Two major events dominated the headlines in the weekend that just passed in Nigeria: the heroism, determination and the example of Ms. Hilda Effiong Bassey, known as Hilda Baci for short, and the sordid drama of Seun Kuti, son of Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, the ternal music icon, pushing, slapping and assaulting a policeman in uniform. Both subjects deserve commentary. But let’s start on a positive note, represented by Hilda Effiong Bassey, the Nigerian food entrepreneur, or chef, 27, who made up her mind that she wanted to get into the Guinness Book of World Records by beating the longest cooking marathon record by an individual set by Lata Tandon, an Indian Chef in 2019. Tandon cooked non-stop for 87 hours and 45 minutes. Nigeria’s Ms Baci decided that she would break that record and cook non-stop for 100 hours. The event took place at Amore Gardens in Lekki, Lagos. She turned her oven and cooker on Thursday, on May 10, and indeed till Monday morning, Baci kept dicing, frying, cutting, cookingm baking and ended up achieving her target. By the time she reached the significant mark of 87 hours and 50 minutes, she had already broken the world record, but she kept going. Nigerians are an interesting lot. Who would ever have thought that culinary skills could bring so much fame and history? There are many lessons and issues to be extracted from the Hilda Basi cook-a-thon that Nigerians just witnessed.

The first is that Nigerians are a creative and resourceful lot and should they put their minds to anything, they are capable of excelling at. These are the same people that President Muhammadu Buhari once referred to as “diamonds”, who represent the hope of the nation for the present and the future. When a gifted Nigerian seeks to excel, he or she does so. Ms Baci’s achievement is an indication of the can-do spirit of the Nigerian. The international community often complains about the unusual capacity of Nigerians for fraud and criminality, within the local and international arena, but there are in reality more Nigerians doing great things. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is representing us well at the World Trade Organization (WTO). Aminat Muhammed is a strong official at the United Nations in her position as a Deputy Secretary General. Asisst Oshoala, MON, is a big star in European women football. Tobi Amysan is world record holder in long jump. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a leading writer and voice in the global space of culture and literature. There are Nigerians occupying political positions in Canada, UK, Ireland and elsewhere. We have Nigerians in the US military, in the US NASA programme and in the commanding heights of global trade and economy. Hilda Effiong Bassey has chosen cooking and are we delighted? Yes, we are.

The second thing to say is: Congratulations to her on this remarkable feat, and her admirable qualities, now well-advertised of tenacity, of purpose, vision and determination. Nobody, she teaches us, by the way, can achieve anything in this life, except you set a purpose for yourself and pursue it. It will be recalled that in 2021, this same Ms. Baci won the Jollof Face-Off competition, and got a grand prize of $5, 000. But that was not enough for her. She wanted a place in the Guinness Book of World Records. And now here she is. Every great achievement begins with a dream and the capacity to pursue that dream and stretch the dream to the end of the street. As of the time of this writing, we understand that Chef Hilda has stretched her target from 96 hours to 100 hours! Hilda, you too much oh! Indeed, because, despite all the good things that we have said about the Nigerian spirit, there are many of our compatriots who want the easy way out, they fake it, they cheat, they tell lies, they want the glamour but they do not want to apply themselves. Hilda Baci has just reinforced a simple lesson of life: that the surest way to distinction is through hard work, focus and rigorous self-application. It bears no stating that cooking for more than 90 hours, with short intervals of rest as allowed by the rules is excruciating rigour. Many marriages have been ruined because some other women can’t even spare 30 minutes to cook for their own children.

The third lesson is the innate Nigerian love for success, glory and achievement that is within us all. Nigerians have an inner craving for good things and when they see it, they gather around it like bees around nectar. This is what has happened with the Baci story. As she cooked, Nigerians trooped to the Amore Gardens in Lekki to hail her and offer support. Celebrities trooped to the venue in their uncountable numbers. Churches of the white garment variety kept vigil, calling on God to see her through. The Governor of Lagos visited. Senators of the Federal Republic led by Senator Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom North West, who wants to be Senate President by autocratic party anointment, also joined the cheer-leaders. Hilda Baci is from Akwa Ibom State. No other event unites Nigerians like that, apart from football. It rained overnight. The people refused to leave. In football, and now in a cooking event, Nigerians have suspended their differences. They don’t think of ethnicity or religion, or geography. They have come together as one nation, united for the glory of the nation. Baci drew support across all the centrifugal borders of Nigeria. Her supporters in fact defied the rain. It rained heavily in the night of Sunday to Monday. The people refused to go home. They stayed under the heavy rainfall, and kept singing. It was one of those rare occasions when we are reminded that this is a country after all. Thank you Baci, for reminding us with your culinary skills that it is possible to have a nation. Nations are made through symbols and the patriotism in the hearts of the people. If this had been an election, the situation could have been different. Hilda Effiong Bassey would have been reminded that she cannot cook in Lagos, because she is a non-indigene. The constituted thugs of Lagos, led by a well-connected Chairman would have gone to Amore Gardens to chase everyone away. But here we are: an Akwa Ibom woman cooking for the world in Lagos, has brought glory to the same Lagos. The clowns in high places who promote disunity simply need to lend themselves a little sense. Nigerian leaders can learn from Ms Baci how to cook a nation, and achieve results. Our leaders know how to eat, but they do not know how to cook.

The fourth point that I see here is that Hilda Baci’s feat is an advertisement for the cooking profession. She has raised the profile of chefs. More persons may well be encouraged by her example to take to cooking as a profession. I have not even bothered to find out how much this has cost her and her sponsors in financial terms and how much she stands to earn. The glory is more important than the financial gain. But what I see is that Hilda Baci is now a cultural icon. It is good that she has been congratulated by President Muhammadu Buhari. This is most deserved. I am also of the view that when Nigeria compiles its next National Honours list, it is people like her that we expect to see on that list, along with Rema, another world record holder, Tiwa Savage, Kizz Daniel, Burna Boy, Tems, award-winning intellectuals, the boys doing wonderful things in fintech, not some funny characters in bulbous robes who take more from Nigeria than they give. As a father, I would like to advise her to handle fame with care. Fame makes. Fame breaks. As her story developed, there were persons who were more interested in her beauty. Her pictures have been posted online showing her beauty and physical attributes on full display. Nigerian men love food. There is this popular folk saying that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. A woman that is an acclaimed cook is a special target for stomach-driven Nigerian men. Ms Baci will get invited to cook by seemingly appreciative men who just want to taste. Beware, Baci. There are too many idle men in this society of ours who promise marriage and heaven, but are closet idiots. Focus on growing your business, and talent. Watch out for those who will soon begin to use your achievement to catch clout as they say.

The fifth and final point here is to congratulate, Hilda Baci’s mother. She is herself a chef. She runs a restaurant in Abuja. Her daughter follows in her footsteps. She learnt the trade at her feet. I have seen a video showing her expressing her delight at her daughter’s achievement. It is the prayer of every parent that their children should do better than them. Mrs. Bassey’s glory came on Mother’s Day, a mother’s hilarious delight! She has every reason to be grateful. Lecherous Nigerians men have observed that Mrs. Bassey herself is a very good spec. As a serious-minded person, I no longer engage in such conversations, so I won’t tell that side of the story. What I see here is the importance of parenting. In all of this, however, nobody has mentioned Mr. Bassey. Is he alive? This is the burden we bear as fathers. When the children do well, it is their mothers who step forward like characters from Bournvita cartoons. Still, we thank God for all children and mothers who bless the land as the Basseys have done.

Now to Seun Kuti, the enfant terrible, about whom terrible things have been reported during the same weekend that Hilda Baci did us all proud. Seun Kuti was reported to have dropped the ball. He assaulted a policeman. There was a video in circulation that showed him telling a policeman in uniform that he would deal with him. He slapped the police officer in uniform. He assaulted the policeman. He reportedly boasted thereafter that he has dealt with many policemen in similar manner in the past. Seun Kuti is my kinsman. I do not want anything bad to happen to him. But this time around I think he has carried his offering beyond the Mosque. It has been argued that it is a DNA thing. He is after all, the son of Fela Anikulapo Kuti. Fela did not wilfully break the law. He was in fact a law-abiding man. He challenged autocracy. He questioned the law as all citizens are allowed to do so. He was like his mother, the legendary, Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti. Seun Kuti’s forebears were defenders and promoters of good governance and the rule of. law. Even when state agents attacked Kalakuta Republic, an assault in which Seun’s grandmother lost her life, the state prevailed, even if unjustly. I think therefore that those who think it is a DNA thing for Seun Kuti to attack a policeman are wrong. People make their own choices. They do not inherit choices. What I am saying is that it would be most disrespectful to drag the dead into Seun Kuti’s matter. He is an adult and he must be made to answer for his own acts. The law does not recognize pedigree. You commit an act; you answer for it. The only thing the law recognizes is the equality of persons before the law. Seun Kuti is not above and cannot be above the law because he enjoys hereditary privilege.

From Saturday, there is a video in circulation showing him assaulting a policeman on the Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos. The video evidence shows that he insulted the policeman and slapped him. He has since claimed that he has enough evidence to show that the policeman threatened his life and that of his family members. There have been other evidence notes on social media. We are told for example that he told the policeman before slapping him: “You dey craze? You dey mad?” In the meantime, the Inspector General of Police and the Police Service Commission have ordered arrest and investigations. The Police have a duty to ensure that their officers are not routinely assaulted by Nigerians. Dr. Solomon Arase, the Police Service Commission (PSC) Chairman has commended the affected police officer for the restraint that he demonstrated. That officer whom nobody has named – we need his true identity- should be promoted by Arase’s PSC. In my view, Seun Kuti was indeed lucky. If that policeman or his colleagues had rifles with them, they could have gunned him down. By now, he would be dead and we would all be talking about extra-judicial killing. The lesson here is that people must know their limits. In today’s Nigeria, my father was this or my grandmother was that, is not a protection claim in the face of the law. The present generation of Nigerians don’t know ancient history anyway. They should not rely on what grandpa and great grandpa and daddy did.

It is however refreshing to hear that Seun Kuti has shown up at the police station. He was reportedly put in silver ware. The offence that he has committed under Section 98 of the Police Act and Section 356 of the Criminal Code puts him in line for a three-year jail term. He says he has enough evidence to prove his innocence. He has a good lawyer: Femi Falana, SAN. Let them go and prove their case in the court of law, and as soon as the case is properly placed, let them address all the allegations including the underlying innuendo that Fela Kuti ‘s son is above the laws of the land. Should anyone be above the laws of Nigeria? I am aware however that there are other interested persons and groups in the public domain who are now beginning to say that if Seun Kuti is let off the hook, they too will begin to slap and beat Nigerian policemen, and they would cite Seun Kuti’s case as precedent. The substance of this matter lies in Seun Kuti’s relationship with the sovereign but whichever way it is resolved, his brand is already somewhat diminished. He doesn’t need that. This is the sad part of it.

Without prejudice to what transpires at the Presidential Election Tribunal on the February 25 election, and the request by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and others that the proceedings should be televised live – no problem about that, as long as the parties involved can bear the cost in defence of the ideal of transparency - it seems certain nonetheless that Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, President-elect and Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), the ruling party, would be sworn in as President of Nigeria on May 29, 2023. The Federal Government has set up a Transition Committee, the President-elect has also set up an Inauguration Committee with some Nollywood stars named unto that committee already behaving like party boosters on social media. While the Election Petition Tribunal continues to keep, hopefully to its promise that it would consider every application on its own merit, Tinubu and APC are already preparing for their own Coronation ceremony on May 29, complete with jollof rice and aso ebi parties and a scale of pomp and pageantry that could rival the Coronation of King Charles III of Great Britain on May 6. Nigerians are very good at imitating the colonial masters. No one should be surprised if Tinubu arrives at the Eagle Square on Inauguration Day on a horse-drawn golden carriage. The morning after, he would swing into action, real time.

The sword of power would have been handed over to him. He would have such authority and access to resources that his challengers in court cannot hope to match. He would in fact have been placed in a position to exercise authority over those who are challenging him, their businesses and their needs. Even the courts would have taken notice of the fact that Nigeria is under a new dispensation. Tinubu has been in politics for a long time. He knows what power means. He has been a Senator. He has been Governor twice. He has been a Godfather in Nigerian politics for more than two decades. He has been a kingmaker. He is a veteran of the game. The real threat to our democracy is that we may have been presented with a fait accompli, while the lawyers shuffle papers and quote dead authorities and precedents in order to earn their pay. Even if the matter goes all the way to the Supreme Court let it be noted that the apex court is a court of law and also a court of public policy. This is why there is merit to the emerging argument that our electoral system needs further reform, and the Constitution must be amended accordingly to ensure that post-election, all election petitions are determined before anybody is sworn in. That is what they do in Kenya. Why not in Nigeria? For now, Bola Tinubu and the APC will benefit from this omission in the Nigerian Constitution. But the people’s consciousness has been awoken. Legal frameworks emerge on the basis of lessons learnt. Those who doubt the integrity and the legitimacy of the process that made the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to declare Tinubu as President-elect are bound to stay on this question until it is resolved, ahead of future elections. Such persons have the right to raise questions.

For now, therefore, let us reflect on the reality of a Tinubu Presidency that stares us in the face. He has not yet been sworn in, he is already acting as President. He has since moved into the Defence House, the traditional residence for Nigeria’s President in waiting. The other day, the Rivers State Government invited him to commission two projects and a two-day holiday was declared to host him. His supporters are now taking out family attires, the famous aso ebi. Materials have been submitted to tailors and fashion designers. No one should be surprised if Tinubu invites the opposition party leaders to his inauguration and quite a number would show up on D-Day. Has Action Alliance (AA) not withdrawn its petition at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal without giving any reason? For Bola Tinubu, May 29 would be a significant moment – the day that the kingmaker of many years takes the throne for which he had long prepared himself. His campaign slogan was “Emilokan” – “it is my turn”- May 29 would be a culmination of a life-long ambition, carefully executed over the years, from the days of NADECO struggle to Senatorial position, Governorship, and a crafty, deliberate, even if cynical construction of power, name recognition and influence. It would be history made on May 29, because Tinubu would have become the third South Westerner and the fifth Southerner – after Aguiyi Ironsi, Ernest Shonekan, Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan to lead Nigeria.

In 1966, July, in the heat of the counter-coup, Brigadier Babfemi Ogundipe who was next in line to Ironsi had to flee abroad when his Northern aides threatened to kill him. In the First and Second Republics, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, who was most prepared for office and leadership never achieved the dream of becoming Nigeria’s President. In 1993, Chief MKO Abiola who emerged winner of what has been adjudged the freest and fairest election in Nigerian history was denied victory because the military led by General Ibrahim Babangida annulled the election. When Tinubu wears the Presidential sash on May 29, he would have succeeded where other clearly accomplished Yoruba sons “failed”. Such is the irony of life, but it is also the reason why Tinubu as a Nigerian President from the South and from the South West would be assuming a heavy burden of history. Being President alone, even for a week is probably enough for him – his name would have entered the annals of history. But that cannot be enough. The President-elect must not look forward to the fulfilment of naked ambition. He cannot go to Aso Villa in Abuja to drink tea, eat free food, and pick his teeth afterwards with toothpick. I dare say that toothpicks should be banned from Aso Villa forthwith. When a man sits on the stone of destiny, he sits atop a huge responsibility.

Bola Ahmed Tinubu as Presidential candidate engaged Nigerians with an 80-page manifesto which he titled “Renewed Hope”. I would be surprised if he has read his own manifesto. It took some time for that manifesto to be announced. His campaign managers disowned several versions before they finally decided on the 88-page document. Now here is the deal – in Nigeria, political manifestoes are written by a hired team who put out textbook ideas and tell the people what they want to hear which is why all the Presidential manifestoes in the 2023 Presidential election mouthed the same platitudes, an expression of the lack of clear ideological lines in contemporary Nigerian politics. This is the reason why under the Buhari administration, we had the interesting experience of a sitting President denying some of the contents of his own campaign manifesto. The ideas were not his, they were put there by the political jobbers aiming for the right sound bites. Nobody should be surprised if Tinubu also distances himself from some of the verbiage in his campaign document. But we expect him to reduce his priorities to clear, policy choices that can be monitored. No verbiage, just very clear actionable points. President Umaru Yar’Adua (2007 – 2010) had a seven point plus two special interest issues agenda for Nigeria. President Goodluck Jonathan (2010 – 2015) announced a Transformation Agenda with four special targets to seek profound changes in social, economic, political and the institutional structure of the country. President Muhammadu Buhari (2015 – 2023) eventually reduced his campaign manifesto to a specific three-point agenda. President-elect Bola Ahmed Tinubu is advised to follow the same pattern. I propose the following actionable, eight-point agenda, not necessarily in their order of importance.

One: The first big elephant in the room that the Tinubu administration has to deal with when it assumes office on May 29, right after the inauguration banquet is the removal of fuel subsidy. It is first and foremost a matter of law. Both the Appropriation Act 2023, and the Petroleum Industry Act 2021 prescribes a window of exit from the petroleum subsidy regime that does not extend beyond June 1, 2023. There is no provision for the funding of subsidy in the budget beyond that point. The Buhari administration had cleverly avoided taking responsibility for removing fuel subsidy and shifted the goal post claiming there could be “consequences” in a Bloomberg interview. The same administration has further saved itself from public backlash by saying it has secured an $800 million facility from the World Bank for the provision of palliatives, but it is now up to an expanded committee including the in-coming administration’s team to take a decision. It looks like a set up to me. Buhari would walk away as the man who was wary of “consequences”. Tinubu will be required to use his head to break the coconut. If the subsidy remains beyond the provisions of the law, and no attempt is made to amend the law, Tinubu would be starting off his Presidency by breaking the laws of Nigeria.

The government would have set out on a note of illegality. It would be akin to the Buhari administration violating the Procurement Act and the CBN Act with regard to CBN Ways and Means, and here on the eve of Buhari’s Departure, the National Assembly says it has approved the violation of the law. When the legislature breaks its own laws, and does so with immunity, then a country is in trouble. If it may be any consolation to those who are opposed to INEC’s declaration of Tinubu as President-elect, the truth is that the man is going to inherit a troubled nation. The country is broke. After May 29, it may not be able to meet its financial obligations. The question of fuel subsidy is a kind of poetic justice for Tinubu. In 2012, he and his allies organized designer protests at Ojota, Lagos and elsewhere to oppose fuel subsidy removal. If we had removed subsidy then, Nigeria would have since adjusted. Tinubu is saddled with the evil day that he postponed. He must either show courage or act cowardly. Economists for more than two decades have not changed their position from Lagos to Washington DC, that a fuel subsidy regime is unsustainable. It is important to state this because there are some ruling party hangers-on who have been saying that once Dangote Refinery comes on stream on May 22, then government can remove fuel subsidy. The two must be separated. It would be the ultimate act of cowardice to use the Dangote Refinery and the expected 650, 000 barrels a day as the fall guy for years of government incompetence. It is either Tinubu has the courage to act, or he would take a cowardly option which would again postpone the evil day.

Two: Revenue is a problem. We have been told this again and again by Nigeria’s financial managers and that the main challenge is to widen Nigeria’s revenue base. The Bretton Woods institutions in their Economic Outlook Reports on Nigeria have said more or less the same thing. Nigeria’s next administration has to find ways of increasing revenue. The easiest recommendation is to say government has to collect more taxes or widen the tax base. Nigerians are already groaning under the weight of too many taxes and they can’t see what anybody does with the taxes, and so, whatever government proposes, the people are suspicious. Tinubu, given his reputation as the man behind Alpha Beta, the tax collection agency in Lagos would find it difficult to tell Nigerians to pay more taxes. They would think he just wants to hand over Nigeria to Alpha Beta and collect bigger shares of the cake. Tinubu cannot be a tax collector of Nigeria. He will be resisted by everybody! His advisers must therefore look at other options. He has to prune down the cost of governance, starting with his own example. He must start by implementing the Oronsaye Report on Governance. All forms of duplication must be eliminated. There must be legislation telling Governors and Local Government Chairmen that they cannot have more than two assistants, maximum five and that everybody must stop going about as if they have just inherited the world. The COVID-19 crisis has shown that if Nigerian leaders stay at home for medical care, they can survive. Everyone, including the President must be told clearly that whatever they cannot treat in Nigeria may as well kill them. We are in the age of technology. Jumping around at public expense to treat gout and arthritis is unacceptable. Whoever wants to do so must show proof that they are spending personal funds! Tinubu must address Nigeria’s health sector crisis.

Three: Tinubu has been a long-time apostle of federalism. He has written a book on it. Symposia have been held in his honour on the subject. As Governor of Lagos State, he took President Olusegun Obasanjo to court on the subject of the creation of Local councils and the true reading of Section 162 of the 1999 Constitution. He won. I am not very sure that President Obasanjo has forgiven him for that. He now steps into the same shoes that Obasanjo occupied. He cannot run an imperial Presidency! If that sounds like another curse of nemesis, Tinubu must be made to realize that given his own antecedents and causes that he championed, he has to show that he truly believes in Federalism. One of his first tasks must be to support the devolution of powers, give the states more responsibilities and make the Federal Government more compact and effective. Anything otherwise would be used against him. He could come across as a hypocrite on the question of federalism, and he would have allowed OBJ to have a very good, last laugh in this emerging game of thrones.

Four: Tinubu has been a champion of a special status for Lagos. He is now in a position to make that happen. But he must resist the temptation to be a Yoruba or Lagos President. It is not only Lagos that deserves a special status. He must add to that agenda, Kaduna and Enugu. He must be the President of all of Nigeria, a unifier, not a divisive village chief. The same Lagosians who did not vote for him on February 25 would expect that he should do more for Lagos. He must not repeat the error of ethnic irredentism in Nigerian politics. He must avoid a winner-takes-it-all approach.

Five: He must sanitize the budgeting and procurement processes. Six; he must take a quick look at the foreign exchange regime. Seven: empower the security agencies, particularly the police. Eight: respect media freedom and the demands of Nigerian youths. These are low-hanging fruits. We wait. We watch.

Sudan, Africa’s third largest country is at the brink of disintegration, because two belligerent Generals _ Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan of the Sudanese Army and General Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, head of a paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) are determined to destroy their own country for selfish reasons. They were allies previously when they worked together to oust Omar al-Bashir, the dictator and butcher of Sudan, but now the two Generals have turned against each other. They are fighting over power and position, backed on both sides by powerful outside interests whose main target is access to the rich resources of Sudan – gold, oil reserves, and gum Arabic. Sudan is the confluence for the White and Blue Nile to form the Nile. Egypt and Ethiopia have serious need of the Nile. About 10% of global trade passes through the Red Sea, around which Sudan is also strategically located. In the international community, there has been a scramble for the rich resources of Africa, since the colonial times, leading to the partition of Africa, slave trade, and the reduction of Africa to a source of raw materials to be exploited at cheap rates by Western and Eastern powers for their own gain.

The international community, for more than 100 years has talked about a global community of values, the equality and sovereignty of states, globalization, human rights and the common heritage of mankind but the same people who mouth those ideas the most are the most hypocritical. Africa is their convenient play-ground. Russia is seeking to control more of Sudan’s gold. It is backing the RSF in Sudan through the Wagner mercenaries. China also has its eyes on Sudan. Egypt is backing al-Burhan. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is pro-RSF. This is part of the drama playing out in Sudan: the hidden hands of hypocrites. But this has been possible before now in Liberia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone, Mali, Cote D’Ivoire and elsewhere because Africa has an unlucky supply of bad leaders. General Omar al Bashir brought Sudan to its knees, instigated a civil war in Darfur. He ended up as an international felon and left behind a deluge. His country has not known peace since he was ousted in a coup in 2019. The same people who got him out of power are not better either: Generals Burhan and Dagalo have frustrated Sudan’s transition programme and now that country is practically in a war situation. Sudan is an apt illustration of the saying that “when two elephants fight, the grass suffers.” Indeed the people of Sudan are suffering. Hundreds of them have been killed, thousands have been displaced, artillery guns are booming on the streets of Khartoum. Normal life is impossible.

As Sudan slips into chaos, and a humanitarian crisis explodes, the international community, apart from urging peace and a ceasefire, has embarked on the evacuation of their nationals in Sudan. Every country has a responsibility to protect and secure the lives of its citizens whenever they are in distress in any part of the world. We have seen that happen during the war in Ukraine, the crisis in Somalia, and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nothing inspires patriotism and nationalism more than the feeling that your country truly considers you important. It is in this sense that we have seen many countries rushing to Sudan and getting their people out of harm’s way before the imminent blow-out. By Sunday, April 30, Britain had airlifted about 2, 122 people on 23 flights from Sudan through the Wadi Saeedna airfield near Khartoum. Yesterday, Britain further told UK citizens to head towards Port Sudan for an extra flight out of Sudan. Initially, the British government had said that NHS doctors without passports would not be airlifted, and that priorities would be given to British citizens and their families. James Cleverly, the Foreign Secretary who had initially complained about complexity has since said that those without passports have now been included in the flight to Cyprus, before the final journey home. The Royal Airforce and the Navy led the evacuation exercise. They went right inside Sudan and got their people out.

Similarly, the United States has dispatched its special operations forces to Sudan, aerial surveillance assets and unmanned but combat-ready drones. A Naval ship – UNS Brunswick, a fast-transport vessel was deployed by the Pentagon to the Port of Sudan. Two other ships are on the ground – the USS Truxtun, an Arleigh-Burke class destroyer and the USS Puller. The US Africa Command (AFRICOM) based in Stuttgart is co-ordinating the evacuation. On Saturday, the US evacuated all its embassy staff out of Khartoum. Other US citizens have been ferried out of Khartoum in buses, guided by drones and other aerial assets. With China and Russia involved in the Sudanese crisis, and given the strategic regional importance of the country, America’s interest in Sudan is understandable. Part of its present mission is to ensure “Red Sea Security”. The US is a partner of the Sudanese Armed Forces. Our key point is that the US, like 10 other countries, has moved swiftly to protect its citizens, and chosen to be strongly on standby off the coast of Sudan in case the situation further deteriorates. China has also sent a military vessel to the Sudan to evacuate Chinese personnel. India over the weekend also dispatched a patrol vessel, INS Sumedha to the Port of Sudan with two Indian Air Force aircraft – the C-130J transport aircraft stationed in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. India has so far evacuated 3, 000 of its nationals from Sudan. Other countries that have acted pro-actively include Germany, Canada, Italy, Turkey, Belgium, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, South Africa, France and the Netherlands. It is not an easy operation. On Sunday, a convoy trying to take French embassy staff in Khartoum to safety ran into a hail of gunfire. France has shut down its embassy in Khartoum. There is a race out of Sudan, as a 72-hour negotiated ceasefire and a further extension have failed, and bodies litter the streets, aerial bombardments continue, and Sudan begins to look like a convenient ground for geo-political war.

The foregoing picture leads us inexorably to one question: what is Nigeria doing to rescue its own nationals, about 5, 500 of them, and more who are mostly students who are stranded in Sudan. The figure is probably higher. Data from official sources in Nigeria are never reliable. Nigerians have been going to Sudan since the era of trans-Saharan Caravan trade, ad there may well be millions of us in that place. As the conflict in Sudan enters its third week, it is a crying shame that all that we have been getting from the Federal Government are excuses and such funny explanations that no serious country should offer. We have seen videos of Nigerians that are stranded in Sudan, most of them students, complaining about how they have been neglected by their government. We have seen families crying out for help. Nigerian youths are so aggrieved they have threatened to attack family members of Nigerian Embassy officials in Sudan. They say our Embassy officials are charging them $250 to be put on the evacuation list, Sudan is charging $8 per person, and those who have managed to get to the border of Egypt are being asked to cough out $25. While the Sudanese are fighting, Nigerians are staging a backward drama of their own. Nigeria’s Ambassador to Sudan, Safiu Olaniyan has had cause to cry out in a voice note, appealing to Nigerians in Sudan not to attack Embassy officials. He made it clear that they, the Embassy officials, are as vulnerable as other Nigerians in Sudan, and that nobody should attack them. According to him, the responsibility for managing the evacuation of stranded Nigerians is with the Ministry of Disaster and Humanitarian Affairs and the Nigerian Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) back home in Nigeria, but that he and his team would continue to liaise with the Nigerian authorities. Can you imagine a country’s envoy throwing his own home authorities under the bus? It is not just Nigerians that are stranded in Sudan, it is Nigeria itself that is stranded. Compared to what other countries are doing, Nigeria looks like it has no shame.

Last Friday, I asked for explanations on another platform in order to give Abuja the benefit of the doubt. They had promised that the first batch of Nigerians would return from Sudan on Friday. Allen Onyema, Chairman and founder of Air Peace Airline publicly offered to use his aircraft to airlift Nigerians out of Sudan, without charging a penny. His aircraft were ready. Since the Nigerian government had promised that Nigerians would be airlifted through Egypt, he went ahead and secured landing rights for Air Peace at his own expense in Egypt. The Aliko Dangote Foundation has also announced that it would partner with Air Peace to do whatever it takes to get Nigerians out of Sudan. Countries benefit from the philanthropy of some of their best citizens who complement government’s efforts without expecting anything in return. We saw that during the COVID-19 pandemic when Dangote led a private sector coalition to provide help. We saw that when Allen Onyema went to Ukraine to bring Nigerians out of Ukraine when war broke out. We saw that when during the xenophobic attacks in South Africa, Allen Onyema took the risk of helping to evacuate Nigerians. But the Nigerian government always disappoints, and that is precisely what they are doing in Sudan.

Once upon a time, Nigeria had the dream of becoming a world power. We boastfully referred to ourselves as the giant of Africa and our leaders could call the shots across the African continent, and fight for a seat at the United Nations Security Council. When Professor Bolaji Akinyemi was Minister of Foreign Affairs: he talked about such ideas as the Concert of Medium Powers and the Black Bomb and Nigeria as a world power. The situation in Sudan has just exposed how we have lost it. Three weeks after the Sudanese crisis began, Nigeria is talking about how much was spent to hire buses that would evacuate Nigerians. Dr. Sani Gwarzo, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Disaster and Humanitarian Affairs has given a press conference where he reportedly affirmed that Nigeria had set aside $1.2 million to engage bus drivers and that so far 26 buses have been engaged, each at a cost of $30, 000. N24 million to hire a bus from Khartoum to Port Sudan or Aswan? He said the money was sent through third parties. Dr. Gwarzo and the Situation Room on the Evacuation of Nigerians from Sudan which he chairs, must be told that they have more explanations to offer. He said 40 buses were engaged, but only 26 have been seen. What happened to the $1.2 million then? There was even that ugly incident as reported, whereby drivers taking Nigerians to Aswan, the Egyptian border stopped in the middle of the desert and told the distraught Nigerian passengers to pay or be left in the desert. They were there for five hours! The buses eventually started moving, only for us to be told again, yesterday, that one of the buses conveying 50 Nigerian students, tagged Katsina 1, caught fire. What kind of embarrassment is this? Are we serious at all?

What is worse is that the Nigeria Air Force (NAF) on Saturday sent a Hercules C-130 to Aswan, Egypt to get Nigerians back home. The NAF crew of 14 left with food supplies, but that crew is stranded at the airport. What is meant to be a swift operation has turned into a nightmare. The NAF is being charged heavily by the Egyptian authorities. The NAF crew is stranded. In Sudan and back home in Nigeria, we are told that the country is having logistics and diplomatic challenges. After three weeks, nobody is sure when Nigeria would airlift its first batch of evacuees. The Nigerian Air Force crew of 14 is suggesting that it is better to use Port Sudan, rather than Egypt, which is insisting on visa and payments.

What the hell is happening to African Unity? Egypt has provided support for other countries. Sudan has not asked the Americans for money. Somalia took its people out through the Ethiopian border. Sudan is surrounded by seven African countries. Nigeria is being snubbed by Egypt. Can’t we arrange to evacuate our people through another country? Or are we so hated diplomatically in Africa that nobody would offer our people easy passage? Why would Egypt ask Nigerians for visa in an emergency rescue operation? This is clearly a failure of diplomacy. Every African country treats us shabbily, especially the North African countries. The only exception was Muammar Ghaddafi of Libya during his lifetime. He had a grand vision of African Unity, but other North African leaders relate with sub-Saharan Africa only when they have something to gain. Please, where is the African Union and the regional economic groups in Africa? What is left of African integration? Has anybody deemed it necessary to summon the Egyptian ambassador in Nigeria? The NAF crew is recommending that Nigeria is better off evacuating our people through Port Sudan. Have we sent an aircraft there? Do we have a functioning Naval vessel that can provide transportation from Port Sudan to Nigeria, or do we need to hire Navy transportation?

Nigerians in Sudan want to be rescued from a war situation. Their families at home want them to be safe. If Nigerian officials have nothing intelligent to tell us, the minimum that they can do is to bring our people home, and until they have something concrete to tell us, they should do us the favour of avoiding plainly stupid excuses. It is painful that a country like Somalia is able to rescue its nationals from Sudan and my own country is busy telling Moonlight tales. If they need help, let them approach the British and the Americans or even the International Red Cross, or perhaps the Chinese, without getting involved in any matter beyond rescue and evacuation. As I write, a story pops up that the Egyptian President has now approved that Nigerians can be airlifted out of Aswan after President Muhammadu Buhari spoke to him, but with stringent conditions. Are we supposed to be excited about that? Did Egypt insist on the same stringent conditions with other countries? For the past four days, over 600 Nigerians have been stranded at the Egyptian border. For two days, our Air Force has been treated shabbily in Aswan. The only thing to say is that when our people are safely evacuated back home, we would believe the endless stories. What a country!

I have no reservations whatsoever in joining many others at home and abroad today, Saturday, April 29, to celebrate the birthday of the man popularly known as Otunba, Dr. Mike Adenuga on the occasion of his attainment of the landmark age of three scores and ten. It is trite knowledge that 70 is the Biblical age. The average time of longevity in Nigeria is 54, a country bedevilled by many existential crises and issues. Living up to the age of 70, in a country where death is cheap, poverty is rife, political leaders are not trusted, the road lies in wait to grab harvests on a daily basis - is in itself an achievement.   It is therefore fit and proper to celebrate Michael Adeniyi Agbolade Ishola Adenuga Jr. on the occasion of his 70^th birthday. Born on April 29, 1935, he is seventy today, and he truly deserves our applause.  

In the past week, I have seen a surfeit of tributes and announcements. One particularly notable one was posted by Aare Dele Momodu, one of Otunba Adenuga’s many proteges and beneficiaries, on his social media pages. Aare Momodu tells us that today, to be precise, there will be no loud parties… Otunba Adenuga has chosen to be at home with his family to reflect on an unprecedented trajectory; thanking God for seventy years of abundant grace, (2) that those who wish to celebrate with him should do so in modesty and simplicity which reflect his own reclusive personality; (3) that he would be delighted to have the younger generation read about his epic battles for success and imbibe some of the extraordinary attributes that catapulted him to being one of the most enigmatic icons on planet earth; (4) Dele Momodu says  Dr Mike Adenuga Jnr has dominated the business space in the last four decades with investments in commodity trading, real estate, banking, oil and gas, telecommunications, manufacturing and construction. … and (5) he adds that Mike Adenuga is a most generous giver and a silent donor to worthy causes…” I concur. Seventy years of achievement. Seventy years of glory. 

The only part of this advisory that I think will not fly is the build-up story that Otunba Mike Adenuga is going to spend his special day, today, ensconced with family, reflecting on his 70 years, in line with the virtues of modesty and simplicity and a reclusive personality. Yes, I know, that Otunba. Mike Adenuga is a self-effacing personality. With all his accomplishments, you won’t find him making noise at social events, throwing money around or trying to prove that he is a big man, as Nigerians say. But come off it, he is 70 today. He deserves to stage a dance, and sing a song. Where I come from, every birthday has what I call implications because birthdays are not for dying, they are for celebrations not monastic ruminations and hibernation. Otunba Adenuga’s aides should be told to urge their boss to celebrate. God has been kind to him. Adenuga at 70 is an occasion for pepper soup and jollof rice, and let no one tell him to restrict the feast to his family. The other day when Tony Elumelu, Chairman of United Bank of Africa (UBA) turned 60, I was quietly in my house when they sent me jollof rice and other gift items which I received and consumed with relish. When, a few years earlier, Nduka Obaigbena, the publisher of this newspaper, turned 60 we all went to Eko Hotel, the rooftop oh, not any small space, where we all had fun and took photographs. I ate and I took something home! 

Can someone please drag out Otunba Mike Adenuga, today and let him have fun, as we all join his friends and family to wish him a happy birthday, because he is indeed a jolly good fellow, an icon, a role model, a man with a good heart and a dependable guy. He is one of those persons that President Muhammadu Buhari referred to the other year when he talked about diamonds that make Nigeria great. Mike Adenuga is indeed a fine representation of the Nigerian dream, one of those who give hope to younger generations that it is possible to achieve, excel in whatever you put your mind and energy to, and surpass your dreams. Michael Adenuga is identified with two major animals as totems of signification: the first is the Bull. The Bull is the second sign of the Zodiac sign: Taurus, an earth sign relating to persons born between April 20 and May 20. Persons born under this sign are cosmic oxens, steadfast, loyal and ready to roll up their sleeves and get results. Apart from Otunba Mike Adenuga, one other Nigerian, in fact the only other one that I know who goes by the epithet “the Bull” is Daniel Amokachi, the ace footballer and legend.  Daniel Amokachi even in retirement is one of the best that ever played football. There are men and there are persons. I submit that our subject in this commentary is a man. It is not for nothing that Otunba Mike Adenuga is portrayed in other representations as a lion. The lion is the king of animals.   In his many expeditions in the course of seven decades, Mike Adenuga has indeed proven himself to be a king. I mean this in the literal sense without prejudice to the fact that he is the son of a princess of Ijebu Ode, who married an Ijebu-Igbo man, whose burial is recorded as one of the most befitting and colourful in contemporary times, nor the fact that Mike Adenuga is a first cousin of the Ogbagba II, paramount ruler of Ijebu Kingdom, Oba Sikiru Kayode Adetona, one of the longest living monarchs in Nigeria having spent more than 60 years on the throne.  My point is that Adenuga had royal blood in him, but he became king not in the palace, but on the streets of struggle and self-realization.  Despite his privileged background with noble connections, he actually sent himself to school in the United States. 

Business schools teach case studies, and the models can be organizational or individual-specific. I once sat in classes where the subject was about CEOs – what makes them tick, how they think, how they are made, and why they do what they do. Mike Adenuga would prove to be a classic case study, and a source of lessons for the younger generation. Some of his critics, and I am sure there would be many out there, are likely to say that he is a lucky guy, who managed or happened to be in the right place at the right time. Afterall, he attended Ibadan Grammar School. Founded in March 1913, Ibadan Grammar School was one of those top elite schools in Ibadan, of Anglican Church extraction.  This was the school that Mike Adenuga attended. The school also had on its alumni list, Justice Franklin O.M. Atake, a distinguished jurist, Chief Ayo Rosij, lawyer, politician, former Minister; Chief Michael Omolewa, the industrialist; my late boss, mentor, benefactor and employer, Mr.Alex Ibru, founder of The Guardian Newspapers and the Sheraton Hotels, Dr Olusegun Agagu, former Governor of Ondo State,  and Chief Bola Ige, lawyer, politicians, author and former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice.. The school also had the reputation of having had as principal and founder, the late Pa Bishop Alexander Babatunde Akinyele who brought much distinguished glory to the school. 

We had a lecturer, Mr. Sonny Samson-Akpan, in Calabar in those days who never failed to remind us that he attended Ibadan Grammar School. If we wanted to prod him, we would point out that Ibadan also had Government College, Ibadan (GCI) which had an even more glowing story. The truth is that once upon a time in this country, alumni and alumna of different schools used to compete for glory. They were proud of their alma mater. But that is another story entirely. After Ibadan Grammar School, Mike Adenuga went to Comprehensive High School Aiyetoro for his A’Levels as it is called. “Compro,” as that school was popularly known was one of the best schools in Nigeria’s Western Region. It had excellent teachers, offering American-styled education. It provided a truly comprehensive education across disciplines and subjects. Products of the school, from that era, even till today, still go about as if they are on stilts, although the school like many others of that glorious season has changed form, content and substance.   

The Adenuga story is that he later went on to the United States for further education, and there, working as a taxi driver, he sent himself through college, getting a first degree from Northwestern Oklahoma State University and a graduate degree from Pace University, New York, majoring in Business Administration. The man we are celebrating today is that taxi driver, I think they call a taxi driver, a cabbie in the US, who is now 70 and is known as one of the most accomplished men on the African continent. He became an entrepreneur quite early, buying and selling. He was already a millionaire by the age of 26. He sold lace and soft drinks. By 1990, he had diversified into many areas of enterprise and industry, banking, oil and gas, entrepreneurship. In 1990, his company, Consolidated Oil and Gas, (CONOIL) had struck oil in commercial quantities in the shallow waters of South Western states of Nigeria. He also founded a bank, now defunct - the Equatorial Trust Bank (ETB). He is also today, the Chairman and Founder of Globacom, the second largest telecom operator in Nigeria, with significant presence in other African countries including Ghana and Benin Republic. Adenuga is regarded by Forbes and other wealth-watching groups as the second richest man in Nigeria. Adenuga is the second richest man in Nigeria and the sixth richest in Africa. To bring that to the level of the common man, each time you make a call on the Globacom network just to say “Hello My Neighbour. How are you today?”. Mike Adenuga makes money. He mints money.  

I have been attending classes in International Political Economy taught by Professor D. K. Ologbenla who has been treating such subjects as the Theories of Capitalism, the definitions, scope and essence of political economy the Tenets of Capitalism, International Aid, Multinational Corporations, IMF/World Bank, and in all this he talks about the capitalist as an agent for wealth production/creation, property acquisition, job creation and value addition. In other words, whether you view capitalism from the laissez faire, neo-liberal perspective or the communist conception, capitalism ultimately adds value, and it is better to have a balanced perspective of the various propositions.  Otunba Mike Adenuga is one of those capitalist agents involved in trade and industry and one of the most impactful in Africa, promoting prosperity and economic growth.  It is instructive that he has been honored by his own country, Nigeria, as a Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON), the second highest honour in Nigeria. He has also received high honours from Ghana, and France where in 2018, President Emmanuel Macron conferred on him the prestigious Commander of the Legion d’Honneur. In Ijebuland, he is Otunba Apesin. He is also one of the top-most influential Africans alive today. But the key thing is his promotion of welfare capitalism, his commitment to charity and community (the three Cs), philanthropy, and the manner in which he constantly gives back and helps to recreate society. I have read quite a number of tributes in the last week, from persons who have given testimonies of how they have benefitted directly from his generosity. As someone who has known him since I was a young, very angry, activist, journalist, I have been a beneficiary of his many acts of generosity. I don’t intend to tell those stories here today. I would rather reserve my “Adenuga and I stories” till another date. Most of our people are too envious. I don’t want to put anybody under unnecessary pressure as in: hen hen, is it Reuben Abati alone? I don’t want to attract the attention of you people who put eyes and mouths in other people’s matter. This is about Otunba Michael Adenuga: his humanism, his accomplishments, his heroism. 

He has done so much for the land of his birth: creating wealth, prosperity, opportunities and building lives. As he turns 70 today, I urge you to charge your glasses and let’s propose a toast to this great son of Ijebuland, Ogun State, Nigeria, Africa, and a global, bridge builder across the world as he turns 70. Is Bella reading this? Bella Adenuga (now Mrs Disu) is Otunba Adenuga’s daughter, if you are there, please bell me. I will tell you my address, for the onward transportation of my own Birthday mende-mende as they say in Yoruba language. Even the great Michael Adenuga must know that it is not fair for him to hide on his birthday today. Happy birthday sir. Many Happy Returns. Cheers.

City FM is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

City FM is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Programme: CITY TALKS WITH REUBEN ABATI

Time: 12:00pm

Guest: Dr. Michael Aderohunmu (President, Nigeria-Malaysia Business Council)

Topic: The Proposed Suspension of Subsidy Removal

Date: April 29th, 2023
                         
Join Zoom Meeting: https://zoom.us/j/92877141732?pwd=VEJWb29OL2VVekZUTHRpdWYxK0xxZz09

Meeting ID: 928 7714 1732

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Nigeria’s President-elect Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is back in the country. He was declared winner of the February 25 Presidential election with 8, 794, 726 of the total votes cast with over 25% in 30 states, more than the 24 states required by the Constitution. He reportedly returned to the country at 4.30 pm yesterday through the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja after a four-week vacation in Europe and Saudi Arabia. He left the country on March 21, and according to his handlers, the President-elect needed time to rest, relax, re-tune, rejuvenate and prepare for the inauguration of a new government on May 29. We were told he would be in France, the UK and Saudi Arabia where he was expected to observe the lesser hajj, that is Umrah. The trip fueled speculations about the state of his health, with many Nigerians arguing that his trip abroad was a cover up for undisclosed medical treatment. There were even videos of his sightings in Guinea, and speculations about his citizenship. For record purposes, I had argued on another platform, The Morning Show of AriseNews, the television wing of this newspaper where, as lead anchor I ruminate on sundry issues every morning - that Asiwaju Tinubu has the right to the freedom of movement and that I did not see anything wrong if he wanted to take time off to rest after what we would all readily agree was a hectic, hypertensive, campaign season.

Nigerians were however inconsolable. They wanted the President-elect on the ground. They said they were not comfortable with the idea of a President-elect who would be missing in action or become the equivalent of an unidentifiable, untraceable flying object going from France to the UK to Saudi Arabia and wherever. Where is he?, they asked. And that included even persons that did not vote for him.   To be fair, I could understand the concerns of those who raised these questions. When a man is proclaimed President-elect, he becomes automatically, a property of the state. He becomes a person and subject of state interest. He is effectively no longer an ordinary person. He is asked to move into secure state accommodation, in this case, the Aguda House in Abuja. He is given a full complement of state security. He receives daily briefings from all the security agencies. He acts in other words, as if he were already President. The only difference is that he cannot yet exercise executive powers until he is duly sworn in and he takes the oath of office. The underlying logic in this regard is that there cannot be two Presidents at a time. So, in effect, Tinubu is a President-in-waiting, and Nigerians who are concerned about his movement, health and safety have every reason to raise questions. There are also national security implications. The British, Chinese and the Americans would not allow their President-elect yo-yoing across the world weeks before inauguration. In traditional communities, such persons, waiting to ascend the throne, are kept in seclusion, to be prepared for the enormous assignment ahead and their transition from one plane of existence to the other. 

However, Bola Tinubu is back. What a big relief! His return, yesterday, it can be said, has settled the questions about his condition and health.  Those who have raised questions about his health and circumstances can now see him. It bears stating that no one would expect any further overseas travel by the President-elect before his inauguration, 35 days from now.  The timing of his return is also auspicious. The Ramadan season is over, and whoever uses religion as the excuse for being abroad, is of course expected to return. While he was away, the supplementary elections in 24 states of the Federation took place on April 15. The President-elect issued a statement commending the process and asking all elected persons to work with him. While he was away also, there were controversies about his citizenship and whether or not he committed perjury in filling the Form EC9 that he submitted to INEC. Quite a number of persons insist that the President-elect must address these two issues. 

I have argued and I stand to be corrected that the controversy about his Guinean connection and/or dual citizenship is of no moment. No right-thinking, reasonable person would imagine that Tinubu is not a Nigerian. He is in fact more Nigerian than most of us. That is why he is President today and you and I are busy still pursuing the dream. The laws of our land recognize dual citizenship, and in law that matter was settled in the Bukola Saraki case.  The conditions for citizenship are properly spelled out in Sections 25 – 28 of the 1999 Constitution, and there is no point quibbling over Tinubu’s qualifications in that regard. The other issue that has been raised has to do with perjury. But that can only be proven and confirmed by a court of law. Section 117 of the Criminal Code frowns upon giving false evidence or testimony, either orally or in writing, and Section 118 further prescribes punishment accordingly. But perjury has to be proven. It should be recalled that last year, some lawyers went to the Federal High Court accusing Tinubu of perjury. It was an ex parte motion seeking an order of judicial review with regard to Tinubu’s educational qualification. What is the status of that case? 

We have been through this route before, by the way. As Governor of Lagos State, Tinubu was similarly accused of perjury. The lawyer involved in that case was a jurist of timbre and calibre: the inimitable Gani Fawehimi.  “Gani The Law” was a formidable officer in the temple of justice. But nothing came out of that case. The matter was dismissed. The order of mandamus sought by Gani Fawehinmi was ruled out of time.  Tinubu was already Governor. The court held that the was covered by immunity under Section 308 of the 1999 Constitution. I imagine that similarly, history would repeat itself on this matter, in the same manner in which it is certain that the inauguration of Asiwaju Tinubu as President of Nigeria would take place on May 29, 2023. It is true that there are petitions at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, but anybody who knows Nigeria fairly well can confidently wager a bet that their Lordships will not give a decision to upturn the social and political order. Tinubu has already set up an inauguration committee, a 13-man committee. His associates have been sighted attending the Spring meetings of the Bretton Woods institutions in Washington DC, United States. He has been busy playing Rose Garden politics. Meanwhile, nothing has been heard from the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal.  Petitions and cross petitions have been filed. Hundreds of lawyers have been lined up. We would probably be here in 50 days from now, with inauguration done attended by traditional rulers competing for attention, the international community in attendance too, a Federal cabinet in place, the woman in charge of catering for the Presidential inauguration Ball having been paid for her pepper soup, small chops, and jollof rice, and the aso ebi, skyscraper Yoruba headgear crowd compensated, a new National Assembly inaugurated, and then the election petition tribunals would suddenly start sitting… The same tribunals would be paid and offered logistics by the new government. Indeed, the Nigerian system is one of the most comedic in the world. Never mind. The lawyers will collect their pay, there will be one or two dramas in the courts, the judges will be happy to have made some fine points of law, and we will all move on.

Moving on, however, it is important, now that the President-elect is back in town that we remind him of the urgent tasks ahead: the big load on his shoulders, the thing around his neck: how to lead Nigeria out of the woods. Nigerians can expect that it would not take Tinubu a long time to set up a Cabinet. In 2015, it took President Buhari quite a while to identify Ministers. He was not alone. One state Governor ran a one-man show in his state for a whole year! He had stayed too long in Lagos before going back home to be Governor. He had difficulties identifying his own people. Tinubu would naturally put a team together without any stress. He has the necessary experience. He has done this and that before as Governor of Lagos State and as an active Godfather in Nigerian politics. Nonetheless, he has more than enough persons in his face who since the elections have been posturing as potential Ministers and advisers, re-enacting their own “Emilokan” – “it is my turn” posturing. The sense of entitlement in the Tinubu camp is so much, so loudly paraded, I would not be surprised if one or two persons in that camp end up in the hospital if they do not get what they think they deserve. But should that bother us? Nigerians are not looking for a team, post-May 29, of entitled persons, boys and girls who are in government to collect IOUs, “emilokan adventurists” in the corridors of Aso Villa. 

Nigerians want a team that can work and move Nigeria forward. In eight years, this country has taken one step forward, two steps backwards. We don’t need to argue over that. Check your pocket. Listen to the loud, tsunami-like rumblings of your stomach. Consider the rate at which burial spaces are disappearing at the cemeteries because of increased harvest of corpses. Imagine how laughter has died in the people’s throats and the pronounced jeremiad in Southern Kaduna, Benue and Plateau. Headline inflation is now over 22%. Food inflation is much higher. The country is in heavy debt. Only the other day, the World Bank told us that Nigeria’s debt service to revenue ratio is 96%. President Buhari says he is looking forward to May 29, and that he can’t wait to return to his home town of Daura. He wants Nigeria to forgive him in case he has not met our expectations. Err, he needs not worry. Nigerians are too distracted, too confused, they don’t know what is good for them. The President can be sure that he has already been forgiven except anybody wants to start another round of religious and ethnic controversy. Charly Boy says the apology is not accepted. Charly Boy, Charly Daddy, is on his own. What Nigeria needs right now is a magician. And the question is: how versed is Tinubu in the magical arts of leadership and societal transformation? He says “emilokan”: now soon, that would be fulfilled in a historical manner, the only other Yoruba man in contemporary times to be President of Nigeria. Very soon, Abuja will be overtaken by the Yoruba cap, the language spoken in the big halls of Abuja hotels would be distinctively Yoruba, “emilokan” will become “awalokan” with Tinubu’s children, in-laws and associates treading the surface of mother earth like new conquerors, backed by power aphrodisiac and possibly, Artificial Intelligence! What Nigeria needs is a President who knows what to do!

“Whatever they like, they (can) speculate, I am healthy and strong and I am okay. May 29 is not a calendar…The challenge ahead is beyond that., it is for all of us together.  And we must stay focused. That is very important. Don’t isolate one date. One date on the calendar does not mean anything. It is just an event.”, Tinubu said on his arrival yesterday. Good. We have heard. But the President-elect must be further reminded that he made many promises to Nigerians, including those who voted for him and those who did not, about his mission to restore hope. Nigerians are looking forward to the delivery of those promises. They need the renewed hope that he promised! Once upon a time in this country, and many would remember, a President told us that he was not aware of the promises in his own election manifesto. He changed the script the moment he got into power and blamed the past administration for everything that did not work. Tinubu cannot play that game. He is an APC man succeeding an APC administration. He would not have a predecessor to blame! Scratch that out of the strategy list. He cannot unleash the security agencies either after the departing administration. If anything, he would in fact be expected to give the incumbent President and other influential persons slots in his own government. 

We, the people of Nigeria, cannot control that. But we expect hope, and that the promises made will be delivered. The President-elect promised Nigerian students that he will pay them loans. Those students at home and abroad are waiting. Where will the money come from? He told us he will increase oil production to 4 million barrels per day. Nigeria has never done more than 2.2 million barrels per day.  We can’t even meet our OPEC-assigned quota. Nigeria’s refineries are down, there is a big crisis in the oil and gas sector, upstream, midstream and downstream. Will Tinubu remove fuel subsidy, immediately he assumes office, on May 29, or would he postpone the evil day complaining about consequences or some “bla bla, blu blu” excuses?. He says he will address the challenge of insecurity in the country. How? And how soon? We would all love to see a civilian leader succeed where a President with an acclaimed strong security background failed.  The days ahead are challenging indeed, not a season for proverbs and Babelic language but action, leadership and results. 

As it is, Tinubu will be President. The courts can have their say, but the power brokers will have their way. I sympathize with the people who continue to insist that something else will happen before May 29, based on the predictions of. prophets and pastors. I am unavailable for that kind of talk, to borrow a phrase that has been made popular in Nigeria by Davido, the musician. In Nigeria, you can hire a Pastor to see what you want to see, and use his social media pages (These Pastors are all over social media now) to say what you want to say. Even persons who are not pastors see visions in Nigeria. So, deal with it, what is ahead in Nigeria would prove to be very interesting. The countdown has begun.  

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With the way the Independent National Electoral Commission of Nigeria (INEC) is carrying on under the watch of Professor Mahmood Yakubu as Chairman, it would take a miracle for the present Chairman of that controversial and embattled body, not to end up on the wrong side of history. Some jobs within the public space are by nature thankless regardless of efforts put in, but a job can be done so badly, what would be remembered are the ugly episodes and memories of failure. Professor Yakubu’s misfortune would be that it was in his time that the country came round to the idea that technology should be deployed as election tools, and that some of the reforms that Nigerians had been looking for should be addressed by updating the electoral framework.

In Yakubu’s time, Nigeria came up with the Electoral Act 2022, which indeed is a different kind of law, an advancement from the Electoral Act 2010. Everyone celebrated the emergence of the new Electoral Act as a game changer for Nigeria with the novel innovations about INEC’s financial independence in Section 3(3), early conduct of primaries and submission of candidates list in Section 29 (1), legal backing of electronic voting and transmission of results in Sections 47 and 50(2), overvoting redefined in Section 51, the non-eligibility of political appointees as delegates or aspirants in Section 84(12), special provisions for the physically challenged in Section 54, early commencement and longer period of campaigns in Section 94, provision for a central electronic data base in Section 99… Mahmood Yakubu’s INEC boasted that it had tested the law in the bye-elections in Osun and Ekiti and that during the then scheduled 2023 general elections, INEC would put all the reforms into effect. What have we seen? It turned out from the very beginning that the National Assembly did not understand the same law that it had enacted and the implications. The same people who enacted the law tried to change it. They didn’t succeed. Before the elections, INEC said it was ready. It put out messages about how results would be uploaded from polling units to the INEC Results Viewing Portal, real time. It said its officials were up to the task.

The details of how INEC disappointed Nigerians is well-captured by the reports of various observers, local and international, and the tsunami of litigations that have attended the elections held this year, on February 25 (Presidential and National Assembly), and March 18 (Gubernatorial and State Houses of Assembly). Nigeria’s 2023 general election would go down as one of the most disputed in the country’s electoral cycle since the first general elections were held in the country in September 1923 under the Clifford Constitution of 1922. It may be said, after a fashion, that the true test of a law is in its implementation. Any piece of legislation is a living organism. Laws are made for the good of society. Thus, as living organisms, laws evolve and implementation structures and organs are aligned with the law-givers’ original intentions. I am of the view that given the contortions that have been experienced so far with the Electoral Act 2022, Nigeria needs to work further on the electoral framework, to oxygenate and deepen our democracy, and to align it more reasonably with the people’s will. The minimum lesson at this point is that when a law is made, those who are expected to operationalize it must study and understand it. State and party officials are so routinely distracted, they do not pay enough attention.

The extent to which this is so is that after the elections of February 25 and March 18, the electoral body, INEC took the decision to conduct supplementary elections in 24 states of the Federation, 2,660 polling units, 93 Legislative constituencies and 185 local governments, where elections had been declared inconclusive. Those supplementary elections took place on Saturday, April 15. INEC said it was better prepared, having learnt lessons from its most recent exercises, and having tested the Electoral Act in a general election. It was possible to believe that certain lessons had been learnt within the space of close to a month: March 18 – April 15. The Inspector General of Police lent his voice to the matter and said that the supplementary elections would proceed smoothly. But on April 15, it was déjà vu. The morning after, The Vanguard newspaper reported as follows: “Supplementary Elections: Violence, vote-buying reign as NNPP wins more seats in Kano.” The Sunday Punch told us: “Supplementary Elections: Four Killed, Houses razed, Thugs Disrupt Polls in Rivers, Anambra, Others”. The paper added in its front-page story: “Three killed in Kano for disrupting poll, soldiers shoot Kebbi ballot snatcher dead, APC, PDP, NNPP await INEC declaration of Adamawa, Kebbi gov seats.” … The report by Sunday Sun was as follows: “Violence, Apathy, Late Arrival of Materials Mar Supplementary Elections”, with the rider: “3 feared killed in Kano, Thugs, police, Ebubeagu chase away voters, abduct electoral officials in Imo, 6 persons arrested, 1 at large in Adamawa, over attempt to hack BVAS, vote buying , thuggery in Anambra, apathy, intimidation in Edo…” The Nigerian Tribune reported: “Supplementary Elections: Again, violence, ballot snatching rock exercise – 4 killed in Kano, Kebbi, EFCC arrests 12 in Kano, Katsina for vote-buying.”. The Sunday Independent said: “Sokoto Polls suffer voter apathy, late arrival of materials”.

The same weekend, party primaries were held in some of the states where off-cycle elections would take place later in 2023. The primaries were just as problematic. In Kogi state, four aspirants were reported to have rejected APC Gubernatorial primaries. The Nation said: “Sylva wins Bayelsa APC Guber Primary… Confusion as Labour Party holds factional primaries in Imo… Anxiety in Kebbi, Adamawa over guber elections”. In one word, despite all the concerns and anxieties expressed about the 2023 process as seen on February 25 and March 18, the supplementary elections of April 15, and even the party primaries in Imo, Bayelsa, and Kogi states, indicated very clearly, that nothing had changed and nothing would probably change going forward. Nigerians run a peculiar kind of democracy where anything and everything is possible and the only thing that matters is winning at all costs. It is a democracy of deaf and dumb persons fixated on only one goal and who define democracy strictly by personal standards. I have stumbled on the argument that there will never be a time Nigerian democracy will be run by saints and I am tempted to believe that ours may well be described as a democracy of villains, where the smartest villain wins. The only consolation is that the day may never come when Nigerian democracy will be black-listed by the international community as a lost cause simply because Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa, the largest market in the continent, a country whose geo-political importance has direct bearing on the stability of the West African sub-region. Where then does that leave the endless talk in this country, about reforms, legacy and institutions?

Which takes us immediately to Adamawa State, Nigeria where a show of shame was enacted on Saturday by a certain Hudu Yunusa Ari, adult, male, and Resident Electoral Commissioner of Adamawa State who engaged in a violent act of breach of public peace by disrupting the collation of the results of the supplementary Gubernatorial election in Adamawa state in a criminal and roguish manner. It would be recalled that INEC had declared the Gubernatorial election in Adamawa State of March 18, 2023 inconclusive due to issues in Fufore Local Government, which caused much furore, and on the ground that the number of cancelled votes exceeded the margin of lead between the People’s Democratic Party candidate, incumbent Governor Ahmadu Fintiri and the closest challenger, Aishatu Dahiru of the All Progressives’ Congress. By 9 am on Sunday, April 16, collation officers and the returning officers at the State Collation Centre in Yola, the state capital had announced the results from 10 of the affected LGAS, with Fintiri, the PDP candidate leading with a wide margin. The Returning Officer then announced a recess for a continuation of collation and further announcement of results to re-commence by 11 am.

But before that advertised time of resumption, the State Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) reportedly came into the centre and holding a handwritten note, without announcing any outstanding collated results, proceeded to announce Aisha Dahiru of the APC as the winner of the Gubernatorial election in Adamawa State. This threw the collation centre into confusion as party agents asked: How? Within a short while, the Gubernatorial candidate of the APC, Aisha Dahiru, popularly known as Binani, acting on this development, immediately gave an acceptance speech. INEC would later declare REC Hudu Yunusa Ari’s action “null, void and of no effect”. INEC said it would address the matter and asked the state REC, the Hudu Yunusa Ari man and the state Returning Officer, Professor Mele Lamido to report to the INEC Headquarters in Abuja. Yesterday, INEC directed that Hudu Yunusa-Ari should stay away from INEC office until further notice, and that Adamu Gujungu, administrative secretary in Adamawa should take charge of the office with immediate effect. The suspension of Hudu Yunusa-Ari does not go far enough. His rogue conduct must be addressed fully in accordance with the law. His behaviour amounts to impunity, criminality, desperation and such brazenness that deserves closer investigation. This is not a matter that can be swept under the carpet, because it is a mockery not just of the Adamawa supplementary election but of the entire electoral process. It provides strong justification for those who hold the view that this has been a shambolic event.

Hudu Yunusa-Ari was required to report to the INEC headquarters. If he has not done so, he should be declared a wanted person by the security agencies immediately! By INEC’s own declaration, he broke the law. One, the Electoral Act of 2022 grants specific powers to the Returning Officer as the official who is empowered to collate and announce results - see Section 64 (4) and (5). Indeed, Section 65 of the same Act uses the phrase “shall be final” with regard to the “decision of the Returning Officer on any question related to ballot papers and the declaration of results. Section 66 provides further specificity as regards the declaration of results, vested as it were in the person of “the appropriate returning officer”. The now suspended Adamawa Resident Electoral Commissioner not being the RO, knowingly violated the law. He should be made to face the full wrath of the law.

In Part VII of the Electoral Act, dealing with Electoral Offences, specific penalties are prescribed to deal with “dereliction of duty” in Section 120 (1 -6) where strong penalties are provided in Section 120(4) which states that “Any person who announces or publishes an election result knowing same to be false or which is at variance with the signed certificate of return commits an offence and is liable on conviction or imprisonment for a term of 36 months.” Sections 120 (5) and (6) also prescribe imprisonment for a term of three years. The indicted REC must be subjected to thorough investigation. Did he collude with others? Was he induced? Is he part of a ring of conspiracy? There have been allegations that sums running into about N2 billion exchanged hands. Really? Two, Yunusa-Ari’s disruptive and disorderly conduct is also questionable under Section 249 of the Criminal Code. His illegal declaration of Aisha Dahiru as winner threw Adamawa state and the entire country into a state of anxiety and confusion. Aggrieved persons in the state descended on the two INEC National commissioners who had been sent to oversee the Adamawa process. One of them was brutalized. The other, Professor Abdullahi Abdu Zuru, a former Vice Chancellor of Usman Dan Fodiyo University, Sokoto was beaten and stripped naked with blood streaming down his body. It was a case of mistaken identity. His assailants thought he was the REC that made the illegal announcement. While we do not recommend jungle justice, the attack on innocent Professor Zuru is most unfortunate. INEC has asked the security agencies to identify the assailants and bring them to book, but INEC needs to learn a lesson from here: the need to protect its officials, and pay more attention to their personal security.

The unmasking of rogue elements like the embattled Adamawa REC should also point to something else. INEC officials on the field during elections must be subjected to routine alcohol and psychiatric tests. This is the strongest plausible response to Hudu Yunusa-Ari’s behaviour. What worsens the entire matter in our view is that he was reportedly accompanied on his unholy mission by the Adamawa state Commissioner of Police and other policemen. In other words, the illegality was committed in the presence of law enforcement officers! Nigeria is one country where those who are supposed to enforce the law do not know the laws of the land! The Inspector General of Police had promised that the police will live up to expectations during the supplementary elections on April 15. Your guess is as good as mine. The least that the IGP can do is to ask the Police Command in Adamawa to produce their friend, the now suspended Resident Electoral Commissioner! Going forward, much better attention must be paid to the recruitment of persons for electoral duties. The INEC Chairman before the election had said that RECs, Collation Officers and Returning Officers were expected to be non-partisan, that is neutral, in the discharge of their responsibilities. They even swore on oath to that effect. Nigeria’s 2023 elections coincided with the Holy Month of Lent (Christian) and Ramadan (Muslim), and yet in the same season, the country has witnessed so much corruption and dishonesty.

Mrs Aishatu Dahiru should not have delivered that acceptance speech of shame, knowing the motivation for it to be of dubious extraction. Nigerians would be excited to have a female Governor who contests and wins an election, but that must be through fair and square means, not by ambush or fraudulent means. She owes the people of Adamawa an explanation and an apology. Many others, including Festus Keyamo, SAN jumped the gun. I have expressed the shock that more than a day after the faux pas, Keyamo, an officer in the temple of justice, was yet to take down his twitter post on the Adamawa election. The ball is now squarely in INEC’s court to ensure that the process in Adamawa’s supplementary election is concluded and that due process runs its complete course in a just manner. The big ogre in all this is how corruption is at the core of the Nigerian character from politics to catering business.