The National Sports Commission Chairman Mallam Shehu Dikko, on behalf of the Commission and the entire sporting fraternity, has bemoaned the death of the national team's most iconic captain Christian 'Chairman' Chukwu. Mallam Dikko spoke minutes after receiving the shocking news from Chukwu's team mate Dr. Segun Odegbami.

His words, "This news came to me as a big shock. Chairman is no more. On behalf of the Commission and the entire sporting fraternity and indeed the Federal Government of Nigeria, I extend my condolences to his family and indeed the whole of Nigeria. Frankly, a big iroko tree has fallen. We are the Chairmen leading the sector but Christian Chukwu is the original Chairman on the pitch. He was so commanding and charismatic, decisive and assuring on the pitch that the Late Ernest Okonkwo called him chairman and till today that name Chairman is even more popular than his original name.

"Chairman Chukwu is synonymous with Nigerian football. He lifted our first major trophy in that 1980 AFCON. Growing up, that day stands out. Many of us draw our passion for Nigerian football from that tournament. Chairman was the main catalyst of that feat, motivating and leading the team from the foundation to success ."

He continued, "Whether as a player, coach or administrator, Chairman stamped his feet in the annals of Nigerian football and I had a very good working relationship with him for decades and we have been in constant touch. I just had a meeting with Dr. Segun Odegbami earlier this week. This is happening at a time when we need the experience and drive of the likes of Chairman to push through our vision at the Commission. This is a very gloomy day in Nigerian football.

"One thing that stands out is Chairman's passion for Nigerian football and his humility and peaceful nature all his life. Even in his latter days, he was a regular commentator on the state of Nigerian football. He is always one of the legends I look forward to reading his views on developments in the game. We will do everything within our means to immortalise him and make sure that his dream for Nigerian football is sustained."

NSC Director-General Hon. Bukola Olopade lent his voice to NSC Chairman's condolences.

He said, "This is really a sad day for Nigerian football. We all grew up loving this game because of people like Chairman Chukwu. I pray God gives his family and in fact every Nigerian football faithful the fortitude to bear this colossal loss."

Chukwu earned his place in Nigerian football folklore as captain of the victorious Africa Cup of Nations team in 1980. He was the national team captain between 1974 and 1980.

In a meritorious football career spanning about four decades, Chukwu was the Super Eagles Chief Coach from 2003-2005 leading them to bronze at 2004 AFCON. He was also the head coach of the Kenyan national team in 1998 and handled clubs like Iwuanyanwu Nationale (Heartland FC) and Rangers International.

Notably, Chukwu was the assistant coach to Sebastian Brodericks when the Baby Eagles became the first African team to win a FIFA-organized tournament at the U-16 World Cup in 1985.

As an administrator, he was the General Manager/CEO of Rangers International FC.

Signed
Kehinde Ajayi (Mrs)
Director (Information and PR)
NSC

The Nigerian Catholic Diocesan Priests Association (NCDPA), Makurdi Diocese, wishes to express grave concern over the growing rumours surrounding the safety of Most Rev. Wilfred Chikpa Anagbe, CMF, Catholic Bishop of Makurdi Diocese, and his priest, Revd Fr Remigius Ihyula, following the Bishop's courageous and truthful statements on the persistent killings, violence, and displacement of innocent citizens in Benue State and across Nigeria .

Bishop Anagbe, known for his unwavering commitment to justice, peace, and the sanctity of human life, has consistently used his prophetic voice to speak out against the atrocities perpetrated against defenseless communities, especially in the Middle Belt region. His pastoral concern for the suffering and displaced, particularly the victims of violent herdsmen attacks and militia invasions, is not only a moral obligation but a clear response to the Gospel imperative of defending human dignity.

His firm stance, rooted in truth and the Gospel of justice and peace, has awakened many to the urgent need for accountability and action.

It is therefore deeply troubling to hear rumours suggesting that the Nigerian government may be planning to arrest or intimidate Bishop Anagbe upon his return to the country. If true, such actions would represent a dangerous affront to freedom of speech, religious liberty, and the fundamental right of a pastor to speak in defense of his flock.

We, the Catholic priests of Makurdi Diocese, stand solidly with our Bishop. We affirm that Bishop Anagbe has spoken the truth, a truth which many suffer in silence. Our people are being killed and driven from their ancestral homes on a daily basis, with their livelihood destroyed and eaten by cows. Homes and churches are burned down. Where is the lie in what we have suffered since 2001, and since becoming Bishop in 2014, the prelate has continued to advocate for justice in defence of his suffering people.

We have intruders, the Fulani killers and bandits who don't mean well for us, and we want them out of our land. This is not about any personality or personalities, it is about freedom and safety of our people. To target the Bishop for persecution would be to attack the truth itself and to deny the ongoing killings and sufferings of thousands of displaced persons whose lives have been upended by violence.

On March 28, 2025, Fr. Remigius Ihyula received a message from an embassy in Abuja, Nigeria. The message transmitted to Fr Ihyula warned that there "might be" an arrest warrant for Anagbe upon his return to Nigeria.

We therefore:
1. Strongly condemn any attempt to harass, silence, or harm Bishop Anagbe or any other religious leader who dares to speak truth to power.

2. Demand the immediate assurance of safety and freedom for Bishop Wilfred Anagbe , both now and upon his return to Nigeria.

3. Call on the Nigerian government and security agencies to respect his right as a citizen, a cleric, and a moral leader to speak on issues affecting his people without fear of arrest or harassment.

4. Appeal to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), all religious leaders, civil society organizations, and the international community to be vigilant and proactive in ensuring that no harm comes to our Bishop and Revd Fr. Ihyula.

5. Remind the authorities that silencing voices of conscience only deepens the wounds of injustice and emboldens perpetrators of violence.

The voice of the shepherd must not be silenced.
The cry of the oppressed must not be ignored.
Truth is not a crime and so, must never be criminalized.
Advocacy for peace and justice should never be met with repression.

We remain united in prayer, solidarity, and unwavering support for our Bishop and for all victims of injustice across our land.
We stand with Bishop Wilfred Anagbe cmf.
We stand for truth.
We stand for justice.
We stand for the people of Benue State and all persecuted communities in Nigeria.

Signed:
Rev. Fr. Joseph Terfa BEBA,
Chairman, NCDPA – Makurdi Diocese
On behalf of the Priests of Makurdi Diocese

“If you shut up truth and bury it underground; it will but grow and gather to itself such explosive power that the day it burst through, it will blow up everything in its way” – Emile Zola, 1840-1902.

I never thought President Tinubu would ever sack Mele Kyari. A few days before the announcement, a friend of mine and regular reader called me and during our discussion asked: “Dele, are you sure those in power read what you write and take them seriously?” He was referring specifically to the articles I have written about the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited, NNPCL, and its Group Managing Director, Mele Kyari – who, in my opinion, was the worst officer ever to hold that position. Virtually every statement made by Kyari on important matters turned out to be wrong. Some, like 2 million barrels per day crude oil production, were deliberately misleading. The consequences of serial deception of Presidents Buhari and Tinubu are incalculable and destructive; because most of the failures of the annual budget have their origins in the illusions Kyari had foisted on our leaders since 2019. Perhaps it was a mere coincidence that my article titled, FG, PRIVATE REFINERIES IN MUTUAL SELF-DECEPTION, appeared two days before he was sacked. The following assertions were made then: “The most obstinate illusions are ultimately broken by facts – Trevor-Roper, 1914-2003.

When Dangote Refinery, two weeks ago, announced that it would no longer sell fuel to marketers in naira; and, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited, NNPCL, simultaneously pronounced the end of naira-for-crude arrangement, it was clear to some of us that the illusions with which Nigerians have been living  since 2023 had been broken by the facts which had always been at our disposal; but which we chose to ignore. Alhaji Dangote, before establishing his gigantic refinery, must have consulted with the topmost leaders of the Buhari administration and the NNPCL; who promised him that he would have all the crude oil to run his refinery – whose capacity is 650,000 barrels per day.  President Buhari, who doubled as the Minister of Petroleum Resources, must have been one of them. Indeed, when in May 2023 Buhari commissioned the Dangote Refinery, which was far from being ready to produce fuel, Nigeria’s Head of State re-affirmed the readiness of the Federal Government to supply all the crude the refinery would need. It was a colossal executive lie.”

The article ended as follows:

 “Four, disbelieving Kyari, Mr Heineken Lokpobiri and the FG, when they issue assurances is the beginning of wisdom.

Five, Nigerians should accept that the promise of domestic sustainable fuel sufficiency will continue to elude us as long as we have serial dissemblers in charge of our petroleum sector. Mr Heineken was still telling participants at an event in January this year that Nigeria would soon be pumping out 2mbpd of crude – even when daily production figures in January gave the lie to the announcement. Primary school arithmetic could have proved to all of them that 650,000 to Dangote and 445,000 barrels to NNPCL’s refineries are incompatible with Nigeria’s current fiscal and monetary programmes.”

MELE KYARI WILL NOW KNOW HIS TRUE FRIENDS

 “The yes-man is the enemy. Your true friend will argue with you; fight with you” – Aleksander Solzhenitsyn, 1918-2003.

Mele Kyari, like most Nigerian top office holders, was not immune to the flattery which some of media men heap on such fortunate men. Almost everyone wants to be on their good books – for obvious reasons. Unless they are naturally abrasive, the parade of praise singers is endless. Giant strides are always being made by those known to be generous. You must be self-assured to criticise them; and even your criticism might not be published. For every critic, there are ten ready to swear on their mother’s grave that the officer is a top performer – until the man leaves office for any reason. Then, he will discover how few friends he had. One example will help illustrate the loneliness of the ex-top official. When was the last time you read anyone in the media or heard on television or radio commending Godwin Emefiele, former Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN? In the first quarter of 2022, a group of people took out a series of advertisements in all the newspapers and some television stations urging the man to run for President. The Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria, RIFAN, paid N100 million for his nomination form. Some members of his ethnic group joined the call for Emefiele to run. Each and everyone of the associations or individuals based their position on the wonderful work he had done as CBN Governor; how he single-handedly saved the economy from Buhari’s incompetence; made Nigeria almost self-sufficient in rice production etc, etc. Critics, like me, were regarded as nuisance; and Emefiele himself might have regarded us as enemies. Today, as he is dragged from one court to another; faces several cases and more might be on the way, he must be wondering: Where are my friends? Where were the Youths asking Emefiele to run? Has RIFAN been disbanded? Why are they not ready to testify in court to his greatness in order to balance out all the negative stuff prosecutors are setting out – rightly or wrongly – to bring a disastrous end to what should otherwise have been a glorious career? I pity Mele Kyari. If he is indicted by a deep probe into NNPCL accounts, he will discover how few friends he really had. Some have stopped calling already. The first to vanish will be his media “admirers”. The “pot of gold” has dropped from his hands into Ojulari’s lap. It is not in the interest of bounty hunters to defend an ex-officer and antagonise the fellow now able to pay. The decent beneficiaries of his generosities will not attack him directly. But, not all. He should be prepared to, henceforth, read and hear things about himself which he never thought will see the light of day. Falling off mount Everest is not easy.

PA IRO OMORODION, 1939-2025, HONOURABLE JOURNALIST

“Everyone calls himself a friend, but, only a fool relies on it. Nothing is commoner than the name; nothing is rarer than the thing” – Jean De La Fontaine, 1621-1695.

Have you ever had a friend, who you never met, talked to almost every week on the phone for over 12 years? Pa Iro Omorodion, who passed on recently and would be buried on Friday, April 11, 2025, was the second of such associations that I have been privileged to have. The first was Cecil Jones, a Jamaican artist; who was my pen friend from 1965 to 1997; before he too left me feeling empty. Pa Omorodion, incidentally, was a well-established Nigerian journalist; who, by any measure known to man, was very good and successful. Unfortunately, about the only person alive who would remember him is Chief Segun Osoba, former Governor of Ogun State. But, before Osoba became Governor, he was Editor of the HERALD Newspapers; owned by the Kwara State Government. State newspapers, in those halcyon days, were professionally managed. That was why it was possible for Osoba, an Abeokuta man, and Iro, from Bendel State, to work for a Northern paper. Omorodion, however, stayed longer than Osoba. Before Herald, he had worked for defunct Morning Post for six years; New Nigerian Newspapers for a year; before putting 17 years into the service of the HERALD. Altogether, he had been in media for 26 years; rising from Reporter to Line Editor; before spending sixteen years as a Special Assistant to Dr S. O. Ogbemudia, the Governor who made Bendel great – during the Gowon administration. 

Our friendship started from him; when one Sunday he called to discuss my column that day. He partly agreed; partly disagreed but in each case he outlined his reasons in a professional manner. He was back the next Sunday and the next and the next…At one point, I decided not to pick his calls; but he persisted. Then, it dawned on me that I was listening reluctantly to someone who was an encyclopaedia on Nigeria’s political history – especially the years 1964 to 1974 – when I was away in America. He became my teacher and my Librarian; who was giving me free tutorials which enriched my articles immensely. Conscious of my ignorance of what happened during the Civil War, 1967-70, I called and relied more on his knowledge and experience as a Reporter and State Editor. Few people realised it, but, the people of the Midwest, later called Bendel, and much later, divided into Delta and Edo, suffered more than anybody else. They were brutalised by Biafran soldiers on their way to Ore; and ravaged again when Igbo soldiers were in retreat. Federal troops in pursuit of the fleeing Biafrans added heaps of salt upon Mid-Western injuries. Bendelites were the real victims of a war started by others without their consent. Pa Omorodion taught me that heart-rending lesson; and, it should not die with him.

Finally, the friendship blossomed to the point where not receiving his call or calling him meant my Sunday was not complete. I never felt closer to a person who I never met. Now, I can understand why Ogbemudia, a hard task master, who did not suffer fools gladly, kept him for sixteen years. He is such a rare gem, a beautiful soul that I wish he lived for ever – for my sake, if not for anyone else. May his gentle soul rest in perpetual peace. 

The name ‘Labour Party’ is usually adopted by political parties across the globe, that are linked more to democratic socialism. Such parties are traditionally allied with trade unions, labour movements or progressive alliances. Labour Parties are quite popular in strong democracies such as the UK where it has produced outstanding government leaders like Harold Wilson, James Callaghan, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and now Keir Starmer. But in a few developing societies, where democracy is yet to be institutionalized, some politicians are now known to seethe Labour Party as a platform for gaining power only to acquire personal gains. Nigeria’s Labour Party has displayed this tendency since 2023 when many candidates who had no progressive background surprisingly won elections through the party’s platform. 

Last week, a large crowd of the most credible faction of the party approached the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC to declare their authentic leadership in line with the decision of the Supreme Court that only a political party can determine such internal political matter. The group which showed up at INEC included the party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 general election, Peter Obi and his running mate, Datti Ahmed. Governor Alex Oti of Abia state the party’s only current state governor as well as many other strong members of the party were also part of the team that visited the electoral body for the same purpose. One would have thought that the show of strength by the group would have persuaded other members to fall in line but that hardly happens in Nigeria where politicians cherish the act of disputing issues for life.

Julius Abure, the former National Chairman of the LP has a group of rather inconsequential supporters who are yet to appreciate the futility of refusing to know when an era ends. They have continued to issue press statements rejecting the popular position so as to hold-on to power. In other climes, Abure who is himself a lawyer would not encourage the unending damage to the party’s image. More than a year ago, Oluchi Opara, the party’s National Treasurer, accused Abure, of squandering N3billion out of the N3.5billion raised for the 2023 election campaigns. Rather than step aside for an independent audit team to clear him of the allegation, he got the party to set up a disciplinary committee which suspended Opara for six months, for making allegations against the national chairman of the party. 

To establish clearly that Nigeria does not have a real Labour Party, let’s compare what happened last week with the UK’s Labour Party.  The story that way was that the UK British Police in Avon and Somerset arrested a Labour Parliamentarian, Dan Norris, on suspicion of sexual offences and misconduct in a public office. As a result, MP Norris was immediately placed on suspension by the party to reflect its zero tolerance for corruption. Aptly put, Norris was still under investigation when a suspension notice was entered against him just as he also lost his position as party whip in the House of Commons. Whereas the punishment would appear hasty, the Labour Party which claims to belong to the masses and the working class cannot afford to have a legislator that can be accused of such criminal offences. In other words, any politician wanting to stand for election under LP’s platform must be conscious of the party’s high moral standards.

In Nigeria on the other hand, the holder of the top most office of the LP was over a year ago reported to have mismanaged over N3.5 billion raised from the party’s sale of nomination forms for the 2023 general elections. According to the National Treasurer of the party who is best positioned to know the facts, “apart from the proceeds of the sale of forms from his home state of Edo – which was diverted to Mr Abure’s private accounts, he only declared N55 million to me as Treasurer, of the over N3.5 billion raised, pocketing the rest for himself.” Till today, the public has not been told what was done to the suspect and no effort was made by the executive committee of the party to publish the party’s expenditures that could dispel wrong allegations. Being a criminal matter, no one has heard of any progress report by the law enforcement agencies on the subject. Yet, the case concerns a Labour Party that ought to be more transparent than capitalist inclined parties.

Another reason why Nigerians cannot hold the LP in high esteem is the unexpected cross-carpeting perpetuated by its elected office holders more than any other opposition party. About five months ago when no less than 6 members of the National Assembly elected under the platform of the LP defected, the party cried out in vain for the seats of the legislators to be declared vacant. Frustrated, the LP opened a ‘Hall of Shame’ register for the particular lawmakers or any lawmaker or elected officer of the party who engages in fraudulent act of defection without first dropping the mandate gotten under the ticket of the party.

But why are LP legislators engaging in what the party calls ‘Jumpology’ – an ideology of the jumping of political merchants and opportunists from one party to the other, in disregard to the enabling laws and without any ideological leaning. 

The claim that several crises in the LP can justify the carpet crossing hobby by many of its members is not a strong point. To start with, even the ruling party has its own challenges – one of its founding fathers recently moved to another party. Indeed, all Nigerian political parties are the same because the movements by politicians which are happening across board are uniform and are informed by the strong desire to join which ever platform appears more stable and supported in a given location. Political crises are thus not the most persuasive reasons for defection; if they were, everyone would have since moved. The fact that the LP which has lost many members to other parties, has itself received defectors to its own fold in Abia, its area of strength is instructive. The truth therefore is that Nigeria’s political system operates in a mercantilist industry.

Many Nigerians believe that the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC and its predecessor, the Peoples Democratic, PDP are two sides of the same coin. Consequently, many looked forward with excitement to the Labour Party winning the 2023 election. That however did not happen making us all to imagine that the LP will be the authentic opposition party that would put the government on its toes to ensure good governance. Painfully, the elected LP members did not only fail to live up to expectation, they also generally colluded with the capitalists by being active participants in the negatives of the Assembly. They pocketed their share of luxury official vehicles at a time of the nation’s economic vulnerability and left no one in doubt that they were an integral part of the opulence of the ruling class and were thus uninterested in helping to salvage the nation from political extortion. 

While it is true that many of the ills of the LP are also perpetuated by other parties, no one expected that the party would not be different from other politicians. On the issue of court judgments for example, it is a matter for regret that labour politicians are leading others in refusing to understand court judgments and indeed actively misinforming the public on the exact pronouncements by the judiciary. This was probably why the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) had to openly condemn the Abure-led LP for rejecting the apex court’s ruling which ‘explicitly dismissed Abure’s cross-appeal seeking judicial endorsement of his leadership claim.’ The writers are disappointed that rather than stepping down, Abure has continued to operate as chairman, deepening divisions and confusion within the party.

It is time for Nigerians to recognize the unfortunate collusion of the political class and aggressively stand up against antidemocratic practices by any of them. First, our judiciary needs to cut off the undue room previously given to politicians to judicialize our politics. We all know that no Nigerian political party has been so overwhelmed to warrant defections from any of them. Therefore, political office holders especially legislators who defect should be compelled to step down from office without delay as the constitution directs. In the case of leadership tussles, INEC which is empowered to regulate political parties should promptly reject impostors, sit-tight leaders and all those prompted by outside forces to take-over their parties so as to destabilize such parties.

In the ever-evolving landscape of global diplomacy, the role of ambassadors is both critical and multifaceted. They represent their countries, foster alliances, and serve as intermediaries in negotiations that could shape the course of history. Ambassadors are more than emissaries; they are strategists, negotiators, and cultural envoys. For a nation like Nigeria, with its immense potential and complex challenges, the selection of ambassadors carries significant implications for its global standing. Yet, the practice of appointing ambassadors based on partisan politics rather than competence and experience poses a significant risk to the nation’s interests.

The appointment of ambassadors as a function of political patronage is not unique to Nigeria, but its consequences are particularly pronounced in countries where the stakes are high. Nigeria’s vibrant economy, cultural richness, and regional influence in Africa demand a diplomatic corps that is not only knowledgeable but also deeply invested in advancing the nation’s strategic goals. However, the trend of prioritizing political loyalty over expertise has often resulted in the appointment of individuals who may lack the requisite skills for effective diplomacy.

Ambassadors are the face and voice of a nation on the international stage. They are tasked with representing their country’s interests in foreign nations and multilateral organisations. Their responsibilities range from negotiating trade agreements to advocating for their country’s positions on global issues. This pivotal role requires a unique blend of skills, including cultural intelligence, negotiation prowess, and a deep understanding of international relations.

In Nigeria’s case, the importance of ambassadors cannot be overstated. As Africa’s most populous country and largest economy, Nigeria wields considerable influence. Its ambassadors must be equipped to leverage this influence to secure favorable trade deals, attract foreign investment, and build strategic partnerships. They must also work to enhance Nigeria’s image, counter negative stereotypes, and address misconceptions about the country.

Ambassadors also play a key role in regional stability. Nigeria is often referred to as the “giant of Africa,” a status that comes with responsibilities. Nigerian ambassadors must be proactive in promoting peace and security across the continent, particularly in regions plagued by conflict. They must engage in diplomatic efforts to resolve disputes, support democratic governance, and advocate for regional integration.

When ambassadorial appointments are dictated by partisan politics, the focus shifts from merit to loyalty. This practice undermines the effectiveness of the nation’s diplomatic efforts. Individuals appointed based on political affiliations may lack the necessary experience or qualifications to navigate the complexities of international relations. Their inability to effectively represent Nigeria’s interests can result in missed opportunities and, in some cases, diplomatic blunders.

For instance, an inexperienced ambassador may struggle to engage with key stakeholders or fail to grasp the nuances of their host country’s political and cultural landscape. This can hinder their ability to build meaningful relationships, negotiate effectively, or advocate for Nigeria’s interests. In the long run, such shortcomings can erode Nigeria’s standing in the international community.

Moreover, partisan appointments often create an atmosphere of inconsistency in Nigeria’s foreign policy. When ambassadors are replaced with each change in administration, the nation’s diplomatic agenda risks becoming fragmented. Continuity is essential in diplomacy, and frequent changes in personnel can disrupt ongoing initiatives and weaken Nigeria’s credibility.

Experience in diplomacy is not a luxury; it is a necessity. Seasoned diplomats bring a wealth of knowledge, established networks, and a proven track record of success. They are better equipped to anticipate challenges, seize opportunities, and navigate the intricacies of international relations.

An experienced ambassador understands the importance of building trust and credibility with host nations. They are skilled in the art of negotiation, capable of securing favorable outcomes for their country while maintaining positive relationships. Their expertise allows them to handle sensitive issues with finesse, avoiding potential conflicts and fostering mutual understanding.

In addition to their professional skills, experienced ambassadors possess a deep cultural sensitivity that enables them to connect with people from diverse backgrounds. This quality is particularly important for Nigeria, a country with a rich and diverse cultural heritage. An ambassador who appreciates and promotes Nigeria’s cultural wealth can enhance the nation’s image and strengthen its soft power.

Ambassadors are not just political and economic emissaries; they are also cultural ambassadors. They play a crucial role in promoting their country’s culture, values, and traditions. Cultural diplomacy is a powerful tool for building bridges between nations and fostering mutual respect and understanding.

For Nigeria, cultural diplomacy holds immense potential. The nation’s vibrant music, literature, fashion, and cuisine have captured the world’s attention. Ambassadors who can effectively showcase Nigeria’s cultural richness can help attract tourism, foster cultural exchange, and enhance the nation’s global reputation. This requires individuals who are not only passionate about their country’s culture but also skilled in presenting it in a way that resonates with diverse audiences.

To safeguard Nigeria’s interests and maximize the potential of its diplomatic efforts, it is essential to prioritize merit and experience in ambassadorial appointments. A merit-based system would ensure that ambassadors are selected based on their qualifications, expertise, and track record, rather than their political affiliations.

This system could involve a rigorous vetting process, including evaluations of candidates’ knowledge of international relations, negotiation skills, and cultural intelligence. It could also include training programs to equip ambassadors with the tools they need to succeed in their roles. By investing in the development of its diplomatic corps, Nigeria can build a team of ambassadors who are not only capable but also committed to advancing the nation’s strategic goals.

Furthermore, Nigeria should strive for consistency in its foreign policy. This requires a long-term vision that transcends political cycles. Ambassadors should be given the time and support they need to implement their initiatives and achieve meaningful results. By reducing the frequency of changes in personnel, Nigeria can enhance continuity and credibility in its diplomatic efforts.

The appointment of ambassadors is a critical decision that has far-reaching implications for a nation’s diplomatic success. For Nigeria, a country with immense potential and significant challenges, it is imperative to prioritize experience and expertise in ambassadorial appointments. By doing so, Nigeria can ensure that its ambassadors are equipped to represent the nation effectively, build meaningful relationships, and advance its strategic interests.

Partisan politics has no place in diplomacy. The stakes are too high, and the consequences of incompetence are too great. By embracing a merit-based approach to ambassadorial appointments, Nigeria can strengthen its diplomatic corps, enhance its global standing, and unlock the full potential of its international engagements. Diplomacy is an art and a science, and it demands the best minds and the most capable hands. For Nigeria, the path to a brighter future begins with putting diplomacy above politics.

At this juncture, it is expedient to clarify that inspiration to express this view was prompted by a recent news which has it that the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs has urged the public to ignore a rumored list of ambassadorial nominees circulating on social media, labeling it as untrue and deceptive.

In a recent statement, the Ministry’s Acting Spokesperson, Kimiebi Imomotimi Ebienfa, emphasized that the authority to appoint ambassadors lies solely with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. The statement further clarified that no formal nominations have been made so far.

“Please disregard the commotion about the ambassadorial list,” the statement read. “Rest assured, once finalized, the President will forward the list of nominees to the National Assembly for screening and confirmation.”

The ministry reassured citizens that once an official list is ready, the public would be informed through proper channels.

This clarification comes amidst growing interest in Nigeria’s diplomatic representation, particularly following the recall of all ambassadors in September 2023.

Three men were arrested after Rivers State House of Assembly was burned down by unknown arsonists have alleged that their lives have remained under threat after they were discharged and acquitted by a court.

The discharged persons, Chime Ezebalike, Kenneth Kpasa, Prince Oladele Lukman, and MacPherson Olumini, who spoke in Port Harcourt, alleged that those against the suspended Governor Siminialayi Fubara and Edison Ehie, his Chief of Staff, were the ones behind the threat.

Speaking, Ezebalike, on behalf of others, said the decided to talk to journalists in order to clarify issues on the burning of the Rivers State Assembly.
Ezebalike noted that they were offered N200 million to implicate Edison in the matter.

Torture

Ezebalike stated that they were tortured by police because they refused to implicate Edison or any other person that is linked to the governor in the arson.

He narrated: “Our offence was because we refused to frame individuals, including the Chief of Staff to the Rivers State Government, Rt. Hon. Edison Ehie, as masterminds behind the Rivers State House of Assembly inferno.

Starting from December 2023 we: Chime Ezebalike, Kenneth Kpasa, Prince Oladele Lukman, and MacPherson Olumini were individually and collectively subjected to arrest, intimidation, physical assault, psychological torture.

“All of this happened between December 5, 2023, and January 16, 2024. At some point, we were offered bribes in exchange for our freedom even though it was clear that we had committed no offence that warranted our being arrested and detained.

“Three of us, Chime, Kenneth, and Oladele are known associates of Rt. Hon. Ehie Edison and Hon. Sokari Goodboy, while MacPherson was an unfortunate victim of mere proximity. Our ordeal began with the arbitrary arrest of Oladele Lukman on December 5, 2023.

On December 16, Chime and MacPherson were violently apprehended at Ogbakiri Junction along the East-West Road while returning from a funeral in Ahoada.

“On January 5, 2024, Kenneth Kpasa was forcefully taken in GRA, Port Harcourt, by a convoy of no fewer than three Hilux vans. We were blindfolded and taken to the Federal-Intelligence Response Team (F-IRT) unit along the Eastern Bypass in Port Harcourt, under the false pretense that the vehicle we were travelling in was stolen.”

Ezebalike noted that they were accused of being behind the killing of the DPO of Ahoada Police Division, Bako Angbashim, adding that it was a ploy to coerce them into implicating the Fubara’s loyalist.

[Opinion Nigeria]

At his ancient ‘imperial’ home in Molete, Ibadan last Thursday, I wrote in the condolence register: “He was a man, like French philosopher, Voltaire, who had trapped inside a single skull the brains of generations”.

When I met Victor Omololu Sowemimo Olunloyo (VOS) for the first time in 1995, the facade of scales that decorated my eyes about him began to drop. If you followed the 1983 Nigerian elections, especially in the old Oyo State, you couldn’t like VOS. Gradually, on meeting him visiting the newsroom of the Nigerian Tribune, all negative typecasts of him began to thaw and flow away like a huge ice in the sun. By the time he died last week Sunday, with 30 years in between for me to learn and unlearn all the political profiling he was festooned with, I am left with the impression of a maverick, humanist and a Voltaire, the pseudonym of François-Marie Arouet.

Unlike many members of the political class of his time, Olunloyo was a humanist par excellence and who, like Voltaire, had wit sewn to his soul. He was a man high up there who was very much at home with the low. He engaged ordinary reporters like us and never bothered to go in to see our editors. If, like Voltaire did in February 1778 when his presumed death was afoot, Olunloyo had same opportunity to write his own epithet, his would be similar to this French philosopher of the Enlightenment who wrote, “I die adoring God, loving my friends, not hating my enemies, and detesting superstition.” Though Olunloyo was a mathematician and a scientist, he however didn’t, like Ludwig Wittgenstein, abhor metaphysics.

When I visited him in 2022 at the University College Hospital, (UCH) in the company of another mentee of his, Lasisi Olagunju, amid rumours that he had passed, it was difficult not to believe that his time of departure had not come. Heavily intubated with an oxygen ‘noose’ across his nose, upon sighting me, his wit was at its octane. “Iwo boy onikokuko yi ti de” (You this satanic writer has come”, he said, wearing his trademark mask of a smile that was native to only him.

Last Sunday when the news of his demise exploded like a bomb, downcast, I saw it as confirmation of my 30-year-old fear. Whenever Olunloyo died, I voiced out several times in the last three decades, humanity would be witnessing the gutting of a modern-ancient library. I asked everyone in sight how we could download him all that was inside his brain before death came calling. My wish couldn’t fructify. Whether as an interviewee or guest at his Molete home, you would scoop tomes of knowledge from history, philosophy, music, science, engineering, mathematics to religion and associated disciplines; knowledge which you may never encounter in books.

I remember him once narrating to me how Bode Thomas died, the hospital he was taken to and how he eventually succumbed to the death that killed him after a strange person visited him.

So, on Thursday, his gardener of over two decades told us that a few days before his death, Olunloyo told him to go clean up the library – and he did. But the connoisseur of knowledge never got near that house of books by the time death came. When I heard and reflected on this, it dawned on me that the totality of VOS’s life was wrapped around books. Tears in his misty eyes, Salisu, a native of Kano, did not know the time he stuttered, “Daddy ya tefi!” To Olunloyo, humanity knows no tribe, and was borderless in his consideration. Samson, his driver of over three decades, also doubled as his librarian. Many times, when VOS, sitting in his library, asked him to go pick a book from a particular section of the shelf and the driver told him it was not there, Olunloyo, who knew the geography of virtually all his books and the particular shelves where they were, told Samson he must have rearranged it.

Olagunju told me another story which encapsulated his lifelong bonding with books. His walks were circumscribed by the wheelchair on which he was bound, one day in January this year when he went to Molete to meet Olunloyo, he was shocked to see him on the second floor of the building where his library is situated. How did he get there? Intuitively conscious, he told Olagunju he could see from his eyes that he was not happy seeing him being carried up and down the stairs. Olunloyo then muttered, “Agba niyen” – that is old age for you.

He had a stroke in 2022 and was presumed dead. He came back from coma to joke about that electrifying moment. We were there in Molete with him; Olagunju, myself and Dupe Olubanjo. “What did you see when you ‘died’?” Olagunju asked him. He cast a look at the journalist and said: “Nothing. I saw nothing.”

The last time I saw Olunloyo was towards the end of last year, at his Molete home. Frail, totally grizzled and sitting on a wheelchair, his voice rang like a nightingale’s and his intellect razor sharp. It was a confirmation that though the body had become complicit in the ploy to whittle him, what lay inside of him was stronger than that ploy. His wit was undiminished with his brilliance intact. 

VOO was a humanist to the core. Inside the condolence register opened for him in Molete was the testament of a woman who, in 1994, as a reporter with the Tribune newspaper,  lost her child at birth. Olunloyo heard of it and looked for her and paid her family a visit. When the woman eventually had another baby, VOO drove down to Tribune to celebrate with her. He then narrated the chilling story of a relation of his who had a similar experience but never had a child again. Olunloyo gave the lady journalist a sum that was more than what she earned as salary.

Still on our Thursday condolence visit to his Molete home. It was heartwarming seeing the peace and amity of Olunloyo’s large family, a total disconnect from the madness rustled up by one of theirs on the social media. We met Gbenga, Funke and Olunloyo’s eldest child, extremely gracious and cool Auntie Yemi who proudly announced herself to us as 001. We met these well-read, well-bred and well-turnout children of our dead old friend who came home from across the world to celebrate the enviable memory of their dad. We met them in very high spirits. They were manifestly happy that they were bequeathed a legacy of purity, humanity and loving fatherhood. It was a delight that their bond could not be defined nor impeached by the obvious alien typecast of their father by some daughter whose presence of mind is on its usual flight.

Goodnight, our own Voltaire.

In July, 2006, John Street, Emeritus Professor in the School of Politics, Philosophy, Language and Communication Studies at the United States’ University of East Anglia, received a call from Wilfred Ngunjiri Nderitu, Chairman of the Kenyan International Commission of Jurists (ICJ). Nderitu wanted Street to be an expert witness in a trial before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). Simon Bikindi, a Rwandan musician, accused of inciting genocide via his songs during the 1994 Hutu-Tutsi war, was on trial. Bikindi, a Hutu from Gisenyi, same region where assassinated Rwandan president, Juvenal Habyarimana, whose airplane was downed shortly before the genocide, was prominent in Rwanda in the 1980s and 1990s. By the time of the genocide, Bikindi had a renown of composing and singing popular music songs, a mixture of rap and folk songs. He was described as having “elliptical lyrics and catchy tunes” and sang them in English, French and native Kinyarwanda. Bikindi was alleged to have sang songs played on Radio Television Libre des Mille Collines which incited genocide. He was also alleged to have associated with the extremist Hutu paramilitary militia Interahamwe which butchered Tutsis in their thousands.

At the end of the prolonged trial, though convicted, Bikindi could not be indicted on account of his songs with the title, “Nanga Abahutu,” – “I hate these Hutus”. Thus, on charge of “conspiracy to commit genocide,” having “composed, sang, recorded or distributed musical works extolling Hutu solidarity and accusing Tutsis of enslaving Hutus,” he was acquitted. He was however convicted for complicity to commit genocide, the court having confirmed that, prior to the genocide, Bikindi “consulted President Habyarimana” and, “during the 100 days of genocide from 7 April to 14 July 1994, Bikindi participated personally in the killings, both in Kigali and Gisenyi prefecture, and helped to recruit and organize Interahamwe militias.” While sentencing Bikindi to 15 years imprisonment in December 2008, though proved beyond reasonable doubt that he participated in the killings, the court dismissed the charge that his songs had an inciting character. Corroborating this, Professor John Street, as well as the court, held that the charge of an inciting song was problematic “because of the troubling possibility of an artist being arbitrarily prosecuted for his work, art being open to a variety of interpretations.”

In his Music and politics, (2012) Prof Street says the divide between music and politics is very thin. Though this was not its first, the recent ban slammed by the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) on Eedris Abdulkareem’s newly released song, ‘Seyi, Tell Your Papa’ has roused Nigerians to look out through the window to see the unholy dalliance between the Nigerian state and a defunct USSR organisation similar to the NBC called Gosteleradio. In a letter to all radio stations in Nigeria, the NBC banned airing of the song on all Nigerian airwaves, according to it, for violation of the tenets of its regulatory code.

When a protest song like Abdulkareem’s is censored by political power, or criminalized as was done in the Bikindi song’s trial, it reveals the paranoia of states and political regimes. Music does not just provide power of political expression, says Street, music is that expression. Unlike the hen and egg causal mystery, it is bad governance, governmental deception and authoritarianism that give birth to protest songs and not vice versa. It reminds me of three traditional chiefs, the Jagùnnà, Àró and the Odofin. When flies bit the Jagùnnà, the two other chiefs pretended they did not hear but when the time comes and the Jagùnnà began to barbecue the flies, both Àró and Ọ̀dọ̀fin cry blue murder. So, why are Villa’s Àró and Ọ̀dọ̀fin scared now when the people’s plights find expression in the lyrics of their bards?

The issues Abdulkareem dwelt on in that song litter the Nigerian street. He sang:“Seyi, how far? I swear your papa, no try—there are too many empty promises. On behalf of Nigerians, take our message to him. Kidnappers dey kill Nigerians. Try to travel by road without your security makes you feel the pains of fellow Nigerians. You dey fly private jets, insecurity no be your problem”. The song centres on mis-governance, hopelessness, deception, despair, failure and tyrannical power. Abdulkareem merely implored Tinubu’s spoilt brat child, Seyi, who he berated for embarking on an infantile combing of Nigerian northern states in gleaming automobiles, to dispatch his message to his father. It is a bold and courageous deployment of music as a tool and weapon of political commentary By the way, I am curious at why Seyi’s crowd-sourcing is centered in the north and not the south? Was it because he needed the Rankadede genuflection which he can get in the north but can never have in the south where such groveling before father and son is an anathema?

This takes me to Uganda. In Africa’s world of the 1970s, awash with military despotism, Uganda stood out. The famous unwritten cliche about Africa was, “look towards Uganda.” It was a country of hyperbole, metaphor, symbolism and oxymoron. In Uganda, you had the grotesque, the weird and the outright bizarre rolled into a single ball. It was a theatre of the surreal. Like the mountainous size of its despot, Idi Amin Dada, Uganda was huge on the laughable. For instance, to demonstrate his male power dominance, Dada sent love letters to Queen Elizabeth II of England, asking for her hand in marriage so that he could become the King of Scotland. He indeed conferred himself with the title, “Conqueror of the British Empire”. To demonstrate this, he physically rode his elephantine weight on the backs of British workers in Kampala. At the peak of his squabble with Tanzanian leader, Julius Nyerere, Amin sent a love letter telegram to Nyerere. In it, he described the man famously known as Walimu as such a good and sultry fellow, so much that if  was a woman, he would give serious consideration to marrying him, regardless of his grizzled head.

Nigeria is today wearing the shoes of Idi Amin Dada’s Uganda. All manner of the laughable and grotesque ooze out from Nigeria’s imperial palace. The global tariff war, borne out of Donald Trump’s implacable narcissism, is raging like a typhoon. The world is scampering to escape the wrath of its Achilles’ hill, a man labeled reincarnate of Adolf Hitler, whose own Aryan race – superior specimen of mankind – slogan is, Make America Great Again. Country leaders are dousing tensions, physically addressing their citizens and assuring them of home-grown ways out of the projected global economic tribulation. Ours is trapped in the beautiful city of Paris, hiding behind a finger of a claim that he is on “working visit”. But, why is Paris the beautiful bride of African leaders’ excitement? Decades ago, Mobutu Desire-Sese Seko, the Congolese tyrant, also made Paris his nesting comfort, spending Congo’s national patrimony on extravagant shopping trips in Paris and flying supersonic Concorde aircraft. Someday when we calculate Nigeria’s wealth squandered on this Paris hospice fancy, it may rival Mobutu’s.

When you look at the Abdulkareem song ban in its totality, you will realize that a tragic paradox is slowly building today in Nigeria. It is an electoral route to authoritarianism which comes through an off-the-cuff rise of institutions that make themselves the “Aj’itọ Ọba” of imperial power. In old Oyo empire, with a system of infallibility and God-ordained status of the monarch, the Aj’itọ Ọba confirmed the All-mightiness and deity attribution of the king. He is entrusted with the role of licking the king’s spittle. He cleaned the monarch’s mess and dared not exhibit any form of revulsion to it. Today, what a smart despot does is to make state institutions lend themselves as executioners of democracy. This reminds me of Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt’s submission in their How democracies die that those who assassinate democracy use its very institutions to gradually, subtly and even legally, kill it.

Freedom of expression, of course, with its caveats, is a major kernel of democracy. When autocrats set out on a path of strangulating democracy, the first thing they do is to muffle free speech. During the rules of Amins, Sani Abachas, Francisco Macìas Nguemas, et al, their terror against freedom of expression was overt. Now, with the world being a global village, institutional tyrannies have been on the upswing. They are buoyed by Italian philosopher, Antonio Gramsci’s theory of cultural hegemony which teaches tyrants that, in the bid to put a leash on voices of dissents, cultural institutions and ideas, rather than just raw brute and force, hold the key. Institutions are gradually replacing the Aj’itọ Ọba, becoming the new lickspittle of imperial power.

As the ‘mass’ in the mass media is being gradually corroded over the decades, chief among its reasons being economic meltdown, the radio and the social media have conveniently become the media outlets with the ‘mass’ of the 21st century. Their audiences are spontaneous, massive and equal the audience of newspaper press of the 20th and early 21sr centuries. It is why the attention of modern totalitarian governments is focused on them. They find them easy objects to tweak in the service of personal rule. The NBC, the regulatory body for broadcasting in Nigeria, has become a formidable lickspittle of presidential power. From the days of Muhammadu Buhari, the NBC has helped gag free speech. It capitalizes on its role as an industry regulator, entrusted with the business of regulating and controlling the levers of broadcasting industry in Nigeria to do this.

NBC was patterned after the “Gosteleradio”. An abbreviation for the Russian “State Committee for Television and Radio Broadcasting of the Soviet Union” which was in existence from 1931, until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Joseph Stalin used it to stave off dissent against his infernal rule. The NBC has acted same way. Gosteleradio was the primary state body responsible for overseeing all television and radio broadcasting in the Soviet Union. A powerful organization which exerted significant control over all broadcasts within the defunct USSR, Gosteleradio served as the central authority for decision-making related to broadcasting content, forcefully maintaining a stranglehold on broadcast content’s alignment with the state’s ideology and political goals.

Thus, like the Gosteleradio, Nigerian broadcasters narrate their agonizing ordeals under the NBC as akin to Third Reich’s. NBC is an Omnipotent power with millions of ears like a sieve (ab’etilukara bi ajere). Like a Gestapo, it snouts round for infractions. Aware of the power of financial emasculation to broadcast stations, every word spoken against presidential power on radio is tantamount to treason. Fines, like gags on the mouths of captives in the trans-Atlantic slave trade era, are slammed on stations which dare broadcast criticisms of imperial power.

It is not as if the folks at the NBC are not equally recipients of the mis-governance that has become ten a dime in the polity. It is not that their lives have not witnessed phenomenal regression since 2023. NBC’s readiness to lend itself as platform for criminalization of free speech is a pattern noticeable at the outset of authoritarianism. Some weeks ago, the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) did same when it forced a youth corps member to apologize for voicing her frustration with the Nigerian economy.

The folks at the NBC are not unaware that banning Abdulkareem’s song will increase its listening audience. Like the Aj’itọ Ọba, the name of the game is grovelling by an authoritarian power inclined towards stomping on dissent. Banning of songs by artists by dictatorial governments has never worked. It makes it available to a wider spectrum of inquisitive audience whose minds cohere with the message in the banned songs.

As it is happening today with Abdulkareem’s song, in June 1976, as response to victimization by Jamaican police of smokers of cannabis and as a political push for its legalization due to its medical use, Jamaican reggae musician, Peter Tosh, released his debut studio album named Legalize It. He even predicted in an interview in 1978 that “Herb will become like cigarettes”. The Jamaican government immediately banned the album from being aired on radio or television. After its release in 1976 in America, the album appeared on the Billboard 200 album chart for two weeks and peaked at No 199. Twenty three years after, it was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, having sold more than one million copies. It was also included in the 2005 book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

For a government that wants the people to continually say Rankadede to those who purvey hunger and despondency, we need more of  Eedris Abdulkareem. The letters of the acquittal of Simon Bikindi (not his actual involvement in the Rwandan genocide) show that protest music is not criminal. It is soothing to the souls of suffering people.

UNDOUBTEDLY, the United States’ President Donald Trump does not appear to be a man of peace. He does not even care to be seen as such. Trump is cast in the mould of someone who loves a fight and is always in the mood to engage in one. Where there is no fight, he instigates one. Where there is no single opponent in sight, he manufactures many. His tariffs threaten to up-end the world economy; the signals are already there but rather than back down, he forges ahead with more of the same. This, then, is the proverbial coconut leaf; the more you boil it, the harder it gets. The world groans but Trump gloats! Assailed on all fronts by foes and allies alike, all reeling from the negative effects of his tariffs war, Trump struts rather than let off steam. This, then, is the proverbial palm frond that rejoices in the midst of thorns; the proverbial “awodi” that waxes strong, diving in and out of raging fires while the victims bemoan their losses. Orderliness, law and order, and due process do not seem to recommend themselves to Trump. Nigeria’s Ojuelegba, where the iconic Afrobeat king, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, says confusion breaks bones, for sure will delight the United States’ number one citizen.

Trump is an enigma. He makes history even as he stands in the way of history being made. He is the only American president to have had no previous political or military service before his election as president. These two critical indices usually determine success or failure in US presidential elections but Trump skipped them both. He then went on to beat Hilary Clinton, wife of former President Bill Clinton and the woman many had thought would make history as the United States’ first woman president. Trump lost the popular vote in the 2016 presidential election by a whopping 2.87 million votes but won the electoral college with a commanding 304 votes against Hillary’s 227. He thus became the fifth US president that lost the popular vote but won the electoral college; after John Quincy Adams (1824), Rutherford B. Hayes (1876), Benjamin Harrison (1888), and George W. Bush (2000).   

 When Trump lost his bid for re-election in 2020, he was not the first US president to have been so denied but he was the first to seek to bring the roof down on the head of everyone and trump democracy in the world’s largest and longest-running modern democracy. His refusal to accept the outcome of the election, concede defeat, and move on was the first of its kind in the history of the United States. How his armed supporters stormed the hallowed chambers of Congress to try to forcibly prevent the process of bringing the election to conclusion and announce the next president has gone down in history as one of its kind in the history of the United States. But for the refusal of Vice-president Mike Pence to buy into the plot, Trump might have succeeded in his bid to trump democracy in the United States.

 Trump alleged that the 2020 presidential election was rigged in favour of his Democratic challenger, Joe Biden. His failure to prove the allegation beyond all reasonable doubt apart, it was not the first time American elections had been tainted with allegations of rigging. To the outside world, the US is the bastion and beacon of democracy but in reality it also has had its frailties and faults and elections there have not always been seen to be free and fair. A recent example is the Al Gore vs George Bush election of 2000 but in none of the cases has anyone gone to Trump’s extent to subvert the democratic process, bringing the US and its democracy to ridicule and disrepute as well as lowering the country in the estimation of the international community.

 Four years after losing re-election, Trump entered the presidential race again. While many had thought his party members, the Republicans, would be ashamed of his antecedents and distance themselves from him, they handed him the party presidential ticket again; this time, in style! The party primaries were a virtual “no contest” between Trump and his half-hearted challengers and it took no time before he dusted all of them and coasted home to victory. Even at that, no one gave Trump the chance of a come-back, what with the tons of sundry allegations of corruption and moral deficiency hauled at him at every turn! He spent more time in court answering to one allegation after another than he spent on the hustings. Close allies and associates, former staff and friends broke ranks and testified against him in court; he was found guilty and convicted by courts of competent jurisdiction. Yet, Trump, undeterred, forged ahead! His, then, was the proverbial case of the vulture that feeds fat on accursed commodities and luxuriates in the midst of adversity.

 Trump made another history when he forced the sitting president and candidate of the Democratic Party, Joe Biden, to “step aside”, Babangida style, in the middle of the 2024 US presidential election. Enter Kamala Harris! At first the sitting US vice-president (to Biden) was the rave of the moment and led consistently at the opinion polls for weeks; especially so after she resoundingly defeated Trump in the televised debate both of them had. Gradually, however, Trump clawed his way back, one Lie Muhammed lies after another, until he ran neck-to-neck with Harris as Americans went to the polls. When the results were announced, it was to the chagrin of those who had wished for Harris to become the United States’ first woman president!

 Trump won both the electoral college and the popular vote. For the second time, he made history as the candidate that twice denied Americans the opportunity to produce a woman president. I am not sure that record will be easy for anyone to break. Governing the US has also been made very easy for Trump with his party controlling the majority in Congress. Few presidents before him had been so blessed.

 Trump’s ways are unorthodox – in both his internal and external policies. Complaints and protests trail him everywhere. Staunch allies and traditional friends have turned foes and opponents. Mercurial and controversial Trump is the talk-of-town everywhere. Oh, his theatrics! If you squirm at his (mis)treatment of the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, consider the bitter pills he shoved down the throat of traditional ally, Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu! Not just what he does but the way he does them! The louder the outcry, the more he tightens the screws!

 Since Trump will not relent, those at the receiving end of his tariffs war are also slamming their own tariffs on the US. Trump, rather than give up or moderate, responds with higher tariffs. In this all-out war, no one is spared. Even little Davids like Nigeria, not spared by Trump, have thrown their own feeble punches at the Goliath of our time! Where will this spat lead our world?

 The existing international order which came into existence at the end of the Second World War in 1945 has become obsolete and anachronistic. It can no longer carry the weight, as it were, of our world as presently constituted and configured. International relations or relations between state- and non-state actors alike are a function of power relations. What these power relations were in 1945 are not what they are today. Some states have dropped on the pecking order while others have climbed up the ladder. This must be reflected in a new world order that will put everyone in their rightful places. What, for instance, qualifies Britain or France as permanent members of the UN Security Council that does not qualify Germany and India?

The two levers of power in international world order are military and economic. Both resided in the United States and its Western allies in the aftermath of the 2nd World War. As the victorious powers, they presided over the fashioning of a new world order, making sure they cast it in their own image. The Soviet Union and China that played a limited role in the defeat of Adolf Hitler were allowed into the sitting room but not the inner room of the new power house. The US became the metropolitan power and Western Europe its satellites. Together, both dished out orders to the rest of the world. A restraining factor, however, has been the veto power wielded by both the Soviet Union (now Russia) and China in the UN Security Council.

 Our world is changing rapidly! It is not what it used to be 80 years ago. Power relations amongst states have undergone drastic and dramatic transformation. The US is no longer the sole nuclear power nation. We can count countries with nuclear capabilities to include the other four members of the UN Security Council, in addition to India and Pakistan. There are “rogue” nations like Israel, Iran and South Africa and others possessing the nuke or the (near)capability to join the elite club at short notice.

From time immemorial power relations have never been static; rather, they have been dynamic. Economic relations have also seen the rise and fall of nations. The nations that controlled the commerce of the world during the tenure of the League of Nations (1918 – 1939) are not the same that did in post-1945. The end of that war confirmed the US as the new powerhouse of the world. Western Europe that hitherto colonised the world, the US itself inclusive, declined in both military and economic power, took the back seat and played second fiddle to the US, becoming its most glorified cheerleaders!

 But nothing lasts forever!  History teaches that nations get to their apogee, stay there for a while, and then begin to decline. That is one. Another is that other nations make improvements, catch up and overtake the leaders. The struggle to word off competition and perpetually remain on top versus the determination to catch up and upturn the apple cart is what is unfolding before our very eyes between the United States on the one hand and the rest of the world on the other. What is amazing to many is that the US, fighting tooth and nail to maintain its hegemony, has made no distinction between age-old allies and foes alike. The reason is simple: Trump sees those allies and their feeding bottle mentality as the major cause of the decline that the US has suffered. The resources the US has poured into protecting and providing for them could have better been investing in developing the US itself.

 Trump wants to call in such investments. He wants to cut and run on international engagements that drain the US of resources needed for investment at home. The US wants to prioritize looking after its own interests now and reduce, if not totally eliminate, its self-imposed obligations of policeman of the world or the defender of so-called democratic values worldwide. It is an “America first” policy aimed at Making America Great Again! MAGA! To achieve this, Trump also wants to throw spanners in the works for the countries threatening to do the catching-up with the US, especially China, if not to completely stop them in their tracts but to at least slow them down while the US extricates itself from its self-imposed quagmire and forges ahead again.

 The rot in the US system runs deep. The inherent contradictions in its capitalist system. Decades of complacency and arrogance. Pig-headed policies that gifted its competitors the weapons they now masterfully deploy. It is debatable whether Trump is going about the fight the right way or whether he can stop or delay the meteoric rise of China and India, and, to some extent, Russia, as they position themselves individually and collectively to challenge for the leadership position of the world. Whatever is the case, a new world order beckons! Whether it will be achieved peacefully or after another war remains to be seen.      

 LAST WORD: It is instructive that in the face of Trump’s raging and rampaging tariffs war, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) has been missing in action! Headed by a Nigerian, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (she bagged a second term of office recently), Google says the WTO “is primarily responsible for administering global trade rules, providing a forum for trade negotiations, settling trade disputes, and supporting developing countries in benefitting from the global trading system”. “Market forces” and “free trade”, the well-advertised fulcrum of the capitalist system often wielded to extort and exploit developing countries, have also taken the back seat! Capitalism is a scam!  

DON’T worry, I am not hallucinating or addled. I know one-term, one-time Anambra governor, now-late Chinwoke Mbadinuju isn’t alive to witness the running Bola Tinubu Show in Rivers State, verisimilar to the wildly-popular “Family Feud” show being hosted across continents by coloured American humourist and TV personality, Steve Harvey, only that the moustached one isn’t violently-biased in his role as the man in-between. 

Mbadinuju died April 11, 2023 at 77, going into Nigeria’s political record book of the running republic as one of the first two sitting governors of the 1999 Class, to be vanquished by enraged godfathers, just like the suspended {sounds like a school boy thing} Rivers’ governor, Siminalayi Fubara. The other governor of the Class that was outclassed by his then-godfather was Borno’s Mala Kachalla. He was run out of now-defunct APP by his then-godfather Modu Ali Sherif and porting to then-South West dominated AD could not save him from becoming a one-termer. Yes, there were other losers of that time; from Gombe’s Abubakar Hashidu to five AD governors of Oyo, Osun, Ogun, Ekiti and Ondo. Olusegun Obasanjo as president of that era was running riot with assumed limitless presidential powers, knocking off constitutional guardrails planted by the framers of democratic ethos as a pushback against full-blown dictatorship. One of those who railed endlessly against Obasanjo;s perceived fascism of that time was then-governor of Lagos, a certain Bola Tinubu who was variously and widely robed as the face of the resistance of that era. Today, the then-celebrated walking bulwark against dictatorship is now president and wait for this; he is now cuddling with demented affection, the desecrating playbook of the one he brutally roasted as a fascist in agbada; the former chicken farmer who today owns a Uni!

Let’s return to Mbadinuju. After he lost to the crude mercantilist politics of his original godfather, controversial billionaire Emeka Offor and the inherited megalomaniac youthful godfather, Chris Uba, he retreated to a private life while the Obasanjo tsunami was blowing across states with targeted elected governors kissing the dust. About a year after Obasanjo had gone back to private life, a griping  Mbadinuju granted a colleague and I a very choleric interview, spewing so much anger and divulging some much about alleged events and issues of the time of his travails between 1999 and 2003, uncladding Olusegun Obasanjo not only as a dictator but an encourager of impunity, ascribing the most odious and governance oddities to the president of his time in office. He said in the peace meetings called by OBJ to mediate the crisis between him and Offor and later Uba, the then-president was just barking out orders, mandating him to kowtow to all the fraudulent, illegal and unconstitutional demands of his godfathers. He said other unprintable things. My colleague and I were just exchanging glances as he made these seemingly-outlandish claims on the record. At a point, it was as if we were being treated to a Papa Ajasco Super Story where Boy Alinco is just framing sweet nonsense to win the heart of Miss ‘Pepisco’ Pepeye, considering that he actually asked for the interview because he felt Gbenga Aruleba of AIT was always dragging him on his morning show and wanted to spill more about how Obasanjo was aiding and abetting impunity in Anambra of that era. After the session which dragged into hours, my colleague who is now a federal spokesperson and I were celebrating a blockbuster of an interview. I was barely settling in our Area 3 office when calls began coming in. The former governor grew cold feet. He must have either dialogued with some confidants and shared some of his brutal assessment of Obasanjo as a human being, an elder, an administration, an arbiter and a leader, coming into the conclusion that the kind of Ebora Owu should never pass through the Aso Rock office again, or maybe with himself in a calmer state and reasoned his peace was not worth the ire of Obasanjo’s very predictable fightback, considering his boys in then-Umaru Yar’Adua’s administration and the former governor decided to capitulate even before the war would start.

One touching excuse he gave was “you know Obasanjo {he had this funny way of pronouncing the former president’s name} is a vindictive person and even out of power, he wont stop pursuing me if this interview is out the way I granted it”. He could not be persuaded that Aremu would do him no jack. The initial agreement was to scrub the Obasanjo part which would leave almost nothing new in the interview. Later all parties agreed to terminate the entire stuff and our blockbuster went out of the window.

Mbadinuju’s saga and his godfathers receiving presidential backings against him, didn’t meet with much public sympathy as it was mainly viewed as then-ruling PDP’s family affair even after the re-election ticket he allegedly won, was forced off his hand, but God decided to use his successor’s {Chris Ngige} torment in the hands of the same alleged oppressors, especially Obasanjo, to expose their maniacal ways and the buccaneer deployment of federal might by the administration, with the global outrage that trailed the reported abduction of then-governor by the Uba “terror” gang, masquerading as political power group in the state. Ngige’s tormentors had to self-implicate for rigging, of course without consequences {only hapless professors are jailed for it}, just to rid the government house of Ngige at the election petition tribunal, paving the way for a certain Peter Obi of then-APGA as governor. That Obi is the wave-making populist of today.

Power shenanigans like the one going on between Rivers and Aso Rock aren’t novel in Nigerian politics since the return of civil rule. The ‘martial” law {that is only what can give him power to sack elected representatives of the people} proclaimed in the state by Tinubu, the epauleted nestor of democracy in Nigeria, isn’t also likely to be the last of the territory capture he would attempt to sail smoothly in his re-election and repay loyalty of his “boys” like Nyesom Wike. Yoruba always warn that crayfish thieves don’t stop at one, because of the sweetness. In Kunle Afolayan’s epic movie; October 1, the diviner, played by Yemi Elebuibon warned that the killer of maidens in the town, who turned out to be the heir apparent, would still kill more {yio tun pa eniyan si} because he was using the killings as a psycho-treatment for the trauma arising from his molestation by a priest in a monastery. Despite the sound education the prince got while with the cassocked abuser, his mind was anything but sound. He returned to the village with a certificate, Queen’s English and a mind scrambled almost into permanent insanity.

I was told by someone very close to power that the Rivers’ crisis was bleeding the national economy badly due to the oil pipeline attacks {obviously orchestrated acts for leverage by whoever did it} and that the president consulted widely before doing something similar to what Yoon Suk Yeol attempted as South Korean president that got him half-way fired from office. He is now awaiting the Constitutional Court to determine his fate after the parliament dominated by his party, impeached him in a bipartisan move to nip in the bud what they saw as creeping tsarism.

Of course, such an outcome would be a miracle in Nigeria, where baba’ocracy {politics of worship} has been firmly planted. Even the undoubtedly most decent {by persona assessment} of the men who have ruled Nigeria since 1999, Goodluck Jonathan, was still accused of strongmanism. I doubt if the judiciary will save Fubara and the president would likely extend the martial law in the state because I don’t see a winning Wike going into a ceasefire without demanding all the aces, except if a courageous judge steps up to proclaim the martial law, for what it obviously is, a coup.

The politics of second term will always leave the country frayed and it was a great disservice done the country by the national assembly of David Mark when Jonathan’s push for a six-year single term, was derailed because North saw it as a tenure elongation agenda. Fubara, Wike, Aso Rock et al are just symptoms of the disoriented democracy Nigeria is practising. Even if courts restore Fubara and shame Wike and his Villa fada, the unrestrained use of presidential power won’t abate with a new person in office, until the faulty framework is reworked. The Nigerian presidency is already too powerful. Shaving off its unsightliness is the first step toward sanity in the polity. Imagine Tinubu swearing in the sole administrator by himself! What a people we are!