There is a dangerous triad that has held many Nigerians hostage for decades, and it consists of greed, gullibility, and the relentless hunger for get-rich-quick schemes. This unholy trinity has birthed a cycle of scams so vicious that even after national heartbreaks like the collapse of MMM, thousands continue to fall victim to financial wolves dressed as investment messiahs.

The script has not changed. The actors keep rotating. Yet, the Nigerian public keeps walking into the same trap. The tragedy? They walk in willingly, eyes wide open, wallets even wider.

For those who may have forgotten, MMM was a Russian Ponzi scheme introduced into Nigeria around 2015. It promised a 30% monthly return. That is right,  30% return on investment in 30 days, with no verifiable product, no service, no business model, just a fancy website and testimonies from early beneficiaries.

Despite repeated warnings from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and financial experts across the country, Nigerians poured in their life savings. Some sold land. Some borrowed money to “invest.” Others dragged family and friends into the scheme like modern-day evangelists. The result? A collective national financial collapse in December 2016 when MMM shut down and vanished.

Like an open wound left untreated, the vacuum MMM created was soon filled with other schemes that cut across Ultimate Cycler, Loom, Naira Wealth, Racksterli, Chinmark Group, MBA Forex, and several others. Each came cloaked in new branding, fresh buzzwords, social media glitz, and increasingly sophisticated lies. Not only that, the tactics remain eerily consistent with promise of insane returns, creation of artificial scarcity or urgency, recruitment of social media influencers and local ambassadors. Other baits adopted by the scammers include use of early payouts to seduce more victims. 

Against the foregoing backdrop, it is not an exaggeration to opine that having successfully baited some greedy and gullible Nigerians into the Ponzi scheme, they would vanish into thin air, sometimes after issuing a well-crafted press release blaming “economic challenges, “and somehow, Nigerians keep falling for it.

At this juncture, it tempting to ask, “Why do we keep getting burnt?” To answer the foregoing question, let us call it what it is: a toxic mix of greed and gullibility. Many Nigerians, facing legitimate economic hardship, have grown impatient with the slow route to financial stability, they do not want to invest for the long haul; they want money to rain down in weeks, and so, in their desperation, they suspend logic.

Consider this: If a scheme offers you 50% returns in one month, what legitimate business in the world can sustain that? Oil and gas? Real estate? Forex? None. Not without massive risks or fraud. But greed blinds people to basic arithmetic. And gullibility finishes the job.

In a society that idolizes wealth over process, people would rather look rich than understand money. That is why social media has become a breeding ground for scammers. All it takes is a few carefully crafted testimonies, a slick logo, and a few Instagram celebrities calling it the “next big thing.” Boom, the Ponzi fever spreads like wildfire.

We must spotlight the growing complicity of social media influencers. Many of them promote these fraudulent ventures either out of ignorance or pure selfish gain. They flaunt screenshots of returns, record videos talking about “God’s blessing through this opportunity,” and mislead thousands.

In fact, it will be recalled in this context that the SEC has recently warned influencers and celebrities against promoting unregistered financial products, especially digital asset platforms and meme coins, citing the new Investments and Securities Act 2025. The law mandates registration, transparency, and SEC approval for such promotions. Influencers must verify clients are licensed, use clear language, and label ads as sponsored. Violations attract fines up to ₦10 million, three years in prison, or both. The House of Representatives also cautioned public figures, stressing legal liabilities for misleading endorsements. The SEC aims to protect Nigerians from deceptive schemes often masked as entertainment or investment opportunities.

It is even more surprising that when the scheme crashes, celebrities and influencers who served as promoters of the scam go mute. No apologies. No accountability. Just a pivot to the next lifestyle brand. The authorities must begin to hold them responsible as co-enablers of financial fraud.

While the CBN and EFCC issue periodic warnings, their approach remains mostly reactive. By the time regulators announce an investigation, the scam has already milked thousands of victims dry. The SEC must move beyond issuing circulars, it must deploy intelligence tools to track, flag, and blacklist these fraudulent ventures before they go viral.

A central warning database listing suspicious schemes, names of promoters, and their bank details would be a great start. Collaborations with Fintech platforms and payment gateways could also disrupt these scams before they grow legs.

One of the most alarming developments in recent times is the growing number of Ponzi schemes being promoted from religious pulpits. Unscrupulous individuals now infiltrate churches and mosques, using God’s name to push lies. They offer testimonies. Some even deceive pastors into endorsing them. In a community driven by faith and trust, such endorsements are gold.

But when the crash comes, the betrayal cuts deeper. Not only are pockets emptied, trust in institutions is shattered. Religious leaders must wake up. You are not investment advisors. If your church or mosque becomes a tool for financial fraud, you are not just spiritually reckless, you are complicit in crime.

While it is easy to pity the victims of Ponzi schemes, we must start asking tough questions. How many people ask for business plans before investing? How many insist on company registration documents, audited financials, or even physical office addresses?

Too many people throw money into schemes because “someone in my estate has collected his payout” or “my church member just bought a car.” That is not investment that is herd mentality.

At what point do we stop being victims and start being willing participants in our own financial destruction?

At this juncture, it is expedient to ask, “What Must Change?” regarding the issue of Ponzi scheme gone sour. To answer the foregoing question, it should be borne at the back of the mind of everyone that if Nigeria is to break this cycle, we must attack the root causes, and the first step would entail embarking on an aggressive financial education. This can be achieved by introducing mandatory financial literacy into school curriculums. Let children understand compound interest, risk, and scams before they leave secondary school. Adults must also have access to financial education through TV, radio, community centers, and local governments.

Secondly, naming and shaming should be adopted against scammers. Let us have a public, government-backed blacklist of Ponzi schemes and their operators. Through this, names of scammers can be published with their accounts frozen and their assets seized. This would no doubt make examples of them.

Another steps to be taken in nipping the tide of Ponzi scheme in the bud is by holding influencers involved in the promotion of any given scheme accountable.  In fact, influencers promoting investment scams should be sanctioned, fined, and in some cases, prosecuted. Enough of the “I didn’t know” excuse.

In fact, there is an urgent need for our national values to be rewritten. Nigeria must stop celebrating wealth without context. We glorify “big boys” with no verifiable sources of income, yet scorn those building businesses the right way. This must change. We need a new narrative, one that applauds how the money was made, not just that it was made.

In a similar vein, whistleblowing must, more than ever before, be encouraged. This can be achieved by government agencies through the setting up of anonymous hotlines and rewards for whistleblowers who alert authorities early about suspicious schemes.

Nigerians must accept that the enemy is not just the scammer, it is also the unwillingness to learn from past mistakes. No matter how difficult the economy gets, there is no justification for voluntarily funding your own downfall.

Any scheme that promises to multiply your money without a clear, legal, and sustainable business model is a fraud. Always has been. Always will be.

If we do not collectively wake up, we will continue to ask the same painful question every year, “How did we fall for this again?”

The proposed Abia International Airport in Nsulu, Isiala Ngwa North, holds the potential for economic growth and connectivity in our state. As landowners, we recognise and value the potential benefits that such a project could provide. We are not against development. We welcome progress. However, the current approach to land acquisition for this project is deeply flawed, lacking transparency, and jeopardises the very fabric of our community. The Landowners feel compelled to speak out in protest and demand a just and equitable resolution that protects our rights and our future.

The initial euphoria over the airport project has given way to anxiety and distrust. What should have been a time of great joy and excitement has instead become a breeding ground for resentment, fueled by a lack of transparency, alleged inducements, and a disregard for established legal procedures. The proposed acquisition of a staggering 1025 hectares of land, effectively displacing countless families and livelihoods, is completely unacceptable. This is a land grab disguised as development.

Our primary concern is not obstructing progress, but rather ensuring our survival. We are not asking for the project to be abandoned; rather, we want it scaled back to a manageable and sustainable level. We propose that the land acquisition area be reduced to 400 hectares. This would allow the airport to be built while also ensuring that our community has enough land to farm, feed itself, and preserve our way of life. This is not an unreasonable request; it is a plea for our continued existence.

The current government approach, marked by secrecy and a lack of meaningful consultation, is deeply concerning. Instead of engaging in open and honest dialogue with the community, the government is accused of using underhanded tactics, such as sneaking around villages, harassing landowners, and offering pitiful sums - "peanuts," as we have been told - to persuade them to give up their land. This is not the way a responsible government should treat its people. It is a betrayal of trust and a violation of our basic rights.

We are particularly concerned about the alleged use of party agents and compromised villagers to advance the government's agenda. These individuals, often motivated by personal gain or political expediency, coerce vulnerable and often illiterate landowners into signing away their land for a pittance, without fully understanding the long-term implications. This is not development; it is exploitation.

Governor Alex Otti's administration has a unique opportunity to right the wrongs of the past and forge a new path forward, one based on trust, transparency, and community rights. We urge the Governor to personally intervene and ensure that this project is carried out in a fair and equitable manner, in accordance with international best practices and applicable laws.

The Land Use Act of 1978 governs the process of land acquisition in Nigeria, vesting all land in each state with the Governor of that state. While the Act establishes a framework for land acquisition, implementation is frequently fraught with difficulties, such as corruption, a lack of transparency, and a disregard for community rights. We believe that the current process in Nsulu falls far short of the idealised and comprehensive procedure outlined in the law.

Consider the government's processes to acquire community lands for projects in Nigeria.

1. Project Identification and Planning Phase:

How thoroughly were potential environmental and community impacts evaluated during the early stages of project conception and feasibility studies? Were environmental impact assessments conducted transparently and with the participation of local communities? Were the initial consultations truly informative and inclusive, or were they merely formalities meant to stamp a predetermined outcome? It appears that the affected communities were not taken seriously during the pre-acquisition phase.

1. Land Acquisition Phase:

The official notification and declaration of the intention to acquire land should have been a watershed moment, demonstrating the government's commitment to transparency and fairness. But was the notice promptly served on all recognised community leaders, landowners, and occupants? Was the notice published in the state's Official Gazette as well as widely circulated newspapers, ensuring that the information was available to everyone? Was the acquired land properly surveyed and demarcated, with clear boundaries, or was there ambiguity and confusion?

The land valuation and compensation assessment is probably the most contentious part of the process. Were qualified and independent valuers hired to determine the fair market value of the land, improvements, and other assets included in the acquisition? Did the valuation process take into account non-economic losses like displacement, loss of cultural heritage, and disruption of social networks? Was the valuation process transparent, with affected communities able to access the valuation reports?

The negotiation and agreement phase should have provided an opportunity for the government and the community to collaborate and reach a mutually beneficial solution. Were compensation packages negotiated with affected communities based on valuation reports and any additional losses? Was there active participation by community representatives in the negotiation process? Was the negotiated agreement documented in a legally binding contract that detailed the terms of compensation and any other obligations of the government?

The compensation payment and resettlement phase, if necessary, puts the government's commitment to fairness and justice to the ultimate test. Was the agreed-upon compensation promptly and fully paid to the affected parties? Was a comprehensive resettlement plan created and implemented for displaced communities, which included the provision of alternative land or housing, infrastructure and social services in the resettlement area, livelihood restoration programs, and culturally appropriate resettlement?

III. Post-acquisition Phase:

Project implementation must adhere to environmental regulations and social safeguards. Regular monitoring of the project's environmental and community impacts, as well as post-project evaluations to assess the effectiveness of the land acquisition and resettlement programs, are critical. Establishing a grievance redress mechanism to address any complaints that may arise during or after project implementation is also necessary.

1. Important Considerations for a Fair and Effective Process:

Transparency and accountability, community participation, fair compensation, respect for cultural heritage, environmental protection, adherence to the rule of law, and a grievance redress mechanism are more than just buzzwords; they are the foundation of a fair and equitable land acquisition process.

Unfortunately, the current situation in Nsulu is marred by the issues that frequently plague land acquisition processes in Nigeria: corruption, a lack of transparency, insufficient consultation with affected communities, low valuation of land and assets, delays in compensation payment, poor resettlement programs, and limited access to justice for affected communities.

We are not against development. We are not against progress. We simply want our rights to be respected, our voices heard, and our future secured. We are willing to collaborate with the government to find a solution that benefits both the community and the state, but this can only be accomplished through open and honest communication, transparency, and a commitment to justice.

Our concern is not with the amount of compensation, especially since the appropriate land size has not been determined. We cannot begin to discuss compensation until the government agrees to sit down with us and negotiate a mutually acceptable land size. In accordance with standard procedure, the government committee should have informed our people about the expected compensation amount. Even so, we believe that the government should provide adequate compensation that reflects the true value of our land and the losses we will incur.

We understand that the government needs land to construct the airport, but we also require land to survive. We are farmers, and our livelihoods are based on the land. Taking away too much land will not only force us to leave our homes, but it will also deprive us of the ability to feed ourselves and our families.

We therefore reiterate our demand that the land acquisition be limited to 400 hectares. This will allow the airport to be built while also ensuring that our community has enough land to farm and sustain its way of life. We urge Governor Alex Otti to hear our plea and take immediate action to address our concerns.

The time to act is now. We are willing to engage in meaningful dialogue with the government, but we will not stand by while our community is destroyed. We will continue to fight for our rights, land, and future. We believe that a just and equitable solution is possible, but it will require a commitment to transparency, fairness, and respect for community rights. We urge the Governor to seize this opportunity to establish a legacy of progress and justice in Abia State. Let the Nsulu Airport be a symbol of inclusive development, rather than one that destroys communities and livelihoods. 

Roland Ogbonnaya is a concerned indigene of Nsulu and a Journalist. 

(Being Statement delivered at the Association of Nigerian Authors – ANA – Abuja Chapter 70th Birthday Event/Celebration of Dr. Wale Okediran and a Reading/Writers Dialogue held at the Mamman Vatsa Village, Abuja, on the 19th of April, 2025)

In this piece, I want to specifically pose the question of how literature and literary writing can serve the purpose of representing the significance of the public service to the Nigerian public. Narrating the nature, significance and dynamics of the public service, admittedly, is the sphere of the social sciences—especially of political science and public administration. But then, why can literature not come to the aid of the political scientists cum administrative scholar-practitioner in documenting the ups and downs of the public service and its role in enabling good governance? 

Literary writings narrate humanity. the human experiences and endeavors in ways that reveal horizons and frontiers of possibilities while also laying bare the depth and dynamics of the familiar. The literary eye sees beyond the normal and transcends the ordinary. All literature reveals their time and context; and this is why literature is a dangerous endeavor: it poses narrative questions that do not reveal easy answers. And yet these questions enable us, if we keep unraveling them long enough, to find a way out of our mental cocoons, according to Elif Shafak, the Turkish novelist. We can all easily agree with C. S. Lewis therefore: “Literature adds to reality; it does not simply describe it. It enriches the necessary competencies that daily life requires and provides; and in this respect, it irrigates the deserts that our lives have already become.” 

Is the writer then a revolutionary? From Chinua Achebe to Naguib Mahfouz, Wole Soyinka to Mariama Ba, from Niyi Osundare to Abdulrazak Gurnah, from Ngugi wa Thiong’o to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and from Nadine Gordimer to Odia Ofeimun, we have writers who have championed a rebellious forthrightness in narrating the conditions for the existence of their postcolonial existence and future. We have writers who enable us to see our ordinary experiences and to transcend them. Let us take Odia Ofeimun’s The Poet Lied (1980) as a starting example. That poetry collection signals Ofeimun’s sensibility as a poet who has a deep understanding of the sociopolitical and economic anguish Nigerians have been going through for much of Nigeria’s sixty-five years of existence. As a poet, according to him, “I cannot blind myself/To putrefying carcass in the market place.” In the poet titled “A Foot Note,” Ofeimun laments:

In our model democracy

The magic promises of yesterday

Lie cold like mounds of dead cattle

Along caravans that lead nowhere…

More specifically, in “A Civil Servant,” Odia Ofeimun highlights a critical dimension of any civil and democratic government in terms of the machinery that makes any government function efficiently. This is in terms of policy formulation and service delivery of the dividends of democracy to the citizens. 

A dull day:

you sit on the dung-heap

of boredom, a lizard

basking in the cold sunshine

of banal precedents.

Your lymphatic smile

is decorated with the painless anguish

of pedestrian hours

An idle star

streaks across your sky

This dull day

you bear the unproductive patience

of a dismantled industrial spider

you cannot say, for certain, what you want.

This poem represents not only a scathing critique of the neglect of the civil service by any Nigerian government, a neglect that makes the civil servant “sit on the dung-heap of boredom” like a lizard basking in a “cold sunshine.” It is also a poem that hits very hard and poetically at what I have called the bureau-pathology of the Nigerian public service, and its capacity for blind conformance at the expense of productive efficiency. A civil servant, Ofeimun aptly remarks, bears the “unproductive patience” of a “dismantled industrial spider”!

In Niyi Osundare’s “My Lord, Tell Me Where to Keep Your Bribe,” written in 2016 at the height of the corruption scandals that traumatized the sensibility of Nigerians, and especially the undermining of the professional integrity of the Nigerian judiciary. Imagine a servant bowing constantly in fake submissiveness, and asking, “My Lord, where should I keep this bribe?” merely asking that question, with the two contraries of “Lord” and “bribe”, already implies a deep and bruising moral judgement. When we conjoin that with the suggestions of the various hiding places, then we see that the judge being addressed has already, in the space of that monologue, been stripped of all honour. In “No Hiding Place for Politicians,” Osundare was at his poetic height in railing against corruption, embezzlement, clientelism and the betrayal of democratic trust. Take just these lines:

When the man of power
Tells you his tale
Ask him to wait till
You bring a sieve
​
****
Whoever believes what the politician says
His ear is blocked by the carcass of truth
A politician tells you to wait
And you heed his words…
Your sole will tell you
The biting pains of folly

These few lines already project not only the politician’s alienation from truth, but also the futility of listening to any form of “politicspeak” by which politicians have deceived Nigerians from independence to date. The “biting pain of folly” is what has indeed attended the constant optimism which has characterized Nigerians’ trust in the politicians who come, make noise, get our votes and then turn to stab us all in the back. But then, it behooves the poet, and the writers that a nation has produced, to bring the citizens to awareness. This is exactly what Barbara Kingsolver had in mind when she said, “What a writer can do, what a fiction writer or a poet or an essay writer can do is re-engage people with their own humanity.”

Wale Okediran, who celebrates his entry into the septuagenarian circle this year, provides a larger and more experiential context for examining the mindset of an average Nigerian public servant. In his Tenants of the House (2010), Wale Okediran fictionalized his short-lived experience as a member of the Nigerian House of Representative. That was an experience, we can say, that was stranger than fiction. We get to read the fictional account of what we all know has been going on—the greedy consumption of Nigeria’s commonwealth by a few who translated democratic stewardship into a license to steal and loot. What makes Odia Ofeimun’s and Wale Okediran’s literary accounts so graphic and significant is that both have traversed the public service space in Nigeria for a while. They were not just fictionalizing hearsays and the fecundity of their imagination. Any Nigeria, from what we daily encounter about the shenanigans of the political class, can fictionalize their misdeeds. But when one had walked the corridors of power and perceived the dark odor of political corruption, the literary imagination becomes even more effective than it could have been when fashioned on the imagination alone. 

Nigerian literature serves as the handmaiden of social scientific and humanistic inquiry into the state of the Nigerian sociopolitical affairs. As a social commentary, it provides a complementary analysis of where the rain began to beat us as a nation, to quote Chinua Achebe. Indeed, the Nigerian literary space itself suffers significantly from Nigeria’s bureaucratic pathology and policy inchoateness. We all know the cost implication of getting published by a traditional publishing firm today. Many of Nigeria’s literary figures, from Chimamanda Adichie to Nnedi Okoroafor, get published elsewhere. This provides an occasion, therefore, to memorialize the great and persevering efforts of the Association of Nigerian Writers (ANA) for keeping the Nigerian literary spirit alive, and for serving as the breeding ground for literary effervescence. 

Nigeria is a literary space; the precarity and suffering instigated by misgovernance and the policy somersault of consecutive administrations in Nigeria provide the occasion for rebellion of the literary imagination. In fact, I am very glad to call on the literary figures in Nigeria as collaborators in the institutional reform of the Nigeria state and its public service machinery. I have often written that institutional and governance reformer is a lonely figure even in social scientific analysis. For more than twenty years, I have been raising the alarm about the debilitating state of the public service in Nigeria, and how institutional reform, as well as the political will of any government, can reverse the rot and restore the machinery of government to an efficient state. 

However, these critiques and analyses cannot compare with the fictional narration of Nigeria’s democratic struggles, the greed of its political class and the suffering of Nigerians. Chris Abani’s Graceland (2004) tells the story of Elvis Oke and his struggle to overcome the poverty, violence and corruption of ghetto life in Lagos. Wole Soyinka’s Chronicles of the Happiest People on Earth (2021) consummates his damning and devastating literary chronicling of the political corruption that has perpetuated a season of anomie in Nigeria since independence. And there are more: Chika Unigwe, Abubakar Adam Ibrahim, Helon Habila, Chinua Achebe, Unoma Azuah, and many others. When even an average Nigerian encounters these writers and their fictional narration of the inefficiency of the Nigerian government and the suffering it engenders, the novels and short stories mirror their experiences. There is no Nigerian lady who will not empathize with Sisi, Efe, Ama and Joyce, the three ladies –in Unigwe’s On Black Sisters Street (2011)—who left Nigeria to become sex workers in Belgium in order to make a good life for themselves. 

Literary activism is the response of Nigerian literature to institutional reform that demands that the administrative dynamics must be responsive to the yearning and aspirations of Nigerians. Literary activism encounters the Nigerian public service as the seat of misery and of transformation. Most Nigerians encounter the Nigerian state from the deficiencies of infrastructural debilitation—bad roads and highway networks, inefficient healthcare facilities, inadequate education sector, etc. Literature engages politics from the perspectives of literary visions of possibilities. We can tell the stories of the civil servant who refuses bribes; the Oga who stands up to the powers that be for the sake of efficiency; the public servant who champions transparency even at the cost of losing her legislative slot; a group of civil servants who presents alternative policy implementation blueprints, and many other possible stories of administrative events that can inspire.

Here, ANA has a lot to still do in terms of its commitment to literary activism as a mode of speaking truth to power. I think that the genre of the administrative literary genre should be added to existing genres. Rather than the appearance of the public service as a monolithic endeavor in the literary imagination, ANA can encourage Nigerians to harness their experiences of the multifaceted dynamics of the Nigerian public service system to articulate poems, novels and short stories that speak specifically to civil servants, procedures, departments, and systemic experiences and narratives. I will be glad to see special calls for literary editions around the public service and its dynamics. Such special literary editions can elevate the consciousness of Nigerians on what it means to reflect imaginatively on the present and future of the public service in relation to human flourishing in Nigeria.

For the Russian poet, Boris Pasternak, “Literature is the art of discovering something extraordinary about ordinary people, and saying with ordinary words something extraordinary.” We owe it to the institutional reformers and literary activists to transform the banality of human suffering in Nigeria to the refreshing discovery of the extraordinary power of social change.

Let me end with a tribute to Dr Wale Okediran at 70. Dr. Okediran has come a long way and has blazed many trails so consistently that at a beautiful age of seventy, he has achieved a sublime legacy that embodies existential fulfilment. 

Dr Okediran is in my estimation Nigeria’s answer to C. P. Snow’s two-culture thesis. According to that thesis, there is a significant and unbridgeable divide between the humanities and the natural sciences in ways that ensure seeming lack of communication between the two. The literary intellectuals and the natural scientists pride themselves on their inability to understand each other, and this, Snow argues, leads to an inhibited intellectual progress. In Wale Okediran, we have a fluid and exemplary personification that firmly undermine that thesis. Dr Okediran fluidly incorporates the love for science and the humanities. He is the very embodiment of the renaissance man—the multi-talented man imbued with a secular sensibility that draws on the human condition to articulate an Afropolitan sensibility of humaneness, compassion, strength, open-mindedness, passion and empathy. 

It was almost inevitable that Dr Okediran’s love for medicine and literature would be deployed in the service of the humanity in Nigeria and on the continent. Medicine is not just physiological and psychological, at least not in Africa. Medicine ministers to the brutalized bodies of Africans. As a medical doctor therefore, Dr Okediran has the unenviable space to confront the many psychotic manifestations of governance failure in Nigeria. His literary interests and skills provide the opportunity to tell the postcolonial Nigerian stories as he encountered them over the course of his own personal existential and professional trajectories. And this explain Dr Okediran’s path into politics; what better way to effect significant changes than being in the corridor of power? 

One could only wonder how long a man of such literary sensibility would last within the murky space of Nigerian politics. Fortunately, public service is not restricted to being a member of the House of Representatives. Dr Okediran’s public service space encompasses the local, the national and the regional—from the National Old Student Association of Olivet Baptist High School to the Pan African Writers Association (PAWA). Dr Wale Okediran’s literary sensibility enables him to build a community of service. The Ebedi International Writers Residency at Iseyin is unique defining sense a built metaphor for Okediran’s enlarged sensibility that draws in people and create possibilities. 

• Says operations underway to hunt down attackers

The General Officer Commanding 3 Division of Nigerian army and Commander of Operation Safe Haven (OPSH) Major General Folusho Oyinlola has attributed the renewed killings in Plateau State to a tragedy fueled by long-standing grievances, mistrust, and failed leadership.

Gen Oyinlola disclosed this during a high-level stakeholders meeting conveyed by the GOC to review the activities of the recent killing of over 100 residents in Plateau communities.

While addressing stakeholders during the meeting, Gen Oyinlola said, “We are gathered today at the headquarters of OPSH, 3 Division Nigerian Army, in an urgent effort to de-escalate tensions and prevent further bloodshed in communities rocked by ongoing attacks.

“The high-level engagement followed nearly two weeks of deadly violence in Bokkos and Bassa local government areas, where over 100 people have reportedly been killed and more than 2,000 displaced, according to emergency responders.

“This meeting brought together top government officers, local government chairmen, traditional rulers, religious leaders, community representatives, and security agencies to brainstorm and find solutions.

 “No doubt, the current wave of attacks is a tragedy fueled by long-standing grievances, mistrust, and failed leadership. We are at a critical point where silence has become complicity, and inaction, dangerous. No grievance, no matter how deep, justifies murder,” he stated,

Oyinlola, who assured that military operations were already underway to hunt down those behind the attacks, criticised the failure of some leaders to rein in their followers and called for renewed commitment to dialogue and reconciliation.

“This stakeholders’ meeting is not a formality—it is a call to action. Let us talk to one another, not take up arms. Peace is not a favour; it is a necessity for survival.”

Also speaking at the event, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Community Engagement (North-Central), Abiodun Essiet, expressed deep sympathy for affected families and emphasised the federal government’s commitment to peace building efforts.

“Lives have been lost, homes destroyed, and livelihoods shattered,” she said. “But I am hopeful because today’s gathering signals a shared determination to break the cycle of violence.”

Essiet highlighted past reconciliation efforts and urged stakeholders to tap into traditional dispute resolution mechanisms and inclusive dialogue. She announced plans by the presidency to launch a Community Peace Initiative and an Inter-Religious and Inter-Tribal Town Hall Meeting in Plateau and other North Central states later this month.

[TheNation]

The Nigeria Immigration Service, Illela Border Command in Sokoto State, has confirmed the repatriation of 62 Republic of Mali nationals through the Illela Control Post.

The Controller of the command, Mr Tony Akuneme, who disclosed this in a statement issued on Sunday in Abuja, added that they comprised of 51 males and 11 females.

Akuneme said the Mali nationals were escorted from the NIS headquarters in Abuja to Illela Border in Sokoto by a team of eight officers led by Insp. Mamoud Sadiq, in two buses.

He said that the team arrived at the border post at about 8pm on Friday.

“Upon their arrival, I directed the Assistant Controller in charge of Human Resources, Adamu Mshelia, who also doubled as the Officer in Charge of Anti-Smuggling Unit to oversee the proper documentation of the repatriated individuals.

“After due procedures, the irregular migrants were handed over to officers of the Niger Republic Police at the Birnin Konni control post.

“At Birnin Konni, the migrants underwent another round of screening and documentation before being received by the Commisere, the police chief of the area,” he added.

In a related development, the NIS boss said that the construction of both mega and mini Forward Operating Bases was ongoing at the Illela control post.

He said the upgrade by the NIS Controller-General, Kemi Nandap, was in continuation of her drive to rid the country of irregular migrants across the 36 states and FCT.

“The construction company has commenced land clearance and demolition of some dilapidated and unserviceable structures.

“We appreciate the CG for this upgrade, which aligns with her commitment to curbing irregular and prohibited migration across the country,” he said.

Akuneme assured the public that the situation remains calm in Illela and Tangaza areas, with military and security personnel maintaining a presence to address threats from Lakurawa bandits.

NAN

… As Tompolo, Eradiri, Lokpobiri seek alternative tactic

UNTIL the Ibe-Ebidouwei of the Ijaw nation and Chairman of the Tantita Security Services Nigeria Limited (TSSNL), High Chief Government Oweizide Ekpemupolo, alias Tompolo, spoke, last week, it was inexplicit that prominent Ijaw leaders had a disagreement on how the Ijaw nation handled the political crisis between the suspended Governor of Rivers State, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, and his estranged godfather, Nyesom Wike.

Wike is from the Ikwerre ethnic group in Rivers State.

Ijaw leaders, who took up the battle as an Ijaw fight, advised him not to kowtow before Wike. They said he was governor, and there was nothing Wike would do about it until 2027.

They held a series of meetings within and outside the Government House, Port Harcourt, with Fubara, while some youths, supposedly militants, threatened to bomb oil installations in the oil-rich region and ground the nation’s economy should the lawmakers, who had initiated the impeachment process against Fubara, succeed in impeaching him as designed.

Since Fubara exited the seat of power, the chorus leaders urging him to fight on, saying that nobody could remove him as governor of Rivers State have cocooned themselves.
And with its hard-hitting position on Wike, leaders of the Pan Niger Delta Forum (PANDEF), the umbrella body of traditional rulers, leaders, and stakeholders of the coastal states of the Niger Delta, could not summon the FCT Minister, who does not see them as an impartial arbiter.

There is no commanding body of South-South leaders that Wike is willing to listen to regarding Fubara, and he has vowed lately that he would not reconcile with the governor.
Could there have been any difference if the late elder statesman, Chief Edwin Clark, from Kiagbodo, Delta State, were alive?
It might not have been because Wike had already fallen out with Clark before his death for taking sides with Fubara.
Former President Goodluck Jonathan from the Otuoke community in Bayelsa State reportedly threw his weight behind Fubara.
Despite the criticism, many believe that the current Chairman of the Ijaw National Council (INC), Prof. Benjamin Okaba, put in his best to stave off the suspension of Fubara, but President Bola Tinubu, Wike, and the federal forces they amassed were stronger than the governor, himself (Okaba), and other Ijaw leaders who opposed them.

Tompolo’s stand
Speaking on his 54th birthday, last week, at the Aziza Temple in Gbaramatu Clan, Delta State, Tompolo, the former General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the now-defunct Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), for the first time, implied that some individuals handled the conflict between Wike and Fubara in an indelicate manner.

Tompolo, whom Ijaw leaders and stakeholders accused of betraying the Ijaw nation in the dispute between his friend, Wike, and Fubara, stated that Fubara would return to his position as governor of Rivers State and said talks with Wike were still in progress.

His words: “On the issue in Rivers State, because I have not spoken, they say I have betrayed the Ijaw nation, but I cannot betray the Ijaw nation.
“I have spent all my life fighting for the Ijaw, but we have passed the stage of responding to Wike’s kind of statement; we are no longer at that level.
“I assure you that Governor Fubara will return as governor; we are already discussing it. Both he and Wike are like father and son.

“Before he became governor, many Ijaws were against him, yet Wike was instrumental to his emergence, just as we also supported Wike.

“And just like I will not accept rebellion from my son, I will also not cause more problems. “Wike is angry, but he has to bring his temper down for the good of all. We will dialogue and resolve all lingering issues, and again, Fubara will return to his seat.

Wike on forgiveness

Responding to Tompolo’s subtlety, Wike said that Fubara had not asked for forgiveness, so there was no basis for forgiving him. His media aide, Lere Olayinka, quoted the Minister as saying that forgiveness requires an acknowledgment of wrongdoing and a direct plea for pardon, neither of which Fubara had made.

The statement read in part, “There is no offense. It is when somebody has offended you personally that you are talking about the person seeking forgiveness or whatever.

“As Christians, let’s now assume that Fubara has offended the minister. Do you forgive someone who has not come to you to seek forgiveness?
“The person who has wronged you must first agree that he has wronged you. Let’s assume that Fubara has offended the minister. Has he come to seek forgiveness? I’m not saying there is an offense and there should be forgiveness, but he has not even come for forgiveness.

“Those who worked to make you governor, don’t throw them away like that. So, that is not about forgiveness. If there is one person Fubara would say he has offended, it should be the president.
“He is the one to go for soul-searching because throughout the time he was working with this same Wike, throughout the time Wike faced the bullet for him, Wike was not a bad person then.

“So, at what point did Wike become a bad person to him? He should ask himself. When did Wike become somebody that Fubara would be that bold as to tell him that he would deal with him? At what point?”
“It’s like asking a doctor to prescribe medicine for a sick person, but the person was not convinced to take it. What’s the result?”

Eradiri tackles Fubara, INC

Before Tompolo opened up, a former President of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) and former Labour Party governorship candidate in Bayelsa State, Udengs Eradiri, had censured Fubara for mishandling the row between him and his alienated political godfather.
Eradiri said, “As for Governor Fubara, he is incompetent which has brought all this negative energy. He should not involve the Ijaw people in his political disputes. Let him tell us how he has supported Ijaw activities or empowered Ijaw people.
“I advise Fubara to go and kneel before Wike and beg for forgiveness. Those who are deceiving him have no courage. They go cap in hand to Wike, beg for forgiveness, and then come out pretending to be Ijaw lions.
”How many Ijaws from Rivers State did he empower during his tenure? How many IYC comrades in the Eastern Zone were appointed as local government area chairmen, commissioners, or other significant roles?”
The former IYC President also pooh-poohed the Ijaw National Congress (INC), accusing the group of undermining its credibility by becoming involved in the political infighting in Rivers.

He cautioned that partisan politics were harming the Ijaw people’s reputation and urged the INC to stay away from them.

”INC should not be romancing the governor’s egos. The institution is bigger than any individual, and when you diminish it before incompetent governors, it becomes open to ridicule,” he added.

IYC President kick-starts attack on Ijaw leaders
The first to criticize the Ijaw nation’s leadership over purported poor handling of the Fubara/Wike crisis was Jonathan Lokpobiri, the President of the IYC.

Jonathan said, “Permit me to reflect on the state we are in as the Ijaw nation regarding the state of emergency in Rivers State. I can, with all sense of responsibility and conviction, state that if we had applied wisdom in the management of this crisis in Rivers, we would not be where we are today.
”Instead of using wisdom in matters we can nip in the bud, we chose to threaten war, and we were not prepared for a state of emergency in Rivers.

“Instead of using wisdom in matters we can nip in the bud, we chose to threaten war that we were not prepared for.
“People, in the name of struggle, even in the matters we can nip in the bud and caution ourselves internally, rush to the media and threaten war and allow the enemies to fortify themselves for it, and when the war comes, we no longer speak.

”People speak carelessly in an attempt to put an ethnic group into an avoidable war. For those who threatened fire and brimstone, the war came, but I didn’t hear their voices anymore.
“We must be wise in prosecuting the struggles of the Niger Delta.
“If this was how our leaders went about their struggle, I am not sure anybody would have respected the Ijaw nation.
“Most of those making unguarded statements are people we clap for without cautioning them.
“There is no war between Ijaw and Ikwerre and any other ethnic group. If the Ikwerre ethnic group had responded to our unguarded statements, there would be war already in Rivers.

”Sometimes wisdom is stronger than the arms we think we have gathered. If we had solved this problem internally as we advised earlier, we wouldn’t have gotten to this embarrassing moment of a state of emergency.
“I expected missiles to flow when this state of emergency was declared, but those who threatened the war never said anything anymore”.

Nonye Soludo, wife of the governor of Anambra State, and Senator Oluremi Tinubu, wife of the president of Nigeria, bring a lot of experience and value to the administrations of their husbands. The case of Senator Oluremi Tinubu is particularly interesting. As someone who has been a first lady in Lagos State for 8 years and a senator for 12 years, she comes with a lot of experience. This is evident in the maturity and class she brings to her work as Nigeria’s first lady. She is obviously in a good position to mentor other first ladies at the subnational levels.

Those who argue that first ladies to not have a constitutional role in Nigeria and try to talk down some of the achievements of some of the hardworking first ladies Nigeria has produced miss the point and seem to have forgotten some of our recent history. One of the greatest and most ambitious poverty alleviation programs in the history of Nigeria – the Better Life Program (BLP) – was championed by one of Nigeria’s first ladies, Mrs. Maryam Babangida. Here is what a 1990 research publication of the Central Bank of Nigeria had to say about BLF: “An overall view of the performance of the rural economy since the inception of the Programme [Better Life Program] suggested some improvements, all of which may not be attributable to the BLP alone. Among these were the growth in income per capita and agriculture in 1988-89; moderation of rural price inflation and unemployment rates of mostly illiterate rural women; marginal improvement in the nutrition status and health of the people; overall awareness of the need for immunization and birth control techniques; marginal improvement in the level of literacy of the rural women, and remarkable improvement in recreational opportunities of a few rural dwellers’’. (CBN (1990). The better life programme and the rural economy of Nigeria. CBN Economic and Financial Review 28(3), 41-58.)

While donating the sum of 1 billion naira to the National Cancer Fund to support the fight against cervical cancer, here is what the wife of the President had to say: “No matter what wealth you have as a nation, if your population or majority of your population is sick, you are just the poorest as far as I am concerned”. In Anambra, Nonye Soludo also shares this mindset. Madam Nonye Soludo’s passion for ‘healthy living’ has resulted in visible lifestyle changes and health benefits in Anambra, according to recent data.

Today, in Anambra State, there are Healthy Living Clubs and Farms in all the 21 local government areas. These clubs have grown in number through the passionate drive and support from Nonye Soludo, who has continued to pass the following message to young people: ‘’Your health is your forever asset and once lost, it’s gone’’. Today, members of Nonye Soludo’s Healthy Living Club have fitness groups and centers all over Anambra. Members of this fitness club are motivated by Nonye Soludo’s passion for fitness and healthy lifestyle. Members support fellow members with exercise and fitness materials and equipment. (Nonye Soludo’s Instagram page shows she leads by example when it comes to body fitness).

And the impact of this over the last 3 years in Anambra has been phenomenal.

Here is what a 68 year old member of the Nonye Soludo Healthy Living Club (real name withheld and would be referred to as Nkechi) had to say about the miraculous healing she received after battling with arthritis for 15 years: ‘’I use to think exercise and owning gym equipment were for people who are rich and have lots of time at their disposal but when I got introduced to these daily routine exercises – including some cardio and weight lifting exercises – I started liking it and I made sure I set out time to do it. A member of our group [Nonye Soludo Healthy Living Club] also gifted me with some light dumbbells. Today, my aching knee that I have been taking painkillers for in the last 15 years has stop troubling me. Most Saturdays, I do 10,000 steps before going to the market, where I trade’’.

Nkechi also has a Healthy Living Farm in her small backyard in her home. Through Nonye Soludo’s Healthy Living Initiative, Madam Soludo has encouraged residents of Anambra to grow healthy and organic foods in available spaces in their homes. Today, in Anambra State, there are large Healthy Living Farms in all 21 local government areas, owned by cooperatives – folks who have used their own resources to cultivate these farms. Vegetables mainly grown in these farms include: tomatoes, green pepper, cabbage and green vegetables. There is a total change of mindset in Anambra when it comes to living a healthy life.

Nkechi’s story is not alone in this kind of testimonies. Beneficiaries of Nonye Soludo Healthy Living Pap have more touching stories. The Healthy Living Pap is an easy to make meal which is made from granulated groundnut, soyabeans and corn. It is reach in vitamins and nutrients. It solely manufactured in a factory in Anambra which is fully funded by Nonye Soludo – without any government support whatsoever. A sachet of this meal weights about 250kg and so far, 10,000 sachets have been distributed to children and nursing mothers in Anambra. There are testimonies from mothers of children, who suffered malnutrition, and are now very healthy as a result of these free meals.

This is also the mindset of Nigeria’s first lady and wife of the President. Through her personal capacity and under her pet project, the Renewed Hope Initiative, Senator Remi Tinubu has pioneered causes that will have long-term impact in the health and wellbeing of Nigerians (this is outside the several economic empowerments she has championed). She is leading by example. Senator Remi Tinubu has donated thousands of professional kits to nurses and midwives around the country. Her support for cervical cancer has enabled the immunization of 12 million girls between the ages of 9 and 13 in the first nine months of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine introduction, according to the National Cancer Fund. The first lady has also donated towards the construction of new hospitals.

Senator Remi Tinubu has received support from well-meaning Nigerians who believe in her cause. “Many of the donations are under her Renewed Hope Initiative… Well-meaning Nigerians are on the governing board and of course it is in the public space. Reputable business men and men of means, with credibility, they have been the ones donating to the Renewed Hope Initiative’’, the Special Adviser to the First Lady on Media, Busola Kukoyi, clarified.

Nonye Soludo and Senator Remi Tinubu have shown that wives of elected public officers can add enormous value to the administrations of their husbands. This is a culture that has existed in the country and even in America, where Mitchelle Obama was known for her fight against childhood obesity and her crusade to encourage healthy lifestyle in children during the administration of her husband, with her Let’s Move crusade. With this program in America, Mrs. Obama partnered with schools, communities, states, private sector, etc.

Nwankwo is the special adviser to Soludo on special projects.

At a recent symposium in Lagos on ‘Corruption in the Nigerian Judiciary’ the speakers persuasivelypresented facts and figures to amplify the popularly held opinion that Nigerian judges are probably the most corrupt group in the country. In truth, none of the speakers said anything new.

After all, some 6 years earlier, a survey by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC) and the National Bureau of Statistics NBS had revealed that “20 per cent of those who had contact with the Nigerian judiciary were confronted with a request for the payment of bribe.” A year later, the UNODC published another reportwith a focus on gender and corruption which statedthat “male judges are far more likely to be involved in bribe-seeking conduct than their female colleagues.”

The ‘question-time’ segment at the Lagos symposium was particularly exciting as the speakers referred copiously to disparaging remarks on the nation’s judiciary by senior lawyers and even retired judges who were in agreement that corruption amongst judicial officers had eroded public confidence in the judiciary and indeed the country’s justice delivery system. On its part, the media tends to believe that it would be difficult to find a Nigerian judge that is not corrupt. I disagree with the hypothesis. To start with, there is no empirical basis for such a sweeping statement. In addition, it is ethically unacceptable for the media to support any unproven generalization because one of its own ethical values is to maintain balance and objectivity by projecting with equal emphasis,all the sides to an issue.

Based on the above, we need to throw ample light on some Nigerian judges who amidst the stinking corruption in their sector have at one point or the other shown considerable evidence of uprightness while performing their duties. The main area of interest to look atwould certainly be election and political cases where many judges had because of materialism dropped the ball. With a good effort at dissecting even cases in that lucrative area, it is not really difficult to identifyand applaud some judges as I will show shortly from an overview of such cases. Starting from the interesting stories in Imo state where at a time the impeachment of deputy governors was in vogue, there were wonderful judges who stood their ground and kept democracy on-going in the state.

In 2018, the Imo State House of Assembly having been mobilized by the state governor to impeach his deputy, Eze Madumere swung into action; a hurriedly prepared list of gross misconduct was served on Madumere while the Chief Judge of the state also set up a panel to investigate the allegations against him. The embattled deputy governor rushed to the judiciary to stop the process whicha high court judge in Owerri, Justice Benjamin Iheka saw as meritorious. He then swiftly restrained 3 parties, namely: a) Paschal Nnadi the Chief Judge of the state, b) Acho Ihim, Speaker of the State House of Assembly and c) the State House of Assembly from taking any further action in the impeachment process until the hearing and determination of the suit.

Despite Iheka’s restraining order, the state assembly and the impeachment panel went ahead with the impeachment process in which 19 out of 27 members of the house purportedly impeached the deputy governor. Justice Iheka thereafter courageously nullified the impeachment and stopped the swearing-in of a new deputy governor. The judge also flayed his own Chief Judge as well as Militus Nlemadim, the commissioner for justice, for not adhering to the provisions of section 188(5) of the 1999 constitution on impeachment. That put paid to the fake event. Of course, Iheka could have been swayed by material benefits to allow the travesty but he did not. Whether or not the current judges in the same state can still display such uprightness is a different matter. The example of Iheka has howevershowed that there are still some decent judges in our clime.

Ondo State presents another scenario in which some judges prefer to lose the favour of a governor and his marauding ruling party than to pervert the cause of justice. Indeed, but for the judiciary, the present governor of Ondo state, Lucky Aiyedatiwa would have had his political career scuttled following attempts by some party chieftains in the state to impeach him as deputy governor. The state house of assembly had requested the state’s Chief Judge (CJ)Justice Olusegun Odusola to set up a panel to investigate allegations against the then embattled deputy governor with a view to impeaching him. But the CJ reportedly declined to do so in compliance with the order of an Abuja Federal High Court halting the impeachment process. This removed Aiyedatiwa’s impeachment steam but it is simplistic to imagine that Justice Odusola could not have acted differently like some other judgesusually did in some other states.

In addition, Odusola must have had at the back of his mind what a former CJ of the state, Justice Olaranwaju Akeredolu, had wisely done in the same circumstance in 2020. At that time,the State Assembly under the leadership of Speaker Bamidele Oloyelogun had arranged to impeach the then deputy governor, Agboola Ajayi.To ensure that justice was served Justice Akeredolu formally wrote to inform the Speakerthat the lawmakers had not completed the constitutional process that would lead the Speaker to invite her to set up an investigative panel as stipulated by the Constitution. She also took judicial notice of the fact that the matter of the impeachment of Ajayi had become subjudice. As an upright judge, Akeredolu held-on to the provisions of the constitution which compromised judges would have conveniently overlooked.

One reason local government elections are a shade worse than the poor general elections conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC is because all the members of a state electoral commission are usually friends, political associates and relations of the state governor. As a result, the conduct of a local election is always programmed for the ruling party to ‘sweep’ any local polls. It is usually so badly handled that every result would ordinarily have been nullified. But since it is a state affair in which almost everyone is in the governor’s pocket, not many judges can act professionally. Yet, Edo state had one Justice Alero Edodo-Eruagawho some years ago dared the state governor by nullifying the controversial Esan North East chairmanship election where a fake winner had been declared. 

What Eruaga did was to openly deprecate theillegal act of declaring a winner when votes cast in several areas had not been counted. She also frowned at the fact that the hurried declaration was made in Benin City instead of the premises of the Eguare Primary School Uromi the prescribed location for the conduct of the election. Accordingly, unlike what happens elsewhere, Eruaga courageously nullified the Esan local election which was clearly marred by several infractions. It is worthy of note that the judgment wasnot in favour of the state governor’s political partywhich could bring many dangerstothe judge’s way for doing what is right and thereby offending a governor.Justice Eruaga like her above listed colleagues in Imo and Ondo states can berecorded  among judges who were neither influenced by material benefits nor the discomfort that antidemocratic elements may inflict on upright judges.

This piece cannot exhaust the list of Judges that Nigerians should honour in their hearts, but we need to quicklyrecord the outstanding performances of two judges in Akwa Ibom state, Justices Agustine Odokwo and Bassey Nkanang. Election malpractices have remained unabated in our country because some of our judges are materially compromised to use technicality to let known electoral criminals off the hook. The duo of Odokwo and Nkanang are standing tall here for ensuring thattwo professors were sent to jail for election fraud.One of them, Ignatius Uduk, a professor at the University of Uyo (UNIUYO) was indicted for announcing and publishing false election resultswhile serving as the returning officer for Essien Udim State Constituency.

The other convict, Professor Peter Ogban a professor of soil science, at the same UNIUYO, was jailed for tampering with election results. He had been mandated to serve as returning officer for Akwa Ibom North-West District in the 2019 general elections. However, the issue today is not about professors but about upright judges who would be positively remembered by posterity for refusing to be compromised to subvert justice and heighten Nigeria’s unending experiences of failed elections. The Nigerian judiciary would remain indebted to them because it is through their performances that we can say with confidence that not every Nigerian judge is corrupt.

“Traditional democracies will end up on the garbage heap of history” – Alberto Fujimori, 1938-2024, Peruvian President, 1998, VANGUARD BOOK OF QUOTATIONS, VBQ, p 37.

I started the VANGUARD BOOK OF QUOTATIONS in 1965 and got it published in 2007 – 42 years after. The first quote which caught my attention was by Dr Samuel Johnson, 1709-1784, “Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel.” It upended everything Nigeria had taught me about being a loyal citizen. I was launched on an adventure.

Fujimori was elected President of Peru, became a dictator and uttered the statement above about a week after my escape from death in Abacha’s detention. As a life-long believer in democracy, and suffering for that belief, I found the utterance repulsive. I debated with myself whether or not to include it in the book. Two decision rules compelled me to retain it. One, intellectual honesty demands that the researcher should include all the evidence available with regards to an idea – those in support and those against.

Two, a quick look around the world in 1998 revealed that democracies too often degenerated to dictatorships instead of the other way around. Maybe Fujimori was right. The USA provided me the assurance that democracy had a chance in the world. The USA and Trump have extinguished any hope for democracy in the world in my life time. Just look around and count. America, land of the brave and home of the free, voted in November 2024 to surrender both its bravery and its freedom.

Democracy died in the US – hitherto its strongest and most vocal defender (though damned hypocritical) when the people in a nation, whose people were always regarded as intelligent, voted for a presidential candidate who openly announced that he will be a dictator if elected. Because, as Joseph De Maistre, 1753-1821, warned mankind about two hundred years ago, “Every country has the government it deserves.”

Americans, including Leon Musk, who have lost trillion dollars of their wealth in the last month and a half, have only themselves to blame for whatever befalls them. Certainly, their losses are just starting. The most obvious is financial. Staggering as that might be, right now, unfortunately, more wealth is destined to be wiped out. Leon Musk, one of the architects of the American tragedy, has lost $100 billion of his fortune within weeks. Nothing can save him from losing more. On the aggregate, most billionaires worldwide, irrespective of nationalities, are also destined to share in the financial catastrophe which one man’s election in a democracy would have unleashed on our planet and outer space. 

MONEY IS NOT EVERYTHING

“Money makes everything legitimate – including bastards” – Jewish Proverb.

“Money! Money! How much sorrow it creates in the world” – Leo Tolstoy, VANGUARD BOOK OF QUOTATIONS, VBQ, p 163 

Trump was honest with Americans during the presidential campaigns about two things. One, he would destroy other nations’ economies by imposing huge tariffs unless they bowed to his wishes.. Two, he would “Make America Great Again” by turning the planet Earth hell for billions of people – including poor and middle class Americans. Other people in other nations were not involved in the decision to provide him the opportunity to prove his points.

Trump was “Made in America”; so are the global economic and political calamities unfolding. Like all dictators before him, wanting to play God, he and his inner caucus of advisers, particularly Elon Musk, very quickly discarded one of the eternal lessons history has taught us – nobody can single-handedly create the world as he chooses. Unintended and frequently unpleasant consequences result from such attempts. More often than not, millions of human beings die in the attempt.

Already, experts in various fields of endeavour, from the armed forces of several nations to agriculture and food production, manufacturing and markets, are predicting an unprecedented humanitarian crisis worse than what the world experienced during Covid-19 in 2020. Unknown millions will die globally because the repercussions of Trump’s policies will leave them without a dime and without any means of support – all over the world and in America. 

Money is indispensable; it can also lead to the death of millions by its sudden withdrawal. Trump and Musk are aware of this. It is quite possible that a study had been conducted to provide them an estimate of the millions of people to be rendered destitute from the abolition of USAID, Social Security for tens of millions of Americans, and, above all, global imposition of tariffs. No leader in history has ever been able to wipe out hundreds of millions of fellow human beings by merely signing an Executive Order. 

Hitler was inefficient. He spent millions building detention centres, transporting victims all over Europe and building gas chambers. Americans have given the world Trump and Musk, two Arch-angels of death, who can now delete one billion dispensable victims, selected by Musk’s Artificial Intelligence, AI, outfit, with just a flick of the pen. America is already great again – but, for the wrong reasons. By the time Trump is finished with his second or third term, the USA would have rendered millions of people expendable who never threatened its security or waged war against it. America would also have become a full-blown dictatorship; grinding the citizens of a formerly proud and free nation into dust. 

CONSEQUENCES OF THE RISE OF DICTATORSHIPS

“The lamps are going out all over Europe; we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime” – Sir Edward Grey, the British Foreign Secretary, on August 3, 1914, on the eve of World War I.  

Working on the VANGUARD BOOK OF QUOATIONS was almost like staying in a university to read ten or more courses. I certainly read more history books – over 300 – than most graduates of History. From them it has been possible for me to discern when current global or national events repeat those that led to certain repercussions in the past. For instance, most people, including Presidents Trump and Xi – of the USA and China respectively – are not aware that World War III has started. All that is left is the shooting.

Everything possible, including Artificial Intelligence, AI, is being weaponised. Trump, like the leaders of any strongest power, facing a challenger threatening to replace it, invariably opts for war before the upstart becomes stronger. National interest dictates it. And, what is national interest?  “National Interest is defined in terms of power”. Hans J Morgenthau, 1904-1980, a key American figure in International Relations in the last century, was the author of what had become central to America’s conduct of foreign policy.

Underlying the concept was the notion, alien to history, that the USA would perpetually remain the strongest military power on the planet. The leaders of the nation which gave me the opportunity to read history obviously have forgotten that “Fortune, ever fickle, will assail with sudden stroke, the kingdom of the proud.” (Geoffrey Chaucer, 1342-1400). Incidentally, Professor Morgenthau taught me International Relations, in my Senior Year as an undergraduate in 1968.

He symbolised the proud and complacent American; who believed that no nation will ever challenge the USA. I remember one of my classmates, Willie Ndongo, a Cameroonian, telling Prof that “One day America will be fighting for its life – like the Roman Empire.” He was almost thrown out of the class for the impudence – which has now become a prophecy. Obviously, great scholars can also be myopic.

Morgenthau was taking his position at the time when the sun of the British Empire was setting – contrary to the pronouncement of an English author and fool. Today, America is scared of the Chinese and getting ready to fight for its life. Unfortunately, the US has also turned its back on democracy and freedom. A dictator has replaced a President. The lights of freedom have gone out. God’s Own Country has been taken over by the Devil. When a war breaks out, every leader becomes an autocrat out of necessity. America is at war; which it might lose – despite the breast-beating by dictator Trump – for a simple reason the Americans lose sight of. 

On Page 28 of his very provocative book, The Present Darkness: A history of Nigerian organized crime, (2016) Stephen Ellis, British historian and Africanist, compared Nigerian politics to con artistry. Their practices, he said, were not different from acts of fabulists and fraudsters. Ellis’ take on Nigerian leaders synchronizes with a Henry Louis Gate’s The New Yorker piece of September 25, 1995. With the title, “Powell and the Black Elite,” the piece quoted ex-American Secretary of State, Colin Powell, as saying, “Nigerians as a group, frankly, are marvelous scammers… I mean, it is in their natural culture.”

As it is done in scholarship, traditional Africa also gives justification for the Ellis comparison. It says, when the shape and size of a peanut’s shell bears striking semblance to the coffin of a species of rat called Eliri, then a justification is successfully established. Last week, there was an eruption of weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth in many homes. Investors in the digital financial platform called CBEX met their financial waterloo. CBEX ultimately unraveled as a Ponzi scheme, with about 600,000 Nigerian victims in tow. It has given critical minds an opportunity to examine whether there is a meeting of minds between Ponzi chancers and Nigerian political leaders. Why do we dwell so much on Nigerian economic scams and scammers, while we sacralize the equally cancerous virus of political scammers?

The genealogy of this crave for quick wealth dates back in time. In 1925, J. K. Magregor, headmaster of Scottish-Presbyterian-founded, Hope Waddell Institute, of which the great Nnamdi Azikiwe was an alumnus, had written the Nigerian governor-general. His complaints were based on a motif of pupils of the school writing incredibly suspicious letters to unknown persons abroad. In the letter, the pupils asked to be sold medicines of esoteric teachings which guaranteed success and happiness. They turned out to be quack. In a single mail delivery, said Ellis, Magregor discovered 125 of such scam letters. One laughable example was a 12-year-old pupil who had purchased through post from India a “Mystic Charm” with an instruction to him to send more money so that he could be sent “blessings from the Hindu deity Siddheswari”. The letter also told the boy that the sign he would get to confirm the efficacy of the deity was “by watching the flow of his nasal mucus”!

Our visible connect to this pre-colonial crave for mysticism was re-enacted during the First Republic Nigeria. During this period, secret societies played pivotal roles in governance. The barbarism and primitivism of killing people for sacrifice in order to gain ascendancy in political circles became rife. The Ogboni cult held a supremacist place in Western Nigerian politics. It was only the northern part of Nigeria that was saved the barbarity. By the end of the Third Republic, however, military despots like Sani Abacha had reportedly began to seek spiritual interventions of Muslim brotherhoods of Senegal for a mystic buy-in into their infernal rule. Cows were reportedly buried alive in all outposts of Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory by the goggled General. By the Fourth Republic,  politicians had fully imported into Nigeria this Islamic mysticism which was spreading in sub-Saharan Africa. The marabouts were Islamic priests who combined Islam with the syncretic practice of local healers, fortune tellers, spiritual guides and diviners. Today, virtually all Nigerian politicians, like that 12-year Hope Waddell old boy, still seek mysticism, either from Islamic mullah, clergies, Babalawo or Senegalese marabouts to guarantee their political happiness and success.

Economic chancing of the CBEX kind is not purely native to Nigeria. In August 1920, after months of covert investigations by Clarence Barron, Boston Post newspaper’s top financial journalist, of the activities of Charles Ponzi, burst his bubble. Barron had found out that Ponzi, an Italian, born 1882, who immigrated to the United States in 1903, was a notorious con artist. In January 1920, Ponzi had established a “Securities Exchange Company” where he promised investors returns of up to 50% in 45 days. The scheme attracted thousands of local investors who, mimicking early Christians of Jerusalem’s mode of spread of the religion, engaged in a mouth-to-mouth spread of the “good news”. Gradually, they escalated its rapid growth and staggering participation. At the height of the scheme, Ponzi collected not less than $250,000 a day from unsuspecting victims, quadrupling his wealth to over $15million. Immediately after Barron’s investigation leaked, Bostonians rushed to and camped outside Ponzi’s offices. They were panicky crowds of local investors demanding a return of their money. Last week, same scenario was reenacted as angry and exasperated Nigerian victims of CBEX stormed its Nigerian offices.

The divide separating economic, political and leadership Ponzi in Nigeria is very thin. As Ponzi scammers feed fat on the red blood corpuscles of trickery and deceit, so do Nigerian leaders and politicians. Ellis insinuates that scam can be found in the bloodstream of Nigerian politics and political leadership since they first began in the 1940s. If you break Ponzi to its most basic moral component, it is driven by unrighteousness, desire to outwit the other person, gain personal advantage and in most cases, leave sorrow as mementos. Nigerian politics and leadership are founded on same nefarious aspiration.

 Only last week, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia ordered top US law enforcement agencies to release confidential information generated during a 1990s federal investigation. One Mr. Greenspan had, between 2022 and 2023, filed 12 FOIA requests seeking information about a joint investigation of the FBI, IRS, DEA, and the US Attorney’s Offices for the Northern District of Indiana and Northern District of Illinois. He wanted the charging decisions on the activities, including money laundering, of a Chicago heroin ring that operated in the early 1990s made open. The Nigerian president is said to be located at the vortex of this investigation.

While reacting to the American court ruling, the Nigerian presidential media office dismissed it as “having been in the public space for more than 30 years,” and did not in any way “indict the Nigerian leader” while concluding that “lawyers are examining the ruling.” My people say, if someone does not move in gaits that resemble an African pouched rat’s, no one would ask them to eat a meal of palm-nut seeds that is the culinary preference of this species of rats. (Bi eeyan ko bá rìn ìrìn awasa, wón o ní fi ekurọ lọ). The fact that the president’s name is enmeshed in such shame is already a national disaster. I don’t know of any scam bigger than a presidential Ponzi of paying millions of dollars to American lawyers so as to keep blocking American courts from disclosing to Nigerians and the world the truth or lie in the allegation that our president was involved in a heroin trade in the 1990s.

Ellis provided a nexus, no matter how tenuous, to the Ponzi. As far back as 1952, he wrote, Nigeria had become a staging point for heroine drug trade. According to him, the country was “a heavy dope traffic” from the near East to the USA via Europe, with one of those implicated at the Nigerian end of this pipeline being “one O. Chagoury.” Ellis’ conclusion on this pee-independence Nigerian drug trade gives the reader of the book today the latitude to connect its frightening nexus. He had written: “A few decades later, a Lebanese family with the same name had become very influential in both business and in political finance: Gilbert Chagoury, born in 1946…He was very close to the military dictator of the 1990s, Sani Abacha…It seems he is a descendant of a heroin trader who arrived Nigeria in 1952…the heroin trade may provide start-up capital for other forms of business…” You may find this on Page 92 of Ellis’ book.

While we lament the Ponzi scam of CIBEX, I put it to us that we are merely being hypocritical. Ponzi, MMM, CBEX, either figuratively or literally, have always constituted our ways of life. In our individual, collective and national relations, our modus operandi has never been dissimilar from these scammers’. We take delight in sucking the nectar of the joy of our fellow man. We elect known scammers into political offices and when they scam us, we complain. We are like the farmer who knew that the land he planted peanuts on was squirrel-infested. At the time of harvest, this same farmer became grumpy because squirrels had eaten up all his farm proceeds. When a man tells his people he was going on a two-weeks “working vacation,” which we all knew was a euphemism for a date with his Chagoury business partners or a date at the infirmary, didn’t both the man who spun the yarn and we, the people who received it, know we were mutually involved in a CBEX transaction? Or, didn’t we know that the spinner of the lie wasn’t dealing with us straight? Our forebears sounded alarm on characters like this in their saying that, when you meander round truth and refuse to walk straight, you are most likely encumbered by issues of finance (Sàn làá rìn, ajé ní mú ní pẹ kọ̀rọ̀).

Our scam began from the very beginning when Nigerians brought in a presidential baggage they didn’t have access to its constitution. Last week, the White House released President Donald Trump’s annual health report. Nigerians are left to make guesswork on what ails theirs and the billions of their patrimony spent to maintain it. Our president’s health is run like a coven, which reminds one of the miasma that surrounded the health of monarchs of pre-modern Africa. The king must not be seen to have taken ill like a commoner. It is a sacrilege. What Ponzi is greater than this, full of its opacity!

Replying to criticisms that, after almost 200 Nigerians had been killed in the president’s absence, he is still oscillating like a spirit from France to London, his media office told us he could rule Nigeria through remote control from anywhere in the world. Nigerians instantly remembered they had walked that punishing road before. At Easter, the statement purportedly issued by the president was that, “evil forces will not triumph in Nigeria” at a time when Evil had been crowned as King. What evil is greater than the carnage ongoing in Plateau and Benue States which, as usual, was dressed beautifully in a refrain, “the president has ordered decisive action”. Both of us, the president and Nigerians at large, know that this statement is a complete scam. There is no action coming from anywhere, not to talk of its being decisive. When the killers strike again soon, the presidency will recalibrate the commiseration refrain. Charles Ponzi must be happy he has identical offspring in the Nigerian presidency.

Wherever you turn, Nigeria is a an ocean where sharks feast on sharks and lesser fishes devour one another. Atiku Abubakar and his co-travelers on a coalition have started spinning their own political Ponzi which they know its end is not basically for the Nigerian people. Peter Obi is busy with his own Ponzi as well. Muhammadu Buhari, who regressed Nigeria colossally in eight years as president is the one to decide Nigeria’s political future now because he is patrons to millions of Almajiri voters who know not their right from left. As the week was ending, Reno Omokri, the Peter Obi-hating political Smart Alec, spun another of his serial Tinubu intervention Ponzi yarns. “Nigeria is safer now under Tinubu”, he said. If any of Omokri’s family members had been among the almost 200 victims of Nigerian Ponzi rulers killed in Benue and Plateau in the last two weeks when Nigeria had not even a scare-crow in Aso Rock, will the “Ambassador” spew this undiplomatic puke?

What is glaring is, by the time this current CBEX government in Aso Rock finishes with us, we will have a long roll-call of victims.