Dr Bamidele Onalaja, the Lagos Chairman of Real Estate Development Association of Nigeria (REDAN) and CEO at RevelutionPlus Group blamed the collapsed 21 storey building on the performance of professionals involved on the project, also on the part of government.

Dr Onalaja made this disclosure during an interview on CityTalks with Reuben Abati.

According to him, the natural occurrence cannot be dismissed but it is very slim; “according to my experience and observation in this particular case,” he said.

The body of the developer of the collapsed property, Femi Osibona, the MD of Fourscore Homes was recovered four days after the incident occurred.

According to the Lagos Chairman of REDAN, Femi Fourscore wasn’t planning that the property should collapse on him and all the other staff involved.

He said, “There are three blocks of those high rises, 21, 15 and 16 unit of the high rises but that of the 21unit collapsed.

“The project is a multi-billion project that is given to experts. So, I want to assume that Femi gave the projects to expert; the architect and structural engineer.”

He added, “There is a project manager for that project, I want to assume, who coordinates the M & E, the mechanical and electrical consultant on that project.

“Now that Femi is gone, it is not possible for us to ask him questions.

“They should go to his office, get the books to find out who handled the project.”

According to Onalaja, there is a fundamental problem when a project requires 18mm rod and 12 is recommended and if the project requires 18.7 pilling and I am recommending 10; “there is no way such a project will not come down,” he said.

He said, “If the foundation is faulty, what can the righteous do?”

The CEO of RevelutionPlus Group stated that from a reliable source undisclosed, that the collapsed building got approval for 21 storey and not 15 or 16 as many has insinuated.

He repeatedly expressed concerns on professionals involved in the project.

He noted a lot of human error from the part of the foundation from the beginning could have been responsible for the collapse.

Co-founder and vice president of the Nigeria -Malaysia Business Council, Dr. Michael Aderohunmu said that Nigerians always have alternatives when they not able to transact as they should.

The economist said on CityTalks with Reuben Abati that Nigerians need to embrace the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) now as the eNaira, because it is the new norm.

 According to him, the idea behind the eNaira is to drive Nigeria cashless economy.

He said, “The world is going towards cashless economy and the objective of that is to make life easy for everybody.”

On the 25^th October, 2021, Nigeria became the first African country to launch a digital currency called the eNaira to upend commercial banking in Nigeria.

The digital currency will have the same value as the physical cash we use on a daily basis.

The Central Bank of Nigeria made it clear that the eNaira is not a cryptocurrency like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin, or any other type of cryptocurrency, contrary to popular belief. It is not decentralized and cannot be controlled privately in the same way as cryptocurrencies can.

Dr Aderohunmu is of the view that the eNaira platform is going to be a platform that will drive all transaction, but the challenge is that; “how easy is it going to be for users to access this platform without being frozen or a challenge of bandwidth?”

He noted that the major thing to start with for every country that is going into digital economy; is the availability of bandwidth without interruption.

“As we go by the question, we need to ask is how do we link the advantage of a digital currency into the Nigeria economy itself. Because if you don’t have anything to sell, you are still exposed, the difference here is that it has reduced the pressure on naira compare with what we use to have,” he said.

The Federal Government of Nigeria has been in the eye of the storm with the international media recently, and there is a lot that can be extracted from that in terms of lessons and sub-text. I find that ironic considering the fact that between 2014 and 2015, in the lead up to the 2015 Presidential elections, the international media championed the cause of the main opposition party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), the then Special Purpose Vehicle under which all the political terrorists of the time had come together. It was an infectious moment. But today, the same international media appears to be up in arms against the same process that they helped to promote and sustain. It seems to me that this says something about the politics of the media as institution, agent and business and the complex intersection between it, political stakeholders and society.

First, it was the BBC and the CNN throwing the Buhari administration under the bus on the matter of the October 20, 2020, #EndSARS protests. At the time and thereafter, officials of the Nigerian government insisted that nobody died at the Lekki Toll Gate during the protests against police brutality in the country and that both government and its agencies were completely innocent. But the international media promotes a different narrative, using security challenges in Nigeria as that thing that hangs around the government’s neck. And second, more recently, there was the matter of a report in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) in which the Nigerian Air Force was accused of making payments to bandits in exchange for weapons, specifically an anti-aircraft gun that had been allegedly seized from the Nigerian military, and which was to be used to gun down the aircraft of the President of Nigeria who was scheduled to travel to his home state of Katsina for the Eid el Maulud.

The Wall Street Journal’s report was very enticing. It painted a picture of the helplessness of the government of the day in Nigeria with regard to security challenges. It stated that the Nigerian Air Force had to pay N20 million for a 12. 7 calibre anti-air-aircraft gun, and that the money was delivered as the leader of the terrorists sipped tea and his boys dismantled the seized arsenal for onward return. The ransom for the equipment was reportedly paid in crisp Nigerian notes totalling $50, 000. The terrorists after collecting the money, so states the report, aired a series of grievances against the Nigerian state. The WSJ report gave the impression that the terrorists are better motivated and equipped than Nigeria’s security agencies.

All of this was a week ago. The Nigerian Air Force, naturally and expectedly put up a robust response through Air Commodore Edward Gabkwet, its spokesperson. Commodore Gabkwet’s point is that the Nigerian Air Force did not strike any deal with either bandits and terrorists. He dismissed the WSJ report as fake news designed to cast aspersions on the image of the Air Force, totally false and utterly illogical. He appealed to the media, local, international and the social media, to be more circumspect and co-operate with security agencies in the battle against terror. To be fair, Gabkwet’s position is consistent with the position of the Federal Republic of Nigeria that it would not at any time, negotiate with any criminal who should be subjected to the due process of law. But there were other aspects of the WSJ report which the Nigerian state conveniently ignored. Could it be true for example that the terrorists, inflicting much anxiety on the land, are better equipped than the Nigerian military or any of its units? Is it true as the military readily claims, that the Buhari administration is winning the war? Or do the terrorists have an upper hand?

Within a week after the controversial report by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), The Economist another influential Western publication led its October 23, 2021 cover with the title – “Nigeria: The Crime Scene capital of Africa.” The London-based news magazine described the Nigerian army as: “mighty on paper” but weak on the ground with its ranks filled with “ghosts on its payroll”. The magazine event went a step beyond the Wall Street Journal and accused the Nigerian military of selling arms and ammunition to the same terrorists it is supposed to fight. The Report accuses the Nigerian Police of being poorly trained, understaffed, under-paid and involved in the robbery of innocent Nigerians to augment salaries. The Economist was not nice at all. It accused the Buhari administration of ineptitude and mismanagement of the Nigerian economy. As expected, the Nigerian Army fired back. The Army spokesperson deployed all the grammatical epithets he could readily latch on to: “toxic concoctions”, “hatchet job”. “the antics of conflict merchants and agents provocateurs”, “failure to do due diligence”. The Presidency speaking through Garba Shehu followed suit by reiterating that the Buhari government deserves commendation for all the efforts it has made so far to ensure security in the country, and fight terrorism, an inherited situation, which its predecessors failed to handle but which the incumbent administration was dealing with in a decisive manner.

The Nigerian Government and its agents have a responsibility to defend the integrity of their operations. I would have acted exactly in the same manner if I was still in government. The Wall Street Journal and The Economist are reputable publications with a wide range of influence. The latter for example, is over 117 years old. The former is one of the most authoritative media platforms in the world. The Nigerian Government would have been remiss in its duty if it failed to push its own side of the narrative, and seek to defend itself, and provide alternative facts about the true situation of things in Nigeria. But the big question is: who is telling the truth? What is the truth? Are the foreign publications cooking up stories? Has the security situation in Nigeria improved on account of the many claims by the Nigerian Military? Patriotism is useful at the level of emotion and identity, but what is the truth? About the same time that the two Western publications were raising questions about the security challenges in Nigeria and the capacity of the government to address them, the international community had been treated to such reports as the bomb attack on rail lines between Abuja and Kaduna, the abduction and killing of persons in Goronyo/Gada Federal Constituency, jailbreak at the Abologo Custodial Centre in Oyo, and the threat by the indigenous people of Biafra that the group would declare a total shut-down in the South East if its detained leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is not released by November 4. Even if the Wall Street Journal and The Economist added “pepper and salt” in their reports, the material fact is that all is not well security-wise in Nigeria. Take for example, the claim by The Economist that the police in Nigeria are understaffed, under-paid and that they rob the Nigerian people to augment their salaries. Is that true or false? What I have seen is that the Nigeria Police Headquarters has respected itself by keeping mute. While the military and the Presidency offered robust rebuttals, it would have been foolhardy for the Nigeria Police Force to make any claims of innocence.

The Report by The Economist coincided with the one-year memorial of the #EndSARS protest of October 20, 2020 in Nigeria. The original theme was police brutality, repression of the people by state agents, the widening alienation between the Nigerian people and those who govern them, and an institutionalised culture of impunity. On the occasion of the #EndSARS memorial in 2021, the police and other security agencies in Nigeria simply repeated the offence. In Lagos, a certain Adedotun Clement, a passer-by, Uber, ride-hailing driver was caught in the middle of the conflict. He was brutalised by the police and officials of the Lagos Neighbourhood Safety Corps, and bundled into a Black Maria. His lawyer, Inibehe Effiiong has petitioned the Attorney General of Lagos State, and issued a notice of warning to proceed to court if the state fails to address the specific demands that he has made on behalf of his client. His petition is supported by copious, documented, evidence much of which is in the public domain. As The Economist wrote that Nigerian policemen are “robbers in uniform”, there was also the reported incident of a comedian, popularly known as Mr. Macaroni (real Name Debo Adebayo) confronting a group of policemen who arrested a Nigerian and asked him to transfer a sum of N30,000 into their accounts. Electronic banking was introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to facilitate financial inclusion, make transactions easy and promote trade and commerce, but unscrupulous uniformed officials exploit it as a tool of extortion and extra-judicial conduct. No man can be tried or punished for an offence that does not exist under the laws of Nigeria. With the Nigerian policemen laying ambush for the average citizen on the streets of the country, it is considered a crime to be seen with certain kinds of phones, or cars, clothing or accessories, even when no law forbids the freedoms of movement, association, or the right to own property. It may be difficult for the average Nigerian to verify other claims by the Wall Street Journal and The Economist about military capability, or the integrity of the Nigerian Army, but based on the evidence of their eyes, they can safely conclude that all is not yet well with regard to security in their country. Today, many are afraid to travel by road or rail to certain parts of the country. A Gubernatorial election is scheduled to hold in Anambra State on November 6. Some of the candidates are campaigning from a distance, far away from the same people whose votes they are asking for. When journalists, local and foreign, pick up these details and convert them into embarrassing narratives, it is counter-productive, beyond the denial, for state agents to morph into a combative mode. The right thing to do after the initial disclaimers and damage-control statements would be to subject the claims that have been made to careful scrutiny and analysis, for necessary leads. Journalists by the nature of their work, provide ready-made intelligence, and can be strong partners in the governance process.

It would not be out of place, however, to assume that the authors of the reports in the Wall Street Journal and The Economist are very lucky that they are not local journalists. If they were Nigerian journalists working in some of our media houses, they probably would have been invited for a chat by the security departments of state. And when that happens, anything can happen to them, or their family, the media houses they work for or their sources. Many journalists in Nigeria walk the tightrope. Foreign journalists do not face a similar baggage. They have strong institutions that support them. They have more room to speak truth to power. They do not have to look over their shoulders or suffer the indignity of being told how to think. This does not however make them perfect or necessarily better. Many of the so-called Western journalists reporting Africa to the world are biased or ignorant or both. They are victims of the dangers of parachute journalism. They travel around, make a few friends, pick up salacious gossip from so-called contacts, pretend to be good observers of a people and a system that they do not know, and then with the strong media institutions backing them, they compose narratives that promote profiles and prototypes. Their editors sitting in Europe and North America, who have no idea where Africa is, are driven by notions of Africa as the worst place where anything is possible, and so where there is small evidence within that framework, they are eager to build it up, play it up. The big problem in this regard is the imbalance in the global information order. Even with the democratisation of news and information on account of the cybernetic revolution and the rise of the digital space, there is great inequity in the flow of information and the relative impact of seemingly competitive media systems. The media in developing countries is grossly advantaged. Public officials in our countries – the more than 92 low to middle income countries of the world do not seem to get this or understand it. Hence, information management from their side tends to be overtly reactive most of the time, rather than being pro-active and constructive.

Information managers in Africa, be they soldiers or other agents, must learn to take charge of their own narratives. The dominant single story often promoted by the West is somehow a reflection of the inequities in every aspect of global relations.

While stating this, I am in no way making excuses for the glaring failure of governance and the crisis of poor leadership in developing and underdeveloped countries. The victimhood of this category speaks for itself on the terms of its own omissions. Nigeria needs not engage in altercations with The Wall Street Journal or The Economist. All we need to do is to fix this country and we will all be fine in the long run. But who will fix Nigeria?

Dele Farotimi Lawyer and Human Rights Activist declared that protests are for reactionaries and it is a waste of time.

Farotimi made this know in as a guest on CityTalks with Reuben Abati on City 105.1.

It's been a year since Nigeria was rocked by the historic #ENDSARS protest, a youth-led anti-police brutality action.

The Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), a now-disbanded police tactical unit infamous for cruelty against criminal suspects, sparked the protest, which developed from social media campaigns into street rallies in October 2020.

The protest became a platform for demanding government action against insecurity, corruption, economic woes, and general maladministration blamed for the suffering of the majority of Nigerians and lack of opportunities for the youth. Although SARS activities and general issues of police brutality, including unlawful arrests, torture, and extrajudicial killings, were at its core, the protest became a platform for demanding government action against insecurity, corruption, economic woes, and general maladministration blamed for the suffering of the majority of Nigerians.

The Lagos based lawyer stated that the Nigerian state is deaf to change.

He further stated that he cannot go out protesting to a deaf entity.

When fielded with questions why there was a stacked division in terms of the response to the #ENDSARS protest in the northern region except the Federal Capital Territory: because the protest was more significant in south, rather than a national affair; Mr Farotimi was of the opinion that the northern region will not come out because most of them don’t understand what is going on and moreso they the issue of banditry, kidnapping to deal with.

In retrospect: according to the human right activist, “nothing has changed, every Nigerian is a victim of Nigerian.

“Each of us has become victimized by the abominable insanities that we have normalized

“Nobody can discount the humanity of the policeman.

“I have friends, family members who are police men and I know the deplorable conditions they live.

“When you demand that the humanity of a man be recognized and the man denies the humanity of the person from whom is demanding recognition, it doesn’t work like that.

“Is not about people not remembering that policemen who died, but we should ask ourselves; in what circumstances?

“Were the policemen killed by peaceful protesters for whom the likes of me will speak for?

“Or by miscreants they brought to disrupt the peaceful protest?”

He said, “I believe we have learnt several lessons, when you speak in relation to the Nigerian State and the rulers of Nigeria, it is either we conclude that they either learnt nothing at all or they are very deliberate in responding to what they did learnt by merely reinforcing the extent of their readiness to cow the citizenry.

“In so far as it relates to learning lessons, the enthusiasm of the Nigerian youth that felt the #Endsars movement has not being dampened, but they have learnt that they are not protesting to a benign moral force to whom appeals would elicit anything other than bullets.

“The events that terminated the protest have sufficiently advertised the nature of the country in which we leave.

“The state has done a fantastic job of reinforcing just exactly how little it has either learnt or how little it is prepared to change

“Because the same brutality that led to the end of the protest was on open display.”

Minister Lai Mohammed, Information Minister and Culture has said that were false and misleading as most of those who made the claims of losing people were yet to show up and give evidence a year after such allegations.

In a rebuttal concerning Mr Mohammed’s comment, Farotimi said; “In the first place there was a live Instagram feed, nobody has argued about that.

“In the second place, before the panel in Lekki the Nigerian Army was busy a probating and reprobating but eventually a fact was established in that place, that bullets were fired; fact established forensically.

“Secondly, there were hospitals who have brought their testimony before the panel, establishing clearly that they received gunshot injuries victims from the tollgate, established beyond reasonable doubt.

“I witness what happened on 20 October, 2020 and I listened to the testimony of DJ Switch.”

He added, “What will make an intelligent person like Raji Fashola, Honourable Federal Minister of works and Housing going to the toll gate to discover a camcorder that was not missing, if it is not a furtherance of a fraud to cover up what they did in that place.

“What else explains that level of iodophilia stupidity.

“Where is that camcorder today?

“Enough lies have been told that day to stitch together a very picture of the truth.”

“Credible intelligence at the disposal of the Command has revealed clandestine plans by some youths, individuals or groups to embark on a protest today in commemoration of one-year anniversary of ENDSARS… In view of the volatility of the situation in the country, and the breakdown of law and order which the planned protest might cause, the Lagos State police Command sternly warns against any form of protest… To forestall breakdown of law and order, the police will use legitimate means within their constitutional powers to suppress the planned protest. Therefore, parents and guardians are advised to warn their children against participating in the planned protest. Individuals or groups sponsoring such protest are also warned in their own interest to desist from such unpatriotic plan or face the full weight or wrath of the law.” – Hakeem Odumosu, Commissioner of Police, Lagos State.  

I read the foregoing quote with which this commentary is prefaced with a considerable amount of amusement and alarm: about how security agencies in Nigeria have lost the capacity to learn or show the civility that their work requires. But before that, the statement, being the Lagos State Police Command’s response to the plan by Civil Society Organisations to commemorate the first-year anniversary of the #ENDSARS protests in Nigeria, is written in perfect Yoruba transliteration, what the late Professor Dapo Adelugba referred to as “Yorubanglish”. The use of English as a second language can be problematic, and indeed as has been argued variously, “The Empire Writes Back” and has been doing so in interesting ways, creating varieties of English or “Englishes”. The short quote above is in a class of its own in that category. It reminds me of that popular local, Yoruba, antiphonal lyric: “Ko lo’mo kilo fo mo re o… oni a le.”

It is amazing how in a modern, democratic dispensation, those in charge of the levers of power consistently throw back to the ancient, monarchical ethos of dominance and authority. It is a reflection of how Nigeria has failed to modernise or educate its institutions and the rather absolute lack of enlightenment on the part of its personnel. Or could it be hypocrisy? Sycophancy? Or plain sight stupidity?  What makes it more shocking is that it is not only the Lagos Police Command that has issued a similar threat with regard to the #ENDSARS Memorial that is scheduled to be held tomorrow. There have been similar threats from the Osun and Oyo State Police Commands, a reflection of the mood of Nigeria’s security establishment. Except that their objection to the right of the people to protest is unlawful, condemnable and indefensible. We aver that there must be no display of stupidity on the part of the Police or any of the security agencies tomorrow as Nigerians choose to commemorate the tragic events of October 8 – 20, 2020, popularly known as the #ENDSARS protests.

The right to protest is a constitutional right within the purview of Section 38 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion); Section 39 (right to freedom of expression and the press); Section 40 (right to peaceful assembly and association); Section 41 (right to freedom of movement) and Section 42 (right to freedom from discrimination), all of which are tied to other fundamental rights in the 1999 Constitution including the right to the dignity of the human person in Section 34. In IGP v. ANPP, the Court of Appeal upheld the right to protest as a right guaranteed under the Constitution of Nigeria “without seeking or obtaining permission from anybody.” Further, Nigeria is signatory to several international conventions which affirm the individual’s right to protest as a major pillar of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the obligation of state parties to respect the right to protest and ensure that there is no violation by third parties.  The big problem that we face is that state actors in Nigeria do not always respect agreements or commitments, except it serves their own narrow, selfish interests.

Under Part II of the Fifth Schedule to the Nigerian Constitution, public officers swear an oath of allegiance to the country and to defend the Constitution. But they don’t. They act as if they are above the law. They disrespect the courts. They choose what aspect of the legal dispensation is convenient for them, often times, those aspects that grant them the lee-way to punish and dehumanise any person or group that they consider, in their own reckoning, an enemy of the state. Due to systemic failure, the institutions and officials who run the engine room of the state are the worst culprits. They play politics when they are supposed to be neutral. They misbehave beyond the margins of error. This then is my problem with the conduct of the Nigeria Police issuing threats that its men would “kill and maim” if anybody goes out tomorrow, October 20, to commemorate the #ENDSARS crisis of October 2020. Should the police even kill anybody, extra-judicially or issue unreasonable threats in the first place? It is the duty of the police to protect every protester and facilitate the people’s right to protest. The Nigerian Police are described as law enforcement officers, and friends of the people. When the same police institution breaks the law and becomes the people’s enemy, an ironic source of agony and frustration, and indeed a notorious chief lawbreaker, it is the very foundation of society itself that is shaken and compromised.

The army of young Nigerians who trooped onto the streets between October 8 and 10, 2020 sought to draw attention to this, even if there were regional differences. In the South, the Generation X and Z who led the protests focussed on the brutality of the Nigerian Police, elite corruption and irresponsibility, power abuse, and extra-judicial killings by state actors. Their counterparts in the North said they had no issue with the conduct of brutal policemen. A few others complained about the bad governance that has made the North a killing field and the hotbed of insecurity. They all asked for Change nonetheless – the common, unifying thread of the protests. It didn’t take long before the typical Nigerian factor overtook the protests. In parts of the North, a pro-establishment group of sponsored thugs eventually joined the protests and attacked civil society activists. In the South, the protests were also hijacked. Police clamped down on the protesters.  In the South, the protests later went out of hand, as #ENDSARS degenerated into organised attacks on the homes of politicians, and the business interests of innocent persons, many of which were either vandalized or razed down and the unveiling and looting of secret places and garages where politicians had hidden COVID-19 palliatives.  In a particularly notorious case in Lagos, a female lawmaker allegedly converted palliatives provided by the Nigerian state into gift items to be distributed during a planned birthday party! Lagos was the epicentre of the protests.

Lekki Toll Gate was the location where many Nigerian youths gathered in their thousands on a daily basis. Matters came to a head on October 20, 2020, when soldiers from the 81 Division of the Nigeria Army, Bonny Camp, Lagos, and a contingent of policemen, invaded the Lekki Toll Gate to disperse the protesters. There have been many versions of what exactly transpired at the Lekki Toll Gate, and a lot of blame games and denials.  Protesters claimed that the military and the police fired live bullets at protesters, and many died or were injured. Nothing has been more surreal.

In response, after the storm, the Federal Government, through the National Economic Council (NEC) directed that special panels of inquiry should be set up across the country, including the Federal Capital Territory, to look into the causes and effects of the protests and make appropriate recommendations especially with regard to compensation for identified and proven victims. While most of the states complied and set up panels of inquiry, the states of Kano, Kebbi, Sokoto, Jigawa, Yobe and Zamfara flatly refused to do so. In total, only 29 states and the FCT constituted the panels and tried to investigate the reported cases of police brutality. Essentially, only the Judicial Panel of Inquiry and Restitution in Lagos State appeared to have made any serious effort. The eight-man panel led by Justice Doris Okuwobi considered about 230 petitions. The Okuwobi panel was given a period of six months to conclude its work, but it was still sitting as of this week, having been granted further extension till October 19, and so far, it has awarded over N400 million as damages to victims of police brutality.

The Lagos panel, and may be a few others, including Enugu and Ekiti, would seem to have shown a measure of commitment to the assignment. Other panels were hampered one way or the other, or they quickly ended their meetings. The panel in Taraba State struggled to conduct investigations but it complained about lack of funding. The panel in Imo state awarded N770.9 million as compensation after considering 145 petitions but there is no evidence that anybody has received any form of compensation. Ekiti state has paid part of the compensation decided upon by the panel of inquiry; but it is yet to pay the outstanding balance due to what they call “paucity of funds.” The panel in Ondo State recommend the payment of N755 million as compensation. As is the case in many other states, it is not clear if anything has been paid. So far, 28 states have so far managed to complete their assignments. Lagos State submitted an interim report, and has now closed shop.  

Whereas the Federal Government has taken the step of asking the states to set up judicial panels of inquiry, it is difficult, a year later to see whether any substantial progress has been made with the original five demands of the protesters viz: (i) immediate release of all arrested protesters; (2) justice for all deceased victims of police brutality and appropriate compensation for their families; (3) Setting up and independent body to oversee the investigation and prosecution of all aspects of police misconduct (within 10 days); (4) In line with the new Police Act, psychological evaluation and retraining (to be confirmed by an independent body) of all disbanded SARS officers before they can be redeployed and (5) Increase police salary so that they are adequately compensated for protecting lives and property of citizens. The key questions to ask are: where are we, a year later? Has anything changed?  I doubt if there is anyone out there who can answer these two questions with his or her full chest. The government of the day promised to address all the five demands. Has it done so? The Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) was disbanded and renamed SWAT, its officials were asked to report to Abuja for psychiatric evaluation, and redeployment. There is no evidence of success in that regard.

The main issue was the brutality of the police - their sadism and wickedness to the tax payers who maintain them. After the #ENDSARS protests, the wickedness of the police to the people simply went a notch higher. They have not stopped killing people indiscriminately nor have they stopped extorting the people. Even the language of oppression that they speak has not changed. It is as if Nigerian policemen are on a revenge mission against the people they are expected to protect. The #ENDSARS protesters asked for increase in police salary. Some noise has been made about the need to improve the welfare of policemen, and indeed this is important. Nigerian policemen are as much victims of the system as the same people who protest against them. #ENDSARS was symbolically about a lot that is wrong in our society, including the dehumanization of policemen. Many of them lost their lives. Police stations were burnt down. There are hundreds of police children and wives out there whose breadwinners died in the course of the #ENDSARS protests. Not all policemen are corrupt and unkind, indeed many actually empathised with the protesters in October 2020, an indication of the complex nature of that event. In matters such as this, however, the lines are never so clear cut. There are good and bad cops just as there are good and bad citizens. In October 2020, we saw all of that on display.

Without making excuses for anyone, the #ENDSARS looks more like the boiling over of the Nigerian crisis. The villain is the Nigerian state itself and its bad managers, who do not care enough about issues of justice, equity and accountability. While openly, the government claimed that it was working on trying to establish the truth and compensate victims, the same government and its officials constantly lied about the details of what transpired: who ordered the troops to Lekki Toll Gate? Did the soldiers use live bullets? Did anybody die? How about the persons who were reportedly taken to hospitals or persons who jumped into the Lagoon? Who invited the military into what was a civil incident? We may never ever know the truth about these matters, and that is the way Nigeria is. And it is why Nigeria has trust and accountability issues and the gap between the people and those they have elected to lead them continues to widen.  

One year after, it is appropriate to remember the history, heroism and drama of October 2020. The heroes are the young people of Nigeria, the civil society groups and celebrities, who stood up for the truth, those who dared to say No to injustice and brutality and the cruelty of the Nigerian Police. The villains are those agents of the state who fought and brutalised the protesters, the rent-a-crowd charlatans who sought to change the narrative and the state itself that supported a police force that behaves badly. The heroes are the members of the Feminist Coalition and the local and international agents who sustained the protest with cash, food, drinks and entertainment to keep the tempo alive. The villains are the charlatans who, even while government made conciliatory noises, demonstrated by their conduct, the gross hypocrisy of the state, by arresting #ENDSARS protesters and their bank accounts. Many #ENDSARS activists fled abroad and have not returned. Those who stayed behind have been told that they cannot even have a memorial symposium or any event otherwise they will face the full wrath of the law. And of course, there is that other crowd of junior Judases who betrayed their colleagues by colluding with the state.      

The Police should not re-open old wounds by intimidating, harassing and molesting anyone who chooses to remember, commemorate or talk about October 20, 2020. It is the duty of the police to ensure that protests are conducted peacefully and in an orderly fashion. Nigeria’s Inspector-General of Police should call his men to order. Happy #ENDSARS anniversary.

City FM is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

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Topic: Chairmanship of the PDP

Date: 16 October 2021

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Kayode Ajulo, lawyer, politician and Civil rights activist is of the opinion that some states need that "declaration of emergency rule."

Ajulo made this know on Saturday as guest on CityTalks with Reuben Abati.

The Proposed state of emergency rule by the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami have being criticized by the Governor of Anambra State, Willie Obiano and the Ohaneze Ndigbo.

Their arguments were referenced to the killings in Borno, Yobe, Plateau, Benue, Katsina, Niger and even in Kaduna State and yet elections were held in all those states and nobody contemplated a state of emergency in those states.

According to Ajulo’s views, “I’m sure that the legality of it is not the issue, What I think that everybody is concerned is the policalization of the issue of the state of emergency.

“The truth must be told, whether we like it or not, Nigeria is at war particularly some part of the nation is at war and declaring a state of emergency is very parity.”

The civil activist added, “I sympathize with them and I appreciate their sentiments particularly in the sense that Anambra state is not the only state in the federation where we are having insecurity challenges, the question today is that why should it be Anambra?”

City FM is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Time: 11:45am

Guest: Kayode Ajulo Esq

Topic: Proposed state of Emergency in Anambra

Date: 9th October 2021

Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/92877141732?pwd=VEJWb29OL2VVekZUTHRpdWYxK0xxZz09

Meeting ID: 928 7714 1732
Passcode: 600206

Pasto Ituah Ighodalo, Senoir Pastor of the Trinity House Church, is of the opinion that what Nigerian’s need is a good and competent President.

The clergyman as guest on City Talks with Reuben Abati is that talking about rotational Presidency, we are talking about dividing the pie and not making a bigger pie.

Zoning and rotational presidency has been on the front burner ahead of the 2023 election.

Some have argued that the presidency should be rotated between the North and the South

And some other people have questioned the legality of zoning.

According to their substantive argument, the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has no room for zoning or “rotational presidency”. What it provides for in Section 14 (3) is the necessity to reflect Nigeria’s federal character in the composition of the government and its agencies. The aim of the federal character clause, as underscored in Section 14 (2) (c), is to ensure the participation of the people in their government.

Pastor Ighodalo stated that it doesn’t matter to him, where the gentleman or lady comes from, as long as they are competent; they are welcome.

He mentioned that “It is an unfortunate reality where some sections of Nigerians for whatever fear or anxiety or whatever the British may have instilled into their minds, feel that except they are in certain key positions they will not be reassured that they have a stake in Nigeria or they feel they may be marginalized.

“Nobody should feel that way and if any President no matter where he is coming from, marginalizes any part of Nigeria or any person in Nigeria, then that person is not fit for purpose. We should be looking for person that is fit for purpose.”

He blamed the root cause of agitation on competence.

According to him, “Nigerians are feeling a little bit agitated that the Fulani wants to dominate almost everything.

“But the truth of it is that, if the northerners or Fulani have shown competence, and a lot of equity in the distribution of things, and not seem to have shown themselves as wanting to favour a group over the other, nobody will be complaining.

“If most of the appointments they have made had been based on competence and not necessarily parochialism or showing preferences here and there nobody will complain, but it is clear that most of the appointments that have come through; have not really being based on competence.”

“Happy Independence Day, my brother. I hope you had a great Independence Day?”

“No. I didn’t. This country don tire me.”

“Tire you how? How can you get tired of your country when the other day, you and I still went to Ngozi’s place to enjoy nkwobi and isi ewu with better orisirisi?  Where else in the world can anyone enjoy the kind of special things we enjoy in this country without cutting an arm and a leg?”

“You tend to take everything as a joke. I can’t blame you. I guess someone already said that the great thing about Nigerians is our ability to laugh when we should cry and dance when we should be still and sober. We make light of every tragic situation. We wake up the following morning and pretend as if all is well. If it rained overnight, we manage to forget and forge ahead.”

“Ït is called resilience, my brother. We are a resilient people. We are like the Beetle. No matter how bad the road is, there is no killing the Beetle. We keep going. I am not going to allow some stupid leaders mess me up. They can do all the things they want, I am not going to give up. If they like they can turn the Naira note, the national currency into a meaningless piece of paper, I am going to keep going. Soldiers come, soldiers go. Let me tell you something bro. This too shall pass and Nigeria shall be great again.”  

“Your problem is food and drinks. And I understand. There are people like you. Once you can eat and drink, you are fine. But there are some of us who want more from life, and we don’t think Nigeria is working. We think at 61, this country is thoroughly messed up and if I have my way, I will argue that the celebration of October I should be suspended till further notice in this country,”

“Omo, chill. What are you suspending? You can’t suspend history. Nigeria gained its independence from Britain on October 1, 1960. You can’t deny that. Don’t go about suspending things you can’t suspend. Jaiye ori e, bobo”

“But your President suspended Twitter? And even in his 61^st Independence Day anniversary, he couldn’t lift the ban on Twitter. He said he had given directives that Twitter should be allowed back into the country based on conditions.”

“Leave Twitter I beg. Jack Dorsey is doing his own business. What has Twitter got to do with Nigeria’s independence anniversary? 61 years of Nigeria. Before Twitter, Nigeria was, after Twitter, Nigeria will still exist. I don’t even know why the President of Nigeria will choose to talk about Twitter on Nigeria’s Independence Day. That speech just went on and on. Good flow but too many unnecessary things inside. I was surprised President Muhammadu Buhari didn’t talk about Evergrande and its troubles and the fuel crisis in the UK.”

“Looks like the weed you smoked is beginning to clear from your head.”

“Which weed? Na drink I dey drink, I no dey smoke. You know say my Mama don die. If I go smoke now, the thing turn my head, who go take care of me? But what I am saying is that Nigeria is not a place you wake up in the morning and you begin to worry yourself? This life itself is not worth worrying about. Just live, and be yourself. Be happy. Don’t expect too much from anybody. This world is full of evil. Government. Government. Government. Who government don help? Can you believe there is power outage in Northern China? If they told you a day will come when white people in England will struggle with fuel scarcity, and beat each other up at fuel stations, struggling to get fuel, and that the streets of London will be filled with fuel queues, would you have ever agreed? But it happened bro. If not for COVID-19 and all these red list, green list things, I was tempted to go to London to make quick business. You buy, hoard, you sell. And make good money. I was looking at those people in London, fighting at fuel stations and for once, I felt good. If that happened in Nigeria, we would have been calling for a revolution, and the end of government. Every country has its own crisis. Let the Heavens fall, life will continue.”

“You are comparing apples and oranges. China does not have an electricity problem. Britain does not have a fuel scarcity problem. They have supply chain issues, and the fuel queues you are jubilating about are beginning to disappear. Britain and China have the capacity to fix their problems. Who will fix Nigeria? Can anybody fix Nigeria? Has anybody been able to fix Nigeria?”

“You like to praise white people. Anything a white man does; you will rationalize it. But you won’t rationalize anything for your own country. Which China? China where government is breathing down everybody’s neck, regulating everything including what time children should go to bed and what games they should play? With all our problems here, I don’t think any Nigerian leader would ever be mad enough to dictate what kind of food I should eat. You are praising the UK? Please who are you praising? Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister who does not know his right from his left? Supply chain problems? Are you saying I did not see those fuel queues? And the punch ups at the fuel stations, sorry, they call it forecourts? I have been telling you, don’t worry yourself. Nigeria is fine. Nigeria is great. If you are not happy, watch a Nollywood film. Listen to good music. Nigeria is the biggest entertainment centre in Africa. The home of pure genius in culture and the arts. The land of diamonds and resources.”

“I see you love escapism. You eat and drink. Watch movies. And you think all is well. That is actually the problem with most Nigerians today. They are so used to suffering, they don’t care anymore. A nation of depressed people.”

“Who is depressed in this country? Me or Davido and Whizkid who are selling out Arenas all over the world with their talent? Or Oluwaburna who is winning big international awards for his genius? Or Chimamanda Adichie who is lecturing European leaders about how to do the right thing in a world in need of justice and humanity?  Your problem is that you worry too much about government.”

“Governments dictate how we live”

“And I say leave government alone and focus on yourself to avoid high blood pressure!”

“How? With all the bad roads, and poor infrastructure? And insecurity? When many Nigerians wake up in the morning, they are afraid to leave their homes because they are not sure whether they will make it back home in the evening or end up in the mortuary or a kidnapper’s den?”

“You must have been reading too many newspapers, and those things they write. This is a country of 210 million people. What do you mean people are afraid to leave their homes? Have you not seen the rush at bus stops every morning? And the queues at garages across the country, people moving up and down?”

“Nigeria should not be at that level 61 years after independence. In 1960, it was widely believed that the Nigeria of the future would do better than Japan and Malaysia within a decade. We messed it all up. A 61-year old person in the UK, Japan, and Malaysia is better off than a 61-year old in Nigeria today.”

“Na lie. I know Nigerians who are 61 years old who are on the Forbes list of the wealthiest people in the world.”

“And their names are probably listed on the Panama and Pandora papers, and America’s Wanted List. You will never find my name there.”

“Because you spend your entire life criticizing others. You don’t ever see anything good in anything or anybody. You must change your mind-set. You praise other people. You condemn your own. A 61-year old man or woman in Nigeria is better off than a 61-year old in Malawi or Zimbabwe and Guinea Conakry. How about that?”

“But they don’t kidnap people or kill them like flies in those other countries. What is the worth of a Nigerian life, 61 years after independence? All good things Nigeria destroys them all. The other day, they killed Dr. Chike Akunyili, Dora Akunyili’s husband in broad daylight in Anambra State”

“Yes. Sad. Sad.”

“For days, I kept remembering how the innocent man writhed on the floor, and nobody tried to help him. Instead, by-standers brought out their phones and recorded videos of his agony as life ebbed out of him. Something terrible has happened to this country, both the government and the people. If I had my way, I would ban the use of any phone with a video recording device in this country. Those phones are robbing Nigerians of their humanity and the old values we cherished.”

“Be careful. A few minutes ago, you were condemning the ban on Twitter. Government will hear you now, they will think it is a good thing to ban everything else including Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp.”

“No society should be this cruel. In one day, in Anambra, the offices of the Department of State Services (DSS) was burned down, same with the office of the Federal Road Safety Commission and the country home of Joe Igbokwe in Nnewi and all you hear is that unknown gunmen did it. Unknown gunmen. Unknown soldiers. Unknown terrorists. Nigeria is a country of unknown citizens. Even the government is unknown. What tragedy can be bigger than that? Please tell me.”

“Ah well, Nigeria will survive. I have faith. According to my Pastor, he was telling us this Sunday…”

“Please can we leave your Pastor out of this? I am not interested in what your Pastor has to say… Religious leaders have done too much damage… They are part of the problem…”

“I just know that Nigeria will survive… My Pastor knows a lot...”

“What do you yourself know? What does your Pastor know about the unending insecurity in the country, the hundreds of children who have been victims of kidnapping in the North and have been scarred for life. What do you yourself know about the failure of the state in major parts of the country? The entire North is a killing zone. The Middle Belt is unsafe. Now the South is also in turmoil. Do you know that things have gone so bad in Anambra State, people are even afraid to go out, every Monday? That state is scheduled to hold a Gubernatorial election on November 6. A month to the election, many of the candidates have suspended their campaigns and fled the state. In fact, it is now being suggested that the Anambra election should be held in Abuja.”

“You like to exaggerate things. How do you hold a Gubernatorial election in Abuja, hundreds of miles away? Will the women and voters of Anambra travel to Abuja to make a choice about their own future?”

“Nigeria’s Theatre of the Absurd. As some of you celebrated Nigeria at 61, some of us spent our time reflecting on these things. In Niger State, a Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Transport was abducted along with his granddaughter at an event in Zungeru. In the same state, in Kachive Village, 20 persons were killed, houses were razed down by bandits. In Sokoto state, terrorists kidnapped 20 persons and then freed one of their victims to deliver a letter to the traditional ruler of the affected community, to demand a ransom of N20 million. In Nigeria, human beings have become commodities traded on the Kidnappers Stock Exchange (KSE), which is fast becoming far more profitable than the Nigerian Stock Exchange. That is how bad our situation is.”  

“Na wah oh.”

“One of these days, we would all be here and we would all hear that a State Governor has been abducted or maybe his wife.”

“Na lie. That can’t happen. A whole Governor?”

“Are you not aware that many Governors no longer spend the night in their states. That is why they all have private jets. They show up in the state to attend events, and as soon it is over, they go to the nearest airport and fly to Abuja to spend the rest of the week. And yet these persons are called Chief Security Officers of their states.”

“Make you no blame them my brother. Who wan die? Everything for this life na destiny. Na where you find yourself, you go manage.”

“Even the economy is in tatters. Our debt service to revenue ratio is frightening. 97.7%. And that is why I don’t understand why there is so much scramble over who should become President of Nigeria in 2023. North vs South.  The next Nigerian President will inherit chaos. A broken country, if not physically, but certainly spiritually.”

“Don’t worry yourself, Nigeria won’t break. Did you not hear the President when he said that the Nigeria the British gave to us is indivisible and non-negotiable?”

“I sort of liked the speech. I thought it was a significant improvement on the terrible prose they used to write as Presidential speeches. But a second reading revealed the false claims in that speech. Fine prose yes, but don’t use fine turns of phrase to deceive the people. In this business, that is a form of corruption. In normal life, they call it “toasting”. Those fine things you say to seduce a woman.”

“Omo oor. The thing choke!”

“You heard woman now, see how you are excited like a child. Are you okay? The thing to note is that Nigerians today are beyond seduction. That is why we have all these problems around the country. I just hope that in the next round of elections, Nigerians will shine their eyes, and vote wisely.”

“Shine ya eye! Big Brother Naija. You too watch am? Odogwu, my man, Mazi White Money. The money white e be like snow.”

“I am not talking about Big Brother Naija. The obsession with a group of young men and women living in a cage defined by dissoluteness is a reflection of the state of the nation.”

“Nigeria sef na Big Brother Naija. Discuss. Mazi, White Money, na you biko.”

“I won’t discuss that with you.”

“Leave this Nigerian matter I beg. Na who go remain go remain, make we go drink, clear head. Buhari sef fit dey the other room, we dey here dey drag plenty matter.”