Christopher Nkunku was the matchwinner for Chelsea in their 1-0 victory against Bournemouth in the English Premier League (EPL).

A few minutes after coming on as a substitute, Nkunku ensured Chelsea left Bournemouth with all points in consecutive matches at the Vitality Stadium on Saturday.

The last match of the day was an entertaining encounter bereft of goals until Nkunku’s strike four minutes to the end of the pulsating game.

Bournemouth dominated early on but failed to take their chances. Marcus Tavernier hit the woodwork 22 yards out, Evanilson went close from a header, and Chelsea goalkeeper Roberto Sanchez denied Justin Kluivert.

The goalkeeper would switch between hero and villain in minutes, first conceding a penalty when he brought down Evanilson before brilliantly saving the attacker’s spot-kick to keep the scores level at the break.

The Cherries continued to dominate the chances in the second period, and Sanchez had to tip Ryan Christie’s effort onto the bar before Nkunku won it for Enzo Maresca’s side late in the encounter.

The injury-ravaged French forward created space after collecting Jadon Sancho’s pass and prodded home a neat finish to snatch all three points for the Blues.

With seven points after four matches, Chelsea are in seventh place, while Bournemouth stay 11th with five points.

In earlier matches, Manchester United won 3-0 at Southampton, with Andre Onana saving a penalty kick before goals by Matias de Ligt, Marcus Rashford, and Alejandro Garnacho won the Red Devils their second game of the season.

Manchester City maintained their 100% record thanks to Erling Haaland’s brace in a 2-1 win over Brentford. Liverpool suffered their first defeat of the season with a 1-0 loss at Anfield to Nottingham Forest.

Everton surrendered a two-goal lead for the second successive match, losing 3-2 at Aston Villa.

RESULTS
Southampton 0-3 Manchester United
Liverpool 0-1 Nottingham Forest
Crystal Palace 2-2 Leicester City
Fulham 1-1 West Ham United
Brighton 0-0 Ipswich Town
Aston Villa 3-2 Everton
Manchester City 2-1 Brentford
Bournemouth 0-1 Chelsea

[TheCable]

Order in every credible democracy is a balance of compassion and hard policy choices. The hard choices, often of a reform nature, which confront new leaders only make sense if they are for the common good. Otherwise, a  barrage  of crushing reforms with no tinge of compassion can suffocate the afflicted citizenry and cast the reformer in a bad hue. In that situation, even the best intentioned reformer could become a mindless autocrat. Democracy then breeds, not a charismatic leader but a mindless authoritarian. The equation is somewhat like this: the pain of reform must be balanced by the appearance of compassion. The tough committed purposeful leader who is both feared and capable of being loved.

President Bola Tinubu insists that he has unleashed reforms to make Nigerian better. Not everyone of his compatriots agree. Contrary to the chorus of his Abuja choir, most citizens now contend that today ‘s Nigeria is beginning to look more like a training ground for cruelty and a practice field for apprentice authoritarians. Many are swearing that Mr. Tinubu may have turned his back on the ways of democracy and popular governance and now faces a frightening direction. I am among those who are very frightened to live in this place. An assumed democracy has replaced sweetness with bitterness, citizens are now afraid of the very government they went out to elect only a few months ago.

The far sighted and perceptive never  expected Tinubu’s tenure to be any different from what is unfolding before our eyes . When he chose his inauguration podium on May 29th to mouth ‘fuel subsidy is gone!’, sensible people expected a balancing reassuring statement. None came immediately or any time afterwards. Instead,  more draconian acts of serial wickedness have been heaped on citizens like burning coal. For all these, the government insists that it is on a reform path.

The Naira was floated with no scientific benchmark. An astronomical tax was heaped on electricity. Pump prices of gasoline headed to the sky and have been shooting upwards ever since. Taxes on practically everything followed: basic food, basic medications, transportation costs, house rents, cooking gas, basic banking transactions etc have since last May shot up beyond the rational.

When gasoline prices shot up and the Naira was shredded in value,  organised labour raised the urgent matter of a commensurate national minimum wage. The public supported labour’s pressure for an increase of the national minimum wage. A series of negotiations and arm twisting manipulations led to an agreement on a contentious N70,000. While workers at federal and state levels are still waiting for the promised minimum wage, a new vortex of new gasoline prices have been allowed to kick in. The public is confused and has been thrown into a further life support mode. Predictably, the  latest Increase in fuel pump price has taken its toll in the wrong places. Schools can hardly resume because of high transportation costs. Edo , Kano and Borno states have postponed the resumption of schools for the new school year. Other states may follow suit.

Since May, 2023, hardly any pleasant news has come our way except for announcements about bags of rice scattered in a few states. The government that took away our little sweetness has responded with rice and noodles. A myriad taxes have followed. The rice of offer has turned out a mirage. By its nature, rice is a tax-laden palliative. If you give people rise, they need money to buy meat and fish, oil, onions and other ingredients. In short, a gift of free rice reminds people of their immense poverty. So, people desperately access the free rice as an article of trade, something to be re-sold to raise money to douse the ravaging poverty. That has led to fierce warfare in locations where rice is being shared. People who went out to fight for rice returned in body bags as the fierce battles were  do –or- die duels. 

The pursuit of cruel reforms and draconian levies and taxes has created a country of numerous precedents.  Nigerians living today may have seen far too many precedents in our national life already. In one life time, we have seen more new milestones than any other generation. We have seen the  highest inflation rate- 43%  ever. Since its introduction in the early 1970s, Nigerians have seen the most abysmal exchange rate for the Naira in national history. We have seen the highest poverty rate in our national history, leading to the creation of Nigeria as the world’s poverty capital. For the first time in our life time, hunger has become a widespread national affliction, graduating into an object of nationwide protest and massive street brawls between hungry mobs and armed security personnel.

Today ‘s Nigerians have seen the highest price per liter of gasoline ever. In some parts of the country, there are reports of prices of up to N1,500 per liter. Similarly, Nigerians are seeing the highest cost per unit of electricity even as darkness envelopes  the land. Nigerians are seeing the most expensive cup of garri, beans, corn or millet  in their life time. It is the worst of times and the most trying of times.

It is also the most dangerous of times and the most precarious of times. Never before in peace- time have Nigerians seen such a high  casualty rate as this. People are being killed needlessly on an industrial scale everyday. In no other nation’s peace time do so many people die needless deaths. Peace time Nigeria is ranking shoulder to shoulder with Sudan, Syria, Somalia and other dangerous places in the world on a scale of insecurity. The English language has run out of terminologies for describing the variants of Nigeria’s bad state and its architects: terrorism, banditry, abduction, kidnapping and other unnamable crimes.  At no time in our national history have we lived in a more dangerous country, not even in the civil war years.

Youth is ordinarily the time to hope, to look forward to a long life stretched ahead of you. The youth dream dreams and cherish longings. As youth, death and mortality was far and remote from us. But in today’s Nigeria, death has become the constant refrain in the language of youth. Our university campuses have become common grounds for suicide among our youth. Our children are being killed or are killing each other because the landscape beyond is bleak and hopeless. We are living in a place where suicide has become an easy escape route for frustrated youth.

Other silly and laughable precedents have also been created in Nigeria under the Tinubu presidency. For instance, we have never seen such extensive motorcades trailing men of power as are being displayed by Akpabio and Tinubu. Nor have such humongous sums been spent on luxury items at the apex of power anywhere as in today’s Nigeria. Nor have we seen single civil construction projects of such magnitude as the Calabar-Lagos highway (N18 trillion!). No previous president so prioritized his personal comfort as to purchase a different presidential jet in under two years in power without parliamentary appropriation or any known budget provision. These are clearly precedents in national profligacy! 

Democracy devoid of compassion or prudent consideration for the welfare of the lowly runs a clear risk. When a democracy proceeds with reckless impunity, it runs the risk of drifting into authoritarianism, a routine insensitivity to the common feeling. The feelings of the people begin to matter less. The state carries on as though it is a self- empowering entity.

At the moment, Mr. Tinubu’s bumbling embrace with power is by far a greater threat to Nigeria’s democracy and survival than anything else. When a democracy fumbles, its readiest temptation is to be attracted towards dictatorship. The Tinubu government is beginning to arrest journalist for no stated reason. Labour leaders are not immune either. Innocent people who went out to protest their own hunger and poverty have been arrested and are being prosecuted for disturbing the peace of the rulers. Of course, it is easier to arrest people than to manage them in freedom. It is also easier to clamp down on dissenting voices than to loosen a million free voices. People who cannot afford expensive  lawyers to defend them or speak English to state their rights are easy to put away until the jail houses are filled with those who should be voting at the next election.

Compassion is an issue when the common good is of concern. But the  common good is an issue when power is wielded on behalf of the people. But when power becomes an end itself, the common good recedes into the background and becomes a concessionary  afterthought. The pursuit of power, its consolidation, warehousing and monopoly becomes the end of state power. It does seem that barely one and half years after Tinubu’s ascendancy, we are down to that level where the values of democracy are being goaded towards the route of authoritarianism.

A Nigerian authoritarianism under a rule like Tinubu’s will be untidy. Our power hegemony is never evenly spread. It usually wears a sectional ethnocentric color. Already, Tinubu has erected what is easily the most blatant and unabashed Yoruba ethnic hegemony in Nigerian history. Name any strategic segment of national life and it stares you in the face. Open. Shameless. Even disgraceful to the dignity of the otherwise decent and sophisticated Yoruba nation. We are faced with an impending calamity. Nigeria’s democracy is about to give birth to an ethnic authoritarianism. It will be a sad day when we descend from today’s increasing repression to the hounding of political opponents into political exile out of fear for their own safety. Over and above today’s japa droves, we may soon witness swarms of political asylum seekers heading in many directions. The freedom which our people trooped out to welcome in February is slipping away under our very eyes. 

Saturday’s governorship election in Edo State will feature a keen contest among political gladiators whose names are not even on the ballot. On many fronts, the race has all the trappings of a proxy contest. Of the 17 candidates on the ballot, the three frontline candidates are: Senator Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress, APC; Mr. Asue Ighodalo of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP; and Mr. Olumide Akpata, of the Labour Party, LP. They will put up a good fight on their own and two of the three will run on their accomplishments in other fields. But all three are political newbies. Their three-way exertions will be dwarfed by the vigorous test of strength by other and more politically-experienced individuals and entities both within and outside the state.

This is because there are outstanding scores to be settled and new advantages to be scored by those who are not even on the ballot. These outside gladiators have a greater incentive than the candidates for the outcome to favour them or their camp. If it doesn’t work out, the APC flagbearer will return to the senate while the PDP and the LP candidates can return to their day jobs, take lessons from their first political outing, then give it another shot.

But more seems at stake for the external parties. For them: there is a grudge to be settled, there is an unfinished business to attend to, and there is current and future political relevance to contend with. These are some of the factors that drive desperation in Nigerian politics. Already, one of the external actors has described the election as ‘do-or-die’ and ‘existential’ while another could be mistaken as a candidate in the election. The Edo governorship election is of outsize significance and is likely to generate more heat, and attract more attention, than other regular off-cycle governorship elections. A week to the election, the heat is so palpable that it can be felt even beyond the state.

A briefing paper released on September 10^th by the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) brilliantly captures the various issues at play in the Edo governorship election and points out its larger implications for future elections in Nigeria. I fully recommend the paper. In my intervention today, I intend to tease out the proxy dimensions of the September 21^st poll, then close with how zonal dynamics within the state (itself a form of proxy) may impact the outcome of the election.

The first proxy contest will be among the presidential candidates of the top three political parties in the last presidential election: Asiwaju Bola Tinubu of APC; Alhaji Atiku Abubakar of PDP; and Mr. Peter Obi of LP. A major shift occurred in Nigeria’s electoral pattern in 2023 when the presidential contest expanded beyond the traditional two-way race of the previous six electoral cycles of the Fourth Republic. Obi alongside Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwanso of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) bucked the trend and turned the contest into a truly competitive multi-party poll only close to the one we had in 1979, which incidentally was our first presidential election. Edo gubernatorial contests used to be a two-way affair, as no third-party candidate ever scored up to 1% of the votes cast between 1999 and 2020. This will definitely change this time around, mostly due the Obi factor.

One of the states where the Obi wave made a significant landing in the 2023 presidential poll was Edo State. Obi garnered an impressive 56.97% of the votes in the state and even denied his more experienced competitors and their established political structures the mandatory 25% of the votes cast. Tinubu, who won the overall election, could only muster 24.86% in Edo State. Alhaji Abubakar, whose party had been a dominant force in Edo and national politics since 1999 and was the ruling party in the state at the time of the election, got only 15.41%. Even when Saturday’s election is a local one, and we should not forget the maxim that all politics is local, the 2023 presidential candidates and their political parties have different points to prove in Edo State on Saturday.

For all three presidential candidates and their parties, winning the governorship election is way more than symbolic. To start with, governors remain dominant figures in our politics and the number of states controlled by a political party is a signifier of its relative electoral strength or a factor that can, to a large extent, be leveraged for electoral success. For Obi and LP, the Edo governorship election is an opportunity to show that 2023 was not a fluke and a chance for the party to be in charge of a second state (the only one being Abia State). A victory for LP in Edo will burnish Obi’s standing and relevance whether he chooses to stick with the party or not in the future.

Retaining Edo State will be a face-saving opportunity for Atiku and PDP, which was rudely upstaged in 2023 in the South South and the South East, two zones that had been the party’s strongholds in six previous elections. PDP had a particularly terrible showing in the federal elections in Edo State in 2023: it failed to produce a senator, and had only one out of nine House of Representative members. Retaining the governorship of Edo will keep PDP’s tally of governors at 13.  However, losing the state will increase the diminution of a party that at its height controlled 28 states and once boasted of ruling the country for 60 unbroken years.      

Winning Edo will grant APC a chance to regain a state it had governed for 12 years (2008 to 2020) and only lost in 2020 when the outgoing governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, and APC’s candidate in 2016 was denied a re-election ticket by his estranged godfather, Senator Adams Oshiomhole. Obaseki had to decamp to PDP, which successfully flipped the state. Victory in Edo State will increase APC’s governorship tally to 21. This will take the party close to its best showing so far since in came into being in 2013. In 2015, APC won governorship elections in 22 states.

For Tinubu, Edo State is a bit personal. This was where in 2007/2008, he successfully launched the bid to take his Action Congress (AC, later Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN) beyond its South West enclave and part of the strategy that eventually landed him the presidency. The 2008 victory came via the courts, but ACN won 76% of the votes in the 2012 governorship election in Edo State when its candidate, Oshiomhole, sought re-election. By 2016, ACN had merged with other parties to form the APC and APC’s candidate, Obaseki, won by a decent 55%. However, things soon fell apart between Obaseki and Oshiomhole.

Tinubu not only took sides but also openly showed his hands. He made and released a video close to the 19^th September 2020 governorship election in Edo State, and called on the people of the state not to vote for Obaseki whom he accused of many things. In response, the Obaseki campaign adopted and popularised a very effective slogan: Edo no be Lagos (in reference to Tinubu’s overbearing influence in Lagos politics and the way in which he, in 2019, denied Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, then incumbent governor of Lagos State, the party’s nomination).

Obaseki personally replied Tinubu and promised to end godfatherism not just in Edo State but also in Lagos State. Obaseki said: “In Edo, we have been fighting godfatherism and by Saturday we will put an end to it, and after that go to Lagos and put an end to godfatherism in Nigeria.” Obaseki went on to win the governorship election by a handsome 57% of the votes cast, with the support of some APC members who had scores to settle with Tinubu and Oshiomhole. Tinubu, now the president of Nigeria, got eggs on his face for the manner he tried to intervene in Edo politics in 2020. He is thus unlikely to be disinterested in the outcome of the Saturday poll, even when he may not go for the ill-advised approach of 2020. And this is not just about merely wanting his party to triumph. There is an outstanding slight to settle.

But the most obvious battle on Saturday will be a proxy rematch between Obaseki and Oshiomhole. They have had two electoral face-offs since 2020. While Oshiomhole triumphed in the federal elections in 2023 by wangling two senatorial seats and six House of Representatives’ seats for his party, Obaseki clawed back in the state House of Assembly election, where PDP eventually won 15 seats compared to APC’s eight and LP’s one. For Oshiomhole, this is the final opportunity to put Obaseki in his place; while for Obaseki, this contest is clearly the last time he is in a prime position to show his former benefactor that he has grown to a formidable political force in the state.

A lot has happened in the last four years to change the relative strengths and weaknesses of the two gladiators cum godfathers. Oshiomhole is still in control of the APC structure in the state, remains the strongman of Edo North, has been a magnet for PDP members who have fallen out with Obaseki, and is in a position to attract federal support from a president who is not a disinterested party. Though term-barred, Obaseki has incumbency at the state level on his side and is from Edo South, which boasts of about half of the voting population of the state. Both frontline gladiators have major handicaps, which may rub off negatively on their parties’ candidates.

As said earlier, the three leading candidates have scant political experience. Ighodalo and Akpata are contesting for political office for the first time while Okpebholo was elected as a senator only last year (and was victorious largely on account of the decision of PDP not to respect the zoning arrangement within the Edo Central senatorial zone). The fact that the real contestants are political newbies with limited political capital further magnifies the likely impact of their backers. All the three candidates emerged from contentious primaries. The extent to which their various parties and the various tendencies within the parties have been able to pull together post-primaries will have some impact on the electoral outcome.

But beyond the godfathers and other interested parties, the Edo election will be largely shaped by zonal dynamics within the state. This is another dimension of the proxy contest. On the basis of equity and justice, the governorship of the state seems to have been zoned to Edo Central, a zone that has been unfairly locked out of the exalted position in the Fourth Republic. While indigenes of Edo South have served as governors of the state for 16 years (Mr. Lucky Igbinedion, 1999 to 2007 and Obaseki, 2016 to 2024) and Edo North senatorial zone has done eight years (Oshiomhole, 2008 to 2016), Edo Central has only had a shot at the highest elective position in the state for a very brief and annulled period (Professor Oserheinem Osunbor, 29^th May 2007 to 12^th November 2008). In addition, Edo Central has not produced a deputy governor for the state since 1999.

There seems to be an elite political consensus to correct the injustice meted out to the zone in this election cycle. Incidentally, the last time someone from current Edo Central served as governor was between 1979 and 1983, when Professor Ambrose Alli was the elected governor of Bendel State (which on 27^th August 1991 was split into present Delta and Edo states). It is ironic that someone from the zone could be governor of a much larger entity (Bendel State) but the zone has been struggling to be given a chance in a smaller space (Edo State). The Esans, who are the predominant ethnic group in Edo Central, are significant minorities in Edo State, the same way the Okuns are in Kogi State and the Idomas are in Benue State.

Prominent Esans have played important roles in national politics and national life. Some of these include Chief Anthony Enahoro (who moved the motion for Nigeria’s independence in 1953 and edited a newspaper, the Southern Nigerian Defender, at the record age of 21), Chief Peter Enahoro (better known as Peter Pan, renowned editor, publisher and satirist), Admiral Augustus Aikhomu (former military vice president of Nigeria), Chief Anthony Anenih (former chairman of the Social Democratic Party, SDP, former chairman of the Board of Trustees of PDP and former Minister of Works), and Chief Tom Ikimi, (former minister for foreign affairs and former chairman of the National Republican Party, NRC).

The Esans ironically have been relegated to a bit role in Edo politics because their senatorial zone is the smallest of the three: Edo Central has only five of the 18 LGAs in the state, compared to seven and six for Edo South and Edo North respectively; and going by the result of the 2020 elections, Edo Central accounts for only 18% of total votes in the state, compared to 47% for Edo South and 35% for Edo North.

However, it seems Edo is ready for restitution on its Esan problem (and hopefully Kogi and Benue would find similar political resolution for their Okun and Idoma challenge). It is thus not surprising that two of the three leading candidates, Okpebholo and Ighodalo, are from the favoured zone, Edo Central. On paper, this consensus puts Akpata at a disadvantage. An Akpata victory will mean another four to eight years for Edo South, which apart from having done 16 of 25 years since 1999 is also the zone of the outgoing governor.

However, Akpata is from the most populous zone in the state. It is not clear if the everyday voter in Edo South has bought into the elite consensus for power shift. However, it is also not clear that Akpata would have Edo South all to himself, given that the running mates of the two other parties (Mr. Osarodion Ogie of PDP and Honourable Dennis Idahosa of APC) are seasoned politicians from Edo South. The state’s most populous zone will probably be a hotly-contested ground.

The odds seem to favour one of the two candidates from Edo Central. There is an intra-zonal dynamic at play here too. Edo Central has two axes: Okpebholo and Agbazilo. The APC candidate is from the former while the PDP candidate is from the latter. The APC candidate reportedly won the senatorial seat in 2023 because of an attempt to upturn the agreed rotation between the two axes. In 2024, the argument is that the Okpebholo axis should not produce both the senator and the governor. There is also a not-so-subtle contest about who is more Esan and who is more accomplished/articulate between Okpebholo and Ighodalo. The score is even here.

But these are unlikely to be the major deciders of the race. To get over the line on Saturday, one of the two Esan candidates will need to make a respectable showing in his home zone, lock down one of the two other more populous zones, and be competitive in the other. This again brings into prominence the electoral capital that those not on the ticket, especially Oshiomhole and Obaseki, can muster on Saturday. It is sure a race to watch.  

In the current state of Nigeria’s economy, many are grappling with unprecedented levels of hunger. A glance at local markets reveals a grim reality; prices of basic foodstuffs have soared beyond the reach of the common man, making survival a daily battle. What is unfolding in Nigeria today eerily mirrors a moment of extreme desperation in the Bible when hunger drove people to horrific lengths, including cannibalism. The alarming conditions of today invite us to reflect on that biblical story, highlighting the urgency of Nigeria’s hunger crisis.

In the book of “2 Kings 6:24-30”, a severe famine struck Samaria after the city was besieged by the king of Aram. So devastating was the hunger that two women made an unthinkable agreement, to cook and eat their children to survive. The first woman sacrificed her son, but when it was time for the second, she hid hers. This gruesome act, born from the depths of despair, prompted the king of Israel to tear his clothes in mourning upon hearing the cries of one of the women: “So we boiled my son and ate him. The next day I said to her, ‘Give up your son so we may eat him,’ but she had hidden him.” (2 Kings 6:29)

The extremity of this situation, with people resorting to cannibalism as a last resort, mirrors the distress many Nigerians are facing today. The story from Samaria paints a bleak picture of what hunger can drive people to do, revealing that when all hope is lost, even the most unimaginable actions seem justifiable.

While Nigeria has not reached the point of such catastrophic human behavior, the country is witnessing a hunger crisis that is intensifying by the day. Promises from the government during election campaigns, especially regarding food security and subsidies, now seem like distant dreams. Many Nigerians recall the assurances that cassava, ewa (beans), and agbado (corn) would be cheap once a new government was voted in. However, the paradoxical reality is that even these staple foods have become luxuries for many.

Market women, such as mummy Deborah from Lagos, express the frustration of millions of Nigerians. “Shebidem tell us say cassava, ewa, and agbado go cheap when we vote for them. Today, we no fit buy dem for market,” she lamented. Her cry is echoed across the country, as inflation spirals and salaries remain inadequate, leaving millions unable to afford even a simple meal.

The prevailing situation has left many households with no alternative but to reduce their meal portions, skip meals entirely, or rely on charitable handouts. The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) recently reported that food inflation surged to over 25%, the highest in nearly two decades. Basic staples such as rice, yam, and bread have seen their prices double or triple in some areas. Parents watch helplessly as their children cry from hunger, while once-vibrant markets are now ghostly, with food items sitting on shelves, too expensive for most to buy.

According to a recent report by the World Bank, over 70 million Nigerians are now living below the poverty line. This dire situation is exacerbated by the removal of fuel subsidies, which has significantly increased transportation costs and pushed food prices even higher. Across Nigeria, families are being forced into deeper poverty, with little hope in sight.

The knock-on effects of hunger are visible everywhere. School attendance is dropping as parents can no longer afford the transportation or meals to send their children to school. Health issues are rising as malnutrition, especially among children, becomes rampant. As hunger intensifies, so too does the sense of helplessness, and in some cases, hopelessness, in the population.

In response to the growing hunger crisis, the Nigerian government has introduced various palliative measures, distributing rice and other relief materials. Recently, the government announced a N5 billion palliative fund for each state to mitigate the effects of the subsidy removal, with the goal of distributing food to the most vulnerable citizens. However, these efforts have proven inadequate, as corruption and mismanagement continue to plague the distribution process.

Many Nigerians have expressed their frustration over the unequal distribution of these palliatives, with some regions receiving more aid than others. In many areas, these relief materials are reportedly intercepted by corrupt officials or sold in black markets rather than reaching the people they were intended for. The question remains: Is this enough to prevent an impending catastrophe?

Additionally, the government’s decision to provide cash transfers of N8,000 to vulnerable households as part of its palliative measures has been met with widespread criticism. Vice President Kashim Shettima’s statement that “N8,000 can change the life of a youth who knows what he is doing”* was viewed as deeply insensitive, given the current economic realities. In a country where the cost of basic food items exceeds this amount, many believe this intervention will have little to no impact.

The situation calls for not just temporary relief but long-term solutions that address the root causes of the food crisis. As in the Bible, when hunger turns desperate, people may resort to measures they would never have considered before. Without urgent intervention, Nigeria risks seeing further social unrest and public outrage, as citizens feel increasingly abandoned by those in power.

Nigeria’s agricultural sector, once the backbone of its economy, has been neglected for too long. The country must invest in mechanized farming, improve infrastructure, and tackle insecurity, which has forced many farmers to abandon their fields. Additionally, addressing inflation and stabilizing the naira are critical to ensuring that food remains affordable.

The hunger situation in Nigeria today serves as a grim reminder that we are teetering on the edge of a deeper crisis. While we may not witness the same level of desperation described in 2 Kings, we are faced with a moral imperative to act before it is too late. If nothing is done, history teaches us that hunger can strip away the humanity of a people and lead to horrors no one should ever have to endure.

The leadership in Nigeria must urgently address the crisis before it spirals out of control. Just as the king of Israel was struck with grief and sorrow at the news of his people’s desperation, Nigeria’s leaders must also recognize the pain and suffering of the citizens and implement genuine solutions. If they fail to do so, we may find ourselves in a situation so dire that the cry for help becomes impossible to ignore.

Recently, Governor Umo Eno of Akwa-Ibom State made headlines for announcing a N310 million gift to youths in the state. This generous gesture, aimed at non-protesting youths, has sparked widespread debate. While some see it as a commendable initiative to empower young people, others wonder if the real motive is to silence potential dissent and discourage youth from voicing their frustrations about the state of the economy and governance.

In a country where protests have become a powerful tool for change, particularly for young Nigerians, the timing of this gift raises eyebrows. Is this a well-intentioned move to reward those who remain peaceful and cooperative, or is it a subtle attempt to stifle any rising opposition?

Akwa-Ibom, like many other states in Nigeria, is grappling with significant economic challenges. High unemployment rates, rising inflation, and a lack of basic amenities have left many young people frustrated and disillusioned. In this context, the youth have been at the forefront of calling for better governance, with their voices often channeled through protests and demonstrations.

Across Nigeria, youths have made it clear that they are no longer willing to stay silent in the face of economic hardship. The nationwide #EndSARS protests in 2020 were a strong testament to the power of organized youth resistance. For many young people in Akwa-Ibom and across the nation, protests have become a democratic tool to voice their grievances and demand change.

Given this backdrop, the timing and nature of Governor Eno’s N310 million gift to non-protesting youths is concerning. Is the gift truly meant to empower, or is it a strategic move designed to quell any potential dissent and silence critical voices?

While the governor’s administration has presented the N310 million initiatives as an empowerment program, there is a growing belief that this may be a classic case of a “Greek gift”, a seemingly generous offer with hidden motives. Specifically, critics argue that by targeting non-protesting youths, the government is attempting to create a divide among the young population, rewarding silence and submission while potentially penalizing those who dare to speak out.

In a democracy, the freedom to protest and dissent is a fundamental right. However, gifts like this, offered exclusively to non-protesting youths, undermine this principle by subtly discouraging young people from exercising their democratic rights. In a functioning democracy, the role of the government should be to listen to all voices, especially those of its younger generation, rather than offering incentives to keep them quiet.

This strategy is inherently undemocratic, as it discourages youth participation in governance by creating a financial disincentive for dissent. By rewarding only those who remain silent, the administration is sending a dangerous message: silence and submission will be rewarded, while protest and dissent will be ignored or, worse, punished.

Governments have a responsibility to engage with their citizens, especially the youth, in a manner that encourages dialogue and constructive criticism. However, when financial incentives are offered to a select group, based on their willingness to remain silent, this undermines the very fabric of democracy. It creates an atmosphere where youths may feel coerced into silence in exchange for short-term financial gain, even when their frustrations with governance are valid.

This tactic, often referred to as a “divide-and-conquer” strategy, is particularly harmful in the context of a democratic society. In Akwa-Ibom, where many young people are grappling with unemployment, inflation, and inadequate infrastructure, the prospect of financial empowerment can be enticing. However, when such empowerment comes with the implicit expectation of silence, it shifts from being a tool for positive development to a means of control.

The ability to protest and express discontent is a cornerstone of democracy, and any move that seeks to silence these voices, whether through direct suppression or more subtle financial incentives, should be viewed as an assault on democratic values.

Protests, marches, and civil activism have long been recognized as vital tools for holding governments accountable, especially in societies where dialogue and engagement between the government and its citizens are limited. In Akwa-Ibom, as in many parts of Nigeria, the youth have often found themselves at the forefront of such activism, demanding better governance, job creation, improved infrastructure, and social justice.

By offering N310 million to non-protesting youths, Governor Eno’s administration may be attempting to preemptively quash any potential uprisings or public demonstrations. But such a move risks deepening the disconnect between the government and its people. Instead of seeking to silence dissent, the government should focus on addressing the root causes of youth frustration, unemployment, poor infrastructure, and limited economic opportunities.

It is essential to remember that the youth are the future of any nation, and their active participation in governance and political discourse is crucial. If young people are discouraged from speaking out or protesting, they may lose faith in the democratic process altogether, leading to greater disillusionment and disengagement in the long run.

Governor Eno’s N310 million gestures could have been a powerful tool for genuine youth empowerment if it had been designed to benefit all youths, regardless of their political stance or willingness to protest. However, by explicitly excluding protesting youths, the administration has risked turning what could have been a positive initiative into a political tool of suppression.

True empowerment involves providing opportunities that enable young people to thrive independently, equipping them with skills, education, and access to resources that can improve their quality of life. Financial gifts with strings attached do little to create long-lasting change. Rather, they only serve to suppress genuine grievances and create a sense of complacency among beneficiaries.

In a democracy, the youth must be allowed to speak their minds, whether through peaceful protests, social media advocacy, or other forms of expression. Governor Eno’s N310 million gift may appear generous on the surface, but its underlying message is concerning. Silencing dissent by offering financial rewards to those who remain quiet undermines the democratic process and risks creating a generation of young people who are disengaged from political discourse.

Rather than trying to silence dissenting voices through financial gifts, the government should engage with the youth directly, listen to their concerns, and create sustainable programs that address their challenges. In the long run, only genuine engagement and true empowerment will ensure the growth of democracy and development in AkwaIbom and beyond.

In what many may consider as the most provoking development leading to next weekend’s governorship election in Edo State, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP last Thursday walked away from a peace accord among the parties and candidates.

The accord was brokered by the General Abdulsalami Abubakar-led National Peace Committee, NPC.

However, as everyone knows these accords have been observed more in the breach by the parties. Perhaps the most striking illustration of the vacuity of these peace accords was in the run-up to the 2019 governorship election in Kogi State.

At the signing of the peace accord for that election on November 12, 2019, the candidate of the Social Democratic Party, SDP, Natasha Akpoti was beaten black and blue by thugs of a rival political party as she attempted to approach the venue of the peace accord signing ceremony.

Interestingly, the Inspector General of Police at the time, Mohammed Adamu and the chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Prof Mahmood Yakubu were inside the hall while this ugly development occurred.

An INEC official asked of his reaction to the brutalization of a candidate invited for the assent to the peace accord replied thus “We were inside the hall and wouldn’t know what was going on outside.”

This predictable assertion of ignorance by INEC of the wanton molestation of rival candidates and violation of its procedures is what has shadowed the integrity deficit of the commission. The corollary is that the INEC is unable to defend the results of its elections.

How is INEC able to defend the result it produces that shows a 95% turnout of voters in particular constituencies? How?

Indeed, it is remarkable that the present leadership of INEC has come to see the signing of peace accords as a significant milestone in its conduct of elections. This ought not to be. In bringing the different parties to sign peace accords, the commission has invariably succumbed to the idea that election is a physical war.

The commission was constituted to manage and arbitrate the contest of ideas between political actors. It should be seen inclining itself into helping the electorate to sift out the qualities of leadership in candidates.

This correspondent submits that the charged atmosphere that we see in elections in the country these days is because of the failure of INEC to stand by the truth on the results.

We have severally seen ballot boxes snatched, elections disrupted and INEC keeping mum. In 2023, a lady was brutalised and blood spilled as she went to cast her vote in a voting centre in Lagos. INEC did not see that as a sufficient disruption of the election.

Political actors have indeed been emboldened by the seeming indifference of the electoral commission to the violent disruption of its procedures and processes.

It is against this background that the troubling developments in Edo State erupted into the walkout on the peace committee by the PDP.

At issue is the claim by the ruling party in the state that INEC appointed a former aide of Minister Nyesom Wike as the Resident Electoral Commissioner for the state. As everybody knows, Wike and Governor Godwin Obaseki despite being members of the PDP do not see eye to eye on many issues. While Wike is very comfortable serving in the APC administration, Obaseki believes that the administration and the APC do not mean well for the country.

Willy-nilly, the PDP also complained of the appointment of a police commissioner for the state who the party claims is also an associate of Wike’s. Even more troubling is the arrest of several officials of the PDP Campaign and their transportation to Abuja.

Indeed given the popular claim that Governor Obaseki does not know how to manage relationships following his falling out with Comrade Adams Oshiomhole and Chief Dan Orbih, the suggestion was that the governor would be dealt a heavy blow with the rejection of whosoever he supports.

However, the seeming brutalisation of the PDP appears to be winning the governor sympathy with many questioning the neutrality of the security forces and INEC.

The concerns of the PDP are germane and a sensitive election management body should be seen addressing every allegation that diminishes the credibility of its processes.

Whatever, as voters go to the polls next weekend in Edo State, what the state needs is a governor who will take it to the next level.

It is in that respect that we expect the candidates to bring forth their arguments as to why they should be elected. Whether through debates or any other platform, we expect the candidates to put forth their arguments on a clearer path for Edo.

 If this election is sabotaged and the will of the people mortgaged on the platform of avarice or suppressed, then the prospects of a free and fair election in 2027 could well be waved away. Indeed, Prof Yakubu or whoever succeeds him would not need the subterfuge of a technical glitch to explain away whatever electoral heist is forced on the polity.

Five people have reportedly died in an accident that involved the campaign convoy of Monday Okpebholo, governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), in Edo.

TheCable understands that the accident occurred on Thursday at Warrake road in Uzebba of Owan west LGA, Edo state.

It was learnt that one of the vehicles in Okpebholo’s campaign convoy hit a Toyota Camry conveying five persons, killing the occupants, including the driver.

The victims were said to be returning home after attending a burial ceremony.

The bodies of the deceased have been deposited at a mortuary in Edo State University, Uzaurie, in Etsako west LGA of the state.

One of the victims was identified as Emmanuel Edionwe.

According to the Punch, a relative of Edionwe, who did not want to be named, said the family is devastated about the news of their son.

“We just learnt that five of them have died after the collision with Okpebholo’s convoy. There is just one of them who is in critical condition and is now being nursed to life at the hospital,” the family member said.

“We are devastated beyond words. Emmanuel was a good, easy-going boy who should not have died.”

The newspaper quoted Cyril Mathew, the Edo sector commander of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC).

A source said the lone survivor of the accident is in critical condition at the Irrua Specialist Hospital., adding that a delegation of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state will pay the families of the victims a condolence visit today.

[TheCable]

I am taking a break from political commentary to everyday language usage this week. A few weeks ago, a British journalist who writes about oil and gas wrote to thank me for past articles I wrote that explained why Nigerians call “petrol” “Premium Motor Spirit.”

“While I have always assumed PMS meant petrol, I never knew exactly why this term was so widespread in Nigeria!” he wrote. This email inspired me to republish parts of what I wrote about this.

There is a widespread misconception in Nigerian journalistic circles that “premium motor spirit” is the proper name for petrol, and this misconception appears to be percolating into wider popular usage.

Almost without exception, Nigerian newspapers refer to petrol as “premium motor spirit” or PMS. In fact, “petrol” is typically represented as the alias of “premium motor spirit.” In other words, Nigerian newspapers mislead their readers into thinking that everyone in the English-speaking world recognizes “premium motor spirit” as the real name for “petrol.”

 Take, for instance, this 2017 lead from one of Nigeria’s best-edited online newspapers: “Premium Motor Spirit, otherwise known as petrol, is selling at N500 per litre in the black market in Kaduna State as government began enforcement of ban on sale of petroleum products in jerry cans.”

Almost all Nigerian newspapers feel the need to refer to petrol as “premium motor spirit” and to signal that the rest of us linguistically unwashed plebeians call it “petrol.” It never ceases to provoke loud hearty laughter in me each time I read it. It’s my go-to linguistic comic relief.

 Well, only Nigerian newspapers, and the people who are influenced by them, call petrol “premium motor spirit.” It’s an entirely meaningless phrase to native English speakers in America, Britain, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. It also makes no sense to English speakers in India, Pakistan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and other Commonwealth countries where English is spoken as a second language.

 In 2012, I asked several of my American friends, colleagues, and students what the phrase “premium motor spirit” evoked in them. They all said they had never encountered the phrase and had no clue what it meant.

I searched the 520-million-word Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA) to see if any American English speaker has ever used the term. I got no matching record. I also searched the 400-million-word Corpus of Historical American English (COHA) to find out if any American ever used the expression between 1810 and 2009.  Again, no luck.

I thought, perhaps, the phrase would be familiar to British English speakers, so I searched the British National Corpus to see if there is any record of its use in British English. I had no luck, either.

Finally, I searched the 1.9-billion-word Corpus of Global Web-Based English, which indexes English usage in 20 different English-speaking countries. I had some luck this time around. I got 53 matches. But of the 53 matches for “premium motor spirit” that turned up in the database, 49 came from Nigerian English users, 3 from Ghanaian English users, and 1 from a Kenyan newspaper.

When I followed the link to the Ghanaian sites that used “premium motor spirit,” I found that the writers were Nigerians who were based in Ghana. The fact that Kenya is the only other country where “premium motor spirit” was used, even if only once, as an alternative name for “petrol” alerted me to the fact that the word probably has British English roots.

Origins of “Motor Spirit”

My hunch was right. Although the term enjoys no currency in contemporary British English (as evidenced from its complete absence from the British National Corpus), it actually started life in Britain some 200 years ago.

Carless, Capel & Leonard (now renamed Petrochem Carless Ltd), one of Britain’s first oil companies, was the first to use the term “petrol” in English, in 1870, to refer to refined petroleum products, which weren’t used to power cars at the time.

By the 1930s when petrol became the fuel used in internal combustion engines, Carless, Capel & Leonard applied to trademark “petrol” so that the company’s competitors (who frequently used the term “motor spirit” to refer to their product) won’t be able to call their product “petrol.”

But the application was denied because the use of “petrol” to refer to refined petroleum products, derived from the French petrole (ultimately from Medieval Latin petroleum, which literally means “rock oil,” from the Latin petra, which means rock or stone, and oleum, which means oil) had become widespread by the 1930s in Britain.

With the denial of Carless, Capel & Leonard’s application to trademark “petrol,” other British companies that had referred to their product as “motor spirit” freely adopted “petrol” as the name of choice for their product, and “motor spirit” fell into disuse.

“Premium” wasn’t an invariable lexical component of the name. The “premium” in the name refers to the grade of the product. There are three major grades of petrol in the UK: “ordinary unleaded,” “premium or super unleaded,” and “leaded four star.”

 In the US, petrol, which is called gasoline (or gas for short), has the following grades: “Regular,” “Mid-grade or Plus,” and “Premium.”

 Saudi Arabia has “premium” and “super premium” grades of petrol. Many other countries have several names for different grades of petrol.

So “premium” is one of at least three adjectives that could modify “motor spirit” when “motor spirit” enjoyed currency in Britain. There could conceivably have existed “ordinary unleaded motor spirit” or “leaded four star motor spirit”—or whatever names existed at the time for grades of motor spirit in Britain.

In other words, calling petrol “premium motor spirit” is the same thing as calling petrol “premium petrol” now, even though there are other grades of the product.

Interestingly, Nigeria is one of only a few countries in the world where petrol is ungraded. Maybe that is why our journalists assume that every petrol is of a premium grade and therefore call petrol “premium motor spirit” (never mind that “motor spirit” is obsolete).

Premium Motor Spirit a Scientific Name?

A few people have asked me if “premium motor spirit” is perhaps the scientific name for petrol since Nigerian oil industry experts, including academic researchers in petroleum studies, liberally use it.  No, it’s not. There isn’t one specific scientific name for petrol.

As I said earlier, “motor spirit” is the archaic British English name for petrol, and “premium” indicates the grade of the “motor spirit.” Today, most British speakers have no idea what “motor spirit” means and would be even more puzzled by the permanent modification of the term with “premium.”

It’s mystifying that Nigerian journalists—and Nigerian academics— are about the only people who are still wedded to a phrase that died in Britain in the 1930s.

Note that different countries have different names for petrol. Most people know that Americans and Canadians call it gasoline. Germans and people who are influenced by German linguistic traditions call it “benzin,” which is derived from “benzene,” a constituent part of petrol. The French from whom the British borrowed “petrol,” now call it “essence.” Spanish-speaking people call it “gasolina.”

I also find it intriguing that Nigerians use the American English “kerosene” instead of the British English “paraffin” as the term of choice for lamp oil.

Maybe Nigeria should formally adopt “motor spirit” as its national name for petrol. After all, petrol is the “spirit” that moves “motors,” which is the alternative name for vehicles in British and Nigerian English.

Those who live in denial according to Yoruba aphorism often focus on treatment of rashes while ignoring the more deadly and life- threatening leprosy affliction. Unfortunately, as a nation, it is in our character to expend energy in addressing symptoms instead of facing our demons. 

For instance, whereas our visionary forbears bequeathed on to us a federal system, celebrated by over two-third of the nations of the world for its ability to guarantee ‘unity in diversity’ in a multi-ethnic society, we traded it for a unitary state.

But when the aggrieved deprived and marginalized individuals and groups fought back against the state that took over the control of their lives, their resources, the right to impact their values and culture in the education of their children, the roads they pass through and even the water they drink, instead of addressing the fundamental problem which requires simple political solution, we decided to focus on symptoms which find expression in crisis of legitimacy, massive corruption, economic sabotage, terrorism and banditry, kidnapping for ransom, weaponisaton of religion etc. by those who have lost faith in the state’s capacity to protect them.

Unfortunately, the state has failed the north-western states with a total population of 24,244,722 (1991 Census) in their ongoing tribal war. But just as the northern parasitic elite misadvised Muhammadu Buhari to focus on the symptoms in 2016, they last week once again misled President Bola Tinubu to believe that “the deployment of necessary military assets and manpower would ensure that these criminal elements were flushed out and the peace restored back to our communities.”

Since we passed through this same path not too many seasons ago, those who are  today hailing the relocation of military chiefs along with the Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle, who has promised  to be “on the ground in the Northwest with the CDS and other military chiefs, leading our brave men and women in uniform… to liberate the people of Sokoto, Katsina, Zamfara and Kebbi states and the entire Northwest region” either have short memories or are suffering from selective amnesia.

What is going on in the northwest is a tribal war. And solution is political bargaining and compromise. And if there are still misgivings as to the nature of social dislocation that led to tribal war between the ruling Fulani hegemonic class and conquered Hausa tribe that came to the open shortly after inauguration of Buhari as president in 2015,  the July 25, 2022 BBC  airing of “Bandit warlords of Zamfara”  erased such doubts. The broadcast also traced the sources of the social dislocation in the affected states to ethnic rivalry over control of political and economic fortunes of their different communities.

The major protagonists did not weigh words as to the causes of their intense hatred for each other. One attributed source of their anguish, to ‘the closing down of traditional grazing routes and systematic exclusion of Fulani from government businesses. They therefore have no regret in the mindless killings of their arch enemies, the subsistence farmers. And for their grief, the Hausa farming community vigilantes of Kurfa Dunya swore: “If allowed, we will kill every Fulani man, even in the town, because they killed our mothers, our fathers, our children, and dumped their bodies here”.

In fact, Ibrahim Dosara, one time Zamfara State Commissioner of Information did not only identify the genesis of the rivalry between the two tribes that had co-existed for centuries, but proffered possible solution. According to him, the “genesis of rural banditry in Zamfara as elsewhere in the northwest started with a conflict between the Fulani and Hausa communities in the state leading to 2,619 deaths, 1,190 abducted and 14,378 livestock rustled with 100,000 people  displaced from their ancestral homes between 2011 and 2019.”  And for him, the cheapest and most cost-effective way to reduce hostility was institutionalisation of community policing especially since “Zamfara lacks enough security forces from the federal government to secure the lives and properties of the people in the state”.

But Buhari’s government which conceitedly arrogated to itself the power to know what the people wanted without asking them continued to live in denial. In fact, it gave  the impression that  aggressors that confiscated villages sending victims to IDP camps, were ghosts  until ex governors Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano, Aminu Masari of Katsina and Nasir El Rufai of Kaduna confirmed the terrorists were indeed Fulani herdsmen mostly from outside the country.  Sheik Gumi went a step further by going into the bandits’ den to obtain their demands which include amnesty and re-integration into our security services and larger society.

And as if to confirm that the Fulani believe in their just cause, Aliyu Marafa the Emir of Yantoro (dethroned and later reinstated) turbaned Ado Aileru, a notorious Fulani gang leader who was on the run after leading a massacre in the village of Kadisau in June 2020 and for terrorizing residents and motorists elsewhere in the northwest, as the Sarkin Fulanin.

Community policing as suggested by Ibrahim Dosara would have produced a balance of terror especially with recruits drawn from the warring Fulani and indigenous Hausa people compelled to jointly confront their demons. But President Buhari and his defence minister, Bashir Salihi Magashi, opposed state and community policing not controlled from Abuja.

For them to “rout-out, arrest and prosecute armed bandits, vicious kidnappers for ransom and cattle rustling gangs operating in Zamfara State”, what Zamfara needed were a full battalion of special forces; “Operation Maximum Safety with 510 police personnel and 40 patrol vehicles”, “Joint Intervention Team of about 1000 police personnel, counter terrorism unit (CTU), federal special anti-robbery squad (FSARS), anti-bomb (EOD) squad, and conventional policemen” and Air Force’s indiscriminate bombing from the air.

Ten years down the line, little has changed except that hostility has spread across the whole of the north-western states.

President Tinubu who admitted preparing hard for this job in the run up to the election rightly identified community and state policing as one of the ways to address insecurity among local communities. One is therefore not sure of the new information at his disposal compelling him to align with the position of self-serving winners-take-all northern leaders who have always opposed compromise and political bargaining in resolving crisis of nation building.

Tribal war is a factor of most multi-ethnic societies where dominant ethnic group try to lord it over smaller ethnic nationalities.  Europe for centuries fought tribal wars over the rights of groups to protect their values and culture. There was temporary cessation of hostilities after the 1648 Westphalia Agreement. It was not until after the two so called world wars which were in fact tribal wars, that Europe swore “never again”, with institutionalisation of federal system that protects groups and individuals from the tyranny of the state.

Since distributive justice or concern for fair allocation of resources among members of the community is at the core of the tribal war between warring Hausa and their Fulani compatriots, what is required is compromised bargaining  especially as we have discovered that any other option will only prolong their nightmare.

President Tinubu who won last year election by securing northern elite consensus is uniquely positioned to serve as an independent arbiter. He cannot afford to miss this historic opportunity to right the wrongs of the past especially where the northern establishment has roundly rejected policies that guarantees a measure of egalitarianism in the north.

For Tinubu therefore, addressing symptoms cannot be an option. With tribal war amidst ravaging poverty and about 10m of out of school children in the northwest, with Niger Delta political leaders unable to end crude oil theft in their backyard and with political elite elsewhere in the country busy importing the labour of other societies in the name of commerce, his much cherished economic crusade will be doomed.