“We must complain. Yes plain, blunt complaints, (peaceful) ceaseless agitation, unfailing exposure of dishonesty and wrong—this is the ancient, unerring way to liberty and we must follow it.”

— W.E.B. Du Bois

“War is what happens when language fails.”

— Margaret Atwood

“Nothing in the world is harder than speaking the truth and nothing easier than flattery.”

— Fyodor Dostoevsky

From the outset, let me be clear: I abhor violence and reject war in all its forms. Yet, I staunchly believe in protest and dissent as cornerstones of a democratic society. I have lived this truth, endured detentions and deprivations for it, and will continue to advocate for freedom and a free spirit until my last breath.

Since turning 18, I have participated in countless protests, always peacefully, never resorting to violence. I have marched alongside notable Nigerians such as the indefatigable lawyer Chief Gani Fawehinmi and the eloquent and urbane advocate for democracy and good governance, Mr. Alao Bashorun. Elders like Chief Anthony Enahoro, Wole Soyinka, Baba Omojola, and Dr. Frederick Faseun have shared the streets of Lagos with my generation, standing firm against injustice, often facing tear gas and state violence.

At that time, the current president and some of his closest associates have been vocal in encouraging us to protest against hardship, injustice, and poor governance. As allies, we have mobilized young men and women to decry rigged elections and the perceived theft of national resources.

The Yoruba people, to whom I proudly belong, have historically led the charge against colonialism, local oppression, military brutality, and corruption. In times past, if other ethnic groups hesitated to speak out, the Yoruba would courageously stand up, voice their dissent, and face the consequences. This legacy, inherited from the leaders of the first republic—who boldly opposed colonial masters and their local collaborators—must not be forgotten. It is why figures like Chief Obafemi Awolowo and Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti were seen as threats by colonial authorities and faced various indignities. It is why Wole Soyinka, Tai Solarin, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, Femi Falana, and others were imprisoned and why leaders like Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Gen Alani Akinrinade, and Dr. Amos Akingba went into exile to continue their agitation against the Sani Abacha regime.

What has changed? Yes, we now have a civilian government. But does this mean that the issues we protested against have vanished, and we now live in an ideal society? Absolutely not. Even under this so-called democracy, our leaders, now in power, have sometimes called for protests against policies during the presidencies of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and Dr. Goodluck Jonathan. Some have even sheltered Niger Delta agitators after they protested by attacking oil pipelines.

Now, I pose this question to my Yoruba brothers, many of whom shared the struggle with me: What has changed? Is it because we now have a Yoruba president that dissent must cease, and those who oppose the current order must be labeled as dangerous troublemakers and foreign invaders?

We often profess to be Christians and Muslims. Yet, some are now resorting to traditional rites and mystical practices such as Oro and Agemo to prevent peaceful gatherings in places like Yaba and Tinubu Square. We are deploying hate against fellow Nigerians while those we serve hoard wealth in banks owned by the Igbos we so hate and award lucrative contracts to those we are told to despise. All because they do not want their fellow Yorubas to know their secret heists.

There have always been those who misuse protests for their gain, and there always will be. This is why we have law enforcement, who should be trained and equipped to manage such situations, ensuring public safety and protecting property.

Using money and fear to suppress dissent, especially when it is "our turn" to wield power, will be counterproductive. We are fostering hate and alienating other ethnic groups, demonizing people who have been our neighbors, classmates, and fellow citizens. We must remember that power is fleeting; today, it is our turn, but tomorrow, it will be someone else's.

The maximum tenure for any leader is eight years unless we are now advocating for life presidencies. When it is someone else's turn, and they retaliate against "our children" who were in power, will we still be able to protest?

Life is a continuum, and future leaders may come from unexpected places. Who could have imagined Donald Trump leading America? Yet, today, he embodies rhetoric reminiscent of darker times in history. Many of my friends in America are troubled by the prospect of his return to power.

If a leader akin to Sani Abacha were to rise in Nigeria, would we, the Yoruba, still have the courage to speak out against injustice, corruption, and nepotism?

I know that after this is published, there will be backlash, as there has been in the past. But these attacks will not deter me like water off a duck's back. Some of us must have the courage to speak out, not just for today but for tomorrow. We must not pass down a legacy of complacency, ethnic baiting, or blind loyalty to future generations. This is not the heritage Awolowo and his contemporaries left to us, nor what Wole Soyinka exhorts in his writings and activism. It is not the lesson taught by Tai Solarin, Gani Fawehinmi, or the many others who inspired our generation of activists.

Leaders are not always wrong, just as agitators are not always right. However, the right to voice one's opinions must be preserved in any democracy, especially one that seeks progress. As Soyinka so powerfully reminded us, "The man dies in all who keep silent in the face of tyranny."

Babafemi Ojudu (CON), distinguished senator, veteran journalist, ex- presidential adviser and one of the last standing disciples of Chief Obafemi Awolowo breaks his silence and speaks to Nigerians

After three days of nationwide protests over bad governance in the country, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has scheduled to address the nation on Sunday.

Chief Ajuri Ngelale, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, announced this in a statement, on Saturday. The spokesman said the broadcast would hold at 7am.

The Protesters had requested that the President address the nation on the many demands they have laid out. 

There is so far no insight into what the broadcast will contain and it is doubtful that Tinubu chose to address the nation because the protesters said so. However it provides him the opportunity to address certain troubling issues areas in his government and it’s activities. 

One of the areas that has received condemnation Is the oil sector which is the mainstay of Nigeria’s economy. Incidentally the President superintends over the sector since he doubles as the Minister of Petroleum. 

The poor handling of the newly completed Dangote Refinery by government officials has opened a can of worms and exposed the administration to criticism. 

While he is not likely to return the subsidy regime which he abolished on his inauguration on May 29, 2023, he may use the address to make a far-reaching pronouncement on the nation’s energy policy. 

So far his promise to return the nation’s refineries to operation has not been kept.

The unwieldy size of his administration is another area that has engendered disquiet. Many people expect that he may address the need to tinker with the size of his government and cut down on personnel costs.

Tinubu nominated the highest number of Ministers in the history of Nigeria at a time the nation’s economy is at its worst.

The third area is his ineffective fiscal policy that has engendered hyperinflation and made the prices of goods, especially food, to skyrocket. With an unprecedented inflation ratio of 34.19 in June, driven by more than 40 percent food inflation, the country is reeling as people find it difficult to feed themselves.

The poverty level in May 2023, when this government came on board and before the dramatic price surge, was 38.9 percent, with an estimated 87 million Nigerians living below the poverty line. Only India presents a worse record.

The reason for the significant price jump is the macroeconomic policies of the Tinubu administration, especially the removal of petroleum and electricity subsidies and the implementation of other neo-liberal economic policies, such as the floating of the naira. 

These have led to higher costs for power and fast depreciation of the naira, both of which have aggravated the country’s economic challenges and caused widespread social discontent. 

The options open to the government, fiscally, are limited. It could either continue with the ongoing reforms and policies or go back to the pre-Tinubu years when the government was paying unwieldy petroleum subsidies and operated the dual forex exchange system..

Although the Tinubu administration has not come clean over petrol subsidies, which it pays through the backdoor, the option of reversing the policy on petroleum subsidy is not feasible, practical, or sustainable. 

The petroleum subsidies bill under President Buhari ballooned such that between June 2022 and his last day in office in May 2023, to over N3 trillion for subsidies, most of which were likely stolen through government corruption.

It appears the most important driver of inflation is the depreciation and instability of the naira, even more so than the high cost of petrol and electricity. It is one area that needs to be revisited. 

The government has tried to cushion the effects of its harsh economic policies with certain safety nets, all of which have so far proved defective. While Institutional corruption has claimed his Minister of Poverty Alleviation, Mrs. Betta Edu, he has not introduced any other effectively policy of cushioning the effects of his policies on the people.

Finally, he has rum one of the most expensive administrations, approving humongous amounts for projects that most Nigerians regard as not crucial or people focused.

Among them is the completion of the Vice President’s residence with a whopping N21 billion, the renovation of his Dodan Barracks Lagos guest house with N5billion and the purchase of new Presidential jets. 

There are so many areas that need attention. However, it is expected that he may take a cue from recent public disapproval of some policies to make amends.

Fellow Nigerians,

I address you today not because you people have been calling on me to speak to the citizens of Nigeria. I am not doing this because some of you have been making noise on the streets of Abuja, Lagos, and Kano. Such behaviors do not move me. I am the Jagaban. Nobody pushes me around. Iro! If you don’t know who I am, go and ask them in Lagos. I can rule Nigeria for eight years without holding a single press conference or speaking to Nigerians in a live broadcast. Heaven will not fall.

I make this exception today because I sent my Vice President out to calm you all down, only for him to call the people protesting idiots. Let me make something very clear. I agree with my Vice President that all of you protesting on the streets of Nigeria are idiots with nine fingers. The only respect I will give to you is that I won’t stand in front of you and count your nine fingers. Of course, it is not out of fear but simply because you are beneath me. I am the Jagaban. If you don’t know who I am, go and ask them in Lagos.

Out of the goodness of my heart, I took a break from enjoying Amala and Ewedu as my brilliant brother, Senator Akpabio, is doing to come and speak to you. Let nobody complain if I say anything you do not like. The last time I spoke live to the nation, I said, “Oil subsidy is gone.” Fourteen months later, we are still dealing with the consequences of that sentence. Still, you all are crying for me to speak. Alright, here is the speech as written for me by Bayo Onanuga. I did not add or remove anything from this speech. I am a doer and not a talker. I am the Jagaban. If you don’t know who I am, go and ask them in Lagos.

Just as my Vice President said, you all protesting out there, wasting your sweat and lives, are idiots. If you were not idiots, you should praise us for raising the minimum wage from 30,000 Naira to 70,000 Naira. That is over 100% increase. I am an American-trained accountant. I know my arithmetic. Where in the world have you seen such an astronomical increase before? Stop converting it to dollars to see the difference in value between May 29, 2023, and today. You no dey chop dollars for Nigeria. What is important is that it takes care of the increase in the price of 50kg of rice from 40k in 2023 to 100k today. It leaves 10k for your family to go to the movies and have a good time. I deserve a thank you. Instead, what I am getting is this lousy protest. Don’t get me angry, people. I am the Jagaban. If you don’t know who I am, go and ask them in Lagos.

What have I not done for you people? I found N30 billion in these hard times to establish a student loan scheme for about 2 million students in Nigerian universities. I had to get some of the money by cutting off some essentials needed for the office of the First Lady and in the home of my Vice President Kashim Shettima. Because of you, we only spent N25 billion on his house, using an inferior Italian jacuzzi instead of the originals. Is that fair? And some of you wondered why we didn’t let journalists into the VP’s house, the people’s house, during the opening ceremony. He ended up with a VP townhouse with a town hall different from Abu Dhabi – Kuala Lumpur.

For those of you gossiping that I do not deserve a new plane, I have news for you. I bought it already. All talks in the National Assembly are just to fulfill all righteousness. And there is nothing that any of you can do about it. I didn’t check the price before I bought it. I am not used to such a poverty-induced lifestyle. I cannot come and die because you people begged me to rule you and save you from the government of illiterates and poorly educated fools. That I am letting the poor breathe does not mean I should let them go mad in the marketplace. Am I making myself clear?

It will take ten years after my eight-year tenure before the benefits of my incredible vision for Nigeria become clear. If you doubt me, go to Lagos and ask them. There has been no governor in Lagos since I left who had any need to think to succeed. They just follow my template and become successful. Those who tried to step out of line got the Ambode treatment. So, the benefit of what I am doing today in Nigeria will become apparent when David Umahi becomes Nigeria’s president after eight years of Shetimma. I am the Jagaban, and I can tell you for free, “You can’t eat a good banana without its peels.”

Why am I even wasting my time talking to you all as if I give a hoot about people who are an ungrateful bunch? I gave you local government autonomy. It is the greatest gift since fried akara. Do you know that you can now hold your local government chairman responsible for Fulani herdsmen who destroyed your farms and for your husband who cannot perform in the oza room? No more pointing accusing fingers at me, the Jagaban. My job as president is back to what the framers of our fantastic 1999 constitution designed it to be – attending conferences abroad and helping negotiate new loans for Nigeria until we meet the debt-to-loan ratio that is respectable for a country of 200 million people. Again, I am the Jagaban, and I can tell you for free, “I study them and strategically execute them; my detractors discuss my success and failure because they have nothing to execute.”

I cannot end this speech without expressing my heartfelt condolences to those who lost their lives during the unnecessary protest. They are now fathers “of a mother of a child when the child is childless.” I hope they will learn to stay home when they reincarnate, just like the Igbo people did. I love my Igbo people. If you think I bribed the Igbo people by signing the South East Development Commission into law, you just wait and see what next I will do for them. I am about to release their illustrious son, Nnamdi Kanu, to reward them for being good boys and girls while the rest of you dance naked on the streets. As someone who once said, I did not believe in one Nigeria, I can tell you that “creation is always more difficult than destruction; greed is easier than greatness.” I am the Jagaban. If you do not know me, go and ask them in Lagos.

Before I go, let me tell you, ignoramus, what bad governance means. Bad governance means going after Yahaya Bello for N80 billion allegations against him when I know he will work hard for my reelection, which is just about two years away. I heard some of you complain that corrupt people are ministers in my government. Again, that shows how politically naive you all are. You sometimes need a seasoned thief to do the job of catching a thief. For those who say that my economic team is second-rated Lagos boys who lack international gravitas, I say, shurrup. Why is it difficult for blockheads to understand how the world works? I am the Jagaban, and I can tell you for free, “If you want me to do something for you, line up in an orderly manner. Then I can share my peanuts.” Didn’t you see Dangote as he lined up in an orderly manner? He got what he wanted – crude oil in Naira. Reno Omokri, Daniel Bwala, Femi Fani Kayode are all lining up orderly. They will soon get their peanuts.

Alright! This speech is already too long. You all can now go to sleep. Cuddle your mothers if you are scared or hide under her bed. If you are hungry, follow my wife’s example and take a hoe to a farm and till the ground. You can make your own eba or garri or beans or dodo. I don’t want to hear again that you are hungry. I went to Chicago, where I planted. That is why I am eating now. “You cannot reap when you did not sow. You can’t eat corn when it’s maize you planted.” Sogbo? But if you want to remain a church rat, be ready to eat poisoned Holy Communion, for that is all that your senseless protest is. You have to sweat if you must lay a golden egg. Again, I am the Jagaban, and I can tell you for free, “We inherited speaking in tongues from the Bible, but our diversity is a promise for prosperity.”

May God bless all those who understand how hard I work daily to transform Nigeria into the miracle I performed in Lagos, which I singlehandedly turned into the 5th largest economy in Africa. May God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria!

Senator Governor Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR

President

Federal Republic of Nigeria.

…Governor appeals for calm in statewide broadcast

Ekiti State Governor, Mr. Biodun Oyebanji, has vowed to ensure protection of lives and property of citizens of the state in the wake of the planned nationwide protests over current economic situation in the country.

Governor Oyebanji said Nigeria and its people cannot afford “another massive destruction of our economic base” as witnessed during the #EndSARS protest that led to the destruction of many private and government infrastructures.

Addressing the people of Ekiti State in a statewide broadcast on Wednesday morning, the Governor expressed concern that the planned protest has the potential to degenerate into violence and reverse his administration’s steady progress to shared prosperity.

Governor Oyebanji, in the address which was broadcast across all radio and television stations in the state, clarified that while his administration is not averse to free expression of opinions and displeasures over socioeconomic issues, it strongly believes that it should be after due consideration of the overall security implication of such a protest.

Acknowledging the constitutional rights to freedom of expression and the right to air views freely, Governor Oyebanji argued that “a protest should be conducted under a peaceful atmosphere without recourse to any violent disturbances to other citizen who also enjoy inalienable right to unhindered movement and life.”

The Governor pointed out that he has the primary duty to ensure the security and wellbeing of the people at all times as the Chief Security Officer of the state noting that security agencies will be on high alert and will not allow anybody to destroy Ekiti’s good image as a peaceful and progressive State.

He appealed to the residents of the state not to fall into the agenda of individuals “who might just be interested in wreaking havoc while pretending to be fighting for the interest of the ordinary people.”

While contending that protest, violence and destruction of lives and property can be counterproductive, the Governor said “a lot of fifth columnists are trying desperately to weaponize the current economic crisis for their own destructive agenda.”

Recalling the havoc wreaked in Ekiti during the #EndSARS protest of 2020, Governor Oyebanji disclosed that some public buildings, infrastructures and assets are still in ruins nearly four years after they were savagely vandalized by protesters with government struggling to repair or replace them.

According to him, “nothing much will change by blocking roads and prevent distribution of goods and services, instead, it will aggravate poverty and sorrow and will also worsen the situation as it did in 2020 when we had to slip into deeper economic recession as a result of the combined effect of COVID 19 pandemic and the #EndSARS wanton destruction of economic infrastructure across the country.”

“Multimillion naira businesses were completely ruined and the owners destroyed forever. Till today, the Ekiti State Emergency Management Agency’s store room and other government institutions remain in ruins because of the arson and looting that were visited on the State by retrogressive elements masquerading as protesters.

“Many of our silos which serve as national strategic reservoirs for food and seedlings were burnt, looted and vandalized. Government is still struggling with replacing or repairing these infrastructures, even in the face of scarce resources,” the Governor said.

The Governor appealed to parents, guardians, traditional rulers and religious leaders to appeal to the youths not to submit themselves to those he referred to as “evil merchants who want to use them to cause violence in our state as protests can easily be hijacked by hoodlums.”

He stressed “that no matter how peaceful a protest might seem at the beginning, no one can predict its eventual dynamics and its ending.”

The Governor also used the opportunity of the broadcast to assure the people o the state that efforts are on to ameliorate the current challenges relating to food price inflation and high cost of transportation while also ensuring that the provision of welfare packages to workers, retirees and other citizens.

He added: “It is for this reason that we have undertaken different palliative measures across the State to many of the eligible people based on different criteria for each batch.

“Indeed, we are not in anyway deluded that food handouts will be the magic bullet to end the food related inflation, more and abundant production of foodstuff is the golden bullet to fight food poverty and government has put in place various measures to ramp up food production in the State through the Ministry Agriculture and Food Security and the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

“It is in the realization of this, that we are investing in an unprecedented level, in agriculture. We are supporting our farmers to increase their capacity in production through clearing and ploughing of land in thousands of hectares.

“The second phase of the land clearing is about being concluded. We are not only clearing and ploughing for our farmers, we are also providing them free and subsidized seedlings, fertilizers and other farm implements.”

President Bola Tinubu is monitoring the #EndBadGovernance protests across the country, Atiku Bagudu, Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, has said.

For the third day running, Nigerians have been out on the streets, demanding reversal of fuel subsidy removal and other policies they tagged anti-masses.

The protest have degenerated into violence in some states, with more than 40 persons killed, according to the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).

Human rights activists, public commentators, politicians and other stakeholders have asked Tinubu to address the nation.

In a statement on Saturday, opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) said Tinubu’s silence was worrisome.

“It is worrisome that President Tinubu could remain silent as Nigerians are on the streets demanding for good governance, protection, security and welfare, which are the primary purpose of government, Debo Ologunagba, spokesman of the PDP said in a statement, on Saturday.

However, when he featured on a Channels Television programme, Bagudu, said the president is well aware of the situation and keeping tabs.

“Mr President has been monitoring the situation, as he ought to. Very responsibly, and alert. I am a minister. I also have responsibilities. I have also been monitoring this thing. I have been noting this thing so that I can make inputs.”

“We have been monitoring and listening carefully to hear what is being said and what noting them.”

[DailyTrust]

Police operatives have fired teargas at protesters at the Moshood Abiola National Stadium.

Moments earlier, the protesters had engaged in a congress, allowing protesters of different ethnicities and tribe to air grievances and make demands on the government.

However, policemen fired teargas at the protesters, who on sighting them, sat on the floor, singing solidarity songs

Details shortly…..

[Nation]

Alex Beard, the former chief executive director of Glencore, a British mining and trading group, has been charged to court in the United Kingdom, over alleged bribery in connection with oil contracts in West Africa.

Beard, a British billionaire businessman, was charged alongside four former employees of Glencore.

The others are Andrew Gibson, Paul Hopkirk, Ramon Labiaga, and Martin Wakefield.

In a statement published on Thursday, the UK’s serious fraud office (SFO) said the five Glencore employees have been charged in “connection with the awarding of a range of oil contracts variously spanning Cameroon, Nigeria and the Ivory Coast from 2007 to 2014”.

The SFO said Gibson and Wakefield have also been “charged in relation to the falsification of invoices to Glencore’s London office marked as service fees to a Nigerian oil consultancy from 2007 to 2011”.

The hearing of the case has been scheduled for September 10 at Westminster magistrates’ court.

Speaking on the development, Nick Ephgrave, director of SFO, said bribery damages financial marketers, adding that it causes lasting harm to communities.

“Today’s action is an important step towards exposing overseas corruption and holding those who are responsible to account,” Ephgrave said.

Glencore was involved in oil contract deals with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited and other oil corporations in West Africa.

GLENCORE’S BRIBERY COURT CASES

In May, the federal government said Glencore is expected to pay Nigeria a $50 million penalty for bribery.

Lateef Fagbemi, attorney-general of the federation, had said the resolution was reached after the federal government entered a settlement agreement with the British firm.

In May 2022, the United States department of justice said Glencore, and its UK subsidiaries, entered into multiple agreements to purchase crude oil and refined petroleum products from the NNPC through shady deals.

In Nigeria alone, the department said, Glencore and its subsidiaries paid more than $52 million to the intermediaries, intending that those funds be used — at least in part — to pay bribes to Nigerian officials.

In the same month, the trading firm agreed to pay about $1.5 billion in total to resolve investigations in the US, United Kingdom, and Brazil — of which $1.06 billion was payable to agencies in the US and Brazil.

Glencore had pleaded guilty to five counts of bribery totalling $26.9 million, which was paid “primarily to officials in state-owned oil companies” in Cameroon, Ivory Coast, and Nigeria.

The company also admitted to two charges of failing to prevent bribery over payments of approximately $1 million to agents in Equatorial Guinea and South Sudan, to secure “valuable oil contracts”.

[TheCable]

The controversy around women’s boxing at the ongoing Olympic games revolves around the participation of two athletes, Imane Khelif of Algeria and Lin Yu-ting of Taiwan, who had failed gender eligibility tests in the past. These two have long competed as women, but were disqualified from the 2023 women’s world championships by the International Boxing Association (IBA) for failure to meet “eligibility rules”. But the current Olympic organizers got that reversed. The rest, and the fallouts, remain an onfolding world drama today.

In the following dialogue between Celeste and her friend, Jasmine, take up the twin issues of sexual orientation and gender confusion.

Jasmine: I would like to start today’s discussion by saying that we are no longer sure who is a man or a woman. Gender switching is going on; and this is all being promoted under the LGTBQI+ movement. What is one to make of growing same sex relationships?

Celeste: What I think is going on is that we are no longer in touch with our true essence as human beings today. It goes beyond what is generally called the global gender crisis, one aspect of which is the widespread promotion of gay relationships. For the sake of clarity, perhaps we should start by you explaining to me what the term LGBTQI+, which you mentioned, means. 

Jasmine: Yes, that is very important.

Celeste: It stands for Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, Transgender, Queer, Intersex and others. The acronym is even sometimes written as LGBTQIA, to include asexual groups, where ‘queer’ is an umbrella term for non- straight people.

Jasmine: But we all grew up knowing gender to refer to the two sexes. That was before the term got expanded to cover many things that do not fall under established ideas of male and female. That is the problem for us today, as far as I am concerned.

Celeste: Of course, it is to some of us. Think, for instance, of those who say that they are Pansexuals, that is people who could be sexually attracted to animals, little children, or whatever catches their fancy at any point in time.

Jasmine: Pansexuals?

Celeste: Yes. And all these now-freely-advertised sexual orientations, like the Asexual, Polysexual, Agender, Bi- gender, Ecosexual, Intersex, Androgynous, Gender Fluid, Non-Binary, Gender Queer, Transspecies, Transaging and Transable, are demanding the right to freely exercise their sexual preferences.

Jasmine: All of that? Please what do all these categories you just referred to mean?

Celeste: Polysexual refers to anyone who is sexually attracted to more than one gender including the unconventional, then there are the Bisexuals who are attracted to regular male and female, while Agender are people who do not identify themselves as belonging to any particular gender at all. The latter are different from the Bi-gender, who are sexually attracted to two genders outside the Cisgenders.

Jasmine: Just a moment, what do you mean by Cisgender? You used the term just now.

Celeste: Cisgender refers to people like you and me.

Jasmine: But we are perfectly normal people. How do we come into the gay movement?

Celeste: We are not part of the gay movement; I beg your pardon! People who are deemed to be men or women in the traditional sense at birth and who also have no problem seeing themselves as such, like you and I, are said to be cisgender men and women. Cisgender is the opposite of transgender, ecosexual and all the others.

Jasmine: I see. That is good to know, before one is surreptitiously smuggled into some strange classification, or association. Now what is the ecosexual one you just mentioned?

Celeste: These are people who are sexually attracted to the earth, nature or the ecosystem.

Jasmine: People who are sexually attracted to the earth, nature or the ecosystem?

Celeste: Yes! They may use sex toys and materials inspired by nature. They could also have sex with the earth, in the belief that they are helping to heal it of natural disasters and diseases. There are also even some people who believe that they are animals imprisoned, or incarnated, in human bodies.

Jasmine: Now, that is silly!

Celeste: But they are perfectly serious about it. And they are different from the Intersex, and ‘hermaphrodite’ have male and feminine characteristics combined into an ambiguous form.

Jasmine: Male and female characteristics combined?

Celeste: Yes. This may be due to birth defects caused by mutation, inappropriate medication or other causes. Some of such cases can be corrected by surgery; usually with the dominant sexual characteristics retained.

Jasmine: Well, that is good to know.

Celeste: But some promoters of the LGBTQI+ agenda are against such surgery, insisting that such people should be identified as intersex and allowed their ‘rights’.

Jasmine: But what could possibly be the cause of all this? I mean both the strange conditions and the mindset of those who promote them.

Celeste: First there is the simple matter of medical impropriety and natural birth defects; which must also invariably have their roots in the karma and spiritual history of the people concerned. But that is a matter for another day.

Jasmine: Well, I suppose so. But, for now, let us continue with the various sexual orientations of what I consider a depraved world.

Celeste: Yes, let us continue. Did I mention cases of people who feel that they are of a different sex, even though they are born as another?

Jasmine: No, you did not.

Celeste: Oh, there are such people and they are referred to as cases of Androgyny. They are different from the Gender-fluid, who do not identify themselves as having a permanent and fixed gender.

Jasmine: Quite frankly, this has really gotten out of hand!

Celeste: The terms Non-binary and Genderqueer are sometimes used interchangeably to refer to people who prefer, or appear, not to be exclusively masculine or feminine at any time. They are also different from the Transspecies, who claim preference for anything whatsoever that catches their fancy.

Jasmine: Some people want anything, not just any person, that catches their fancy?

Celeste: Yes. Then you have those called the Transaging, who claim to feel younger/older than their actual age and wish to be recognized and associated with their age of choice. 

Jasmine: Wow!

Celeste: The transaging are also different from the Transracials, who wish to be associated with, and be recognized as belonging to, a race other than the one into which they were born. These are still different, yet again, from the Transable, who are physically able people that choose to be associated with any particular disability they are attracted to.

Jasmine: But this is outright insanity making the rounds! What could possibly be responsible for all of this, I still wonder? What do the people pushing for a reclassification of human beings really want? Why are they pushing back on everything we know and causing what, to me, is unmitigated confusion everywhere?

Celeste: The right question, perhaps, is: what are the hidden forces behind these people and what do we see them doing? Is it all part of the events of the Last Judgment, or not? Are these things the manifestations of many spiritual issues that the people trying to deal with them do not understand? 

Jasmine: The forces behind them? What forces? These people are just low-grade social nuisances that should not be taken seriously.

Celeste: I am not so sure about that, Jasmine. You can see that there is an upsurge of evil everywhere. There is also confusion about right and wrong, all over the world. So, the global sexual orientation crisis and gender crisis is only just one dimension of the avalanche of strange ideas confronting human beings everywhere. 

Jasmine: It is?

Celeste: Yes, it is! 

Jasmine: But the entire thing seems so well mapped out, well planned, well- funded and is being pursued with great singleness of purpose. 

Celeste: Yes. All resources are flowing to those operating on the fringes of normalcy. Look, Jasmine, the spiritual foundations of our current problems, as well as their implications for our future here on earth, should be the most important concern of everyone now.

Jasmine: Is there a specific meaning, or special significance, to all that is going on? I mean, what does the Last Judgment got to do with it?

Celeste: It seems to me that the pressures of the Last Judgment is forcing many things out from their hiding places to face the Ray of Judgment.

Jasmine: I just don’t know what to say right now, Celeste. Please continue, I would like you to recap on how this whole thing is presumed to be leading all human beings astray.

Celeste: When people are made to redefine what makes them human, what makes them male, what makes them female, they are already on the path to something they do not know yet. But one of the things that will follow is that they will turn all values on their heads. 

Jasmine: Oh yes, that is a very likely consequence.

Celeste: Once that happens, the difference between right and wrong will also become nebulous. Anyone who does not know right from wrong, and who does whatever he likes in the belief that he has every right to do so, is clearly operating in the realm of official insanity; but without knowing it. Such a person is also, thereby, replacing the Will of God, who created everything to function in a certain way, with his own human will.

Jasmine: Indeed! But, sorry to still take you back to the sexual orientation issue, how do people hope to achieve such a no-mean feat of making us all to accept their aberrant doctrines?

Celeste: The matter is an intricate one. In fact, we can describe it as a ‘project’ that is designed and structured to succeed on a grand scale, as a global agenda. Let us make this, as well as other spiritual dangers of this period of the Last Judgment, the subject of a fresh discussion.

Jasmine: Are you sure?

Celeste: Trust me, Jasmine, there is a lot more to it than meets the eye. So, do we defer the discussion to another day, when we shall have enough time to really dig into it?

The above dialogue, prefaced with the raging Olympic controversy, is taken from my coming book in The Dialogue Series titled; ‘Signs of the Last Judgment’.

The nationwide #EndBadGovernance protests that are convulsing the neoliberal fundament of the Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration are redefining and redrawing the contours of protests in Nigeria in many significant ways. Although I’ve been on the road since Thursday, here are lessons I’ve learned from the protests.

One, there is now a profoundly consequential decentering of the locus of protest culture in Nigeria. In the past, protests against unpopular government policies used to be conceived, constructed, and carried out by a self-selected class of professional protesters based mostly in Lagos who earned activist bona fides from their anti-military, pro-democracy, human rights advocacy in the 1980s and 1990s.

These careerist agitators are now either in government, in bed with the government, or have suffered significant contraction of their symbolic and cultural capital. Most Gen Z Nigerians whose vim and vigor power the ongoing protests either don’t know them or know them but have no use for their guidance.

So, the conception, planning, and execution of the protests have neither a recognizable locale nor any identifiable dramatis personae. A lot of the known names identified with the protests merely joined and amplified it. They didn’t start the revolt and can’t stop it. It’s effectively a leaderless rebellion.

It started life as anguished, discordant murmurs on social media in response to the increasingly unendurable but relentlessly unabating neoliberal, IMF/World Bank-sanctioned economic and social terror of the Tinubu administration. Many of the young people who can’t feed now and whose future is being perpetually deferred have enough education to know that the delayed gratification the government promises them from removing subsidies and from devaluing the naira has never materialized anywhere in the world.

Everywhere in the world—from South America to the Pacific and from Asia to Africa—from the 1980s (when the IMF first forced Structural Adjustment Programs on developing countries) until now, there is not a single example of a country that has escaped irreversible devastation and decline as a result of subsidy removal, currency devaluation, destruction of social safety nets for the poor, abandonment of the welfare of citizens—all IMF policies that countries are forced to implement as conditions to secure World Bank loans. 

The only countries that have developed outside the West are precisely the countries that have repulsed the IMF, that have strategically deployed subsidies to buoy their economies and uplift their people, and that have guarded their national currencies. Many young Nigerians now realize that the idea that the pains they are suffering are mere temporary birth pangs that will deliver a bouncing baby is a damned, soulless, conscienceless, self-centered lie. They’ve had enough.

So, they resolved to band together and fight peacefully.  They chose to demand the restoration of petrol subsidies, among other demands, because they see that the people who took away petrol subsidies from them are themselves luxuriating in unimaginably opulent elite subsidies. Their cries quickly gained traction. 

For the first time in a long time, northern and southern youth found common ground. Northern agitations for “zanga zanga” and southern push for #EndBadGovernance protests, though gestated independent of each other, somehow converged. It’s a unity forged in diversity and adversity.

The second lesson is a derivative of the first, and that is the unexampled collapse of the cultural, political, and social power of the Northern Nigerian Muslim clerical establishment. Northern Nigerian clerical elites, known as the ulama, had been constituted in the region’s moral imagination as the apotheosis of probity and the unquestioned source of moral and political guidance. 

They have used this power, this priceless symbolic capital, to keep the masses perpetually in a state of suspended animation. They have programmed northern Nigerian masses to not resist, protest, rebel, much less revolt, against bad governance. They socialized them into accepting their economic suffering with equanimity. The only thing the clerical elites have conditioned the masses to be implacably roused and animated over is real or perceived slight against religion.

 For example, amid the inexorably intensifying breakdown of security in the region during the Muhammadu Buhari administration, the clerical establishment also intensified fraudulent theological rationalizations for the rise of kidnappings and exculpated Buhari of responsibility for this. That was why Buhari got away with murder for eight years.

However, although there was a ground swell of anti-zanga zanga sermonizing among the region’s notable clerics in the aftermath of their meeting with officials of the Tinubu administration, northern Nigeria is erupting in communal convulsions. It is also instructive that protesters in Daura took their anger to Muhammadu Buhari’s doorsteps. No one is immune now. The genie has been let out of the bottle.

The #OccupyNigeria protests in 2012, which the North also actively participated in largely, some would say precisely, because of the religious and regional identity of Goodluck Jonathan, had the moral imprimatur of the clerical establishment. 

This is the first major example in recent memory I am aware of in the North where the masses of the people not only bucked the impassioned counsel of their ulama but have openly labelled them as unreliable and mercenary charlatans not worthy of respect. This is a culturally seismic shift.

The third lesson is that the federal government is in more trouble than it realizes. It invited civil society leaders, traditional rulers, religious clerics, and certain audible voices in the protest movement in an effort to thwart the protest. It was inspired by the mistaken belief that these hitherto esteemed opinion molders had the capacity to use their conversational, symbolic, political, and cultural currencies to influence people to back out of the protest.

It didn’t work because the habitual order of things has shifted, and the government hasn’t come to terms with this reality. We call it decentering in humanities and social science scholarship. "Decentering" involves challenging and moving away from traditional centers of authority, meaning, or truth. It means a shift of focus from dominant cultures, narratives, or perspectives and the amplification of marginalized, peripheral, or alternative voices.

The government’s cluelessness about this social media-enabled decentering of traditional ways of seeing and knowing manifested in its mutually contradictory claims about who was sponsoring the protest—and in its counter-intuitive displays of persecution complex. 

The State Security Service said it knew the “sponsors” of the protest, but the police asked the “sponsors” to identify themselves as a precondition for protection. High-profile government officials fingered foreign mercenaries as the organizers and funders of the protest. They all can’t wrap their heads around the possibility that distraught, depressed, and disgruntled young people, without prodding from anybody, can organize protests to ventilate their frustrations at foreign-inspired policies that kill their present and deny their future.

Unfortunately, the government’s response follows the same miserably familiar template: whine like over-indulged crybabies about fictive “sponsors,” induce or intimidate people thought to be behind the protests, deploy strong-arm tactics against protesters, and do nothing about the conditions that instigated the protest in the first place—until it happens again another time.

The fourth lesson is that there is a relationship between how security forces respond to protests and how they turn out. In such states as Edo, Osun, Oyo, and Ogun, the police were admirably polite and even-tempered. 

I saw a video of the Edo State police commissioner addressing protesters in the kindest, most empathetic way I’ve ever seen any senior law enforcement officer addressing aggrieved people. The protesters reciprocated the police commissioner’s mild-mannered and conciliatory speech with chants of his praises. That warmed my heart. Tinubu can learn from that.

But in places where law enforcement officers treat protesters as enemies of the state and visit unprovoked violence on them, things easily escalate into violence and bloodshed. We saw that in Kaduna, Kano, Abuja, and many parts of the North.

It should be admitted, of course, that there are many criminal elements who cash in on protests to loot the properties of innocent people or destroy government properties. I saw heartrending videos of criminals stealing or destroying private and government properties in Kano and Abuja. Such outlaws deserve no mercy. It’s elements like that who justify the government’s apprehensions about protests always devolving into chaos and destruction. 

Finally, although many people from the Southeast supported the protest, the region was the only place, as of the time of writing this column, where almost no protest took place. Was it the culmination of the ethnic baiting of the honchos of the Tinubu administration who said the protests were planned by the people of the region as a payback for their electoral loss in 2023? Whatever it is, it does not give a good account of our efforts at nation-building.

Well, President Tinubu has just one option left for him if he doesn’t want to govern in disabling tumult: address the nation in a solemn national broadcast, acknowledge the unprecedented hurt people are nursing, announce the restoration of petrol and electricity subsidies, and reverse the disastrous “floating” of the naira. 

Tinubu’s loyalty should be to Nigeria, not the racist economic hitmen at the IMF and the World Bank.

The subsistence and material viability of the state as a philosophical ideal is implicit in social contract. It is the actual compact between the government and the people, which separates civilised existence from the anarchic state of nature.

The government exists for the people, as much as the governed.

Governance is not an abstraction or some esoteric vocation for a few. Governance is participation. Participation of both the leadership and its citizens. The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria stipulates the responsibilities of all parties to the existing social contract. Nation-building comes with demands on citizenship.

Fundamentally, one of our responsibilities as citizens is to preserve the peace and stability of our nation and to defend it, if necessary. On the part of the governing (at all levels - federal, state, and local governments), there are even more demands of duty as leadership comes with inevitable responsibilities.

The President Tinubu-led Administration has been responsive and dutiful in fulfilment of its part of that social contract. At the risk of overstating the obvious, but these facts must be stated, the government is showing attunement to the concerns of citizens. It is responding surgically and carefully to every concern. It is not reclining or taken up in wild celebrations over some feats. It is still in the mill, grinding hard to give citizens relief and set the nation on the promenade of prosperity.

To effectively address the cost of living challenge, the government has exponentially reviewed the national minimum wage to N70,000; suspended import duties on all essential food items until December 2024; suspended import duties on pharmaceutical raw materials and equipment to bring down prices and released over N570 billion to state governments for the facilitation of critical subsistence support to citizens.

It is also converting over 30,000 petrol-powered commercial vehicles to cheaper compressed natural gas alternative to drive down the cost of transportation, and has so far disbursed N50,000 grant each to over 600,000 Nigerians -- with 400,000 more beneficiaries to receive the grant.

The government will disburse N75 billion to 100,000 MSMEs from August 2024, and over 500,000 Nigerians are poised to benefit from the initial payout of the Consumer Credit Scheme.

In addition, the President Tinubu Administration is scaling up investments in infrastructure and in critical sectors with significant ramifications for the human capital index, such as healthcare and education.

So far, $2.2 billion has been mobilised in external financing to catalyse the implementation of the Nigeria Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative (NHSRII) through financial commitments from various development partners and the Sector-wide Coordinating Office-Programme Management Unit (SCO-PMU) domiciled in the Office of the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare has been established to ensure efficient, transparent, and accountable management of grants mobilised towards the initiative.

Some of the pivotal interventions of the administration in education include, removing universities from the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) and addressing recruitment challenges to provide greater autonomy to university administrators, removing the financial barrier to accessing higher education by dint of the Student Loan Scheme, and expanding the scholarship programme -- with about 250,000 scholarships to ensure that financial constraints do not hinder students' academic journey.

In response to security concerns, safety centres have been established in Abuja and across various states, with all educational institutions required to register. These centres, bolstered by trained security agents, aim to promptly address threats and ensure a safer learning environment for students.

Also, the Out-of-School Children Commission, set to commence in September, will provide training to approximately 10,000 young Nigerians, while through the introduction of the DOT policy, which focuses on comprehensive data collection to better support schools, teachers, and infrastructure, four (4) million young Nigerians have been reintegrated into the education system.

In a meeting with traditional rulers a few days ago, President Tinubu made profound extemporaneous affirmations, acknowledging the hallowed pact between the leadership and citizens.

He said the plight of citizens remained a deep concern and would receive more attention.

“Yes, it is true that I asked for this job, and I approached some of you to support me. So, I have no excuse not to do the job with sincerity of purpose and honesty. I have committed myself to it diligently, and I will never look backwards. I have accepted the assets and the liabilities of my predecessor. How I will take Nigeria forward should be my concern, and that is my concern," the President said.

Towards a greater Nigeria, the Tinubu administration remains resolute in strengthening the filament of trust between citizens and the leadership, recognising the sacrosanctity of the social contract.

Fredrick Nwabufo is Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Engagement.