“In January 2012, today’s President Bola Tinubu as opposition leader rallied his economists and got them to tell him the implication of fuel subsidy removal. They wrote it for him. He read it and liked it; he signed it and put his name on it. Conscious of the verdict of history, of posterity, and for emphasis, he got it published – one and a half pages – in his newspaper, The Nation of January 11, 2012. Check the newspaper’s pages 43 and 44. The grim summary of Tinubu’s economists’ damning opinion was that if petrol subsidy was withdrawn in Nigeria, the poor would stop breathing and the rich would suffer. The prophets’ exact words are that “there will be less food, less medicine, and less school across the land. More children will cry in hunger and more parents will cry at their children’s despair…. Poor and middle class consumers will spend the same amount to buy much less. The volume of economic activity will drop like a stone tossed from a high building.”

A colleague yesterday shared a 1992 campaign video of Chief M.K.O. Abiola promising to demystify governance in Nigeria and stop “people’s heads” from being “shaved in their absence.” A professor friend (political scientist) commented that “that’s partly why he never became president.”

Becoming president or king comes with a price. When ‘The Price of Kings’, a political documentary on Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, was released in 2011, the Financial Times titled its review of the film: ‘All about the art of compromise’. The reviewer describes the film as a portrait of leadership; he talks about “years of gritty compromise and the abandonment of previously held principles.” He goes on to ask: “What sacrifices would you make for what you believe in? What, in other words, is the collateral damage, personal and political, of statesmanship?”

In January 2012, today’s President Bola Tinubu as opposition leader rallied his economists and got them to tell him the implication of fuel subsidy removal. They wrote it for him. He read it and liked it; he signed it and put his name on it. Conscious of the verdict of history, of posterity, and for emphasis, he got it published – one and a half pages – in his newspaper, The Nation of January 11, 2012. Check the newspaper’s pages 43 and 44. The grim summary of Tinubu’s economists’ damning opinion was that if petrol subsidy was withdrawn in Nigeria, the poor would stop breathing and the rich would suffer. The prophets’ exact words are that “there will be less food, less medicine, and less school across the land. More children will cry in hunger and more parents will cry at their children’s despair…. Poor and middle class consumers will spend the same amount to buy much less. The volume of economic activity will drop like a stone tossed from a high building.”

Eleven years after what has turned out to be an accurate reading of the future, the man who signed the prophecy became president and proceeded to feed to the nation what he had pronounced as poison. A minute after swearing an oath to work for the welfare of the people, Tinubu became a victim of his own prophecy. What happened? You think he did not know the implication of ignoring his seers? He did. Was it sheer self-destructive wickedness? Again, I say no. So, why? The truth is election alone does not make a president here. Our presidency is by election and affirmation. Our votes are subject to affirmation by the kingmakers in London and Washington. The principal does not appoint an agent so that the agent would be master of himself. As opposition leader, Tinubu could independently hire economic advisers who told him the truth. As president, he cannot and dare not choose advisers whose views are at variance with the kingmakers’. The president is endorsed to act strictly the script as given to him by the film director. The script writers are the choice makers. They are the double ‘monsters’ headquartered on Pennsylvania Avenue and H Street, Washington DC.

Mr. Femi Falana, Senior Advocate of Nigeria, last week asked President Tinubu to stop obeying the IMF. He asked the president to reject IMF’s latest advice asking him to further increase the prices of fuel and electricity in Nigeria. Falana will not get a response from the president; the presidency will ignore him. The Senior Advocate ought to know better. The Nigerian government cannot glare down behemoths who hold the knob of life. No poor president has ditched the IMF and the World Bank and slept well since the two were born in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, in 1944. If you know you won’t sleep with them, do not take their money – and power. If you can’t run errands, never apply and accept to work for them. The presidency of Nigeria is not a detached power house; it is some people’s gate house.

Falana in his intervention wondered why the IMF kept quiet when the British government, last year, paid almost 40 billion pounds ($50 billion) in energy subsidies. He asked why the United States’ doubled its subsidies for renewable energy from $7.4 billion in 2016 to $15.6 billion in 2022. He wondered why the IMF did not ask these countries to stop what they were doing with subsidies. Falana noted that the French government had announced that it would continue to subsidise electricity bills into 2025. Falana said: “The IMF has not called on France to stop subsidising electricity and increase electricity tariffs. So, the IMF’s anti-subsidy campaign in Nigeria should be flatly rejected.”

Tinubu cannot obey Falana and disobey the IMF and its brother, the World Bank. If he tells them no, he will pay. Whatever the earthworm tells the ground is what the ground does. The president is the ground, the Bretton Woods are the earthworm. There is an old video of President Olusegun Obasanjo saying his Central Bank governor, Charles Soludo, “was not really a fan of the World Bank” and was always showing it in words and deeds. The president said he, one day, warned Soludo: “never you say no to the World Bank; otherwise, they will rub your face on the ground – but never you do their bidding.” That is how tough it is – say yes without doing yes. Either way, you will pay.

Shaving people’s heads in their absence is the simple meaning of international politics and global finance. Two of the barbers – the ‘head cutters’ – are the IMF and the World Bank. They are the ones we are asking this president to disobey. The man knows why he is putting his feet where he is directed to put them. If he does not, to which god will he run when trouble comes? But he is wrong. Why has he not read what became of those who did what he is doing? He should read BBC’s Budget Blunders, UK’s ‘Dash for Growth’ budget of 1972/73, the 1976 Pound Sterling crisis, the tragedy of Keynesian measures and IMF’s involvement.

Before this Tinubu, there was a Tinubu in Lagos who made and unmade kings in that city. Lagos of the mid-19th century belonged to big boys from the colonial office, rich returning slaves and a few homegrown wealthy merchants. Madam Efunroye Tinubu not only belonged to the latter group; she literally had the balls of everyone in her firm grip. She was the female, local version of the 16th Earl of Warwick, the overbearing power and property baron “who carved out a position for himself by the strength of his sword.” This Earl had neither the authority nor the right to raise or depose kings” but he did both with cruel equanimity. He did, and P. C. Dharma gives him a generous mention in her 1947 article on ‘Kingmakers of India.’ Madam Tinubu was exactly the Earl in Lagos of the mid-1880s, an arbiter of royal and economic powers. Bold, courageous, no-nonsense, ruthless, her history in Lagos and, later in Abeokuta, is about making kings and using kings. The ones who demurred, who raised objections or showed reluctance, suffered loss of crown and scepter.

Falana asked why the two finance institutions are not giving first world countries the same drugs they are prescribing for us. I think I can answer that question. Small gods do not teach Sango how to inflict maximum damage. Besides, chief priests of the sacred grove are beyond the canes of masquerades. The masqueraders who tried that in the past lost their costumes. I use Madam Tinubu again here to illustrate this. The lady without means transited from poverty in Abeokuta to power and wealth in Lagos. Tinubu was made very rich by the colonial economic system. She was very useful to the government and the business community. She traded in men and goods for her profit and for the good of the powers-that-be. She made very good money. She loved and coveted the white man’s trade and riches but later detested the meddlesomeness of the alien in Lagos affairs. She started plotting the downfall of the masters. The first was in January 1855; it failed. The second was in March 1855. The grand plan was to expel or neutralize all the European merchants in Lagos. The plot was called off, last minute, because two British warships showed up fortuitously in Lagos waters. A deadly disturbance two months later got the British to expel Madam Tinubu from Lagos, never to come back.

No one on the mountain top desires such a fall. ‘Expulsion from Lagos’ is the title of the chapter that tells this part of Madam Tinubu’s epic story in her biography ‘Madam Tinubu: Merchant and Kingmaker’ by Oladipo Yemitan. I read it (starting from page 54) and thought the woman who later rose again and became the first Iyalode of Egba got what he gave her victims. Her boat met every furious tide with fury. The intrigues, the shifting and shifty loyalties on those pages present good lessons in compromise and consequences.

We will be asking our president to hate himself if we insist he must spurn the orders of those that give life to his government. If we would ask anyone to say no to the IMF, it would not be this president. His bones are weak; we should leave him alone. Why can’t we make the rejection by ourselves? The Yoruba say a man uses his own mouth to reject a meal. They also say no one begs another into slavery. Everywhere the Bretton Woods have been successfully glared down and shown to be dumb, it has been the people themselves who did so. But we are not normal people. We always look for king-size heads to help us break our coconuts. If we can’t find one, we simply withdraw into our prayer houses and intensify supplications for ‘divine intervention.’

Normal babies cry at the sight of injections. There is a trending WhatsApp video that shows an unbelievably calm baby while being inoculated. With that video is a caption mocking how we suffer pain here without crying. The baby betrayed neither pain nor anxiety. That baby is Nigeria and its long-suffering people. We take and endure knocks and, like Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist in the workhouse, we ask for more. American abolitionist and fiery anti-slavery orator, Frederick Douglass, in August 1857 warned that the extent tyrants go is set “by the endurance of those they oppress.” Douglass added that victims of power would be hunted in the north and flogged in the south “so long as they…make no resistance, either moral or physical.”

For millions of my countrymen, life is literally nasty, brutish and short. Every home sobs. Rice was N70,000 per bag last week. This week opened with rice becoming N80,000. Cement sold for N10,000 per 50kg bag on Friday. Naira slid to N1,700/dollar at the weekend. Our minimum wage of N30,000 equals $17. How did we get here after the experience of previous disasters? The IMF gave us some prescriptions some forty years ago. The calcifying effects are still in our blood system. In 2023/2024, that same Doctor Death came back into our embrace. Ola Rotimi wrote ‘Our Husband Has Gone Mad Again’. Why should people’s head go bad more than once? Madness and insanity are synonyms. “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” Frank Wilczek, theoretical physicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, United States and 2004 winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics, examined that quote and called it the “Einstein Insanity”— because the quote is attributed to Albert Einstein. Einstein was that thinker who held that if we are not insane, we should be able to predict the consequences of our actions. He was the physicist who believed that human stupidity is one of the two infinite things in the world. He refused to accept that the world is inherently unpredictable. He strengthened his argument with a sound bite from the celestial: “God does not play dice with the universe.” But, here, we are being ruled by dice players – poor players; people who roll the dice, and roll it again – and again, because the results they expect are not what they get. What they do with Nigeria is what my childhood called tokíní tokéjì. They use the people to play Baba Ijebu; they bet with people’s destiny.

Amid all these came from the north last week a regional threat to the president by traditional and religious leaders. They said their people were hungry and restive and that they could no longer control them. Every sentence they uttered sounded like a threat of Armageddon. Their concern would have carried weight if the shouters had done so when their Muhammadu Buhari was in power and was messing up everyone, everything, everywhere. But they maintained complicit quietude and passivity when their evil reigned. Because of their past of unholy silence, their present angst could not resonate with the street in the south. I saw and heard people mocking these northern leaders and their groans. They lost it. Ironically, the Yoruba content of the south is working hard to follow that same road of vicarious infamy. There is an insidious, invidious campaign for indifference going on. I was called “a perennially sulky bad boy” last week by a gentleman who claims to be a ‘Yoruba leader.’ That was because I had the audacity to speak about hunger and pain in the land. The ‘Yoruba leader’ thought Yoruba brotherhood with the president should have stitched my mouth. I thought if he was truly Yoruba, he would be familiar with the causal relationship between criminal, idiotic silence and a bad head.

The rain has not stopped; nobody should say that it is not as heavy as yesterday’s downpour. Things may still get worse. Today, staying at home is hot as hell and there is no safety on the road. It is the perfect Yoruba situation of Ilé ò gbàá, ònà ò gbàá (the home rejects him, the road won’t accept him). Uproars daily follow naira’s death by installment. We sob as if we do not know that the illness that won’t heal will kill. Unfortunately, you feel pain only if you wear the shoes. Those assembled by Tinubu to halt the drift do not have their wealth in weakness. Every fall of the naira swells their bùgá. But they may be wrong. My political economics teacher told me that the way these things are going, every soul in this ship is in danger. He said life vests won’t help and escape boats may be useless.

Catholic Bishops in the country, under the auspices of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), have told President Bola Tinubu that his policies are inflicting untold hardship on Nigerians.

The Bishops lamented that there is increasing hunger in the country, unemployment, kidnapping, general insecurity and other crimes are on the increase, and there is a high cost of food and living.

Speaking on Sunday through the CBCN President, Most Rev. Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji, the Bishops said the reforms initiated by President Tinubu have so far been counterproductive, with more Nigerians being plunged into poverty.

Ugorji made the position of the Bishops known when he delivered a speech at the opening session of the 2024 First Plenary Assembly of the CBCN held at the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria Resource Centre, Durumi Abuja.

The cleric said the fuel subsidy removal, coupled with the floating of the naira, has not yielded any positive result so far, and the government is only asking people to make sacrifices and exercise patience while no corresponding action on the part of the leaders is been seen.

He said: “Evidently, the reform agenda of President Tinubu has added to the plight of Nigerians. With the withdrawal of fuel subsidies and the unification of the foreign exchange market, there has been a sharp increase in the pump price of petroleum products, and a steady decline in the value of the Naira.

“High spiralling inflation has made it difficult for the average Nigerian to access basic commodities, including food items and medication. Millions of Nigerians have been reduced to a life of grinding poverty, wanton suffering, and untold hardship as never before in our national history. In a bid to survive, an increasing number of poor people have resorted to begging. With more than 80 million Nigerians living under the poverty line of less than two dollars a day.”

Expressing further dissatisfaction with the policies of the Tinubu government, Ugorji added that: “If we have to be very frank with ourselves and not wallow in self-delusion, we must admit that we are faced with a case where therapy is worse than the disease. The government’s reform agenda is turning out to be counterproductive. Despite the efforts of the government to boost our economy, our nation has continued to sink economically deeper and deeper into a bottomless pit.

“In withdrawing the fuel subsidy, the government assured Nigerians it would save a lot of money to be injected into other national development sectors. Rather than give evidence of money so far saved from the withdrawal of subsidies for which Nigerians are being afflicted with untold hardship, all we hear is the government’s accumulation of more and more foreign debts to balance its budgetary deficit, thereby mortgaging the future of our nation and generations yet unborn.

“We must also be frank to admit that government’s efforts to fight corruption have remained prostrate, and as a result, Nigeria is rated as one of the most corrupt nations in the world. The crusade against corruption needs to be more proactive. Adequate checks and balances need to be implemented in our public financial management to prevent dishonest and greedy public servants from stealing public money with case and impunity.

“A financial management and accounting system that allows fraudulent government officials to freely loot huge sums of money from public coffers needs total overhauling. Though ICPC and EFCC have recovered billions of Naira from corrupt government officials, but it has failed to win most of its cases before the Court of Justice due to poor investigation and presentation of corruption cases.

“Until our anti-corruption institutions can successfully prosecute and jail corrupt government officials, corruption will continue to thrive in Nigeria. So, the government should rise to its primary responsibility of securing the lives and property of its citizens.

“The government does not need to reinvent the wheel since it can easily learn from what other nations do to provide adequate security for its citizens. It goes without saying that there cannot be any meaningful development in any country without adequate security. It will be belabouring the obvious to state that security in our country will remain a tall dream if mass unemployment exists among our youths.”

Fresh facts have emerged how the national leadership of All Progressives Congress and other stakeholders were arm-twisted by the Presidency in the Edo governorship primary election.
Presidency and the National Working Committee of the All Progressives Congress (NWC-APC) had toed different lines over the choice of the candidate of the governing party for the forthcoming gubernatorial election in Edo State slated for September, this year.

APC had scheduled the intra-party election to pick its flag-bearer for last Saturday, amidst divergent interests by critical stakeholders from within and outside Edo State.
Loyalists of the key players in the Presidency and NWC fought dirty in Benin City, the Edo state capital, on Saturday, as they pushed for the emergence of the preferred candidate of their benefactors to fly the flag of the ruling party in the crucial off season September 18 government election.
The ill-fated primary produced “two winners” in the persons of a member of the House of Representatives, Mr. Dennis Idahosa, who represents Ovia South/West-Ovia North/East in Edo South senatorial district of the state and Senator Monday Okpebholo, who is representing Edo Central in the 10th Senate.
LEADERSHIP learnt that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had succumbed to pressures from his chief of staff, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila, to endorse Idahosa in the countdown to Saturday’s election.
Gbajabiamila, the major promoter of Idahosa, after securing the presidential nod, recruited a former governor of the state, Senator Adams Oshiomhole, as the arrow-head of the deal to clear all hurdles against Idahosa at the state level.
Oshiomhole later set the stage for Idahosa’s emergence in the three senatorial districts of the state.
In the emerging scenario, Oshiomhole was compelled to abandon some of his lieutenants, who had shown interest in the election and touted their relationship with him as an asset to clinch victory in the intra-party election.
Besides, some of Oshiomhole’s loyalists, including his former deputy, Chief Pius Obudu, were tactically eliminated from the race, for lacking financial muscles to prosecute the general election.

Oshiomhole reportedly persuaded some of them to drop their aspirations since they could not withstand the financial war-chest, which Gbajabiamila had promised to deploy in aid of Idahosa to clinch the highest political office in Edo state.
One of our sources in the Presidency said Gbajabiamila, peddling presidential influence, also got some front-runners in the election to back out in order to pave the way for Idahosa. He promised some of them juicy federal appointments as reward.
The source told LEADERSHIP that the party’s NWC was oblivious of the game plan by the Presidency to install Idahosa.

LEADERSHIP was told that the NWC, since it was not taken into confidence by Gbajabiamila, was working to deliver Okpebholo, who hails from Edo central, an area which has been denied governorship seat of the state since the advent of the current political dispensation in 1999.
The tenure Prof. Oserheimen Osunbor, an indigene of the area, who was inaugurated on May 29, 2007, to succeed Chief Lucky Igbinedion (Edo South), was cut short by judicial pronouncement on November 11, 2008.
Osunbor’s fate paved the way for Oshiomhole’s (Edo North) governorship till 2016, and he was succeeded by the incumbent Governor Godwin Obaseki, also from Edo South.
The Abdullahi Ganduje-led NWC was working on the permutation that it would only be fair to accord Edo central the deserving opportunity, more so that Obaseki was planning to pick his successor from the zone, on the banner of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
This, in the wisdom of Ganduje and his colleagues in the NWC, would engender healthy competition between two frontline political parties in the general election.
It was also gathered that Senate President Godswill Akpabio, in a bid to push Okpebholo through, also dropped the name of President Tinubu before the national chairman of the party, Ganduje, to help the cause of his colleague in the Senate.

Akpabio was quoted to have told Ganduje that Okpebholo was the person favoured by the president. One of our sources said Ganduje fell for Akpabio’s subtle blackmail.
The source said Akpabio’s revelation also strengthened the resolve of the NWC to back the Edo senator.
However, findings by LEADERSHIP revealed that Ganduje only got wind of Gbajabiamila’s clandestine plans less than 48 hours to the primary election, in the early hours of Thursday.
As the rumours filtered to him, Ganduje raced to Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport, Abuja, for an audience with Tinubu, who was billed to travel to Addis Ababa, for clarification on the festering issue.
One of the sources told this newspaper that “as Ganduje struggled for recognition for a handshake, Mr. President sauntered forward, facing the national chairman frontally, he said ‘has Femi (Gbajabiamila) delivered my message on the Edo primaries to you? But if he has not told you, this is my position: go and deliver Dennis Idahosa.’

“The NWC had programmed all human and material resources in favour of Senator Monday Okpebholo and some of the arrangement could no longer be altered to accommodate the now glaring interest of Mr. President. The national chairman’s frantic calls and contacts to the various committees to change the course of action were futile. The committee members were either unreachable or they refused to budge and listen to the fresh order.
Already, the controversial intra-party election has produced three winners.
Imo State Governor and chairman of the APC governorship primary committee, Hope Uzodinma, announced Idahosa winner of the primary.

According to the governor, Idahosa polled 40,453 votes to defeat Okpebholo, who garnered a paltry 100 votes.
In another twist, the NWC-appointed returning officer for the election, Dr. Stanley Ugboajah, announced Okpebholo winner having polled 12,145 votes to defeat Idahosa who got 5,536 votes.
Meanwhile, the APC Critical Stakeholders Group has called on party’s national chairman, Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje to disregard the declaration of Hon. Dennis Idahosa by Governor Hope Uzodinma as APC governorship candidate for the September 21 Edo State Governorship election.
The APC Critical Stakeholders led Hon. Emmanuel Godwin who made the call at a press conference in Abuja yesterday, insisted that Anamero Sunday Dekeri, popularly called Danco was the validly nominated candidate governorship at the party’s primary election held on Saturday.

Ganduje Succumbs to Presidency, Congratulates Idahosa
The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Abdullahi Ganduje, has congratulated Rep. Dennis Idahosa (APC-Edo) over his emergence as the party’s candidate for the upcoming governorship election in Edo State.
Ganduje said this in a statement by Edwin Olofo, his Chief Press Secretary on Sunday in Abuja following the primaries.
He also commended Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State, who was the Chairman of the APC Edo State Governorship Primary Election and Appeal Committee, for conducting a credible exercise.
“At this point, I want to call on all the aspirants to bury the hatchet and work for the interest of the party so that our party will emerge victorious,” he said.
Ganduje also commended the state APC stakeholders and assured them that the party would do everything possible to ensure that Edo State was delivered.Ugboajah-led committee sent to the state was the one recognised by law as returning officers, adding that Governor Hope Uzodinma does not have the power to return any aspirant as elected.

[Leadership]

The National Population Commission (NPC) has disclosed plans to digitise the registration of birth, death and other vital civil information in the country.

In a statement, NPC’s acting Director, Public Affairs, Nkoyo Nwakusor, said the move to stop manual registration was to enable self-service and assisted-service to the public to register vital events such as birth, still-birth, death, birth attestation, diaspora birth and death notification, marriage and divorce notifications, migration registration, vital certificate verification and hospital onboarding.

She noted that through VitalReg, a state-of-the-art digital application, there would be digital certificates in all cases and accessible verification platforms to registered organisations with a central management system (dashboard) that depicted and analysed collated civil registrations into vital statistics for proper planning and decision-making purposes.

The statement quoted the Chairman of NPC, Nasir Isa Kwarra, that the VitalReg marked a departure from the traditional paper-based recording of vital events to a state-of-the-art digital solution that conformed to international best practices.

On his part, the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Barnksforte Technologies Limited, Adedayo Bankole thanked the commission and the federal government for the opportunity to provide the technology solution to digitalise civil registration and vital statistics in Nigeria, adding that they would continue to improve the application to boost efficient data generation in the country.

[DailyTrust]

The presidency has accused the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at the 2023 general election, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, of attempting to rubbish President Bola Tinubu’s foreign exchange policies.

In a statement released on Sunday, Special Adviser to President Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga said that the president’s meeting with the 36 state governors was centered around food security and rising cost of food across the country.

Naija News reports that he cleared that there was no discussion on the country’s currency performance at the forex market during the cause of the meeting.

The statement by Onanuga read, “Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, in an attempt to rubbish the foreign exchange policy of the Tinubu administration got his facts muddled up again. He also failed to prescribe a better Policy Option to what Governor Olayemi Cardoso and his team are executing at the apex bank.

“First of all, it was not true that President Tinubu’s meeting last Thursday with the 36 State Governors was centred on discussing foreign exchange crisis and currency fluctuation.

“What was discussed in the main was food supply and how to drastically reduce the food prices. The Minister of Information, Alhaji Mohammed Idris, gave a briefing about the meeting, revealing the highlights to State House Correspondents.

“One was that the meeting established a nexus between the state of security and the rising cost of food. Another was that hoarders are warehousing food, creating artificial scarcity and thus enabling the high cost of food items.

“The decisions at the meeting reflected the main points discussed: Forest rangers are to be strengthened and armed, while police are to recruit more men and the National Economic Council to deepen discussions about creating state police.

“President Tinubu also affirmed his approval for the release of 42,000 Metric tonnes of grains from the national reserve. Government is also in discussion with rice millers to get another 60,000 metric tonnes. President Tinubu said he does not support price control and importation of food. Nigeria, he believes, can grow enough food to feed its citizens and spare some for export.

“The present government is executing the cultivation of 500,000 hectares for wheat, maize, and rice, in many states. Governors are expected to participate in this programme, one of the reasons for last Thursday’s meeting.

“There was no deliberation as former VP Atiku claimed on currency fluctuation. As Alhaji Atiku should know, this is the business of the Central Bank, which has the autonomy to handle the country’s monetary policies. As a matter of fact, the President enjoined the governors, in passing, to allow the CBN do its work and refrain from dabbling into what is within CBN’s purview.

“If he would be true to himself and what actually transpired at the meeting, unlike the lies he spewed, we expected Alhaji Atiku to praise President Tinubu for maintaining this stance and for not interfering with the business of Central Bank.

“It is false and preposterous for Atiku to claim that CBN’s FX management policy was hurriedly put together without proper plans and consultations with stakeholders and that the apex bank is hamstrung by Tinubu’s government in implementing a sound FX Management Policy “that would have dealt with such issues as increasing liquidity, curtailing/regulating demand, dealing with FX backlogs and rate convergence”.

“Contrary to former VP Atiku’s claim, Cardoso’s CBN is implementing a raft of policies to stabilise the Naira and end volatility in the market and this is already yielding some positive results.

“Capital importation into the country is increasing, according to the latest NBS report. In the fourth quarter of 2023, Nigeria recorded a 66.27 percent increase in capital inflow, compared with Q3, before Cardoso’s arrival at CBN. In Q3, capital inflow was $654.65 million. It rose to $1.09 billion in Q4.
Alhaji Atiku will agree that the rise in capital inflow suggests massive investors’ confidence in Nigeria and the policy direction of the Tinubu administration.

“Juxtaposed with the policy options being implemented by the CBN, Atiku’s alternative of a controlled floatation of the Naira is similar to the policy of Godwin Emefiele, when an estimated $1.5 billion was spent monthly to shore up the Naira, while arbitrage or round tripping went on unhindered. Sadly, it was perpetrated by people close to the corridors of powers.”

Bayern Munich have decided not to fire Thomas Tuchel following a 3-2 defeat to Bochum on Sunday.

The result saw the Bundesliga champions slip eight points behind current leaders, Bayer Leverkusen.

It also meant Bayern could go trophyless for the first time in 12 years.

The loss to Bochum was their third defeat in a row across all competitions.

Following the game, Bayern cancelled Tuchel’s post-match press conference, leading to speculations that the former Chelsea boss would be dismissed.

However, Sky Germany reporter Florian Plettenberg has said Tuchel will remain in post and that he is refusing to resign owing to his desire to fight on.

The club’s CEO, Jan-Christian Dreesen, also insisted that the embattled head coach will not be dismissed.

“I feel rubbish. I don’t believe in big statements about the coach.

“This issue isn’t on our mind at the moment,” Dreesen said.

[DailyPost]

This past week in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the African Union, AU, adopted a new treaty relating to the specific aspects to the Right to a Nationality and the Eradication of Statelessness in Africa.

The explanatory memorandum explains that this treaty “seeks to facilitate the inclusion of individuals within African States, by providing legal solutions for the resolution of the practical problems linked to the recognition and exercise of the right to a nationality, to eradicate statelessness, and above all to identify the principles that should govern relations between individuals and States in relation to these issues”.

This protocol plugs the omission of the right to a nationality in the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and has been long in the making. The demand for it was launched in March 2007 by the Global Pan-African Movement, International Refugee Rights Initiative, and the Open Society Justice Initiative in a joint position issued by Dr. Tajudeen Abdulraheem, Dismas Nkunda and the present writer calling for a continental treaty “to guarantee the right to citizenship and prohibit statelessness in Africa”. 

A mere two years later, on May 25, 2009, Tajudeen was killed in a car-crash in Nairobi, Kenya. The drafting and negotiation of the Protocol has taken all of nearly 15 years since his death. In memory of Tajudeen, this column today substantially re-publishes the statement from 2007 which set in motion the process leading to the adoption of the treaty.

On March 6, 1957, the independence of 

Ghana promised for all Africans and our communities a new era of citizenship in full dignity and equality with the rest of humanity. Over 50 years later, in launching the Citizenship Rights in Africa Initiative, CRAI, we testify that this promise remains to be fulfilled and call on African governments as a matter of urgency to fully assure, respect and guarantee a right to effective citizenship in our continent. 

Africa’s peoples did not fight for independence to be reduced to non-persons or second class citizens by our own governments. Today, we say: our governments must stop foreignising our people.

This initiative is a necessary response to perhaps the biggest challenge facing Africa today – of guaranteeing the right to citizenship and enabling Africans within our continent to co-exist, pursue livelihoods, move freely, and participate in the government of our countries without arbitrary interference. For the average African, irrespective of country, these basic elements of effective citizenship do not exist today.

Thousands of Africans daily join the millions of victims of statelessness and arbitrary denial of citizenship in our continent. Although each case of statelessness or denial of citizenship produces unique experiences of victimization, common patterns are clear. These include the stripping of citizenship status and rights resulting in statelessness; forced expulsion or forced population transfers; elimination of minority groups through mass de-nationalization, followed – in many cases – by targeted killings of members of the affected groups; persecution of vocal opponents or critics of incumbent regimes; and refusal to recognize or accord the rights of particular (groups of) citizens in the absence of documentary proof. 

In several cases, governments make such proof extremely difficult or even impossible to obtain. For example, Kenyan Somalis and Nubians in Kenya are required, in order to prove their citizenship, to produce birth certificates of their grandparents, nearly all of whom were born when there were no birth records.

International law prohibits statelessness. The African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights similarly prohibits arbitrary and discriminatory interference with citizenship. The pattern is clear. Many governments across the continent daily strip certain people – usually political opponents, members of minority communities, or vocal critics – of their citizenship. For millions of our people, citizenship is no longer a right; it is now a privilege enjoyed at the pleasure of government of the day: 

*In 1995, Zambia’s founding President Kenneth Kaunda was stripped of his citizenship by his successor. 

*In 2000, Cote d’Ivoire’s former Prime Minister, Alassane Ouattara, was similarly stripped of his Ivoirien citizenship. 

*At this event today, we have two recent victims of this violation: Tanzania’s leading journalist and media proprietor, Jenerali Ulimwengu; and the publisher of the only existing independent newspaper in Zimbabwe, Trevor Ncube.

In many countries in Africa, there are millions more who are too poor to challenge this violation or too unknown to register in the frightening statistics of the stateless. 

Affected populations include: a majority of the continent’s estimated migrant and pastoralist population of 17.3 million persons representing the biggest population of persons at risk of statelessness in the world; an estimated 30% of Côte d’Ivoire’s 17.5 million people de-nationalized by the Ivoirité-inspired amendments to their country’s citizenship laws between 1995-2000; more than 1.5 million Banyamulenge of Eastern Congo, whose citizenship in the DRC remains disputed even today; another 1.5 million Zimbabwean mine and commercial farm workers born of parents descended from Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia whose nationality was arbitrarily cancelled by the government of Zimbabwe in 2001; and hundreds of thousands of Ethiopians of Eritrean-descent who had their Ethiopian nationality cancelled and nationality documents destroyed before their forced expulsion to Eritrea in 1998-1999 and hundreds of thousands of black Mauritanians expelled to Senegal in the 1990s. The list is endless.

Statelessness and mass denial of citizenship pose a clear and present danger to regional peace and security in Africa. Indeed many of Africa’s current wars, including those in Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Darfur region of Sudan, are linked directly to citizenship-related persecution and exclusion. 

The war between Eritrea and Ethiopia involved cancellation of nationality and tit-for-tat forced population transfers. The 1994 Rwandan Genocide is the logical extreme in Africa’s recent history of what happens when governments choose to arbitrarily put their own people beyond reach of citizenship.

Pastoralist and border populations around our continent, such as the Maasai of Kenya and Tanzania; and the Somalis of Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia, have been rendered stateless because they straddle the borders of multiple African countries but are unable effectively to claim the nationality of any.

These examples easily demonstrate that statelessness and citizenship are together the most serious human security and human rights problems in Africa today. Statelessness and the arbitrary denial of citizenship violate human dignity, undermine the integrity of government and its institutions, dislocate families, destroy the livelihoods of those affected, render the victims open to further abuses of their rights and lead to war. That millions of Africans have to build their families and contribute to their communities in such conditions of unlawful persecution and uncertainty prevents free and productive economic development, making nonsense of public commitments to fighting poverty by Africa’s leaders.

The causes and consequences of statelessness and mass denial of citizenship in Africa clearly transcend national borders. One country cannot, without reference to another, unilaterally determine that a person hitherto known to be its national belongs to the second country. The history and shared experiences of African countries make a compelling and urgent case for a regional response to statelessness and citizenship.

To achieve this, CRAI will advocate for a regional treaty at the level of the African Union to guarantee the right to citizenship and prohibit statelessness in Africa. Such a treaty will establish principles and rules to eliminate arbitrariness and discrimination in access to as well as proof, acquisition, enjoyment, and loss of citizenship rights on our continent. Such legal instrument should ideally be adopted as a Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. 

CRAI offers to work with the African Union in ensuring the preparation, adoption, and entry into force of this treaty at the earliest possible date.

To end the pandemic of statelessness and denial of citizenship in Africa, a regional treaty is necessary but more needs to be done. Therefore, CRAI will use all lawful means to advocate against all forms of statelessness and the causes of statelessness in Africa.

This initiative requires the partnership and support of African communities, citizen groups and the Diaspora, women’s groups, media, academia and researchers, activists, Parliaments, diplomats, governments, regional institutions, as well as international partners outside the continent. We promise to vigorously monitor, investigate, highlight and denounce the numerous cases in different parts of the continent, which make the adoption of such a regional treaty both necessary and urgent.

•A lawyer and a teacher, Odinkalu can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Last week I wrote on “Is reciting the National Anthem by Force?”, and today this is the concluding part, also written some 18 years ago

I start this essay with the critics’ anthem, one that has always inspired me. It is by H.G. Wells and he says “we are going to write about it all. We are going to write about business and finance and politics and pretences and pretentiousness, and decorum and indecorum, until a thousand pretences and ten thousand impostors shrivel in the cold, ...we are going to write about wasted opportunities and latent beauties, until a thousand new ways of life open to men and women. We are going to appeal to the young, and the hopeful, and the curious against---the established, the dignified and the defensive. Before we are done we will have all life within this scope of the novel.

We at most, talk, write and discuss the Nigerian myth with a sense of fatalism.

I believe that If everyone thought as much as I did about justice and fairness, life would be better.

I am a critic, but I am also the critics’ critic, the unrepentant believer that the best way to keep the government on its toes is to keep harping on their flaws so they can improve.

Often, I say I believe the things I write on, are important for our nation as they are for other nations, but when it appears to me Nigerians especially those in authority do not react to these issues as people in other lands do, I repeat them in new essays to remind old readers and recruit new ones to participate in the continuing dialogue.

As is my practice I will crave the indulgence of us all as Nigerians to ask questions, some of which include can this project called Nigeria work, is it working, are we willing to make it work? I personally have an irrevocable belief in this nation but then collectively as a people and as a nation we disrespect the symbol of our nationhood.

Many years ago, …in the United States, Congressman Mark Foley was forced to resign over sexually suggestive emails he sent to young interns on his staff, when announcing his resignation, he apologized, through his lawyer he equally said he was receiving treatment for alcoholism. Away from all other factors of the entire episode, I bring out the following questions, would any Nigerian Senator resign...? Would anyone of them in the National Assembly accept that he had a problem that required treatment? Are we ready to accept that we need to take a break and reflect, reappraise and address issues that are mundane like the National Anthem yet unavoidably the instrument of nationhood?

How many of our leaders require treatment, do they know they are sick, and then, ready to seek treatment? How about the sick populace of followers?

Is it not a fact that between our leaders and the led, there is an abnormal level of greed, vengeance and unattainable ambition, and a psycho quest for power that requires medical attention? The problems of this nation are not because citizenry has refused to rise to obey the Nigeria call, we have allowed politicians to obey their insatiable lust for money and power, greed and gluttonous living?

Question is, are we really out to serve Nigeria, let’s ask, in the last one week, what one thing have we done for the benefit of Nigeria, despite the fact that the nation has not done much for us? In our experimental democracy, is it not true that leadership has only served themselves? It is safe to conclude from the actions of our leaders and we that are led that the driving force is hate for ourselves, weakness at taking the right decision, weakness at moving towards the opposite direction and it cannot be really argued that we have either lost faith or losing it at break speed.

Our heroes past, yes, our heroes, is it not true that we today have very few if any heroes to look up to, let me continue...Politically the present breed of politicians are no better described as jobmen than heroes. The labours of our heroes are already in vain now as every young and even old Nigerians are leaving (japa-ing) in search of new heroes.

Nigeria today is one which no one serves with his/her heart for fear that when you need her most she would let you down, are we not bothered with the increasing number of Nigerian Ibo-Americans, Yoruba-British, Ijaw/Urohbo-Italians and Germans...Arabian-Nigerians, do we really care about Nigerians that today serve Argentina, Brazil, Portugal, Japan, Gabon, Ethiopia and Ghana with their heart.

I shake my head sadly and hold my cheeks reflectively because our nation is not bound by freedom, hardly any state in the federation that has not witnessed an attack or two of some sort, all manner of freedom is alien, we fight for freedom of movement, freedom to know how we are led, freedom to life is deprived us, as freedom to eat is daily becoming unattainable; everything happens like magic, peace has eluded us.

Unity is a far cry, so the nation is certainly not one, we have many nations, which by my own reckoning is not bad at all if they were bound together by the common values of freedom, peace and unity, rather our diversity is destroying us, we fill forms, rather than our capability and merit, it is our local government, our state of origin that counts most, so the partition is one aided and abetted consciously or otherwise by us and no one else.

The National Anthem that some of us recite, was written by five persons, I mean the words were a collation from the first five in a national competition, and those five persons then were picked as the best on merit, the National item is not a Muslim or Christian song, neither is an ethnic group chant of Egbe Omo Oduduwa or Igbo Kwenu, it was written as a bond of unity. 

The second stanza is of importance because of the mention of our youths, sadly we see what has become of our youths, the often touted leaders of tomorrow. They suffer unemployment, they see as the government renders their parents redundant, the government and leadership treats them badly, the only driving force for them is poverty and this is either positive or negative, in many cases negative. They grow up and are living witness that truth is bad investment, and negative capital in their nation.

They grow up in hate, lies and see injustice as a norm of their society, lofty heights can only be attained by theft, corruption, and so they scheme their way to that top by all and any means necessary, a really sad future because leadership under the guise of elders and politics use them in destroying peace, and creating injustice blindly.

I leave us with the predecessor of the National Anthem written by a British expatriate, "Nigeria We Hail Thee". It is rich and often one has wondered why it was thrown away.

Nigeria, we hail thee,

Our own dear native land,

Though tribe and tongue may differ,

In brotherhood we stand,

Nigerians all, and proud to serve

our sovereign motherland.

Our flag shall be a symbol,

That truth and justice reign,

In peace or battle honoured,

And this we count as gain

To hand on to our children

A banner without stain

 O Lord of all creation,

Grant this our one request

Help us to build a nation

Where no man is oppressed

And so, with peace and plenty,

Nigeria may be blessed—May Nigeria Win!

Nigeria gained independence from British colonial rule in 1960, marking the beginning of a complex journey towards establishing a stable and effective system of governance. Over the decades, the country has experienced various political systems, transitions, and challenges that have shaped its political landscape. In light of the country’s over six decades of independence, it is important to explore the evolution of political systems in Nigeria since independence, highlighting key developments, transitions, and their impact on governance and the people of Nigeria.

As the country has for sometime been increasingly facing severe economic challenges, it is necessary to discuss a comprehensive overview of Nigeria's political development since achieving independence in 1960, which may or may not be the raison d’être of our economic quagmire. By tracing the evolution of political systems, including the transition from colonial rule to independence, the emergence of democratic governance, military interventions, and the adoption of different systems of government, a nuanced understanding of Nigeria's political history will be crucial in determining how we arrived at this sorry economic state. My brief analysis will delve into the challenges, achievements, and implications of these political transitions for governance and socio-economic development in the country.

Evolution of Political Systems in Nigeria Since Independence, can be categorized into the interphases between civilian republics and military interventions.

The years between the attainment of Independence in 1960, and Republic in 1963-1960, is known as the First Republic; and the Parliamentary System (1960-1966):
- Nigeria adopted a parliamentary system of government at independence, with a ceremonial president, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe and a prime minister, Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, as the head of government.
- The First Republic (1963-1966), saw the emergence of regionalism, ethno-political tensions, and inter-party struggles that culminated in the military coup of 1966.

Secondly, the first military incursion into political leadership and Authoritarianism, commenced with General JTU Aguiyi-Ironsi, with four regional Military governors and ended with General Olusegun Obasanjo (1966-1979):
- Following a series of coups and counter-coups, Nigeria experienced a period of military rule characterized by authoritarianism, centralization of power, and suppression of dissent.
- The civil war (1967-1970) further exacerbated ethnic divisions and economic challenges, shaping the trajectory of governance in the country.

Thirdly, after the Murtala Mohammed/ Olusegun Obasanjo transition programme, Nigeria returned to Civilian Rule and the birth of the Second Republic (1979-1983): upon the election of President Shehu Shagari
- Nigeria transitioned back to civilian rule in 1979, adopting a presidential system of government under the Second Republic.
- However, political instability, corruption, and economic crises marred the Second Republic, leading to another military intervention in 1983, masterminded by Major-General Muhammadu Buhari and other coupists.

Fourthly, military dictatorship and transition to democracy(1983-1999):
- The period of military dictatorship under leaders such as General Ibrahim Babangida and General Sani Abacha was marked by human rights abuses, political repression, and economic mismanagement.
- The death of Abacha in 1998 paved the way, for a brief government under General Abdulsalam Abubakar, who conducted and election for a return to civilian rule. This threw up the now retired army General, Olusegun Obasanjo, culminating in the Fourth Republic and the adoption of the current presidential system of government in 1999 to date.

The history of Nigeria's political development since independence reflects a complex interplay of democratic aspirations, military interventions, socio-economic challenges, and ethno-political dynamics. The evolution of political systems in Nigeria has been shaped by a legacy of colonialism, regionalism, corruption, and power struggles that have influenced governance and nation-building efforts. As Nigeria continues its journey towards democratic consolidation and sustainable development, it is essential to learn from past experiences, address historical injustices, promote inclusivity, diversity and strengthen democratic institutions to build a more resilient and prosperous future for all Nigerians.

Since historically the political landscape of Nigeria has been characterized by a tumultuous history of governance, with both the presidential and parliamentary systems being implemented at various points in time. There have been calls from a number of statesmen, academics and commentators who advocate a return to the Parliamentary system of government; while some others call for a return to true federalism, reminiscing the 1960 federal structure of the country. As a concerned citizen, I have personally advocated a return to the Parliamentary system, strictly from the point of view of cost of governance.

In the face of these advocacies for any of these systems of government, let me briefly compare and contrast the two systems of government in the context of Nigeria, examining their strengths, weaknesses, and suitability for the country's unique socio-political environment. As a concerned citizen, I have advocated a return to the Parliamentary system, strictly from the point of view of cost of governance.

Let me make it clear, that there isn’t any political system of government that is either infallible, imperfect or perfect. It all depends on the political actors, leadership and citizens advocacy. The presidential or parliamentary systems have their peculiar pros and cons and the different characteristics. And have worked in those climes, where democracy has matured. What really makes any of these systems work, depends largely on the voter’s education of the governed and the attitude of the political class about power grab, corruption, manipulation of the system and a total disregard for the rule of law. Like Paul the Apostle says: ‘The letter without the spirit kills’. The spirit of our political leaders, must be bigger than the letter.
It is not the system that is responsible for the sorry state of our country, and many African countries today. But our problem as a country hinges solely on the failure of leadership, corruption and total lack of accountability to the people of Nigeria, who in stricto sensus, ought to be at the heart of governance and leadership.

Comparing the Presidential and Parliamentary Systems in Nigeria:
* Structure and Separation of Powers:
- The presidential system in Nigeria features a clear separation of powers between the executive, legislative, and judicial branches, with the president serving as the head of state and government.
- In contrast, the parliamentary system integrates the executive and legislative branches, with the prime minister being drawn from the parliament and accountable to its members.

* Accountability and Oversight:
- In the presidential system, the president is directly elected by the people and holds significant executive powers, which could lead to a concentration of authority and limited accountability.
- The parliamentary system emphasizes collective responsibility, with the prime minister and cabinet being subject to regular questioning and oversight by the parliament, enhancing accountability to elected representatives.

* Decision-Making Process:
- The presidential system allows for a more centralized decision-making process, as the president has the authority to make key policy decisions without direct parliamentary approval.
- In the parliamentary system, decisions are made through consensus-building and coalition politics, requiring cooperation among multiple parties to pass legislation and implement policies.

* Stability and Governance Efficiency:
- The presidential system can provide stability through fixed terms for the president and clear lines of authority, but it may also lead to gridlock between the executive and legislative branches.
- The parliamentary system offers flexibility in forming governments and passing legislation, but it can be prone to frequent changes in leadership and coalition instability.

In conclusion, both the presidential and parliamentary systems of government have their merits and drawbacks when applied to the Nigerian context. While the presidential system may offer stability and clear lines of authority, the parliamentary system emphasizes accountability, consensus-building, and closer representation of the people through elected representatives. Ultimately, the success of either system in Nigeria, or in any other country, depends on the commitment of leaders to uphold democratic principles, foster good governance, and address the challenges facing the country.

In light of the current political climate in Nigeria, a careful consideration of the strengths and weaknesses of both systems is essential to determine the most suitable framework for effective governance and sustainable development in the country. Only through informed debate and critical analysis can Nigeria progress towards a system of government that truly serves the interests of its people and upholds the principles of democracy.