whereas countries have discarded the envelope method of budgeting in place of the performance-based budgeting system, Nigeria continues to adopt this budget practice.
To the Senate Appropriations Committee, the envelope system undermines effective budget planning and development. They argue that it gives room for duplication and inflation of expenditure heads by MDAs, alleging that it allows public officers to exploit its inadequacies to mismanage public funds which is not good for the economy.
Furthermore, they noted that the current national budgeting system makes the legislature less involved and at best reactive as they have to rely solely on the information provided by the executive arm of government.
Under the current arrangement, federal lawmakers say there is an absence of a coherent and systematic means of exerting legislative control over fiscal decisions and priorities of the federal government.
They also argue that it makes resources allocated to MDAs to be thinly spread over a large number of projects, resulting in the non-performance of successive budgets.
Likewise, some heads of MDAs have equally called for this scrapping of the budgeting system, saying it leads to a reduction of their annual appropriations and impedes operational efficiency.
“For the four months I have been in office, I have been working with the system I met on the ground, which is the envelope system. Even though I don’t like the system, we have been talking to ourselves on how to review the system of budgeting and have done much to improve what I met on the ground.
“We apply the envelope system in all MDAs and I have not seen any agency that is okay with what it is given. The complaint has been the same across. We shouldn’t be seen to be throwing money at projects that have no bearing,” he explained.
Considering the hordes of complaints that have trailed the envelop budgeting system, the federal government needs to consider jettisoning it and adopt the performance-based budgeting system that some of its peers in the region, such as South Africa, Kenya, Uganda and Mozambique have embraced to ensure efficiency in the operation of the national budget.
The performance-based budgeting system is an approach where funding decisions are based on achieving specific, measurable performance goals and outcomes. It links budget allocations to the achievement of predetermined performance targets and sets clear performance indicators for MDAs.
In addition, the performance-based budgeting system holds government officials accountable for the use of public funds and requires them to demonstrate that they are using resources effectively and efficiently to achieve desired results.
It also relates funds allocated to measurable results.
“Performance budgeting aims to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of public expenditure by linking the funding of public sector organisations to the results they deliver. It uses systematic performance information (indicators, evaluations, programme costings etc) to make this link. The impact of performance budgeting may be felt in improved prioritisation of expenditure, and in improved service effectiveness and/or efficiency.
“Performance-based budgeting usually also emphasises giving government agencies and their managers greater flexibility in the use of resources than they would typically have under traditional tightly-controlled public management systems. A key element of this is greater flexibility in the choice of the mix of inputs which are to be used to deliver services,” a report by the Centers for Learning on Evaluation stated.
The increased international interest in performance budgeting has been prompted in part by a recognition that it is all too easy in the government to lose sight of the fundamental objective of delivering positive outcomes to the citizens.
Ultimately, the goal of any budget system should be to serve the public interest. This requires not only efficient allocation of resources but also the assurance that the resources are being used responsibly and effectively. The current debate surrounding the envelope budget system provides an opportunity to re-evaluate our approach and ensure that we are prioritising transparency, shunning budget padding, ensuring accountability, and ultimately, good governance.
The public deserves to know how their money is being spent, and it is our collective responsibility to demand nothing less.