In my 1994 book, ‘Fortress on Quicksand’, which chronicled the presidential primaries of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and National Republican Convention (NRC) and profiled the contenders during the aborted Third Republic of General Ibrahim Babangida, I wrote that it was glaring to the discerning that the experiment would not last. I had the same premonition about the current democratic journey ushered in on 29 May 1999. Although I am now delighted to have been proved wrong, I had reasons to doubt that we would today be celebrating 25 years of unbroken democracy in Nigeria. But then, it is also glaring that civil rule does not necessarily approximate to democratic rule as we have seen in our country in the past 25 years. Neither does civil rule guarantee improvement in the welfare of the people as it is also evident.

Before I continue, let me state that there are three competing national issues today. Besides 25 years of unbroken democracy in Nigeria, yesterday also marked the first-year anniversary of the administration of President Bola Tinubu. And then, we have the ongoing political ‘game of thrones’ in Kano. While I have decided to allow that palace intrigues play out before expressing my opinion, the discerning can also see that on full display are all the elements that have conspired to hold back our democracy: a power struggle that has nothing to do with the welfare of the ordinary people, a thriving judicial black market where pay-per-order judges (and their collaborators in the bar) make a kill, the abuse of federal might by some Abuja powermongers etc. Whichever way it ends, the real losers are the people of Kano, the once-revered traditional institution and members of the same Fulani family who have now become pawns in the hands of desperate politicians.

For now, let me get back to the issue of our democracy and why I was skeptical that it would endure for this long. In February 1999, I covered the All Progressives Party (APP) national convention in Kaduna. The main contenders for the presidential ticket were the late Dr Abubakar Olusola Saraki, Dr Bode Olajumoke, the late Chief Arthur Nzeribe, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, the late Chief Harry Akande and Dr Ogbonaya Onu who also died recently. For three days in Kaduna, we were treated to a farcical drama by the party’s national chairman, the late Senator Mahmoud Waziri. The altercation between him and Saraki despite being long-term friends and associates added more to the entertainment. He said Saraki wanted to bribe him and provided the bromide of a N30 million cheque as ‘evidence’ to the media. At the end, no primaries were conducted only for us to hear the declaration of Onu’s name as the presidential candidate of the party. Less than 24 hours later in Abuja, under a curious merger arrangement between the APP and the Alliance for Democracy (AD), Onu was said to have ‘withdrawn’ for Chief Olu Falae—the presidential candidate of the smaller party who had been selected by a conclave of old men in Ibadan where an oath of secrecy was administered before ‘voting’!

Ordinarily, the AD should not have been registered because it did not meet the threshold prescribed in the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) guidelines. To be registered, a party was required to secure more than 5 percent of the seats in at least 24 of the 36 states at the December 1988 local government elections.  While both the defunct APP and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) secured more than 5 percent of the seats in at least 30 states, the AD secured 5 percent in only 12 states. But the party was registered because the military, apparently to make up for the annulment of the June 12 presidential election won by Bashorun M.K.O Abiola, had decided the presidency would go to the Southwest. To do that successfully, they needed to get ‘Afenifere’ (whose members formed and had congregated in the AD) onboard. It didn’t take too long for Nigerians to realise that they were only working towards an already predetermined political end. That explains why, for the first (and to date, only) time in our history, we had a situation in which the presidential candidates on the ballot were of the same religious and ethnic affiliations.

A former military leader, General Olusegun Obasanjo, of course, won the presidential election but given what transpired at the time, not many Nigerians were optimistic that the experiment would last. The view from abroad was not different. A joint report by the American Carter Centre and National Democratic Institute (NDI) that monitored the election, for instance, stated: “Nigeria’s transition occurred without a constitutional framework or a genuine public debate on the nation’s constitutional future. Lacking a constitution, Nigerians cast their ballots without knowing what powers their elected representatives would have, how various levels or branches of government would interact, how the federal government and the states would share power, or even how long elected officials would serve in office.”

Given that unsure foundation, those of us who experienced military rule and its brutalities have much to celebrate about 25 years of unbroken democracy marked yesterday. Incidentally, today (May 30) is also very significant in our national calendar. On this day (May 30) in 1967, the late Dim Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, then a Colonel in the Nigerian Army, declared secession of the then Southeastern region which he proclaimed the Republic of Biafra. That marked the beginning of a catastrophic civil war that claimed the lives of millions and set back the development of the nation. And the scars are yet to heal. More significantly, apart from the insanity of Boko Haram, every separatist movement in today’s Nigeria is fueled by real or perceived injustices created and sustained by the current structure. But while we must acknowledge our structural problem as a nation and deal with it, the major problem in the system today is the absence of good governance at all levels.

Nothing demonstrates that better than the haste in which the National Assembly initiated and passed a bill to replace the current national anthem with the old one that was jettisoned in 1978. At a period when the daily hikes of staple foods, transportation costs, school fees, house rent and other inescapable expenses have combined to further pauperise millions of Nigerians, changing the national anthem is the priority of our federal lawmakers. And they did not even bother to seek the views of Nigerians on the matter before rushing to pass the bill. That is also understandable. It is an open secret that our distinguished senators and honourable members acted the way they did just want to please President Bola Tinubu who is on record for saying the old anthem evokes “a strong spirit of patriotism” and that the current one is “far less inspirational”. It is therefore little wonder that the president would use the first-year anniversary of his administration to assent to the anthem-change bill!

Unfortunately, in that disgraceful haste to pass the bill that demonstrates how far removed our lawmakers are from the reality of daily living in Nigeria, there are certain considerations about the old anthem that they either did not know or simply glossed over. The “tribes” and “native land” in the lyrics arose from the prejudices of the British colonialists who gave us the anthem written by Ms Lillain Jean Williams. So, its retention betrays a shallowness of thinking and lack of awareness. Two, the line about standing in “brotherhood” is also contentious in today’s world. But perhaps the biggest issue is that when, during a conversation, any member of my generation (as well as those before us) says, ‘Nigeria we hail thee’, it is more a rebuke than a seal of approval—a reminder of our failings as a nation.

More egregious is that this cynical attempt to recreate a past that is not as glorious as being painted is simply because some people are too lazy to take responsibility for the future. It is not an anthem that will inspire leaders to be more accountable to the people. It is not an anthem that would put food on the table of hungry citizens. And neither the lyrics nor the melody of an anthem evokes a “spirit of patriotism.” Besides, there are far-reaching implications to bringing back an anthem that was last sung almost five decades ago in a nation in which more than 70 percent of the population is under the age of 30 and life expectancy is 55 years. So, I foresee a situation in which one day in the not-too-distant future, the National Assembly will pass another bill to revert to the current anthem!

The situation at hand in the country today is about digging ourselves out of the depth of adversity. That requires a different leadership template from what is currently on display. In a piece I wrote six months ago, I stated that most Nigerians are experiencing excoriating hardship before I posed the question: Do we blame Tinubu for the situation we have found ourselves? “Any objective analyst will concede that the president inherited a bad economy and the choices he has made regarding fuel subsidy removal and merging the exchange rates were designed to correct some of the distortions that brought us to where we are,” I wrote then and I still share that position. But I also added: “The problem with Tinubu is that he wants to lead not by example but rather by mouthing platitudes. While demanding sacrifices of Nigerians, he and other government officials want to continue to live ostentatiously.”

If Tinubu’s fixation is with the past, as suggested by the anthem gambit, he has not outlined either an economic or social development policy direction that suggests he even understands the realities of that past. Nor has he keyed into the ideas of the youth who, in yearning for a new world of opportunities like their counterparts elsewhere, have chosen ‘Japa’ with all the inherent risks. Unfortunately, while what we are seeing from the presidency is a preoccupation with personal ego, the current National Assembly has become notorious for unquestioning political sheepishness. As for the judiciary, we need not look further than what is happening in Kano where Judges are hawking conflicting orders almost the same way hungry lecturers sell their course ‘handouts’ to students in our universities.

Yet, what all the actors in the three arms (executive, legislature, and judiciary) fail to understand is that a democracy that is neither anchored on the rule of law nor tailored towards addressing the daily needs of the people is endangered. No matter how many times you change the national anthem! 

Congratulations to Gov. Umo Eno on the occasion of his first anniversary in office. I have just read the speech the governor gave this afternoon at the anniversary celebrations at Uyo township stadium. It contains a long list of things he has done and those he plans to do in the next one year. I commend him for being focused and clear-headed in articulating his future agenda. However, I wish to make a few comments:

1. Tropicana Hotel: I thank the governor for planning to sort out the knotty issues bedeviling the commencement of operations at the hotel located at the Tropicana Complex. That hotel was built, completed and furnished by the Akpabio administration over nine years ago. It has not been open for business for one day. The economic loss is colossal. Putting the hotel to use will create economic multipliers and save the state the loss. I commend the governor for this. I should note that I was equally vocal is urging the previous administration to open the Sheraton Hotel in Ikot Ekpene.

2. The Songhai Farm: On my way to Ibeno yesterday, I drove past the site for the Ibom Farm & Resort in Nsit Ubium, which is being built in partnership with the Songhai Farm of Benin Republic. It’s quite massive. I am equally pleased that the governor is planning to complete this in the next one year. But what of the other LGAs, or is the one in Nsit Ubium the only one the government is working on?

3. Arise Shopping City, Uyo: The government hopes to build ‘’an outlet mall where certified licensees of global brands will be attracted to operate’’. I guess the success of Ibom Tropicana Complex is the motivation for this. When Gov. Akpabio conceived the idea of the Tropicana, it met with trenchant criticisms from many, including former governor Attah. I supported it. Today, the Tropicana is a major tourist attraction and a remarkable shopping center in the city, thanks also to Gov. Udom Emmanuel’s value-added modifications and modernizations of the place. The Arise Shopping City should therefore be designed to be an improvement to the Tropicana.

4. Commercializing Akwa Ibom properties in Abuja and Lagos: The governor plans to convert ‘’our existing strategic facilities in those cities into commercial use for the benefit of our people’’. Our state has a lot of property in Abuja and Lagos, and most of them are either in disuse or redundant. They should be given out to reputable estate firms for rent. I ask the government to be open, transparent and honest in these transactions. To start with, we need a comprehensive list and descriptions of these assets for the purpose of accountability and openess. Early this year, I stayed in a hotel on Femi Okunnu Road, Ikoyi, Lagos (formerly Coopers Road), and down the road is the Akwa Ibom Governor’s Lodge. Udom Emmanuel built this lodge at a very exorbitant cost, but of what value is it to our people? The former governor told us that he needed it as a sanctuary to receive foreign dignitaries and ambassadors. That was as specious as claiming that the 21-storey building in Uyo was built for ExxonMobil as the sole off taker! For the two weeks I stayed in the hotel around the lodge, the lodge was under lock and key. It is a non-earning asset and should be commercialized immediately.

5. Security: The security situation in the state should be improved upon. High-profile kidnappings, especially in Oron axis, should be stopped completely. Whatever happened to the tracking devices the Akpabio administration acquired?

6. Urban Renewal: I was surprised that the governor did not include urban renewal in his to-do list. Obong Attah remodeled Uyo; Akpabio took it a notch higher and went on to remodel Ikot Ekpene. Udom Emmanuel did a marvelous job in Eket. I was in Eket yesterday for the first time since July 2017. The city is unrecognizably beautiful, thanks to Udom Emmanuel. Umo Eno should go to Oron and overhaul, remodel and modernize the place and turn it into a new city also. Just to be clear, I am not from Oron as many people think, perhaps because of my name. I am from Nung Udoe, the headquarters of Ibesikpo-Asutan LGA. But the whole of Akwa Ibom State is my constituency. I have friends from all over the state and I love to see the whole state evenly developed. This is the time for Pastor Umo Eno to remodel Oron town just like Eket, Ikot Ekpene and Uyo.  

Overall, I thank God for our former governors. They’ve done far better than what I see in other states. I congratulate Mr. Umo Eno and I wish him the very best in the next year.

At 49, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) should be celebrating based on its past achievements as the foremost among Africa’s eight Regional Economic Community (RECs). 

However, the 15-nation regional economic bloc, once acclaimed as a trailblazer, is now fighting for survival and under serious threat of disintegration.

Since its establishment on 28 May 1975, through the Treaty of Lagos, only Mauritania has pulled out of ECOWAS (in 2000) but is now seeking re-admission, while other countries, even outside the region, are also applying to join.

However, rather than building on its solid foundation, things seem to be falling apart for ECOWAS. Four of its member States - Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger, are under military rule, while the last three have served notice of their intention to withdraw from the regional organization, altogether.

Granted the times and circumstances are different between 1975 and the ecosystem/dynamics of the World today.

There have been life-changing geopolitical and strategic shifts, characterized by emerging threats such as terrorism, violent extremism, economic recession, global pandemics, flaws of experimentation of democracy, environmental changes, high rates of unemployment, youth bulge, and technological advancements, particularly the invasion of social media, dis/misinformation, and fake news.

But effective performance under challenging circumstances is what sets individuals and organisations apart. 

At a time when ECOWAS is expected to demonstrate visionary and dynamic leadership, it has been found wanting.

Ironically, the leadership deficit has been most pronounced in the peace and security, conflict prevention, management, and resolution domain, where ECOWAS had been most effective.

Whether by default or experimentation, ECOWAS leaders, mostly military officers at that time, could fashion effective tools such as the ECOWAS Ceasefire Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) created in 1990 that facilitated the end of the civil wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone.

The strict application of regional instruments, such as the Authority's Declaration on Political Principles in 1991, the ECOWAS Revised Treaty of 1993, the 1999 Protocol relating to the Mechanism for Conflict Prevention, Management, Resolution, Peacekeeping and Security (or The Mechanism), and the Supplementary Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance adopted in 2001 as an integral part of The Mechanism, guided the construction of regional peace and security architecture. 

The 1999 instrument inspired the adoption of a similar Mechanism by the African Union several years later.

Also, apart from an Early Warning System, which facilitated collaboration with state and non-state actors and civil society to monitor and report threats to peace and security in the region, ECOWAS utilized its *Mediation and Security Council and the Council of the Elders/Wise as additional tools for conflict prevention, mediation, and resolution towards consolidating peace and security.

The Supplementary Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance set minimum constitutional convergence criteria for ECOWAS membership based on shared values of democracy and free market, separation of powers, popular participation, the democratic control of the armed forces, guarantees of fundamental freedoms, and especially 'zero tolerance' for power obtained or maintained by unconstitutional means.

The ECOWAS Conflict Prevention Framework (ECPF), adopted in 2008, and the Monrovia Declaration of 2010, are other instruments adopted to strengthen the ECOWAS peace and security architecture, with emphasis on preventive diplomacy and proactive mediation responses.

The organization has used a combination of the above-named instruments to resolve conflicts in member States including in Cote d’Ivoire, Mali, Niger, Guinea Bissau, and The Gambia.

The applied measures included suspension, imposition of sanctions on erring member States or the refusal to send observers to Gambia’s 2011 presidential election, for lack of transparency under the regime of then-President Yahya Jammeh’s regime, now exiled in Equatorial Guinea.

However, the political will and/or capacity to make tough decisions based on principles are now lacking at the national and regional levels of ECOWAS leadership.

Political leaders/heads of State have hijacked control of ECOWAS institutions, particularly the Commission, thereby rendering the overstretched and capacity-challenged technocrats ineffective.

Critics now see ECOWAS more as a “toothless organization,” where political leaders hold sway for their selfish interests, including by unilaterally changing their countries’ constitutions and electoral laws, rigging elections, suppressing opposition, and trampling on citizens’ human rights in clear violation of ECOWAS texts and instruments with impunity and without consequences.

Meanwhile, the same leaders only become powerful in the condemnation and imposition of sanctions whenever the military seizes power from civilians. 

The military juntas in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger cite this inconsistency by ECOWAS leaders as one of the reasons for their decision to pull out of the Organization. 

Even so, military rule is not the solution to the myriad problems facing ECOWAS member states. If anything, the disposition of the juntas, especially their political transition programmes, may have revealed their real intentions, as opportunistic power grabbers on tenure elongation adventure, the same allegations they levelled against the civilian leaders.

The global decline in multilateralism, compounded by the geopolitical games being played by the superpowers, reminiscent of the Cold War era, is also present in the ECOWAS and Sahel region.

Centuries of imperialism and exploitation of Africa, especially by France in its former colonies, have combined with corruption and mismanagement by post-independence leaders to unleash poverty, inhumane conditions, deprivation, and bad governance on the long-suffering citizens.

The anti-French sentiment expressed by the population in the Francophone countries is justified, but with the long periods of transition and a provision that junta leaders are eligible to participate in the post-transition elections in respective countries, the soldiers would appear to be riding on the wave of sentiment and a false sense of popularity to want to perpetuate themselves in power.

Similarly, while sovereign States reserve the right to choose their bilateral partners, the juntas in Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso, and Niger, are not helping their case by replacing one foreign power with another, and at the same time accusing ECOWAS of being tele-guided by external powers.

ECOWAS faces existential threats due to acts of omission/commission by its leaders. Even so, the community of an estimated 400 million people can only achieve more in unity.

Dr Omar Alieu Touray, President of the ECOWAS Commission, acknowledged this much in his message to mark ECOWAS' 49th Anniversary.

“As we celebrate our 49th anniversary, insecurity continues to threaten our region. Some of our member States are battling terrorist groups on a daily basis, and a large number of our population faces displacement and food insecurity,” he said. 

In the two-and-half-page message, where “unity” or “united” is mentioned seven times, Touray said: “It is clear that we must stay united if we want to be successful in the fight against insecurity. But it is our unity which now stands threatened.”

Quoting Nigeria’s former Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon, one of the founding fathers of ECOWAS, the Commission President said: “Neither the generation of our founding fathers, ‘nor the present or future generations can understand or will be forgiving for the breakup of our community.’”

In an interview that coincided with the ECOWAS anniversary, Ambassador Abdel-Fatau Musah, the Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace, and Security, quoting data from a survey by a non-profit *Afrobarometer* group, noted that despite the military incursions, and the weaknesses in the democratic practices, ECOWAS Community citizens were still positively disposed toward democracy.

While Liberia and Senegal have shown some prospects following their recent transparent elections and successful transfer of power from sitting governments to the opposition, Togo has thrown up another challenge with its divisive and controversial legislative vote held under dubious constitutional changes in clear violation of the ECOWAS protocol.

Other potential crisis points could be Guinea Bissau and Sierra Leone, with lingering post-election rumblings, and then the Gambia, Cote d’Ivoire, and Ghana with forthcoming elections.

ECOWAS can still redeem itself. But it is all down to the courage in upholding its standard, the sincerity of regional leaders to stop corruption, respect national constitutions and the rule of law, stop rigging elections and providing citizens with the benefits of good governance.

Ejime is a Global Affairs Analyst and Consultant on Peace & Security and Governance Communications

Kano’s Muhammad Sanusi II has been rethroned the exact way he was initially enthroned and dethroned: in the melting pot of the politics of vengeance and recrimination. 

And he just might be dethroned yet again by this, or another subsequent partisan government, given Sanusi’s infamous incapacity to rein in his tongue and to understand the wisdom in restraint and tact, which his position requires of him—and, of course, the juddering, hypocritical contradictions between what he says and what he does.

Recall that when he worked at the UBA, Sanusi had derided then Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso as a scorn-worthy “rural aristocrat” who “surrounds himself with provincials and places key posts in the hands of rural elite.” He characterized the Kwankwaso administration as “the classic comedy of the Village Headmaster in a village council.”

Kwankwaso was so incensed by Sanusi’s boorishness and Kano urban condescension that he threatened to pull out the Kano State Government’s money in UBA if Sanusi wasn’t fired from his job. Yet it was the same Kwankwaso who, for partisan, anti-Goodluck Jonathan political considerations, enthroned Sanusi as the emir of Kano even when he wasn’t the choice of the kingmakers.

And let’s not forget that Sanusi is a vicious, unashamed enemy of common people. His entire economic philosophy revolves around sheepishly advancing the annihilating policies of the IMF/World Bank, such as removal of every kind of subsidy for the poor while leaving intact the subsidies that sustain the sybaritic extravagance of indolent but overprotected elites like him.

Well, after destroying properties worth billions of naira and restoring Sanusi as emir all in the bid to get even with Ganduje, I hope the government will now get down to actually governing and improving the lives of the people who elected it. 

The sense I get from people in Kano (many of whom are supporters of the government) is that governance has been on hold in Kano in the last one year in the service of retaliation. Not even the dirty water that Ganduje’s government caused to be distributed to homes is available now, Kano people tell me.

Anyway, when Abdullahi Ganduje dethroned Sanusi in March 2020, I wrote a column titled, “Ganduje is a Monster, But Sanusi Is Not a Victim.” On the occasion of his rethronement, I reproduce portions of it below:

Governor Abdullahi “Gandollar” Ganduje is no doubt a contemptibly philistine monster of avarice and debauchery who dethroned Sanusi Lamido Sanusi as Emir of Kano because he couldn’t stomach the former emir’s disapproval of the electoral fraud that brought him to power.

There is also no doubt that Sanusi’s unrelenting public censures of the rotten, if time-honored, cultural quiddities of the Muslim North discomfited many people who are invested in the status quo, and this became one of the convenient bases for his ouster.

But Sanusi isn’t nearly the victim he has been cracked up to be by his admirers and defenders. First, he rode to the Kano emirship in 2014 on the crest of a wave of emotions stirred by partisan politics and came down from it the same way.

Even though he wasn’t initially on the shortlist of Kano’s kingmakers, APC's Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso (who is now in PDP) made Sanusi emir in 2014 to spite PDP’s President Goodluck Jonathan and shield Sanusi from the consequences of his [false] unmasking of multi-billion-dollar corruption at the NNPC. Apart from his unceremonious removal as CBN governor for his [false] whistle blowing, he was going to face other untoward retributions from the Jonathan administration, but his appointment as emir put paid to it.

Now, Sanusi lost his emirship to the same partisan politics that got it for him in the first place. In an ironic twist, he was made emir by an APC government for making privileged [if false] revelations that disadvantaged a PDP government and was removed as an emir by an APC government for his overt and covert acts that could have benefited the PDP in 2019.

In other words, Sanusi’s emirship was molded in the crucible of partisan politics and was dissolved in it.

Nonetheless, Sanusi, given his intellectual sophistication and pretenses to being an advocate of egalitarianism, had no business being an emir. Monarchy is way past its sell-by date not just in Nigeria but everywhere. It’s an anachronistic, vestigial remnant of a primitive past that invests authority on people by mere accident of heredity. Any authority that is inherited and not earned, in my opinion, is beneath contempt.

Emirship isn’t only a primeval anomaly in a modern world, it is, in fact, un-Islamic. In Islam, leadership is derived from knowledge and the consensus of consultative assemblies of communities called the Shura, not from heredity.

 Monarchies in the Muslim North, which have constituted themselves into parasitic, decadent drains on society, but which pretend to be Islamic, are grotesque perversions of the religion they purport to represent. Anyone, not least one who makes pious noises about equality, that is denied the unfair privileges of monarchy is no victim.

Most importantly, though, Sanusi embodies a jarring disconnect between high-minded ideals and lived reality. He rails against child marriage in public but married a teenager upon becoming an emir. When the late Pius Adesanmi called him out, he told him to “grow a brain.” He suddenly became the patron saint of conservative Muslim cultural values.

He expended considerable intellectual energies critiquing polygamy among poor Muslim men, but he is married to four wives. His defense, of course, would be that he can afford it, and poor Muslim men can’t. Fair enough. But transaction-oriented reformists lead by example.

Fidel Castro, for example, stopped smoking when he campaigned against it. It would be nice to say to poor, polygamous Muslim men, “Why are you, a poor man, married to four wives when Sanusi, a wealthy man and an emir, is married to just one wife?”

That would have had a much higher impact than his preachments. In spite of their moral failings, Buhari, Abba Kyari, and Mamman Daura would be much more effective campaigners against disabling polygamy by poor Muslim men than Sanusi can ever be because they are monogamists even when they can afford to marry four wives.

This is a legitimate critique since Sanusi has a choice to not call out poor Muslim men who marry more wives than they can afford since polygamy is animated by libidinal greed, which is insensitive to financial means.

Sanusi habitually fulminates against the enormous and inexorably escalating poverty in the north, but even though he is an immensely affluent person, he has not instituted any systematic mechanism to tackle the scourge of poverty in the region in his own little way.

Instead, he spends hundreds of billions of naira to decorate the emir’s palace, buy exotic horses, and luxuriate in opulent sartorial regality.

And, although, he exposed [what he thought was] humongous corruption during Goodluck Jonathan’s administration and dollar racketeering during Buhari’s regime, he is himself an indefensibly corrupt and profligate person. In two well-researched investigative pieces in 2017, Daily Nigeria’s Jaafar Jaafar chronicled Sanusi’s mind-boggling corruption as emir of Kano, which apparently didn’t abate until he was dethroned.

Sanusi was ostensibly a Marxist when he studied economics at ABU, which explains why he exhibits flashes of radicalism in his public oratory, but he is, in reality, an out-of-touch, unfeeling, feudal, neoliberal elitist who is contemptuous, and insensitive to the suffering, of poor people.

He supported Jonathan’s petrol price hike in 2012 and even wondered why poor people were protesting since they had no cars, and generators, according to him, were powered by diesel, not petrol! 

When his attention was brought to the fact that only “subsidized” and privileged “big men” like him use diesel-powered generators, he backed down and apologized. But I found it remarkably telling that until 2012 Sanusi had no clue that the majority of Nigerians used petrol-powered generators to get electricity.

In a September 1, 2012, column titled, "Sanusi Lamido Sanusi’s Unwanted 5000 Naira Notes," I noted that Sanusi was "one of the most insensitive, out-of-touch bureaucrats to ever walk Nigeria’s corridors of power."

Again, in my December 10, 2016, article titled, "Dangerous Fine Print in Emir Sanusi's Prescription for Buhari," I wrote: "If you are a poor or economically insecure middle-class person who is writhing in pain amid this economic downturn, don’t be deceived into thinking that Emir Sanusi is on your side. He is not. His disagreements with Buhari have nothing to do with you or your plight. If he has his way, you would be dead by now because the IMF/World Bank neoliberal theology he evangelizes has no care for poor, vulnerable people."

President Bola Tinubu, on Wednesday in Abuja, inaugurated the National Assembly Library and Resource Centre, which is named in his honour.

Before the inauguration of the library, the President had briefly attended a commemorative sitting of the National Assembly, where he made extemporaneous remarks.

President Tinubu, who had signed the National Anthem Bill, 2024, into law at the Presidential Villa earlier on Wednesday, said he was at the National Assembly as a mark of respect, and to congratulate the legislators and Nigerians on the 25th anniversary of Nigeria's unbroken democracy.

He extended his gratitude to the lawmakers and acknowledged the efforts and sacrifices made to build and sustain the country's democratic institutions.

"Our friends, old and new, to every Nigerian I say congratulations on 25 years of unbroken democracy. Out of respect, I have come to say thank you very much for building up this institution to this level. You are the foremost leaders who speak for our people and have been at the forefront of this struggle," President Tinubu said.

Highlighting the significance of the National Assembly, President Tinubu referred to it as a "hallowed chamber" that embodies the nation's consciousness for freedom and solidarity.

"You sang out the latest national anthem, ‘Nigeria we hail thee’. This is our diversity, representing all people and how we pledge together to be brothers and sisters.

"Without this House, I probably would not have found a path to the presidency, I started it all from here. That is why I have given that respect to you this morning to continue to collaborate with you to build our country together. We have no other choice. No other institution or personality will help us, except we do it ourselves for ourselves.

"No amount of aid from foreign countries can help us. Let us work together to build our nation, charting a new path," the President stated.

President Tinubu also emphasized the need to preserve and strengthen democracy for future generations.

"We must nurture our democracy so that our children and great grandchildren will be assured of prosperity, progress, and development," the President concluded.

In his remarks, Senate President Godswill Akpabio said the President's visit was out of respect for the National Assembly.

''Before you arrived, Mr. President, the Speaker and I had explained to the lawmakers that this visit is what is called 'waka pass' in Nollywood.

''You intend to celebrate Democracy Day on June 12, but out of honour and respect for the National Assembly you said you must pass through the National Assembly on your first anniversary," the Senate President said.

On Nigeria reverting to the old national anthem, Akpabio commended the President for taking the nation back to its roots stating: ‘‘Though we may belong to different tribes, though we have different tongues, in brotherhood we stand.’’

''There is no more fitting place to take us back to our genealogy other than the National Assembly, which is made up of patriotic and elected citizens of Nigeria. The voice of the National Assembly is the voice of Nigeria, so we welcome you,'' the Senate President added.

Chief Ajuri Ngelale

Special Adviser to the President

(Media & Publicity)

President Bola Tinubu, on Tuesday in Abuja, received assurances from Reckitt Benckiser, the global fast-moving consumer goods company, that they will continue to grow their investments in Nigeria.

Receiving a delegation from Reckitt Benckiser led by the Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Kris Licht, and Chief Olu Falomo, Chairman of Reckitt Benckiser Nigeria Limited, the President lauded the company for its over 60 years of investment in Nigeria and commitment to the country’s development.

''We are creating an environment for the private sector to thrive in. I am glad that you are here to stay for the long term. I am happy that you have been in the country for many years, and you have decided to invest more. We have embarked on challenging reforms to improve the economy. Our reforms will improve the ease of doing business for partners like you moving forward,'' the President told the delegation.

President Tinubu assured investors of good returns on their investments, supported by a buoyant market and a large population.

In his remarks, Mr. Licht described Nigeria as a very important country to the company, saying: ‘‘We have had very good business here for many years, and we congratulate you on your first year in office. We see Nigeria as an important business destination for today and the future.’’

Chief Falomo, Chairman of Reckitt Benckiser Nigeria Limited, reiterated the company’s long standing commitment to Nigeria, stating: ‘‘We have asked our global team to come and assure you that we back your efforts. They have said they are not going anywhere. We are here to support this government.’’

Chief Ajuri Ngelale

Special Adviser to the President

(Media & Publicity)

President Bola Tinubu has addressed both chambers of the National Assembly , charging federal lawmakers to continue to work with themselves irrespective of their political divide to build the institution of the parliament and the nation.

Tinubu spent roughly 27 minutes gracing the joint session of the national Assembly , marking 25 years of unbroken democracy in the country.

The President told the federal lawmakers that only Nigerians can create a glorious future for themselves , stressing that no amount of foreign aids or support can do it for the country.

He charged the lawmakers to build the nation and bequeath to generations unborn a glorious future.

The President also used the occasion to announce that he would be sending the budget for 2024 to the national assembly. It’s not clear if the President actually meant 2025 budget 

or was referring to a supplementary 2024 budget 

President of the Senate Godswill Akpabio, later clarified saying the National Assembly would be waiting to receive the President’s request for supplementary budget for 2024.

The President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr. Yakubu Chonoko Maikyau, OON, SAN has stated that the " conducts of counsel and the Courts in the handling of the proceedings which culminated in the orders issued by the Federal High Court, the Kano State High Court and again the Federal High Court, in circus, have brought utter disgrace and shame to the profession – have exposed the entire legal profession in Nigeria to public ridicule and opprobrium. The damage is one that would take the legal profession a long time to recover from. It is unfortunate and was totally uncalled for."

In a statement issued this morning, Mr. Maikyau said that "Without prejudice to the subsisting actions before both the Federal High Court and the Kano State High Court, it is my considered view that there is urgent need to scrutinize the professional conducts of both Counsel and the Judges involved in these matters. This is to enable the relevant bodies or institutions determine their culpability or, otherwise, from an ethical and professional standpoint."

The NBA President has, therefore, called on "the respective heads of the Courts of the Judges concerned, to take immediate steps to look into their conducts with the view to finding any possible abuse of their judicial offices and file a report with the National Judicial Council for necessary action. 

As regards the lawyers involved, the NBA President said that the NBA "... will investigate the conducts of the counsel involved in these cases and shall not hesitate to commence disciplinary action against them before the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee, should there be any finding of alleged professional misconduct against them. The Chairman of the NBA Ethics and Disciplinary Committee has accordingly been directed to invite these counsel for preliminary investigations."

Please find attached for your reference the statement of the NBA President.

Thank you, and do have a good day.

Akorede Habeeb Lawal 

National Publicity Secretary, NBA

Nigeria is a mess right now. A huge mess. Even the blind can see it. And the deaf can hear the cry of anguish of Nigeria’s children. Can the country be rescued? Possibly. But the myths, years of delusions of grandeur and criminal capture of the Nigerian state threaten the possibility.

Last week one of the great TV interviewers in Nigeria, Charles Aniagolu asked me the big question. How did we get here?

I resisted the temptation of the immodest but Frank answer;  go and read just about everything I have written in the last 40  years.

So I talked about a flawed political class  constrained by the false consciousness of the collapsed morality of civic culture captured in the seminal essay on Colonialism and the two Publics written by Peter Ekeh in 1975 and the Idea of the tragedy of the commons where that which belongs to all belongs to none. Theoretical truths as they may be Nigeria’s descent to failing state status, poverty capital of the world, and theatre of violent crime and impunity has been a long time coming and has been framed by many illusions left unattended  by an anti-intellectual culture fostered by post 1999 political elite, ego journalism which has  left the big issues as columnist celebrate self and promote partisan passions, and a rent focused business elite tied to the aprons of the politicians became complicit in their indulgence while pretending to be neutral. The Chicken has come home to roost, the gate to the road to Somalia opens even as leadership selection traditions have left at the Watch those unable to shut the gates of brass and the bars of iron.

To be sure, Nigeria was a great potential in 1960. But much of what created illusions of progress in the late 1970s and 1980s for a few thriving on Crude Oil rents, and the entitlement mentality that has since followed, and sustained an appetite for consumption and a consumerist economy has been in the way of shifting to production. These derive from less than thoughtful nation building policy making choices even as we went on giant of Africa halicinations without the work that make giants. I warned back then., chided  and prompted in directions that could help claim the promise of greatness. I was told I was talking to the deaf. Now all I hear is you forewarned us of this catastrophe.

The projected greatness of Nigeria in 1960 was rooted  not in potential Oil revenues but in a calculus of its factor endowments and character, vision and conduct of its politicians between 1956 and 1960.

So when Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa is welcomed in Washington shortly after Independence with such pomp in International relations arena marked by power maximizing it was because the world saw an emerging black power. That potential consolited for a period under the military was squandered progressively by corrupt poorly governing narcissistic politicians.

But how did these leaders go so spectacularly wrong?  They neglected some simple rules any head of family pays attention to in a time of windfall.  Save for a rainy day, invest in the education of the offspring and construct now you have cash that which will enable them to produce and prosper in the days when that windfall may not be there. Our elite seemed  quite challenged  compared to Botswana in Africa, Norway in Europe and several of the Countries in the Arab Middle East..

So we sauntered into Dutch Disease which occurs when a combination of spending patterns and exchange rates cause labour skills  to move to the non tradable goods sectors  like construction as tradionally dominant sectors like Agriculture became uncompetitive. The putative manufacturing sector which experienced great surge from 1956 under Self Government suffered shocks in this season and as Irene Sun shows in her book on Chinese investments and Africa as the world’s next great factory became victim of poor trade policy.

For me the biggest damage Oil boom did to Nigeria was the  ‘confidence’ it gave decision makers to abandon rigor in decision making and turn their back on planning. The failure of the Electricity sector so critical for production and civilization is the most revealing example of this. How on God’s earth did we manage to let that happen.?

When I go back and read things I wrote 40 years ago, 30 years  back and 15 years before now  I wonder that if care is not taken some will capture me and pronounce me prophet. But I do not need the religious charlatan powers to know those views were  available  to anyone that paused to think.

Twenty three years ago I was hosting the LBS executive briefing breakfast at which the IMF Country Manager was guest. In my opening remarks I reiterated my call for mineral and Oil revenues to flow into three accounts, a Distributable Pool Fund (FAAC), a Stabilization Fund and a Future Fund ( Sovereign Wealth Fund). The IMF official nicely editorialized that with thinking of that nature foreign experts would have no place offering counsel. It was not rocket science. Botswana was ahead of me on that curve.

In columns,  I pressured the government in Abuja to start saving Oil windfalls. When they did, some of my friends  in a government I was friendly with in Lagos wondered why I would encourage the Federal government to take money rightly belonging to the states. When I told one of them  that he knew enough to understand the concept of mutual funds he kept quiet. Today he has the responsibility for what I tried to encourage then.

Had a marketplace of ideas encouraged rational public conversation on my crusade of that season perhaps we may not be where we are today in the management of the economy. But our politics stifles  rational conversation and the pool of good thinking shrunk.

Those who could point us to the plight of the more vulnerable, the poor, the physically challenged and minor minorities,  from Academia and journalism retreated from the arena as bullies and semi literates got bolder. The voiceless angry began gradually to drop into the catchment of the entrepreneurs of violence or violent crime. Most of what we now project as violent irredentist movements happen to be organized crime as Italy and some Latin American countries have experienced. But they have compounded bad economic policies with incsecirity that has hurt the agriculture value chain.

The results have come in. Is Nigeria a lost cause?

The tendency to glamorize the era of Crude Oil oiled easy life for a portion of the population is attractive. But it was an illusion of prosperity. Nigeria was never. It could have gone that way but a short sighed elite chose to live in the present and not in the future as their counterparts in Spain did three centuries ago.

The model from which we can reconstruct a new Nigeria has to be found in a digital version  of that of the independence fathers who remarkably transformed the economy from 1957 to 1964 before the political order began to crack. We will then need to device a new political order seeing the present one has failed almost all stakeholders

What political structure can sustain a developmental state idea and grant the great escape to millions of the desperately poor in Nigeria.

That new way has to overcome the diseased morality of the civic culture of the extant ‘’democracy’ that let the Babarians past the gate into the city halls and boardrooms. The ‘Band A’ bandits of the disconnected  state who have moved state capture up a few notches have now so little sensitivity that like the wife of Louis XVI in France they may ask why do those chanting ebi mpawa and rioting for food because there was no Gari not eat Ofada rice instead..

A values revolution driven by a vanguard passionate about personal integrity, respect for the dignity of the human person, the work ethic and social justice is a necessary first step. Values shape human progress and contemporary Nigerian disposition to keep values optional speaks to why we are in a failing state category.

The good news is that the people are fed up and a significant pool of good people are waiting to be led to do the right thing. Nigeria may yet rise again.

This is why I am promoting a new tribe with low tolerance for ethnic chauvinism, corruption and the seven deadly social sins like politics without principles, wealth without work and religion without sacrifice.

The new tribe project is also designed to go beyond by solving social problems through cohorts committed, for example to very low cost and free skills education, production clusters matching Diaspora investors with local talent using blockchain technology to ensure transparency, those focused on freeing the vulnerable from hunger and indignity, and those which war against corruption and work to hold power accountable. The list of the 14 active cohorts and reports on the work they are currently doing for the vision of a new tribe will be formally unveiled on October 1.  A new Nigeria is possible but all hands must be on deck and none should fear rejecting an old order that has failed so spectacularly.

•Utomi , a  Political Economist and Professor at the Lagos Business School is founder of the Centre for Values in Leadership