
OTHERS' VIEWS
[OPINION] Senator Jonah Jang: A Legacy Of Leadership, Service And Fidelity - Mike Ozekhome, SAN
AdminPROLOGUE
THE BIRTH OF A WARRIOR
In the quiet hills of Du, in the quiet surburbs of Plateau State, a child was born on the 13th of March, 1944. On this day in 2025,that young boy turned 81.The winds of destiny had blown softly that morning, carrying with them the whispers of unannounced greatness. Little did the world know that this little baby, a retired German, US and Nigerian-trained Air Commodore and former Military Governor of old Benue and Gongola states ( the latter now Adamawa and Tarsba state),Sen Jonah David Jang, CON, would one day carve his name in the annals of Nigerian history. He did so not just as a soldier; not just as a governor; not just as a pilot and Airforce officer; not just as a Senator; but also as a towering figure whose life truly exemplifies the true testament of character, honour, resilience, courage and divine purpose.
From an early age, Jonah Jang was not like other children. There was a spark in his little eyes, a quiet but unmistakable determination that spoke of something greater than the ordinary. He was not one to simply watch life unfold before him.He had a smouldering fire, a hunger, an insatiable desire to make an impact on the society.
Raised in a rural land where tradition met with the harsh realities of modernity and survival, Jang quickly learnt that life was nothing but a battlefield and that only those with an unyielding spirit and unflagging determination could emerge victorious. Jang's faith was his compass; his discipline his armour; and his patriotic zeal his drive. His destiny though not yet revealed by then, was already being woven into the very fabric of his being.
So when the military came calling, Senator Jang like an eagle drawn to the winds, hugged it and fiercely soared. Trained in West Germany, the Nigerian Defence Academy and the United States, Governor Jang was not just another recruit; he was a moving force to be reckoned with. His time in the Nigerian Air Force shaped him into the warrior he was meant to be. Rising through the ranks to Wing Commander, he mastered the skies, not just as a pilot, but as a leader of men and material, a strategist and a man who understood that power was a responsibility and nit just an ornamental privilege.
Senator Jonah Jang
FROM THE MILITARY TO THE POLITICAL FIELD
Fate is hardly ever predictable. Destiny always remains wrapped in the belly of mother nature. Jang did not know he had been born to do more than merely serve in uniform. His mission was not yet complete. The battlefield had shifted from the skies of war and bombs to the slippery battlefield of governance. So, like a general stepping into unfamiliar terrain, he gingerly took his first tender steps into politics, a new world where wars were fought not with weapons and brute force, but with conversation, consultation, wisdom, willpower and an unwavering resolve to manage challenges of betrayal, perfidy, duplicity and treachery.
THE GOVERNOR WHO DARED TO DREAM
"Where there is no vision, the people perish." - Proverbs 29:18.
Leadership is not for the faint-hearted, and politics, especially in Nigeria, is not for the weak and cowardly. Jonah Jang soon learnt this when he became a two-term Governor of Plateau State between 2007 and 2015. He did not take the seat as an imperious ruler; he took it as a servant of the people. For him, leadership was a calling, a sacred duty to restore dignity, to uplift the downtrodden and to leave behind a legacy that would stand the test of time.
Plateau State, beautiful as it was, had its peculiar challenging struggles. Roads were broken; infrastructure was failing,; ethnic tensions were high; insecurity strut about proudly like a peacock; and corruption lurked in the shadows. Many would have buckled under the weight of such monumental challenges. But not Jang. He had been trained to face turbulence, both in the skies and on the ground. Thus, he began his mission of uncommon transformation.
Under his leadership, trust returned to governance. Roads were built; security was enhanced and strengthened; the youths were engaged; ghost workers were flushed out; and the social, economic, education and agricultural sectors witnessed an unforgettable revival. But beyond the tangible projects, Jang gave Plateau something greater; he gave them hope. He made the people realize they could not only dream, but could realize such dreams. He was ans still is, a father to the state. Jang was a leader who did not rule from a distance but stood with the people; fought for them and defended them.
His leadership was tested time and again. Political adversaries fought him; critics doubted and demonized him. At times, the very foundations of governance in the state seemed violently shaken. But Jang stood firm and soldered on like a lion among men, unbowed, unshaken. Afterall he had not sought power for personal gain or self-aggrandizement. He wielded power, not as a sword to represss, but as shield for the defence of his beloved people. He deployed power as a tool for achieving justice, development and the greater good of his Plateau people.
Through storms of criticism, back-stabbing and seasons of triumph, he never lost sight of his mission-develop the people. And when his tenure ended in 2015, he did not look back with regret, but with the quiet satisfaction of a man who had given his all. He left Plateau State better than he met it. It was never the same rustic and undeveloped state he had met when he first took office. It had risen from its ashes like phoenix; it had transformed beyond arguments. Plateau had become a beacon and haven of peace, hope, tranquility, progress, development and humanity.
A NAME ETCHED IN TIME
"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." - 2 Timothy 4:7
After leaving office as Governor of Plateau State, Jonah Jang could have chosen to retreat into the shadows, to live the rest of his days in peace and quietude as many would. But warriors never truly retire. They merely retreat and remain ever watchful, ever ready to serve. So, in 2015, he was called upon once more by his Plateau North people to represent them at the Nigerian Senate. Afterall the reward for hardwork is more work. Baba Jonah proved it.
His tenure in the Senate was not merely about adding another title to his name; it was about continuing his set mission, fighting for the people; standing for justice and their dignity. He ensured that the legacy he had built would never be undone.
THE PERSECUTION,TRIALS, TRIBULATIONS
No great leader ever walks mother earth without facing trials, persecution and tribulations. False allegations waltzed in, flying like ominous bats. Challenges suddenly arose, with the full weight of political warfare threatening to stain the banner of his legacy. He was falsely accused of pilfering his state funds. This was when we met. He briefed me to represent him in the 17 count charge before the Plateau State High Court. Studying the charge and the ingredients, his innocence exuded; his integrity and character nakedly stared me in the face. For a spartan man of modest means who ruled transparently and who as a sitting Governor took a well-documented loan of only 100m which he was paying back by installments from his meagre salary and allowances as a sitting Governor; and which loan he finally repaid fully as a Senator, it simply did not add up that he could steal from the state treasury of his people that he so loved and who reciprocated in equal measure. So, I defended him ferociously with my team of lawyers for over four years ( May 4,2018-September 2,2022). He had told me that he was innocent; that some powers that be had obviously felt that he had achieved too much to be allowed to walk away as a distinguished elder statesman and as clean as a whistle. But he had always been these. And more He narrated to me how these powerful people were determined to completely erase his legacy and make him irrelevant in the political equation and scheme of affairs in Plateau State. In the dock, Jang stood tall, notwithstanding his diminutive stature. He watched witness after witness lie against him in a most brazen manner. He severally shook his head in utter disbelief and incredulity. But he did not cry. It was my bounden duty as his lawyer to chisel through and perforate the tissue and cocktail of poisoned lies. And I did just that. A smiling Baba Jang was completely exonerated, discharged and acquitted of all 17 counts. He emerged victorious once more, proving that truth, though slow, and integrity though temporarily besmeared, always triumphed in the end over swift lies.
Now, as he stands tall in the threshold of history and in the pantheon of great men, Jonah Jang is not just a retired soldier, Senator, Administrator or former governor, he is indeed a symbol of love, character, integrity, honour, dignity and resilience. Jang remains a loud testament to undiluted faith and a clear reminder that true leadership is about service, sacrifice and unwavering commitment to the people.
Thus on his 81st birthday, we do not merely celebrate another year of his life; we celebrate a legacy, a person that has touched lives, changed the course of a state and inspired a generation.
Jonah David Jang is not just a man; he is a movement. His story is not just one of politics, but of destiny, determination, and divine orchestration. Like his namesake David in the Bible, he has been for his people, an uncommon caregiver and a protector, in the same way a mother hen protects her chicks. His life like that of the Biblical David demonstrates that God can take a person from a humble position and elevate him to greatness. O yes, I almost forgot Jang is also Jonah. Like the biblical Jonah, he weathered the storms, survived in the belly of the whale and lives to spread the message of hope, prosperity, love and humanity, not to the Ninevites this time, but to his good people of Plateau State
DEAWING THE CURTAINS
To His Excellency, Governor, Senator, Air Commodore (rtd) Jonah David Jang, CON, may history forever remember your name and judge you fairly. May your legacy continue to inspire and water generations yet unborn. May your story be told not just as a tale of leadership, but as a beacon of hope for those who dared to dream dreams, fight wars, serve the people and conquer. l adversities.
Happy birthday sir.
[OPINION] Na Your Mama Be This”: The Chant That Spoke Nigeria’s Hidden Truth - John Egbeazien Oshodi
AdminIn Nigeria’s tightly controlled world of political performance, ceremonies involving the spouses of national leaders are typically seamless productions. Scripts are written in reverence. Praise is choreographed. Gratitude is rehearsed. Applause is expected, not earned. And public emotion is not spontaneous—it is curated. So when Oluremi Tinubu, wife of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and former senator, visited the Delta State School of Nursing under her Renewed Hope Initiative, everything was supposed to follow the playbook.
She was to be welcomed with a warm song, hailed with ceremonial respect, and praised as “mother of the nation” by students trained to perform gratefulness. The plan was simple: elevate the First Lady as a symbol of national nurture. But something unexpected cracked the performance. As the Master of Ceremony (MC) attempted to ignite a call-and-response chant, echoing “Na my mama be this o, we no get another one,” what followed was not praise—but protest. The students responded with piercing sarcasm: “Na your mama be this ooooo.”
Laughter followed. The clip went viral. But beneath the laughter was something powerful and painful. A rupture. A revolt. A rebellion not just against a phrase—but against an entire emotional order. What seemed like a moment of disrespect was actually a national psychological explosion. A collective breakdown of symbolic authority. This wasn’t just a chant—it was Nigeria’s youth, in one voice, rejecting emotional manipulation by power. And as strange as it may sound, this moment was not just political. It was Freudian.
The Freudian Slip: When the Pain People Hide Finally Comes Out
There’s a psychological idea from Sigmund Freud called a slip—it’s when someone says something by “mistake,” but deep down, it reveals what they really feel. But sometimes, it’s not just one person making a mistake. Sometimes, the whole event—or the script people are told to follow—falls apart, and all the hidden anger people have been holding inside just spills out.
That’s exactly what happened during the First Lady’s visit. The MC kept repeating “our mother” over and over again with so much force, like he was trying too hard. His tone was too loud, his words too dramatic. It didn’t sound natural. Was he being serious? Or was he trying to push something he knew people wouldn’t accept?
Whether he meant it or not, the students responded from the heart: “Na your mama be this ooooo.” That reply wasn’t planned. It was real. It came from a deep place of frustration that many Nigerians feel every day.
Psychologists call this kind of reaction “the return of the repressed.” It means all the pain, anger, and disappointment people have been hiding suddenly comes out—just like that. The students didn’t need to carry placards. They didn’t need to protest on the streets. All it took was that one chant—and the truth was out. Laughter followed, but behind that laughter was pain. It wasn’t just a joke. It was therapy. It was healing. It was Nigeria, speaking its truth through its children.
Songs as Subversion: The Rhythm of Defiance
In Nigeria, music is not entertainment alone—it is a political weapon. From Fela Kuti’s Afrobeat rebellion to the #EndSARS generation’s chants of “Soro Soke!”, Nigerians have mastered the art of protest through rhythm. So when the MC turned the phrase into a chant, possibly hoping to generate praise, he unintentionally created a structure perfect for protest.
The call-and-response chant, common in both church and street protest, became the battlefield. The students flipped the chant. They rewrote the script in real time. And in doing so, they turned a praise performance into protest poetry.
There were no placards. No megaphones. No chants of “We no go gree o!” But the impact was just as thunderous. The students used wit, sarcasm, and cultural cadence to destroy a stage-managed illusion. What was meant to be a song of national maternal love became a public refusal to pretend.
Parental Authority and the Collapse of Emotional Contracts
To call someone “mother of the nation” is not just symbolic—it is emotional. It evokes expectations of nurture, sacrifice, presence, and protection. In Freudian psychology, parental figures represent not only authority but also emotional security. They are the guardians of childhood, the providers of order, the moral compass in times of confusion.
But what happens when these “mothers” and “fathers” of the nation disappear in moments of national pain? What happens when they are present only in ceremonies but absent in suffering?
In Nigeria today, the parental metaphor is collapsing. The emotional contract is broken. The people are not feeling protected—they are feeling punished. The economy is battered. The fuel subsidy is gone. The naira has lost value. Inflation is rising. Youth unemployment is choking. Citizens are not surviving—they are suffocating.
So when a political figure walks into that landscape and demands to be called “mother,” it does not inspire affection. It triggers rejection. Emotional revulsion. The title becomes unbearable. It moves from symbolic to insulting.
The Delta students weren’t rejecting Oluremi Tinubu as a person—they were rejecting the emotional manipulation that her title represented.
The MC: Loyal Mouthpiece or Unwitting Instigator?
This raises a subtle but fascinating question: was the MC just following orders—or was he deliberately pushing the limits? Was this a moment of unconscious sabotage? A performance of subversive obedience?
In authoritarian or tightly controlled spaces, where truth is dangerous and direct dissent is punishable, people often resist through sarcasm, exaggeration, or absurdity. The MC’s exaggerated tone—his theatrical delivery of the chant—may have been a passive-aggressive plea: “I’m saying what you told me to say, but I know they won’t buy it.”
In doing so, he offered the students an emotional microphone. He opened the door. And once that door was opened, the chant escaped. And it could not be pulled back in.
A Freudian Protest in a Fractured Political Imagination
This moment wasn’t about tradition. It wasn’t about protocol. It was about imagination. National imagination. Nigeria’s political elite imagine a people that still believe in symbolic closeness. That still care for titles. That still respond to motherly declarations. But that imagination is broken.
The youth are no longer interested in political parents. They are tired of emotional scripts. They are done performing gratitude. Their reality is hunger, not hope. Their dream is escape, not allegiance. They are not rude—they are wounded. They are not disrespectful—they are disillusioned.
The chant was not born from malice. It was born from mourning. Mourning the death of trust, the betrayal of leadership, and the erosion of public empathy.
The Real Mothers Were Watching—So Was the World
Now imagine a Nigerian mother—one of the millions who have sold vegetables before sunrise, who skipped her meals so her child could eat, who borrowed money to pay for school fees and medical bills. She sits in her living room, watching the broadcast. The MC chants: “We no get another one.”
She hears it. Her child hears it. And for a moment, the child starts to repeat it.
Her heart breaks.
Because she knows the truth. She is the one who raised that child through sweat and sacrifice. She is the one who stayed when the system failed. And now, on national television, she is erased. Replaced by a political figure in Aso Rock. She knows this isn’t tradition—it is performance. And in that moment, she feels insulted.
But it wasn’t just her.
The world was watching too.
In the age of TikTok, Twitter, Instagram, and global media, there are no private stages. Everything is public. And what the world saw was not respect—it was resistance. Not cultural reverence—but institutional embarrassment. In that chant, the international community saw a nation’s youth tell the truth to power with biting humor.
They saw that Nigeria’s elite still expect loyalty from the hungry. Still demand praise from the jobless. Still stage ceremonies in a collapsing economy.
And they now know what the students know. What the mothers know.
That the empire of political affection has fallen.
Rejecting the Performance of Unity in the Face of Suffering
The Delta nursing students didn’t just insult the First Lady—they exposed the widening emotional gap between the governed and those who claim to govern with compassion. Their chant was not simply a youthful retort. It was a public rejection of the persistent illusion that Nigerians, especially the young, must pretend to be part of one big happy national family with leaders who are clearly out of touch with their lived pain.
This was not about culture. It was not about etiquette. It was about survival. It was about truth. And in that truth, the students exposed a contradiction that every struggling Nigerian recognizes: the same government that asks for emotional loyalty has failed to show material responsibility.
Their protest was echoed by the digital revolution already underway—the #30DaysRantChallenge, where ordinary Nigerians document, day by day, the unlivable nature of current economic policies. These online confessions have revealed soaring prices, unpaid salaries, joblessness, hunger, and frustration. Every tweet, every post, every video under that hashtag is a cry for help. And what the students did in Delta was bring that cry offline—into the real world, face-to-face with power.
What they revealed is this: President Tinubu’s “Renewed Hope” slogan is clashing violently with Nigeria’s harsh realities. For citizens who wake up daily to increasing hardship, hope is not a campaign slogan—it is a demand for change. And change is not achieved through titles or optics. It is earned through policy, action, and human empathy.
By refusing to perform loyalty in the midst of suffering, the students shattered the illusion of unity. They declared that national healing does not begin with forced praise. It begins with truth. And the truth is: people are tired, hungry, and unheard.
To Suppress This Moment Would Be Political Suicide
Let no one twist it—those students committed no crime. They broke no law. Their act was constitutional, peaceful, expressive, and valid. To punish them would not only be morally absurd—it would be politically suicidal.
In today’s world, you do not silence dissent—you amplify it by punishing it.
If the Tinubu administration chooses suppression over self-reflection, it will not kill the message—it will globalize it. The students will become symbols. The chant will become anthem. The moment will become movement.
Repression is no longer power—it is proof of panic.
Conclusion: The Mind Will Rebel When the Mouth Is Gagged
Words matter. Titles matter. But when language is used to force intimacy between a suffering people and the political elite, the reaction will not be reverence—it will be rejection. The forced framing of “our mother” during the First Lady’s visit to Delta State was not just poorly chosen—it was deeply out of touch. It implied emotional closeness between a people who are hungry, overburdened, and unheard, and a figurehead largely removed from their pain. Even a slight adjustment—“Mother of Nigeria, Oluremi Tinubu”—while still politically awkward, would have at least respected emotional distance. Because in times of economic trauma, grand titles without meaningful sacrifice feel more like insults than honors.
Nigeria is not just suffering economically—it is suffering emotionally. The poverty is real, yes. But so is the fatigue. So is the disconnection. And in both politics and psychology, when voices are suppressed long enough, the body—the collective national body—finds its own way to speak. What happened at the Delta School of Nursing was not a childish outburst. It was not a rebellion for rebellion’s sake. It was a moment of national catharsis. A breaking point. A chant that cut through performance and exposed the raw truth beneath: Nigerians are tired of pretending.
Whether or not the Master of Ceremony meant to provoke it, his exaggerated chant became the trigger. What followed was not chaos—it was clarity. In those six syllables—“Na your mama be this ooooo”—an entire nation found its voice. That chant was not just for Oluremi Tinubu. It was a mirror held up to every leader who demands loyalty but withholds dignity, who expects praise without performance, and who cloaks failed governance in emotional titles.
To Madam Remi Tinubu: yes, you are human. And yes, it probably hurt. It happened in Delta, your birthplace—a place where you may have expected warmth. But pain often comes from the places where expectations were highest. The truth is, you did not birth those students. You have not suffered with them. You do not feel the sting of rising school fees, decaying infrastructure, or daily hunger. So why should they call you “mother”?
This moment is not about disrespect. It is not about tradition. It is about reality. When people are forced to pretend they are part of a national family that has long abandoned them, resistance is inevitable. The title of “Mother of the Nation” cannot be inherited. It must be earned. Not by appearances, but by presence. Not by symbolism, but by sacrifice. And if you have not stood in their struggle, you cannot demand their affection.
Blame the MC if you need a scapegoat. Blame your husband’s failing economic policies. Blame poor messaging. But do not blame the students. Their honesty is not an attack—it is an invitation. If you are truly committed to national healing, let this moment teach you. Let it stretch you. Let it humble you. And if the hurt lingers, do what any emotionally intelligent leader would do—seek clarity, even therapy if necessary. Reflect. Heal. Then lead.
Because leadership today is not about control—it’s about connection. Real, grounded, mutual connection. The youth do not owe you titles. They do not owe you songs. They do not owe you silence in exchange for suffering. In times like these, what binds a nation is not ceremonial obedience—it is shared truth, courageous empathy, and visible justice.
So don’t try to erase this moment. Don’t suppress it. Study it. Let it stand. Because in that chant lies the purest feedback your administration will ever receive. “Na your mama be this ooooo” was not just a deflection—it was a declaration. A line drawn between performance and pain. A generational cry against emotional manipulation. A public therapy session turned national turning point.
Let it go, Madam. Let the script go. Let the illusion go.
And if you truly want to be remembered as Mother of Nigeria—fight not for their obedience, but for their tomorrow.
Let something real begin.
[OPINION] NNPC And The Push for Oil Host Community Devt Fund Implementation - Sotonye Princewill
AdminThe plight of oil host communities and the need to ensure that funds allocated to them under the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) are effectively utilized to deliver meaningful development in host communities came into sharp focus at a recent stakeholder engagement session held with the KEFFESO Host Communities Development Trust (HCDT). The KEFFESO HCDT serves as the representative body for various oil producing communities including Koluama 1 and 2, Ezetu 1 and 2, Okumbiri, Foropa, Fish Town, Ekeni, Sangana, Opu, Okumbiribeleu and Oginibiri in Bayelsa State, under the NNPCL/First Exploration & Petroleum Development Company (FIRST E&P) JV.
The Petroleum Industry Act, 2021, which consigned Petroleum Act and Petroleum Tax Act of 1967 to history allocated 3 percent Host Community Development Fund for the development of oil host communities. This significant legislation which brings the oil host communities into sharp focus is imbued with revolutionary fervor; for the first time, it created a special fund which ensures that allocated funds are properly channeled to foster tangible development in the oil producing communities of the Niger Delta and elsewhere. Given the pivotal role he played in the birthing of the Petroleum Industry Act, his tireless advocacy, strategic engagements with critical stakeholders within the legislative branch and the oil and gas sector, it incontestable that the PIA Act has the imprimatur of Mele Kyari. This assertion is without prejudice to the unwavering commitment and strong political will exhibited by the Buhari administration which broke the over two decades stalemate of the bill. The Act created a Host Community Development Trust Fund with the aim to cushion the negative impact oil exploration may have on oil producing communities. The fund would be managed by a Board of Trustees. Funding for the Trust Fund will be secured from holders of Licenses or leases who will contribute three per cent of the operating expenditures of the previous year in respect of all petroleum operations affecting the host communities.
Kyari’s unbridled enthusiasm and full support of the allocation to oil producing communities is driven by his strong passion to drive development in oil producing states, who suffered decades of neglect. In giving ringing endorsement to the Act, he believes that emplacement of the Act will galvanize massive development for oil producing communities. As corporate leader with human face, Mele Kyari, even before the PIA was deeply committed to interventions that would impact the lives of oil host communities as part of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) of NNPC. It mattered so much to him that the Act would cure observed anomalies of the past by ensuring that the host communities take full responsibility and ownership of development projects that would be sited in their communities. This is in furtherance of the commitment of NNPC to improve physical and material wellbeing of the people. Under this arrangement, only projects with direct developmental impact on the people would be implemented through the fund. The active participation of members of the host communities in the power structure of the organization emplaced to manage the fund will ensure that the resources will be used in a manner that conforms to the aspirations of the host communities. According to the spirit of the Act, the fund will be deployed in such a manner to engender sustainable development for the benefit of the host communities. Also, the fund will be used to advance and propagate educational development of the people, support healthcare and local initiatives that will enhance protection of the environment.
According to Kyari, “The whole concept of the Host Communities was the creation of the executive and the government decided that the PIB must have a provision in the law where the welfare of host communities is taking back to them.
“The Host Communities Fund is in control of the host communities; it is not one that will be managed by the oil companies. It is our responsibility as government to ensure that those funds are set up.
“The data along how much oil companies are spending in a year is no longer secret, the PIB has made it clear that you must disclose your spending for the purpose of taxation to the FIRS and therefore your cost of operation is no longer secret.
“Let us not forget that every attempt in the past to ensure that development comes to the host communities failed. Without any contradiction, I can tell you that the 13 per cent derivation was designed to make sure development comes to the Niger Delta region and by implication the host communities.
“Secondly, we have the NNDC to ensure that development comes to the Niger Delta Region and more so by implication the host communities.
“So, this is an addition to complement what is on ground and we will make sure the existing structure delivers what it is meant to achieve. While the NDDC is doing what it should do according to its Act, the Host Communities Fund will drive massive development that will be driven by the communities.
“We know what the host communities go through, there are villages that are just 200 metres away from a flow station that don’t have drinking water, no hospitals, the schools are not operating and yet there are massive provisions that we have made as an industry to make this work but this won’t happen. Going forward, these communities will decide what they want and it will be done because the funds are available.”
The insight provided by Mele Kyari captures succinctly the neglect of oil producing communities particularly in the Niger Delta and underpins his determination to turn the page with the inauguration of the PIA. For decades, this neglect has led to environmental degradation, lack of basic amenities and social unrest. Government cannot be totally blamed for doing nothing to ameliorate the problems of the oil producing communities. Critical interventions to cure this systemic problem has recorded minimal progress at odds with billions of dollars that has poured into their operations by the federal government and players within the oil and gas ecosystem.
Even interventionist agencies such as Niger Delta Development Commission (NNDC) continues to be mired in lack of transparency and accountability. Instead of fulfilling its core mandate, over the years, the commission has turned out to be a cesspool of corruption, to enrich a few persons. At inception, NNDC was saddled with the mandate which included the formulation of policies and guidelines for the development of the Niger Delta region, conception, planning and implementation, in accordance with set rules and regulations, of projects and programmes for sustainable development in the areas of transportation (roads, jetties and waterways), health, employment, industrialization, agriculture and fisheries, housing and urban development, water supply, electricity and telecommunications. The commission was also saddled with the responsibility to survey the Niger Delta and come up with measures that will promote its physical and socio-economic development, prepare masterplans and schemes designed to promote the physical development of the region.
The achievement of these lofty objectives has remained a pipedream. As at 2022, a study and the forensic report, commissioned by the Social Action in conjunction with MacArthur Foundation on the activities of the commission spanning 20 years revealed that 12,000 contracts were abandoned. Among other underhand dealings, the study found that personnel of the commission diverted the larger chunk of payments made to contractors who as a result abandoned the projects. The report also discovered that the region lost over N15 trillion or $40 billion to 13,377 contracts awarded and 12,000 abandoned.
After NNDC gulped trillions with modest impact, the consensus of opinion is that everything should be done to ensure that KEFFESO Host Communities Development Trust (HCDT) does not go the way of the commission. The deepening of NNPCL’s activities in this sphere underscores its belief in the importance of stakeholder collaboration in driving socio-economic growth within oil producing communities. In furtherance of this objective, NNPC is leaving no stone unturned; Mele Kyari is resolute in directing PIA funds towards key development projects in education, healthcare and infrastructure. Attempts in the past to ensure that oil companies provided for the host communities were impaired because it was not carried out in the right manner in the name of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) projects.
As the team leader in NNPCL, he has left no one in doubt about the sustenance of robust strategic engagements by the company. According to him, “Our mission is clear. We are committed to fostering lasting peace, creating economic opportunities and transforming the Niger Delta into a model of unity and progress. NNPCL stands with the Niger Delta as it builds a prosperous future that is driven by mutual respect and collaboration.”
After initial delays in getting the Trust to take-off, NNPC and other critical stakeholders have put in place, processes to ensure that oil host communities enjoy projects covering infrastructure, social, economic and human capital investments that will lead to sustainable development of the people and the communities. Recently, in Rivers state, HCDT in conjunction with joint venture operators, Green Energy International Ltd. (GEIL) and Lekoil Oil Joint Venture kicked off several projects in the first phase of the implementation of the five year development plan in three of their host communities namely Ugama Ekede, Ayama Ekede, Asukama and Asukoyet in Ikuru Town of Andoni Local Government Area of the state. The projects include 1Km access road into Ugama Ekede, scholarship for students in primary, secondary and tertiary schools, bursary for university students in Ugama Ekede, a town hall, a box culvert in Asuk-ama and a road project in Asukoyet.
NNPCL under Kyari strongly believes that the institutionalization of the community development trust initiative and constant stakeholder engagements will engender the much needed governance, transparency and accountability in community development efforts. NNPCL has already stamped its leadership footprint on these initiatives and for the foreseeable future, will continue to provide remarkable guidance which it hopes will usher in a new era of lasting peace and economic prosperity to the oil producing communities in the Niger Delta.
•Sotonye Princewill contributed this comment from Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
I came across this seriously sad poem online. It was written by Chinedu Nnadi Nwangwu; and I love it and have decided to share it.
“Weep, Nigeria—
For the soil is heavy with blood,
And the sky hangs low with despair.
A land where godfathers pull strings in dark rooms,
Turning the law into a puppet on fraying threads.
In Rivers, a pipeline is breached,
And in the blink of an eye—State of Emergency!
Yet where is this urgency
For the lives buried in Benue’s fields?
For the soldiers fallen in Borno’s sands?
For Sokoto and Zamfara’s crimson dust,
Where bandits write their will in blood?
Weep for Rivers State,
Where politics wears the face of tyranny,
And the Constitution trembles at the sound of ambition.
A state of emergency declared in haste,
Not for lives lost,
But for pipelines broken.
Is oil thicker than blood?
Is property dearer than life?
Weep for Benue’s farmers,
Cut down where they stood—
Machetes singing death into the soil,
While the earth drinks deeply of their pain.
Weep for the soldiers of Borno,
Whose boots march into battle,
But never return home.
And for Sokoto and Zamfara,
Where the fields bloom with graves,
And the wail of widows is the only anthem.
Weep for Lagos,
Where the Assembly turns into a theater of shame—
Two speakers, two gavels,
And one house split by greed.
They mutiny and install each other,
Turning the halls of governance
Into a marketplace of ambition.
If leaders cannot lead,
Then who shall steer the ship?
Weep for the Senate,
Where the halls of power stink of shame.
Where hands meant to pass laws
Instead reach where they should not.
Sexual harassment plays out on the nation’s stage,
And the people watch in disgust—
A spectacle of impunity.
Weep for the East,
Where Mondays bring silence,
Not by choice but by fear.
Where the streets are empty,
And freedom is held hostage.
The sit-at-home echoes louder
Than the government’s voice,
Yet where is the state of emergency here?
Is the pain of the people so easily ignored?
Oh Nigeria,
How many wounds will you bear before you break?
How many tears must wet the ground
Before justice rises from the soil?
They kill our sons,
They bury our daughters,
And in the corridors of power,
They laugh.
Yet we weep not in defeat,
But in fury.
For the tears of the oppressed
Water the tree of resistance.
And though they declare emergencies
Only where it suits their greed,
The true emergency is the awakening of the people.
Weep, Nigeria—
But not for long.
For dawn is coming,
And the day of reckoning is near.”
CAN WE RECOVER FROM CONQUEST?
My Uncle, Jonas Odocha,
regularly shares his numerous concerns about the state of the nation with various people, including me.
Sometimes recipients of his articles respond. Please find below a grim reaction we all recently received from Uncle J’s friend, Samuel Ohuabunwa.
When you have read it, contact me to tell me whether you think there is any hope for suffering Nigerians who are not members of the predatory elite. And ask yourself the following questions:
Can we ever recover from the conquest that has been inflicted on us across the board and especially in my home state, Rivers?
Terrifying Boko Haam terrorists and feral bandits have overrun villages and army bases in Zamfara and Borno. They have murdered thousands of citizens. But it is only in the relatively peaceful, oil-rich Niger Delta that a state of emergency has been declared!
Is Mr Ohuabunwa right to throw up his hands in despair? Are we finished and vanquished and helpless? Or do we have what it takes to robustly resist tyranny and insist on a brighter future?
“Nigeria is a conquered nation. The politicians have conquered the people, weaponized poverty and immobilized all form of opposition or resistance. Many have raised their voices and cried till they become hoarse. Read the daily newspapers and the columnists, listen to Arise and Channels!! The people have lost power completely.
Nobody cares and nothing happens except being arrested and charged with cyber crime or cyber stalking or terrorism. What happened to the young people killed in #Endsars or those imprisoned in #EndBadGovernance?
I wrote weekly columns in three newspapers from 2012 to 2019 and gave up the day Buhari sacked the Chief Justice of Nigeria! AND NOTHING HAPPENED!!That was part of my motivation to try getting into politics.
Not much will change if the politicians and their brand of politics do not change. In theory, demand determines supply, but not in Nigeria’s political supply chain. The suppliers determine demand.
If you disagree, then you will meet them in court.
Continue to write Sir! Who knows!! God bless.”
I walked into the Casa de Africa or Africa House in Havana. I wanted to find out what made it uniquely African. But I was in for a surprise. I had not realised that it also housed a unique class for children learning basic subjects like history, geography and African languages, including Yoruba.
I tried to tip toe so as not to disturb the class. The tour guide, Miguel Abreu and I spoke in low tones. But the children had been told a friend of Cuba was visiting. They rose and welcomed me with a song.
How was I to explain to these fifth graders that the primary cause of their country’s problems is that it has a neighbour 95 miles away which for 63 years has imposed severe sanctions on it?
So, I assured them that their country has friends across the universe, particularly in Africa. The interpretation in Spanish, was by one of the children. We took photographs and they continued their lessons.
At the House, I also ran into an African delegation which included the Zimbabwean and Namibian Ambassadors. We took photographs under a huge map of Africa.
Cuba had made a decisive military intervention in Africa, sending thousands of its youths to fight Apartheid forces and liberate the continent from colonialism. The Castro government in the 1980s had to explain to the Cuban people why their youths were shedding precious blood to extricate African countries like Angola, Zambia, Botswana, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zimbabwe from the stranglehold of the Apartheid forces and, to decolonise Namibia and South Africa. The establishment of Casa de Africa was partly to explain to the people why Cubans were fighting and sacrificing their lives in Africa, some 11,000 kilometres away.
The Director of the House is Alberto Granado Duque. He is the son of Alberto Granado, the biochemist who with the legendary revolutionary, Ernesto Che Guevera in 1951, set out on a motorcycle tour of Latin America. Amongst those who had visited the House was the Ooni of Ife Olubuse who was there in 1986.
Part of the theme the House depicted was that Africa is the mother of humanity and that slavery was the greatest crime against humanity.
Many of the slaves brought to Cuba were from the ‘Congo and Calabari’ area of present day Nigeria. They were in constant revolt against the system and many lost their lives in the process. For them, it was either freedom or death. This might explain where Cubans got their resolve to resist oppression under any sky.
The slaves who worked an average 15 hours daily, in their spare time played rumba, deepened their ancestral culture most of which they eventually merged. Even when they conspired against the slave owners and the system, in many cases, they used gestures and symbols. The 78-year-old Abreu told me: “We speak with our eyes, our hands and our legs.”
Some of the almost 5,000 pieces on display included chains and shackles used during the slavery era. Cuba was one of the earliest sugar producers in the world and it was for it millions were enslaved. One of the main reasons for the US blockage since 1962, was the nationalisation of the sugar industry by the Castro government.
Also on display was the traditional religion of the Cuban people which is a blend of African traditions, mainly of the Yoruba people, and Catholicism. It is called Santeria.
On display at the House were gods of this religion, especially Obatala, Yemaya (Yemoja) O Hun (Osun), Oya and Sango, the god of thunder and lightning.
There were also gifts from various parts of Africa on display. These include two stuffed lions given to Fidel by Emperor Haile Sellasie and, a lion skin by then Somalian President Siad Barre. There were also two big carvings by Nigeria’s Bisi Fakeye.
I was also at Africa Heroes Park in Havana. There busts of outstanding African leaders like those of Samora Machel and Eduardo Modlande from Mozambique, Nelson Mandela and Oliver Tambo of South Africa, Sekou Toure of Guinea, and Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana were on display. Also in the park were busts of Kenya’s Jomo Kenyatta, Amilcar Cabral of Guinea Bissau, Laurent-Desire Kabila of the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Mwalimu Julius Nyerere of Tanzania. Three former Nigerian leaders, Tafawa Balewa, Obafemi Awolowo and Nnamdi Azikiwe were painted on a pedestal, obviously waiting for their busts to be made or donated.
My primary purpose for being in Cuba from March 13-22, 2025 was to attend the Fourth International Colloquium, otherwise called the Patria. The conference held against the background of two anniversaries: the 133rd year since the establishment of the ‘Patria Newspapers’ founded by Cuban international revolutionary, Jose Marti, and the twentieth anniversary of the international television network, teleSUR inspired by Fidel Castro, then President of Cuba and, Hugo Chavez, then President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
The colloquium explored the dynamics of power in an interconnected world, challenges of hate speech, disinformation and the general manipulation of information. It also examined the global hegemonic powers in techno-politics and how collective efforts can be made by other groups to foster “networks of hope and popular mobilization.”
The Cuban President, Miguel Diaz-Canel, attended sessions of the conference. At the opening ceremony, he spent generous time taking photographs on the steps of the University of Havana. It was when he was leaving I realised that a car I was a few metres away from was actually his official car and that three men I stood around with were his bodyguards. I was used to bodyguards in dark suits, wearing dark glasses and dangling earphones. In contrast, the Cuban Presidential guards seemed to have blended with the populace and environment.
At the over one hour closing session, Diaz-Canel simply listened.
There were lots of documentaries. In one of them, a Palestinian woman tells an Israeli: “You are stealing my house” The Israeli replied: “If I don’t, someone else will steal it.”
Delegates generally agreed that the criteria for belonging to the emergent group is to be anti-imperialist, anti-fascist and anti-Zionist. A participant raised the problem of Zionism hiding under Judaism; how to separate the parasite from Judaism.
There were lots of discussions on media linkages and suggestions made about organising groups per country.
I also had the privilege of meeting a management team of the University of Havana led by the Vice Rector, Dionisio Zaldivar. At the university which was established on January 5, 1728, we discussed possible linkages with some Nigeria universities. I proposed these could be in the fields of history and international relations.
I found Cuba while existing in a world of shifting alliances, ever standing on principles.
“America is back.” This was the opening statement of Donald Trump at his joint address to Congress a few days ago, which was greeted with loud applause by the Republicans. Many experts have cautioned that the Trump 2.0 would be the exact same pattern that defined his first. Following his historic return to the White House, I also shared this sentiment and speculated it in my piece titled, ‘Trump’s second coming: Is ‘Africa first’ agenda ever possible?’ which was published in TheCable on November 24, 2025. I had argued that to make any meaningful impression in the international system, the ‘Africa first’ agenda must be a top priority for our leaders. In the same vein, I emphasised that under Trump’s ‘America First’ policy, the world would witness, like with his first, promotion of ‘Americanism’ over ‘Globalism’. This is precisely what is playing out.
However, nothing prepared me and perhaps a flood of political and economic doyens for the harsh reality of the audacious and bullish fashion in which Trump carries on with his policy implementation not minding the effects on the world stage – he is far more aggressive in the pursuit of his agenda now than in his first term.
Trump’s reforms and executive orders which have painted him an outlier, particularly those targeting the USAID and his use of tariffs as an economic weapon, have engulfed the whole world like a violent storm. The Left, the mainstream media and a number of US allies have accused Trump of implementing these reforms in a horrific manner – protests seem to be gaining momentum and at the core is his slash of the USAID projects by a whopping 83 percent. While several ‘Trumpers’ and some independents believe they are a welcome development after years of bureaucratic bottleneck accompanied by waste and abuses which have spiked the US public debt profile to a massive 36 trillion dollars, many have kicked against him.
To the opposers, it’s a hideous and savage attack on the constitutionality of the republic and liberty of the people – a feeling of being thrown under the bus. Interestingly, in all of these, a handful believe Trump should be allowed to stew in his own juice while also accusing him of igniting a constitutional crisis with this economic agenda. Although, the manner in which he is going about it may be uncomplimentary to many – and I must say it is, the unknotting, streamlining and purging he has embarked upon should come as no surprise because he ran and campaigned vigorously on them.
The entire globe has been inundated with what appears to be the basic thrust of Trump’s economic policy – the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)! A deluge of transactions has been described by Trump’s DOGE to amount to frauds at a level never seen before. The Democrats and many in the media are still doubting the veracity of these claims which DOGE wants the world to know runs into several hundreds of billions of dollars. Understandably, many would be sceptical of these gigantic findings until those culprits claimed to have benefitted from them are brought to book and successfully persecuted.
To the opposition, Trump must be stopped, and very fast too, otherwise, all Americans would be DOGEd before anyone knows it and that can’t be allowed to happen. One thing is very clear however, if all these DOGE discoveries are proven to be true, it can be inferred that the US isn’t immune to deep-seated corruption as they may want others to believe and therefore would have no moral justification to condemn countries especially those the developed nations refer to as third-world about the frightening state corruption in these countries has assumed.
Talking about the startling dimension of the insanely corruptive activities in many developing countries, especially the continent of Africa, the media was agog with so many news and buzzing headlines raging all over the place where a number of African leaders were reported to be whining – needlessly though, the halt imposed on most of the largesse received from the US government by the Trump administration, notably via the platform of USAID. This obviously have been far too long enshrined into the ‘blood and skin’ of these African nations. It is an act of cruelty and a blatant egregious violation of the oaths sworn to the people, how African leaders have impoverished their people even though many are sitting on such vast natural resources.
Research has it that Africa holds a hefty proportion (estimated to be about 60 percent) of the world’s natural resources: Arable land, 65 percent; Mineral reserves, 30 percent; Oil reserves, 12 percent; Gold reserves, 40 percent; Chromium and Platinum, 90 percent; huge reserves of Cobalt, Diamonds, Uranium, etc. The African continent isn’t poor. It is extremely wealthy. Infact, richer than one or two other continents. It is awash with a preponderance of resources – natural, capital and human resources. Regrettably, it is the people – ordinary and struggling Africans living in the continent that are stupendously poor. The case of the vulnerable Africans can be aptly summed up in the Yoruba saying, “Omo eleran ton jegun eran” – meaning the child of a meat seller who eats bones instead of meat. A very sad tale which has continuously been the lot of so many people in this part of the world.
This was underscored by Michael John Parenti, the American Political Science scholar who cannot be truer when he remarked, “Third-world is not poor. You don’t go to poor countries to make money. There are very few poor countries in this world. Most countries are rich, the Philippines is rich, Brazil is rich, Mexico is rich, and Chile is rich. Only the people are poor. But there are billions to be made there, to be carved out and to be taken.
There have been billions for 400 years! The capitalist, European and North American powers have carved out and taken the timber, the flax, the hemp, the cocoa, the rum, the tin, the copper, the iron, the rubber, the bauxite, the slaves, and the cheap labour. They have taken out of these countries. These countries are not underdeveloped, they’re overexploited!” This is the ugly state of things in Africa due to leadership deficit and corruption which have bedevilled the continent for many years.
Governance is typically shrouded in some sort of secrecy. Transparency and accountability are extremely scarce. And as Africans, we ain’t asking our governments to be perfect – none can ever be, anyway, just be transparent with us. Don’t be afraid to make genuine mistakes. Admit when you do and learn therefrom. Nevertheless, as Africans from all walks of life, far from it that we will look down on ourselves and continue to view our situation through the prism of poverty, created and sustained by the same set of people who pledged their allegiance to the constitutions of the individual nation-states to protect the people and utilise the common patrimony and resources to better their lot.
Instead, they have allowed unfettered access to our commonwealth in what media reports have shown to be orchestrated by a high-level conspiratorial and syndicated alliance, coordinated by the locals in cahoots with foreign entities. It is easy to whine and disparage the actions of another country, whose leader as far as he’s concerned is simply just making his country great again, because you have refused to put your own house in order. Our leaders know full well that the ‘carting away’ of our natural wealth only means that our jobs are offshored to other continents instead of onshoring them to improve the living conditions of the people.
Speaking during the East Africa Region Global Health Security Summit 2025, the former Kenyan President, Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta, warned African leaders against what he described as the “excessive dependence on foreign aid” after Trump paused federal aid globally. He was quoted to have said, “Excessive reliance often hinders a country’s long-term economic progress”. Furthermore, he said, “I saw some people the other day crying that Trump has removed funding. It is not your government, nor your country, why are you crying? He has no reason to give you anything, you don’t pay taxes in America.
This is a wake-up call for you to know what you’ll do to support yourselves. Let’s work together to bring an end to that. We need to remember the resources wasted when we kill each other. When we remember the lives lost in Sudan, all the way to the Sahel region, we’ve spent more money buying bullets than protecting our health”. Kenyatta concluded, “As Africans, we should not wait for others to come to our rescue”. This is the kind of attitude many expect our leaders to have. The type of attitude that gingers sublime economic policies, democratisation and humanitarism. If this had been their disposition decades ago and had been pursued vigorously, we certainly won’t find ourselves in this dead economic woods and quagmire that we are in.
Unfortunately, there are two things constant with virtually all the African states – leadership deficit and corruption, a recurring decimal threatening the sovereignty of many. So many of our leaders have been breaking several socioeconomic and development rules indubitably. The bane in this continent is that our leaders have refused to uphold the dignity of the rules designed to guarantee economic sovereignty needed to terminate the widespread poverty and hunger that are ravaging many – quite unsettling! They are quick to adopt these non-stop, never-ending loop of political platitudes and sloganeering, which change nothing but instead push the continent into deeper dark economic holes. The reliance on aid, grants and loans from abroad by most African countries even for the simplest of things that can be fixed domestically, seems like a bond that’s unbroken.
This however hasn’t gone without dissent from many well-meaning Africans who have issued veiled criticisms of our leaders and struggle to process the reason for their pandering. It doesn’t just sound right that we have to depend on external forces to solve issues we could have effortlessly handled had a conducive socio-economic environment been created by these leaders. Many of our leaders pivot when asked why they pander after the West and East but are quick to mention how they plan to bolster their countries’ economic positions via means unclear to many. Clearly, such rhetoric is simply political gibberish – mere talk which is cheap as there’s nothing on the ground to suggest the narrative would change. Our leaders must therefore take the hard choices and lead with an economic message in order to chart a path forward to prosperity and economic boom. Way too many rules – governance, economic, development, social infrastructure, leadership, security, etc, are being broken time and again and this has loomed so large on the continent’s development.
The scourge of insecurity, which has huge implications for investments and economic growth, is ravaging many parts of the continent, domestic production is next to nothing with the bulk of our natural resources shipped abroad in their natural state, and numerous governments ramping up debts due to needless spending, waste, frauds and abuses which seem to be the order of the day because revenue drive is literally non-existent. All these have distasteful consequences and one of the reasons the citizens are impoverished. It is as if our leaders are toying with our lives – like a cat would normally do with a mouse.
Many of our leaders have flubbed real bad and the economic nightmare in Africa is real. It is so because our leaders have allowed it and they must face the truth that the conditions are damning and cease gaslighting the citizens. The type of leadership evident in the countries they pander to for grants and aid, which has enabled those countries to build robust and strong economies, the likes of which is enabling them to give us ‘free monies’, is obviously lacking here. You can just imagine, with the abundance of resources prevalent here, the kind of transformation that would happen in the entire continent should they replicate the kind of leadership seen in these developed countries.
There are numerous accounts to suggest that there’s palpable fear. Scores of concerned Africans are growing increasingly worried regarding the approach of Trump over the next four years and its implications on the continent. The messaging of Trump has been unambiguous and crystal clear – he is pro-business and as such, whether fairly or unfairly, treats every relationship – diplomatic, personal, etc, as a transaction. Many could hardly wait – a weary and anxious wait, for what to expect in his second term. The last few weeks have marked remarkable skirmishes in trade wars between the US and several other countries – many of which are facing the brunt of Trump’s economic ire.
For some experts, if Trump could slam tariffs on some of America’s long-term trade allies, and foes alike, was undeterred and didn’t bat an eyelid even when the global community and the media vehemently kicked against it, it raises intriguing questions as to the possibility of unleashing this same type of treatment should he have the slightest reason to do so and take on Africa, whose economy is currently seriously wobbling. The consequences would be unfathomable and a massive grinder to the national treasuries of countless countries, which could set the continent behind by a long stretch.
Like in the game of football, yellow cards are issued by a referee for unruly behaviours or fouls committed by players. You get one once you break a rule – serves as a warning and such a player must be on the edge for the remainder of his/her time on the pitch. What the yellow card does to such a player is, as we describe in local parlance, ‘Borrow am sense’ – meaning to inject some common sense into the player, otherwise a second yellow card attracts a red card which is game over for the player. I will therefore liken the economic agenda of the Trump second presidency to issuing a ‘yellow card’ to the continent of Africa and its erring leaders to stop relying on others to do their jobs for them. They’ve got to stop breaking the golden rules designed to stimulate and build very strong economies. It is a clarion call and a dire warning to all our political leaders, who have obligations to the people, to brace up via bipartisan alliances, take urgent steps to industrialise and juice up the SMEs and manufacturing sector, and fix the systemic rots which have practically reduced us into mere beggars when we have all it takes to be self-sufficient. Else a ‘red card’ is in the offing in no distant future which may lead to the eruption of an economic reckoning.
How long shall African nations continue to be runts amongst the pack when we have what it takes – a humongous amount of natural resources, to project economic power as a continent? Our continent, painfully, seemed to be the worst of the worst in terms of socioeconomic development and the profligacy of governments. We are at a crossroads and desperate straits in the history of this continent and this should not be the time for the key economic players to be competing and comparing ‘economic megaphones’. It is certainly not how big the economic megaphone is, rather, it is the results you derive from what’s said into it.
In conclusion, the classic case of Trump threatening some days ago, to slap 25 percent tariffs on any country that patronises Venezuelan Oil – the country’s mainstay, because of his accusation that Venezuela is unleashing terror on American soil by sponsoring the deadly gang, Tren de Aragua (TDA) – their atrocious acts, which by the way, I completely frown at and totally condemn, and which Trump recently designated a terrorist organisation, is sending shock waves across Africa. The worry by a section of people that the continent may fall deeper and deeper into economic catastrophe should Trump face it is fast settling into full-blown fear.
As a matter of fact, the biggest economy in Africa, South Africa, has started to have a taste with the expulsion of her envoy from the US amid Trump’s remarks about the treatment of white farmers by the South African government. Whilst we must not compromise on our deeply rich history and celebrate our unbreakable fraternity, our leaders must not just be fascinated with the spotlight and power. They must know that their policies, actions and inactions, which appear to be chips off the block, have made life very hard for so many people – many folks are working their fingers to the bone and feeling dejected just as a ‘storm slaps reeds about’, hoping they could get a break from these grim ways.
While Trump’s ardent supporters see him as a strongman with a strong character, much of the world sees him as unpredictable. With the seeming unpredictability of the leader of the free world – choosing America and Americans over other countries and nationalities respectively seems to be one area anybody can successfully predict Trump, everyday inching closer to the possibility of an economic meltdown. I sincerely hope our leaders will take the valuable lessons from the Trump 2.0 economic agenda, tighten up and be laser-focused, and provide extraordinary leadership needed to leverage what we have to build a vibrant and innovative economy, which is one of the ways to exert global influence and develop into a superpower continent. It all comes down to leadership!
Ande, a financial and political economy analyst, writes from Lagos and can be reached via eyitayoande@gmail.com
Not that the National Assembly has done anything in recent times to shock the generality of the people. Nigerians have watched with resignation and dwindling interest the quality of their representative governance deteriorate inexorably in the course of this Fourth Republic. They wish to have pleasant surprises emerge. But that desire wasn’t fulfilled last Thursday when President Bola Tinubu approached the federal legislature to ratify the state of emergency he slammed on Rivers State two days earlier.
The occasion, readily one of the most constitutionally consequential moments of the present administration, could have been used to demonstrate not just the independence of a most critical component of government but also give the people of the affected state a voice. For, in the absence of an active popular voice, democracy – often touted as the best thing that has happened in the world’s political space – would be as hollow and potentially harmful as any loathed type of government. If people aren’t heard and responsively so, the very idea of the government of the people, by the people, and for the people would have no meaning beyond its poetic rendition.
As already pointed out on many platforms since that show of shame at the Senate and House of Representatives, the preference for voice vote in such a momentous exercise and the deliberate disregard for the proof of quorum by the leaderships of the red and green chambers signalled new lows at a time the need for systemic hope is at its peak. How will the presiding officers in both wings of the law-making institution explain to their own grandchildren the skills they brought to bear on that day in order to endorse the controversial presidential order? Again, not that this question ranks high among the cocktail of misdemeanours beclouding the credibility of the “distinguished” and “honourable” members.
Last Monday, I attended the colloquium organised to mark the 60th birthday of a former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives and an ex-Governor of Imo State, Rt. Hon. Emeka Ihedioha. “Is Democracy Failing in Africa?” was the subject that required honest answers from the eminent personalities there. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s response was in the affirmative. The Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the last general election, Mr Peter Obi, declared that democracy had collapsed in Nigeria. Guest speaker, Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah, went philosophical and attempted to convince the audience that perfection shouldn’t be expected in its operations. Senator Aminu Tambuwal took his cue from the priest and said that the nation’s democracy was a work in progress.
Wonderful responses all, representing the disillusionment of numerous citizens and also those whose optimism and patience might have started to wear thin. In the midst of those high-quality exchanges, my mind couldn’t move away from the second arm of government. For good measure, that venue had a large number of old and serving lawmakers.
Edmund Burke, notable 18th Century English author, thinker and statesman has several words on marble to his name, two of which are: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing” and “Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it.” These dictums now beg for attention as we attempt to navigate the waters of democracy which are becoming increasingly murky. Also, in a direct reference to the branch of government that’s designed to ensure equitable representation of the populace, Burke declares: “In effect, to follow, not to force the public inclination; to give a direction, a form, a technical dress, and a specific sanction, to the general sense of the community, is the true end of legislature.”
A core, definitive summary of the functions of the parliament, apparently. Having been deeply influenced by such iconic philosophers like John Locke, prominent Enlightenment protagonist and “father of liberalism”; Montesquieu, French judge, political scholar and key promoter of the doctrine of separation of powers; and Aristotle, timeless Greek polymath and philosopher, the validity of that statement can hardly be faulted.
The gigantic structure in the place called “three arms zone” in the nation’s capital that hosts an imposing dome is supposed to be the prime symbol for the sum-total of the hopes, frustrations, aspirations and solutions of Nigerians everywhere. The individuals who have the opportunity to represent their constituents across the federation must be conscious of their onerous task of contributing to what Burke called a “general sense of the community”.
For the citizens of Nigeria, that essentially means having men and women of integrity in the famed hallowed chambers who would prioritise their never-ending lists of concerns – both circumstantial and existential. Nearly 26 years after returning to democracy, its dividends are yet to make much meaning to many of them. But rather than seizing election cycles to celebrate a new era of freedom and brighter prospects, they’ve become reminders of broken promises and difficult dark clouds.
One legitimate poser here is why it makes sense to single out the national lawmakers at this point when, in fact, they constitute only a segment of the architecture called government. The legislature indeed encapsulates the fundamental concept of “we, the people” more than the executive and judiciary. It can’t get more profound than that. Military adventurists in politics know this. The first body which comes under the hammer anytime coup occurs is the entity that aggregates the diversities within the country. It is the thermometer that reveals the vibrancy or otherwise of democratic practice. The centrality of the legislative pillar in any civilian administration is, therefore, not in contention.
Like every other aspect of the polity, the Assembly has its own shortcomings. For instance, the current occupants have the misfortune of inheriting an overwhelming perception of being too self-serving to be of any substantial use to their constituents, let alone the entire nation. They’re saddled with the image of transactional fellows who’re there to recoup whatever they invested in securing their juicy seats. No generalisations intended. If this comment is unfair, probing around the streets of Nigeria might just be it. An average legislator today is not genuinely loved by the masses he/she claims to work for. The focus is on the ones in Abuja as law-making and oversight in the state and local government capitals are in much more dire situations. In virtually all cases, the legislators are effectively in the pockets of heads of the executive, sadly.
Therein lies the urgency of this moment. Successive sets of federal lawmakers in the present democratic dispensation have recorded varying degrees of success. But the immediate past President of the Senate and Chairman of the Assembly, Senator Ahmed Lawan, introduced a rather worrying element to the equation. He announced at his inauguration in June 2019 that under his watch, his colleagues and himself would have no problems approving whatever came from the presidency since they were sure of the intentions of former President Muhammadu Buhari. By that, he unwittingly handed over the soul of the legislature to the executive wholesale!
And now, this. Lawan’s successor, Senator Godswill Akpabio, with some allegations chasing him, is in an even more precarious position at this point to lead the Assembly out of its valley of subservience and underachievement. President Tinubu already sits upon a behemoth of powers as all the federal ministries, departments, agencies and parastatals are under his control. Surrendering the Senate and House to him in whatever form would move him closer to becoming a full-blown imperial president, an outcome that Nigeria can’t afford. Every stakeholder must rise against such unwholesome tendencies. And only the senators and representatives can adequately lead that charge through constructive, not necessarily combative, and pragmatic engagement.
Ekpe, PhD, is a member of THISDAY editorial board.
The FIFA window for international football for the month of March is now over. Sadly, for the Super Eagles, no one is sure yet if it has not left us worse than it met us.
The Eagles did an amazing job in Kigali against Rwanda, gave Nigerians a credible, professional performance and a fantastic result and then undid all the good work a few days later in Uyo.
This is the story of what has become one of Nigeria’s worst World Cup qualifying campaigns in recent history.
In a group that has South Africa, Benin Republic, Rwanda, Lesotho and Zimbabwe, Nigeria has only managed to win a game in six matches, failed to win any of the three games played at home and kept just one clean sheet. Such an abysmal form. This is not deserving of a World Cup ticket in any form or shape. It cannot sniff a playoff spot either.
However, despite these failings, the Eagles are not totally out of the picture. The race for the 2026 World Cup is still on for Nigeria. This is a miracle in itself. That the other teams in Group C have conspired to leave the race open just gives Nigeria a thin, tender thread to hang on. It must be stated here and now that in spite of the precarious situation they are in, I have not given up on them. The race to the 2026 World Cup has become very difficult to win but they are still in it so anything can still happen.
It is good to reflect on some issues here. Listen to some parts of Coach Eric Chelle’s post match statement after Tuesday’s game against Zimbabwe in Uyo: “We could have introduced a defender, but we introduced a striker because I told my boys to try to get another goal. We are talking about it because we did not win, but it would not be an issue if we won.” Of course, what does he expect?
We would speak and make a big issue out of it because the tactic backfired. One can appreciate Chelle’s honesty and desire to play on the front foot to get a big win, play attractive attacking football and score goals aplenty but things are not always that straightforward. One expects Chelle to be more pragmatic and cautious. His tactical naivety cost Nigeria two very precious points. 1-0, 2-0, 3-0, 4-0 give the same number of points. Get your three points secured in the bag before seeking to improve your goal difference. At the end of the day in Uyo, we lost both ways. Two points dropped and no improvement in the goal difference. You do not lose a good result while looking for a better one. Secure the good result before looking for a better one.
In Kigali, the game management by the Eagles was top notch and very professional. In Uyo, it was the opposite. I hope this serves as a very useful lesson for coach Chelle in his fledgling career.
There is also something here for the players, especially the senior and more established ones. As the main actors on the pitch, they should be able to adapt the instructions received from the coach to the realities and flow of the game. When the Zimbabweans were pouring forward in attack and carving out some decent goal scoring opportunities, the Eagles could have adjusted and adapted to the present and obvious dangers of the moment. Perhaps, that could have prevented the collapse of the team’s defensive network leading to the heart breaking equaliser.
Despite all these, however, I must admit that I have been impressed with the attitude and work ethics of the new Eagles handler. He is doing a lot of things right. He is soaking himself well in Nigeria’s domestic football, meeting the coaches in the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL), getting a first hand knowledge of the thrils, frills, culture, spirit and essence of the Nigerian game and people. He wants to live here so he can ‘feel’ the mood and understand the demands as well as the high level expectations and pressure that come with managing the nation’s number one football brand. Chelle is developing a good rapport with the players. It is in Nigeria’s best interest that he is supported to succeed with the team. It is shocking that some sections of the media are already pushing for his sack. Ridiculous!
Another interesting narrative spreading like wildfire is that the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium in Uyo aka Nest of Champions is jinxed and the Eagles are incapable of winning crucial games there or even playing good football there. I have had to remind a few of those spreading the.narrative that one of Nigeria’s best World Cup qualifying campaigns was the 2018 World Cup qualifiers and all the home games of the Super Eagles were played and won with excellent football in Uyo. The venue, day of a game and jersey colour do not decide the outcome of football matches. Rather it is the attitude, commitment and hunger of players that do.
Right now, since we are still in the World Cup race, let us see how to turn the thin and tender thread holding our dreams together into a battling rope, the type used for tug of war contests. To make the ‘miracles’ happen, the sports authorities have to ensure that the only FIFA window available before hostilities begin again in September is optimally utilised. The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has announced that friendly matches against Ghana and Russia are lined up for June. Not only must this period be used for team bonding and confidence building, it must also be used to educate the players that qualifying for the 2026 World Cup is a national project and all hands must be on deck to make it happen.
It is noteworthy and commendable that the Presidential Support Group (PSG), National Sports Commission (NSC) and the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) are seamlessly working together. The synergy is good, strong and healthy as this is galvanising tremendous support and goodwill for the Eagles. Also, the different factions of supporters now sing and dance as a forceful unit. Their voices are clearly heard. This is encouraging. The icing on the cake will now be for the results on the pitch to ‘fall in line’ as we continue to hope against hope.
Last Saturday, March 22, at the Transcorp Hilton, Abuja, the Tony Elumelu Foundation unveiled its 11th cohort of 3,000 young entrepreneurs from 54 African countries and they will receive the traditional funding, training and mentorship.
It is an incredible opportunity that Tony Elumelu, a leading African investor and philanthropist, and his wife, Awele, a medical doctor and entrepreneur (co-founders of the Foundation), created through the TEF Entrepreneurship Programme “to drive poverty alleviation, catalyse jobs, and ensure inclusive economic environment.”
March 22 is Tony Elumelu’s birthday and it is the day each cohort is unveiled every year. My birthday is March 21 – just one day apart.
Although the Tony Elumelu Foundation was founded in 2010 with a vision of a self-sustaining and prosperous Africa powered by the energy of innovation, and resilience of its young men and women, it wasn’t until five years later that the TEF Entrepreneurship Programme was launched. The goal at the time was to empower 10,000 entrepreneurs in 10 years with US100 million, but the good news is that the Foundation has now funded 24,000 entrepreneurs – a remarkable achievement – within the period.
Since 2015, these 24,000 Africans created 1.5 million jobs and generated US$4.2 billion in revenue, while lifting over two million Africans out of poverty. As a mentor of the programme, I should know. The inspiring stories of these young entrepreneurs and the impact they are making are changing the economic landscape of Africa. Each Tony Elumelu entrepreneur receives a non-refundable seed capital of US$5,000. If we do the math, the 2025 cohort of 3,000 entrepreneurs will receive UD$15 million (about N23 billion). The Foundation embodies the philosophy of Africapitalism, Tony Elumelu’s belief that African entrepreneurs are the key drivers of the continent’s economic transformation.
What these young entrepreneurs also receive is a world-class business training on TEFConnect, one-on-one mentorship, and access to global networks and investment opportunities.
But Elumelu’s approach to philanthropy is to leverage influence and impact. This explains why TEF has been able to forge strategic global partnerships to further scale the 2025 TEF Entrepreneurship Programme in collaboration with Google.org, the UAE Office of Development Affairs, Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation (an affiliate of Erth Zayed), and Deutche Investitions und Entwicklungsgesellschaft (DEG).
Apart from launching this noble initiative with his wife, Tony Elumelu is also the Chairman of UBA, Africa’s Global Bank and Group Chairman of Heirs Holdings, an African investment conglomerate. By the way, the recently released financial report for 2024 showed that UBA Group grew its Profit After Tax (PAT) to N766.6 billion, a 26.14 per cent increase from N607.7 billion in 2023.
Isn’t it better to be taught how to fish, as the popular saying goes, than being given a hand-out of fish? From the moment you set up a business, you can learn the ropes and avoid burning your fingers. Make no mistake about it, mistakes will be made, but the basic ingredients in your business plan should include a description of the business, vision, mission and values; competitive advantages, market analysis, organisational structure, products and/or services, marketing strategy, financial projections and funding request, if applicable.
In a previous article five years ago, this was what I wrote: “The TEF founder says entrepreneurship is the most effective way to establish true prosperity and he has continued to expand his vision to touch lives by providing seed money for young African entrepreneurs. But more importantly, the TEF founder wants a paradigm shift from the existing narrative whereby Africa depends largely on aids from multilateral institutions; it is not sustainable and it confers on Africa a weaker negotiating position in international trade.”
Last Saturday, Elumelu reiterated his unwavering belief in the potential of Africa’s entrepreneurs. “Today is the day we dedicate each year to democratise luck, spread hope, and create economic opportunities for young Africans across the continents,” Elumelu stated.
“When my wife and I founded TEF in 2010, we recognised the challenges young African entrepreneurs face, the barriers that stand in their way of ambition and their drive for Africa's economic transformation.”
Elumelu also told the audience that he has always believed immense opportunities exist in Africa and understands the power of transformative entrepreneurship. “I also know the obstacles,” he continued. “But I am certain that if we empower and invest in our young people, they will be the ones to solve Africa’s pressing challenges.”
Elumelu, through the Foundation – which is the philanthropic arm of Heirs Holdings – never hides his passion of creating enduring prosperity and social wealth in Africa by empowering entrepreneurs and enhancing the competitiveness in the private sector.
These young entrepreneurs, demonstrating their talent, vision and ambition, represent the beacons of enterprise and they are poised to create “enduring wealth” in Africa as the programme continues to scale. Out of the over 200,241 applications received on TEFConnect, TEF’s proprietary digital platform (40% were women), only 3,000 (1.5 per cent) made the cut for 2025 after a rigorous and highly competitive selection process by Ernst & Young, to ensure independent assessment.
Applicants were assessed on their financial understanding and entrepreneurial mindset, as well as the feasibility, demand and scalability of their business ideas. About 48 percent of the successful applicants are Nigerians which is clearly a reflection of our population compared to the rest of Africa. The breakdown showed the sectors represented included Agribusiness (34%), Creative Industry (11%), Green Economy (11%), amongst other sectors.
Although 24,000 African entrepreneurs have been empowered so far since the inception of TEF, Elumelu knows that there are millions also waiting to receiving grants to start their own businesses. This is why at every given opportunity, the TEF Chairman continues to advocate globally for a shift from aid to investment. “In the 21st century, what Africa needs is not charity; it is investment in infrastructure, in businesses and, most importantly, in our young people, because the future of Africa lies in their hands,” he said confidently.
In her own message of encouragement, Dr. Awele Elumelu, TEF Co-Founder, congratulated and praised the young entrepreneurs. “We are incredibly proud of you and excited to witness the impact that you will create,” she said. Awele also acknowledged those who were not selected this year, and asked them to keep their entrepreneurial dreams alive.
Some of the TEF alumni who shared testimonials include Tabitha Arenson Abimiku, 2018 Alumnus and founder of Virtuous Pads; Ayodele Ognin, 2019 Alumnus and founder of Wurami Consulting, and Mohamed Dhaoufi, 2017 Alumnus and founder of Cure Bionics.
As these young African entrepreneurs of the 2025 cohort pursue their dreams, they need all the support and encouragement that they can get. When you listen to the stories of entrepreneurs, funding is always a major obstacle. TEF alumni are forever thankful to the Tony Elumelu Foundation for helping them overcome this challenge.
“I had an idea but I lacked the resources and didn’t have any network,” Abimiku, 2018 Alumnus and founder of Virtuous Pads, the multiple-award winning social enterprise, lamented some years ago. ”There was also no strategic direction, but from the seed funding, we raised additional US$50,000. We have been able to distribute more than a million reusable and washable pads across Africa.”
There are similar stories of impact that won’t be forgotten in a hurry, thanks to the Tony Elumelu Foundation.
Braimah is a public relations consultant and marketing strategist.
Monday, March 24, 2025, was Emeka Ihedioha’s day in the sun. Granted, some will say he had already achieved a lot in six decades. Having been a three-term member of the House of Representatives, where he served as Chief Whip, Deputy Speaker and even Speaker, albeit temporarily, and Governor of Imo State, nothing can be truer.
Yet, his 60th birthday marked with a colloquium at the Abuja Continental Hotel, was epochal. It was not only a day of recognition, it was also a day of validation and triumph for a man who suffered, perhaps, the most grievous injustice in this present political dispensation.
On January 14, 2020, a seven-member panel of the Supreme Court led by Chief Justice Tanko Muhammad, the man who doesn’t know what technicality means in law, truncated Ihedioha’s governorship and awarded victory to Senator Hope Uzodimma on a platter.
That unconscionable judgement, which the late Justice Centus Nweze unequivocally said on March 4, 2020, “will continue to haunt our (Nigeria’s) electoral jurisprudence for a long time to come,” was delivered by Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, yes, the incumbent CJN. Any wonder our judiciary has become the butt of jokes locally and internationally.
But, I digress!
Back to Ihedioha’s birthday and why it remains his moment in the sun. Attendance at the colloquium with the theme, “Is democracy failing in Africa,” delivered by the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Matthew Hassan Kukah, was topnotch. Except for former military president, General Ibrahim Babangida’s recent book launch in Abuja, it will not be an exaggeration to say that no other event has attracted such an array of dignitaries in recent times.
It was also a measure of Ihedioha’s national appeal and political clout that the guests came from all the nooks and crannies of the country. For a man who has been out of public office for more than five years with no patronage to dispense or the resources to buy loyalty, that was an incredible feat.
But even more significant were the remarks by guests, starting from the former governor of Cross River State, Liyel Imoke, who chaired the planning committee. Describing Ihedioha as a very determined person, with egalitarian worldview, Imoke said, “Emeka is one man who is intentional, extremely intentional. He sets his eyes on a goal and his commitment to achieving it knows no bounds. He is the right man to have beside you at any given time. In any political war, it is better to have Emeka on your side than on the other side.”
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who chaired the colloquium, concurred. Now, anyone who knows Obasanjo will agree that he is as stingy with money as he is with praises. But with Ihedioha, he makes an exception. “There is no perfect human being but the little I also know about you, you are almost a perfect human being. Again, the little I know about you, you take things as they come and you are unperturbed by even the seeming and apparent injustice when they come to you,” Obasanjo said.
For those who may think that he was playing to the gallery, Obasanjo had expressed the same sentiment privately. In his birthday message on March 20, the former president wrote: “I have watched you over the last 25 years as you conducted yourself socially, politically and economically and I have always said to myself that there is something in you that would make you to continue to be a great man of service to humanity and to God, your creator… my prayer and hope is that you will continue to live as you have done thus far without diversion, distraction or deviation.”
But Imoke and Obasanjo were not alone in praising Ihedioha’s political sagacity and exceptional leadership qualities. Former Secretary General of the Commonwealth, Chief Emeka Anyaoku, former Senate President David Mark, former Speaker of the House of Representatives Aminu Tambuwal and all others who had the privilege of mounting the rostrum harped on those remarkable qualities and the need for Imo people to ensure that he goes back to Douglas House, Imo seat of power, to continue with the urgent and existential task of rebuilding the much abused Eastern Heartland.
Osita Chidoka, former Minister of Aviation and master of ceremony at the colloquium, put it most succintly. “For every Igbo man, the question is where do you stand on the removal of Emeka Ihedioha as the governor of Imo State? If you stand on the left, you are forever a man of history; if you don’t stand on the right side of history, you will forever be remembered for shame and disgrace to Igboland,” he said.
But characteristically, Ihedioha chose to stand above the fray, insisting that what needs to be protected is democracy itself. Expressing gratitude to all, Ihedioha said: “When we were commencing this process, some people felt we were going to discuss Emeka and the issues in Imo State. I am happy that you can see that is a matter in the past. That is not the subject. And the subject is not to talk about my future, either. The subject is simply to gather Nigerians and talk about the well-being of our people and the democracy which we believe in… So, I urge all men and women of goodwill, all of us gathered here, very distinguished Nigerians, it is important that we do everything we can, without fear or favour, and speaking truth to power, to sustain and protect this democracy.”
So, is democracy failing in Africa? Are we doing enough to sustain and protect democracy in Nigeria?
Bishop Kukah believes democracy is not failing but with a caveat: development must be democratised. Democratisation of development, he said, will ultimately lead to the development of democracy.
Obasanjo disagrees. It is not only that democracy is failing in Africa, Nigeria inclusive, it is dying, he insists. And democracy is dying because the leaders have failed to prioritise the needs of the people.
“Democracy is meant to be a system of government that delivers to all the people, not just a section of the people, not just a few,” he said. “Today, we have a democracy which is government of small number of people, by small number of people over large number of people who are deprived of what they need to have in life. That is not democracy that will endure. So, if you are talking of democracy failing in Africa, democracy in Africa has failed and why has it failed? Because in context and content, it is not African. It does not have any aspect of our culture, our way of life, what we stand for, what we believe, Ubuntu – I am because we are.”
Now, the African concept of Ubuntu emphasizes interconnectedness and shared humanity. ‘I am because we are’ or ‘humanity towards others.’ It is a philosophy that values community, compassion, and mutual respect.
Obasanjo said that is quite different from what obtains today in Nigeria, particularly under Tinubu’s presidency, which is, “I am because I can grab.”
Then, he asked the million-dollar question: “What sort of democracy brings you and you grab everything illegally, and you say go to court when you know that even in the court you cannot get justice? So, it is not that democracy is failing, democracy is dying.”
Peter Obi, former governor of Anambra State, and presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 elections, amplified Obasanjo’s position, insisting that democracy has collapsed under Tinubu’s watch.
With unimpeachable anecdotal evidences, Obi surmised: “Democracy is not working in Nigeria. Everything has been knocked down. Democracy is collapsing.”
Expectedly, the government is firing back. Picking on the soft target – Peter Obi – Bayo Onanuga, Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, called him out.
“Only a discontented and disgruntled Peter, who benefits from the very free speech democracy provides, could perceive such a democratic downfall through his lens. If democracy had indeed collapsed, as Peter claims, and we were living under a regime antithetical to democratic principles, he would not have been able to make his comments on Monday at Emeka Ihedioha’s colloquium,” Onanuga said.
Who says? That argument is rather puerile. In any case, the fact that free speech is now considered a privilege under Tinubu, rather than a right speaks volumes. It says a great deal and tells the real story of where we are and why we are where we are.
The truth remains that Tinubu is systematically dismantling all the guardrails of democracy. By the time he is done with the demolition job, unless he is resisted and time is of the essence, the General Sani Abacha dictatorship will be child’s play.
More...
[OPINION] Rasool’s Expulsion Was Africa’s Missed Opportunity to Tackle the US Bully - Azu Ishiekwene
AdminThe question is not where US President Donald Trump has not touched in less than 100 days in office. It is how the world is coping with the shock and devastation of his touch and the trail of chaos it is leaving behind.
Because of its vulnerabilities, Africa was never far from Trump’s reach. When the continent thought the looming mass deportation of immigrants and the scrapping of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) were among the worst measures in the early days of Trump’s second term, he unleashed a body blow that has left South Africa in a daze.
As of March 23, South Africa’s Ambassador to the US, Ebrahim Rasool, arrived back in Cape Town to tumultuous cheers from large crowds after he departed Washington. He was declared persona non grata by the Trump administration on March 14 for his comments at a webinar.
Rasool’s ‘sin’
Secretary of State Marco Rubio described Rasool’s criticisms of President Trump’s policies as “unacceptable”, adding that the ambassador harboured animosity towards the US president. Rubio said on X, where he also announced the expulsion, Rasool “hates America.”
The last time the US declared a foreign ambassador persona non grata was 17 years ago, under President George W. Bush. And even then, it retaliated against Bolivia after that country expelled the US ambassador for allegedly interfering in its “internal affairs.”
What was it that Rasool said? He told a webinar hosted by a South African think tank that Trump was “mobilising a supremacism” and also trying to “project white victimhood as a dog whistle” as a reaction to the demographic reality of a diminishing white population.
He said, “We see it in the domestic politics of the USA, the MAGA movement as a response not simply to a supremacist instinct, but to very clear data that shows great demographic shifts in the USA in which the voting electorate in the USA is projected to become 48 percent white.”
Inconvenient truth
That was the inconvenient truth. Could it have been said differently? Did Rasool walk into a trap, or was Rubio’s excuse a red herring? Apart from Somalia, no other African country has been targeted by the new US administration as much as South Africa.
First, there was an executive order freezing US assistance to Pretoria for alleged “unjust racial discrimination” against white Afrikaans over the Expropriation Act, which seeks to redistribute land in the country, and then followed the stoppage of the USAID-funded HIV/AIDS programme that has put hundreds of lives at risk.
Rasool did what he had to. I won’t remove anything from his words. Relations between Pretoria and Washington were already testy, and the beads holding them had been broken from the waist by Trump’s chaotic dance steps. It was not a matter of if but which way the beads would fall.
Behind the story
The anti-Pretoria lobby in the US has had it for South Africa for a long time, especially following that country’s stand against Israel in the ongoing war on Gaza.
During my visit to Israel last December, the talk at the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs was that South Africa took a bribe of $2 billion from Iran to mount a case against the Benjamin Netanyahu government at the International Criminal Court (ICC), an allegation that diplomatic sources in Pretoria have denied.
Despite Trump’s expression of displeasure, South Africa said it would not withdraw its case of genocide against Israel, saying it is aware that “Standing by our principles sometimes has consequences.”
Silent Africa
Rasool’s eviction is another consequence of South Africa’s principled stand, and the country is taking it in its stride. My surprise is the loud silence over Trump’s decision across African capitals. The continent’s media have also treated the story like a footnote.
We’re not talking about the US evicting illegal immigrants or smashing drug gangs. We’re talking about an ambassador with a distinguished career in the foreign service who was first appointed to the US in 2010 under Barack Obama.
He served for five years and was reappointed because of his extensive US domestic politics experience and ability to navigate complex international relations.
Contrary to what Rubio would have the world believe, Rasool’s “cardinal sin” was championing the case against Israel at the ICC – a matter of principle for which the ambassador should have no regrets.
Either African governments and the AU are too shocked to offer a clear response, or the continent has accepted chaos as the inevitability of the Trump era.
Dangerous silence
Whatever it is, silence is a dangerous option. If Trump can evict the ambassador of one of Africa’s most consequential countries for expressing an inconvenient opinion, it is only a matter of time before the less endowed countries will be in the firing line.
An academic and diplomat who served in many conflict areas in Africa, Professor Babafemi Badejo, said, “South Africa has, of late, been leading many countries over Gaza-Palestine. About four-fifths of African countries are, at best, lukewarm on this issue.
“It’s not a surprise that African countries have been mute over the US Secretary of State’s action declaring the South African ambassador persona non grata.”
If South Africa’s primary offence is its position on the war in Gaza – a position shared by many African countries – why is the continent unable to rally against Rasool’s eviction? Why is the AU silent?
European example
In 2018, three European countries – France, Germany and the UK – took a common stand against the US in response to Washington’s unilateral withdrawal from the comprehensive action plan to guarantee the nuclear agreement with Iran. They bypassed the dollar-trading system and set up their mechanism to trade with Tehran.
Why is Africa a spectator in its own case? “Fear of punishments and resignation to a life of minimal relevance, if at all, has been the stance of many African countries,” Badejo said. “How does a Lilliputian state begging for food aid for its people assert itself.”
Africa’s other reasons
There could be a less apparent reason Trump would get away with his diplomacy of bullying. Several African leaders would like to copy him. In West and Central Africa, for example, five countries – Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Guinea and Chad – are under military rule.
Four of them have broken away from the regional group ECOWAS. Their leaders, who might have been in soup in a different, bygone world, would now consider themselves lucky beneficiaries of a chaotic global order. The last thing they would want to do is to challenge Trump.
Apart from the President of Cote d’Ivoire, Alassane Ouattara, whose supporters are already urging to continue for a fourth term against the constitutionally approved limit, the presidents of three other African countries are pressing for an extended term limit, the sort of thing Trump is already hinting at.
I didn’t expect the South African Development Community (SADC) or the AU to call an extraordinary meeting to discuss Rasool’s expulsion. But it’s a measure of how weak and resigned we have become that neither an officer of these organisations nor an African head of state can call out his eviction.
It’s Rasool today. Trump’s next victim is not far away.
_______________________
Multichoice apartheid pricing?
I’m usually not one to interfere with the markets, whatever the invincible foxes or forces want to do. But how can you ignore the nonsense that Multichoice has been up to lately? The pay-tv service provider has increased fees in Nigeria by 21 percent through the backdoor while cutting subscription fees in South Africa by 38 percent! Why? It said the cut in South Africa was a token to subscribers for the cost of living crisis. And in Nigeria? You know the old story – inflation, infrastructure, blah, blah. I wouldn’t mind if Multichoice had a competitor. But it’s nonsense for this monopoly to make most of its profits in this so-called high-risk environment and use it to subsidise subscribers elsewhere.
We had a name for it: apartheid!
During an interview on Channels TV on Monday, Professor Wole Soyinka responded to critics who have been taunting him to “say something” about the present administration. In the interview, he said, “People should stop trying to work on my timetable for me. I had not swallowed an alarm clock. I don’t see why I should put my alarm on and say: ‘One year has passed, now, I must make an assessment’ if there is nothing I feel like talking about and if I am busy elsewhere.” Following his earlier statement when he visited Bola Tinubu at Aso Rock in 2023, that he only criticises a government after its first year, it must be disappointing to his monitors that they cannot put their hands in his mouth and force out words.
To be fair to him, Soyinka has not been exactly silent on Nigeria’s situation. He criticised Tinubu’s decision to declare a state of emergency in Rivers State, but his intervention was tame, lame, and lacking characteristic edginess. The Soyinka who once referred to President Goodluck Jonathan as “Nebuchadnezzar” because of a police siege on the National Assembly resorted to prevarications on Rivers’ state of emergency. Time truly changes everything. If Jonathan were Nebuchadnezzar, the enslaving king who lost his sanity at the height of his brutal reign, then to which biblical figure can one similarly liken Tinubu, under whose watch Nigerians have confronted a severe economic crisis and recorded an unparalleled number of human rights abuses? Rehoboam, perhaps. That was the king who ill-advisedly refused to lighten the strenuous taxes his predecessor had tolled the people, incited a public rebellion, and ended up balkanising a united kingdom.
Everyone, including the critics taunting Soyinka for bringing less than the blunt edges of his sharp wit to political discourses, knows he is in an awkward situation under the present administration. He and Tinubu are friends, and their close relationship reportedly started during their NADECO days. Ordinarily, it is hard for a social critic to take down a close friend in power. It is even harder for a man like Soyinka, who has set a high bar of radical public engagement, to continue to meet his own standards now that his buddy is the President. While he has built a towering profile around being an anti-establishment figure, he is part of the political establishment now, even if he does not hold any official position in Tinubu’s administration. He can no longer maintain his previous ideological stance on political issues, and he should make that clear to the public rather than promising to speak when he finally has something to say. There is nothing he will ever have to say on any issue that has to do with Tinubu’s administration that will not be considered tainted and even cynically prejudged, so why bother?
Perhaps if Soyinka had known that a day would come when Tinubu would become the President, he would have been more measured in his criticisms of previous administrations. He would not be in the awkward position where they jab him to prove his patriotic commitment to the nation by criticising an oppressive government now run by his dear friend. The past cannot be helped, but he should also be able to clearly state to the public on whose behalf he has advocated for years, why he would hang up his boxing gloves this time around. It will not be a crime, nor will it mean he has lost the patriotic zeal that pushed him into lifelong social advocacy; it would just be practical under the circumstances. It is not enough to say, “I will speak when I have something to say,” but you must also be accountable enough to the public to point out your closeness to the political subject, how it compromises you, and why you would take a pass on political commentary. Without being upfront about why you have nothing to say during an oppressive reign when you would have had more than enough to say if your friends were not involved, you damage your public image and legacy. Respecting the public enough to be honest about your limits under the circumstances means you can frame your actions as courtesy to a friend rather than leave them to be interpreted as cowardice or hypocrisy.
One of the several fallouts of the ascendance of the All Progressives Congress to the national stage from being a regional party is that it forcefully retired many anti-establishment figures. Many of them cut their critical teeth railing against the Peoples Democratic Party machine that was in power for 16 years. While at it, they also fraternised with the Alliance for Democracy/APC, the political party that also defined itself against the state. Their mutual affiliation was logical for reasons ranging from ethnic sentiment to the lush funds Tinubu provided from Lagos’ purse. When the APC won the Presidency in 2015, many of them found themselves in the uncomfortable position where they could either maintain their oppositional stance (and risk offending their APC allies) or become apologists for a government that duplicated every political action for which they once attacked the PDP. Before many could figure out their roles under the dispensation, the dynamics of Nigerian political opposition changed. The old guard was replaced by a younger generation who quickly made it clear they would have nothing to do with them.
Soyinka was one of those who soldiered on, although one can argue that his criticisms of the Muhammadu Buhari administration curiously coincided with the sidelining of Tinubu among the APC establishment. While I do not think he is a card-carrying member of the APC, Soyinka’s political posture since 1999 has favoured the AD/APC political class more than any other collective in Nigeria. Now that the same Tinubu has made it to the Presidency, Soyinka is in an even more complicated place. There is no winning for him under the circumstances other than acknowledging that some personal relationships necessarily compromise us. The writer E.M. Forster once said, “If I had to choose between betraying my country and betraying my friend, I hope I should have the guts to betray my country.” This should be one of the times when choosing your friend over your country is the right thing to do.
This is not the first time friendship has put Soyinka in an awkward position where he has to self-justify. In 2016, during one of the many squabbles between Rivers Governor Rotimi Amaechi and his successor Nyesom Wike, it was revealed that the former had spent N82m (about $165,000) to host him to a dinner. Wike’s boys pulled that detail out from official records for no other reason than to embarrass Soyinka, whose intervention in the Rivers matter was perceived as fighting Amaechi’s battles. Soyinka’s response was to deny it was his “business to probe into the catering and logistical implications of the hundreds of institutions and governments all over the world to whom I acknowledge an immense debt of unsolicited recognition over the years”. Yes, while no reasonable person expects a Nobel Prize winner to ask such questions when he is hosted at a dinner, the right thing would have been to condemn such an inordinate expense made in your name. By not calling out Amaechi’s corruption, he fell into Wike’s well-laid trap to make him choose between his friend and the strict moral principles for which he is renowned.
Now he is in another situation that warrants choosing between his friend and his principles, and I suggest he chooses the former. We can borrow the immortal wisdom of Ogbuefi Ezeudu in Things Fall Apart, who told Okonkwo: “That boy calls you father. Do not bear a hand in his death to remind him this unpleasant task needs not to involve him.” Soyinka was right that other people—the Falanas, Sowores, and the Baiyewus—are already doing a good job without him. The thing is, by looking away from his friend’s administrative shortcomings, he will also be losing the moral right to comment on any other leader after Tinubu. He should make peace with that.
At the instance of the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, President Felix Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and his Rwandan counterpart, President Paul Kagame met in Doha last week in a bid to end the ongoing war in the DRC. The mindless violence in the eastern part of the country, according to the United Nations, has created one of the worst humanitarian crises in history, impacting nearly seven million people—half of them children. The situation is becoming even more dire with the recent capture of two major cities in eastern DRC, Goma and Bukavu, by Rwanda-backed M23 rebels. But in Doha, both Kagame and Tshisekedi agreed on an “immediate and unconditional ceasefire” that seems easier said than done.
Instructively, at about the time the two leaders were meeting, a video was trending on social media of an interview granted by Kagame where he brutally disparaged his Congolese colleague. “You know Felix (President Tshisekedi) spent many years in Belgium. He was a taxi driver. He was many things of that kind but with a very bad reputation. He was employed by an Italian man, an old man now, who had a shop selling pizza. Felix used to deliver Pizza for him,” Kagame claimed in the interview. “When this old man heard that Felix had become president of his country he said, ‘Oh, my God! Felix that couldn’t even do the job of delivering pizza, how did he become president?’”
I shared the anecdote at the 60th birthday colloquium in honour of Hon Emeka Ihedioha on Monday. Chaired by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, I had been conscripted to discuss the paper presented by Bishop Hassan Matthew Kukah on the theme, ‘Is Democracy failing in Africa?’ along with Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal and Mr Peter Obi, both of whom need no further introduction. The moderator, Maupe Ogun-Yusuf of Channels Television, had sought our views on whether democracy is indeed failing on the continent. With Tambuwal answering ‘No’ and Obi saying ‘Yes’, I responded with, ‘Yes and No.’ As a member of the birthday planning committee chaired by former Cross River State Governor Liyel Imoke (who decreed that I be on the panel at the last minute), we were deliberate about the kind of conversation we wanted to provoke.
After the session, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim (also needs no further introduction) told me that he thought my punchline would be that a man who could not deliver pizza would be incapable of delivering democracy and good governance to his people as president. That precisely was the point Kagame made, but I was hesitant to amplify his message that if Tshisekedi was found wanting in the simple task of prompt pizza delivery, it was expecting too much to saddle him with presiding over one of the most resource-endowed countries in Africa. Although I made the point in passing, I deliberately avoided pushing the envelope because it would detract from my central argument within the three minutes I was given. Besides, I had my doubts about the veracity of Kagame’s claim.
From my online check, the report Kagame alluded to was published by a Rwandese journalist, Tom Ndahiro who referenced a Belgian publication. One Francisco Piscopo, owner of Pizzeria Godo in Brussels, was said to have recalled his time employing Tshisekedi for three years. “He runs Congo the same way he delivered pizzas: always late, disorganized, and with missing funds that no one can explain” Piscopo reportedly said. “If I could give him one piece of advice, it would be to take his responsibilities more seriously.” I have read reports which suggest that the story was made up since Tshisekedi comes from a privileged background. His late father, Étienne Tshisekedi, was Prime Minister of Zaire in the 90s. When children of African leaders go to school or reside abroad, they rarely do odd jobs such as selling pizza. Therefore, I would rather take the Felix who couldn’t deliver pizza as a metaphor. I will come back to this shortly.
Every democracy, Kukah said in his thought-provoking presentation, is a work in progress. “Democracy gives you the opportunity to try if you failed and gives you a greater opportunity to correct the former mistakes,” the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese stated. Tambuwal shared his position, but Obi disagreed. Obasanjo, of course, took a different slant. ‘Western type democracy’, he argued, seems too frail a plant to survive the African climate because it has been reduced to “government of a small number of people, by a small number of people, over a large number of people who are deprived of what they need to have in life.” My problem with Obasanjo’s thesis, on which he has been very consistent, is that it presupposes that the pre-colonial leadership model offers better prospects of delivering the public good.
It is interesting that just about a week ago, Obasanjo publicly lamented the process of selecting traditional rulers in the country. “Today, there are criminals, drug addicts, vagabonds, bandits and kidnappers as so-called traditional rulers” Obasanjo said. “This is a great pity, and it has greatly contributed to the problems of Nigeria. How do we account for a traditional ruler snatching a ballot box at an election polling station and running away with it?” he queried. Reflecting on the past, Obasanjo said traditional rulers used to command respect, particularly during the colonial and early post-independence periods, but not anymore. “The class of traditional rulers with their distinction, honour and dignity, as we knew them in the colonial days and early post-independence days, has been diluted and polluted.”
Although the former president is yet to clarify his thoughts on ‘Afro-democracy’ (perhaps he needs to write a book on the issue), it looks to me like a throw-back to the era of the all-powerful traditional ruler who cannot be questioned (‘Kabiyesi’ in Yoruba parlance). “It’s now our responsibility to chart our own course. Western liberal democracy introduced the concept of opposition, equating it with enmity. Yet, there’s nothing inherently African about this model,” Obasanjo told a House of Representatives delegation last year when they came to seek his support for their bill to replace the current presidential system with the parliamentary system we practiced in the First Republic. Incidentally, I also had an informal session with prominent members of the group in Abuja last year, and I made it clear to them that the challenge of democratic governance in Nigeria comes more from the operators than the constitution or the system of government. For instance, if the same traditional institution that worked in the past is now ‘diluted and polluted’, why does the former president believe that changing the system of government in Nigeria will not suffer a similar fate since it would be operated by the same set of people?
Indeed, nothing illustrates the crisis of the traditional institution better than the process that eventually culminated in the enthronement of the current Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Abimbola Owoade. A former vice-chancellor of Obafemi Awolowo University and globally renowned traditionalist, Professor Wande Abimbola, 92, whose intervention eventually led to a resolution of what had become a logjam, revealed some sordid details. “The kingmakers were consulted to pick a successor, and then interested individuals started giving hefty money to influence their decision. This later divided the rank of the kingmakers because they discovered that the money their leader shared to them was a far cry from what he collected,” Abimbola revealed while explaining how he was asked by Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde to consult the Ifa Oracle on the matter. “The five kingmakers had earlier supported a particular prince who gave them the heaviest sum but after discovering the act perpetrated by their leader, two of them backtracked. They reached out to the government to say they were no longer in support of the candidate, adding that they just discovered that the money their leader collected from the said prince was incredibly heavy from which he gave them peanuts.” In Yorubaland today, according to Abimbola, enthroning a king is now a cash-and-carry affair. “They would buy generators, cars and what have you for the kingmakers to influence the process. The kingmakers may collect money from a hundred candidates, it’s the highest bidder that they will give the stool to. That’s how they are doing it now.”
The lesson is that there is no system that cannot be compromised. So, at the end of the day, it’s about fidelity to the rules of engagement by the operators and being accountable to the people. But before I conclude, let me come back to the Rwandese journalist who amplified the statement of his president to knock Tshisekedi. According to Ndahiro, the fortune of a country is determined by the leader. So, if such an individual lacks the requisite qualities of discipline, honesty and dedication to duties, it is their people who would suffer the consequences. “The man who once struggled to deliver pizzas in Brussels and now struggles to deliver governance in the DR Congo, serves as a lesson in why evaluating a leader’s past is critical to understanding their potential for national leadership”, Ndahiro wrote, while highlighting what he sees as the failings of Tshisekedi.
I do not agree with the clearly partisan premise of Ndahiro, but it is difficult to fault his thesis that a leadership recruitment process that ignores such important factors is doomed. Therefore, whether it is ‘Western style democracy’ or the traditional system of the pre-colonial era, if the person at the helm is a ‘Felix that couldn’t deliver pizza’, the system would also not deliver on the public good.
Since whatever goes for Nigeria goes for Africa, the crisis of democracy on the continent is the result of a combination of history, cultural deformities and impunity by a succession of leaders. In post-colonial Africa, the traditional codes of competence, discipline and integrity have also been superseded and replaced by the anarchy of cultism, the worship of corrupt money and transactional religion. And democracy or whatever other system we come up with can only reflect these factors in our contemporary society. The pertinent question therefore is, how do we enthrone a system that shuts out those like ‘Felix that couldn’t deliver pizza’ from critical leadership positions?
That for me is the real challenge across board, and in all spheres of our national life.
Bereavement of Wunti, Ehusani
Hajiya Aishatu Al Mustapha died last week in Bauchi State. She was the mother of my friend, Bala Wunti, the Chief Health, Safety and Environment Officer of the NNPC Ltd. May God comfort the family she left behind. And may He grant her Aljannah Firdaus. Also yesterday in Abuja, I attended the Service of Songs and Mass for Mama Catherine Matureyi Ehusani, mother of Father George Ehusani, who also preached a very powerful sermon at the occasion attended by many Catholic priests, including John Cardinal Onaiyekan. She will be buried today in Okene, Kogi State. In the tribute to his late mother written as a poem, Father George recollects: Like a weary caravan sighting an oasis/I skid at my mother’s love/With a smile as wide as the sea/For an embrace as deep as the ocean.
May she find perfect peace and may God continue to comfort the family.
Ayo Olukanni @ 70
Former Nigeria ambassador to Australia with concurrent accreditation to New Zealand, Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu, Mr Ayo Olukanni, is 70 today. A career diplomat who had at various times also served in Brussels, New York, Tel Aviv, Nairobi, Vienna etc was for four years the Director General of the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines, and Agriculture (NACCIMA) after his tour of duty in foreign service. I first met Olukanni when I was presidential spokesman, and he was spokesman to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the time. Despite being senior to me in age and not minding his public service experience and exposure, he treated me with much respect and sought the assistance of my office all the time. With that, we worked seamlessly together. As he joins the elite Septuagenarian Club today, I can only wish him happy birthday, long life and good health.
Since late February when Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan nearly brought down the roof of the Senate, wagging her finger at the Senate President and shouting, ‘’I’m not afraid of you’’, Nigerian women have found their voice and are rising to assert their influence. Akpoti-Uduaghan’s sexual harassment allegation against Akpabio and her relentless pursuit of the matter have further pumped up our women fold; creating a sense in them that they can’t remain silent further. The other day at the airport, a woman caused a stir as she shouted at a middle aged man, ‘’If you cross me, I will deal ruthlessly with you’’. I don’t know what the matter was, but I had to quickly walk away from the scene. On talk shows, women activists are punching the air to make their points on the issue of gender equality and reiterate their support for the embattled Kogi Senator. Last Saturday, a female guest in a TV interview looked intensely into the camera and bellowed out: ‘’we’ve been quiet for so long. It’s time we, the women, came out of our shells and teach the men some lessons’’. But nothing prepared me for the shock of last night when Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, former Vice President for Africa at the World Bank and former Minister of Education, nearly came to blows with Senator Onyekachi Nwebonyi, deputy chief whip of the senate. I have never seen Ezekweisili so agitated, irascible and emotional.
It was at the sitting of the Senate Committee on Ethics where Akpoti-Uduaghan’s petition against Akapbio was to be heard, and the former minister was there in her capacity as the Country Chair of Women Political Leaders (WPL), a nonprofit foundation that operates as a global network of female political leaders. Nwebonyi attended as a representative of the Senate President, who has been in the centre of the storm. According to Nwebonyi, trouble started when the petitioner and his lawyer refused to go on oath before they could make their presentation. Nwebonyi told Arise News: ‘’When they refused to take the oath, I asked the Chairman of the Committee to call off the meeting as the petitioner was not ready. That’s when Dr. Ezekwesili told me ‘shut up your mouth. You are a hooligan’. A shouting match then ensued. Nigerians are sharply divided on who to blame for the altercation. While some argue that as a man, Nwebonyi should have kept quiet and received Ezekwesili’s insults with equanimity, others claim that the former minister ought not to have been rude to the man, a principal officer of the Nigerian Senate, no matter her status. In any case, Nwebonyi was not even addressing her when she interjected with ‘’Shut up your mouth’’.
I have known Ezekwesili right from our days in the university in the 1980s as a respectful, courteous and good-natured, but independent minded person, and I have never thought that a day would come when she would call a senator a ‘’hooligan’’. The anger, emotions and the adrenalins we have seen in Nigerian women since the Akpoti-Uduaghan saga have been enormous. Many have thrown away self restraint as they try to make their point. This is their ‘’Me too’’ moment. I recall that #MeToo started in the US as a social movement and awareness campaign against sexual abuse, sexual harassment and rape culture in which women publicize their experiences of sexual abuse or harassment. The phrase ‘’Me Too’’ was initially used in this context in the US in 2006, on Myspace, by a sexual assault survivor and activist, Ms Tarana Burke; and the hashtag #MeToo was used in 2017 as a way to draw attention to the magnitude of the problem in the US. ‘’MeeToo’’ is therefore meant to empower those who have been sexually assaulted through empathy, solidarity and strength in numbers, by visibly demonstrating the depth of the problems, especially at workplace. So far, Nigerian activists have not used the hashtag #MeToo in their advocacy, but I will not be surprised if someone comes up with a typically Nigerian creative slogan. It’s not long ago that we had #EndSARs; #EndBadGovernance and #NoGreeForAnybody.
Now that personalities like Oby Ezekwesili have come out to openly identify with Akpoti-Uduaghan, it is important that Nigerian men realize just how important this issue is to our womenfolk; how sensitive they are to such matters, and that the women are fighting back in unimaginable ways. To my fellow men, let me warn that the era of leering lustfully at women or making comments about a woman’s bust or length of her skirt is gone. You could be accused of sexual harassment for passing what you think is an innocuous joke. Last May, Mrs Simisola Ajayi, an assistant to the Minister of Foreign Affairs had accused the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Ibrahim Lamuwa, of sexual harassment. Mrs Ajayi had petitioned the then Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mrs Folashade Yemi-Esan of serially making passes at her despite her status as a married woman. Then Head of Service promptly suspended the Perm Sec, but the matter had since died. Attempts by the House of Representatives to weigh into the matter quickly fizzled out. Activists like Dr. Ezekwesili did not even bother to comment on it, perhaps because Mrs Ajayi is not a senator. That’s how Nigeria works. If you are not a big man (or woman), nobody fights your fight. The reason Natasha’s matter has become an international embarrassment is because she is a beautiful senator married to a Warri chief. If she were a teacher in my village, nobody would listen to her even if her headmaster had torn her skirt!
Nigerian women are fighting back to assert their position as equal partners in society and demand for respect, recognition and a place at the table. But like all struggles, this one requires good strategies and long-term planning; not emotions and insults.