Recently, Governor Umo Eno of Akwa-Ibom State made headlines for announcing a N310 million gift to youths in the state. This generous gesture, aimed at non-protesting youths, has sparked widespread debate. While some see it as a commendable initiative to empower young people, others wonder if the real motive is to silence potential dissent and discourage youth from voicing their frustrations about the state of the economy and governance.

In a country where protests have become a powerful tool for change, particularly for young Nigerians, the timing of this gift raises eyebrows. Is this a well-intentioned move to reward those who remain peaceful and cooperative, or is it a subtle attempt to stifle any rising opposition?

Akwa-Ibom, like many other states in Nigeria, is grappling with significant economic challenges. High unemployment rates, rising inflation, and a lack of basic amenities have left many young people frustrated and disillusioned. In this context, the youth have been at the forefront of calling for better governance, with their voices often channeled through protests and demonstrations.

Across Nigeria, youths have made it clear that they are no longer willing to stay silent in the face of economic hardship. The nationwide #EndSARS protests in 2020 were a strong testament to the power of organized youth resistance. For many young people in Akwa-Ibom and across the nation, protests have become a democratic tool to voice their grievances and demand change.

Given this backdrop, the timing and nature of Governor Eno’s N310 million gift to non-protesting youths is concerning. Is the gift truly meant to empower, or is it a strategic move designed to quell any potential dissent and silence critical voices?

While the governor’s administration has presented the N310 million initiatives as an empowerment program, there is a growing belief that this may be a classic case of a “Greek gift”, a seemingly generous offer with hidden motives. Specifically, critics argue that by targeting non-protesting youths, the government is attempting to create a divide among the young population, rewarding silence and submission while potentially penalizing those who dare to speak out.

In a democracy, the freedom to protest and dissent is a fundamental right. However, gifts like this, offered exclusively to non-protesting youths, undermine this principle by subtly discouraging young people from exercising their democratic rights. In a functioning democracy, the role of the government should be to listen to all voices, especially those of its younger generation, rather than offering incentives to keep them quiet.

This strategy is inherently undemocratic, as it discourages youth participation in governance by creating a financial disincentive for dissent. By rewarding only those who remain silent, the administration is sending a dangerous message: silence and submission will be rewarded, while protest and dissent will be ignored or, worse, punished.

Governments have a responsibility to engage with their citizens, especially the youth, in a manner that encourages dialogue and constructive criticism. However, when financial incentives are offered to a select group, based on their willingness to remain silent, this undermines the very fabric of democracy. It creates an atmosphere where youths may feel coerced into silence in exchange for short-term financial gain, even when their frustrations with governance are valid.

This tactic, often referred to as a “divide-and-conquer” strategy, is particularly harmful in the context of a democratic society. In Akwa-Ibom, where many young people are grappling with unemployment, inflation, and inadequate infrastructure, the prospect of financial empowerment can be enticing. However, when such empowerment comes with the implicit expectation of silence, it shifts from being a tool for positive development to a means of control.

The ability to protest and express discontent is a cornerstone of democracy, and any move that seeks to silence these voices, whether through direct suppression or more subtle financial incentives, should be viewed as an assault on democratic values.

Protests, marches, and civil activism have long been recognized as vital tools for holding governments accountable, especially in societies where dialogue and engagement between the government and its citizens are limited. In Akwa-Ibom, as in many parts of Nigeria, the youth have often found themselves at the forefront of such activism, demanding better governance, job creation, improved infrastructure, and social justice.

By offering N310 million to non-protesting youths, Governor Eno’s administration may be attempting to preemptively quash any potential uprisings or public demonstrations. But such a move risks deepening the disconnect between the government and its people. Instead of seeking to silence dissent, the government should focus on addressing the root causes of youth frustration, unemployment, poor infrastructure, and limited economic opportunities.

It is essential to remember that the youth are the future of any nation, and their active participation in governance and political discourse is crucial. If young people are discouraged from speaking out or protesting, they may lose faith in the democratic process altogether, leading to greater disillusionment and disengagement in the long run.

Governor Eno’s N310 million gestures could have been a powerful tool for genuine youth empowerment if it had been designed to benefit all youths, regardless of their political stance or willingness to protest. However, by explicitly excluding protesting youths, the administration has risked turning what could have been a positive initiative into a political tool of suppression.

True empowerment involves providing opportunities that enable young people to thrive independently, equipping them with skills, education, and access to resources that can improve their quality of life. Financial gifts with strings attached do little to create long-lasting change. Rather, they only serve to suppress genuine grievances and create a sense of complacency among beneficiaries.

In a democracy, the youth must be allowed to speak their minds, whether through peaceful protests, social media advocacy, or other forms of expression. Governor Eno’s N310 million gift may appear generous on the surface, but its underlying message is concerning. Silencing dissent by offering financial rewards to those who remain quiet undermines the democratic process and risks creating a generation of young people who are disengaged from political discourse.

Rather than trying to silence dissenting voices through financial gifts, the government should engage with the youth directly, listen to their concerns, and create sustainable programs that address their challenges. In the long run, only genuine engagement and true empowerment will ensure the growth of democracy and development in AkwaIbom and beyond.

In what many may consider as the most provoking development leading to next weekend’s governorship election in Edo State, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP last Thursday walked away from a peace accord among the parties and candidates.

The accord was brokered by the General Abdulsalami Abubakar-led National Peace Committee, NPC.

However, as everyone knows these accords have been observed more in the breach by the parties. Perhaps the most striking illustration of the vacuity of these peace accords was in the run-up to the 2019 governorship election in Kogi State.

At the signing of the peace accord for that election on November 12, 2019, the candidate of the Social Democratic Party, SDP, Natasha Akpoti was beaten black and blue by thugs of a rival political party as she attempted to approach the venue of the peace accord signing ceremony.

Interestingly, the Inspector General of Police at the time, Mohammed Adamu and the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Prof Mahmood Yakubu were inside the hall while this ugly development occurred.

An INEC official asked of his reaction to the brutalization of a candidate invited for the assent to the peace accord replied thus “We were inside the hall and wouldn’t know what was going on outside.”

This predictable assertion of ignorance by INEC of the wanton molestation of rival candidates and violation of its procedures is what has shadowed the integrity deficit of the commission. The corollary is that the INEC is unable to defend the results of its elections.

How is INEC able to defend the result it produces that shows a 95% turnout of voters in particular constituencies? How?

Indeed, it is remarkable that the present leadership of INEC has come to see the signing of peace accords as a significant milestone in its conduct of elections. This ought not to be. In bringing the different parties to sign peace accords, the commission has invariably succumbed to the idea that election is a physical war.

The commission was constituted to manage and arbitrate the contest of ideas between political actors. It should be seen inclining itself into helping the electorate to sift out the qualities of leadership in candidates.

This correspondent submits that the charged atmosphere that we see in elections in the country these days is because of the failure of INEC to stand by the truth on the results.

We have severally seen ballot boxes snatched, elections disrupted and INEC keeping mum. In 2023, a lady was brutalised and blood spilled as she went to cast her vote in a voting centre in Lagos. INEC did not see that as a sufficient disruption of the election.

Political actors have indeed been emboldened by the seeming indifference of the electoral commission to the violent disruption of its procedures and processes.

It is against this background that the troubling developments in Edo State erupted into the walkout on the peace committee by the PDP.

At issue is the claim by the ruling party in the state that INEC appointed a former aide of Minister Nyesom Wike as the Resident Electoral Commissioner for the state. As everybody knows, Wike and Governor Godwin Obaseki despite being members of the PDP do not see eye to eye on many issues. While Wike is very comfortable serving in the APC administration, Obaseki believes that the administration and the APC do not mean well for the country.

Willy-nilly, the PDP also complained of the appointment of a police commissioner for the state who the party claims is also an associate of Wike’s. Even more troubling is the arrest of several officials of the PDP Campaign and their transportation to Abuja.

Indeed given the popular claim that Governor Obaseki does not know how to manage relationships following his falling out with Comrade Adams Oshiomhole and Chief Dan Orbih, the suggestion was that the governor would be dealt a heavy blow with the rejection of whosoever he supports.

However, the seeming brutalisation of the PDP appears to be winning the governor sympathy with many questioning the neutrality of the security forces and INEC.

The concerns of the PDP are germane and a sensitive election management body should be seen addressing every allegation that diminishes the credibility of its processes.

Whatever, as voters go to the polls next weekend in Edo State, what the state needs is a governor who will take it to the next level.

It is in that respect that we expect the candidates to bring forth their arguments as to why they should be elected. Whether through debates or any other platform, we expect the candidates to put forth their arguments on a clearer path for Edo.

 If this election is sabotaged and the will of the people mortgaged on the platform of avarice or suppressed, then the prospects of a free and fair election in 2027 could well be waved away. Indeed, Prof Yakubu or whoever succeeds him would not need the subterfuge of a technical glitch to explain away whatever electoral heist is forced on the polity.

Five people have reportedly died in an accident that involved the campaign convoy of Monday Okpebholo, governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), in Edo.

TheCable understands that the accident occurred on Thursday at Warrake road in Uzebba of Owan west LGA, Edo state.

It was learnt that one of the vehicles in Okpebholo’s campaign convoy hit a Toyota Camry conveying five persons, killing the occupants, including the driver.

The victims were said to be returning home after attending a burial ceremony.

The bodies of the deceased have been deposited at a mortuary in Edo State University, Uzaurie, in Etsako west LGA of the state.

One of the victims was identified as Emmanuel Edionwe.

According to the Punch, a relative of Edionwe, who did not want to be named, said the family is devastated about the news of their son.

“We just learnt that five of them have died after the collision with Okpebholo’s convoy. There is just one of them who is in critical condition and is now being nursed to life at the hospital,” the family member said.

“We are devastated beyond words. Emmanuel was a good, easy-going boy who should not have died.”

The newspaper quoted Cyril Mathew, the Edo sector commander of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC).

A source said the lone survivor of the accident is in critical condition at the Irrua Specialist Hospital., adding that a delegation of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state will pay the families of the victims a condolence visit today.

[TheCable]

I am taking a break from political commentary to everyday language usage this week. A few weeks ago, a British journalist who writes about oil and gas wrote to thank me for past articles I wrote that explained why Nigerians call “petrol” “Premium Motor Spirit.”

“While I have always assumed PMS meant petrol, I never knew exactly why this term was so widespread in Nigeria!” he wrote. This email inspired me to republish parts of what I wrote about this.

There is a widespread misconception in Nigerian journalistic circles that “premium motor spirit” is the proper name for petrol, and this misconception appears to be percolating into wider popular usage.

Almost without exception, Nigerian newspapers refer to petrol as “premium motor spirit” or PMS. In fact, “petrol” is typically represented as the alias of “premium motor spirit.” In other words, Nigerian newspapers mislead their readers into thinking that everyone in the English-speaking world recognizes “premium motor spirit” as the real name for “petrol.”

 Take, for instance, this 2017 lead from one of Nigeria’s best-edited online newspapers: “Premium Motor Spirit, otherwise known as petrol, is selling at N500 per litre in the black market in Kaduna State as government began enforcement of ban on sale of petroleum products in jerry cans.”

Almost all Nigerian newspapers feel the need to refer to petrol as “premium motor spirit” and to signal that the rest of us linguistically unwashed plebeians call it “petrol.” It never ceases to provoke loud hearty laughter in me each time I read it. It’s my go-to linguistic comic relief.

 Well, only Nigerian newspapers, and the people who are influenced by them, call petrol “premium motor spirit.” It’s an entirely meaningless phrase to native English speakers in America, Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. It also makes no sense to English speakers in India, Pakistan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and other Commonwealth countries where English is spoken as a second language.

 In 2012, I asked several of my American friends, colleagues, and students what the phrase “premium motor spirit” evoked in them. They all said they had never encountered the phrase and had no clue what it meant.

I searched the 520-million-word Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA) to see if any American English speaker has ever used the term. I got no matching record. I also searched the 400-million-word Corpus of Historical American English (COHA) to find out if any American ever used the expression between 1810 and 2009.  Again, no luck.

I thought, perhaps, the phrase would be familiar to British English speakers, so I searched the British National Corpus to see if there is any record of its use in British English. I had no luck, either.

Finally, I searched the 1.9-billion-word Corpus of Global Web-Based English, which indexes English usage in 20 different English-speaking countries. I had some luck this time around. I got 53 matches. But of the 53 matches for “premium motor spirit” that turned up in the database, 49 came from Nigerian English users, 3 from Ghanaian English users, and 1 from a Kenyan newspaper.

When I followed the link to the Ghanaian sites that used “premium motor spirit,” I found that the writers were Nigerians who were based in Ghana. The fact that Kenya is the only other country where “premium motor spirit” was used, even if only once, as an alternative name for “petrol” alerted me to the fact that the word probably has British English roots.

Origins of “Motor Spirit”

My hunch was right. Although the term enjoys no currency in contemporary British English (as evidenced from its complete absence from the British National Corpus), it actually started life in Britain some 200 years ago.

Carless, Capel & Leonard (now renamed Petrochem Carless Ltd), one of Britain’s first oil companies, was the first to use the term “petrol” in English, in 1870, to refer to refined petroleum products, which weren’t used to power cars at the time.

By the 1930s when petrol became the fuel used in internal combustion engines, Carless, Capel & Leonard applied to trademark “petrol” so that the company’s competitors (who frequently used the term “motor spirit” to refer to their product) won’t be able to call their product “petrol.”

But the application was denied because the use of “petrol” to refer to refined petroleum products, derived from the French petrole (ultimately from Medieval Latin petroleum, which literally means “rock oil,” from the Latin petra, which means rock or stone, and oleum, which means oil) had become widespread by the 1930s in Britain.

With the denial of Carless, Capel & Leonard’s application to trademark “petrol,” other British companies that had referred to their product as “motor spirit” freely adopted “petrol” as the name of choice for their product, and “motor spirit” fell into disuse.

“Premium” wasn’t an invariable lexical component of the name. The “premium” in the name refers to the grade of the product. There are three major grades of petrol in the UK: “ordinary unleaded,” “premium or super unleaded,” and “leaded four star.”

 In the US, petrol, which is called gasoline (or gas for short), has the following grades: “Regular,” “Mid-grade or Plus,” and “Premium.”

 Saudi Arabia has “premium” and “super premium” grades of petrol. Many other countries have several names for different grades of petrol.

So “premium” is one of at least three adjectives that could modify “motor spirit” when “motor spirit” enjoyed currency in Britain. There could conceivably have existed “ordinary unleaded motor spirit” or “leaded four star motor spirit”—or whatever names existed at the time for grades of motor spirit in Britain.

In other words, calling petrol “premium motor spirit” is the same thing as calling petrol “premium petrol” now, even though there are other grades of the product.

Interestingly, Nigeria is one of only a few countries in the world where petrol is ungraded. Maybe that is why our journalists assume that every petrol is of a premium grade and therefore call petrol “premium motor spirit” (never mind that “motor spirit” is obsolete).

Premium Motor Spirit a Scientific Name?

A few people have asked me if “premium motor spirit” is perhaps the scientific name for petrol since Nigerian oil industry experts, including academic researchers in petroleum studies, liberally use it.  No, it’s not. There isn’t one specific scientific name for petrol.

As I said earlier, “motor spirit” is the archaic British English name for petrol, and “premium” indicates the grade of the “motor spirit.” Today, most British speakers have no idea what “motor spirit” means and would be even more puzzled by the permanent modification of the term with “premium.”

It’s mystifying that Nigerian journalists—and Nigerian academics— are about the only people who are still wedded to a phrase that died in Britain in the 1930s.

Note that different countries have different names for petrol. Most people know that Americans and Canadians call it gasoline. Germans and people who are influenced by German linguistic traditions call it “benzin,” which is derived from “benzene,” a constituent part of petrol. The French from whom the British borrowed “petrol,” now call it “essence.” Spanish-speaking people call it “gasolina.”

I also find it intriguing that Nigerians use the American English “kerosene” instead of the British English “paraffin” as the term of choice for lamp oil.

Maybe Nigeria should formally adopt “motor spirit” as its national name for petrol. After all, petrol is the “spirit” that moves “motors,” which is the alternative name for vehicles in British and Nigerian English.

Those who live in denial according to Yoruba aphorism often focus on treatment of rashes while ignoring the more deadly and life- threatening leprosy affliction. Unfortunately, as a nation, it is in our character to expend energy in addressing symptoms instead of facing our demons. 

For instance, whereas our visionary forbears bequeathed on to us a federal system, celebrated by over two-third of the nations of the world for its ability to guarantee ‘unity in diversity’ in a multi-ethnic society, we traded it for a unitary state.

But when the aggrieved deprived and marginalized individuals and groups fought back against the state that took over the control of their lives, their resources, the right to impact their values and culture in the education of their children, the roads they pass through and even the water they drink, instead of addressing the fundamental problem which requires simple political solution, we decided to focus on symptoms which find expression in crisis of legitimacy, massive corruption, economic sabotage, terrorism and banditry, kidnapping for ransom, weaponisaton of religion etc. by those who have lost faith in the state’s capacity to protect them.

Unfortunately, the state has failed the north-western states with a total population of 24,244,722 (1991 Census) in their ongoing tribal war. But just as the northern parasitic elite misadvised Muhammadu Buhari to focus on the symptoms in 2016, they last week once again misled President Bola Tinubu to believe that “the deployment of necessary military assets and manpower would ensure that these criminal elements were flushed out and the peace restored back to our communities.”

Since we passed through this same path not too many seasons ago, those who are  today hailing the relocation of military chiefs along with the Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle, who has promised  to be “on the ground in the Northwest with the CDS and other military chiefs, leading our brave men and women in uniform… to liberate the people of Sokoto, Katsina, Zamfara and Kebbi states and the entire Northwest region” either have short memories or are suffering from selective amnesia.

What is going on in the northwest is a tribal war. And solution is political bargaining and compromise. And if there are still misgivings as to the nature of social dislocation that led to tribal war between the ruling Fulani hegemonic class and conquered Hausa tribe that came to the open shortly after inauguration of Buhari as president in 2015,  the July 25, 2022 BBC  airing of “Bandit warlords of Zamfara”  erased such doubts. The broadcast also traced the sources of the social dislocation in the affected states to ethnic rivalry over control of political and economic fortunes of their different communities.

The major protagonists did not weigh words as to the causes of their intense hatred for each other. One attributed source of their anguish, to ‘the closing down of traditional grazing routes and systematic exclusion of Fulani from government businesses. They therefore have no regret in the mindless killings of their arch enemies, the subsistence farmers. And for their grief, the Hausa farming community vigilantes of Kurfa Dunya swore: “If allowed, we will kill every Fulani man, even in the town, because they killed our mothers, our fathers, our children, and dumped their bodies here”.

In fact, Ibrahim Dosara, one time Zamfara State Commissioner of Information did not only identify the genesis of the rivalry between the two tribes that had co-existed for centuries, but proffered possible solution. According to him, the “genesis of rural banditry in Zamfara as elsewhere in the northwest started with a conflict between the Fulani and Hausa communities in the state leading to 2,619 deaths, 1,190 abducted and 14,378 livestock rustled with 100,000 people  displaced from their ancestral homes between 2011 and 2019.”  And for him, the cheapest and most cost-effective way to reduce hostility was institutionalisation of community policing especially since “Zamfara lacks enough security forces from the federal government to secure the lives and properties of the people in the state”.

But Buhari’s government which conceitedly arrogated to itself the power to know what the people wanted without asking them continued to live in denial. In fact, it gave  the impression that  aggressors that confiscated villages sending victims to IDP camps, were ghosts  until ex governors Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano, Aminu Masari of Katsina and Nasir El Rufai of Kaduna confirmed the terrorists were indeed Fulani herdsmen mostly from outside the country.  Sheik Gumi went a step further by going into the bandits’ den to obtain their demands which include amnesty and re-integration into our security services and larger society.

And as if to confirm that the Fulani believe in their just cause, Aliyu Marafa the Emir of Yantoro (dethroned and later reinstated) turbaned Ado Aileru, a notorious Fulani gang leader who was on the run after leading a massacre in the village of Kadisau in June 2020 and for terrorizing residents and motorists elsewhere in the northwest, as the Sarkin Fulanin.

Community policing as suggested by Ibrahim Dosara would have produced a balance of terror especially with recruits drawn from the warring Fulani and indigenous Hausa people compelled to jointly confront their demons. But President Buhari and his defence minister, Bashir Salihi Magashi, opposed state and community policing not controlled from Abuja.

For them to “rout-out, arrest and prosecute armed bandits, vicious kidnappers for ransom and cattle rustling gangs operating in Zamfara State”, what Zamfara needed were a full battalion of special forces; “Operation Maximum Safety with 510 police personnel and 40 patrol vehicles”, “Joint Intervention Team of about 1000 police personnel, counter terrorism unit (CTU), federal special anti-robbery squad (FSARS), anti-bomb (EOD) squad, and conventional policemen” and Air Force’s indiscriminate bombing from the air.

Ten years down the line, little has changed except that hostility has spread across the whole of the north-western states.

President Tinubu who admitted preparing hard for this job in the run up to the election rightly identified community and state policing as one of the ways to address insecurity among local communities. One is therefore not sure of the new information at his disposal compelling him to align with the position of self-serving winners-take-all northern leaders who have always opposed compromise and political bargaining in resolving crisis of nation building.

Tribal war is a factor of most multi-ethnic societies where dominant ethnic group try to lord it over smaller ethnic nationalities.  Europe for centuries fought tribal wars over the rights of groups to protect their values and culture. There was temporary cessation of hostilities after the 1648 Westphalia Agreement. It was not until after the two so called world wars which were in fact tribal wars, that Europe swore “never again”, with institutionalisation of federal system that protects groups and individuals from the tyranny of the state.

Since distributive justice or concern for fair allocation of resources among members of the community is at the core of the tribal war between warring Hausa and their Fulani compatriots, what is required is compromised bargaining  especially as we have discovered that any other option will only prolong their nightmare.

President Tinubu who won last year election by securing northern elite consensus is uniquely positioned to serve as an independent arbiter. He cannot afford to miss this historic opportunity to right the wrongs of the past especially where the northern establishment has roundly rejected policies that guarantees a measure of egalitarianism in the north.

For Tinubu therefore, addressing symptoms cannot be an option. With tribal war amidst ravaging poverty and about 10m of out of school children in the northwest, with Niger Delta political leaders unable to end crude oil theft in their backyard and with political elite elsewhere in the country busy importing the labour of other societies in the name of commerce, his much cherished economic crusade will be doomed.

THE addresses by world leaders speaking for eight  billion human begins, began flowing at the United Nations headquarters in New York, on Tuesday, September 10, 2024. The focus is on peace; how to save humanity from itself.

That same day, a debate raged in the host country between its two leading presidential candidates, Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. Inevitably, they had to address the issue of peace, especially in the Palestine which houses symbolic cities of peace like Bethlehem and Jerusalem. It is a Holy Land where the blood of the innocent waters its fields, mountains and valleys.

Harris advocated a ceasefire-for-hostage deal. She condemned the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on southern Israel but added that “far too many innocent Palestinians have been killed” by Israel.

To all Harris talked about peace in the Palestine, Trump, the former Twitter-in-Chief, chirruped: “She hates Israel!” “She hates Israel!” “She hates Israel!” Then, he switched to: “She also hates the Arab population!”

Trump’s singsong about Harris hating Israel and the Palestinians while not clearly stating his own position, is not the product of a confused mind. Rather, it portrays America’s duplicitous position; a peace maker who favours one side. Expecting the US to broker peace in the Palestine, is like Waiting for Godot.

The League of Nations was moulded from the furnace of the First World War with a primary purpose to end wars and create peace. That failed and, a bloodier World War Two erupted. The creation of the UN 79 years ago was again, to ensure universal peace.

However, some of the world leaders now taking their turn to address the UN General Assembly on peace, are the very practitioners of bloody strife in the world.

Actually, calling for peace can be hazardous and can come at high cost. When Canadian legislator, Sarah Jama, advocated a ceasefire in the Israeli war in Gaza, she was accused of anti-Semitism and expelled from her Ontario New Democratic Party caucus.

United Kingdom Member of Parliament, Paul Bristow was sacked as aide to the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology for calling for a ceasefire in the Palestine.

Andy McDonald, Labour MP for Middlesbrough was suspended from the party when he said at a demonstration: “We will not rest until we have justice. Until all people, Israelis and Palestinians , between the river and the sea, can live in peace.”

Jeremy Corbyn, British Labour Party leader for five years from 2015, was expelled for advocating a ceasefire in Gaza. The party termed his campaigns as anti-Semitism. He had to stand as an independent candidate to retain his Islington North seat. He was punished for desiring a British government that would on the world stage “search for peace, not war”.

Sometimes, the cost for even suggesting peace, is capital punishment. Denys Kireyev, a 45-year-old Ukrainian banker on February 23, 2024 obtained information that Russia was going to attack Kiev the next day and that the Antonov Airport would be the centre of the attacks. His information was spot on and it enabled his country prepare for the attack.

Five days later, he was part of the Ukrainian Negotiating Team that met with Russia in Gomel, Belarus. There, he toed a line for a ceasefire. Unfortunately, the Ukrainian government led by President Volodymyr  Zelensky was not interested in peace; it believed that Russia has to be militarily defeated.

A week later, Kireyev was invited by the Security Service of Ukraine, SBU, accused of being treasonable at the peace talks and was summarily executed with a shot in the head.

The government lied that Kireyev, who had honoured an invitation, was killed while trying to avoid detention. An uncoordinated government then made a second announcement that he had died while on a “special mission”. Finally Ukraine’s Defense Ministry announced that Kireyev had died “defending Ukraine and …Heroes don’t die!” The point had been made: talk peace and die.

This Tuesday, the President of the UN General Assembly, Mr. Dennis Francis reported to the human race that while in the last one year, he visited 31 countries, “circumstances frustrated my desire to meet with Israelis and Palestinians on the ground”.

That admission that he could not visit the epicentre of on-going conflicts in the world is like an admission that the UN is failing in its primary purpose of ensuring world peace.

The Trinidadian diplomat noted with regret: “Peace holds the foremost position, not just as a guiding principle but as the very raison d’être, the alpha and omega, if you will, of the United Nations …This organization was forged in the fires of two cataclysmic wars, with the solemn vow of sparing future generations from the scourge of war.”

There are no pretences that the major world leaders in Europe and North America do not want peace as evidenced by their insistence that even basic steps towards peace talks will not be taken in the bloody Russo-Ukrainian War.

So, the fires of war are being deliberately stoked in many parts of the world. They include the European-North American War burning in Ukraine, the Middle East conflicts that have already sucked in Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Yemen and Iran. There are the virtually forgotten wars in Syria, Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo and, the low intensity combats in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad, Nigeria and Myanmar. The armed conflicts in Somalia have been on since 1981 with two short periods of lull in the fighting.

Direct armed conflicts are not the only danger to world peace. There are issues like unilateral actions taken against countries on the basis that powerful nations do not like their politics.

Former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo has decided to mediate in one of them. In a September 3, 2024 letter to US President Joe Biden, he wrote: “It has been brought to my attention that Cuba is currently listed by the United States as one of the countries supporting or sponsoring terrorism globally. As my interaction and relationship with the government and people of Cuba is concerned, especially during and after the time of Fidel Castro, I want to appeal with you, President Biden, to reconsider Cuba’s inclusion on the list of countries supporting terrorism globally. I know and appreciate what contributions Cuba made to (the) final liquidation of colonialism and Apartheid in Africa.”

Cuba made the US “terrorist” list for actions like fighting the Apartheid military in Africa and, supporting liberation fighters like Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Ruth First, Joe Slovo and Oliver Thambo. These were people the US and UK classified as “terrorists”.

Today, peace is broken universally, the challenges are picking up its pieces and how the UN can piece them together again.

In the face of the challenges in the oil sector, particularly the current tightness in the supply of petrol, it has become fashionable to blame the national oil company, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd (NNPC Ltd), for everything. Last week, it was Prof. Pat Utomi who railed and fumed at the NNPC Ltd calling it one of the most opaque and unreliable companies in the world. Before then, The Punch had published an editorial in which it described the NNPC Ltd as a danger to Nigeria. The latest of these vitriolic attacks is by Dr. Muiz Banire, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), and former Commissioner of Transport and Environment, Lagos State, who contended in his column in The Sun that NNPC Ltd is the black hole of Nigeria.

Considering all that is going on in the petroleum sector, it would appear justifiable to call out the NNPC Ltd as some people have been doing in recent times. But most of the diatribes have been based on sentiments that are not rooted in facts. Railing at the NNPC Ltd without a thorough understanding of the issues that threw up the current challenges in the oil sector, as most of the commentators have been doing, will yield no good for the country. At this critical intersection, the task for all well-meaning Nigerians should be how to find lasting solutions to the mischiefs in the oil sector and not to look for scapegoats, as Dr. Banire has done.

According to Banire, Nigeria has been experiencing fuel scarcity since 1973 on the back of fuel subsidy and the NNPC Ltd is responsible for it. The assertion that the NNPC is responsible for this state of affairs is moot. The policy of fuel subsidy is not the preserve of the NNPC. Various administrations over the years have thought it wise to subsidize the cost of petroleum products for citizens. They came up with different methods of doing that. The role of NNPC Ltd has been to implement the policy as decided by government. At a point when the various administrations felt that the fuel subsidy policy had become a burden that should be done away with, they made it known. NNPC Ltd, as the national oil company, implemented it. This was the case in 2012 when the nation went up in protest against the decision of government to remove fuel subsidy. The same scenario repeated itself in 2019 when the then administration came up with the policy to remove fuel subsidy. NNPC Ltd is neither responsible for the policy of fuel subsidy or its removal.

It is very unfortunate that Dr Banire would descend to the level of castigating the NNPC Ltd for the fuel subsidy debacle that has plagued Nigeria and on the basis of that label the Company that has over the years patriotically borne the brunt of the fuel subsidy policy as a black hole. His analysis fails to take into consideration the huge challenges of products smuggling, pipeline vandalism, and crude oil theft that the company contends with daily, and in spite of which it manages to keep the nation going with crude oil production and fuel supply.

Barely three months after the Federal Government announced the removal of fuel subsidy, it became difficult for both major and independent petroleum products marketers to import petrol because of the foreign exchange policy. They could not source forex to continue to bring in petrol. Since then, NNPC Ltd has been importing the product and selling at almost half price in keeping with the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) which designates it as the fuel supplier of last resort. Yes, there have been supply hiccups here and there because of the financial constraints imposed by the transaction. Just imagine the hardship the nation would have suffered if NNPC Ltd was not there to play the role of supplier of last resort! NNPC Ltd is the reason Nigerians continue to enjoy lower pump price for petrol than they would ordinarily pay for the product. How then does such a company become a black hole?

For Banire, NNPC Ltd is responsible for everything that is wrong in the oil sector. He even blames smuggling and the unauthorized sale of petroleum products to street urchins who in turn trade it in the black market in jerrycans on the NNPC Ltd. But does he have evidence that the unpatriotic marketers who divert petroleum products meant for local consumption to neighbouring countries are staff members or representatives of the NNPC Ltd? Does he have any shred of evidence that the boys who sell fuel in the black market in jerrycans source their products from NNPC Retail Ltd.’s stations? The least one would expect from a lawyer of Banire’s standing is a fact-based and not speculative commentary.

The NNPC Ltd has turned a corner since 2018 when it began to prepare for the enactment of the Petroleum Industry Act, which was eventually passed into law in 2021. Apart from deepening its commitment to accountability and transparency by regularly publishing its audited annual financial statements, it has become a profitable company with undisputable growth trajectory. It recorded an unprecedented N3.29 trillion profit in its recently released 2023 audited financial report. But this fact is conveniently lost on Dr. Banire who insists that he has not seen any difference between NNPC as corporation and the commercially focused NNPC Ltd that was incorporated in 2021. Fortunately, it does not take Banire to see or believe that NNPC Ltd, as presently constituted, has broken away from its debilitating past for it to be true. He is at home with the legal maxim: “Res Ipsa Loquitur”, meaning the facts speak for themselves.

While one cannot dissuade people like Dr. Banire from criticizing the NNPC Ltd, they must refrain from standing facts on their heads all because they want to be populist or be in the good books of the public. Besides, the Banires of this world should also not be intentionally mischievous in their assertion that the NNPC Limited is exercising an overbearing influence on the regulators. One expects that given the level of their educational accomplishments, they should have the capacity to research very well into the subject matters of their editorial interventions so that they do not argue, assert and progress in error(s). In the corollary, it is either Banire is mischievous or ignorant about the assertion he made in his write-up that the NNPC influences the the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and the Nigerian Midstream Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Agency (NMDPRA) who are the two independent regulators. If he lacks a clear knowledge of the workings of the sector, he should be humble enough to seek clarifications so he could be well informed. NNPC Limited is an operator-with a number of refineries under its purview. The Port Harcourt refinery will soon take off. As a matter of fact, the refineries under the NNPC are operators and are therefore subject to the regulatory framework and regulations set out by the NMDPRA. The operator(s) cannot, therefore, exercise overbearing influence on the regulators. This is commonsensically impossible. Pure and simple.

Soneye is the chief corporate communications officer of the NNPC Ltd.

Cristiano Ronaldo, the Portuguese footballer, is celebrating 1 billion followers across all his social media platforms.

In an Instagram post on Thursday, the 39-year-old Al-Nassr forward thanked his supporters for believing in him through “all the highs and the lows”.

Ronaldo also reflected on his journey from a young boy in Madeira to becoming “one of the greatest players of all time”.

“We have made history — 1 BILLION followers! This is more than just a number,” he wrote.

“From the streets of Madeira to the biggest stages in the world, I’ve always played for my family and for you, and now 1 billion of us stand together.

“You’ve been with me every step of the way. This journey is our journey, and together, we’ve shown that there are no limits to what we can achieve.

“Thank you for believing in me, for your support, and for being part of my life. The best is yet to come, and we’ll keep pushing, winning, and making history together.”

With this new feat, Ronaldo is the most-followed person on social media — including Instagram (638 million), X (113 million), Facebook (170+ million), and YouTube (60+ million).

On August 21, Ronaldo launched his YouTube channel. The footballer also set a new Guinness World Record (GWR) for the most YouTube subscribers gained in 24 hours.

The former Manchester United and Real Madrid player has won five Ballon d’Or awards, three UEFA Men’s Player of the Year Awards, and four European Golden Shoes, the most by any European player.

The Portuguese international has also scored 895 senior career goals and is the leading all-time goal-scorer in the world.

According to the latest issue of Forbes, Ronaldo is also the highest-paid athlete in the world in 2024 with an estimated total earnings of $260 million.

[TheCable]